Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK low-power dual-band WiFi 6 IoT development kit launched for $56 and up

nRF7002-DK development kit

Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK is an IoT development kit based on the nRF5340 dual-core Cortex-M33 multi-protocol wireless SoC and nRF7002 companion chip adding low-power dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity. When Nordic Semi introduced the nRF7200 dual-band WiFi 6 companion chip for nRF52840 and nRF5340 wireless SoCs and nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP last summer, the “nRF7002-PDK” development kit was only mentioned in passing with a 3D render and not much else. The company has now announced the availability of the nRF7002 DK to help developers create low-power Wi-Fi 6 IoT applications. nRF7002 DK specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF5340 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 128/64 MHz with 1 MB Flash + 512 KB RAM for the application core and 256 KB Flash + 64 KB RAM for the network core, Bluetooth 5.1 LE with direction-finding support, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread, Zigbee, 802.15.4, ANT, and 2.4 GHz proprietary […]

$4 Sipeed M0S Dock IoT development board features BL616 WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee RISC-V microcontroller

Sipeed M0S Dock BL616 board

As expected, Sipeed has now launched the Sipeed M0S IoT module based on Bouffalo Lab BL616 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee connectivity along with the “Sipeed M0S Dock” development board. The M0S is a tiny module (11×10 mm) with a 320 MHz wireless MCU, a ceramic antenna, and castellated holes for I/Os, and the Sipeed M0S Dock places the module on an easy-to-use board with a USB Type-C port, a BOOT button, and a 12-pin 2.54mm pitch header. Sipeed M0S module specifications: MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL616 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFCP) microcontroller @ up to 320 MHz (384 MHz overclocked) with 480KB SRAM, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz  WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual mode, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee) Antenna – Ceramic antenna (red component on module) I/Os – 25 castellated holes with RGB LCD DVP camera USB 2.0 OTG up to 480 Mbps I2C, UART, SPI […]

ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, BLE, and 802.15.4 module and development board launched!

ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board

Espressif Systems has finally launched the ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and 802.15.4 IoT microcontroller by making the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 module available on Aliexpress for $14.25 for a pack of 5 modules as well as the ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board that’s out of stock on the official store at the time of writing. but somehow listed in another store for $16.22 plus shipping. Besides the availability announcement, another surprise is the 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee and Thread that was not part of the original ESP32-C6 announcement in April 2021. The ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board comes with a module with 8MB flash, exposes most of the I/O’s from the ESP32-C3, and comes with two USB-C ports, two buttons, and an RGB LED. ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board specifications: Wireless module  – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 with ESP32-C6 single-core 32-bit RISC-V clocked up to 160 MHz 320KB ROM, 512KB SRAM, low-power RISC-V core @ up to 20 MHz Wireless […]

Bouffalo Lab BL616/BL618 RISC-V MCU supports WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and Zigbee

Sipeed BL616 module

Bouffalo Lab BL616/BL618 is a 32-bit RISC-V wireless microcontroller with support for 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual-mode, and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter designed for IoT applications. We first spotted the BL616 RISC-V IoT MCU during the BL602/BL606 announcement in November 2020, but we had virtually no additional information about it so far. It appears both BL616 and BL618 will be launched next month with the main difference between the two being that BL616 has 19 GPIOs and BL618 comes with 35 GPIOs. Bouffalo Lab BL616 and BL618 specifications: MCU core – 32-bit RISC-V CPU (RV32IMAFCP) @ up to 320 MHz with FPU and DSP, 32KB instruction cache & 16KB data cache VPU – MJPEG video encoder Memory – 480KB SRAM, 4KB HBN RAM, embedded 4 or 8MB pSRAM (optional) Storage – 128KB ROM, 4Kb eFuse, embedded 2, 4, or 8MB flash (optional), XIP QSPI […]

SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme tiny Zigbee smart switch does not require a neutral wire

SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme

SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme (aka ZBMINI-L2) is an ultra-compact Zigbee smart switch that can control home appliances and lights without a neutral wire and can fit into almost any mounting box. The tiny wireless switch can fit into the smallest EU-type/86-type/120-type mounting box, and works with gateways supporting the Zigbee 3.0 protocol such as ZBBridge Pro, NSPanel Pro, SmartThings Hub, Amazon Alexa Echo speaker, and so on. It also supports external switches, voice control,eWelink app control, and other features. SONOFF ZBMINI Extreme (ZBMINI-L2) specifications: MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG22 Arm Cortex-M33 @ 76.8 MHz Zigbee microcontroller with up to 512 kB flash, up to 32 kB RAM Connectivity – Zigbee 3.0 Input – 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 6A Max Output – 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 6A Max Dimensions – 39.5 x 32 x 18.4mm Casing material – PC V0 As mentioned in the introduction, the SONOFF ZBMINI-L2 does not need a neutral wire […]

JetHome JetHub D1+ automation controller runs Armbian with mainline Linux, supports Home Assistant

JetHub D1+ Linux 6.1 automation controller

Earlier this year, we noted the addition of the JetHome JetHub D1 Linux-based home automation controller to mainline Linux 5.16, and the JetHome JetHub D1p (D1+) was just added to Linux 6.1 with some improvements. Still based on the Amlogic A113x processor, the JetHub D1+ gets more memory and storage with 2GB DDR4 RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, a MicroSD card slot, a new RTL8822CS wireless module, and a micro USB port to easily access the console and/or flash firmware to the device. JetHub D1+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic A113x quad-core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz System Memory – 2GB DDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port Dual-band WiFi 5 up to 867 Mbps and Bluetooth 4.2/5.0 (RTL8822CS) Texas Instruments CC2652P1 Zigbee 3.0 module USB 1x USB 2.0 Type-A host port for peripherals 2x Micro USB ports one console access and […]

$6 Pine64 Ox64 SBC features BL808 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V multi-protocol WiSoC with 64MB RAM

Pine64 Ox64 SBC

Pine64 Ox64 is a single board computer powered by Bouffalo Lab BL808 dual-core 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V processor with up to 64MB embedded RAM, multiple radios for WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee), as well as an AI accelerator. The board also features up to 16MB XSPI NOR flash, a MicroSD card socket, a USB 2.0 OTG port with support for a 2-lane MIPI CSI camera module, and two 20-pin GPIO headers for expansion. It measures just 51 x 21mm, or in other words, is about the size of a Raspberry Pi Pico W. Pine64 Ox64 specifications: SoC – Bouffalo Lab BL808 with: CPU Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit RISC-V core @ 480MHz Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit RISC-V core @ 320MHz Alibaba T-head E902 32-bit RISC-V @ 150MHz Memory – 728KB SRAM, 64MB embedded DRAM AI accelerator – NPU BLAI-100 (Bouffalo Lab AI engine) for video/audio detection/recognition Wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n […]

Giveaway Week 2022 – Sonoff NSPanel Pro and Zigbee modules

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Zigbee Devices Added

The fourth prize of Giveaway Week 2022 is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro control panel with four Zigbee modules including a temperature & humidity sensor, a door/window sensor, a switch, and a PIR motion sensor. The controller is based on a Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor running Android 8.1 and acts as a Zigbee 3.0 gateway allowing users to add all sorts of Zigbee modules. It also works with the eWelink app to add security cameras which can be some of your old smartphones. We reviewed the SONOFF NSPanel Pro control panel & Zigbee gateway last month together with Zigbee modules and the SONOFF Slim Cam indoor security camera and found it worked reasonably well, although some advanced features required us to use the eWelink app in our phones instead of the touchscreen on the display. We also found one bug with the Zigbee switch that the company promised to fix […]