u‑blox has announced it has selected the
ARM mbed IoT Device Platform for customers creating host‑less Internet of Things (IoT) wireless applications. By adopting the open ARM mbed environment and the u‑blox ODIN‑W2 module, designers can rapidly develop and deploy wireless IoT applications with ease.
Initially aimed at u‑blox’s ODIN‑W2 multiradio module, the availability of the ARM mbed development environment, tools and libraries, allow embedded developers access to the wireless module’s ARM Cortex®-M4 based microcontroller. This means that an extremely broad range of sensor and actuator‑based IoT designs can be implemented on a single compact certified wireless module. Without the need for an external host, MCU designers can not only save significant bill of materials cost, development resources and specialist wireless design capabilities, but also keep the board footprint to an absolute minimum. In addition, the module’s open standard approach ensures ease of IoT connectivity, yet maintains type approval certification by restricting access to the communications stacks.
The ODIN‑W2 module is very compact, measuring just 14.8 x 22.3 mm, and is capable of multiple concurrent dual‑band Wi‑Fi and dual‑mode Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity. The module features the core Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi stacks, and the Wi‑Fi function can operate in either infrastructure (STA) or access point (AP) modes. Peripheral support for connecting sensors and other devices includes GPIO, an ADC and DAC together with SPI, I2C, UART and CAN. In addition to supporting multiple communication standards, the mbed development environment provides built‑in security features such as secure boot, hardware‑enforced secure domains and SSL/TLS capability.
During ARM TechCon, u‑blox will be demonstrating the ODIN‑W2 wireless module with mbed connected by GPIO to an Arduino board collecting various sensor data. The ARM mbed application running on ODIN‑W2 transfers this data via Wi‑Fi to the IBM Bluemix cloud‑based analysis platform. There the data is made available for real time viewing, as well as more advanced analysis with developed server applications.
