IoT sensor-node board targets cloud applications

8th March 2017

Avnet Silica

Mick Elliott

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A new sensor node board that delivers the low power operation and connectivity required for Internet of Things (IoT), smart sensing and cloud applications has been developed by Avnet Silica. The distributor has combined processing, sensing and connectivity from STMicroelectronics with the ARM mbed IoT Device Platform, which provides a complete solution including an advanced OS to run hardware, device management in the cloud and advanced security.

Powered by ST’s ultra-low-power STM32L4 ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller, which features 1MBit of Flash memory and 128-KBytes of SRAM along with safety and security features, the new ‘Sensor Node’ board enables customers to quickly develop smart-sensor applications that can make use of several connectivity options.

Choices include Bluetooth low energy connectivity, which enables an easy connection with smartphones, and sub-GHz 6LoWPAN connectivity for long-range communications.

Key hardware on the new board includes the highly integrated ‘ST SensorTile’ module, which measures only 13 x 13mm.

The module integrates the STM32L4 MCU, plus ST’s very-low-power BlueNRG-MS Bluetooth low energy (BLE) single-mode network processor, together with a wide selection of ST’s environment-sensing devices including accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer and microphone. The sensor-node board also offers some additional on-board sensors from ST that provide support for humidity, temperature, proximity and ambient light.

The board also offers additional connectivity including sub-GHz connection through the ST SPSGRF-888 Spirit sub-GHz low-power programmable RF-transceiver module and the TESEO-LIV3, a GNSS receiver module, which supports the major global navigation satellite systems for location services including GPS/Galileo/Glonass/BeiDou/QZSS. It also offers a NFC/RFID dynamic tag that offers easy pairing and configuration via any NFC smartphone.

Additional features of the mbed compatible board include the ST Qi 1.0 wireless battery charger and an embedded ST-LINK interface for programming and debugging.

In addition to the integration of ARM mbed OS 5, the board also supports STM32Cube middleware and is further supported by software demos and libraries provided for both mbed OS and STM32Cube.

In collaboration with ARM mbed, Avnet Silica will be holding customer hands-on workshops across Europe, based on the new Sensor Node Board, beginning in May 2017.