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October 28, 2026October 29, 2026 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

LILYGO T-Display K230 RISC-V AI dev kit features AMOLED, LoRa, and keyboard with optional LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular connectivity

LILYGO T Display K230 optional QWERTY keyboard expansion board

LILYGO T-Display K230 is a handheld dev kit based on Canaan’s Kendryte K230 dual-core 64-bit RISC-V processor. The kit features a 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen and supports an optional detachable keyboard with battery and optional nRF9151 cellular and GNSS connectivity. The device also comes with 1GB LPDDR4 RAM, a 2MP camera, HDMI output, Ethernet, WiFi 4, and either an SX1262 or LR2021 LoRa transceiver. These features make this kit suitable for remote monitoring, wireless communication, and other embedded applications. LILYGO T-Display K230 Kit specifications: SoC – Kendryte K230 CPU 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 1.6GHz with RISC-V Vector Extension 1.0, FPU 64-bit RISC-V processor @ 800MHz with support for RV64GCB instruction set; AI accelerator KPU with support for INT8 and INT16 Compatible with TVM, TensorFlow, PyTorch, ONNX Typical network performance: Resnet 50 ≥ 85fps @ INT8; Mobilenet_v2 ≥ 670fps @ INT8; YoloV5S ≥ 38fps @INT8; GPU – 2.5D graphics engine DPU – […]

October 20, 2026October 20, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Semtech LR2021 LoRa chip gets the SDR treatment, supports 100 MHz to 2.74 GHz

Semtech LR2021 LoRa transceiver used as an SDR for raw I Q capture and signal analysis (Image AI generated)

Earlier this month, we saw how the humble ESP32-S3 could be turned into an SDR transmitter and receiver; then we saw developer h0m3us3r release the w1700k-sdr project, which turns a Gemtek W1700K Wi-Fi 7 router into a wideband SDR receiver. The LR2021-SDR open-source project by Samuel Reynolds (SAMS0N1TE) follows the same principle and turns the Semtech LR2021 LoRa transceiver into a software-defined radio (SDR) capable of receiving signals from 100 MHz to 2.74 GHz. Using an undocumented command in the chip’s ROM, this project exposes raw 16-bit I/Q samples, allowing software to decode P25 Phase 1 digital voice, POCSAG pager messages, and analog FM signals without an external SDR dongle. LR2021-SDR firmware features: Supported hardware – Semtech LR2021 running ROM 1.24; not compatible with the SX1262 variant for raw I/Q access. Receive frequency range – 100 MHz to 2.74 GHz (experimentally tested), extending beyond the datasheet’s specified 150–960 MHz and 1.5–2.5 […]

October 1, 2026October 1, 2026 by Debashis Das - 3 Comments

LakeShark firmware turns LilyGO T-Display P4 into a handheld ESP32-P4 SDR scanner

LilyGO T Display P4 running LakeShark open source firmware

LakeShark is open-source firmware by Samuel Reynolds (SAMS0N1TE) that turns the ESP32-P4-based LilyGO T-Display P4 into a handheld SDR scanner. Paired with an RTL-SDR Blog V3 or V4 dongle, it supports P25 Phase I trunking, analog FM/AM, POCSAG pager decoding, and 1090 MHz ADS-B reception directly on the ESP32-P4, without a PC, Raspberry Pi, or smartphone. It also includes an onboard SX1262 that supports LoRa and MeshCore applications. SDR devices like LimeSDR Micro, xSDR, UUGear’s VU GPSDR, and many others usually rely on a PC, Raspberry Pi, or smartphone for processing, but LakeShark shows that a powerful microcontroller can also handle many SDR tasks. We previously covered the LilyGO T-Display P4 in March 2026, and LakeShark makes good use of its built-in hardware, including the SX1262 for LoRa and MeshCore applications, L76K GPS receiver for location tracking and offline maps, and ESP32-C6 for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. LakeShark hardware requirements: Primary […]

September 18, 2026September 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Review of Elecrow ThinkNode M9 QWERTY terminal with MeshCore firmware

Last August, CNX Software covered the launch of the Elecrow ThinkNode M9, a standalone LoRa terminal running MeshCore firmware with a QWERTY keyboard, a color display, GPS, and a built-in 2,300mAh battery. Elecrow has now sent us two units (923 MHz version) for review, allowing us to test mesh communication right out of the box without relying on other nodes in the area. Besides being preloaded with MeshCore, what sets the M9 apart from the earlier ThinkNode M1 and M5 is that it is fully standalone. Users can type messages, read messages, and share location directly from the device itself, without pairing it to a smartphone over Bluetooth as with previous models. In this review, we will go through an unboxing before using MeshCore through field testing in a 3-node network mixing hardware from different brands to evaluate MeshCore firmware mesh capability. Unboxing and hardware overview The box contains ThinkNode […]

September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

M5Stack Module13.2 LoRa-1262 expansion board integrates 14×10 mm Stamp LoRa-1262 module

M5Stack M5Stamp LoRa Module (Right) and Module13.2 LoRa 1262(Left)

After launching the SX1262-based M5Stamp C6LoRa tiny module, M5Stack has launched two SX1262-based LoRa add-ons for the 868–923 MHz band: the tiny Stamp LoRa-1262 SMD module for custom PCBs, and the stackable Module13.2 LoRa-1262 module for the M5Stack Core series. The Stamp LoRa-1262 supports LoRa, FSK, GFSK, MSK, GMSK, and OOK modulation, with up to +22 dBm transmit power and -147 dBm receive sensitivity. The Module13.2 adds an RP-SMA antenna interface, an M5IOE1 IO expansion chip for reset and power management, and DIP switches for flexible pin routing and configurable I2C addresses, enabling multi-module stacking. Stamp LoRa-1262 SMD module M5Stack Stamp LoRa-1262 specifications: LoRa Transceiver – Semtech SX1262 Wireless Connectivity (LoRa) Frequency Band – 868 to 923 MHz Modulation Modes – LoRa, FSK, GFSK, MSK, GMSK, OOK Bitrate – Up to 300 kbps (programmable) Transmit power (Tx) – Up to +22 dBm Receive sensitivity (Rx) – Down to -147 dBm […]

September 9, 2026September 9, 2026 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

FREE-WILi 2 portable hacking multitool features two RP2350 MCUs, ESP32-C5, ICE40 FPGA, and Raspberry Pi CM0

The FREE-WILi 2 (Founder Edition) is an open-hardware, portable hacking multitool and lab designed for hardware hackers, pentesters, and embedded system developers. Designed as an “open electronics multitool,” it combines a range of chips and modules into a handheld device, including two Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCUs, an ESP32-C5 for wireless connectivity, a Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA, and a Raspberry Pi CM0 for running a full Linux OS. The device also features a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 14-button physical interface, and modular “Orca” headers for hardware expansion. Its wireless features include 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa, sub-GHz RF, NFC, 125kHz RFID, and IR. These features make it very suitable for wireless testing, embedded hardware debugging, real-time control, electronics development, and retro gaming, with support for Adafruit Fruit Jam, PICO-8, and Doom. FREE-WILi 2 specifications: Compute Main MCUs – 2x Raspberry Pi RP2350B (One for main controls, one dedicated to display) SoM – Raspberry […]

September 5, 2026September 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OpenTrailPaper transforms LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro devkit into a DIY e‑paper bike computer

OpenTrailPaper DIY e-paper bike computer

OpenTrailPaper is an open-source, DIY e-paper bike computer project comprised of firmware for the ESP32-S3-based T5 E-Paper S3 Pro devkit and Android and iOS companion apps for maps, routes, and settings. It shows ride data and offline maps, follows standard GPX (GPS Exchange Format) routes, records FIT (Flexible and Interoperable Data Transfer used in Garmin devices) files, and connects to Bluetooth (and soon ANT/ANT+) heart rate, power, and cadence sensors. Before looking into the project’s details, let’s check out the LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro specifications: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3N16R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash PCB antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 4.7-inch e-Paper display with 960×540 resolution, 16 shades of gray, capacitive touch (GT911); ED047TC1 drive IC Wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11n […]

September 3, 2026September 3, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DIY ESP32-P4 weather station & air quality monitor connects to LoRa and ESP-NOW sensors, various weather APIs

DIY ESP32-P4 Weather Station Air and Quality Monitor

Harald Kreuzer has built an ESP32-P4 weather station and air quality monitor that features a 10.1-inch dashboard display and a built-in Sensirion SEN66 sensor for particulate matter, CO2, VOC, and NOX, and connects to wireless LoRa and ESP-NOW sensors. The project is entirely made of off-the-shelf boards, so no custom hardware is used, and it should be relatively easy to reproduce. It doesn’t require any cloud or user account, although it can connect to a choice of weather APIs (Open-Meteo, OpenWeatherMap or Visual Crossing) to display weather forecasts. The build is fully documented in a long blog post, so we’ll highlight the key features of the project in this article. Hardware specifications for the main unit: Based on ESP32-P4-Module-DEV-KIT-C Credit card-sized ESP32-P4-Module-DEV-KIT SBC based on an ESP32-P4NRW32 module with ESP32-P4 with 32MB PSRAM and ESP32-C6 for WiFi and BLE 10.1-inch IPS panel with 1280 x 800 resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio, […]