Qualcomm Announces Audio Platforms for Smart Speakers, Headphones, and Hearables

Smart speakers are getting a lot of buzz recently with products like Amazon Echo or Google Home, and many home automation products are advertised with Amazon’s Alexa support, so that they can be controlled by voice commands. Qualcomm is now going after this market, and others audio markets via 5 new platforms for streaming audio, high resolution audio, wireless audio, USB -C audio devices – due to the “death” of the 3.5mm headphone jack -, and hearables. The five platforms include: Bluetooth and BLE Audio SoCs such as Qualcomm CSRA68100 for premium wireless speakers and headphones. The SoC comes with flash, DSP, a 2-ch audio CODEC, USB & I/Os interfaces. Qualcomm QCC3xxx entry-level Bluetooth audio SoC for mid to low-cost Bluetooth headsets and speakers. Qualcomm WHS9420 (192kHz/24-bit audio) and WHS9410 (entry-level) USB-C audio SoC for USB-C headphones Qualcomm DDFA Digital Amplifier Technology with CSRA6xxx amplifier Smart Speaker Platform shown above […]

MangOH Red Open Source Hardware Board Targets Cellular Industrial IoT Applications

Sierra Wireless has announced MangOH Red open source hardware platform designed for IIoT (Industrial IoT) applications with a snap-in socket for 2G to 4G & LTE-M/NB-IoT modules, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, various sensors, a 26-pin expansion header, and more. MangOH Red board specifications: Snap-in socket to add any CF3-compatible modules, most of which based on Qualcomm MDM9215 ARM Cortex A5 processor including: Airprime WP7502 LTE Cat 3, HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE/GPRS module Airprime WP7504 LTE Cat 3, HSPA, WCDMA, CDMA module Airprime WP7601 LTE Cat 4 module Airprime WP7603 LTE Cat 4, WCDMA module Airprime WP8548 HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE/GPRS, and GNSS module AirPrime HL6528RD quad-band GSM/GPRS Embedded Wireless Module designed for the automotive market And more…. Storage – micro SD slot Wireless MCU Module – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.2 BLE module with an ARM Cortex-M4 core MCU (Mediatek MT7697) providing access to real-time I/Os Wireless Connectivity “Accessories” Micro SIM card […]

Review of Wio Tracker with GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and GSM Connectivity

Wio GPS – also called Wio Tracker – is an Arduino compatible board based on Microchip Atmel SAMD21 MCU with GPS, Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS connectivity, as well as several Grove connectors to connect sensors and modules for your IoT project. SeeedStudio sent me a sample for evaluation, so I’ve tested it, and reported my experience below by testing some of the Arduino sketches. Wio Tracker Unboxing All I got in the package was Wio GPS tracker v1.1 board. The top includes the Atmel MCU, an RGB LED, a microphone and 3.5mm AUX jack to make phone calls, a user and power button, a micro USB port for power and programming, a small 2-pin connector for a battery, and 6 Grove connectors for digital, serial, I2C and analog modules. The other side of the board comes with Quectel MC20 module that handles Bluetooth, GPS and GSM, a dual use micro SD card […]

Samsung S-Patch3 Wearable Health Tracker Based on Samsung Bio-Processor Hits the FCC

At the end of 2015, Samsung unveiled their S3FBP5A Bio-Processor comprised of an ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, a DSP, and sensors for PPG, ECG (electrocardiography), Skin temperature, BIA, and GSR to have a single package to design tracker able to monitor your health condition. The company demonstrated an early prototype called S-Patch at CES 2016 (See embedded video at the end of this post), and now S-Patch3 wearable health monitoring system has just hit the FCC. The system has two round shapes case connected via a cable, with one for the battery compartment, and the other containing the Bio Processors, and meant to be placed on your chest. The device can then synchronize the data with your smartphone in real-time over Bluetooth. People with heart conditions may benefit from the system, as if they wish to do so, they could share the data with their doctor. Few documents are publicly available […]

Nordic Thingy:52 Bluetooth 5 IoT Sensor Development Kit Targets Mobile & Web App Developers

Some developers may be interested in providing solutions for the Internet of Things, but they may not have the skills or interest in making their own hardware, and/or develop firmware, and just want to create demos or prototypes quickly, focusing on app development instead. Nordic Semiconductors has recently launched Thingy:52 IoT Sensor Kit with Bluetooth 5 & NFC connectivity, and various sensors for those developers. Nordic:52 IoT Sensor development kit (nRF6936) hardware specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4F Bluetooth 5 System on Chip (SoC) Connectivity – Bluetooth 5 LE and NFC Sensors Temperature,Humidity, Air pressure, Air quality (CO2 and TVOC), color and light intensity 9-axis motion sensing – Tap detection, orientation, step counter, quaternions, euler angles, rotation matrix, gravity vector, compass heading, raw  accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass data Audio Speaker for playing prestored samples, tones, or sound streamed over BLE (8-bit 8 kHz LoFi) Microphone streaming (ADPCM compressed […]

MediaTek MT7622 SoC with WiFi Network Accelerator Supports 4×4 802.11n WiFi & Bluetooth 5

MediaTek has launched a new ARM SoC for routers, home automation gateways, wireless audio and storage, with MT7622 equipped with a dual core ARM Cortex A53 processor, a dedicated network accelerator, 4×4 802.11n and Bluetooth 5 connectivity. Two models with be available: MT7622A with all features, and MT7622B with router features only, which probably mean no Bluetooth, and possibly less I/Os. MediaTek MT7622 specifications: Processor – Dual core ARM Cortex A53 @ up to 1.36 GHz Storage – eMMC and SDXC interfaces; storage accelerator (SATA 3.0/eSATA Gen2) Connectivity 802.11b/g/n WiFi @ 2.4GHz, 4T4R antenna; 802.11ac can be added through MT7615 SoC Bluetooth 5 Fast Ethernet Switch, RGMII and SGMII Network Accelerator – APT+HQoS,  MediaTek Wi-Fi Warp Accelerator Audio – Audio Amplifier, I2S, TDM, S/PDIF USB – USB 2.0 host/device, USB 3.0 host Other Peripheral Interfaces – PCIe Gen 2.0, ADC, GPIO, I2C, IR, PMIC I/F, PWM, SPI, UART Misc – RTC The specs on the product […]

OpenH PULSAR and QUASAR Boards Add 4G LTE Cat M1, or Cat 4/1 to Raspberry Pi Boards

We’ve seen a bunch of IoT boards with 2G connectivity recently including Orange Pi 2G-IoT, Wio GPS, and Nadhat, but while in some countries 2G will still work for many years, those boards are already obsolete – or soon will be – in many other countries. However, finding low cost 3G / 4G  boards is more difficult, and while one solution is to use 3G or 4G USB dongles,  “OpenH – Open Hardware” – part of KLiP Industries – has designed two boards with 4G connectivity provided by Quectel modules. OpenH PULSAR Board PULSAR board is compatible with Arduino Zero and features the following specifications: MCU – Atmel/Microchip SAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ MCU (the as the one used in Arduino Zero) Connectivity 4G LTE  Cat M1 modem with GPS (Quectel BG96-NA); No external antennas required Bluetooth and NFC Security – Dedicated management CPU with crypto engine Power Supply 10W digital power supply and battery charger with direct solar input FCC […]

Smartwatch for the Blind – Dot Watch Supports Braille Language, Sync Data over Bluetooth

A South Korean company has created Dot smartwatch specifically designed for the blinds and visually impaired, as it supports Braille language through 24 dots that move up or down depending on the data to show. Like other smartwatches, it will also pair with a smartphone, and received notifications over Bluetooth to Android and iOS smartphones. Dot watch specifications: Wireless MCU – 32-bit ARM Cortex M4F + Cortex M0 microcontroller “Display” – 4 Dot Cells (24 Dots) made of 6000 series silver aluminum Connectivity – Bluetooth LE 4.2 Misc – 24 touch sensors, shaft horizontal vibration motor, a crown, two buttons Battery – 400mAh li-polymer battery good for a typical 7 days on a charge Dimensions – Watch: 43mm x 12.5mm; Leather band – S size: 22x220mm; M size: 22x250mm; L size: 22x290mm Weight – 27g This is all made possible through the company’s dot rotor technology that allows to move […]

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