Sensor development kits target environmental, biometric and IoT applications
The SLSTK3201A environmental sensing development kit from Silicon Labs streamlines the process of developing IoT products that sense relative humidity (RH), temperature, ultraviolet (UV) light, ambient light, proximity and human gestures. The development kit combines an EFM32 Zero Gecko microcontroller (MCU) starter kit with a sensor expansion board. The kit also features a gesture-controlled weather station application that tracks RH, temperature and UV index.
Complete source code is available from the company’s Simplicity Studio development platform, reducing application development time. Target applications for the kits include home security systems, smart thermostats, smoke detectors, weather stations, smart watches, fitness bands, heart-rate earphones and other wearable products.
The biometric sensing development platform simplifies measurement of heart rate and blood oxygen level, as well as UV index, relative humidity and temperature. The platform includes the BIOMETRIC-EXP-EVB expansion card with the Si114x optical sensors and Si701x/2x humidity and temperature sensors. The sensor card plugs directly into the company’s EFM32 Wonder Gecko MCU starter kit. An optional wearable-form-factor HRM-GGG-PS board is also available that supports wrist-based heart rate monitoring and connects to the biometric sensor card through an I2C mini-flex cable.
The biometric demonstration firmware for the EFM32 Wonder Gecko starter kit is available at no charge at www.silabs.com/biometric-exp-evb. The library module includes a heart rate algorithm with source configuration files, eliminating the need to develop biometric sensor drivers from scratch.
The environmental and biometric sensing kits operate on coin-cell batteries, making them ideal for battery-powered IoT and wearable applications. Each sensor expansion card features the company’s TS3310 boost dc/dc converter to help minimise energy consumption.
The Si701x/2x relative humidity and temperature sensors combine a single-chip, mixed-signal IC with a proven technique for measuring humidity using a polymer dielectric film. The integrated CMOS design ensures long-term reliability and superior ease of use, reducing manufacturing cost and complexity. An optional, factory-installed filter cover provides added protection against sensor contamination throughout the device’s entire lifetime. The Si701x/2x sensors offer best-in-class low-power consumption and exceptional RH sensing precision.
The Si1132/4x optical sensors are single-chip digital UV index sensor ICs designed to track UV sun exposure, heart rate and blood oximetry for wearable and smartphone products. The devices also provide ambient light and infrared (IR) proximity sensing capabilities for health and fitness applications. Conventional UV sensors combine UV-sensitive photodiodes with an external MCU, ADC and signal processing firmware. Silicon Labs says it is the first to combine all of this functionality into a single-chip, low-power solution offered in a 2 x 2 mm package to help reduce the design’s footprint and bill of material (BOM) cost.
The SLSTK3201A environmental sensing kit containing the EFM32 Zero Gecko starter kit and sensor expansion board costs $109. The BIOMETRIC-EXP-EVB expansion card is $50, and the EFM32WG-STK3800 Wonder Gecko starter kit is $79. The optional HRM-GGG-PS wearable wrist-based heart rate monitor board is $50.
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