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June 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

The Future of Asset Tracking: IoT at Scale with LTE-M technology

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Ohad Peled, Product Marketing Manager at Sony Semiconductor Israel, about the challenges of tracking a large number of IoT assets and how LTE-M can help businesses scale tracking solutions. Over the last few years, asset tracking has emerged as a critical business function and is estimated to grow to a $34.5B market by 2032, according to Custom Market Insights. Whether businesses are monitoring a global supply chain or keeping tabs on expensive equipment, knowing where assets are at all times is essential. It enables businesses to optimize supply chains, prevent theft, and reduce operational downtime. There are several technical and commercial challenges in deploying such a solution, which could result in failure to deliver the promised value. Some solutions struggle to maintain accurate tracking as assets move within or across different facilities, especially if they go through an indoor environment. Others suffer from […]

June 18, 2025June 18, 2025 by Debashis Das - 6 Comments

$3.50 nanoCH57x CH570/CH572 RISC-V development board offers USB-C port, 2.4GHz radio/BLE, and GPIO pins

Designed by MuseLab, the nanoCH57x is a WCH CH570/CH572 development board with a 2.4 GHz proprietary radio (CH570) or Bluetooth LE (CH572) that only costs $3.50 and is more compact than the official CH570 Basic Evaluation Board. We first came across this low-cost MCU back in March this year, and saw that the official development board became available for purchase as early as April. The nanoCH57x development board currently features the 100 MHz CH572D RISC-V microcontroller (the CH570D version is coming later), which includes 256KB of flash memory, 12KB of SRAM, and an onboard 32 MHz crystal. The board also includes a USB 2.0 Type-C Host/Device port and PCB antenna for BLE/RF communication. MuseLab nanoCH57x development board specifications: MCU (one or the other) – WCH CH570D or CH572D CPU – QingKe 32-bit RISC-V3C core @ up to 100 MHz Memory – 12KB SRAM Storage – 256KB non-volatile memory 240KB code […]

June 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

ESP32-S3 development board integrates SI4732 AM/FM radio receiver

LILYGO T-Embed SI4732 is an ESP32-S3 development board with an AM/FM radio, a TFT display, a rotary encoder, a built-in microphone, and a microSD card slot powered through a USB-C port or LiPo battery. As its name implies, it’s based on the earlier LILYGO T-Embed battery-powered WiFi and BLE controller with a display and rotary encoder, but also adds a Skyworks SI4732 AM//FM/SW/LW radio receiver to the mix. LILYGO T-Embed SI4732 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module SoC – ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor @ 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML Memory – 512 KB SRAM, 8 MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE PCB antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 1.9-inch IPS color TFT LCD with 320 x 170 resolution (ST7789V SPI driver) Audio – 2x microphones, 8 Ohm @ 1W speaker Radio – Skyworth […]

June 13, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GigaDevice GD32C231 entry-level Arm Cortex-M23 MCU ships with 12KB ECC SRAM, 32KB or 64KB ECC flash

GigabiDevice GD32C231 low cost Cortex M23 MCU

GigaDevice GD32C231 entry-level microcontroller is built around a 48 MHz Arm Cortex-M23 core with up to 64KB ECC flash, 12KB ECC SRAM, and is offered in 20-pin to 48-pin packages with up to 45 GPIOs, a range of peripherals, analog inputs, and timers. The company says the GD32C231 series targets cost-effective small home appliances, BMS (Battery Management Systems), small-screen display devices, battery-powered handhelds, industrial auxiliary controls, and automotive aftermarket systems. GigaDevice GD32C231 key features and specifications: Core – Arm Cortex-M23 @ up to 48 MHz Memory – 12KB SRAM with ECC Storage – 32KB or 64KB flash with ECC Audio – 1x I2S Low-speed Peripherals Up to 45x GPIO Up to 3x USART, 2x I2C, 2x SPI Analog 12-bit ADC with 13 channels 2x analog comparators Timers 4x 16-bit general-purpose (GP) timers 16-bit Advanced (AD) timer RTC IWDG, WWDG 24-bit SysTick Misc – CRC module Supply Voltage – 2.3 to […]

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Renesas RA2L2 – The first low-power MCU with USB-C Revision 2.4 support

Renesas RA2L2 is the world’s first low-power MCU to support the USB-C Revision 2.4 standard with 15W CC detection, USB FS support. It also offers support for CAN Bus, I3C, and low-power UART. The announcement follows other devices from the Renesas RA series, such as the RA2A2 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU introduced in 2024, and the RA4L1 ultra-low-power MCU unveiled earlier this year with just 168 µA/MHz operation, dual-bank flash, and capacitive touch. The RA2L2 Cortex-M23 microcontroller also embeds up to 128KB of code flash, 16KB SRAM, and 4KB data flash for EEPROM-like storage. It supports a wide 1.6V to 5.5V supply voltage and an industrial-grade -40°C to +125°C temperature range. The MCU also integrates a ±1% high-accuracy on-chip oscillator, multiple timers including 16-bit and 32-bit PWM and low-power asynchronous timers, a 12-bit ADC, a real-time clock, and an internal temperature sensor. It’s available in 32- to 64-pin packages and offers […]

June 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

LILYGO MySondy GO LoRa32 board tracks radiosondes (weather balloons) with a 433MHz LoRa module

“LILYGO MySondy GO LoRa32” is a small ESP32-PICO-D4 board with a 433 MHz LoRa module and a 0.96-inch OLED designed to track (RS41) radiosondes, which are units attached to weather balloons used to collect meteorological data like temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. It looks to be an older TTGO T3 board with a 433 MHz LoRa32 module from the company preloaded with the MySondo firmware that allows hobbyists in the amateur radio and weather enthusiast communities to track weather balloons and potentially recover them. LILYGO MySondy GO LoRa32 specifications: SiP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core Xtensa processor @ 240 MHz, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 dual-mode, 4MB flash LoRa module – LORA32 RF Transceiver – Semtech SX1268 connected over SPI to the ESP32 SiP Frequency – 433 MHz (The T3 board has options for 868 and 915 MHz, which I suspect are not suitable for radiosondes) Tx […]

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Quectel KCM0A5S Wi-SUN FAN module targets large IoT deployments for Smart Cities and Smart Agriculture

Quectel KCM0A5S is a Wi-SUN FAN module based on Silicon Labs EFR32FG25 Arm Cortex-M33 Sub-GHz wireless MCU, designed for applications such as street lighting, precision agriculture, industrial IoT, smart meters, and Smart Cities. Wi-SUN (IEEE 802.15.4g) is an LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) standard leveraging IPv6 mesh networking for large-scale IoT deployments in Smart Cities and Smart Agriculture. The KCM0A5S module specifically supports the Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 protocol and operates across the 470–928 MHz frequency range. The module can act as a leaf node, a router, or a border router when paired with a Linux host in RCP (Radio Co-Processor) mode. Quectel KCM0A5S specifications: Wireless SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32FG25 CPU core – Arm Cortex-M33 core @ 97.5 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for signal processing Memory – 256 KB RAM data memory Storage – About 2MB flash program memory Radio – Sub-GHz radio operation […]

June 10, 2025 by Debashis Das - 3 Comments

$7 NearLink WS63E board supports Wi-Fi 6, BLE, and SparkLink Low Energy (SLE)

The HiHope_NearLink_DK_WS63E_V03 is a low-power NearLink dev board built around the HiHope HH-SPARK-WS63E module, which features the HiSilicon NearLink WS63E SoC with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 6, BLE 5.2, and SparkLink (SLE) 1.0 support. It’s designed for Smart Home and AIoT applications requiring low power and high security. The NearLink WS63E SoC features a 240MHz 32-bit CPU, 606KB SRAM, and a 4MB flash. The board exposes various interfaces like SPI, QSPI, I2C, UART, ADC, PWM, and GPIOs through GPIO headers. Security features include hardware AES, RSA, ECC, and FIPS140-2-compliant RNG. Target applications include Smart Home appliances, wearables, medical monitoring, industrial testing, energy management, and Smart Agriculture. HiHope NearLink_DK_WS63E specifications: SoC – HiSilicon NearLink WS63E 32-bit microprocessor up to 240 MHz 606 KB SRAM, 300 KB ROM 4MB embedded Flash Wireless (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ax (ch1–ch14), 20/40MHz (n), 20MHz (ax) Data rates: up to 150 Mbps (HT40), 114.7 Mbps (HE20) MAC: 802.11d/e/i/k/v/w; Features: A-MPDU, […]