sensors News - Page 12 of 19 - CNX Software

May 5, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

$60 M5Stack CoreS3 ESP32-S3 IoT controller comes with 2-inch display, VGA camera, multiple sensors

M5Stack CoreS3 is a battery-powered ESP32-S3 IoT controller with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 2-inch touchscreen display, a 0.3MP camera, a microSD card slot for storage, several sensors, plenty of I/Os, a USB Type-C OTG port, as well as a 9V to 24V DC input port. That’s the second ESP32-S3 IoT controller from M5Stack we’ve seen this year, as the CoreS3 follows the smaller M5Stack AtomS3 with a 0.85-inch display, only a few I/Os, and fewer features overall although it does come with an IR transmitter that’s missing from the larger CoreS3. M5Stack CoreS3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with AI vector instructions up to 240MHz, RISC-V ULP co-processor, 512KB SRAM, 2.4GHz WiFi 4 (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 5.0 BLE + Mesh, 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM Antenna – Internal “3D” antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 2-inch display with 320×240 resolution via ILI9342C […]

May 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HealthyPi 5 WiFi & BLE biosignal-acquisition sensor platform captures body temperature, ECG, PPG, SpO₂, and other vitals (Crowdfunding)

HealthyPi 5 is an open-source sensor platform for biosignal acquisition based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and ESP32-C3 WiFi & BLE module used to capture vitals such as electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration, photoplethysmography (PPG), oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and body-temperature data. It is a complete redesign of the HealthyPi v4 Raspberry Pi HAT with many of the same features. While the HealthyPi 5 also follows the Raspberry Pi HAT form factor and can be connected to a Raspberry Pi SBC to analyze the data, it can also be used as a standalone device with the processing handled by the RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller and connectivity through an ESP32-C3 wireless module, and data visualized on a 3.5-inch SPI display or a smartphone over WiFi or Bluetooth. HealthyPi 5 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264 KB SRAM Wireless Module – ESP32-C3 RISC-V module with 2.4 […]

April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 review – A multi-function 10-in-1 educational robot kit

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 is an educational robot kit that can be used to easily create up to 10 different types of robots. An Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 MCU board serves as the main controller and there are over 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules. The robot can drive up to 4 encoder and stepping motors, control up to 10 servo motors to work simultaneously, and can also be connected to Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards for more complex projects. The review/tutorial is fairly long, so if you are short on time, you can jump to different sections by clicking on some of the links below: MegaPi control board and main modules description mBlock 5 visual-programming IDE installation Programming of DC Encoder motors, Ultrasonic sensor, Line follower module, motion sensor, RJ25 adapter, and shutter module mBlock mobile app Building the ten models for the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit (as shown in […]

April 9, 2023April 11, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Cytron CM4 Maker Board review – Part 2: NVMe SSD, RTC, Buzzer, Grove modules, ChatGPT…

We’ve already checked out Cytron’s CM4 Maker Board kit with a Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module and booted the system with the included 32GB “MAKERDISK” Class 10 microSD card preloaded Raspberry Pi OS in the first part of the review. For the second part of the CM4 Maker review, I’ve mostly used the 128GB NVMe SSD provided by the company and played with other features of the board including the RTC, the buzzer, some Seeed Studio grove modules, and even got help from ChatGPT for one of the Python programs I used. Booting Cytron CM4 Maker Board with the “MAKERDISK” NVMe SSD I connected several Grove modules with GPIO and I2C interfaces, a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, an Ethernet cable, two RF dongles for a wireless keyboard and mouse, an HDMI cable to a monitor, and finally inserted the provided 5V/3.5A USB-C power adapter. The MAKERDISK SSD comes with Raspberry […]

March 27, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Tiny RASynBoard combines Renesas RA6M4 MCU with Syntiant NDP120 ML accelerator, WiFi & BLE module, and some sensors

Avnet RASynBoard is a tiny board that packs a lot of features in a 30x25mm form factor with a Renesas RA6M4 Cortex-M33 microcontroller, a Syntiant NDP120 Neural Decision Processor, a Renesas (Previously Dialog Semi) DA16600 Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.1 combo module, and a 6-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) and digital microphone from TDK. The RASynBoard is offered as part of an EVK with the Core Board described above plus an IO board with headers, a Pmod connector, a MikroE Shuttle Click header, a microSD card slot for storage, and a built-in debugger, plus two buttons and an RGB LED. RASynBoard specifications: Main microcontroller – Renesas RA6M4 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 200 MHz with 1 MB flash memory, 256 KB SRAM ML accelerator – Syntiant NDP120 Neural Engine based on Syntiant Core 2 Deep Neural Network, Arm Cortex M0 and HiFi 3 DSP Wireless module – Renesas DA16600 2.4 […]

February 24, 2023February 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 switches to BMI270 & BMM150 IMUs, HS3003 temperature & humidity sensor

Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 is a new revision of the Nano 33 BLE Sense machine learning board with basically the same functionality but some sensors have changed along with some other modifications “to improve the experience of the users”. The main changes are that STMicro LSM9DS1 9-axis IMU has been replaced by two IMUs from Bosch SensorTech, namely the BMI270 6-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, and the BMM150 3-axis magnetometer, a Renesas HS3003 temperature & humidity sensor has taken the place of an STMicro HTS221, and the microphone is now an MP34DT06JTR from STMicro instead of an MP34DT05. All of the replaced parts are from STMicro, so it’s quite possible the second revision of the board was mostly to address supply issues. Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 (ABX00069) specifications: Wireless Module – U-blox NINA-B306 module powered by a Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64MHz with 1MB […]

February 22, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

STMicro adds more STM32U5 Cortex-M33 MCUs with NeoChrom 2.5D GPU, 128KB to 4MB flash, NIST certification, etc…

STMicro has added three new families to its STM32U5 Cortex-M33 microcontroller series with the entry-level STM32U535/545 with as little as 128KB flash, the STM32U595/5A5 with up to 4MB of Flash and 2,514KB of RAM, and the STM32U599/5A9 with similar features as the STM32U595/5A5 by adding the new NeoChrom 2.5D GPU plus TFT-LCD and DSI display interfaces. STMicro also announced that STM32U5 series MCUs were the first general-purpose MCUs to receive NIST-embedded random-number entropy source certification. As of now, along with the STM32U575/585 introduced in February 2021 with an optional Chrom-ART 2D GPU, STMicro offers eight product lines as part of the STM32U5 MCU series as shown in the table below. That means the STM32U5 microcontroller can address a wider range of applications with the STM32U535/545 targetting lower-cost applications with less flash and RAM, the “legacy” STM32U575/U585 for mid-range applications, and the STM32U59X/5AX for applications where more storage and memory is […]

February 20, 2023February 19, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Sparkfun NanoBeacon low power Bluetooth 5.3 beacon module supports Bosch BME280 and BMA400 sensors

Sparkfun NanoBeacon is a module equipped with InPlay IN100 NanoBeacon Bluetooth 5.3 beacon SoC, a Qwicc connector, and a few GPIOs designed to work with Bosch Sensortec BME280 3-in-1 humidity sensor, measuring humidity, air pressure, and ambient temperature, and the BMA400 ultra-low power accelerometer sensor. The IN100 NanoBeacon SoC consumes less than 650nA in sleep mode, supports proprietary, Bluetooth, Google Eddystone, and Apple iBeacon beacon modules, and offers a long range of up to several hundred meters. Sparkfun NanoBoard specifications: Bluetooth Beacon SoC – IN100 NanoBeacon SoC (See datasheet for details) Memory – 4 KB SRAM + 4 Kbit OTP memory Bluetooth 5.3 compliant Beacon Modes: Proprietary, BT, Google Eddystone, and Apple iBeacon compliant 2.4GHz RF frequency band, MedRadio band (2.36GHz) Programming-free and firmware-less design Long-range transmission: up to several hundred meters Security Authentication of beacon ID Privacy of advertising payload Power consumption Sub-uW power consumption for multi-year operation on […]