Avnet Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit Features Two mikroBUS Sockets

Microsoft and MediaTek worked together to design MediaTek MT3620 Arm Cortex-A7 processor with Microsoft Pluton security sub-system required for Microsoft Azure Sphere IoT ecosystem.

We’ve already covered boards from Seeed Studio including the just announced low cost MT3620 mini dev board. But Microsoft also cooperated with Avnet which has recently introduced Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit equipped with two mikroBUS sockets enabling the platform to leverage one of the 633 “click boards” available from MikroElektronika.

Just like the latest Seeed Studio board, Avnet Azure Sphere MT3620 Starter Kit is comprised as a baseboard with a soldered-on CPU module that can later be used for mass-production is a custom designed board.

Specifications:

• Azure Sphere MT3620 CPU Module
  • Mediatek MT3620AN single core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 500 MHz with 4MB SRAM, dual core Arm Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 200 MHz with 64KB RAM, Microsoft Pluton security sub-system, and WiFi.
  • Storage – TBD
  • Connectivity –  Dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi with chip antenna
  • I/Os via castellated holes
    • 3x ISU interfaces pre-configured for UART, SPI, I2C
    • ADC/GPIO – 3x 12-bit ADC inputs (or 3 GPIOs)
    • PWM/GPIO – 9x PWM outputs (or up to 24 GPIOs)
    • RTC (requires VBAT supply)
  • Dimensions – 33 x 22 mm
  • Certifications – FCC / IC / CE / RoHS (pending)
• Carrier Board
  • USB – 1x micro USB port for debug, service & recovery UARTs, and JTAG
  • Display I/F – Interface for optional OLED 128×64 display
  • Expansion
    • 2x mikroBUS sockets for click expansion boards
    • I2C Grove expansion connector
  • Sensors – 3-Axis accelerometer, 3-Axis gyro, temperature, pressure/barometric, ambient Light
  • Misc – User push buttons and LEDs;
  • Power Supply
    • 5V via micro USB port
    • 5V DC and VBAT footprints
    • 5V to 3.3V regulator
  • Dimensions – TBD

Applications are developed in C using Microsoft’s Visual Studio IDE and the Azure Sphere SDK. Target applications include IoT edge devices, consumer appliances, smart retail, remote access,  building automation, factory automation, or any application that require a secure connection to the cloud at relatively low power. Please note that some of the features of MT3620 processor, notably the Arm Cortex-M4 cores and attached I/O’s, are not yet supported by the Linux based Azure Sphere OS.

The $75 starter kit includes the board itself, a USB cable, and a quick start card. The Azure Sphere MT3620 module comes in two versions with either a chip antenna or a u.FL antenna connector, but price information has not been made public. The devkit and modules are all listed on Avnet Store, and can already purchase the latter, but it will only ship to addresses in the US, Canada and Europe. Visit the modules’ page for more details.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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