ARM mbed Reference Designs

Steve Ogborne

mbed Connect / Shenzhen, China

Senior Engineer

Internet of Things Business Unit

15th Dec 2015

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Contents

Intro

Smart City Sub-GHz Reference Design

Wi-Fi Reference Design

Wearables Reference Design

Summary

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What is a Reference Design?

A reference design represents the smallest possible set of components,

code and infrastructure needed to bootstrap the simplest working

system

It is a starting position from which a working system can be built, and

the building block from which it is built upon.

The deliverables for a reference design includes

circuit diagrams, and example implementations, using COTS hardware

“hello world” applications (Device and Web),

configuration details for infrastructure,

EDA tool consumables for developing custom devices

Documentation, teaching/learning materials

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What are Reference Designs for?

A reference design is used as the basis for developing new systems

The reference implementation is recreated, and the example

applications run, proving the end-to-end operation of a bare-bones

system

Once running, the reference implementation is extended and

customised, prototyping a system that meet the needs of the developer

The prototype system is iterated into a deployable system, using the

reference software and EDA consumables as a starting point

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Who should be interested?

Reference designs are there are a starting point to learn from and build

from, so they have a broad audience

Developers planning to deploy a production system at scale, who want a known solid

starting point to build out from.

Entrepreneurs experimenting with the IoT “art of the possible”, understanding

opportunities presented by the new technology

Instructors wanting to teach fundamentals of IoT systems, with practical examples

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Reference Design 1: Smart City

Sub-GHz 6LoWPAN

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Sub-GHz 6LoWPAN technology for environments that require robust communications

Significant building penetration (hospital basement, for example)

Long range distance communications

6LoWPAN & CoAP mesh network protocols is ideal solution for large number of devices

Quick deployment, configuration and management of routers and end-node devices

Reference Design illustrates 6LoWPAN connectivity to extensive backhaul networks

Compatible with ISP modems (DSL, Fiber-Optic, 3G/4G cellular, etc)

Network protocols and tunnelling compatible with complex network systems

Suitable for applications with mobile requirements (e.g. cellular allows remote installation)

Technology mbed Smart City Reference Design

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What the Sub-GHz 6LoWPAN Reference Design looks like

Architecture mbed Smart City Reference Design

App mDC

mDS 6LoWPAN

Border Router

6LoWPAN

node(s)

IPv6 IPv6

ISP Access Point

IPv4 IPv4 IPv6

AYIYA Tunnel

Tunnel

Broker

IPv6IPv4

Raspberry Pi

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Example (1) mbed Smart City Reference Design

Cellular

Wifi hotspot

IPv6/IPv4

Tunnel

Client

Border

Router

End

node

Temperature sensor

Wireless

dongle

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Example (II) mbed Smart City Reference Design

Web Application mbed Device Connector

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Reference Design 2: Wi-Fi

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WiFi chips are starting to support Bluetooth Low Energy at little or no extra cost

Take advantage of this as a side band to provision the device

BLE is already supported is the majority of modern smartphones

Offloading UI often improves UX greatly

Lowers BOM cost by eliminating physical interfaces

Enables no user interface on the device

e.g. Wireless Speakers

Reference design shows adding a device to a WiFi network

Uses mbed Provisioning App and client library for mbed OS to request WiFi credentials

Once on the network the device registers resources with mbed Connector

Makes device available for use by a web service

Technology mbed Wi-Fi Reference Design

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Architecture mbed Wi-Fi Reference Design

Provisioning Client

BTS

BLE API Config WiFi API Minar Connector Client

mbed OS drivers

SPI GPIO I2C Timer

Application Code

mbed Connector mbed Device Server mbed Services mbed Provisioning App

IBM Bluemix Amazon AWS Third Party Services (examples)

Wi-Fi Reference Design

mbed OS

mbed OS libraries

Other Partners

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Provision a Wi-Fi device onto a network

Use the mbed app running on a phone to provision the device over bluetooth

Example Application mbed Wi-Fi Reference Design

Free app

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Reference Design 3: Wearables

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Technology mbed Wearables Reference Design

BLE

for connecting to other

devices and the internet

for securing applications

Fingerprint Sensor

for location services

GPS

9-axis sensor for activity and health tracking

Optimised Energy Management for significantly longer battery life

NFC

RFID for access control

for tag reading, peer to peer

communication and payments

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Architecture mbed Wearables Reference Design

mbed Connector mbed Device Server mbed Services mbed app Other

Core mbed OS components

Silicon Partners’ components

Wearable specific drivers

Demo Application code

Wearable Device Components:

Hub + Web Components:

Third Party Services (examples) IBM Bluemix Salesforce Amazon AWS

LCD NFC BLE GPS 6DEG RGB

SPI GPIO Touch I2C DMA Timer Scheduler

SPI GPIO Touch I2C DMA Timer

Graphics Application Code

Other

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Mechanical Components Electronics

MCUs Comms

Interfaces Reference Design Contents

Example: BLE

Mechanics • Antenna integration into case

• Component topology

• Implementation Examples

Electronics: • PCB Schematics

• Layout guidance

• Implementation Examples

Software: • Drivers

• Libraries

• Interface logic

• Example use in applications

Software

Applications

Peripheral Drivers

mbed OS

Platform Drivers

Sensing

Internal

Example Application mbed Wearables Reference Design

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Example Application mbed Wearables Reference Design

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Summary

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How to get Involved

A range of reference designs for 2016 are being planned right now.

Basic wearable

Sub-GHz/2.4GHz 6LoWPAN

Thread

Wi-Fi + BLE provisioning

Looking for partners with

Suitable MCU + Radio SoCs

Suitable MCU + Radio certified modules (including dev boards)

Contact support@mbed.org to discuss Reference design opportunities, or come to speak

to any of the Application Engineering team