CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 2, 2020May 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Xiaomi Smart Multi-mode Gateway Supports Zigbee 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Mesh

Xiaomi has introduced several inexpensive home automation products over the years, often under their Mijia brands with for example a WiFi to IR blaster, a Zigbee & WiFi smart home kit, a smart door lock, or a smart speaker among other products. Recently, the company has launched the Xiaomi Smart Multi-mode Gateway that supports Zigbee 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Mesh. Xiaomi Mijia Smart Multi-mode Gateway (model ZNDMWG03LM) key features and specifications: Connectivity ZigBee2.0 / ZigBee3.0 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth & Bluetooth Mesh Compatible with Apple Homekit Max range – 200 meters (Line-of-Sight) Up to 32 devices Power Supply – 5V/1A Dimensions – 90x25mm Temperature Range – -5℃-50℃ Humidity – 0%-95%RH, non-condensing The gateway can be controlled via Mi Home app running on Android 5.0 or iOS 12.0 smartphones. It’s compatible with Apple Homekit, Xiaomi Mi AI speaker, and the earlier Zigbee/WiFi kit with Aqara gateway and Zigbee sensors […]

January 2, 2020January 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Polos GD32V Alef is a Tiny RISC-V MCU Board Selling for $3

We first found out about GigaDevice GD32V 32-bit RISC-V MCU last summer, as an update/alternative to the earlier STM32 compatible GD32 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller from the company with higher performance and lower power consumption, while keeping the price identical. The first low-cost GD32V development board we covered was Longan Nano going for $5 with an OLED display and an acrylic case. If you don’t need either or want to access all pins from the 48-pin MCU, you can now order an even cheaper GD32V RISC-V MCU board with Polos GD32V Alef going for $2.99 on Analoglamb website. Polos GD32V Alef board specifications: MCU – Gigadevice GD32VF103CBT6 32-bit RISC-V (rv32imac) microcontroller @ 108 MHz with 128KB Flash, 32KB SRAM USB – 1x micro USB OTG port for power and programming Expansion – 52 through holes (2.54mm pitch) exposing all pins from the MCU including 3x USART, 2x I2C, 3x SPI, 2x […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip RK3588, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Year 2019 in Review – Top 10 Posts and Stats

2019 is closing to an end, or you may already be into 2020 while reading this post. In any case, that means it’s time to look back at 2019 and look forward to the events and new products to take place next year. While 2018 was a boring year for new processors, 2019 brought us some interesting new chips such as Amlogic S922X / A311D, or the first Arm Cortex-A55 only processors such as Amlogic S905X3. Rockchip RK3399Pro was promising when it was announced last year, but it never really took off. It was a pretty quiet year for Allwinner as well. RISC-V architecture has been ramping up with the first general-purpose RISC-V MCU: GD32V, WCH CH572 Bluetooth LE MCU, the launch of more SiFive RISC-V cores, and Kendryte K210 RISC-V AI processor announced last year has found its way into more and more boards. There have also been the […]

December 31, 2019January 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OnLogic Introduces Four Apollo Lake Pico-ITX SBC’s with Integrated Heatsink

We previously covered some Apollo Lake Pico-ITX boards with the likes of GIGABYTE GA-PICO3350 or AAEON PICO-APL3 motherboards, but there are now more options with OnLogic – formerly known as Logic Supply – recently launching four Apollo Lake Pico-ITX SBC’s. OnLogic EPM160, EPM161, EPM162, and EPM163 are powered by either an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor or an Intel Pentium N4200 quad-core SoC with different memory capacities, display and networking options. OnLogic EPM16x specifications: SoC EPM160, EPM161, EPM162 – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz (Burst frequency) with Intel HD Graphics 500 EPM163 – Intel Pentium N4200 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.5 GHz (Burst frequency) with Intel HD Graphics 500 System Memory / Storage EPM160 – 1 GB LPDDR4-2133, MicroSD card slot, mSATA (shared PCIe Mini Card slot) EPM161 – 2 GB LPDDR4-2133, 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot, […]

December 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$18 TTGO T-Wristband DIY Arduino Programmable Smart Bracelet Features ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP

2020 is promising to be an interesting year for low-cost user-flashable smartwatches/bracelets. After the recent introduction of the $25 Pine64 PineTime Bluetooth enabled wearable companion for PinePhone Linux smartphone that will support various real-time operating systems such as Zephyr OS or FreeRTOS, we’ve now been informed that Liliygo launched TTGO T-Wristband smart bracelet powered by Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP. The watch comes with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 Classic+LE connectivity and is currently selling for under $18 and up on Aliexpress and Tindie. TTGO T-Wristband smart bracelet specifications: SIP – ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with ESP32 Tensilica LX6 dual-core processor, clocked at 240MHz, 520 KB SRAM, 802.11 b/g/n HT40 Wi-Fi, integrated dual-mode Bluetooth (classic + low energy) Display – 0.96″ IPS color display Antenna – WiFi / Bluetooth ceramic antenna Sensor – Invensense MPU9250 9-axis motion sensor Expansion / Programming Interface – 0.3pitch 13-pin FPC socket Misc – NXP PCF8563 […]

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019 by Sponsored Post - Comments Off

How to Extract Data from a Form in ONE SECOND! Develop Your PDF Skills NOW

Note: this post has been sponsored by Wondershare. PDF is a great format for any type of document containing text, images, tables, and other complex content formats in one single file type. However, there may be times when you want to extract data from a PDF so you only have what you need. For example, what do you do when you want to extract data from a single page of a large PDF file? Or when you need to extract the information from several marked pieces of data? This article shows you three ways to get your data from PDF to Excel in PDFelement, but it also works with other types of data extraction. Let’s begin. Method 1: Quickly Extract Table Data to CSV and Excel in ONE SECOND Step 1: Import your PDF File: You can do this by dropping a file into the PDFelement interface or just clicking […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

UL IoT Security Rating System Ranks IoT Devices Security from Bronze to Diamond

Underwriters Labs (UL) is better known for its electrical safety certification programs, but in 2016, the company introduced three UL 2900 IoT security standards that defined requirements of software cybersecurity for network-connectable products. Four years later, you may not have heard many products adhering to UL 2900, and Laurens van Oijen, IoT security solution leader at UL, recognizes that ” the UL 2900 set the bar too high for most consumer electronics/IoT companies” according to a report on CE Pro. So instead the company has launched the UL IoT Security Rating System last May with 5 levels of “security capabilities” ranking IoT devices and products with either Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Diamond. Those certifications are aimed to help both manufacturers and developers to improve the security of their solutions, and help consumers make better purchase decisions by knowing the level of security of IoT products by just looking at […]

December 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Dragino RS485-LN Brings LoRaWAN Connectivity to RS485 Sensors

RS485 sensor nodes are often used in smart agriculture, environment monitoring, or factory & building automation and work up to 1.2 km when using AWG 18 cables. If you already have such nodes but need to extend the distance, or would like to reduce the need for long cables, you could make use of Dragino RS485-LN RS485 to LoRaWAN converter which will work up to 10+ kilometers depending on conditions. Dragino RS485-LN key features & specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32L072CZT6 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller MCU @ 32 MHz with 192 KB Flash, 6 KB EEPROM, 20 KB RAM Connectivity LoRaWAN Via SX1276 LoRa transceiver Frequency Range: Band 1 (HF): 862 ~ 1020 MHz Band 2 (LF): 410 ~ 528 MHz Bands – CN470/EU433/KR920/US915/EU868/AS923/AU915/IN86/RU864 168 dB maximum link budget. +20 dBm – 100 mW constant RF output Programmable bit rate up to 300 kbps. High sensitivity: down to -148 dBm. RS485 to […]