Bluetooth+Wi-Fi IoT gateway module provides easy-to-use and robust wireless connectivity

U-blox’s technology is powering a new smart factory solution from Industrial IoT leader HMS Industrial Networks. The Anybus Wireless Bolt uses the U-blox ODIN-W2 Bluetooth+Wi-Fi IoT gateway module to provide easy-to-use and robust wireless connectivity for industrial environments. The Bolt is a simple to install, rugged IP67 wireless module which connects industrial equipment to the cloud. It mounts onto existing industrial equipment, similar to a mechanical bolt and features an 18-pin internal connector compatible with industry standard protocols operating over serial, CAN, or Ethernet interfaces. Via its wireless connectivity (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi), it offers the possibility to manage machine configuration via a standard tablet or smartphone as well as to connect to a cloud service realizing Industrial IoT. The company’s stand-alone IoT gateway module ODIN-W2 turned out to be the ideal fit for the Bolt. It offers cost-efficient and compact multiradio gateway functionality supporting both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Thanks to the device’s Open CPU architecture and support for ARM mbed, HMS could flexibly integrate customer applications onto the module itself. This also allows for cost-effective and small form factor Industrial IoT solutions, with global wireless certification. “ODIN-W2 with ARM mbed offers us the performance and flexibility we need in order to develop customized applications. It is is furthermore a slim and cost-optimized module, and it was thus not an option to develop such a solution using discrete components,” says Martin Falkman, product manager at HMS Industrial Networks. "The Anybus Wireless Bolt from HMS Industrial Networks shows the ease of creating powerful Industrial IoT solutions using u-blox wireless modules," says Stefan Berggren, Product Strategy Short Range Radio at U-blox. "Our Open CPU architecture and support for ARM mbed and global wireless certifications makes it quick and easy to realize products for Industrial IoT."