smart home News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ESP32 OpenMQTTGateway smart plug acts as an BLE MQTT gateway and a power meter

The Theengs Plug ESP32 smart plug runs OpenMQTTGateway firmware to serve as a BLE MQTT gateway and power meter compatible with Home Assistant, Homebridge, OpenHAB, DomoticZ, FHEM, Jeedom, NodeRed, AWS, and any MQTT-compatible IoT or Smart Home system. While the Matter standard should improve interoperability between Smart Home frameworks over time, there are still millions of devices already produced that are not Matter compatible, and the Theengs Plug aims to at least partially address this issue by helping users reduce the number of hubs required and have only one that supports different ecosystems. Theengs Plug hardware specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32 dual-core wireless MCU with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity Network Protocol – MQTT Power Supply – 100-120VAC, 60Hz, up to 15A Dimensions – 103 x 61 x 34.6mm Temperature Range – Operating: 0ºC ~ 40ºC; storage: -10°C ~ 50°C Humidity – 0%～95% (no condensation) Certification – UL Some […]

January 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MediaTek Genio 700 Cortex-A78/A55 IoT processor targets industrial and Smart Home applications

MediaTek Genio 700 is an octa-core Arm processor with two Cortex-A78 cores, six Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G57 GPU, and a 4 TOPS AI accelerator designed for consumer and industrial IoT applications. The new processor is a cost-down version of the Genio 1200 premium AIoT processor introduced last year with four Cortex-A78 and four Cortex-A55 cores. The Genio 700 offers many of the same features but with lower performance/capabilities, including a 3-core GPU and an AI accelerator limited to 4.0 TOPS, as well as support for dual displays up to 4K + Full HD (instead of 2x 4K), and 32MP single cameras (instead of 48 MP). MediaTek Genio 700 specifications: CPU – Octa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A78 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, 6x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC3 GPU VPU Encoding up to 4Kp60 with H.265/HEVC Decoding up to 4Kp75, AV1, VP9, HEVC, […]

December 27, 2022January 5, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme tiny Zigbee smart switch does not require a neutral wire

SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme (aka ZBMINI-L2) is an ultra-compact Zigbee smart switch that can control home appliances and lights without a neutral wire and can fit into almost any mounting box. The tiny wireless switch can fit into the smallest EU-type/86-type/120-type mounting box, and works with gateways supporting the Zigbee 3.0 protocol such as ZBBridge Pro, NSPanel Pro, SmartThings Hub, Amazon Alexa Echo speaker, and so on. It also supports external switches, voice control,eWelink app control, and other features. SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme (ZBMINI-L2) specifications: MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG22 Arm Cortex-M33 @ 76.8 MHz Zigbee microcontroller with up to 512 kB flash, up to 32 kB RAM Connectivity – Zigbee 3.0 Input – 100-240V ~ 56/60Hz 6A Max Output – 100-240V ~ 56/60Hz 6A Max Dimensions – 39.5 x 32 x 18.4mm Casing material – PC V0 As mentioned in the introduction, the SONOFF ZBMINI-L2 does not need a neutral wire […]

December 14, 2022December 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

JetHome JetHub D1+ automation controller runs Armbian with mainline Linux, supports Home Assistant

JetHub D1+ Linux 6.1 automation controller

Earlier this year, we noted the addition of the JetHome JetHub D1 Linux-based home automation controller to mainline Linux 5.16, and the JetHome JetHub D1p (D1+) was just added to Linux 6.1 with some improvements. Still based on the Amlogic A113x processor, the JetHub D1+ gets more memory and storage with 2GB DDR4 RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, a MicroSD card slot, a new RTL8822CS wireless module, and a micro USB port to easily access the console and/or flash firmware to the device. JetHub D1+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic A113x quad-core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz System Memory – 2GB DDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port Dual-band WiFi 5 up to 867 Mbps and Bluetooth 4.2/5.0 (RTL8822CS) Texas Instruments CC2652P1 Zigbee 3.0 module USB 1x USB 2.0 Type-A host port for peripherals 2x Micro USB ports one console access and […]

December 11, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Alif Ensemble Cortex-A32 & Cortex-M55 chips feature Ethos-U55 AI accelerator

Alif Semiconductor’s Ensemble is a family of processors and microcontrollers based on Arm Cortex-A32 and/or Cortex-M55 cores, one or two Ethos-U55 AI accelerators, and plenty of I/Os and peripherals. Four versions are available as follows: Alif E1 single-core MCU with one Cortex-M55 core @ 160 MHz, one Ethos U55 microNPU with 128 MAC/c Alif E3 dual-core MCU with one Cortex-M55 core @ 400 MHz, one Cortex-M55 core @ 160 MHz, one Ethos U55 with 256 MAC/c, one Ethos U55 with 128MAC/c Alif E5 triple-core fusion processor with one Cortex-A32 cores @ 800 MHz, one Cortex-M55 core @ 400 MHz, one Cortex-M55 core @ 160 MHz, one Ethos U55 with 256 MAC/c, one Ethos U55 with 128MAC/c Alif E7 quad-core fusion processor with two Cortex-A32 cores @ 800 MHz, one Cortex-M55 core @ 400 MHz, one Cortex-M55 core @ 160 MHz, one Ethos U55 with 256 MAC/c, one Ethos U55 with […]

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Matter compatible ESP-ZeroCode modules enable plug-and-play automation solutions

Espressif Systems has just announced the Matter-compatible ESP-ZeroCode modules with Wi-Fi and/or Thread (802.15.4) wireless connectivity that are designed as plug-and-play solutions for LED lights, outlets, switches, dimmers, relays, fans, and other lighting and electrical devices. I was only recently introduced to no-code programming in a recent post by Ninephon Kongangkab explaining how to use SenseCraft firmware for no-code programming on Wio Terminal. Basically, there’s no need to know Arduino, MicroPython, or any programming language, as the user just has to press a few buttons to configure an IoT device to meet his/her requirements. With the ESP-ZeroCode modules, Espressif offers something similar using several of their ESP32 chips. The first ESP-ZeroCode modules will be offered with either ESP32-C3 (aka ESP8685) or ESP32-C2 (aka ESP8684) WiFi & BLE RISC-V SoCs, or ESP32-H2 802.15.4 & BLE RISC-V microcontroller, and ships with a Matter compatible firmware that enables “near-zero investment in development”. Not […]

November 10, 2022November 12, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 395 Comments

Giveaway Week 2022 – Sonoff NSPanel Pro and Zigbee modules

The fourth prize of Giveaway Week 2022 is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro control panel with four Zigbee modules including a temperature & humidity sensor, a door/window sensor, a switch, and a PIR motion sensor. The controller is based on a Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor running Android 8.1 and acts as a Zigbee 3.0 gateway allowing users to add all sorts of Zigbee modules. It also works with the eWelink app to add security cameras which can be some of your old smartphones. We reviewed the SONOFF NSPanel Pro control panel & Zigbee gateway last month together with Zigbee modules and the SONOFF Slim Cam indoor security camera and found it worked reasonably well, although some advanced features required us to use the eWelink app in our phones instead of the touchscreen on the display. We also found one bug with the Zigbee switch that the company promised to fix […]

November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

b-parasite Bluetooth LE plant sensor gets Zigbee support

rbaron’s b-parasite is an open-source hardware Bluetooth LE plant watering sensor that can measure soil moisture and ambient temperature/humidity/light and works with ESPHome, Home Assistant, or any macOS or Linux platforms including the Raspberry Pi boards. It is based nRF52840 multi-protocol wireless microcontroller, so stanvn decided to add Zigbee support to the b-parasite through the “Zigbee Plant Sensor” firmware based on the Nordic Semi nRF5 SDK for nRF52 series of SoCs and working with Zigbee2MQTT. Let’s have a look at b-parasite hardware specifications first: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F multi-protocol wireless microcontroller with Bluetooth LE 5.0 and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread) radios, 1024 KB flash, 256KB SRAM Sensors Capacitive soil moisture sensor Sensirion SHTC3 temperature and humidity sensor ALS-PT19 light sensor Power – ~200 mAh CR2032 coin-cell battery estimated to last for a couple of years with readings every 10 minutes The GitHub repository for the board contains the […]