QuartzPro64 SBC coming soon with RK3588 SoC, 16GB RAM, $300+ price tag

As expected, Pine64 has now unveiled its own Rockchip RK3588 SBC with the QuartzPro64, joining many others from Radxa to Banana Pi, and lesser-known companies such as Mixtile and Mekotronics. The QuartzPro64 single board computer will be equipped with 16GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and with a large 180×180 mm form factor, offers plenty of ports including two HDMI outputs, one HDMI input, two SATA ports, two Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 connectors, and more. QuartzPro64 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A76 cores @ 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, a 6TOPS NPU, 8K 10-bit decoder, 8K encoder System Memory – 16GB LPDDR4x Storage 64GB eMMC flash 2x SATA ports MicroSD card slot Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.1 ports up to 8Kp60, 2x MIPI DSI “DPHY” interfaces Video Input – 1x HDMI port up to 4Kp60, 2x MIPI CSI “DCPHY” […]

802.11ah WiFi HaLow development board launched for $99 (Crowdfunding)

802.11ah Halow development board

When 802.11.ah WiFi operating in the 900 MHz frequency range for low-power long-range communication was announced in 2014, then named WiFi HaLow in 2016, I naively assumed it would soon compete against other LPWAN standards like LoRaWAN or Sigfox. However, over the next few years, we did not see much interest in the wireless standard. But it may be picking up now, as Gateworks recently announced a Newracom NRC7292 based 802.11ah WiFi HaLow Mini PCIe module for their Arm Linux SBC’s, and a company called TELEDATICS has now introduced the Halo TD-XPAH 802.11ah Hallow development board featuring an AzureWave AW-HM482 module. Halo TD-XPAH board specifications: 802.11ah WiFi HaLow connectivity AzureWave AW-HM482 module based on Newracom NRC7292 Cortex-M3/M0 SoC with 752KB RAM, 2MB flash Compliant with IEEE 802.11ah WiFi HaLow operating in 902.0 ~ 928.0 MHz range Up to 15 Mbps data rate Up to at least 1km range, but can […]

SparkFun Raspberry Pi RP2040 & MicroMod boards take mikroBUS Click expansion boards

MicroMod & RP2040 MikroBus Click boards

We’ve previously written articles about boards featuring the mikroBUS interface supporting thousands of Click expansion boards from Mikroelectronika, and now the company has collaborated with Sparkfun who launched MicroMod and Raspberry Pi RP2040-based boards with a mikroBUS socket, plus Qwicc connectors. Raspberry Pi RP2040 is the well-known dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller found in Raspberry Pi Pico and a range of third-party boards, while Sparkfun MicroMod‘s are M.2 MCU modules with chips from Microchip, Nordic Semi, Ambiq, Espressif Systems, and NXP. Sparkfun RP2040 mikroBUS development board specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller up to 133 MHz with 264 KB SRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card socket (on the bottom side) USB – USB Type-C port Expansion mikroBUS Socket 2x Qwiic connectors Thing Plus (or Feather) pin form factor with 18 GPIO pins including up to 4x 12-bit ADC, up to 8x 2-channel PWM, up to […]

Arduino Nicla Vision – A tiny STM32H7 board with 2MP camera, WiFi & Bluetooth LE, sensors

Arduino Nicla Vision

Arduino Nicla Vision is an ultra-compact (~2.3×2.3 cm) board powered by an STMicro STM32H7 dual-core Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller, and equipped with a 2MP camera, a WiFi & Bluetooth LE module, and a few sensors. Those features make the board suitable for machine vision and edge computing applications such as asset tracking, image detection, object recognition, and predictive maintenance. For instance, image detection, facial recognition, automated optical inspection, vehicle plate reading, or gesture recognition can be added to projects, either using Nicla Vision as a standalone board or in combination with Portenta or MKR boards. Arduino Nicla Vision specifications: Microcontrollers – STMicro STM32H757AII6 dual-core MCU with Arm Cortex M7 @ 480MHz, Cortex-M4 @ 240MHz, 2 MB flash, 1MB RAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash Connectivity – 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 65 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.1 BR/EDR/LE via Murata 1DX module Camera – 2MP GC2145 color camera. USB – Micro USB port […]

ESP8285 WiFi DIP module replaces ATMega328P MCU on Arduino UNO board (Crowdfunding)

Arduino UNO WiFi DIP Module

Released over 10 years ago, Arduino UNO is still the best-selling Arduino board, but lacking WiFi in the IoT era is not ideal, so Gianluca Martino, Arduino co-founder and working with the company until 2015, decided to design the Jolly DIP module based on ESP8285 WiFi chip that can replace the ATmega328P 8-bit AVR DIP-40 microcontroller. Since ESP8285 cannot provide all I/Os, notably analog inputs offered by ATmega328P, Gianluca combined it with the ATMega328PB microcontroller in a compact SMD package to offer firmware compatibility plus WiFi connectivity in the same DIP form factor. Jolly module specifications: MCU – Microchip ATMega328PB 8-bit AVR microcontroller with 32 KB ISP Flash, 1 KB EEPROM, 2 KB SRAM (Based on data from the datasheet) Wireless chip – Espressif Systems ESP8285H16 WiFi SoC with 2MB integrated flash plus ceramic antenna Communication interfaces between the two chips – SPI + UART (the latter exclusively for ESP8285 […]

Adafruit ESP32 Feather V2 ships with 8 MB Flash, 2 MB PSRAM, USB-C port, and more

Adafruit ESP32 Feather V2

Adafruit ESP32 Feather V2 (aka Huzzah32 Feather V2) is an upgrade to the company’s HUZZAH32 ESP32 Feather, still based on ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth processor, and designed with the initial goal of replacing the obsolete CP2104 with the CP2012N USB to TLL chip. But Adafruit ended up doing a complete redesign with extra storage (8MB flash in total), 2MB PSRAM, a USB-C port replacing the Micro USB port, an extra tactile switch, an RGB LED, lower power consumption, and more. Adafruit ESP32 Feather V2 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-Mini-02 (PDF datasheet) with an ESP32 dual-core Xtensa processor @ up to 240MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth Classic/LE, 8MB flash, 2MB PSRAM, PCB antenna, FCC/CE certification. USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming via CP2102N chipset I/Os 16-pin and 12-pin GPIO headers with GPIOs, analog inputs, I2C, UART, SPI, DAC, etc… STEMMA QT connector for I2C devices, […]

$55+ Orange Pi 4 LTS SBC features YT8531C Ethernet PHY, CDW 20U5622-00 wireless module

Orange Pi 4G LTS

Orange Pi 4 LTS is a cost-optimized (and availability-optimized) variant of the Rockchip RK3399 powered Orange Pi 4 single board computer that was introduced in 2019 with 4GB RAM for $49.90 and up. Shenzhen Xunlong Software mainly kept the same design with the cost savings involving a choice of 3GB or 4GB RAM, and the replacement of Realtek Ethernet PHY and Ampak wireless module with the equivalent MotorComm YT8531C Ethernet chip and CdTech wireless module with WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Orange Pi 4 LTS specifications with changes highlighted in bold: SoC – Rockchip K3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with two Arm Cortex A72 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores, and an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU System Memory – 3GB or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD card socket, optional 16 GB eMMC flash Video Output/Display Interface HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz LCD connector for […]

RISC-V design challenge – Get a free board, RISC-V chips, and cash prizes

A little while ago, I wrote about WCH CH32V307 32-bit RISC-V MCU that was found in a board with eight UART ports that could be controlled over Ethernet or USB, and the company has released some source code to use the board while inviting the community to submit pull requests to the project. But now WCH, RT-Thread, LCSC, and EasyEDA have joined hands to launch the RISC-V design challenge where the companies will provide a free board or two RISC-V chips to selected participants, as well as cash prizes with up to $1000 offered to the best projects. The companies have prepared 300 boards and 200 chips for this contest. All you need to do to get a chance to get either one CH32V307V-EVT-R1 development board or two CH32V307 RISC-V microcontrollers is to enter your contact and project details in this Google form by April 30, 2022. The conditions are […]