SmartEverything is a Feature-Packed IoT Board with SigFox, Bluetooth LE, NFC and GPS Connectivity, Plenty of Sensors

Atmel MCU Madness is an informal competition on Twitter where people vote for their favorite development boards. We are now at the quarter finals, and beside the usual suspects such as Raspberry Pi and ESP8266 boards, I also noticed one board that I had never heard of: AXEL Elettronica’s SmartEverything based on Atmel SAM D21 Cortex M0+ and featuring SigFox, BLE, NFC, and GPS connectivity, as well as various sensors such as humidity and temperature, 9-axis motion sensor, and so on. SmartEverything board specifications: MCU – Atmel SAM D21 ARM Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 256KB Flash, 32KB SRAM Connectivity SIGFOX via Telit LE51-868 S SIGFOX 868 MHz Wireless Module with 12 months of network access included Bluetooth 4.0 LE via  TDK SESUB-PAN-T2541 module based on Texas Instruments CC2541 NFC via NXP NT3H1101FHK NFC with separate antenna (included) GPS/GNSS via Telit Jupiter SE868-A GPS/GNSS module with integrated antenna. Supports […]

BPI-GSM Arduino Compatible Board Integrates a GSM & GPS Module, Sensors and an OLED Display

Banana Pi team has come up with another board, but this time it does not run Linux or Android, as they’ve made an Arduino compatible board called BPI-GSM based on Atmel ATmega2560 MCU with a light sensor, DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor, and a GSM/GRPS & GPS module powered by a LiPo battery. BPI-GSM board specifications: MCU – Atmel ATmega2560 8-bit AVR MCU @ 16 MHz with 256 KB flash, 8KB SRAM, 4KB EEPROM Connectivity – Simcom SIM808 GSM, GPRS, and GPS module + SIM card slot + Sensors – DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor, light sensor Display – OLED display Expansion headers – 54x digital I/O (including 14x PWM), 16x analog input, 4x UART. Max DC current per I/O: 40 mA. Misc – Reset button, LEDs Power Supply 5V via micro USB port 3.7V LiPo battery (2,500 mAh battery included in kit) Dimensions – TBD The board can be […]

Variscite DART-SD410 Snapdragon 410 SoM Comes with WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1 & GPS

Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 is the 64-bit ARM processor used in DragonBoard 410c 96Boards platform, but it’s also found in several phones, some single board computers such as Inforce 6309, and we’ve also seen it in system-on-modules includes Graperain G8916 and Intrinsyc Open-Q 410. Variscite has developed their DART-SD410 system-on-module based on the processor with up to 2GB RAM, up to 16GB storage, and on-board 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1. DART-SD410 module specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz with Adreno 306 GPU @ 400 MHz System Memory – 1 to 2GB LPDDR3 @ 533 MHz Storage – 8 to 16 GB eMMC 4.5 flash Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.1 LE (WCN3620), GPS (WGR7640), and two u.FL antenna connectors Audio – PM8916 PMIC/Audio codec I/Os available via 2x 90-pin board-to-board connectors: Display 4-lane DSI up to 720p60/1080p30, 24-bit On-carrier DSI to HDMI […]

Getting Started with NavSpark mini GPS Module

NavSpark_mini_BreadBoard

I noticed NavSpark mini GPS module a couple of weeks ago, and since it was free, not including $10 for shipping, I went ahead and ordered. Since the freebie got popular, SkyTraq took some time to ship it, and when they did they provide a “not trackable” tracking number, which I’m not sure what that means as I could track the parcel from Taiwan to Thailand using 17track website without issues. The packages included NavSpark mini and a USB to TTL module as described, so I insert both and connect VCC, GND, and UART as shown on the pictures on the product page. I also connected the GPS antenna from LinkIt ONE development kit to the uFL connector on NavSpark mini, as well as a micro USB to USB cable to my computer. If you don’t have such antenna, you’ll need to add the $9 GPS/GLONASS antenna on NavSpark website […]

PixiePro Board Combines NXP i.MX6Q Processor with WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS, and a 3G Modem

Saying that the market now provides a wide range of development boards is probably an understatement, but Code Ing has found out that most hobbyist boards had limited on-board wireless connectivity with WiFi and Bluetooth basically the best you could expect, with any extra wireless functionality requiring USB dongles. So the company designed PixiePro single board computer powered by NXP i.MX6Q quad core Cortex A9 processor with on-board wireless connectivity including WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/GLONASS, NFC and a 3G module. PixiePro board specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6Q quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1 GHz with Vivante 2D and 3D GPUs System Memory – 2GB 64-bit DDR3 Storage – 2x UHS-I micro SD card slot up to 104 MB/s Video Output – micro HDMI up to 1080p60 Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm mini TOSLINK optical port/Line Out Connectivity WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO with two antenna connectors Bluetooth […]

CYCLONE F100 Tegra K1 Fanless Embedded Computer Supports up to 8GB RAM, SATA, and Various Networking Options

Calao Systems has added a new member to the their rugged embedded computers family with Cyclone F100 powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 processor with up to 8GB RAM, optional industrial grade SATA Nandrive, and mSATA, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and mPCIe connectivity options for IoT and M2M with LoRA, WiFi, RF radios, etc… Target applications include surveillance, identification, transport, robotic, graphic enhanced digital signage, and medical equipment. Cyclone F100 specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 quad-core ARM Cortex A15 processor @ 2.3 GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU supporting OpenGL 4.4, OpenGL ES 3.1 and CUDA/GPGPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L (Options for 4 and 8GB on request) Storage – 8 GB eMMC, 8 MB SPI flash and  micro SD card slot. Optional: Industrial grade SATA Nandrive, mSATA socket Video Output – HDMI, options: LVDS and DisplayPort Audio I/O – HDMI, optical S/PDIF out, Mic In / […]

Ublox NEO-6M $10 GPS Module with Antenna Works with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc..

Last week, I wrote about NavSpark Mini a $6 GPS + Beidou module, that’s also available for “free” plus $10 shipping. However, if you don’t have an antenna, you’d also need to add a $9 antenna, bringing the total price to $19 for this low cost GPS solution. But there’s actually a cheaper alternative with Ublox NEO-6M GPS module, as it sells for $10 with a GPS antenna including shipping on either Aliexpress or eBay. Ublox NEO-6M based GPS module specifications: NEO-6M-0-001 module Storage – EEPROM for configuration data External interfaces – UART; default baudrate: 9600 bps Misc – RTC battery (MS621FE) Power Supply – 3 to 5V The battery may not always be included due to transport regulations, so you may have to purchase it separately and solder it yourself. The module is not exactly new, and has been around at least since 2013, so there’s also some documentation, […]

Mediatek Unveils MT2523 SiP for GPS Enabled, Bluetooth LE Wearables

Silicon manufacturers are starting to launch ever more integrated solutions specifically designed for wearables, and after Samsung S3FBP5A bio-processor unveiled a few days ago, MediaTek has launched MT2623 ARM Cortex M4 System-in-Package (SiP) with GPS, Bluetooth LE, and a MIPI DSI interface. Other details are sparse but here’s what the company disclosed for MT2523: MCU core – ARM Cortex M4 GPU – 2D accelerator supporting true colors, per-pixel alpha channel, anti-aliasing fonts, and 1-bit index color to save memory. Connectivity – Dual-mode Bluetooth Low Energy and GPS Display – MIPI DSI and serial interfaces Integrated PMU Battery Life – More than a week (typical) The SiP’s printed circuit board area is said to be 41% percent smaller than competitors’ solutions. MT2523 will be available to manufacturers in H1 2016, and found in active and fitness smartwatches a little later. Thanks to Nanik for the tip. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software […]