ESP32-S3 PowerFeather board supports up to 18V DC for solar panel input

ESP32-S3 PowerFeather

The ESP32-S3 PowerFeather board is an Adafruit Feather-shaped ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE IoT board that can be powered by a Li-Ion or LiPo battery and supports up to 18V DC input for direct connection to a solar panel. The developer told CNX Software that the main differentiating factor from other ESP32-S3 development boards was “its extensive power management and monitoring features” with a wide DC input range, supply and battery monitoring, and battery protection features. ESP32-S3 PowerFeather specifications: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8R2 MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 16 KB RTC SRAM Memory – 2MB QSPI PSRAM Storage – 8MB QSPI flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 LE + Mesh; PCB antenna USB – 1x USB-C 1.1 OTG port for power and programming Expansion 2x 16-pin 2.54 mm pitch headers with 23x multi-function GPIO: UART, I2C, SPI, I2S, SDIO, PWM, CAN, RMT, Camera, LCD […]

unPhone – An ESP32-S3 IoT development platform with LoRaWAN, touchscreen, open-source ecosystem

unPhone All in one LoRa, WiFi and BT dev device with touchscreen and LiPo battery

Pimoroni, in partnership with the University of Sheffield, introduced the unPhone – an open-source non-cellular IoT development platform built around the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller. The unPhone isn’t meant to replace phones but can simplify tasks and give you more control over your data. In addition to the ESP32-S3, it features a 3.5″ 320×480 touchscreen display, LoRaWAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a vibration motor, an accelerometer, and various other features. Designed with these capabilities, this module can be used for teaching and rapid prototyping, while also finding applications in aquaponics. unPhone key features and components Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U-N8 MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM and 8MB PSRAM Storage – 8MB Quad SPI flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Hardware Features LCD touchscreen for debugging and UI creation. LoRaWAN for free radio communication Vibration motor for notifications. IR LEDs for remote control. […]

“MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command” Review – Using Arduino to test UWB range, precision, indoor positioning

mauwb dw3000 st tag test

Hello, the device I am going to review is the MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command. This is an Ultra-wideband (UWB) module from MakerFabs. The core UWB module on this board is the DW3000 UWB transceiver, and it is also equipped with an ESP32 microcontroller programmable with the Arduino IDE, as well as OLED display. The manufacturer claims that this UWB board resolves multiple anchors and tags mutual conflicts and supports up to 8 anchors and 64 tags. Additionally, the manufacturer has added an STM32 microcontroller to handle UWB multiplexing, allowing users to control the core UWB module by simply sending AT commands from an ESP32 microcontroller to the STM32 microcontroller. More information about this UWB board can be found on the manufacturer’s website. “MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT Command” unboxing MakerFabs sent the package to me from China. Inside the package, there were 4 sets of the MaUWB_DW3000 with STM32 AT […]

ESP32-H4 low-power dual-core RISC-V SoC supports 802.15.4 and Bluetooth 5.4 LE

ESP32-H4 block diagram

Espressif Systems has formally announced the ESP32-H4 low-power dual-core 32-bit RISC-V wireless microcontroller with support for 802.15.4 and Bluetooth 5.4 LE portfolio after having unveiled it at CES 2024. It’s the first Espressif chip to support Bluetooth 5.4 LE with previous models such as ESP32-H2 or ESP32-C6 only supporting Bluetooth 5.0/5.2. Besides BLE 5.4 support, the new ESP32-H4 dual-core RISC-V WiSoC is an evolution of the ESP32-H2 single-core chip with PSRAM support (up to 4MB built-in), additional GPIOs (36 vs 24), touch sensing GPIOs, and some extra security features such as a power glitch detector also found in the recently announced ESP32-C61. ESP32-H4 specifications: CPU – Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V core (at up to 96 MHz) RAM – 320KB KB SRAM, optional PSRAM up to 4MB Storage – 128KB ROM, External flash support Wireless connectivity IEEE 802.15.4 radio with Zigbee and Thread support, Matter protocol Bluetooth 5.4 (LE) radio designed in-house, […]

Qualcomm QCC730 low-power Arm Cortex-M4F WiFi 4 SoC targets battery-powered IoT applications

Qualcomm QCC730 dual WiFi IoT microcontroller

Qualcomm has unveiled the “micro-power” QCC730 Arm Cortex-M4F dual-band WiFi 4 microcontroller for the IoT market that targets similar applications as the Espressif ESP32 microcontrollers but potentially at lower power consumption with claims of up to 88% lower power than “previous generations” making it suitable for battery-powered industrial, commercial and consumer applications. To highlight the low-power consumption, the company also mentions that QCC730 devices could become high-performance alternatives to Bluetooth IoT solutions with direct cloud connectivity. Qualcomm QCC730 specifications: CPU core – Arm Cortex-M4F @ 60 MHz Memory/ Storage 1.5 MB RAM, including 600KB for user app (On-chip RRAM (NVM) to host application without the need for an external NOR flash) 640 KB SRAM, including 260KB for user app XiP over QSPI Flash Wi-Fi Standards: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11a Spectral Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Channels: 20 MHz Antenna Configuration: 1×1 Features: up to MCS3 Interfaces – Master I2C, 15x […]

M5Stack BugC2 programmable robot base has an STM32 control chip and a four-way motor driver

m5stack bugc2 robot

Modular IoT hardware developer, M5Stack, has released a new programmable robot base based on the STM32F030F4 microcontroller with LEGO and Arduino compatibility. The M5Stack BugC2 is “compatible with the M5StickC series controllers,” and includes the ESP32-powered M5StickC Plus2 development kit in the package. It features an L9110S four-way motor driver for all-directional operation, two programmable RGB LEDs, an infrared encoder, and a 16340 rechargeable Li-ion battery holder. It also comes with a USB Type-C port for charging the battery and supports onboard reverse charging protection and voltage detection. Listed applications for the M5Stack BugC2 programmable robot base include remote motor control, robot control, and an intelligent toy. M5Stack BugC2 specifications: Microcontroller – STMicroelectronics STM32F030F4 microcontroller, with Arm 32-bit Cortex-M0 CPU @ 48 MHz, and with up to 256KB of flash memory Motor driver – L9110S Infrared receiver – SL0038GD IR detection distance (StickC Plus2) Infrared emission distance (linear distance) at […]

6-channel ESP32-S3-based WiFi relay module offers RS485 interface, supports Raspberry Pi Pico HATs

ESP32-C6 6-channel relay module

Waveshare ESP32-S3-Relay-6CH is a 6-channel WiFi and Bluetooth relay module based on Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller that also supports RS485 control and comes with headers taking Raspberry Pi Pico HATs adding RTC, CAN Bus, RS232,  LoRa, sensors, or other features. The relays are rated 250VAC/30VDC up to 10A, the system take 7V to 36V DC input through a terminal block, and can be programmed with Arduino or MicroPython though a USB-C port. It also features a a built-in buzzer, an RGB LED, and is housed in a DIN Rail-mountable ABS case. Waveshare ESP32-S3-Relay-6CH specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U-N8 by default MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM Storage – 8MB Quad SPI flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 u.FL connector for external antenna 6x relays via terminal blocks Rating –  Up to 10A 250V AC / 30V DC […]

LoLRa project – Transmitting LoRa packets without radio using CH32V003, ESP8266, or ESP32-S2 MCU

LolRa

The LoLRa project is a firmware-only LoRa transmission open-source project that works without a Semtech radio and instead relies on an I2S or SPI interface (so not exactly bit-banging) to transmit data with microcontrollers such as WCH CH32V003, or Espressif Systems ESP8266 and ESP32-S2 microcontrollers. LoRa is a proprietary protocol by Semtech, but people have been trying to reverse-engineer the LoRa PHY for years, and this culminated with a LoRa GNU Radio SDR implementation last year. But CNLohr found out you don’t even need a radio to send LoRa packets and you can instead use SPI or I2S interfaces from general-purpose microcontrollers to send packets that can be decoded by commercial off-the-shelf LoRa gateways and other chips. The current implementation is designed for the  ITU Region 2 (aka The Americas) targeting the 902-928MHz frequency band, but the code could be changed for Region 1 (EU, Russia, Africa) to target 863-870MHz […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design