nfc News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

LILYGO T-Echo Card – A weatherproof, solar-powered, nRF52840-based LoRa + GPS development kit

LILYGO T-Echo Card is a thin development kit based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 wireless MCU and a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver with a solar panel for charging an 800 mAh battery. It supports Bluetooth 5, NFC, Bluetooth Mesh, ANT, 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread), LoRaWAN, and GNSS (L76K module) connectivity. The board also features a 0.42-inch OLED information display, a magnetic USB interface, a 9-axis motion sensor, a digital microphone, a speaker, and an RGB LED for status/notifications. It’s mainly useful for off-grid communication (text and audio), GNSS location sharing, personal/asset tracking, and as a compact mesh network node. T-Echo Card specifications: SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 CPU – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz Memory/Storage – 1 MB Flash, 256 KB RAM Wireless – Bluetooth 5, NFC, Bluetooth Mesh, 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread), ANT, 2.4 GHz proprietary Storage – 32 Mbit SPI flash (ZD25WQ32CEIGR) LoRa transceiver – Semtech SX1262 with global coverage support: […]

August 5, 2026August 5, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ZecTrix Note 4 – A 4.2-inch ESP32-S3 wireless e-paper display for voice tasks

ZecTrix Note 4 4.2 inch AI e paper smart note

Designed by ZecTrix Lab in China, the Note 4 is an ESP32-S3-based AI smart note with a 4.2-inch e-paper display and built-in voice input. The device is designed to display reminders, notes, clocks, weather, images, and custom templates, while the Note 4C variant replaces the monochrome display with a four-color e-paper panel. The device features 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a microphone, a speaker, NFC, physical buttons, a USB Type-C port, a 2,000mAh rechargeable battery, and GPIO expansion for custom hardware projects. ZecTrix Note 4 / Note 4C specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM; 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Storage – 16MB flash Display Note 4 – 4.2-inch monochrome E-Ink display, 400 × 300 resolution; supports partial refresh Note 4C – 4.2-inch four-color (BWRY) E-Ink display, […]

July 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Espressif releases SDK for Aliro smart door locks based on ESP32-C or ESP32-H SoCs

Espressif Systems has just released the SDK for Aliro, designed for smart Matter door locks and other access control solutions built around ESP32-C (WiFi) or ESP32-H (Thread) microcontroller and third-party NFC chips. We recently wrote about the Aliro vendor-agnostic digital access control standard working over NFC, Bluetooth LE, or BLE+UWB. It’s basically the equivalent of Matter, but for smart locks, instead of the broader Smart Home ecosystem. The ultimate goal is to reduce fragmentation and allow users to use compliant wallets from Google, Apple, Samsung, and others to work with Aliro-compatible devices. Espressif’s SDK for Aliro (ESP-Aliro) currently supports the following features of Aliro-over-NFC: Standard Expedited Phase Fast Expedited Phase Reader Certificate Sending via AUTH1/LoadCert Command Keyslot to Look up Access Credential Public Key Mailbox of Exchange command Step-up Phase Espressif’s solution currently only works with Aliro NFC for tap-to-unlock applications, although Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth LE + UWB support […]

July 16, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

OpenInfrared Point is an ESP32-S3 powered universal remote hub with Infrared, BLE, NFC, audio streaming (Crowdfunding)

OpenInfrared Point is a universal remote hub built around ESP32-S3 that lets users control compatible devices from a smartphone by scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC tag, eliminating the need for dedicated remote controls. Powered via USB-C, the Point hub can learn IR codes from existing remote controls and supports infrared, IP (HTTP), and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device control, with RF support planned as a future add-on. Hardware features include an IR output for external emitters, an audio input for private TV audio streaming, built-in NFC, QR-code access, and support for controlling TVs, projectors, AV receivers, air conditioners, streaming devices, and other compatible equipment. OpenInfrared Point specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM; 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Storage – 16MB […]

June 24, 2026July 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Aliro is a vendor-agnostic standard for digital access control working over NFC, Bluetooth LE, or UWB

Managed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, Aliro is a smart lock/access control standard that works over NFC, Bluetooth LE, or UWB and is designed to be vendor-agnostic. While Matter is designed for Smart Home applications, Aliro specifically targets access control, and both aim to address market fragmentation. It was brought to my attention when we wrote about the Nordic nRF54L15 Tag, but we had already mentioned it for chips from other vendors such as STMicro (ST64UWB) and Qualcomm (FastConnect 8800), as well as earlier wireless MCUs from Nordic Semi such as the nRF54LM20A and nRF54LM20B. It appears to be adopted across the industry, so let’s have a closer look. Aliro 1.0 was first released in February 2026 with the following highlights: Leverages existing smartphones and wearables Framework utilizes asymmetric cryptography to ensure secure and trusted interactions between user devices and readers Integration with digital wallets from Apple, Google, Samsung, etc… […]

June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Coin-cell powered Nordic nRF54L15 Tag prototyping platform supports Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Matter, Edge AI

Nordic Semiconductor has launched the nRF54L15 Tag, a tiny coin-cell-powered prototyping platform designed to accelerate the development of ultra-low-power wireless IoT devices, including asset trackers compatible with the Apple Find My and Google Find Hub ecosystems. Built around the company’s nRF54L15 wireless SoC, the 33 mm-diameter tag uses a 2.4 GHz radio and includes two on-board antennas to improve distance-measurement reliability with Bluetooth Channel Sounding. The platform also integrates a 6-axis IMU and an environmental sensor, which can be used in tracking, sensing, and basic edge processing applications. Nordic nRF54L15 Tag specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF54L15 wireless SoC CPU Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 128 MHz RISC-V coprocessor for “software-defined peripheral” Memory – 256 KB SRAM Storage – 1.5MB Non-volatile Memory (NVM) Wireless Bluetooth LE 6.0 (includes Channel Sounding) Thread, Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4-2020) Matter Amazon Sidewalk Proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols with a new 4 Mbps mode NFC support Aliro (a […]

June 19, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Matter 1.6 specification adds NFC-based commissioning, thermostat suggestions, various core enhancements

Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has recently released the Matter 1.6 specification with new features such as NFC-based commissioning, Thermostat Suggestions for smarter climate control, and a range of core enhancements designed to improve device communication, safety devices visibility, and ecosystem security. The last time we wrote about a Matter release was for Matter 1.4.2, which added Wi-Fi-only provisioning and improved security, and we somehow missed the Matter 1.5 release that introduced cameras, closures (window shades, drapes, awnings, gates, garage doors…), and enhanced energy management capabilities. Let’s have a closer look at the new Matter 1.6 release. Matter 1.6 highlights: NFC-based commissioning – Commissioning can be challenging for devices like ceiling fixtures and in-wall switches, since they may need to be configured before they are installed. Matter 1.6 addresses this issue by allowing a Matter device to be commissioned through bi-directional NFC communication before the device is fully powered on. That’s […]

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 […]