ZigUNO – An Arduino UNO-sized Zigbee board that works with PTVO firmware

ZigUNO Arduino Zigbee board

ZigUNO Zigbee development board comes with an Ebyte E18-MS1 module equipped with Texas Instruments SimpleLink CC2530 8051 Zigbee microcontroller and follows Arduino UNO form for Arduino Shield compatibility. The board works with PTVO Zigbee firmware that comes with a graphical configuration tool to select the Zigbee chip used (CC2530), configure I/O behavior (input/output, pull-up, etc…), and more. The developers also suggest using DIYRuZ projects as examples to get started. ZigUNO board specifications: Zigbee module – Ebyte E18-MS1-PCB module with TI SimpleLink CC2530 8051 microcontroller with Zigbee 3.0 (and IEEE 802.15.4) connectivity, 256kB Flash and 8kB RAM, PCB antenna Expansion – Arduino UNO headers (3.3V only, not 5V tolerant) Power Supply – 5V up to 1.5A via 5.5/2.1mm DC jack, 2-pin terminal block, or micro USB port Dimensions – 82x54x13 (Arduino UNO form factor) Temperature Range – 0 to 50°C You’ll find the hardware design files including EasyEDA PDF schematics, BoM, […]

Nordic Thingy:53 is a dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 platform for IoT prototyping

Nordic Thingy:53

As one should have expected after Nordic Thingy:52 and Thingy:91 IoT devkits were introduced in 2017 and 2019 respectively, the Norwegian company has now launched the Thingy:53 platform based on Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 SoC for IoT prototyping with Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, Matter, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, NFC, and Bluetooth mesh RF protocols. The development kit also incorporates the nPM1100 PMIC and nRF21540 Front End Module (FEM), a power amplifier/low noise amplifier (PA/LNA) range extender, as well as multiple motion and environmental sensors, as well as a rechargeable 1350 mAh Li-Po battery for power. Nordic Thingy:53 specifications: SoC – Nordic Semi nRF5340 SoC with 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 Application core with 1 MB Flash + 512 KB RAM, and a 64 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 Network core with 256 KB Flash + 64 KB RAM Wireless connectivity RF front-end nRF21540 FEM Protocols – Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Mesh, NFC, Thread/Zigbee, […]

Fingerbot Sense Zigbee or Bluetooth LE button pusher adds touchless control (Crowdfunding)

Fingerbot Sense

When we first wrote about Fingerbot Bluetooth mechanical button pusher to add automation control to (dumb) home appliances over two years ago, I was not convinced about the solution. But it must have gained enough traction, as Adaprox has now launched a sensor version – the Fingerbot Sense – with either Zigbee or Bluetooth connectivity, plus a new touchless control function. It works just the same way as before, simply place the Fingerbot Sense on top of a physical button, and control it with your smartphone, a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Home, or with the new touchless control, simply wave your hand in front of the button without having to touch it. Fingerbot Sense specifications: Connectivity – Bluetooth LE 4.2 or Zigbee 3.0 Stall torque – 2.0 kgf.cm Maximum movement – 12 mm Optional Toolpack with short, medium, long straight arms, rocker arm, ring arm, cushion blocks […]

u-blox MAYA-W2 IoT module offers dual-band WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE 5.2, and Zigbee/Thread connectivity

u-blox MAYA-W2

u-blox MAYA-W2 is a tri-radio IoT module supporting dual-band WiFi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2, and IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread and Zigbee) connectivity based on the NXP IW612 or IW611 chipset introduced last January. The module is offered with a PCB antenna, u.FL connectors, and/or antenna pins, supports up to 600 Mbps link speed, and targets industrial and consumer mass-market applications in industrial automation, smart building & energy management, healthcare, smart home, and more. u-blox MAYA-W2 highlights: Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz Up to 600 Mbit/s throughput Output power EIRP – 18 dBm Operation modes: Access point (up to 16 stations), station, Wi-Fi direct (combinations) Bluetooth 5.2 Dual-mode Bluetooth classic and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2 LE Audio Output power EIRP – 20 dBM Bluetooth profiles and services – Bluetooth HCI 802.15.4 radio Supports Thread and Zigbee Support for the Matter protocol Variants with PCB-antenna, U.FL connectors, and antenna […]

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro gateway supports up to 128 sub-devices

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro

ITEAD has just introduced the SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro WiFi <-> Zigbee gateway as an upgrade to the Sonoff ZBBridge gateway launched in 2020. Both devices look exactly the same, and the changes are under the hood with the EFR32MG21 and ESP8266/ESP8285 combo being replaced by Texas Instruments SimpleLink CC2652P and ESP32 chips to boost the number of supported sub-devices from 32 to 128. Other changes include the addition of a buzzer acting as an alarm or doorbell chime, as well as a “built-in high-precision local RTC” for gateway time synchronization of local scene schedules. SONFF Zigbee Bridge Pro (aka ZB Bridge-P) specifications: Wireless MCUs Texas Instruments CC2652P SimpleLink Arm Cortex-M4F multiprotocol 2.4 GHz wireless MCU with integrated power amplifier Espressif Systems ESP32-DOWN-V3 dual-core processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE Wireless Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and Zigbee 3.0 Supports for up to 128 sub-devices Support for […]

$10 T-Zigbee board combines ESP32-C3 and TLSR8258 for Zigbee 3.0, WIFi and BLE connectivity

T-Zigbee ESP32-C3 WiFi Zigbee board

LilyGO T-Zigbee board combines ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE wireless microcontroller and Telink TLSR8258 multi-protocol wireless SoC compatible with BLE 5 Mesh, Zigbee, RF4CE, Thread, 6LoWPAN, HomeKit, ANT, and 2.4GHz proprietary standards. As I understand it, T-Zigbee is designed to act as a Zigbee to WiFi bridge, and is compatible with Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant, allowing easy integration into your home automation setup. Based on the hardware, I’d assume it may be usable as a BLE to MQTT gateway as well, in a fashion similar to GL.inet GL-S10 gateway, for people willing to work on the software/firmware. T-Zigbee specifications: Wireless MCUs Espressif Systems ESP32-C3 RISC-V processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Telink Semiconductors TLSR8258 (PDF product brief) Arm Cortex-M0 multiprotocol microcontroller @ 48 MHz with BLE 5 Mesh, Zigbee, RF4CE, Thread, 6LoWPAN, HomeKit, ANT, and 2.4GHz proprietary connectivity Antennas – 2x PCB antennas, 2x u.FL antenna connectors USB […]

Sonoff ZBBridge gateway can be used as a Zigbee router/repeater

Sonoff ZBBridge Zigbee router

Sonoff ZBBridge WiFi to Zigbee gateway was introduced in April 2020, and a few months later got support for Tasmota ESP8266 firmware and Gecko firmware for either Home Assistant or Zigbee2MQTT support. But there’s now a new Tasmota firmware that converts Sonoff ZBBridge into a Zigbee router (a.k.a. Zigbee Signal Repeater or Zigbee Range Expender) following a request on Tastoma Github’s issue tracker from last year. The firmware, unofficial yet signed, was released a few days ago by xsp1989 Github’s user with a link to the firmware on Google Drive. Digiblur successfully tried it out on its own Sonoff Zigbee bridge and published the instructions. Assuming you already have Tasmota flashed to the device, switching to the router software is basically a firmware upgrade from the Tasmota web interface. Once the update is complete, you’ll still need to access the console in Tasmota in order to run a command to […]

JetHome JetHub D1 is a Linux automation controller based on Amlogic A113X SoC

JetHub D1 & H1 automation controllers

I discovered JetHome Jethub D1 and Jethub H1 Linux automation controller based on respectively Amlogic A113X and S905X SoCs in Linux 5.16 changelog, as both platforms got upstreamed to mainline Linux. I had never heard of JetHome, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg, nor their products before. Both Jethub D1 & H1 will run either an Armbian-built Ubuntu operating system or Home Assistant Operating System (formerly HassOS), and support Home Assistant (Z2M), Home Assistant (ZHA), and ZIgbee2MQTT. Jethub H1 looks like a TV box with a Zigbee module, while Jethub D1 is a DIN Rail automation controller with plenty of I/Os. Let’s focus on the latter. JetHub D1 specifications: SoC – Amlogic A113x quad-core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz System Memory / Storage configurations 512MB RAM and 8 GB flash 1GB RAM and 16 GB eMMC flash Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port Dual-band WiFi 5 and […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case