module News - Page 5 of 17 - CNX Software

June 6, 2024June 8, 2024 by Debashis Das - 7 Comments

NiCE5340 SoM packs Nordic nRF5340 MCU, Lattice iCE40 FPGA, and 11 sensors into a tiny 29x16mm form factor

Stefano Viola’s NiCE5340 SoM is built around a Nordic Semi nRF5340 Bluetooth SoC, an iCE40 FPGA, 11 sensors, a battery charger, and various other peripherals in a 29×16 mm form factor. The nRF5340 used in the SoM is a low-power, dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 SoC with Bluetooth 5.4, Bluetooth LE (BLE), Thread, Zigbee, and other proprietary protocols. Meanwhile, the Lattice iCE40 FPGA features 3520 logic cells, 80 Kbits of embedded Block RAM, I2C, and SPI blocks, and many other features that make it suitable for applications like environmental monitoring, health tracking, and others. Previously, we have written about Unexpected Maker NANOS3, TinyS3, FeatherS3, and ProS3 boards, and ESP32-S3 4G dev board which all fall under the tiny and compact board category but this is the first time we have seen an MCU board with so many features built into a module of that size. Stefano Viola’s NiCE5340 SoM Specification ICs Nordic […]

May 22, 2024May 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Tiny XIAO ESP32C6 WiFi, BLE, and 802.15.4 IoT board offers up to 16 GPIO pins

Seeed Studio has added yet another member to their XIAO board family with the XIAO ESP32C6 powered by an ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE 5, and 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee) RISC-V microcontroller and offering up to 16 GPIOs (headers + pads) in a tiny 21 x 17.5 mm form factor that’s smaller than a typical stamp and makes it one of the smallest ESP32-C6 boards around. The company started the XIAO family with the Seeeduino XIAO (Microchip SAMD21G18) in 2020, and since then they’ve made several other variants with different processors including the XIAO RP2040, XIAO ESP32C3, and XIAO ESP32S3. The XIAO ESP32C6 is the latest (10th) iteration of the board and the first to support WiFi 6, BLE, and 802.15.4 wireless connectivity. XIAO ESP32C6 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V clocked up to 160 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ up to 20 MHz Memory – 512KB […]

May 16, 2024 by Dennis Mwihia - 2 Comments

MemryX MX3 edge AI accelerator delivers up to 5 TOPS, is offered in die, package, and M.2 and mPCIe modules

Jean-Luc noted the MemryX MX3 edge AI accelerator module while covering the DeGirum ORCA M.2 and USB Edge AI accelerators last month, so today, we’ll have a look at this AI chip and corresponding modules that run computer vision neural networks using common frameworks such as TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, ONNX, PyTorch, and Keras. MemryX MX3 Specifications MemryX hasn’t disclosed much performance stats about this chip. All we know is it offers more than 5 TFLOPs. The listed specifications include: Bfloat16 activations Batch = 1 Weights: 4, 8, and 16-bit ~10M parameters stored on-die Host interfaces – PCIe Gen 3 I/O and/or USB 2.0/3.x Power consumption – ~1.0W 1-click compilation for the MX-SDK when mapping neural networks that have multiple layers Under the hood, the MX3 features MemryX Compute Engines (MCE) which are tightly coupled with at-memory computing. This design creates a native, proprietary dataflow architecture that utilizes up to 70% […]

May 14, 2024May 14, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 2 Comments

SparkFun M7E Hecto is a simultaneous RFID Reader with USB-C connectivity and a range of up to 5m

SparkFun M7E Hecto Simultaneous RFID Reader

SparkFun has announced the M7E Hecto, a ‘simultaneous’ RFID reader in a compact form factor and high-performance capabilities. The RFID reader is powered by Jadak’s Hecto module (M7E-HECTO) from the ThingMagic series which offers a wide RF output range from 0 dBm to +27 dBm and reads up to 300 tags/second. SparkFun M7E Hecto builds on the much older M6E Nano RFID reader, adding a USB-C port, increasing the read rate from 150 tags/second, and reducing power consumption. It supports an external antenna (sold separately) which extends the scanning distance up to 16 ft (4.8m) from the 1 to 2 ft (0.3m – 0.6m) range supported by the onboard antenna. It does come with a warning to ensure that personnel are not directly in the radiation beam of the antenna while they are within 21cm of the antenna (to adhere to FCC limits for long-term exposure to RF emissions). The […]

May 2, 2024May 1, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

Alfa Networks AHST7394S Wi-Fi HaLow module enables low-power, long-range IoT connectivity up to 1km

Taiwanese wireless equipment manufacturer, Alfa Networks, and US-based Wi-Fi HaLow semiconductor company, Newracom, have collaborated to develop the AHST7394S Wi-Fi HaLow module. The solder-down module is based on Newracom’s NRC7394 SoC, a low-cost and high-efficiency HaLow SoC chipset providing up to 17dbm output power and capable of connecting to a maximum of 8K devices within a single network. The NRC7394 also supports a standalone mode, which enables the execution of a wide range of IoT applications on the embedded ARM Cortex-M3 CPU. While HaLow is more energy-efficient than other Wi-Fi types, low-power operation modes such as legacy, TWT, and WMM-PS can reduce power consumption further. The AHST7394S Wi-Fi HaLow module supports a data rate of up to 15Mbps, over 600 times faster than LoRaWAN while maintaining a good range (over 1km). The second-generation HaLow module is perfect for building long-range, ultra-low-power networks in sub-1 GHz, license-exempt frequency bands. It is a […]

April 23, 2024April 23, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 5 Comments

SC730 module from Small Computer Central features the now-discontinued Zilog Z80 CPU

Small Computer Central has released a new module kit, the SC730, for the 80pin-RCBus backplane which features the widely-used 8-bit Zilog Z80 CPU and a memory management unit. The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor created to be compatible with the Intel 8080 microprocessor while offering more advanced features such as built-in DRAM refresh, a better interrupt system, and non-multiplexed buses. The Z80 microprocessor was widely used for various applications between the 70s and the 80s and is still quite popular among retro computing enthusiasts today. Cousins’ SC730 module kit is designed to fit into an 80-pin socket on an RCBus backplane. The module is built to be used with a memory module as part of a complete computer system. The memory management unit (MMU) is compatible with a 1MB linear memory module such as the SC721. It maps a fixed 32KB bank of RAM to the top of the […]

April 23, 2024April 23, 2024 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

$4.99 ESP32-S3-Tiny board measures just 23.50 x 18 mm

waveshare esp32 s3 tiny kit a mini development board

Waveshare has recently released the ESP32-S3-Tiny mini development board powered by ESP32-S3 wireless MCU and measuring just 23.50 x 18 mm. Due to its compact form factor, it does not include a USB-to-UART converter or a USB port. That is why, you will need an additional adapter board with an FPC cable to program it, which costs only $1. Despite its small size, the board is feature-rich. It includes 34 multi-function GPIO pins, along with Wi-Fi, BLE, SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, PWM, and more. The design of the board is very similar to the Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered Waveshare RP2040-Tiny board that we covered last year. However, what sets this board apart is its 34 I/O pins, compared to the 23 found on the RP2040-Tiny board, and wireless connectivity. We’ve also written about several other boards with compact form factors, such as the Unexpected Maker NANOS3 board (28 x 11 mm), […]

April 14, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Blues launches $19 Notecard XP cellular IoT module and Notecarrier XP series carrier board

Blues has recently released the latest entry to its Notecard family, the Notecard XP (External Power supply), an updated and more cost-effective version of its existing Notecard Cellular. This new model reduces costs by not including certain components, such as SIM switching hardware, an embedded SIM with a data plan, and conformal coating while retaining all key features and functionalities. These include an Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller, a three-axis accelerometer, a temperature sensor, and a secure element. Additionally, they have also removed the radio power supply to reduce costs further, bringing the price down to just $19. Alongside this release, Blues has also introduced a new “midband” LTE Cat 1 bis Notecard Cellular model, which features a single antenna design making it more compact and economical. In February this year we have seen Blues announced the Blues Starnote IoT Module, along with the Notecarrier A, B, F, and Pi series of […]