Moff Band is a wearable that brings sound effects to playtime

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On the inside, it’s a smart device. On the outside, it’s a retro slap-bracelet.

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Where were these when we were kids? Those who’ve ever adorned their wrists with flexible stainless steel slap-bracelets back in ‘90s will surely appreciate the latest smart accessory from Moff. While high-tech wearables have becoming increasingly popular amongst adults, it should come as little surprise that they’ve entered the toy industry as well.

With this latest device, the starts as soon as it hits the wrist. While it may not push notifications or track your recent fitness routine, the Moff Band has one purpose and one purpose only: to turn a child’s every movement into sounds, making things like air guitars a reality. The Bluetooth-connected slap-on band offers users the ability to play more than 30 realistic sound effects based merely on the motion of their wrists.

The bracelet — which first appeared on Kickstarter last year and recently made its debut at Toy Fair 2015 —  syncs with a companion iOS app, which is responsible for emitting all sorts of noises. The gadget is also equipped with a built-in accelerometer and gyro sensors. By simply swinging their arms and using their imagination, kids can play everything from air drums and baseball to ninja swords and magic wands, all with pretty cool sound effects. Even better, two can be used with the same iPhone or iPad, and it pairs well with the living room stereo system, too.

Designed to suit just about any kid’s style, the Moff Band is available in a variety of colors, including Moff Orange, Magic Magenta, Mellow Yellow, Mighty Blue and Mystery Lime. In addition, the company can create custom colors and cover shapes, as requested by the retail channel, so that children can wear Moff Bands as a fashion item.

Ready to bring playtime to life? You’ll want to head over to its official page here. While Moff Bands are recommended for ages 3 to 12, we wouldn’t be too shocked to see some adults explore their imagination as well.

Sophia is a smart jump rope that tracks your fitness and calories

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Skipping rope is about to get more fun.. and connected.

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Without question, fitness trackers and health apps are on the rise. While the quantified self movement continues to mature, it was only a matter of time before our workout equipment would become connected as well. And though, a majority of smart wellness devices have been adorned to our wrists, they’re soon being embedded in just about everything — from our shirts to our dumbbells to now even our jump ropes. One of the companies hoping to lead the way is Ireland-based startup FitFox.

The company’s new skipping rope — currently live on Kickstarter — connects to a companion app via Bluetooth to not only precisely count your jumps, but monitor speed and calculate calories. The tracker, which can integrate with iOS Health and Google Fit, combines this data with action helping to ensure that you get closer to achieving your fitness goals. As for the electronics, the components are all embedded within the handles. These include a triaxial accelerometer, an optical module and a BLE chip, in addition to a built-in OLED screen displays the jumps.

The handles themselves, which are comprised of rubberized casing and a leather grip, boast an ergonomic shape that come together to give users a solid, yet natural grasp. The two handles also fit together via magnets for ease of portability and storage.

“Movement cannot just be measured. It needs to be fun. This is why we made it easy to take your friends on a challenge, wherever they are in the world,” FitFox explains.

That is why the startup has thrown a gamification component into the mix. Sure, you can compete against yourself, however Sophia allows users to challenge friends to a timed contest or a jump countdown to really drive motivation. And should your phone run out of battery or you prefer to stay ‘in the zone’ when you exercise, the embedded tracker will count the skips on its integrated display, and store data until the next time you connect it.

Ready to jump around? Hop on over to its official Kickstarter page, where the team is seeking €28,500. If all goes to plan, FitFox expects to begin shipping in May 2015.

This smart wallet will make sure you never lose it again

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Dude, where’s my wallet?

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There’s nothing worse than losing your wallet and the contents within, such as your license, ID, countless credit cards and cash, of course. If misplaced, the aftermath isn’t just costly, it’s time consuming and downright stressful. In an effort to help prevent such occurrences from happening, Dutch-based design house MIJLO has developed a solution in the form of a smart wallet.

The aptly named Where’s Wallet — which recently made its Kickstarter debut — is a lineup of connected wallets for the Internet of Things (IoT) era. Each one is embedded with a thin, unobtrusive sensor that enables owners to track their wallets using an accompanying app. The integrated sensor easily syncs with the app via Bluetooth Low Energy and sends an alert as soon as a user steps beyond the preset range (up to 150 feet). The app will then guide you back to your belongings, safe and sound. No more hassle or heartache!

What’s more, users can retrace their steps by viewing the wallet’s last location if misplaced and the notification range has been turned off.

The Where’s Wallet comes in three models, each of which possess a super-stylish, minimalist design: the Slip, Bi-Fold and Clutch. The accessories are comprised of 100% full-grain vegetable-tanned leather and are precision-stitched with high abrasion nylon thread.

“We love the current incarnation of Where’s Wallet, but a product that pairs with a mobile app allows us to improve and enhance the original model as we see fit,” writes Daniel Eckler, Founder of MIJLO. Pending all goes to plan, the design collective hopes to launch a handful of other features including radar tracking, location-based smart settings, phone finder, and Apple Watch compatibility.

Are you prone to losing your wallet on a regular basis? You may then want to head over to the the project’s official Kickstarter page, where MIJLO is currently seeking $30,000. Shipment is expected to begin in August 2015.

Shopping is about to get a whole lot smarter with connected carts

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The carriage of tomorrow may reduce shopping times, cut down waiting in lines and offer a personalized experience. 

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What do you do when you’re tired of having to schlep around a shopping cart aisle after aisle? You create an autonomous one that will carry out the tedious task for you! Or, you make them smarter at the very least.

Well, that’s what a pair of new projects have done, one by a team of students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the other from UK product development group Cambridge Consultants. Not only will these come in handy as you make your way up and down the grocery store each week, it can keep you from having to stop mid-aisle for a free hand to check off an item on your list, and can even prevent the transmission germs during flu season. What’s more, it doesn’t have to be limited to marketplaces either. The cart can prove to be useful throughout airports, libraries, malls and college campuses.

First, following a similar premise as we’ve seen floating orbs capable of following and replaying human activity before, Makers Ohad Rusnak and Omri Elmalech have devised a slick self-driven shopping cart using a 3D Kinect sensor, a 3D camera and an Arduino Mega 2560 (ATmega2560). Through the duo’s self-developed computer vision algorithm, the system’s 3D camera can accurately identify and follow the cart’s owner as they make their way about the supermarket, while the embedded Arduino is responsible for controlling all the movement, sensing and tracking.

“I think in the future, a few years from now, we’ll see something like this in the supermarkets,” Rusnak says.

More recently, Cambridge Consultants showed off its latest connected cart concept that, by being fitted with low-cost sensors and Bluetooth Smart, can tell a retailer where you are in a store within three feet. The embedded technology, which would appear to be much more commercial-ready than the aforementioned project, can pinpoint the cart’s whereabouts so shop owners can offer location-based promotions and eliminate checkout lines in real-time. It also means fewer carts will leave the parking lot, too. For stores, this could drastically cut the multi-million-dollar annual cost of lost carriages as businesses could set alerts when they were being removed from their premises.

“The latest innovation is a small device that fits on the wheel of each trolley – and doesn’t need batteries as it is powered via energy harvesting from the rotation of the wheel. Costs are kept to a minimum by using commercially available low-cost sensors and connectivity that allows the data to be managed on a hosted server,” the firm writes.

Aside from enabling stores to target customers with relevant offers as they browse the aisles, data from smart carts could be used by retailers to understand better what their customers decide not to buy – it could help highlight areas where customers stopped to browse but did not purchase anything. Privacy advocates may also take comfort in knowing that the cart is being tracked opposed to the shopper’s smartphone.

“This is the latest example of our work in the fields of connected devices, data analytics and integrated systems across a range of sectors and with clients around the world. Connected product development has a crucial role to play in securing – and maintaining – competitive advantage in the fast-moving retail industry,” Cambridge Consultants concludes.

We couldn’t agree more. This can and will be an extremely cool concept to see catch on. So, how long before we see these roaming robotic trolleys around your nearest Target, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s?

14 smart products for the Internet of Toddlers

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Everything is becoming increasingly connected, after all. Your clothes, your appliances, your cars… and soon, your offspring. It looks like we’re well on our way to taking ’baby’ steps towards the parenting world of tomorrow!

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining quite a bit of attention as of late, most prominently around the home, cars and even wearables. And undoubtedly, this rise of connected devices will soon lend a hand to caregivers, ushering in a new era of data-driven, quantified parenting.

Whether you are or have been the parent of a newborn, you know just hard it can be. Infants aren’t able to provide the kind of feedback you might desperately wish for after countless hours of nursing and sleepless nights. Unfortunately, babies can’t tell you exactly how they feel, what they want or why they are upset — other than crying, obviously. As the IoT continues to evolve, we can expect to see a growing number of innovations focused around enhanced safety and convenience for those with children.

Good news, parents. Connectivity is about to become your next best friend. Here are some of the smart products making that happen!

Mimo

Developed by Boston startup Rest Devices, the Mimo smart baby onesie monitors the respiration, skin temperature, body position, sleeping and activity levels of infants through an embedded turtle-shaped sensor. This information and audio is relayed to a nearby base station and the cloud in real-time, where it can be viewed on any mobile device and shared between parents and their babysitters. The companion app is available for both Android and iOS.

Milk Nanny

Making a bottle of formula milk isn’t always convenient, and often times, can even be a downright hassle. Luckily, it’s about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Wicoz’s recent Kickstarter project. The world’s first fully-automatic smart formula machine makes fresh, warm baby milk in seconds — consistently and precisely — all with the press of a button. More conveniently, it can be controlled right from your phone. Parents simply scan a bar code on the formula container, hit start and the milk is dispensed. Afterwards, its companion app reveals detailed stats focused on feeding habits and trends.

Listnr

Another smart device currently seeking funding on Kickstarter is the Listnr. The gadget has two distinct functions. First, it connects to smart bulbs (like the Philips Hue) and turns the lights on/off by recognizing certain sounds, such as a fingersnap. Second, it can pick up on a baby’s cry and interpret what kind of scream it is. The Listnr’s built-in advanced audio processor can decipher emotions from sounds, ranging from laughs to burbles.

Sproutling

Think of it like a Fitbit for babies. Sproutling’s baby monitor is comprised of three parts: a wearable band, a smart charger and a mobile app. The device gathers 16 different measurements every second to help parents understand things such as when a baby is most likely to wake up, if a baby’s heart rate is higher or lower than usual, and whether it is warmer or cooler than a baby’s ideal room temperature. This allows parents to learn and predict their infant’s sleep habits and optimal bedtime conditions.

TempTraq

TempTraq is the only 24-hour, Bluetooth-enabled thermometer that continuously senses and records a child’s temperature in the form of a soft patch. That comfortable wearable then sends real-time information to a caregiver’s mobile device.

Owlet Baby Care

Having first gained popularity through TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield back in 2014, the Owlet Baby Monitor is an ankle-worn tracking device that analyzes a sleeping infant’s oxygen levels and heart rate alerting parents of potential problems. The smart sock transmits the information its recording to a smartphone app via Bluetooth 4.0. If you don’t have a smartphone, parents can simply plug it in via USB to see metrics on a PC or connect to your home Wi-Fi network to see readouts on any connected device.

Sensible Baby

Another startup on the list originating in Boston is Sensible Baby. The product is hoping to alleviate anxieties of new parents by using a sensor to monitor a newborn’s breathing, movement and temperature. The sensor, which is called SmartOne, is inserted into a onesie and syncs with a mobile app to notify the parent of any changes. Meanwhile, users can customize the type of alert for the sleeping environment and developmental stage of their baby.

MonBaby

Successfully funded last year on Kickstarter, MonBaby is a small wireless device that snaps onto any article of a child’s clothing, just like a button. It tracks a baby’s breathing rate, movement level and sleep position, transmitting vital signs and important alerts directly to your smartphone in order to improve sleep for all.

Withings Home

Following in the footsteps of its popular smart monitor, Home is not just an ordinary connected baby cam. Withings’ latest product tracks motion, captures video with its wide-angle lens, reads air quality and analyzes local sounds for signs of distress. The unit also boasts a two-way microphone, a night-light, and even a function they call “cry recognition.”

Onni Smart Care

This Wi-Fi-enabled baby monitoring system lets parents keep an eye on their little one through HD video and audio using their smart device or computer. What’s more, Smart Care is also equipped with a built-in room temperature sensor, a remote-controlled night-light and the ability to play soothing MP3s to a child via a built-in speaker.

Pacif-i

Created by Blue Maestro, Pacif-i is the world’s first smart pacifier that detects a baby’s temperature and transmits the data to an app on a parent’s iOS or Android device over Bluetooth Smart. Pacif-i also features a built-in proximity sensor that provides parents with the ability to track the pacifier’s location and be notified if their child wanders off. Within the app, parents can set the distance (up to a range of 65 feet) for the alarm to be triggered when this pre-defined zone is breached. The pacifier also features a buzzer alarm that can be activated via the smartphone when it has been misplaced or hidden by a toddler.

iSwimband

Designed for personal aquatic safety, iSwimband is a portable and effective anti-drowning system that works in pools, lakes and rivers to ensure child water safety. The device is worn as either a headband or wristband and uses a built-in sensor to detect when it has been submerged for a user-defined length of time. If that threshold is reached, it sends an alert to a companion iOS app via Bluetooth up to 100-feet away.

Smart Diapers

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have designed a super-thin sensor that can go inside diapers to inform caretakers when it’s time for a change. In addition, these Smart Diapers allow parents to simply and unobtrusively screen for UTIs, dehydration or developing kidney problems.

Smart Connect Cradle

Fisher-Price’s 4-in-1 Smart Connect Cradle works with a companion app to enable parents to swing the cradle remotely in one of six speeds, and from side-to-side or head-to-toe. The cradle can also removed and set on the floor to be used as a rocker in the same way. When a baby needs to be entertained or soothed, parents can choose from 16 preloaded songs, a few nature sounds and hanging birds that light up to do the trick.

Lockitron unveils the $99 Bolt

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Lock or unlock your door simply by walking up to it with a phone in your pocket.

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Lockitron, one of the first companies to launch a smart home product on Kickstarter way back in 2012, has returned with a new product, Bolt. The sub-$100 connected lock has taken a more user-friendly, less expensive approach to its $300 crowdfunded predecessor. Having ceased delivery of the earlier device, the company will soon ship its original backers the next-gen deadbolt which was designed with eliminating Wi-Fi and improving functionality (better battery life, slimmer form factor and easier installation) in mind.

“In the fall of last year, we came to an impasse for the crowdfunded Lockitron. While ramping up production and nearing shipment to our 10,000th backer, we knew that without significant changes to our existing suppliers we could never make our way through the immense backlog at an acceptable speed,” the company shared in its latest blog post.

The team, led by co-founders Cameron Robertson and Paul Gerhardt, have decided to revert to their original concept of replacing the deadbolt altogether, instead of trying to devise an all-in-one, universal gadget that could fit over most locks. “Basically, as long as we could break the setup down into 20 tiny, doable steps, it didn’t really matter that it required removing the old deadbolt,” Robertson told TechCrunch in a recent interview.

Unlike devices which replace only a portion of a lock and require precise calibration and alignment, Bolt works out of the box without any adjustments or adapters. Installation typically only requires changing six screws and about 10 minutes using the included screwdriver. Thanks to what the team calls “Key Match,” the unit can be adapted to work with the most common keyways, ranging from Schlage and Kwikset five and six-pin variants. In other words, in just about all cases, renters can have Bolt keyed to match their existing lock, granting continued access by those with existing metal keys.

The kit is comprised of two components: Bolt and Bridge. The Bolt connects to your smartphone via BLE, allowing you to unlock the door as you approach a house, apartment or rental property using its accompanying mobile app. What this means is that you can access your lock from anywhere, so that you can open the door for guests arriving while you’re still at work or pet-sitters stopping by while you’re on vacation. While Bolt serves as a Bluetooth-enabled replacement lock that instantly shares access to friends and family, Bridge plugs into a wall and connects to the web. This gives users the ability to control their lock, send data and log visitors remotely, as well as send a notification when a child unlocks the door from their phone.

It’s no surprise that the lock’s vibrant community is comprised of Makers, developers and engineers, which have demonstrated a number of innovative ways of opening doors using wearable technology. In fact, some Pebble wearers were able to gain entry with merely a fist bump. The company also reveals that Bolt includes a number of popular features as the originally-crowdfunding, megaAVR based Lockitron.

According to its team, the Lockitron Bolt will come in two editions. The preview edition is expected to begin shipping in March, while the production variant of Lockitron Bolt is slated for late spring and will come in varaity of finishes to best match your home’s decor. Interested? Hurry over to  the company’s official page here.

Chip Design talks smart Bluetooth, sensors and more

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CES 2015 saw countless Internet of Things (IoT) devices, ranging from Bluetooth gateways and smart sensors to intensive cloud-based data processors and hackathons – all powered by Atmel | SMART ARM-based microcontrollers.

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Writing for Chip Design Magazine, Editorial Director John Blyler recounted the world’s largest electronics show by elaborating upon the underlying the show, which was indeed, connectivity.

“The only difference each year is the way in which the connectivity is express in products. For example, this year’s event showcased an increase in gateway networking devices that permitted Bluetooth Low Energy-equipped gadgets to connect to a Wi-Fi router or other interfaces with the outside world,” Blyler shares.

According to a new IHS report, the global market for low-power, Bluetooth Smart integrated circuits (IC) will see shipments rise nearly tenfold over the next five years. Not only will the worldwide Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready market be valued at $3.9 billion by 2020, Bluetooth-enabled device shipments will approach the four billion unit mark by next year as well.

This is good news for very low power wireless semiconductor intellectual property (IP) and device manufacturers in the wearable and connected markets, Blyler adds. “One example out of many is Atmel’s BTLC1000 chip, which the company claims will help improve battery life by over 30% of current devices. The chip architecture is based on a ARM Cortex-M0 processor.”

Expanding upon the Atmel SmartConnect wireless portfolio, the BTLC1000 is a Bluetooth Smart link controller integrated circuit that connects as a companion to any Atmel AVR or Atmel | SMART MCU through a UART or SPI API requiring minimal resource on the host side. The ultra-low power solution is capable of achieving sub-1µA in standby mode, while delivering the industry’s best dynamic power consumption and increasing battery life by as much as one year for certain applications.

Giving its unprecedented 2.1mm X 2.1mm Wafer Level Chipscale Package (WLCSP), the Bluetooth Smart controller is ideal for the rapidly growing wearables and IoT realms, not limited to portable medical, activity trackers, human Interface devices, gaming controllers, and beacons and much more.

For those unfamiliar with the technology, Bluetooth Smart is the intelligent, low-power version of traditional Bluetooth wireless technology that works with existing smartphone and tablet applications, and brings connectivity to everyday devices ranging from toothbrushes to heartrate monitors.

“Bluetooth Smart and tiny ultra-low power devices are vital for the wearables market and Atmel have a triple play with their BTLC1000 chip… which has a Cortex-M0 processor on-board and battery life improved 30% over current devices. So here is a perfect example of my point, this device is smaller, uses less power and combines more functionality so after it samples in March it will make its way into new products that simply couldn’t exist before.  What kind of predictions can we make from this you may ask? Things like smart bandages that take your temperature and remind you to take your antibiotics or food packaging that warns of spoilage, the possibilities expand every year. Expect to see more Bluetooth connected ‘things’ at CES 2016. This is an important step in the Internet of Things becoming a reality and that could be an inflection point,” David Blaza recently shared in the ARM Connected Community.

Blyler goes on to note that in order for the IoT to be useful, sensor data at the edge of the connectivity node must be communicated to the cloud for high-performance processing of all the data.

“Next to connectivity, sensors are the defining component of any IoT technology. Maybe that is why sensor companies have been a growing presence on the CES show floor. This year, sensor-related vendors accounted for over 10% of total exhibitors. Many new IoT sensor technology is implemented using tiny MEMS physical structures.”

Want to read more? You can find the entire write-up here. To explore Atmel’s latest Bluetooth ultra-low power solution for the IoT, you can also do so here.

 

 

Fujitsu’s smart ring will let you write in midair

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Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a lightweight, compact wearable device that makes it easy to draw letterforms in the air.

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Though it seems wrist-adorned and head-mounted displays (HMDs) are all the buzz as of late, Fujitsu is hoping to change that with their newly-revealed smart ring that not only allows for motion control, but in-air handwriting as well. Sure, HMDs are already helping to provide a hands-free workplace for operators, however they don’t make it particularly easy to select displayed information, input figures, jot down memos on workplace conditions, or perform other necessary tasks.

Fujitsu’s latest innovation lets wearers trace letters using their fingertip, while a built-in motion sensor translates those movements into usable characters. By “writing” in the air, users can then select menu options or make notes on photos that they take in the field — something which could certainly also come in handy during a tradeshow or while on-the-go.

“By applying proprietary technology that corrects the letterform tracings, Fujitsu has been able to improve character recognition accuracy, enabling recognition of everything from numbers to Chinese characters.”

Aside from its motion sensor — which features an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer — a BLE module, a status display LED, an operation button, a sensor-processing MCU, and a battery (capable of lasting roughly eight hours) are all packed into the tiny device. In addition, there’s an NFC tag reader embedded inside that will enable a user to receive instructions with a simple tap. The company believes that as data from the object to be worked on can be easily selected in a hands-free manner, the performance of maintenance and other tasks is expected to be more efficient.

While still merely a prototype, Fujitsu is currently testing the real-world usability of the device with aspirations of practical implementation by early next year. Explore the ring in more detail here.

The 30 “smartest” things we saw at CES 2015

Thousands of jam-packed booths, several tech-filled halls, five days, one incredible event. Over the years, CES has become a breeding ground for the wackiest, the wildest and most importantly, the smartest electronic devices to hit the market. And, with the emergence of the Internet of Things, 2015 proved to be no different with the debut of countless new connected products.

While we recently highlighted a few pre-show gizmos, here are some other exciting and eye-catching gadgets we came across over the last week in Vegas.

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Motorola Scout 5000 is a connected dog collar with built-in video, GPS and Wi-Fi.

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Edyn Garden Sensor lets you know when to water your plants.

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Gogoro is a smart scooter that runs on swappable electric batteries.

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IO HAWK is a smart skateboard that will change the way you get around.

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Sleep Number’s new smart bed for kids can adjust as they grow.

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RAYBOT is a water-free solar panel cleaning robot.

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Fogo is a smart flashlight that will pack everything from GPS to Bluetooth.

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Panasonic’s smart mirror can analyze your skin and preview new makeup styles.

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Sengled LED lightbulbs can also serve as a home security system.

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LifeQ is using the human body as a sensor to integrate with wearables.

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Tao Chair lets you burn calories while sitting in the living room.

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Honeywell’s Lyric system is bringing security to the smart home.

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Whirlpool’s Top Load Washer is making cleaning laundry easier than ever before.

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Parrot’s Smart Pot will make sure you never kill your house plants again.

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XelfleX technology can be used to create smarter clothes.

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Sensoria smart socks can track your run or workout.

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Baby GlGl is a smart bottle to keep babies from getting colicky.

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Secure Communicator is a smartphone built inside a watch.

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Ebove’s smart bike system allows you to cycle anywhere.

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Anova’s Wi-Fi sous vide cooker enables you to precisely set temps remotely.

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Digitsole’s smart insoles can track your steps while heating your feet.

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Ring is a Wi-Fi-enabled, HD video doorbell.

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PicoBrew is a connected home-brewing machine for your own craft beer.

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Bionic Bird is a mechanical bird that can be controlled via your smartphone.

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Toshiba’s ChihiraAico is an incredibly life-like robot.

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Keen Home’s smart vent lets you customize and direct heat to specific rooms.

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Edwin is a smart rubber duckie that makes bath time even more fun.

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Cooki is an automated robotic chef for your countertop.

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Raticator is a mesh-networked rodent trap that uses infrared beams to detect rodents.

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JINS smart glasses can tell when your eyes are fatigued.

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What were some of your favorite things from CES 2015? Share with us!

Atmel unveils a cloud-ready Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo platform for IoT apps

Atmel has expanded its SmartConnect wireless portfolio with a wireless combo system-on-chip (SoC) for the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) market.

The new fully-integrated WILC3000 wireless link controller combines Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth Smart-ready technologies in an ultra-small 4.1mm x 4.1mm Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) with lower power consumption, along with Atmel’s patented adaptive co-existence engine, making it the ideal solution for IoT and wearable applications. Atmel’s WILC3000 Wi-Fi solution offers multiple peripheral interfaces including UART, SPI, I2C, and SDIO, along with the associated cloud-ready connectivity software, making it the perfect wireless connectivity companion to any microprocessor (MPU) running Android or Linux MPUs.

Atmel is also introducing the WINC3400 network controller featuring embedded flash memory which allows the device to host network services stack, Wi-Fi stack, and Bluetooth Smart profiles for rapid design development with no wireless expertise required from the designer. The WINC3400 can be paired with any Atmel AVR® or Atmel | SMART MCUs.

“IoT requires a diverse portfolio of wireless MPUs and MCUs with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities that will enable cloud access,” said Kaivan Karimi, Atmel Vice President and General Manager of Wireless MCUs. “Adding cloud connectivity to devices in the industrial, medical, wearable, fitness and other consumer markets will require a combination of embedded Wi-Fi with Bluetooth optimized for low battery consumption, and support for out-of-the-box, cloud ready software. Atmel’s SmartConnect WILC3000 and WINC3400 address these requirements by delivering a compact cloud-ready Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-certified platform that helps bring customer products faster to market.”

The latest cloudy-ready Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo platform is optimized for low-power applications, supporting single-stream 802.11n mode providing up to 72 Mbps throughput, enabling a broad range of use cases. Both devices integrate a power amplifier, LNA, switch and power management unit providing developers with the highest level of integration together with the best link budget for maximum range. The WILC3000 and WINC3400 provide the highest integration for a lower bill of material. The only external clock sources required is a high-speed crystal or oscillator with a wide range of reference clock frequencies supported (14-40 MHz) and a 32.768 kHz clock for sleep operation.

The WINC 3400 network controller offers an On-Chip Network Stack to minimize host CPU requirements. The Network features include TCP, UDP, DHCP, ARP, HTTP, SSL, and DNS. Additionally, the WINC3400 SiP includes Bluetooth Smart profiles allowing connection to advanced low energy application such as smart energy, consumer wellness, home automation, security, proximity detection, entertainment, sports and fitness and automotive. This solution also supports Atmel’s cloud-ready software for simple cloud connectivity.

Ready to add some connectivity to your next design? Explore the entire SmartConnect wireless family here.