ethernet News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 23, 2022November 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

EsPiFF board combines ESP32 module with RP2040 MCU in the Raspberry Pi 4 form factor (Crowdfunding)

The EsPiFF board may look like a Raspberry Pi 4 Linux SBC but it is equipped with an ESP32-WROVER WiFi and Bluetooth module together with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that acts as a co-processor. The goal here is to provide a Raspberry Pi 4 replacement for applications that require higher reliability and even 24/7 operation without necessarily needing the processing power and multimedia capabilities of the Broadcom BCM2711 Arm processor found in the Pi or the versatility of a Linux operating system. EsPiFF board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER module with dual-core ESP32-D0WDQ6 microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth, 8 MB PSRAM and 16 MB flash Co-processor – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133 MHz with 16MB flash used to emulate the Raspberry Pi’s GPIOs on the 40-pin header Additional storage 2 KB of fast FRAM for permanent storage of process data. (faster […]

November 12, 2022November 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 166 Comments

Giveaway Week – GL.iNet GL-S10 BLE to MQTT Gateway

The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week will be GL.iNET GL-S10 BLE to MQTT gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller and offering Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway is used to gather data from Bluetooth LE devices such as beacons and can be used in warehouses, shopping malls, airports, exhibition halls, tourist attractions, etc… for personnel management, asset management, environmental monitoring, indoor navigation, and more. I reviewed the ESP32-based BLE to MQTT gateway with the provided BLE beacon at the end of last year using MQTT X open-source client and the GL-S10 Tool App for Android. It allowed me to send commands through MQTT topics, for example, to set or retrieve the beacon’s (WiFi) configuration, and receive the data through MQTT subscriptions. Some of the data include the MAC address, RSSI, ad (Broadcast data advData), and a timestamp. It took some effort to get it working, but […]

August 10, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas RZ/N2L Arm Cortex-R52 MPU targets industrial Ethernet and TSN

Renesas RZ/N2L Arm Cortex R52 ethernet switch

Renesas RZ/N2L is an Arm Cortex-R52 microprocessor (MPU) family for industrial Ethernet communication equipped with an integrated TSN-compliant 3-port Gigabit Ethernet switch and an EtherCAT slave controller. The new processors also support other major industrial network communication protocols such as EtherCAT, PROFINET RT, EtherNet/IP, and OPC UA, as well as the new PROFINET IRT (Isochronous real-time) that allows deterministic communication with cycle times down to 31.25 µs and one µs of jitter. Renesas RZ/N2L key features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-R52 @ up to 400MHz with 16KB I-cache with ECC, 16KB D-cache with ECC Memory Tightly coupled memory – 256KB with ECC Internal RAM – 1.5MB with ECC Octa/Quad SPI for HyperRAM, HyperFLASH, SRAM, SDRAM Networking Ethernet L2 switch: 3x external ports with Gigabit support TSN support (IEEE 802.1AS-2020, IEEE 802.1Qbv/802.3br, IEEE 802.1Qbu, etc.) Network redundancy support (DLR, PRP) EtherCAT slave controller Industrial Ethernet – EtherCAT, PROFINET RT/IRT, EtherNet/IP, […]

July 14, 2022July 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

YD-CH32V307VCT6 RISC-V MCU board comes with Ethernet and plenty of I/Os

VCC-GND Studio CH32V307 RISC-V Ethernet board

At the beginning of the year, we wrote about WCH CH32V307 RISC-V microcontroller and a development board with 8 UART ports controlled over Ethernet. I’ve now been informed of a similar, but much more compact by VCC-GND Studio named “YD-CH32V307VCT6”. Besides the 144 MHz RISC-V microcontroller, the board features a 10Mbps Ethernet port, two USB Type-C ports, SPI flash, EEPROM, a microSD card socket, and four rows of 24 pins each for a total of 96 pins exposing all pins out of the LQFP100 package. YD-CH32V307VCT6 board specifications: MCU – WCH CH32V307VCT6 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ 144 MHz with 256K Flash, 64K SRAM Storage – 32Mbit SPI NOR flash (W25Q32), 64kbit EEPROM (24C64), MicroSD card slot Networking – 10 Mbps Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port (High Speed: 480 Mbps), 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port (Full Speed: 12 Mbps) Expansion – 2x 48-pin headers with 2 x 12-bit […]

July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Texas Instruments AM6254 powered industrial SBC features dual GbE, CAN Bus, RS485, optional 4G/5G cellular networking

Texas Instruments Sitara AM623 and AM625 Arm Cortex-A53 AIoT processors were just introduced last month, but Forlinx has already introduced the OK6254-C SBC powered by the Sitara AM6254 quad-core processor with up to 2GB DDR4, and an 8GB eMMC flash. The board features two Gigabit Ethernet ports, CAN FD and RS485 interfaces, plus plenty of I/O headers, support for up to three displays via LVDS and parallel RGB interfaces, as well as optional support for 4G/5G cellular connectivity that makes it suitable for all sorts of industrial applications. Forlinx OK6254-C specifications: FET625x-C SoM SoC – Texas Instruments AM6254 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.4GHz with Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 400 MHz, Imagination AXE1-16M GPU @ 500MHz with OpenGL 3.x/2.0/1.1 + Extensions, and Vulkan 1.2 support; Single (AM6251) and dual-core (AM6252) modules are also available System Memory – 1GB (default) or 2GB DDR4-1600 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash 4x 80-pin board-to-board […]

February 7, 2022February 7, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Qualcomm IPQ8076A WiFi 6E access point offers dual 10GbE, supports PoE++

Lanner LWR-X8460 is an enterprise-grade 12-stream, tri-band Wi-Fi 6E access point powered by Qualcomm IPQ8076A quad-core Cortex-A53 processor also equipped with two 10GbE multi-speed ports, and four additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The access point also supports IEEE 802.3bt standard for the PoE++ power delivery, Bluetooth 5.1 for IoT management, and its features set makes it suitable for remote video conferencing, telehealth, distance learning, public safety monitoring, IoT applications, as well as general connectivity in any crowded and dense Wi-Fi environments. Lanner LWR-X8460 specifications: WiSoC – Qualcomm IPQ8076A Hawkeye quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 2.2GHz part of the Networking Pro 1200 Platform System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – 8MB NOR flash, 256MB NAND flash Networking Wi-Fi Standards – IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Peak PHY Rates – 2.4GHz: 1147 Mbps; 5GHz: 2402 Mbps; 6GHz: 4804 Mbps 12x antennas 2.4GHz: Peak gain 3.6dBi, Internal 4×4, Omnidirectional 5GHz: Peak gain 5.7dBi, Internal 4×4, Omnidirectional 6GHz: […]

January 22, 2022January 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Radxa E25 carrier board, 2.5GbE switch, and WiFi 6 router

Radxa E25 2.5GbE switch-Xiaomi AX6000 WiFi 6 router

I’ve just received an early sample of Radxa E25 dual 2.5 GbE carrier board for Radxa CM3 Plus (RK3568) system-on-module, a 2.5GbE TP-Link switch, and Xiaomi AX6000 WiFi 6 + 2.5GbE router. Here’s the back story before looking into the devices. I’ll soon have to review UP Xtreme i11 mini PC with a 2.5GbE port, and after writing about the upcoming ROCK5 Model B SBC with both 2.5GbE and WiFI 6/6E, I realized I should really get some hardware to test 2.5GHz and WiFi 6. So I started to ask what could be the best options for a $200 budget. While thinking about it, I remember Radxa was working on the Radxa E23 board with 2.5GbE, and adding a WiFi 6 USB dongle might be an option. But they told me Radxa E25 would be a better option with two 2.5GbE ports and support for WiFi 6, although that one […]

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

WCH CH32V307 RISC-V development board features 8 UART ports controlled over Ethernet

CH32V307 RISC-V development board 8x UART

CH32V307V-EVT-R1 is a development board based on WCH CH32V307 RISC-V microcontroller with an Ethernet port, an USB Type-C port, and eight UART interfaces accessible through headers. As we noted in our article about CH583 Bluetooth 5.3 RISC-V microcontroller, WCH (Jiangsu Qin Heng) has started to share resources like datasheets and code samples through Github. They’ve done the same again for CH32V307 with schematics (PDF only), a datasheet in English, and firmware either bare metal or based on RT-Thread OS to control the eight serial interfaces over Ethernet. Let’s check CH32V305 and CH32V307 MCU specifications first: MCU core – WCH designed RISC-V4F 32-bit RISC-V core up to 144MHz FPU – Single-cycle multiplication and hardware division, hardware float point unit (FPU) ; Memory – Up to 64KB SRAM Storage – Up to 256KB Flash Networking – Gigabit Ethernet MAC, 10 Mbps PHY USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTG full-speed interface, 1x USB […]