Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on KidBright32 Board is Thailand’s BBC Micro:Bit Equivalent

KidBright32 Board is Thailand’s BBC Micro:Bit Equivalent

BBC Micro:Bit board was first announced in July 2015. Designed for STEM education, the board was then offered to UK schools in March 2016, and a few months later UK store would start selling it worldwide. It’s now available pretty much anywhere, and you can likely find it in a local store or online. The Thai government must have seen this, and thought to themselves “If the British can do it, we can do it too!”, as the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) part of Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology designed KidBright32 board and courses to teach STEM to Thai students. The board is based on Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32 WiFI and Bluetooth module, and comes with large holes for power (5V/GND) and 6 digital inputs/outputs,  smaller through holes for I2C and more I/Os, as well as an I2C header. We’ll also find some LEDs, two dot matrix LED displays, three buttons, a buzzer, an RTC, a light […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on MatchX MatchBox LoRa Gateway Setup (for AS923) and Installation

MatchX MatchBox LoRa Gateway Setup (for AS923) and Installation

Waterproof LoRa Gateway

At the end of last year, I received MatchX Matchbox LoRaWAN gateway, but only quickly checked out the hardware, as I was still unclear about regulations in South East Asia, and did not have any nodes to play with. Understanding Regulations and LoRaWAN Frequency Plans Since then, the government published some notifications about the 920-925 MHz band we are supposed to follow here. It’s in Thai language, and I can’t still read/understand it, but I got some translation help, and some key points include: paragraph 5 : for 920-925MHz non-RFID radio equipment (1) max EIRP not more than 4 watts (2) if EIRP < 50mW, no need for any license (3) if EIRP < 500mW, a license is required for importing, selling, and making your own equipment (4), and you must be in accordance with NBTC technical standard. (5) must not interfere with any licensed application. Interfering equipment must be prevented for any usage. I’ve also learned that LoRaWAN defines frequency […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on NB-IoT Overview, Technical Presentation, and Getting Started (in Thailand)

NB-IoT Overview, Technical Presentation, and Getting Started (in Thailand)

Chiang-Mai-Maker-Party-Nb-IoT

As I mentioned in my post yesterday I attended a talk about NB-IoT at Chiang Mai Maker Party 4.0 (2017). It was presented by representatives from AIS, a large telco company in Thailand, and I’ll give a summary of what I learned beside that Xiaomi Mi A1 camera is not that good after all, and I should have taken my DSLR camera with me instead. So apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos… The talk started from a higher level, including marketing / business propositions, and has time passed it become more and more technical. The first part of talk was presented by Phuchong Charoensuk, IoT marketing specialist at AIS, and he provided some more details about the company, and their current B2B IoT/M2M market (400,000 subscribers), before providing an overview of IoT, and how NB-IoT will bring in not only larger businesses but also startups and makers. He also went through some of the benefits of […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on The Internet of Bridges? Connected and Solar Powered Systems for Rainfall and Stream Water Level Monitoring

The Internet of Bridges? Connected and Solar Powered Systems for Rainfall and Stream Water Level Monitoring

We often drive on a bridge fitted with some solar powered equipment, and recently they added a solar powered camera pointing towards the river, so I became curious and decided it would be fun to have a look, and find out what it was all about. There are now 3 solar powered and connected systems. The first system has a larger solar panel connected to a Bosch camera, and a white box… The sticker on the box gives away the purpose of the system: “National Disaster Warning Center” If we look the other side of the system we’ll see an antenna (for 3G/LTE?) as well as a light pointing down to a scale to measure the water level… Probably not the most cost effective way of checking out the level, but it works, and they should have a live feed in case something goes very wrong, and it might be able to measure other characteristics like water velocity. The system […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Linaro Connect 2016 Bangkok Schedule – March 7-11, 2016

Linaro Connect 2016 Bangkok Schedule – March 7-11, 2016

Linaro Connect Bangkok (BKK16) will take place on March  7 – 11, 2016, and the schedule is now available for the 5-day event with keynotes and sessions. Whether you’re going to attend or not, it’s always interesting to check the schedule to find out what’s going on in terms of ARM Linux development. The five days will focus on work by different Linaro groups, but really sessions are mixed for any given day, and I’ve created a virtual schedule for each day with available information, as Linaro has become a little more closed to the outside than when it was launched a few years ago. Monday 7 – LITE (Linaro IoT & Embedded Group) 1400 – 14:50 – Evolution of the Reference Software Platform Project The Reference Software Platform lead project was introduced in Linaro Connect San Francisco 2015, and since then it evolved and matured with the completion of the first tree big milestones (the 15.10, 15.12 and 16.03 […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on TESPA Hawk IoT Board Combines ESP8266 with STM32 MCU in an Arduino Nano Form Factor (Crowdfunding)

TESPA Hawk IoT Board Combines ESP8266 with STM32 MCU in an Arduino Nano Form Factor (Crowdfunding)

TESPA Hawk is an IoT board designed by three companies based in Thailand and Singapore: Deaware delivers the embedded software for the board, Gravitech handles hardware design and manufacturing, and MakerAsia provides the IoT cloud platform. At first glance, it looks like yet another board based on the popular ESP8266 WiSoC, but it also includes an STM32 micro-controller, and its pinout is the same as Arduino Nano. There are also various add-on boards (WINGs) to easily and quickly prototype IoT projects. TESPA Hawk specifications: WiSoC – Espressif ESP8266 @ 80MHz with 8MB Flash MCU – ST Micro STM32F042G6 ARM Cortex-M0 MCU @ 48MHz with 32KByte Flash, 6KB SRAM Connectivity – WiFI 802.11 b/g/n/ with on-board antenna and u.FL socket for external antenna USB – micro USB port for power and programming Expansion – 2x 16-pin headers (mostly) compatible Arduino Nano pinout including 5-channel full range 3.3V ADC (4x 12-bit, 1x 10-bit), I2C, UART, GPIOs, SPI, etc.. Misc – Reset and CF […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on i-mobile IQ II is an Android One Smartphone for Thailand

i-mobile IQ II is an Android One Smartphone for Thailand

Android One program aims to delivers low cost smartphones for emerging market with the latest Android version and firmware updates for at least 2 years. Google started with India, shortly followed with Indonesia, and now the company has announced the launch of an Android One smartphone for Thailand with its partnership with i-Mobile.  i-Mobile IQ II specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 GPU and Hexagon V50 DSP System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 32GB Display – 5″ multitouch display, 1280×720 resolution Connectivity – WiFi, A-GPS Cellular Connectivity 2G: 900/1800 MHz (for AIS, Dtac and True mobile providers) 3G: 850/2100 MHz (for AIS, Dtac, True and 3GX mobile providers) HSDPA (Mbps) Download : 42 Mbps; HSUPA (Mbps) Upload : 11 Mbps Dual SIM card support Camera  – 2.0 MP front-facing camera, 8.0MP rear camera with back-side illuminated sensor […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on A Quick Look at SAMART Strong Black “Free” DVB-T2 Receiver in Thailand

A Quick Look at SAMART Strong Black “Free” DVB-T2 Receiver in Thailand

Thai government has made digital television a priority, so they’ve launched a program to give a 690 Baht voucher ($21) to all households in Thailand. The voucher is send by registered mail to your home, and delivery has to be signed by a Thai person. Then you can go to a shop equipped with a Thai ID card and house registration book copy, present this voucher, and get a free (except for tax payers of course) DVB-T2 receiver, or use it to buy something a more advanced set-top box or digital TV package with 690 Baht discount. We decided to get a free DVB-T2 receiver, and ended up with a box called SAMART Strong Black supporting SD and 1080p video streams over DVB-T2, EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and with a USB port to connect devices for recording programs or time-shifting. SAMART is a Thai company whose name means “can” (formal) as in “we can”, not as in “beer can”… So […]

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