Giveaway Week – GL.iNet GL-S10 BLE to MQTT Gateway

GL.inet GL-S10 review

The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week will be GL.iNET GL-S10 BLE to MQTT gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller and offering Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway is used to gather data from Bluetooth LE devices such as beacons and can be used in warehouses, shopping malls, airports, exhibition halls, tourist attractions, etc… for personnel management, asset management, environmental monitoring, indoor navigation, and more. I reviewed the ESP32-based BLE to MQTT gateway with the provided BLE beacon at the end of last year using MQTT X open-source client and the GL-S10 Tool App for Android. It allowed me to send commands through MQTT topics, for example, to set or retrieve the beacon’s (WiFi) configuration, and receive the data through MQTT subscriptions. Some of the data include the MAC address, RSSI, ad (Broadcast data advData), and a timestamp. It took some effort to get it working, but […]

Orange Pi 5 Rockchip RK3588S SBC launched for $60 and up

Orange Pi 5

Orange Pi 5 (LTS) is a single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3588S cost-down octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor that offers one of the best cost/performance ratios on the market with pre-order pricing starting at just $60. The SBC was initially unveiled with up to  32GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, but at launch, Shenzhen Xunlong Software offers models with 4GB and 8GB RAM, and no flash storage. The board supports dual 8K display setups thanks to HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 Type-C video outputs and also features up to two MIPI DSI display interfaces, three camera interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi 6 connectivity, and a few USB ports plus a GPIO header. Orange Pi 5 LTS specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, 6 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – […]

Giveaway Week – RAK Developer Kit (Air Quality Kit)

RAK Developer Kit Air Quality Kit

RAKwireless joined CNX Software’s Giveaway Week last year with the WisBlock Kit 2 LoRa-based GPS Tracker with Solar Panel, and the company is back for Giveaway Week 2022 with the RAK Developer Kit (Air Quality Kit) with LoRaWAN connectivity. The kit includes everything to get started to build an indoor air quality monitor and send the air quality information over LoRaWAN to the cloud/LoRaWAN server. It notably comes with a WisGate gateway and a Wisblock Node with an indoor enclosure. The kit contents and main specifications are as follows: RAK7246 WisGate Developer D0 with: Raspberry Pi Zero W board with Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor @ 1GHz, 512MB RAM Storage – 16GB MicroSD card Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 via Cypress CYW43438 module found on RPi Zero W board RAK2246 Pi HAT LoRaWAN concentrator module with SX1308 baseband processor Frequency bands – RU864, IN865, EU868, US915, AU915, KR920, AS923 […]

b-parasite Bluetooth LE plant sensor gets Zigbee support

Zigbee Plant Sensor

rbaron’s b-parasite is an open-source hardware Bluetooth LE plant watering sensor that can measure soil moisture and ambient temperature/humidity/light and works with ESPHome, Home Assistant, or any macOS or Linux platforms including the Raspberry Pi boards. It is based nRF52840 multi-protocol wireless microcontroller, so stanvn decided to add Zigbee support to the b-parasite through the “Zigbee Plant Sensor” firmware based on the Nordic Semi nRF5 SDK for nRF52 series of SoCs and working with Zigbee2MQTT. Let’s have a look at b-parasite hardware specifications first: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F multi-protocol wireless microcontroller with Bluetooth LE 5.0 and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread) radios, 1024 KB flash, 256KB SRAM Sensors Capacitive soil moisture sensor Sensirion SHTC3 temperature and humidity sensor ALS-PT19 light sensor Power – ~200 mAh CR2032 coin-cell battery estimated to last for a couple of years with readings every 10 minutes The GitHub repository for the board contains the […]

LILYGO T7-S3 ESP32-S3 board with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, LiPo battery support sells for under $10 (Promo)

LILYGO T7-S3 ESP32-S3 development board

LILYGO has launched another ESP32-S3 development board. The T7-S3 is equipped with an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, and a PCB antenna. The board is fairly compact at 3.9×3.1 cm, can be powered through a USB-C port or a LiPo battery with charging support, and offers 40 through holes plus a Qwicc/QT I2C connector for expansion. LILYGO T7-S3 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 module with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor @ up to 240 MHz integrating vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512 KB SRAM, WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE & Mesh connectivity Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI Flash USB – USB Type-C port Expansion 2x 20-pin headers with up to 29x GPIOs, 20x ADC, UART, SPI, Touch interface, 5V, 3.3V, and GND 4-pin Qwiic/QT I2C connector Misc – User LED, charging LED (blue), reset and boot buttons, power on/off switch […]

LOLIN C3 Pico is a tiny ESP32-C3 board with battery charging support

LOLIN C3 PICO

LOLIN C3 Pico is a tiny (25.4×25.4mm) ESP32-C3 RISC-V board with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, a few I/Os, and LiPo battery support including charging circuitry. I tend to like Wemos/LOLIN boards, because of their small form factor, support for equally tiny shields, and low price. The LOLIN C3 Pico is no exception, and even adds a few features such as an RGB LED, an I2C connector, and support for battery power and charging. LOLIN C3 Pico specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C3FH4 single-core 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMC) microcontroller up to 160 MHz with 400 KB SRAM, 4MB Flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE (in SoC) Expansion headers 2x 8-pin headers with up to 12x GPIO, ADC, I2C, SPI, UART (3.3V I/O voltage) LOLIN I2C port USB – 1x Type-C USB for 5V power and programming Misc – Reset button and user button, […]

WiFi HaLow IoT gateway is based on Morse Micro MM6108 802.11ah chip

Wi Fi HaLow IoT Gateway AP7688-WHM

Most WiFi HaLow hardware platforms we’ve seen so far are based on Newracom chips, but AsiaRF AP7688-WHM WiFi HaLow IoT gateway features a module based on Morse Micro MM6108 802.11ah SoC instead. The gateway is powered by a 580 MHz MediaTek MT7688 MIPS processor providing 802.11n WiFi 4 and dual Ethernet networking, and features a USB port as well as an RS232 console for industrial control.  WiFi HaLow (802.11ah) enables video and data transmission at a range of up to one kilometer and data rates of up to 32.5 Mbps. AP7688-WHM WiFi HaLow gateway specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7688 MIPS SoC @ 580 MHz with built-in WiFi 4 System Memory – TBD Storage – TBD Connectivity 2x Ethernet RJ45 ports 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 1T1R up to 150 Mbps; PCB antenna 850 to 950 MHz WiFi HaLow 1T1R up to 32.5Mbps @ 8 MHz bandwidth via Morse Micro MM6108 chip; […]

WBZ451 Curiosity Board features Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 BLE and Zigbee 3.0 microcontroller

WBZ451 Curiosity Board Bluetooth LE Zigbee 3.0

Microchip WBZ451 Curiosity Board features the company’s Microchip’s WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2 and Zigbee 3.0 RF module based on the new Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller. WBZ451 Curiosity Board (EV96B94A) specifications: Wireless module – WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee RF Module with Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller @ up to 64 MHz, 128KB RAM, 1MB flash, 2.4 GHz radio for Bluetooth LE 5.2 and 802.15.4 (Zigbee 3.0) Tx output power – Up +12 dBm Rx sensitivity – Up to -103 dBm PCB antenna 29x I/O pins Storage – 64Mbit QSPI flash Expansion – mikroBUS socket for MikroElectronika Click adapter boards Sensor – Microchip MCP9700A analog voltage temperature sensor Debugging On-board Programmer/Debug Circuit using PICkit On-board 4 (PKoB4) based on Microchip SAME70 MCU On-board USB to UART Serial Converter with Hardware Flow Control based on Microchip MCP2200 10-pin Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD) header for […]