Energy Micro Releases Starter Kit for Energy Sensitive Product Development

Energy Micro has launched a starter kit for its ARM Cortex-M3-based EFM32 Tiny Gecko microcontrollers (MCUs). The EFM32TG-STK3300 provides users with all the functionality that’s needed to create ultra-low-power system designs consuming a fraction of the energy of systems using rival MCUs.

Achieving an active mode current consumption of only 160µA/MHz, the energy friendly EFM32TG840 microcontroller featured in Energy Micro’s latest kit is the largest in a family of 23 Tiny Gecko devices now in full production. The starter kit includes an 8x20 segment LCD supported by Tiny’s sub µA LCD controller and a selection of light, touch and motion sensors, backed by the MCU’s innovative low energy sensor (LESENSE) interface.

Tiny’s LESENSE interface with ‘wake-on-touch’ capability runs independently of the Cortex-M3 core and enables a mix of up to 16 resistive, capacitive or inductive sensors to be autonomously monitored while the microcontroller remains in its 900nA deep sleep mode. Other low power peripherals offered by the kit’s MCU include a 150nA low energy UART and a 350µA 1MSPS 8-channel 12-bit ADC. The starter kit provides a comprehensive choice of GPIO pins, serial communication ports and debug connections.

To support the development of the most energy efficient application code, the Tiny Gecko starter kit also integrates Energy Micro’s unique Advanced Energy Monitoring system (AEM), enabling system current consumption and voltage to be accurately viewed in real time, allowing code to be debugged for adverse energy drains.

Visualisation and analysis of the starter kit system’s energy consumption data is via energyAware Profiler, one of a comprehensive selection of software tools and resources accessible through Energy Micro’s free-to-download Simplicity Studio. Providing immediate access to and updates on all the software tools, product documentation and other resources needed in the development of EFM32 Gecko microcontroller systems, Simplicity Studio aims to dramatically reduce embedded development times.

Tiny Gecko starter kit

Energy Micro