Arduino Plant Watering Kit combines Nano RP2040 Connect with moisture sensor and submersible pump

Arduino Plant Watering 3D Printed enclosure

You’ve probably seen a few plant watering projects based on Arduino over the years, and now the company has decided to launch its own Arduino Plant Watering Kit based on the Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect board and everything you need to get started to water your indoor plants. Arduino Plant Watering Kit content: Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect board (ABX00053) with Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, ESP32 module for WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. Arduino Nano Screw Terminal Adapter (ASX00037) Open-ended USB cable with on/off switch 5V submersible pump 1-meter of plastic hose Grove moisture sensor Grove relay module with cable Grove LED button module with cable Grove cables 50 cm 10x Jumper wires (15 cm) 12x screw connectors Simply connect the moisture sensor and the water pump (through the relay) to the Nano RP2040 Connect board, insert the moisture sensor in a flower pot, and put the pump in a recipient […]

TI unveils ULC1001 ultrasonic lens cleaning chip for self-cleaning cameras

TI ULC1001 self cleaning camera

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the ULC1001 digital signal processor (DSP) ultrasonic lens cleaning (ULC) technology designed – when combined with DRV2901 piezo transducer driver – for self-cleaning camera systems to quickly detect and remove dirt, ice, and water using microscopic vibrations. Cameras used in the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart farming industries may require cleaning from time to time and that usually means manual cleaning leading to potential downtime, higher maintenance cost, and so on. It could also be done through mechanical parts but that adds further complexity to the system, so instead, Texas Instruments ULC1001 and DRV2901 combo enables cameras to rapidly self-clear contaminants using vibrations to eliminate debris. The datasheet describes the ULC1001 as a “Configurable Ultrasonic PWM Modulator With I/V Sense Amplifiers” with the following specifications: Integrated Programmable Cleaning Modes Water (expelling) Deice (melting and expelling) Mud (dehydrating and expelling) Auto-Cleaning (detecting and expelling) Custom Cleaning […]

ROCK Base triple-frequency RTK/GNSS base station works with Web3 GEODNET decentralized network

ROCK Base RTK network base station

ROCK Robotic has announced the ROCK Base triple-band multi-constellation RTK/GNSS base station that works with the Web3 GEODNET decentralized GNSS reference network, with the solution designed to offer centimeter accuracy to support applications such as civil surveying, high-definition mapping, digital twin creation, and robotic solutions. Real-time Kinematic (RTK) is a relative positioning technique relying on GNSS (GPS,  Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou …) and allowing centimeter positioning accuracy. The technique requires an RTK “Base station” like the ROCK Base and a lower-cost “Rover station” typically attached to a vehicle or drone. For higher accuracy, it’s also possible to use a Network RTK: Network RTK is based on the use of several widely spaced permanent stations. Data from reference stations is combined in a common data processing in a control center. The control center computes corrections for the spatially correlated errors within the network. These corrections are transmitted to the rover. Comparing to […]

reComputer J4012 mini PC features NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX for AI Edge applications

reComputer J4021 mini PC

reComputer J4012 is a mini PC or “Edge AI computer” based on the new NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX, a cost-down version of the Jetson AGX Orin, delivering up to 100 TOPS modern AI performance. The mini PC is based on the Jetson Orin NX 16GB, comes with a 128GB M.2 SSD preloaded with the NVIDIA JetPack SDK and offers Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.2 ports, and HDMI 2.1 output. Wireless connectivity could be added through the system’s M.2 Key E socket. reComputer J4012 / J401 specifications: SoM – NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16GB with CPU – 8x Arm Cortex-A78AE core @ up to 2.0 GHz with 2MB L2 + 4MB L3 cache GPU/AI 1024-core NVIDIA Ampere GPU with 32 Tensor Cores @ up to 918 MHz 2x NVDLA v2.0 @ 614 MHz PVA v2 vision accelerator 100 TOPS AI performance (sparse) Video Encoder  (H.265) 1x 4Kp60 | 3x 4Kp30 6x […]

MistySoM Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L SoM and devkit goes for $112 and up

MistySOM devkit Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L

We’ve previously written about several system-on-modules and SBCs based on Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 processors such as Geniatech “AHAURA” RS-G2L100 and “AKITIO” RS-V2L100 single board computers, Forlinx FET-G2LD-C system-on-module, and SolidRun RZ/G2LC SOM and devkit. But most of those are hard to buy, and you need to contact the company, discuss your project, etc… before purchase, except for the SolidRun Renesas RZ/G2LC Evaluation Kit going for $249. Another option is the MistyWest MistySOM module offered for $112 and up on GroupGets with either Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L processor, as well as an optional carrier board. MistySOM system-on-module MistySOM-G2L (aka MW-G2L) and MistySOM-V2L (aka MW-V2L) specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L with dual-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.2 GHz, Arm Cortex-M33 core @ up to 200 MHz, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, and DRP-AI vision accelerator (RZ/V2L only) System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4/DDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash 2x 120-pin high-speed mezzanine […]

DROPLET irrigation system works with ESPhome and Home assistant

DROPLET irrigation system

When PricelessToolkit failed to find an affordable (indoor) irrigation system that works with Home Assistant and ESPHome, he built the DROPLET board based on ESP32 wireless SoC and supporting up to five micro-pumps and soil moisture sensors. The board also comes with switches to manually control the pump, a built-in DS18B20 temperature sensor, a buzzer, and a I/O header to connect an expansion header for relay control, I2C, GPIOs, and an external DS18B20 temperature sensor. DROPLET specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S with ESP32 dual-core 32-bit microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, 4MB SPI flash Display – I2C header for 5V/3.3V OLED display Pump interfaces – 5x 2-pin connectors for micropumps Sensors and sensor interfaces DS18B20 temperature sensor 5x 3-pin connectors for soil moisture sensors; pulled low with a 1 MΩ resistor. Expansion – 2x 16-pin right-angle female header with GPIOs, UART, 5V, and GND Debugging […]

Wi-SUN: An LPWAN standard for Smart Cities, Smart Agriculture, large scale IoT deployments

Wi SUN network architecture

Wi-SUN is a standard (IEEE 802.15.4g) managed by the Wi-SUN Alliance and designed for Smart Cities, Smart Agriculture, and other large scale IoT deployments with a large number of devices thanks to the use of IPv6 mesh networking. The organization was founded in 2011 to “support the worldwide development of Wireless Communications Networks for Utilities, Smart Cities and IoT”, but due to the niche nature of target applications, it does not get that much press coverage and was only recently brought to my attention. Wi-SUN stands for “Wireless Smart Utility Networks”or “Wireless Smart Ubiquitous Networks”, and the standard aims to connect streetlights, cameras, weather stations, smart metering, utility transmission systems, and others to enable data-sharing between city services to improve their efficiency, save costs, and offer improves services to citizens. Wi-SUN FAN (Field Area Network) is the latest protocol managed by the Wi-SUN Alliance with over 95 million units shipped […]

Infineon XENSIV PAS CO2 Shield2Go board enables carbon dioxide measurements

Infineon XENSIV PAS CO2 Shield2Go board

Infineon has added new a shied to its Shield2Go ecosystem with the XENSIV PAS CO2 Shield2Go board integrating the company’s XENSIV PAS CO2 sensor capable of measuring carbon dioxide levels. We first wrote about the Shield2Go module with the OPTIGA Trust-M evaluation kit integrating a security module, but the family also includes various sensors shield and microcontroller boards notably the XMC 2Go board. The new Shield2Go board can be used for both air quality monitoring and controlled ventilation for energy savings.     XENSIV PAS CO2 Shield2Go board specifications: XENSIV PAS CO2 sensor: Accuracy – ±30 ppm ±3% “Advanced compensation and self-calibration algorithms” Host interfaces – UART, I2C, PWM Dimensions – 14 x 13.8 x 7.5 mm 19x through holes and castellated holes with I2C, UART, PWM, interrupt, 5V, 3.3V, GND, plus SWD interface Power Supply 5V DC input 12V DC DCDC boost converter to power the IR transmitter in […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC