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Fairphone’s Sustainable and Repairable mobile phone Launches Out Soon

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

With the latest release from the Dutch social enterprise, the desire for a modular and sustainable smartphone that supports a kinder world can become a reality after all. Built with care for people and for the planet, Fairphone3 has got everything you’d expect from a great phone and even more.

The Fairphone 3

Designed with replaceable parts made from sourced and recyclable materials, the ethical, reliable and sustainable Fairphone 3, features seven module parts in it – the back cover, display, top module (the cameras and sensors), speaker module, battery, bottom module (the USB type- C/microphone) and  the camera module (primary camera), which are all easy to repair and replace. The conflict-free recyclable materials from which it was made is easy to repair and reduces its CO2 emissions thereby reducing its carbon footprint.

 “From the earth to your pocket, a smartphone’s journey is filled with unfair practices. We believe a fairer electronics industry is possible. By making the change from the inside, we’re giving a voice to people who care. This is the phone for all of us who date to care about what kind of a world we’re creating with our purchase decisions. For all of us who want a great phone that is kinder to people and to the earth. For all of us who believe that care for workers and our planet ought to be a natural part of doing business.”

The Fairphone 3 Dismantled.

Asides having an internal storage capacity of 64Gb and an extra storage micro SD card slot of 200Gb, the smartphone also has a 12MP rear camera (f/1.8, Dual Pixel PDAF), an 8MP from the camera (f/2.0) and a 5.65-inch HD touchscreen display (21260 X 1080/427ppi).

Fairphone 3 specifications:

  • Chipset
    • Qualcomm Snapdragon 632
  • Connectivity
    • Wi-Fi
    • Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS NFC
  • Display
    • 5.7 inch Full-HD (18:9) Corning Gorilla Glass 5
  • Operating System
    • Android 9 (Pie)
  • SIM slots
    • Dual nano-SIM
  • Camera Modules
    • 12MP/8MP
  • Battery
    • 3000mAh removable, with fast charging
  • Memory
    • 4GB RAM
    • 64GB internal storage
    • Expandable storage via MicroSD slot
  • Modular design
    • 7 modules for easy repair
  • Network
    • 2G, 3G, 4G, VoLT

For the hardware, Fairphone 3 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 with Adreno 506/650 GPU and a 64-bit Kryo 250 octa-core CPU, while on the outer part; the sensor suite (for accelerometer, compass, light, barometer, gyroscope, proximity), the external speaker, the USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is also equipped with Bluetooth 5/LE, 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi and NFC for wireless connections alongside 2G, 3G and 4G LTE with Dual-Nano SIM for mobile network connections.

While we await its launch on soon, Fairphone 3 is now available for pre-order at about $495. It ships in with a 2-year warranty, a quick start guide together with a mini-screwdriver that you can use for repairs, a bumper, and an Android Pie.

3.5-inch SBC and embedded PC feature Whiskey Lake-UE

Posted on by mixos

Vecow Co., Ltd., a team of embedded expert, today announced the launch of EMBC-3000 3.5” SBC and SPC-5200 Slim Fanless System. Powered by the 8th Gen Intel® Core U-Series (Whiskey Lake) platform, EMBC-3000 and SPC-5200 feature outstanding performance, compact design, system-oriented integration and industrial-grade reliability, aiming at embedded solutions for Intelligent control, machine vision, In-vehicle computing, factory automation, gaming, AGV/AGR and any Industrial 4.0 and AIoT applications.

Based on the 8th Gen Intel® Core™ U-series processor that delivers power-efficient performance in a 15 Watt and high connectivity, Vecow EMBC-3000 and SPC-5200 offer DDR4 2400MHz SO-DIMM with up to 32GB memory and versatile I/O capabilities including 4 USB 3.1 Gen 2 with 10Gbps data transfer, 4 COM RS-232/422/485, 16 isolated DIO, 1 SIM card socket, 2 Mini PCIe slot (8GT/s) and 2 SATA II (6G) ports. Running on Intel® UHD Graphics 620, Vecow EMBC-3000 supports up to triple independent displays with Displayport, DVI-D and dual channel 24-bit LVDS display interface. Designed for a low profile, with dimensions of 146mm x 102mm, EMBC-3000 offers full functions SUMIT A, B for expansion for 10GigE LAN, GigE LAN and PCIe slot for graphics cards, USB adaptor and video card connectivity.

With AIoT technology becoming widespread, Vecow EMBC-3000 and SPC-5200 support Intel® OpenVINO toolkit to fulfil requirements of AIoT applications. Also, these two products provide TPM 2.0, iAMT 12.0, Wake on LAN, and PXE for smart manageability. Thanks to the compact design, Vecow SPC-5200 offers optional 1U high rackmount, making it is ideal for space-limited applications. It supports 4 GigE LAN with 2 PoE, 9V to 48V power input, remote power switch and ignition control, delivering must-have features for in-vehicle computing applications. Vecow EMBC-3000 and SPC-5200 are designed for used in industrial applications. EMBC-3000 has proven reliable operation at temperature range from -40∘C to 85∘C, fanless, rugged SUMIT connection, EN50155 and EN50121-3-2 compliant.

“We are so proud to bring Vecow EMBC-3000 3.5” SBC, along with SPC-5200 fanless embedded system, to the market.” said Hugh Hsu, Senior Product Manager, Embedded System & Platform Division at Vecow. “Two products are based on quad-core Intel® Whiskey Lake processor and deliver outstanding performance, flexibility and expandable functions. They meet requirements of modern embedded applications that have been revolving diverse and complex.”

“We are excited to introduce these two products to our customers and we will be exhibiting at CIIF 2019/IAS in September from 17 to 21, 2019 in China.” said Johnson Hsu, Great China Sales Director, Sales & Marketing Division at Vecow. “We can’t wait to presents SPC-5200 and EMBC-3000 to our partners and customers.”

Featuring the new 8th Gen Intel® Core™ U-series processor, Vecow SPC-5200 and EMBC-3000 series offer outstanding performance, highly compact design and system-oriented integration. They are ideally suited for intelligent control, machine vision, In-vehicle computing, factory automation, gaming, AGV/AGR and AIoT/ Industrial 4.0 applications.

No pricing or availability information was provided for the EMBC-3000 SBC and SPC-5200 computer. More information may be found in Vecow’s announcement and the
EMBC-3000 and SPC-5200 product pages.

For more Vecow Industrial Motherboards and Ultra-compact Embedded System, please visit EMBC-3000 product page and SPC-5200 product page or www.vecow.com

Samsung announces 5G-capable Exynos processor

Posted on by mixos

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced the Exynos 980 processor with an integrated 5G modem capable of download speeds of up to 2.55Gbps. report by Peter Clarke @ eenewsembedded.com

The chip is designed in Samsung’s 8nm manufacturing process technology and the CPU has a six-two split little-big architecture divided between two 2.2GHz Cortex-A77 cores and six 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores.

There is a Mali G76 MP5 graphics processor unit so Samsung has stuck with ARM GPU for now (see ARM gets a rival as AMD licenses graphics IP to Samsung) and a dedicated neural processing unit. The integrated modem conforms to 5G New Radio and achieves 2.55Gbps sub-6GHz download and 1.28Gbps upload. The modem also supports LTE at 1Gbps download and 200Mbps upload.

The chip supports an extreme display size of 3360 by 1440 pixels and for video 4K UHD 120fps encoding and decoding with HEVC (H.265), H.264 and VP9 codecs.

Rather than being coupled with a separate 5G modem, the 5G-enabled Exynos 980 not only helps reduce power consumption but also increase the space efficiency within a device.

The neural processing unit (NPU) features elevated performances of up to 2.7 times compared to its predecessor and is built into the Exynos 980 to provide new levels of on-device intelligence.

The modem also supports the incoming Wi-Fi 6 standard, IEEE 802.11ax, that provides faster speed and greater stability for seamless online gaming and smooth high-resolution video streaming over Wi-Fi networks.

“With the introduction of our 5G modem last year, Samsung has been driving in the 5G revolution and paved the way towards the next step in mobility,” said Ben Hur, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics, in a statement. “With the 5G-integrated Exynos 980, Samsung is pushing to make 5G more accessible to a wider range of users and continues to lead innovation in the mobile 5G market.”

The Exynos 980 is expected to begin mass production by the end of 2019.

Related links and articles: www.samsung.com

Riverdi IoT Displays for Next Level IoT Projects

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Designed and produced with everything an IoT engineer might need, the python-programmable ESP32– powered IoT display by Riverdi is an expandable, cloud-ready GUI with a sleek design, low power consumption and top of the line graphical capabilities for high-quality IoT projects.

Riverdi Display

The Riverdi IoT displays comes in 3 different versions – 5″ resistive touch panel, 5″ capacitive touch panel, and 5″ Ux touch panel (with a decorative black or white cover glass) – each of which has great features like 800×480 resolution, SPI interface and 510 cd/m2 brightness. Each display can be programmed without any limitation in Python or C/Python with the Integrated Zerynth license onboard. With about 15 lines of codes, you should be able to connect a sensor to the cloud, thanks to the simplicity of Python and the efficiency of Zerynth toolchain. The Zerynth toolchain offers hardware encryption, multi-threaded applications, firmware over the air updates, advanced power management, Blockchain libraries, among many others.

The system architecture is simplified for human-machine interfaces (HMI) by the Bridgetek graphics controller, BT81x (a part of the family of advanced graphics controllers) or EVE3  on the Riverdi IoT display which is responsible for the audio, display and touch functionalities including an object-oriented architectural approach that goes from creating display to rendering graphics.

Back View of the Display

Every IoT display has two Grove connectors and two MicroBUS sockets that offer a simple and easy way to expand the display through many SeedStudio Twigs and MikroElektronical Click Boards. On each click board and Twig, you can choose any functionality that you want to be added to your display: temperature and humidity sensors, text to speech converters, UV sensors, voltage regulators, RF transceivers, buttons, switches, and motor control. In no time, you’d have your customized IoT project in your hands.

Also, the Espressif ESP32, ideal for low power IoT applications and wearable electronics, is located on these IoT display. The ESP32 integrates WiFi and Bluetooth so you can connect your display to the cloud as well as send and receive data via the cloud. The ESP32 combines the WiFi (that ensures your module can directly connect to the internet), the Bluetooth (that allows you to connect a smartphone) and the Bluetooth low energy (to broadcast low energy beacons for detection).

Learn more about the different versions of the displays on Riverdi IoT display category page. In case you are not so skilled with programming in python, visit the Zerynth Academy for its many tutorials and articles on python.

Sipeed Longan Nano – RISC-V GD32VF103CBT6 Development Board

Posted on by mixos

Sipeed Longan Nano is a development board based on GD32VF103CBT6 MCU with RISC-V 32-bit core of GigaDevice. It is convenient for students, engineers and geek enthusiasts to contact the new-generation RISC-V processor. Longan Nano sold by Seeed comes with a 0.96inch 160×80 IPS RGB LCD and an acrylic transparent case.

GD32VF103CBT6 is a Bumblebee core based on Nuclei System Technology. Support RV32IMAC instruction set and ECLIC fast interrupt function. Core power consumption is only 1/3 of that of traditional Cortex-M3.

Longan Nano development board, double-row pin layout design, needle spacing 700 mil, can be inserted directly into breadboard; on-board 8M passive crystal oscillator, 32.768 KHz RTC low-speed crystal oscillator, Mini TF slot, and use Type-C USB interface.

Longan Nano supports multiple download methods: USB DFU download, UART ISP download, JTAG download. In the USB DFU download mode, you only need a USB Type-C cable to download the program to the development board. At the same time, Longan Nano supports the standard JTAG interface, which can be debugged online using the in-store RISC-V debugger or any JTAG-enabled debugger such as J-Link.

Features

  • Chip built-in 128KB Flash, 32KB SRAM
  • 4 x general purpose 16-bit timer, 2 x basic 16-bit timer, 1 x advanced 16-bit timer
  • Watchdog, RTC, Systick
  • 3 x USART, 2 x I2C, 3 x SPI, 2 x I2S, 2 x CAN, 1 x USBFS (OTG)
  • 2 x ADC (10 channel), 2 x DAC

Introduction Video

Meanwhile, Sipeed has adapted the PlatformIO IDE for the Longan Nano development board, which can be visually developed on multiple platforms such as Windows/Linux:

https://github.com/sipeed/platform-gd32v

Sipeed’s Longan Nano is now available on Seeed store.

Orange Pi Zero2 is a Tiny Allwinner H6 SBC with HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0, Ethernet & WiFi

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

Shenzhen Xunlong Software is introducing a new, compact SBC to the market. The Orange Pi Zero2 is a little bit larger than its predecessor and more powerful to boot. The board comes with an Allwinner H6 SoC that incorporates four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, 512 MB of LPDDR3 RAM, 4 GB of eMMC flash storage and a host of interfaces, and it still weighs just 34 g. Pricing and availability are still unconfirmed but expect it to cost around US$20. Shenzhen Xunlong Software is quite occupied lately. They only recently released a refreshed version of Orange Pi Zero, known as the Orange Pi Zero LTS. Now it is working on the Orange Pi Zero2, the aptly named successor to the Orange Pi Zero, which seems to offer more performance and possibilities than its predecessor.

The SBC is based on an Allwinner H6, an SoC that integrates four ARM Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-T720 GPU alongside other components. The Pi Zero2 also supports OpenGL through to ES 3.1 and DirectX 11. Shenzhen Xunlong Software equips the Allwinner H6 with 512 MB of LPDDR3 RAM and 4 GB of eMMC flash storage. The Pi Zero2 also supports up to 32 GB microSD cards in case you need additional space. The board also includes a full-sized HDMI 2.0a port, which is quite rare among small SBCs.

The Pi Zero2 offers support for all modern Wi-Fi standards up to IEEE 802.11 n too, and also Bluetooth 4.2, and 100 MBit Ethernet. Gigabit Ethernet would have been preferable, but we will settle for the board’s USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections. To sweeten things, there is a 26-pin Raspberry Pi header too, along with a 3-pin UART header for serial console debugging. The SBC needs 5 V for power, and it can be supplied either through a USB OTG or a DC jack. The Pi Zero2 measures 55 x 55 mm and weighs just 34 g. The board should offer support for Android 7.0, Debian and Ubuntu, although, we should note that these pre-release OS lists are not always complete or correct, so we might see something different later. Shenzhen Xunlong Software is also silent about pricing and availability, although we should expect the Pi Zero2 to sell for around US$20, going by the price of previous Orange Pi devices.

Orange Pi Zero2 specifications:

  • SoC – Allwinner H6 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali T720 GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.1/3.0/2.0/1.1, Microsoft DirectX 11 FL9_3
  • Memory – 512MB LPDDR3 (Allwinner AW52A8G32)
  • Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash and microSD card up to 32GB
  • Video Output – HDMI 2.0a port
  • Video Decoding – 10-bit H265/HEVC up tp 4K60 or 6K30; H264/AVC up to 4K30; VP9 up to 4K30; AVS+/AVS up to 1080p60
  • Network Connectivity
    • 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 + Bluetooth 4.2 via AP6212A module
    • 10/100M Ethernet
  • Audio – Built-in microphone, and HDMI digital audio output
  • USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port; 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port
  • Expansion – 26-pin “Raspberry Pi 1” header
  • Debugging – 3-pin UART header for serial console
  • Misc – Power & status LEDs, IR receiver, power key
  • Power Supply – 5V via micro USB OTG port or DC jack; A8038 PMU instead of the usual AXP805
  • Dimensions – 55 x 55 mm
  • Weight – 34 grams

BME280 breakout board

Posted on by mixos

The SparkFun BME280 Atmospheric Sensor Breakout is the easy way to measure barometric pressure, humidity, and temperature readings all without taking up too much space. Basically, anything you need to know about atmospheric conditions you can find out from this tiny breakout. The BME280 Breakout has been design to be used in indoor/outdoor navigation, weather forecasting, home automation, and even personal health and wellness monitoring.

The on-board BME280 sensor measures atmospheric pressure from 30kPa to 110kPa as well as relative humidity and temperature. The breakout provides a 3.3V SPI interface, a 5V tolerant I2C interface (with pull-up resistors to 3.3V), takes measurements at less than 1mA and idles less than 5µA. The BME280 Breakout board has 10 pins, but no more than six are used at a single time. The left side of the board provide power, ground, and I2C pins. The remaining pins which provide SPI functionality and have another power and ground, are broken out on the other side.

Sources:

Velleman Handheld Oscilloscope

Posted on by mixos

The HPS140MK2 handheld oscilloscope still holds the same power as its predecessor, the HPS140, but in a new and modern design. Although small in size, this oscilloscope packs 40 MS/s in real time and it’s sensitivity can go as low as 0.1 mV. It also has a full automatic measuring system but can be operated manually if preferred.

Features

  • 40 Mega samples/sec in real time
  • Bandwidth up to 10 MHz
  • Full auto range option
  • Sensitivity down to 0.1 mV
  • Signal markers for amplitude and time
  • Memory hold function
  • Direct audio power measurement

Specifications

  • Bandwidth: up to 10 MHz (-3dB or -4dB at selected ranges)
  • Input range: 1 mV to 20 V / division in 14 steps
  • Input coupling: DC, AC and GND
  • Real-time sample rate up to 40 MS/s
  • AD resolution: 8 bits
  • Time base: 250 ns to 1 h per division
  • Auto set-up function (or manual)
  • Probe x10 readout option
  • Readouts: DC, AC + DC,True RMS, dBm, Vpp, Min-Max. (±2.5%)
  • Audio power measurement from 2 to 32 ohms
  • Hold & store function
  • Time and voltage markers readout
  • Max. 100 Vp AC + DC
  • Monochrome OLED
  • Power supply: 4 x 1.5 V AAA batteries (not incl.)
  • Operating time: up to 8 hours on quality Alkaline batteries
  • For use on CLASS II pollution degree II installations
  • Dimensions: 114 x 68 x 22 mm
  • Weight: 166 gr

Introduction Video

The HPS140MK2  handled oscilloscope cost ~ €165 from various distributors online. For more information please visit www.velleman.eu

Free Elektor Article: Line AC Switch Controlled by Bluetooth Low Energy

Posted on by mixos

This article describes the electronics, the BL600 program and the Android program; the last being an Android smartphone application with which your mains switch circuit may be controlled wirelessly. You may notice an unusual detail for these pages — the transformerless power supply.

Go to the article page and download a pdf copy of the magazine article. Downloading is free until Friday 6 September, 2019.

ctxLink – Wireless debug probe for ARM Cortex-M microprocessors

Posted on by mixos

ctxLink is an open hardware debugger, based on the Black Magic Probe (BMP), that supports Wi-Fi connectivity and battery powered operation. It implements SWD and JTAG interfaces for remote, cable-free programming and debugging of ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers. It is ideal for debugging mobile projects such as robotic devices and other embedded systems that are not always physically accessible.

Features

  • Usability
    • Open hardware and open source firmware based on the BMP
    • Uses built-in STM32 system bootloader for firmware updates
    • Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux
  • Debugging
    • Implements SWD and JTAG interfaces
    • Supports a wide range of ARM Cortex targets, including ST, Atmel, Nordic, NXP, and others
    • Includes a built-in GDB Server that can be used with a wide range of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
    • Supports a wide range of target voltages (1.7 V to 5 V)
  • Connectivity
    • Supports USB and Wi-Fi connections to the host computer
    • Wi-Fi can be configured using WPS or through http provisioning with a smartphone
  • Power
    • Can be powered from the target (3 V to 5 V targets only)
    • Can be used to power the target (up to 100 mA)
    • Can be powered by an optional LiPo battery
    • Battery can be charged through USB

Specifications

  • Microcontroller: STM32F401RE
  • Wi-Fi module: Microchip WINC1500
  • Physical: 89 mm x 33 mm, 4-layer PCB

The project is coming soon on www.crowdsupply.com

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