Hardware Category - Page 609 of 1133 - CNX Software

May 22, 2018July 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Dragino NB-IoT Bee is a $23 Xbee Compatible NB-IoT Add-on Board

Several companies are already offering XBee NB-IoT add-on board including Digi International themselves, and SODAQ with their NB-IoT Bee N211 module going for 69 Euros. Dragino NB-IoT Bee is another option for NB-IoT connectivity using Xbee form factor, and the board should be cheaper than most as it goes for $23.00 on Tindie with an external antenna. NB-IoT Bee specifications: NB-IoT module Quectel BC95-B5 for B5:850Mhz, B8:900Mhz, or B20:800Mhz in respectively Nb-IoT Bee QB05, QB08, QB20 models (i.e. one frequency is supported by model) Quectel BG96 for LTE Cat M1 & Cat NB1 & EGPRS in Nb-IoT Bee QG96 model Output Powe – 23dBm Sensitivity – -129dBm Micro SIM Slot Input voltage – 4.5v ~ 5.5V Temperature Range – -40°C ~ +85°C Typical applications for such board include smart metering, facility management services, security & fire alarms, asset tracking, smart city infrastructure and so on. If you are looking specifically […]

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Circumference Datacentre-in-a-Box Features up to 32 Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Managed by a UDOO x86 Ultra Board (Crowdfunding)

We’ve previously seen several clusters made of Raspberry Pi boards with a 16 RPi Zero cluster prototype, or BitScope Blade with 40 Raspberry Pi boards. The latter now even offers solutions for up to 1,000 nodes in a 42U rack. Circumference offers an other option with either 8 or 32 Raspberry Pi 3 (B+) boards managed by UDOO x86 board acting as a dedicated front-end processor (FEP) that’s designed as a “Datacenter-in-a-Box”. Key features and specifications: Compute nodes – 8x or 32x Raspberry Pi 3 B+ boards for a total of 128x 64-bit 1.4 GHz cores max Backplane MCU – Microchip ATmega1280 8-bit AVR microcontroller Serial Comms – FTDI FT4232 quad-USB UART Switched Mode Power Supply Units (SMPSUs): 8x / 32x software controlled (one per compute node) 1x / 4x always-on (microcontroller) HW monitoring: 8x / 32x compute node energy 2x / 8x supply voltage 2x / 8x temperature Remote […]

May 21, 2018May 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Sonoff S26 WiFi Smart Plug Works in All/Most Countries, Sells for under $10

One recurring issue with smart plugs / sockets is that they are often designed with a specific prong type, so if you want to use them in our country you may have to add an adapter, which may not be ideal, since the socket may fall off or have bad contact. Sonoff S26 WiFi smart plug solves that issue as ITEAD Studio made it available in six different versions for China, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe type F, Europe type E, and the United States. Sonoff S26 specifications: Standard – US/ UK/ CN/AU/ EU(type F/E) Power supply – 90V~250V AC @ 50/60Hz Max. Current – 10A Max power – 2200W Connectivity – 802.11.b/g/n 2.4G WiFi with WEP/TKIP/AES encyprtion, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security Dimensions – 104 x 55 x 73 mm (Fire Retardant ABS enclosure) Weight – 130 grams Temperature Range – 0ºC-40ºC Humidity- 5%-90%RH, Non-condensing Certification – CE Just like other Sonoff devices, […]

May 21, 2018May 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ESP32-Sense Kit Lets You Experiment with ESP32 Touch Interface

Beside support for Bluetooth, one the other extra benefits of Espressif ESP32 over ESP8266 is the presence of a touch interface in the newer processor. If you are interested in that specific features, Espressif Systems has worked on ESP32-Sense kit that provides a main board with ESP32, and several touch enabled daughter boards. Board descriptions in the kit: Motherboard with ESP32 module (ESP-WROOM-32), a 3-digit display unit, a debug unit, USB port for power, switches, an RGB LED, and expansion headers. 5 daughterboard: linear slider duplex slider wheel slider matrix buttons spring buttons. Developers could even design and add their own daughterboards to connect to the motherboard’s touch header. A good way to get started with your own board is to check out ESP32 Sense Kit reference design files with Cadence/OrCAD Capture V16.6 schematics, and Mentor Graphics/Pads VⅩ.2 PCB layout files. But if you are just interested in the software […]

May 20, 2018May 20, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ZiP (zGlue Integration Platform) Enables the Design & Manufacturing of Low Cost Custom Chips

When I first started to read about zOrigin on Crowdsupply, I was not really impressed. Meh… Yet another Bluetooth LE fitness tracker with a few sensors, and an Android app. But as I read further, I found out the interesting part was inside the device: ZGLZ1BA, a custom chip manufactured using ZiP (zGlue Integration Platform) chip-stacking technology, which produces something similar to SiP (System-in-Package) but at a much lower cost and manufacturing lead time. But let’s have a look at zOrigin tracker first, which acts as a demonstration / evaluation platform for ZiP technology. Key specifications & features: “SoC” – ZGZL1BA ZiP with Dialog Semiconductor DA14585 16MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 MCU with BLE Analog Devices AD8233 Heart Rate Analog Front End (AFE) Macronix MX25R4035F 2 Mbit Flash Memory MCube MC3672 Accelerometer Maxim MAX77734 Power Managment IC (PMIC) SiTime SIT1552 32 kHz Oscillator Vishay SI8466EDB MOSFET 30 passive components Package […]

May 19, 2018May 19, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Arduino Unveils its First FPGA Board with MKR Vidor 4000, Updates UNO WiFi Board with ATmega4809 MCU

Arduino has been busy with new boards announcements in the last week, as after introducing MKR WiFi 1010 and MKR NB 1500 IoT boards with respectively WiFi + Bluetooth, and NB-IoT + eMTC connectivity, the company has now unveiled two new boards. MKR Vidor 4000 is the very first official Arduino board with an FPGA, while UNO WiFi Rev2 is an upgrade of UNO WiFi board featuring the new Microchip ATmega4809 MCU and an U-blox wireless module instead of an ESP8266 chip. MKR Vidor 4000 Preliminary specifications: FPGA part FPGA – Intel Cyclone FPGA with 16K Logic Elements, 504Kbit of embedded RAM and 56 18×18 bit HW multipliers for high-speed DSP System Memory – 8 MB SDRAM Storage – 2 MB QSPI Flash (1MB for user applications) Micro HDMI connector MIPI camera connector mini PCIe connector with up to 25 user programmable pins MCU – Microchip SAMD21 Cortex-M0+ 32bit low […]

May 18, 2018May 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

R-TV BOX S10+ is an Android 8.1 TV Box with a Built-in Qi Wireless Charger

A couple of years ago we wrote about ECS Live Station, an Intel Bay Trail mini PC with an integrated wireless charger that can be used to charge any compatible smartphone. But as I was checking out new arrivals feed, I found out there was now a TV box that does the same thing. Apart from the wireless charger placed on top of the device, R-TV BOX S10+ is pretty much a standard 4K TV box based on RK3328 processor: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite) Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264. 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Audio – Via HDMI, AV port (stereo […]

May 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

UMIDIGI Z2 Pro is one of the first Smartphones based on MediaTek Helio P60 SoC

MediaTek unveiled Helio P60 Cortex A73/A53 processor with AI HW acceleration a few months ago, and we were promised smartphones would start selling in Q2 2018. Mediatek’s partners seem to be right on schedule, as several MediaTek Helio P60 smartphones have now been announced, including UMIDIGI Z2 Pro, which we’ll cover in this post. Specifications for UMIDIGI Z2 Pro smartphone: SoC – MediaTek Helio P60 big.LITTLE octa-core processor with four Arm Cortex-A73 up to 2.0 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A53 up to 2.0 GHz, Arm Mali-G72 MP3 GPU at 800MHz, and a multi-core AI processing unit System Memory – 6GB RAM Storage – 128GB flash, micro SD slot up to 256 GB Display – 6.2″ FHD+ (1080 x 2246) display with 403 PPI Camera 16MP + 8MP rear camera, 5-element lens, Samsung sensor, dual LED flash, face recognition 16MP + 8MP front-facing camera, ƒ/2.0 aperture, Sony sensor, face recognition Video recordings […]