Advantech UNO-220 is an Industrial RS232/RS485 Gateway Kit for Raspberry Pi 4

RS232 & RS485 Raspberry Pi 4 Gateway Kit

While Raspberry Pi SBCs are mostly designed for the education market, they find their way in various devices, even in the industrial market with products such as ModBerry M500 industrial computer, Compulab IOT-GATE-RPi industrial IoT computer, BB-400 Neuron Edge industrial controller, and many others. All those offer RS-232 and RS-485 ports besides other interfaces typically found in industrial applications like isolated inputs, CAN buses, and more. There’s now yet another option with Advantech UNO-200 industrial gateway kit for Raspberry Pi 4 board with RS232/RS485 header and RTC battery. Advantech UNO-220 specifications: Compatible SBC – Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with dual micro HDMI outputs, audio jack, as well as USB and Ethernet ports accessible through the enclosure I/O Interfaces GPIO – Input (GPI) 0-3: VIH: 2~5V VIL: 0 ~ 0.8V; Output (GPO) 0-3: 0 ~ 5V Serial Ports – 5-pin terminal block for RS232/485, automatic direction control, 300 ~ 115.2kbps […]

Energy Harvesting Makes Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform Maintenance Free

Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2

LPWAN wireless protocols like LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and NB-IoT enable long-range transfers of small amounts of data at very low power for a battery life of up to 10 years. But there’s still a need to replace the battery from time to time increasing maintenance costs. HiSilicon and Nowi have partnered to design and launch the Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform, a sensor hub that can transmit via NB-IoT without the need to change or recharge batteries manually through its energy harvesting capabilities. Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform key features and specifications: LPWAN module – Quectel BC95 module based on HiSilicon Hi2115 NB-IoT chip Max transmissions per day Up to 3 transmissions per day in indoor conditions Up to 6 transmissions per day in outdoor conditions Power Management Nowi NH2 (MH2D02564) energy harvesting power management IC Can operate with a range of photovoltaic (multiple) cells Dimensions – 5.5 x 3.5cm The […]

Aegis Secure WiFi Smart Deadbolt Works with Android/iOS Phones (Crowdfunding)

Aegis Secure WiFi Smart Lock

We previously wrote about smart lock systems that allow you to open your door with the help of your smartphone. Products covered including Xiaomi Sherlock M1 that only works with specific doors/locks, and K1 smart lock box that stores your keys in a rugged box meaning it works with all door mechanisms, but it does not seem particularly secure to me. BOSMA Aegis Bluetooth & WiFi smart deadbolt looks to potentially a more secure solution as it should work with any door, and complements your main lock which you may want to use when you are not at home for longer periods of time. Aegis smart deadbolt specifications: Connectivity – Built-in Bluetooth; WiFi via a WiFi connector shipped with Aegis Voice Assitant Integration – Google Home and Amazon Alexa Optional BOSMA Sentry smart doorbell with Storage – Up to 128GB via MicroSD card slot; cloud storage Video – 1080p video […]

Particle Takes Pre-orders for its Cellular Tracking SoM, Evaluation Kit, and Tracker One Asset Tracker

Tracker Som Evaluation Kit

Earlier this year, Particle announced its Tracking System turnkey solution comprised of Tracker SoM LTE IoT module, Tracker One asset tracker with enclosure, as well as Particle Tracking Services software suite with geolocation services, fleet management, and an open device firmware application framework to integrate with off-the-shelf IoT sensors and enable OTA firmware updates. The hardware devices were expected for June/July 2020, and the company has now started to take pre-orders for Tracker SoM, its evaluation kit, and Tracker One for respectively $79.99, $99.99, and $127.99. Shipping is expected to start in August 2020. We already covered Tracker SoM in our initial article with the full specifications, but basically, it’s a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 powered module with 8MB flash, ESP32 for WiFI (including support for indoor location),  U-blox Neo-M8U GNSS module, and a choice of Quectel BG96 LTE CAT M1 module for the US or Quectel EG91-X CAT 1 module […]

ZS1100A IoT Power Meter Supports Sigrok Open-Source Software (Crowdfunding)

ZS110A power meter

A few months ago, I tested Qoitech Otii Arc power meter & DAQ system designed for developers of IoT devices, and fount out it would be incredibly useful to developers of battery-operated devices since it shows voltage and current graphs synchronized with the serial output making it easy to see where software might be optimized. The system can also capture analog and digital signals from the DUT and emulate batteries with user-defined characteristics. But this weekend, I’ve come across a very similar solution with ZS1100A IoT power meter that also happens to be compatible with Sigrok open-source signal analysis software, and the corresponding Pulseview GUI. ZS1100A IoT power meter specifications: Measurements Output Voltage Range – 0 to 6 V programmable in 10 mV steps with +/- 5mV accuracy, Current Measurement Range – -0.5 A to 1.5 A (linear range) with < 0.1 μA resolution,  accuracy of 1% of measured value […]

Linux Powered Industrial IoT Gateway Offers WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE Connectivity

Linux Industrial IoT Gateway

Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 is a Debian Linux powered fanless Industrial IoT gateway powered by NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor and specially designed for industrial control and monitoring with optional support for WiFI 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE, and GNSS connectivity. The gateway is equipped with up to 4GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, takes variable DC input from 8V to 36V, and operates in a wide temperature range of -40C to 80°C with the company providing a 5-year warranty and 15-year availability. Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Mini quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8GHz with Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, Vivante 3G and 2D GPU System Memory – 1GB – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 4GB – 64GB eMMC flash (soldered on-board), plus secondary storage with optional 16GB – 64GB eMMC flash module Networking & Wireless Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet port, RJ45 connector Fast Ethernet port, RJ45 connector Optional 802.11ax WiFi […]

Cucumber ESP32-S2 Development Board Comes with USB OTG Port, Optional Sensors

Cucumber ESP32-S2 USB OTG Development Board

Yesterday, I wrote about LilyGO TTGO ESP32-S2 WiFi IoT board, but one commenter mentioned it missed one of the key features of ESP32-S2 chip: a USB OTG port. While USB OTG  is accessible through the header pins, it’s not the most convenient to use. I also quickly mentioned Cucumber ESP32-S2 development board in that post, but I did not expand too much since I thought it should only ship within Thailand. But the board does include two USB Type-C ports, one for the usual USB UART connector, and the other for USB OTG, and I found out the board is available worldwide. The board is available in multiple variants with or without sensors and PSRAM, and with external IPEX antenna or PCB antenna using ESP32-S2-WROVER(-I) or ESP32-S2-WROOM(-I) module. Cucumber specifications: Wireless Module (one of the other): ESP32-S2-WROVER with ESP32-S2, 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM, on-board PCB antenna ESP32-S2-WROVER-I with ESP32-S2, 4MB […]

TTGO ESP32-S2 WiFi IoT Board Comes with Optional MicroSD Card and Battery Support

TTGO ESP32-S2 ESP32-S

All ESP32-S2 boards I’ve seen so far were from Espressif Systems themselves including ESP32-S2-Saola-1 and ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1, but LilyGO TTGO ESP32-S2 is the first third-party board for sale so far. The tiny board is somewhat similar to ESP32-S2-Saola-1 board and comes in two versions with a similar form factor, but a completely different pinout and the presence of a MicroSD card socket and a battery connector on one of the boards. The simpler board is called “ESP32-S2 ESP32-S-WOOR” and comes with ESP32-S2-WROOM module, while the one with more features is named “TTGO ESP32-S2 ESP32-S ” and features its own circuitry built around ESP32-S2 WiSoC. Both TTGO ESP32-S2 boards share many of the same specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 single-core 32-bit Tensilica LX7 processor with 320 kB SRAM, 128 kB ROM, System Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 4MB flash; XY-ESP32-S only: MicroSD card socket Connectivity 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 connectivity […]