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November 27, 2021November 27, 2021 by Sponsored Post - Comments Off

Lefant F1 – An ultra compact, yet powerful smart vacuum cleaner and mopping robot (Sponsored)

Established in 2011, Lefant Technology is a company specialized in intelligent robot technology and products, with a mission following the motto “Smart Technology, Better Family Life”, the company handles the full product lifecycle in-house from R&D to manufacturing and marketing and has launched several Lefant smart vacuum cleaners over the years including models such as Lefant U180, Lefant M201, Lefant M210, and Lefant T800. One of their latest products is the Lefant F1 robotic vacuum and mop combo that comes with a 600ml dust bin, 4000pa of suction power, and offers up to 200 minutes of runtime per charge. Some of the highlights of the Lefant F1 robotic vacuum cleaner include: A small body – The F1 robot vacuum cleaner comes in a compact size with an 11-inch diameter (about 28cm), and a 2.7-inch height (about 6.9cm) which allows it to reach locations that large robots cannot always go through. […]

November 22, 2021November 21, 2021 by Sponsored Post - 8 Comments

Meet ESP-C3-M1 and ESP-C3-M1-I ultra small ESP32-C3 mini modules (Sponsored)

Half-year ago, Ai-Thinker launched new ESP32-C3 series modules that are fully pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266, namely ESP-C3-12F, ESP-C3-32S, ESP-C3-01M, ESP-C3-13, ESP-C3-13U. After several months, the company got further requirements about the modules, notably in terms of size. So based on the demand, Ai-Thinker has now added the ESP-C3 mini series family starting with two modules: ESP32-C3-M1 and ESP-C3-M1-I measuring 16.6×13.2mm and 12.5×13.2mm respectively. The ESP-C3 mini series modules are equipped with the Espressif Systems ESP32-C3 32-bit RISC-V MCU featuring 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi & Bluetooth LE 5 connectivity, as well as a wealth of peripherals including UART, I2C, I2S, infrared, PWM, general DMA controller, USB serial port/JTAG controller, temperature sensor and so on. Some of the wonderful features of the new ESP-C3 mini modules include: ESP32-C3 MCU – 32-bit RISC-V single-core processor up to 160 MHz, with 400 KB SRAM, 384 KB ROM, 8KB RTC SRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash […]

November 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

NXP i.MX 93 processor combines Cortex-A55 cores with Ethos U65 microNPU

NXP has unveiled the i.MX 93 processor family comprised of i.MX 935x, 933x, 932x, and 931x parts at this time with up to two Cortex-A55 cores, one Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core, as well as an Ethos U65 microNPU for machine learning (ML). We wrote about i.MX 9 family back in March with NXP telling us it would include an Arm Ethos U-65 microNPU and EdgeLock secure enclave, be manufactured with a 16/12nm FinFET class process, and includes the “Energy Flex” architecture to optimize power consumption by turning on/off specific blocks in the processor. The NXP i.MX 93 is the first family leveraging those new features, and we know have some more details. NXP i.MX 93 processor specifications: CPU 1x or 2x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7 GHz with 32KB I-cache, 32KB D-cache, 64KB L2 cache, 256KB L3 cache with ECC 1x Arm Cortex-M33 @ 250 MHz low power microcontroller with 256KB […]

November 5, 2021November 21, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Playing with Sonoff Zigbee & WiFi automation – Part 1: Hardware overview

Sonoff T2 Switch Zigbee Bridge Motion Sensor

I don’t think I’ve ever used Zigbee, but I’ll soon have the opportunity as ITEAD sent me the Sonoff ZBBridge gateway, a Sonoff T2 2-gang WiFi switch as well as a Zigbee motion sensor. I had reviewed several Sonoff devices in the past, but it had been over three years that I hadn’t. ITEAD recently contacted me basically telling me I could select whatever I wanted from their product list for a review on CNX Software. Since I had reviewed several of the company’s WiFi smart sockets, smart switches, and a light bulb, I had less to play with, and then I thought it might be fun to play with Sonoff Zigbee products. But I did not own any Zigbee hardware, so I had to think about a use case. I have a small annoyance in the house I rent. When we come back at night, we have to leave […]

October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

HarmonyOS development board shows up for $11

Last year, we noted the Hisilicon Hi3861 based HiSpark WiFi IoT development board with supports LiteOS and HarmonyOS that was available in China for just under $10, or as part of a devkit with baseboard and modules for around $60. Although not very practical, buying from Taobao was possible, but there’s now what appears to be a new revision of the Hi3861V100 based HarmonyOS development board in a wider form factor on Banggood for $10.99. Hi3861 development board specifications: MCU – Hisilicon Hi3861V100 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory, and WiFI 4 connectivity; QFN-32 5x5mm package WiFi 802.11b/g/n standard up to 72.2 Mbps @ HT20 2.4 GHz frequency band (ch1-ch14). Station (STA) and access point (AP) modes with up to 6 clients for the latter WiFi mesh with up to 256 nodes Security – WPA, WPA2 […]

September 30, 2021September 30, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

M5Stack TOUGH – A weatherproof ESP32 Industrial IoT controller

M5Stack TOUGH weatherproof ESP32 display

M5Stack has launched several ESP32 WiFi & BLuetooth IoT controllers with an integrated display such as M5Stack Core2. The latest model, M5Stack TOUGH, is a little different as it is rugged and waterproof/weatherproof with a UV resistant enclosure sealed with o-ring, and offering waterproof M12 connectors. With protection against solid objects, dust, sand, dirt, and water drops, as well as variety of installation options such as screw mount, rolled strip, magnetic and adhesive back, the M5Stack TOUGH is suitable for more demanding environments from kitchens to factory floors, and outdoor data acquisition. M5Stack TOUGH specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 520 KB, 2.4 GHz WiFi, and dual-mode Bluetooth Extra RAM – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB Flash, MicroSD card slot up to 16GB Display – 2-inch color LCD with multi-touch capacitive screen, 320×240 resolution, 853nit brightness; ILI9342C display driver and CHSC6540 chip Audio – NS4168 […]

September 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Nicla Sense ME – Arduino PRO meets Bosch SensorTech’s motion and environmental sensors

Arduino is going full steam ahead with its Arduino PRO family of boards for industrial applications. After the announcement of the Portenta H7 Lite board earlier this month, the company has now introduced the Arduino Nicla Sense ME designed in collaboration with Bosch Sensortec. The Nicla Sense ME (Motion & Environment) board comes with a range of Bosch Sensortec sensors notably a 9DoF smart motion sensor and a 4DoF environmental sensor with AI capabilities, and targets industrial IoT applications either for research projects, rapid prototyping, or commercial products. Arduino Nicla Sense ME specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52832 Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 512KB Flash, 64KB RAM, Bluetooth 4.2/5.0 LE connectivity (via U-blox ANNA B112 module) Storage – 2MB SPI flash for storage; 2MB QSPI dedicated for BHI260AP Sensors BHI260AP motion sensor system with integrated AI, “Fuser 2” 32-bit Synopsys DesignWare ARC EM4 core with RISC FPU BMM150 magnetometer […]

September 27, 2021September 28, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ZB-GW03 ESP32-based Ethernet Zigbee gateway works with Tasmota firmware

ZB-GW03 is an Ethernet Zigbee Gateway compatible with eWelink mobile app and with a design similar to SONOFF ZBBridge gateway but replacing ESP8266 SoC by ESP32 SoC, and adding an Ethernet port. The ZB-GW03 gateway is apparently based on the same Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Zigbee Arm Cortex-M33 chip and has been hacked to run Tasmota open-source software for people preferring more flexibility and/or integration with OpenHAB or Home Assistant open-source home automation frameworks via Zigbee2MQTT. ZB-GW03 gateway specifications: Main MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core Tensilica TX6 processor @ 240 MHz with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth connectivity Zigbee MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ 80 MHz with Zigbee 3.0 connectivity Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth via ESP32 Zigbee 3.0 via Silabs MG21 MCU with support for 128 nodes, up to 200+ meter range One 2.4 GHz Zigbee antenna One 2.4 GHz PCB antenna for WiFi Misc […]