New from Sfera Labs is the Exo Sense RP, a version of its existing Exo Sense range of multi-sensor modules for environmental monitoring, now featuring Raspberry Pi's RP2040 SoC at its core. Thanks to CNX Software for bringing this one to our attention.
Sfera Labs are delighted to announce the extension of its widely-deployed family of Exo Sense Raspberry Pi-based technologies with the launch of Exo Sense RP https://t.co/GN9x0zhRNX#SferaLabs #raspberrypi #sensortechnology #industrial #industrialautomation pic.twitter.com/KkgeRgOKVbMay 18, 2022
Inside the off-white ABS plastic shell you’ll find temperature, humidity, and air quality (VOC) sensors, plus a light intensity monitor, PIR motion sensor, and a digital microphone. An earthquake sensor is an optional extra. The RP2040 is backed up with 16MB of on-board flash storage, and there's a hardware security chip too, all squeezed into a casing 80mm (3.1in) square.
| Microcontroller | RP2040 microcontroller chip designed by Raspberry Pi in the United Kingdom. Dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ processor, flexible clock running up to 133 MHz. 264KB of SRAM. |
| Storage | 16MB Flash memory |
| Sensors | Sensirion SHT40 temperature and humidity sensor |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | Sensirion SGP40 air quality (VOC) sensor |
| Row 4 - Cell 0 | Texas Instruments OPT3001 light intensity sensor |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | TDK ICS-43432 digital microphone for sound intensity monitoring, recording, and processing |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Panasonic EKMC PIR motion sensor |
| Row 7 - Cell 0 | Optional earthquake sensor module |
| Power | 10 to 28V (+VS) DC with reverse polarity and surge protection |
| Dimensions | 80 x 80 x 34.2 to 41.7mm |
The Exo Sense RP requires a wired connection, the RS485 point-to-point serial interface enabling the industry standard Modbus protocol or any other half-duplex serial protocol, and you’ll need to feed it a DC power supply between 9 and 28V. There's a USB interface too, for programming and debugging. Like any other RP2040 device, the sensor bundle can be programmed using C/C++ or MicroPython, and it is supported by several IDEs including Visual Studio Code and the Arduino. MicroPython, Arduino, and C/C++ samples specific to the device are available on GitHub.
Potential uses for the device include environmental or building monitoring, tracking of people or assets, room management, or anything else that requires the kind of passive data gathering it offers.
The Exo Sense RP joins the Exo Sense Py (using Pycom’s 32-bit Espressif ESP32 chipset) and the Exo Sense Pi (Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4) in the range. It’s available from the Sfera Labs store for $264.50 + tax at the time of writing, though it’s not quite clear how much the earthquake sensor adds to the cost.
