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May 28, 2026May 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Broadcom BCM68850 and BCM55050 SoCs target Wi-Fi 8 and 50G PON fiber gateways

Broadcom BCM68850 and BCM55050 50G ITU PON Gateway SoC

Broadcom has recently introduced two complementary chips for 50G Passive Optical Network (PON) gateways: the BCM68850 gateway SoC and the BCM55050 Optical Network Unit (ONU) SoC. The devices target fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure, such as home gateways, ONTs/ONUs, and multi-gigabit CPE, to deliver ultra-fast, low-latency connectivity for AI workloads, UHD streaming, and more. The BCM68850 is a 50G ITU-PON gateway SoC with a multicore Arm CPU, integrated NPU for edge AI, and Wi-Fi 8 support, for high-speed routing, Ethernet switching, VoIP, and AI-driven functions. It also supports multiple PON standards along with LPDDR4/5 memory, PCIe, USB, and various security features. The BCM55050, on the other hand, is an ONU/ONT SoC with a dual-core processor and 50G network processor, supporting multiple PON standards, high-speed interfaces, hardware acceleration, and QoS. Together, they are designed for end-to-end 50G fiber deployments with high throughput, low latency, and scalable broadband infrastructure. Broadcom BCM68850 50G ITU-PON Gateway […]

May 27, 2026May 29, 2026 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

MuseLab nanoCH32H417 – A $17 WCH CH32H417 RISC-V MCU development board with USB 3.0, Fast Ethernet

nanoCH32H417 Development Board with Displa

Designed by MuseLab, the nanoCH32H417 is a development board for the WCH CH32H417 dual-core RISC-V MCU, which we covered earlier this year for its USB 3.0 (5 Gbps), UHS, and Fast Ethernet support. At that time, only the official CH32H417 development board was available, but this board adds a third-party option. The board exposes various features of the MCU, including one USB 3.0 port, two USB Type-C ports, a 100Mbps Ethernet interface, and a MicroSD card slot. It also simplifies the prototyping workflow by integrating a WCHLink-E debugger directly onto the board, meaning you won’t need to wire up an external programmer to flash the MCU or view serial output. MuseLab nanoCH32H417 specifications: MCU – WCH CH32H417QEU6 MCU QingKe RISC-V5F up to 400 MHz QinKe RISC-V3F up to 144 MHz GPU – Graphics Processing Hardware Accelerator GPHA Memory – 896KB SRAM Storage – 960KB Flash Storage – MicroSD card slot Display […]

May 27, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

LichtBit’s open-source ESP32 Art-Net/sACN NeoPixels controller can drive up to 2,720 RGB LEDs

Untitled Artnet sACN LED Strip Pixel Controller 16 universe

Dutch hardware designer LichtBit has launched a fully open-source ESP32-based Art-Net/sACN NeoPixels LED strip controller designed for large-scale lighting installations and custom stage design. Built around an ESP32, the hardware routes lighting data over wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi to manage up to 16 universes of addressable LEDs across 4 dedicated outputs. We have previously written about various NeoPixel LED controllers, such as the xcrhom WLED Type-C, the Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick, the full-featured Adafruit Sparkle Motion, and others, which are designed for portable lighting setups and standalone animations. But LichtBit’s board targets the professional event industry by bridging the gap between commercial live-performance software (such as Resolume Arena, MadMapper, or xLights) and low-cost digital LED strips. LichtBit’s Art-Net and sACN LED controller specifications: Development Board – Generic ESP32 based developmt board with ESP32-WROOM-32 MCU Display – 128×32 I2C OLED display for real-time device configurations, status, and IP mapping Network 10/100Mbps Ethernet via WIZnet W5500 […]

May 22, 2026May 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ESP32-S31 development boards unveiled for IoT, Smart Audio, and HMI applications

Two ESP32-S31 development boards are currently in the works, and the documentation is already available. The ESP32-S31 was unveiled last March, and it’s the most feature-rich ESP32 wireless microcontroller so far with two RISC-V cores, Gigabit Ethernet, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 connectivity, LCD and camera interfaces, and more. The ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board is based on the ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 wireless module, and offers Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 OTG, and onboard audio peripherals for connected IoT applications. The ESP32-S31-Korvo-1 is a multimedia-focused development board based on the same ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 module, but featuring a dual-microphone array for speech recognition and near/far-field wake-up, two speaker connectors, a 4.3-inch LCD, a 3MP camera module, and a microSD card slot. It targets low-cost, low-power, connected audio/video and HMI applications. ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board Specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 SoC – ESP32-S31NRV16 CPU RISC-V HP (High-performance) RV32IMAFCP CPU @ 320 MHz with FPU, SIMD, etc. RISC-V […]

May 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Microchip launches LAN878x and LAN888x Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) transceivers with MACSec, TSN, and FuSA

Microchip LAN878x LAN888x Single Pair Ethernet SPE PHY transceivers

Microchip’s LAN878x 100BASE-T1 and LAN888x 1000BASE-T1 Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) PHY transceivers are designed for secure, scalable, and deterministic Ethernet connectivity for automotive, avionics, robotics, and industrial systems. We first noticed Microchip SPE solutions in 2023 with the LAN8650/LAN8651 10BASE-T1S and LAN8770 100BASE-T1 transceivers, and they’ve launched other families since then, such as the LAN887x industrial Single Pair Gigabit Ethernet transceivers. The just-announced LAN878x/LAN88x parts introduce MACsec support, as well as Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) and FuSa (Functional Safety). Microchip LAN878x and LAN888x key features and specifications: Standard and port speed LAN878x – IEEE 802.3bw, 100BASE-T1 LAN888x – IEEE 802.3bp, 1000BASE-T1 MACsec compliant to IEEE 802.1AE-2018 (M Version Only) Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) support Host interface (one or the other, depending on SKU) SGMII (Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface) RGMII (Reduced Gigabit Media Independent Interface) OPEN Alliance TC10 support / wake-up support IEEE 802.1AS-2020, 802.1AS-2011 ASIL B Functional Safety Ready with […]

April 8, 2026April 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GL.iNet Comet 5G – A KVM over IP solution with 5G RedCap cellular connectivity, 3.69-inch touchscreen display

GL.inet Comet 5G (GL-RM10RC) is a KVM over IP solution with a 3.69-inch touchscreen display and 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) IoT cellular connectivity, enabling remote access even when your regular Internet connection is down. The design builds upon the GL.iNet Comet Pro introduced last year, featuring a larger design and display, and adding 5G cellular connectivity on top of WiFi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet. It still features HDMI input and output (loop) ports, two USB Type-C ports for power and keyboard/mouse emulation, and a USB 2.0 port for accessories like ATX power control or fingerbot for the control of physical buttons on the target. GL.iNet Comet 5G specifications: SoC – Quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU @ 1.5 GHz; potentially a Rockchip RV1126B SoC System Memory – 1GB DDR3L Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash Video & Audio Input – HDMI port up to 4K @ 30 FPS Output – HDMI loop/passthrough port […]

March 31, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Rockchip RK3506J-based Forlinx FCU1501 fanless industrial IoT gateway offers dual Ethernet, plenty of I/Os and serial interfaces

Forlinx Technology has recently introduced the FCU1501, a rugged, fanless industrial embedded computer and IoT gateway built around the Rockchip RK3506J processor with a tri-core Cortex-A7 and a single Cortex-M0 core. The system is designed for high-reliability data acquisition and protocol conversion in harsh environments. The gateway comes in two variants (basic and extended), which have similar dimensions but differ mainly in interface density. Both models feature up to 512MB DDR3 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, dual Fast Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 5.0, and 4G LTE Cat 1 support. Applications include automation, rail transit, and smart manufacturing. The system supports a wide industrial temperature range (-40°C to +85°C) and meets Level 3 EMC standards. Forlinx FCU1501 Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3506J CPU 3x Arm Cortex-A7 cores up to 1.5 GHz Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core GPU – 2D GPU only No VPU, no NPU System Memory – 256MB or 512MB DDR3 Storage 256MB NAND […]

March 29, 2026March 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

M5Stack Stamp-P4 – A tiny ESP32-P4 USB-C board with optional Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4

Stamp P4 (Left) Stamp AddOn C6 For P4 (Right)

M5Stack has just introduced the Stamp-P4, a tiny USB-C development board built around the ESP32-P4 high-performance RISC-V MCU chip, featuring 16MB of Flash and 32MB of PSRAM, and optional Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 support through the ESP32-C6-MINI-1-based Stamp-AddOn C6 module. Despite its small size (29.8 x 22.0 x 4.3mm), the Stamp-P4 offers a wide range of interfaces, including a MIPI-CSI camera connector, as well as a MIPI DSI display interface, RMII Ethernet, USB 2.0 HS, and up to 44x GPIOs via 1.27mm/2.00mm pitch castellated holes and a few through holes. M5Stack Stamp-P4 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32 CPU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 360 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and JPEG codecs support Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM, 32MB […]