Microchip Technology AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board

IoT network developers are looking for an easy path to implement a secure cellular connection in their design applications but are faced with design complexities and high deployment costs. For those who need location flexibility, low power consumption and deployment simplicity, Microchip Technology announces the AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board based on the AVR128DB48 8-bit microcontroller (MCU), providing a robust platform to start building sensor and actuator nodes on 5G narrowband IoT networks. Users can tap into the flexibility and ease of design offered by the MCU family — including security protection with Microchip’s ATECC608 CryptoAuthentication device, which can be configured to most major cloud service providers through Microchip’s IoT Provisioning Tool.

The board has a small form factor, making it suitable for developers who want to connect IoT devices to an available 5G network. This is an important feature for devices on the go or located in remote areas with limited availability of LoRa networks or other LPWAN solutions. Microchip partnered with Sequans to include its Monarch 2 GM02S single-chip radio equipped with 5G LTE-M and narrowband IoT, and with Truphone to provide a SIM card for cellular service that offers good coverage worldwide.

The board comes preconfigured to send data from onboard light and temperature sensors to the cloud, viewable using Microchip’s sandbox portal. The portal provides users with the ability to track and monitor their device in real time from a remote location; this is useful for many applications in industries including agriculture, industrial and energy, as well as consumer spaces such as transportation of goods, alarm systems, building automation and remote monitoring.

The development board is suitable for makers and hobbyists as it fits the Adafruit Feather form factor. It features a Qwiic/Stemma I2C connector for easy functionality extension, creating a clear path to production. It is also Arduino-compatible and is supported by Microchip’s Github Library, which provides functionality for HTTPS, MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT), low power and more.