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August 6, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 – A dual-band Wi-Fi 4 and BLE 5.3 IoT board

SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306, is a dual-core, dual-band WiFi 4 and BLE 5.3 microcontroller board in the AdaFruit Feather form factor based on the u-box NORA-W306 module and targeted at low-power wireless applications. The u-blox module integrates the Realtek RTL8720DF chip, a dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M23 microcontroller with dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy. It offers up to 4MB of encrypted flash and has an onboard PCB antenna. It’s very similar to the RealTek RTL8720DN we covered a few times in the past, but comes with embedded flash. The SparkFun Thing Plus – NORA-W306 board features a USB-C connector for programming, data, and power. The USB data lines are protected against electrostatic discharge and are connected to a CP2102N USB-to-serial converter for uploading code or serial. This board includes a 2-pin JST-style connector for a LiPo battery, a single-cell charger, and a LiPo fuel […]

July 24, 2024August 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

LILYGO T-Halow is an ESP32-S3 board with long-range WiFi HaLow, OV2640/OV5640 camera support

LILYGO T-Halow is an ESP32-S3 board equipped with a WiFi HaLow module with up to 1.2km range, a connector compatible with OV2640 and OV5640 camera modules, and an 18650 battery holder for power, as well as several GPIOs for expansion. We first wrote about 802.11ah low-power long-range WiFi standard operating at 900 MHz in 2014, but adoption has been slow and we’ve seen a few 802.11ah (WiFi HaLow) chips from Newracom and Morse Micro over the years, as well as USB adapters, a Raspberry Pi HAT, a mini PCIe card, gateways, and some development boards. All those rely on a Linux host, but the LILYGO T-Halow features a TX-AH WiFI HaLow module from Taixin Semiconductor that’s controller by AT commands through an ESP32-S3 or a micro USB port. LILYGO T-Halow specifications: Wireless modules ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz with 2.4 […]

July 20, 2024July 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

The Blette Stick relies on Bluetooth 5.0 LE for off-grid messaging with up to 1.1km range

Blette Stick Bluetooth LE offgrid communication

The Blette Stick is a Bluetooth 5.0 LE USB-C dongle designed to be attached to an Android smartphone in order to provide off-grid messaging and GPS coordinates sharing capabilities with a range of up to 1.1km in case WiFi and cellular networks are down. CNX Software readers may also be familiar with Meshtastic devices relying on WiFi to connect to the smartphone with Bluetooth and to other nodes using LoRaWAN to enable off-grid messaging while trekking or during emergencies. The Blettle Stick does something similar to the Meshtastic project but with Bluetooth LE long-range communication instead of Bluetooth+LoRaWAN. While the range will be shorter and limited to around 1km (line-of-sight), the plug-and-play design will make it easier to use for typical users who are not technically savvy. Blettle Stick specifications: SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52 Bluetooth 5.0 LE microcontroller (exact part number not specified, possibly nRF52840) Wireless – Bluetooth 5.0 […]

July 11, 2024December 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LILYGO T3S3 E-Paper combines ESP32-S3 WiFi & BLE SoC with LoRa module, 2.13-inch e-Paper display

LILYGO T3S3 E-Paper is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth LE development board with a 2.13-inch e-Paper display and an SX1262 LoRa module that should make it suitable for off-grid messsaging even under sunlight. LILYGO has made some ESP32-S3 boards with an e-Paper display and some ESP32-S3 boards with a LoRa module, but unless I’m mistaken, the T3S3 E-Paper is the first board from LILYGO that combines ESP32-S3 SoC with e-Paper display and a LoRa module. It builds upon the earlier LILYGO T3S3 board with a 0.96-inch OLED. LILYGO T3S3 E-Paper specifications: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3FH4R2 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Memory – 2MB PSRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash IPEX antenna connector Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 2.13-inch e-Paper display (DEPG0213BN) with 250×122 resolution; size: 48.55 x 23.70mm Wireless 2.4 GHz […]

July 8, 2024 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Renesas SLG7EVBFORGE FPGA dev board is built around ForgeFPGA SLG47910V low-density FPGA

Renesas SLG7EVBFORGE 1K LUT ForgeFPGA Evaluation Board

Renesas SLG7EVBFORGE FPGA dev board, built around SLG47910V is Renesas’ first low-density FPGA in the ForgeFPGA family. The FPGA includes 1120 LUTs, 1120 flip-flops, 5kb of distributed memory, 32kb of block RAM, and a 50 MHz on-chip oscillator with a phase-locked loop (PLL). With robust features, low power consumption, and affordable pricing this FPGA can be used in applications in sensor data aggregation, consumer electronics, and portable computing devices. The SLG47910V FPGA gets connected to a ZIF socket to the development board, this design choice puts out a clear sign that upcoming Forge family FPGAs will support this dev board. Additionally, it features Pmod connectors and configurable power sources. The dev board can be programmed via OTP Non-Volatile Memory or SPI interface and additional features get managed through Renesas’ Go Configure Software Hub. Previously we have written about similar low-power low-cost FPGA boards like the Sipeed Tang Mega 138K, the […]

June 28, 2024June 27, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 7 Comments

Zigbee Coordinator CC2652P7 1.0 runs open-source firmware, works with Zigbee2MQTT, Home Assistant, and ioBroker

The cod.m Zigbee Coordinator 1.0 (CZC 1.0) is a hybrid ZigBee coordinator that can be used to connect devices over a network (Ethernet/Wi-Fi) and USB. The ZigBee Coordinator version 1.0 is an upgrade of version 0.2 released in 2022. The CZC 1.0 replaces the Texas Instruments CC2652P2 chip with the much more powerful CC2652P7 chip, uses an ESP32-WROOM-32E module instead of the USR-K6 chip, and adds compatibility with Home Assistant (ZHA integration). It can create a Zigbee network and pair Zigbee devices over Ethernet, WiFi, or Serial (USB). It features the same Texas Instruments CC2652P7 chip as the SMLIGHT line of Zigbee Ethernet/WiFi/USB coordinators and USB dongles. There are two models of the CZC 1.0: a Power over Ethernet model and a model that can only be powered via USB-C. cod.m Zigbee Coordinator specifications: Zigbee SoC – Texas Instruments CC2652P7 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 704 KB flash, […]

June 27, 2024June 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Quectel FLM263D 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and BLE 5.2 RISC-V module supports Amazon Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) SDK for Matter

Quectel FLM263D WiFi 6 Smart Home module

Quectel Wireless FLM263D is a standalone WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 LE module with a 320 MHz RISC-V microcontroller that supports Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) SDK for Matter for connectivity with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Apple HomeKit, and other Matter-compliant Smart Home devices. The module also implements security standards such as secure boot and Mbed TLS encryption. The FLM263D offers certifications such as Works with Alexa (WWA) and supports features such as Matter Simple Setup (MSS) that allows zero-touch setup of Matter-compliant smart home devices through Alexa. Quectel FLM263D specifications: MCU – RISC-V wireless microcontroller up to 320 MHz, with 512KB SRAM and 4MB flash (likely Beken BK7235) Wi-Fi 6 & BLE 5.2 WLAN Protocol – IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ax Wi-Fi Frequency Band – 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Modulation Mode – CCK, BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM Wi-Fi Operating Mode – AP, STA, STA + AP WiFi Rx sensitivity – Up to […]

June 25, 2024June 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

LILYGO T-Energy-S3 ESP32-S3 board offers 18650 battery holder, two 20-pin GPIO headers

ESP32-S3 board with 18650 battery holder

LILYGO T-Energy-S3 is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth IoT board with an 18650 battery holder, a USB-C port for charging and programming, and plenty of I/Os thanks to two 20-pin GPIO headers and a Qwiic connector. We’ve already covered a large number of ESP32-S3 boards and products, including some designs for battery operation such as the Tokay Lite AI camera board, LILYGO’s T7-S3 board, and Smart Bee Designs’ Bee S3 board among others. But that usually means providing a 2-pin connector and charging circuitry to connect a LiPo battery, but the T-Energy-S3 ESP32-S3 board works directly with an off-the-shelf 18650 rechargeable Lithium battery. T-Energy-S3 specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16 MB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth PCB antenna USB – 1x USB […]