New platform for developing proof-of-concept IoT applications

Mouser now stocks the XPLR-IOT-1 Explorer kit from u-blox. The kit provides a complete platform for developing proof-of-concept IoT applications for sensor networks, environmental control, medical devices, smart appliances, lighting applications and more.

The kit includes everything required for an out-of-the-box experience, including an embedded SIM with u-blox MQTT Anywhere and MQTT Now trial accounts to allow connection to the Thingstream IoT service delivery platform. The kit can publish data to the cloud and demonstrate a complete end-to-end solution with only a few initial manual steps. The kit features a dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 application MCU with up to 128/64 MHz clock frequency, 512 + 64kB RAM plus 1024 + 256kB flash, with support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular communication for cellular networks in many countries across the globe. A dedicated low-power GNSS receiver provides accurate positioning data, while alternatively, the user can use the available nano SIM slot to connect with a network operator of choice.

The kit uses the MQTT-SN protocol for power and data-efficient communication to the Thingstream platform, or if Wi-Fi is preferred, the built-in Wi-Fi module and the MQTT Now service provide an alternate route to the cloud. The kit comes with pre-flashed application software, available as source code, that collects sensor and positioning data for the Thingstream platform, where the data flow manager processes to the Node-RED programming example for a quick and easy dashboard visualization of the data. The Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 wireless SoC controls the device in the NORA-B1 wireless MCU module, which can host custom applications developed with the Nordic nRF Connect SDK or the Zephyr development environment. This device supplies integrated sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure, ambient light, magnetometer, gyroscope, accelerometer, and battery gauge.