Daniel J SaitThe Ci40 microcomputer has been specifically designed for smart home, IoT and other connected devices (drones, robots) but it also has the hardware requirements (802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, an Ethernet port, SD and USB storage) needed to be used as a high-speed wireless router.
The Creator Ci40 board runs not only Linux (Debian, OpenWrt) but also Brillo, the new operating system from Google.
Imagination Technologies says it is one of the few platforms selected by Google to be part of its Brillo golden reference program – these boards can be seen as the equivalent of the Nexus phones/tablets, receiving regular updates and patches from Google every six months.
Hardware-wise, the microcomputer offers a dual-core chip that has been optimised for IoT and networking applications.
Many existing IoT dev boards reuse existing mobile chips, but Imagine Technologies argues this can lead to increased power consumption and short battery life, most recently seen with tech such as wearable devices.
Creator Ci40 instead uses a custom-built chip called cXT200 that delivers high performance, but also includes a balanced feature set aimed at low power consumption and is manufactured using a low power process node from semiconductor specialist GLOBAL FOUNDRIES.
In addition, whereas other boards might use only 802.11n Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, Creator Ci40 includes a full wireless connectivity package: 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (Classic and Low Energy) and 802.15.4.
Imagination Technologies says the latter represents the foundation for many IoT standards, including the Thread protocol, ZigBee and 6LoWPAN (Imagination is a member of the Thread Group as well as the Qualcomm-backed AllSeen Alliance).
Some developers are already using Creator during an initial trial; for example, a company is using the kit to monitor the temperature and humidity of the soil on several farms and adjust irrigation accordingly.
Another developer is using it to monitor multiple car parks and send notifications to an iOS and Android App that directs drivers to the nearest space available.
Imagination Technologies has released a video to demonstrate the prototyping process and says the board supports over 200 sensors today – and more are being released every week.
Imagination Technologies is a UK-based company that designs digital radio chip sets as well as the PowerVR and MIPS processor technology inside billions of devices around the world; customers include Apple, Broadcom, Intel, LG, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Samsung and Sony.
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