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May 21, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick – A compact ESP32-S3 USB WLED controller board with dual 5V LED outputs, an I2S Mic, and a snap-fit enclosure

Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick + Enclosure Kit

Adafruit has recently released the Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick, a compact, WLED-friendly Neopixel USB controller board built around an ESP32-S3 Module designed for audio-reactive LED projects, cosplay props, holiday lighting, and more. The module comes with a USB Type-A port for programming and power input (5V, 2A max), and a simple enclosure for protection (not weatherproof). It includes a built-in I2S microphone for audio-reactive effects, an IR receiver for remote control. Other than that it has a user-programmable button, an onboard NeoPixel LED, and a red status LED with two 5V-level shifted signal outputs with power and to connect the LEDs a screw terminal blocks. Adafruit Sparkle Motion Stick specifications SoC – ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 MCU @ 240MHz with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and BLE 5 LED Control – 2x level-shifted output channels (5V logic) with terminal blocks (26–20AWG support) Audio Input – Built-in I2S MEMS digital microphone for audio-reactive lighting Infrared […]

May 19, 2025 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

Waveshare RA4M1-Zero mini development board features secure boot, firmware encryption, and castellated design

RA4M1 Zero Mini Development Board versions

Waveshare RA4M1-Zero is a mini development board built around the Renesas RA4M1 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 MCU running at 48MHz. The MCU also features 256KB of flash memory, 32KB of SRAM, 8KB of EEPROM, and a built-in Floating Point Unit (FPU). Hardware peripherals include a 14-bit ADC, a 12-bit DAC, a CAN bus controller, an onboard USB 2.0 interface, and WS2812 RGB LED. The MCU also supports firmware encryption, secure boot, and tamper-proof security features to ensure application safety. Its small size (23.5 x 18mm) and castellated module design make it suitable for space-constrained applications, including IoT devices, industrial control systems, secure embedded systems, and compact sensor nodes. RA4M1-Zero mini development board specifications: MCU – Renesas RA4M1 (R7FA4M1AB3CFM) as found in the Arduino UNO R4 CPU 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F @ 48MHz Memory – 32KB SRAM Storage – 256KB Flash, 8KB EEPROM USB – USB 2.0 device interface via USB Type-C connector […]

May 18, 2025May 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

M5Stack Tab5 Review – Part 2: Getting started with ESP32-P4 firmware development using the ESP-IDF Framework and Arduino IDE

In the first part of the review, we checked out the hardware of the M5Stack Tab5 ESP32-P4 IoT development kit and tried the demo firmware, whose user interface allows the user to quickly experiment with the camera, microphone, speaker, WiFi, power consumption, GPIOs, RS485, and more. Since there’s no user application for the Tab5 at this stage, I decided to look into software development resources for the ESP32-P4 devkit in the second part of the review. I’ll first follow the instructions to build the demo firmware from source using the ESP-IDF framework, then analyze key aspects of the source and make some small modifications. After that, I’ll have a look at ESP32-P4 Arduino support via M5Unified and M5GFX library. ESP-IDF 5.4.1 installation and ESP32-P4 Hello World program The first step is to get the ESP-IDF 5.4.1 and configure ESP32-P4 following the instructions on the Espressif website, before testing it with […]

May 17, 2025May 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Rutronik Adapter Board RAB7 Sensor Fusion Arduino shield features seven sensors from Bosch, Infineon, and Sensirion

Rutronik RAB7 Adapter Board Sensor Fusion

Rutronik Adapter Board RAB7 is an open-source hardware Arduino shield designed for AI-powered Sensor Fusion with seven environmental and inertial sensors from Bosch, Infineon, and Sensirion. The shield is designed to be used in conjunction with an Arduino-compatible board to process and analyze the data, and it can be useful for building automation, professional kitchens, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), and Smart Agriculture. Rutronik Adapter Board RAB7 specifications: Sensors Infineon XENSIV DPS368XTSA1 digital barometric pressure sensor Bosch BMP585 digital pressure sensor Sensirion SGP41-D-R4 indoor air quality sensor for VOC measurement found in projects like Air Lab, Airgradient One, and SparkFun “Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor”, among others Bosch BME690 low-power digital gas, pressure, temperature and humidity sensor with AI Bosch BMI323 – 6-axis intelligent low-power inertial measurement unit (IMU) Sensirion SHT41-AD1B-R2 high-precision, low-power relative humidity and temperature sensor Bosch BMM350 3-axis magnetic sensor for 9-axis absolute orientation for navigation Host […]

May 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

7-inch ESP32-P4 wireless touchscreen display supports GUITION Designer for LVGL, Arduino and ESP-IDF programming

GUITION JC1060P470C is an ESP32-P4 board with an integrated 7-inch touchscreen display and an ESP32-C6 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 module providing wireless connectivity. The display also features a microSD card for storage, a MIPI CSI connector to add a camera, a few USB-C ports, and two FPC connectors for GPIO expansion. It’s a more integrated version of the ESP32-P4-Function-EV-Board that can be used for HMI applications and that is compatible with the GUITION Designer online design tool to create LVGL-based graphical user interfaces. GUITION JC1060P470C specifications: Microcontroller – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4 CPU Dual-core RISC-V HP (High-performance) CPU @ up to 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU, 768KB of on-chip SRAM Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz with 8KB of zero-wait TCM RAM Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM ROM – 128 KB HP ROM, 16 […]

May 1, 2025 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Adafruit Sparkle Motion – An ESP32-based addressable LED controller with four outputs, 100W USB-C power, and WLED/xLights support

The Adafruit Sparkle Motion is an ESP32-based LED controller board designed to drive addressable LEDs, including WS2812B, APA102, SK6812, LPD8806, UCS2904, and SM16704. It supports both WLED and xLights projects and features an onboard 100W USB-C PD port to drive even high-voltage LED setups. The board includes dual power input options (USB-C PD with 5/12/20V selection and 2.1mm DC jack), a 5A fuse, and level-shifted output terminals for controlling addressable LEDs. The board also features a built-in I2S digital microphone, IR receiver, Stemma QT I2C port, USB-serial with auto-reset, GPIO breakout pads, onboard NeoPixel and status LED, and multiple JST and terminal connectors for sensor and control integration. It comes pre-assembled with terminal blocks for easy wiring, making it suitable for applications such as wearable electronics, home decor lighting, audio-reactive displays, and remote-controlled installations. Adafruit Sparkle Motion Specifications: SoC – ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 MCU @ 240MHz with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and […]

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Zalmotek RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3U SoMs follow Adafruit Feather form factor, support carrier board for robotics and industrial control

Romanian company Zalmotek has recently introduced three new SoMs, the RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3UL, and a modular carrier board designed for embedded applications such as robotics, industrial control, and edge computing. There are a few things that I find interesting about this setup. The SoM comes in Adafruit Feather form factor and, as a result, supports various Adafruit FeatherWings. The modular carrier board supports the Dynamixel motor driver module, the Particle M-SoM breakout module, Ethernet, and CAN modules. The RA6M1 Feather SoM is powered by a Renesas RA6M1 Arm Cortex-M4 CPU at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash and 96 KB SRAM while the RA8M1 Feather SoM features a Renesas RA8M1 64-bit Arm Cortex-M85 running at up to 360 MHz with 128 Mbit SPI flash, the RZ/A3UL Feather SoM is based on a Renesas RZ/A3UL 64-bit Arm Cortex-A55 CPU at up to 1 GHz, with 512 Mbit OctaFlash […]