HiFive Premier P550 mini-DTX motherboard features ESWIN EIC7700X RISC-V AI SoC, up to 32GB DDR5, a PCIe x16 slot

SiFive HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V mini-DTX motherboard

SiFive HiFive Premier P550 is a mini-DTX (203 x 170mm) motherboard powered by a 1.4 GHz ESWIN EIC7700X quad-core RISC-V SiFive P550 SoC with up to 19.95 TOPS of AI performance, and equipped with up to 32GB LPDDR5 memory and a 128GB eMMC flash all soldered on a system-on-module. The motherboard itself features a SATA III connector for data storage, includes an HDMI 2.0 port for 4K video output, a PCIe Gen3 x16 slot (working at x4), two gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 Key-E socket to add a WiFi/Bluetooth card, up to five USB interfaces, and more. HiFive Premier P550 specifications: SoC – ESWIN EIC7700X CPU 4x SiFive Performance P550 RV64GC RISC-V cores @ 1.4GHz (up to 1.8GHz when overclocked) with Cortex-A75-class performance 32KB(I) + 32KB(D) L1 Cache 256KB L2 Cache 4MB shared L3 Cache Cache supports ECC (support SECDED) NPU (Not currently supported in software) – Up to 19.95 […]

Get the Creality Falcon2 Pro 40W laser engraver at a discount and gifts for Halloween (Sponsored)

Creality Halloween Event

Creality has just launched a Halloween sale for its laser engravers and accessories with up to 53% off and free gifts with a highlight of the promotion being the Creality Falcon 2 Pro 40W laser engraving machine. Creality Falcon2 Pro 40W highlights As noted in our previous article about the Falcon 2 Pro 40W, the laser engraving machine focuses on safety with a fully enclosed design,  class 1 safety certification,  systems for airflow, lens, and flame monitoring, and five safety protections namely bidirectional limit switches, an active stop function, a security lock design, an emergency stop button, and a laser protective cover. So you can carve or cut your Halloween pieces with your kids without having to worry. While safety is a priority, the Falcon2 Pro 40W is also a very capable and features-rich machine with a powerful 22W or 40W laser module, a built-in top camera for accurate alignment […]

Quectel BG770A-SN industrial IoT module offers 5G, NB-IoT, and NTN satellite connectivity

Quectel BG770A SN 5G IoT NTN module

Quectel has recently released the BG770A-SN industrial IoT module which comes in an ultra-compact form factor and supports both NTN and TN and features GNSS for positioning functionality. This 5G-ready module also supports iSIM and utilizes the GEO satellite constellation for worldwide coverage. Additionally, the module offers integrated security elements (ISE) and can operate in between the industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C. Previously we have written about the Quectel BG95-S5 5G NTN + LTE IoT module which supports NTN satellite (L-band and S-band) plus LTE Cat M1, Cat NB2, and eGPRS as fallback options, designed for applications where continuous connectivity is critical. We have also written about the Quectel CC660D-LS IoT-NTN module, which is an IoT NTN module designed specifically for Skylo’s satellite network. The new BG770A-SN module is a little different from the previous two because it supports LTE Cat M1, LTE Cat NB1/NB2, and NTN over […]

Seeed Studio launches ESP32-C6-powered 60GHz mmWave human fall detection and breathing/heartbeat detection sensor kits

mmWave human fall detection and heartbeat sensor

Last year, we reviewed the MR60FDA1 60GHz mmWave fall detection sensor kit, which utilizes the XIAO ESP32C3 module as its core. This module, featuring both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, opens up various IoT applications. Now, Seeed Studio has introduced advanced mmWave sensor modules specifically designed for enhanced fall detection and heartbeat monitoring. The MR60FDA2 is optimized for fall detection, while the MR60BHA2 is designed for heartbeat monitoring. Powered by an ESP32-C6 WiFi 6 and RIS-Bluetotoh LE microcontroller, these modules offer reliable detection for real-time fall monitoring and accurate heartbeat tracking. They also feature customizable RGB LEDs and ambient light sensors, providing additional flexibility. With expansion options via Grove GPIO ports, these versatile modules are well-suited for applications like smart home integration and healthcare monitoring. Previously, we covered the RoomSense IQ and the DesignCore RS-6843AOPU with mmWave technology. The RoomSense IQ is an ESP32-S3-based modular room monitor with mmWave radar presence […]

DALI2 expansion module for ESP32-C6-Pico and ESP32-S3-Pico boards facilitates Smart Lighting integration

Pico DALI2 Expansion Module

Waveshare has recently launched the Pico-DALI2 expansion module for ESP32-Pico series boards designed to enable DALI communication for customized control of multiple lighting groups. It is compatible with development boards such as the ESP32-C6-Pico and ESP32-S3-Pico and includes a DALI communication screw terminal for connecting external DALI devices. DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) is a standardized protocol used for lighting control in building automation systems. The latest version of the DALI2 protocol is better than the old one in that it offers enhanced interoperability, additional features like multi-master configurations, and better energy management capabilities. DALI2 devices can communicate bidirectionally, meaning controllers can send commands and also receive status feedback from lighting devices, allowing for more complex automation and diagnostics. We can get more information about DALI from Wikipedia. We have previously seen the uses of DALI in Texas Instruments MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontrollers as an interface and in Acme CM3-Home […]

AAEON FWS-2290 Intel N97 network appliance targets UTM and VPN applications

AAEON FWS 2290

AAEON has recently released the FWS-2290, an Intel N97 network appliance. This is not quite the first network appliance launched by the Taiwanese company. Back in 2018, they launched the AAEON FWS-2360 designed for wireless gateway, SD-WAN, IPS, WAN Optimization, NFV, and vCPE applications. In 2020, they followed up with the FWS-2275 rugged network appliance for Secure industrial IoT networks, and then, in 2021, they introduced the FWS-2280 Elkhart Lake network appliance designed for UTM (Unified Threat Management), firewall, SD-WAN (Software-defined Wide Area Network), VPN, and other applications. Compared to all the previous network appliances the new FWS-2290 features a newer generation and more powerful Intel Alder Lake-N processor, faster DDR5 memory, 2.5GbE Ethernet compared to GbE Ethernet on the previous models, an M.2 slot for storage, and to top it all off the device is now more compact than the previous ones. AAEON FWS-2290 network appliance specification SoC Intel […]

Spectra is a customizable, JavaScript ESP32-S3 and nRF52832 smartwatch (Crowdfunding)

spectra smartwatch

Spectra is a JavaScript-based hackable smartwatch based on the ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller that aims to offer the quality of high-end consumer smartwatches with the repairability of a maker-targeted device. The Spectra smartwatch combines the ESP32-S3 microcontroller with a Nordic Semi nRF52832 co-processor to optimize the battery life. The ESP32-S3 is maxed out with 8MB of RAM and 32MB of external flash memory, and the microSD card slot in the watch supports up to a 512GB memory card. It shares a similar concept with the Bangle.js and the Bangle.js 2 customizable smartwatches. According to the maker, Spectra is not bound to be fully open-source, since the project uses “external proprietary code [they] aren’t allowed to share.” They plan to publish Arduino libraries and hardware design files, but there is no live GitHub repository yet. Other hackable smartwatches include the TinyWatch S3, the ZSWatch, and the Sensor Watch Pro. Spectra […]

KAGA FEI ES4L15BA1 is an ultra-small Bluetooth LE 6.0 and 802.15.4 module based on Nordic nRF54L15 SoC

ultra small Bluetooth 6.0 module

Japanese company KAGA FEI has recently unveiled the incredibly small ES5L15BA1 Bluetooth LE 6.0 and 802.15.4 module based on Nordic Semi nRF54L15 ultra-low-power Cortex-M33 wireless MCU. We had previously covered the u-Blox NORA-B2 which I already found pretty small at 14.3 x 10.4 x 1.9mm, but the ES5L15BA1 module goes a step further measuring just 8.55 x 3.25 x 1.00 mm with an integrated antenna which could make it the world’s smallest Bluetooth LE module. KAGA FEI ES4L15BA1 specifications: SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15 MCU cores Arm Cortex-M33 with Arm TrustZone @ 128MHz RISC-V coprocessor for software-defined peripheral Memory – 256KB SRAM Storage – 1.5MB non-volatile memory Wireless Bluetooth 6.0 Data rates – 2Mbps, 1Mbps, 500kbps, 125kbps Features AoA / AoD Channel Sounding 802.15.4 radio for Thread / Zigbee / Matter Nordic Proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol up to 4 Mbps Frequency – 2402 to 2480 MHz +8dBm output power Antenna […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC