BeagleConnect and BeaglePlay development boards from Farnell
Farnell, has announced global, in-stock availability of two new BeagleBoard.org® development boards — the BeagleConnect™ Freedom and BeaglePlay®.
BeaglePlay is an open-source SBC designed to simplify the process of adding sensors, actuators, indicators, human interfaces, and connectivity to a reliable embedded system.
The interfaces and processing power of BeaglePlay development board make it ideal for supporting a variety of systems. It has built-in wired and wireless connectivity, including innovative single-pair Ethernet and Sub-GHz wireless options, enabling it to connect to a vast selection of sensor and prototyping systems with thousands of options. It is an excellent choice for early adopters who want a simplified Linux experience they can expand without needing to learn to read schematics.
BeaglePlay can be used in various applications, including retail and POS automation, vision analytics, medical equipment, smart buildings and Edge AI, and many more.
Key features include:
A powerful 64-bit, quad-core processor
- HDMI Type-A supporting up to Full-HD/1080P with 24-bit RGB.
- Innovative connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, sub-GHz wireless, and single-pair Ethernet with power-over-data-line.
- Compatibility with thousands of off-the-shelf add-ons and a customised Debian Linux image.
- Simple expansion and customisation with ribbon-cable connections included for cameras and touch-screen displays, and a socket for a battery-backed real-time-clock.
- Ideal for human-machine (HMI) interface designs.
- A competitive price and user-friendly design provide a positive development experience for users.
- BeaglePlay is also a useful development platform for creating Zephyr-based applications for BeagleConnect Freedom.
The BeagleConnect Freedom development board is an open-hardware wireless platform developed by BeagleBoard.org built around the TI CC1352P7 microcontroller, which supports both 2.4-GHz and long-range, low-power Sub-1 GHz wireless protocols.
BeagleConnect Freedom includes:
- Rapid prototyping of IoT applications, accelerated by hardware compatibility with over 1000 mikroBUS™ add-on sensors, actuators, indicators and includes additional connectivity and storage options.
- Backed with software support utilising the Zephyr scalable and modular real-time operating system, allowing developers to tailor the solution to their specific needs.
- Includes MSP430F5503 for USB-to-UART functionality, temperature and humidity sensor, light sensor, SPI flash, battery charger, buzzer, LEDs, and JTAG connections to make it a comprehensive solution for IoT development and prototyping.
- The TI CC1352P7 microcontroller (MCU) includes a 48-MHz Arm Cortex-M4F processor, 704KB Flash memory, 256KB ROM, 8KB Cache SRAM, 144KB of ultra-low leakage SRAM, and over-the-air upgrades (OTA) capability. This MCU provides flexible support for many different protocols and bands making it suitable for many different communication requirements.
- Rapid prototyping without wiring, utlising the mikroBUS standard which offers the flexibility to connect to almost any typical sensor or indicator with hundreds of devices available.
- Full customisation is possible.
BeagleConnect Freedom streamlines the rapid prototyping process by eliminating the need for users to develop microcontroller code or utilize userspace drivers. With BeaglePlay-hosted kernel drivers and collaborative support code, there’s no need to cut and paste sensor interface examples. The Linux kernel has the necessary intelligence to interact with various external devices, so users don’t need to rely on extensive microcontroller code libraries. Users can integrate a large number of devices without writing any code, and even the automation code required can be simple. People can spend less time writing complicated code and more time testing their ideas.
Maintenance of BeagleConnect development board is simplified because the software code base is not tailored to any specific network-of-devices configuration. This implies that any improvements made to the code base can benefit all users. Moreover, the BeagleConnect firmware source code is submitted upstream to the Zephyr Project, increasing the user base and providing a better chance of detecting and resolving issues or bugs.
Romain Soreau, Head of Single Board Computing at Farnell, said, “These development boards are designed to be affordable and accessible, allowing hobbyists, educators, and professionals to experiment with and develop a wide range of electronics projects, from simple sensors and LED displays to complex robotics and IoT systems.”
Christine Long, BeagleBoard.org Executive Director, said, “These competitively priced introductions herald a new era in productivity for early adopters as well as experienced developers, both of whom will benefit from the speed and flexibility of BeagleConnect Freedom and BeaglePlay development boards without having to write line-after-line of code.”
https://uk.farnell.com/b/beagleboard
Related articles
Development board enables choice of MCU and peripherals
First mini PCIexpress board with spiking neural network chip
MCU development board connects to 5G LTE-M IoT networks
Industrial Micro-ATX motherboard targets AI image processing
Flex Logix announces production availability of AI inference boards
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
