Showing posts with label embedded. Show all posts
Showing posts with label embedded. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Thinx upgrades the video monitor with embedded LTE and SMS alerts; ships in Q3 for around $500

Thinx upgrades the video monitor with embedded LTE and SMS alerts ships soon for around $500


As part of our tour through Verizon's Waltham, Ma.-based Innovation Center this week, we were able to see a brief demo of the Thinx 4G LTE video monitor -- a product that was briefly teased at CES, but we've heard precious little about since. Essentially, this is a rather sophisticated 1080p video monitor, designed for small businesses that would prefer that their monitors do more than just capture reels of archived footage. Thinx's solution throws in an admin panel and a smartphone app; users can install the camera and then define hot zones for the sensor to keep tabs on. If and when a specific event occurs (e.g. 50 individuals cross a virtual line), owners can be alerted via SMS -- and, of course, they can then view only the footage pertaining to said event with merely a click.


The aforementioned apps (available for iOS and Android) will allow owners to look in live at any time, with recorded video automatically stored on the included 4GB SD card, a personal NAS or a cloud storage facility like Dropbox. Better still, the control panel supports multiple cameras for those trying to cast eyes over an entire office complex, and there's room for a 12V battery that'll keep it humming along "for a few hours" should the power cut out. Tom Thomasson, vice president of marketing at Thinx, told us that the product is slated to go on sale in the US during the third quarter of this year, and it's one of "over 30" new products that Verizon will help launch during the 2013 / 2014 time frame.

Thinx upgrades the video monitor with embedded LTE and SMS alerts ships soon for around $500


Speaking of which, it's worth mentioning the (optional) embedded LTE module; while a great many monitors include WiFi support, tossing LTE into the mix adds a new level of redundancy. If the power gets cut, the internal battery (along with a live LTE connection) can keep the visuals going. It also makes the device far more portable given that the connection goes wherever the hardware does. Thomasson confessed that a final MSRP was still being nailed down, but he suggested that we'd probably see it land for "around $500." Steep, sure, but it ships with a pretty powerful management client that business users will likely find worthwhile. Have a look at the overview vid below.



Source: Thinx


More Coverage: Technology Guide

AMD unveils G-Series X, hints at future ARM-based chips for embedded market

amd, g-series, embedded, arm-based, g-series

AMD announced its G-series embedded APUs this morning comprising three quad core parts and a couple of dual cores, four of them integrating Radeon HD 8000 grahics and an I/O module on a single piece of silicon. With power envelopes in the 9-25W range, the new chips are targeted at industrial control and automation, digital signage, gaming systems (they use the same Jaguar cores that power Sony’s PS4), SMB storage, IP-TV, set-top boxes and more.

While the chips themselves are noteworthy as AMD places an increased emphasis in the embedded market, Engadget points out another interesting tidbit that was left unmentioned in the press release. Namely, the inclusion of a small ‘X’ at the bottom right corner of the G-series logo, which the site has since been able to verify it stands for the x86 architecture as the company hints at future ARM-based variants that could be marked with an ‘A’.

AMD first announced plans for a highly-integrated, 64-bit ARM multicore System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for dense, energy-efficient servers back in October 2012 -- aiming for a 2014 release.

While in this case no specific ARM products have been announced, Arun Iyengar, AMD’s general manager for the embedded solutions group did confirm that “ultimately” they’ll have ARM in the product portfolio. This is the first time an ARM-Radeon combo has been suggested as a main application processor, which could mean the company is considering expanding its use of the architecture for low-power applications.

Wether they’ll eventually turn to ARM to finally break into the tablet segment remains to be seen. For now the company plans to attack this market with the 28nm “Temash” APU, which is set to replace the Hondo-based Z-Series offering double the graphics performance later this year.


View the original article here

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

AMD reveals G-Series X embedded chips, drops a little ARM-powered bombshell

AMD Targets High-Growth, Embedded Markets with New AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip

High performance, energy-efficient quad-core x86 design fuels Surround Computing era

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 23, 2013 - DESIGN West - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced at DESIGN West the new AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip (SOC) platform, a single-chip solution based on the AMD next-generation "Jaguar" CPU architecture and AMD Radeon™ 8000 Series graphics. The new AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform further signifies a strategic push to focus on high-growth markets outside the PC industry, with an emphasis on embedded systems.

Embedded systems are increasingly driving intelligence into new areas of our lives across smart TVs and set-top-boxes to interactive digital signage and informational kiosks. This supports greater productivity and connectivity and is expected to be a strong driver for Surround Computing, an area of substantial growth in the computing industry. Among the forces that are enabling this next generation computing era are single-chip, SOC solutions that offer smaller size, higher performance and more energy efficient processors.
The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform sets the new bar for SOC design offers up to 113 percent improved CPU performance compared to the prior generation AMD Embedded G-Series APU, and up to 125 percent advantage compared to the Intel Atom when running multiple industry-standard compute intensive benchmarks.1 For embedded applications, the new platform also includes support for DirectX® 11.1, OpenGL 4.2x and OpenCL™ 1.22 that enable parallel processing and high-performance graphics processing, yielding up to 20 percent graphics improvement over the previous AMD Embedded G-Series APU and greater than 5x advantage over Intel Atom when running multiple industry-standard graphics-intensive benchmarks.

"We have built a treasure trove of industry-leading IP in processors, graphics and multimedia, along with the infrastructure to combine these building blocks into unsurpassed, embedded SOC solutions," said Arun Iyengar, vice president and general manager, AMD Embedded Solutions. "With a 33 percent smaller footprint 4, low power consumption and exceptional performance, the new AMD Embedded G-Series SOC sets the bar for content-rich, multimedia and traditional workload processing that is ideal for a broad variety of embedded applications."

The new processor family offers superior performance per watt in the low-power x86-compatible product category with 9W – 25W options5. It includes:
• enterprise-class Error-Correction Code (ECC) memory support,
• industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C and available with dual or quad-core CPUs,
• discrete-class AMD Radeon™ GPU, and
• I/O controller.

The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC combines dedicated resources that enable exceptional performance with shared resources to help reduce power consumption and die space, and provides developers the flexibility to leverage the same board design and software stack for a variety of applications due to the scalability of the new SOC design. The discrete-class graphics integrated into the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC power applications that previously required a separate graphics processor, while the addition of new CPU architecture for the Embedded G-Series SOC platform allows deeply embedded or "headless" systems, which are used in environments without a screen, monitor or input device and do not require a graphics solution.

"As the Internet of Things permeates every aspect of our life from work to home and everything where in-between, devices require high performance, I/O connectivity, and energy efficiency in smaller packages," said Colin Barnden, principal analyst, Semicast Research. "With this new AMD SOC design, the AMD Embedded G-Series platform offers the perfect mix of high performance, a small footprint, low-energy use, and full I/O integration to enable smaller form factor embedded designs, cool and efficient operation, and simplified build requirements. AMD has leapfrogged the competition by combining the power of an X86 CPU, and the performance of AMD Radeon graphics with the I/O interconnect all on a single die."

The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC supports Windows Embedded 8 and Linux, and is designed for myriad embedded applications including industrial control and automation, digital signage, electronic gaming systems, SMB storage, IP-TV, medical and network appliances, set-top-boxes and more. AMD will ship the AMD G-Series SOC platform with general availability in the second quarter of 2013, and target applications with a comprehensive ecosystem of industry-leading embedded solution providers supporting and/or announcing market-ready products powered by the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC.

Developer Support and Product Features:
Developers working with the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC can implement remote management, virtualization and security capabilities to help reduce deployment costs and increase security and reliability of their AMD Embedded G-Series SOC-based platform through:
• AMD DAS 1.0 featuring DASH 1.1
• AMD Virtualization™ technology
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 support

Next-generation CPU core
• Next-generation "Jaguar" core with innovative, new shared L2 Cache
• Enterprise-class feature of ECC and fast memory support

Excellent AMD Radeon™ graphics performance per watt
• Enhanced Universal Video Decode (UVD) 3 hardware acceleration (H.264, VC-1, MPEG2 etc.) and new video encode capability not available in previous AMD Embedded G-Series APU
• Power efficiency enhancement with clock gating to contribute to overall lower power consumption

Advanced GPU enables parallel processing and high-performance graphics
• Heterogeneous computing for industrial control and automation, communications and other processor heavy applications: OpenCL enables CPU and GPU parallel processing, which benefits applications development in these areas
• Graphics (DirectX 11, OpenGL) and dual independent display; high-resolution support for a superb visual experience
• Expands software development options and extends application lifetime with advanced graphics APIs

Ideal platform for low-power and high-performance designs
• For Industrial Control and Automation: low-power and heterogeneous computing advantage enabled by the integrated GPU deliver more than 150 GFLOPS of compute performance over and above the compute capability of the x86 CPU cores6
• For Digital Signage: eye-catching, high-definition multimedia content delivery connected through a variety of display technologies (DP, HDMI™, VGA, LVDS)
• For Electronic Gaming Machines: dedicated hardware acceleration engines for video decode (UVD) and encode (VCE) as well as digital content management (SAMU)
• For SMB storage: high-performance SOC in a small form factor with a myriad of integrated USB and SATA I/O enables a fan-less design, reducing system cost

Supporting Resources
• Visit the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform site
• Visit the AMD Embedded Solutions blog
• Watch a summary video about the AMD Embedded G-Series SOC
• Get technical support at the AMD Embedded Developer Support site
• For more AMD Embedded products, visit the AMD-Based Embedded Product Catalog

About AMD
AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

AMD GX-415GA scored 209, AMD G-T56N scored 98, and Intel Atom D525 scored 93, based on an average of Sandra Engineering 2011 Dhyrstone, Sandra Engineering 2011 Whetstone and EEMBC CoreMark Multi-thread benchmark results. AMD G-T56N system configuration used iBase MI958 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. AMD GX-415GA system configuration used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D525 system configuration used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All systems running Windows® 7 Ultimate for Sandra Engineering and Ubuntu version 11.10 for EEMBC CoreMark. EMB-37

2 OpenCL 1.2 currently supported in the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows Vista; Microsoft Windows 7; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7; Microsoft Windows 8 classic mode; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 8; Linux(Catalyst drivers). OpenGL 4.2 currently supported in the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows Vista; Microsoft Windows 7; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7; Microsoft Windows 8 classic mode; Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 8; Linux(Catalyst drivers). Ongoing support options TBA.

3 AMD GX-415GA scored 864, AMD G-T56N scored 724, and Intel Atom D525 scored 162, based on an average of 3DMark06 1280x1024 and PassMark Performance Test 7.0 2D Graphics Suite benchmark results. AMD G-T56N system configuration used iBase MI958 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. AMD GX-415GA system configuration used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D525 system configuration used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All systems running Windows® 7 Ultimate with DirectX 11.0. EMB-38

4 Calculation: AMD G-Series SOC FT3 BGA package dimension 24.5mm x 24.5mm = 600.25 mm2 SOC; AMD G-Series APU FT1 and Controller Hub two-chip platform: 19mm x 19mm + 23mm x 23mm = 890 mm2; 33% improvement. EMB-40

5 The low-power x86 microprocessor class includes: GX-420CA @ 25W TDP (scored 19); GX415GA @ 15W (25), GX217GA @ 15W (17), GX210HA @ 9W (20), G-T56N @ 18W (12), G-T52R @ 18W (7), G-T40N @9W (14), G-T16R @ 4.5W (19), Intel Atom N270 @ 2.5W (20), Intel Atom D525 @ 13W (9), Intel Atom D2700 @ 10W (12) & Intel Celeron G440 @ 35W (5). Performance score based on an average of scores from the following benchmarks: Sandra Engineering 2011 Dhrystone ALU, Sandra Engineering 2011 Whetstone iSSE3, 3DMark® 06 (1280 x 1024), PassMark Performance Test 7.0 2D Graphics Mark, and EEMBC CoreMark Multi-thread. All systems running Windows® 7 Ultimate for Sandra Engineering, 3DMark® 06 and Passmark. All systems running Ubuntu version 11.10 for EEMBC CoreMark. All configurations used DirectX 11.0. AMD G-Series APU system configurations used iBase MI958 motherboards with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. All AMD G-Series SOC systems used AMD "Larne" Reference Design Board with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom D2700 was tested with Jetway NC9KDL-2700 motherboard, 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Celeron system configuration used MSI H61M-P23 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. Intel Atom N270 system configuration used MSI MS-9830 motherboard with maximum supported configuration of 1GB DDR2 (per http://download.intel.com/design/intarch/manuals/320436.pdf,) and Intel GM945 Intel Atom D525 used MSI MS-A923 motherboard with platform integrated 1GB DDR3 and integrated graphics. EMB-36
6 Calculation based on performance of GX-420GA GPU running at 600MHz = 0.6 GHz. 0.6 x 256 FLOPs = 153.6 GFLOPS. EMB-43

This document contains forward-looking statements concerning AMD, the timing and features of AMD's future products, the ability of AMD to win in embedded segments with new APU SOC products in 2013, the benefits from AMD's new technology partnerships and the timing of future products that incorporate AMD's products, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "expects," "believes," "plans," "intends," "projects," and other terms with similar meaning. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this document and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Risks include the possibility that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing and rebating programs, product bundling, standard setting, new product introductions or other activities may negatively impact the company's plans; the company may be unable to develop, launch and ramp new products and technologies in the volumes that are required by the market at mature yields on a timely basis; that the company's third party foundry suppliers will be unable to transition its products to advanced manufacturing process technologies in a timely and effective way or to manufacture the company's products on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies; the company will be unable to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity or components to meet demand for its products or will not fully utilize its commitment with respect to GLOBALFOUNDRIES microprocessor manufacturing facilities; that customers stop buying the company's products or materially reduce their operations or demand for the company's products; that the company may be unable to maintain the level of investment in research and development that is required to remain competitive; that there may be unexpected variations in the market growth and demand for its products and technologies in light of the product mix that the company may have available at any particular time or a decline in demand; that the company will require additional funding and may be unable to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms, or at all; that global business and economic conditions will not improve or will worsen; that demand for computers will be lower than currently expected; and the effect of political or economic instability, domestically or internationally, on the company's sales or supply chain. Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2012.


Source

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Gizmo Board is an AMD-powered embedded system for developers and tinkerers

Gizmo Board is an AMDpowered embedded system for developers and tinkerers


GizmoSphere and AMD are targeting independent developers, embedded system makers and tinkerers with the Gizmo Board -- a four-inch square powered by a dual-core 1GHz G-T40E. The x86 CPU and Radeon 6250 GPU put a lot of power and flexibility in your hands, though, the 1GB of soldered on RAM does limit it somewhat. In addition to being able to run Android, Linux or Windows, there's also a host of connectivity options packed in. There's a VGA connector and two USB 2.0 ports, along with an Ethernet jack and a pair of custom I/O connectors -- one of which can be hooked up to GizmoSphere's Explorer board, which has a keypad, LCD and an area for prototyping. You can pick up the Gizmo Board direct from the company's site (at the source) for $199 which certainly makes it more expensive than options like the Raspberry Pi, but there's also a lot more horsepower under its passively cooled hood. Check out the PR after the break for more.

Show full PR text

GizmoSphere Launches an AMD APU-based Gizmo Board for Embedded Systems Inventors and Hobbyists
AMD is a Founding Member of GizmoSphere Embedded Developer Community


SUNNYVALE, Calif. -1/24/2013
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that the newly launched Gizmo board, a low-cost board geared toward x86-based embedded system development available from GizmoSphere, is powered by an AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Gizmo is a 4-inch by 4-inch x86 development board that can run a variety of operating systems including Android, Linux®, RTOSes and Windows®. AMD is a founding member of GizmoSphere, a not-for-profit organization whose collective goal is to drive and enable technology projects of interest to independent developers, with a focus on stimulating and encouraging innovation around multicore heterogeneous computing using APUs.


The Gizmo board includes the G-T40E dual-core processor running at 1.0 GHz, combined on a single die with AMD Radeon™ HD 6250 discrete-class graphics. The board provides a performance capacity of 52 gigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) at less than 10 watts. Custom high- and low-speed edge connectors enable a full range of functions. This unprecedented level of integration between serial and parallel processing offers a power-efficient foundation for high-performance multimedia content delivery across a broad range of embedded designs such as digital signage, x86 set-top box (xSTB), IP-TV, thin client, information kiosk, point-of-sale, casino gaming, media servers and industrial control systems.


"Gizmo is an excellent board for the next generation of embedded systems development," said Kamal Khouri, director of Embedded Products, AMD. "The new board will serve the diverse and growing embedded development community and is especially useful for those wanting to incorporate the advanced capabilities possible by harnessing a heterogeneous architecture. Developers ready to take advantage of a high-performance, full I/O-featured x86 development board will find tremendous value in Gizmo."


Packaged as part of a development kit, the Gizmo board is available now through GizmoSphere.org for $199. GizmoSphere's founding members include AMD, Sage Electronic Engineering, Texas Multicore Technologies and Viosoft.

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Saturday, November 10, 2012

Meridian launches indoor GPS SDK, Macy's first to launch with it embedded

Macy's First to Launch Indoor GPS for iPhone with Meridian SDK

Startup Solves Indoor Positioning and Navigation for both iOS and Android

PORTLAND, Ore. – Under Embargo Until 8:00 a.m. Eastern Nov. 8, 2012 – In July 2010, the American Museum of Natural History was the first venue in the world to launch an iPhone app with an "indoor GPS" experience. Meridian, the mobile-software company behind the coveted "glowing blue dot" on the indoor map, today announced they're offering this same indoor-navigation technology to other app developers.

Previously, the indoor-positioning experience provided by Meridian has been available only to customers building apps from the ground up with Meridian's proprietary content management system, the Meridian Editor. Staring today, third-party developers can use Meridian's newly available software development kits (SDKs) to implement Meridian's turn-by-turn directions tools and patent-pending capabilities to achieve an indoor-GPS-like experience into new or currently available apps.

The two SDKs available today, called NavKit and BluDotKit, have been privately beta-tested and shaped by customers in three of the most demanding industries: hospitals (Miami Children's Hospital), airports (Sydney Airport) and retail (Macy's flagship store, Herald Square). These three large enterprises, which each had existing apps in need of turn-by-turn directions and an "indoor GPS" experience, will be updating their apps with Meridian's SDKs in the coming weeks.

"Miami Children's Hospital was ahead of the curve in the healthcare industry by launching an iPhone app early on," said Jason Shavelson, manager of web and software development at Miami Children's Hospital. "Now, we are staying ahead of the industry by being the first hospital to select Meridian to add both indoor turn-by-turn directions and the 'blue dot' to an iPhone app."

NavKit SDK Overview

Location-based businesses that simply want to add Meridian's turn-by-turn directions – found in apps for a large variety of locations from the Venetian in Las Vegas to the Metropolitan Transit Authority Arts in New York City – to their existing apps can license Meridian's NavKit SDK. NavKit is intended for locations who not only want turn-by-turn directions for their apps, but also a content management system such as Meridian's for making frequent changes to the mapping, routing and associated branding. NavKit relies on the regular Internet connectivity (cellular or wifi) of a smart phone to stay up to date and does not require any additional hardware installation.

BluDotKit SDK Overview

Meridian's BluDotKit SDK allows app developers to provide the glowing "blue dot" on the map experience in mobile apps for indoor locations. It does this through a patent-pending approach to utilizing location information provided by a venue's wifi hardware. BluDotKit can be used together with NavKit in order to have both the "blue dot" and turn-by-turn directions, or alone in smaller venues where turn-by-turn directions are not necessary. Because apps using the BluDotKit achieve accurate indoor positioning, enterprises can allow their visitors to opt in to location-based offers and contextual information.

The Meridian Difference

While there are many vendors offering indoor-positioning experiences for Android, mobile-development experts know this has not yet been widely available for iOS. Meridian's patent-pending and proven solution is the first ever to provide an "indoor GPS" experience for both iOS and Android.

And, unlike typical map apps, Meridian offers all customers a content management system that puts control back in the hands of the location-based businesses. These retailers, hospitals, airports and other locations (ranging from simple to complex) want to make frequent changes to their apps' mapping, turn-by-turn directions and the associated branding. As layouts of buildings change, location-based businesses know that having the ability to quickly and easily modify a location-based app is crucial.

Meridian's Developer Ecosystem

Meridian has an ecosystem of mobile-app developers with the technical abilities to deploy the developer tools for interested customers. Those locations that want the power of the SDKs for indoor navigation, yet do not have developers (e.g., Objective-C and Java) on staff to deploy them, can contact Meridian for recommendations on developer partners eager to assist with app development.

Greg Raiz is the CEO of Raizlabs, a development partner who has integrated Meridian's SDK into apps. "Our company, Raizlabs, has worked on a number of location based projects but this is the first time we're able to track location indoors in real-time," said Raiz. "We were excited to be the first integrator of the Meridian NavKit and BluDotKit SDK's that gave us this capability. As more retailers realize the benefits of indoor location I see this trend continuing. Meridian has been a great partner and we look forward to re-shaping the way we navigate together."

According to Dr. Bruce Krulwich, research analyst for Grizzly Analytics, "Indoor location technology has been slow in coming to market, despite dozens of companies working on it, because of technical limitations that prevent it from running on iPhones. Meridian's network-centric approach is the first to run as well on iPhone as on Android. It gives site managers more information about which areas of the site their customers are interested in. This information is invaluable as sites try harder to understand their customers and how to serve them better."

Availability and Pricing

Developers can sign up for the public beta of the BluDotKit and NavKit SDKs here: TBD. Developers currently working on apps on behalf of locations will be given priority access in an effort to assist those under deadlines.

The BluDotKit and NavKit SDKs are included free of charge with a paid license to Meridian's content management system. Please contact sales@meridianapps.com for more information.

Screenshots of the turn-by-turn directions and "blue dot" that can be created with the NavKit and BluDotKit SDKs can be found at: http://cl.ly/3F29121w333g


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