Arduino News - Page 57 of 115 - CNX Software

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, […]

February 13, 2021February 14, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

New STMicro STM32G4 MCUs target cost-effective motor control systems with up to 512KB flash

STMicro introduced the STM32G4 family of mixed-signal microcontrollers in May 2019 for e-mobility (e.g. e-bikes), digital power supplies, advanced motor controls, lighting, and building-automation products. The Arm Cortex-M4 based microcontrollers clock up to 170 MHz, and include new hardware mathematical accelerators to boost processing of applications using Cordic (Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer) and Filtering functions to support increased performance and energy efficiency. This enables faster and more efficient calculations for energy-saving motor controls and frees up the core to receive more sensor data and control additional user functions. The STM32G4 Series of mixed-signal microcontrollers have three lines of products: The STM32G4x1 Access line – general-purpose microcontrollers with an entry-level set of analog peripherals The STM32G4x3 Performance line – general-purpose microcontrollers with the maximum number of analog peripherals The STM32G4x4 Hi-resolution line with high-resolution timer and complex waveform builder plus event handler (HRTIM) for digital power conversion, such as digital switched-mode […]

February 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

microZERO is a compact, Arduino compatible Microchip SAMD21 module (Crowdfunding)

SRKH Designs’ microZERO is a tiny, Arduino compatible module based on Microchip SAMD21 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller for applications such as drone control, mobile platforms such as cars, trucks, boats and bikes, and other products working in demanding environments. The company has also designed two baseboards, namely Dev Board A with RGB color high resolution IPS display and the more classic Dev Board B, both mostly following Arduino UNO form factor to get started with development and/or evaluation. microZERO specifications MCU – Microchip SAMD21G18 Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 48 MHz with 256KB flash, 32KB SRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash memory for additional storage and remote firmware upgrades I/Os 32x protected IO with 6x ADC, SPI, I2C, 6x PWM, TCC, USART, 1-WB, I2S, and USB 1 Mbps CAN controller with fully isolated and filtered CAN transceiver for maximum signal integrity 2mm pitch footprint Security – Microchip ATECCA508/608 software protection encryption IC Misc […]

February 4, 2021February 4, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Watchy Pebble-like Smartwatch with E-paper display, ESP32 processor launched on Crowd Supply

Pebble smartwatch was introduced in 2012 on Kickstarter. The Bluetooth smartwatch came with an E-Paper display, would connect to your Android smartphone or iPhone to receive notifications or other info, and the company also released an SDK for further customization. It was quite popular at the time having sold over one million units, the Pebble Time followed in 2015 with a color display, as well as other models. But despite selling millions of watches, the company folded in 2016, and the Pebble was discontinued after the intellectual property was purchased by Fitbit. Watchy is a new smartwatch that reminds me of the original pebble. It is based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC, equipped with a 1.54-inch E-Paper display with 200×200 resolution, and the usual accelerometer for activity tracking and gesture detection. Watchy key features and specifications: SIP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core processor with Bluetooth LE […]

February 2, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MutantC v3 open hardware DIY UMPC works with Raspberry Pi and compatible SBC’s

FOSDEM 2021 open-source developer event will take place online later this week, and yesterday we compiled a list of talks, with one entitled “MutantC PDA introduction – open source and hardware PDA shell” piquing my interest. The talk will be about the third revision of the hardware which allows you to create your own UMPC or handheld computer powered by a Raspberry Pi SBC or other compatible single board computers including Asus Tinker Board S, PINE H64 Model B, Banana Pi BPI-M4B, among others. MutantC v3 is versatile and highly customizable as can be seen from the specifications highlights: Supported SBCs – Raspberry Pi Zero, 2, 3, 4 and compatible. Arduino for keyboard – SparkFun Pro Micro 5v/16Mhz or SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro – USB-C Display – 2.8-inch, 3.5-inch, or 4-inch “GPIO” LCD such as AdaFruit PiTFT 480×320 display Custom PCBs for display, mainboard, and thumbstick Expansion External 12-pin “docking” […]

February 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

microByte ESP32 portable game console comes with a 1.3-inch display (Crowdfunding)

microByte ESP32-portable-game console 1.3-inch display

We’ve previously seen programmable, portable game consoles powered by Espressif Systems ESP32 processor with the likes of ODROID-GO or WiFiBoy32 both equipped with a 2.4-inch display, and design to play retro games or create IoT projects with a small display thanks to I/O headers. But if for some reason, you’d like an even more compact ESP32 portable game console based on the WiFi & Bluetooth SoC, Byte-Mix Labs microByte may be what you are looking for thanks to a tiny 1.3-inch square display. microByte specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER-E module with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz, 8 MB PSRAM, 16 MB flash, and integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antenna Storage – MIcroSD card slot Display – 1.3-inch ST7789 IPS Screen with 240 x 240 pixel resolution, 60 Hz max refresh frequency Audio – On-board speaker powered by a MAX98357AETE+T I2S amplifier Controls – 13x onboard buttons with 8x Inductive direction […]

January 28, 2021May 13, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Arduino Portenta H7 Gets Embedded Vision Shield with Ethernet or LoRa Connectivity

[Update January 28, 2021: The LoRa version of Portenta Vision Shield is now available] Announced last January at CES 2020, Arduino Portenta H7 is the first board part industrial-grade “Arduino Pro” Portenta family. The Arduino MKR-sized MCU board has plenty of processing power thanks to STMicro STM32H7 dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller. It was launched with a baseboard providing access to all I/Os and ports like Ethernet, USB, CAN bus, mPCIe socket (USB), etc… But as AI moves to the very edge, it makes perfect sense for Arduino to launch Portenta Vision Shield with a low-power camera, two microphones, and a choice of wired (Ethernet) or wireless (LoRA) connectivity for machine learning applications. Portenta Vision Shield key features and specifications: Storage – MicroSD card socket Camera – Himax HM-01B0 camera module with 324 x 324 active pixel resolution with support for QVGA Image sensor – High sensitivity 3.6μ BrightSense pixel technology […]

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. […]