wifi

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Antenna hack more than doubles the range of cheap ESP32-C3 USB-C boards

Antenna hack more than doubles the range of cheap ESP32-C3 USB-C boards

ESP32-C3 board antenna hack

There are plenty of small ESP32-C3 IoT boards with a USB-C connector on the market, and while they all look very similar, antenna designs differ, and less thought-out ones may severely impact the WiFi and Bluetooth range. Peter Neufeld decided to hack one of those cheap ESP32-C3 boards by adding a custom antenna, and this resulted in the board having more than twice the range and almost three times in some cases. Those tiny boards are cramped, so there’s very little space around the ceramic antenna typically used, leading to poor RF performance. To work around that issue, Peter added a 31mm long antenna made of silver-plated wire, making a loop of about 8mm in diameter outside of the board and soldered on the ceramic antenna’s solder joints, and the rest of the wire (about 15mm) points upwards. As you can see from the photo above, he didn’t remove the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on TwoTrees TTC6050 CNC router review with vacuum cleaner Monster (M1) kit and a 800W spindle upgrade

TwoTrees TTC6050 CNC router review with vacuum cleaner Monster (M1) kit and a 800W spindle upgrade

TwoTrees TTC6050 CNC Router Review

Twotrees has sent us a TTC6050 CNC router for review, along with a vacuum cleaner Monster (M1) kit and an 800W spindle upgrade with a speed of 30,000 RPM. The machine is designed for carving and milling various materials such as wood, plastic, and metal. It features a working area of 600 x 500 x 100 mm and comes equipped with a 500W spindle by default, upgradable to an 800W spindle. It’s capable of handling larger workpieces, works faster, and supports a broader variety of materials than the TwoTrees TTC 450 CNC router we reviewed in 2023 with a 500W spindle. In this review, we will start by listing the specifications and going through an unboxing, before assembling the TTC6050 CNC router and the vacuum cleaner Monster (M1) Kit, and installing the Candle CNC software to conduct milling tests on thick MDF wood. After that, we’ll install the 800W high-speed […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on LILYGO T-Deck Pro – An ESP32-S3 LoRa messenger with e-paper touch display, keyboard, and 4G LTE or audio codec option

LILYGO T-Deck Pro – An ESP32-S3 LoRa messenger with e-paper touch display, keyboard, and 4G LTE or audio codec option

LILYGO T-Deck Pro

LILYGO T-Deck Pro is a LoRa messenger based on an ESP32-S3 WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.x SoC, and offered with a 3.1-inch e-paper display with touchscreen, a Blackberry-like QWERTY keyboard, a GPS module, speaker, microphone, and a 3.5mm audio, as well as IMU and light sensors. It builds upon the T-Deck Plus design, but replacing the 2.8-inch IPS display with a 3.1-inch e-paper display allows for a slimmer design and should offer longer battery life despite the smaller 1,400 mAh battery used in the new model. Two versions of the T-Deck Pro are available: one with a Simcom 4G LTE modem and a cheaper one with a PCM5102A audio codec. LILYGO T-Deck Pro specifications: SoC –  ESP32-S3FN16R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash Storage – MicroSD card […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on MINIX B14 1-to-4 wireless HDMI kit supports up to four Full HD displays

MINIX B14 1-to-4 wireless HDMI kit supports up to four Full HD displays

MINIX B14 quad wireless HDMI kit

We’ve covered various wireless HDMI solutions over the years, such as the Xiaomi Wireless Casting Adapter or ProScreenCast SC02, but I think it’s the first time I’ve come across something like the MINIX B14 1-to-4 wireless HDMI kit with support for up to four Full HD displays. The MINIX B14 comes with a single HDMI Tx dongle and four HDMI Rx dongles to be connected to four monitors or TVs. The solution works over dual-band WiFi and additional HDMI Rx can be added if needed. MINIX B14 specifications: Wireless HDMI – 1x HDMI transmitter and 4x HDMI receivers WiFi – Dual-band (2.4GHz+5GHz) WiFi with up to  50 meters range Resolution – 1080p HD (not frame rate provided) Features Simultaneous connection to multiple devices (1-to-4 Capability) Plug-and-Play operation High-definition video streaming Audio-Video sync Power Supply – 5V/2A via USB-C port Dimensions – 10.6 x 4.4 x 2 cm when the antennas […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - 2 Comments on Flipper Blackhat is a Flipper Zero dual-band Wi-Fi card with an Allwinner A33 processor

Flipper Blackhat is a Flipper Zero dual-band Wi-Fi card with an Allwinner A33 processor

Flipper Blackhat - Flipper Zero dual-band Wi-Fi card

Developed by Rootkit Labs in Switzerland, the Flipper Blackhat is an open-source Allwinner A33-based Flipper Zero dual-band Wi-Fi card running Linux and designed for penetration testing, cybersecurity research, and wireless network analysis. Built around an Allwinner A33 quad-core 1.5GHz processor, it comes with 1GB RAM, and an onboard 2.4GHz WiFi radio (RTL8723DS), with additional connectivity via two USB-A ports and one USB-C (FTDI-connected). The package also includes a 5GHz USB WiFi dongle (RTL8821CU) and a WiFi antenna for the built-in radio but requires an SD card and Flipper device separately. Flipper Blackhat Specifications: SoC – Allwinner A33 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor GPU – Arm Mali-400 MP2 VPU – 1080p60 H.264, VP8, MPEG 1/2/4, JPEG/MJPEG video decoding 1080p60 H.264 video encoding Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – SD Card slot Wireless Connectivity Realtek RTL8723DS 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Includes Realtek RTL8821CU 5 GHz USB Wi-Fi dongle Supports additional third-party Wi-Fi […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on UNIHIKER K10 low-cost TinyML education platform supports image detection and voice recognition

UNIHIKER K10 low-cost TinyML education platform supports image detection and voice recognition

UNIHIKER K10

UNIHIKER K10 is a low-cost STEM education platform for TinyML applications that leverages the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller with vector extensions for workloads such as image detection or voice recognition. The UNIHIKER K10 also features a built-in 2.8-inch color display, a camera, a speaker, a 2-microphone array, a few sensors, a microSD card, and a BBC Micro:bit-like edge connector for power signals and GPIOs. It’s a cost-optimized version of its Linux-based big brother – the UNIHIKER M10 – first unveiled in 2022. Arnon also reviewed the UNIHIKER in 2023, showing how to configure it, use the SIoT platform with MQTT message, and program it with Jupyter Notebook, Python, or Visual Studio Code. Let’s have a closer look at the new ESP32-S3 variant. UNIHIKER K10 specifications: Core module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 MCU – ESP32-S3N16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, 16MB flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Seeed Studio launches Wi-Fi HaLow mini PCIe module for Raspberry Pi, add-on board for XIAO boards

Seeed Studio launches Wi-Fi HaLow mini PCIe module for Raspberry Pi, add-on board for XIAO boards

Wio-WM6108 Wi-Fi HaLow mini PCIe module

Seeed Studio has launched two 900 MHz WiFi HaLow modules for long-range, low-power communication based on Quectel FGH100M-H: the Wio-WM6180 Wi-Fi HaLow mini-PCIe module designed to be installed in hardware such as OpenWrt routers or even Raspberry Pi SBCs, and the Wi-Fi HaLow module for Seeed Studio XIAO designed to take XIAO boards with Espressif, Raspberry Pi, or Nordic Semi microcontrollers. These solutions can be useful for Smart Home devices, industrial automation, Smart City infrastructure, Smart Agriculture, and environmental monitoring systems. The most typical use cases are WiFi HaLow cameras with up to one kilometer range. Wio-WM6180 Wi-Fi HaLow mini-PCIe Module Specifications: Quectel FGH100M-H Wi-Fi HaLow module compliant with IEEE 802.11ah standard. Chipset – Morse Micro MM6108 Wi-Fi Frequency Band – 902–928 MHz Operating mode – Access Point (AP) or Station (STA) Modulation – OFDM, BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM Data Rate – Up to 32.5Mbps link rate Range – Up […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on LILYGO T-Connect Pro industrial IoT controller offers Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa, RS232, RS485, and CAN Bus

LILYGO T-Connect Pro industrial IoT controller offers Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa, RS232, RS485, and CAN Bus

LILYGO T-Connect-Pro ESP32-S3 LoRa Industrial Controller

LILYGO T-Connect Pro is a DIN rail-mountable, ESP32-S3-based industrial IoT controller with Ethernet, WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and LoRa connectivity, as well as CAN Bus, RS232, and RS485 interfaces. The controller also features a 2.33-inch touchscreen display, a 10A relay, a 12V to 24V DC screw terminal for power, 5V USB-C port for programming, a Qwiic connector for expansion, and BOOT and Reset buttons. LILYGO T-Connect Pro specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S3R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration Memory – 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE + Mesh connectivity Storage – 16MB SPI flash Display – 2.33-inch RGB display with 480×222 resolution via ST7796 SPI display controller with touchscreen using CST226SE chip Networking 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port via W5500 4-wire SPI controller WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE via ESP32-S3 LoRa via HPD16A Semtech SX1262 […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC