FriendlyELEC ZeroPi is a Tiny Allwinner H3 SBC with Gigabit Ethernet & USB, an Optional SPI Flash

ZeroPi

Several years ago, FriendlyELEC launched NanoPi NEO board with Allwinner H3 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor followed by NanoPi NEO2 upgrading to the Allwinner H5 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 processor. Both boards target low-cost headless applications with I/O headers, USB and Ethernet, but while the NEO2 comes with Gigabit Ethernet, NEO SBC only features 10/100M Ethernet. The company has now been working on a new family of boards called ZeroPi that’s very similar to NanoPi NEO boards, but they do not come with any I/O headers, and the first ZeroPi board features Allwinner H3 processor, and Gigabit Ethernet. ZeroPi specifications with highlights in bold or stricken-through showing differences against NanoPi NEO: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad-core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an Arm Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 256 or 512 MB DDR3 Storage – MicroSD card slot, unmounted SPI flash Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet via Realtek RTL8211E PHY USB – 1x […]

Gateworks GW5913 Compact NXP i.MX 6 SBC Supports PoE, GPS and 4G LTE Cellular Connectivity

Gateworks has announced a new Ventana SBC similar to their GW5530 board with 4G LTE connectivity, as GW5913 single board computer follows the same factor, and supports 4G LTE connectivity via mPCIe cards, but it replaces the microSIM card slot by a nanoSIM card socket, and adds a Gigabit Ethernet port with 802.11at PoE support. Gateworks GW5913 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 6Dual dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3-800 SDRAM Storage – 256MB Flash, serial configuration EEPROM Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support Optional 4G LTE via high-power (up to 8W) Gen2 Mini-PCIe socket with USB 2.0 and nanoSIM socket Optional u-blox GPS Receiver with MMCX or U.FL Antenna Connector Expansion Connector – USB, UART, I2C, DAC, DIO Misc – Real-Time Clock with battery backup, voltage and temperature monitor, programmable watchdog timer Power Supply – 8 to 60VDC input voltage range via 2-pin power connector […]

Banana Pi BPI-R64 Linux Router Board Launched for $68

Banana Pi BPI-R64 Specifications

SinoVoIP introduced Banana Pi BPI-R64 router board in the summer of 2018. The Linux router board is powered by MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Cortex-A53 WiFi processor with 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 built-in, and offers more connectivity options namely 802.11ac WiFi 5 via MT7615 chip, as well as  Gigabit Ethernet ports. 4G LTE is optional via a mini PCIe socket, and a SATA port is included for storage. At the time, I envisioned an official launch in Q1 2019, but I was off by a few quarters, as the company has only just launched Banana Pi BPI-R64 on Aliexpress for $68 plus shipping. The specifications of the Banana Pi BPI-R64 board have slightly changed since last year announcement, and we’ve got a few more details: SoC – MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.35GHz with dedicated network accelerator, 4×4 802.11n and Bluetooth 5 connectivity System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage […]

Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC Targets WiFi, BLE & Sub-1GHz IoT Gateways

Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC

Freescale/NXP i.MX6 based Gateworks Ventana single board computers have been around at least since 2013 and were initially targeting networking processing applications for the industry. They could be used into all sort of gateways with cellular or WiFi connectivity for instance, thanks to the presence of mini PCIe sockets. But the latest Gateworks Ventana GW5910 SBC does not exclusively relies on mini PCIe cards for wireless connectivity, as it includes an onboard Laird Sterling 802.11b/g/n WiFi & Bluetooth module, as well as optional TI CC1352P dual-band Wireless MCU supporting Sub-1GHz and 2.4GHz RF, and an optional on-board u-blox GPS module, which should lower the total cost compared to solutions with mini PCIe cards. Ventana GW5910 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6 Dual Core Arm Cortex-A9 SoC Processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3-800 SDRAM Storage – 256MB Flash System Memory, microSD card slot, mSATA socket  Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet Port Onboard […]

M2M-IoT GW-01 LoRaWAN Gateway is equipped with Orange Pi Zero H2+ SBC

GW-01 Orange Pi Zero H2+ LoRa Gateway

M2M-IoT has developed a new LoRa gateway. The gateway, GW-01, is based on Orange Pi Zero H2+ board. While it is new, it has a lot of useful features. The new GW-01 gateway operates in the 868MHz or 915MHz LoRa frequencies and has -139 dBm sensitivity. Furthermore, the GW-01 is fully functional. It is also an open source low-cost solution to developing a LoRaWAN network. In addition, the gateway supports both OpenWrt, and Armbian distributions, and you’ll find documentation for both on Github. Another great thing about the gateway is that it has two boards. Also, the first board, which is on top, is based on SX1301. This 8 channel LoRa concentrator implements the LoRa physical interface. Now, the second board is at the bottom.  It is also the model that the whole gateway was based on. This board is the OrangePi Zero H2+ 256MB (RAM) development board. The gateway […]

$99 MikroTik RB450Gx4 Router is based on Qualcomm IPQ4019 SoC

MikroTik RB450Gx4 Router board

A few days ago, we covered  Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC router board powered by Qualcomm QCA4019/QCA4029 SoC, but we were informed about MikroTik RB450Gx4, an Ethernet router with five Gigabit Ethernet ports, a serial port, two power jacks, and a microSD card slot that is also based on the 4-core Qualcomm IPQ4019 SoC. Mikrotik has used this SoC as the heart of its RB450Gx4 Router Board. It has 5 Ethernet ports, one of them able to power the board by means of Power-On-Ethernet (PoE), and another port can be used as PoE output. In addition, it may be powered from 2 DC Jacks. Router price is 99$, making it a great choice for 5 ports, PoE enabled router with a great SoC which allows to use Mikrotik Router OS firmware or to install a Linux distribution, like OpenWrt. Additionally, it provides PCB temperature and voltage monitoring. MikroTik RB450Gx4 Router specifications: […]

Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC Router Board is Based on Qualcomm QCA4019/QCA4029 WiSoC

Dakota DR40X9 QCA4019/QCA-4029 Wave-2 AC Router Board

Qualcomm is mostly known for its Snapdragon processors for mobile devices and wearables, but the company is also making WiFi chipsets via their (previously) “Atheros” family. Some of their latest WiFi SoCs are IPQ4019 and IPQ4029 (aka QCA4019/QCA4029) Wave-2 802.11ac “Dakota” SoCs for routers, gateways, and access points. We recently covered the official Qualcomm mesh networking devkit powered by IPQ4019 processor, but there are now third parties also offering solutions based on QCA40x9 processor such as Dakota DR40X9 Wave-2 AC router board. Dakota DR40X9 board specifications: SoC (one of the other) Dakota DR4019 -Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 processor @ 717 MHz with 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi Dakota DR4029 – Qualcomm IPQ4029 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 processor @ 717 MHz with  802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi System Memory- 256MB~512MB DDR Storage – 2MB~32MB NOR Flash, 128MB NAND Flash, microSD card slot Connectivity Wired Dual 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) 1x optional […]

Onion Omega2 LTE Board Combines WiFi, 4G LTE and GNSS Connectivity (Crowdfunding)

Onion Omega2 LTE

Onion has launched several compact OpenWrt WiFi boards for IoT projects over the years starting with their Onion Omega board in 2015, and the latest so far being Onion Omega2 Pro with a massive 8GB storage. The company has now launched a new model with 4G LTE connectivity called Onion Omega2 LTE, based on Omega2S+ module, and also featuring GNSS global satellite positioning capability. Onion Omega2 LTE specifications: WiFi Module – Onion Omega2S+ IoT computer module with MediaTek MT7688 MIPS CPU @ 580 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB storage Cellular and GNS Module – Quectel EC25 LTE Cat 4 modem that delivers 150 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink data rates, provided either for North America or global markets External Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 2 TB (once such cards become available…) Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 + onboard 2 dBi direction chip antenna & […]