CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pironman 5 Pro Max Raspberry Pi 5 case gains 4.3-inch touchscreen, camera mount, speakers, microphone, and more

Pironman 5 Pro Max is the latest Raspberry Pi 5 case by SunFounder. The new enclosure adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, a mount suitable for Raspberry Pi Camera Modules, stereo speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Besides the new features, its design is close to the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed with a Raspberry Pi 5, an NVMe SSD, and an Hailo-8 AI accelerator last June. That means it keeps black aluminum and semi-transparent black acrylic panels, offers two M.2 PCIe slots, an IR receiver, a power button, and the Tap-to-Wake feature for the OLED information display. Pironman 5 Pro Max specifications: Designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible SBCs Storage Pironman 5 Dual NVMe PiP supporting 2x M.2 2230, 2242, 2260, or 2280 NVMe SSDs at up to PCIe 2.0 x1 speeds due to switch used; RAID 0/1 support MicroSD […]

March 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 25.10 on an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC Ubuntu 25.10 linux review

After checking out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC, and testing it with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro OS in the second part of the review, we will now report our experience with Ubuntu 25.10 to show how the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC performs under Linux. The Ubuntu 25.10 review includes an overview of the system, benchmarks, storage and networking (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) performance testing, and measurements of CPU temperature under stress, fan noise levels, and power consumption of the mini PC under various workloads. Ubuntu 25.10 installation We decided to install Ubuntu 25.10 in dual boot configuration alongside Windows 11. To do so, we first shrank the Windows partition (C:) to roughly half its original size, before inserting a USB drive with the Ubuntu 25.10 ISO to carry on with the installation. The installation proceeded […]

March 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Echo Pyramid enables smart voice interaction applications on M5Stack Atom ESP32 IoT controllers

Designed for M5Stack Atom, AtomS3, and AtomS3R series IoT controllers based on ESP32 or ESP32-S3 wireless SoC, the Echo Pyramid base enables smart voice interaction applications such as far-field voice recognition, voice assistants, voice control, and more. The device features a built-in speaker, a MEMS microphone, an ES8311 HD audio codec for playback and capture, and an STM32 MCU for touch areas and RGB LED management. It’s powered via a USB Type-C port and can be expanded through a 4-pin connector for I2C modules. Echo Pyramic specifications: Supported IoT controllers – M5Stack Atom, AtomS3, and AtomS3R Microcontroller – STMicro STM32G030F6P6 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0+ CPU @ 64 MHz with 8KB SRAM, 64 KB flash Audio HD Codec – ES8311, handles playback and recording Microphone – LMA3729T381-0Y3S MEMS microphone ADC – ES7210 for microphone input Built-in speaker on the bottom of the pyramid Amplifier – AW87559 Class-D speaker driver for the speaker […]

March 6, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

DFRobot launches low-power, low-cost Fermion: BMV080 air quality sensor module

Fermion BMV080 Fanless Air Quality Sensor (PM1, PM2.5, and PM10)

Just last year, we reported on the SparkFun Air Quality PM1/PM2.5/PM10 Sensor, based on the Bosch BMV080 fanless air-quality sensor and priced at around $65. DFRobot has now launched a low-cost alternative, the Fermion: BMV080, which provides the same fanless, laboratory-grade PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 sensing capabilities for just $29.90. The sensor uses laser-based light-scattering technology with fanless optical counting to detect particles as small as 0.5 μm. This avoids fan noise, dust buildup, and mechanical wear, which are common with fan-based PM sensors, and, on top of that, it has a service life of up to 10 years. It measures particulate concentrations in a 0–1000 μg/m³ range with 1 μg/m³ resolution and ±10 μg/m³ of accuracy. The sensor supports I2C and SPI interfaces, and consumes about 70 mA in continuous measurement mode with a 6 μA sleep current, making it suitable for battery-powered systems. DFRobot’s Fermion: BMV080 specifications: Sensor IC […]

March 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

WiFi and Bluetooth LE can now be used simultaneously on Arduino boards with NINA-W102 (ESP32) module

Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect WiFi and Bluetooth

Today I learned that WiFi and Bluetooth LE could NOT be used simultaneously on Arduino boards featuring the ESP32-based u-blox NINA-W102 wireless module, impacting the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect, Arduino MKR WiFi 1010, and Arduino Nano 33 IoT boards. It’s a long-running problem since the first Arduino board with NINA-W10 was introduced in 2018, and meant you could use WiFi or Bluetooth LE, but not both simultaneously. The good news is that the issue has finally been fixed, thanks to a new firmware for the module and new WiFi and BLE libraries. More specifically, you’ll need the following libraries and firmware: WiFiNINA library version 2.0.0 or later ArduinoBLE library version 2.0.0 or later NINA-W102 firmware version 3.0.1 or later The libraries can easily be updated in the Library Manager in the Arduino IDE, and the firmware needs to be updated with the Firmware Updater Tool in Tools > WiFi101 / […]

March 6, 2026March 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

STM32U3B5/C5 ultra-low-power MCU features 640 KB RAM, 2 MB Flash, and HSP accelerator to run AI without batteries

STMicroelectronics has added two members to the STM32U3 ultra-low-power Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller family: the STM32U3B5 and STM32U3C5 MCUs get more resources with up to 640 KB SRAM and 2 MB flash, as well as an HSP (hardware signal processor) accelerator to run AI/ML workloads without batteries, just using energy harvesting. The new chips are still clocked at up to 96 MHz, benefit from a near-threshold design (down to 0.65 V), allowing a power consumption of just 117 Coremark/mW in active mode, and can operate up to 105°C ambient temperature. They come with one additional group of interfaces, bringing the total to four SPI and I2C, two I3C and CAN-FD, and five UARTs, as well as five more 16-bit timers, for a total of 10. The STM32U3C5 also includes a cryptocore to accelerate encryption and decryption operations, and supports the CCB (Coupling and Chaining Bridge) hardware security feature, both of which […]

March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Grinn ReneSOM-V2H is a tiny LGA SoM based on Renesas RZ/V2H processor for vision AI applications

Polish embedded systems company Grinn has recently introduced ReneSOM-V2H, a tiny vision AI SoM built around the Renesas RZ/V2H vision AI processor. Measuring just 42.6 x 37 mm, Grinn claims it is the world’s smallest module based on this specific Renesas MPU, and targets space-constrained Edge AI applications such as smart cameras, robotics, and industrial automation. The RZ/V2H SoC features a heterogeneous architecture with 4x Cortex-A55 cores, 2x Cortex-R8 cores, and 1x Cortex-M33 core, along with a DRP-AI3 accelerator with up to 8 TOPS. It supports LPDDR4 memory and eMMC storage, along with various connectivity options, including PCIe Gen3 (4-lane), USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and Gigabit Ethernet. It also provides four MIPI-CSI camera inputs and a MIPI-DSI display output for vision applications. Grinn ReneSOM-V2H specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2H CPU/MCU cores 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores up to 1.8 GHz 2x Cortex-R8 real-time cores up to 800 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller core up […]

March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ADLINK Express-PTL Panther Lake COM Express Type 6 module supports up to Intel Core Ultra 7 368H, 128GB DDR5

ADLINK Express-PTL COM Express Type 6 computer-on-module is built on Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake-H” SoCs up to the 16-core Core Ultra 7 368H processor delivering 180 TOPS of AI performance. The module pairs up to 128 GB DDR5 memory with IBECC support, features high-speed I/O such as PCIe Gen4, multiple display options, USB4/Thunderbolt capability, and industrial features such as TSN Ethernet, TPM 2.0, and advanced power management. As an industrial part, the Express-PTL is designed to operate across an extended –40°C to 85°C temperature range, and targets applications in robotics, industrial automation, medical imaging, transportation, and smart infrastructure. ADLINK Express-PTL specifications: SoC – Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Panther Lake-H processors (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra 5 336H 12-core (4P+4E+4LPE) processor up to 1.9 GHz / 4.6 GHz (Turbo) with 18MB cache, 4-core Xe3 graphics (37 TOPS), 47 TOPS NPU; TDP: 25W (15-65W cTDP) Intel […]