The RP2040 Connectivity Board — An IoT solution combining LTE, Wi-Fi, and BLE into a single platform

ilabs rp2040 connectivity board

iLABs (Invector Labs), a European embedded equipment manufacturer, has released a new device, the RP2040 Connectivity Board, an IoT development board that is based on Raspberry Pi’s signature microcontroller IC, the RP2040. The RP2040 Connectivity Board features key IoT connectivity options such as LTE, Wi-Fi, and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). It is compatible with both Arduino and PlatformIO and is designed for professional and hobbyist users with wide-ranging connectivity needs. The SARA-R412M series module from u-blox handles cellular communication (LTE) and can be configured to enable multi-regional coverage in both GSM and LTE-M/NB-IoT radio transmissions. It features a unique and immutable root of trust and supports IoT security as a service. The RP2040 Connectivity Board also includes an Espressif ESP32-C3FN4 chip for Wi-Fi/BLE communication based on a RISC-V microcontroller core and implementing a Wi-Fi subsystem that complies with the IEEE 802.11b/g/n standard and supports various operating modes. The Bluetooth Low […]

Industrial OpenWrt gateway features MediaTek MT7628 SoC, WiFi, LTE, and GNSS connectivity

Atreyo AG-702 industrial OpenWrt gateway

Atreyo AG-702 is an industrial OpenWrt gateway based on the MT7628 processor with dual Ethernet and WiFi connectivity as well as a built-in LTE and GNSS modem supporting two SIM cards. The gateway is equipped with isolated RS485 and RS232 interfaces, two digital isolated inputs, one relay output, and a USB host port that can be used to connect a flash drive or USB converters to various other interfaces. It is housed in an anodized aluminum enclosure and supports a wide 14-60V DC input range suitable for industrial settings. Atreyo AG-702 specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7628 MIPS processor at 580MHz System Memory – 256MB Storage – 32MB eMMC flash + 512MB NAND flash with ExtRoot support (overlay) Networking 100Mbps Ethernet WAN port 100Mbps Ethernet LAN port LTE/GPRS with dual SIM, 1x external antenna 2.4 GHz WiFi with 1x external antenna GNSS with active antenna support USB – 1x USB 2.0 […]

Particle’s M-series multi-radio devices connect anywhere with WiFi, cellular, NTN satellite, and LoRaWAN connectivity

Particle M-series M-SoM versions

Particle Industries Inc., an IoT Platform-as-a-Service company, has announced a new line of multi-radio boards and modules that offer multiple connectivity options in a single product. Particle is a complete edge-to-cloud IoT development platform that offers hardware products and software tools for creating IoT solutions. The company’s latest product, the M-series, has a bold tagline: connect anywhere. Although wireless connectivity has come a long way, there is no single wireless technology that works everywhere. Particle’s M-series aims to address that problem by bundling multiple radios – Wi-Fi, cellular, satellite, and LoRaWAN – into one product. Particle is looking to expand from its two primary wireless technologies: Wi-Fi and cellular, and add two more radios, satellite and LoRaWAN, for broader coverage. These two radios will cover devices in areas such as enclosed spaces (boiler rooms, elevator shafts, basements, and mines) and remote locations (methane sensors in oil and gas plants, boats, […]

Waveshare R7FA4 PLUS A and B boards are clones of the Arduino UNO R4 Minima and WiFi

Arduino UNO R4 WiFi clone

Arduino board clones have been around for many years, but I don’t think I have ever seen clones of the new Renesas-based Arduino boards so far. Waveshare changes that with the R7FA4 PLUS A that clones with Arduino UNO R4 Minima, and the R7FA4 PLUS B board duplicating the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi. The Waveshare boards are not 100% clones with some small differences in the PCB layout, support for 5V and 3.3V shields, an additional 6-pin “power output header” with 5V, 3.3V, and GND signals, and a USB communication jumper to select between the Espressif ESP32-S3 and Renesas RA4M1 microcontrollers. Waveshare R7FA4 PLUS A and B specifications: Microcontroller – Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash Wireless (B model only) – ESP32-S3-MINI-1 module based on ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with 512KB SRAM, 384KB ROM, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, PCB antenna […]

Waveshare ESP32-S3 4G dev boards feature LTE Cat-1, 2G, and camera support

ESP32 S3 4G Dev Boards

Waveshare has recently launched two new ESP32-S3 4G dev boards – the ESP32-S3-SIM7670G-4G and the ESP32-S3-A7670E-4G. These boards support 4G LTE Cat-1, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS, and come with an OV2640 camera, and a battery holder for a 18650 battery. The main difference between the two is that the A7670E module also supports 2G GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800MHz while the SIM7670G module does not. The board has two rows of I/Os including GPIO, I2C, SPI, ADC, and USB 2.0. It also has a USB-C port for power and programming, a slot for a MicroSD card, and an option to connect an external speaker. There’s a USB switching IC and DIP switch for easily connecting the module to a PC for internet or debugging. Waveshare ESP32-S3 4G Dev Boards Specification: Communication module A7670E 4G – A7670E Cat-1 4G module supporting 4G Cat-1 + 2G networking, GNSS positioning, telephone calls, and SMS. SIM7670G […]

Comparing the latency of various wireless standards

Wireless Latency

If you’ve ever wondered which wireless standard may deliver the smallest lag (latency) when transmitting small packets, we’ve now gotten an answer thanks to Scott at Electric UI who benchmarked various wireless links in common MCU development boards. More specifically the following hardware and wireless standards were tested: SiliconLabs 10×0-GM RF+8051 microcontroller with 240–960 MHz EZRadioPRO transceiver running SiK firmware HopeRF RFM95W LoRa module (on an Adafruit Breakout board) connected to an STM32F429 MCU Nordic Semi nRF24L01 2.4GHz transceiver module ESP32 board for ESP-NOW and WiFi testing is shown as ESP32 WS (WebSockets) or ESP32 TCP in the chart below. Raspberry Pi boards were also used for comparison ESP32-C6 board for 802.15.4 transfers (Thread) ESP32 and HC-05 modules for Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Profile) ESP32 board with NimBLE and Bluedroid stacks and nRF52 for Bluetooth LE testing Here are the results for 12 bytes, 128 bytes, and 1024 bytes data transfers. […]

The M1 device is a Flipper Zero alternative with a faster STM32H5 microcontroller and Wi-Fi connectivity (Crowdfunding)

m1 multitool device

The M1 is a multitool device that bundles several hacking and penetration tools in a package that looks like a retro-gaming console and could be viewed as a Flipper Zero alternative with a more powerful STMicro STM32H5 Cortex-M33 high-performance MCU featuring Arm TrustZone hardware-based security for additional protection for sensitive data. The M1 multitool device features transceivers for infrared, sub-1 GHz, Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, and Wi-Fi. This means that the M1 can replace most of your remotes as well as your RFID and NFC-based items (membership cards, access fobs, business cards, credit cards, etc.) It also has twelve 3.3V (5V tolerant) GPIO pins that can be used to add extra functionality to the device. M1 specifications: MCU – STM32H5-series microcontroller, with a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M33 core, 1MB RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 1.54-inch display, 128 x 64 resolution Connectivity Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR BLE Sensitivity -96dBm Infrared – […]

SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C6 board comes with 16MB flash, LiPo battery support

SparkFun Thing Plus ESP32-C6

SparkFun has launched yet another ESP32-C6 board with the “Thing Plus – ESP32-C6”  based on the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N16 module with 16MB flash and a PCB antenna and  range of I/Os and power options. The board features 28 through holes with up to 23 multi-function GPIOs and a Qwicc connector for expansion, and supports 5V or LiPo battery power through respectively a USB-C port a 2-pin JST connector combined with a charging chip, and a fuel gauge. SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C6 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N16 MCU – ESP32-C6 32-bit single-core RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5 LE, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee and Thread); Matter-compatible Storage – 16 MB flash PCB Antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion 12-pin + 16-pin headers with 23x multifunctional GPIOs Up to 7x 12-bit ADC channels Up to 2x UART channels (with […]

Memfault IoT and embedded debugging platform