Bluetooth Smart development kits ease and speed IoT design

Following the signing of a global distribution agreement, Digi-Key now stocks Dialog Semiconductor’s SmartBond Basic and Pro development kits. The kits offer engineers the fastest and easiest route to developing intelligent connected devices, particularly where small size and low power consumption are critical, such as in battery-powered wearables and other IoT applications. The kits are based on Dialog’s DA14580 and DA14581 System-on-Chip (SoC) ICs. These highly integrated devices combine a Bluetooth low energy radio with an ARM Cortex-M0 application processor and intelligent power management. Processor resources are accessible via 32 GPIOs to enable development of fully hosted applications. The SoCs measure 2.5mm x 2.5mm and need just five external components to create complete solutions that consume less than half the power of alternatives. SmartBond Basic is a single-board kit with integral flash memory for software development. The Pro version of the kit includes mother and daughter boards and a power profiler to enable power-optimised coding. Both kits are supported by Dialog’s SmartSnippets software development environment, which includes Bluetooth Smart SIG-qualified profiles ranging from proximity to health and fitness, medical, smart home, and security. Software Upgrade Over The Air (SUOTA) is supported. Ira Suko, semiconductor director, Digi-Key, said: “With the IoT gathering pace, we’re always looking for best-in-class semiconductors to help our customers capitalise on the opportunity. Low-power wireless connectivity is key to the success of many products and the Bluetooth Smart devices supported by these kits are among the smallest and most energy-efficient we’ve seen. It’s great to have Dialog on board here and we look forward to adding many more of the company’s innovative products to our inventory over the coming months.” Andrew Austin, senior vice president of sales, Dialog, added: “Digi-Key is held in very high regard amongst electronics engineers as offering world-class products and technical support. SmartBond SoCs have potential applications in every imaginable industry and Digi-Key’s hundreds of thousands of customers will now have fast, easy access to development kits that will shorten time-to-market and help ensure the success of their innovations.”