Nuvoton launches comprehensive IoT solutions: The NuMaker series development platforms on ARM mbed OS 5.1
To address a range of internet of Things (IoT) developer demands, Nuvoton debuts its comprehensive set of IoT solutions - the NuMaker series of development platforms.
The ARM® Cortex®-M processer family-based platforms feature communication gateways, routers and sensors. The platforms can either be used as stand-alone devices or freely combined with other platforms for faster IoT solution creation and deployment. The NuMaker series of development platforms includes the following models:
In its product launch today, Nuvoton demonstrates the IoT smart city application scenario’ in three parts, to educate developers about the NuMaker development platforms' diversified applications in IoT:
NuMaker development platform
Nuvoton uses its rich experience in microcontrollers to continuously develop accessible and innovative development platforms specially targeted at the maker market, with a particular focus on the booming maker community, diversified age and coding capability of makers. The new platforms address a range of IoT developer needs:
The NuMaker-PFM-M453 master control platform provides the following features: security, communication and device management modules, low power Bluetooth support, thread, Wi-Fi, 802.15.4/6LoWPAN, TLS/DTLS, CoAP, HTTP, MQTT and lightweight M2M. Embedded with 32KB SRAM and 256KB Flash, it is ideal for IoT equipment operation. Developers may employ NuMaker-PFM-M453 as a collection point or sensor node to securely connect to the device lifecycle services within the ARM mbed Device Connector for equipment connection and management. This allows tiny amounts of data to be collected locally to the cloud for valuable information generation and big data analysis.
NuMaker-PFM-M453 features an embedded ARM Cortex®-M4 core. The main board uses a general purpose interface and is Arduino UNO compatible. Users may develop their own application by working with any Arduino modules. In addition to the extension interface, the main board embeds scores of peripherals including a buzzer, RGB LED, keypad, microphone, headset input/output, USB OTG, triaxial accelerometer and gyro sensor group.
ARM mbed OS 5.1 is a result of strong collaboration between mbed partners, including Nuvoton. The NUC472 is enabled by this latest release for developers wanting to design it into production ready IoT devices. Nuvoton is presenting its ARM mbed OS 5.1-based NuMaker-PFM-NUC472 platform, which is designed to tackle even more complex computing requirements and cloud network protocols. In addition to the features of NuMaker-PFM-M453, it also includes a 1MB SRAM and embedded Ethernet networking port for complex cloud network protocol support. The user-friendly input interface provided by Nuvoton enables fast verification, learning, and application development for easy IoT application creation.
NuMaker Tomato is a single board computer (SBC) with a simple layout. It adopts a developer-friendly open-source environment and runs on the Linux operating system. It is embedded with a NUC976DK62Y 32-bit ARM926EJ-S™ processor core which runs up to 300 MHz. The Tomato includes the NAU8822 Audio Codec, making it especially suitable for audio processing. It also comes with a built-in 64MB DDR2 RAM, and offers a comprehensive and rich selection of interfaces including the 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port, Micro SD port, microphone input and 3.5mm headphone jacks. The Tomato also supports two sets of USB 2.0 high-speed host devices and Arduino compatible pins. The NuMaker Tomato is the perfect solution for makers to create various types of customized IoT applications.
The NuMaker Brick is a highly extendable open-source IoT platform including a combination of sensors and modules which can work independently or be arranged in any order. The nine cell grid structure of the NuMaker Brick platform integrates IoT sensors including gyroscope, LED, buzzer, sonar, temperature, humidity, IR transceiver, gas, buttons, and master control module. Nuvoton has reduced complexity in the new module development by providing a communication protocol with advanced technology. A maker may select required modules for their desired combination and come up with a design prototype by executing remote monitoring, dynamic system parameter tuning, and module trigger association setup in less time. Makers have been using NuMaker Brick for scores of system designs including firefighting navigation, sleep quality management, aquaponics, air pollution detection, and forest monitoring.
NuMaker Uni is an IoT development platform with small dimensions of 3.5cm x 3.5cm, making it particularly suitable for wearable devices. It integrates the 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi module and Bluetooth module, as well as four instantly operable modules including the accelerometer, temperature-humidity sensor, IR transceiver and RGB LED light. The NuMaker Uni leaves 20 multifunctional pins unprogrammed to allow more flexibility in design. In low power mode, it consumes less than 1µ of electricity.
The Cascoda 802.15.4 module comes with 802.15.4 MESH networking. This enables developers to design applications with 6LoWPAN standard, and supports wireless data transmission via a network communication protocol by small devices with low power consumption. The ultra-low power consumption of Cascoda 802.15.4 makes it the perfect fit for sensor terminal nodes in IoT applications. By being able to directly communicate with cloud, developers can easily deploy large scale sensor network for big data collection and analysis.