The Silicon Labs EFR32xG22 Wireless Gecko Starter Kit supports the development of Internet of Things (IoT) applications using Bluetooth®, Zigbee, and proprietary wireless protocols. The EFR32xG22 features an Arm® Cortex®-M33 microcontroller along with flash and RAM memory, DMA, counters/timers, SPI and I2C, UART, GPIO, and ADC peripherals. A mainboard with integrated J-Link debugger, LCD display, power measurement circuitry, debug and I/O headers, push buttons and LEDs, battery holder, and a socket for inserting a daughterboard with the EFR32xG22 System on a Chip (SoC) are included in the starter kit. The kit also contains two EFR32xG22 daughterboards with QFN32 and QFN40 SoC chip sizes and onboard antennas. The daughterboard plugs into the mainboard to provide a complete development environment. Power is provided through USB, which also supports programming and debugging as well as serial UART connectivity to a host computer.
Silicon Lab's Simplicity Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Silicon Lab's Simplicity Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) supports software development for the EFR32xG22. The Simplicity Studio environment includes a compiler, debugger, and linker along with configurable software components and support packages for the EFR32xG22 and other Silicon Labs boards and components. Software Development Kits (SDKs), example programs, and API documentation support the development of new applications involving input/output, signal and data processing, and wireless communications. Simplicity Studio works with the onboard debugger built into Silicon Labs development boards for debugging and troubleshooting application code.
The Silicon Labs Bluetooth SDK for EFR32xG22 provides example projects for applications such as a Bluetooth thermometer, iBeacon, light bulb, and more. A built-in GATT Configurator tool enables the configuration of Bluetooth profiles, services, and characteristics for your application. The Silicon Labs Flex SDK, which supports development of both proprietary and standards-based wireless communications applications including low-level control of the radio, is also included.
Medium One IoT Platform
The cloud-based Medium One IoT Platform helps early-stage developers prototype their IoT project or connect their existing hardware to the cloud. It offers an IoT Data Intelligence platform to quickly build IoT applications with less effort. Programmable workflows allow you to quickly build processing logic without having to create your own complex software stack. A graphical workflow builder and run-time engine lets you process IoT data as it arrives and route or transform it as needed for your application. Workflow library modules are available for data analytics, charting, geolocation, weather data, MQTT, SMS text messaging, and integration with Twitter, Salesforce, and Zendesk. Snippets of Python code create custom workflow modules. The web-based Workflow Studio, which provides a drag-and-drop visual programming environment, designs and builds end-to-end workflows. Workflow versioning and debugging tools support the development, test, and deployment lifecycle. REST APIs or MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol supports communications between IoT devices and the Medium One cloud. Configurable dashboards allow you to visualize application data and view real-time data in a variety of formats. Dashboard widgets are included for tabular data, charts, geopoint maps, gauges, and user inputs. Medium One’s iOS and Android apps build simple mobile app dashboards that can communicate with your devices through the platfor.
Using Your Own EFR32xG22 Wireless Gecko Starter Kit
To use your own EFR32xG22 Wireless Gecko Starter Kit with the Medium One IoT Platform, check out our step-by-step Connecting Silicon Labs EFR32xG22 to the Cloud article that walks you through the entire process of:
- Setting up the hardware and development tools
- Installing and running the necessary software components
- Building the code and downloading it to the board
- Configuring the board’s cloud connection parameters
- Running the board to generate real-time sensor measurements that are sent to the cloud
We also show you how to observe the published data on a real-time dashboard created in the Medium One environment. A set of next steps gives suggestions for how to extend and adapt the application for different IoT prototyping scenarios or to learn more.