n-Fuse introduces SX1303 mPCIe LoRaWAN concentrator card

SX1303 mpcie lorawan concentrator card

I first noticed Semtech SX1303 LoRa baseband processor for gateways was in RAKwireless WisGate Developer Base equipped with RAK5146 SX1303 mPCIe LoRaWAN concentrator card. But n-Fuse now offers another option with their LRWCC3-MPCIE mini PCIe card that is an update to their earlier SX1302 based n-Fuse LRWCC2-MPCIE card announced last year. n-Fuse LRWCC3-MPCIE specifications are very similar with the differences highlighted in bold: MCU – STMicro STM32 LoRa Connectivity Semtech SX1303 digital baseband processor with 2xSX1250 and 1xSX1261 Tx/Rx front-ends Frequency Range – 863 to 870 MHz or 915 to 928 MHz Sensitivity 868 Mhz <= -125dBm at SF7, BW 125KHz <= -140dBm at SF12, BW 125kHz 915 Mhz <= -125dBm at SF7, BW 125KHz <= -140dBm at SF12, BW 125kHz Max RF Output Power – Up to +27dBm Listen Before Talk prevents collisions while accessing the spectrum. Fine Time Stamping enables Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) network-based geolocation. u.FL […]

OpenMV PureThermal STM32H7 board overlays thermal map on RGB image

OpenMV PureThermal Camera

We’ve been writing about OpenMV open-source camera boards programmable with MicroPython at least since 2015, with the latest model OpenMV Cam H7 based on STM32H7 Cortex-M7 microcontroller introduced in 2018. But the company has now gone a step further with OpenMV PureThermal board equipped with a more powerful STM32H7 dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M4microcontroller, and supporting FLIR Lepton 2 to 3.5 thermal imagers, allowing the system to overlay the thermal map on top of the image like an augmented reality app would do. It can do so on the integrated LCD display or on an HDMI display. OpenMV PureThermal features & specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32H7 Arm Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz) and Cortex-M4 @ 240 MHz microcontroller Memory – 64MB SDRAM Storage – 32 MB of QSPI flash for the firmware, a microSD card slot for saving pictures and machine vision assets Display 800×480 touch Screen LCD DVI out for driving an […]

Arduino launches Portenta Machine Control industrial control unit

Arduino Portenta Machine Control

Arduino Portenta Machine Control is a low-power, industrial control unit powered by Arduino Portenta H7 board and designed to drive equipment and machinery through digital and analog I/O exposed through terminal blocks. The industrial control unit adds to the Arduino Pro family that was introduced in 2020 with support for the Arm Pelion IoT platform, the launch of the STM32H7-powered Arduino Portenta H7 industrial board, and joins another application-specific solution, namely the Arduino Edge Control board for smart agriculture launched last month. Arduino Portenta Machine Control specifications: Portenta H7 board with MCU – TMicro STM32H747XI Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 200 MHz MCU  with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 8MB SDRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI NOR Flash Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port, WiFi & Bluetooth LE with u.FL antenna connector USB – 1x USB Programming Port I/O via […]

simpleRTK2B-SBC packs 3 u‑blox ZED-F9P RTK GNSS receivers for centimeter-level GPS positioning

simpleRTK2B-SBC RTK GNSS board

Real-time Kinematic (RTK) relative positioning technique allows for 1-3cm positioning accuracy with data derived from satellite-based positioning systems such as GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo, and NavIC. We’ve previously covered Skytraq PX1122R RTK GNSS module as well as SBG Systems Ellipse-D industrial-grade inertial navigation system featuring the technology, and now Spain-based ArduSimple has announced the simpleRTK2B-SBC single board computer that aims to “simplify the development of centimeter-level positioning solutions supporting real-time kinematics (RTK)” via up to three u‑blox ZED-F9P RTK GNSS receivers. simpleRTK2B-SBC board features & specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F7 Cortex-M7 microcontroller GNSS Positioning 184-channel u-blox ZED-F9P engine Configuration options 2x ZED-F9P for position + heading 3x ZED-F9P for position + full attitude (roll, pitch, yaw) Navigation rate up to 20Hz Position accuracy down to 1 centimeter GPS: L1 & L2;  GLONASS: L1OF & L2OF;  Galileo: E1 & E5b;  BeiDou: B2I & B2I; QZSS and SBAS Up to 4 integrated […]

Board::mini development tools offer a complete Vehicle-Hacking Platform (Crowdfunding)

board::mini base CAN bus automotive development board

If you are looking to connect to a vehicle’s CAN bus, then the newly launched open-source board::mini development tools include a board and expansion boards that will aid your application. BMC labs have introduced a development board based on the STM32 MCU and supporting expansion boards to increase the capabilities of the baseboard via a crowdfunding project.  As mentioned earlier, the board:mini base development board features an STM32 MCU at its heart and comes with a CAN transceiver. For those who do not know what a CAN transceiver is, it just transmits and detects data on the CAN bus. The board:mini project also includes three expansion boards designed to fit on top of the base development board.  The bmc::board project was born to produce development tools appropriate for both field- and industrial-prototyping work. These boards were not designed to sit on a workbench. We ourselves have a habit of strapping […]

WM1302 LoRaWAN gateway mini PCIe module works over SPI or USB

WM1302 LoRaWAN Gateway Module

Announced in 2019, Semtech SX1302 LoRa transceiver is designed for cheaper, and more efficient LoRaWAN gateways, and we’ve seen it in mini PCIe concentrator cards such as nFuse SX1302 and Rak Wireless RAK2287 using USB or SPI host interfaces. Seeed Studio adds another option with WM1302 LoRaWAN gateway mPCIe module using either SPI or USB interfaces and supporting 868 or 915 MHz frequency bands. WM1302 module specifications: MCU – STMicro STM3L412 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 80 MHz with 40KB RAM, 64 or 128KB flash LoRa Connectivity Semtech SX1302 LoRa Transceiver with 2x SX1250 Tx/Rx front-ends Tx power – Up to 26dBm @ 3.3V Rx sensitivity – Down to -139dBm @ SF12, BW 125 kHz; -125dBm @ 125K/SF7 LoRaWAN 1.0.2 compatible. LoRa band coverage – EU868, US915, AS923, AS920, AU915, KR920, and IN865. u.FL antenna connector Misc – Power, Config, and Tx/Rx LEDs Host Interface – SPI or USB interface on […]

Pockit modular Linux computer takes hot plugging magnetic blocks

Pockit modular Linux computer

There have been attempts to create modular computers and smartphones to reduce electronics waste and improve user-serviceability over the years with initiatives and products like Google Project Ara, PinePhone and Fairphone3 smartphones, DevTerm mini computer, Olimex TERES-I laptop, and many more. Here’s another modular computer project that looks really cool. Pickit modular computer is comprised of an STM32+ESP32 based mainboard with a socket for an optional Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3. The board includes magnets and electrical contacts to snap and hot-plug modules/blocks while the computer is running. The video demo embedded further below, is really impressive, but let’s check out Pockit preliminary specifications first: MCU – STMicro STM32 microcontroller Wireless MCU – ESP32 dual-core processor with WiFi and Bluetooth LE CPU module – Socket for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 Expansion 24+ feature BLOCKS ready to use with instant connection using magnetic-snaps including Ethernet, Display (HDMI), audio, sensor modules […]

CutiePi tablet gets a Raspberry Pi CM4 upgrade

Raspberry Pi CM4 Tablet

CutiePi tablet was launched on Kickstarter last year with a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ Lite, an open-source hardware carrier board, and an 8-inch multi-touch display with 1280×800 resolution. Shipping to backers is about to start, but the company has already started working on a new version of the CutiePi Tablet with the Raspberry Pi CM4 module released last October. This will enable greater performance and more memory with the tablet shipping with a 2GB RAM CM4 module by default. CutiePi CM4 tablet preliminary specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Lite with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 2GB RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 8-inch 5-point multi-touch IPS LCD with 1280×800 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI Audio – 2W 8Ohm speaker, audio amplifier, built-in microphone Camera – 5MP front-facing camera (OV5647) Connectivity – Dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 USB […]

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