Category: Internet of Things

The Zephyr Project at Embedded World 2019


The Zephyr Project joins some 1,000 exhibitors at Embedded World in Nurnberg, Germany, with Zephyr Project members including Antmicro, Foundries.io, Intel, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP and SiFive, with offer interactive IoT demos powered by the Zephyr RTOS, which supports multiple hardware architectures and is built with safety and security in mind.

The Antmicro and Renode demo showcases how the open source Renode simulation framework that can be used to test multi-node Zephyr setups, including ARM and RISC-V based platforms. Using human-readable scripts and configuration, Renode allows you to easily create complex CI installations, enabling better testability of real products. You will see how to test production-ready code without the hassle of connecting multiple pieces of hardware together against corner-case conditions unachievable in testing rigs.

NXP i.MX 6SoloX (UDOO Neo) with RPMsg Protocol, a Multicore demo with Linux running on A9, Zephyr running on M4 – This demonstration shows how to leverage asymmetric co-processors of modern SoCs on the example of i.MX6SoloX and Udoo Neo board. The embedded Cortex-M4 core is running Zephyr RTOS which implements various low speed serial peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C) in software using GPIO. Cortex-M4 communicates with the embedded Cortex-A9 core running Linux Kernel using the RPMsg protocol. On the Linux side a kernel module is used to present implemented serial peripherals to the user space as regular serial, SPI or I2C interface (e.g. /dev/ttySx). The benefits of such approach consist in the possibility of extending existing set of peripherals without any additional hardware cost and the possibility to place selected peripheral at virtually any available GPIO pin. Thanks to exporting the interfaces to the user space, it can be accessed for example by a Python script.

Intel S1000 Speech Kit showcases basic Alexa functionality

Nordic Semiconductor Gaming Mouse, Zephyr on an nRF52-based low-latency, high report rate gaming mouse prototype

Zephyr on the Nordic nRF91 Development Kit, including a BLE to LTE gateway

SiFive Demo, Zephyr Running on a SiFive HiFive1 Development Board

Zephyr running as a guest on ACRN Hypervisor

Nuvoton ARM Cortex-M23 NuMicro M2351

Posted by – March 26, 2019

Nuvoton Technology Corporation presents three major themes of reference applications incorporating newly launched microcontrollers with ARM Cortex-M0/ M4/ M23, and ARM9 cores. The three themes are: Industrial Control, IoT Security, and Smart Home Appliances. Industrial Control includes factory remote data collecting, environment monitoring, smart number recognition, and interactive Human Machine Interface (HMI) Solution. IoT Security includes USB FIDO key for identity security and fingerprint secure IoT door lock. Smart Home Appliances include intelligent power outlet. Industrial Control – incorporating NuMicro NUC980, N9H20, M480, NDA102 microcontrollers Nuvoton Industrial Control reference applications include: Remote Terminal Unit, Smart Number Recognition, Interactive HMI Solution, and DALI-2 Digital Lighting Control. Industrial Remote Terminal Unit adopts ARM9 based NuMicro NUC980 series microcontroller. The NUC980 series operates up to 300 MHz and has internal crypto accelerators as well as Ethernet. It could be used for factory monitoring and automation control with Wi-Fi/ 4G LTE/ NB-IoT modules. Smart Number Recognition adopts Arm Cortex-M4 based NuMicro M480 series microcontroller. This demo captures water, electricity, and gas meter numbers, using machine learning neural network algorithms to identify. The information can be transmitted to the cloud through Wi-Fi or NB-IoT to realize the auto meter reader function after the identification. Based on the experience with clients, the demand for interactive HMI is increasing. Therefore, Nuvoton released N9H20/30, M480 series microcontrollers, and free emWin graphics software tool. Nuvoton provides HMI solution to help clients save development time and complete interactive graphics interface with high quality and efficiency. DALI-2 Digital Lighting Control adopts Arm® Cortex-M0 based NuMicro NDA102 series microcontroller. The solution is based on Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) technology. This solution includes certified DALI-2 library built by Nuvoton. IoT Security – incorporating PSA Certified Level 1 Arm Cortex-M23 Based NuMicro M2351 microcontroller Nuvoton IoT Security includes: Arm Pelion Secure IoT Device Management supported by M2351, USB FIDO Key for Identity Security, and Fingerprint Secure IoT Door Lock. The NuMicro M2351 series is one of the first Arm Cortex-M23 based MCUs that has been Platform Security Architecture (PSA) Certified Level 1. The Platform Security Architecture keeps the system secure from booting to operating, also keeping data and codes secure. The Pelion IoT Platform is a flexible, secure, and efficient foundation spanning connectivity, device, and data management. It accelerates the time to value of your IoT deployments by helping you easily connect trusted IoT devices on global networks, invisibly administer them, and extract real-time data from them to drive competitive advantages. The Fast Identification Online (FIDO) Identity supported USB Flash memory drive with dual security features of the NuMicro M2351 microcontroller and SunASIC fingerprint sensor module, compliant with the Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) protocol. It could be applied to identity identification applications and more.

Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 ARM Cortex-M33 SiP with LTE-M/NB-IoT


The Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 is a compact, highly-integrated Low power System-in-Package with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GPS for cellular IoT (cIoT) designs, featuring ARMv8-M Arm Cortex-M33 application processor solely for applications, a full LTE modem, RF Front End (RFFE) and power management system. Nordic Semiconductor claims that the nRF9160 is the most compact, complete and energy-efficient cellular IoT solution on the market. The integrated modem supports both LTE-M and NB-IoT and can operate globally removing any need for regional variants. All power saving features including eDRX and PSM are supported as is with IPv4/IPv6 support up to transport and security (TCP/TLS) level. The modem firmware is upgradable via secure, encrypted Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) updates. The Arm Cortex-M33 application processor is supported by 1MB of flash and 256kB RAM making advanced application development possible in a single device solution. A GPS receiver is integrated into the radio offering various modes of operation to suit a wide selection of applications that employ location-tracking functionality. A broad selection of general interfaces and peripherals and are included on nRF9160 including 12-bit ADC, RTC, SPI, I²C, I²S, UARTE, PDM and PWM. Security is best-in-class with Arm TrustZone technology for isolation and protection of normal and secure zones for firmware and elements of hardware including memory and peripherals. Arm TrustZone helps build solid and secure ioT applications that feature secure boot, trusted firmware updates and root of trust implementations without performance compromise. Arm CryptoCell enhances security still further by offering cryptographic and security resources to help to protect your IoT applications from various attack threats. CryptoCell is designed for high performance cryptography solutions optimized for energy-constrained devices. The nRF9160 supports both SIM and eSIM for connection and authentication with mobile network operators. The nRF9160 hardware and development kits are now in production and is suitable for full end-to-end sensor to cloud development.

Shiratech 96Boards Sandwich = Dragonboard 410c + LTE Mezzanine + Bosch Sensor + FPGA Mezzanine


Shiratech and Arrow 96boards Mezzanine sandwich features the DragonBoard 410c with 3 mezzanines and an arduino shield with the DragonBoard 410c as the base board, a Shiratech LTE Mezzanine, a Bosch Sensor Mezzanine and a Shiratech FPGA Mezzanine.

Thea Aldrich, Zephyr Project Evangelist and Developer Advocate

Posted by – March 24, 2019

Interview with Thea Aldrich at Linaro Connect talking about Project Zephyr the open source project for the embedded world. You can read more about her at https://www.zephyrproject.org/meet-thea-aldrich/

Oral B – Genius Toothbrush

Posted by – March 21, 2019

The new Oral B Genius is a new toothbrush with built in AI functionality. The AI tracks how to the persons uses their toothbrush so as to best suit it for them. With the App it can track your brushing behaviour so as to improve it and give feedback on brushing.

Toradex shows Deep Learning Accelerators, Edge AI with Gyrfalcon, Xnor.ai, Movidius and More


Toradex shows their deep learning inference solutions at Embedded World 2019, using power-efficient, Arm-based System on Modules, as machine learning and deep learning using neural networks progress is accelerating with successful new applications in computer vision for the embedded world. Toradex simplifies the integration of these technologies into products with its System on Modules, training deep learning models on high-performance computers with frameworks like TensorFlow, with optimizations needed to improve performance on low-power embedded Linux devices such as the ones Toradex partners with Au-Zone, Xnor.ai and Antmicro and others to bring to the embedded market. Implementing these dedicated neural network accelerators can boost the performance of embedded devices while keeping power consumption low, as shown in Toradex’s solutions with Intel Movidius Myriad and Gryfalcon Lightspeeur. Toradex partners with Allied Vision to showcase the brand-new Alvium industrial MIPI CSI-2 camera as a crucial component in the pasta detection demo which uses an Apalis System on Module featuring the NXP i.MX 8 QuadMax SoC with Cortex-A72, Cortex-A53 and dual OpenCL-capable GPU. To learn more about the demo, see CNX-Software’s blog post. A real-world application example of deep learning is Manta, a camera-based drowning detection system from Coral Detection Systems which is solar-powered, and the video analytics are done on a Toradex Apalis module featuring a Nvidia TK1 SoC with a CUDA-enabled GPU. If a person is at risk of drowning, the system can alert its user acoustically or via smartphone.

TechNexion shows i.MX8M Mini, Intel Apollo Lake, Qualcomm QCA9377, QCA6174 at Embedded World 2019


TechNexion shows their lineup of new devices based on the ultra low-power NXP i.MX8M Mini in their ultra-small PICO form factor combining ARM Cortex-A53 and an M4 microcontroller at embedded world 2019, it supports Android, Linux, Yocto, Ubuntu OS is only 37 x 40 mm and at a low cost. The SoM integrates a fully certified wireless module PIXI-9377 based on Qualcomm QCA9377. They also show their Qualcomm QCA9377, QCA6174 devices and more. TechNexion announces two new SoM families: AXON and FLEX. AXON is a product family of small form factor (58 x 37 mm) modules designed for specialized embedded applications requiring another dimension of I/O flexibility. AXON-IMX8M-MINI is also based on NXP i.MX8M Mini applications processor and features AXON Fabric programmable logic, a specialized IC that provides additional functions including nearly infinite pinmuxing, allowing for true pin-to-pin compatibility between SoC versions. FLEX series, on the other hand, is a low-cost family making use of low-cost LPDDR4 SO-DIMM connector. FLEX-IMX8M-MINI (69.6 x 35 mm) offers HD multimedia streaming and integrated 3D graphics at a price point for the cost sensitive market. TechNexion launches several products based on Intel Apollo Lake processor family (Intel Atom x5-E3930, x5-E3940 or x7-E3950) that can be easily deployed in diverse industrial applications ranging from manufacturing robots and machinery, to radar and sensors on ships, trains and automobiles, to in-vehicle experience, video systems and more. TC-1010-APL and TC-1560-APL Multi Touch HMIs come in 10.1” and 15.6” sizes. On the other hand, TCK3-APL is a ruggedized box PC fully customizable to handle your projects with IoT integration. TechNexion also shows their expanded lineup of fully certified (CE / ETSI / FCC / IC / RCM / TELEC) PIXI and STIX series combo wireless communication modules based on Qualcomm QCA9377 and QCA6174 solutions. The modules are available in several M.2 and in the mini-PCIe form factor.

$449 Qualcomm Robotics RB3 Platform Snapdragon 845 Development Board, Embedded World 2019 booth tour


Qualcomm and Thundercomm launches the Robotics RB3 Platform 96Boards development board (available for $449 at Thundercomm), supports the development of smart, power-efficient, and cost-effective robots, uses heterogeneous computing and Qualcomm Artificial (AI) Engine to support on-device machine learning, computer vision, robust security, multimedia, Wi-Fi, and cellular connectivity capabilities, based on the Qualcomm SDA845/Qualcomm SDM845 SoC. It includes hardware, software, and development tools, the Qualcomm Robotics RB3 platform is designed to help manufacturers and developers create robotic products, ranging from large industrial and enterprise robots to small battery-operated ones with challenging power. This video also features a tour of the Qualcomm booth at Embedded World 2019, featuring all the LTE for IoT modems such as the MDM9206 and the MDM9205 LTE IoT modem, and development boards available from Qualcomm’s partners including Geniatech, Intrinsyc, eInfoChips, Altek, Inforce Computing, Keith and Koep, Shiratech, Basler and more.

Latest from ARM at Embedded World 2019

Posted by – March 3, 2019

Thomas Ensergueix, ARM Senior Director of Embedded, talks about the ARMv8-M processors that are now shipping, ARM Cortex-M23, and ARM Cortex-M33, implementing more and more advanced security in the Embedded market. ARM Platform Security Architecture (PSA) certification Levels being developed with their partners, and releasing Helium ARMv8.1-M for a next level Machine Learning in the ARM Microcontrollers market. At this event, ARM also with Raspberry Pi foundation celebrates the 25 million Raspberry Pi development boards that have been shipped since I filmed this video at ARM Techcon 2011 as one of the first on the web about the Raspberry Pi.

ARM Helium Armv8.1-M architecture, Machine Learning on ARM Cortex-M

Posted by – March 3, 2019

Jem Davies, ARM VP, Fellow and GM, Machine Learning Group talks about ARM’s new Helium Machine Learning architecture for the ARM Cortex-M based microcontrollers, as a follow on to ARM CMSIS-NN Neural Network Kernels which Boosted Efficiency in Microcontrollers by 5x last year, now ARM launches Helium ARMv8.1-M to improve machine learning performance, with up to 50x on machine learning workloads, about 5x improvement in performance for regular DSP based workloads, as open source software and the new ARMv8.1-M architecture to be integrated in Microcontroller designs to come in the future.

ST booth tour at Embedded World 2019 (Part 2) STM32L5, STM32G0, FOTA over LoRAWAN, Stellar


This video is Part 2 of the booth tour at the STMicroelectronics booth at Embedded World 2019, featuring STM32L5 ARM Cortex-M33, STM32G0 and USB-C, FOTA using LoRaWAN, STM32WB mesh + LTE, STM32WB BLE Dual + Multilink, Maker moment, Stellar and Asset Tracking.

You can jump to the different parts of the video by clicking on these time codes here:
STM32L5: 00:05 ARM Cortex-M33
STM32G0 and USB-C: 04:40
FOTA using LoRaWAN: 09:08
STM32WB mesh + LTE: 11:26
STM32WB BLE Dual + Multilink: 14:31
Maker moment: 18:01
Stellar: 23:49 ARM Cortex-R52
Asset Tracking: 27:06

STMicroelectronics playlist of all ST Embedded World 2019 videos you can find here.

ST booth tour at Embedded World 2019 (Part 1), STM32MP1, STM32Cube.AI, ST60


Welcome to the Embedded World 2019 tour (Part 1) at the STMicroelectronics booth, featuring ST Maker Lab Apple 1 and Sega 1000 emulator, the new STM32MP1 heterogeneous single or dual ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 cores architecture, the Cortex-A7 core provides access to open-source operating systems (Linux/Android) while the Cortex-M4 core leverages the STM32 MCU ecosystem. Featuring partners on the STM32MP1 such as Kontron, Octavo Systems, Timesys and Shiratech. Then featuring STM32Cube.AI Artificial Intelligence on STM32, ST60 60GHz RF link.

Here you can jump to each part of this video:
ST Maker Lab: 00:41
STM32MP1: 03:42 heterogeneous single or dual ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 cores architecture, the Cortex-A7 core provides access to open-source operating systems (Linux/Android) while the Cortex-M4 core leverages the STM32 MCU ecosystem.
STM32MP1 Kontron (System on Module): 10:00
STM32MP1 Octavo Systems (System in Package): 13:03
STM32MP1 Shiratech: 16:03 96Boards Avengers96 and IoT Cube
STM32MP1 Timesys: 18:48
STM32Cube.AI (artificial intelligenc on STM32): 21:38
ST60 60GHz RF link (sparclink): 25:48

STMicroelectronics playlist of all ST Embedded World 2019 videos you can find here.

Microsoft’s IoT strategy

Posted by – February 19, 2019

Digital transformation is happening across the industry and in every corner of the world. But what does success look like? And how can companies avoid common pitfalls? General Manager of IoT Business Acceleration, Tony Shakib, shares insights from the trenches along with learnings from the real world, and how those insights are driving Microsoft’s approach to the Internet of Things.

Tony Shakib leads Microsoft’s IoT Business Acceleration (IBA) team inside Azure engineering organization and drives the Azure IoT Eco-system and strategic business engagements for top 100 IoT Enterprise Accounts, Partners, Developers and ISV/Startups.

Tony is accountable for IoT customer value realization, business development, rapid solution deployment, joint customer GTM programs and accelerating time and process to large-scale commercial deployments.

The IBA team focuses on top industries such as IIoT/Manufacturing, Mobility/Connected Vehicle, Smart Spaces/Utilities, Retail, Healthcare and Agriculture.

Microsoft IoT team develops unique IoT/AI/ML technologies and digital solutions for all industries. Microsoft is also the leader in the hybrid intelligent cloud and edge architectures and provides a comprehensive Platform-as-a-service and Software-as-a-service (IoT Central) capabilities for rapidly developing and deploying massively scalable IoT applications.

Tony has more than 27 years of business leadership and management experience in the communications space. As Vice President of IoT Vertical Business Solutions for Cisco, Tony led Cisco’s Internet of Things business development, Industrial solutions creation, Vertical thought leadership and customer relevancy across Process Manufacturing (Oil & Gas and Mining), Discrete manufacturing, Transportation, Utilities, Smart City, M2M, Retail and Defense verticals. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering with honors in Math from McMaster and Brock Universities in Ontario, Canada.

Microsoft is simplifying IoT so every business can digitally transform through IoT solutions that are more accessible and easier to implement. Microsoft has the most comprehensive IoT portfolio with a wide range of IoT offerings to meet organizations where they are on their IoT journey, including everything businesses need to get started — ranging from operating systems for their devices, cloud services to control them, advanced analytics to gain insights, and business applications to enable intelligent action.

Filmed at IDTechEx Show! USA
Learn more about our upcoming events:
IDTechEx Show! Europe https://www.IDTechEx.com/Europe
IDTechEx Show! USA https://www.IDTechEx.com/USA

Targus USB Docks

Posted by – January 29, 2019

The Targus USB C (3.1) dock has 4 hdmi outputs. The Dock also includees ethernet and three 3 usb ports, 1 USB C Power and USB A power. The price is 275 dollars.

The Targus IOT dock includes USB A ports, 100w laptop charging, ethernet, 2x hdmi and 2x Displayport. The IOT enables the dock to be used with a smart power supply enabling it to be managed from the cloud. Price is TBD.

Arrow shows latest 96Boards and Mezzannine boards


Arrow shows some of their latest 96Boards and Mezzanine boards such as the Renesas ANT96 board based on the Renesas RZ Family Renesas RZ/G1E processor featuring a dual-core Arm Cortex-A7. Novtech Meerkat i.MX7D and Chameleon Cyclone V Altera/Intel FPGA board. NextBiometrics NB-2023-S fingerprint sensor mezzanine board, STM32 Sensor mezzanine board and more. Arrow has more than 5 Mezzanine boards in the pipeline and at least 2 base boards too. Oxalis Layerscape LS1012A.

Marcelo Knörich Zuffo of the University of San Paolo in Brazil at Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018

Posted by – November 21, 2018

Marcelo Knörich Zuffo is a professor of the Electronic Systems Engineering Department of the Polytechnic School of the University of San Paolo in Brazil. He teaches people how to design electronics and has projects going on such as drones using development boards such as the 96Boards platform. He also teaches PCB design. His particular specialty is autonomous drones that don’t require human control. He uses boards from 96boards.

Internet of Tiny Linux, Google IoT on ARM Cortex-A5 memory constrained device

Posted by – November 5, 2018

Nicolas Pitre of Linaro and his team have worked to reduce the size of the Linux kernel and user space binaries to make them suitable for very small IoT applications to enable the Internet of Tiny Linux. Here at Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, Linaro shows mainline Linux kernel for IoT devices, running with as little as 4MB of RAM here for example Google IoT.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth single chip Unisoc in UCRobotics IVY5661 IoT Edition 96Boards development board


This is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth single chip solution IoT Edition 96Boards, it can be used as a Wi-Fi Repeater, for Bluetooth on-boarding, Bluetooth 5 Mesh Network. It’s an ARM Cortex-M4 dual core, runs Zephyr. You can read more about it here

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Linux microPlatform, secure IoT updates with Foundries.io and Toradex


At Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, Foundries.io and Toradex discuss Linux microPlatform, what microPlatform is and how it helps Toradex to build their next generation Software Platform.

Linux microPlatform is an open source, minimal, secure, updatable Operating System based on OpenEmbedded / Yocto Project. Toradex ports the microPlatform to its Arm-based System on Modules and it uses it as the basis for its future Software Planform called Torizon.

Linux microPlatform modularized the embedded software stack utilizing Docker Containers, and so it provides a robust and simple to update platform. It includes a secure Uptane-compliant over-the-air update solution using OSTree.

Founderies.io provides continuous updates to Linux microPlatform, as they believe the latest software is the most secure software.

Toradex also elaborates on its plans to simplify developers’ lives with its Torizon platform leveraging Linux microPlatforms, such as simplifying application development, enabling a modern DevOps workflow and easing migration from Windows-based systems.

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