m5stack News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

September 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

M5Stack Thermal Camera 2 Unit combines ESP32 WiSoC with MLX90640 thermal camera

We’ve already seen the ESP32 used with a thermal camera (Flir Lepton 3.5) in the tCam-Mini IR board, but M5Stack Thermal Camera 2 Unit offers a more affordable ESP32 thermal camera solution thanks to the MLX90640 IR array thermal camera with a 32×24 resolution. Based on the ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package (SiP) with a dual-core microcontroller offering WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, the camera module offers a field of view of 110°x75°, and a temperature measurement range of -40°C to 300°C. M5Stack Thermal Camera 2 Unit specifications: SiP – ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 cores, 448 KB ROM, 520 KB SRAM, 4MB SPI flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 IR camera – Melexis MLX90640 Infrared (IR) sensor with 32×24 pixels IR array, range: -40°C to 300°C with +/-1.5°C resolution, FoV: 110°x75° (See datasheet) Expansion – Grove I2C HY2.0-4P interface (“Port A”) Misc – Reset button, passive buzzer, user RGB […]

September 6, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sensirion SCD40 CO2 sensor units for makers: M5Stack UNIT CO2 and TeHyBug ESP8285 device

We just wrote about the Infineon XENSIV PAS CO2 Shield2Go board to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) levels last week, but I’ve just come across two more hardware with a CO2 sensor designed for makers, but based on Sensirion SCD40 sensor instead, and mostly designed to monitor indoor CO2 levels since high concentrations may impact your health negatively. The first one is the M5Stack UNIT CO2 that’s designed to be connected to one of the company’s Core modules through an I2C interface, and TeHyBug portable mini sensor device equipped with ESP8285 WiFi microcontroller, as well as optional AHT10 temperature & humidity sensor and BMP280 pressure sensor, besides the SCD40 sensor. M5Stack UNIT CO2 Specifications: Sensirion SCD40 sensor CO2 Measurement range – 400 ~ 2000 ppm CO2 Sampling accuracy – ±(50 ppm + 5% of reading) Temperature range – -10 – 60°C with 0.8°C accuracy Humidity range – 0 – 95% RH […]

August 16, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

myBuddy 280 dual arm robot features Raspberry Pi 4 SBC and ESP32 controllers

Elephants Robotics myBuddy 280, aka myBuddy 280 Pi, is a dual-arm collaborative robot for education with a 7-inch display powered by Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, and also features three ESP32-based M5Stack core modules that help with the internal communication between the motors and the Raspberry Pi board. It builds upon the earlier myCobot 280 Pi robot with a single arm, with the same 280mm working range, but the new robot offers two arms, and a total of 13 degrees of freedom (DoF). The robot is also equipped with two 2MP HD cameras for computer vision, a standard 3.3V expansion I/O interface, a LEGO expansion interface, and can be fitted with a variety of adapters such as suction pumps, grippers, little hands (see below), etc… myBuddy 280 specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB or 4GB RAM) single board computer to control the display and communicate with the ESP32 modules IoT […]

April 25, 2022April 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

M5Stack ATOM Display Lite adds HDMI output to ESP32 module

M5Stack ATOM Display Lite is a kit based on GOWIN Gowin GW1NR-9C FPGA and LT8618SX RGB to HDMI chip designed to add HDMI output up to 720p to the company’s ESP32-based M5Stack ATOM Lite module. The ATOM Lite sees the ATOM Display Lite kit as an SPI display, but the solution outputs the data to an HDMI monitor or TV with up to 1280×720 resolution and can be used for information display, menu board, and more. ATOM Display Lite specifications: Wireless IoT modules – M5Stack ATOM Lite ESP32-PICO-D4 based module with 240MHz dual-core CPU, 520KB SRAM, 4MB flash, Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth connectivity FPGA – Gowin GW1NR-9C (PDF datasheet) FPGA with 8,640 LUTs used to simulate SPI TFT-LCD data output, HDMI bridge – Lontium Semi LT8618SX RGB to HDMI chip with 24-bit color depth up to 1280×720 output @ 60 fps (optimized frame rate up to 12 ~ 16FPS) Misc- […]

March 1, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

M5Stamp C3U IoT module relies on ESP32-C3’s own USB interface for firmware programming

M5Stamp C3U is an update of the M5Stamp C3 RISC-V IoT module with heat-resistant cover, support for WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0, that does without CH9102 USB to TTL chip, relying instead on the internal USB interface of ESP32-C3 processor to handle serial programming of the firmware, and gaining on extra GPIO pin in the process. While several ESP32 processors come with a built-in USB interface, many boards still use an external USB to TTL chip such as CH340 or CP2102 to handle the serial interface used for debugging and flashing the firmware likely because of limitations when using ESP32-C3’s USB serial/JTAG controller console, but M5Stack probably considered those to be workable, and the small cost-saving beneficial. M5Stamp C3U specifications: WiSoC – ESP32-C3FH4 32-bit single-core RISC-V processor @ up to 160 MHz, with 384KB ROM, 400KB SRAM, 8KB RTC SRAM, 4MB embedded flash, WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi […]

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

M5Stack UnitV2 AI module gets USB camera and M12 camera versions

M5Stack UnitV2 is an ultra-compact Linux AI camera powered on Sigmastar SSD202D SoC with a dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz, and 128MB on-chip DDR3 that was launched in April 2021 with a Full HD camera featuring a 68° field-of-view. M5Stack has now introduced two new models, one called M5Stack UnitV2 USB without any camera at all, instead relying on an external USB UVC camera, and the other named M5Stack UnitV2 M12 equipped with an M12 socket and shipping with both a normal focal length camera with an 85° FoV and wide-angle focal length with a 150° FoV. M5Stack UnitV2 USB M5Stack Unitv2 USB specifications: SoC – SigmaStar SSD202D dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 128MB on-chip DDR3 Storage – 512MB on-chip NAND flash with around 100MB free space, MicroSD card socket Camera – N/A Audio – Built-in microphone Connectivity – 2.4GHz WIFi 4 up to 150 Mbps (RTL8188FTV), […]

September 3, 2021October 8, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

M5Stamp Pico ESP32-PICO-D4 module ships with a heat-resistant plastic shell

Most WiFi IoT modules are designed to be integrated into products with an enclosure, but the M5Stamp Pico module based on ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP comes with a removable heat-resistant plastic shell that protects the 3D antenna and components, while leaving space to solder headers and/or a Grove connector. The tiny module also comes with a button and RGB LED, and like other ESP32-based M5Stack hardware, M5Stamp Pico is programmable with UIFlow graphical programming platform and compatible with Arduino, MicroPython, and the ESP-IDF. M5Stamp Pico specifications: System-in-Package – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with dual-core processor @ 240MHz, 520KB SRAM, 4MB flash, and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 up to 150 Mbps and Bluetooth 4.2 BR/LE connectivity Antenna – 2.4 GHz 3D antenna I/Os – 2.54mm pitch header with ADC, DAC, touch sensor, SD/SDIO/MMC host controller, SPI, SDIO/SPI slave controller, EMAC, PWM, UART, I2C, I2S, IR remote controller, up to 12x GPIO, pulse counter […]

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit also supports WiFi, RS485, Modbus communication

ESP32 WiFI, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, and RS485 kit

M5Stack is known for its ESP32 based building blocks for the IoT with WiFi & Bluetooth wireless connectivity, I/O headers, and block-specific features like a tiny color display, a speaker, a touchscreen display, a camera, and more. The company’s latest product is the M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit based on ESP32 ATOM Lite, as well as ASR Micro ASR6501 LoRa module (SX1302 based) and one RS485 header that allows for industrial communication notably with the Modbus protocol. M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit specifications: Wireless connectivity M5Stack ATOM Lite with ESP32 WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2/5.x dual-core SoC ASR ASR6501 LoRa chip Operating frequency – 868MHz or 915 MHz Transmit power – Up to +21dBm RX sensitivity – Up to -137dBm (SF=12/BW=125KHz) Serial communication – UART 115200bps (AT command) via ESP32 Antenna – SMA antenna connector Power consumption @ 3.3V (from ASR6501 datasheet) Tx @ +21dBm – 106 mA Rx – […]