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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Onenuts 4G LTE TV Box Comes with Optional Battery and Zigbee Connectivity

Onenuts 4G LTE TV Box Comes with Optional Battery and Zigbee Connectivity

4G LTE TV Box Battery SIM Card

In some countries, especially in the Middle Easy and Africa, 4G LTE is a popular way of getting broadband Internet, and in the past we covered several 4G LTE TV boxes running Android such as WeTek Hyperion,  SDMC DV8230-AP LTE, or Geniatech ATV329. Shenzhen Tomato now offers another options with their “Onenuts 4G-LTE Android OTT Set-Top Box” powered by Amlogic S905X processor, and that happens to come with a compartment for optional batteries. Onenuts 4G LTE TV box specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 1GB or 2GB Storage –  8GB, 16G, or 32G eMMC flash; micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K UHD @ 60 Hz, AV output (composite) Audio – Video – 10-bit H.265 & VP9 Profile 2 4K @ 60fps, H.264 4K @ 30fps, AVS+ & H.264 1080p60 Connectivity […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Dragino NB-IoT Bee is a $23 Xbee Compatible NB-IoT Add-on Board

Dragino NB-IoT Bee is a $23 Xbee Compatible NB-IoT Add-on Board

Several companies are already offering XBee NB-IoT add-on board including Digi International themselves, and SODAQ with their NB-IoT Bee N211 module going for 69 Euros. Dragino NB-IoT Bee is another option for NB-IoT connectivity using Xbee form factor,  and the board should be cheaper than most as it goes for $23.00 on Tindie with an external antenna. NB-IoT Bee specifications: NB-IoT module Quectel BC95-B5 for B5:850Mhz, B8:900Mhz, or B20:800Mhz in respectively Nb-IoT Bee QB05, QB08, QB20 models (i.e. one frequency is supported by model) Quectel BG96 for  LTE Cat M1 & Cat NB1 & EGPRS in Nb-IoT Bee QG96 model Output Powe  – 23dBm Sensitivity – -129dBm Micro SIM Slot Input voltage – 4.5v ~ 5.5V Temperature Range – -40°C ~ +85°C Typical applications for such board include smart metering, facility management services, security & fire alarms, asset tracking, smart city infrastructure and so on. If you are looking specifically […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Spreadtrum SC9863 Octa-core Cortex A55 Processor is Made for LTE Smartphones

Spreadtrum SC9863 Octa-core Cortex A55 Processor is Made for LTE Smartphones

Arm unveiled Cortex A55 cores about a year ago, and while we have seen the new cores combined with Cortex 75-class cores in premium smartphone processors such as Exynos 9810 SoC, I had yet to see a standalone Cortex A55 processor that should deliver a performance boost compared to A53, while keeping the costs in check, and providing good power efficiency. Spreadtrum has filled this void with their SC9863 processor equipped with eight Cortex A55 cores clocked a 1.6 GHz, and designed for LTE smartphones. Performance is said to be improved by 20% compared with their Arm Cortex-A53 processor, and the SoC also embeds an AI processing unit that increases AI tasks performance by 6 times, and allows for real-time intelligent context detection and recognition, AR photography, and face recognition. Spreadtrum SC9863 also features a dual ISP capable of handle dual cameras of up to 16 MP, supports 1080p HD […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on hIoTron Modular & Enterprise IoT Development Kit is Designed for Fast Prototyping

hIoTron Modular & Enterprise IoT Development Kit is Designed for Fast Prototyping

Hi-Nodes

hIoTron modular & enterprise IoT development kit is described by the company has a “fully pre-programmed prototyping kit for quickly building and testing your IoT concept” with plug-n-play module allowing for flexible prototyping. Beside the hardware comprises of a gateway and nodes, the kit also integrates with the company’s enterprise IoT Platform enabling easy design of custom mobile application & GUI dashboard. The company offers standard, advanced, and custom kits, but to keep things simple, let’s focus on the content of their standard kit first: Hi-Gate IoT gateway: WiSoC – Texas Instruments CC3200 Arm Cortex-M4 @ 80 MHz with 1MB flash, 256KB RAM Storage – 1MB serial flash, 512KB EEPROM Connectivity 802.11 n/g/n Wi-Fi,  2G GSM/GPRS (optional 3G/4G), ZigBee, BLE 4.0, sub-1GHz RF/NON RF to REST/MQTT gateway Expansion – 2x GPIO port pins, 2x analog port pins Power Supply – 9-12V DC 3x modular Hi-Nodes (up to 25 supported per […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on $200 VOYO i8 Max 2-in-1 4G Android Tablet is Powered by Mediatek Helio X20 Processor

$200 VOYO i8 Max 2-in-1 4G Android Tablet is Powered by Mediatek Helio X20 Processor

Mediatek Helio X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor was announced about 3 years ago, and made into various smartphones – such as Vernee Apollo Lite – as well as MediaTek X20 Android development board. However so far, I did not see any proper tablets based on the processor, but VOYO i8 Max tablet with a 10.1″ display and 4G LTE connectivity has just started to sell for $199.99 and up including shipping. [Update: price drops to US$162.99 with GKB89VW coupon. valid until 2018/7/24] Voyo i8 Max specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helio X20 deca-core processor with two Arm Cortex A72 cores @ 2.1 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.95 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz, and  Arm Mali-T880 GPU @ 800 MHz System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 64/128GB Display – 10.1″ 1920×1200 IPS display with stylus support Audio – 3.5mm audio […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on Firefly AIO-3399J All-in-One Industrial Board is Powered by Rockchip RK3399 Processor, Supports M.2 SSDs, 4G LTE Modems, and More

Firefly AIO-3399J All-in-One Industrial Board is Powered by Rockchip RK3399 Processor, Supports M.2 SSDs, 4G LTE Modems, and More

Firefly-RK3399 was the very first Rockchip RK3399 development board when it launched in late 2016, and it mostly stayed that way until others joined in late 2017, early 2018 with products like Orange Pi RK3399, ODROID-N1, Rock960, or Pine64 RockPro64 among others. Firefly team has now unveiled another higher end “all-in-board industrial board” with their Firefly AIO-3399J board featuring their RK3399 CoreBoard module, and a baseboard exposing plenty of I/O and connector, including support for M.2 drives, and 4G LTE mini PCIe cards. Firefly AIO-3399J specifications: SoM – RK3399 CoreBoard: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with dual core ARM Cortex A72 up to 2.0 GHz and quad core Cortex A53 processor, ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU with OpenGL 1.1 to 3.1 support, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL and DX 11 support System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR3-1333 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.1 flash (other capacities also available on demand up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on A Look at LoRaWAN and NB-IoT Power Consumption

A Look at LoRaWAN and NB-IoT Power Consumption

Battery-Life-LoRaWAN-vs-NB-IoT

LoRaWAN and NB-IoT are both designed for low power long range communication for the Internet of Things. We’ve previously seen both protocols have about the same 15km range in rural areas, and NB-IoT bitrate is a little higher since it can reach around 100 kbps, against 300 bps to 38.4 kbps for LoRaWAN. All LPWAN standards usually claim 10-year battery life, but it would be interesting to get some data about power consumption, and that’s exactly what AMIHO Technology has done by comparing LoRaWAN to cellular IoT (NB-IoT / eMTC) power consumption. They started by checking public information from datasheets, and compare Tx, Rx, Idle and Tx current for the three standards, and LoRaWAN is about three to five times more efficient in terms of current compared to NB-IoT, and as expected even more compared to LTE Cat-M1. They then went on to compare airtime for the different power states,  […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Turris MOX is a Modular Router with WiFi, SSD, LTE Modem, Ethernet, and SFP (Fiber) Modules (Crowdfunding)

Turris MOX is a Modular Router with WiFi, SSD, LTE Modem, Ethernet, and SFP (Fiber) Modules (Crowdfunding)

Turris-MOX-Modular-Router

The makers of Turris Omnia router – powered by a Marvell ARMADA 385 processor and running Turris OS based on OpenWrt – have been working a new product: Turris MOX modular router which can be extended with mPCIe add-on cards for LTE, SFP cage, M.2 SSD, and so on. They will soon launch an Indiegogo campaign for it,  but in the meantimes, CZ.NIC association has a pre-campaign for a $69 MOX access point with dual band WiFI card, and intended for Turris Omnia users. The full details are not available, although we can find out a little more through root.cz and the video embedded below. The system is comprised of a basic MOX A module powered by a dual-core Armada 3720 processor coupled with 512 MB RAM, as well as USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and an I/O expansion header with GPIO, SDIO, UART and I2C.  There’s also an mPCIe port […]