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 […]

Tuya “T6E” is a 4-inch Android touch control panel & Zigbee gateway for OEMs

Tuya T6E 4-inch smart home controller

Tuya T6E is a 4-inch control panel with a touchscreen running Android 8.1 on Rockchip PX30, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee,  and designed to be wall-mounted for home automation and other HMI applications. It looks fairly similar to the ITEAD NSPanel Pro introduced last month, for Tuya’s “Central Control System” (CSS) appears to be mostly designed for OEMs who want to roll their own products with custom firmware. Tuya T6E specifications (details vary depending on OEM requirements): SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB RAM Storage – 4GB to 8GB  eMMC flash Display – 4-inch 480×480 IPS screen with 5-point capacitive touch Audio Dual-array microphone with noise reduction 1 Watt speaker Connectivity 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 Bluetooth LE 4.2 and Bluetooth Mesh (Tuya SigMesh) Zigbee 3.0 gateway based on Tuya […]

AI Thinker Ai-WB2 modules feature BL602 RISC-V MCU with WiFi and BLE connectivity

Ai-WB2-32S-Kit development board

AI Thinker has just introduced a new family of wireless IoT modules with the Ai-WB2 equipped with Bouffalo Lab BL602 RISC-V microcontroller offering both 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity. There are ten different modules to choose from, probably to keep mechanical and electrical compatibility with ESP8266 and ESP32 modules, and the company expects customers to integrate those into Internet of Things (IoT) products, mobile devices, wearables, Smart Home appliances, and more. Ai-WB2 modules share the following specifications: Wireless MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL602 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ up to 192 MHz with 276KB SRAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Storage – 2MB or 4MB SPI flash WiFi range – Up to about 500 meters (typical) I/Os – SDIO, SPI, UART, I2C, IR receiver, PWM, ADC, DAC, and GPIO  (except Ai-WB2-01S with just UART/PWM/GPIO/ADC) Power Supply – 2.7V to 3.6V > 500mA Power […]

$5.5 Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 ESP32-S3 board follows Raspberry Pi Pico W form factor

Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 Raspberry Pi Pico W alternative

Banana Pi’s BPI-PicoW-S3 is a development board following the Raspberry Pi Pico W form factor, but based on Espressif System ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller offering both WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The Raspberry Pi SBCs have inspired many designs, but the Raspberry Pi Pico MCU boards less so. So far, I had only seen the WeAct RP2040 board with the same layout except for a USB Type-C port and a 16MB flash. But the Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 provides a direct alternative to the Raspberry Pi Pico W with a more powerful microcontroller, vector instructions for AI acceleration, BLE, and about the same price at $5.5 plus shipping. Let’s see how the BPI-PicoW-S3 specifications compare to the ones of the Raspberry Pi Pico W in the table below. While the power signal (5V, 3.3V, GND) and GPIO numbers are the same on both boards, there are a few variations here and […]

Bee S3 ultra-low-power ESP32-S3 board can last several years on a LiPo battery

Bee S3 ESP32-S3 ultra-low-power board

Smart Bee Designs’ Bee S3 is an ultra-low-power development board based on Espressif ESP32-S3 WiFi & Bluetooth microcontroller that consumes less than 20 uA in deep sleep mode allowing the board to theoretically last over 5 years under specific conditions. The board provides WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 LE connectivity, features a battery voltage monitoring circuitry to check the battery charge level, a USB Type-C port for power and programming, plus 20 through holes for extensions such as connecting sensors, and so on. Bee S3 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-MINI-1 module (PDF datasheet) with ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4MB or 8MB QSPI flash, PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion – 2x 10-pin headers with up to 15x GPIO, 8x ADC, touch support, I2C, SPI, UART, 5V In/out, 3.3V out, and GND Misc – […]

T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 with ESP32 “watch”, ESP32-C3 keyboard looks like a miniature PC replica

LILYGO Watch Keyboard C3

T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 is a device that looks like a miniature PC replica comprised of an ESP32-C3 powered keyboard, and the TTGO T-Watch ESP32 programmable device with a 1.54-inch touchscreen display. The LilyGo TTGO T-Watch ESP32 programmable touchscreen display has been around for a while, and the company used to provide an accessory keyboard based on Microchip ATSAM20 Cortex-M0+ microcontroller that has now been replaced with ESP32-C3 WiFi and Bluetooth RISC-V microcontroller to create the T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 devices pictured below.   T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 specifications: TTGO T-Watch MCU – ESP32-D0WDQ6 dual-core microcontroller @ 240 MHz with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x with 520KB SRAM Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash Display – 1.54-inch LCD screen USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming via CP2104 USB to TTL chip Sensor – 3-axis accelerometer Misc – Power button, RTC Dimensions – 40 x 38 x 20 mm Weight – 43.19 grams […]

Makerfabs 3.5-inch TFT touchscreen display features ESP32-S3 SoC

Makerfabs 3.5-inch wireless parallel TFT display with Touch

Makerfabs has launched a 3.5-inch TFT touchscreen display with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity through an ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller clocked at 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration. This display offers a 320×480 resolution through the ILI9488 LCD driver, uses a 16-bit parallel interface for communication with ESP32-S3 clocked at up to 20 Mhz making it suitable for smooth graphics user interface, and the company also claims it is smooth enough for video displays, but more on that later. Specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2 with Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512KB RAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for long-range, up to 2Mbps data rate, mesh networking 16MB QSPI flash 2MB PSRAM PCB antenna Storage – MicroSD card socket Display – 3.5-inch color TFT LCD with 480×320 resolution, 16-bit parallel interface […]

DeNova Detect natural gas alarm works with Amazon Sidewalk network

Denova Detect Amazon Sidewalk natural gas alarm

New Cosmos’ DeNova Detect is a wireless natural gas alarm that works with the Amazon Sidewalk network designed for low-power, low-bandwidth IoT devices in and around the house, benefiting from free connectivity thanks to the installation base of Amazon devices such as the Echo Show acting as gateways. DeNova Detect does not require wiring to mains, and the device is expected to achieve an extended battery life of seven years, so customers can choose the optimal location for a gas alarm in their homes without needing to be close to an electrical outlet. There’s no need to have an additional gateway such as with LoRaWAN solutions as well as the customer owns one or more Sidewalk-compatible device.     Note that Amazon Sidewalk is currently deployed in the US only with global expansion planned for later. Amazon Sidewalk relies on Bluetooth LE inside the home, Sub-GHz GFSK on the sidewalk/around […]