Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 24, 2024August 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

LILYGO T-Halow is an ESP32-S3 board with long-range WiFi HaLow, OV2640/OV5640 camera support

LILYGO T-Halow is an ESP32-S3 board equipped with a WiFi HaLow module with up to 1.2km range, a connector compatible with OV2640 and OV5640 camera modules, and an 18650 battery holder for power, as well as several GPIOs for expansion. We first wrote about 802.11ah low-power long-range WiFi standard operating at 900 MHz in 2014, but adoption has been slow and we’ve seen a few 802.11ah (WiFi HaLow) chips from Newracom and Morse Micro over the years, as well as USB adapters, a Raspberry Pi HAT, a mini PCIe card, gateways, and some development boards. All those rely on a Linux host, but the LILYGO T-Halow features a TX-AH WiFI HaLow module from Taixin Semiconductor that’s controller by AT commands through an ESP32-S3 or a micro USB port. LILYGO T-Halow specifications: Wireless modules ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz with 2.4 […]

July 24, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Remote.It adds Bluetooth assisted WiFi configuration to Raspberry Pi SBC’s

Remote.It, a company providing remote access services, has released an open-source project to enable Raspberry Pi WiFi network configuration using Bluetooth (BLE), so users can easily configure WiFi on the board by simply using their smartphone. Configuring WiFi on a Raspberry Pi usually involves either: Manual configuration – The user connects a monitor and keyboard to the Raspberry Pi to configure the wireless network directly on the device. Pre-configured SD cards, NVMe SSDs, or USB drives – The WiFi ESSID and password can be set in Raspberry Pi USB imager, and the Raspberry Pi will automatically connect to the network at boot time. That’s quick, but less flexible since the credentials can’t be modified after deployment, and it only works when using a single wireless network. Remote.It offers a third option for WiFi provisioning using Bluetooth LE. The Raspberry Pi can run headless or fully enclosed into a product, and […]

July 24, 2024July 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

LOLIN S3 Mini Pro – A tiny ESP32-S3 board with a 0.85-inch display and a multi-color PCB

LOLIN S3 Mini Pro is a tiny ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE board with a 0.85-inch display and it’s one of the first boards I’ve seen with a multi-color PCB that some PCB manufacturers have been offered recently. The board features an ESP32-S3FH4R2 microcontroller with 4MB flash and a 2MP PSRAM, a 128×128 TFT display, a 6-axis motion/attitude sensor, and GPIO headers that make it compatible with LOLIN D1 mini shields for expansion. LOLIN S3 Mini Pro specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FH4R2 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz Wireless – 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Memory – 2MB PSRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash Display – 0.85-inch 128×128 LCD TFT display with GC9107/GC9A01 driver Sensor – 6-axis MEMS IMU/attitude sensor (QMI8658C) Expansion 2x 8-pin headers with up to 12x GPIO, ADC, DAC, I2C, SPI, UART, USB OTG; compatible with LOLIN […]

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

tinySniffer WiFi-connected USB sniffer is based on NanoPi NEO Air SBC

TinySniffer is a USB sniffer based on the Allwinner H3-powered NanoPi Neo Air SBC, designed to capture USB 1.x and 2.0 packets remotely, and whose captured data is compatible with the popular Wireshark packet analyzer tool. Wireshark can already be used to capture USB packets on its own and I reverse-engineered a USB capture video solution that way in the past, but this method has some limitations, for instance, it does not capture some low-level USB packets, in which case a hardware USB sniffer like Total Phase Beagle USB, the PhyWhisperer USB, or the tinySniffer is required. The micro USB OTG port of the NanoPi NEO Air SBC is connected to the host computer and the company added a USB 2.0 Type-A port connected to the USB interface on the GPIO header to connect a device under test such as a USB keyboard, a USB Ethernet dongle, a USB printer, […]

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SagireEdge AI 600 SMARC SoM and devkit feature Qualcomm QCS6490 AIoT processor for Edge AI applications

Sagire AI’s SagireEdge AI 600 is a SMARC-compliant system-on-module (SoM) and a development kit based on Qualcomm QCS6490 octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 IoT processor and designed for Edge AI applications. The module comes with 8GB LPDDR5 and 128GB UFS storage, a WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.5 wireless module, a CAN Bus controller, and on-module camera and audio input connectors. Its MXM 3.0 edge connector exposes additional camera interfaces, a MIPI DSI display interface, PCIe Gen3 x2, gigabit Ethernet, a few USB interfaces, and a range of low-speed I/Os. SagireEdge AI 600 SoM specifications: SoC – Qualcomm QCS6490 CPU – Octa-core Kryo 670 with 1x Gold Plus core (Cortex-A78) @ 2.7 GHz, 3x Gold cores (Cortex-A78) @ 2.4 GHz, 4x Silver cores (Cortex-A55) @ up to 1.9 GHz GPU – Adreno 643L GPU @ 812 MHz with support for Open GL ES 3.2, Open CL 2.0, Vulkan 1.x, DX FL 12 DSP – […]

July 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lattice Semi Certus-NX-09 and Certus-NX-28 small footprint, low-power FPGAs feature optional PCIe Gen2 interface

Lattice Semiconductor has added two new devices to its small, low-power Lattice Certus-NX FPGA family, namely the Certus-NX-28 and Certus-NX-09 available in multiple packages and designed for communications, computing, industrial, and automotive applications. The Certus-NX FPGAs enable power-efficient PCIe Gen 2 with up to 4 times lower power compared to other FPGAs, and ultra-small form factor with up to 2 times more I/O per mm2 and PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet implementation in packages as small as 36 mm2. The company also claims high reliability and security with up to 100 times lower soft error rate, built-in SEC (Soft Error Correction) and memory block ECC for SEU (Single-Even Upset) protection, and up to 12 times faster instant-on configuration performance. The Lattice Certus-NX family is now comprised of four SKUs: LFD2NX-9, LFD2NX-17, LFD2NX-28, and LFD2NX-40 whose main highlights are shown in the comparison table below. The Certus-NX are available in various packages […]

July 20, 2024July 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

The Blette Stick relies on Bluetooth 5.0 LE for off-grid messaging with up to 1.1km range

Blette Stick Bluetooth LE offgrid communication

The Blette Stick is a Bluetooth 5.0 LE USB-C dongle designed to be attached to an Android smartphone in order to provide off-grid messaging and GPS coordinates sharing capabilities with a range of up to 1.1km in case WiFi and cellular networks are down. CNX Software readers may also be familiar with Meshtastic devices relying on WiFi to connect to the smartphone with Bluetooth and to other nodes using LoRaWAN to enable off-grid messaging while trekking or during emergencies. The Blettle Stick does something similar to the Meshtastic project but with Bluetooth LE long-range communication instead of Bluetooth+LoRaWAN. While the range will be shorter and limited to around 1km (line-of-sight), the plug-and-play design will make it easier to use for typical users who are not technically savvy. Blettle Stick specifications: SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52 Bluetooth 5.0 LE microcontroller (exact part number not specified, possibly nRF52840) Wireless – Bluetooth 5.0 […]

July 19, 2024July 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Texas Instruments AM6232/AM6254-powered SBC and industrial IoT gateway offered with a 20-year lifespan

AAEON PICO-AM62 TI AM62x Sitara PIco ITX SBC

AAEON’s PICO-AM62 and SRG-AM62 are respectively a single board computer (SBC) and an industrial IoT gateway powered by Texas Instruments AM6232 or AM6254 Sitara Arm Cortex-A53/M4 SoC, designed to operate within the -40°C to 85°C temperature range, and offered with a 20-year lifespan. The SRG-AM62 gateway simply houses the PICO-AM62 pico-ITX SBC within a metal case so both offer dual gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 1.4 port, and two USB 2.0 as well as communication interfaces such as RS-232/422/485 and CAN Bus. Designed to be operated in industrial settings, the systems support a wide 9V to 36V input voltage range. PICO-AM62 SBC and SRG-AM62 gateway specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM623x either AM6232 Sitara with dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.4 GHz, Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 400 MHz, no 3D GPU AM6254 Sitara with quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.4 GHz, Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 400 MHz, Imagination […]