New Environmental and Biometric Kits Showcased at IIC-China Bring
"Click-and-Run" Simplicity to IoT and Wearable Applications
SHENZHEN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Silicon
Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive,
mixed-signal ICs, today introduced two economical, easy-to-use
development kits to accelerate the design of environmental and biometric
sensing applications for a wide range of Internet
of Things (IoT) products. Target applications for the kits include
home security systems, smart thermostats, smoke detectors, weather
stations, smart watches, fitness bands, heart-rate earphones and other
wearable products. Silicon Labs is demonstrating the new environmental
and biometric sensing development kits at its booth in the IoT/Wearable
Zone in Hall 4 at IIC-China in Shenzhen this week.
Silicon Labs' SLSTK3201A
environmental sensing development kit streamlines the process of
developing IoT products that sense relative humidity (RH), temperature,
ultraviolet (UV) light, ambient light, proximity and human gestures. The
development kit combines an EFM32™
Zero Gecko microcontroller (MCU) starter kit with a sensor expansion
board. The kit also features a gesture-controlled weather station
application that tracks RH, temperature and UV index. Complete source
code is available from Silicon Labs' Simplicity
Studio™ development platform, substantially reducing application
development time.
Silicon Labs' new biometric sensing development platform makes it easier
to measure heart rate and blood oxygen level (Sp02), as well as UV
index, relative humidity and temperature. The platform includes the
BIOMETRIC-EXP-EVB expansion card featuring Silicon Labs' Si114x
optical sensors and Si701x/2x
humidity and temperature sensors. The sensor card plugs directly
into Silicon Labs' EFM32
Wonder Gecko MCU starter kit. Silicon Labs also offers an optional
wearable-form-factor HRM-GGG-PS board that supports wrist-based heart
rate monitoring and connects to the biometric sensor card through an I2C
mini-flex cable.
The biometric demonstration firmware for the EFM32 Wonder Gecko starter
kit is available at no charge at www.silabs.com/biometric-exp-evb.
The library module includes a heart rate algorithm with source
configuration files, eliminating the need to develop biometric sensor
drivers from scratch.
The environmental and biometric sensing kits operate on coin-cell
batteries, demonstrating the industry-leading ultra-low power
consumption of Silicon Labs' MCU and sensor IC products for
battery-powered IoT and wearable applications. Each sensor expansion
card features Silicon Labs' TS3310 boost dc/dc converter to help
minimize energy consumption.
"Highly accurate, ultra-low-power environmental and biometric sensing
capabilities are as critical to today's IoT and wearable applications as
energy-friendly MCUs and standards-based wireless connectivity," said
Ross Sabolcik, vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs'
Analog, Power and Sensor products. "Silicon Labs' sensor ICs offer the
state of the art in humidity, temperature, ambient light, UV index and
proximity sensing for the IoT. We enable developers to simplify their
designs and speed time to market with an array of plug-and-play
development kits coupled with our Simplicity Studio software tools."
About Silicon Labs' Environmental/Biometric Sensors
The award-winning Si701x/2x
relative humidity and temperature sensors combine a single-chip,
mixed-signal IC with a proven technique for measuring humidity using a
polymer dielectric film. The integrated CMOS design ensures long-term
reliability and superior ease of use, reducing manufacturing cost and
complexity. An optional, factory-installed filter cover provides added
protection against sensor contamination throughout the device's entire
lifetime. The Si701x/2x sensors offer best-in-class low-power
consumption and exceptional RH sensing precision.
The Si1132/4x
optical sensors are the industry's first single-chip digital UV
index sensor ICs designed to track UV sun exposure, heart rate and blood
oximetry for wearable and smartphone products. The devices also provide
ambient light and infrared (IR) proximity sensing capabilities for
health and fitness applications. Conventional UV sensors combine
UV-sensitive photodiodes with an external MCU, ADC and signal processing
firmware. Silicon Labs is the first to combine all of this functionality
into a single-chip, low-power solution offered in a small 2 mm x 2 mm
package to help reduce the design's footprint and bill of material (BOM)
cost.
Pricing and Availability
The SLSTK3201A environmental sensing kit containing the EFM32 Zero Gecko
starter kit and sensor expansion board is available today for $109. The
BIOMETRIC-EXP-EVB expansion card is available today for $50, and the
EFM32WG-STK3800 Wonder Gecko starter kit is priced at $79. The optional
HRM-GGG-PS wearable wrist-based heart rate monitor board is available
now for $50. (All kit prices USD MSRP.) Silicon Labs offers a variety of
additional dedicated sensor development boards for developers who want
to evaluate the company's environmental and optical sensors in more
detail. For more information about Silicon Labs' sensors and to order
samples and development kits, please visit www.silabs.com/sensors.
Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs is an industry leader in the innovation of
high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs. Developed by a
world-class engineering team with unsurpassed expertise in mixed-signal
design, Silicon Labs' diverse portfolio of patented semiconductor
solutions offers customers significant advantages in performance, size
and power consumption. For more information about Silicon Labs, please
visit www.silabs.com.
Cautionary Language
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on
Silicon Labs' current expectations. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could
impact Silicon Labs' financial results and cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please
refer to Silicon Labs' filings with the SEC. Silicon Labs disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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Silicon Labs
Dale Weisman, +1-512-532-5871
dale.weisman@silabs.com
Source: Silicon Labs
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