Comparing the latency of various wireless standards

Wireless Latency

If you’ve ever wondered which wireless standard may deliver the smallest lag (latency) when transmitting small packets, we’ve now gotten an answer thanks to Scott at Electric UI who benchmarked various wireless links in common MCU development boards. More specifically the following hardware and wireless standards were tested: SiliconLabs 10×0-GM RF+8051 microcontroller with 240–960 MHz EZRadioPRO transceiver running SiK firmware HopeRF RFM95W LoRa module (on an Adafruit Breakout board) connected to an STM32F429 MCU Nordic Semi nRF24L01 2.4GHz transceiver module ESP32 board for ESP-NOW and WiFi testing is shown as ESP32 WS (WebSockets) or ESP32 TCP in the chart below. Raspberry Pi boards were also used for comparison ESP32-C6 board for 802.15.4 transfers (Thread) ESP32 and HC-05 modules for Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Profile) ESP32 board with NimBLE and Bluedroid stacks and nRF52 for Bluetooth LE testing Here are the results for 12 bytes, 128 bytes, and 1024 bytes data transfers. […]

SMLIGHT launches Zigbee Ethernet/WiFi coordinators and USB adapters based on TI CC2652P7 or CC2674P10 wireless chips

SMLIGHT SLZB-06p7 SLZB-06p10 Zigbee Ethernet coordinator

SMLIGHT has recently released Zigbee Ethernet/WiFi/USB coordinators and USB dongles based on either Texas Instruments CC2652P7 or CC2674P10 wireless microcontrollers that update on the company’s SLZB-06 Zigbee 3.0 to PoE Ethernet, USB, and WiFi adapter and Silicon Labs EFR32MG21-based SLZB-07 Zigbee 3.0 USB adapter. That’s a total of four new devices with the SLZB-06p7 and SLZB-07p7 based on CC2652P7 and designed to work with vendor-agnostic software such as Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant ZHA, and the similar SLZB-06p10 and SLZB-06p10 based on the CC2674P10 whose Zigbee firmware is still under development according to SMLIGHT. SLZB-06p7/SLZB-06p10 Zigbee to Ethernet/WiFi/USB coordinator SLZB-06p7/SLZB-06p10 specifications: Wireless SoCs SLZB-06p7 – Texas Instruments CC2652P7 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 48-MHz with 704KB flash, 256KB ROM for protocol and library functions, 8KB of SRAM, integrated +20 dB power amplifier, Bluetooth 5.2 Low Energy, Matter, Thread, Zigbee 3.0 SLZB-06p10 – Texas Instruments CC2674P10 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 48 MHz with […]

SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C6 board comes with 16MB flash, LiPo battery support

SparkFun Thing Plus ESP32-C6

SparkFun has launched yet another ESP32-C6 board with the “Thing Plus – ESP32-C6”  based on the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N16 module with 16MB flash and a PCB antenna and  range of I/Os and power options. The board features 28 through holes with up to 23 multi-function GPIOs and a Qwicc connector for expansion, and supports 5V or LiPo battery power through respectively a USB-C port a 2-pin JST connector combined with a charging chip, and a fuel gauge. SparkFun Thing Plus – ESP32-C6 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N16 MCU – ESP32-C6 32-bit single-core RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5 LE, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee and Thread); Matter-compatible Storage – 16 MB flash PCB Antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion 12-pin + 16-pin headers with 23x multifunctional GPIOs Up to 7x 12-bit ADC channels Up to 2x UART channels (with […]

Arduino IDE 2.3 released with the Debug feature now considered stable

Arduino IDE 2.3 Debug Feature

Arduino IDE 2.3 has just been released with a range of bug fixes and improvements, but the main change is that the debug feature is not experimental anymore and is now considered stable. Bug fixes include addressing CVE-2023-4863 security flaw (See GitHub for related commits) and based on the wording used in the announcement it looks to be the only one… So the main news is that the Debug feature is now fully incorporated into the IDE. But what is it exactly? The new documentation website explains that Arduino CLI 0.9.0 and Arduino IDE 2.x support “sketch debugging” with openocd server. Arduino also explains it’s currently supported by Arduino boards based on the Mbed core including GIGA R1 WiFi, Portenta H7, Opta, Nano BLE, and Nano RP2040 Connect, and Renesas-based boards such as UNO R4 and Portenta C33 will get support very soon. The company also says they are working […]

Tangara is a portable, open-source music player based on an ESP32 MCU (Crowdfunding)

tangara music player outside

Tangara is a portable music player that is out to make MP3 players cool again. With an iPod-inspired design and an ESP32 module at its core, Tangara presents an open-source and nostalgic way to listen to your favorite music and podcasts. The ESP32-WROVER-E at the core of the music player is the main microcontroller but it also features a co-processor, a Microchip SAMD21, which is responsible for USB communication and power management. We have covered the ESP32-WROVER-KIT, a development kit for the ESP32-WROVER and ESP-WROOM-32 line of modules with a JTAG interface and an LCD. The Tangara music player can output audio through a 3.5mm headphone jack or Bluetooth, although Bluetooth is currently limited to the default SBC codec. Tangara is the brainchild of Australian tech company Cool Tech Zone and is aimed at the portable media player community at large. This is reflected in many of the design choices […]

Wiser wireless-to-serial kit eases the debugging and programming of embedded devices (Crowdfunding)

WiSer wireless to serial kit

WiSer is a wireless-to-serial communication kit comprised of a USB dongle (WiSer-USB) and a USB TTL debug board (WiSer-TTL) – both built around an ESP32-S2 microcontroller – that allows users to establish a P2P wireless connection between a host computer and a development board or sensor. It works like a typical USB to TTL debug board except it operates over WiFi, and it’s especially useful to debug code, update firmware, log data, or transfer files without a USB cable or even a Wi-Fi router since the connection to peer-to-peer.  It looks especially useful when the host and DUT are too far apart, and my review samples are often on another table around 1.5m from the nearest USB port of my laptop, so I could see some use for it myself… WiSer specifications: Wireless SoC – ESP32-S2 Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) microcontroller USB – 1x USB Type-C port providing a virtual serial […]

The Boondock Echo is an internet-connected ham radio powered by the ESP32-A1S devkit (Crowdfunding)

Boondock Echo front

The Boondock Echo is an open-source, internet-backed recording and playback device for two-way devices. It can denoise, transcribe, translate, and send emails on hearing keywords/call signs. It is a low-cost solution for timeshift radio communication that enables users to monitor frequencies and record audio from a connected radio. Captured messages are uploaded to a server and transcribed using OpenAI. On the cloud server, the audio messages also pass through some DSP (digital speech processing) algorithms for noise reduction and volume normalization to enhance their clarity and usability. The Boondock Echo is aimed at amateur radio operators and first responders in remote areas and during emergencies, situations where traditional two-way radios tend to be unclear and unreliable. Multiple devices can be linked together to form a ‘dockpack’ and monitor/record multiple frequencies at once. Boondock Echo specifications: Mainboard – ESP32-A1S (ESP32 Audio Kit) running at up to 240MHz Expansion Board – Boondock […]

SunFounder GalaxyRVR review – An Arduino programmable Mars Rover-like robot for education

SunFounder GalaxyRVR review

SunFounder sent us a GalaxyRVR 6-wheel robot for review. It looks like NASA’s Mars Rover robots but targets the education market with an Arduino UNO R3 compatible board and an ESP32-CAM board for WiFi connectivity and video capture. The GalaxyRVR robot kit can transmit video signals over WiFi to explore planet Earth with your mobile device or tablet and the camera can be adjusted up and down thanks to a servo motor. The robot gets its power from a solar panel coupled with a battery and features sensors such as obstacle avoidance and ultrasonic modules. NASA’s Mars Rover exploration robots NASA is currently using the Perseverance rover, also known as Percy, as the latest planetary exploration robot to land on Mars. It is designed to explore the Jezero Crater as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. In addition to its scientific instruments, Perseverance also carries Ingenuity, a small experimental Martian […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case