Bluetera II by Tensor Iotera Group (TIG) is a powerful IoT development board featuring motion sensing. It is the full-stack development board that uses protocol buffers for motion-based IoT applications. Bluetera II is an open hardware IoT solution powered by 9-axis motion sensors, an MCU with support for BLE 5.0, and an SDK based on Google’s Protocol Buffer technology.
According to TIG, Bluetera II is the second generation module that is equipped with the latest Nordic nRF52840 SoC and it can be used as a BLE Central and a BLE peripheral. The hub can be connected to a Linux or a Windows-based USB port as a BLE dongle. Thereafter which, it can become a master of the Bluetera LAN interacting with multiple Bluetera hub modules.
Features of Bluetera-II IoT Development Board
- Hardware - A tiny (18 x 18 mm) device with 9-axis motion sensors, an ARM MCU with BLE, battery charging circuitry, and multi-purpose IOs for external sensors and peripherals
- Firmware - Open source infrastructure with embedded command and control, motion algorithms with built-in data exchange and IMU control, a BLE stack with an additional Protobuf abstraction layer, power management, and battery monitoring
- Open Source - Everything, from hardware to firmware to the software running on your mobile device or PC is strictly open-source. No strings attached
- Motion - 9-axis motion fusion based on the Madgwick Algorithm, which produces rotation data (quaternions) from the 6-axis InvenSense IMU and STM compass. The result is a stable, 1 kHz stream of rotation measurements and raw data.
- Google Protobuf - A communication abstraction layer that provides a simple yet flexible serial pipe between the physical layer (e.g. sensors) and the digital layer (e.g. your mobile device). Protobuf makes adding new messages and functionality as easy as 1-2-3.
- Power - A JST socket, a Micro USB connector, battery charging circuitry, and power management firmware allow you to power the device with any small, external Lithium-Ion battery.
- Extensions - 20 I/Os to support digital and analog peripherals and sensors, I²C, SPI, UART, PWM, and more.
- USB Type 2 - A Micro USB connector and firmware support for the USB 2 protocol enable fast, wired communication with the host and allow Bluetera II to serve as a BLE dongle.
- Rapid Development - A breadboard connected to the tiny Bluetera II provides a standard development matrix and facilitates quick and easy prototyping and debugging with external sensors and peripherals.
- SDK - Simplifies software development, with support for multiple operating systems and platforms, includes APIs, algorithms, and demos. The Bluetera II SDK is compatible with Linux, Android, iOS, and Windows. It also includes a plugin for the Unity 3D development platform
Bluetera II is being crowdfunded on Crowd Supply starting at $50 for the development board and there are options for add-ons like BLE modules and optional antenna configurations. Besides, there is a developer edition that includes a debug expansion board, complete with headers and connectors and it will cost $70. Visit the Product Page for more technical specifications of the Development Board.
