A kit for the internet of things [Resources_Hands On

Abstract

Just like pretty much every other tech outlet, IEEE Spectrum has been nattering on for a while now about the coming Internet of Things (IoT). This is the vision of a world where not only our PCs and smartphones are connected to the Internet but where nearly every device that runs on electricity—fridges, scales, lightbulbs—has sensors, a small glob of processing power, and a network connection. • Makers have been building IoT-style gadgets for some time, but it can be quite fiddly to glue together all the required bits of hardware and software. In a bid to make it easier for developers to get their feet wet and start experimenting with the concepts behind the IoT, IBM and ARM have teamed up to create the US $120 Mbed IoT Starter Kit, intended to be “a slick experience…particularly suitable for developers with no specific experience in embedded or web development.” • On the hardware side, the Starter Kit consists of an FRDM‑K64F microcontroller and an application shield that fits on top. Pin-compatible with Arduino boards, the FRDM-K64F has an Ethernet interface built in and is based on a chip with an ARM Cortex-M4 core that’s capable of running at up to 120 megahertz (in comparison, the Arduino Mega clocks in at 16 MHz). The application shield is equipped with a temperature sensor, three-axis accelerometer, RGB LED, five-way joystick, two potentiometers, a loudspeaker, and a small 128- by 32-pixel LCD. • On the software side is IBM’s Internet of Things Foundation and its Bluemix service, which lets you build and deploy apps for IoT devices.