(Source: Tierney / stock.adobe.com)
The Internet of Things (IoT) isn't just a buzzword; it's a revolution transforming how we interact with technology in our everyday lives. From smart thermostats to entire factories connected online, the IoT makes our world smarter and more interconnected than ever. This connectivity is made possible by advancements in microcontrollers and wireless communication protocols like Bluetooth®, enabling devices and services to be everywhere.
Though many think they're familiar with the concept of IoT, they often only conjure images of smartphones, smart TVs, and computers when thinking about it. However, this is changing rapidly, and because of global high-speed connectivity, it is easier than ever to design and sell IoT products that perform a local function. The scope of IoT extends far beyond these items, embedding itself into cars, public transport, and even city infrastructure, making everything from asset tracking to traffic monitoring available at our fingertips.
Wireless technology has paved the way for vast monitoring capabilities, from environmental hazards to public safety, making it nearly impossible to find a place where technology doesn't reach. This universal connectivity allows designers the high-level building blocks that enable them to conceive of, design, create, market, and sell globally connected devices that work anywhere in the world.
The design of IoT applications is a sophisticated effort, incorporating several key features that assure their flawless integration into our daily lives. These features not only enable the devices to blend seamlessly into the background of our daily activities but also ensure they can perform complex tasks with ease and precision. Let's look at the fundamental design features of the IoT.
The importance of wireless RF connectivity cannot be overstated, transforming what was once considered a complex technology into a standard feature within modern microcontrollers. This has allowed multiple wireless technologies to coexist within a single device, including Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth, GPS, and various fitness standards, facilitating ubiquitous communication with other devices and the internet.
Advances in sensor systems further enhance the role of sensors as the eyes and ears of IoT devices. High-speed and high-resolution analog to digital (A/D) converters now enable the sampling of a vast array of data types, from temperature to video, without requiring designers to develop these complex functionalities from scratch.
The leap in processing capabilities and data storage is underscored by the utilization of cloud-based services, which allow even the simplest connected devices to offload data processing and storage to powerful remote servers. This global connectivity enables IoT devices to perform tasks well beyond the local hardware's capabilities, leveraging secure and AI-based services without imposing complexity on the device itself. With the addition of high-speed, highly dense flash and RAM, today's single and multicore processors can perform much more complex functions.
The need for deep specialization in each technology area has decreased due to the merging of various functionalities into single chips and comprehensive development tools. Today, platforms like the ST SensorTile.box PRO help pioneer advancing standards and offer engineers a way to quickly prototype and develop complex IoT solutions without needing to be experts in every underlying technology.
Evaluation kits, reference notes, application notes, sample board layouts, sample source code, and a highly integrated design environment must all be in place to assist engineers, and STMicroelectronics has it all.
The ST SensorTile.box PRO (STEVAL-MKBOXPRO) is at the forefront of IoT development, offering a compact yet powerful platform for IoT innovation (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The STEVAL-MKBOXPRO is an all-in-one IoT development module that fits in the palm of your hand and contains RF, sensors, power management, data logging, AI, and more. (Source: STMicroelectronics)
This development kit is powered by the STM32U585A (Figure 2), a 160 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 microcontroller secured by Arm’s Trustzone® technology containing 2 Mbytes of flash and 768K bytes of RAM to house rather complex IoT designs. The Trusted Base System Architecture (TBSA) from Arm embeds secure boot, data storage, and firmware updates, and firmware isolation is supported using securable peripherals, memories, and I/O.
Figure 2: At the heart of the SensorTile.box Pro is the M33 Arm Cortex, surrounded by a multitude of analog and digital sensors and interfaces, including touch sense and camera interface. (Source: STMicroelectronics)
The SensorTile.box Pro stands out with its comprehensive suite of MEMS motion and environmental sensors, tailored for a broad spectrum of applications. This advanced kit features a six-axis accelerometer/gyroscope combo device featuring an embedded machine learning core and finite state machine. It also includes a three-axis low-power accelerometer and sensors for magnetic field measurement, pressure monitoring, temperature sensing, and sound detection (Figure 3). Coupled with onboard A/D converters, digital filters, and the option for additional enhancements via its expansion socket, the SensorTile.box PRO stands as a remarkably versatile programable box kit. It supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.2 for secure, wireless communication and includes development tools and code examples to accelerate the design process.
Figure 3: The SensorTile.box Pro combines sensing, processing, and wireless connectivity in a compact IoT solution that fits in the palm of your hand. (Source: STMicroelectronics)
ST's development environment and function-packed libraries offer a starting point for custom development, showcasing the SensorTile.box PRO's versatility in applications from building automation to health monitoring. These code examples can serve as a high-level starting point to help develop your customized code. Moreover, the free ST BLE Sensor App for smartphones can be used to interface to the module wirelessly, exploring a variety of pre-defined applications, from six degrees of freedom (6DoF) motion tracking to electronic compass and even configuring sensors and customizing the behavior of the SensorTile from the smartphone app without coding.
The IoT is everywhere, reshaping our interactions with the digital and physical world. With platforms like the ST SensorTile.box PRO, designing IoT devices has become more accessible, allowing innovators to focus on creating solutions that enhance our lives. The future of IoT design promises even greater integration and functionality, making now an exciting time to be at the forefront of IoT development.
After completing his studies in electrical engineering, Jon Gabay has worked with defense, commercial, industrial, consumer, energy, and medical companies as a design engineer, firmware coder, system designer, research scientist, and product developer. As an alternative energy researcher and inventor, he has been involved with automation technology since he founded and ran Dedicated Devices Corp. up until 2004. Since then, he has been doing research and development, writing articles, and developing technologies for next-generation engineers and students.
STMicroelectronics is a global independent semiconductor company and a leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivaled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio, and strategic partners positions, STMicroelectronics is at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence trends.