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

May 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

NFC Wireless Charging Coming Soon to IoT Devices and Wearables

NFC is better known for contactless payment and transferring contacts, but one interesting feature is the ability to provide power as we’ve recently seen with batteryless NFC powered E-paper displays. The current NFC implementations can only provide a limited amount of power, but the NFC Forum has recently approved the Wireless Charging Specification that enables wireless charging of small, battery-powered consumer and IoT devices with a smartphone or other NFC charging device at a power transfer rate of up to one watt. One watt is not as much as other similar technologies, but NFC wireless charging (NFC WLC) should be quite more cost-effective since device-specific wireless chargers are not needed. Just take a phone or charger with NFC WLC and all compliant devices could be charged that way. The specification is free to download for NFC Forum members but must be purchased by others. There’s still short abstract available: Wireless […]

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

TQ Group Announces NXP i.MX 8X ARM Cortex-A35 Modules as the Processor Finally Becomes Available

TQ Group, headquartered in Germany, has launched two NXP i.MX 8X Cortex-A35 modules with TQMa8Xx and TQMa8XxS SoMs, with the latter being SMARC 2.1 compliant, and both targeting various applications ranging from medical devices, HMIs, industrial controllers and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to gateways, building automation, transport, and robotics. The press release explains NXP will officially launch i.MX 8X CPUs on May 14, 2020. We first heard about i.MX 8X in 2016, before an official announcement in 2017, and we wrote about Toradex i.MX 8X SoM in 2018, plus 96Boards AI-ML SBC in 2019, so I naively believed the processor had been around for a couple of years, but the Toradex SoM product is still shown as an “early product announcement” [Update: the page has just been updated since it is now shipping as well], and AI-ML board has just launched with 26 units available on Arrow website. Some […]

May 6, 2020May 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

HART-IP Developer Kit Leverages Raspberry Pi 3B+, Off-the-Shelf Add-on Boards for Industrial Field Communication

Have you ever heard about the bi-directional HART communication protocol? I haven’t, but I should probably have as there’s an installed base of over 40 million HART-enabled instruments according to FieldComm Group who owns the protocol and the organization is comprised of 375 corporate members working on process automation instrumentation, systems, and services. HART stands for Highway Addressable Remote Transducer. The organization is also maintaining the more recent (2009) HART-IP IP-enabled version of the HART field communication protocol and just launched HART-IP Developer Kit whose hardware is comprised of a Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC and off-the-shelf add-on boards mounted on a DIN Rail mount. List of all hardware components: Raspberry Pi 3B+ SBC DSLRKIT Power Over Ethernet PoE HAT (around $20 on Aliexpress) Waveshare Raspberry Pi High-Precision AD/DA (about $30) DINrPlate DIN Rail Mount. MicroSD card On the software side, the system runs Ubuntu MATE 18.04 64-bit preloaded on the MicroSD […]

May 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OKdo E1 Arm Development Board Launched with NXP LPC55S69 Cortex-M33 MCU

We’ve just written about the launch of NXP LPC551x/S1x Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family, but OKdo has very recently announced a development board based on the previous generation LPC5500 Cortex-M33 processor, namely OKdo E1 powered by an NXP LPC55S59 dual-core Cortex-M33 processor. OKdo E1 specification: MCU – NXP LPC55S69JBD100 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 150 MHz with 640KB flash, 320 KB SRAM, FPU, Arm TrustZone, CASPER Crypto co-processor, and PowerQuad Hardware Accelerator for fixed and floating-point DSP functions Expansion – 32x through holes and castellated holes with Up to 9x Flexcomm interfaces (SW selectable as USART, SPI, I2C, or I2S interface) GPIOs, I2C, ADC, UART, SPI, etc… USB – 1x Micro USB 2.0 “User” port, 1x Micro USB 2.0 port for debug and power Debugging In-built CMSIS-DAP v1.0.7 debugger based on LPC11U35 Micro USB port with UART over USB virtual COM port Clocks – Internal PLL support up to 100MHz […]

May 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Gole11 Mini PC with 11.6″ Touchscreen Offered for $119 and Up (Crowdfunding)

Earlier this year, we wrote about HiGole F11APL mini PC with a built-in 11.6″ touchscreen, an Intel Celeron N3450 Apollo Lake processor combined with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC flash storage, and equipped with four DB9 connectors exposing RS-485/RS-232 interfaces. At the time, the company would offer the “basic version” for $199 on their Alibaba store, but now GOLE has launched the device under the name Gole11 on Indiegogo where rewards start at $119 (there was a $99 reward, but all perks are gone) HiGole F11APL / Gole11 specification: SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Turbo) and 12 EU Intel HD Graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Turbo); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 256 GB Display – 11.6″ capacitive touchscreen display with 1920 x 1080 (FHD) […]

May 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Sonoff 4CHR3 is a 4-gang Wi-Fi Smart Switch with optional RF433 Connectivity

ITEAD Studio introduced Sonoff 4CH 4-gang WiFi + RF switch in 2017 with a DIN rail enclosure, compatible with eWelink Android/iOS app, and offering three modes of operations selectable from physical switches on the unit: Self-locking mode – Each relay can be turn on and off independently. Interlock mode – Only one of the relay can be turned on at a given time. For example if R1 is on, and your press R2 to turn it on, R1 will automatically turn off Inching mode – A button press on the unit, mobile app, or RF/WiFi remote control will turn on the relay for X seconds as defined by K6 “delay” switch within a 0.5 to 3600 seconds range. The company has now launched the similar SONOFF 4CHR3 4-gang WiFi switch and 4CHPROR3 model that adds 433MHz connectivity, with the main difference again the previous generation being the ability to select […]

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

WiFi & Cellular Router Focuses on Security, Always-on Connectivity with 2GB Free Monthly Data (Crowdfunding – US)

We previously covered Roqos Core RC10 Intel Atom-based AC router that was offered for only $19 with the catch of having to $17 per month for “advanced cybersecurity and parental control features” for at least a year. The company is now back with Roqos Core RC20 AC router that adds supports for cellular connectivity including 2GB per month of cellular data, and a focus on security with built-in VPN service so you can connect securely from anywhere, even public WiFi hotspots. Roqos Core RC20 hardware specification: SoC – Intel Atom E3845 quad-core processor @ up to 1.91 GHz cores System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash Video Output – HDMI (but not sure whether it’s used since not listed in the specs) Connectivity Wired – 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports Wireless – Simultaneous dual frequency 3×3 802.11ac WiFi 5 and 2×2 802.11n WiFi […]

May 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

How I Quadrupled Internet Speed in a Resort Room… with a Rope

I just temporarily moved into a room, or more exactly a small bungalow, and with my line of work I kind of need decent internet. I was told they had “WiFi”, and when I tried it out, I could log in fine, but the speed was pretty dismissal. I repeated the test close to the router and it achieved speeds I could easily live with. I happened to have a repeater with me, but it did not help as the only place I could plug was just outside my room, right under a roof, and performance was even worse (around 1 Mbps). So I had a closer look at the router installation, about 10 meters from my room, and realized it was basically stuck under a roof, which should block signals somewhat, but I’m just not sure how much… So I moved the router down, letting it hang by its […]