Bangalore, India, 6 June 2019: element14, the Development Distributor, has extended its embedded product offering to include four powerful and compact Arduino MKR Shields, designed to extend the capability and application of Arduino boards.

element14’s extended Arduino product line provides maker engineers and prototype developers with a new suite of accessories that can be seamlessly integrated into an array of IoT applications, streamlining the journey from prototype to production.

Featuring embedded connectivity and extremely low power consumption, the open source Arduino accessories are suitable for a range of battery powered IoT edge applications. All three MKR Shields combine a standardised, modular form factor with the power of a 32-bit Arm microcontroller and the choice of integrated Wi-Fi, GSM, NB-IoT, SigFox or LoRa connectivity.

The new products now available from the element14 website include:

• The Arduino MKR Motor Carrier: The perfect companion for Arduino MKR boards as it allows users to rapidly prototype and build projects.  With the MKR Motor Carrier users can connect several motors and sensors to their mechatronic project and control servo, DC, and stepper motors. The Carrier can also be used to connect other actuators and sensors via a series of 3-pin male headers.
• The Arduino MKR ENV Shield: With its compact 61mm x 25mm design, 32g weight and an input voltage of 3.3V, the ENV Shield allows an MKR board to easily gather and store environmental data collected by a range of sensors. Sensors monitor atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity, light intensity (LUX) and ultraviolet intensity (UVA and UVB). The shield is equipped with a microSD card reader and features a ready-to-use library, programmed to read values from different sensors to ensure smooth integration and data collection.
• The Arduino MKR RGB Shield: Users can now write messages and add graphics to show values from an MKR board using the RGB Shield. The RGB Shield is controlled from the Arduino IoT cloud and features 84 dense and bright-mounted LEDs offering full RGB colour. With its simplistic design, the RGB Shield can be easily plugged onto an MKR board with no need for soldering or special adaptors. This powerful 61.5mm shield x 27mm shield has an input voltage of 5V, a maximum current of 2.5V and weighs 32g.
• The Arduino MKR Therm Shield: With an input voltage of 3.3V and the ability to work in temperatures ranging from 200^oC to 700^oC, the Therm Shield allows an MKR board to deliver highly accurate and an extended range of temperature measurements from a Type K thermocouple and a DS18Bxx digital one wire sensor. Two connectors on the shield enable the Type K thermocouple to be used with or without a plug attached to the metal wires while the unit takes advantage of the MAX31855 thermocouple digital interface. The MKR Therm Shield has the same footprint as the ENV Shield.

“The addition of Arduino’s new MKR Shields to our portfolio helps extend the capabilities of the MKR boards for our customers.” says Hari Kalyanaraman, Global Head of Single Board Computers for element14. “With a versatile mix of wireless connectivity and sensor options, the MKR series provides flexibility for engineers and makers looking to develop and deploy IoT applications easily using the Arduino ecosystem.”

The four new Arduino MKR Shields are now available from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC.

Chiasso, Switzerland, May 12, 2018: Today, at Arduino Day*, Arduino has launched two new wireless connectivity boards to help streamline Internet of Things (IoT) development.

The first of the boards is the MKR WiFi 1010, which offers low power consumption and has been designed not only to speed up and simplify the prototyping of WiFi-based IoT applications, but also to be embedded in production IoT applications that require WiFi connectivity. The board is an evolution of the existing Arduino MKR1000, but now comes equipped with an ESP32-based module manufactured by u-blox. This key element delivers 2.4GHz WiFi and Bluetooth communications capability, along with leading RF and power performance: the ESP32 is a highly flexible device that provides adjustable power output, enabling optimal trade-offs between communication range, data rate and power consumption.

Fully compatible with the Arduino IT cloud, the MKR1010 also offers simple migration from other Arduino boards, and uses open-source WiFi firmware, which makes it easy to reprogram for upgrading or to repair any security flaws. A significant feature is the MKR1010’s two standalone programmable processors – the first based on ARM processor core technology, the second based on a dual-core Espressif IC – making the board a high-performance solution that can distribute its workload across its dual-processor system. Another major feature is the integration of a secure authentication module – Microchip’s ECC508 – which uses crypto authentication to secure TLS network communications and connections.

The second board to be introduced is the MKR NB 1500, which employs the new low-power NB-IoT (narrowband IoT) standard, designed to work over cellular/LTE networks. When combined with the ease of use of the Arduino ecosystem, the MKR1500 becomes an excellent choice for applications in remote areas such as on- field monitoring systems and remote-controlled LTE-enabled modules. Designed for global deployment, it supports transmissions via AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Telstra, Verizon over the Cat M1/NB1 deployed bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 20 and 28.

The NB-IoT communications technology makes use of existing LTE cellular networks and delivers significantly faster communications than alternative IoT networks such as LoRa and Sigfox, while also having a low impact on battery consumption. In addition, when compared to typical GSM or 3G cellular connectivity, wake up times and connections are much faster, which enables significant power saving.

Importantly, both of the new boards are fully compatible with the Arduino Uno, Mega and existing MKR boards. Also common to both boards is their MKR footprint, as well as the same wide range of available interfaces, including I2S, I2C, UART and SPI. Both boards also operate at 3.3V and offer input/output options including 22 digital I/Os – 12 with PWM outputs – and seven analog inputs.

“The new boards bring new communication options to satisfy the needs of the most demanding use cases, giving users one of the widest range of options on the market of certified products,” said Arduino co-founder and CTO Massimo Banzi.

“NB-IoT and CAT M1 are gradually becoming a reality in many countries in the world. With MKR NB 1500 we wanted to create a versatile and standard technology to democratize the access to the new networks, enabling our customers to take advantage of this big opportunity early on,” said Fabio Violante, CEO of Arduino. “We strongly believe the MKR NB 1500 has all the ingredients to become the go-to product for many professional use cases”.

“As far as the MKR 1010 is concerned, we had the opportunity to learn a lot from all the WiFi products that we have had on the market for several years. Based on customers’ feedback we thought it was now time to release a new ultra reliable board suitable for a variety of use cases that are difficult to support with other products,” added Fabio Violante. “The other aspect that we love about the products is that the firmware of the WiFi part is developed by us and open-source, opening new opportunities for continuous improvements and contributions from the community.”

Both the MKR WiFi 1010 and the MKR NB 1500 will be available for purchase from store.arduino.cc from June 2018.

*Arduino Day is a 24-hour- long global event celebrating Arduino’s birthday, and is open to anyone to share experiences and learn more about the Arduino platform. This year marks the fifth edition of the celebration, with more than 500 events taking place across 94 countries. At the official event in Milan, speakers from key Arduino partners and users have joined Arduino executives to deliver and participate in a series of inspiring talks and panels. This event can be viewed live via online streaming from 15:00 to 18:30 CET on Saturday 12 May, and a recorded version will be available post-event at https://youtu.be/Jh7svVoBk-A.