Multiple open-source reference platforms deliver a wide range of
capabilities to wearable designers
Highlights
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NXP announces comprehensive hardware and software reference platforms
for the wearable market supporting engineers from the maker community
to OEMs with the foundation for their next innovation
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The Hexiwear platform, based on Kinetis MCUs, offers a complete,
form-factor hardware and software solution that enables designers to
move data from device sensors to the cloud
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Community-driven WaRP7 platform, based on i.MX 7Solo applications
processor, built on ARM® Cortex®-A7 and Cortex-M4 cores, is introduced
for rapid development of smart features into original product designs
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced new reference
platforms to enable innovation and rapid development for smart wearables
at Embedded World 2016.
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NXP's Hexiwear platform offers a complete hardware and software solution that enables designers to move data from device sensors to the cloud. (Photo: Business Wire)
From fitness and wellness to industrial and smart devices, these new
reference platforms target a range of IoT applications with open-source
hardware and software, form-factor flexibility, and expandable solutions
for designers to adapt to changing market needs. By offering both MCU
and MPU based reference platforms, NXP can scale to address the varied
requirements and usage models enabling faster and more cost effective
development and design.
“NXP is able to leverage its broad portfolio of products to offer
comprehensive, form-factor reference designs for the wearable market,
simplifying customer design and accelerating customer time to market,”
said Geoff Lees, general manager and senior vice president of the
microcontroller business line at NXP. “These new reference platforms
target OEMs, as well as the larger maker community by offering
versatility for designs that need to be smart, low-power, and
expandable.”
Hexiwear Reference Platform enhanced by NXP
Based on Kinetis MCUs, the Hexiwear platform combines the style and
usability found in high-end consumer devices, with the functionality and
expandability of sophisticated engineering development platforms, making
Hexiwear the ideal form factor for the wearable market, as well as other
edge-node IoT solutions. Completely open-source and developed by
MikroElektronika, in partnership with NXP, the Hexiwear hardware
includes a breadth of NXP products: the low power, high performance
Kinetis K6x microcontroller based on ARM Cortex-M4 core; the Kinetis
KW40Z multimode radio SoC, supporting BLE in Hexiwear; three advanced
NXP sensors: 6-axis accelerometer and magnetometer, 3-axis gyroscope,
and an absolute digital pressure sensor; and an NXP single cell battery
charger IC.
“NXP offers the most comprehensive portfolio of products for the
wearable market and combined with the expansive enablement and community
support, NXP was the ideal partner for the Hexiwear reference platform,”
said Dr. Djordje Marinkovic, director of business development at of
MikroElektronika. “The Hexiwear platform is also expandable with the
option to add nearly 200 different, additional sensors through click
boardsTM.”
The Hexiwear software includes open source application software, drivers
and cloud connectivity, enabling designers to efficiently move data from
the device’s sensors to the cloud. Hexiwear is supported with its own
application for Android and iOS, so customers can connect the device to
the cloud straight out of the box, without any additional software
development. Hexiwear uses FreeRTOS, the Kinetis software development
kit (SDK) and the Kinetis Design Studio IDE.
“Hexiwear is a complete IoT development system which, when integrated
with our cloud platform, delivers feature-packed cloud solutions faster
to the market,” said Alex Maniatopoulos, CEO of Yodiwo.
At a $49 USD suggested resale, samples of the Hexiwear platform are
available now to early engagers, with full production scheduled to start
in April 2016.
Kinetis Designs
The Hexiwear platform is also available for download from Kinetis
Designs, the online portal for customers to access the latest
open-source hardware and software reference designs based on Kinetis
MCUs. Kinetis Designs provides access to information such as software,
schematics and user documentation for quick use and customization. In
addition to Hexiwear, Kinetis Designs also includes such wearable
designs as the Bluetooth Low Energy heart rate monitoring platform. With
new reference designs being added regularly, visit Kinetis Designs and
Hexiwear at www.NXP.com/KinetisDesigns/Hexiwear.
WaRP7 Wearable Reference Platform enhanced by NXP
Based on i.MX 7Solo applications processors, WaRP7 is one of the most
power-efficient MPU platforms for evaluation and rapid adoption into
original product designs so wearable device designers can innovate and
take a differentiated product to market faster. By utilizing the
heterogeneous multicore architecture of the i.MX 7Solo device, WaRP7
allows customers to optimize power efficiency, lower the bill of
materials, and it provides the ultimate in performance flexibility to
address the varied usage models for the wearables market.
WaRP7 was developed in partnership with element14, a part of the Premier
Farnell Group, and leverages the expansive NXP portfolio. The platform
includes the new NXP i.MX 7Solo applications processor, PF3001 power
management IC, BC3770 battery charger, three NXP sensors: 6-axis
accelerometer and magnetometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and an absolute
digital pressure sensor, and a near field communication (NFC) IC to
enable short range communication and secure payments. The combination of
the NFC IC and the extensive hardware security features of the i.MX
7Solo device allows customers to meet the security requirements of the
diverse wearables market.
“element14’s experience in small form factor design, manufacturing
capability and experience with supporting the development community will
enable wearable projects to utilize WaRP7 and potentially finally answer
the question, where should I start to be successful in the wearables
market,” said David Shen, Group Chief Technical Officer, Premier Farnell.
WaRP7 hardware and software will be open source to allow developers to
take the platform as a starting point and innovate without licensing
restrictions. Hardware engineers will benefit from schematics, Gerber
files, and CAD files, while software engineers will be able to focus on
their differentiation by leveraging NXP’s board support packages for
Linux and Android optimized to run on the WaRP7 platform. A WaRP7 kit
will include the main CPU board, the I/O daughter card and a battery. A
touch screen LCD will be an optional choice. WaRP7 is scheduled to start
shipping in full production in April 2016 at a $99 USD resale. More
information can be found at www.element14.com/warp7.
Demonstrations at Embedded World 2016
NXP will demonstrate these new wearable reference platforms on February
23-25 at the Embedded World 2016 show, NXP IoT Truck and booth# 4A-220.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) enables secure connections and
infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives
easier, better and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity
solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the
secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart
connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined
experience and expertise, the company has 45,000 employees in more than
35 countries.
NXP, NXP logo and Kinetis are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other product
or service names are the property of their respective owners. ARM and
Cortex are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARM Ltd or its
subsidiaries in the EU and/or elsewhere. All rights reserved. © 2016 NXP
B.V.
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