Intel Quark SoC for low power embedded devices has been seen on platforms designed by Intel themselves, such as Intel Galileo board or Edison wearable development kit, but I had not found Quark SoC in actual products until Aaeon announced their AIOT-X1000 gateway for the internet of things running Linux on an Intel Quark X1000 SoC, and working with a Cloud Service by Asus, Aaeon’s parent company. The solution targets manufacturing, transportation, and energy applications. Aaeon AIOT-X1000 specifications: Processor – Intel Quark X1000-series SoCs @ up to 400 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 800/1066 SODIMM Storage – IDE port, and micro SD slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet USB 4x USB2.0 ports Serial – 1x RS-232/422/485, 1x RS-422/485 Other I/Os — I2C, GPIO, JTAG Mini-PCIe card expansion – 1x full-size and 1x half-size, allowing for WiFi, 2G/3G/LTE cellular, Bluetooth, CAN bus, ZigBee, and RFID add-on boards Power – 5V or 9-24V DC input Dimensions – 146 x […]
WifiDuino Arduino Compatible Wi-Fi Board Features an Optional OLED Display (Crowdfunding)
Getting Wi-Fi with Arduino can be relatively expensive, and may take a little too much space. Spark Core board greatly addressed both price ($39) and form factor issue last, but there’s another option coming to market thanks to WifiDuino a $34 board with Wi-Fi, that’s tiny and Arduino compatible. An OLED display is also available as an option, at a lower price point than MicroView board, and including Wi-Fi or not, depending on the perk. WifiDuino hardware specifications: MCU – Atmel Atmega32U4 (same as Arduino Leonardo) Display – Optional 128×64 OLED display Connectivity – Optional Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with STA, AP and ADHOC network modes Digital I/Os – 20 Analog I/Os – 12 Other I/Os – 7x PWM, UART, I2C, SPI Power – 5V Dimensions – Duino board only without Wi-Fi nor OLED: 25.6mm x 38.8mm x 11.0mm WifiDuino support the Arduino IDE, so you can write you sketch as […]
AsiaRF AWM002 Wi-Fi Module and a Tiny IoT Server Kit Get Crowdfunded for $15 and Up
VoCore Wi-Fi module selling for $15 to $20, and it’s corresponding VoCore Dock with Ethernet has been quite popular, and at the time of writing, the project has already received $40,000 in funding with 50 more days to go. But if you’d rather get something for the same price, a few months early, and an already FCC/CE certified and proven module and tiny IoT server, AsiaRF has also launched a crowdfunding campaign for their AWM002 Wi-Fi module running OpenWRT on the same Ralink RT5350 found on the VoCore. as well as AWM002 Tiny Kit which adds Ethernet and USB, and a larger board with easier access to all ports and I/Os. As a reminder, let’s go through AWM002 specifications again: SoC – Mediatek/Ralink RT5350 MIPS 74KEc core @ 360 MHz dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi with data Rate up to 150Mbps, hardware NAT, QoS, TCP/UDP/IP checksum offloading. System Memory – 32 MB Storage […]
NXP Smartphone Quick-Jack Solution Connects to Your Smartphone Audio Jack and Interfaces with Sensors, HMI Devices
We already knew the audio jack on your mobile device was not only for your headset, thanks to small items like Pressy hardware button. But it’s actually possible to do much more, as shown by NXP smartphone quick-jack solution, a board that can interface sensors to your Android smartphone / tablet or iPhone / iPad via the headphone/microphone jack of your device. The company claims it can be used for various applications such as cloud-based tracking of sensor data, external input devices to smartphone, wearable health monitors, personal exercise trackers, handheld weather stations, handheld inventory monitors, handheld/portable POS devices, and universal remote controls, using powered harvested from the audio jack, and optionally a battery. Let’s go through the hardware specifications of this little board codenamed OM13069: MCU – NXP LPC812 ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 30 MHz with 16KB flash, 4KB SRAM On-board peripherals – Joystick, temperature sensor, and LEDs […]
Prpl Non-Profit Organization to Work on Linux, Android, and OpenWRT for MIPS based Processors
In what looks like an answer, albeit fairly late, to Linaro, the non-profit organization working on open source software for ARM based SoCs, a consortium of companies composed of Imagination Technologies, Broadcom, Cavium, Lantiq, Qualcomm, Ingenic, and a few others, has funded Prpl (pronounced Purple), “an open-source, community-driven, collaborative, non-profit foundation targeting and supporting the MIPS architecture—and open to others—with a focus on enabling next-generation datacenter-to-device portable software and virtualized architectures”. The Prpl foundation will focus on three key objectives: Portability – To create ISA agnostic software for rapid deployment across multiple architecture Virtualization & security – To enable multi-tenant, secure, software, environments in datacenter, networking & storage, home, mobile and embedded Heterogeneous Computing – To leverage compute resources enabling next generation big data analytics and mining Initially there will PEG (Prpl Engineering Group) to take of the following projects for 4 market segments (datacenter, network & storage, connected consumers, […]
$15 Open Source Hardware VoCore Wi-Fi Module Runs OpenWRT (Crowdfunding)
There are already low cost Wi-Fi modules that can be used for the Internet of Things such as AsiaRF AWM002 and Hi-Link HLK-RM04. However, AsiaRF mainly caters to companies, and the Hi-Link module has a limited memory (16MB), which may or may not be an issue depending on your application. VoCore Wi-Fi module could prove to be an interesting option as it is the same $15 to $20 price range, runs OpenWRT with 32 MB RAM, will be open source hardware, and provides up to 20 GPIOs in a tiny (25x25mm) form factor. VoCore Wi-Fi module specifications: SoC – Ralink/Mediatek RT5350 MIPS processor @ 360MHz with dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi with data Rate up to 150Mbps System Memory – 32 MB RAM Storage – 8MB SPI Flash (for firmware) / 16 MB on limited edition Available Signals (Via through holes): 10/100M Ethernet USB UART, I2C, SPI I2S, PCM JTAG Over 20 […]
DLink Introduces DSP-W215 Wi-Fi Smart Plug for iOS and Android
D-Link is entering the automation market with a Wi-Fi smart plug (Model DSP-W215) that configurable via WPS, allows you to control and monitor your electrical appliance via Android 4.0+ and iOS6+ mobile devices, and it even has an overheating protection mechanism that can apparently detect if the plug or the device itself overheats. Let’s go through the technical specifications: Wi-Fi – IEEE 802.11n (According to pictures found via FCC filings, the chipset is Atheros AR1311_AL1A) Misc – Power / Status LEDs, On/Off button Dimensions – 9 x 6.10 x 3.56 cm (3.54″ x 2.40″ x 1.40″) Weight – 125 g (4.41 ounces) Power Input – 100 to 125 V AC / 5W maximum power consumption Temperature Range – Operating: 0 to 40 °C, Storage: -20 to 65 °F Humidity – Operating: 10% to 90% non-condensing, Storage: 5% to 95% non-condensing Based on these specs, since it can only work between 100 […]
Kankun KK-SP3 is a $20 Wi-Fi Smart Socket for Android and iOS
I’ve already featured Broadlink SP1 and SP2 smart socket on this blog. The former is a simple Wi-Fi smart socket for Android and iOS, and the later adds support for motion sensing and energy monitoring. They cost respectively about $30 and $45 including shipping. I’ve discovered another cheaper option with Kankun KK-SP3 via DealExtreme ($23.75), but it can also be found on Aliexpress for as low as $19.99 including shipping. If you live in China, It’s available on Taobao for 99 RMB ($15.82). Here are the specs of this smart socket: Power Plug – Three flat-pin plug (Australia type) Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n, 15 dbm. Texas Instruments Wi-Fi module (CC3000?) Input Voltage – 90~265V @ 50-60 Hz Output Current – 10A Maximum Power – 2200W Dimensions – 5.3 cm x 5.3 cm x 2.8 cm Temperature Range – -10 to 55°C Unless you live in Australia, China, Argentina, New Zealand, […]