8devices Carambola 3 WiFi IoT module supports upstream OpenWrt, industrial temperature range

8devices Carambola3 DVK

8devices Carambola 3 is a compact System On Module (SoM) built around the Qualcomm QCA4531 WiFi 4 chipset. The module comes in two variants – the Carambola3 for commercial applications (0 to +65°C) and the Carambola3-I for industrial environments (-40 to +85°C). Additionally, 8devices offers a development kit with integrated features like a 2.4 GHz chip antenna, dual LAN ports, USB, GPIO, and much more. Notably, the development kit also supports OpenWrt Upstream, making it ideal for IoT, industrial automation, and smart home projects. The Carambola3 is a pin-to-pin compatible module with the Carambola2, but with a faster processor, more memory, and lower power consumption while the original Carambola was discontinued due to its older technology. 8devices has been developing and selling Wi-Fi modules such as the Rambutan Atheros module, Komikan 802.11ac Wave 2 Module, and recently announced Noni M.2 WiFi 7 module feel free to check those out if […]

Cavli C17QS Cat 1.bis cellular IoT and GNSS module offers more memory, global support, a new FreeRTOS SDK

Cavli C17QS Cat 1.bis cellular IoT module with FreeRTOS SDK

Cavli Wireless C17QS is a Cat 1.bis cellular IoT and GNSS module that builds up on the Qualcomm QCX216-powered C16QS Cat 1.bis Cellular IoT module introduced last year, with more memory (2MB RAM) and storage (8MB flash), a wider range of LTE bands, multi-band (L1 and L5) GNSS, and a new FreeRTOS SDK for more flexibility compared to the C16QS. The Cavli C17QS Cat 1bis module is designed around a Qualcomm QCX217 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller clocked at up to 306MHz clock speed and running FreeRTOS real-time operating system. The module features a range of interfaces including UART, USB 2.0, USIM, SWD, ADCs, I2S, I2C, SPI, and GPIO pins. The new module is pin-to-pin compatible with the C16QS module for easier design upgrades. Cavli C17QS specifications: Wireless IC – Qualcomm QCX217 Arm Cortex-M3 @ 306 MHz, cellular modem-RF Memory – 2MB RAM Storage – 8 MB flash Cellular connectivity LTE CAT […]

NiCE5340 SoM packs Nordic nRF5340 MCU, Lattice iCE40 FPGA, and 11 sensors into a tiny 29x16mm form factor

Stefano Viola's NiCE5340 SoM

Stefano Viola’s NiCE5340 SoM is built around a Nordic Semi nRF5340 Bluetooth SoC, an iCE40 FPGA, 11 sensors, a battery charger, and various other peripherals in a 29×16 mm form factor. The nRF5340 used in the SoM is a low-power, dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 SoC with Bluetooth 5.4, Bluetooth LE (BLE), Thread, Zigbee, and other proprietary protocols. Meanwhile, the Lattice iCE40 FPGA features 3520 logic cells, 80 Kbits of embedded Block RAM, I2C, and SPI blocks, and many other features that make it suitable for applications like environmental monitoring, health tracking, and others. Previously, we have written about Unexpected Maker NANOS3, TinyS3, FeatherS3, and ProS3 boards, and ESP32-S3 4G dev board which all fall under the tiny and compact board category but this is the first time we have seen an MCU board with so many features built into a module of that size. Stefano Viola’s NiCE5340 SoM Specification ICs Nordic […]

PCIe to 5G HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 takes SIMCom and Quectel 5G modules

Raspberry Pi 5 5G PCIe HAT+

Waveshare PCIe to 5G/4G/3G HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 is a PCIe Gen 2 x1 to M.2 HAT+ designed to take 5G modules from SIMCom and Quectel and a Nano SIM card. The kit ships with a 4-in-1 PCB antenna, associated cables, a heatsink, a 4cm 16-pin PCIe FPC cable, a 40-pin female header, and a fixture set for mounting. We had previously written about the SixFab 5G HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 with a Quectel RM502Q-AE M.2 module, but this specific kit still relies on the USB 3.0 interface. The Waveshare kit is the first 5G kit using the PCIe interface from the Raspberry Pi 5 interface and it is offered with Quectel RM502Q-AE, RM530N-GL, RM520N-GL, or SIMCom SIM8262E-M2, SIM8262A-M2 M.2 3042/3052 modules. Waveshare PCIe to 5G HAT+ specifications: M.2 Key B socket for 3042/3052 5G modules with PCIe interface 16-pin PCIe FPC connector directly connected to the […]

DFM8001 indoor energy harvesting kit harnesses solar energy (and mechanical, thermal, RF energy with extra hardware)

DFM8001 Indoor Ambient Energy Harvesting Kit

DFRobot DFM8001 indoor ambient energy harvesting kit can power IoT devices by harnessing solar energy, and the company claims it can also capture mechanical, thermal, and RF energy from the local environment but there’s no way to do that with that kit without additional hardware. The DFRobot kit is comprised of an evaluation board with the company DFM8001 energy harvesting module, two pluggable supercapacitors, and a solar panel used as power input. You could also use other sources emitting at least 150 mV gathering energy from RF, thermal, or mechanical sources. The board features two outputs one low-voltage (1.2-1.8V) terminal up to 20mA, and a high-voltage (1.8V-4.1V) terminal up to 80mA, and two battery connectors plus a few jumpers for configuration. DFM8001 energy harvesting kit specifications: Operating voltage – 3.3V to 5.5V DC Cold start condition – Input > 400mV 15uW Sustaining voltage after cold start – 150mV. Input voltage […]

GCT GDM7243SL is a dual-core RISC-V 5G/4G LTE modem with support for NTN, NB-IoT, LTE Cat M, Cat1bis, Cat1 and/or Cat4

GDM7243SL2 block diagram

CT Semiconductor Holding GDM7243SL is a multi-mode 5G/4G LTE IoT modem with two 400 MHz RISC-V cores capable of operating in Cat 4, Cat 1bis, Cat M1, Cat NB1/NB2 (NB-IoT) and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) in order to work anywhere on earth. If I remember correctly, one of the first commercial RISC-V SoCs I saw was a storage controller from Western Digital introduced in 2019. But since then, we’ve seen more and more RISC-V chips come to market from entry-level microcontrollers up to Linux-capable application processors, and even chips for datacenters that are out of the scope of topics covered on CNX Software. But with GDM7243SL, I think it’s the first time I’ve encountered a RISC-V modem, so let’s have a closer look. There are two models, the GDM7243SL1 and GDM7243SL2, with different memory and storage options, and the L1 lacks support for LTE Cat 4. GDM7243SL key features: CPU 400 […]

Conexio Stratus Pro – A battery-powered nRF9161 development kit with LTE IoT, DECT NR+, GNSS connectivity (Crowdfunding)

Conexio Stratus Pro nRF9161 IoT prototyping kit

Conexio Stratus Pro is a tiny IoT development kit based on Nordic Semi nRF9161 system-in-package (SiP) with LTE-M/NB-IoT, DECT NR+, and GNSS connectivity and designed to create battery-powered cellular-connected electronic projects and products such as asset trackers, environmental monitors, smart meters, and industrial automation devices. Just like the previous generation Conexio Startus board based on the Nordic Semi nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP, the new Conexio Stratus Pro board supports solar energy harvesting and comes with a Feather form factor and Qwiic connector for each expansion. Conexio Stratus Pro specifications: System-in-package – Nordic Semi nRF9161 SiP MCU – Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at 64 MHz with 1 MB Flash pre-programmed MCUBoot bootloader, 256 KB RAM Modem Transceiver and baseband 3GPP LTE release 14 LTE-M/NB-IoT support DECT NR+ ready GPS/GNSS receiver RF Transceiver for global coverage supporting bands: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B8, B12, B13, B17, B18, B19, B20, B25, B26, B28, […]

Quectel SG368Z WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 smart module is built around Rockchip RK3568 SoC

Quectel SG368Z Smart Module

The Quectel SG368Z Smart Module is an all-in-one hardware package built around a Rockchip RK3568 AI SoC that combines computing, graphics, storage, and connectivity in a compact form factor. The  LGA module offers WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, dual gigabit Ethernet networking, various video output options (HDMI, LVDS, RGB, MIPI, eDP), USB, PCIe, and many other features making it suitable for applications like smart homes, wearables, and industrial automation. Previously we have seen Quectel introduce various communication modules like the Quectel BG95-S5 5G, the  Quectel KG200Z LoRa the Quectel RG255G RedCap IoT Module, and the Quectel CC660D-LS IoT-NTN module, but this is the first time we have seen Quectel release a Smart Module which can be certainly be considered as a SoM in a LGA package. Quectel SG368Z Smart Module specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor at up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Mali G52 […]

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