Arduino Portenta Machine Control is a low-power, industrial control unit powered by Arduino Portenta H7 board and designed to drive equipment and machinery through digital and analog I/O exposed through terminal blocks. The industrial control unit adds to the Arduino Pro family that was introduced in 2020 with support for the Arm Pelion IoT platform, the launch of the STM32H7-powered Arduino Portenta H7 industrial board, and joins another application-specific solution, namely the Arduino Edge Control board for smart agriculture launched last month. Arduino Portenta Machine Control specifications: Portenta H7 board with MCU – TMicro STM32H747XI Cortex-M7 @ 480 MHz + M4 @ 200 MHz MCU with 2MB dual-bank Flash memory, 1 MB RAM, Chrom-ART graphical hardware accelerator System Memory – 8MB SDRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI NOR Flash Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port, WiFi & Bluetooth LE with u.FL antenna connector USB – 1x USB Programming Port I/O via […]
ClearLink EtherNet/IP motion and I/O controller supports 4 axes of motion control
A few weeks ago, we wrote about ClearCore Arduino compatible industrial I/O and motion controller that can be programmed with the Arduino IDE or a C/C++ SDK. Teknic has now announced ClearLink with basically the same hardware, but instead of being programmable in C++, the controller is managed over the EtherNet/IP protocol. ClearLink key features and specifications: MCU – Microchip SAME53 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller clocked at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash, 192 KB of SRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Connectivity 1x 10/100M Fast Ethernet RJ45 port compatible with EtherNet/IP Support for Xbee modules for wireless communication (WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, DigiMesh, 802.15.4, etc.) I/Os 2x RJ45 serial ports for SPI or UART devices (5V output) 13x 3-pin terminal blocks with software configurable I/O, power, and ground Digital outputs can drive resistive or inductive loads up to 9 watts such as contactors, pneumatic or liquid valves, guard locks, […]
ClearCore – An Arduino compatible Industrial I/O and Motion Controller
Teknic, a US-based manufacturer of servo motion control components, has designed ClearCore, a Microchip SAME53 Arm Cortex-M4 based industrial I/O and motion controller that can be programmed with the Arduino IDE for quick prototyping, or Atmel Studio 7 with a more advanced C++ API for more complex projects. ClearCore offers four motion axes, 24-volt compatible analog and digital I/O, support for I/O expansion modules, as well as serial and/or Ethernet connectivity via RJ45 ports. Multiple ClearCore can also be daisy-chained for larger applications. ClearCore key features and specifications: MCU – Microchip SAME53 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller clocked at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash, 192 KB of SRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Connectivity 1x 10/100M Fast Ethernet RJ45 port Support for Xbee modules for wireless communication (WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, DigiMesh, 802.15.4, etc.) I/Os 2x RJ45 serial ports for SPI or UART devices (5V output) 3-pin terminal blocks with […]
NORVI ENET DIN-Rail ESP32 Industrial Controller adds Ethernet port
Announced in 2019, NORVI IIOT industrial controller features an ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth module, a choice of OLED or TFT Display, 24V DC input, and several analog and digital I/Os all housed in a DIN Rail enclosure. Sri Lanka-based ICONIC DEVICES has now announced an updated version with NORVI ENET DIN-Rail ESP32 industrial gateway based on a similar design, but with the addition of an Ethernet port using W5500 SPI to Ethernet controller. NORVI ENET (AE06) specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-WROOM32 with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 160 MHz, 520 Kbytes SRAM / 4 Mbit Flash, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – Built-in 0.96″ OLED display Communication – 10/100M Ethernet via W5500 controller, WiFi, Bluetooth, optional LoRa or NB-IoT module I/Os 8x 24V digital inputs for rotary encoders, sensors AE06-R model only – 4x 5A relay outputs for solenoid valves, contactors AE06-T model only – […]
Pi-oT 2 IoT module adds 24V digital inputs, RS-485, and UPS to Raspberry Pi (Crowdfunding)
Pi-oT was launched last year as a Raspberry Pi add-ons designed for commercial and industrial IoT automation. It features 5V I/Os, relays, and ADC inputs suitable for light-duty projects and prototyping. The company, called Edge Devices, has now launched an update with Pi-oT 2 adding optional support for 24V digital inputs, RS-485, and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Pi-oT 2 comes in three variants with the following key features and specifications: SBC support – Raspberry Pi model B boards with 40-pin I/O header Connectivity – Ethernet access via extra port 6x digital outputs 8x analog inputs (0 to 5V), 10-bit precision for Pi-oT 2 and 2 +Plus models, 10-bit precision for Pi-oT 2 Precision variant Model specific features Pi-OT 2 4x GPIO 5V power supply Pi-oT 2 +Plus 4x GPIO 5V power supply + UPS Pi-OT 2 Precision 4x 24V digital inputs, compliant with IEC-61131-2 standard (instead of 4x GPIO […]
Modberry 500 CM4 DIN Rail Industrial Computer Features Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4
We’ve been writing about Techbase Modberry industrial embedded computers with DIN-Rail enclosures such as Modberry M500 or M2000 for several years. Most of their systems are powered by SBC’s like Raspberry Pi 4 or AAEON Up Squared, but they’ve also made models based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+, and with the launch of Raspberry Pi CM4, the company has now introduced Modberry 500 CM4 industrial computer powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with up to 8GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash. Modberry 500 CM4 key features and specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1 to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash. Storage – Optional NVMe SSD via PCIe 2.0 (mini PCIe or optional M.2 slot) Video Output – Optional HDMI port Connectivity Optional Gigabit Ethernet port Optional Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac) & Bluetooth 5.0 Optional 5G, […]
Raspberry Pi CM3+ based Iono Pi Max industrial controller comes with an impressive number of I/Os
As the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is only expected for next year, companies are still launching products based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ (CM3+), and Sfera Labs has just introduced Iono Pi Max industrial computer powered by a Raspberry Pi CM3+ system-on-module. Housed in a DIN rail enclosure, the Linux controller offers Fast Ethernet, three USB ports, isolated CAN and serial boards, some analog I/Os, a relay, as well as a real-time clock (RTC), integrated UPS, and more. Iono Pi Max specifications: SoM compatibility Iono Pi Max 3+ – Already fitted with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ (Lite, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB eMMC version) Iono Pi Max Solo – Barebone model compatible with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3, CM3 Lite, CM3+ 8GB/16GB32GB, and CM3+ Lite MCU – Microchip SAME54 Cortex-M4F microcontroller with 1 MB flash, 256 KB RAM connected to the Raspberry Pi module via I2C, USB and […]
Differences Between RS232, RS422 and RS485 (Video)
RS232, RS422, and RS485 are pretty old serial communication interfaces, and I was not even born when RS232 was specified in 1962, but there are still commonly used today in various applications such a points-of-sales, multi-meters, industrial equipment like PLC or HMI, as well as medical devices. Maxim Integrated shared a video – embedded at the end of this article – on social networks today explaining the fundamentals of serial transmitter devices and the differences between RS232, RS422, RS485, and Profibus. The video goes into more details with a glossary of terms, discussion of cable length and bitrate, hand-shaking, and auto-shutdown, but I’ll provide a quick summary below: RS232 supports one transmitter and one receiver, and operates between -15 and +15V (with input tolerance of up to -/+ 25V). A logic zero is between +3 and +15V and a logic one between -15 and -3V on the receiver side RS422 […]