automation News - Page 28 of 60 - CNX Software

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

8-MOSFET solid-state power driver works with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32 and other maker boards (Crowdfunding)

Using inexpensive relays to switch AC or DC loads work well in most cases, but those relays will be quickly damaged when faced with high DC voltages, fast switching times, or other endurance requirements for which MOSFET’s are better suited, and that’s why MOSFET power supplies are found in 3D printers. Sequent Microsystems has made a habit to provide specialized Raspberry Pi HAT with relays or terminals for resistance temperature detectors that are stackable to supports a larger number for I/O or sensors. The company is now back at it with the 8-MOSFET stackable, DIN-rail mountable board that works not only with Raspberry Pi SBC, but also popular Arduino, ESP32, and other maker boards. 8-MOSFET key features and specifications: Eight MOSFETs with status LEDs 4 optimized for high-current (HC) loads up to 10 A / 24 VDC 4 optimized for high-voltage (HV) loads up to 2 A / 240 VDC […]

November 13, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

OPTIGA Trust-M evaluation kit for Raspberry Pi targets Connected Home over IP standard

Optiga Trust-M evaluation-kit-Raspberry-Pi-Connected Home over IP standard

Last December, we reported that Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance had partnered to create Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) working group with the goal of developing a royalty-free, secure Smart Home standard to increase compatibility among products over WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth LE, Cellular, 802.15.4 and others community protocol. Infineon has now unveiled OPTIGA Trust-M evaluation kit for Raspberry Pi designed to experiment with Connect Home over IP standard and comprised of Infineon Shield2Go HAT/adapter board, and OPTIGA Trust-M Security Shield2Go board equipped with Infineon OPTIGA Trust-M “Common Criteria Certified EAL6+” security controller. The Shield2Go adapter just re-routes the 40-pin Raspberry Pi header I/Os to sockets compatible with Infineon boards and a prototyping area. So the most important part is OPTIGA Trust-M Shield2Go which supports the following: X.509 certificates Device authentication Cryptographic support ECC NIST curves up to P-521, Brainpool r1 curve up to 512 RSA up to […]

November 11, 2020January 7, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Fanless Tiger Lake UP3 embedded box PC targets industrial IoT, robotics & automation

Last month Vecow introduced SPC-6000 fanless embedded PC powered by an Atom x6425RE Elkhart Lake processor, and considering Tiger Lake UP3 embedded processors were announced at about the same time as Atom x6000E-series family, it should come as no surprise that the Taiwanese company has introduced a more powerful Tiger Lake UP3 model. Vecow SPC-7000/7100 Tiger Lake UP3 embedded box PC is equipped with a choice of Core i3 to i7 processors with 12W to 28W TDP with support for Iris Xe graphics, 2.5GbE, TSN networking that makes it suitable for factory automation, robotics, cellular V2X, smart retail, and any AIoT/Industry 4.0 applications. Vecow SPC-7000/7100 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i7/i5/i3 quad-core Tiger Lake UP3 processor with Intel UHD graphics or Intel Xe Graphics; 12W to 28W configurable TDP System memory – Up to 32GB via 1x DDR4 3200MHz SO-DIMM socket Storage – 1x M.2 Key B 2260 Socket, 1x […]

November 10, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

TTGO T-Higrow is a WiFi & Bluetooth connected soil temperature & moisture sensor

LilyGO WiFI Bluetooth soil-sensor kit battery case

LilyGO has made plenty of ESP32 “TTGO” boards with various features be it PoE, battery support, OLED display, cellular connectivity, and even a devkit in watch form factor. The latest product from the company specifically targets smart farming/gardening as TTGO T-Higrow embeds either DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor or BME280 temperature, humidity, and barometric sensor to report soil temperature and moisture over Bluetooth or WiFi. It can also come as a kit with a battery and a 3D printed enclosure. TTGO T-Higrow board specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core LX6 processor @ up to 240 MHz with 520 LB SRAM, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Storage – 4MB QSPI flash Wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Sensors Option 1 – DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor Option 2 – BME280 temperature, humidity, and barometric sensor Expansion – 2x 12-pin through holes with UART, […]

November 9, 2020November 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

$6 WT32-ETH01 is a Tiny ESP32 board with Ethernet

Espressif Systems ESP32 processor supports WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity. There are only a few boards coming with an Ethernet RJ45 jack out of the box including esp32MX-E ESP32 board, TTGO T-Internet-POE, and Olimex ESP32-Gateway board among others. Those boards are fine, but they sell for $16 and up, so if you’d like a cheaper and tinier ESP32 board with Ethernet, Wireless Tag WT32-ETH01 may be an option for projects not requiring PoE support. WT32-ETH01 board specifications: Wireless Module – Wireless Tag WT32-S1 based on ESP32 dual-core WiSoC with 4MB flash, on-board antenna Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet via LAN8720A transceiver 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR and LE Expansion – 2x 13 through holes and castellated holes with GPIOs, I2C, SPI, 2x UART, EN, LINK, 5V, 3.3V, and GND signals Power Supply – 3.3V or 5.5V via headers, minimum 500 mA; typical operating current: 80 […]

November 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ICOP VEX2-6415 SBC runs DOS, QNX, Linux, Windows on Vortex86EX2 “Dual OS” x86 processor

DM&P Vortex86EX2 is a dual-core x86 processor that supports legacy ISA and PCI interfaces, and designed in a way that makes it capable of running two OS independently, easy with its own BIOS, without the need for virtualization, nor a hypervisor. At the time, we also covered the Vortex86EX2 evaluation board from the company, but the first commercial product that has come to my attention is ICOP VEX2-6415 Vortex86EX2 SBC designed for automation and IoT, and which the company says support “Windows Embedded Compact 7, Windows Embedded Compact 6, various of (sic) Linux distribution, QNX, and even the legacy but still popular DOS”. ICOP VEX2-6415 SBC specifications: CPU – DM&P Vortex86EX2 dual-core processor with Master core @ 600MHz max with build-in FPU L1/L2 Cache for user interface Slave core @ 400MHz max with build-in FPU, L1 Cache for real-time control System Memory – 512MB/1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash […]

October 5, 2020October 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

UL-Certified TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug with Dual Outlet Sells for $19.99 (Promo)

WiFi smart sockets to control home appliances have been around for a few years, and one of my favorite companies is Sonoff as they offer a variety of affordable smart plugs pre-loaded with eWelink firmware and compatible with open-source firmware like Tasmota and ESPurna. The company is also attentive to safety. communicate issues with customers, and recently wrote a post entitled “Safety is our responsibility” where they detail all steps taken to make sure their mains connected device sare safe to use. Sadly that does not include safety certifications like UL/ETL, or TUV which may have implications for your home insurance depending on where you live, and for peace of mind, it’s always good to have a third verify your design for safety. Which brings me to the main point of this point, as a UL-certified dual-outlet smart socket, namely TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug, is currently on sale for $19.99 […]

October 1, 2020October 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

SIOT-50 industrial IoT device Integrates ASUS Tinker Board S in rugged enclosure

Stealth is a Canadian company that specializes in rugged displays, computers, and other ruggedized electronics for the industrial, defense, and marine markets. The company published a press release for a new rugged fanless mini PC equipped with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce graphics card, and older Intel 6th and 7th Generation Core i5, i7 & Xeon processors. But as I browsed their website, I also noticed a compact “industrial IoT device” with a rugged enclosure called SIOT-50 that appeared to be fitted with an off-the-shelf Arm Linux SBC. Let’s look at the SIOT-50 specifications and photos to find out which SBC that may be: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad-core Cortex-A17 processor with Arm Mali-T764 GPU, H.264/H.265 video hardware decoder System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video Output – HDMI up to 4K @ 30hz Audio – Realtek ALC4040 audio codec, 3.5mm audio Line Out […]