open source

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Raspberry Pi SBC gets (analog and) digital radio HAT with AM, FM, DAB, DAB+, HD radio

Raspberry Pi SBC gets (analog and) digital radio HAT with AM, FM, DAB, DAB+, HD radio

Raspberry Pi Digital Radio HAT

Yesterday, I wrote about a 2-year-old open-source hardware ESP32-based DAB+ receiver project, but it turns out there’s also a digital radio project for the Raspberry Pi that was released about three weeks ago. Raspiaudio’s Digital Radio V1 HAT adds AM/FM, DAB/DAB+, and HD Radio support to any Raspberry Pi SBC with a 40-pin GPIO header and is supported by CLI or web-based software for configuration and control.   Digital Radio V1 HAT specifications: Supported SBCs – Raspberry Pi Zero 1/2, Raspberry Pi 4/5, etc… Digital radio receiver chip – Skyworth Si4689-A10 (see product brief) Worldwide FM band support (76 to 108 MHz) Worldwide AM band support (520 to 1710 kHz) DAB, DAB+ Band III support (168 to 240 MHz) Advanced RDS/RBDS decoder FM HD Radio support with on-chip IBOC blend (note from Raspiaudio: subject to licensing. Please verify that you are legally allowed to use it in your country and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Open-source hardware DAB+ receiver combines ESP32 SoC with Skyworks SI4684 digital radio chip

Open-source hardware DAB+ receiver combines ESP32 SoC with Skyworks SI4684 digital radio chip

open source hardware ESP32 DAB receiver

When I wrote about a DIY ESP32-S3 internet radio last week, “raspbeguy” commented he’d rather choose an ESP32-based DIY DAB+ receiver kit, such as the one offered by the PE5PVB project based on a Skyworth SI4684 receiver. I first heard about DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) in 2003 when we considered adding it to a CD player. It’s basically the digital equivalent of analog FM/AM radios, and I haven’t heard much about it since DAB and the “new” DAB+ standard are mostly a European story (see coverage map below). PE5PVB’s open-source hardware DAB receiver might still be worth a look. PE5PVB’s SI4684 ESP32 DAB+ receiver features: Controller – ESP32 microcontroller with WiFi and Bluetooth (DoIT ESP32 devkit v1) Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – Color LCD screen with 320×240 resolution (SPI) Audio 2x RCA connectors for speakers 3.5mm headphone jack with amplifier DAB+ receiver – Skyworks SI4684 loaded with DAB+ […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on wolfIP – An open-source, lightweight TCP/IP stack with no dynamic memory allocations for embedded systems

wolfIP – An open-source, lightweight TCP/IP stack with no dynamic memory allocations for embedded systems

wolfip TCP/IP library no memory allocations

Better known for its open-source wolfSSL SSL/TLS library, wolfSSL (the company) has now released the wolfIP open-source, lightweight TCP/IP stack with no dynamic memory allocations (e.g., no malloc calls) designed for resource-constrained embedded systems.

The company highlights that wolfIP “supports both endpoint-only mode and full multi-interface support with optional IP forwarding. By default, it operates as a network endpoint, but can be configured to forward traffic between multiple network interfaces”.

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Velxio is an open-source, self-hosted Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32 simulator

Velxio is an open-source, self-hosted Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32 simulator

Velxio multi board simulator

Velxio is an open-source, self-hosted simulator for Arduino, ESP32, and Raspberry Pi boards that works directly in your web browser. You can drag-and-drop boards, connect components and modules, write and run code in Arduino or Python, and access the serial console, all without hardware. If it looks similar to what the Wokwi simulator has to offer, it’s because Velxio was inspired by it and even integrates the AVR8 CPU emulator, RP2040 emulator, and QEMU fork for ESP32 Xtensa emulation from the Wokwi project. But the key difference is that Velxio can be self-hosted, although there’s also an online demo. Velxio currently supports 19 targets across five architectures AVR8 (ATmega / ATtiny) Arm Cortex-M0+ (Raspberry Pi RP2040) RISC-V RV32IMC/EC (ESP32-C3 / CH32V003) Xtensa LX6/LX7 (ESP32 / ESP32-S3 via QEMU) Arm Cortex-A53 (Raspberry Pi 3 Linux via QEMU) The project also offers 48 components. The developer mentions that additional features compared to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Sentinel Core – A Raspberry Pi CM5 mini-ITX carrier board with a PCIe x16 slot (Crowdfunding)

Sentinel Core – A Raspberry Pi CM5 mini-ITX carrier board with a PCIe x16 slot (Crowdfunding)

Sentinel Core CM5 mini-ITX motherboard

Sanctuary Systems’ Sentinel Core is a Raspberry Pi CM5 mini-ITX carrier board with a PCIe x16 slot to easily connect a graphics card to accelerate 3D graphics, video transcoding, or AI workloads. It’s basically a larger Raspberry Pi CM5 IO board with a prototyping area, a PCIe slot, and a 24-pin ATX power connector. The Sentinel Core also comes with two HDMI ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, MIPI DSI/CSI connectors, and the usual 40-pin GPIO header. Sentinel Core specifications: Supported module – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 via 2x 100-pin B2B connectors Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports Networking Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port Optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.x on Raspberry Pi CM5 USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 Type-C port PCIe – High-speed, full-length PCIe x16 slot with PCIe 2.0 x1 signal (PCIe 3.0 unofficially supported) Expansion 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on PineTime Pro smartwatch to feature dual-core Cortex-M33 MCU, 2.13-inch AMOLED, GPS, and more

PineTime Pro smartwatch to feature dual-core Cortex-M33 MCU, 2.13-inch AMOLED, GPS, and more

PineTime Pro

Pine64 has announced progress on the PineTime Pro smartwatch, powered by a dual-core Cortex-M33 microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.2 Classic and LE and 800KB SRAM. The watch also features a 2.13-inch AMOLED display, GPS support, a heart rate monitor, and a 6-axis motion sensor. It’s an upgrade to the PineTime project unveiled in September 2019, and one of the most popular Pine64 devices thanks to open-source software projects such as InfiniTime firmware. For reference, the PineTime ships with a Nordic nRF52 Arm Cortex-M4 Bluetooth MCU with 64 KB SRAM, a 1.3-inch IPS display, and basic HRM and accelerometer. The PineTime Pro is a massive upgrade that should support a wider range of firmware. PineTime Pro specifications: SoC – Unnamed wireless MCU CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ up to 200 MHz Memory – 800 KB SRAM Wireless –  Bluetooth 5.2 Classic (BR/EDR) & Low Energy (additional Cortex-M33) Memory – 8 MB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on picoZ80 – A Z80 microprocessor drop-in replacement based on Raspberry Pi RP2350B and ESP32

picoZ80 – A Z80 microprocessor drop-in replacement based on Raspberry Pi RP2350B and ESP32

picoZ80

The picoZ80 board is a drop-in replacement for the Z80 microprocessor based on the Raspberry Pi RP2350B dual-core Cortex-M33 microcontroller and an ESP32 wireless SoC for WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. My first computer was a ZX81 powered by a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, which was eventually phased out in 2024 after almost 50 years of production. But retro computing enthusiasts keep the platform alive, usually with softcore FPGA implementations such as MiSTer. The picoZ80 is different as it relies on the programmable I/O (PIO) state machines from the RP2350B MCU to reproduce cycle-accurate address, data, and control buses of the Z80 MPU. picoZ80 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2350B CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 CPU @ up to 150/300 MHz  (the two RISC-V cores do not appear to be used by the project) Memory – 520KB SRAM Storage – 8KB OTP flash Package – QFN-80 Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage 16MB flash […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on RuView project leverages ESP32 nodes for WiFi-based presence detection, pose estimation, and breathing/heart rate monitoring

RuView project leverages ESP32 nodes for WiFi-based presence detection, pose estimation, and breathing/heart rate monitoring

Ruview

RuView is an open-source “WiFi DensePose” implementation leveraging multiple ESP32 nodes to turn WiFi signals into real-time human pose estimation, vital sign monitoring, and presence detection without relying on video cameras. WiFi DensePose is a sensing technique, first explored in academic research, that leverages WiFi signals to reconstruct human pose. RuView implements this technique in Rust or Python, and relies on your WiFi router and several ESP32 nodes to track body pose, detect breathing rate, and measure heart rate even through walls. As we’ll discuss below, this project has its own controversy, as some claim it’s fake. The solution relies on Channel State Information (CSI) disturbances caused by human movement to reconstruct body position, breathing rate, heart rate, and presence in real time using “physics-based signal processing and machine learning”. That obviously means you need CSI-capable hardware, and not all consumer WiFi nodes implement it. The project description lists various […]

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