The most obvious way to setup your own LoRAWAN network is to get an off-the-shelf Gateway such as MatchBox, which can be easily installed, and configured using the built-in web interface. But if you need something more flexible, Rakwireless RAK833 could be an interesting option, as an industrial grade LoRaWAN gateway that you can just insert into an advanced router or computer’s mini PCIe slot. RAK833 card specifications: LoRa Connectivity Semtech SX1301 Digital Baseband Chip for outdoor LoRaWAN macro gateways 2x Semtech SX1255/7 Tx/Rx front-end 49x LoRa demodulators, 10 parallel demodulation paths Frequencies – 433 MHz, 470 MHz, 868 MHz, and 915 MHz Tx Power – Up to 25 dBm Rx Sensitivity – -140 dBm Host Interface – 52-pin mPCIe edge connector with USB and SPI (via FT2232H) signals; Supply Voltage – 3.3V compatible with 3G/LTE mPCIe cards Dimensions – 50.95 x 30 mm The card ships with an external […]
Circumference Datacentre-in-a-Box Features up to 32 Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Managed by a UDOO x86 Ultra Board (Crowdfunding)
We’ve previously seen several clusters made of Raspberry Pi boards with a 16 RPi Zero cluster prototype, or BitScope Blade with 40 Raspberry Pi boards. The latter now even offers solutions for up to 1,000 nodes in a 42U rack. Circumference offers an other option with either 8 or 32 Raspberry Pi 3 (B+) boards managed by UDOO x86 board acting as a dedicated front-end processor (FEP) that’s designed as a “Datacenter-in-a-Box”. Key features and specifications: Compute nodes – 8x or 32x Raspberry Pi 3 B+ boards for a total of 128x 64-bit 1.4 GHz cores max Backplane MCU – Microchip ATmega1280 8-bit AVR microcontroller Serial Comms – FTDI FT4232 quad-USB UART Switched Mode Power Supply Units (SMPSUs): 8x / 32x software controlled (one per compute node) 1x / 4x always-on (microcontroller) HW monitoring: 8x / 32x compute node energy 2x / 8x supply voltage 2x / 8x temperature Remote […]
Sonoff S26 WiFi Smart Plug Works in All/Most Countries, Sells for under $10
One recurring issue with smart plugs / sockets is that they are often designed with a specific prong type, so if you want to use them in our country you may have to add an adapter, which may not be ideal, since the socket may fall off or have bad contact. Sonoff S26 WiFi smart plug solves that issue as ITEAD Studio made it available in six different versions for China, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe type F, Europe type E, and the United States. Sonoff S26 specifications: Standard – US/ UK/ CN/AU/ EU(type F/E) Power supply – 90V~250V AC @ 50/60Hz Max. Current – 10A Max power – 2200W Connectivity – 802.11.b/g/n 2.4G WiFi with WEP/TKIP/AES encyprtion, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security Dimensions – 104 x 55 x 73 mm (Fire Retardant ABS enclosure) Weight – 130 grams Temperature Range – 0ºC-40ºC Humidity- 5%-90%RH, Non-condensing Certification – CE Just like other Sonoff devices, […]
ESP32-Sense Kit Lets You Experiment with ESP32 Touch Interface
Beside support for Bluetooth, one the other extra benefits of Espressif ESP32 over ESP8266 is the presence of a touch interface in the newer processor. If you are interested in that specific features, Espressif Systems has worked on ESP32-Sense kit that provides a main board with ESP32, and several touch enabled daughter boards. Board descriptions in the kit: Motherboard with ESP32 module (ESP-WROOM-32), a 3-digit display unit, a debug unit, USB port for power, switches, an RGB LED, and expansion headers. 5 daughterboard: linear slider duplex slider wheel slider matrix buttons spring buttons. Developers could even design and add their own daughterboards to connect to the motherboard’s touch header. A good way to get started with your own board is to check out ESP32 Sense Kit reference design files with Cadence/OrCAD Capture V16.6 schematics, and Mentor Graphics/Pads VⅩ.2 PCB layout files. But if you are just interested in the software […]
Arduino Unveils its First FPGA Board with MKR Vidor 4000, Updates UNO WiFi Board with ATmega4809 MCU
Arduino has been busy with new boards announcements in the last week, as after introducing MKR WiFi 1010 and MKR NB 1500 IoT boards with respectively WiFi + Bluetooth, and NB-IoT + eMTC connectivity, the company has now unveiled two new boards. MKR Vidor 4000 is the very first official Arduino board with an FPGA, while UNO WiFi Rev2 is an upgrade of UNO WiFi board featuring the new Microchip ATmega4809 MCU and an U-blox wireless module instead of an ESP8266 chip. MKR Vidor 4000 Preliminary specifications: FPGA part FPGA – Intel Cyclone FPGA with 16K Logic Elements, 504Kbit of embedded RAM and 56 18×18 bit HW multipliers for high-speed DSP System Memory – 8 MB SDRAM Storage – 2 MB QSPI Flash (1MB for user applications) Micro HDMI connector MIPI camera connector mini PCIe connector with up to 25 user programmable pins MCU – Microchip SAMD21 Cortex-M0+ 32bit low […]
R-TV BOX S10+ is an Android 8.1 TV Box with a Built-in Qi Wireless Charger
A couple of years ago we wrote about ECS Live Station, an Intel Bay Trail mini PC with an integrated wireless charger that can be used to charge any compatible smartphone. But as I was checking out new arrivals feed, I found out there was now a TV box that does the same thing. Apart from the wireless charger placed on top of the device, R-TV BOX S10+ is pretty much a standard 4K TV box based on RK3328 processor: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite) Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264. 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Audio – Via HDMI, AV port (stereo […]
Spreadtrum SC9863 Octa-core Cortex A55 Processor is Made for LTE Smartphones
Arm unveiled Cortex A55 cores about a year ago, and while we have seen the new cores combined with Cortex 75-class cores in premium smartphone processors such as Exynos 9810 SoC, I had yet to see a standalone Cortex A55 processor that should deliver a performance boost compared to A53, while keeping the costs in check, and providing good power efficiency. Spreadtrum has filled this void with their SC9863 processor equipped with eight Cortex A55 cores clocked a 1.6 GHz, and designed for LTE smartphones. Performance is said to be improved by 20% compared with their Arm Cortex-A53 processor, and the SoC also embeds an AI processing unit that increases AI tasks performance by 6 times, and allows for real-time intelligent context detection and recognition, AR photography, and face recognition. Spreadtrum SC9863 also features a dual ISP capable of handle dual cameras of up to 16 MP, supports 1080p HD […]
UMIDIGI Z2 Pro is one of the first Smartphones based on MediaTek Helio P60 SoC
MediaTek unveiled Helio P60 Cortex A73/A53 processor with AI HW acceleration a few months ago, and we were promised smartphones would start selling in Q2 2018. Mediatek’s partners seem to be right on schedule, as several MediaTek Helio P60 smartphones have now been announced, including UMIDIGI Z2 Pro, which we’ll cover in this post. Specifications for UMIDIGI Z2 Pro smartphone: SoC – MediaTek Helio P60 big.LITTLE octa-core processor with four Arm Cortex-A73 up to 2.0 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A53 up to 2.0 GHz, Arm Mali-G72 MP3 GPU at 800MHz, and a multi-core AI processing unit System Memory – 6GB RAM Storage – 128GB flash, micro SD slot up to 256 GB Display – 6.2″ FHD+ (1080 x 2246) display with 403 PPI Camera 16MP + 8MP rear camera, 5-element lens, Samsung sensor, dual LED flash, face recognition 16MP + 8MP front-facing camera, ƒ/2.0 aperture, Sony sensor, face recognition Video recordings […]