As more nodes connect to the Internet, developers are looking are looking to differentiate their products, adding more unique features. But the problem remains —  how do you add more nodes and scale without further straining the network? With more nodes, you need more interfaces to the gateway to talk to these nodes. A typical MCU provides 4 to 8 interfaces (SPI), but you can’t get them to run in parallel because they share pinouts. If all serial ports could be used simultaneously, you could ultimately realize endless permutations of wireless protocols and interfaces to connect to end nodes.

To that end, Texas Instruments is now offering an intelligent gateway platform that provides smaller, more manageable cluster networks, as opposed to the billions of sensors directly connected to the cloud.

TI’s Ethernet connectivity to the SimpleLink microcontroller (MCU) platform is a single hardware, software and tool platform for wired and wireless MCUs. The new SimpleLink MSP432 Ethernet MCUs are based on a high-performance 120-MHz Arm Cortex-M4F core with an integrated MAC and PHY. Unique to the platform is that every MCU is ARM Cortex-based supported by one SDK.

The single, common software foundation enables developers to design IoT application faster and also to move quickly from one device to the next, maximizing code reuse from product to product.

“The key challenge with designing with Ethernet,” says Dung Dang, product marketing engineer, SimpleLink MSP432 MCUs, “is the high-speed design. Developers need to incorporate 20 external components to put the physical layer together which then has to be routed in a particular way to support high speed. There is a great deal of time and debug required to get Ethernet up and running in a robust manner. By including MAC and PHY, we aim to simplify design for customers, while reducing BOM and board space, thereby, reducing Ethernet developing time significantly,” said Dang.

Because hardware is only 50 percent of the equation,  TI has incorporated SimpleLink SDK software. Start with end node, wireless, etc. they can move from one to another with this SDK. Spend less time working with peripherals and spend more time designing applications.

For building automation systems that exist today, there are multiple systems clustered around different functions (i.e., lighting control, security). The challenge is how do you retrofit into a backbone system without having to change out the bulk of the network.

A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system could leverage other SimpleLink MCUs such as the Sub-1 GHz CC1310 wireless MCU and MSP432P4 host MCU to form a network of air-quality sensors and wired dampers to connect to an Ethernet-enabled HVAC system controller and then to the cloud. Users can then access real-time data to monitor and manage their energy profile.

“We believe that with just one SimpleLink platform, the customer can have the entire pie – edge node, gateway, or cloud,” said Dang “Our vision is to enable building automation customers to deploy and develop this product with least amount of software investment and resources.

Key features:

Highly integrated wired MCU: Developers can reduce design time and simplify board layout with new MSP432E411Y MCUs, which integrate an Ethernet MAC and PHY, USB, Controller Area Network (CAN) and advanced cryptography accelerators.

Seamless, connected gateways: Engineers can now combine wired communications with the SimpleLink MSP432 host MCUs through integrated serial interfaces with wireless connectivity technology such as Sub-1 GHz, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect end nodes to the cloud using the SimpleLink software development kit (SDK).

100 percent application code compatibility: As part of the industry’s broadest portfolio of wired and wireless Arm MCUs, developers can use the same code base when designing end nodes and intelligent gateways using the new SimpleLink Ethernet MCUs for the grid, factories and buildings.

Developers can get started immediately with SimpleLink Ethernet MCU-based development kits available through the TI store and authorized distributors. The MSP432E401Y MCU LaunchPad™ development kit (MSP-EXP432E401Y) is available for US$19.99.