Wearable-ready SoC combines sound and vision for IoT

30th November 2018

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

Opportunities to create smarter IoT devices have been given a boost by RS Components’ introduction of the Sony SPRESENSE, featuring Arm Cortex-M4F performance and extensive sensing, audio, and imaging capabilities. The low-power SPRESENSE platform, comprising a 50.0mm x 20.6mm main board and 68.6mm x 53.3mm extension board, combines the Sony CXD5602 system-on-chip (SoC) for wearable electronics, and the CXD5247 power-management and audio IC.

Expansion headers allow users to further extend the rich native features by adding Arduino shields or any of a selection of specially developed add-on boards.

These include the SPRESENSE-BLE-EVK-701 Bluetooth Low Energy board and the SPRESENSE-SENSOR-EVK-701 containing a MEMS accelerometer, barometer, and magnetometer.

SPRESENSE is compatible with the Arduino development environment (IDE), and comes with a set of extended APIs that give developers the additional option to use the advanced NuttX based software development kit (SDK).

The CXD5602 SoC on the main board contains six 156MHz ARM Cortex-M4F cores, ensuring generous compute performance and low latency.

Peripherals include an 8-bit parallel camera interface, a multi-constellation GNSS receiver, and a sensor-fusion block to simplify movement or context sensing using a combination of external MEMS accelerometer, eCompass, gyroscope, or pressure sensor.

The SoC adds a class-D Bridge-Tied Load (BTL) audio amplifier, 8-channel digital microphone and 4-channel analogue microphone inputs, as well as DC/DC converters and a low-dropout (LDO) regulator to provide the system power rails.

Battery-charging and fuel-gauge peripherals further simplify the design of self-powered, connected, smart objects.

The extension board handles interfacing and user access to signals, featuring level-shifting circuitry, headphone and microphone-input headers, and an SD Card slot.

Together, the high-performing audio, video, sensing, and positioning capabilities of SPRESENSE, made accessible by this two-board platform, enable users to create even more advanced IoT devices and smart objects.

With its multicore compute engine and built-in GPS, SPRESENSE is ideal for next-generation drones. Support for high-resolution audio recording and playback, and the full digital amplifier, create a perfect platform for new and more powerful smart speakers.

On the other hand, the built-in camera interface can support numerous opportunities for smart cameras and networked-vision applications such as security surveillance or remote time-lapse cameras.

The Sony SPRESENSE platform is available to order from RS in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions.