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February 16, 2021February 16, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Feather compatible shield Integrates BG96 Module with LTE Cat-M1, NB-IoT, and GPS

Last week, I wrote about the Pebble Board, an nRF9160 based LTE-M and NB-IoT GPS tracker board that connects with Thingsboard. I was soon informed about a similar solution based on Quectel BG96 and compatible with the Feather form factor. Meet IoT-Bots.com’s qTop Adafruit Feather Compatible shield. In case you wonder, why they did not call it a FeatherWing, that’s because as it’s slightly larger, and the boards are “Adafruit Feather Compatible (AFC) from the interface connection perspective only.” Key features and specifications: Wireless module – Quectel BG96 Cellular – LTE Cat M1, NB-IoT, and EGPRS module offering maximum data rates of 375 kbps downlink and uplink GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou/Compass, Galileo, QZSS Nano SIM card holder and u.FL connector (3) for cellular connectivity u.FL connector (4) for GNSS Expansion Feather expansion connector (11) 6-pin qJam interface connector (12) with I2C for extra sensors Misc – Network status LED, […]

January 21, 2021February 21, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Third-party Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards from Arduino, Adafruit, Sparkfun and Pimoroni

I’ve just written about the launch of the Raspberry Pi Pico board and Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, which, as I explained in the announcement, could be used with third-party boards, but what I was not made aware during the embargo was that RP2040 boards were already being worked on, and other companies jointly announced their own custom Raspberry Pi Pico compatible board with Adafruit, Arduino, Pimoroni, and Sparkfun joining the party. Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect Board When I first wrote about Raspberry Pi Pico, I really saw it would be a competitor to Arduino boards, but instead Arduino and Raspberry Pi joined hands to design Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect with the board including 16MB external SPI flash, a u-blox NINA WiFi & Bluetooth module, an STMicro MEMS sensor with 9-axis IMU and microphone, and the ECC608 crypto chip. That obviously means Arduino Core will also support the new RP2040 MCU. […]

January 6, 2021 by Saumitra Jagdale - 1 Comment

Adafruit Voice Bonnet is meant for DIY Raspberry Pi Smart Speakers

Adafruit Voice Bonnet features two speakers and two mics, that can be used as an audio-voice interface for Raspberry Pi SBC to create a DIY smart speaker or other audio product. The voice bonnet can work with any Raspberry Pi from Pi Zero up to Pi 4, with 40-pin 2 x 20 connector. Two speaker outputs of the voice bonnet have a power rating of 1 Watt. The voice bonnet contains 3.5 mm stereo outputs, headphone stereo, or line-out audio. The Adafruit voice bonnet has an on-board WM8960 low-power stereo codec that uses I2S digital audio for both input and output. The WM8960 codec has a dual analog input, it consists of a left mic and a right mic. The codec integrates a complete microphone interface and a stereo headphone driver. Adafruit says “For DIY speakers, solder any 1W+ speaker to one of these JST 2-PH cables. If you’d like […]

December 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

STM32WB Feather board features STM32WB55 Bluetooth 5.0 SoC

STMicro announced the availability of their first wireless STM32 MCU last year with STM32WB55 Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.15.4 Cortex-M4/M0+ microcontroller together with P-NUCLEO-WB55 Development Pack. A company called Reclaimer Labs has now designed a Feather-compatible board with the wireless MCU, more specifically STM32WBCGU6, and simply called STM32WB Feather board. STM32WB Feather Board specifications: Wireless MCU – STMicro STM32WB55CG Bluetooth SoC with Arm Cortex-M4 application core, Arm Cortex-M0+ Bluetooth co-processor, 1 MB Flash storage, 256 KB of SRAM, USB ROM Bootloader Storage – 128 Mbit SPI NOR Flash memory Bluetooth antennas – On-board chip antenna, u.Fl connector for external antenna Expansion – 16-pin + 12-pin unpopulated headers with 6x analog input pins UART, I2C, SPI, and 7x GPIO pins Debugging – Standard SWD debug connector Misc – User button and LED, 32.768 kHz crystal for LSE/RTC Power Supply 5V via micro USB port 2-pin battery header, LiPo battery charger Dimensions – […]

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

8-MOSFET solid-state power driver works with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32 and other maker boards (Crowdfunding)

Using inexpensive relays to switch AC or DC loads work well in most cases, but those relays will be quickly damaged when faced with high DC voltages, fast switching times, or other endurance requirements for which MOSFET’s are better suited, and that’s why MOSFET power supplies are found in 3D printers. Sequent Microsystems has made a habit to provide specialized Raspberry Pi HAT with relays or terminals for resistance temperature detectors that are stackable to supports a larger number for I/O or sensors. The company is now back at it with the 8-MOSFET stackable, DIN-rail mountable board that works not only with Raspberry Pi SBC, but also popular Arduino, ESP32, and other maker boards. 8-MOSFET key features and specifications: Eight MOSFETs with status LEDs 4 optimized for high-current (HC) loads up to 10 A / 24 VDC 4 optimized for high-voltage (HV) loads up to 2 A / 240 VDC […]

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Penguino Feather 4260 LoRa development board features RAK4260 module

Adafruit Feather form factor has become more popular in recent years with third-parties introducing Feather compatible boards such as the Giant Board (Linux capable), OrangeCrab (FPGA), or FeatherS2 (ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth), and as well as FeatherWing add-on boards. Azerbaijan based MakerTronika Labs has launched their own Feather compatible board with LoRa connectivity: Penguino Feather 4260. The development board is powered by a RAK4260 module based on SAMR34 LoRa SiP and supports both 868 and 915 MHz bands. Penguino Feather 4260 specifications: LoRa module – Rak wireless RAK4260 module with: SiP – Microchip ATSAMR34J18 SiP with SAML21 Arm Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz, 40 KB RAM, 256 KB Flash, Semtech SX1276 LoRa Connectivity Frequency Range – 862 to 1020 MHz High level of accuracy and stability (32MHz TXCO) Max Tx Power: 20dBm; Max Sensitivity: -148dBm; Rx Current: 17mA (typical) Compliant with LoRaWan 1.0.2 Power Consumption Low RX current of […]

October 5, 2020February 22, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

FeatherS2 Board Brings ESP32-S2 to Adafruit Feather Form Factor

We’ve covered a fair number of development boards following Adafruit Feather form factor in the last year or so with products such as QuickFeather Cortex-M4 + FPGA board, OrangeCrab (Lattice FPGA), nRF9160 Feather providing LTE IoT & GPS connectivity, and other boards. But here’s yet another Adafruit Feather themed board that has just launched: FeatherS2. The tiny board is equipped with the latest Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 WiFi SoC, 16 MB SPI Flash, 8 MB PSRAM, several I/O, and a USB-C port for power and programming. FeatherS2 key features and specifications: SoC – ESP32-S2 single-core Tensilica LX7 processor @ 240 MHz, RISC-V ultra-lower power co-processor, 320 kB SRAM, 128 kB ROM Memory – 8 MB extra PSRAM Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g/n with 3D antenna USB – 1x USB-C port for power and programming Sensor – ALS-PT19 Ambient Light Sensor Expansion 16 + […]

August 19, 2020August 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Keyboard FeatherWing Brings Keyboard & Display to Adafruit Feather Boards

Solder Party is a brand new Swedish startup founded by Arturo182 who previously designed several maker boards including the tiny Serpente R2 CircuitPython prototyping board, and its first product, named Keyboard FeatherWing, brings a QWERTY keyboard and 2.6” color LCD with resistive touch screen to any boards compatible with Adafruit Feather for factor. That means you can build a portable device that runs Linux via the Giant Board, features an FPGA (Orange Crab), or a wide range of connectivity options including WiFi, Bluetooth LE, LoRa, etc… depending on your chosen board. The solution actually brings a bit more than just a keyboard and color, as shown by the list of Keyboard FeatherWing key features: Display – 2.6” 320×240 16-bit color LCD with resistive touch screen (SPI) Storage – MicroSD card slot (SPI) User Inputs controlled by a Microchip SAMD20 MCU QWERTY keyboard (I2C) 5-way button 4 soft tactile buttons Expansion […]