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Papyr – a Nordic nRF52840 e-paper display board

Posted on by mixos

Papyr is a Nordic nRF52840 epaper display that can be used for various low power wireless applications. It supports both BLE (BLE5, BLE Mesh) and 802.15.4 (Thread, Zigbee). The accompanying Android App will allow you to draw a shape or select and image and send it directly to the e-paper display.

With the exploding number of connected devices being deployed, power consumption is a major concern. Technologies like BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) are built from the ground up with low power consumption in mind. Another technology which is extremely low power is the e-paper display, which was made famous by its adoption by Amazon for the Kindle devices. Papyr from Electronut labs combines these two core ideas – a low power wireless technology combined with a low power display system. By choosing the Nordic nRF52840 SoC, Papyr is able to support not only BLE but mesh networking protocols like Thread, BLE Mesh, and Zigbee. Papyr has many extras too – like build in NFC antenna for BLE pairing or Thread commissioning, CR2477 battery holder, micro USB port, extra GPIOs, RGB LED, etc. There are a lot of applications possible with Papyr – dynamic price tags for example, or sensor data display in a mesh network. Papyr can be used anywhere you need a low power, connected display.

Hardware Specifications

  • Raytac MDBT50 module with Nordic nRF52840 BLE/802.15.4 SoC
  • 1.54 inch 200×200 pixel red/black/white epaper display
  • CR2477 coin cell holder
  • Micro USB (device)
  • RGB LED
  • NFC (PCB) antenna
  • Push button
  • USB/Battery power switch
  • Extra GPIOs
  • SWD Programming header
  • Mounting holes

Papyr Dimensions

⇒ Papyr Overview and Guide

They are currently taking pre-orders via email (info @ electronut.in) and it will be soon released on Tindie. The selling price for Papyr is USD 39, and they have kit options as well.

ESP32 CoinCell board

Posted on by mixos

This is an ESP32 Pico D4 project with an accelerometer and 0.69″ oled display powered by a rechargeable LIR2450 coin cell. Source files are available on github.com. Mike Rankin writes:

I was not made for any specific purpose and was a design challenge to try and made it as small as possible. It can be powered off of a battery or USB cable. If a battery is inserted and USB cable is plugged in it will charge the battery and power the board. The design files and parts list is provided if you would like to assemble your own. I can assemble and sell them in small quantities but the price would be very expensive. If you can come up with a specific use for this hardware or have any questions then just let me know at @mikerankin or by email at 0miker0@gmail.com

Main components used in this desgin:

  • ESP32 Pico D4 (wifi/bluetooth processor)
  • LIR2450 (3.7V battery)
  • SE5218ALG-LF (500mA LDO power supply)
  • SL4054ST25P (LiPo battery charger)
  • LIS3DHTR (accelerometer)
  • CP2102N (USB interface chip)
  • ER-OLED0.69-1W (96×16 oled dsiplay)

Overview Video

ESP32 CoinCell board – [Link]

NOVASOM’s U5 SBC features NXP iMX6 ULL CPU

Posted on by mixos

SBC-U5A & SBC-U5C – Credit Card sized SBC (i.MX6 ULL)

Novasom Industries’ U5 is a small board, approximately credit card size, that consumes little power, but that can do much more than what you think thanks to the ARM core A7 and the optimization of our SW systems. Arrives with all necessary to guarantee an immediate bootstrap, driving an RGB display with its backlight and touchscreen, connecting via Ethernet and USB plus one strip for GPIO expansion.

The SBC-U5A and SBC-U5C are both RASPMOOD models with RPi footprints and 40-pin GPIO (25 usable). They run the usual Yocto Project Linux stack (Linux 4.1.15) on the power-sipping, 900MHz i.MX6 ULL.

The SBC-U5C stands out with its certified WiFi radio with external antenna, wide-range 6.5-18V input (vs. 5V), and battery charger. Otherwise, the boards seem to be the same, providing 512MB RAM, a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB 2.0 host port, and a 10/100 Ethernet port.

Features

  • NXP iMX6 ULL CPU
  • RASPMOOD design
  • several interface
  • two different Wi-Fi/BT modules availablePIO
  • Linux OS
  • Power supply 5V, optional 6.5 to 18V
  • RGB FPC display port with power supply for the backlight too
  • RTC with extarnal battery connector and on board resistive touch controller
  • Various GPIO, A/D I2C, SPI, UART 2xRS232 (1 for Console) + 1xCAN
  • UPS manager with external battery

SBC-U1 – Stamp Sized SBC (ESP32)

Novasom Industries’ U1 is little like a postal stamp, includes a Wi-Fi/BT module, a dual core CPU with a RT O.S, some, ready to use in the field, GPIO and some analog input. Probably is the smallest SBC available on the market.

The 5V SBC-U1A ships with 384KB DDR3 and 4MB flash and supports -40 to 85⁰C temperatures. I/O includes SPI, I2C, A/D, D/A, and up to 15x GPIO. An RTC is onboard. Other details for all three U-line boards may be found in the chart farther above.

Features

  • processor ESP32@240MHz
  • 374 kb RAM
  • Wi-Fi/BT
  • GPIO
  • Free RT OS
  • UPS manager with external battery
  • Reduced dimensions: 37,5 mm x 31 mm

SDK – NOVAEMBED

An instrument through a graphical interface, allows you to configure the linux kernel in a simple and intuitive thus optimizing the performance of the card. The SDK, is a complex set of SW
which allows you to program a user code, configure the operating system “kernel” with appropriate video, set boot parameters, select specific peripheral drivers and their configuration etc.

Many use Yocto (also supported by Novasom) as SDK which, apart from being very heavy and variable over time (it is an example of the instability of Linux distribution because it is in continual evolution), is programmed in lines of code. In this case an operation as simple as a monitor substitution can become very complex.
Our tested and 100% guaranteed SDK isn’t a distribution like Yocto, even though the latter can be installed on the Novasom board, but is our SW toolsuite named NovaEmbed™ which allows the programming of the Novasom embedded system at a kernel-BSP and Boot level in a visual and preset way this reduces “time to market” in the development of embedded Linux application (which normally require highly specialized personnel and more time) and guarantees no errors resulting from the command line programming of the traditional SDK.

⇒ U1 and U5 SBC Specifications PDF

All the Novasom boards covered above are available now, with pricing undisclosed. More information may be found on Novasom’s Arm SBC page.

AAEON BOXER-8120 with Jetson TX2: Putting AI Anywhere You Need It

Posted on by mixos

AAEON, an award-winning developer of advanced AI hardware, releases the BOXER-8120AI, a powerful and compact controller for edge AI applications.

Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson TX2, the BOXER-8120AI supports 256 CUDA cores and a range of AI frameworks including TensorFlow, Caffe2, and MXNet. The device is able to process images, video, and speech in real time, and without a connection to the cloud. The system features 8GB LPDDR4 memory, 32GB eMMC storage, and a Micro SD slot.

The BOXER-8120AI with Jetson TX2 is capable of supporting four LAN ports. Combined with the device’s compact 153mm x 30mm x 101mm dimensions and remote power/reset switch, this feature means it’s perfect for a new type of edge AI street-side parking surveillance system in which the entire system – including cameras and the controller – is fitted high off the ground at the top of a street light pole.

Self-service stores will also benefit from the BOXER-8120AI’s unique properties. Four LAN ports and two USB 3.0 ports, along with USB OTG, mean the new AAEON PC can connect to a greater number of cameras and sensors. This enables faster, more accurate identification of shoppers and their purchases. In addition, USB OTG enables easy maintenance, allowing the BOXER-8120AI to connect to a PC or other input devices.

The BOXER-8120AI has been built for tough environments and features a tough aluminum chassis, anti-dust protection, a wide operating temperature range, and a 9-24Vdc power input range.

Speaking about the system, AAEON System Platform Division product manager Ethan Chiu said,

The BOXER-8120AI’s compact, cost-effective design and powerful processing abilities mean you’ll be able to deploy your AI platform anywhere.

Features

  • Nvidia Jetson TX2
  • HMP Dual Denver 2 + Quad ARM A57
  • Support Linux Ubuntu 16.04
  • 8GB LPDDR4, 32GB eMMC 5.1 onboard
  • RS-232 x 2, USB3.0 x 2, OTG x1
  • HDMI 2.0 x 1, LAN x 4 (Intel i211*3, Native*1)
  • Micro-SD x 1, Remote On/Off
  • Power input: 9~24Vdc

…more information: www.aaeon.com

Amphenol Advanced Sensors SM-UART-04L Laser Dust Sensor

Posted on by mixos

Amphenol Advanced Sensors SM-UART-04L Laser Dust Sensor offers a 5.5V rating, a 100mA current consumption, and a 3.3V output performance. This sensor detects dust particle concentrations in the air by using an optical sensing method. The SM-UART-04L sensor finds small particles such as cigarette smoke and can distinguish small particles, such as smoke from large house dust, by the pulse pattern of the signal output. Amphenol SM-UART-04L Laser Dust Sensor is ideal for air cleaners, purifiers, indoor air quality monitoring, and HVAC applications.

Specifications

  • 0 to 5.5V supply voltage range
  • 1 to 999µg/m3 detection range
  • 30mV supply voltage ripple rating
  • 100mA curent consumption rating
  • 3.3V output (UART)
  • -10°C to 50°C operating temperature range

Applications

  • Indoor air quality monitoring
  • Air cleaners
  • Air purifiers
  • Air conditioners
  • HVAC systems
  • Outdoor dust monitoring

Block Diagram

via oemsecrets.com

Insulin Injection Monitor Dosage and Wirelessly Transmits Data to Smartphone

Posted on by mixos

DIABNEXT’s ‘CLIPSULIN’ device attaches to insulin pens and employs Nordic’s nRF52832 SoC to wirelessly send recorded insulin injection data via Bluetooth LE or NFC.

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Taiwan-based DIABNEXT, a healthcare services company, has selected Nordic’s nRF52832 System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) wireless connectivity for its ‘CLIPSULIN’ insulin injection monitoring and recording device.

CLIPSULIN attaches to all commonly used disposable and reusable insulin pens and employs a vibration sensor to accurately detect insulin dosage, enabling the user to record their injected insulin units. Using Bluetooth LE or Near Field Communication (NFC) wireless connectivity provided by the Nordic SoC, the data is automatically transmitted to the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (or later) smartphone, from where the patient can then retrieve important information such as the dosage, date, and time of injection from the ‘DIABNEXT’ app. The iOS- and Android-compatible app functions as a digital logbook for a diabetes patient, not only recording their treatment data, but also enabling the patient to monitor blood sugar levels and physical activity.

As a non-rechargeable device powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, CLIPSULIN relies on the low power and low sleep-current capabilities of the Nordic SoC to extend the device’s battery life. The nRF52832 SoC has been engineered to minimize power consumption with features such as the 2.4GHz radio’s 5.5mA peak RX/TX currents and a fully-automatic power management system that reduces power consumption by up to 80 percent compared with Nordic’s nRF51 Series SoCs. The result is a Bluetooth LE solution which offers 58 CoreMark/mA, up to twice as power efficient as competing devices.

Nordic’s nRF52832 multiprotocol SoC combines an 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4F processor with a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5, ANT™, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol software) featuring -96-dB RX sensitivity, with 512kB Flash memory and 64kB RAM. The SoC also features an NFC-A Tag for use with simplified pairing and payment solutions. The nRF52832 is supplied with Nordic’s S132 SoftDevice, a Bluetooth 5-certifed RF software protocol stack for building advanced Bluetooth LE applications. The S132 SoftDevice features Central, Peripheral, Broadcaster and Observer Bluetooth LE roles, supports up to twenty connections, and enables concurrent role operation.

We chose the nRF52832 SoC for the CLIPSULIN device primarily for its compact size, low power consumption, stable radio sensitivity, and NFC functionality,

says Alice Cheng, Head of Development & Manufacturing at DIABNEXT.

Furthermore, the SoC’s generous Flash memory allocation enables efficient over-the-air firmware updates.

Nordic’s Software Development Kit and comprehensive reference designs made the development process significantly easier, while Nordic engineers were always quick to respond to any technical issues we encountered.

more information: www.nordicsemi.com

Researchers develop thin sensor to detect magnetic fields down to 200nT

Posted on by mixos

A team of researchers from Germany and Argentina have devised an ultra-thin planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor capable of detecting very faint magnetic fields even when flexed or wrapped around a wire. by Julien Happich @ www.eenewsembedded.com

In a paper titled “Highly compliant planar Hall effect sensor with sub 200 nT sensitivity” published in Nature’s npj Flexible Electronics journal, the researchers describe a very simple fabrication process, whereby assymetrical Permalloy (Py) Hall crosses just 20nm thick are patterned on 6µm-thick PET foils before being magnetized through multiple magnetic field sweeps (between ±3 mT).

Being a facet of flexible electronics, mechanically reshapeable magnetic field sensorics enable novel device ideas for soft robotics, interactive devices for virtual- and augmented reality and point of care diagnostics. These applications demand mechanically compliant yet robust sensor devices revealing high sensitivity to small magnetic fields. To push the detection limit of highly compliant and linear magnetic field sensors to be in the sub-µT range, we explore a new fundamental concept for magnetic field sensing, namely the planar Hall effect in magnetic thin films. With their remarkable bendability down to 1 mm, these compliant planar Hall effect sensors allow for an efficient detection of magnetic fields as small as 200 nT with a limit of detection of 20 nT.

We demonstrate the application potential of these devices as a direction (angle) as well as proximity (distance) sensors of tiny magnetic fields emanating from magnetically functionalized objects. With their intrinsic linearity and simplicity of fabrication, these compliant planar Hall effect sensors have the potential to become a standard solution for low field applications of shapeable magnetoelectronics in point of care applications and on-skin interactive electronics.

The Hall cross described in the paper, occupying an area of about 400×400µm2, has a high aspect ratio of 10:1. This induces a preferred magnetization axis of the Py structure by shape anisotropy, further facilitated by one of the stripes being elliptically-shaped instead of rectangular. Four electrical contacts complete the device, sensitive mostly to the fields applied parallel to its elliptical axis.

…read more

Sipeed MAix: AI at the edge

Posted on by mixos

Sipeed MAix: AI at the edge

AI is pervasive today, from consumer to enterprise applications. With the explosive growth of connected devices, combined with a demand for privacy/confidentiality, low latency and bandwidth constraints, AI models trained in the cloud increasingly need to be run at the edge.

MAIX is Sipeed’s purpose-built module designed to run AI at the edge, we called it AIoT. It delivers high performance in a small physical and power footprint, enabling the deployment of high-accuracy AI at the edge, and the competitive price make it possible embed to any IoT devices. As you see, Sipeed MAIX is quite like Google edge TPU, but it act as master controller, not an accelerator like edge TPU, so it is more low cost and low power than AP+edge TPU solution.

MAix’s Advantage and Usage Scenarios:

  • MAIX is not only hardware, but also provide an end-to-end, hardware + software infrastructure for facilitating the deployment of customers’ AI-based solutions.
  • Thanks to its performance, small footprint, low power, and low cost, MAIX enables the broad deployment of high-quality AI at the edge.
  • MAIX isn’t just a hardware solution, it combines custom hardware, open software, and state-of-the-art AI algorithms to provide high-quality, easy to deploy AI solutions for the edge.
  • MAIX can be used for a growing number of industrial use-cases such as predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, machine vision, robotics, voice recognition, and many more. It can be used in manufacturing, on-premise, healthcare, retail, smart spaces, transportation, etc.

MAix’s CPU

  • In hardware, MAIX have powerful KPU K210 inside, it offers many excited features:
  • 1st competitive RISC-V chip, also 1st competitive AI chip, newly release in Sep. 2018
  • 28nm process, dual-core RISC-V 64bit IMAFDC, on-chip huge 8MB high-speed SRAM (not for XMR :D), 400MHz frequency (able to 800MHz)
  • KPU (Neural Network Processor) inside, 64 KPU which is 576bit width, support convolution kernels, any form of activation function. It offers [email protected],400MHz, when overclock to 800MHz, it offers 0.5TOPS. It means you can do object recognition 60fps@VGA
  • APU (Audio Processor) inside, support 8mics, up to 192KHz sample rate, hardcore FFT unit inside, easy to make a Mic Array (MAIX offer it too)
  • Flexible FPIOA (Field Programmable IO Array), you can map 255 functions to all 48 GPIOs on the chip
  • DVP camera and MCU LCD interface, you can connect an DVP camera, run your algorithm, and display on LCD
  • Many other accelerators and peripherals: AES Accelerator, SHA256 Accelerator, FFT Accelerator (not APU’s one), OTP, UART, WDT, IIC, SPI, I2S, TIMER, RTC, PWM, etc.

MAix’s Module

Inherit the advantage of K210’s small footprint, Sipeed MAIX-I module, or called M1, integrate K210, 3-channel DC-DC power, 8MB/16MB/128MB Flash (M1w module add wifi chip esp8285 on it) into Square Inch Module. All usable IO breaks out as 1.27mm(50mil) pins, and pin’s voltage is selectable from 3.3V and 1.8V.

Sipeed MAix BiT development board

As many DIYer want build their own work with breadboard, Sipeed newly provide breadboard-friendly board for you, it called MAix BiT

  • It is twice of M1 size, 1×2 inch size, breadboard-friendly, and also SMT-able,
  • It integrate USB2UART chip, auto download circuit, RGB LED, DVP Camera FPC connector(support small FPC camera and standard M12 camera), MCU LCD FPC connector(support our 2.4 inch QVGA LCD), TF card solt.
  • MAix BiT is able to adjust core voltage! you can adjust from 0.8V~1.2V, overclock to 800MHz!

MAix’s SoftWare

MAIX support original standalone SDK, FreeRTOS SDK base on C/C++.
And we port micropython on it: http://en.maixpy.sipeed.com/. It support FPIOA, GPIO, TIMER, PWM, Flash, OV2640, LCD, etc. And it have zmodem, vi, SPIFFS on it, you can edit python directly or sz/rz file to board. We are glad to see you contribute for it:

MAix’s Deep learning

MAIX support fixed-point model that the mainstream training framework trains, according to specific restriction rules, and have model compiler to compile models to its own model format.
It support tiny-yolo, mobilenet-v1, and, TensorFlow Lite! Many TensorFlow Lite model can be compiled and run on MAIX! And We will soon release model shop, you can trade your model on it.

Serial Star, a 4 in 1 USB Serial and I2C Converter

Posted on by mixos

Jesus Echavarria @ jechavarria.com has build a 4 in 1 USB Serial converter based on MCP2221A. This board is mainly a USB hub with 4 USB to serial converters. Is like the typical USB to TTL adapter but with one USB port you get up to 4 serial ports. Levels of every converter are selectable by a switch so you can have serial ports with TTL levels (both 5V or 3.3V, configurable by a onboard jumper) or RS232 levels, covering all the possibilities of a serial port. Also the converter he used (MCP2221A) has an I2C port so you also have access to these 4 I2C ports. And finally, you can also have access to 2-pin general IO of the MCP2221A. Jesus writes:

Hi all! Here’s one of the last board I design the last year. On 2016, I develop the Dual USB Serial and I2C Converter board. Although this board works fine, it has a couple of lacks. First one, is that to use the both converters, you need two free USB ports. Is a minor problem today with USB hubs, but you need the hub and also two USB wires. And the other problem is that this board uses mini-USB connectors. Of course today you can still find it, but aren’t as common as the micro-USB wires. For this two reasons, I decide to upgrade the board, add the micro – USB connector and put a USB hub inside it. Because I choose a 4-port USB hub, I use also 4 USB serial converters. With some addons, you can select power supply value (5V, 3V3), serial levels (TTL, RS232) and GPIO functions in an independent way for each converter. So, let’s see how works this USB Serial Star, a 4 in 1 USB to Serial and I2C Converter.

Serial Star, a 4 in 1 USB Serial and I2C Converter – [Link]

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