ARM mbed evaluation platform for IoT applications

Atmel has unveiled its first system-on-chip (SoC) hardware evaluation solution based on the ARM mbed Internet of Things (IoT) platform. Powered by the Atmel SMART SAMR21 SoC, the new solution runs on the mbed IoT Device Platform - a platform that provides the operating system, cloud services, tools and developer ecosystem that makes the deployment of commercial, standards-based IoT solutions possible at any scale. The Atmel SMART SAMR21 is seen as an ideal solution for the rapidly growing Internet of Things market. Atmel is a leading supplier of IoT solutions, and the company's SmartConnect wireless solutions are the perfect companion for the mbed networking software to power next-generation smart, connected devices. The hardware evaluation platform powered by Atmel's SAMR21 wireless solution will be showcased at ARM TechCon in the mbed Zone, booth #512, pedestal 1, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Nov. 10-12, 2015. Atmel will also expand mbed OS support to the Atmel SmartConnect SAMW25 Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth low-energy platform by the end of the year, says the company. "High-quality, well integrated software is key to our customers' success for developing complex IoT designs requiring several layers of standards-based protocols to deliver secure communications," said Steve Pancoast, vice president of software development, applications and tools, Atmel. "By delivering a robust hardware platform based on our Atmel | SMART MCUs and SmartConnect wireless solutions combined with the ARM mbed OS, customers have all the necessary requirements to quickly bring their IoT projects to market. Our mission is to deliver a complete software, hardware and tools ecosystem so our customers can build compelling next-generation products for the rapidly expanding IoT market." Launched in 2014, the mbed IoT Device Platform combines client and server software, consisting of a lightweight OS for client devices (mbed OS), and the matching cloud server software to interact with it (mbed Device Server). Both the mbed OS and mbed Device Server are intended to be building blocks for finished products so developers can take the mbed components and build the application logic on top of a solid software foundation provided by ARM. Zach Shelby, vice president of marketing, IoT business, ARM, added: "IoT developers operate at pace and they need a breadth of easily-available hardware and software technologies that work in harmony so they can bring products to market as quickly and easily as possible. Atmel solutions range from embedded processing to security and include highly-integrated wireless technology solutions for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4. By utilizing mbed IoT Device Platform technologies Atmel is well positioned to deliver easy-to-use hardware evaluation platforms that include processing, security and communication protocols for next-generation systems." The Atmel SMART SAMR21 low-power MCUs are based on the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ processor integrating an ultra-low-power 2.4GHz ISM band transceiver. The devices are available in 32- and 48-pin packages with up to 256KB Flash, 32KB of SRAM, and operate at a maximum frequency of 48MHz, reaching 2.14 Coremark/MHz. Atmel SAMR21 devices include intelligent and flexible peripherals, Atmel Event System for inter-peripheral signalling, and support for capacitive touch button, slider and wheel user interfaces.