Qt for MCUs – Qt Announces support for Microcontrollers

QT_TitleImage1

[Update August 24, 2019: Added information about expected release date and license] About Qt for MCUs Qt- The well known opensource toolkit for creating graphical interface announced their new release: Qt for MCUs, targeting MCU’s. The new graphical toolkit will be capable of running on devices without operating system. This may be a game changer in the entire MCU world, since Qt for MCUs allows developers to create fluid user interfaces on cost-effective micro controllers. This means we will be able to see smartphone like GUI’s which are running on low-end  MCU’s with limited resources. With reference to their press release, assuring that Qt-GUI will consume less power to save the battery life. Qt for MCUs Software Stack While developing any applications for MCU,  developers still can use their powerful declarative UI language QML and rich set of ready-made Qt Quick controls.  And the C++ APIs, helps the user interface […]

mDash Cloud platform for IoT Devices Targets ESP8266/ESP32, STM32, and TI CC3220 Wireless MCUs

mDash firmware

Cesanta (a company based in Dublin, Ireland) recently launched mDash – an IoT cloud platform for administration of various IoT modules. This platform supports Espressif’s modules ESP32 & ESP8266, STM32 (L4,M4) and TI CC3220, and offers a bunch of features which are known to be  challenging tasks in the IoT world. This includes OTA (Over-The-Air) firmware updates, remote configuration and administration, alerts and notifications, remote device control and file management. This can be achieved through 3 programming platforms – Arduino IDE, ESP-IDF and through Mongoose OS. For evaluation and testing purpose mDash offers a simulator that run as a docker container. Refer our previous post, to understand how to get started with Cesanta’s Moongoose OS for ESP8266. Basic WorkFlow mDash Library The company offers reference firmware/library for the defined hardware platforms. This been implements by using secure MQTT for communication, re-connection and initial provisioning with mDash cloud. You can find […]

Somu Tiny Open Source FIDO2 Security Key Enables Passwordless Login & Two-factor Authentication (Crowdfunding)

Somu FIDO2 Key

Tomu is a tiny, open source USB connector-sized board powered by a Silicon Labs Happy Gecko Cortex-M0+ MCU that adds two keys to your computer and can work as a Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) token to support two-factor authentication (2FA).  But the board is not secure enough for FIDO2 support, and Tomu’s developer worked on a secure USB key called Solokey, and shrank it to Tomu form factor. Meet Somu open-source and secure key with FIDO2 support for compatibility with your Google, Twitter, and GitHub accounts for two-factor authentication, or your Microsoft account passwordless login. Somu hardware specifications: Secure MCU – STMicro STM32L432KC Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller  with TRNG, security isolation for keys, two levels of locked flash Crypto Algorithms – ECC P256 (as per FIDO2 standard) Supported Protocols – FIDO2, U2F Host Interface – USB type-A port Misc – Two touch buttons ( in FIDO2 firmware the two buttons behave […]

STMicro Launches $10 STLINK-V3mini Mini Probe for STM32 MCUs

STLink-V3MINI

Last year, we reported STMicroelectronics launched STLink-V3 debugger & programmer for STM8 & STM32 microcontrollers that added I2C, SPI, and CAN interfaces compared the previous STLink-V2 model. It’s not particularly expensive either at $35, but if you ever wanted something more compact and cheaper, the company has now introduced STLink-V3mini debugger going for under $10. STLINK-V3Mini key features and specifications: JTAG / serial wire debugging (SWD) specific features: 3 V to 3.6 V application voltage support and 5 V tolerant inputs JTAG communication support SWD and serial wire viewer (SWV) communication support Virtual COM port (VCP) specific features: 3 V to 3.6 V application voltage support on the UART interface and 5 V tolerant inputs VCP frequency up to 15 MHz USB – Micro USB 2.0 connector for power and connection to host computer Misc – 2x color LEDs: communication, power; STDC14 signals protection Dimensions – 30 x 15 mm […]

UnaMKR Sigfox Monarch Development Kit Follows Arduino MKR Form Factor

unamkr sigfox monarch

Unabiz is an IoT network operator with offices in Singapore and Taiwan. The company offers Sigfox networks in the region, and last year unveiled UnaMKR, a Sigfox Monarch development kit compatible with the tiny Arduino MKR boards. We’ve already written about Sigfox LPWAN standard several times, but what is Sigfox Monarch exactly? Answer direct from Sigfox website: The Monarch feature makes IoT devices aware of the local radio configuration (RC) to use. A single device can thus lawfully communicate on the Sigfox network even when moving between countries with different radio regulations. That means a Sigfox Monarch compliant end-point can work legally anywhere in the world switching to 868 MHz, 902 MHz, and 920 MHz frequencies automatically depending on the country of operation. This is useful for asset tracking across countries and continents. Back to the board itself, with UnaMKR specifications: Platform – Arduino or STMicro Connectivity Lite-On WSG309S Sigfox […]

Elk, An Allwinner H3 Development board Crafted For the Decentralized Internet (Crowdfunding)

Elk: The Dev Board for the Decentralized World

Back in 2017, Bitcoin peaked at almost $20,000; many were pretty shocked about how this supposed virtual currency suddenly become a scare resource. It also brought limelight to the technology behind it Blockchain and the idea of Decentralized internet. Although the success of the cryptocurrency didn’t last that long, as it lost about 80 percent in a year and still categorized as one of the biggest bubbles in financial history. After the crash of Bitcoin and some other similar cryptocurrencies, a lot of people predicted that’s the end of the whole Blockchain thing, and the idea of Decentralized internet will not happen. The recently announced Facebook Libra, a new cryptocurrency by the American giant Facebook, shows that Blockchain and the Decentralized web isn’t going anywhere and will probably start growing stronger. Arduino made it possible for Artist, Makers, Engineers, Students to bring ideas to life and quickly make things easier. Now, […]

Emtrion emSBC-Argon Features STM32MP1 Dual Cortex-A7 / M4 Processor

The latest board to use the STM32MP1 dual Cortex-A7 and the Cortex-M4 processor is the Emtrion emSBC-Argon, which adds to SBC’s such as the PanGu Board. The emSBC-Argon, is a powerful yet reasonably priced SBC that is feature-rich and out-of-the-box ready. The low-power needs of the board enable it to run real-time processing. Protocols such as PROFINET, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP are all available and ready to run real-time processes and communication applications. Key Features: STM32MP157AAC processor from STMicroelectronics Arm Dual Cortex-A7 @ 650MHz – 2470 DMIPS Arm Cortex-M4 @ 200MHz – 250 DMIPS Co-processor: ARM Neon, FPU, and 3D GPU Operating system: Linux or Android Virtualization capable (Jailhouse) Up to 512 MB DDR3L SDRAM 8GByte (up to 64 GB) eMMC Flash Up to 8 MB of QSPI-NOR-Flash 2x FD-CAN 2.0 Dimensions: 104.5 x 77.5 mm The emSBC-Argon is capable of virtualization using Jailhouse, for those real-time functions that require breaking down […]

Arm Techcon 2019 Schedule – Machine Learning, Security, Containers, and More

Arm Techcon 2019

Arm TechCon will take place on October 8-10, 2019 at San Jose Convention Center to showcase new solutions from Arm and third-parties, and the company has now published the agenda/schedule for the event. There are many sessions and even if you’re not going to happen it’s always useful to checkout what will be discussed to learn more about what’s going on currently and what will be the focus in the near future for Arm development. Several sessions normally occur at the same time, so as usual I’ll make my own virtual schedule with the ones I find most relevant. Tuesday, October 8  09:00 – 09:50 – Open Source ML is rapidly advancing. How can you benefit? by Markus Levy, Director of AI and Machine Learning Technologies, NXP Over the last two years and still continuing, machine learning applications have benefited tremendously from the growing number of open source frameworks, tools, […]