wifi 6 News - Page 27 of 32 - CNX Software

February 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Beken BK7256 320 MHz dual-core RISC-V IoT MCU offers WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, JPEG video encoder/decoder

Until now, I had only heard about Beken Bluetooth audio chips, but I’ve just been informed the company is also making WiFi chips such as the BK7256 that are notably found in some Tuya Smart Home modules. Beken offers both RISC-V and Arm WiFi and Bluetooth chips with features summarized as follows: BK7235 single-core RISC-V MCU up to 320 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.2 LE, 4MB flash, 512KB SRAM, optional 4MB PSRAM BK7236 dual-core Arm MCU up to 120 to 240 MHh with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.3 dual mode, 4MB flash, 512KB SRAM, optional 4MB PSRAM BK7237 dual-core RISC-V MCU up to 320 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.2 dual mode, 4 or 8MB flash, 512KB SRAM, optional 4MB PSRAM BK7256 dual-core RISC-V MCU up to 320 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.2 […]

January 29, 2023January 14, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

GL.iNet Beryl AX OpenWrt router review – WiFi 6 performance, repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot modes

Power bank GL.iNet GL-MT3000 Beryl AX router

In the first part of the review of GL.iNet GL-MT3000 “Beryl AX” pocket-size WiFi 6 OpenWrt router we had a look at the specifications, the package content, and the hardware design with a teardown of the little router. I’ve now had more time to play with the router focusing the review on WiFi 6 performance, and some of its functions such as repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot. The router also supports VPN client and server modes, the Tor network, and Adguard Home, but I’ll invite readers to check out the GL.iNet Brume 2 security gateway review since I went through all these, and the hardware is very similar minus wireless connectivity. Initial setup of the Beryl AX router If you connect an Ethernet cable to the router you can switch to step two. If you only rely on WiFi for the setup that works too as the Beryl AX router […]

January 23, 2023January 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Storaxa is a 3-in-1 5-bay NAS, WiFi 6 router, and 4K media center (Crowdfunding)

The Storaxa is a multi-purpose device powered by an Intel Celeron N6005 Jasper Lake processor which works as a 5-bay SATA NAS, which also happens to take up to four NVMe SSDs, a 4K media center with HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, and a WiFi 6 router equipped with four 2.5GbE ports. The solution is fitted with 16GB RAM, comes with four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports and two USB 2.0 ports, and runs Proxmox VE to handle both TrueNAS SCALE and OpenWrt for the NAS and router functions respectively. Storaxa specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 450 / 900 MHz (Turbo); 10W TDP System Memory – 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory Storage 128 GB SATA SSD for OS 5x 3.5-inch SATA bays 4x M.2 2280 sockets for NVMe SSDs (connected via ASMedia ASM2812X PCIe […]

January 23, 2023January 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Fanless Alder Lake network appliance comes with six 2.5GbE interfaces

An OEM fanless network appliance has shown up online with a choice of 15-watt Intel Core i3-1215U, Core i5-1235U, and Core i7-1265U Alder Lake processors, and six 2.5GbE interfaces, as well as HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, and support for M.2 NVMe SSD and 2.5-inch SATA drives. The design looks very similar to another white brand fanless network appliance with six 2.5GbE ports and an Intel Gemini Lake processor that we covered last year. Besides the faster processor, the new system replaces i225-V controllers with i226-V controllers, some of the USB ports have been upgraded to “USB 3.2”, and DisplayPort output was added for dual display setups. Specifications: Alder Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-1215U hexa-core processor with 2x Performance cores @ up to 4.4 GHz, 4x Efficiency cores @ up to 3.3 GHz, Intel UHD Graphics; PBP: 15W Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core processor with 2x Performance […]

January 19, 2023January 19, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

CHIPSEA CST85F01 480 MHz Cortex-M4 MCU supports dual-band WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE

CHIPSEA CST85F01 is an Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller clocked at up to 480 MHz and designed for IoT applications with dual-band (2.4/5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 with TWT (Target Wake Time) support, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and a range of I/Os. Following the recent availability of 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 IoT chips such as Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 and Bouffalo Lab BL616, CHIPSEA CST85F01 offers an alternative with dual-band WiFi 6 connectivity while we are waiting for the launch of the ESP32-C5 RISC-V microcontroller. CST85F01 specifications: CPU core – Arm Cortex-M4F CPU with MPU and FPU @ up to 480 MHz Memory – 992 KB SRAM, SDR/DDR PSRAM interfaces Storage – 752 KB ROM, 8 Mbit to 128 Mbit flash WiFi features 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi 6 Data rates up to 286.8 Mbps (Tx) and 229.4 Mbps (Rx) with 20/40 MHz bandwidth Rx sensitivity – -98dBm in 11b mode, -93.5dBm in MCS0 HT20 mode Tx power […]

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

$4 Sipeed M0S Dock IoT development board features BL616 WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee RISC-V microcontroller

As expected, Sipeed has now launched the Sipeed M0S IoT module based on Bouffalo Lab BL616 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee connectivity along with the “Sipeed M0S Dock” development board. The M0S is a tiny module (11×10 mm) with a 320 MHz wireless MCU, a ceramic antenna, and castellated holes for I/Os, and the Sipeed M0S Dock places the module on an easy-to-use board with a USB Type-C port, a BOOT button, and a 12-pin 2.54mm pitch header. Sipeed M0S module specifications: MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL616 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFCP) microcontroller @ up to 320 MHz (384 MHz overclocked) with 480KB SRAM, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual mode, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee) Antenna – Ceramic antenna (red component on module) I/Os – 25 castellated holes with RGB LCD DVP camera USB 2.0 OTG up to 480 Mbps I2C, UART, SPI […]

January 12, 2023July 2, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, BLE, and 802.15.4 module and development board launched!

Espressif Systems has finally launched the ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and 802.15.4 IoT microcontroller by making the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 module available on Aliexpress for $14.25 for a pack of 5 modules as well as the ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board that’s out of stock on the official store at the time of writing. but somehow listed in another store for $16.22 plus shipping. Besides the availability announcement, another surprise is the 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee and Thread that was not part of the original ESP32-C6 announcement in April 2021. The ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board comes with a module with 8MB flash, exposes most of the I/O’s from the ESP32-C3, and comes with two USB-C ports, two buttons, and an RGB LED. ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 with ESP32-C6 single-core 32-bit RISC-V clocked up to 160 MHz 320KB ROM, 512KB SRAM, low-power RISC-V core @ up to 20 MHz Wireless […]

January 8, 2023April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

GL.iNet GL-MT3000 pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 Router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and teardown

GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) is a pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 router running OpenWrt on a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and equipped with a 2.5GbE port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB 3.0 port. The hardware is basically the same as the Brume 2 (GL-MT2500A) security gateway, except it adds support for WiFi 6 connectivity and as an AX3000 router more than doubles the bandwidth compared to the earlier Beryl (GL-MT1300) AC1300 router. The company has sent me a sample so I’ll start the two-part review by checking the specifications, doing an unboxing, and tearing it down to have a closer look at the hardware design, before trying out OpenWrt and testing WiFi 6 and 2.5GbE performance in the second part of the review. GL.iNet GL-MT3000 specifications Beryl AX specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR4 […]