Silicon Labs Category - Page 2 of 9 - CNX Software

June 12, 2024June 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

$20 Zigbee & Z-Wave mPCIe module targets Home Assistant gateways

Mixtile’s “2-in-1 Zigbee & Z-Wave mPCIe module” is a relatively inexpensive way to add Zigbee and Z-Wave connectivity to a Home Assistant server without having USB dongles sticking out of the server and taking some of its spare USB ports. The module is compatible with any computer, gateway, or SBC with a spare mini PCIe socket featuring a USB 2.0 interface such as Rockchip RK3568-powered Mixtile Edge 2 Kit gateway. You’ll also need some way of mounting the antennas after connecting them to the IPEX-1 antenna connectors on the module, the Edge 2 Kit comes with multiple antenna holes. Mixtile 2-in-1 Zigbee & Z-Wave mPCIe module specifications: Wireless MCUs Silabs EFR32MG24 Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with 256 kB RAM, 1536 kB flash Radio Frequency – 2.4 GHz (802.15.4 radio) TX Power – up to +19.5 dBm RX sensitivity – -105.4 dBm at 250 kbps Protocols – Zigbee, Matter, Thread […]

May 17, 2024May 17, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U) Zigbee 3.0 gateway and Matter Bridge supports up to 256 sub-devices

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra, also known as ZBBridge-U, is a Zigbee 3.0 gateway and Matter Bridge powered by a 1.5 GHz Rockchip RV1109 dual-core processor and equipped with Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 multiprotocol SoC. The gateway also offers WiFi and Ethernet connectivity and supports up to 256 Zigbee 3.0 sub-devices improving on the 128 sub-devices supported by the earlier SONOFF ZBBridge-P (ESP32+CC2652P) that also lacks Matter support. The new ZBBridge-U gateway further implements a Turbo mode increasing the line-of-sight range to up to 200 meters. SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U) specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1109 dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz with RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz, 2D graphics engine, 1.2 TOPS NPU, 5MP H.264 and H.265 hardware video decoder and encoder System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash for the OS Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port 2.4GHz WiFi 4 Zigbee 3.0 via Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 SoC with […]

May 10, 2024May 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SONOFF ZBMicro Zigbee USB smart adapter adds any USB device to your Smart Home setup

SONOFF Micro Zibgee USB Smart adapter, or SONOFF ZBMicro for shorts, is a Zigbee 3.0 USB adaptor to remotely control USB devices via your smartphone app or home automation solution based on Home Assistant or other solution to turn on/off the device, set timers to control charging times, configure smart scenes, or control with voice commands. The new home automation device from ITEAD is based on a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 multiprotocol SoC, works with the usual eWelink app, as well as Home Assitant and OpenHAB open-source solutions when the server is fitted with a compatible Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle SONOFF ZBMicro specifications: Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 80 MHz Memory – 96KB SRAM Storage – 352KB flash, 1024KB ROM for protocols and library functions Wireless – Zigbee 3.0 USB – USB 2.0 Type-A port Misc User Button – single press: Turn on/off […]

April 29, 2024April 30, 2024 by Paisit Wongsongsarn - 5 Comments

Review of SONOFF SNZB-06P human presence and SNZB-04P door/window Zigbee sensors

SONOFF has been gradually refreshing its Zigbee product lineup since August 2023, and CNX has recently written about the Temperature/Humidity Sensor (SNZB-01P), Switch/Button (SNZB-02P) and Motion Sensor (SNZB-03P), and the SONOFF SNZB-06P human presence sensor. I’ve now had the opportunity to review both the SONOFF SNZB-06P and the new Door/Window Sensor (SNZB-04P). After we keep trying them out for a few weeks, we think reliability is much improved, especially with the Door/Window Sensor, the materials made as well as the appearance look better than the previous models. As for the Human Presence Sensor, it’s the first generation, which is quite impressive considering its price and features. Let’s take a closer look. Door/Window Sensor (SNZB-04P) review Unboxing Obviously, the rounded design differs from the previous rectangular version. It integrates better with the surroundings than the previous model. Additionally, the lithium battery capacity is larger (CR2450 @550mA vs. CR2477 @1000mA), resulting in […]

April 9, 2024May 8, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Silicon Labs MG26, BG26, and PG26 Cortex-M33 AI microcontrollers offer up to 3200KB flash, 512KB RAM, 64 GPIO’s

Silicon Labs MG26 BG26 P26 Cortex M33 microcontrollers

Silicon Labs has announced the xG26 family of Cortex-M33 wireless SoCs and MCUs that consists of the multiprotocol MG26 SoC, the Bluetooth LE BG26 SoC, and the PG26 general-purpose MCU without wireless connectivity, and features double the flash and RAM of the Silicon Labs xG24 devices. The xG26 family also comes with double the number of general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins as the xG24 to enable engineers to build more complex devices in combination with the larger flash and memory reaching up to 3200 KB and 512KB respectively and also integrates a Matrix Vector Processor (MVP) for AI/ML hardware acceleration and Math functions. Silicon Labs MG26 and BG26 wireless SoCs MG26 and BG26 key features and specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78 MHz AI/ML accelerator – Matrix Vector Processor that is 8x faster and 6x lower power than Cortex-M33 processing, and supports an MVP Math Library for non-ML workloads […]

March 26, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 6 Comments

Arduino Nano Matter board specifications and price announced

The Arduino Nano Matter is the product of a collaboration between Arduino and Silicon Labs. The Nano Matter board was announced in January and is powered by SiLabs’ MGM240S chip. It offers multiple wireless connectivity options such as Matter, OpenThread, and Bluetooth Low Energy. Support for the Matter standard is the Nano Matter board’s key offering. Matter is an open-source, connectivity protocol that lets smart home devices from different manufacturers interoperate seamlessly. The 45mm x 18mm board leverages dual-mode connectivity, with IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread) for mesh networking and Bluetooth Low Energy for short-range communication. It is targeted at the Internet of Things, home automation, professional automation, environmental monitoring, and climate control applications. Prospective industrial applications include machine-to-machine interoperability, machine status monitoring, and worker status optimization. Arduino Nano Matter specs: MPU – SiLabs MGM240SD22VNA MCU core – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 with DSP (digital signal processing) instruction and FPU (floating-point unit) @ […]

January 11, 2024January 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Arduino and Silicon Labs collaborate to bring Matter to Arduino boards and IDE

Arduino and Silicon Labs have joined hands to both bring Matter-compatible SiLabs wireless microcontrollers to the Arduino IDE and then design an upcoming Arduino Nano based on SiLabs MGM240 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller with Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and Bluetooth LE protocols. Available now: Arduino Core for Silicon Labs devices The first phase of the collaboration involves getting Arduino core for Silicon Labs development boards so that compatible devices can be programmed in the IDE. The good news is that it’s available now and works with four existing wireless boards: SparkFun Thing Plus Matter MGM240P based on MGM240PB32VNA Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Matter, Thread, Zigbee 3.0, and Bluetooth 5.3 LE connectivity SiLabs xG27 Dev Kit based on EFR32BG27C140F768IM40 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Bluetooth LE 5.3, Bluetooth Mesh, Proprietary 2.4 GHz connectivity SiLabs xG24 Explorer Kit based on EFR32MG24B210F1536IM48 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Bluetooth 5.3 LE, Bluetooth Mesh, Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, Proprietary 2.4 […]

December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

2023 Year in review – Top 10 posts, statistics, and what to expect in 2024

It’s the last day and last article of the year, so we will look at some highlights of 2023, some traffic statistics on the CNX Software website, and speculate what interesting developments may happen in 2024. Looking back at 2023 The semiconductor shortage that had happened since 2020 started to fade away in early 2023, and supplies for most electronics components and devices seem to be adequate at this time, so that was a bright spot this year, and hopefully, it will stay that way in 2024 despite geopolitical tensions. We did not have any super exciting new Arm application processors from Rockchip, Amlogic, or Allwinner announced this year, although the Amlogic S928X penta-core Cortex-A76/A55 CPU started to show up in some 8K TV boxes. The launch of the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC with a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 processor was probably the main highlight for Arm on this side […]