Sony Spresense: an interesting development board

Sony Express

The world appears to be highly polarized towards plates such as Raspberry Pi o Arduino, since they are the ones that have triumphed the most. However, not all users are satisfied with these boards, and are looking for some alternatives. Either because they need some different features than these official plates, or because they want to try new things. For all of them, here I will show all the details of the Sony Express.

This Sony Spresense is a compact development board and based on low power multi-core microcontrollers. Specifically on the Sony CXD5602 MCU chips. In addition, their characteristics take into account the objective for which they were created, and that is to create IoT projects quickly and easily. All with an advanced SDK based on NuttX, or also using Arduino IDE, like the one they are compatible with ...

Sony Spresense technical characteristics

pinout sony spresense

Pinout

The Sony Spresense board is a simple and cheap board powered by the Sony CXD5602 chip, a 6-core based microcontroller ARM Cortex-M4F with a clock speed of 156 Mhz. It also has a memory of 8MB flash and 1.5MB of SRAM. In addition, it is a development board with very good energy efficiency, with an advanced battery management system for projects that need to save.

Also included is support for GPS, QZSS and GLONASS built-in with an integrated antenna onboard. On the other hand, it also includes high quality audio HD 192 Khz / 24-bit codecs, class D amplifier, and multiple MIC outputs (4 analog and 8 digital channels). For video, an interface for the 8-bit camera and for Sony 5M CMOS sensors is also included.

Some features that make this Sony Spresense board ideal for projects IoT at the edge (edge), both for amateur makers and professionals who need to create something DIY for other purposes: smart agriculture, industry, smart city, home automation, measurements, etc.

More information - Official Website!

Hardware extensions

In addition to the Sony Spresense main board, it has also created a number of hardware extensions. Among the gadgets that you can add to the board are:

  • Extension plate- You can connect the main board to this other extension board with higher dimensions to extend the capabilities of the main board. For example, to add USB ports, SD card slot, more GPIO pins, Jack for audio, etc. In this way, you will have a plate somewhat more similar to what it can be, for example, Arduino UNO. By the way, to mount the main board on this extension board a 2-pin B26B (Board to Board) interface is used.
  • Camera- This module can be easily connected to the backplane to add imaging capabilities to the Sony Spresense as well. In this case, it is a CMOS sensor manufactured by Sony and with 5.11MP, for a resolution of 2608 × 1960. All located on a small 24x25mm plate. It can be connected directly to the main board with a loop cable and Y / C RGB RAW and JPEG outputs, and also to the extension board.

How to start using the plate

Sony extension board

In the event that you decide to have one of these plates, it is true that there are not so many Tutorials as for Arduino or Raspberry Pi, because it is not a board that is so widespread. Despite that, there are some pages and videos about some interesting projects. In addition, Sony itself has put at your service a lot of information and tutorials to get started:

Where to buy the Sony Spresense

Sony Express

If you are interested in this development board, then surely you are wondering where you can buy it. If you live in europe, you have several options at your disposal. Among the most prominent are:

  • FRAMOS online store: In it you will find both the main board and the available extensions.
  • RS-Only online store: another well-known store where you will find the Sony Spresense Main Board and some extension.
  • OKDO online store: similar to the previous one, as an alternative if you prefer another source for the purchase.
  • VIDO.AT online storeYou can also locate the Sony main board, extension board and camera module.

For those who read us from other parts of the world, then they can choose other online stores in their respective countries. To locate them, you can enter this other link.

As for the ratesAs you may have seen, the main board costs about € 60, while the extension can be purchased for about € 40, and the camera also for another € 40 approximately.


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