|
Home-grown prototyping board
11 October 2017, Computer/Embedded Technology
It has become a lot easier to get hold of prototyping boards in South Africa than in previous years, but while Raspberry Pis are easy to get hold of, sadly there are still import taxes and shipping costs to be taken into consideration, which push the price up considerably.
Arrow Altech Distribution has created new options for makers by producing the locally-made Cherry Blossom, based on the AM335x reference design from Texas Instruments and similar to BeagleBone Black. This home-grown alternative is available for a much more affordable price, according to the company’s Dirk Venter. “The locally designed, produced and supported Cherry Blossom eliminates most supply and support issues that currently exist on BeagleBone Black today,” he says. “It also enables the developer to quickly and effectively use the processing power of a high-end processor without the hardware complexity normally associated with this type of design.”
This means that developers have access to the existing resources that have been created to work with the BeagleBone. They also enjoy full integration with the software, which will allow access to other compatible software such as Android and Ubuntu. What’s more, there is a choice of three processors: AM3352 (600 MHz), AM3358 (800 MHz) and AM3358 (1 GHz).
Lehlohonolo Ramongalo, managing director of Figtory, a company that has already started developing projects on the Cherry Blossom platform, had this to say about his experiences with the product: “The beauty of the Cherry Blossom as compared to other options on the market is that it is robust enough to be deployed at an industrial scale. It bridges the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm from a hobbyist kind of tool to a building block that enables novel ways to solve problems in the industry and the enterprise space. The locally produced unit has the potential to be a world-class building-block in the industrial Internet.
“Deploying one of our applications was very easy and the AM3352 – 600 MHz processor proved to be very stable for the purposes we needed it for. Should there be a need to run heavier applications, the 800 MHz and 1 GHz options provide more computing power, even allowing for CPU intensive tasks such as video processing to be completely doable. I wish I had known about this product much earlier.”
Cherry Blossom comes on a 55 x 55 mm printed circuit board and is powered by 5 V (1 A max), either via USB or expansion connector. It supports JTAG and serial debugging, and features an array of interfaces and peripherals including USB, LCD, GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, Ethernet, analog inputs and many more. The board is hardware configurable to run standard BeagleBone software.
For more information contact Dirk Venter, Arrow Altech Distribution, +27 (0)11 923 9666, dventer@arrow.altech.co.za, www.arrow.altech.co.za |
|
|
|
Share: |
 |
Via email client |
|
|
 |
 |
print |
|
|
|
|
|
Further reading:
- The rise of edge computing
18 April 2018, TRX Electronics, This Week's Editor's Pick, Computer/Embedded Technology
Edge computing in relation to IoT is opening up new opportunities for embedded designers.
- Smart grid management system developed by Cape Town company
18 April 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), News
Based in Cape Town, CT Lab is a technology company specialising in the monitoring and management of electrical networks in the energy distribution, facility and industrial sectors. The company offers ...
- XMC module for signal processing
18 April 2018, Rugged Interconnect Technologies, Computer/Embedded Technology
Pentek introduced the newest member of the Jade family of high-performance data converter XMC modules based on the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA.
The Model 71800 is a co-processor module with an XMC ...
- Tiny TVS for high-speed data interfaces
18 April 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Circuit & System Protection
Diodes Incorporated has announced its most advanced dataline transient voltage suppressor (TVS) ever, the DESD3V3Z1BCSF-7.
Designed to provide exceptional TVS/ESD protection to the high-speed input/output ...
- Microprocessor supervisory IC
18 April 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Analogue, Mixed Signal, LSI
The PT7M3808 family of microprocessor supervisory circuits from Diodes Incorporated monitor system voltages from 0,4 V to 5,0 V, and feature threshold accuracy from 0,5% and an adjustable delay time from ...
- Motherboards ensure stable supply stream
18 April 2018, Computer/Embedded Technology
Falling under its CSM (Corporate Stable Model) programme, ASUS offers motherboard solutions for all major chipsets, including value segments such as the Intel H110. They are available in a wide range ...
- High-performance inertial sensing enables autonomous machines
21 March 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Analogue, Mixed Signal, LSI
The Internet of Moving Things (IoMT) has many challenges on the path to great efficiency gains, and high-performance inertial sensors are helping make the difference.
- XMC module for defence and radar systems
21 March 2018, Rugged Interconnect Technologies, Computer/Embedded Technology
Pentek introduced the newest member of the Jade family of high-performance data converter XMC modules based on the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA.
The Model 71132 is an XMC module featuring eight 250 ...
- Rugged box PC for mobile applications
21 March 2018, Rugged Interconnect Technologies, Computer/Embedded Technology
MEN's latest box PC, the BL51E, is equipped by default with an Intel Atom E3950 processor running at 1,6 GHz, and offers performance scalability through a variety of other dual-/quad-core processors from ...
- Power phototriac for medium AC loads
21 March 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Power Electronics / Power Management
Vishay recently introduced a new 1 A integrated power phototriac designed to directly drive medium AC loads. Featuring high dv/dt to 600 V/ μs, the VO2223B delivers high robustness and noise isolation ...
- Steering diode/TVS arrays
21 March 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Circuit & System Protection
ProTek Devices has added two steering diode/transient voltage suppressor (TVS) arrays that provide circuit protection for a wide variety of applications, such as telecommunications interfaces, computing ...
- Sigfox transceiver
21 March 2018, Arrow Altech Distribution (AAD), Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless
The AXSIPSFEU from ON Semiconductor is an ultra low-power, compact system-in-package (SiP) solution for a node on the Sigfox network, with both up- and down-link functionality. Delivered with conformal ...
|
|