ENGINEERS and electronics designers can now connect sensors to the cloud in less than three minutes thanks to TI's new SimpleLink SensorTag.
The next-generation development kit enables easy and quick integration of sensor data with wireless cloud connectivity, jump-starting IoT development thanks to its features that include:
- Multiple wireless connectivity options including Bluetooth low energy, 6LoWPAN and ZigBee, based on the SimpleLink ultra-low power CC2650 wireless microcontroller (MCU)
- 10 integrated low-power sensors with the industry’s lowest power consumption for multi-year battery life
- New DevPack plug-in modules that extend the kits’ functionality and programmability
- Out of the box capabilities with a free iOS or Android app, no programming experience is required to get started
- Connect to the cloud in less than three minutes through TI’s IoT cloud ecosystem including IBM’s Bluemix IoT Foundation
- Available TI Design reference designs, including 3D print files of the SensorTag enclosures, that allow reuse of the SensorTags as a starting point for your own designs
On top of cloud connectivity, the new SensorTag ecosystem makes development even easier than before. The SensorTag kits come with ready-to-use protocol stacks, free Code Composer Studio integrated development environment (IDE) license, online training and 24/7 online TI E2E community support.
TI’s cloud-based software development tools provide instant access to examples, documentation, software and even an integrated development environment (IDE) all from the convenience of the web.
There will be two different development kit versions.
The first is a multi-standard version based on the SimpleLink ultra-low power CC2650 wireless MCU, which supports development for Bluetooth Smart, 6LoWPAN and ZigBee.
Developers to change between different 2.4 GHz technologies by simply loading new software images directly from the SensorTag app over-the-air. When the SensorTag is used as a ZigBee and 6LoWPAN device, it connects to the cloud through a low-cost BeagleBone Black gateway. For Bluetooth Smart development, it connects to the cloud via a smartphone.
The second is the Wi-Fi SensorTag, which will allow users to demo the SimpleLink CC3200 wireless MCU.
Both SensorTags come with 10 integrated low-power sensors including the TI OPT3001 precision ambient light sensor, TI HDC1000 integrated humidity and temperature sensor and TI TMP007 contactless IR thermopile sensor. Additional sensors include a 9-axis motion sensor (gyroscope, compass and accelerometer), altimeter/ pressure sensor, digital microphone and magnet sensor.