10 (+1) invaluable steps to launching your next IoT product

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Let’s transition your products from a ‘dumb’ to ‘smart’ thing.

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Many enterprises, startups and organizations have already been exposed to the innovation land grab stemming from the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT). What’s available in the product/market fit arena? This is the hunt to cease some segment of the multi-trillion dollar growth reported to gain from the IoT, enabling embedded system connectivity coupled with the ecosystem value-add of a product or service. Even for that matter, transforming a mere idea that centers around connectivity solutions can present an array of challenges, particularly when one seeks to bring to market disruptive ways for the end-user to adopt from the more traditional way of doing things (e.g. GoPro, PebbleWatch, FitBit, and even to as far as e-health monitors, tire subscriptions, self-driving vehicles, smart bracelets, connected medical apparatus or Industrial Internet devices, home automation systems and more).

All together, there’s one overlaying theme to these Internet-enabled products. They are all pervasively SMART technologies that help monetize the IoT. Now, let’s get your products to transition from a once ordinary, mundane object to a much smarter, more secure “thing.” When doing so, this too can often present a few obstacles for designers, especially as it requires a unique set of skills needed to interface systems with connectivity to the cloud or Internet.

To top it all off, there may already be various product lines in existence that have a mandate to leverage a connected ecosystem/design. In fact, even new ones require connectivity to the cloud, having designs set forth to enhance via customer usage then combining this user data with other associated data points. Already, the development to enable such devices require an assortment of skills. It’s an undertaking, one in which requires knowledge and expertise to command stable connectivity in the infrastructure and design a product with security, scalability, and low power.

Moving ahead, here are some recommendations developers and Makers should know:

1. Identify a need and market: The value of the smart device lies in in the service that it brings to the customer. Identify the need to develop a strong offer that brings value or enhances efficiency rather than creating a simple gadget. (See Marc Andreesen’s infamous blog on product/market fit for more tips).

2. Validate your ideation: Carry out market research. Do your due diligence. Determine whether the device you think of creating already exists. Can improvements be ascertained with testimonial as an enhanced or unique experience? Indeed, benchmarking will allow you to discover any competitors, find sources of inspiration, develop a network of ideas to pool and find other areas for improvement as well.

3. Prototype toward MVP: New device fabrication techniques, such as 3D printing, are the ideal creative validation for producing prototypes much faster and for less money. They also promote iteration, which is an integral process when designing the device towards MVP.

4. Connect the ‘thing’ then concert it into a smart ‘thing:’ Right now, there is no mandatory standard for interconnecting different devices. Selecting the right technology is essential, particularly if the device requires low-power (speaking of low-power….) and event and state controls, which highly optimize extended power and the services to enrich the information system and eventally enhance user experience with a roadmap toward an ecosystem.

5. Develop the application: Today, the primary smart devices are linked to an dedicated mobile app. Since the app transforms the smartphone into a remote control, it must be be easy to use for your end-users, and more importantly, simply upgraded via the cloud.

6. Manage the data: Fitted with a multitude of sensors, connected gadgets generate an enormous amount of data that need to be processed and stored with the utmost security across all layers even to as far as using cryptography in memory. (After all, you don’t want your design become a ‘Tales from the Crypt-O” horror story.) 

7. Analyze and exploit the data: By processing and analyzing the data, a company can extract the necessary information to deploy the right service in the right place at the right time.

8. Measure the impact of the smart device: Set up probes to monitor your devices and data traffic quality. Answer questions objectively as to how it would securely scale and evolve should there be an instant high volume success and usage. This will help you measure the impact of the smart device in real time and adapt its actions accordingly, and model into the product roadmap and MVP spec.

9. Iterate to fine-tune the device’s use: After launching the project, the process has only begun. Feedback needs to be taken into account in order to adjust and fine-tune the project. Due to its very nature, digital technology requires continuous adaptation and iteration. “Try and learn” and present riskier ideas to products are the fundamental principles behind transformation when imposing a new use.

10. Prototype again: Continuous adaptation and iteration means that your company needs to produce a new prototype.

Here’s 10 + 1 invaluable steps to launching your IoT project or product.

11. Take advantage of the hands-on training in your region.

As an application space, IoT sensor nodes are enabled by a number of fundamental technologies, namely a low-power MCU, some form of wireless communication and strong security. With this in mind, the newly revealed Atmel IoT Secure Hello World series will offer attendees hands-on training, introducing them to some of the core technologies making the Internet of Things possible, including Wi-Fi and CryptoAuthentication.

What’s more, these sessions will showcase Atmel’s diverse Wi-Fi capabilities and CryptoAuthentication hardware key storage in the context of the simplest possible use cases. This includes learning how to send temperature information to any mobile device via a wireless network and how to enable the remote control of LEDs on a SAM D21 Xplained Pro board over a Wi-Fi network using a WINC1500. In addition, attendees will explore authentication of IoT nodes, as well as how to implement a secure communications link — something that will surely come in handy when preparing to launch your next smart product.

As you can see, so far, everyone is LOVING the Hello World sessions — from hardcore embedded engineers to hobbyists. Here some recent social activity following the recent Tech on Tour events in both Manchester and Heathrow, UK. Need we say more? These tweets say a thousand words!

Connected and ready to go… all before lunch! (Yes, there’s food as well!)

 

Atmel’s Tech on Tour and proud partner EBV Elektronik proudly thankful for the successful event in Manchester, UK.

 

Atmel’s Tech on Tour just successfully completed a full house attendance training in Manchester, UK

 

BLE, WIFI, IoT, IOE, ToT, OMG! How does Big Bang Theory and IoT relate to Tech on Tour?

Find out how you too can receive in-depth IoT training. As the Atmel | Tech on Tour makes it way throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, make sure you know when the team arrives in your town!  Don’t miss it. Upon registering, you will even receive a WINC1500 Xplained Pro Starter Kit to take home.

What is real SAM V71 DSP performance in automotive audio?

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The integrated FPU DSP (into the Cortex-M7 core) is using 2X the number of clock cycles when compared with the SHARC21489.

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Thinking of selecting an ARM Cortex-M7-based Atmel SAM V70/71 for your next automotive entertainment application? Three key reasons to consider are the clock speed of the the Cortex-M7 (300 Mhz), the integration of a floating point (FPU) DSP, and last but not least, because the SAM V70/71 has obtained automotive qualification. If you delve deeper into the SAM V70/71 features list, you will see that this MCU is divided into several versions integrating Flash: 512 KB, 1024 KB or 2018 KB. And, if you compare with the competition, this MCU is the only Cortex-M7 supporting the 2 MB Flash option, being automotive qualified and delivering 1500 CoreMark — thanks to the 300 MHz clock speed when the closest competitor only reach 240 MHz and deliver 1200 CoreMark.

In fact, what makes the SAMV70/71 so unique is its FPU DSP performance. Let’s make it clear for the beginning, if you search for pure DSP performance, it will be easy to find standard DSP chip offering much higher performance. Take the Analog Device AD21489 or Blackfin70x series, for example. However, the automotive market is not only very demanding, it’s also a very cost sensitive market as well.

Think about this simple calculation: If you select AD21489 DSP, you will have to add external flash and a MCU, which would lead the total BOM to be four to five times the price associated with the SAM V71. (Let’s also keep this AD21489 as a reference in terms of performance, and examine DSP benchmark results, coming from third party DSP experts DSP Concept.)

Before analyzing the results, we need to describe the context:

• FIR is made on 256 samples block size
• Results are expressed in term of clock cycles (smaller is better)
• All DSP are floating-point except Blackfin
• Clock cycles count is measured using Audio Weaver

To elaborate upon that even further, this FIR is used to build equalization filter — the higher Taps count, the better. If we look at the “50 Taps” benchmark results, the SAM V71 (Cortex-M7 based) exhibits 22,734 clock cycles (about three times more than the SHARC21489). Unsurprisingly, the Cortex-M4 requires 50% more, but you have to integrate a Cortex-A15 to get better results, as both the Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 need 30% and 40% more cycles, respectively! And when looking at standard Analog Devices Blackfin DSP, only the 70x series is better by 35%… the 53x being 30% worst.

Now, if you want to build a graphic equalizer, you will have to run Biquad. For instance, when building eight channels and six stages graphic equalizer, your DSP will have to run 48 Biquad.

Again, the context:

• Biquad is made on 256 samples block size
• Results are expressed in term of clock cycles (smaller is better)
• All DSP are floating-point except Blackfin
• Clock cycles count is measured using Audio Weaver

In fact, the results are quite similar to those of the FIR benchmark: only the Cortex-A15 and the SHARC21489 exhibits better performance. The integrated FPU DSP (into the Cortex-M7 core) is using twice the amount of clock cycles when put side-by-side with the SHARC21489. If you compare the performance per price, the Cortex-M7 integrated in the SAMV71 is 50% cheaper! Using a SHARC DSP certainly makes sense if you want to build high performance home cinema system, but if you target automotive, it’s much more effective to select a FPU DSP integrated together with Flash (512KB to 2MB) and a full featured MCU.

The Atmel SAM V71 is specifically dedicated to support automotive infotainment application, offering Dual CAN and Ethernet MAC support. Other notable specs include:

• 10/100 Mbps, IEEE1588 support
• 12 KB SRAM plus DMA
• AVB support with Qav & Qas HW support for audio traffic support
• 802.3az Energy efficiency support
• Dual CAN-FD
• Up to 64 SRAM-based mailboxes
• Wake up from sleep or wake up modes on RX/TX

Don’t forget that when looking to construct an automotive high-end radio, you still need room for Ethernet MAC and AVB support… What’s more, the SAM V71 only consume 68% of the DSP resource, leaving well enough space for both AVB and Ethernet MAC.

Interested? Explore the Atmel | SMART SAM V ARM Cortex-M7 family here. More information about the the DSP benchmark can be also found on DSP Concept’s website.  Also, be sure the detailed DSP Concept’s audio processing benchmarks.

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This post has been republished with permission from SemiWiki.com, where Eric Esteve is a principle blogger as well as one of the four founding members of SemiWiki.com. This blog first appeared on SemiWiki on May 6, 2015.

Report: Smart clothing shipments to hit 10.2 million annually by 2020

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Body sensor shipments will reach 3.1 million units annually by 2020, new report says.

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In today’s Internet of Things (IoT) era, wearable technology will undoubtedly migrate from simple wrist-adorn devices to various biometric sensors embedded within our clothing. According to a new report from research firm Tractica, this change will take place over the next five years where more than 10 million items of smart clothing will be shipped annually. This increase will be driven by quantified self adoption, which includes the collection, measurement, tracking and analysis of body data to help wearers live healthier lives.

(Source: Polo Ralph Lauren)

These latest figures follow in the footsteps of Garner’s recent study, which projects nearly 26 million e-textiles to be in use by 2016. This niche isn’t anything entirely new; in fact, athletes and avid sports enthusiasts have been using sensor-laden shirts, shorts, bras and socks for a little while now, all in an effort to acquire biometric information around muscle, breathing rate and heart activity. Over the next several years, the appearance of smart clothing is expected to change in appearance from high-tech athletic apparel to everyday street gear.

Meanwhile, the body sensor sector is also experience a transition as heart rate monitors decline in unit volume and newer devices like baby and pregnancy monitors, headbands, posture monitors and 3D trackers begin to build momentum. Tractica forecasts that shipments of embedded garments will jump from 140,000 units in 2013 to 10.2 million units by 2020, while body sensor shipments will decrease from 3.0 million units in 2013 to 1.2 million by 2017, before rising again to 3.1 million units in 2020.

“The ultimate wearable computer is a piece of smart clothing that one can wear as a garment or a body sensor that can track and measure specific vital signs,” says research director Aditya Kaul. “Both of these device categories are designed to seamlessly integrate with users’ daily lives.”

While we’ve already seen a number of major brands, ranging from Polo Ralph Lauren to adidas, take giant leaps into the smart clothing market, we can’t overlook the number of soft electronics DIY projects either. Inspired to create their very own e-textiles, Makers have already begun to embrace various easy-to-use wearable platform, including the Arduino Lilypad (ATmega328) and Adafruit’s FLORA (ATmega32U4), which can be easily daisy chained with various sensors for GPS, motion and light.

Want to learn more? You can find the entire Tractica report here.

Single chip MCU + DSP architecture for automotive = SAM V71

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Automotive apps are running in production by million units per year, and cost is a crucial factor when deciding on an integrated solution.

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It’s all about Cost of Ownership (CoO) and system level integration. If you target automotive related application, like audio or video processing or control of systems (Motor control, inverter, etc.), you need to integrate strong performance capable MCU with a DSP. In fact, if you expect your system to support Audio Video Bridging (AVB) MAC on top of the targeted application and to get the automotive qualification, the ARM Cortex-M7 processor-based Atmel SAMV70/71 should be your selection: offering the fastest clock speed of his kind (300 MHz), integrating a DSP Floating Point Unit (FPU), supporting AVB and qualified for automotive.

Let’s have a closer look at the SAM V71 internal architecture, shall we?

A closer look at Atmel | SMART ARM based Cortex M7 – SAMV71 internal architecture.

When developing a system around a microcontroller unit, you expect this single chip to support as many peripherals as needed in your application to minimize the global cost of ownership. That’s why you can see the long list of system peripherals (top left of the block diagram). Meanwhile, the Atmel | SMART SAM V71 is dedicated to support automotive infotainment application, e.g. Dual CAN and Ethernet MAC (bottom right). If we delve deeper into these functions, we can list these supported features:

• 10/100 Mbps, IEEE1588 support
• MII (144-pin), RMII (64-, 100, 144-pin)
• 12 KB SRAM plus DMA
• AVB support with Qav & Qas HW support for Audio traffic support
• 802.3az Energy efficiency support
• Dual CAN-FD
• Up to 64 SRAM-based mailboxes
• Wake up from sleep or wake up modes on RX/TX

The automotive-qualified SAM V70 and V71 series also offers high-speed USB with integrated PHY and Media LB, which when combined with the Cortex-M7 DSP extensions, make the family ideal for infotainment connectivity and audio applications. Let’s take a look at this DSP benchmark:

ARM CM7 Performance normalized relative to SHARC (Higher numbers are better).

If you are not limited by budget consideration and can afford integrating one standard DSP along with a MCU, you will probably select the SHARC 21489 DSP (from Analog Devices) offering the best-in-class benchmark results for FIR, Biquad and real FFT. However, such performance has a cost, not only monetarily but also in terms of power consumption and board footprint — we can call that “Cost of Ownership.” Automotive apps are running in production by million units per year, and cost is absolutely crucial in this market segment, especially when quickly deciding to go with an integrated solution.

To support audio or video infotainment application, you expect the DSP integrated in the Cortex-M7 to be “good enough” and you can see from this benchmark results that it’s the case for Biquad for example, as ARM CM7 is equal or better than any other DSP (TI C28, Blackfin 50x or 70x) except the SHARC 21489… but much cheaper! Good enough means that the SAMV70 will support automotive audio (Biquad in this case) and keep enough DSP power for Ethernet MAC (10/100 Mbps, IEEE1588) support.

Ethernet AVB Architectures (SAM V71)

In the picture above, you can see the logical SAM V71 architectures for Ethernet AVB support and how to use the DSP capabilities for Telematics Control Unit (TCU) or audio amplifier.

Integrating a DSP means that you need to develop the related DSP code. Because the DSP is tightly integrated into the ARM CM7 core, you may use the MCU development tools (and not specific DSP tools) for developing your code. Since February, the ATSAMV71-XULT (full-featured Xplained board, SAM V71 Xplained Ultra Evaluation Kit with software package drivers supporting basic drivers, software services, libraries for Atmel SAMV71, V70, E70, S70 Cortex-M7 based microcontrollers) is available from Atmel. As this board has been built around the feature-rich SAM V71, you can develop your automotive application on the same exact MCU architecture as the part going into production.

Versatility and Integrated DSP built into the ARM CM7 core allows for MCU development tools to be used instead of having to revert to specific DSP tools. You can develop your automotive application on exactly the same MCU architecture than the part going into production.

Interested? More information on this eval/dev board can found here.

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This post has been republished with permission from SemiWiki.com, where Eric Esteve is a principle blogger as well as one of the four founding members of SemiWiki.com. This blog first appeared on SemiWiki on April 29, 2015.

Connect your Philips Hue lights to real world data with Zymbit

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Change the color of your office’s Philips Hue lights based on subscribed data streams.

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In today’s constantly connected world, it seems like we’re notified of just about everything from emails and missed calls to social media updates and appointments. As a result, a growing number of innovators are seeking less obtrusive ways to provide you with your daily notifications. This will enable you to keep tabs on important information without constant interupttings and having to look up at a computer screen or down at a phone.

And so, Zymbit co-founder Roberto Aguilar has devised a slick system which connects his office’s Philips Hue lights to real world data through the use of Zymbit’s pub/sub framework. Rather than having to be alerted through irritating sounds or unnecessary vibrations, the Maker has created a much more natural, less distracting way of consuming content. Take for instance, the weather or mass transportation. A blue illuminated wall can indicate that it is freezing outside, while red illuminations can denote that the subway is quickly approaching. In his case, Aguilar has employed an Arduino Yún-powered LED device on his desk that he calls Zymbob. Essentially, the Arduino subscribes to the color data stream and controls the lights.

In order to bring this idea to life, the Maker began by coding a simple app for his friends to tweet a color to his LEDs. Whenever a color is mentioned in a tweet, it is published though Zymbit’s pub/sub. According to Aguilar, at first the app knew less than a dozen or so colors, and has since been extended to over 500. Meanwhile, another app running on a Raspberry Pi Model B+ subscribes to the color messages and adjusts the bulb’s Hue accordingly. Luckily, the app is small enough and can run on the Yún (ATmega32U4) to modify Zymbob’s lights.

As for its software, the project called upon the Tweepy Python package to connect to the Twitter API, the phue Python library to sync with the Philips Hue bridge, the Zymbit Python package to pair with the Zymbit itself, as well as the Zymbit pub/sub engine. Beyond that, Arduino sketches were completed within its IDE.

“All in all, the project was quite successful! The biggest problem is the way I listen to tweets; there can be pretty long delays between sending a tweet and having the lights change colors. There’s probably a better way to ‘listen’ for tweets than constantly polling,” Aguilar writes.

Moving ahead, the Maker hopes to subscribe to more data streams, thereby allowing him to command the Hue lights directly from his Raspberry Pi rather than having to piggyback the Hue bridge.

Seems cool, right? In case you’re unfamiliar with Zymbit, the end-to-end IoT platform enables Makers, engineers and developers to transform their smart ideas into real-world, connected products in blistering speed. On the hardware side, the solution gives users the ability to transition their Arduino or Raspberry Pi proof-of-concept to a professional-grade item using its modular Atmel | SMART-based, ATECC108-protected devices. What’s more, the team has designed remote management software that will let users easily connect and control their gadget from anywhere, both securely and transparently — as seen in the Hue Data Channel project.

Intrigued? Head over to Zymbit’s official page to learn more.

Atmel and MXCHIP develop Wi-Fi platform with secure cloud access for IoT apps

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SAM G MCU + WILC1000 Wi-Fi SoC + MiCO IoT OS = Secure Cloud Access 

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Atmel and MXCHIP, a top 10 China IoT start-up according to Techno, have announced that the two companies are coming together to develop an ultra-low power Internet of Things (IoT) platform with secure Wi-Fi access to the cloud, enabling designers to quickly bring their connected devices to market. This collaboration combines ultra-low power Atmel | SMART SAM G ARM Cortex-M4-based MCUs and the SmartConnect WILC1000 Wi-Fi solution with MXCHIP’s MiCO IoT operating system, servicing a full range of smart device developers for IoT applications.

“We are excited to team with MXCHIP to bring secure cloud access to IoT developers with this ultra-low power and secure, connected platform,” said Reza Kazerounian, Atmel SVP and General Manager, Microcontroller Business Unit. “In an effort to accelerate the growth of IoT devices, such as wearables and consumer battery-operated devices worldwide, this platform enables embedded designers to focus on their differentiated smart devices without requiring expertise on lowering power consumption, security and wireless connectivity. Our joint efforts will enable more designers of all levels to bring their smart, connected designs quickly to market.”

With the rapid growth of the IoT market, these smart devices will require secure access to the cloud on what will likely be billions of battery-operated devices. The new platform will pair Atmel’s proven ultra-low power SAM G series of MCUs, designed for wearables and sensor hub management, and the secure ultra-low power SmartConnect WILC1000 Wi-Fi solution along with MXCHIP’s leading MiCO IoT OS for next-generation IoT applications. This integrated platform gives IoT designers the confidence that their battery-operated devices will have longer battery life and their data will be securely transferred to the cloud.

The Atmel WILC1000 is an IEEE 802.11b/g/n IoT link controller leveraging its ultra-low power Wi-Fi transceiver with a fully-integrated power amplifier. This solution delivers the industry’s best communication range of up to +20.5dBm output, ideal for connected home devices. Embedded within packages as small as a 3.2mm x 3.2mm WLCSP, the WILC1000 link controller leverages in this platform Atmel’s SAM G MCU, an ideal solution for low-power IoT applications and optimized for lower power consumption, incorporating large SRAM, high performance and operating efficiency with floating-point unit in an industry-leading 2.84mm x 2.84mm package.

When combined with secure Wi-Fi technology, the joint IoT platform connects directly to each other or to a local area network (LAN), enabling remote system monitoring or control. For increased security, the platform comes with an optional Atmel ATECC508A — the industry’s first crypto device to integrate ECDH key agreement, making it easy to add confidentiality to digital systems including IoT nodes used in home automation, industrial networking, accessory and consumable authentication, medical, mobile and other applications.

“This collaboration combines synergies from both companies to IoT designers including Atmel’s global presence with MXCHIP’s local resources enabling IoT designers to smoothly implement cloud services for their smart, connected devices in China and around the world,” said Wang Yong Hong, CEO, MXCHIP. “Our platform combines both ease-of-use and simplicity allowing IoT designers from all levels to access cloud services worldwide ranging from professional designers for smart, connected IoT devices to Makers, educators and hobbyists. We will also collaborate on a number of other fronts with Atmel including IoT research, promotions, and share our IoT knowledge on smart, secure and connected devices across multiple industries.”

Interested? To accelerate the IoT design process, the platform — which will be available in May 2015 — includes the MiCOKit-G55 development kit, technical documentation, application notes and a software development kit.

Building an open-source, smart ecosystem for your plants

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Botani.st helps you monitor and analyze your garden environments with ease — and prevents you from killing your plants again.

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Many find gardening to be a rather enjoyable hobby, where after buying and planting seeds, you watch your soil transform into an array of beautiful plants. However, for others, the activity can be downright frustrating as those seeds fail to flourish or your greens begin to wither.

Luckily, the Botani.st crew has developed a smart gardening assistant that will not only monitor your plants, but act before it’s too late. The project was first conceived as a way to provide folks with an affordable solution that would place countless sensors throughout their gardens, which in turn, would generate the amount of environmental and plant health data needed to make accurate recommendations. Secondly, with the Maker community in mind, its creators wanted to ensure that it was not only open-source, but modular so that others could build both hardware and software for it.

The system itself is comprised of a gateway, a hub, some sensors and a smart outlet. First, the sensors are tasked with measuring a plant’s environment, like soil moisture, temperature and light, as well as gathering data from external sources such as weather sites. This collected information is then processed, analyzed and compared with desired values using an easy-to-follow web and mobile dashboard — all that data is also archived for comparison with previous years. From there, users can create events based on the analysis. For instance, a user will receive a notification on their smartphone if they happen to be overwatering, or if it gets too cold in their greenhouse, they will be informed to utilize the smart outlet to start a heater.

“One thing we recognized early in our design phase was that people who grow in greenhouses doesn’t mind having cords, hoses and steel wires around so there we could go with wired devices. This not only allows us to skip radio hardware but also batteries and a lot of other hardware in the sensors itself to keep costs down,” team member Claes Jakobsson explains.

And so, the crew devised a hub that would provide the necessary power and connectivity along with a gateway that would link to their service through Wi-Fi, yet still be compatible with wires when available.

What’s nice is that users can add multiple gateways to their account — something that will surely come in handy should barriers like concrete walls severely reduce the RF signal or for when trying to reach parts off in the distance. Beyond that, if the device happens to lose contact with Botani.st’s service, its built-in memory will store all of the data and automatically sync right back up when running again. Each hub consists of eight ports, which can handle up to 64 devices (via an extender) and a micro-USB port if battery proves not to be enough.

As eluded to above, the system comes with both wireless and wired sensors. Ideal for those outdoor and indoor settings where cords might be unwanted or inaccessible, Botani.st’s wireless sensors can be recharged using both battery and solar cells, and are entirely waterproof to withstand rain and watering. In addition, an LED indicator reveals the current status — green if everything is okay, orange if a minor problem and red if an urgent matter that requires attention.

As for the radio portion of the project, this required something with extremely low power consumption, ease of use, few external components, and as any startup will tell you, minimal cost. Lo’ and behold, it wasn’t before long that the team employed the Atmel | SMART SAM R21. Meanwhile, its tethered counterpart — which is based on ATtiny48/88 — packs most of the same functionalities, except without radio, battery and solar cell.

“We looked at many options from Texas Instruments, NXP, Nordic Semiconductor and more and had almost settled on a chip when Atmel presented the SAM R21 which combined a ARM Cortex-M0+ with their RF233 802.15.4 radio. The SAM R21 was an excellent match,” its creators note.” With the Xplained evaluation kits we could very easily get going. Now we run on our own boards with a PCB antenna that gives us about 50 meter range in free-line-of-sight. However, since the Atmel LWMesh stack that we use provides automatic meshing, we are confident that this range won’t be a problem even when there are obstructions in the way.”

“Since we had plenty of prior experience with AVR MCUs, and the fact that it’s a hugely popular target for Makers, it’s was a no-brainer to build on that. Especially thanks to the big span of possible MCUs, from the very tiny 6-pin ATtiny to large 100-pin ATmega,”Jakobsson discusses their MCU selection for the wired sensors. “Having it being provided in both 28-DIP and 32-TQPF has eased during prototyping and the 28-QNF and 32-QFN packages will make it possible to save precious PCB space in production.”

At the moment, Botani.st continues to work hard on finalizing the hardware and software components to their smart gardening platform. And once completed, they will be releasing example schematics for both the sensors and actuators as well as a SDK for AVR that will enable DIYers — and other plant aficionados — to create their own platform.

“What most excites us about using Atmel apart, from their strong Maker popularity (of course), is the availability of affordable tools such as AVR programmers and excellent documentation. Having an open-source toolchain in the form of gcc both for AVR and ARM is also a huge plus.”

Getting ready to plant this spring? Head over to the the project’s official page here.

Windows 10 gets Arduino-certified with new open-source libraries

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Microsoft and Arduino announced partnership at Build 2015.

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If you’ve been following along with Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference, or have attended one of Hackster.IO’s recent Hardware Weekend events, then you know that the Seattle-based company has joined the list of major brands embracing the Maker crowd. Testament to that, the tech giant has announced a partnership with Arduino, making Windows 10 the world’s first Arduino-certified operating system.

The story was revealed amidst plenty of other exciting things from the week, which included a demonstration of the HoloLens augmented-reality headset, the introduction of the Azure Data Lake big data repository, Microsoft Edge being named Internet Explorer’s successor, in addition to Windows 10 becoming the OS that consumers will use across their PCs, smartphones, tablets and Xbox One game consoles.

Speaking of the new OS that will be able to run iOS and Android apps on both desktop and mobile devices, the company also shared some remarkable news for the DIY community. Windows 10 IoT Core is a new Windows 10 edition for low-cost, small-footprint devices that will be available for Makers and commercial device builders — at no cost.

Alongside the much anticipated Insider Preview of Windows 10 IoT Core for Raspberry Pi 2 devices, Microsoft has released a range of tools in the Arduino-certified Windows 10 that serve as a bridge between the Universal Windows Platform and the incredibly-popular Atmel based hardware: the availability of Windows Remote Arduino and Windows Virtual Shield for Arduino open-source libraries. The Arduino-certified Windows 10 will enable developers to make smart devices that combine the hardware-driving capability of Arduino with the software capabilities of Windows.

“An example might be a security camera. One could build a camera using Arduino to power the motor controls to tilt/turn the camera and using Universal Windows Platform one can create great UI, connect the camera to the cloud, process the image for motion detection and add facial/voice recognition,” Microsoft’s Steve Teixeira writes. “The work we have done on Windows 10 is the bridge between the Universal Windows Platform and Arduino hardware.”

With Windows Virtual Shield for Arduino, developers will have the ability to tap into the incredible power of Windows 10 devices through wireless protocols. For instance, a Lumia 530 contains well over $200-worth of shield sensors and capabilities, and now Makers can tap into all of those sensors and capabilities from an Arduino as if they were standard hardware shields.

“Imagine being able to create an Arduino project that includes GPS, Web connectivity/parsing, touch display, speech technologies and more. We’re particularly fond of the picture the weather project we’ve created that lets you bring your children’s drawings to life.”

Secondly, Windows Remote Arduino gives users the opportunity to extend their Universal Windows Application with Arduino commands that execute on a wirelessly-connected hardware device. This combines the power of Windows 10 device features, like image processing, speech recognition, website parsing, cameras and advanced audio pipelines, with the power of physical world interactivity through Arduino.

Adding a little more icing to the cake, Microsoft has unveiled their ongoing relationship with our pals at Hackster.IO, which includes collaboration on hackathons using Windows and Azure. The company has even tapped Hackster.IO’s project gallery to showcase a number of sample Maker projects and more.

“Our goal is to give Makers the opportunity to play with the software bits early and to listen to the feedback on what’s working well and what we can do better. You may notice some missing drivers or rough edges; we look forward to receiving your feedback to help us prioritize development work,” Teixeira explains. “We’ll be incorporating the feedback we receive into regular software updates along with additional drivers, bug fixes and new features. Those looking for a commercial-quality release should wait for general availability this summer.”

Undoubtedly, this is an exciting time for the DIY community, especially in the days leading up to Maker Faire Bay Area! If you want to learn more, head over to Microsoft’s official page here.

WEZR is like a personal weather station that clips onto your jacket or keychain

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WEZR is for anyone who wants to know the accurate, real-time weather forecast of a specific location.

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Sure, nowadays you can whip out your smartphone and quickly pull up the weather, but that might not always be accurate enough to fulfill your real-time needs. Take for instance those heading out on a hike, those looking to catch some waves or even those planning a weekend getaway, a small tracker that provides a personalized, up-to-the-minute forecast can come in handy at crucial times.

WEZR is comprised of a connected sensor and an accompanying app that attaches to any device, jacket, backpack, keychain, bike handlebar, ski pole or some other sort of accessory, and offers precise mile-by-mile geolocated forecasts with continuous monitoring and updates beamed right to your phone. The unit itself features a BLE module and a number of microelectromechanical systems, in addition to an ARM-based architecture for the pre-processing and storage of data.

“WEZR tackles weather forecast reliability and accuracy through a combination of sensors, engineering, distributed networking and cloud computing,” the team writes.

How it works is relatively simple: An adapter reads the current status of the weather based on air pressure, humidity and temperature in an area by way of the WEZR device. An embedded sensor tracks and communicates atmospheric data directly to the app (iOS and Android compatible) over Bluetooth, which in turn, is relayed to a cloud-based service. There, advanced algorithms analyze the live information and combine it with traditional weather predictions. This data is then displayed directly onto the smartphone and updated every five minutes.

“Our goal was to create a new concept featuring a simple sensor that easily transfers the data to the algorithm and then to your smartphone instantaneously and seamlessly to provide you with the most-accurate weather information possible,” the team adds.

At the moment, WEZR forecasts will only be available in specific areas with expansion into new territories contingent upon the amount of funding. To start, the startup hopes to roll out to most of the U.S. and a large portion of western Europe, with Japan and Australia to follow.

Interested? Head over to its official Kickstarter page, where WEZR is currently seeking $200,000. Delivery is slated for December 2015.

4 reasons why Atmel is ready to ride the IoT wave

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The IoT recipe comprises of three key technology components: Sensing, computing and communications.

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In 2014, a Goldman Sachs’ report took many people by surprise when it picked Atmel Corporation as the company best positioned to take advantage of the rising Internet of Things (IoT) tsunami. At the same time, the report omitted tech industry giants like Apple and Google from the list of companies that could make a significant impact on the rapidly expanding IoT business. So what makes Atmel so special in the IoT arena?

The San Jose, California–based chipmaker has been proactively building its ‘SMART’ brand of 32-bit ARM-based microcontrollers that boasts an end-to-end design platform for connected devices in the IoT realm. The company with two decades of experience in the MCU business was among the first to license ARM’s low-power processors for IoT chips that target smart home, industrial automation, wearable electronics and more.

Goldman Sachs named Atmel a leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) market.

Goldman Sachs named Atmel a leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) market

A closer look at the IoT ingredients and Atmel’s product portfolio shows why Goldman Sachs called Atmel a leader in the IoT space. For starters, Atmel is among the handful of chipmakers that cover all the bases in IoT hardware value chain: MCUs, sensors and wireless connectivity.

1. A Complete IoT Recipe

The IoT recipe comprises of three key technology components: Sensing, computing and communications. Atmel offers sensor products and is a market leader in MCU-centric sensor fusion solutions than encompass context awareness, embedded vision, biometric recognition, etc.

For computation—handling tasks related to signal processing, bit manipulation, encryption, etc.—the chipmaker from Silicon Valley has been offering a diverse array of ARM-based microcontrollers for connected devices in the IoT space.

Atmel has reaffirmed its IoT commitment through a number of acquisitions.

Finally, for wireless connectivity, Atmel has cobbled a broad portfolio made up of low-power Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee radio technologies. Atmel’s $140 million acquisition of Newport Media in 2014 was a bid to accelerate the development of low-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips for IoT applications. Moreover, Atmel could use Newport’s product expertise in Wi-Fi communications for TV tuners to make TV an integral part of the smart home solutions.

Furthermore, communications across the Internet depends on the TCP/IP stack, which is a 32-bit protocol for transmitting packets on the Internet. Atmel’s microcontrollers are based on 32-bit ARM cores and are well suited for TCP/IP-centric Internet communications fabric.

2. Low Power Leadership

In February 2014, Atmel announced the entry-level ARM Cortex M0+-based microcontrollers for the IoT market. The SAM D series of low-power MCUs—comprising of D21, D10 and D11 versions—featured Atmel’s signature high-end features like peripheral touch controller, USB interface and SERCOM module. The connected peripherals work flawlessly with Cortex M0+ CPU through the Event System that allows system developers to chain events in software and use an event to trigger a peripheral without CPU involvement.

According to Andreas Eieland, Director of Product Marketing for Atmel’s MCU Business Unit, the IoT design is largely about three things: Battery life, cost and ease-of-use. The SAM D microcontrollers aim to bring the ease-of-use and price-to-performance ratio to the IoT products like smartwatches where energy efficiency is crucial. Atmel’s SAM D family of microcontrollers was steadily building a case for IoT market when the company’s SAM L21 microcontroller rocked the semiconductor industry in March 2015 by claiming the leadership in low-power Cortex-M IoT design.

Atmel’s SAM L21 became the lowest power ARM Cortex-M microcontroller when it topped the EEMBC benchmark measurements. It’s plausible that another MCU maker takes over the EEMBC benchmarks in the coming months. However, according to Atmel’s Eieland, what’s important is the range of power-saving options that an MCU can bring to product developers.

“There are many avenues to go down on the low path, but they are getting complex,” Eieland added. He quoted features like multiple clock domains, event management system and sleepwalking that provide additional levels of configurability for IoT product developers. Such a set of low-power technologies that evolves in successive MCU families can provide product developers with a common platform and a control on their initiatives to lower power consumption.

3. Coping with Digital Insecurity

In the IoT environment, multiple device types communicate with each other over a multitude of wireless interfaces like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy. And IoT product developers are largely on their own when it comes to securing the system. The IoT security is a new domain with few standards and IoT product developers heavily rely on the security expertise of chip suppliers.

Atmel offers embedded security solutions for IoT designs.

Atmel, with many years of experience in crypto hardware and Trusted Platform Modules, is among the first to offer specialized security hardware for the IoT market. It has recently shipped a crypto authentication device that has integrated the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) security protocol. Atmel’s ATECC508A chip provides confidentiality, data integrity and authentication in systems with MCUs or MPUs running encryption/decryption algorithms like AES in software.

4. Power of the Platform

The popularity of 8-bit AVR microcontrollers is a testament to the power of the platform; once you learn to work on one MCU, you can work on any of the AVR family microcontrollers. And same goes for Atmel’s Smart family of microcontrollers aimed for the IoT market. While ARM shows a similarity among its processors, Atmel exhibits the same trait in the use of its peripherals.

Low-power SAM L21 builds on features of SAM D MCUs.

A design engineer can conveniently work on Cortex-M3 and Cortex -M0+ processor after having learned the instruction set for Cortex-M4. Likewise, Atmel’s set of peripherals for low-power IoT applications complements the ARM core benefits. Atmel’s standard features like sleep modes, sleepwalking and event system are optimized for ultra-low-power use, and they can extend IoT battery lifetime from years to decades.

Atmel, a semiconductor outfit once focused on memory and standard products, began its transformation toward becoming an MCU company about eight years ago. That’s when it also started to build a broad portfolio of wireless connectivity solutions. In retrospect, those were all the right moves. Fast forward to 2015, Atmel seems ready to ride on the market wave created by the IoT technology juggernaut.

Interested? You may also want to read:

Atmel’s L21 MCU for IoT Tops Low Power Benchmark

Atmel’s New Car MCU Tips Imminent SoC Journey

Atmel’s Sensor Hub Ready to Wear

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Majeed Ahmad is 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.