15-DOF sensor kit promises low power, flexibility for IoT design

By Heather Hamilton, contributing writer

Dialog Semiconductor recently unveiled a new 15-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) SmartBond Multi-Sensor kit at Sensors Expo 2018, held in San Jose, California. The kit, which claims to offer simple ways for sensors to connect to the cloud with low power use and a small footprint, is built on Dialog’s DA14585 SmartBond system-on-chip. Dialog touts that the new kit is the lowest-power wireless sensor kit available today and supports more sensors than any other kit.

The sensor kit comes equipped with Bluetooth wireless communications, an Arm Cortex-M0 processor with accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and environmental sensors to reduce development time. According to the website, the sensor kit is suitable for use in smart tags/beacons, cloud-connected wireless sensors, asset tracking, voice-controlled sensor reading, voice-controlled actuator settings, wearables, immersive gaming, augmented reality, 3D indoor mapping/navigation, and weather stations.

Developers will be able to collect a variety of environmental data, which includes things like temperature, humidity, gas concentrations, motion, light, sound, and magnetic field. In a press release, Dialog notes that the kit is well-equipped for projects working on accelerated time-to-market deadlines as well as rapid prototyping schedules.

In addition, the kit is highly customizable with software that is easily tailorable to allow for use in a variety of applications and updates remotely via Software-Upgrade-Over-the-Air (SUOTA) functionality.

Targeting engineers and educational institutions developing IoT applications, the kit offers “a comprehensive sensor solution, with flexibility across hardware and software that includes extensive cloud support,” which Dialog maintains will open up additional possibilities like visualization of data, remote sensor management, Alexa support, alert notifications, and cloud-based actuator control.

The kit works with two AA batteries and offers a long battery life and range of up to 300 meters. Data is processed locally via Dialog’s SmartFusion software, which will minimize interference and power consumption before data is sent to a smartphone or Bluetooth Raspberry Pi gateway to the cloud.

Sean McGrath, senior vice president and general manager of the Connectivity Business Group at Dialog, believes that one of the most important parts of the IoT is the ability to gather and process sensor data. “Our SmartBond Multi-Sensor Kit has been designed to deliver world-class performance with the utmost flexibility and longevity,” he said. “It has been built to exceed current and future requirements as the IoT continues to advance with new applications and greater capabilities.”

The sensor kit is supported by Dialog’s software suite, including application software for the DA14585, cloud gateway software for Raspberry Pi, and web and mobile applications for Android and iOS.