bluetooth News - Page 42 of 65 - CNX Software

May 2, 2017May 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Whitecat ESP32 N1 Board Combines ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth SoC with a LoRa Transceiver, Runs Lua RTOS

Espressif ESP32 SoC is gaining traction right now as prices have come down, and there’s still an on-going fight among LPWAN standards with LoRaWAN being fairly popular in Europe. Whitecat, a group of engineers from several companies based in Citilab, Barcelona, Spain, has designed a board that combines both ESP32 and a LoRA transceiver, bringing an alternative to Pycom LoPy board, but instead of running MicroPython, they have developed Lua-RTOS. Whitecat ESP32 N1 hardware specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microprocessor @ up to 240MHz with 520kB internal SRAM Storage – 4MB flash memory Connectivity LoRa WAN transceiver working in the 868 (EU) MHz / 915 (USA) MHz with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi transceiver with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated dual-mode Bluetooth (classic and BLE) I/O Headers – 2x 16-pin with SPI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, UART, CAN, […]

April 21, 2017June 7, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Wio GPS is a $40 Grove & Arduino Compatible Bluetooth 3.0 + GSM/GPRS + GPS Tracker Board

After Wio Link and Wio Node boards, Seeed Studio has added a new board to their Wio (Wireless Input Output) family with Wio GPS board based on Microchip SAMD21 Cortex M0+ MCU for Arduino compatibility, and Mediatek MT2503 ARM7 processor for GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, and 2G (GPRS) connectivity. Wio GPS board specifications: MCU – Microchip ATSAMD21G18A-MU ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 256KB flash, 32KB SRAM Wireless SoC – Mediatek MT2503 ARM7EJ-S processor @ 260 MHz Storage – micro SD slot (shared with nano SIM slot) Connectivity (built-in MT2503 in Quectel MC20 module) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 3.0 with SPP Profile and HFP-AG Profile; u.FL connector for external antenna Quad band 2G GSM/GPRS with u.FL connector for external antenna and nano SIM card slot GNSS – GPS + BeiDou + QZSS with u.FL connector for external antenna Audio – Speaker footprint (+/-), 3.5mm AUX jack with mic and stereo audio […]

April 18, 2017April 18, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Selects Two Winners for Commercial Medical Tricorders

Healthcare takes around 10% of worldwide GDP, and while in some cases an increase in the healthcare to GDP ratio means better care for people, in other cases it may lead to a decrease in the population’s living standards. There are political, business, and legal issues involved in the costs, but overtime I’m confident that technology can both improve care and lower the costs, in some instances dramatically, especially if open source designs become more common, and there’s some work in that respect with open source projects for prosthetics, opthalmoscope, and even surgical robots. Some commercial projects also aim(ed) to lower the costs of diagnosis tools such as Sia Lab’s medical lab dongle or Scanadu medical tricorder. The latter project sadly did not manage to pass FDA approval, and the company will stop supporting it on May 15, 2017, but that does not mean others have given up on developing […]

April 6, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UDOO BLU and BLU SENSE IoT Modules Integrate Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, and 6LOWPAN Connectivity

UDOO is known for their Linux boards based on NXP and Intel processors for makers and the education market such as UDOO NEO or UDOO x86, but the company has now developed UDOO BLU and BLU SENSE battery powered modules based on Texas Instruments CC2650 ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller, both with Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, and 6LOWPAN connectivity, and the SENSE model adds some extra sensors. UDOO BLU and BLU SENSE specifications: Wireless MCU – Texas Instruments CC2650 ARM Cortex M3 MCU @ 48 MHz with 128KB flash, 8KB SRAM with 2.4 GHz radio Connectivity – Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, 6LoWPAN Sensors (BLU SENSE only) – NXP FX0S8700CQ accelerometer & magnetometer sensor, NXP FXAS21002C gyroscope & temperature sensor Expansion 1x 5-pin sensors Snap-In I2C connector for UDOO Bricks 2x 10-pin headers with 8x Digital GPIOs, 6x ADCs, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 1x UART Misc – 3x User Configurable LEDs (Red, […]

March 31, 2017April 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Is NodeMCU ESP-32S Board Now Selling for $8.50 Shipped?

ESP32 SoC with WiFi and Bluetooth launched last September for around $3, followed soon after by ESP32 modules for $7, and a few weeks later, easier to use ESP32 development boards were introduced, but sold for around $20 likely due a mismatch between supply and demand. That’s not overly expensive, but in a world of $4 ESP8266 boards and $10 Raspberry Pi Zero W with Linux, WiFi and Bluetooth, it may feel that way. But today, I noticed DealExtreme sold GeekWorm ESP32 board with ESP-WROOM-32 module for just $11.64 shipped. That’s good progress, but surely Aliexpress must now have cheaper options, and sure enough, I could find NodeMCU ESP-32S board (now confirmed NOT to be an official NodeMCU devkit) sold for $6.95 + shipping, which brought the price up to about $8.50. NodeMCU ESP-32S specifications: Wireless Module – ESP-WROOM-32 with Espressig ESP32 dual core processor with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and […]

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Aconno Bluetooth 4.0 & 5 IoT Development Board Features an nRF52832 or nRF52840 Module, an e-Paper Display, Sensors and More

Bluetooth 5 is the latest iteration of Bluetooth with up to four times the speed and twice the range of Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and so far apart from Puck.js and Nordic Semi nRF52840 devkit, I had not seen many Bluetooth 5 IoT modules or boards. Aconno, a German startup, has designed ACD-52832 Bluetooth 4.0 / Thread / ANT+ IoT development board based on their own nRF52832 module, and equipped with some goodies like a black & white e-Paper display, a joystick, sensors, I/Os, etc… They’ve also launched an updated module with Bluetooth 5 using nFR52840 SoC. I don’t have the full details about the new module, but the nRF52832 module and devkit is interesting to look at, especially features should be similar. Aconno ACD-52832 board specifications: Wireless Module – ACN52832 based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz SoC with Bluetooth Smart, ANT+, Thread, NFC, and 2.4 GHz […]

March 20, 2017March 20, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

$32 Bluetooth 4.1 Audio Transmitter and Receiver Comes with S/PDIF Ports, a 3.5mm Audio Jack

As I browsed through DealExtreme new arrivals, I found a type of device I had not noticed in the past: a Bluetooth Audio transmitter and receiver that come with optical SPDIF input and output, as well as 3.5mm AUX port, and sells for $31.99 shipped on DX. Let’s have a look at the hardware first Audio In & Out – 3.5mm AUX port, SPDIF IN, SPDIF OUT Buttons – Tx/Rx mode selection, SPDIF/AUX selection, multifunction button Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.1 with 10 meters range; use aptX low latency audio Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port Battery – 350mAh rechargeable battery good for 15 hours on a charge; Charging time: 2 hours Dimensions – 6 cm x 6 cm x 1.84 cm The little device ships with a micro USB Cable for charging, a 3.5mm AUX cable, an optical TOSLINK cable, an RCA Cable, and a user manual. TX […]

February 9, 2017March 23, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Samsung Introduces Artik 530 IoT Module & Development Kit with WiFi, BLE, and Zigbee/Thread

Samsung unveiled Artik 1, Artik 5, and Artik 10 IoT modules & development board families in 2015, but since then they dropped the Artik 1 family, and instead launched Artik 0, Artik 5, and Artik 7 modules and boards late last year. More recently the company canceled the more powerful Artik 1020 development board, but the Artik project is still going on, as they’ve just added Artik 530 module & development kit to their Artik 5 family. Samsung ARTIK 530 module specifications: SoC – Unnamed Quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with a 3D graphics accelerator System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC v4.5 flash Connectivity – Dual band SISO 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 LE + Classic, 802.15.4/Zigbee/Thread, 10/100/1000M MAC (external PHY required) Other Interfaces and peripherals Camera – 4-lane MIPI CSI up to 5MP (1920×1080 @ 30fps) Display – 4-lane MIPI DSI […]