Tomisin Olujinmi, Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 19, 2024August 19, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

$119 MoreSense MS-06 air quality monitor features a Sensirion SCD40 sensor and an ESP32-S3 MCU

The MoreSense MS-06 is an ESP32-S3-based air quality monitor that takes CO², temperature, and humidity readings through a Sensirion SCD40 sensor which offers reliable performance and a lifespan of more than ten years. The MS-06 monitor’s results are identical to the Aranet4’s (considered best-in-class), putting it in a pretty good spot accuracy-wise. It is the latest entry in the MoreSense line of air quality monitors and comes with a more compact design and a touchscreen display. The built-in web server runs an interface that displays measurements, historical data visualizations, setup options, and firmware updates. Operation is completely local; sensor data can be stored on the device or a microSD card. The MoreSense MS-06 air quality sensor can be used to control a ventilation system, contributing to significant energy savings. This can be achieved through your home automation system or by using a smart plug. MoreSense MS-06 specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32-S3 […]

August 13, 2024August 19, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

Google Pigweed SDK now supports Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 (RP2350) with Enviro+ pack hat.

Google Pigweed, a collection of open-source libraries for embedded software development, now supports the Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU and comes as a software development kit (Google Pigweed SDK). These libraries, also called modules, are building blocks that make embedded software development faster and more reliable. It targets tiny 32-bit microcontrollers such as STMicro STM32L452, Nordic Semi nRF52832, and the Raspberry Pi Pico line of microcontrollers. The library components have shipped in Google Pixels, Nest thermostats, robots, satellites, and drones. On August 8, the Pigweed project was released as a software development kit (SDK) in developer preview with official support for Raspberry Pi RP2350 and the associated Pico 2 development board. The new release uses the Bazel build system – a feature upstreamed into the Pico SDK by the Google Pigweed team – and a complete, open-source Clang/LLVM toolchain. The Google Pigweed SDK includes sample code, modules, and a comprehensive tutorial […]

August 6, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 – A dual-band Wi-Fi 4 and BLE 5.3 IoT board

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306, is a dual-core, dual-band WiFi 4 and BLE 5.3 microcontroller board in the AdaFruit Feather form factor based on the u-box NORA-W306 module and targeted at low-power wireless applications. The u-blox module integrates the Realtek RTL8720DF chip, a dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M23 microcontroller with dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy. It offers up to 4MB of encrypted flash and has an onboard PCB antenna. It’s very similar to the RealTek RTL8720DN we covered a few times in the past, but comes with embedded flash. The SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 board features a USB-C connector for programming, data, and power. The USB data lines are protected against electrostatic discharge and are connected to a CP2102N USB-to-serial converter for uploading code or serial. This board includes a 2-pin JST-style connector for a LiPo battery, a single-cell charger, and a LiPo fuel […]

August 2, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 2 Comments

200 MHz Microchip dsPIC33A 32-bit digital signal controller offers double-precision FPU, high speed analog interfaces

Top digital signal controller (DSC) vendor, Microchip Technology Inc., has launched the dsPIC33A series as the newest addition to its portfolio of high-performance DSCs. These digital signal controllers combine the capabilities of a digital signal processor (DSP) with the extensive peripherals of a microcontroller (MCU). The dsPIC33A series is built around a 32-bit architecture and operates at 200MHz – currently the highest clock speed for a dsPIC. The core includes a double-precision floating-point unit (DP FPU) and a DSP instruction set for numerically intensive operations in closed-loop control algorithms. The dsPIC33A architecture offers high-performance, high-precision real-time control and signal processing in various applications. The family of DSCs launching the dsPIC33A series, dsPIC33AK128MC1xx, features up to 128KB of flash memory, and an extensive set of built-in peripherals. It comes in different packages, including SSOP, VQFN, and TQFP, with pin counts ranging from 28 to 64 and sizes starting as small as […]

July 29, 2024July 29, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 4 Comments

ODrive Micro is a compact, brushless motor controller designed for space-constrained robotics applications (Crowdfunding)

ODrive Micro is a high-performance servo motor drive from ODrive Robotics that comes in an ultra-compact, 32 x 32mm form factor. The controller provides up to 100W continuous power for driving brushless servo motors. The ODrive Micro is the latest in a series of motor controllers from ODrive and builds on the company’s established software and hardware ecosystem. This includes support for CAN Bus, programming libraries, and a web-based graphic user interface for easy and intuitive setup. The Micro features a CAN interface for daisy-chaining other controllers and an onboard 12-bit magnetic encoder for direct mounting without needing an external encoder. It also offers the option to mount hall, quadrature, and SPI external encoders via the J1 header on the board. The ODrive Micro is aimed at robotics applications where space is premium, including hobbyist and professional use. It is similar to the Wukong 2040, ClearCore, and the Serial Bus […]

July 25, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 12 Comments

TinyWatch S3 is an open-source, customizable smartwatch powered by ESP32-S3 SoC

The TinyWatch S3 is an ESP32-S3 development board in a smartwatch form factor from Seon Rozenblum, also known as Unexpected Maker. It is powered by the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller with 8MB quad SPI flash storage and 2MB of additional QSPI PSRAM. It features a 240 x 280 LCD with capacitive touch (via a CST816T module) and several onboard sensors including a 6-axis inertial measurement unit, a magnetometer, and a MEMS microphone. It has a USB-C port for power, programming, and charging a connected LiPo battery (250mAh or 500mAh). While the product’s firmware is still in active development, it is usable as a watch and even a daily driver. The TinyWatch S3 is described as a “wrist-wearable ESP32-S3 development board” but lacks pin headers and is not breadboard compatible. The hardware is open-source but the product is mostly useful for firmware development, testing, and other general projects. The firmware is being […]

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

Raspberry Pi RP2040-based Pico Video4 display board features 4 composite video outputs

The Pico Video4 Display is a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered board that supports up to 4 analog composite video display interfaces with dedicated frame buffer memory accessible via SPI. The four video outputs are sent out through an RCA connector and a VGA DB15-HD connector that uses the red, green, and blue channels to create a composite video signal. The Pico Video4 Display is based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller chip and the VLSI VS23S040 four-megabit static RAM device with a video display controller that can output NTSC, PAL, and VGA video from the memory array. It provides the composite video outputs with a dedicated frame buffer and other hardware. This ensures that the RP2040’s limited processing power and memory are not hogged up in generating the video signal, leaving room for other major tasks. It has 8 inputs that are voltage-compatible to the input voltage, from 5V to 12 […]

July 19, 2024July 19, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

Femtosense introduces the AI-ADAM-100 system-in-package for affordable, efficient AI-based voice processing on the edge

Femtosense’s newest release, the AI-ADAM-100, combines a low-power Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller from ABOV Semiconductor with the Femtosense Sparse Processing Unit (SPU), an in-house neural processing unit. This combination powers AI voice processing and cleanup capabilities on edge devices. It leverages sparsity techniques to ensure that models can run on edge devices without intensive processing. Sparsity in AI refers to the presence of zeroes or non-zero values in the matrices and tensors used in machine learning models. No computation is required for these zero weights, heavily reducing processing requirements. The Femtosense AI-ADAM-100 aims to bring voice control to various devices such as home appliances, hearing aids, industrial headsets, and consumer earbuds. These appliances can implement voice user interfaces that allow users to talk naturally in their own words. On-device voice cleanup functionality would reduce infrastructure costs and improve the accuracy of the data sent to the cloud. The Femtosense SiP […]