M5Stack Launches a Tiny Barcode Scanner, Isolated Temperature Probe, and Handy IIoT PLC Bundle

Embedded specialist M5Stack has announced a trio of new products, including a compact barcode scanner and an isolated thermocouple-type temperature sensor — plus a novel PLC Proto Industrial Board Module "base" kit for more robust installations.

The first of M5Stack's new devices is the tiny Atom 2D/1D Barcode Scanner Kit, which is designed for use with the company's Atom Matrix and Atom Lite development boards and handles 19 one-dimensional barcode and six two-dimensional code types — including the popular QR Code format. The scanner users a CMOS imaging sensor with a green LED as built-in illumination, and can be set for automatic or manual scanning as required.

"The module also supports adding custom prefix/suffix to the data," M5Stack adds, "defining multi-national keyboard, data editing and many other functions, it uses TTL-232 for communication, and can easily use serial port for data transmission. It can be easily used in Arduino or UIFlow programming [and] you can send the scanned data to the receiver for processing via wired or wireless connection through M5Atom Lite."

The Kmeter Isolation Unit, meanwhile, is designed as a handy isolated temperature-measuring device for K-type thermocouple probes. Built around an STMicro STM32F030 microcontroller with Arm Cortex-M0 processing core, the unit offers 14-bit digital to analog conversion with a measurement range from -200°C to 1350°C (-328°F to 2462°F) and a ±2° accuracy — depending, of course, on the chosen probe, with the bundled unit handling a reduced -50°C to 250°C (-58°F to 482°F.) Captured data can be transferred to a host device through I2C.

Finally, the PLC Proto Industrial Board Module kit bundles everything you need to take a project into the Industrial Internet of Things — except for the microcontroller module itself.

Designed for use with devices in the M5 ecosystem, the bundle includes a prototyping board and rugged housing, an RS485-to-TTL adapter board, numerous terminals, DIN rail mounts and a length of rail, a magnet as an alternative mounting system, and an M12 cable gland for the chassis.

"You can add as many Relays as you want," M5Stack says of the kit. "You can enable the TTL-RS485 communication, you can layout your customized circuit on the proto board. You also can make it an LoRa node by stacking a LoRa module etc. This base gives you an unlimited number of combinations, it is powerful, flexible, and covered with an industrial-grade case."

All three products are now available on the M5Stack store, priced at $59 for the Atom 2D/1D Barcode Scanner including bundled Atom Lite, $15.95 for the Kmeter Isolation Unit, and $11.95 for the PLC Proto Industrial Board Module kit.