Google Teams with Microchip for AVR-IoT Cloud-Connected 8-Bit Microcontroller

Google and microcontroller manufacturer Microchip recently released the AVR-IoT WG (Wi-Fi/Google) development board, which is designed for Internet of Things sensor node applications. More specifically, the board enables you to connect your projects to Google’s Cloud IoT Core for real-time data management.

The AVR-IoT WG board packs what they term as ‘smart modules’ to offset the algorithm-crunching processing power from the MCU and chucks portions of it over to modules that handle specific tasks, including a cryptographic coprocessor for security implementation, and a wireless communication SoC for transferring data.

The AVR-IoT WG breaks down into three components, each with their own feature set, starting with the board’s ATmega4808 microcontroller does most of the number crunching and offers 48Kb of Flash, 6 Kb of SRAM and 256B of EEPROM. Handling security is Microchip’s ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication chip, which provides hardware support for Asymmetric Sign, Verify, and Key Agreement (and much more).

Wireless communication for the AVR-IoT WG is achieved through Microchip’s ATWINC1500 SmartConnect IoT Module and features 802.11 b/g/n with integrated PCB antenna, power amplifier, LNA switch, and power management options. The controller supports the complete TCP/IP stack and auto-authenticates when connecting to Cloud IoT Core.

As for additional features, the AVR-IoT WG hosts light and temperature sensors, embedded programmer and debugger, 4X LEDs, a pair of mechanical buttons, mikroBUS header, virtual COM port, 2X DGI GPIO headers and onboard battery charging. According to Google, you will be able to connect your IoT device to the internet in 30-seconds or less, where you will have access to data and analytics apps including BigQuery, and machine learning platforms such as AutoML, among a host of others. The AVR-IoT WG development/evaluation board is available now direct from Microchip for $29 per unit.