The M5Stack Core2 is an ESP32 IoT development kit with a 2-inch touchscreen, motion sensor, microphone and battery. The hardware is chosen by Amazon Web Services, with a few little things like adding secure components and the yellow colour that creates „AWS IoT EduKit” hardware and software solutions designed to“learn how to build IoT applications using AWS services through a prescriptive learning program”.
M5Stack Core2 for AWS IoT EduKit specifications:
- SoC – Espressif ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3 dual-core Xtensa LX6 processor clocked at up to 240MHz with 520KB SRAM, Wi-Fi, and dual-mode Bluetooth connectivity
- External Memory – 8MB PSRAM
- Storage – 16MB flash storage, MicroSD card slot up to 16GB
- Display – 2-inch IPS LCD screen with 320×240 resolution (ILI9342C driver), and touchscreen support (via FT6336U controller)
- Audio – Built-in 1W speaker, SPM1423 PDM microphone, I2S codec, and power amplifier
- Antenna – 2.4GHz 3D antenna
- USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming via CP2104 chip
- Sensors – 6-axis IMU (MPU6886)
- Expansion – 1x Grove connector with I2C, GPIO and UART, M-Bus socket
- Security – ATECC608A Trust&GO secure element
- Misc – Power LED, power button, reset button, 3x touch buttons, vibration motor, RTC, 10x RGB LEDs
- Power Supply
- Input Voltage – 5V @ 500mA
- AXP192 PMU
- SY7088 DC-DC Boost
- 500 mAh/3.7V Lithium Battery
- Dimensions – 54 x 54 x 24 mm (Plastic case)
- Weight – 101 grams
- Temperature Range – 0°C to 40°C
Source: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/12/29/aws-iot-edukit-leverages-m5stack-core2-esp32-hardware/
A look into the features of Toit programming language
Unlike other programming languages used for embedded systems, Toit is a language that was developed solely for IoT. So, it is a dedicated language for IoT that allows for better power management which is important for battery-based systems. Toit features an automatic memory management system which helps to avoid crashes. The new language also comes with a garbage collector, aiding the memory management system. Features like these are not available in traditional programming languages and might be a challenge implementing those using languages like C.
“With Toit, we wanted to create a high-level language that would avoid the limitations of the existing languages used in IoT development. On top of this, the Toit language had to be intuitive to learn and safe to use.” says the Toit team. The syntax of Toit is modern, simple and quite similar to Python. So, a Python developer can easily learn this new language within a few hours and deploy their first application within 15 minutes. Toit is an indentation based language just like Python and has no braces or semicolons. The files are saved with ‘.toit’ extensions and have a VS code language extension for a richer developing experience. So once you start developing with the Toit platform, there’s no coming back.
Source: https://opencloudware.com/toit-platform-redefines-the-way-we-implement-iot-applications/
Industrial use of ESP32-based solutions
One of industrial IoT devices, supporting Espressif’s ESP32 technology is eModGATE from TECHBASE. Economical, ESP32-based solution can serve as an end-point in any installation or works well as a gateway, gathering data from scattered sensor mesh across the installation. For more information and also Raspberry Pi based solutions check Industrial IoT Shop with all the configuration options for eModGATE.
