Qualcomm is constant its acquisition spree, and its newest goal is none apart from Arduino: the agency has been snapped up for an undisclosed sum, the most important user-facing final result of which is the discharge of a brand-new Arduino UNO powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing system-on-chip — turning the enduring improvement board into a completely standalone Linux-based single-board laptop dubbed the Arduino UNO Q.
“Qualcomm has at all times been targeted on differentiation on the edge,” Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm’s group normal supervisor for automotive, industrial, and embedded Web of Issues (IoT), claimed throughout a press briefing on the acquisition. “Over the past yr we’ve got made various totally different acquisitions — the final one was Edge Impulse, which was a machine studying ops platform. Previous to that we acquired Foundries.io and at this time this dialog with Arduino and the Arduino ecosystem completes our technique to have the ability to scale [and] ship one of the best experiences to the developer neighborhood.”
Whereas the acquisition, monetary phrases of which haven’t been disclosed, will see Arduino grow to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, each firms say that issues will enterprise as typical: Arduino will proceed to help its current product traces no matter chip vendor, together with the recently-launched Arduino UNO R4 household with its Renesas microcontroller. “Arduino will proceed to function, help all of its current partnerships, its current merchandise, and proceed to help new merchandise because it has been,” Duggal defined in response to our questions throughout the occasion. “Our focus goes to be on the SoC households that we help at this time, so nothing goes to alter so far as how the Arduino working mannequin continues.”
Qualcomm’s main affect, then, can be in offering Arduino with entry to its personal system-on-chip designs — however not, if the corporate is to be believed, forcing it to make use of them over rival distributors’ components. The primary fruit of this partnership: the Arduino UNO Q, a brand-new improvement board in a well-known type issue — hiding the performance of a completely standalone Linux-capable single-board laptop, one thing nearer to a Raspberry Pi than the sooner fashions within the Arduino UNO vary.
The brand new board makes use of a “twin mind” structure, combining a Linux-capable Qualcomm Dragonwing chip with an STMicro STM32 coprocessor. (📷: Arduino)
“It’s the most succesful Arduino UNO ever,” Marcello Majonchi, Arduino’s chief product officer, claimed of the brand new board throughout the occasion, “due to its hybrid ‘twin mind,’ we name it, structure, that’s combining a Qualcomm chip [and] STMicro[electronics] MCU [Microcontroller Unit]. It is Linux, the Debian working system, mixed with an Arduino core working on Zephyr [real-time operating system]. Extra importantly, with Arduino UNO Q we’re introducing Arduino App Lab, which is a brand-new built-in improvement expertise that joins collectively improvement throughout the microcontroller, the microprocessor, and the GPU [graphics processing unit], then is integrating the standard sketch improvement of Arduino with programming instantly on the Linux subsystem with Python and integrates, additionally, AI fashions.”
On the {hardware} facet, the Arduino UNO Q packs a whole lot of energy into the basic Arduino UNO footprint. Its foremost chip is the Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210, which incorporates 4 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 cores working at as much as 2GHz, an Adreno graphics processor with 3D acceleration capabilities, and a picture sign processor (ISP) able to handing two 13 megapixel or one 25 megapixel video stream at 30 frames per second. There’s 2GB of LPDDR4 reminiscence and 16GB of eMMC storage with the Debian-based working system pre-loaded, with a 4GB/32GB variant deliberate for launch later within the yr. Each fashions embody dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity.
The App Lab permits you to develop Linux apps, microcontroller sketches, and machine studying implementations in a single place. (📷: Arduino)
The microcontroller facet of issues is dealt with by an STMicro STM32U585 microcontroller as a real-time coprocessor, that includes a single 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 core working at as much as 160MHz, 768kB of static RAM (SRAM), and 2MB of flash reminiscence. It is this which is wired into the Arduino UNO-format pin headers on the highest of the board, whereas the Qualcomm chip handles a brand-new pair of high-density board-to-board connectors on the underside — which is able to, we’re informed, be appropriate with a variety of provider boards, together with a show provider, launching within the close to future.
Elsewhere on the board are 4 user-controllable RGB LEDs, an 8×13 blue LED matrix, a Qwiic-compatible 3.3VDC I2C enlargement connector, a user-addressable push-button change, and a distant debug connector for the microprocessor facet of issues. There’s help for USB cameras and video output through a USB Kind-C connector’s alternate perform mode; a JMEDIA header offers a pair of MIPI Digicam Serial Interface (CSI) inputs and a single MIPI Show Serial Interface (DSI) output. Different interfaces embody audio out and in, I2C, I3C, SPI, CAN, UART, PSSI, and general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) pins with analog to digital conversion (ADC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) help.
The acquainted UNO headers provide compatibility with current shields, whereas new board-to-board connectors will hyperlink to yet-to-launch provider board add-ons. (📷: Arduino)
All of that is designed to be accessed by way of the brand new Arduino App Lab, which takes over from the prevailing Arduino IDE and offers an all-in-one improvement surroundings for dealing with each the microcontroller facet (in Wiring-flavored C) and the microprocessor facet (in Python). This, Majonchi defined, can be utilized in two modes: a conventional tethered improvement surroundings wherein the Arduino UNO Q connects to a Microsoft Home windows, Apple macOS, or Linux host over USB; and a completely standalone mode, wherein a monitor, keyboard, and mouse is related to the Arduino UNO Q and the App Lab surroundings runs instantly on the single-board laptop itself — although for this customers will want an acceptable USB Kind-C docking station, at the very least till Arduino will get round to releasing a provider board with enough connectivity.
There is a third string to the App Lab bow, too: integration with Edge Impulse, one other recently-acquired Qualcomm subsidiary. “Arduino App Lab comes with already dozens of pre-loaded utility examples,” Majonchi informed us. “There are additionally a number of AI fashions which are pre-trained and already built-in [as] examples, but in addition out there to make use of in {custom} functions […] which are spanning throughout all totally different use instances from laptop imaginative and prescient to sound, speech detection, to sign processing, to be able to allow any kind of use-cases from residence automation to industrial robotics. And these fashions are literally supplied by our companion Edge Impulse, and builders can even custom-train their fashions with an lively integration inside Edge Impulse.”
The App Lab comes with a variety of examples, together with pre-trained and customizable machine studying fashions from Edge Impulse. (📷: Arduino)
Maybe probably the most welcome shock of the joint announcement is that the Arduino UNO Q will proceed the Arduino custom of open-source improvement: the software program can be made out there below both the reciprocal GNU Common Public License 3 or the Mozilla Public License, the businesses have confirmed, whereas schematics and {hardware} design recordsdata can be launched below a Inventive Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license that features the flexibility to launch clones and {custom} derivatives commercially — a win for Qualcomm, in fact, as it could provide the Dragonwing chips powering all these third-party takes on the design.
The Arduino UNO Q is now out there to order in 2GB/16GB type from the Arduino Retailer and official resellers at $44, with transport starting on 25 October; the 4GB/32GB variant will open for orders in November at $59 with a view to transport “by finish of yr,” Arduino has promised.