Electronics Hardware - Embedded Linux - Internet of Things
The TXW8301 IEEE 802.11ah Halow SoC from Chinese manufacturer, TaiXin Semiconductor is unique from other Halow semiconductor vendors in that it has a RMII interface for connection to an external Ethernet PHY. This allows the SoC to act as a cost-effective Long Range Halow Wireless Ethernet Bridge. As a result, the TXW8301 is commonly found in many Wireless Network Bridges (WNB) found on platforms…
Heltec Automation have two 802.11ah Halow WiFi Modules, the HT-HC01 V1 and HT-HC01 V2. Both are based on the Morse Micro MM6108. Version 1 was only available in the 902 to 928MHz band and operated with a maximum power of 21dBm. Version 2 had two variants supporting 902-928 MHz and 863-870MHz (Europe). The 863-870MHz module was limited to 16dBm and the 902-928 MHz had an upgraded maximum power…
The Alfa Network’s AHPI7292S was claimed to be the world’s first IEEE 802.11ah sub 1 GHz WiFi Raspberry Pi HAT when it was introduced in 2021. It is based on the 1st generation Newracom NRC7292 SoC and is still readily available today from various distributors such as The Newracom NRC7292 (and 2nd generation NRC7394) can operate in either host mode or standalone mode. While the NRC7394 2nd…
The Alfa Network s AHPI7292S was claimed to be the world s first IEEE 802.11ah sub 1 GHz WiFi Raspberry Pi HAT when it was introduced in 2021. It is based on the first generation Newracom NRC7292 SoC and is still readily available today from various distributors such as While more expensive than some other alternatives, the readily available aspect makes it still an option for evaluating 802.11ah…
At the time of publishing, one of the easiest ways of prototyping or evaluating a 802.11ah HaLow client without having to spin your own PCB is using the commonly available Wi-Fi HaLow Transceiver for Seeed Studio XIAO (SKU: 109100041). This board is available from suppliers such as SeeedStudio, Aliexpress and DigiKey. The PCB is populated with a Quectel FGH100M-H HaLow module. This module operates…
The Seeed Studio Wio-WM6108 mini-PCIe module is a popular choice for creating a 802.11ah HaLow router. The mini-PCIe card can be inserted into the WM1302 Raspberry Pi Hat and attached to a Raspberry Pi. Seeed Studio have a pre-built OpenWRT Image on their Wiki page, but it is a bit outdated and based on Morse Micro s 2.7-dev release. They also don t provide any guidance to how to build your own…
The Zephyr RTOS has support for USB-C Power Delivery through the software port of the Google ChromeOS Type-C Port Manager. USB Power Delivery is a protocol used on USB Type-C connectors to negotiate power at different voltage levels typically 5V, 9V, 12V, 15V, 20V, but can be as high as 48V/240W with the new PD revision 3.1. As USB-C becomes the universal standard for low power chargers, it allows…
A couple of weeks ago, we reviewed the Heetech Low Voltage 12 – 85V DC/AC E27 Light Bulb. While it had a large input range of 12 to 85V, the luminous output started to dim as the voltage fell below 13.0V. If operated on a 12V battery, the reduction in light intensity was noticeable as the battery s terminal voltage reduced throughout the night. It was also advertised and marked as 9W, but only…
This USB-PD (Power Delivery) Charging module is based on the XPM52C 65W USB-PD Multi-protocol Buck Converter. It allows USB devices (mobile phones, tablets, laptop computers, cameras etc) to be efficiently charged from a low voltage DC power source (8 to 30V DC) such as 12V/24V battery or power station. While my interest was in the USB-C power delivery capability, the device supports a range of…
In off-grid systems, it can make sense to use a low voltage DC light bulb, instead of having the overheads of a DC to AC inverter in terms of capital cost, quiescent (idle) current, conversion efficiency and risk of electrocution. For example, in a shed or other de-attached structure you could have a small 12V or 24V PV Solar system and run your lighting directly from that source. LED bulbs exist…