Wappsto:bit GO is an ESP32 board compatible with BBC Micro:bit accessories thanks to a compatible edge connector, but adding WiFi to Bluetooth LE, and offering some extras compared to Elecrow Mbits ESP32-based BBC Micro:bit clone. The new board is notably equipped with a wider range of sensors including a light sensor, a magnetometer, and sound sensor beside the temperature sensor and accelerometer present in the original board, and it also exposes GPIO through a more traditional 2.54-pitch header to facilitate the integration of a wider variety of add-on boards. Wappsto:bit GO specifications: Wireless modules ESP32-WROOM-32E module with ESP32 dual-core microcontroller, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity, built-in PCB antenna Raytac MDBT50Q-512K Bluetooth 5.2 module based on nRF52833 with 512KB Flash MCU – NXP Kinetis KL2 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller (MKL27Z256VFM4 ) with 256KB Flash (for USB port handling) Display – 25 LED matrix Sensors Temperature sensor, Light sensor […]
Arduino Portenta gets an LTE Cat. M1/NB IoT GNSS shield
Arduino PRO Portenta family of industrial boards is getting a new LTE Cat. M1/NB-IoT GNSS shield that adds global connectivity and positioning capabilities through the Cinterion TX62-W LPWAN IoT module by Thales. The shield works with the Portenta H7 board as well as its lower-cost variants and Arduino MKR boards and will power industry 4.0 and edge computing solutions such as positioning, asset tracking, and remote monitoring applications at the factory, in agriculture, public utilities, and smart cities. Portenta CatM1 shield specifications: Cinterion TX62-W module with: 3GPP Rel.14 Cat.M1, Cat.NB1, Cat.NB2 Global coverage with a single SKU FDD-LTE Bands – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 66, 71, 85 LTE Cat. M1 – DL: max. 300 kbps, UL: max. 1.1 Mbps LTE Cat. NB1 – DL: max. 27 kbps, UL: max. 63 kbps LTE Cat. NB2 – DL: max. 124 kbps, […]
FOSDEM 2022 schedule with embedded Linux, IoT, automotive… sessions
While typically taking place in Brussels, Belgium, FOSDEM 2022 will take place online just like FOSDEM 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The good news is that it means anybody can attend it live from anywhere in the world, and makes it more like “FOSDIM”, replacing European with International, in “Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting”. FOSDEM 2022 will take place on February 5-6 with 637 speakers, 718 events, and 103 tracks. I’ve made my own little virtual schedule below mostly with sessions from the Embedded, Mobile and Automotive devroom, but also other devrooms including “Computer Aided Modeling and Design”, “FOSS on Mobile Devices”, “Libre-Open VLSI and FPGA”, and others. Saturday, February 5, 2022 12:30 – 13:00 – Five mysteries in Embedded Linux by Josef Holzmayr Once you start out in embedded Linux, there is a lot to do. Some things are obvious, some less so. First and foremost, […]
PB-03 – A Bluetooth LE 5.2 module for the Smart Home, wearables, IoT, etc… (Sponsored)
What changes does Bluetooth LE 5.2 (BLE 5.2) bring? Maybe PB-03 module can tell you. PB-03 is a BLE module developed by Shenzhen Ai-Thinker Technology based on PHY+ PHY6252 32-bit microcontroller (see PDF datasheet) that offers high integration and low power consumption down to 0.3uA in OFF mode, and is well suited to various applications such as IoT, mobile devices, wearable electronic devices, and smart homes. PB-03 module’s highlights Ai-Thinker PB-03 provides an upgrade to earlier PB-01/02 modules with the following highlights: MCU – PHY6252 microcontroller with 256KB flash, 64KB SRAM Supports BLE 5.2 and Bluetooth Mesh Equipped with an on-board PCB antenna Up to 2 Mbps data rate I/Os – UART, PWM, ADC, I2C, SPI, PDM, DMA, and up to 19 IOs. Security – AES-128 encryption hardware Power consumption (PHY6252) 0.3uA @ OFF Mode (IO wake up only) 1uA @ Sleep Mode with 32KHz RTC 3.5uA @ Sleep Mode […]
Wiliot Starter Kit for retailers features a smart coffee cup tracking temperature, fill level, location, etc…
Wiliot Starter Kit aims to demonstrate the ability of the Wioliot’s self-powered IoT Pixel and cloud services to retailers with a kit including a Coffee cup that’s capable of tracking liquid temperatures, fill level, motion, location changes, humidity, and proximity. The kit was previously only available to larger retailers through a “controlled release model”, but the company has now switched to an “open model” so that any retailers can use the technology to track products and packages. Let’s what’s included inside the start kit, and try to understand how the Wiliot solution works. Wiliot Starter Kit includes the following hardware: 1 x IoT Pixel-ready Coffee Cup 5 x Single-Band IoT Pixels mounted on cardboards 5 x Dual-Band IoT Pixels mounted on cardboards 1 x Single-Band Bridge Device 1 x Dual-Band Bridge Device You’ll also get 6 months of Wiliot Cloud Services, access to the Wiliot community forum & support Portal, […]
5-minute Cybersecurity Survey for IoT Device Manufacturers (Sponsored)
Calling all software developers, hardware designers, product security engineers, QA, engineering managers, and executives in the field to participate in a global, industry-wide survey. With nearly 50 new CVEs found every day in 2021, 90% of hospitals hacked, and cybersecurity attacks constantly in the headlines, it’s time to take stock of security preparedness in IoT. Timesys, an industry pioneer in embedded software and cybersecurity for embedded, is taking on that challenge. And to get a better understanding of where IoT device manufacturers are in their cybersecurity journey, Timesys has launched a global, industry-wide survey. The entire survey is only ten questions and should take under five minutes to answer. The survey includes driving factors for security, security processes being implemented, specific technologies being used, security challenges companies are facing, and more. It’s designed to be a broad survey, geared toward developers, security teams, and engineering managers. Take the survey here. […]
OnLogic unveils Karbon 800 Series Alder Lake-S embedded computers
We’ve already seen the newly announced Intel Alder Lake-S desktop IoT processors in some COM Express and COM HPC modules, and quickly mentioned Vecow ECX-3000 rugged computer, and now, OnLogic has just announced the Karbon 800 Series, a family of Alder Lake-S embedded computers. There will be four Karbon 800 models at launch, equipped with up to an Intel Core i9 16-core processor, 64 GB of DDR4 ECC or non-ECC memory, as well as single and dual PCIe Gen 4 slots, and optional “ModBay” hot-swappable bays to add connectivity and storage option up to a six 2.5-inch SSD RAID array or 14 Ethernet ports. All four Karbon 800 embedded computer supports the same processor and memory options, and mostly differ in their storage and expansion options: Karbon 801 Storage – Support for NVME Storage Expansion – 4G Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Karbon 802 Storage – 2x 2.5-inch SSD with optional Hot […]
A comparison of ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3 and ESP8266 modules
The ESP32-S3 chip is equipped with an Xtensa 32-bit LX7 dual-core processor clocked at up to 240 MHz, supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 LE, and boasts AI instructions, as well as a reliable security encryption engine, specially built for the AIoT market. Modules based on the ESP32-S3 processor bring many benefits to designers with support for Bluetooth Long Range mode, plenty of resources with 512 KB SRAM (TCM), 45 programmable GPIO pins, and rich communication interfaces. They can also handle high-speed Octal SPI flash with higher capacities, as well as off-chip PSRAM. So, what are the differences between the new ESP32-S3 modules, and typical ESP32-C3 and ESP8266 modules? Let’s find out. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com