DIY air quality monitor is based on Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board, Sensirion SGP41 TVOC sensor

AirGradient DIY air quality monitor

Open AirGradient is a DIY air quality monitor based on the Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 WiFi IoT board programmed with Arduino and fitted with a range of sensors including an optional Sensirion SGP41 TVOC sensor through a custom PCB designed with EasyEDA. Two versions of Open AirGradient are available. The Basic model includes an OLED display, a Plantower PMS5003 PM sensor, a Senseair S8 CO2 sensor, and SHT30 or SHT31 temperature & humidity sensor, while the Pro version adds a larger display, a plastic enclosure, and support for the SGP41 TVOC sensor. Open AirGradient key components: MCU board Basic – Wemos D1 Mini Pro Pro – Lolin D1 Mini v4 with USB-C port Display Basic – Wemos OLED shield Pro – 1.3-inch OLED display Sensors Plantower PMS5003 PM sensor Senseair S8 CO2 sensor SHT30 or SHT31 temperature and humidity sensor module Optional Sensirion SGP41 TVOC & NOx sensor (Pro version […]

Matter compatible ESP-ZeroCode modules enable plug-and-play automation solutions

ESP-ZeroCode modules

Espressif Systems has just announced the Matter-compatible ESP-ZeroCode modules with Wi-Fi and/or Thread (802.15.4) wireless connectivity that are designed as plug-and-play solutions for LED lights, outlets, switches, dimmers, relays, fans, and other lighting and electrical devices. I was only recently introduced to no-code programming in a recent post by Ninephon Kongangkab explaining how to use SenseCraft firmware for no-code programming on Wio Terminal. Basically, there’s no need to know Arduino, MicroPython, or any programming language, as the user just has to press a few buttons to configure an IoT device to meet his/her requirements. With the ESP-ZeroCode modules, Espressif offers something similar using several of their ESP32 chips. The first ESP-ZeroCode modules will be offered with either ESP32-C3 (aka ESP8685) or ESP32-C2 (aka ESP8684) WiFi & BLE RISC-V SoCs, or ESP32-H2 802.15.4 & BLE RISC-V microcontroller, and ships with a Matter compatible firmware that enables “near-zero investment in development”. Not […]

Giveaway Week – GL.iNet GL-S10 BLE to MQTT Gateway

GL.inet GL-S10 review

The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week will be GL.iNET GL-S10 BLE to MQTT gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller and offering Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway is used to gather data from Bluetooth LE devices such as beacons and can be used in warehouses, shopping malls, airports, exhibition halls, tourist attractions, etc… for personnel management, asset management, environmental monitoring, indoor navigation, and more. I reviewed the ESP32-based BLE to MQTT gateway with the provided BLE beacon at the end of last year using MQTT X open-source client and the GL-S10 Tool App for Android. It allowed me to send commands through MQTT topics, for example, to set or retrieve the beacon’s (WiFi) configuration, and receive the data through MQTT subscriptions. Some of the data include the MAC address, RSSI, ad (Broadcast data advData), and a timestamp. It took some effort to get it working, but […]

TinyML-CAM pipeline enables 80 FPS image recognition on ESP32 using just 1 KB RAM

TinyML-CAM image recognition microcontroller boards

The challenge with TinyML is to extract the maximum performance/efficiency at the lowest footprint for AI workloads on microcontroller-class hardware. The TinyML-CAM pipeline, developed by a team of machine learning researchers in Europe, demonstrates what’s possible to achieve on relatively low-end hardware with a camera. Most specifically, they managed to reach over 80 FPS image recognition on the sub-$10 ESP32-CAM board with the open-source TinyML-CAM pipeline taking just about 1KB of RAM. It should work on other MCU boards with a camera, and training does not seem complex since we are told it takes around 30 minutes to implement a customized task. The researchers note that solutions like TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers and Edge Impulse already enable the execution of ML workloads, onMCU boards, using Neural Networks (NNs). However, those usually take quite a lot of memory, between 50 and 500 kB of RAM, and take 100 to 600 ms […]

SMLIGHT SLZB-06 – A Zigbee 3.0 to Ethernet, USB, and WiFi adapter with PoE support

SMLIGHT SLZB-06 Zigbee Ethernet USB WiFi adapter

Startup SMLIGHT has launched the SLZB-06 Zigbee 3.0 to Ethernet, USB, and WiFi adapter with PoE support that works out of the box with open-source software such as Home Assistant and Zigbee2MQTT. The device combines Texas Instruments’ СС2652Р microcontroller for Zigbee with ESP32 for WiFi, data transfer to Ethernet or USB, and peripheral functions such as LEDs and a button.The design is complemented with Microchip LAN8720 for Ethernet.   SMLIGHT SLZB-06 specifications: Wireless SoCs Texas Instruments CC2652P1FRGZR Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 352KB flash, 256KB ROM for protocols and library functions,  80+8KB SRAM, integrated power amplifier, Bluetooth 5.2 Low Energy and 802.15.4 radios Espressif Systems ESP32-DOWDQ5-V3 dual-core processor @ 240MHz with 448 KB ROM, 520 KB SRAM, 16 KB SRAM in RTC, WiFi and BLE connectivity Connectivity Ethernet RJ45 port with PoE support (IEEE 802.3af) implemented through Microchip LAN8720 10/100M Ethernet controller 2.4 GHz WiFi up to 150 […]

LILYGO T7-S3 ESP32-S3 board with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, LiPo battery support sells for under $10 (Promo)

LILYGO T7-S3 ESP32-S3 development board

LILYGO has launched another ESP32-S3 development board. The T7-S3 is equipped with an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, and a PCB antenna. The board is fairly compact at 3.9×3.1 cm, can be powered through a USB-C port or a LiPo battery with charging support, and offers 40 through holes plus a Qwicc/QT I2C connector for expansion. LILYGO T7-S3 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 module with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor @ up to 240 MHz integrating vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512 KB SRAM, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE & Mesh connectivity Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI Flash USB – USB Type-C port Expansion 2x 20-pin headers with up to 29x GPIOs, 20x ADC, UART, SPI, Touch interface, 5V, 3.3V, and GND 4-pin Qwiic/QT I2C connector Misc – User LED, charging LED (blue), reset and boot buttons, power on/off switch […]

LOLIN C3 Pico is a tiny ESP32-C3 board with battery charging support

LOLIN C3 PICO

LOLIN C3 Pico is a tiny (25.4×25.4mm) ESP32-C3 RISC-V board with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, a few I/Os, and LiPo battery support including charging circuitry. I tend to like Wemos/LOLIN boards, because of their small form factor, support for equally tiny shields, and low price. The LOLIN C3 Pico is no exception, and even adds a few features such as an RGB LED, an I2C connector, and support for battery power and charging. LOLIN C3 Pico specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C3FH4 single-core 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMC) microcontroller up to 160 MHz with 400 KB SRAM, 4MB Flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE (in SoC) Expansion headers 2x 8-pin headers with up to 12x GPIO, ADC, I2C, SPI, UART (3.3V I/O voltage) LOLIN I2C port USB – 1x Type-C USB for 5V power and programming Misc – Reset button and user button, […]

T-Dongle-S3 USB dongle combines ESP32-S3 wireless MCU with optional color display

T-Dongle-S3 ESP32-S3 USB dongle

LilyGO T-Dongle-S3 is a USB dongle based on ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a microSD card slot, as well as an optional 0.96-inch color display. You may remember the company launched the T-Dongle ESP32-S2 last spring, and I first thought it was an update to ESP32-S3, but the new T-Dongle-S3 has quite more compact design and a smaller set of features that makes it suitable for data logging and displaying basic information over a wireless connection. T-Dongle ESP32-S2 development board specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 with Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller up to 240MHz RISC-V ULP Co-processor 512KB SRAM 2.4GHz Wifi 4 (802.11b/g/n) Bluetooth 5.0 BLE + Mesh Storage 4 MB flash (or 16MB flash depending on where you look) MicroSD card socket cleverly “hidden” under the USB connector Display – Optional 0.96-inch 65K color IPS LCD (ST7735 SPI controller) with 160 x […]