Nordic Semiconductor supports embedded systems education program

Nordic Semiconductor is supporting an embedded systems education program being run at various Canadian universities with a large donation of its class-leading nRF51422 ANT+ systems-on-chip (SoC).

The program is run by a non-profit educational group called MPG (MicroProcessinG) that runs extracurricular university student programs designed to complement electrical and computer engineering curriculums. MPG is now being offered at six Canadian universities this year, with over 1000 students having benefited from it in the 12 consecutive years it has been operating from the program’s operational headquarters at the University of Calgary.

The nRF51422 is world’s first single chip solution for ANT applications and a suitable fit for cost-, power- and size-constrained applications such as coin cell (watch battery)-powered sports, fitness and healthcare sensors. The nRF51422 is built around a powerful 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor and has 256 KB of Flash and 16 KB of RAM on-chip memory.

“The simplicity of this arrangement was designed to separate RF complexity from ultralow-power wireless development and open up the market to the widest possible range of developers and talent which is why Nordic Semiconductor is delighted to be able to support this Canadian universities student program,” said J Darren O’Donnell, Nordic Semiconductor’s director of marketing and sales for the Americas.

“With this help from Nordic Semiconductor, some of the costs for MPG are reduced, which enables the program to grow faster and attract the largest number of possible students with no financial barriers to entry,” comments Jason Long, president of Engenuics Technologies Inc that was created on the foundation of the MPG program.

Long continues: “The nRF51422 SoC forms part of a major upgrade to MPG this academic year and is a tremendous, class-leading technological solution and absolutely perfect for the MPG development boards. The unique separation between protocol stack and application layer on the nRF51422 makes it easy to understand and teach, and provides students with a great platform for learning that they can apply directly when they graduate as engineers.”