mbed eval boards showcase focus on IoT software and connectivity

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Chipmakers like Atmel are joining hands with ARM to bring the entire ecosystem under one roof and thus facilitate the creation of standards-based IoT products.

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ARM’s mbed operating system is winning attention in the highly fragmented embedded software space by promising a solid software foundation for interoperable hardware and thus scale the Internet of Things designs by narrowing the development time.

Atmel has put its weight behind ARM’s mbed OS by launching the single-chip evaluation board for the IoT ecosystem in a bid to ensure low software dependence for the embedded developers. The leading microcontroller supplier unveiled the mbed evaluation platform at the recent ARM TechCon held in Santa Clara, California.

The mbed OS platform is focused on rapid development of connected devices with an aim to create a serious professional platform to prototype IoT applications. So IoT developers don’t have to look to software guys for help. The mbed stack features a strong focus on enhancing the IoT’s connectivity and software components.

ARM is the lead maintainer for the mbed OS modules while it adds silicon partners, like Atmel, as platform-specific dependencies for the relevant mbed OS modules. Silicon partners are responsible for their platform-specific drivers.

Atmel’s mbed-enabled evaluation board is based on the low-power 2.4GHz wireless Cortex-M0+ SAM R21 MCU. Moreover, Atmel is expanding mbed OS support for its Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth Low Energy products.

The fact that Atmel is adding mbed OS to its IoT ecosystem is an important nod for ARM’s mbed technology in its journey from merely a hardware abstraction layer to a full-fledged IoT platform. Atmel managers acknowledge that mbed technology adds diversity to embedded hardware devices and makes MCUs more capable.

Solid Software Foundation

There is a lot of code involved in the IoT applications and software is getting more complex. It encompasses, for instance, sensor library to acquire data, authentication at IoT gateways and SSL security. Here, the automatic software integration engine like mbed lets developers focus on their applications instead of worrying about integrating off-the-shelf software.

The mbed reference designs like the one showcased by Atmel during ARM TechCon are aimed at narrowing the development time with the availability of building blocks and design resources—components, code and infrastructure—needed to bootstrap a working IoT system. Atmel managers are confident that a quality software foundation like mbed could help bring IoT products to market faster.

Atmel’s mbed-enabled IoT evaluation board promises harmony between hardware and software. Apparently, chipmakers like Atmel are joining hands with ARM to bring the entire ecosystem — OS software, cloud services and developer tools — under one roof, and thus facilitate the creation of standards-based IoT products. Atmel’s mbed evaluation board clearly mirrors that effort to deliver a complete hardware, software and developer tools ecosystem in order to bring IoT designs quicker to market.

The platform comprises of mbed OS software for IoT client devices like gateways and mbed Device Server for the cloud services. ARM launched the mbed software platform in 2014 and Atmel has been part of this initiative since then.

mbed in Communications Stack

Additionally, Atmel has tied the mbed association to its SmartConnect wireless solutions to make the best of mbed’s networking stack in the Internet of connected things. The IoT technology is built on layers, and here, interoperability of communications protocols is a key challenge.

For a start, Atmel’s SAM R21-Xpro evaluation board is embed-enabled and is built around the R21 microcontroller, which has been designed for industrial and consumer wireless applications running proprietary communication stacks or IEEE 802.15.4-compliant solutions.

Next up, the evaluation board includes SAM W25 Wi-Fi module that integrates IEEE 802.11 b/g/n IoT network controller with the existing MCU solution, SAM D21, which is also based on the Cortex-M0+ processor core.

Furthermore, Atmel is offering an mbed-enabled Bluetooth starter kit that includes SAM L21 microcontroller-based evaluation board and ultra-low-power Bluetooth chip BTLC1000, which is compliant with Bluetooth Low Energy 4.1. Atmel demonstrated a home lighting system at the ARM TechCon show floor, which employed SAM R21-based Thread routers that passed light sensor information to an mbed-enabled home gateway. Subsequently, this information was processed and sent to the mbed Device Server using a web interface.

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Majeed Ahmad is the author of books Smartphone: Mobile Revolution at the Crossroads of Communications, Computing and Consumer Electronics and The Next Web of 50 Billion Devices: Mobile Internet’s Past, Present and Future.

Introducing the first SoC evaluation solution based on the ARM mbed IoT Platform

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Atmel is unveiling an ARM mbed evaluation platform for Internet of Things applications at ARM TechCon 2015.

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What better way to kick off ARM TechCon than with some big news? Atmel has unveiled the first system-on-chip hardware evaluation solution based on the ARM mbed IoT Platform.

Powered by the Atmel | SMART SAM R21 SoC, the new solution runs on the mbed IoT Device Platform — a platform that provides the operating system, cloud services, tools and developer ecosystem that makes the deployment of commercial, standards-based IoT solutions possible at any scale. The R21 is an ideal solution for the rapidly growing Internet of Things market.

Atmel is a leading supplier of IoT solutions, and the company’s SmartConnect wireless solutions are the perfect companion for the mbed networking software to power next-generation smart, connected devices. Those who’ll be heading to ARM TechCon will be able to get a firsthand look at the newly-unveiled hardware evaluation platform powered by Atmel’s SAM R21 wireless solution inside the mbed Zone (booth #512, pedestal 1). What’s more, Atmel will also be expanding mbed OS support to the Atmel SmartConnect SAMW25 Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth Low Energy platform by the end of the year.

“High-quality, well integrated software is key to our customers’ success for developing complex IoT designs requiring several layers of standards-based protocols to deliver secure communications,” explained Steve Pancoast, Atmel Vice President of Software Development, Applications and Tools. “By delivering a robust hardware platform based on our Atmel | SMART MCUs and SmartConnect wireless solutions combined with the ARM mbed OS, customers have all the necessary requirements to quickly bring their IoT projects to market. Our mission is to deliver a complete software, hardware and tools ecosystem so our customers can build compelling next-generation products for the rapidly expanding IoT market.”

Launched in 2014, the mbed IoT Device Platform combines client and server software, consisting of a lightweight OS for client devices (mbed OS), and the matching cloud server software to interact with it (mbed Device Server). Both the mbed OS and mbed Device Server are intended to be building blocks for finished products so developers can take the mbed components and build the application logic on top of a solid software foundation provided by ARM.

“IoT developers operate at pace and they need a breadth of easily-available hardware and software technologies that work in harmony so they can bring products to market as quickly and easily as possible,” said Zach Shelby, ARM Vice President of Marketing, IoT Business. “Atmel solutions range from embedded processing to security and include highly-integrated wireless technology solutions for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4. By utilizing mbed IoT Device Platform technologies Atmel is well positioned to deliver easy-to-use hardware evaluation platforms that include processing, security and communication protocols for next-generation systems.”

For those unfamiliar with the Atmel | SMART SAM R21, the low-power MCUs are based on the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ processor integrating an ultra-low-power 2.4GHz ISM band transceiver. The devices are available in 32- and 48-pin packages with up to 256KB Flash, 32KB of SRAM, and operate at a maximum frequency of 48MHz, reaching 2.14 Coremark/MHz. Atmel SAMR21 devices include intelligent and flexible peripherals, Atmel Event System for inter-peripheral signaling, and support for capacitive touch button, slider and wheel user interfaces.

If you’ll be joining us in the Santa Clara Convention Center, then come check it out inside the mbed Zone. Otherwise, stay tuned as we bring you more information!

Zebra Technologies unveils ARM mbed IoT Starter Kit

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This new IoT Starter Kit uses an Atmel | SMART Xplained board.

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In collaboration with ARM, Zebra Technologies has developed an ARM mbed Starter Kit for Zatar, an IoT platform for enterprise applications. Powered by an Atmel | SMART Xplained board, the IoT Starter Kit will enable simple, standards-based cloud connectivity for creating next-generation, Internet-aware products integrated with Zatar.

As enterprises are committing to large IoT initiatives, they often require a simple, inexpensive and standards-based artifact to begin development. To provide such a “thing,” ARM mbed IoT Starter Kit for Zatar is a ready-made reference design to rapidly spur apps like enterprise asset management, as well as build and release futuristic concepts into production.

“The IoT is here. To accelerate enterprise adoption, developers and device manufacturers require IoT kits that make it easy to prototype and develop IoT products. We are happy to work with leaders like ARM and Atmel to rapidly widen the appeal of IoT, with the kit our partners and customers can use to easily start building products and solutions on Zatar,” explains Phil Gerskovich, SVP New Growth Platforms at Zebra Technologies.

The kit will leverage the ARM mbed IoT Device Platform, including mbed OS, and provide a full stack with Wi-Fi connectivity, security and enterprise-grade cloud integration for product developers to use. What’s more, it will enable anyone creating enterprise IoT products to reduce development time and decrease expenses, with the standards-based reference design that integrates right into Zatar.

The IoT Starter Kit will use the Atmel SAM W25 Xplained PRO prototyping and evaluation platform consisting of a pre-configured Atmel | SMART ARM MCU dev board — featuring ARM Cortex processors, a fully integrated Wi-Fi network controller and an expansion port to a collection of add-on boards for functionalities such as sensors and user I/O interfaces.

“This Wi-Fi-based IoT platform kit is a great example of a system-level, edge-node solution that simplifies the complexities associated with cloud connectivity and provides IoT product developers an easy-to-use development platform that supports a wide range of IoT devices and security requirements,” says Steve Pancoast, Atmel VP Software Applications, Tools and Development. “We are pleased to team up with Zebra and ARM to enable more designers to quickly bring their IoT products to market.”

A prototype of the IoT Starter Kit will be displayed at the Zebra booth at Maker Faire Bay Area, where developers and product designers can register for early access.

SmartQsine is a new way to monitor things in your kitchen

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SmartQsine will make sure you never run out of things again! 

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You’ve all been there: Upon arriving back home from the store, you find that there’s not enough milk to get through breakfast in the morning. Or, while strolling through an aisle, you can’t seem to recall if there’s enough jarred sauce for pasta tomorrow night. Wouldn’t it be great to know the answer simply by checking your smartphone? That’s idea behind SmartQsine, a smart inventory system developed by the team at NES Italia.

The system is comprised of several small pads, which are placed beneath the items that a user would like to monitor, and an accompanying smartphone app that lets them know when they are about to run out of something. Measuring just 8cm x 8cm x 1.8cm, the intelligent pads are compact enough to easily fit inside any drawer, on any shelf or atop any counter.

How it works is relatively simple: To get started, a user simply places an item on the pad and sets its current volume level. From there on, the pad will communicate with its paired mobile device, continuously monitoring and exchanging information around its remaining quantity.

Through its app, a user can seamlessly access their fridge or pantry data to see if they are in need of an item. Beyond that, they set an alarm that will notify them when something reaches a certain level, send a message to a person of choice when something is nearing its end, as well as allow for real-time edits to the shopping list.

The system appears to be built around the Nordic nRF51822 mbed dev kit (ATSAM3U2C), and is equipped with Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. The pads are powered by standard coin-cell batteries with a life of around six months.

Users can choose between two different lines of pads: gold and silver. Gold enables the pad to communicate with its accompanying mobile app and to monitor not only what the user places on it, but also to obtain the data coming from other connected pads. Whereas, silver lacks communication capabilities and can only be read in the app after being linked to a gold pad.

Moving ahead, the team is entirely open to integrating SmartQsine into existing and future home automation systems on the market. Developers will soon be able to devise and integrate apps of their own as well.

Interested in the system for your home? Head over to its official Indiegogo page, where the team is currently seeking $80,000. Shipment is expected to kick off in August 2015.