Arduino Has Launched ESLOV IoT Invention Kit on Kickstarter

Arduino LLC has just launched its very first Kickstater campaign with ESLOV IoT Invention Kit combines a WiFI board and modules, a visual code editor, and Arduino Cloud. The goal of the project is to let people connect devices to the cloud without needing any programming skills, although the Arduino IDE can still be used for more advanced users. The brain of the project is ESLOV Wireless & Motion Hub: MCU – Microchip (previously Atmel) SAMD21 ARM Cortex-M0+ micro-controller @ 48 MHz with 32KB RAM, 256 KB flash Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n USB – 1x micro USB port for programming and power Sensor – One motion sensor Expansion – 5-pin ESLOV connector based on I2C protocol plus a multifunction pin for wakeup, IRQ, and discovery The ESLOV hub would then connect to tiny (2.5 x 2.5cm) ESLOV modules based on Atmega ATmega328P MCU, and communicating through the ESLOV protocol. […]

FriendlyARM Introduces NanoPi NEO AIR Board with WiFi & BLE, Camera Interface and 8GB Storage for $17.99

FriendlyARM launched NanoPi NEO board with Allwinner H3 processor, Ethernet, and USB ports for $7.99 to $9.99 in July, and the company is back with a new board with the same form factor and processor, by trading Ethernet for WiFi, dropping one USB 2.0 port for a DVP camera interface, and adding an 8GB eMMC flash. NanoPi NEO AIR specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU up to 600 MHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash (Samsung) + micro SD card slot Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 LE (via Ampak AP6212 module) with IPEX antenna connector USB – 1x micro USB OTG port, 2x USB via headers Camera – 1x DVP camera interface with optional 5MP CAM500B camera Expansion headers 24-pin header with I2C, 2x UART, SPI, PWM, and power signals 12-pin […]

BeagleBone Black Wireless Board Gets WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Drops Ethernet

The BeagleBone Black is still one of the most popular development boards around, but in a world going more and more wireless, it only comes with a wired Ethernet interface. Seeed Studio BeagleBone Green Wireless and Neuromeka BeagleBone Air already provided BeagleBone compatible boards with WiFi and Bluetooth LE, as well as Zigbee for the latter, but now BeagleBoard.org themselves have launched BeagleBone Black Wireless with WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 LE based on Octavo Systems OSD3358 System-in-Package with Texas Instrument Sitara AM3358 processor, 512 MB RAM, TI LDO and PMIC, and many passive components. BeagleBone Black Wireless specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L Storage – 4GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot USB – 1x mini USB client port for power & communication, 1x USB host port Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth […]

Orange Pi Zero and Orange Pi i96 96Boards IoT Edition Boards Coming Soon

Shenzhen Xunlong Orange Pi boards are relatively popular thanks to their low price, and support on communities such as Armbian, but two new upcoming Orange Pi boards might make the company even more relevant in the development board space. First, the company is nearing completion of the tiny, and hopefully ultra cheap, Orange Pi Zero board with Allwinner H2+ processor, and Linaro has announced that an Orange Pi i96 boards compliant with 96Board IoT specifications is also coming soon. Orange Pi Zero The board has not been released, but some pictures have been uploaded to Armbian forums. Orange Pi Zero looks quite similar to NanoPi NEO board but with different processor, a slightly larger form factor, and both Ethernet and wireless connectivity. We don;t have other information for now, but it still possible to get most of Orange Pi Zero specifications from the photos: SoC – Allwinner H2(+) quad core […]

BLE Carbon 96Boards IoT Edition Board Runs Zephyr OS

Linaro Connect Las Vegas 2016 is taking place right now, and the organization has some very interesting development, with a new focus on the Internet of Things thanks to the creation of LITE (Linaro IoT and Embedded) segment group that will work on “delivering end to end open source reference software for more secure connected products, ranging from sensors and connected controllers to smart devices and gateways, for the industrial and consumer markets”. The first LITE IoT Reference Platform release to be made in December 2016, but in the meantime, Linaro introduced 96Board IoT specifications, as well as the first compliant board with the launch of Carbon board (aka BLE Carbon) running Zephyr OS. Carbon 96Boards IoT Edition board specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F401 ARM Cortex M4 microcontroller @ up to 84 MHz with 512kB Flash, 96kB ram Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE via Nordic Semi nRF51822 SoC + chip […]

Some ESP32 Development Boards to Look Out For: NodeMCU, Widora-air, Nano32, Noduino Quantum, and Wemos

Espressif ESP32 WiFi + BLE SoC launched at the very beginning of the month, shortly followed by ESP3212 module, and while Adafruit sold a few breadboard-friendly ESP32 development boards to developers for $15 a few days ago, stock was limited, and it’s not possible to easily purchase ESP32 boards today, and that’s OK because firmware and software support is still in progress. Several companies are working on such ESP32 boards however, and they tend to show the development progress on social networks, so I thought it would be fun to look at what’s coming… Amica (NodeMCU) ESP32 Board The current NodeMCU board is one of the most popular ESP8266 development platform, and that’s not surprising they are working on an ESP32 version. I don’t have pictures nor full  specs of the board yet, but the company showcased their early work on ESP32 last June. Widora-air I only discovered Widora recently […]

Marvell ESPRESSOBin Board with Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, mini PCIe, and USB 3.0 To Launch for $39 and Up (Crowdfunding)

I can often read people hoping for an inexpensive community board for network, storage and connectivity applications with high speed interface like SATA, multiple Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 and/or mini PCIe, and that’s exactly what Globalscale Technologies is about to offer with their Marvell ARMADA 3700 based ESPRESSOBin development board to go for $39 and up via Kickstarter. Marvell ESPRESSOBin board specifications: SoC – Marvell Armada 3700LP (88F3720) dual core ARM Cortex A53 processor up to 1.2GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 or optional 1GB DDR3 Storage – 1x SATA interface, 1x micro SD card slot with footprint for an optional 4GB EMMC Network Connectivity 1x Topaz Networking Switch 2x GbE Ethernet LAN 1x  Ethernet WAN 1x MiniPCIe slot for Wireless/BLE periphereals USB – 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x micro USB port Expansion – 2x 46-pin GPIO headers for accessories and shields with I2C, GPIOs, PWM, UART, […]

HICAT.Livera Machine Vision Board and Robot Kit Feature HiSilicon Hi3518 SoC (Crowdfunding)

HiSilicon Hi3518 ARM9 processor is mostly being used in IP cameras, but Hicat startup decided to combined the camera processor with an Atmel MCU and a MT7601 WiFi module to create a wireless camera board to be used with OpenCV, and even provide a complete affordable robot kit with the board. Hicat.livera board specifications: Vision Core – Hisilicon Hi3518 ARM9 processor @ 440 MHz Storage – 16MB flash + micro SD card MCU – Atmel ATmega32U4 AVR micro-controller Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi via Mediatek MT7601 module + u.FL antenna connector Camera interface with provided 140 deg. camera using Omnivision OV9712 720p (1280×720) sensor USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Audio – Built-in microphone, speaker header Sensors – MPU6050 accelerometer and gyro Expansion – 2x GPIO headers with GPIOs, I2C, SPI, serial, PWM, digital, analog and power signals. Misc – MCU reset and Linux reset buttons, […]