wireless

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Comparing the latency of various wireless standards

Comparing the latency of various wireless standards

Wireless Latency

If you’ve ever wondered which wireless standard may deliver the smallest lag (latency) when transmitting small packets, we’ve now gotten an answer thanks to Scott at Electric UI who benchmarked various wireless links in common MCU development boards. More specifically the following hardware and wireless standards were tested: SiliconLabs 10×0-GM RF+8051 microcontroller with 240–960 MHz EZRadioPRO transceiver running SiK firmware HopeRF RFM95W LoRa module (on an Adafruit Breakout board) connected to an STM32F429 MCU Nordic Semi nRF24L01 2.4GHz transceiver module ESP32 board for ESP-NOW and WiFi testing is shown as ESP32 WS (WebSockets) or ESP32 TCP in the chart below. Raspberry Pi boards were also used for comparison ESP32-C6 board for 802.15.4 transfers (Thread) ESP32 and HC-05 modules for Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Profile) ESP32 board with NimBLE and Bluedroid stacks and nRF52 for Bluetooth LE testing Here are the results for 12 bytes, 128 bytes, and 1024 bytes data transfers. […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - 30 Comments on The M1 device is a Flipper Zero alternative with a faster STM32H5 microcontroller and Wi-Fi connectivity (Crowdfunding)

The M1 device is a Flipper Zero alternative with a faster STM32H5 microcontroller and Wi-Fi connectivity (Crowdfunding)

m1 multitool device

The M1 is a multitool device that bundles several hacking and penetration tools in a package that looks like a retro-gaming console and could be viewed as a Flipper Zero alternative with a more powerful STMicro STM32H5 Cortex-M33 high-performance MCU featuring Arm TrustZone hardware-based security for additional protection for sensitive data. The M1 multitool device features transceivers for infrared, sub-1 GHz, Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, and Wi-Fi. This means that the M1 can replace most of your remotes as well as your RFID and NFC-based items (membership cards, access fobs, business cards, credit cards, etc.) It also has twelve 3.3V (5V tolerant) GPIO pins that can be used to add extra functionality to the device. M1 specifications: MCU – STM32H5-series microcontroller, with a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M33 core, 1MB RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 1.54-inch display, 128 x 64 resolution Connectivity Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR BLE Sensitivity -96dBm Infrared – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Flipper Zero gets a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered video game module

Flipper Zero gets a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered video game module

flipper zero video game module

Flipper Zero hardware & wireless hacking tool can now be used as a proper game console thanks to a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered video game module that mirrors the display of the device on a larger monitor or TV via DVI/HDMI video output, and also adds a 6-axis motion tracking sensor. The Flipper Zero has been in the news in recent days, notably with Canada’s government banning the device due to car theft (although it only seems feasible on older cars), and today the company has announced the launch of a video game module developed in collaboration with Raspberry Pi Ltd. Video game module specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller clocked up to 133 MHz with 264 kB SRAM Video Output – DVI-D at 640х480 with 60 Hz refresh rate. It also supports HDMI. USB – USB Type-C port connected to the microcontroller. Acts as a USB device […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on STMicro STM32WL5MOC SiP Module is pre-certified for LoRaWAN & Sigfox networks

STMicro STM32WL5MOC SiP Module is pre-certified for LoRaWAN & Sigfox networks

STM32WL5MOC wireless prototyping board

STMicroelectronics has recently introduced the STM32WL5MOC system in package (SiP) module with a dual-core STM32 microcontroller, sub-1 GHz RF radio, power supply, and passive components into a 10×10 mm LGA package. According to ST, the new chip uses the STM32WL module which we have seen used in Arduino MKR-inspired MKR Windy board, smart building, and many other LoRa devices. STMicroelectronics’ STM32WL, an Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, operates in sub-GHz ISM bands (413-479MHz, 826-958MHz, and 169MHz later in 2024) for protocols like wireless M-Bus (mode N) and Wize. It supports multi-protocol and multi-modulation (4-(G)FSK, 2-(G)FSK, (G)MSK, DBPSK, DSSS, OOK, ASK) for various wireless standards (Sigfox, KNX, WiSun, mioty, M-Bus, etc.) and introduces power-saving features for up to 15 years of battery life. STM32WL5MOC SiP module specifications: Core Specifications:  STM32WL55JC SoC with 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0+ CPUs, up to 48 MHz. Adaptive real-time accelerator (ART Accelerator) for efficient flash memory execution. DSP instructions […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Arduino and Silicon Labs collaborate to bring Matter to Arduino boards and IDE

Arduino and Silicon Labs collaborate to bring Matter to Arduino boards and IDE

Arduino Nano Matter Silicon Labs

Arduino and Silicon Labs have joined hands to both bring Matter-compatible SiLabs wireless microcontrollers to the Arduino IDE and then design an upcoming Arduino Nano based on SiLabs MGM240 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller with Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and Bluetooth LE protocols. Available now: Arduino Core for Silicon Labs devices The first phase of the collaboration involves getting Arduino core for Silicon Labs development boards so that compatible devices can be programmed in the IDE. The good news is that it’s available now and works with four existing wireless boards: SparkFun Thing Plus Matter MGM240P based on MGM240PB32VNA Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Matter, Thread, Zigbee 3.0, and Bluetooth 5.3 LE connectivity SiLabs xG27 Dev Kit based on EFR32BG27C140F768IM40 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Bluetooth LE 5.3, Bluetooth Mesh, Proprietary 2.4 GHz connectivity SiLabs xG24 Explorer Kit based on EFR32MG24B210F1536IM48 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with Bluetooth 5.3 LE, Bluetooth Mesh, Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, Proprietary 2.4 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on 8Devices Noni M.2 WiFi 7 module supports FirmUx embedded Linux distribution

8Devices Noni M.2 WiFi 7 module supports FirmUx embedded Linux distribution

8devices Noni M.2 WiFi 7 module

8Devices Noni is a family of M.2 A+E-Key WiFi 7 modules built on the QCN9274/QCN6274 chipsets, delivering up to 11 Gbps link rate in 4×4 MIMO or split 2×2 + 2×2 configurations, and supporting FirmUX embedded Linux OS. The Noni modules support Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for simultaneous communication on different frequencies and adaptive interference puncturing in order to maintain performance in various environments and the QCN9274-based variants also support advanced features such as Provisioned Multi-Link, Dense deployment, and Location and RF sensing. 8devices Noni specifications: All the Noni modules support a 2-lane PCIe Gen 3 interface connection to the host device. 8devices Noni modules support the FirmUX embedded Linux platform that provides developers a choice between fully open-source or proprietary Qualcomm drivers. The OS enables WPA3 security, comes with a responsive UI dashboard, supports Wireguard VPN, and the company claims up to 34 percent improvement over OpenWrt on the earlier […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on ESP32 may soon get an open-source WiFi MAC layer

ESP32 may soon get an open-source WiFi MAC layer

ESP32 open-source WiFi MAC driver

Most, if not all, WiFi hardware relies on closed-source binary blobs including ESP32 wireless MCU, but there’s now work underway to reverse engineer a WiFi MAC layer for the ESP32 to make it a truly open-source platform. Espressif ESP32 wireless microcontrollers already have an open-source framework (ESP-IDF) and toolchain, people can customize the code to some extent, but this excludes the wireless bits (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, low-level RF functions) that are distributed as closed-source precompiled libraries integrated into the firmware. There were some efforts to provide an open-source stack for the BL602 chip but it never went anywhere, and the ESP32 may become the first target with an open-source driver without any blobs, excluding FPGA-based projects such as OpenWiFi. The early-stage implementation currently supports the following features: Sending WiFi frames Receiving WiFi frames Send an ACK packet as a reply to packets that are sent to the ESP32 Connect to an […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on LILYGO Mini E-Paper Core IoT controller gets ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller

LILYGO Mini E-Paper Core IoT controller gets ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller

LILYGO Mini E-Paper ESP32-S3

LILYGO Mini E-Paper Core has gotten an upgrade to the ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller. The IoT controller was first introduced in 2021 with an ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package, a 1.02-inch E-Paper display, and a few GPIOs on the back, and the company kept the same design for the ESP32-S3 model called “Mini E-Paper Core S3”. The tiny ESP32-S3 IoT controller can still be used for integrated into your own project, and the company also provides several shields with nRF24L01 2.4GHz wireless or 433/868 MHz “LoRa” connectivity to transform the device into a longer range IoT device. Mini E-Paper Core S3 specifications Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN4R2 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration Memory – 512KB RAM, 2MB PSRAM Storage – 4MB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth Storage – MicroSD card socket Display – 1.02-inch e-paper display with 128×80 […]