IoT

Jointly developed with Digi International, an LTE-M expansion kit from Silicon Labs accelerates low power cellular IoT applications for smart energy, smart cities, asset tracking or agricultural applications.

The LTE-M expansion kit features the Digi XBee3 pre-certified cellular modem and works with Silicon Labs’ EFM32 Giant Gecko 11 starter kit to simplify and accelerate the development of gateways and end devices that operate in deep-sleep mode and require extended battery life.

“Digi XBee3 cellular modems and Silicon Labs Gecko MCUs are an ideal pairing to deliver seamless cloud connectivity with ultra-low power capabilities,” said Mark Tekippe, director of Product Management, Digi International. “The pre-certified Digi XBee3 cellular modem is easy to configure and provides secure, flexible out-of-box connectivity over LTE-M and NB-IoT networks.”

“LTE-M is a great option for LPWAN applications that require a combination of long battery life, LTE reliability and low latency. LTE-M is compatible with existing LTE networks and in the future will coexist with 5G technologies,” added Mike Krell, head of IoT strategy, J. Brehm & Associates. “Vendors offering easy-to-use development tools to accelerate LTE-M solutions will be well-positioned for growth in the cellular IoT market.”

Development tools in the LTE-M expansion kit include the Digi Remote Manager, Silicon Labs’ Energy Profiler and pre-programmed demos. Digi XBee3 modems certified on AT&T and Verizon cellular networks, combined with energy-friendly EFM32 microcontrollers, provide developers with a mobile IoT development toolkit, says the company.

The kit also includes Digi XBee API frames, MicroPython and XCTU software tools, Digi TrustFence integrated device security, identity and data privacy and Digi Remote Manager for over-the-air device configuration and firmware updates.

Digi International provides business and mission-critical Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and services. Silicon Labs provides silicon and software for the IoT, internet infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets.

http://www.siliconlabs.com

Five 1.8V temperature sensors released by Microchip include what the company claims is the industry’s smallest five-channel temperature sensor with standard lead spacing.

The EMC181x temperature sensor family also introduces system temperature rate-of-change reporting, a feature that provides advanced warning on how the temperature of a system is fluctuating.

The temperature sensors enable designers to reduce power consumption and lower system voltage in applications such as the internet of things (IoT) and personal computing devices in which temperature measurement is central to functionality.

The ability to monitor temperature at multiple locations with a single, integrated temperature sensor reduces board complexity and simplifies design. The EMC181x temperature sensor family offers a variety of remote channels at 1.8V operation to fit different design needs, ranging from two to five channels. The family is suitable for applications migrating from 3.3V systems to lower voltage rails, such as battery-operated IoT applications, personal computing devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). The EMC181x family is register- and voltage-compatible with Microchip’s popular 3.3V EMC14xx temperature sensors for migration to 1.8V. The three-channel sensor is available in an eight-pin 2.0 x 2.0mm footprint and the five-channel in a 10-pin 2.0 x 2.5mm footprint. The sensors can also reduce the number of devices needed for remote temperature monitoring.

The sensors can measure the system temperature rate-of-change, making the EMC181x devices the industry’s first to offer two-dimensional temperature sensing. As well as reporting on the regular temperature, 2D sensing notifies user of the rate of temperature change in a system and shares data that can help to better regulate applications.

The sensors are suitable for closed control loop systems and other applications that prioritise lower voltage rails. The system provides an early notification of rising or falling temperatures, protecting against potential system failure.

The ADM00773 evaluation board provides everything needed to demonstrate the 1.8V three-channel two-wire EMC1833 temperature sensor. The EMC181xx sensors evaluate programmable features such as rate-of-change, temperature alert limits and resistance error correction (REC), in addition to providing off-board temperature measurements and data logging. The evaluation board connects to a PC through a USB interface board and is supplied with the Microchip Thermal Management Software graphical user interface (GUI).

The five devices in the EMC181x family are all available today for sampling and volume production.

http://www.microchip.com

Hardware and software make up the Renesas Synergy AE-Cloud2 kit, which allows embedded developers to quickly evaluate cellular connectivity options and build low power wide area (LPWA) cellular internet of things (IoT) applications.

According to Renesas, the AE-Cloud2 kit, used with the new Synergy Software Package (SSP) version 1.5.0 simplifies connecting IoT sensor devices to enterprise cloud services using 4G/LTE Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1, also called NB-IoT, with backwards compatability to 2G/EGPRS cellular networks. The kit’s functionality is claimed to accelerate prototyping cellular-enabled IoT devices for asset tracking, retail and agriculture monitoring, smart cities/utilities, mobile healthcare, and industrial automation.

Each AE-Cloud2 hardware kit includes a Synergy S5D9 microcontroller baseboard, tri-mode cellular modem with cellular and GPS antennae, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and a variety of sensors such as lighting, microphone, temperature, humidity, pressure, air quality, geomagnetic, accelerometer, and gyroscope.

For cellular access, developers insert a SIM card with a data plan purchased from a local cellular carrier. The hardware kit’s software allows developers to provision the kit to connect to a 4G/LTE IoT cellular network and their preferred cloud service provider. Users can visualise their sensor data on a customisable, password-protected dashboard.

The AE-Cloud2 hardware kit has passed global RF emissions tests for EMC performance. The kit also complies with global regulatory certifications for FCC, CE, RoHs, WEEE and Japan MIC. The optimised hardware/software saves developers months of design time and resources, says Renesas, as it allows them to create a scalable, energy efficient and secure end-to-end LPWA cellular IoT application that can be used anywhere in the world.

Renesas is demonstrating the AE-Cloud2 kit at Arm TechCon (17 and 18 October, 2018, San Jose Convention Center, booth 727).

The AE-Cloud2 kit is available now from Renesas Electronics’ distributors around the world. The SSP version 1.5.0 can be downloaded, free of charge,  from the company website.

http://renesassynergy.com/ae-cloud2