TTGO Micro-32 is a Tiny ESP32-PICO-D4 Module

TTGO Micro-32 vs ESP32-WROOM-32

Unveiled almost a year ago, ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP (System-in-Package) combines ESP32 wireless processor, 4MB SPI Flash, a crystal oscillator, as well as some passive components, and allows more compact or thinner designs such as found in ESP32-PICO- Kit v4 development board. However, so far I had not seen any ESP32-PICO-D4 module, but TTGO Micro-32 fills the void as a compact module based on the SiP. TTGO Micro-32 module specifications: SiP – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 based on ESP32 dual core processor + 4MB SPI flash Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 LE and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps with chip antenna and u.FL (IPEX) connector Expansion – Castellated holes with GPIO, ADC, DAC, VP/VN, Touch, UART, I2C, and power signals Supply Voltage – 3.3V Dimensions – 19.2 x 13.3 mm (45% smaller than ESP32-WROOM-32) There’s no specific software for the module, since it should be software compatible with ESP-WROOM-32 (now called ESP32-WROOM-32). […]

ESP32-SOLO-1 is a Single Core ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth Module

ESP32-SOLO-1 Module

Espressif ESP32 is popular dual core processor with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, except as we’ve seen last year, the company also developed a single core version with ESP32-S0WD chip, whose price is only slightly more expensive than ESP8266. But so far, I had not seen many hardware platforms announced with the single core version, with the exception of Particle Argon board. But I believe we should soon see more ESP32-S0WD boards brought to market, since Espressif Systems has now announced ESP32-SOLO-1 single core module. ESP32-SOLO-1 wireless module specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S0WD single core Tensilica Xtensa LX6 processor @ up to 160 MHz with 448 KB ROM, 520KB on-chip SRAM, and 16KB SRAM in RTC Storage – 4MB SPI flash Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 LE + EDR I/Os – SD card, UART, SPI, SDIO, I2C, LED PWM, motor PWM, I2S, IR, […]

WPA3 WiFi Security Formally Introduced, WiFi Easy Connect Allows Easier Setup of Headless Devices

WiFi Certified WPA3

While I still see some open WiFi access points from time to time in the wild, most people are using WPA2 authentication to connect securely to their own WiFi router, or public ones instead of WEP that has been found to be insecure many years ago. WPA2 is not quite secure as it once was, as last year WPA2-PSK was cracked. It’s not that bad, as it may still take several days with a strong password requiring a large password file for the hack to work. Still a new revision was needed, and the WiFi alliance has just introduced Wi-Fi WPA3 security. Just like with WPA2, there are personal and enterprise modes for WPA3 WPA3-Personal WPA2-Personal Pre-shared Key (PSK) is replaced with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), which is said to be resistant to offline dictionary attacks where an adversary tries possible passwords without further network interaction. WPA3-Personal/SAE enables: Natural […]

Tail it is a Family of WiFi & Cellular GPS Trackers for Things, Pets, and Bicycles (Crowdfunding)

Tail It Cellular GPS Tracker

We’ve previously written about Ping, a tiny Cellular GPS tracker that promised to last 3 months on  a charge. The raising money part of the crowdfunding campaign itself was successfully with over one million dollars raised, but as with many such campaigns there have been delays, and some people still have to receive theirs, not to mention people complaining about poor battery life and other issues. But there seems to be another option now with Tail It Technologies now offering four different “Tail it” cellular GPS trackers (with WiFi too) for things, pets, and even one designed specifically for bicycles. The company has already sold their devices to thousands of customers in Norway, so they should be working, and on-time delivery should hopefully not be an issue. All four GPS trackers come with 2G, 3G, 4G, and WiFi connectivity,  a 5-meter accuracy, and share the same electronics and firmware. Here’s […]

ESP8266 RGB LED Strip Control with ANAVI Light Controller, Arduino, MQTT, and HTML5

Anavi-Light-Controller-Starter-Kit-Assembly

A few months ago I reviewed ANAVI Light pHat for Raspberry Pi which allows you to control an LED RGB strip from the popular development board. However, if all you need is to switch the RGB LED light on and off, or change the color, the hardware is clearly overpowered for the tasks. So Leon ANAVI designed another board based on ESP8266 – ANAVI Light Controller – which does the same thing with lower cost and more power efficient hardware. Leon sent me a sample for review, so let’s see what we’ve got. ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit Unboxing I received a package for the Starter kit that’s offered for $39 on CrowdSupply. We’ve got the main board, a USB debugging, an acrylic enclosure with screws and spacers, a one meter RGB LED strip, and some stickers inside the package. If we have a close look at the board we […]

Wemos LOLIN D32 Pro ESP32 Board Supports TFT Displays, Comes with a micro SD Card Slot

Wemos LOLIN D32 Pro

Wemos is popular for their low cost WiFi board based on Espressif SoCs. Their most popular board is ESP8266 based Wemos D1 mini  thanks to its compact form factor, low price ($5 shipped), and available add-on boards. But they’ve also launched some ESP32 in the last year or so with development boards such as Wemos LOLIN32 Lite. Their latest ESP32 board – LOLIN D32 Pro v2.00 – features ESP32-WROVER module, and beside exposing I/Os via breadboard compatible headers, also offers a micro SD card slot, a TFT display connector, and an I2C header. LOLIN D32 Pro specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.1 LE module with 4MB Flash, 4MB PSRAM Storage – micro SD card slot supporting SPI mode Display I/F – TFT display connector USB – 1x micro USB port for programming and power Expansion 2x 16-pin headers with GPIOs, SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, DAC, […]

ASUS Announces 802.11ax WiFi Routers at Computex 2018

802.11ax is a new WiFi standard offering better performance, especially in high-density scenario, where average per usage bandwidth may be improved by up to 4 times, so city dwellers should benefit the most. Last year, we started to see 802.11ax compliant chips from Broadcom, Marvell, Qualcomm, and others, so it should come as no surprise that some of first 802.11ax WiFi routers are launched this year. ASUS introduced two 802.11ax WiFi routers at Computex 2018 with ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 tri-band 802.11ax router, RT-AX88U dual band 802.11ax router , and the AX6100 WiFi System for mesh networking. ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 The ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is a high-end router with a peak aggregate throughput of about 11000 Mbps. Specifications: Processor – Quad core processor @ 1.8 GHz System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 256 MB flash Connectivity WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax,  IPv4, IPv6 Tx/Rx – 2.4 GHz 4×4, 5 GHz-1 4×4,  5 […]

ESP8266 based ANAVI Light Controller can be Programmed with Home Assistant or the Arduino IDE (Crowdfunding)

ANAVI Technology previously launched a Light pHAT allowing for RGB Light strip connection to Raspberry Pi boards, and during my review of ANAVI Light pHAT with Raspberry Pi 2, it did the job, but if that’s all you want to do, the  Raspberry Pi board is clearly oversized & overpowered for the job. So Leon ANAVI got back to the drawing board and designed a similar open source hardware board – called ANAVI Light Controller – with an built-in ESP8266 module that removes the need for a fully fledged Linux board. ANAVI Light Controller specifications: Wireless Module – ESP8266MOD module based on ESP8266 Tensilica L106 32-bit processor Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Expansion Terminal block for 12 V RGB LED strip 3x I2C headers for sensors Debugging – UART header Misc – Button Power Supply – 12 V via power barrel jack Dimensions – 75 mm x 40 mm Certification […]