Unabiz is an IoT network operator with offices in Singapore and Taiwan. The company offers Sigfox networks in the region, and last year unveiled UnaMKR, a Sigfox Monarch development kit compatible with the tiny Arduino MKR boards. We’ve already written about Sigfox LPWAN standard several times, but what is Sigfox Monarch exactly? Answer direct from Sigfox website: The Monarch feature makes IoT devices aware of the local radio configuration (RC) to use. A single device can thus lawfully communicate on the Sigfox network even when moving between countries with different radio regulations. That means a Sigfox Monarch compliant end-point can work legally anywhere in the world switching to 868 MHz, 902 MHz, and 920 MHz frequencies automatically depending on the country of operation. This is useful for asset tracking across countries and continents. Back to the board itself, with UnaMKR specifications: Platform – Arduino or STMicro Connectivity Lite-On WSG309S Sigfox […]
HuskyLens AI Camera & Display Board is Powered by Kendryte RISC-V Processor (Crowdfunding)
A couple of years ago, I reviewed JeVois-A33 computer vision camera powered by Allwinner A33 quad-core Cortex-A7 processor running Linux. The tiny camera would implement easy-to-use software for machine vision with features such as object detection, eye tracking, QR code and ArUco marker detection, and so on. The camera could handle the tasks at hand, but since it relied on purely software computer vision, there were lag for some of the demo applications including 500ms for single object detection, and up to 3 seconds for YOLO test with multiple object types using deep learning algorithms. That’s a bit slow for robotics project, and software solutions usually consume more than hardware accelerated ones. Since then, we’ve started to see low-cost SoC and hardware with dedicated hardware AI accelerators, and one of those is Kendryte K210 dual-core RISC-V processor with a built-in KPU Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) hardware accelerator and APU audio […]
easySwitchBox is a LoRa Wall Switch Powered by Coin Cell Batteries and Arduino (Crowdfunding)
easySwitchBox is a simple actuator that does one basic thing – To send an on/off signals that can be used to control anything wirelessly. Whatever you intend on doing with the signal sent is left to you. easySwitchBox is the brainchild of easySensors, the Belarus based creators of DIY Arduino focused hardware products. easySwtichBox combines an Arduino based chip and a LoRa radio to be able to send a signal for long-range distances. On the surface, easySwitchBox looks like another wall switch you have seen around, but there is more to it. Powered by the famous Atmega 328P microcontroller, easySwitchBox is more than a wall switch, and you can reprogram it to be an intelligent one indeed or anything else you want. The power supply comes from two attached coin cell battery, making it possible to move the device around and not be confined by location or space. easySwitchBox […]
Your Smartphone Totally Needs a $15 Cooling Fan
2019 is the year of (silly) cooling fans for SBCs and smartphones! After ICE Tower cooling fan for Raspberry Pi 4, and ROG AeroActive Cooler II for ASUS’ latest gaming smartphone, you’ll be pleased to know you can now add a USB powered cooling fan to most smartphones to keep up working optimally in all conditions. You can get this beauty for just $14.99 shipped on Banggood. The cooling fan just clips to your smartphone and is compatible with mobile phones with a 62 to 85mm width since it’s adjustable. It’s made of ABS plastic and measures 80 x 68 x 49 mm. The mobile phone cooler ships with a USB cable to power it. This will quickly deplete your battery though, so they recommend using a power bank instead. Most people will find a smartphone fan to be a ridiculous idea, but a few years ago, I had a […]
BeagleBone Green Gateway SBC Adds Octavo OSD3358 SiP, Ethernet, and a DC Jack
BeagleBone Green Wireless was launched in 2016 as an alternative to the official BeagleBone Green with WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity, and some extra USB ports meaning the Ethernet port had to go. The Linux SBC was based on Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 processor and a 512 MB RAM chip. Seeed Studio has been working on an update of the board named BeagleBone Green Gateway that combines the processor, the RAM chip, and more components into one thanks to Octavo Systems OSD3358 SiP. The new board also adds Ethernet, a DC jack for power instead of just relying on micro USB, and an I2C RTC chip and battery. BeagleBone Green Gateway specifications with changes highlighted in bold: SiP – Octavo Systems OSD3358 with Texas Instruments AM3358 Arm Cortex-A8 processor @ 1.0 GHz, 2×32-bit 200-MHz programmable real-time units (PRUs), 3D graphics accelerator, 512MB DDR3 SDRAM, 4KB EEPROM, and integrated power management Storage […]
Orange Pi Zero LTS SBC Launched for $8.49 and Up
Orange Pi Zero LTS is an update to Orange Pi Zero Allwinner H2+ board with the same specifications, but tweaks to the hardware that Shenzhen Xunlong Software claims lower power consumption and reduce heat. The SBC supports Armbian’s Debian and Ubuntu images, and best suited for headless applications that require network connectivity via Ethernet and/or WiFi such as smart speakers. The board also features one USB port, and two I/O headers for expansion. The good news is that you can now buy Orange Pi Zero LTS for the same price as the original model, namely $8.49 for the 256MB RAM version, and $10.49 for the 512MB model$10.49 for the 512MB model, excluding shipping costs ($4.73 to my location). Here’s a reminder of Orange Pi Zero LTS (v1.5) specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU @ 600 MHz System Memory – 256 to […]
MediaTek Helio G90 & G90T Processors are Designed for Gaming Smartphones
We’ve known MediaTek P-series for mid-range “premium” smartphones, and MediaTek X-Series for higher-performance mobile devices for a few years, but the company is now introducing G-series processors specifically designed for mobile gaming starting with MediaTek Helio G90 and G90T processors. Both feature eight Arm Cortex-A76/Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 2.05GHz coupled with an Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 with speeds up to 800MHz, as well as “HyperEngine Game Technology”, an umbrella name covering multiple features we’ll cover further below. MediaTek Helio G90T specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-A76 plus Cortex-A55 octa-core up to 2.05GHz “with a large L3 cache” GPU – Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 with speeds up to 800MHz AI Acceleration – Up to 1TMACs AI Performance Memory – LPDDR3, LPDDR4x up to 2133MHz, 10GB RAM max Storage – eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.1 Display – Up to 2520 x 1080 Video Encoding – H.264, H.265 / HEVC @ 4K 30fps, FHD 120fps, HD 240fps […]
Librem 5 Linux Smartphone Specifications Finalized
If you were interested in purchasing, or more exactly pre-ordering, a privacy-focused, open source Linux smartphone with clearly defined hardware specifications, Purism Librem 5 was not quite for you. Until today that is, as while the company did not commit to exact specifications at the beginning of the project, Purism has now revealed the full specifications of Librem 5 Linux smartphone. Librem 5 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M quad-core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, Cortex-M4 real-time core, 3G GPU with OpenGL/ES 3.1, Vulkan, OpenCL 1.2 support System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot up to 2 TB Display- 5.7″ IPS TFT touchscreen with 1440×720 resolution Connectivity Cellular Option 1 – Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G modem w/ single sim on replaceable M.2 card Option 2 – Broadmobi BM818 (made in China) nanoSIM tray Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.0 GPS – Teseo LIV3F GNSS Cameras – […]