smart home News - Page 14 of 23 - CNX Software

January 25, 2022January 26, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

SONOFF ZBMINI-L Zigbee 3.0 Smart Switch works without neutral wire

When using a wireless switch like SONOFF T2 a connection to the neutral wire is needed to power the device, but this is not always feasible/practical as many lights as cabled without a neutral wire. SONOFF ZBMINI-L Zigbee 3.0 smart switch solves this issue as it does not require a neutral wire. Simply connect the two wires for the light and you are good to go. ITEAD says its solution does not require an extra anti-flicker module and relies on an “advanced electricity extraction technique”. SONOFF ZBMINI-L specifications: Connectivity – Zigbee 3.0 via TI CC2652P, up to 50 meter range (line of sight) Input – 100-240V 50/60Hz up to 6A Output – 100-240V 50/60Hz up to 6A Max. Load Resistive – 1380W Max @ 230V, 720W Max @ 120V LED – 300W Max @ 230V, 150W Max @ 120V Dimensions – 54 x 45 x 24mm (supports 35mm DIN Rail […]

January 25, 2022January 24, 2022 by Sponsored Post - 4 Comments

PB-03 – A Bluetooth LE 5.2 module for the Smart Home, wearables, IoT, etc… (Sponsored)

What changes does Bluetooth LE 5.2 (BLE 5.2) bring? Maybe PB-03 module can tell you. PB-03 is a BLE module developed by Shenzhen Ai-Thinker Technology based on PHY+ PHY6252 32-bit microcontroller (see PDF datasheet) that offers high integration and low power consumption down to 0.3uA in OFF mode, and is well suited to various applications such as IoT, mobile devices, wearable electronic devices, and smart homes. PB-03 module’s highlights Ai-Thinker PB-03 provides an upgrade to earlier PB-01/02 modules with the following highlights: MCU – PHY6252 microcontroller with 256KB flash, 64KB SRAM Supports BLE 5.2 and Bluetooth Mesh Equipped with an on-board PCB antenna Up to 2 Mbps data rate I/Os – UART, PWM, ADC, I2C, SPI, PDM, DMA, and up to 19 IOs. Security – AES-128 encryption hardware Power consumption (PHY6252) 0.3uA @ OFF Mode (IO wake up only) 1uA @ Sleep Mode with 32KHz RTC 3.5uA @ Sleep Mode […]

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Bluetooth LE 5.0 module enables batteryless sensors thanks to Renesas RE01B MCU

RELOC RM-BE1 BLE 5.0 module energy harvesting

RELOC RM-BE1 Bluetooth 5.0 module with embedded energy harvesting capabilities for batteryless sensors adds to the list of energy harvesting news we’ve written about since the beginning of the year, with UEI chip for remote controls, a devkit with a smart coffee cup, and Atmosic ATM33 BLE 5.3 chip. The RM-BE1 module is powered by Renesas RE01B Arm Cortex-M0+ Bluetooth microcontroller that leverages Renesas’ SOTB (Silicon on Thin Buried Oxide) process technology enabling ultra-low power. We’ve been told the chip can run at 35uA/Mhz with internal LDOs and <20uA/Mhz with additional external DCDCs, as well as around 600nA in standby mode. RELOC RM-BE1 module key features and specifications: MCU – Renesas RE01B Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1.5MB flash, 256KB SRAM Connectivity Bluetooth LE 5.0 with Long Range (up to 400 m) and high data throughput (2 Mbps) support RF output power – Up to +4 dBm Receiver […]

January 6, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NXP IW612 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 802.15.4 tri-radio solution supports Matter

Matter, previously known as Project Chip, is a unified interface for Smart Home devices to improve interoperability between devices from different manufacturers and associated services like Google Assitant or Amazon Alexa. Matter can work over Thread, WiFi, Ethernet, BLE, etc… so it’s not limited by the physical layer. So far, we mostly heard about development related to Matter, and Espressif has published a series of posts about Matter to be for instance used by their upcoming ESP32-H2 wireless MCU, but I had not seen many other solutions, not commercial products. This is going to change in 2022, as Belkin announced it’s working on “redesigned smart plugs and lighting solutions” with support for Matter over Thread” that start selling this summer. Separately, NXP also announced the IW612 tri-radio solution with Matter support and dual-band WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and 802.15.4 radios. NXP IW612 IW612 key features and specifications: Dedicated, independent CPUs […]

January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Wi-Fi 6 Release 2 adds support for uplink multi-user MIMO, improves power management

The Wi-Fi Alliance has just announced Wi-Fi 6 CERTIFIED Release 2 with new features that support increasing device and traffic density, and improve power management with Wi-Fi devices and applications. There are two main changes to the standard: Support for uplink multi-user multiple input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO) which will help with video conferencing, faster uploads, more reliable gaming, and IoT use cases. Power management features that will mostly provide benefit smart home, smart city, and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments Broadcast target wake time (TWT) Extended sleep time Dynamic multi-user spatial multiplexing power save (SMPS) That means there are now three Wi-Fi 6 standards with the original WiFi 6, WiFi 6E, and the new WiFi 6 Release 2. The good news is that the new Release appears to be backward compatible with both WiFI 6 and WiFi 6E and several companies provided quotes for the press release saying how grateful […]

December 27, 2021August 7, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

$1.8 XT-ZB1 Zigbee & BLE devkit features BL702 RISC-V module

Bouffalo Labs BL702 is a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller with a 2.4 GHz radio for Zigbee 3.0 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity that we first found in the Sipeed RV-Debugger Plus UART & JTAG debug board that did not make use of the radio at all. But a BL702 development kit was brought to my attention, with the XT-ZB1 devkit equipped with a Zigbee & BLE module of the same name, and sold for just $1.80 per unit on Aliexpress. Shipping adds $4.63 where I live, but they also offer packs of 5 or 10 with the same shipping fee, meaning if you buy 10 the total cost should be around $22 including shipping, or around $2.2 per board. Alternatively, the module alone goes for $1. XT-ZB1 devkit specifications: XT-ZB1 wireless module with MCU – BL702C 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ 144 MHz with FPU, 132KB RAM, 192KB ROM, 1Kbit eFuse Storage […]

November 27, 2021May 17, 2022 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 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 […]