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April 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

$2 WeAct CH32V006F8U6 Mini Core board features CH32V006 RISC-V MCU, supports 3.3V or 5V I/O voltage

WeAct CH32V006F8U6 Mini Core is an inexpensive, tiny development board based on the 48 MHz CH32V006 RISC-V microcontroller and equipped with a USB-C port, a Reset button, and two rows of 12-pin headers for I/Os using either 3.3V or 5V voltage. WCH introduced the CH32V006 in 2024 as an update to the popular CH32V003 with more memory (8KB vs 2KB SRAM), storage (62KB vs 8KB flash), additional GPIOs, a wider supply voltage range, and an upgraded 32-bit RISC-V2C core. I just hadn’t seen any third-party CH32V006 boards so far. The WeAct Studio board changes that. WeAct CH32V006F8U6 Mini Core board specifications: SoC – WCH CH32V006F8U6 CPU – 32-bit “RISC-V2C” core up to 48 MHz Memory – 8KB SRAM Storage – 62KB flash + 3KB “boot” flash USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and debugging Expansion 2x 12-pin headers with GPIO, ADC, USART, I2C, SPI I/O Voltage – 3.3V […]

April 2, 2026April 3, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nuvoton NuMicro M3331 Cortex-M33 MCU features built-in ARGB LED controller, optional USB 2.0 OTG interface

Nuvoton’s new NuMicro M3331 is a series of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs clocked at 180 MHz that integrate an ARGB LED controller, a DSP instruction set, a single-precision FPU, and TrustZone security for smart factories, renewable energy systems, and consumer devices. In the past, we have written about other Cortex-M33 MCUs like the STM32U3B5/C5, Texas Instruments MSPM33C321A, Nordic Semi’s nRF54LM20A, and various others, but the Nuvoton M3331 series specifically features a built-in Enhanced LED Light Strip Interface (ELLSI) and up to 10 standard LLSI channels. This allows the MCU to natively support gaming ARGB Gen1 and Gen2 LED control protocols, completely offloading the CPU to run fluid, dynamic LED effects. It comes in two variants, the M3333 series and the M3334 series, with the latter adding a high-speed USB 2.0 OTG controller with an integrated PHY. NuMicro M3331 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 32-bit CPU @ 180 MHz with single-precision […]

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 27, 2026 by Debashis Das - 8 Comments

Microchip SAM9X75 Hybrid automotive MCU – Surprisingly ARM9 is still a thing in 2026

When Microchip launched the SAM9X60 in 2020, we were surprised to see a new SoC based on a legacy ARM926EJ-S core. But we were even more surprised to see Microchip doubling down with the SAM9X75, a hybrid automotive-qualified (AEC-Q100 Grade 2) System-in-Package (SiP) with the same classic ARM9 core and integrated DDR2 or DDR3L memory. The first part will be the SAM9X75D5M SiP with 512MB on-chip DDR2 RAM, but the company also designed the SAM9X75D1G with 1 Gbit DDR3L and the SAM9X75D2G featuring 2 Gbit DDR3L. The SAM9X75 hybrid ARM9 MCU targets developers who need an MCU-like development environment, while benefiting from higher processing and display capabilities of microprocessors for automotive and e-mobility HMI applications. Microchip SAM9X75D5M specifications: CPU subsystem Core – ARM926EJ-S running up to 800 MHz (significant increase from older 400-600MHz variants) 32 KB data cache, 32 KB instruction cache, and Memory Management Unit (MMU). Memory 512 Mbit […]

March 26, 2026 by Debashis Das - 6 Comments

AngstromIO – A tiny 9.0 x 8.9 mm ATtiny1616 board that fits on top of a USB-C connector

AngstromIO ATtiny1616 tiny USB-C development board

Dieu-de-l-elec’s AngstromIO is an incredibly tiny open-source development board based on Microchip’s ATtiny1616 MCU. Measuring just 9.0 x 8.9 mm, the board is barely larger than the edge-mounted USB Type-C connector that powers it, making it ideal for highly space-constrained embedded projects. Despite its tiny footprint, AngstromIO packs a QFN20-packaged ATtiny1616 MCU, two addressable SK6805-EC15 RGB LEDs, and includes access to various usable GPIOs, including I2C, UART, and UPDI for programming. AngstromIO specifications: MCU – Microchip ATtiny1616 8-bit AVR microcontroller @ up to 20 MHz with 16KB flash, 2KB SRAM, 256 bytes EEPROM USB – 1x USB Type-C port (power only, no data lines connected to the MCU) Expansion via solder pads UPDI pin for programming I2C (SDA, SCL) 2x GPIOs (PB2/TX, PA3) 5V and GND Misc – 2x SK6805-EC15 addressable RGB LEDs Power Supply 5V via USB-C port Ultra-low power consumption (down to 200nA in power-down mode) Dimensions – 9.0 […]

March 24, 2026March 27, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Upcoming ESP32-S31 dual-core RISC-V MCU offers Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 connectivity

It looks like Espressif Systems has a new powerful wireless microcontroller in the works, with the ESP32-S31 sharing some features of the ESP32-P4 and ESP32-S3 microcontrollers. The ESP32-S31 is a dual-core RISC-V MCU with one high-performance core with FPU and SIMD instructions, and one low-power RISC-V core, featuring 62 GPIOs, a Gigabit Ethernet MAC, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee/Matter) wireless connectivity, and more. ESP32-S31 preliminary specifications: MCU subsystem RISC-V HP (High-performance) RV32IMAFCP CPU @ 320 MHz with FPU, SIMD, etc. RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core Memory & Storage I/F 512 KB SRAM 32 KB RTC SRAM Support for external octal PSRAM and flash up to 64MB @ 250 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) and VPU – (M)JPEG codec support Peripherals Display I/F – 8-bit to 24-bit Parallel LCD interface Camera I/F – 8-bit/16-bit DVP camera interface Audio – 2x I2S Networking Gigabit Ethernet 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 […]

March 19, 2026March 19, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Clintech Pico – The first Raspberry Pi RP2354B board offers 48 GPIOs in Raspberry Pi Pico form factor

Designed by Clintech Ltd. in Bulgaria, the Clintech Pico Board appears to be the first development board based on the Raspberry Pi RP2354B chip with 2MB on-chip flash. It retains the same form factor as a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 but adds extra GPIOs to make use of the 48 general-purpose GPIOs provided by the RP2354B chip. Like the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, this board features 40 castellated and through holes on the sides, exposing GPIOs 0–22 and 26–28, along with 3 debug pins. Additionally, the board includes 27 extra on-board through holes that break out the remaining GPIOs (23–25 and 29–47) as well as the QSPI interface (SD0–SD3 and SCLK) for external memory. Clintech Pico specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2354B CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ 150 MHz with Arm Trustzone, Secure boot Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V Hazard3 @ 150 MHz (3-stage in-order pipeline; RV32IMAC with Zba, Zbb, Zbs, Zbkb, Zcb, Zcmp, and […]

March 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Texas Instruments MSPM0G5187 and AM13Ex MCUs integrate TinyEngine NPU for Edge AI applications

Texas Instruments MSPM0G5187 and AM13Ex are two new microcontroller (MCU) families featuring the company’s TinyEngine neural processing unit (NPU) to enable low-latency, high-efficiency Edge AI/Machine Learning inference on the chips. TI claims that the TinyEngine NPU can run AI models with up to 90 times lower latency and more than 120 times lower energy utilization per inference than similar MCUs without an accelerator. The MSPM0G5187 is a general-purpose, low-power Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU, while the AM13Ex Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller targets real-time motor control, starting with the AM13E23019 SKU. TI MSPM0G5187 general-purpose Cortex-M0+ MCU Key features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 80 MHz Memory – 32 KB RAM with ECC Storage – 128 KB flash with ECC, 8 KB data flash with ECC Accelerators TinyEngine NPU for AI/ML delivering up to 2.56GOPS (Giga Operations Per Second) at 80MHz MATHACL math accelerator Peripherals USB – 1x USB 2.0 (12 Mbps) Audio […]