A
new breed of development kits is facilitating all three te-
nets of IoT design — ease of use, security, and business
value — in the simplest manner possible. For a start,
these design kits bypass the exhaustive process of connect-
ing IoT devices to the cloud, thus shortening time to market
significantly.
Once connected, developers can quickly deploy IoT devices
to collect, process, and analyze data and unlock insights from
the data gathered at IoT nodes. Moreover, they have access to
the cloud’s IoT infrastructure of artificial intelligence (AI) and
machine-learning applications.
So design engineers don’t require specialized expertise in
networking protocols as well as security-related tasks such as
authentication, key provisioning, and Transport Layer Security
(TLS) hardening. They can also bypass the constraints related
to large software frameworks and real-time operating system
(RTOS) platforms, allowing developers to prototype IoT devic-
es in a much shorter timeframe.
Here is a sneak peek into five IoT kits from leading micro-
controller (MCU) suppliers. They provide a glimpse into how
IoT design kits streamline different building blocks and acceler-
ate the path to production.- Sensor node kit
First, take the example of BlueNRG-Tile, a coin-shaped devel-
opment kit for IoT nodes from STMicroelectronics. It’s an all-
in-one battery-operated design kit that encompasses everything
to create an IoT node or network of nodes, including motion,
environmental, acoustic, and other sensors.
On the hardware side, it’s built around a Bluetooth Low En-
ergy (BLE) 5.0 single-mode system-on-chip (SoC) that is pow-
ered by an Arm Cortex-M0 core processor with up to 256 KB
of embedded flash memory. The BlueNRG-2 Bluetooth chip,
which communicates with a free iOS or Android demo app on
a nearby smartphone, also facilitates control and processing
power for sensors.
On the software front, BlueNRG-Tile offers sensor fusion
and event detection algorithms, including MotionFX, ST’s
nine-axis inertial sensor-fusion software optimized for the Arm
Cortex-M0 processors. The IoT kit also comes with BlueN-
RG-Mesh networking library, voice-over-BLE code, and a few
design examples.
ST is targeting this sensor node kit at smart home and smart
building applications. The kit can be accessed for programming
and debugging through a motherboard. An evaluation kit offers
a convenient onboard debugging and programming interface,
multi-color LED, and a configurable wake-up pushbutton.- Cloud connectivity kit
Microchip Technology’s AVR-IoT WG development kit is
comprised of an AVR microcontroller ATmega4808, a se-
curity co-processor ATECC608A, and a Wi-Fi controller
ATWINC1510. Here, AVR microcontrollers, known for their
cost merits, have also been used to create sensor nodes due to
their ease of use. The 8-bit microcontrollers like the ATme-
ga-4808 can efficiently combine processing power with simplic-
ity in facilitating the sensing and actuating features.
The main AVR microcontroller is accompanied with a
smaller MCU — the ATECC608A secure element — that pro-
vides the root of trust in hardware to protect the identity of the
IoT device. The specialized security chip comes pre-registered
on Google Cloud IoT Core and is ready for use with zero-touch
provisioning.
Then there is the ATWINC1510 module, a certified IEEE
802.11 b/g/n network controller, which can be easily connected
to the main MCU via a flexible serial peripheral interface (SPI).
It relieves IoT developers from the expertise in RF design and
wireless networking protocol stacks.
The IoT kit further simplifies the development process by
enabling designers to migrate their applications to the cloud.
It also utilizes Microchip’s tools — MPLAB Code Configurator
(MCC) and Atmel START — to develop and debug connected
designs in the cloud. It’s worth mentioning that Microchip has
launched a similar development kit for the IoT platform of
Amazon Web Services (AWS). - Cloud connectivity via cellular
Renesas Electronics has also unveiled an IoT kit that connects
sensors with major cloud services — AWS, Google Cloud,
Microsoft Azure, and Medium One Cloud — using the LTE
Cat-M1 and NB-IoT cellular networks.
5 dev kits unravel the anatomy of IoT
IoT dev kits show that it’s all about simplifying
the design work by intelligently reusing the
fundamental building blocksBY MAJEED AHMAD
Contributing WriterIMAGE: STMICROELECTRONICSFig. 1: ST’s IoT kit, which comes with a size-optimized RF balun,
squeezes the form factor to a 2.5-cm diameter.16 FEATURE Getting Started: 5 IoT Development Kits
JANUARY 2019 • electronicproducts.com • ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS