Hardware Category - Page 15 of 1152 - CNX Software

December 5, 2024December 28, 2024 by Sayantan Nandy - No Comments

u-blox MAYA-W4 tri-radio IoT module features NXP IW610 chipset with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios

Last year, we covered the u-blox MAYA-W3 module, which was based on the Infineon AIROC CYW5551x chipset and utilized separate chipsets for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequencies. Now, u-blox has introduced the MAYA-W4 series, a host-based Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 module built on the NXP IW610 chipset. Designed for industrial and commercial applications such as building automation, energy management, smart homes, and healthcare, the MAYA-W4 series supports SISO Wi-Fi 6 with a 20 MHz channel width, ensuring reliable performance in dense network environments. These modules can function as access points, stations, P2P devices, or in mixed modes. The MAYA-W4 modules are compatible with the Matter protocol over Thread and Wi-Fi, facilitating seamless integration across ecosystems. With a compact size of 10.4 x 14.3 mm, these modules rank among the smallest Wi-Fi 6 SMD modules and are available with integrated antennas or U.FL connectors. Rigorous testing […]

December 4, 2024December 28, 2024 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 1 Comment

SONOFF CAM Slim Gen2 Review – A tiny indoor security camera tested with eWeLink and Home Assistant

We have received the latest tiny indoor security camera from SONOFF: the second generation of the CAM Slim series known as the CAM Slim Gen2 (or CAM S2 for shorts). Some of you might remember the first-generation CAM Slim model reviewed by Jean-Luc about two years ago. The Gen2 version keeps the same 1080p resolution but comes with several upgraded features, including AI algorithms to distinguish living beings, customizable detection zones, customizable privacy zones, sleep mode, enhanced low-light image quality, and flexible storage management. Although it’s packed with several enhancements, its price is lower than the Gen1. Let’s delve into the details! SONOFF CAM Slim Gen2 unboxing Inside the box, you’ll find a compact manual, a USB-C cable, a mounting kit, and a sticker template acting as a drilling guide. The camera is smaller than your palm and comes mounted on a versatile, rotatable base, making installation in various positions […]

December 4, 2024December 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Silicon Labs SiWG917Y and SiWN917Y are ultra-low power WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.4 IoT modules

Silicon Labs SiWG917Y and SiWN917Y are pre-certified, ultra-low power 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) 5.4 modules made as an extension of the Wireless Gecko Series 2 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller family and designed for IoT applications such as Smart Home devices, building automation solutions, healthcare devices, industrial sensors, and asset trackers. The SiWG917Y module is used as a standalone solution where all application code runs on an Arm Cortex-M4 core, and the SiWN917Y module is designed as a Network Co-processor so customers can execute their application on a separate MCU while the wireless module manages WiFi 6 and BLE 5.4. Silicon Labs SiWx917Y modules specifications: Microcontroller MCU Arm Cortex-M4F application core up to 180 MHz (225 DMIPS performance) Arm Cortex-M4 network wireless processor running up to 160 MHz, Accelerators – Integrated FPU, MPU, NVIC, Matrix vector processor (MVP) Memory 672 KB embedded SRAM shared by Cortex-M4 and […]

December 4, 2024December 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

CapibaraZero firmware enables low-cost Flipper Zero alternatives based on ESP32-S3 hardware

CapibaraZero ESP32-S3 Flipper Zero alternative

CapibaraZero open-source firmware aims to offer a low-cost alternative to Flipper Zero for ESP32-S3-based hardware platforms and soon other gizmos with ESP32 wireless microcontrollers, notably the LilyGO T-Embed CC1101, similar to the original T-Embed with ESP32-S3 WiSoC, but also featuring a Texas Instruments CC1101 Sub-GHz microcontroller and an NXP PN532 NFC/RFID module. The Flipper Zero is a popular portable multi-tool for pentesters and hardware hackers based on STMicro STM32WB55 Bluetooth 5 LE & 802.15.4 wireless microcontroller and a TI CC1101 Sub-Ghz MCU that got involved in controversies such as a ban proposal in Canada last year due to its (dubious) potential use for car theft. Since then we’ve seen several alternatives such as Monstatek M1 (that’s yet to be delivered to backers…) and HackBat open-source hardware with Raspberry Pi RP2040, ESP8266 WiFi module, and the CC1101 RF transceiver. The CapibaraZero firmware offers another way to create your own cheap Flipper […]

December 3, 2024 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Renesas RZ/T2H Cortex-A55/R52 industrial MPU and Dev Board support EtherCAT, PROFINET, and TSN

Renesas RZ/T2H industrial MPU is the most powerful member of its RZ/T2 series of real-time microprocessors. The MPU features four Arm Cortex-A55 CPUs for application tasks and two Cortex-R52 CPUs for real-time control. It supports 9-axis motor control with 3-phase PWM timers, delta-sigma interfaces, and encoder interfaces. It also supports Industrial Ethernet protocols like EtherCAT, PROFINET, and TSN. These features make it ideal for industrial applications such as industrial robots, PLCs, motion controllers, and CNC machines. Renesas launched the RZ/T2L single-core Arm Cortex-R52 MPU just last year, and before that, in 2022, they launched the RZ/T2M dual Arm Cortex-R52 MPU. The RZ/T2L was just a cost-down version of RZ/T2M with an EtherCAT controller, compared to those old controllers the latest RZ/T2H supports 9-axis motor control and compatibility with various industrial Ethernet protocols. Renesas RZ/T2H specifications: CPU 4x Arm Cortex-A55 (64-bit) clocked at up to 1.2GHz with 32KB L1 I/D cache, 1MB L3 cache 2x […]

December 3, 2024December 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Orange Pi 5 Ultra SBC offers HDMI 2.1 output and HDMI 2.0 input

The Orange Pi 5 Ultra is a Rockchip RK3588 SBC that’s slightly larger than a business card and visually identical to the Orange Pi 5 Max introduced last August, but replacing one of the two HDMI 2.1 video outputs on the latter with an HDMI 2.0 input port. The new single board computer is still offered with up to 16GB LPDDR5, an eMMC flash module connector or soldered-on eMMC flash, an M.2 socket for an NVMe SSD, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and four USB 3.0/2.0 ports. Orange Pi 5 Ultra specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 6 TOPS AI accelerator with support for INT4/INT8/INT16/FP16 mixed operation VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 10-bit decoder, 8Kp30 H.264 decoder, […]

December 2, 2024December 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) to focus on reliability and efficiency while maintaining Wi-Fi 7 performance

WiFi 4 vs WiFi 5 vs WiFi 6 vs WiFi 7 vs WiFi 8

Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) routers and modules have only been launched recently, but engineers are already working on Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) “Ultra High Reliability (UHR)”, and MediaTek shared some details in a whitepaper detailing some of the improvements of the new standard for its upcoming Filogic Wi-Fi 8 SoCs. Surprisingly, there aren’t any enhancements to the maximum performance with Wi-Fi 8 still offering up to 320 MHz channel bandwidth, 23 Gbps maximum PHY rate, and support for 2.4 GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz frequency bands, as well as up to 8 spatial streams. The Wi-Fi 8 improvements are all meant to improve Wi-Fi reliability, network efficiency, and power consumption in IoT use cases, which will end up improving the overall WLAN performance when many nodes are connected. Wi-Fi 8 new features: Coordinated Target Wait Time (TWT) allows low-power IoT devices to negotiate specific times for transmission with access points in order to […]

December 2, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

$20 ATOMIC Display Base is a low-cost HDMI display driver for M5Stack’s ESP32-based Atom IoT controllers

M5Stack has recently launched the M5Stack ATOMIC Display Base, an HDMI display driver designed to emulate traditional SPI TFT-LCD data output using Gowin GW1NR-9C FPGA and a built-in LT8618SX RGB-to-HDMI chip and designed to work with the company’s Atom IoT controller family based on ESP32 wireless microcontrollers. The module supports up to 720p (1280×720) image output with a 24-bit color depth and has an average frame rate of 12–16 FPS. Additionally, it can be paired with ATOM series hosts for various memory and application needs. These features make this compact device suitable for industrial control displays, smart home information screens, educational and conference presentations, and remote monitoring displays. The only downside of this device is that it requires a display with adaptive resolution scaling to avoid compatibility issues. M5Stack ATOMIC Display Base (HDMI display driver) specifications FPGA – Gowin GW1NR-9C (PDF datasheet) FPGA with 8,640 LUTs used to simulate SPI TFT-LCD data […]