The brand new SparkFun Factor Plus NORA-W306 is a superb part on your IoT tasks, so long as you’re taking the few further minutes on the entrance finish to verify it is correctly arrange.
Just lately, we launched a brand new Factor Plus board that includes the NORA-W306 module from ublox. This module gives twin Wi-fi LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth® Low Vitality (BLE 5.3), and a Realtek RTL8720DF Twin Processor Core, with separate cores for Major and Low Energy. This permits for very power-efficient tasks that may run for greater than a 12 months on a LiPo battery. Harnessing the facility of this module is pretty simple, and there are many Arduino examples particularly for this module and this board. Setup is pretty simple, however takes a little bit extra effort than simply plug-and-play. Lots of you may be aware of these steps, as you’ve in all probability gone by them for a couple of different modules. Both approach, let’s take a fast have a look at the straightforward steps essential to get your SparkFun Factor Plus NORA-W306 up and working very quickly.
I’m assuming that you have already got the Arduino IDE put in in your system, however in the event you don’t, you may obtain that from Arduino’s web site. Once you’re prepared, go forward and open your Arduino IDE. In most cases, you may merely add a board from the Boards Supervisor by scrolling till you discover it, or its dad or mum, and hitting Set up. Nevertheless, there are some boards that require an additional step. Go to the higher left nook of your IDE, and click on on File/Preferences.
From right here, you’ll go all the way down to Further Boards Supervisor URLs, and add the next textual content:
https://github.com/ambiot/ambd_arduino/uncooked/dev/Arduino_package/package_realtek_amebad_early_index.json
You may add this into the Further Boards subject by putting a comma after the final entry within the window, then pasting this one, or you may click on on the window button subsequent to the sphere to open a brand new window and add it as its personal separate line. When you’ve added that, hit okay, and shut the preferences window.
When you’ve carried out that, go to the Board Supervisor, and within the search bar sort “realtek”, and you must see Realtek Ameba Boards. Click on the Set up button, and shortly, beneath the board package deal title you’ll see the model plus the construct quantity, and ‘put in”. (As I write this, the present set up is 3.1.8-build20240719.)
Now go as much as the board window and click on to drop it down, after which click on on “Choose different board and port.” This can convey up the boards and ports window. Within the Boards search subject, sort in NORA (you could possibly additionally sort in realtek), and also you’ll get a couple of choices. Choose SparkFun Factor Plus NORA-W306, and, if the board is linked to your laptop, choose the right COM port.
You’re now prepared to start out importing sketches to your Factor Plus NORE-W306. You may run the outdated tried and true Blink Sketch, simply to ensure that all the pieces is working as anticipated, however then you can begin flexing the muscle groups of this little powerhouse.
There are a few on-board elements – the MAX1704x LiPo gasoline gauge, and the microSD slot – that you simply may need to benefit from, and to take action, you’ll have to obtain a few Arduino libraries.
If you wish to begin working with extra of the board’s options, you could find a dozen or so examples in our Getting Began Information. (You’ll additionally discover a plethora of recent instance information all beginning with Ameba, however the record in our Getting Began Information are those we’ve examined.)
There are a number of nice options on this board, from the twin band WiFi to the ultra-low energy consumption when in deep sleep, and this could get you nicely in your strategy to working with all of them.
The SparkFun Factor Plus NORA-W306 displaying the Gas Gauge output on a SparkFun Micro OLED
