Gateworks Introduces GW16126 Mini-PCIe Cat M1 Modem and Bluetooth LE Radio

LTE Cat M1 mini PCIe card

Gateworks has launched another mini PCIe card providing IoT connectivity for their NXP i.MX 6 and Cavium Octeon TX powered SBC’s. Last month we covered GW16130 Mini PCIe satellite modem, and the company has now announced GW16126 mini PCIe card with a Cat M1 (eMTC) modem and a Bluetooth Low Energy radio for the US market, and other regions or countries where LTE Cat M1 networks have been deployed. Gateworks GW16126 mini PCIe card specifications: LTE Cat M1 Module – U-blox SARA-R410M-52 LTE CAT M1 cellular modem with up to 375 kb/s upload and 300 kb/s download; LTE Bands 2,4,5,12,13 SIM card – nano-SIM socket with hologram starter SIM included with free 1MB/month starter plan included BLE module – u-blox NINA-B301 Open CPU Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy Radio based on Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 chipset, Zephyr RTOS with Bluetooth HCI UART Host Interface. BLE Rates up to  2Mbps Antennas – 2x […]

Komikan is a Realtek WiFi 802.11ac Wave2 Module & Development Kit

Komikan Development Kit

8devices has been developping and selling WiFi modules such as their Rambutan Atheros module, and the now-discontinued Carambola module. The company is now back with Komikan, an 802.11ac Wave 2 + Bluetooth 4.1 module, as well as the corresponding Komikan development kit. Komikan 802.11ac Wave 2 Module Specifications: CPU – Realtek RTL8197FS MIPS 24Kc processor @ 1 GHz System Memory – 128 MB RAM Storage – 32MB flash Connectivity WiFi 4 802.11 b/g/n 2×2 MIMO via RTL8197FS WiFi 5 802.11ac Wave 2 2×2 MIMO via Realtek RTL8822BEH Bluetooth v2.1/3.0/4.1 Max output power – 22 dBm per chain Antenna – GPIO pins for external antenna Expansion via bottom pads – 44x GPIO, 2x USB, 4x UART (one for BT), RGMII, 2x SPI, PWM, MDIO, eMMC, JTAG, 2x I2S, PCM, 2x I2C, P-NAND Power supply – 3.3V, max power consumption 6W Dimensions – 37.5 x 21.3 mm The two integrated radios (2.4 […]

Mediatek MT7629 Dual Core Arm Processor to Power AC1900 Routers

MediaTek MT7629 Specifications

MediaTek is working on a new dual core Cortex A7 processor that supports OpenWrt and targets AC1900 WiFi routers. That’s what I learned from a tweet by WidoraIoT detailing the main features of MediaTek MT7629 SoC as shown in the table below. So basically we have two Arm Cortex-A7 cores clocked @ up to 1.25 GHz, 8MB built-in? flash, HW accelerators and security/crypto engines, multiple Gigabit and Fast Ethernet interfaces, built-in support for 802.11n (WiFi 4) 3×3 MIMO and 802.11ac (WiFi 5) 3×3 MIMO, as well as various interfaces such as PCIe, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and the usual slower I/Os like I2C, PWM and UART. A web search mostly shows code commits to Linux and U-boot, and we learn a few extra details such as MT7629 shares the same PCIe IP block as MT7622 dual core Cortex-A53 processor. It also reveals a forum post on Widora website with a […]

Qualcomm Mesh Networking DevKit Supports Amazon AVS

Qualcomm Mesh Networking Devkit for Amazon AVS

The Qualcomm Mesh Networking Development Kit for Amazon AVS enables integration of Amazon Alexa Voice Services into mesh Wi-Fi systems. A somewhat recent blog post on Amazon Developer website explains the devkit is the first ever Amazon-qualified reference design for a mesh WiFi system with Alexa built-in. The reference platform is based on the Qualcomm IPQ4019 SoC, includes a rectangular 4-microphone array, far-field audio processing algorithms for noise suppression, acoustic echo cancellation, wake word engine, and the AVS Device SDK. Qualcomm Mesh Networking DevKit specifications: WiSoC – Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 717 MHz with SIMD DSP, WiFi 5; 40 nm process technology System Memory – 1GB DDR3L RAM Storage – eMMC flash and microSD card Display I/F – LCD interface Connectivity WiFi Standards: 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11ac, 802.11p, 802.11n Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Peak speed: 1.733 Gbps Channel Utilization: 20/40/80 MHz, 5/10/20/40 MHz MIMO Configuration: […]

Zidoo Z1000 4K Android Media Player to Feature Realtek RTD1296DD Processor

Zidoo Z1000

Zidoo previously introduced several Reatek RTD1296 4K Android media players with their high-end Zidoo X20/X20 Pro models, followed by the lower cost Zidoo Z9S & Z10 units. The company is now about to launch yet another model based on the processor with Zidoo Z1000 4K UHD media player that should offer an option between the higher-end models and the company’s entry-level options. Zidoo Z1000 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1296DD quad core Cortex A53 processor with Arm Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash, 1x SATA 3.0 bay for 2.5 or 3.5″ drive, 1x external SATA port Video 1x HDMI 2.0a output up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 support 1x HDMI 2.0 input supporting PiP, stream recording, and UDP broadcasting 1x RCA composite output Decode – HDR10, 10-bit HEVC / H.265 up to 4K @ 60fps, VP9 up to 4K @ […]

RAK Wireless Launches RAK7258 Indoor LoRa Gateway for $149

RAK7258 Indoor Gateway

RAK Wireless has just launched a new indoor LoRa gateway with their RAK7258 model featuring Semtech SX1301 8-channel digital baseband chip. The OpenWrt gateway supports Ethernet with PoE, 2.4GHz WiFi, optional NB-IoT, LTE Cat M, LTE 4G module, and is fully compatible with LoRaWAN 1.0.2. The gateway supports all main LoRa regions including EU433, CN470, EU868, US915, and AS923. RAK7258 gateway specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7628 MIPS 24KEc processor @ 580 MHz System Memory – 128MB DDR2 RAM Storage – eMMC flash, microSD card slot Connectivity 10/100 Ethernet with PoE 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 with internal antenna LoRa via RAK833 mini PCIe card + RP-SMA antenna Cellular – Extended NB-IoT, Cat M, LTE 4G, supported by default; nano SIM card slot USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Console – RJ45 RS-232 port Misc – 6x status LED Power Supply – 12V/2A (default) or 42-57V DC PoE Dimensions – 180 […]

NanoPi R1 is an Allwinner H3 Gateway with Dual Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth

NanoPi R1

A couple of years ago, Shenzhen Xunlong Software launched Orange Pi R1 board powered by Allwinner H2+ processor with two Fast Ethernet ports, and some I/Os which could be useful for intelligent controllers and simple IoT gateways. FriendlyElec has now launched a similar, but improved product with their NanoPi R1 featuring Allwinner H3 processor coupled with 512MB or 1GB memory, two Ethernet ports, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, packaged in a neat metal case. NanoPi R1 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 1.2GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – MicroSD Slot, optional 8GB eMMC flash Connectivity 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x Fast Ethernet 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 with SMA antenna interface Bluetooth 4.0 dual mode (Classic / LE) USB – 2x USB Type-A host ports, 1x  micro USB OTG port Debugging – 3-pin 2.54mm pitch header for serial console Serial […]

$200 Omega2 WiFi LIDAR Kit Comes with a 360˚ 2D LIDAR Scanner

Omega2 Wireless LiDAR kit

Onion Omega2 is a tiny WiFi board running OpenWrt that launched for as low as $5 via a crowdfunding campaign around 2 years ago, and at the time I reviewed Onion Omega2+ board – which comes with more memory and storage – together with its dock, and I found it was fairly easy to get started with the solution. You can now buy the board for a little over $10, but the company also offers kits, and their latest product is Omega2 wireless LIDAR kit with an indoor 360˚ 2D LiDAR scanner that uses rotating laser ranging to measure and map exact distances to indoor surroundings. The kit is comprised of the following items: Onion Omega2+ board with MediaTek MT7688 MIPS processor, 128MB RAM, 32MB flash Power Dock 2 with 30-pin expansion header and USB host port Delta2B 360˚ LiDAR Scanner Up to 5000 samples/second Range – 0.2 to 8 […]