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May 29, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

u-blox ALMA-B2 Bluetooth 6.0 and 802.15.4 module features Nordic nRF54LM20 Edge AI wireless MCU

ALMA B2 series (Open CPU) Stand alone Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) modules

u-blox has recently announced the ALMA-B2 standalone BLE 6.0 and 802.15.4 module family built around the Nordic Semi nRF54LM20 Cortex-M33 wireless microcontroller with a dedicated NPU for low-latency Edge AI applications. There are four specific product variants in the u-blox ALMA-B2 series: ALMA-B201, ALMA-B206, ALMA-B211, and ALMA-B216, all of which support Bluetooth 6.0 and Bluetooth Channel Sounding for distance measurement. They also support IEEE 802.15.4, including Thread, Zigbee, and Matter, as well as Nordic’s proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol and NFC. The company also mentions that the nRF54LM20B-based ALMA-B211 and ALMA-B216 variants include an Axon NPU that performs machine learning tasks up to 15 times faster and with greater energy efficiency than running the same tasks on the main processor alone. u-blox ALMA-B2 Series Specifications: Wireless SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF54LM20A (for ALMA-B201 and B206) or nRF54LM20B (for ALMA-B211 and B216) CPU Arm Cortex-M33 application processor clocked at up to 128 MHz RISC-V […]

May 22, 2026May 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ESP32-S31 development boards unveiled for IoT, Smart Audio, and HMI applications

Two ESP32-S31 development boards are currently in the works, and the documentation is already available. The ESP32-S31 was unveiled last March, and it’s the most feature-rich ESP32 wireless microcontroller so far with two RISC-V cores, Gigabit Ethernet, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 connectivity, LCD and camera interfaces, and more. The ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board is based on the ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 wireless module, and offers Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 OTG, and onboard audio peripherals for connected IoT applications. The ESP32-S31-Korvo-1 is a multimedia-focused development board based on the same ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 module, but featuring a dual-microphone array for speech recognition and near/far-field wake-up, two speaker connectors, a 4.3-inch LCD, a 3MP camera module, and a microSD card slot. It targets low-cost, low-power, connected audio/video and HMI applications. ESP32-S31-Function-CoreBoard-1 development board Specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 SoC – ESP32-S31NRV16 CPU RISC-V HP (High-performance) RV32IMAFCP CPU @ 320 MHz with FPU, SIMD, etc. RISC-V […]

May 18, 2026May 18, 2026 by Debashis Das - 3 Comments

$13 Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 connectivity (Bouffalo Lab BL618 inside)

Back in November 2024, we wrote about Qualcomm’s QCC730M and QCC74xM modules for low-power IoT devices, but at the time, there was no evaluation board EVK for those SoCs. Fast forward to today, and the official development boards for the QCC74x series have finally been released, complete with a surprisingly affordable price tag. The Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK is a tri-radio evaluation board with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee) with a price tag of just over $13. But what is interesting is that, while it carries the Qualcomm brand, documentation from the Zephyr Project clearly shows that the QCC74x series is actually based on and mostly equivalent to the Bouffalo Lab BL61x series, specifically the BL618. Qualcomm QCC74xM EVK specifications: Wireless Module – Qualcomm QCC74xM LGA Module (QCC743M, QCC744M, or QCC748M depending on the board variant) CPU – 32-bit RISC-V processor (RV32IMAFCP) @ up to 325 MHz with FPU […]

April 29, 2026April 29, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Gen2 – A 86-Type Smart Home control panel with two relays, dual-band WiFi, Zigbee 3.0, Matter support

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Gen2 is an 86-type Smart Home control panel featuring a 3.95-inch touch display, two relays supporting up to 10A, and dual-band WiFi 4, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee 3.0 connectivity. The device also integrates a 1.5W speaker and a microphone for voice interaction, light and proximity sensors, and runs Android on a Rockchip RK3326-S SoC paired with 2GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash. SONOFF NSPanel Pro Gen2 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3326-S CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.5 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G31 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash Display – 3.95-inch capacitive touchscreen color TFT display with 480×480 resolution Audio – 1.5W speaker, digital microphone for two-way communication (intercom) Connectivity Zigbee 3.0 support via EFR32MG24 Dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi + Bluetooth Matter support Relay – Dual-gang relay up to 5A per gang, or 10A in total (resistive […]

April 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ESP32-C5-WIFI6-KIT dual-band WiFi IoT board offers up to 32MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, onboard or external WiFi antenna

Waveshare ESP32-C5-WIFI6-KIT development kit looks similar to the official Espressif Systems ESP32-C5-DevkitC-1 board, but offers a wider range of options, including different PSRAM and flash capacities, and onboard or external antenna selection. While the official devkit ships with 8MB PSRAM, 4MB SPI flash, and a PCB antenna, the Waveshare board is offered with up to 8MB PSRAM, 16MB or 32MB flash, and either a PCB and external antennas. It also adds battery support and can be ordered with or without pre-soldered headers. Waveshare ESP32-C5-WIFI6-KIT specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 or ESP32-C5-WROOM-1U SoC – ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip Storage – 320 KB ROM Connectivity Dual-band (2.4GHz/5 GHz) 802.11ax WiFi 6, with 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 standard fallback 20MHz bandwidth for the 802.11ax mode 20/40MHz bandwidth […]

April 28, 2026April 27, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

ESP32-C5 Mini USB-C board supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi 6, up to 14x GPIO pins for IoT projects

ESP32-C5 Mini is a tiny development board with dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.x LE, and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter, as well as two 9-pin headers offering up to fourteen GPIOs for IoT and Smart Home projects. It reminds me of the XIAO ESP32-C5, but it’s slightly longer and features an ESP32-C5HF4 SoC instead of an ESP32-C5HR8 + 8MB SPI flash, meaning it lacks PSRAM, and only comes with 4MB flash on-chip instead of external flash. It also adds four GPIO pins and comes with a built-in antenna and an IPEX antenna connector. NiceMCU ESP32-C5 Mini specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-C5HF4 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 48 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip Storage – 320 KB ROM, 4MB SPI flash Wireless Dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) […]

April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Telink TL3228 – Low-power, low-latency dual-core RISC-V wireless MCU supports Bluetooth 6.0, 802.15.4, and 2.4 GHz proprietary

Telink has launched the TL322x wireless MCU family, starting with the TL3228, featuring a 192 MHz dual-core RISC-V MCU, and supporting Bluetooth 6.0, Matter, Thread, Zigbee, RF4CE, and proprietary 2.4GHz protocols for Smart Home, asset tracking, “8K” gaming accessories, and more The chip supports the recent Bluetooth features such as Channel Sounding, AoA/AoD, and LE Audio, as well as the company’s proprietary HDT technology delivering up to 6 Mbps data rate and ultra-low latency. Telink TL3228 specifications: Dual-core CPU 32-bit Andes D25F RISC-V core with FPU up to 192 MHz 32-bit Andes N22 RISC-V core Memory – 384 KB SRAM Storage – 2.5 MB of NVM (Flash + RRAM) Connectivity Bluetooth 6.0 Channel Sounding Mesh Networking Bluetooth LE AoA/AoD location services 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, Matter, RF4CE 2.4GHz Proprietary 2.4GHz radio data rates – 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 4Mbps, 6Mbps; Bluetooth LE PHY: LE 2M, LE Coded Bluetooth LE Multiple Connections – 4x […]

March 29, 2026March 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

M5Stack Stamp-P4 – A tiny ESP32-P4 USB-C board with optional Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4

Stamp P4 (Left) Stamp AddOn C6 For P4 (Right)

M5Stack has just introduced the Stamp-P4, a tiny USB-C development board built around the ESP32-P4 high-performance RISC-V MCU chip, featuring 16MB of Flash and 32MB of PSRAM, and optional Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 support through the ESP32-C6-MINI-1-based Stamp-AddOn C6 module. Despite its small size (29.8 x 22.0 x 4.3mm), the Stamp-P4 offers a wide range of interfaces, including a MIPI-CSI camera connector, as well as a MIPI DSI display interface, RMII Ethernet, USB 2.0 HS, and up to 44x GPIOs via 1.27mm/2.00mm pitch castellated holes and a few through holes. M5Stack Stamp-P4 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32 CPU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 360 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and JPEG codecs support Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM, 32MB […]