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From mind to market: hardware platforms for creative IoT application development

From mind to market: hardware platforms for creative IoT application development

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By Julien Happich



In either case, the traditional embedded development flow that involves bringing up basic hardware to host the application can present a barrier to success. A lack of hardware-design skills, or the finance or manufacturing resources to build a prototype, can prevent great applications from ever advancing beyond the concept stage.
Component suppliers and some innovative distributors have identified the potential to unleash application-design talent from across the spectrum, by making available flexible hardware platforms with all the functionality developers need to quickly start developing a prototype application. A suitable board needs to provide a superset of features relevant to the types of applications that will be developed. Prototyping IoT applications, for example, will probably require at least a low-power microcontroller, connectivity such as Ethernet, USB, or wireless support like Bluetooth® Smart or Wi-Fi, and various sensors such as temperature, motion, pressure, or ambient light.

 

Beware following the crowd
A large variety of community computing boards are already in the market, and some have become popular prototyping platforms among makers and professional developers. Some, like the Raspberry Pi, are not originally conceived as development platforms, and have become popular almost by default. One of the main drawbacks of these types of boards is that key parts such as the host processor are not ideally suited to some applications – such as power-constrained IoT devices – and may not be easily purchased on the open market. This can restrict opportunities to customise the hardware after the application has been proved and the investment is available to take the product to market.

The 96Boards initiative is an example of a concept created to overcome such limitations and deliver all the flexibility developers need to realise their new product ideas in any way they want. There are three 96Boards specifications, each aimed at key embedded market sectors. The boards are based on ARM® Cortex®-A Microprocessors and CortexRx/Mx Microcontrollers, which can be ordered directly from the manufacturer or a distributor. Moreover, developers can leverage their familiarity with this industry-standard 32-bit and 64-bit cores, as well as existing, proven code. In addition, standard form factors are specified, which simplifies designing them into the end product, if required.


There are currently three 96Boards specifications:

The CE platform is a low-cost platform suitable for running standard Linux-based operating systems such as Android or open-source/maker community software. The specification defines a compact card-type form factor measuring 85x54x12mm, and sets out minimum hardware requirements including at least 0.5GB RAM, a MicroSDHC Socket for up to 64GB Flash storage, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Bluetooth Smart), USB Host and Device support, as well as common PC media interfaces like HDMI, and 40-way and 60-way headers for developer use. Any 32-bit or 64-bit Cortex-A SoC may be used.

96Boards members can certify their board designs in accordance with this specification. The boards can then be made available to developers, off the shelf and ready to use as an embedded platform. Arrow, as a 96Boards member, pioneered the creation of one of the first and currently most successful CE boards; the Dragonboard 410c. Featuring the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 64-bit ARMv8-architecture processor popular with smartphone makers, and available for just $75, it enables affordable design starts leveraging advanced mobile technologies.

Qualcomm, Linaro and Arrow’s jointly developed DragonBoard 410c.

Over the last year, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Linaro, and Arrow have built strong software and ecosystem support around the DragonBoard 410c. There is a broad choice of operating systems, including Android, Debian Linux, OpenEmbedded, Ubuntu Core and Windows 10 IoT, which work well with popular IoT development kits such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), AT&T M2X, Brillo, IBM Bluemix Watson and Microsoft Azure.


Carbon BLE: the world’s first certified 96Boards
IoT Edition compatible board.

Recently, the 96Boards team has made the Carbon BLE, the world’s first certified 96Boards IoT Edition compatible board, available through its distribution network. Because the IE specification allows 32- or 64-bit SoCs in Cortex R/M or Cortex-A profiles, Carbon BLE takes advantage of this flexibility to target the STMicroelectronics STM32F401RE 84MHz Cortex-M4 microcontroller.

It is also pre-loaded with the new lightweight Zephyr RTOS from the Linux Foundation, and so delivers a blend of high performance and high energy efficiency to extend the lifetime of sophisticated IoT applications. Wireless connectivity is via the Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 Bluetooth LE SoC and chip antenna, and developers can add sensors or other functionality as required via the low-speed 30-way expansion header. The board uses the compact IE “Standard Micro” 60x30x9mm form-factor.

 

Broadening the choice
In addition to supporting the 96Boards specifications, Arrow is taking advantage of its links with leading semiconductor and IP vendors to provide even more flexible routes to market for IoT designs. By teaming with Italian IoT-focused embedded experts RELOC and Renesas, Arrow has driven development of the ARIS (Arrow Renesas IoT Synergy™) board. This highly integrated platform combines the power of the Renesas S7 240MHz Cortex-M4 processor with built-in MEMS accelerometer and gyroscope, as well as temperature and humidity sensors, making this board ideal for a variety of logging or context-sensing applications. Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, and NFC (Near-Field Communication) wireless connectivity are all supported. Built-in support for NFC enables applications such as industrial sensors to push data to the Cloud via an NFC reader or NFC-enabled smartphone.

The extensive software support provided gives developers a powerful advantage when working on ARIS. RELOC has developed a complete set of drivers and middleware for managing the peripheral devices, creating an out-of-the-box IoT development environment. The Renesas Synergy development platform provides powerful resources to help complete the software development, including Board Support Package (BSP) and code examples.


Sharper security focus
Another IoT platform initiative driven by Arrow, the SmartEverything Board, combines hardware-based security with extensive sensor integration and low-power ARM Cortex-M0+ processing. Securing smart connected devices against physical or online attacks is the number one concern of many IoT developers today. SmartEverything contains an Atmel ATSHA204 CryptoAuthentication™ device that provides much

The secure SmartEverything board.

of the functionality of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) in a device suitable for embedded applications. It implements a full SHA-256 secure hash algorithm and support for message authentication, and can be used for validating software, firmware or hardware authenticity, assisting secure boot, checking passwords, exchanging session keys, and providing secure data storage.

Sensors on the board include motion, temperature, pressure and ambient-light sensors, as well as a proximity sensor that uses time-of-flight ranging to deliver enhanced accuracy over conventional proximity sensors. Local wireless connectivity includes Bluetooth Low Energy and NFC. To provide a low-power wireless connection to the Cloud, the board supports ultra-narrowband technology allowing license-free long-range communication via the global SIGFOX network. The SIGFOX modem on-board also contains a GPS receiver and a built-in antenna.

 

Conclusion
Amid huge interest in the IoT, developers ranging from makers to professional embedded-design teams are looking for suitable prototyping platforms that can help accelerate their projects and overcome key challenges such as power consumption, security, sensor integration, and wireless connectivity. Many boards are being positioned as candidates, and software-biased engineers can be tempted to choose the most popular or well-known. Time spent considering some basic hardware selection criteria, such as sensor integration, cryptographic support, and processor/microcontroller availability and supporting software-development ecosystem can help identify the best target for a fast and uncomplicated route from idea to marketable product.

 

About the author:

Amir Sherman is Technology Marketing Director Embedded at Arrow Electronics – www.arrow.com

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