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Build Smart IoT Devices Easily with NuMircro M032 and Alexa Connect Kit (ACK)
It is now easier than ever to build Internet of Things (IoT) devices. One of the most significant barriers to IoT adoption has been the complexity of integration with existing information technology (IT) and ecosystem systems. Thanks to the efforts of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) reduces the barriers to IoT adoption, allowing simpler implementations, and making it easier to deploy new IoT devices and services and to scale quickly.
A typical IoT device consists of three major functional blocks:
1. Network connectivity: Usually a Wi-Fi System-on-Chip (SoC) provides physical and link layers connection to customer’s home Wi-Fi network.
2. IoT cloud access: For IoT cloud access, we can use a microcontroller or microprocessor (MCU/MPU) to implement IoT protocols (such as HTTP, WebSockets, TLS, MQTT, etc) protocol on top of a Real-Time-Operating-System (RTOS). In addition, this MCU also need to provide comprehensive security features to protect IoT device from malware attacks.
3.Device control: Depending on the applications, different IoT devices have different requirements. There is no one size fit all solution for different home appliances. For instance, a simple smart switch may only need few GPIO pins to turn on and off, while a ceiling fan may need few PWM signals to control the fan motor.
Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) uses an Amazon-managed hardware module to connect any device to the internet and Alexa, without worrying about managing cloud services, Alexa skills, or complex networking and security firmware. With the NuMicro® M032 Host Microcontroller (HMCU), ACK customers can take advantage of NuMicro® M032’s versatile I/O peripheral interfaces for various device control functions, which can fulfill most smart home appliances’ needs.
Taking advantage of Amazon’s Alexa Connect Kit (ACK) platform and ecosystem, Nuvoton NuMicro® M032 serial microcontroller is now ready for customers to build an Alexa compatible smart device easily and quickly without worrying about sophisticated IoT device system integration. The Nuvoton NuMicro® M032 is an Arm Cortex M0 based Host Microcontroller (HMCU) with variety of I/O interfaces including GPIOs, UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, ADC, DAC, and more. Nuvoton has finished the HMCU NuStamp-ACK module which integrated USI MT7697H ACK in a postage stamp size module with various built-in programmable peripherals. Nuvoton has also finished the ACK/HMCU bare bone integration as well as pre-integrated with Alexa “Lighting” device type. Base on this example, customers can easily integrate this add-on postage-stamp-size module into their existing home appliance product and convert it into an Alexa comparable device, such as “Oven”, “Microwave Oven”, “Fan”, “Thermostat”, “Home Security”, etc.
Nuvoton Technology Corporation collaborates with Ubiquitous Computing Technology Corporation ( UCT* ) to provide a state-of-art IoT-Engine universal development platform, compatible with TRON ( The Real-time Operating System Nucleus ) Forum standards and capable of μT-Kernel 2.0 RTOS ( Real-Time OS ) System that occupies the 60% share of the high-end RTOS market in 2017.
Nano120 IoT-Engine Starter Kit can rapid IoT device development by all-in-one hardware and software package, easily connect to the Cloud ( IoT-Aggregator ), aggregate sensor data for controlling IoT-Engine devices and speed up development by the lightweight realtime OS μT-Kernel 2.0 included libraries prepared for controlling sensors.
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Using Arduino Compatible Platform, it will offer a simple and scalable programming environment to support these major Arduino sensor modules. The makers can use it easily for their development. The NuMaker Uno is an Arduino compatible hardware using NuMicro MCU as the microcontroller. Its function can be extended with Arduino add-ons. Users can use Arduino IDE to develop their applications and leverage a large number of open source samples.
The NuMaker Uno is a specific development tool for NuMicro® Cortex®-M0 series by which users can develop and verify the application program easily. The purpose is to provide a set of development and learning of both packages, with ADC, PWM, I²C, SPI, etc. peripheral functions, users can replace NuMaker Uno development kits with different functions can also be based on user needs its own peripheral functions development Kit, easy to use and yet develop the required flexibility. The NuMaker Uno includes two portions: the evaluation board and Nu-Link debugger/programmer. The Nu-Link is also included so users do not need additional ICE or debug equipment.
LoRa, the abbreviation of Long Range, is a kind of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communication technology. Before LPWAN came out, there could only be a trade-off between long-distance transmission and low power consumption. The LoRa wireless technology has changed the trade-off way between the transmission distance and power consumption. It not only achieves long-distance transmission, but also has the advantages of low power consumption.
The network of LoRa is shown in the figure below. Remote nodes can connect to the network server through multiple gateways and upload data to the cloud or server. In the LoRa network, each node is not connected to each other, but must be connected to the gateway before being connected back to the central host or data can be transmitted to another node through the central host. The message of the terminal node can be transmitted to multiple gateways at the same time, and the message can also be bridged between the gateways to further extend the transmission distance. LoRa can be used in various scenarios, such as smart industry, smart agriculture, smart city, etc. Due to its long-distance transmission and low power consumption characteristics, it can meet the transmission application of small data volume . LoRa can usually be used for transmission of less than 10 kilometers.