Hello everyone and welcome to the delightfully scary month of October! To celebrate the month of All Hallow's Eve, we are releasing the limited edition ESP32 Thing Plus SkeleBoard. This board is almost exactly like the existing ESP32 U.FL Thing Plus but with a special design, black PCB, and included antenna. Yes, you can absolutely get this board for free just like our other limited edition releases in the past, but we are still going to offer it for a regular price in case you just want the board instead of the sale. More on that below. Following that, the have a new specialized instrument tool, the Otii Arc. There is a lot going on with this new tool, so make sure to take a close look! Now, let's jump in and take a closer look.
This SkeleBoard version of the SparkFun ESP32 Thing Plus with U.FL is the next step to get started with Espressif IoT ideations while still enjoying all the amenities of the original ESP32 Thing. Espressif's ESP32 WROOM is a powerful WiFi and Bluetooth MCU module that targets a wide variety of applications. At the core of this module is the ESP32-D0WDQ6 chip which is designed to be both scalable and adaptive. To make the Thing Plus even easier to use, we've moved a few pins around to make the board Feather compatible and it utilizes our handy Qwiic Connect System which means no soldering or shields are required to connect it to the rest of your system!
The SparkFun Thing Plus SkeleBoard features a matte black PCB with a super scary skeleton design in white silk and one of our favorite references out of the last few years: (DOOT). We've also made sure to include a 2.4GHz U.FL PCB Antenna so you won't need to worry about picking up any additional parts to get your board up and running! Other than that, this board is identical to our existing SparkFun Thing Plus - ESP32 WROOM (U.FL).
Rules & Information:
Don't worry, you'll still be able to purchase this product on it's own even without the promo code!
The SparkFun RTK Express Plus is an easy to use GNSS receiver for centimeter-level positioning. Perfect for surveying, autonomous vehicles, logging, and all types of post processing, this preprogrammed device can also be used for autonomous driving, navigation, asset tracking and any other application where there is a clear view of the sky. The RTK Express Plus adds an internal IMU to combine real-time GNSS tracking with advanced sensor fusion. The result is accurate positioning even when GNSS is lost in tunnels, parking garages, etc. Out of the box an RTK Express Plus can be used with a correction source to create an RTK system capable of 14mm horizontal positional accuracy. The built-in Bluetooth® connection via an ESP32 WROOM enables the user to use the RTK Express Plus with their choice of GIS application on a phone or tablet. The built in battery allows for over five hours of field use and is compatible with common USB battery banks.
The SparkFun RTK Express Plus Kit has everything you need to get centimeter level global positioning measurements using GNSS RTK. We've created a handy carrying case to protect the most expensive bits, allowing you to quickly attach the L1/L2 antenna and RTK Express Plus housing to the pole or tripod of your choice. The kit includes all the antenna bits, cables and chargers you need to jump right into the field.
The Otii Arc is a truly versatile power supply and analyzer. Coupled with powerful but easy-to-use software, it is an ideal tool to help study the power draw of your IoT project or device. It can record and display real-time currents, voltages and/or UART logs. It provides nanoamp resolution current measurements with a sample rate of up to 4000 samples per second!
There are loads of features with this tool, so we highly recommend checkout out the full product page is you're considering to pick it up.
That's it for this week! As always, we can't wait to see what you make! Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made! Please be safe out there, be kind to one another, and we'll see you next week with even more new products!