Xiaomi Smart Multi-mode Gateway Supports Zigbee 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Mesh

Xiaomi Mijia Smart Multi-Mode Gateway

Xiaomi has introduced several inexpensive home automation products over the years, often under their Mijia brands with for example a WiFi to IR blaster, a Zigbee & WiFi smart home kit, a smart door lock, or a smart speaker among other products. Recently, the company has launched the Xiaomi Smart Multi-mode Gateway that supports Zigbee 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Mesh. Xiaomi Mijia Smart Multi-mode Gateway (model ZNDMWG03LM) key features and specifications: Connectivity ZigBee2.0 / ZigBee3.0 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth & Bluetooth Mesh Compatible with Apple Homekit Max range – 200 meters (Line-of-Sight) Up to 32 devices Power Supply – 5V/1A Dimensions – 90x25mm Temperature Range – -5℃-50℃ Humidity – 0%-95%RH, non-condensing The gateway can be controlled via Mi Home app running on  Android 5.0 or iOS 12.0 smartphones. It’s compatible with Apple Homekit, Xiaomi Mi AI speaker, and the earlier Zigbee/WiFi kit with Aqara gateway and Zigbee sensors […]

Tasmota Open Source ESP8266 Firmware Now Supports Zigbee Connectivity

Tasmota Zigbee to WiFi Gateway Prototype

Sonoff-Tasmota is a popular open-source firmware designed to run on ESP8266 hardware for home automation projects. It was initially designed to run on devices from ITEAD Studio Sonoff family but now supports more products, boards, and modules from other brands such as Shelly, Wemos, Blitzwolf, and others. So the first news is that the project has recently been renamed from Sonoff-Tasmota to just Tasmota, and documentation has been moved from Github Wiki to Github.io. Tasmota Zigbee Support A piece of more important news is that Tasmota now supports Zigbee. More specifically, the Z2T (Zigbee to Tasmota) concept allows you to make your own Zigbee to WiFi bridge by combining Z-Stack-firmware on CC2530 and Tasmota firmware on ESP8266 / ESP82xx hardware. Basically all you need is ESP82xx hardware connected to a Texas Instruments C2530 based Zigbee device over a serial. Note that C2531 based device won’t work since they are connected […]

Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) Working Group is Backed by Google, Apple, Amazon, and the Zigbee Alliance

Project Connected Home over IP

Amazon, Apple, Google, and Zigbee Alliance have partnered to create Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) working group aiming to develop a royalty-free, Smart Home standard to increase compatibility among products, and with security at the forefront. The new standard will be separate from Zigbee 3.0 / Pro, and Zigbee Alliance board member companies such IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian will also join the CHIP working group and contribute to the project. The standard specified by Project Connected Home over IP will rely on existing technology from the networking layer including TCP/UDP transport protocol, IPv6 network and various physical & media standards such as WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth LE, Cellular, 802.15.4 and others. Instead, it will define what happens at the application layer level with the following points of focus: End-to-end data security and privacy among in-home and […]

Nordic Semi nRF5340 Dual Arm Cortex-M33 SoC Supports Bluetooth 5.1/Mesh, NFC, Thread & Zigbee

After introducing nRF52833 WiSoC with Bluetooth 5.1 direction-finding support last month, Nordic Semiconductors has now launched another multi-protocol wireless SoC with nRF5340 featuring two Arm Cortex-M33 cores and supporting Bluetooth 5.1, Bluetooth Mesh, NFC, Thread & Zigbee. One of the Cortex-M33 is an application core incorporating  1 MB Flash and 512 KB RAM, as well as Arm CryptoCell-312, Arm TrustZone technology, and Secure Key Storage for the highest level of security, and the other Cortex-M33 core is used for networking functions.  The company also announced nRF5340 PDK to get started with the new WiSoC. nRF5340 Dual-Core Multiprotocol SoC Key features and specifications: CPU Application core  – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 128/64 MHz with 1 MB Flash + 512 KB RAM, 8 KB 2-way set associative cache; CoreMark: 510/255; CoreMark/mA: 65/76 Network core –  Arm Cortex-M33 @ 64 MHz with 256 KB Flash + 64 KB RAM, 2 KB instruction cache; CoreMark: […]

Nordic Semi nRF52833 WiSoC Supports Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding, Works up to 105ºC

nRF52833-DK

Nordic Semiconductors had added a new member to their RF52 multi-protocol wireless SoCs with nRF52833 that supports Bluetooth 5.1 direction finding and can operate in a wider temperature range between -40ºC and +105°C. The company also introduced nRF52833 DK development kit for Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Zigbee (802.15.4), and 2.4GHz proprietary applications, and some companies have already announced nRF52833 modules. Nordic Semi nRF52833 Bluetooth 5.1 SoC Key features and specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M4F @ 64 MHz Memory – 128 KB RAM Storage – 512 KB Flash Connectivity Bluetooth 5.1 @ 2 Mbps/1 Mbps/500 kbps/125 kbps 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee) @ 250 kbps 2.4 GHz proprietary @ 2 Mbps / 1 Mbps NFC-A tag TX power – Programmable from +8 dBm to -20 dBm in 4 dB steps Sensitivity Bluetooth 5: -103 dBm at 125 kbps; -98 dB at 500 kbps; -95 dBm at 1 Mbps; -92 dBm at […]

Pitaya Go is an IoT development board with multi-protocol wireless connectivity

One of the challenges in starting a new IoT project is the question of what connectivity to use. Depending on the nature of a project, there are several wired and wireless connectivity options that can be used to power a project and ensure it’s a success. We have WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Zwave, LoRa, ZigFox, Thread, NB-IoT, 3G/4G, and others. You can use from anyone, but which one to use is another thing because most development board only support 1 or 2 of those. Well, with the introduction of the Pitaya Go, you don’t have to worry so much about that decision. The Pitaya Go is an IoT development platform with multiprotocol wireless connectivity built-in. The Pitaya Go is based on the Nordic’s high-end multiprotocol SoC nRF52840 and the Microchip’s extremely low power Wi-Fi network controller ATWINC1500B. The nRF52840 SoC is the most advanced member of the nRF52 Series SoC family, and it […]

Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC Targets WiFi, BLE & Sub-1GHz IoT Gateways

Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC

Freescale/NXP i.MX6 based Gateworks Ventana single board computers have been around at least since 2013 and were initially targeting networking processing applications for the industry. They could be used into all sort of gateways with cellular or WiFi connectivity for instance, thanks to the presence of mini PCIe sockets. But the latest Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC does not exclusively relies on mini PCIe cards for wireless connectivity, as it includes an onboard Laird Sterling 802.11b/g/n WiFi & Bluetooth module, as well as optional TI CC1352P dual-band Wireless MCU supporting Sub-1GHz and 2.4GHz RF, and an optional on-board u-blox GPS module, which should lower the total cost compared to solutions with mini PCIe cards. Ventana GW5910 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6 Dual Core Arm Cortex-A9 SoC Processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3-800 SDRAM Storage – 256MB Flash System Memory, microSD card slot, mSATA socket  Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet Port Onboard […]

Wireless Gecko Series 2 MCU Delivers Extended Range, HW Security

Wireless Gecko Series 2 efr32bg21

Silicon Labs are recently introduced their Wireless Gecko Series 2 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family that offers Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread connectivity for smart home, commercial and industrial IoT applications. The new family includes a dedicated security core as well as an on-chip radio which according to the company delivers 2.5 times the wireless range of competing solutions. Some of the highlights of the new wireless microcontroller includes: 80 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone technology High RF performance with +20 dBm output power and up to +124.5 dB link budget Low active current (50.9 µA/MHz) Security Dedicated security core for faster, lower-power encryption Built-in true random number generator (TRNG) Secure boot loading Secure debug access control Tiny 4×4 mm QFN package Lower BOM count and system cost with fewer matching components and no need for external inductors or power amplifiers Flexible pre-certified modules based on EFR32xG21 SoCs planned for Q3 […]

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