Top five design products in June

1)      SMARC module with Arm Rockchip processor

Kontron has launched the new SMARC module fA3399 with Arm processor Rockchip RK3399K. In the benchmark of Arm-based modules, the new Kontron module has the highest performance compared to its price. Six processor cores from an energy-saving dual-core Arm Cortex- A72 and a Quad Cortex-A53 as well as an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU, provide high graphics performance for 2D and 3D displays.

The new Rockchip CPU offers a platform for non-critical applications around the areas of POS/POI. Whether digital signage, retail or kiosk - wherever Artificial Intelligence is used to enable target group-specific communication with the end customer, the SMARC-fA3399 module creates the perfect basis for new applications. Price pressure and speed are important drivers here, because when it comes to placing new content close to the customer, the time-to-market factor is crucial.

2) Reference design for enhanced 3D computer vision

Blaize and eYs3D Microelectronics have announced a reference design for the Blaize Pathfinder P1600 SoM (system on a module) for enhanced 3D computer vision. The Blaize Pathfinder P1600 is integrated with the eYs3D Depth Camera product line of 3D cameras.

The camera line features stereo vision capabilities that deliver millimetre-level accuracy of depth at optimal range and are used for indoor and outdoor AI-based autonomous operation, including robotics, security, touchless control, autonomous vehicles and smart retail. As an example, these advanced capabilities eliminate the use of costly Lidar implementations for robotics and other services.

3) 5G dRAX cloud-native OpenRAN software now available

Accelleran has announced the immediate availability of 5G Standalone dRAX cloud-native OpenRAN software components.

Delivering reliable, cost-effective, and exceptionally scalable solutions for both 4G and 5G networks, dRAX implements the key control and resource management functions of the RAN, including Service Orchestration, RIC, CU-CP, and CU-UP. Comprising proven, cloud-native and microservice-based software components, dRAX enables real-world deployment of multi-vendor, disaggregated OpenRAN, aligned with open standards such as the O-RAN Alliance.

4) emPower OS enables production during chip shortages

SEGGER has introduced its all-in-one embedded operating system emPower OS. It uses proven components from the software toolbox that already lays the groundwork for many customer products and for SEGGER’s successful J-Link debugger. emPower OS provides an out-of-the-box experience for complex embedded software applications on close to one thousand hardware platforms while supporting many more.

The emPower OS software package includes all core components (RTOS, GUI, File System) and communication software (TCP/IP, USB Device, USB-Host, Modbus), as well as IoT Toolkit, Security and Compression modules serving all the software needs of modern embedded industrial and IoT devices.

5) SnapEDA adds crackle to DesignSpark

A collaboration between SnapEDA, a search engine for electronics design, and online design engineer community DesignSpark will help engineers design faster, regardless of which PCB design tool they use.

The new collaboration will augment the DesignSpark website with the SnapEDA search engine.

Engineers will be able to discover and design-in millions of electronic components through free computer-aided design (CAD) models that are compatible with nearly all major PCB design tools.

With over a billion electronic components in production, part selection and design-in are significant bottlenecks when designing electronics. In addition to the sheer volume of parts to choose from, engineers need to procure sophisticated digital models for each component in their designs. This prerequisite for complex design content is a burden on engineers that hampers innovation.