Rockchip RKi6000 WiFi SoC Promises Bluetooth 4.0 Power Consumption Levels

Rockchip has announced a new WiFi SoC for IoT applications claiming 85% lower power consumption compared to competing WiFi solutions, which allows cell-coin battery powered WiFi systems thanks to a power consumption equivalent to what you’d get with a Bluetooth 4.0 LE system. Rockchip RKi6000 is said to consume 20 mA (@ 3.3V) during Rx operations. The SoC has been developed with an unnamed third party, and can achieve a lower power consumption thanks to three improvements: Improvement of RF transceiver architecture. The architecture can greatly reduce the active power consumption of IoT smart devices during continuous data transfer. Ultra low power can be achieved both in work and standby mode. Dozens of international patents have been filed for this technology. Adaptive dynamic power control technology. Power efficiency is optimized in different working modes and the total power consumption is reduced greatly in different application scenarios by adjusting the chip’s power […]

Olimex Announces RT5350F-OLinuXino and Evaluation Boards Availability

Olimex had been working on a small board with Ralink RT5350F processor for over a year, with delays mostly due to software development and undocumented registers. But RT5350F-OlinuXino is now available together with an evaluation board with tow relays, two Ethernet ports, and expansions headers, as well as a DIN EBV still in development. RT5350F-OlinuXino specifications: SoC – Ralink / Mediatek RT5350F MIPS24KEc CPU @ 360 MHz System Memory – 32MB SDRAM Storage – 8MB SPI NAND Flash 3x headers with access to USB 2.0 HOST/Device 5x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port GPIOs, SPI, I2C I2S, PCM UART JTAG Power – 3x external DCDC power converters releasing internal RT5350F vreg and preventing common problem with overheating with this chip. Dimensions – N/A Operating Temperature Range – -10 to +55C The board is pre-loaded OpenWRT with Linux 3.18.11. You can find builds instructions and other documentation in the Wiki, as well as […]

CHIP is a $9 Linux Development Board Powered by Allwinner R8 (Crowdfunding)

It’s quite common to find MCU board for less than $10, but if you want to run Linux, you’ll need to spend a bit more, unlessit’s sponsored, and today, the cheapest you can get is probably the $20 Raspberry Pi Model A+, unless you go with some OpenWRT compatible routers. But there’s now a new board in development, called CHIP, with Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor, 512MB RAM, and 4GB NAND flash, as well as wireless connectivity, that will bring cost even lower, as you can pledge $9 on Kickstarter to fund its development. C.H.I.P specifications: SoC – Allwinner R8 Cortex A8 processor @ 1 GHz with Mali-400 GPU (Compatible with Allwinner A13) System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – 3.5mm jack for composite video and audio (HDMI and VGA available via adapters) USB – […]

Espressif WROOM WiFi ESP8266 Modules are FCC and CE Certified

Espressif, the company behind ESP8266 (EX) Wi-Fi chip for IoT applications, has now opened store on Taobao, where they sell WROOM-02 and WROOM-02 modules based on ESP8266EX with FCC, CE, TELEC, and SRRC certifications. WROOM-01 has some soldered headers that make it easier to use for hobbyists and prototyping, while WROOM-02 is more compact, and should be more suitable to include in your own products. But otherwise, they share about the same specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP8266EX 32-bit RISC processor @ 80 MHz with integrated WiFi Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n with STA/AP/STA+AP operation modes Header – 2x 18-pin headers with SDIO 2.0, GPIOs, SPI, UART, GND and 3.3V pins Dimensions – 11.5mm x 11.5mm Temperature Range – -40C ~ 125C Certifications – FCC, CE, TELEC, and SRRC The company can also provide “hardware reference design, antenna design, and SDK for secondary development”, but you’re likely to find most of […]

Ventana GW5220 ARM Linux SBC Supports WiFi, Wimax, 3G Cellular Connectivity & PoE

Gateworks recently launched another Freescale i.MX6 board part of theur Ventana family with Ventana GW5220 single board computer with Freescale i.MX6 dual processor, HDMI out, Ethernet, and a PCIe slot that takes modules adding WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/a, 4G Wimax, and 3G (CDMA/GSM) connectivity, as well as other compatible PCIe modules. Gateworks GW5520 board specifications: SoC- Freescale i.MX6 Dual with 2x Cortex A9 core @ 800MHz and Vivante GPU System Memory – 512 MB (default) to 2GB DDR3-800 SDRAM Storage – 256 MB (default) to 2GB Flash, micro SD slot, serial configuration EEPROM Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet port (RJ45) Video Output and Input – HDMI 1.4 out, CVBS, Y/C, and YPbPr inputs, LVDS output (TIA/EIA 644-A) Audio – HDMI, analog stereo Line In/Out, or Headphone/Mic Expansion – 2x Mini PCIe sockets including one supporting USB and SIM socket, and the other supporting PCIe, mSATA and USB signals. Other I/O ports: […]

Wintel W8 Review – Dual Boot Android & Windows TV Box

Wintel W8 (aka Kingnovel K8) is an Intel Atom Z3735F mini PC inspired from Sunchip Wintel CX-W8 (the hardware is a little different), but instead of just running Windows 8.1, the device can dual boot Android 4.4 and Windows 8.1 with Bing. I’ve already taken pictures or torn down Wintel W8, so today, I’ll focus on the software part of the review, first checking dual boot functionality and Windows 8.1 briefly since it should be very similar to MeLE PCG03, before spending more time on Android as it’s my first Android Intel platform. Dual boot in Wintel W8 When you boot the device, you can select Android or Windows icon, with a 10 second timeout that will boot your latest choice. There’s no menu within Windows to start Android, and vice versa, so to dual boot you need to reboot first, and select the operating systems right after UEFI. The […]

Improve Mediatek MT6752 GPS Accuracy by Turning WiFi Off?

Mediatek smartphones used to have a terribly slow GPS fix, and it would often take over 10 minutes to get a fix if any, and one workaround was to enable Mediatek EPO. However, in my Iocean M6752 review, I found out GPS fix was not super fast even without Internet connection, but accuracy is quite a disaster as Nike+ Running screenshot below clearly shows. I’m running around a stadium so the shape should be elliptic…, but data point are all over the place. Since the review, I’ve kept using the smartphone with Nike+ Running, and each time it’s a disaster, and once the app even reported a 81 km for an actual 10 km run… I’ve also used Google Maps once or twice, and found accuracy to be poor as well. However, I usually leave Wi-Fi on, and for some reasons today, I decided to turn Wi-Fi off before driving […]

WiPy Wi-Fi Board for IoT Runs MicroPython on Texas Instruments CC3200 (Crowdfunding)

If you’ve interested in connecting devices via Wi-Fi, you’re being spoiled as “Internet of things” boards keeps getting designed and produced. The latest board with WiPy, a small board powered by Texas Instruments CC3200, running MicroPython, and consuming less than 1mA in suspended mode with Wi-Fi connected. WiPy specifications: MCU – TI CC3200 ARM Cortex-M4 @ 80 MHz with 256KB RAM, Wi-Fi and TCP/IP stack Storage – 2MB flash Connectivity – WiFi 802.11b/g/n 16Mbps (AP, Station and WiFi-Direct), on-board antenna and u.FL connector Expansion – 2x 14-pin headers (2.54mm pitch) with Up to 25 GPIOs 2x UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, and SD card 3×12 bit ADCs Others 4×16 bit timers with PWM and input capture RTC Hash and encryption engines: SHA, MD5, DES, AES Reset switch, heartbeat LED Power Supply – 3.6 – 5.5V DC input; 3.3V output up to 250mA Power Consumption – Active: 14 mA; Suspended (Wi-Fi connected): […]

Exit mobile version