AutoPi is a 4G & GPS OBD-II Dongle Based on Raspberry Pi Zero W Board (Crowdfunding)

We’ve previously covered Macchina M2 OBD-II dongle based on an Arduino compatible MCU, and with 4G LTE support for the maker market, and iWave Systems OBD-II dongle with 4G LTE and LTE running Linux on NXP i.MX6 for the B2B market, but so far I had not seen an hackable OBD-II dongle running Linux for the maker market. AutoPi dongle fills that void as it is based on Raspberry Pi Zero W board, runs Raspbian with Autopi software (AutoPi Core), supports 4G LTE, GPS, etc,.. and connects to your car’s OBD-II socket. AutoPi dongle specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2835 ARN11 Core processor @ up to 1 GHz System Memory – 512MB LPDDR2 SRAM Storage – 8GB micro SD card Cellular Connectivity 4G Cat 1 modem with 3G/EDGE fallback working worldwide (but region locked) 4G bands – Region specific 3G fallback (WCDMA) – B1, B2, B4, B5, B8 EDGE fallback – […]

Sony Spritzer is an Arduino Compatible Board with Built-in GPS, Audio Codec

Look who is joining the maker community! Sony has showcased their Arduino compatible Spritzer board during the Maker Faire Tokyo on August 5-6. Despite lacking on-board network connectivity, the board is said to have been designed for IoT applications with features such as an integrated GPS and an advanced digital audio codec and amplifier. Sony Spritzer specifications: MCU – Sony CDX5602 ARM Cortex-M4F ×6 micro-controller clocked at up to 156 MHz with 1.5MB SRAM Storage – 8MB Flash Memory, micro SD card GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, supported Audio – 3.5mm audio jack Expansion I/Os Digital I/O Pins – SPI, I2C, UART, PWM ×4 (3.3V) Analog Pins – 6ch (3.3V range) Audio I/O – 8ch Digital MICs or 4ch Analog MICs, Stereo Speaker, I2S, CXD5247 audio codec with 192 kHz/24bit High-Resolution audio 2x camera interfaces USB – 1x micro USB port for programming Power Supply – Via Power barrel and Vin […]

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 1200 Platform for Wearables Supports LTE Cat M1 and NB1 (NB-IoT)

After Snapdragon Wear 2100 and 1100 launched last year , Qualcomm has announced a new Snapdragon Wear 1200 platform still designed for wearables, but with lower power consumption, less processing power, a more compact package, and built-in support for LTE IoT communications standards such as LTE Cat M1 and LTE NB-IoT (Cat NB1).   Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 1200 key features and specifications: CPU – ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.3 GHz Memory / Storage – Support for discreet or MCP NAND and LPDDR2 Display – Support via SPI for simple UI and displays Modem Global multi-mode supporting Cat-M1 / NB1 / E-GPRS. Supports LTE FDD and TDD for Cat-M1 and E-GRPS and FDD only for Cat-NB1 Up to 300 kbps downlink and 350 kbps uplink for Cat-M1 10 kbps download and 60 kbps upload speeds for Cat-NB1 Integrated voice support for VoLTE Other Connectivity – Pre-integrated support for Qualcomm 11ac Wi-Fi […]

MangOH Red Open Source Hardware Board Targets Cellular Industrial IoT Applications

Sierra Wireless has announced MangOH Red open source hardware platform designed for IIoT (Industrial IoT) applications with a snap-in socket for 2G to 4G & LTE-M/NB-IoT modules, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, various sensors, a 26-pin expansion header, and more. MangOH Red board specifications: Snap-in socket to add any CF3-compatible modules, most of which based on Qualcomm MDM9215 ARM Cortex A5 processor including: Airprime WP7502 LTE Cat 3, HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE/GPRS module Airprime WP7504 LTE Cat 3, HSPA, WCDMA, CDMA module Airprime WP7601 LTE Cat 4 module Airprime WP7603 LTE Cat 4, WCDMA module Airprime WP8548 HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE/GPRS, and GNSS module AirPrime HL6528RD quad-band GSM/GPRS Embedded Wireless Module designed for the automotive market And more…. Storage – micro SD slot Wireless MCU Module – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.2 BLE module with an ARM Cortex-M4 core MCU (Mediatek MT7697) providing access to real-time I/Os Wireless Connectivity “Accessories” Micro SIM card […]

Review of Wio Tracker with GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and GSM Connectivity

Wio GPS – also called Wio Tracker – is an Arduino compatible board based on Microchip Atmel SAMD21 MCU with GPS, Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS connectivity, as well as several Grove connectors to connect sensors and modules for your IoT project. SeeedStudio sent me a sample for evaluation, so I’ve tested it, and reported my experience below by testing some of the Arduino sketches. Wio Tracker Unboxing All I got in the package was Wio GPS tracker v1.1 board. The top includes the Atmel MCU, an RGB LED, a microphone and 3.5mm AUX jack to make phone calls, a user and power button, a micro USB port for power and programming, a small 2-pin connector for a battery, and 6 Grove connectors for digital, serial, I2C and analog modules. The other side of the board comes with Quectel MC20 module that handles Bluetooth, GPS and GSM, a dual use micro SD card […]

Intrinsyc Open-Q 835 Development Kit Features Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Processor, Support Android 7 and Windows 10

Intrinsyc has just launched one of the first development boards powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with their Open-Q 835 devkit equipped with 4GB LPDDR4x, 128GB UFS 2.1 flash, 802.11ad WiFi, dual camera support and more. Open-Q 835 development kit is comprised of a “processor board” and a baseboard with the following specifications: Processor Board SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (APQ8098) octa-core processor with four high performance Kryo 280 cores @ 2.20 GHz/ 2.30 GHz (single core operation), four low power Kryo cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 540 GPUwith  OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 Full support, and Hexagon 682 DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions (dual-HVX512) System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4x RAM Storage – 128GB UFS2.1 Gear3 2 lane Flash Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4/5Ghz 2×2 Bluetooth 5.0 + BLE WiGig60 802.11ad with on-board antenna Dimensions – 70 x 60 mm Carrier Board Display – 1x HDMI 2.0 out up to 4K Ultra […]

8Power Vibration Energy Harvesting Technology Powers Batteryless LPWAN GPS Trackers, MEMS Sensors

While IoT products usually promises one to 10 years battery life, they will be several billions of them, and ARM’s CEO even forecast one trillion IoT devices in the next 20 years. Recharging batteries at home may be fine, but imagine having to recharge or replace batteries on top of electric poles, inside walls, in remote locations, and other hard to reach places, considerable resources would have to be deployed just to replace or recharge battery every year or whenever the battery is close to being depleted.  That’s why work on energy harvesting technology for batteryless devices may be so important, and 8Power is one of the companies working in the field through their vibration energy harvesting technology that is said to harvest up to 10x the power of competing devices under comparable condition thanks to the use of parametric resonance phenomenon. The company has recently announced their Track 100 family […]

Intrinsyc Introduces Open-Q 2100 SoM and Devkit Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC for Wearables

Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC for wearables early last year, and since then a few smartwatches powered by the processor – such as LG Watch Style and Watch Sport – have been launched, and Intrinsyc has now unveiled one of the first module based on the processor with Open-Q 2100 system-on-module, and a corresponding Nano-ITX baseboard. Open-Q 2100 SoM specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 (APQ8009W) quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ up to 1.094 GHz with Adreno 304 GPU System Memory – 512 MB LPDDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (WCN2320), Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Gen 8C GNSS (GPS/GLONASS) with on-board u.FL connector (WGR7640) Audio – Integrated Codec/PMIC (PM8916-1) with optional support for Fluence HD, Snapdragon Voice Activation, and Snapdragon Voice+ 2x 100-pin board-to-board connectors with USB 2.0, I2S, GPIO, MIPI DSI up to 720p @ 60 Hz, 2-lane MIPI CSI, SDC2/microSD […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC