Silicon Labs Category - Page 4 of 8 - CNX Software

August 22, 2022August 22, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Wireless M-Bus & LTE Cat 1 sensor board also supports Zigbee 3.0, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE 5.0, LoRa…

Geniatech SCB32IM is a sensor board based on Silicon Labs EFR32FG14 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller with a sub-GHz radio enabling wireless M-Bus (Wireless Meter Bus) designed for remote reading of smart meters, and also equipped with a Quectel EC200S “IoT/M2M-optimized” LTE Cat 1 module. The sensor module does not actually come with any sensor on board, but provides a terminal block to connect any sensor you may need for your product. It’s also possible to extend wireless connectivity options with Zigbee 3.0, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE 5.0, LoRa, and more through the GT-IoT interface with UART, SPI, and one GPIO. Geniatech SBC32IM specifications: Microcontroller – Silicon Labs EFR32FG14 Aem Cortex-M4 MCU @ 40MHz with up to 256 KB flash, 32 KB RAM, and proprietary 2.4GHz and sub-GHz radios Wireless connectivity Wireless M-Bus S Mode: 868 MHz band T Mode: 868 MHz band C Mode: 868 MHz band N Mode: 169 MHz band […]

August 5, 2022August 8, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Sonoff ZBDongle-E Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle features EFR32MG21 MCU with +20dBm radio

ITEAD has just released a new “ZBDongle-E” Zigbee 3.0 USB adapter with Silicon Labs Mighty Gecko EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller with a +20dBm radio for extended range. The new dongle is an alternative to the popular Texas Instruments CC2652P-based Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus, also known as “ZBDongle-P”, with a more compact design, and many of the same features. Sonoff ZBDongle-E specifications: Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 multiprotocol wireless MCU @ 80 MHz with 64KB RAM, 768KB flash, +20 dBm 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee 3.0 and Thread support, and as well as a Bluetooth 5.1 Low Energy radio Connectivity – Zigbee 3.0 with SMA antenna connector, +20 dBm output power Host interface – USB port with CH9102F USB to TTL chip Expansion – 7-pin IO header with programming pins Misc – Boot and reset buttons, Zigbee LED, Power LED Power Supply – 5V/100mA via USB port, […]

February 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Sonoff ZBBridge gateway can be used as a Zigbee router/repeater

Sonoff ZBBridge WiFi to Zigbee gateway was introduced in April 2020, and a few months later got support for Tasmota ESP8266 firmware and Gecko firmware for either Home Assistant or Zigbee2MQTT support. But there’s now a new Tasmota firmware that converts Sonoff ZBBridge into a Zigbee router (a.k.a. Zigbee Signal Repeater or Zigbee Range Expender) following a request on Tastoma Github’s issue tracker from last year. The firmware, unofficial yet signed, was released a few days ago by xsp1989 Github’s user with a link to the firmware on Google Drive. Digiblur successfully tried it out on its own Sonoff Zigbee bridge and published the instructions. Assuming you already have Tasmota flashed to the device, switching to the router software is basically a firmware upgrade from the Tasmota web interface. Once the update is complete, you’ll still need to access the console in Tasmota in order to run a command to […]

February 16, 2022January 31, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Blues Wireless launches Wi-Fi Notecard for mixed cellular & WiFi IoT deployments

Blues Wireless has just launched the Wi-Fi Notecard M.2 module that can be used as a replacement to the company’s Notecard LTE Cat-M / NB-IoT M.2 modem that sells with 10 years of connectivity up to 500MB for $49 and up. The Wi-Fi Notecard came to be as some customers wanted to have mixed deployments where cellular makes sense in some locations, while Wi-Fi is better suited to other sites. Others preferred to use WiFi during development or prototyping to save on Notecard cellular data usage. Wi-Fi Notecard specifications: MCU – Arm Cortex-M4 MCU with 2MB flash Wireless Silicon Labs WFM200S Wi-Fi transceiver module with a 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n radio supporting up to 72 Mbps link u.FL antenna connector Host interface – M.2 edge connector with I2C, UART, USB Sensor – 3-axis accelerometer and temperature sensor Security – STSAFE Secure Element with hardware crypto, true hardware random number generator, and […]

January 24, 2022January 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Silicon Labs BG24 and MG24 2.4 GHz wireless MCU’s quadruple AI performance at a fraction of the energy

Machine Learning is getting everywhere including into 2.4GHz wireless microcontrollers with SIlicon Labds BG24 Bluetooth and MG24 multi-protocol Cortex-M33 microcontrollers that improve AI/ML performance by 4 times using 1/6th of the energy thanks to a built-in AI accelerator. That makes the new microcontrollers suitable for battery-powered edge AI devices with support for Matter (coming soon) as well as PSA Level 3 Secure Vault protection. Silicon Labs expects the chips to be found in various smart home, medical and industrial applications. BG24 and MG24 share the same block diagram and the same specifications apart from the supported wireless protocols: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit Memory – Up to 256 kB RAM data memory Storage – Up to 1536 kB flash program memory Wireless CPU – Arm Cortex-M0+ 2.4 GHz Radio Performance -104.5 dBm sensitivity @ 250 kbps O-QPSK DSSS -104.9 dBm sensitivity […]

November 5, 2021November 21, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Playing with Sonoff Zigbee & WiFi automation – Part 1: Hardware overview

Sonoff T2 Switch Zigbee Bridge Motion Sensor

I don’t think I’ve ever used Zigbee, but I’ll soon have the opportunity as ITEAD sent me the Sonoff ZBBridge gateway, a Sonoff T2 2-gang WiFi switch as well as a Zigbee motion sensor. I had reviewed several Sonoff devices in the past, but it had been over three years that I hadn’t. ITEAD recently contacted me basically telling me I could select whatever I wanted from their product list for a review on CNX Software. Since I had reviewed several of the company’s WiFi smart sockets, smart switches, and a light bulb, I had less to play with, and then I thought it might be fun to play with Sonoff Zigbee products. But I did not own any Zigbee hardware, so I had to think about a use case. I have a small annoyance in the house I rent. When we come back at night, we have to leave […]

September 27, 2021November 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ZB-GW03 ESP32-based Ethernet Zigbee gateway works with Tasmota firmware

ZB-GW03 is an Ethernet Zigbee Gateway compatible with eWelink mobile app and with a design similar to SONOFF ZBBridge gateway but replacing ESP8266 SoC by ESP32 SoC, and adding an Ethernet port. The ZB-GW03 gateway is apparently based on the same Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Zigbee Arm Cortex-M33 chip and has been hacked to run Tasmota open-source software for people preferring more flexibility and/or integration with OpenHAB or Home Assistant open-source home automation frameworks via Zigbee2MQTT. ZB-GW03 gateway specifications: Main MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core Tensilica TX6 processor @ 240 MHz with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth connectivity Zigbee MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ 80 MHz with Zigbee 3.0 connectivity Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth via ESP32 Zigbee 3.0 via Silabs MG21 MCU with support for 128 nodes, up to 200+ meter range One 2.4 GHz Zigbee antenna One 2.4 GHz PCB antenna for WiFi Misc […]