wearables News - Page 10 of 29 - CNX Software

May 16, 2021 by Saumitra Jagdale - 3 Comments

HEGduino V2 supports fNIRS and Blood-Flow Monitoring (Crowdfunding)

AlasKit has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowd Supply for HEGduino V2. The device features noninvasive optical imaging through fNIRS (Functional near-infrared spectroscopy), apart from its brain blood flow monitoring functionality. We saw the previous version of the HEGduino in September 2019 which only supported blood flow monitoring. But the HEGduino V2 also monitors breathing, heart rate, and skin temperature. HEGduino V2 has a MAX86141 optical pulse oximeter cum heart-rate sensor for incorporating Heart Rate Variability (HRV) training. It also allows breath and skin temperature monitoring. The sensor has a specification of 2×4096 SPS sensing with a 19-bit resolution which is a bit higher than its previous version. As HEGduino V1 had an 860 SPS sensing with a 16-bit resolution. However, the practical application observes even lesser values for HEGduino V1. Setup of HEGduino V2 The device also comes with an ESP32 breakout board with rechargeable battery support. The board […]

April 22, 2021April 22, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

InfiniTime 1.0 firmware released for PineTime smartwatch

The PineTime smartwatch was unveiled and first launched in 2019, as a low-cost, open-source wearables development kit/platform for developers wanting to work on firmware development for the Nordic nRF52 powered device. Progress was made on various solutions such as ATCwatch Arduino firmware, and as time passed, the PineTime slowly became more like an “enthusiast-grade” end-user product. This is basically what it has become with the first stable release of InfiniTime firmware, which was selected as the default firmware in September 2020. The main features of InfiniTime 1.0 firmware include: Two clock faces – digital and analog Apps – Stopwatch, music control, navigation, heart rate, as well as Paddle and 2048 games User settings – Display timeout, time format, wake up conditions OTA upgrades via an open-source bootloader based on MCUBoot Heart rate monitoring and step counting Between 3 and 5 days of battery life depending on usage Firmware based on […]

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

LilyGo sells Open-Smartwatch open-source hardware ESP32 watch by “Paul’s 3D Things”

We’ve previously covered three variants of LilyGo T-Watch-2020 smartwatch based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC with TTGO T-Watch-2020 (V1) launched about a year ago, following by T-Watch-2020 V3 with a microphone for voice control, and T-Watch-2020 V2 with GPS. The company has recently launched a new rounded smartwatch based on ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with a twist as they did not design it themselves and instead partnered with “Paul’s 3D Things” for the Open-Smartwatch, and just handle manufacturing and production. LilyGo Open-Smartwatch “Light Edition” specifications: Wireless module – LILYGO T-micro32 module based on ESP32-PICO-D4 module with dual-core ESP32 processor, 4MB FLASH, ceramic antenna or u.FL antenna connector Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR BLE and WiFi 4 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n Display – 1.3 inch circular LCD with 240×240 resolution USB – Micro USB for charging and programming Sensor – 3-axis BMA400 accelerator Debugging – USB to TTL via CH340E chip Misc -Reset […]

March 30, 2021March 30, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Renesas RE01B Bluetooth 5.0 LE MCU harvests energy for battery maintenance-free IoT devices

EB-RE01B Bluetooth-5.0-Energy Harvesting Board

Nobody likes to change or recharge batteries in their IoT nodes, so any new development related to energy harvesting or batteryless devices is welcomed. Renesas RE01B is a new Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU that consumes at little as 35 µA/MHz during operation and 600 nA during standby making it suitable for battery maintenance-free IoT devices, or even batteryless IoT devices thanks to its energy harvesting controller. Renesas RE01B microcontroller’s features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M0+ core up to 64MHz GPU – 2D graphics accelerator Memory – 256KB SRAM Storage – 1.5MB flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz radio with Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy; up to 400m range (Long Range) and 2 Mbps data rate I/Os 8x PWM outputs 7x 14-bit A/D converters (ADC, Analog inputs) SCI (UART), I2C, SPI Timers 1x 32-bit Timer, 3x 16-bit Timer, 2x 8-bit Timer 2x Watchdog Timer, 1-second event timer, stopwatch […]

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Arduino WiFi & Bluetooth watch adds GPS, MicroSD slot, loses audio amplifier

LilyGO introduced the ESP32 powered T-Watch-2020 smartwatch last year with a slim form factor, a 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen, WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, and support for Arduino. In February, we noted TTGO T-Watch-2020 V3 with a built-in microphone to enable voice control, but the company has just listed TTGO T-Watch-2020 V2 adding GPS and a MicroSD card slot on its Aliexpress store for around $33. TTGO T-Watch-2020 V2 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core wireless processor with 520KB SRAM System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card slot Display – 1.54-inch LCD capacitive touch screen Audio – Max98357 Class-D amplifier, buzzer/speaker Connectivity 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.1 via ESP32 Quectel L76L module for GNSS (GPS, Beidou,GLONASS, QZSS) Sensors – BMA423 three-axis accelerometer with built-in step counting algorithm, activity recognition/tracking, advanced gesture recognition. Expansion – 13-pin 0.3mm pitch FPC expansion socket (shared with MicroSD card […]

February 25, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon XR1 based AR smart glasses reference design

Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon XR2 5G VR Reference Design last year based on their latest Snapdragon XR2 virtual/extended reality processor. But the company never designed a reference design for the earlier Snapdragon XR1 that was found in Google Glass Enterprise Edition v2. Better late than never, as the company has now announced the Snapdragon XR1 AR smart viewer reference design. If you happen to be a human not part of Qualcomm’s marketing team, you may wonder what an “AR smart viewer” is. The team behind the terms “Mobile Platform” (i.e. SoC + some companion chips), “Visual subsystem” (i.e. GPU, ISP, and stuff), is now bringing the new “AR Smart viewer” term for what commoners like myself used to call “smart glasses”. The reference design can tether to a compatible smartphone, Windows PC, or processing puck and is said to work best with other Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms. Some of the highlights […]

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Watchy Pebble-like Smartwatch with E-paper display, ESP32 processor launched on Crowd Supply

Pebble smartwatch was introduced in 2012 on Kickstarter. The Bluetooth smartwatch came with an E-Paper display, would connect to your Android smartphone or iPhone to receive notifications or other info, and the company also released an SDK for further customization. It was quite popular at the time having sold over one million units, the Pebble Time followed in 2015 with a color display, as well as other models. But despite selling millions of watches, the company folded in 2016, and the Pebble was discontinued after the intellectual property was purchased by Fitbit. Watchy is a new smartwatch that reminds me of the original pebble. It is based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC, equipped with a 1.54-inch E-Paper display with 200×200 resolution, and the usual accelerometer for activity tracking and gesture detection. Watchy key features and specifications: SIP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core processor with Bluetooth LE […]

December 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Qualcomm unveils QCC305x/QCC3056 TrueWireless, Bluetooth LE Audio-ready SoC for earbuds

Qualcomm QCC305x TrueWireless Bluetooth LE Audio SoC

Qualcomm has some SoC families specifically designed for Bluetooth headphones, headsets, & earbuds, and we very recently covered the cute Qualcomm QCC5141 Earbud reference design made to help manufacturers design and launch earbuds with support for TrueWireless Mirroring and Hybrid ANC. The company has now introduced another family with the QCC305x SoC series aiming to “bring premium True Wireless earbud features to a broad range of tiers” such as Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and wake word activated voice assistant, as well as support for the upcoming Bluetooth LE audio standard. The first and only member of QCC305x family at this time is QCC3056 with the following key features and specifications: CPU – 32-bit programmable application core clocked at up to 80 MHz DSP – 2x Qualcomm Kalimba DSP @ 120 MHz with 112kB program RAM, 448kB data RAM Storage – External flash Connectivity Bluetooth 5.2 qualified BR, EDR, […]