MKR Windy board
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Arduino MKR inspired MKR Windy board is equipped with STM32WL LoRa SoC

We recently wrote about MKR SharkyPro BLE, Zigbee, OpenThread development board based on STM32WB55 MCU and following Arduino MKR form factor, but it turns out Midatronics has also launched a similar-looking board with LoRa connectivity. MKR Windy board features the company’s Windy STM32WL module with an uFL connector and following the same Arduino MKR layout. MKR Windy specifications: Wireless Module – Windy module (MDX-STWLU-R01) Wireless MCU – STMicro STM32WLE5JX/STM32WL55JX Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ 48 MHz with up to 256KB flash, 64KB SRAM Connectivity Semtech SX126x sub-GHz radio with LoRa, (G)FSK, (G)MSK, and BPSK modulation, 150 MHz to 960 MHz frequency range RX Sensitivity: –123 dBm for 2-FSK,  -148 dBm for LoRa Antenna – uFL connector for external antenna Supply Voltage – 1.8 V to 3.6 V Dimensions : 16 x 26 mm Temperature Range – 40°C to + 85 °C USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming […]

STM32WL Wireless M-Bus Stack
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STMicro STM32WL Wireless MCU Gets Wireless M-Bus Stack for Smart Meters

STMicro STM32WL was introduced as the world’s first LoRa SoC last year as it combined an STM32L4 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller with Semtech SX126x LoRa radio. The company has now partnered with Stackforce to develop a wireless M-Bus (wM-Bus) software stack that leverages the integrated sub-GHz radio and multiple modulation schemes supported by STM32WL microcontrollers. Wireless M-Bus (Wireless Meter Bus) is a wireless protocol specifically designed for remote reading of smart meters, generally gas, water, or electricity meters. The wM-Bus stack developed by Stackforce is said to comply with most of EN 13757-3/-7 specifications from lower to upper layers. The stack notably supports Wireless M-BUS modes S, T and C used throughout Europe in the 868MHz band, as well as the mode N for operation at 169MHz that also happens to be Wize frequency. Stackforce Wireless M-Bus stack for STM32WL also meets requirements for several other metering standards, including the Open […]

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STMicro STM32WL is the World’s First LoRa SoC

There is no denying that the Internet of Things is going to disrupt a lot of markets and it’s already happening to some extent. The question being asked is: “What IoT connectivity technology will lead this disruption era?”. One major technology in this connectivity race is LoRa. LoRa’s long-range, low-power, small footprint, simplicity, and the amazing community backing it, have allowed it to find its way into various applications while gaining for the top LPWAN IoT connectivity technology. STMicroelectronics, one of the biggest semiconductor manufacturer, also believes in the potential of LoRa with the launch of STM32WL, making it the World’s first die-integrated LoRa System-on-Chip. Traditional LoRa embedded platforms usually involve the need for a separate MCU chip and different LoRa transceiver chips either coupled together in one single package or separately. This undoubtedly adds extra design complexity, size, and even cost. STMicro hopes to address this with their STM32WL SoC. […]

YumiAI From Vision to Factory
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YumiAI: An AI-Native End-to-End Hardware Innovation Platform For Embedded Engineers (Sponsored)

Anyone who has designed a custom ESP32 board or an RK3588 carrier knows the real bottleneck isn’t creativity — it’s the grunt work. Finding components that are actually in stock, checking pin compatibility, verifying footprints, building symbols, and dealing with yet another “NRND” surprise. It slows down even simple projects. A Multi-Agent System Built for Hardware Workflows YumiAI is a multi-agent engineering stack with the following features: Function Definition Agent: interprets requirements (“STM32WL LoRaWAN node, USB-C power”) and structures them into a proper engineering spec. Component Selection Agent: pulls real-time availability and pricing from DigiKey, Mouser, and LCSC. PCB Schematic Agent: generate circuit schematics using factory rules from a decade of manufacturing data to avoid unbuildable designs. The Killer Feature Today: Idea Validation While the schematic/PCB engine is still in active testing — and complex designs will require manual review — the market and business layers are already production-ready. Before spending […]

RAK3112 WisDuo module
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RAK3112 WisDuo LoRa + WiFi + BLE module targets Edge AI and Meshtastic UI

RAKwireless “RAK3112 WisDuo Module for Edge AI with LoRa” combines an ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE SoC with a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver for Edge AI applications and Meshtastic user interfaces. The 3-in-1 LoRa + WiFi  + BLE module is an update to the ESP32-based RAK11200 WisDuo LoRa module, which has limitations in terms of computing power and memory. Those became apparent in more demanding applications such as Edge AI or complex mesh networks. With 16MB of flash and 8MB of PSRAM and a more powerful ESP32-S3 microcontroller, the RAK3112 WisDuo module overcomes those limitations for camera and audio processing, as well as mesh networks like Meshtastic. It also offers a more powerful alternative to the pin-compatible RAK11160 STM32 + ESP32-C2 module that’s better suited for battery-powered sensors. RAKwireless RAK3112 specifications: Main MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Xtensa 32-bit LX7 dual-core CPU @ 240 MHz with vector instructions, AI […]

Silicon Labs FG23L
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Silicon Labs FG23L low-cost Arm Cortex-M33 SoC targets proprietary Sub-GHz IoT applications

Silicon Labs EFR32FG23L, or FG23L for short, is an ultra-low power, Sub-GHz wireless Arm Cortex-M33 SoC, which the company claims offers the best price/performance ratio for Sub-GHz IoT applications such as home and industrial automation, key fobs, and smart city sensor nodes. It’s a cost-down version of the PSA Certified Level 3 FG23 SoC equipped with less memory (32KB vs 64KB) and storage (128KB vs 512KB), less advanced security features, no segment LCD interface, and fewer GPIOs. The new FG23L is only designed for proprietary protocols, while the FG23 supports Amazon Sidewalk, Wi-SUN, Wireless M-Bus (WM-Bus), and Wirepas. Silicon Labs FG23L specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit Memory – 32 kB RAM data memory Storage – 128 kB flash program memory Sub-GHz radio Tx power up to +20 dBm Rx sensitivity -98.6 dBm @ 400 kbps 920 MHz 4-GFSK -125.8 dBm […]

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cnx KCMCA6S series sub GHz Wireless M Bus (WM Bus) modules
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Quectel KCMCA6S industrial wM-bus modules target smart metering

Quectel’s KCMCA6S is a series of industrial wireless M-Bus (wM-Bus) modules built around Silicon Labs’ EFR32FG23 chipset. The modules operate in the 868 MHz, 169 MHz, and 433 MHz bands and support the EN13757-4 wM-Bus standard for smart metering and AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) applications. The device features an Arm Cortex-M33 processor, 32 KB of SRAM, 256 KB of flash, and a Sub-GHz transceiver. It supports multiple wM-Bus modes (T, C, S, R, N, F), with dynamic multi-mode switching, flexible frequency configuration, and low-power operation alongside multi-layer security mechanisms. Interfaces include USART, SWD, and GPIOs, with optional EUSART, I²C, and ADC through pin multiplexing. Available in two variants (with or without SAW filter), the module comes in a compact 25.4 × 14.0 × 2.9 mm LCC package for water, electricity, gas, and heat metering systems. Quectel KCMCA6S specifications: MCU- Silicon Labs EFR32FG23 Core – Arm Cortex-M33 core, up to 78 […]

Solar LLM over Meshtastic
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Solar-powered LLM over Meshtastic solution may provide live-saving instructions during disasters and emergencies

People are trying to run LLMs on all sorts of low-end hardware with often limited usefulness, and when I saw a solar LLM over Meshtastic demo on X, I first laughed. I did not see the reason for it and LoRa hardware is usually really low-end with Meshtastic open-source firmware typically used for off-grid messaging and GPS location sharing. But after thinking more about it, it could prove useful to receive information through mobile devices during disasters where power and internet connectivity can not be taken for granted. Let’s check Colonel Panic’s solution first. The short post only mentions it’s a solar LLM over Meshtastic using M5Stack hardware. On the left, we must have a power bank charge over USB (through a USB solar panel?) with two USB outputs powering a controller and a board on the right. The main controller with a small display and enclosure is an ESP32-powered […]

Boardcon MINI1126B-P AI vision system-on-module wit Rockchip RV1126B-P SoC