Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 3, 2025July 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

WisMesh Board ONE allows you to build a custom Meshtastic Node with OLED, GPS, battery, enclosure, and more

There are now plenty of Meshtastic hardware platforms for off-grid messaging, audio communication, and GPS coordinate sharing, be it boards or modules for DIY projects, or complete solutions with battery and enclosure working out of the box, such as the Wio Tracker L1 Pro or ThinkNode M2, among many others. In some ways, RAKwireless’ WisMesh Board ONE baseboard offers the best of both worlds, combining the flexibility of DIY designs with the convenience of complete solutions, as it allows users to create a custom Meshtastic node with optional OLED, GPS, battery, antennas, and enclosure besides the usual choice between 868 MHz and 915 MHz LoRa radios. WisMesh Board ONE specifications: Wisblock RAK4631 Module pre-flashed with the Meshtastic firmware SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Core – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F CPU @ 64 MHz Memory – 256 KB SRAM Storage – 1 MB Flash Wireless – Bluetooth LE LoRa Transceiver – Semtech […]

July 3, 2025July 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

OpenWheely is a 4WD robot car based on ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 WiFi and BLE module (Crowdfunding)

Sanket Garg’s OpenWheely is a 4WD robot car based on Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM WiFi and Bluetooth LE module that is equipped with a 2-inch display, a 5MP camera, and various sensors. The robot car can drive upside down, follow sound and light, stream live video, and operate in a swarm. It can be controlled from a Phone, a PC, or an infrared TV remote, but Sanket also designed an ESP32-S3 gamepad with a 2.0-inch display and two joysticks to control the car. We’re also told OpenWheely can be used by students, educators, developers, gamers, and robotic enthusiasts. OpenWheely robot car specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM Storage – TBD Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Antenna – PCB antenna Display – 2.0-inch LCD screen Camera – […]

July 2, 2025July 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

pyDrone – An ESP32-S3 drone running MicroPython firmware

There are already many cheap ESP32 drones on AliExpress, or you can even make an ESP32 DIY drone for about $12, but 01Studio’s pyDrone is a little different as it’s based on an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module and runs MicroPython firmware instead of the ESP32-Drone firmware. The pyDrone can be controlled over WiFi or Bluetooth using the pyController gamepad, also based on the same ESP32-S3 module. Another advantage of the pyDrone is that it comes with a connector for the OV2640 camera module that’s often missing in other low-cost ESP32 drones. pyDrone specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – ESP32-S3N8R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz RAM – 512KB SRAM, up to 8MB PSRAM Storage – 8MB flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Antenna – PCB antenna Motors – 4x 716 hollow cup motors Blades – 46mm propeller blades Flight range WiFi – 120 meters Bluetooth […]

July 2, 2025July 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas R8P1 – A 1 GHz Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller with Ethos-U55 NPU for Audio and Vision AI applications

Renesas has introduced its most powerful Cortex-A85 microcontroller to date: the R8P1, clocked at 1 GHz and equipped with a 500 MHz Arm Ethos-U55 NPU for edge AI applications, as well as an Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core clocked at 250 MHz. With a 2D GPU, MIPI DSI and parallel RGB display interfaces, MIPI CSI and parallel camera interfaces, and I2S and PDM audio interface, the Renesas RA8P1 is mainly designed to address Voice AI and Vision AI applications requiring real-time analytics. The 1 GHz microcontroller also has plenty of other peripherals and security features, as we can see from the specifications and block diagram below. Renesas RA8P1 specifications: MCU core Arm Cortex-M85 clocked at 1 GHz with Helium MVE (M-Profile Vector Extension) with 32KB I/D caches; 7300+ CoreMarks Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at 250 MHz with 32KB I/D caches GPU – 2D drawing engine NPU – Arm Ethos-U55 NPU delivering 256 […]

July 2, 2025July 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

Radxa Cubie A7A is a powerful SBC based on Allwinner A733 Cortex-A76/A55 AI SoC with up to 16GB RAM

Radxa Cubie A7A is an upcoming single board computer (SBC) powered by an Allwinner A733 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC with a 3 TOPS AI accelerator and up to 16GB LPDDR5 memory. Radxa came back to the Allwinner SoC family after the silicon vendor committed to improving open-source support, starting with the Radxa Cubie A5E SBC powered by an Allwinner A527/T527 SoC. But this was only the start, and we were promised a more powerful Allwinner A733 SBC before moving to the Allwinner A838 down the road. The Allwinner A733 board has now been unveiled. Meet the Radxa Cubie A7A. Radxa Cubie A7A specifications: SoC – Allwinner A733 CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-A76 @ up to 2.00 GHz Hexa-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.79 GHz Single-core RISC-V E902 real-time core GPU – Imagination Technologies BXM-4-64 MC1 GPU VPU 8Kp24 H.265/VP9/AVS2 decoding 4Kp30 H.265/H.264 encoding AI accelerator – Optional, up to 3 TOPS […]

July 1, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Olimex RP2350pc computer board features Raspberry Pi RP2350B MCU, HDMI/DVI video output, 4x USB ports

Olimex has launched an update to its RP2040pc computer board with the RP2350pc board powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2350B MCU coupled with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, and offering HDMI/DVI video output, four USB 2.0 ports, and an audio Codec for retro computer emulation and education. Other changes include a microSD card slot for additional storage and an on-board stereo audio codec and amplifier for Line-in and headphone audio jacks, and left and right speakers. That also means the two buzzers from the RP2040 board are gone. The design is now closer to a proper retro computer board. RP2350pc computer board specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350B CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ 150 MHz with Arm Trustzone, Secure boot OR Dual-core RISC-V Hazard3 @ 150 MHz Either two cores can be used. Memory – 520 KB on-chip SRAM Package – QFN-80 Memory – 8MB SPRAM Storage 16MB SPI Flash MicroSD […]

July 1, 2025June 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Nexus RP2350 LiPo board improves on Raspberry Pi Pico 2 with LiPo battery support, 16MB flash, USB-C port

Zaitronics Nexus RP2350 LiPo is a Raspberry Pi RP2350 board similar to the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, but with various improvements, namely support for LiPo batteries, a 16MB SPI flash, a USB-C port, and a Qwiic/STEMMA QT expansion connector. The Australian company says that apart from those improvements, the board has the same size and pinout as the original Raspberry Pi Pico 2, and if there’s enough interest, a Nexus RP2350 LiPo W board adding WiFi and Bluetooth may also be designed in the future. Nexus RP2350 LiPo specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350A CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ 150 MHz with Arm Trustzone, Secure boot OR Dual-core RISC-V Hazard3 @ 150 MHz Either two cores can be used. Memory – 520 KB on-chip SRAM Security 8KB of anti-fuse OTP for key storage Secure boot (Arm only) SHA-256 acceleration Hardware TRNG Fast glitch detectors. Package – QFN-60 Storage – 16 […]

June 30, 2025June 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Raspberry Pi Radio Module 2 (RM2) is officially available for $4

Raspberry Pi has just announced the general availability of the Radio Module 2 (RM2) wireless module with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE connectivity for $4. The Raspberry Pi RM2 wireless module was already available to some select partners, which explains why the Raspberry Pi RM2 was found in the Pimoroni Pico Plus 2 W and SparkFun Thing Plus – RP2350 since the end of last year. The latest announcement just means it’s available to anybody, and documentation like the datasheet has been released publicly. Raspberry Pi Radio Module 2 (RM2) specifications: Chipset – Infineon CYW43439 combo chip 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 (802.11b/g/n) up to 96 Mbps PHY rate, support for 20 MHz channels Bluetooth 5.2 Classic and LE SISO (Single Input, Single Output) configuration (1×1) Castellated edge pads 3x GPIO gSPI (general SPI) interface to Raspberry Pi microcontroller using PIO Power On/Reset pins Antenna – Shared 2.4 GHz antenna for […]