Digi International Announces Immediate Availability of ConnectCore for i.MX6UL Starter Kit

Digi International, a leading global provider of machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and services, today announced the immediate availability of the ConnectCore for i.MX6UL Starter Kit, a universal and powerful platform for rapid development of smart and secure connected devices.

The ConnectCore for i.MX6UL Starter Kit delivers a complete hardware and software platform to create a wide range of connected devices for medical, healthcare, energy or industrial applications that offers:

A complete IoT design platform:  

The kit allows designers to address all development needs including a reference design for module integration, a prototyping platform for quickly creating proof-of-concepts, and a complete development environment to bring module-based designs to mass production.

Streamlined and rugged Starter Board: Built on the ConnectCore for i.MX6UL module, the Starter Board delivers all the features and capabilities to build wired and wireless connected devices. Features include:

A compact 87 x 63 mm form factor with mounting options, industrial operating temperature range, 256 MB of highly reliable NAND flash, and 256 MB DDR3 memory. 

Choice of wired and wireless network connectivity through 10/100 Mbit Ethernet networking, pre-certified 802.11a/b/g/n/ac networking and Bluetooth 4.2 with Bluetooth low energy (LE) connectivity.

Grove connectors for rapid prototyping using a wide range of off-the-shelf Grove system sensors, breakout connector with access to all key module signals, USB host/device connectivity, SD card storage, and an on-board interference-hardened stamped metal antenna.

An intelligent and secure communication engine: Based on the new NXP i.MX 6UltraLite applications processor, the ConnectCore for i.MX6UL System-on-Module (SOM) is designed as an intelligent embedded platform featuring an extremely small footprint and low power consumption to build highly cost-effective and dependable connected devices without the traditional hardware or software design risk. The module offers a unique low-profile, patent-pending Digi SMTplus™ surface mount form factor slightly larger than a postage stamp that provides two cost-optimized integration options (fully featured LGA, and simplified castellated edge vias), and ultra-low power operation using seamlessly integrated Microcontroller Assist (MCA) capabilities.

With Digi’s complete Linux Board Support Package (BSP), the Starter Kit delivers an integrated and tested Yocto Project Linux software platform with regular maintenance based on current, stable releases with full source code access. Additionally, the new Digi TrustFence™ Device Security Framework provides critical device security features out-of-the-box, such as secure connections, secure boot, encrypted file systems, access-controlled ports and seamless integration of a dedicated on-module Secure Element (SE). 

Digi ConnectCore 6UL development kits will be available in two versions: The ConnectCore 6UL Starter Kit* is now available at $124 and the ConnectCore 6UL Development Kit* will be available in Q4 of 2016 at $249. Kits will be available from authorized Digi distributors.

For additional Digi product information or technical support, contact Symmetry Electronics, an authorized distributor of industry leading wireless, audio/video and embedded chips, modules and dev/eval tools. www.symmetryelectronics.com/contact-us or call (877) 466-9722.