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

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Quectel KCM0A5S Wi-SUN FAN module targets large IoT deployments for Smart Cities and Smart Agriculture

Quectel KCM0A5S is a Wi-SUN FAN module based on Silicon Labs EFR32FG25 Arm Cortex-M33 Sub-GHz wireless MCU, designed for applications such as street lighting, precision agriculture, industrial IoT, smart meters, and Smart Cities. Wi-SUN (IEEE 802.15.4g) is an LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) standard leveraging IPv6 mesh networking for large-scale IoT deployments in Smart Cities and Smart Agriculture. The KCM0A5S module specifically supports the Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 protocol and operates across the 470–928 MHz frequency range. The module can act as a leaf node, a router, or a border router when paired with a Linux host in RCP (Radio Co-Processor) mode. Quectel KCM0A5S specifications: Wireless SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32FG25 CPU core – Arm Cortex-M33 core @ 97.5 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for signal processing Memory – 256 KB RAM data memory Storage – About 2MB flash program memory Radio – Sub-GHz radio operation […]

June 11, 2025June 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

MeLE Quieter4C fanless mini PC is now sold without OS for $139.99 and up

The MeLE Quieter4C fanless mini PC, powered by an Intel Processor N100 SoC coupled with 8GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, is now available for $139.99 on Amazon without Windows 11 or any other OS pre-installed, after a $20 discount code is applied. Most mini PCs, except barebone models, ship with Windows 11 pre-installed, which isn’t ideal for users who prefer Linux or BSD distributions, as they pay extra for an unused Windows license. The Quieter4C mini PC was launched in 2023 with Windows 11 Pro, but the company is now offering the 8GB RAM/128GB eMMC flash model and other variants (see below) without OS for people who want to install their own OS. MeLE Quieter4C specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 CPU – Quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache GPU – 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz TDP: 6W System Memory […]

June 10, 2025June 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Adapter allows users to connect an M.2 NVMe SSD to a microSD Express card slot

The SD Association released the SD 7.1 standard with support for cards compliant with the microSD Express standard, enabling SSD-like performance on microSD cards by using a PCIe/NVMe interface, and more recent updates to the standard even enable speeds of up to 2GB/s. Saying that adoption has been slow would be an understatement, but things have changed recently, thanks to the introduction of the Nintendo Switch 2 portable game console, the first mainstream device to support the new standard. NVNT has had fun with it by designing a microSD Express to M.2 NVMe adapter (SDEX2M2) for the Nintendo Switch 2 or other devices supporting the microSD Express standard. The board design is pretty simple because it simply routes the PCIe signals from an M.2 NVMe 2230 SSD to the microSD Express connector. Three components can be found on the board: an M.2 2230 M-socket, a 220Ω ferrite bead, and an […]

June 10, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

$30+ Orange Pi R2S octa-core RISC-V router board features 2x 2.5GbE, 2x GbE, 2x USB ports

Orange Pi has released two RISC-V boards so far: the Orange Pi RV with a StarFive JH7110 quad-core SoC, and the Orange Pi RV2 with a Ky X1 octa-core processor, either a clone of the SpacemIT K1/M1 SoC or one with different CPU markings. The third RISC-V board from the company, named Orange Pi R2S, also features a Ky X1 RISC-V SoC, but is designed for headless and networking applications with two 2.5GbE ports, two GbE ports, and two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, and not much else. Orange Pi R2S specifications: SoC – Ky X1 CPU – 8-core X60 RISC-V (RV64GCVB) processor @ 1.6 GHz GPU – Imagination IMG BXE-2-32 @ 819 MHz with support for OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.3, OpenCL 3.0; 20 GFLOPS VPU H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9, MPEG4, MPEG2 decoder up to 4K @ 60fps H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9 encoder up to 4K @ 30fps Support simultaneous processing 1080p60 […]

June 10, 2025June 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GL.iNet Flint 3 (GL-BE9300) is an affordable tri-band WiFi 7 router with 5 2.5GbE ports

The GL.iNet Flint 3 (codenamed GL-BE9300) is an affordable tri-band WiFi 7 BE9300 router with five 2.5GbE RJ45 ports supporting 10Gbps aggregation, and now available for pre-order for $119 to $159. It follows the lower-end GL.iNet Slate 7 (GL-BE3600) WiFi 7 dual-band travel router introduced a few months ago. The tri-band WiFi 7 router is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor coupled with 1GB RAM and 8GB eMMC flash for the OS, features a USB 3.0 port for smartphone tethering or cellular dongle, and supports up to 680 Mbps VPN throughput using WireGuard or OpenVPN. Other features include AdGuard Home, failover, load balancing, and more. GL.iNet Flint 3 specifications: CPU – Qualcomm quad-core @1.5 GHz; unamed, but likely Qualcomm IPQ5332 Memory – 1 GB DDR4 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash Networking WiFi 7 Protocol – IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be Wi-Fi Speed – 688Mbps (2.4GHz), 2882Mbps (5GHz), 5765Mbps (6GHz) 4x […]

June 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$6.5 RAK11160 LoRaWAN, WiFi, and BLE module pairs ESP32-C2 with STM32WLE5 for low-power, long-range IoT

RAK11160 ESP32-C2 STM32WL LoRaWAN module

RAKwireless RAK11160 is a new low-cost, low-power LoRaWAN, WiFi 4, and Bluetooth LE module based on ESP32-C2 (ESP8684) wireless microcontroller and STM32WLE5 LoRa SoC for LPWAN IoT applications. The company noticed that many people would combine their STMicro STM32WL-based RAK3172 WisDuo LoRaWAN module with an ESP32 module to add WiFi and/or Bluetooth connectivity to their projects besides LoRaWAN. So RAKwireless decided to offer a module combining both STM32WL and ESP32-C2 to offer a cheap and much more compact solution to their customers. RAK1160 was born. RAwireless RAK11160 specifications: LPWAN SoC/SiP – STMicro STM32WLE5 Core – Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ 48 MHz Memory – 64 KB RAM Storage – 256 KB flash memory with ECC Wireless – Sub-GHz radio based on Semtech SX126x LoRaWAN 1.0.4 specification compliant Supported bands – EU433, CN470, IN865, EU868, AU915, US915, KR920, RU864, and AS923 LoRaWAN Activation by OTAA/ABP LoRa Point-to-Point (P2P) communication Tx Power Output – […]

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Calixto Systems introduces i.MX93 VERSA SO-DIMM SoM and EVK with NXP i.MX 93 Edge AI SoC

India-based Calixto Systems has unveiled the i.MX93 VERSA SO-DIMM system-on-module (SoM) powered by an NXP i.MX 93 Arm Cortex-A55/M33 SoC with Ethos-U65 micro NPU for Edge AI applications, as well as an evaluation kit (EVK). The system-on-module features up to 2GB LPDDR4x RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, a gigabit Ethernet PHY, and exposes various I/Os through a 200-pin SO-DIMM edge connector, such as MIPI DSI, LVDS, and parallel RGB display interfaces, MIPI CSI and Parallel camera interfaces, dual GbE (on PHY on-module, one on carrier), and more. The i.MX93 VERSA module targets smart industrial automation, healthcare, retail, and connected edge systems with specific size, performance, and power efficiency requirements. i.MX93 VERSA specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 93 CPU Up to 2x Arm Cortex-A55 up to 1.7 GHz 2x Arm Cortex-M33 up to 250 MHz GPU – PXP 2D GPU with blending/composition, resize, color space conversion NPU – Arm Ethos-U65 NPU @ […]

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Arduino UNO SPE Shield adds Single Pair Ethernet and RS485 to Arduino boards

Arduino UNO SPE Shield adds Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) and RS485 to Arduino UNO and compatible boards, notably the Arduino UNO R4, via a Microchip LAN8651 SPE controller. Single Pair Ethernet relies on just two wires to carry data and power, allowing for much more compact designs and simpler wiring compared to traditional RJ45-based solutions with Cat 5 cables. It especially benefits IoT and IIoT applications for buildings, factories, and process automation. Arduino UNO SPE specifications: Networking – Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) via Microchip LAN8651B1 10BASE-T1S MAC-PHY Ethernet Controller with SPI Data rate: 10 Mbit/s over a single balanced pair T1SP and T1SN available on screw terminal block Dedicated T1S SPE connector Maximum Distance – Supports up to 25 meters in multidrop topology (multiple nodes on a single segment) Up to eight nodes in a multidrop network Serial – RS485 via MaxLinear XR33058 Half duplex RS485 Data rate: 20 Mbit/s […]