Category: Espressif

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Melon S3 FPGA Arduino & Raspberry Pi Compatible Board is Programmable over WiFi using ESP8266 WiSoC

Melon S3 FPGA Arduino & Raspberry Pi Compatible Board is Programmable over WiFi using ESP8266 WiSoC

Q-Wave Systems, an embedded systems company based in Thailand, has designed Melon S3 FPGA board powered by a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA with WiFi connectivity added through a ESP8266 module programmable with the Arduino IDE , and featuring two Raspberry Pi compatible headers. The FPGA bitstream can be updated over  WiFi, and does not require a JTAG debugger. Melon S3 FPGA specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan XC3S500E FPGA with 500K gates, 73Kb Distributed RAM, 4 Digital Clock Manager (DCM), 20 Multipliers (18×18), 360 Kb Block RAM WiFi module – WROOM-2 with Espressif ESP8266 32-bit MCU @ 80 MHz supporting 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. Storage – 4MB SPI flash in total with 1MB for ESP8266, 3 MB for FPGA Expansion – 2x 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible headers; 3.3V tolerant Debugging – Onboard USB-UART Silicon Labs CP2104 for configuration, debugging and power; 6-pin JTAG port for debugging/programming Misc – 8x Users LEDs, 4x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Arduino Cinque Combines SiFive RISC-V Freedom E310 MCU with ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC

Arduino Cinque Combines SiFive RISC-V Freedom E310 MCU with ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC

SiFive introduced the first Arduino compatible board based on RISC-V processor late last year with HiFive1 development board powered by Freedom E310 MCU, but  the company has been working with Arduino directly on Arduino Cinque board equipped with SiFive Freedom E310 processor, ESP32 for WiFi and Bluetooth, and an STM32 ARM MCU to handle programming. Few other technical details have been provided for the new board, but since it looks so similar to HiFive1, I’ve come with up with preliminary/tentative Arduino Cinque specifications: MCU – SiFive Freedom E310 (FE310) 32-bit RV32IMAC processor @ up to 320+ MHz (1.61 DMIPS/MHz) WiSoC – Espressif ESP32 for WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 LE Storage – 32-Mbit SPI flash I/Os 19x Digital I/O Pins 19x external interrupt pins 1x external wakeup pin 9x PWM pins 1/3 SPI Controllers/HW CS Pins I/O Voltages –  3.3V or 5V supported USB – 1x micro USB port for power, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on SHA2017 Conference Badge To Feature ESP32 SoC, e-Paper Display

SHA2017 Conference Badge To Feature ESP32 SoC, e-Paper Display

In most conference, you’ll wear a badge showing your name, job description and company, but with the price of electronics going down, it may be time for a conference badge upgrade. SHA2017 is a non-profit outdoor hacker camp taking place in The Netherlands in 2017 on August 4 – 8, and the organizers are planning to use a special badge comprised of Espressif ESP32 processor, and an e-Paper Display. SHA2017 Badge specifications: Wireless Module – Espressif ESP32 based ESP-WROOM-32 module with WiFi and Bluetooth Display – 2.9″ e-paper display (296×128) Storage – micro SD slot Expansion – 12-pin expansion header with GPIOs, I2C, 3.3V, GND Debugging – micro USB port + USB->TTL chip for programming Misc – Direction keys, select, start, A and B buttons for input; 6x RGB, LEDs; pager motor for notifications Battery – Battery sized to last at least a day Beside your name and company details, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on Getting Started with ESP32-Bit Module and ESP32-T Development Board using Arduino core for ESP32

Getting Started with ESP32-Bit Module and ESP32-T Development Board using Arduino core for ESP32

Espressif ESP32 may have launched last year, but prices have only dropped to attractive levels very recently, and Espressif has recently released released ESP-IDF 2.0 SDK with various improvements, so the platform has become  much more interesting than just a few weeks ago. ICStation also sent me ESP32-T development board with ESP32-bit module, so I’ll first see what I got, before trying out Arduino for ESP32 on the board. ESP32-T development board with ESP-bit Module – Unboxing & Soldering One thing I missed when I asked for the board is that it was not soldered, and it comes in kit with ESP32-bit module in one package, and ESP32-T breakout board with headers in another package. The 21.5x15mm module is based on ESP32-DOWNQ6 processor with 32 Mbit (4MB) of flash, a chip antenna, and a u.FL connector. The module is apparently made by eBox, and also used in Widora board with […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Whitecat ESP32 N1 Board Combines ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth SoC with a LoRa Transceiver, Runs Lua RTOS

Whitecat ESP32 N1 Board Combines ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth SoC with a LoRa Transceiver, Runs Lua RTOS

Espressif ESP32 SoC is gaining traction right now as prices have come down, and there’s still an on-going fight among LPWAN standards with LoRaWAN being fairly popular in Europe. Whitecat, a group of engineers from several companies based in Citilab, Barcelona, Spain, has designed a board that combines both ESP32 and a LoRA transceiver, bringing an alternative to Pycom LoPy board, but instead of running MicroPython, they have developed Lua-RTOS. Whitecat ESP32 N1 hardware specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microprocessor @ up to 240MHz with 520kB internal SRAM Storage – 4MB flash memory Connectivity LoRa WAN transceiver working in the 868 (EU) MHz / 915 (USA) MHz with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi transceiver with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated dual-mode Bluetooth (classic and BLE) I/O Headers – 2x 16-pin with SPI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, UART, CAN, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on $6.90 Wemos LoLin32 ESP32 Development Board Comes with 4MB Flash, Lithium Battery Support

$6.90 Wemos LoLin32 ESP32 Development Board Comes with 4MB Flash, Lithium Battery Support

Wemos – the company behind the cool Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board – has now launched its first Espressif ESP32 development board with LoLin32 equipped with ESP-WROOM-32 module with 4MB flash, a micro USB port, and a battery header. Wemos Lolin32 specifications: Wireless Module – ESP-WROOM-32 based on Espressif ESP-32 dual core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth LE I/Os 26x digital I/Os 12x analog inputs UART, I2C, SPI, VP/VN, DAC 3.3V I/O voltage Breadboard compatible USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming/debugging Power – 5V via micro USB + battery header for Lithium battery (charging current: 500mA max) Dimensions – 5.8 x 2.54 cm Weight – 5.8 grams The board is not compatible with Wemos D1 mini (34.2 x 25.6 mm) and shield, but offers a more powerful solution with Bluetooth LE, battery support, and more I/Os. The […]

Posted on by Karl Johnson - 4 Comments on Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 4: MQTT Bridge Updated to Use YS-IRTM IR Receiver & Transmitter with NodeMCU

Karl’s Home Automation Project – Part 4: MQTT Bridge Updated to Use YS-IRTM IR Receiver & Transmitter with NodeMCU

In a previous article, I wrote about an MQTT bridge by 1technophile. I added a DHT temperature and humidity sensor as well as a light sensor. Previously it included a software decoder to decode the IR signal. I never did test the IR transmitter on the gateway, as I didn’t have the parts. But thanks to IC Station, who sent me over a small YS-IRTM hardware based decoder and NodeMCU that I am writing about today. I have replaced the software based version with the YS-IRTM module in the latest update. I found this project challenging. I admit I am a little weak in my programming skills. It was difficult to find documentation but I found a forum talking about this device and basics of how it works. When an IR code is recognized it sends 3 hex codes via serial connection on the transmit pin. To transmit, it expects […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on ESP8266, Mongoose OS & Grove Sensors – An Alternative Solution for Hackathons

ESP8266, Mongoose OS & Grove Sensors – An Alternative Solution for Hackathons

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Cesanta If you walked into any Hardware hackathon over the last year, you would see they are about innovation and bringing new ideas to this world and most of them are centered around the connected devices nowadays. However, just walk the floor, talk to the teams and you can quickly see an elephant in the room. The Hackathons are about connected devices, but with the ‘recommended’ and frequently sponsored hardware distributed to the teams such as Intel Galileo, Raspberry Pi, etc…. developers may struggle for a long time to even connect it to the cloud! Not to mention the innovation is usually hindered by a tedious environment setup which takes hours, things to learn about the specific hardware and how it can be programmed using low level languages. So many teams spent most of the time fighting with those issues and oftentimes still […]

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