LimeSDR Open Source Hardware Software Defined Radio Goes for $199 and Up (Crowdfunding)

Canonical and Lime Micro showcased SoDeRa software defined radio (SDR) a couple of months ago, with a promise to launch a crowdfunding campaign later this year. They’ve fulfill their promise, and launched the open source SDR, renamed to LimeSDR, on Crowdsupply. LimeSDR board specifications: FPGA – Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE40F23 Altera FPGA compatible with EP4CE30F23 System Memory – 256 MB DDR2 SDRAM RF Lime Microsystems LMS7002M RF transceiver with continuous coverage of the frequency range between 100 kHz and 3.8 GHz; 61.44 MHz bandwidth 4 x TxOut and 6 x RxIn U.FL connectors Power Output (CW): up to 10 dBm Wi-Fi, GSM, UMTS, LTE, LoRa, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, Digital Broadcasting, configurable through apps. USB – 1x micro USB3 via CYUSB3014-BZXC Cypress Microcontroller  for control, data transfer and power Misc – Status LEDs, RGB LEDs, 4x switches Power – USB or external power supply Dimensions –  100 mm x 60 mm The board […]

giggleBits Hackable ARM & FPGA Router Comes with an SFP Cage and 5 Gigabit Ethernet Ports (Crowdfunding)

Remember Snickerdoodle board? If you don’t, the board is one of the cheapest Xilinx Zynq available on the market, and the project is currently on CrowdSupply, and 75% funded with 28 days left. They’ve just posted an update about a new daughterboard that I found interesting: giggleBits which provides 5 Gigabit Ethernet and an SFP cage on top of WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth connectivity already found on Snickerdoodle board. giggleBits + snickerdoodle specifications: SoC/Memory/Storage/WiFi via Snickerdoodle board: SoC Xilinx Zynq-7010 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 667 MHz + FPGA with 430K gates or Xilinx Zynq-7020 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 866 MHz + FPGA with 1.3million gates (~430K ASIC gates) System Memory – 512MB or 1GB LPDDR2-800 Storage – micro SD card slot, 16MB boot flash Ti Wilink 8 –  single or dual band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 Expansion – 4x 40-pin TFM headers for access […]

Snickerdoodle Xilinx Zynq ARM + FPGA Board Starts at $55 (Crowdfunding)

While Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ARMv8 + FPGA SoC is still in development, there are already quite a few Xilinx Zynq-7000 boards on the market today. The cheapest I know of is MYirTech Z-Turn board selling for $99, but krtkl (pronounced “critical“), US a based startup, will soon bring an even cheaper Zynq-7010/7020 board with their Snickerdoodle board currently listed on CrowdSupply platform for $55 and up, plus shipping. Snickerdoodle board specifications: SoC Xilinx Zynq-7010 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 667 MHz + FPGA with 430K gates or Xilinx Zynq-7020 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 866 MHz + FPGA with 1.3million gates (~430K ASIC gates) System Memory – 512MB or 1GB LPDDR2-800 Storage – micro SD card slot, 16MB boot flash Connectivity via Ti Wilink 8 solution 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 or Dual band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (2×2 MIMO) + Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB port […]

Numato Opsis is an Open Source Hardware FPGA Board with 6 Video Inputs and Outputs (Crowdfunding)

Numato Lab is a Bangalore based company specializing in MCU and FPGA boards such as the low cost Mimas V2 Spartan 6 board, and their latest board is also based on a Spartan 6 FPGA, but a more powerful part with LX45T FPGA, and targets video applications with two HDMI inputs, two HDMI outputs, one DisplayPort output, and one DisplayPort input, among other interfaces. Instead of simply listing specifications of Numato Opsis, I’ll reproduce a table – drawn by Numato – showing Opsis features and specifications against some other FPGA video platforms. Opsis miniSpartan6+ Mixxeo Atlys Nexys Anvyl CVK 2.0 AVDB Make Numato ScarabHardware M‑Labs Digilent Digilent Digilent TED OmniTek License Open Open Open Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Cost USD $349 USD $105 no stock USD $419 USD $499 USD $539 USD $2,995 USD $999 FPGA Fab Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx Altera Family Spartan‑6 Spartan‑6 Spartan‑6 Spartan‑6 Artix‑7 Spartan‑6 Spartan‑6 Cyclone V Part LX45T […]

Gesto is a Wearable Gesture Motion Solution for Makers (Crowdfunding)

A while ago I wrote about an open source prosthetic arm controlled by signals generated by your arm’s muscles. It used an Arduino board, a bio-feedback shield by Olimex, and inMoov Hand for the arm and hand. It worked, but lacked accuracy. Gesto is a solution based on boards powered by Atmel MCUs that looks somewhat similar, but with higher accuracy (over 100 gestures have been tested), and the project has now been launched on Crowdsupply. Two kits are available: Gesto Stella EMG circuit – ADS1294 MCU – Atmel ATmega1284p 2x EMG cables connector Through holes with GND, PWR, MOSI, MISO, CLK and SC Dimensions – 35 x 20 mm Includes 16 disposable electrodes and relevant cables Gesto Caelum EMG circuit – ADS1294 MCU – Atmel ATmega1284p Sensors – 3-axis accelerometer (MMA8652FC) Connectivity – Bluetooth (RN42-HID) 2x EMG cables connector USB – Micro USB connector Programming – ICSP connector Power […]

Robotics News – Hack-E-Bot and RiQ Educational Robots, and Maker Club 3D Printed Robots (Pre-Orders / Crowfunding)

I’ve come across several robotic projects this week, so instead of picking one up, or writing a post for each, I’ll summarize the three products into one post. Two of the projects are educational robots based on Arduino, with the sub $50 Hack-E-Bot, or the more advanced RiQ robot, and Maker Club is a company providing the electronics for robotics kit, and you print the plastic parts with your 3D printer. Hack-E-Bot Robot Hack-E-Bot is an affordable open source robot that hopes to encourage children to learn about engineering, electronics, and programming. The robot is powered by Adafruit’s Trinklet Arduino compatible board, connected to a breadboard, and some add-on boards sensors. The basic version comes with a Sonar sensor, but more add-on boards are on the way including bump sensors, a buzzer, colored lights, a claw, a servo scanner, and so on. The project is listed on CrowdSupply, and has […]

Novena Open Source Hardware ARM Laptop Gets Crowdfunded for $1995

In 2012, Andrew Huang (“Bunnie”) decided to build an open source hardware and software laptop codenamed Novena powered by Freescale i.MX6 as a side project. The goal of the project was to be fully open source, both in terms of hardware and software, and the components have been selected so that the datasheets can be downloaded without NDA. Design has now been completed, and a crowdfunding campaign has now been launched on Crowd Supply, but since finding low cost part was not priority, you’ll have to fork $1,995 to get the complete laptop, $1,195 will get you the desktop version, and $500 the motherboard only. There’s also a version of the laptop called “Heirloom Laptop” with a hand-crafted wood and aluminum case that goes for $5,000. Let’s go through the board specs first: SoC – Freescale iMX6 Quad-core Cortex A9 CPU with NEON FPU @ 1.2 GHz. – NDA-free datasheet […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design