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

January 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

WisMesh TAP is a battery-powered Meshtastic client with a touchcreen display housed in an IP65-rated enclosure

RAKwireless’ WisMesh TAP is a battery-powered Meshtastic client with an integrated TFT touchscreen display and an IP65-rated enclosure making it suitable for outdoor use. The device supports 800 and 900 MHz Meshtastic networks and includes a GNSS module and motion sensor to provide location information through the network, besides offering off-grid messaging without a smartphone thanks to an on-screen keyboard. WisMesh TAP specifications: Core module (likely RAK4631 WisBlock Core module?) Wireless SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52840 MCU with BLE 5.0 LoRa transceiver – Semtech SX126x series with support for Meshtastic 8xx and 9xx MHz networks 800 MHz – RU864/ IN865/ EU868 900 MHz – US915/ AU915/ KR920/ AS923 Display – 320×240 TFT touchscreen display with on-screen keyboard GNSS – RAK12500 module with u-blox ZOE-M8Q GNSS location module Sensor – RAK1904 module with STMicroelectronics LIS3DH 3-axis acceleration sensor Misc Power Button 2dBi external antenna for LoRa Internal antennas for BLE and […]

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ESP Offline Programmer flashes firmware to ESP32 and ESP8266 modules without PC

The ESP Offline Programmer is an ESP32 board with a microSD card slot designed to flash the firmware to other ESP32 or ESP8266 modules without a PC. You’ll still need one to copy the firmware to a microSD card, but once it’s done you can just insert the microSD card into the board and after wiring is done ideally using a jig, start the flashing sequence with the press of a button. In some ways, it’s the hardware equivalent of the esptool utility and can be useful for remote deployment where carrying a laptop may not always be convenient and potentially for flashing hundreds or thousands of modules using multiple ESP Offline Programmers in a way that’s faster than using computers. ESP Offline Programmer specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32E ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microcontroller Storage – 4MB flash Wireless 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, built-in PCB […]

January 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

The LattePanda Mu SoM is now available with Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core SoC

Launched last year with an Intel Processor N100, the LattePanda Mu system-on-module is now available with an Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor delivering both higher single-core and multi-core performance, and faster 3D graphics acceleration. All interfaces are the same all exposed through a 260-pin SO-DIMM edge connector including up to 9x PCIe Gen3 lanes, two SATA, eDP, HDMI, and DisplayPort interfaces, twelve USB interfaces, and more. The LattePanda Mu launched with 8GB RAM last year, but both the N100 and Core i3-N305 models are now available with up to 16GB LPDDR5 IBECC memory, while the eMMC flash capacity remains at 64GB for all variants. LattePanda Mu specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) […]

January 2, 2025January 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

ESP32-C61-DevKitC-1 development board features ESP32-C61 low-cost WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 SoC

The ESP32-C61-DevKitC-1 is a development board based on the upcoming ESP32-C61 low-cost WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 SoC that was first unveiled in January 2024, and offered with two USB-C ports, two buttons, an RGB LED, and GPIO headers. In my 2024 year in review report, I noted that Espressif would likely launch the ESP32-C5 dual-band WiFi 6 SoC in 2025, but I completely forgot about the ESP32-C61 which is basically a cost-down version of the ESP32-C6. I’ve now noticed the documentation of the ESP32-C61-DevKitC-1 development board and ESP32-C61-WROOM-1 module is now available, so we have more details about those and the ESP32-C61 itself, so let’s have a closer look. ESP32-C61-DevKitC-1 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C61-WROOM-1 SoC – ESP32-C61HR2 CPU – Single 32-bit RISC-V core clocked up to 120MHz Memory – 320KB SRAM, 2MB PSRAM Storage – 256KB ROM Wireless – WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 Storage – […]

December 31, 2024January 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

CNX Software’s 2024 Year in review, website statistics, and what to expect in 2025

That’s it! 2024 is almost over, and it’s time to reflect on what happened during the year. So I’ll look at the highlights of 2024, share some CNX Software website traffic statistics, and speculate on what may be ahead of us in 2025. Looking back at 2024 Raspberry Pi was super active this year with 22 product launches that included boards and modules like the Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB RAM, Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and Pico 2 W, Raspberry Pi CM5, expansion modules like the Raspberry Pi AI camera, AI HAT+, and M.2 HAT+, new accessories such as the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 and the Raspberry Pi Monitor, and the new Raspberry Pi 500 keyboard PC among others. As usual, there was also plenty of announcement of accessories from third parties, and some boards with the new Raspberry Pi RP2350 Arm/RISC-V microcontroller. There weren’t any ground-breaking Arm processors […]

December 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

WiFi 7 access point and client M.2 modules are cheaper than I thought

We have already seen WiFi 7 mini PCIe and M.2 modules from Compex for business customers, but I’ve recently noticed AsiaRF AW7991-AE2 M.2 module rated BE5000 offers an affordable alternative design for access points for just $58 plus shipping. But adding WiFi 7 to a consumer device can be cheaper than I expected as Intel BE200 or MediaTek MT7925-based M.2 modules can be purchased for around $20 to $30. Let’s have a look at some of the options available. AsiaRF AW7991-AE2 dual-band WiFi 7 “access point” M.2 module AsiaRF AW7991-AE2 specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7991AV (Filogic 660?) with 32bit RISC-V MCU for Wi-Fi protocol and Wi-Fi offload Chipset – MT7976C WiFI 6 3×3 MIMO chipset System Memory – 8MB WLAN IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be compliant Frequency bands 2.4GHz – Bandwidth: 20/40MHz; 2T2R 2ss 5GHz – Bandwidth:20/40/80/160MHz; T3R 3ss Dual-Band Dual Concurrent (DBDC) Supports up to 4096-QAM Data rate of up to 688Mbps […]

December 27, 2024December 27, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

GigaDevice GD32H75E – A 600MHz Arm Cortex-M7 MCU with an EtherCAT SubDevice Controller

GigaDevice has launched its first EtherCAT SubDevice Controller with the GDSCN832 along with the 600 MHz GD32H75E Arm Cortex-M7 microcontroller series which incorporates the EtherCAT SubDevice Controller. The GH32G57E microcontroller also comes with 1024KB SRAM, 3840 KB flash with protection, up to two Ethernet PHY, USB Full Speed and High-Speed interfaces, and a range of peripherals and timers. Both products are made for the industrial automation market and are suitable for servo control, variable frequency drives, industrial PLCs, and communication modules. Gigadevice GD32H75E specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M7 32-bit processor core operating at 600 MHz frequency Memory and Storage 512KB AXI SRAM 512KB RAM shared (ITCM/DTCM/AXI) memory 3840 KB on-chip Flash memory with security protection to prevent illegal code/data access External memory controller (EXMC) for SRAM, PSRAM, ROM, and NOR Flash Accelerator – Filter arithmetic accelerator (FAC) and Trigonometric Math Unit (TMU) Industrial communication 2x Ethernet PHYs (YMJ6 parts only) […]

December 26, 2024December 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

I-Pi SMARC Amston Lake development kit features Intel Atom x7433RE SoC, 8GB LPDDR5, two Raspberry Pi GPIO headers

ADLINK’s I-Pi SMARC Amston Lake is a fanless development kit based on SMARC 2.1-compliant system-on-module with an Intel Atom X7433RE quad-core SoC, 8GB LPDRR5 memory, and up to 256GB eMMC flash, plus a carrier board with dual 2.5GbE with TSN, two Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO headers, and a range of other interfaces. Those include 4-lane MIPI DSI, HDMI, eDP, and dual-channel LVDS display interfaces, two MIPI CSI camera interfaces, a 3.5mm audio jack, four USB Type-A ports, three PCIe M.2 sockets for storage, wireless, and cellular connectivity. I-Pi SMARC Amston Lake devkit specifications: LEC-ASL SMARC 2.1 module Amston Lake SoC – Intel Atom x7433RE quad-core processor with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics; 9W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR5 Storage – 32GB to 256GB eMMC flash Host interface – 314-pin MXM edge connector Storage – 1x SATA III (6 Gbps) Display – Dual-channel 18-/24-bit LVDS Camera – 2-lane MIPI CSI, […]