LILYGO's T-SIMCAM Offers Optional Cellular Connectivity for Your Edge Computer Vision Projects
With a two-megapixel camera sensor and on-board microphone, this ESP32-S3-based board aims at low-power edge AI work.
LILYGO has launched a board designed for those doing computer vision at the edge, the T-SIMCAM, using an Espressif ESP32-S3 and offering optional cellular connectivity through a mini-PCI Express (mPCIe) expansion connector.
"T-SIMCAM is […] based on the design of [a] PCI Express motherboard," LILYGO explains of the compact edge-vision development board — brought to our attention by CNX Software. "[It] supports LILYGO T-PCIe Series Modules."
The compact board is built around an Espressif ESP32-S3R8 system-on-chip, featuring two Xtensa LX7 32-bit microcontroller cores running at up to 240MHz and vector support for edge AI acceleration, 512kB of integrated static RAM (SRAM), 8MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM), and 16MB of flash storage with microSD expansion, plus an integrated radio with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) with Bluetooth Mesh support.
The camera sensor is an Omnivision OV2640 offering a maximum resolution of UXGA (1,600×1,200) at 15 frames per second (FPS), increasing to 30 FPS at SVGA and 60 FPS for low-resolution CIF video capture, using a rolling shutter in front of a Bayer array. Also on the board is a digital microphone, connected to the chip's I2S bus, with a low-power mode for battery-based projects. Power is provided through a USB Type-C connector or JST connector for an optional battery, while a Grove connector provides easy expansion alongside the four general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins to the left of the board.
What makes the T-SIMCAM stand out from other entries in LILYGO's camera range is the mini-PCI Express (mPCIe) connector at the rear. Designed for those who wish to deploy the board out of range of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks, the mPCIe slot accepts LILYGO's optional cellular modem boards with GSM, 3G, 4G LTE, and NB-IoT connectivity options — while the T-SIMCAM itself has a SIM card slot on board.
The T-SIMCAM is far from the only device in the LILYGO stable to be powered by an Espressif ESP32: the Watch-Keyboard-C3, a kit designed to convert a TTGO T-Watch smartwatch into a functional tiny terminal complete with physical keyboard, upcycled from old BlackBerry Q10 hardware, was launched last week in standalone and bundle kit form.
The T-SIMCAM is now available from LILYGO's AliExpress store, priced at $18.98; the T-PCIe modem boards start at $29.98 for the PCIE-SIM700G with 2G connectivity. Additional information is available on LILYGO's GitHub repository.