At the end of last month, there was a lot of buzz about Bouffalo BL602, one of the first RISC-V SoC with built-in wireless connectivity, namely WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE. We should expect more and more of those types of solutions, and Telink & Andes jointly introduced TLSR9-series of wireless audio chips for hearables, wearables, and other high-performance IoT applications. The chips are powered by an Andes D25F RISC-V 5-stage core that happens to be the first core to integrate RISC-V DSP/SIMD P-extension and offer Bluetooth 5.2, Zigbee 3.0, HomeKit, 6LoWPAN, Thread, and/or 2.4 GHz proprietary protocol. The press release focuses on the Andes core, but an article in Chinese allows use to find more about Telink TLSR9 family’s key features: CPU – Andes D25F 32-bit RISC-V 5-stage core @ up to 96 MHz (2.59 DMIPS/MHz and 3.54 CoreMark/MHz) with RISC-V DSP/SIMD P-extension Optional NNU – AI engine […]
STMicro launches cheaper STM32WB30 and STM32WB35 Bluetooth LE & Zigbee MCUs
STMicro introduced the first wireless STM32 microcontrollers in 2018 with STM32WB Cortex-M4/M0+ MCU family equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.15.4 radios, and they followed earlier this year with STM32WL Cortex-M LoRa SoC. The company has not just announced yet another wireless STM32 family but instead added the more affordable STM32WB35 and STM32WB30 chips that can be obtained for under $2 in quantities. The new STM32WB microcontroller enabled a low BOM cost thanks to their memory configuration. Specifically, STM32W30 comes with 256KB flash while STM32W35 features 512 KB flash, and both offer 96 KB of RAM. This compares to STM32WB55 will up to 1MB flash and 256KB of RAM. Apart from the lower memory and flash capacity, the new wireless MCUs have basically the same features as other members of the STM32WB family with 16-bit ADC, quad-SPI interface (STM32WB35 only), as well as Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0, Zigbee 3.0, and OpenThread […]
Amazon Sidewalk – A Low Bandwidth Network For Connecting Smart Devices and IoT
In 2019, Amazon introduced the Sidewalk with privacy and security at the core. Amazon Sidewalk a low-bandwidth, long-distance wireless protocol that is expected to provide a new way for devices to stay connected especially when smart devices leave their WiFi or Bluetooth coverage range by leveraging the 900 MHz spectrum. Amazon Sidewalk will most likely be an LPWAN type network since it is promising neighborhood-like device connectivity with is crowdsourcing initiative. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for short distances, the 900 MHz spectrum, and other frequencies for longer distance coverage. Sidewalk attempts to make sure your BLE devices can still connect to your home network even when you take a walk away from your home. According to Amazon, users can easily access the Sidewalk network using two types of devices: Sidewalk Bridges and Sidewalk-enabled devices. Amazon has now announced that compatible Echo devices can now act as bridges and also some […]
STMicroelectronics Introduces Zigbee 3.0 to the STM32WB55 microcontrollers
STMicroelectronics has added Zigbee 3.0 support to its STM32WB55 wireless microcontroller family using the Zigbee PRO protocol stack. The STM32 Wireless MCU (STM32WB55) was launched last year with a dual-core Arm Cortex-M4 CPU and Cortex M0+ core, as well as Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 radios. STMicro is hoping to expand the applications of the STM32WB into areas like home automation as Zigbee 3.0 is making brands choose Zigbee for their smart-home connectivity solution, smart-lighting, smart-building, mesh IoT connectivity, and many more. The STM32WB55 microcontrollers already provide support for Thread and Bluetooth 5.0 and the inclusion of the Zigbee connectivity will take this to the next level. The STM32WB55 Zigbee 3.0 software includes support for the Exegin Zigbee PRO protocol stack which is available for free. To ease development and deployment, STM32WB Zigbee solution supports 46 Zigbee 3.0 clusters and a further 21 clusters support legacy products and with the Zigbee 3.0 […]
Fingernail-sized BLYST840 nRF52840 Module Features Bluetooth 5.2, Thread, Zigbee and 46 I/O (Crowdfunding)
Canada based I-SYST inc has designed a tiny nRF52840 module about the size of a fingernail. BLYST840 module fully leverages the capability of Nordic Semi’s wireless microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.2, Thread, and Zigbee connectivity, and exposes 46 I/Os. BLYST840 specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1 MB flash, 256 KB RAM Connectivity Bluetooth 5.2 up to 2 Mbps, -96 dBm sensitivity for long-range; Up to 111 dB link budget; Bluetooth Mesh IEEE 802.15.4 radio support for Thread & Zigbee NFC-A Built-in ceramic antenna Output power – Adjustable from +8 dBm to -20 dBm 46 I/O pins exposed via pads around the edges of the module including QSPI/SPI/2-wire/I2S/PDM/QDEC Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI) SPI interface @ 32 MHz Quad SPI interface @ 32 MHz EasyDMA for all digital interfaces USB 2.0 (12 Mbits) 12-bit/200K SPS ADC Security Arm TrustZone Cryptocell 310 128-bit AES/ECB/CCM/AAR co-processor […]
$9 Ebyte E180-ZG120B-TB Zigbee 3.0 Evaluation Board Features Silicon Labs EFR32MG1B Zigbee/Thread SoC
Ebyte E180-ZG120B-TB is a Zigbee 3.0 evaluation/development board based on the company’s E180-ZG120B module itself powered by Silicon Labs EFR32MG1B Series 1 Zigbee/Thread Arm Cortex-M4 SoC. Ebyte E180-ZG120B-TB specifications: Zigbee Module – Ebyte E180-ZG120B powered by Silabs EFR32MG1B Arm Cortex-M4 @ 40 MHz with 256 KB flash, 32KB SRAM; IPEX antenna connector; dimensions: 18 x 11.5mm Connectivity 2.4GHz Zigbee 3.0 & Thread Tx Power: 18 to 20dBm Range up to 1.3 km USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming via CP2102G serial chip Expansion 2x 14-pin headers plus 9-pin header giving access to module I/Os including GPIO, UART, PWM, ADC, TouchLink, Wake, RESET, DBG, 3.3V, and GND 6-pin header for power, 1x UART for CP2102G, 1x UART for module; Fitted with 3 jumpers by default to connect both Tx/Rx, as well as 3.3V power pins. Removing the jumper should allow you to connect directly to the module, […]
Nordic nRF52820 Bluetooth 5.2 SoC Supports Thread, Zigbee and Full Speed USB 2.0
Nordic Semi has launched the sixth multi-protocol SoC part of their nRF52 family with nRF52820 Bluetooth 5.2 ultra low power System-on-Chip (SoC) supporting Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE), Bluetooth mesh, as well as Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4-GHz proprietary. nRF52820 can handle all Bluetooth 5/5.1/5.2 versions with features such as Long Range, 2 Mbps throughput, direction finding, LE power control, and LE isochronous channels. The SoC also happens to include a Full Speed (12 Mbps) USB 2.0 interface. nRF52820 key features and specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz Memory – 32 KB RAM Storage – 256 KB Flash Wireless Connectivity Bluetooth 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps, Long Range Bluetooth Low Energy Bluetooth Direction Finding Bluetooth mesh Thread, Zigbee 802.15.4/ANT/2.4 GHz proprietary Up to +8 dBm TX power Security – 128-bit AES encryption USB – Full Speed USB 2.0 Other Peripherals UART, 2x SPI/TWI, QDEC Analog comparator 4x 32-bit timer/counter, […]
Electrolama to Launch 802.15.4/Zigbee USB Dongle and Raspberry Pi “HAT”
Electrolama (@omerk and friends) has been working on two open-source hardware 802.15.4/Zigbee projects with “zig-a-zig-ah” (aka “zzh”) USB stick based on Texas Instruments CC2652R SimpleLink multi-standard wireless MCU and Zoe (Zigbee + Poe) development board based on Raspberry Pi HAT form factor and powered by TI CC2530 SimpleLink 2.4 GHz SoC alongside CC2592 range extender. Both boards are released under an Apache-based Solderpad Hardware License 2.0, and target users of the Zigbee2MQTT project. The boards could soon also get native support in Home Assistant via the “zigpy-cc” library which adds support in ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) integration component. Zig-a-zig-ah USB Stick Preliminary specifications: WiSoC – Texas Instruments CC2652R SimpleLink multi-standard wireless MCU with support for Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth 5 Low Energy, IEEE 802.15.4g, 6LoWPAN, and proprietary systems. (Note: CC2652RB is also considered as it does not require an external crystal oscillator) Host Interface – USB via CH340 USB-UART bridge Misc […]