automation News - Page 38 of 60 - CNX Software

January 16, 2019January 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Xunison X-Brain Android Smart Home Hub Supports Z-Wave and Bluetooth Controllers

Xunison X-Brain is an All-in-One smart home hub that integrates a high-performance secure router, a home server, a WiFi, Z-Wave & Bluetooth gateway. X-Brain runs Android TV operating system, so you can watch live television, stream videos from Netflix, Hulu or IPTV services with EPG, as well as install apps from Google Play. The home automation part of the system allows you to control Z-Wave & Bluetooth Smart Home devices, monitor your home security system, control your home energy consumption, and so on. Xunison X-Brain V1 preliminary hardware specifications: Multimedia subsystem SoC – Unnamed quad-core processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta-core Arm Mali-450 3G GPU, likely Amlogic S905X System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI + AV port (composite) Audio – HDMI output, AV (stereo audio), and S/PDIF Router subsystem SoC – Mediatek MT7628 580MHz MIPS 24KEc […]

January 11, 2019January 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ANAVI Thermometer WiFi Board is Designed for Home Automation (Crowdfunding)

ANAVI Technology launched several open source hardware boards for the Raspberry Pi and ESP8266 maker communities in the past, starting with RabbitMax Flex home automation HAT for Raspberry Pi, and several others including ANAVI Light Controller ESP8266 board to control LED strips. All boards are designed with KiCad opensource EDA software, and I’ve tested several already such as ANAVI Infrared pHAT or ANAVI Light Controller, and found documentation to be very good and easy to follow. The company has now launched another ESP8266 board with ANAVI Thermometer that allows you to monitor temperature and humidity, effectively acting as a thermostat for home automation. ANAVI Thermometer specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP8266 Tensilica L106 32-bit processor Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Display – Mini OLED display Build-in sensor – AM2302 (DHT22) temperature and humidity sensor Expansion Terminal block for DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensor UART pins 3x slots for I2C sensors Misc – […]

December 19, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Arm Cortex-A65AE Targets Safety-Critical Automotive, Aviation, and Industrial Automation Applications

Arm introduced their first “Automotive Enhanced” processor with Cortex-A76AE last September. The processor targets autonomous driving applications, and comes with extra safety features such Dual Core Lock-Step (DCLS) running the same code on two different cores to continuously check the execution result is the same on both. The company has now unveiled a second AE core with Cortex-A65AE, which Arm claims is the first multithreaded Automotive Enhanced Cortex-A CPU technology to deliver the highest safety levels with Dual Core Lock-Step (DCLS). Arm Cortex-A65AE specifications: Architecture – Armv8-A (Harvard) Extensions – Armv8.1, Armv8.2, Cryptography, RAS, and Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only) ISA support – A64 Microarchitecture Out-of-order Pipeline Superscalar NEON/Floating Point Unit Optional Cryptography Unit Max number of CPUs in cluster – Eight Physical Addressing (PA) – 44-bit Dual Core Lock-Step Memory system and external interfaces L1 I-Cache / D-Cache – 16KB to 64KB L2 Cache – 64KB to 256KB L3 Cache […]

October 30, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Shelly H&T is a Battery Powered ESP8266 WiFi Temperature & Humidity Sensor

Battery Powered ESP8266 Temperature Humidity Sensor

WiFi and long battery life do not usually go hand-in-hand, but as we’ve seen recently, companies have managed to design battery powered WiFi cameras that are said to last up to a year on a charge. So for simpler WiFi devices it should be feasible to last over a year, and that’s what “Shelly H&T” – an ESP8266 based battery-powered WiFi temperature and humidity sensor has apparently achieved, with claims of up to 16 months battery life. Shelly H&T specifications: Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (Wifi 4) Sensor – Temperature & humidity Battery – 1x CR123A battery good for up to 16 months Dimensions – 35 mm Ø sphere with flat top/bottom The firmware supports MQTT, and a Rest API, and works with Alexa, Google Home, and home automation suites like OpenHAB, Home Assistant, or Domoticz. The sensor is “open source ready”, meaning you’ll be able to flash your own […]

October 3, 2018October 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Silicon Labs Releases Z-Wave Public SDK, Raspberry Pi 3 Image

Z-Wave is a wireless communication protocol initially developed by Zensys, before being purchased by Sigma Designs which provided Z-Wave compliant chips, and this year Silicon Labs purchased Z-Wave from Sigma Designs, Z-Wave is fairly popular in the US, and the Z-Wave alliance has certified around 2,400 products so far. However, we seldom hear about hobbyist projects featuring Z-Wave because the wireless protocol is proprietary, documentation was not available publicly, and you’d also need a few thousands dollars to get started: $4,000 a year to be a Z-Wave Alliance member, $2,500 for certification, and the development kit sells for about $2,000… But in 2016, things improved with Sigma Designs releasing Z-Wave Application Layer specifications publicly, as well as Z-Wave over IP (Z/IP), Z-Ware Middleware, and the Z-Wave S2 Security Specification. But you still needed to acquire the Z-Wave SDK and obtain access to the Z-Wave Technical Support website and the Z-Wave […]

August 29, 2018August 31, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

BlitzWolf Inexpensive & Compact EU & US Smart Sockets Work with ESPurna & Sonoff-Tasmota Open Source Firmware

When I first started to look into WiFi smart sockets a few years, there were some fairly compact models such as the Linux based Kankun KK-SP3 or ESP8266 based Konke Mini K sockets. In recent years, more wireless smart sockets have come to market, but fewer companies have made compact models, and for example Sonoff S26 or Sonoff S31 smart sockets are not exactly small. But this morning I got contacted by a company called BlitzWolf that sells various accessories including low cost and compact smart sockets for the US and EU markets. It could prove to be interesting, so let’s check out the specifications: BlitzWolf BW-SHP1 US Smart Socket Rated Voltage – 110-240V @ 50-60 Hz Rated Current – 10A (Max) Max Total Power Output – 2000W Dimensions – 4.5 cm ∅ (VO fireproof material) Temperature Range – -10 to +60°C BlitzWolf BW-SHP2 EU Smart Socket Rated Voltage – […]

July 31, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Geekbes BR30 WiFi RGB Light Bulb Delivers 900 Lumens

We’ve previously covered two smart RGB light bulbs with AI Light and Sonoff B1 models, and they are especially interesting since they can work with open source firmware like ESPurna or Sonoff-Tasmota. However, their brightness is limited, and in the case of Sonoff B1 it’s especially true when using colors other than white. A brighter WiFi RGB LED light bulb might be Geekbes BR30 which is said to be rated 9W and delivers 900 lumens against the 6W / 600 lumens for Sonoff B1, and does not cost more much at $19.99 on GeekBuying. Geekbes BR30 specifications: Color – White: 2700K-6500K + RGB (16 million colors) Brightness – 900 lm Light emitting angle – 120 degrees E26 plug Connectivity – WiFi Supply Voltage – AC100-240v 50-60HZ Rated Power – 9W Standby Power – <= 0.3 W Service life – 20000 hours Temperature Range – -20 to +40°C Ingress Protection Rating […]

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lenovo Launches the First Smart Display with Google Assistant for $200 and Up

Android Things based smart displays were announced at CES 2018 with companies like Lenovo, LG, JBL, and Sony promising products later this year. In May, Google announced Google Assistant was now supporting smart displays, and released Android Things 1.0, the first production-ready version of the operating system. With all main software components released a few months ago, the first smart displays with Google Assistant support have now started selling for $199.99 and up courtesy of Lenovo. The smart display is available with either a 8″ or 10″ display. Lenovo Smart Display specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Home Hub Platform based on Snapdragon 624 octa-core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.8 GHz System Memory – Up to 2GB RAM Storage – Up to 4GB eMMC flash Display (one or the other) 8″ IPS display with 1280 x 800 resolution, 86° Wide Angle 10″ IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution, 86° Wide Angle Audio 8″ […]