HaiLa Unveils an STMicro STM32U0-Based Ultra-Low-Power Wi-Fi Backscatter Dev Platform
EVAL2000 kit uses STMicro's lowest-power Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller to show just how efficient Wi-Fi can be for IoT sensor nodes.
Low-power multi-protocol radio specialist HaiLa Technologies has announced a new development platform designed to demonstrate just how efficient Wi-Fi communication can be, bundling its in-house passive backscatter technology with an STMicroelectronics STM32U0 microcontroller.
"The EVAL2000 development kit enables rapid prototyping for a wide range of connected sensor applications over Wi-Fi," claims HaiLa's Patricia Bower of the company's creation, unveiled today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. "The kit leverages STMicroelectronics' lowest-power processor, allowing developers to showcase IoT [Internet of Things] device data communication with unprecedented, extremely low power consumption."
The kit is based on a combination of the STMicro STM32U0, built around an ultra-low-power Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller core, and HaiLa's in-house BSC2000 Passive Backscatter on Wi-Fi chip. This, the company explains, dramatically lowers the power required for Wi-Fi communication by harvesting energy from the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure — requiring no special Wi-Fi hardware at the other end of the signal.
In addition to the EVAL2000 kit, HaiLa has announced the EVAL3000 — based on the same technology but "power- and size-optimized" into a compact sensor tag, designed to draw just 60µW with a five-second sensor polling interview. This, the company says, means it can operate entirely through energy harvested through light — even indoors.
HaiLa is now taking pre-orders for the EVAL2000 and EVAL3000 kits, with shipping expected this quarter; pricing is available on application through the company's website.