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New SIM7000G modem for ModBerry / Moduino Industrial IoT devices

TECHBASE’s Industrial IoT devices, ModBerry & Moduino series, now supports latest SIMCom global-band SIM7000G eMTC & NB-IoT Module. New SIM7000G supersedes previous 7000E / 7000A / 7000C versions of modem and provides a universal band set with global coverage, in opposite to Europe, America and China-only solutions.

Our ModBerry / Moduino devices equipped with latest SIM7000G modem are perfect for industrial automation solutions, e.g. data logging, metering, telemetrics, remote monitoring, security and data management through all Industrial IoT applications.

Supported bandwidths:

  • Global-Band LTE CAT-M1:  B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B8/B12/B13/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B39;
  • Global-Band LTE CAT NB-IoT1:  B1/B2/B3/B5/B8/B12/B13/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28;
  • GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900Mhz Control Via AT Commands

Supported data transfer:

  • LTE CAT-M1(eMTC) – Uplink up to 375kbps, Downlink up to 300kbps
  • NB-IoT – Uplink up to 66kbps, Downlink up to 34kbps
  • EDGE Class – Uplink up to 236.8Kbps, Downlink up to 236.8Kbps
  • GPRS – Uplink up to 85.6Kbps, Downlink up to 85.6Kbps

Our ModBerry / Moduino devices with global-band SIM7000G are available for testing and developing purposes, due to pending certifications of this module. For more information please contact our sales managers via live chat or contact forms.

 

 

SuperCap UPS – Backup power supply for Raspberry Pi / ESP32 IIoT devices

The new SuperCap UPS-SC01 backup power supply is equipped with a highly available backup feature to safely bridge fluctuations, drops or failures accompanying standard 9~30VDC supply voltage and avoid interruption of output voltage in industrial and automation environments. For this purpose SuperCap UPS-SC01 utilizes two supercapacitors (so-called supercaps) as a durable, cycle-resistant and maintenance-free solution for backup energy storage and failure safety.

As an addition to Industrial IoT family of TECHBASE’s products, such as ModBerry (Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 powered) industrial gateways and Moduino (ESP32 powered) end-point devices, the SuperCap UPS-SC01 serves well as an additional, highly efficient and fanless power source to allow continuous operation of connected devices in difficult conditions, such as extended industrial temperature range. Perfect solution for a multi-range applications, especially for embedded IIoT / Industry 4.0 systems, where stability and high availability is most important.

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Symbiosis of RaspberryPi and ESP32 in one device

The latest configuration of ModBerry 500 device presents the important milestone in TECHBASE’s offer. The introduction of two platform symbiosis, RaspberryPi Compute Module 3 assisted with Espressif’s ESP32 module brings new possibilities of application to life. High performance of CM3, if compromised by exposition to harsh environmental conditions or sudden drop of power, is aided with low-powered ESP32’s real-time system to continue operation of the device. ESP32 module can be battery powered, same as standalone Moduino series, based on similar solution.

ESP32 subsystem for ModBerry 500

Main difference between ESP32-aided ModBerry device and ESP32-based Moduino is that the first one benefits from low-power module aid to prevent errors and downtimes. ESP32 compared to Compute Module 3 works much longer on battery power supply and offers extended sleep modes. Real-time system of ESP32 and simplified communication between ESP32-aided ModBerry device and Moduino controllers drastically shortens the time needed for the system implementation and the cost of maintaining the application. It also enables the use of Espressif’s Wi-Fi-based technology in the ESP-NOW and ESP-MESH networks.

The separate ModBerry-Moduino Ecosystem, working as a separate devices is a solution for scattered object and installations monitoring – with the use of wireless communication interfaces (e.g. LoRa, NarrowBand-IoT, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.), rather than standard wired networks. For more information ask TECHBASE via one of contact form at: https://modberry.techbase.eu/ & http://moduino.techbase.eu/

Coming soon

TECHBASE plans further development of the product, particularly the issue of remote access to input/output resources and use of ESP32 as a Security Chip – hardware layer protection against hacking (very important issue in current IoT business).

 

M-Bus/Wireless M-Bus support for Moduino X1/X2

Moduino based on ESP32 can now be equipped with TECHBASE’s original mBus10/60/400 converter module. The converter operates as a M-Bus Master and allows user to connect up to 400 standard M-Bus receivers (Slaves) through M-Bus Master output or fewer devices at a higher M-Bus load over long distances. Moduino, as a fully capable Industrial IoT device, can now be used with every device equipped with M-Bus interface, e.g. heat meters, electricity meters, gas meters, executive modules, recorders, measuring instruments.

Wireless M-Bus support

TECHBASE has added high performance module for wireless M-Bus connectivity and multi-hop networking into Moduino series expansion options. The module is configured as an embedded micro system or simple data modem for low power applications in the metering specifically allocated band of 169 MHz or in the ISM band of 868 MHz. The device is can be configured for interoperability in a WMBus network for Industrial IoT applications.

The RF implementation guarantees best-in-class performance in terms of covered area and power consumption. The output power can be increased up to +30 dBm on the 169 MHz band (+27 dBm on optimized version for highest power efficiency) and up to +15 dBm on the 868 MHz band. The extremely reduced power consumption gives access to long lasting battery life requirement (up to 2 μA in sleep mode for wireless M-Bus module with an RTC clock running).

The Moduino devices  can be provided with a W-MBus stack specifically developed by Embit for the platform that allows to integrate the module in the desired system without effort and simplify the interaction in WMBus networks.

 

First industrial gateways series based on new ESP32 chips

The newest addition to TECHBASE’s Industrial IoT Ecosystem is a lightweight, but powerful energy-efficient and fully capable automation controller series, called Moduino – an industrial computer for remote data control and management, equipped with latest ESP32 compute module, wide range of serial, digital and analog inputs/outputs and wireless communication interfaces. This cost effective solution is perfect for end-point devices.

Moduino is powered by ultra-low power Dual-Core Tensilica LX6 240 MHz processor with 512KB RAM (up to 4MB) and 4MB SPI flash memory on-board. Integrated Wi-Fi/BLE modem and extra wireline/wireless interfaces make the Moduino micro-computer a versatile addition to Industrial IoT solutions offered by TECHBASE company. For more complex installations and for those, who need high integration capabilities, the Moduino devices can easily work remotely with existing ModBerry gateway for data accumulation and monitoring, to perform specific actions before sending the data to cloud services. The Moduino-ModBerry installation can work as standalone Ecosystem (for example via MQTT), providing fog-computing to any installation.

Wireless solution

Both Moduino X1 & X2 offer built-in Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.2 and support for LoRa, Sigfox, LTE cat. M1, NarrowBand-IoT (LTE cat. NB1) modems. Currently the support of ZigBee modems is under development. Moduino is equipped with standard U.FL (IPEX) external antenna connectors, allowing the device to reach up to 1km range (for Wi-Fi modem) and expanding the range for other wireless interfaces.

Battery and AC powered

Two multi-sized units X1 and X2 represent diversified approach to IIoT installations for remote data access & management. The main difference between Moduino X1 and it’s larger brother Moduino X2, apart from size, is a battery power support for X1 due to lower energy demand, making it independent from local power grid – perfect for remote installations and scattered objects monitoring. Both solutions can be powered by regular power supply with UPS support (LiPo & Supercapacitor batteries), offer wide range of serial, digital and analog inputs/outputs assisted with support of wireless communication interfaces.

Operating systems & software

Use of ESP32-WROVER compute module adds the support for real-time operating systems (compared to most Raspberry Pi based Linux and Windows OS versions), and openness of the Espressif’s platform to Moduino industrial automation controller. Thanks to enormous community of ESP32 and Arduino users and developers, the Moduino can now adapt existing software solutions, tools and programming environments,  for example:

  • ESP-IDF (Espressif IoT Development Framework)
  • Zephyr Project (scalable RTOS)
  • Arduino (C++)
  • MicroPython
  • Mongoose OS
  • etc.

End-point sensors

The Moduino device is a comprehensive end-point controller for variety of sensors located throughout any installation. It fully supports temperature and humidity sensors and new ones are currently developed, e.g. accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, etc.