IoT News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Exo Sense RP – A Raspberry Pi RP2040-based multi sensor module

Sfera Labs Exo Sense RP is a multi-sensor module with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and various sensors to report temperature, humidity, air quality (VOC), light intensity, audio, and motion. The module can work as a standalone unit but can also communicate with a host through RS485 and USB interfaces, and supports expansion via surge-protected digital inputs and outputs. The Exo Sense RP is designed for indoor residential and commercial applications such as environmental monitoring and data logging, people and assets tracking, room management, access control, and more. Exo Sense RP specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 16MB flash memory Communication ports RS485 half-duplex up to 115200 bps, with surge protection Micro USB 1.1 Type-B connector Sensors Sensirion SHT40 temperature and humidity sensor Sensirion SGP40 air quality (VOC) sensor Texas Instruments OPT3001 light intensity sensor TDK ICS-43432 digital […]

May 17, 2022May 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

“ESP32-C3-0.42LCD” is a tiny WiFi & BLE IoT board with 0.42-inch display, Qwiic connector

01Space “ESP32-C3-0.42LCD” is a small (23.5 x 18 mm) board equipped with ESP32-C3 RISC-V WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller, a 0.42-inch display, and a Qwicc I2C connector to easily add modules such as sensors. The first time I saw it, the form factor immediately reminded me of the nRF52840-based XIAO BLE Sense board I just used to test Edge Impulse machine learning framework. Both boards should have similar use cases, but XIAO BLE Sense includes a 6-axis IMU sensor, and I had to connect an OLED display, while the ESP32-C3 board already integrates a display, and I would have had to connect an external Qwicc module with an accelerometer. ESP32-C3-0.42LCD specifications: SoC – ESP32-C3FH4 SoC with RISC-V core @ 160 MHz, 4MB flash, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5 LE with Long-Range support Ceramic antenna Display – 0.42-inch LCD USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion Qwiic I2C connector […]

May 16, 2022May 16, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Embedded World 2022 – June 21-23 – Virtual Schedule

Embedded World 2020 was a lonely affair with many companies canceling attendance due to COVID-19, and Embedded World 2021 took place online only. But Embedded World is back to Nuremberg, Germany in 2022 albeit with the event moved from the traditional month of February to June 21-23. Embedded systems companies and those that service them will showcase their latest solution at their respective booths, and there will be a conference with talks and classes during the three-day event. The programme is up, so I made my own little Embedded World 2022 virtual schedule as there may be a few things to learn, even though I won’t be attending. Tuesday, June 21, 2022 10:00 – 13:00 – Rust, a Safe Language for Low-level Programming Rust is a relatively new language in the area of systems and low-level programming. Its main goals are performance, correctness, safety, and productivity. While still ~70% of […]

May 14, 2022May 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ZUBoard 1CG – A low-cost AMD Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ZU1CG MPSoC FPGA development board

Avnet ZUBoard 1CG is a development board featuring the new entry-level AMD Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ZU1CG dual-core Cortex-A53 MPSoC with 81K FPGA system logic cells, equipped with 1GB LPDDR4 RAM, as well as SYZYGY connectors and mikroBus expansion for Click boards. Priced at $159, the board may offer a good opportunity to get started with Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, as it’s quite cheaper than boards based on ZU3 devices such as Ultra96-V2 or MYD-CZU3EG. Avnet says the board is suitable for artificial intelligence, machine learning, embedded vision, embedded processing, and robotics applications. ZUBoard 1CG specifications: SoC – AMD/Xilinx ZU+ MPSoC ZU1CG with Dual Cortex-A53 APU @ up to 1.3 GHz and dual Cortex-R5 RPU @ up to 533 MHz 256KB On-chip Memory 81,900 FPGA Logic Cells System Memory – 1GB LPDDR4 with on-chip ECC Storage – 256Mbit QSPI flash, microSD card, both bootable Networking – 10/100/1000M Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port USB […]

May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

$95 Banana Pi BPI-R2 Pro 5-port Gigabit Ethernet router board is powered by Rockchip RK3568 SoC

Banana Pi BPI-R2 Pro is an update to the Banana Pi BPI R2 router board that replaces MediaTek MT7623A quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor with a much more powerful Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. The Banana Pi BPI-R2 Pro board looks very similar to the first generation R2 board with the same dimensions, 2GB RAM, HDMI & DSI display interfaces, five Gigabit Ethernet ports, one SATA port, two USB 3.0 ports, and one mPCIe socket, but it also adds one M.2 socket, support for MIPI CSI cameras, and extra storage with a 16GB eMMC flash. Banana Pi BPI-R2 Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 2.0 GHz with Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 (option for 4GB) Storage – Onboard 16GB eMMC Flash (option for 32 and 64GB), MicroSD card slot, 1x SATA III port, SPI flash for network boot Networking 5x Gigabit Ethernet […]

May 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

NXP i.MX RT1180 Cortex-M7/M33 crossover MCU integrates GbE TSN for industrial IoT communication

NXP i.MX RT1180 is the latest member of the company’s i.MX RT Series crossover MCUss with application processor-like performance. The 800 MHz dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M33 microcontroller is specifically designed for industrial IoT communication with a Gigabit Ethernet port supporting time-sensitive networking (TSN). NXP also highlights that it is the first crossover MCU to include an EdgeLock secure enclave that “eases the complexity of implementing robust, system-wide security intelligence for industrial IoT applications”, and the new processor aims to bridge the gap between existing industrial systems and Industry 4.0 system. NXP i.MX RT1180 key features and specifications: CPUs – Arm Cortex-M7 @ 800 MHz + Arm Cortex-M33 @ 240 MHz (Optional: single-core Arm Cortex-M33) On-chip Memory – Up to 1.5 MB SRAM (ECC protected) with 512 KB of TCM for Cortex-M7 and 256 KB of TCM for Cortex-M33 Memory & Storage I/F – 2x FlexSPI for HyperRAM or HyperFlash 8/16/32-bit SDRAM/LPSDRAM […]

May 4, 2022May 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

xSPI MRAM provides an alternative to SPI NOR/NAND flash with up to 400MB/s R/W bandwidth

Everspin has unveiled the EMxxLX xSPI MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) non-volatile memory solution for industrial IoT and embedded systems providing an alternative to SPI NOR/NAND flash with much faster R/W data rates of up to 400MB/s and densities between 8Mbit and 64Mbit. The higher speed is made possible by the new JEDEC expanded Serial Peripheral Interface (xSPI) standard interface and a clock frequency of up to 200 MHz, the maximum supported by the xSPI standard. All chips operate at 1.8V, and the family is offered in 24-ball BGA and 8-pin DFN packages. EMxxLX xSPI MRAM key features and specifications: Density – 8Mb, 16Mb, 32Mb, 64Mb 400MBps sustained throughput with OSPI at 200MHz, DTR, for reads and writes Expanded SPI (xSPI) bus interface supporting Octal, Quad, Dual, and Single SPI protocol Up to 200MHz single and double transfer rate (STR/DTR) for Octal SPI Up to 133MHz, SPI, DSPI, QSPI Data […]

May 3, 2022May 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro gateway supports up to 128 sub-devices

ITEAD has just introduced the SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro WiFi <-> Zigbee gateway as an upgrade to the Sonoff ZBBridge gateway launched in 2020. Both devices look exactly the same, and the changes are under the hood with the EFR32MG21 and ESP8266/ESP8285 combo being replaced by Texas Instruments SimpleLink CC2652P and ESP32 chips to boost the number of supported sub-devices from 32 to 128. Other changes include the addition of a buzzer acting as an alarm or doorbell chime, as well as a “built-in high-precision local RTC” for gateway time synchronization of local scene schedules. SONFF Zigbee Bridge Pro (aka ZB Bridge-P) specifications: Wireless MCUs Texas Instruments CC2652P SimpleLink Arm Cortex-M4F multiprotocol 2.4 GHz wireless MCU with integrated power amplifier Espressif Systems ESP32-DOWN-V3 dual-core processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE Wireless Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Zigbee 3.0 Supports for up to 128 sub-devices Support for […]