Arduino targets enterprise with new funding, plus more

This week’s roundup of embedded industry news and products below features news from Arduino, CAES, Cloud Light Technology, COMPRION, DSP Concepts, Flex Logix Technologies, Infineon Technologies, LG Electronics, pmdtechnologies, RealVNC, Rohde & Schwarz, Sensory, SiLC Technologies, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, Soracom, STMicroelectronics.

Arduino has raised a series B round of $32 million led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), and with Renesas, Anzu Partners, and Arm joining the round, to help realize a new vision targeting enterprise scale applications with a portfolio of hardware, software, connectivity and developer tools for professionals. This focus addresses many larger organizations now recruiting engineers that grew up using Arduino boards in STEM programs around the world, and who are accustomed to the accessibility and simplicity of open-source hardware, software and cloud services. Arduino plans to develop and deliver specialized low code cloud services, offer new intelligent edge solutions and modules, create new AI capabilities, and expand its Systems Integrators Partner Program.

STMicroelectronics and Sensory have announced a collaboration that will enable the STM32 microcontroller (MCU) user community to develop and prototype intuitive embedded voice-based user interfaces. The joint efforts pair ST’s STM32 hardware and software with Sensory’s voice-control technologies, including the new VoiceHub online portal that supports seamless creation of embedded speech-recognition models using custom wake words, voice-control command sets, and large natural-language grammars in almost twenty languages and dialects. The solution is based on an STM32Cube software extension package and runs on a high-performance STM32H7 MCU, taking advantage of its architecture, internal Flash, SRAM, and high CPU speed.

Infineon Technologies in collaboration with pmdtechnologies has developed the second generation of the REAL3 automotive image sensor – an ISO26262-complient high resolution 3D image sensor. In addition, the same camera meets all requirements for driver monitoring to detect driver distraction and fatigue. This enables the offering of a driver monitoring system with secure 3D facial recognition using only one ToF camera. The sensor comes in a 9 x 9 mm² plastic BGA package and offers a VGA system resolution of 640 x 480 pixels with a tiny image circle of 4 mm. The high resolution of the REAL3 sensor also makes it suitable for camera applications with a wide field of view, such as complete front-row occupant monitoring systems.

Flex Logix Technologies has announced availability of its EasyVision platforms designed to help customers get to market quickly with edge computer vision products for a wide range of markets such as robotic vision, industrial, security, and retail analytics. EasyVision features an efficient edge AI accelerator, the InferX, along with ready-to-use models that are trained to perform the most common object detection capabilities such as hard-hat detection, people counting, face mask detection and license plate recognition. EasyVision platforms are based on Dell and HPE computing hardware and include a USB Camera for quick and easy trials and production deployments.

DSP Concepts said it has been chosen by LG Electronics (LGE) as its AI sound technology partner for the automotive industry. LGE first launched deep neural network-based, on-device AI sound technology for the LG OLED TV product line in 2019. Now it is adopting the DSP Concepts Audio Weaver platform so that automotive engineers can utilize AI sound to significantly enhance the in-cabin sound experience. The algorithm analyzes content to detect genre, then identifies dialog, effects, and frequencies. The two companies plan to continue the collaboration to make additional machine learning-powered audio algorithms from LGE available on Audio Weaver.

CEVA, Inc.  announced that its latest RivieraWaves Bluetooth 5.3 IP family now supports Auracast broadcast audio, the new audio sharing standard, based on the Bluetooth LE Audio broadcasting specification, unveiled by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Auracast broadcast audio is set to transform the shared audio experience, enabling an unlimited number of Auracast receiver-compliant devices such as TWS earbuds, headphones, hearing aids and wireless speakers to simultaneously receive audio broadcast from one or several Auracast transmitter devices.

For mobile devices containing a physically inaccessible eSIM (embedded SIM), device configuration takes place digitally. COMPRION and Rohde & Schwarz have now developed R&S specific eSIM test profiles for testing with network simulators. For all kinds of mobile device tests, market-ready prototypes and commercially available eSIM devices (e.g. phones, tablets, wearables or consumer IoT devices) can be configured accordingly in the lab with R&S network simulators via the eSIM test profile download.  The eSIM Test Profile Service is available online via a subscription service provided by Comprion. It is fully GSMA SAS compliant and therefore can address market ready devices

RealVNC said it is experimenting with a CHERI-enabled Morello prototype board, which implements a new security architecture co-developed by University of Cambridge and SRI International researchers in collaboration with Arm. CHERI aims to make systems less vulnerable to security breaches with the potential to stop around two thirds of hacks, cyberattacks and data breaches, if implemented. RealVNC will have access to the Morello SoC and demonstrator board for 6 months to test and evaluate these technologies within its own business, with a view to informing the design of future and more secure computer systems.

SiLC Technologies (SiLC) has announced a manufacturing partnership with Cloud Light Technology (Cloud Light), a manufacturer of advanced optical modules for automotive and data center interconnect applications. Cloud Light will deliver volume manufacturing of SiLC’s Eyeonic vision sensors, based on its silicon photonic chip which integrates FMCW lidar functionality in a single, tiny chip, and enabling accurate depth, instantaneous velocity and dual-polarization intensity. Early sample shipments and the transition to volume production are expected this year.

CAES announced that its fault tolerant GR740 quad core LEON 4FT processor device successfully completed Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) qualification and can continue to meet demanding processing challenges in future space missions. The device is a radiation-hardened SoC featuring a quad-core fault-tolerant LEON4 SPARC V8 processor, eight port SpaceWire router, PCI initiator/target interface, CAN 2.0 interfaces and 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet interfaces. The SoC has a performance-to-watt ratio of less than 3 W (core typical) with 1000 MIPS (1700 DMIPS) performance and is targeted at high-performance general-purpose processing.

Soracom announced that SPRESENSE from Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS) has joined the Soracom Partner Space ecosystem and SSS identified Soracom as a recommended provider of connectivity for its SPRESENSE microcontrollers (MCUs). The Soracom Partner Space enables partners to access live opportunities and technical collaborations to provide services to IoT innovators around the world. Soracom now offers the SPRESENSE LTE-M IoT Connectivity Kit in its online store. The package also includes the official LTE extension board for SPRESENSE, a Soracom IoT SIM card, and access to Soracom connectivity and platform services.