IoT News - Page 87 of 162 - CNX Software

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Design ESP32 LoRa GPS Tracker Applications with TTGO T-Beam Board

TTGO introduced a small ESP32 LoRa board with OLED display last year that is still selling for around $14 shipped. But the company is now back with a similar board called TTGO T-Beam that does without the display, but adds GPS support, and a 18650 battery holder, so it should be ideally suited for all sorts of LoRa GPS tracking applications. TTGO T-Beam board specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual core Xtensa LX6 processor with WiFi and Bluetooth Memory – PSRAM Storage – 4MB SPI flash Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.2 Classic and LE with “3D antenna” soldered on PCB LoRa 433, 868, and 915 MHz versions with SMA antenna Transmit current – 120 mA @ +20dBm; 90 mA @ +17dBm; 29mA @ +13dBm Receive sensitivity -139dBm with LoRa & 62.5Khz & SF=12 & 146bps -136dBm with LoRa & 125Khz & SF=12 & 293bps […]

July 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ESP32-SOLO-1 is a Single Core ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth Module

Espressif ESP32 is popular dual core processor with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, except as we’ve seen last year, the company also developed a single core version with ESP32-S0WD chip, whose price is only slightly more expensive than ESP8266. But so far, I had not seen many hardware platforms announced with the single core version, with the exception of Particle Argon board. But I believe we should soon see more ESP32-S0WD boards brought to market, since Espressif Systems has now announced ESP32-SOLO-1 single core module. ESP32-SOLO-1 wireless module specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S0WD single core Tensilica Xtensa LX6 processor @ up to 160 MHz with 448 KB ROM, 520KB on-chip SRAM, and 16KB SRAM in RTC Storage – 4MB SPI flash Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 LE + EDR I/Os – SD card, UART, SPI, SDIO, I2C, LED PWM, motor PWM, I2S, IR, […]

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Microchip Unveils SAM L10 & SAM L11 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU Families with Arm TrustZone for Armv8-M

Microchip has recently announced new SAM L10 and SAM L11 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU families, with the SAM L11 family featuring Arm TrustZone for Armv8-M that provides hardware isolation between certified libraries, IP and application code. SAM L10 & SAM L11 MCU Families Key features: Arm Cortex M23 Core @ 32 MHz Up to 64 KB Flash and 16 KB SRAM picoPower Technology less than 25 μA/MHz in active mode less than 100 nA in sleep mode Fast wakeup time: 1.5 μS Flexible power saving features Enhanced Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) with improved water tolerance, noise immunity and responsiveness Security (for SAM L11 only) Chip-level tamper resistance Arm TrustZone technology Secure boot Secure bootloader Crypto accelerators Secure key storage Op amp ADC and DAC Package – VQFN32, TQFP32, WLCSP32, VQFN24, SSOP24 Microchip SAM L10 MCU achieved a ULPMark score of 405, or over 200 percent better performance compared to the nearest […]

June 29, 2018July 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

LoStik USB Dongle Adds LoRa Connectivity to any Computer or Linux Board (Crowdfunding)

We’ve covered plenty of hardware with LoRa radio from gateways, to Arduino shields, tracker boards, and mini PCIe cards, but after reading an article on Time4EE this morning, I realized we never wrote about any LoRa USB stick. LoStik – previoulsy LoRa Stick – is an open source hardware USB dongle based on Microchip RN2903 / RN2483 LoRa module, and offered on CrowdSupply for $39. LoStik specifications: USB – USB 2.0 port LoRa Connectivity Microchip RN2903 – 915 MHz for US, Canada, South America and Australia Microchip RN2483 – 868 Mhz for Europe Receiver Sensitivity – down to -146 dBm TX Power – adjustable up to +18.5 dBm Range – up to 15 km coverage in suburban and up to 5 km coverage in urban areas Misc – 2x user LEDs Power Consumption – 140 ma typical TX, 20 ma idle (with power LED) Dimensions – 80 mm x 25 […]

June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

WPA3 WiFi Security Formally Introduced, WiFi Easy Connect Allows Easier Setup of Headless Devices

While I still see some open WiFi access points from time to time in the wild, most people are using WPA2 authentication to connect securely to their own WiFi router, or public ones instead of WEP that has been found to be insecure many years ago. WPA2 is not quite secure as it once was, as last year WPA2-PSK was cracked. It’s not that bad, as it may still take several days with a strong password requiring a large password file for the hack to work. Still a new revision was needed, and the WiFi alliance has just introduced Wi-Fi WPA3 security. Just like with WPA2, there are personal and enterprise modes for WPA3 WPA3-Personal WPA2-Personal Pre-shared Key (PSK) is replaced with Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), which is said to be resistant to offline dictionary attacks where an adversary tries possible passwords without further network interaction. WPA3-Personal/SAE enables: Natural […]

June 22, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

RoKi Sensor Node Bluetooth 5 Devkit is Equipped with Multiple Sensors

ROHM and Kionix have just introduced the RoKi Sensor Node, part of the new RoKi IoT Platform. The sensor node is based on Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 Bluetooth 5 LE System-on-Chip (SoC), and integrates multiple sensors from Kionix and ROHM. RoKi Sensor Node specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth 5 Arm Cortex M4F processor @ 64 Mhz with 1 MB flash, 256kB RAM Sensors Built-in 3-axis accelerometer Combination 3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis magnetometer Combination 3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope 3-axis magnetometer Barometer Available with expansion connectors Optical heart rate sensor Ambient light sensor RGB color sensor Magnetic hall effect sensor etc Misc – Programmable RGB LED Power Supply – Rechargeable Li-Polymer battery, replaceable coin cell batteries, or via Micro USB. Battery life – Active time is about 8 hours of typical usage, and an estimated standby time of 200 hours. Dimensions – 42x67x22mm The sensor node comes with a mounting […]

June 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

SIM7020E 4G NB-IoT Mini Development Board Sells for Just $14

We now have plenty to choose from when it comes to NB-IoT development boards or shields, but so far pricing has not been very attractive, and the cheapest NB-IoT solution I found so far was probably Dragino NB-IoT Bee, a XBee compatible board going for $23. But this morning, I saw an even cheaper NB-IoT board with SIM7020E 4G NB-IOT Mini development board selling for $14.30 on Electrodragon. Not quite the price of 2G solutions, but we’re getting there. Board specifications: NB-IoT Module – SIMCom SIM7020E module working globally with B1/B3/B5/B8/B20/B28 bands supported Nano SIM card holder and u.FL connector for NB-IoT Expansion – 9-pin unpopulated 2.54mm pitch header with 2x UART (3.3V / 5V), ADC, Boot, 3.3V, 5V and GND USB – 1x micro USB port that can be recognized by PC, but as Electrodragon puts it: “not sure how to use it”. Misc – Net LED, power key […]

June 17, 2018November 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

ESP8266 RGB LED Strip Control with ANAVI Light Controller, Arduino, MQTT, and HTML5

Anavi-Light-Controller-Starter-Kit-Assembly

A few months ago I reviewed ANAVI Light pHat for Raspberry Pi which allows you to control an LED RGB strip from the popular development board. However, if all you need is to switch the RGB LED light on and off, or change the color, the hardware is clearly overpowered for the tasks. So Leon ANAVI designed another board based on ESP8266 – ANAVI Light Controller – which does the same thing with lower cost and more power efficient hardware. Leon sent me a sample for review, so let’s see what we’ve got. ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit Unboxing I received a package for the Starter kit that’s offered for $39 on CrowdSupply. We’ve got the main board, a USB debugging, an acrylic enclosure with screws and spacers, a one meter RGB LED strip, and some stickers inside the package. If we have a close look at the board we […]