

Internet Of Things Microcontrollers - sarvagyavaish

Whats your experience with these (and other) IOT microcontrollers? 
Here&#x27;s a couple I have been looking into..<p>Arduino Yun (1), Tessel (2), Electric Imp (3), Pinoccio (4), Spark (5)<p>(1) http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arduino.cc&#x2F;en&#x2F;Main&#x2F;ArduinoBoardYun?from=Main.ArduinoYUN<p>(2) https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tessel.io&#x2F;<p>(3) http:&#x2F;&#x2F;electricimp.com&#x2F;<p>(4) https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pinocc.io&#x2F;<p>(5) https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spark.io&#x2F;
======
jamesbritt
I'm a big fan of Teensy boards. They're like arduino, but smarter about
things. The default libraries include assorted niceties (lie handling
capsense) and the hardware, while arduino-compatible, has a few extras (like
proper USB MIDI).

I've been experimenting with a Teensy 3 and an RN XV WiFly board. The cost is
a bit higher than perhaps the all-in-one assemblies but they seem to come with
strings attached.

If I'm going over WiFi I try to use OSC (or CoAP); basically the UDP path.

Next to explore is BLE. Then I have to look into 6lowpan.

One of my concerns with the items on your list is that they approach the
Internet of Things as if it were little different than the Internet of Regular
Computers. That is, HTTP or WebSockets over TCP, passing bulky messages, often
requiring a central service to route every message. I'm skeptical this is the
way to set up large numbers of small, low-power devices spread out over some
distance coordinating with each other.

OTOH defining just what counts as IoT is tricky, especially with companies
tagging everything as IoT because it sounds cool and hip.

I'm sorry I can't say much more about most things on your list. I've looked at
them but as soon as I think it's tied to some 3rd-party service, or a special
protocol, or HTTP-based, I lose interest.

(BTW if I'm wrong about any of them I'd love to know. But it seems they offer
short-term gains in exchange for a certain product coupling.)

Teensy:
[https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/teensy31.html](https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/teensy31.html)
RN XV WiFly:
[https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10822](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10822)

~~~
chrisBob
I have also enjoyed working with the RN 171 and 131 (but in other form
factors).

If you would like an easy way to get into BLE then check out the RFduino. I
used it because it was the only thing I could find that would let me pass
arbitrary data to an iOS device in an approvable app. It only took me a few
minutes to get started with it, and they are cheap, but they have their own
footprint, so shields aren't compatible with anything else.

~~~
jamesbritt
Thank you, I will check out RFduino.

------
shortsightedsid
All the above projects are interesting, but are essentially hobby/devkits. Are
you planning to use them to prototype or do you have an end product in mind?

For prototype any of the above is fine but for an end product keep
production/supply chain costs as your primary concern. Your end product will
look nothing like any of the boards that you shortlist.

Source: Worked at a Semiconductor company for years.

------
beardicus
I'm most interested in the JeeNode, which can be found yonder:

[http://jeelabs.net/projects/hardware/wiki/JeeNode](http://jeelabs.net/projects/hardware/wiki/JeeNode)

They're basically a stripped down older Arduino (none of the built in USB or
other new features of the newer Arduinos) with built in wireless (433 or
915mhz depending on your region), and the developer has done a ton of work
getting them to be incredibly low power, mostly by working around some
decisions made in the core Arduino libraries. He has had some running off of
coin cells doing a test ping routine for more than a year now, if I recall
correctly.

You'd need a gateway of some sort to get the data onto the internet proper, of
course, but he also makes a usb dongle with the appropriate receiver, which
you could plug into a raspberry pi or even a wifi router that supports USB
serial devices.

------
deanfranks
Another non-answer for your question, but I'm not convinced that WiFi is the
way to go for IOT. WiFi networks don't deal well with large numbers of
clients, power is an issue and setup can be a pain.

POE would be nice for new builds where the cabling is not a problem but I
don't think it is practical for anything you would want to retrofit into an
existing residential structure.

If I had to bet, 6lowpan is probably going to be the winner in the wireless
IOT fabric arena.

What microcontroller/board/etc is best depends totally on your application. Do
you need low power, do you need processing power, do you need a significant
web management interface?

I have chosen the STM32 ARM line and 6lowpan using atmel zigbee chips but your
mileage may vary.

------
asmithmd1
I would take a close look at the just released TI CC 3200:

[http://www.ti.com/tool/cc3200-launchxl](http://www.ti.com/tool/cc3200-launchxl)

For $8 qty/1 you get: WiFi radio and IP stack and an 80Mhz ARM Cortex M4 with
200k of flash for your application. TI has great documentation and example
code along with a dev. board for $29

------
svram
Not an answer to your question, but I can't seem to decide between Spark and
Arduino.

