8-Bit Micro Goes Cellular

Aug. 23, 2022

Microchip's Clifford Swartz presents the 8-bit AVR microcontroller with cellular connectivity.

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Even 8-bit microcontrollers can be cellular node. Microchip's Clifford Swartz shows off an 8-bit AVR microcontroller platform with cellular connectivity. The EV70N78A AVR IoT-Cellular Mini evaluation module is based around an AVR128DB48 AVR 8-bit microcontroller (see figure). The module also includes an ATECC608B CryptoAuthentication device.

The EV70N78A AVR IoT-Cellular Mini evaluation module hosts an AVR128DB48 AVR 8-bit microcontroller along with an ATECC608B CryptoAuthentication device plus a serial flash chip.

Wireless connectivity is provided by a Sequans Monarch 2 GM02S cellular module that works in conjunction with the SIM card from Truphone, which has 150-MB data ready for activation. It requires a connection to a LTE-M-capable cellular network. The system uses the ATECC608B to authenticate the hardware with the cloud via a unique identifier on the board.

Developers can use a range of tools, including those for Arduino platforms.

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