There are so many ESP32 boards available now, so why bother with another ones. Some of the key selling points of TinyPICO are that it is really small at 32 x 18 mm, it’s easy to use out of the box with MicroPython firmware pre-loaded, and supports LiPo batteries with an optimized power path for low-power battery usage. The developer, named Unexpected Maker, also provides various shields for TinyPICO adding a display, sensors, an audio amplifier, an RTC, Grove headers, and more. TinyPICO board specifications: System-in-Package – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with ESP32 dual-core processor operating at 240 MHz, 4 MB SPI flash External System Memory – 4 MB PSRAM Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, 3D antenna Expansion – 14x GPIO broken out to standard pitch headers Debugging / Programming – USB + serial/UART for programming Misc – Power (red) & charge (orange) LED’s, APA102 […]
Espressif Rolls out ESP32 Boards for Microsoft Azure IoT & Google Cloud IoT Core Services
Espressif ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth processor is pretty versatile, and you could connect any ESP32 board to any cloud services with some efforts. But to make things even easier Espressif Systems worked with Microsoft and Google to release versions of ESP32 boards specifically designed to connect to Microsoft Azure IoT or Google Cloud IoT core. Meet ESP32-Azure IoT Kit and ESP32-DevKitC Google Cloud IoT. ESP32-Azure IoT Kit Hardware specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-WROVER-B WiFi and Bluetooth module Storage – MicroSD card socket Display – 0.96” blue and yellow OLED display driven by SSD1306 I2C driver chip Sensors InvenSense MPU6050 motion sensor NXP MAG3110 magnetometer FBM320 barometer STMicro HTS221 humidity & temperature sensor ROHM BH1750FVI light sensor Expansion – 16-pin header Debugging – USB to UART bridge for serial debugging & programming Misc – Reset button, user button, 2x charge LED’s, 2x user LED’s, 1x passive buzzer Power Supply – 5V […]
Split Home Energy Meter Combines ESP32 with Microchip ATM90E32 IC (Crowdfunding)
It’s always useful to monitor the electricity consumption of your house, as you can easily and quickly find out whether an appliance is suddenly consuming a large amount of electricity before finding out from your next utility bill. It can also help remotely monitoring if an appliance has stopped working and fix it as soon as possible, for example an electric pipe heater making sure your pipe do not freeze in a holiday home. In many cases, a qualified electrician needs to be involved for the installation of whole home energy meters both for safety and insurance matters. We’ve seen in the past energy meters fit easily into a circuit breaker box but they may not be suitable for all setups. I’ve previously reviewed an inexpensive digital clamp meter that you just need to clip on one of the wire connected to your home without having to mess with dangerous […]
WiPhone ESP32 VoIP Phone Targets Makers and Hackers (Crowdfunding)
WiPhone – pronounced as in Wi(reless) Phone – is a tiny VoIP phone made for makers and hardware hackers. The phone is based on ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth SoC, is designed to be easily disassembled and modified both at the hardware and software level. It looks like an entry-level 2G/3G feature phone, except you can make only make phone calls over WiFi using a SiP account, as there’s no cellular modem. WiPhone specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual core Tensilica LX6 processor @ 240 MHz System Memory – 4MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB flash, microSD card slot Display – 2.4″ screen with 320×240 resolution Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 dual mode (BT not yet supported in software) Audio – 3.5mm audio jack USB – 1x micro USB port for charging, serial communication and firmware updates Expansion – 20-pin programmable header on back of phone with UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, […]
Espressif “Chip 7” WiSoC May Support 5GHz WiFi
Espressif Systems has not released any new chips since the launch of ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC in 2016. But it looks like an new chip may be right around the corner, as John Lee from Espressif Systems teased us with a photo featuring a module equipped with “Chip 7” that should be released “soonish”. We really don’t know much about the chip except it comes in a 56-pin QFN package (4x 14 pins), and it won’t most likely be named Chip 7 once it is released. One Twitter user left a comment mentioning that it “looks like a bodged RF Filter. 5GHz mod?”. This reminded me of the potential ESP32-D0CD / ESP32-D2CD processors with dual band (2.4 + 5 GHz) WiFi. When I say “potential” it simply refer to the fact that ESP32 nomenclature has a “CD” connectivity option for WiFi ac/c/b/g/n and Bluetooth dual mode. But Espressif never […]
FOSSASIA 2019 Schedule – March 14-17
As its name implies, FOSSASIA is a Free and Open Source Software event taking place every year in Asia, more specifically in Singapore. I first discovered it last year, and published a virtual FOSSASIA 2018 schedule last year to give an idea about the subjects discussed at the event. It turns out FOSSASIA 2019 is coming really soon, as in tomorrow, so I’m a bit late, but I’ll still had a look at the schedule and made my own for the 4-day event. Thursday – March 14, 2019 10:05 – 10:25 – For Your Eyes Only: Betrusted & the Case for Trusted I/O by Bunnie Huang, CTO Chibitronics Security vulnerabilities are almost a fact of life. This is why system vendors are increasingly relying on physically separate chips to handle sensitive data. Unfortunately, private keys are not the same as your private matters. Exploits on your local device still have […]
ESP32 CoinCell is a Tiny, Coin Cell Powered ESP32 Pico D4 Board
ESP32 boards can easily be powered by batteries, either through an external USB battery shield, or direct connection to an ESP32 board fitted with battery charger circuitry. But Miek Rankin has done something a bit different, as he designed ESP32 Coincell board based on an ESP32 Pico D4 SiP (System-in-Package) powered by a rechargeable LIR2450 coin cell battery with 100mAh capacity. ESP32 CoinCell board specifications: SiP – Espressif Systems ESP32 Pico D4 Wifi/Bluetooth processor Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.1 LE On-board antenna Display – 0.69″ OLED display with 96×16 resolution USB – 1x micro USB port for charging and debugging (via CP2102N USB to TTL chip) Sensor – LIS3DHTR accelerometer Battery / Power Supply SE5218ALG-LF 500mA LDO power supply SL4054ST25P LiPo battery charger Socket for for LIR2450 (3.7V/100Mah battery) Consumption – 0.45mA in sleep mode Dimensions – Small If you don’t connect the battery, the board […]
Novasom SBC-U1 is a Tiny Industrial grade ESP32 Single Board Computer
Novasom Industries is an international company specializing in SBCs (Single Board Computers) with offices in Romania and the US. Most of their products are based on Arm and Intel processors, and they have two product lines their U-Line for low power IoT devices, and M-Line for applications requiring multimedia processing with various Rockchip, Qualcomm, and Intel processors. One model in the U-Line caught my attention, as beside an NXP i.MX6ULL SBC, the company is also offering an industrial temperature grade ESP32 SBC named SBC-U1 / SBC-U1A. SBC-U1/SBC-U1A board specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual core Tensilica LX6 processor @ 240 MHz, 384KB RAM Storage – 4MB flash, micro SD card slot up to 32GB Connectivity – 802.11 b/n/g WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.1 LE I/Os – 24-pin 2.54mm pitch header with up to 15 GPIO @ 3.3V, I2C, SPI, 2-ch 12-bit ADC, 2-ch 10-bit DAC, 2x protected inputs up to […]