Espressif teased us about a successor to ESP8266 a few months ago that would support both WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy, and John Lee, working for Espressif Systems, has now sent a letter to ESP8266 developers announcing the new wireless SoC with two Tensilica L108 cores and called ESP32. Espressif ESP32 key improvements over ESP8266: Faster WiFi – Wifi has been upgraded to support HT40 speed (144.4 Mbps) and has a new RF architecture to simplify the application schematics Bluetooth Low Energy and Classic Dual core processor – 2x Tensilica L108 processors clocked at up to 160 MHz Low Power Mode Improvements – ADC conversions, level thresholds, etc.. can now be performed in deep sleep Peripherals – Capacitive touch, ADCs, DACs, I2C. UART, SPI, SDIO, I2S, RMII, PMW, etc… but no USB. More RAM – ~400 KB on-chip RAM Security – Hardware accelerated AES and SSL, and more undisclosed improvements. […]
Graperain G6818 IBOX Board is Powered by Samsung S5P6818 Octa-core Cortex A53 Processor
Shortly after writing about NanoPi2 development board based on Samsung S5P4418 processor, I checked some other more featured solutions based on the same processor, but made by competitors such as Graperain G4418 IBOX Card Computer or ARMBest Core4418 module. Whiel browsing Shenzhen Graperain Technology website, I discovered another processor by Samsung with S5P6818 octa core Cortex A53 processor found in their G6818 IBOX single board computer. Board specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P6818 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4 to 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP 3D GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 up to 800MHz (1GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash (16GB optional) + 2x micro SD slot Video Output / Display I/F – micro HDMI and VGA connectors; LCD (RGB), MIPI DSI and LVDS interfaces; Audio – micro HDMI, headphone jack, speaker header; Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8211E), Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0 (Realtek RTL8723BU module) USB – 2x USB 2.0 […]
NanoPi2 is a Tiny Board with Samsung S5P4418 Processor, WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity
FriendlyARM released NanoPi board this summer, a small and inexpensive development board based on Samsung S3C2451 ARM9 processor with both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The company has now unveils a more powerful, and slightly wider, version with NanoPi2 featuring Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor with 1GB RAM, AP6212 wireless module, a new HDMI output, and the same connectors for I/Os and LCD displays. NanoPi2 specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.4GHz System Memory – 1GB 32bit DDR3 Storage – 2 x Micro SD Slot Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth LE 4.0 via AP6212 module Video Output / Display I/F- 1x HDMI 1.4a, 0.5 mm pitch SMT FPC seat for type-A full-color LCD (RGB: 8-8-8) Camera – 24-pin DVP interface USB – 1x USB Host port; 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port for power and data Expansions Headers – 40-pin […]
Qualcomm DragonBoard 410c Board Now Supports Windows 10 IoT Core
Microsoft announced Windows 10 IoT Core for Raspberry Pi 2 and Minnowboard MAX boards a few months, and now the company has added a new ARM board to their Windows 10 IoT program with the soon-to-be-available Qualcomm DragonBoard 410c development board compliant with 96Boards specifications. Windows 10 IoT Core for DragonBoard 410c adds support for onboard WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as DirectX graphics on top of features already supported on the Raspberry Pi 2. To get started, you’ll need a computer running Windows 10, and follow DragonBoard’s Winfows 10 IoT Core guide. I assume most people familiar with Linux operating systems won’t suddenly jump ship to run a Windows operating systems, but Windows developers who got used to work with Visual Studio may be more comfortable with Microsoft’s environment. Out of curiosity, I’ve checked out if anybody had done any project with Windows 10 IoT core, and was surprised […]
$10 WiFiMCU Board is a NodeMCU Clone Based on EMW3165 Module
Yesterday I wrote a short tutorial for NodeMCU board, and one visitor mentioned WiFiMCU board that has a similar form factor as NodeMCU, and while it is more expensive at about $10 on Aliexpress or Ebay, it is also more powerful and provides more I/Os thanks to its EMW3165 module including an STM32 Cortex M4 micro-controller with 128KB RAM, 512KB flash, a Broadcom WiFi module, and 2MB SPI flash. WiFiMCU specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F411CE Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 100MHz with 128KB RAM, 512KB flash Storage – 2MB SPI flash WiFi – Broadcom 802.11 b/g/n RF Chip: Modes – Station, Soft AP and Station+Soft AP Security – WEP, WPA/WPA2, PSK/Enterprise 16.5dBm@11b, 14.5dBm@11g, 13.5dBm@11n Receiver sensitivity – -87 dBm 2x 15-pin headers with 17x GPIO Pin 3x UARTs 5x ADC, 1x SPI, 1x I2C, 1x USB SWD debug interface 11x PWM Misc – Boot and Reset buttons Power Supply – 5V via […]
Brillo Android based OS for IoT Projects Supports ARM, Intel and MIPS Platforms
You’d think there are already enough lightweight operating systems that could provide a good enough platform for IoT and embedded projects, but Google decided to make their own Brillo operating system for IoT, based on Android, most probably to leverage the existing Android tools, and make it easier for app developers to move to the Internet of Things space. Brillo ‘s hardware requirements are pretty low as the operating system can run on devices with 32MB of RAM, and 128MB of storage. Google will provide a complete ecosystem with an embedded OS, core services, and a developer kit with tools to build, test, and debug. Just like in Android, three architectures will be be officially supports, starting with the following hardware platforms: ARM – TechNexion Pico-i.MX6UL system-on-module based on Freescale i.MX6 UltraLite and Broadcom BCM4339 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0 wireless module, combined with PICO-DWARF baseboard. MIPS – Upcoming MIPS Creator […]
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 […]
Inforce Computing 6401 Micro SOM is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 System-on-Module
Inforce Computing announced their 6501 Micro SOM system-on-module based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor in Q2 2015, and the company informed me that they had just unveiled a lower power version based on Snapdragon 600 processor called 6401 Micro SOM, and still featuring WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS connectivity on module. Inforce 6401 Micro SOM: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 (APQ8064) quad core Krait processor up to 1.7 GHz with Adreno 320 GPU, and Hexagon DSP v4 up to 500MHz System Memory – 2GB PoP LPDDR2 @533Mhz (Optional 3GB) Storage – 4GB eMMC v4.4.1/v4.5, with options up to 64GB Connectivity – BT 4.0 , dual band 802.11n/ac Wi-Fi (QCA6234), and GPS (WGR7640) with WiFi and GPS antennas on carrier board Peripherals and I/O via two 100-pin SoM connectors: Video / Display – 1x HDMI, 2x MIPI-DSI (4-lane) & touch screen Audio 4x Line out, 3x Mic-in, 1x headphone out 8-channel […]