Microchip Technology Incorporation has a wide portfolio of IoT solutions, including the PIC and AVR series of development boards, as well as WiFi modules.
Microchip IoT development boards are designed to easily connect an embedded system to cloud servers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, etc. These boards provide learning development tools to prototype and accelerate development cycles, providing an all in one solution.
The modules include TCP/IP stacks and networking services with full certifications. The WiFi modules also offer various I/Os, analog inputs, and serial interfaces that include SPI and UART.
Microchip WiFi Modules
Microchip’s portfolio of WiFi modules support application-specific architectures and can be broadly classified into two categories:
- RN WiFi Series: These contain the TCP/IP stack and services built onto the module with no requirement of external drivers and provide access to any MCU via a simple ASCII interface. Popular RN WiFi modules are RN1810, RN1723, RN171, and RN131.
- MRF WiFi Series: These are designed to run TCP/IP stack and services on the PIC controller. It is an elegant solution for combined WiFi and ethernet applications. MRF24WN0MB, MRF24WG0MA, and MRF24WG0MB are a few prominent MRF WiFi modules.
If the requirement is to use the WiFi module with an MCU of any size and by any vendor, then the RN solution is the best option. Or, if you need to modify or customize the network services of the PIC MCU, then the MRF solution is a better option.
Both RN and MRF WiFi modules from Microchip are certified by agencies such as FCC, IC, EN, and others. In addition to base UDP and TCP protocol, they offer network services like WPS, FTP, HTTP, WiFi-Direct, DNS, SSL, mDNS, SMTP, and many more.
These WiFi modules also support SoftAP mode and the latest security authentication schemes such as WPA2, WolfSSL, TLS, and enterprise EAP/PEAP for both commercial and industrial applications. Further, these modules add WiFi connectivity support to explorer-based development boards and pocket demos to embedded applications.
Microchip AVR & PIC IoT Development Boards
Microchip’s IoT development boards are available in two series:
- PIC
- AVR
Both series offer a plug-and-play solution that combines a fully certified WiFi network controller module and a crypto authentication secure element. For rapid prototyping of new IoT designs or connecting existing applications to the cloud, Microchip AVR & PIC IoT development boards are supported by both MPLAB and Studio 7 IDEs and graphical development tools such as MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) and START.
Both the PIC and AVR boards are available in two models WG and WA. The only difference between these two models is that:
- The WG models support Google cloud connectivity
- The WA models support Amazon AWS connectivity
PIC-IoT WG and WA Development Boards
This combines a PIC24FJ128GA705 MCU, a ATWINC1510 WiFi network controller, and an ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication IC, with a preloaded firmware that provides connectivity to either Google cloud (WG model) or Amazon AWS (WA model).
The technical specifications of the PIC-IoT board include:
- 128KB flash memory
- 16KB SRAM.
- 4 GHz b/g/n IoT network controller
- Crypto IC supports protected storage of 16 keys, SHA256, AES-CCM, ECDH, ECDSA.
The external hardware specifications of the board include:
- Four status LEDs
- Two mechanical buttons
- Light and temperature sensors
- MikroBUS header to seamlessly interface click boards
The board does not require external hardware to program and debug as it includes an on-board debugger. It is also supported by MPLAB X IDE to build a custom design and generate code using free software libraries in MCC.
AVR-IoT WG and WA Development Boards
This combines a ATmega4808 AVR MCU with an ATWINC1510 WiFi network controller and an ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication IC. As with the PIC-IoT boards, it comes with the same preloaded firmware that provides connectivity to either Google cloud (WG model) or Amazon AWS (WA model).
The technical specifications of the AVR-IoT board include:
- 48KB flash memory
- 6KB SRAM.
- 4 GHz b/g/n IoT network controller
- Crypto IC supports protected storage of 16 keys, SHA256, AES-CCM, ECDH, ECDSA
The external hardware specifications of the board include:
- Four status LEDs
- Two mechanical buttons
- Light and temperature sensors
- MikroBUS header to seamlessly interface click boards
This board also supports onboard debugging and can generate code using the free software libraries in Atmel START or MCC. Further, this board is supported by two IDEs, Atmel Studio and MPLABX.
Read Our Other Resources
We’ve published a range of IoT resources for our community, including:
- How to Choose the Best IoT WiFi Module and what to consider when making your choice
- A complete guide to ESP32 for IoT, which explains the different modules and development boards that run this WiFi chip
- How to set up an ESP8266 Wi-Fi module using the Nabto server peer-to-peer connection.
- A complete Guide to Microcontrollers for IoT, which explains all your options when it comes to choosing an MCU for your project.
- How to choose the best RTOS for IoT devices, which explains what you need to consider when making your choice.
