Software development update enables faster and easier tools

As the industry’s most comprehensive software tool set for IoT connected device applications, Simplicity Studio is the only embedded development environment that broadly supports 8- and 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), multiprotocol and multiband wireless SoCs, and fixed-function devices.

Simplicity Studio simplifies the IoT development process with one-click access to everything developers need to complete their projects using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based on Eclipse 4.5. Simplicity Studio includes a powerful suite of tools for energy profiling, configuration and wireless network analysis, as well as demos, software examples, complete documentation, technical support and community forums. These integrated tools and features combine to make embedded development simple and productive for IoT developers of all skill levels. Simplicity Studio provides built-in intelligence to automatically detect the connected 8-bit or 32-bit MCU or wireless SoC, graphically configure the device, and show supported configuration options to help developers get their projects underway in minutes.

“I’m happy to see that Simplicity Studio is a cross-platform development environment that’s super-easy to download, install and launch,” said Andrew Tergis, an Electrical Engineer at littleBits, a New York-based hardware startup that empowers everyone - of any gender, age or technical background - to create inventions with its platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks. “The Simplicity wizards made it easy to license the Keil compiler without much fuss. It’s a brilliant idea to have Simplicity Studio auto-detect the connected development board, and it was easy to find source code and have the project already configured for my hardware.”

The latest Simplicity Studio update is based on in-depth market research, developer workshops and stakeholder interviews with designers who create IoT products. The primary goal of the update was to make Simplicity Studio more flexible, efficient and easier to use. The underlying software infrastructure of Simplicity Studio now provides custom-tailored installation options, enabling developers to download specific tools for the Silicon Labs product portfolio they are using. This flexibility helps to streamline the download process without the overhead of the full Simplicity Studio suite installation.

Silicon Labs has enhanced Simplicity Studio to provide more intuitive content and document navigation. Developers can now engage Simplicity Studio from a device or solution perspective. A developer can click on a pre-defined solution, such as a wearable device, and Simplicity Studio will automatically set its context to the key components comprising the solution, such as an EFM32 MCU, a Bluetooth module and an optical sensor. By eliminating the inefficiencies of context switching and jumping from tool to tool, Simplicity Studio eases the development effort and preserves the designer’s investment in learning a comprehensive tool suite.

“With this new release of Simplicity Studio, we’ve completely reimagined the developer experience,” said Raman Sharma, Director of Simplicity Studio software at Silicon Labs. “Our latest version of Simplicity Studio tackles complex development challenges and gives IoT developers more capabilities and easier access to Silicon Labs’ full range of IoT products. Offering a rare combination of simplicity and sophistication, Simplicity Studio enables developers to create IoT applications that extend from end nodes to the cloud.”

The latest version of Simplicity Studio now supports the following Silicon Labs IoT products:

Multiprotocol and multiband Wireless Gecko SoCs, Bluetooth modules, EFM32 Gecko MCU family, EFM8 MCU family and other 8-bit MCUs, Xpress fixed-function devices, EZR32 sub-GHz wireless MCUs and EM35xx mesh networking SoCs.

Simplicity Studio Tool Highlights:

• Energy Profiler to analyse power consumption and optimise for energy efficiency.
• Configurator to quickly configure MCUs and wireless MCUs and generate C-code for pinout, peripherals and mode transitions.
• AppBuilder to build IoT applications with ready-to-go templates.
• Network Analyser with powerful wireless network analysis features and packet trace analyser for real-time inspection of network traffic.
• Capacitive Sense Profiler enabling developers to fine-tune cap-touch applications.
• Xpress Configurator to simplify configuration of Xpress fixed-function devices.

Simplicity Studio Version 4 is available now to developers at no charge and can be downloaded quickly, visit here.