Obsidian ESP32 Board Follows Raspberry Pi Model A Form Factor (Crowdfunding)

Obsidian ESP32 Raspberry Pi Board

When Thomas McKahan‏ had been playing with ESP32 for a while, he found the need to use Raspberry Pi HAT boards and enclosure with his new hardware,  so he went ahead and designed his own ESP32 board compatible with Raspberry Pi accessories, and following the smaller Raspberry Pi Model A / 3 Model A+ form factor. Obsidian ESP32 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems  ESP32-WROVER-B 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 / BLE module with 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Audio – 3.5mm TRS audio jack connected to ESP32 DACs Expansion 40-pin GPIO header compatible with popular HAT expansion boards with 3.3 V signalling,  I²S for audio DAC, I²C and SPI, Serial UART available on header or via microUSB, I²C GPIO expander with interrupts & address selection 8-pim unpopulated header from remaining I/Os accessible through GPIO expander 5-pin unpopulated […]

Espressif ESP32-S2 Secure WiFi MCU Comes with an Xtensa LX7 Core @ 240 MHz

ESP32-S2

Espressif Systems has unveiled a new ESP32 WiFi MCU based on Cadence (previously Tensilica) Xtensa LX7 core instead of the usual Xtensa LX6 core(s). ESP32-S2 is powered by a single Xtensa LX7 core clocked at 240 MHz, supports Wi-Fi HT40 @ 2.4 GHz, and provides up to 43 GPIOs. Espressif ESP32-S2 specifications: CPU – Cadence Xtensa single-core 32-bit LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz, and ultra-low-power co-processor System Memory – 320 kB SRAM, external SPIRAM support up to 128 MB in total, 16 KB RTC memory Storage –  128 kB ROM, up to 1 GB of external flash support Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 1×1 transmit and receive with HT40 support with data rate up to 150 Mbps Support for TCP/IP networking, ESP-MESH networking, TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 and other networking protocols over Wi-Fi Support Time-of-Flight (TOF) measurements with normal Wi-Fi packets I/O & peripherals 43x programmable GPIOs 14x […]

Low Power TinyPICO ESP32 Board Ships with Micropython (Crowdfunding)

TinyPICO ESP32 Micropython

There are so many ESP32 boards available now, so why bother with another ones. Some of the key selling points of TinyPICO are that it is really small at 32 x 18 mm, it’s easy to use out of the box with MicroPython firmware pre-loaded, and supports LiPo batteries with an optimized power path for low-power battery usage. The developer, named Unexpected Maker, also provides various shields for TinyPICO adding a display, sensors, an audio amplifier, an RTC, Grove headers, and more. TinyPICO board specifications: System-in-Package – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with ESP32 dual-core processor operating at 240 MHz, 4 MB SPI flash External System Memory – 4 MB PSRAM Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, 3D antenna Expansion – 14x GPIO broken out to standard pitch headers Debugging / Programming – USB + serial/UART for programming Misc – Power (red) & charge (orange) LED’s, APA102 […]

Aconno Bluetooth Beacons Come with Various Sensors, Nordic Semi nRF52 BLE SoC

Aconno Bluetooth Beacons

We first covered products from Aconno is 2017 with their Bluetooth LE development board powered by the company’s ACN52832 BLE module based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4 multi-procotol wireless SoC. Since then they’ve launched several small Bluetooth beacon modules based on ACN52832, and the company has what they call a presale promotion until May 21st, but it looks really like a group buying event for their existing BLE modules where the price goes down as more people purchase modules. Six Bluetooth modules are offered: acnSENSA multisensor Bluetooth tag with temperature, light, humidity, barometer, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope acnBEACON programmable Bluetooth tag acnACT BLE beacon with button and RGD LED, magnetometer, phototransistor acnNFC programmable Bluetooth tag with NFC tag emulator acnRANGE distance measuring beacon with time-of-flight sensor acnFIND Bluetooth smart tag with LED, sound and accelerometer All modules come with a replaceable CR2450 battery, and IP65 enclosure. Pricing currently ranges from […]

Seeed Studio W600 Certified WiFi Module to Support Arduino, Micropython

W600 Certified WiFi Module

Last year, Seeed Studio introduced Air602 WiFi module, a competitor to ESP8266 based on Winner Micro W600 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller and selling for $1.90. The module was clearly optimized for cost and size since it offered only a few I/Os, and there was absolutely no mention about FCC or CE certifications. The company has now launched another W600 module, slightly larger to expose more I/Os, and pre-certified to comply with FCC and CE requirements. W600 certified WiFi module is offered standalone, or fitted to “Grove – W600” module for easy connection to Arduino boards. W600 Module Specifications: WiSoC – Winner Micro W600 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller with 1MB Flash, RF Transceiver, CMOS PA, BaseBand WiFi Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n up to 150 Mbps Frequency – 2.4~2.4835 GHz Features – Wi-Fi WMM, WMM-PS, WPA/WPA2, WPS Protocols – TCP, UDP, ICMP, DHCP, DNS, HTTP Access Point and Station modes PCB antenna Expansion – […]

Eclipse IoT Survey Report Reveals Arm & Linux Dominate, Security Concerns

Constrained devices Arm IoT

The Eclipse IoT Working Group has just released a report asking the global IoT developer community to share their perceptions, requirements, and priorities. And with over 1,700 individuals taking the survey between February and March 2019, the key findings are interesting: IoT drives real-world, commercial outcomes today. 65% of respondents are currently working on IoT projects professionally or will be in the next 18 months. IoT developers mostly use C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Python AWS, Azure, and GCP are the leading IoT cloud platforms Top three industry focus areas remain the same as last year: IoT Platforms, Home Automation, and Industrial Automation / IIoT. MQTT remains the dominant IoT communication protocol leveraged by developers The Eclipse Desktop IDE is the leading IDE for building IoT applications The last point may be slightly biased because the survey was done by the Eclipse IoT Working Group, so most respondents were already […]

Nitrogen8M_Mini Single Board Computer Launched for $135 and Up

Nitrogen8M_Mini NXP i.MX 8M Mini Board

Last month we write about Nitrogen8M_Mini, the First NXP i.MX8 8M Mini SBC, but at the time, it was not available for purchase just yet. Boundary Devices has now announced the official release of the board and is taking orders / pre-orders for $135 and up. Nitrogen8M_Mini SBC Two versions are being offered either with the board only, or as part of a devkit with a 5V power supply, an 8GB microSD card with Linux OS, a battery, and serial console cable: Nit8MQ_Mini_2r8eWB with WiFi and Bluetooth, currently in stock, and sold for $155 (board only), or $175 (devkit) Nit8MQ_Mini_2r8e without wireless module, to ship in a few weeks, and sold for $135 (board only), or $155 (devkit) Nitrogen8M_Mini specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini with 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.5 to 2.0 GHz max, 1x Cortex-M4F real-time core, Vivante GCNanoUltra 3D GPU, Vivante GC320 2D GPU System […]

FreeRTOS Kernel Now Supports RISC-V Architecture

FreeRTOS RISC-V

FreeRTOS is one of the most popular operating systems found in embedded systems, and RISC-V open architecture is getting more and more traction, so it should come as no surprise that Amazon has now added RISC-V to their recently acquired FreeRTOS kernel. Jeff Barr, Chief Evangelist for AWS, explains both 32-bit and 64-bit RISC-V cores are supported, and several RISC-V boards are already supported out of the box: The kernel supports the RISC-V I profile (RV32I and RV64I) and can be extended to support any RISC-V microcontroller. It includes preconfigured examples for the OpenISA VEGAboard, QEMU emulator for SiFive’s HiFive board, and Antmicro’s Renode emulator for the Microchip M2GL025 Creative Board. There’s no a lot of information on Amazon announcement post, but FreeRTOS website has plenty of resources to help you get started with RISC-V. The page also lists some of the key features of the RISC-V port: Supports machine […]

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