IoT Device Use Case: Air temperature and Humidity Sensor, OLED display, data logging on SD Card and wireless data transfer with LoRa
Arduino Uno based design:
- Arduino
- Humidity / Temperature Sensor 5v
- Display I2C Bus 5v
- SD Card Reader / Writer SPI Bus 3,3v
- LoRa SPI Bus 3.3v
- LLC – Logic Level Converters bi- directional 3.3V to 5V
- Distribution / Breakout board
To build a typical IoT device with Arduino, a whole lot of cabling and additional peripheral like Logic Level Shifters and distribution boards / breakout boards is required in order to supply every individual peripheral with suitable logic level and power supply. A durable connectivity as required in real life applications can hardly be achieved with state of the art DuPont style connectors as they are common with most MCU boards. Arduino boards as well have restriction concerning the supply of power to the peripherals which for power hungry externals like cellular modems or LIDAR sensors requires up to 2A each.
Motherbyrd based design:
- Motherbyrd
- Humidity / Temperature Sensor 5v
- OLED Display – I2C Bus 5v
- SD Card Reader / Writer – SPI Bus 3,3v
- LoRa – SPI Bus 3.3v
As becomes obvious, the Motherbyrd based design is way cleaner than an Arduino based design, no external Logic Level Converters are required and all peripherals can directly be connected to their designated bus / ports without additional breakout boards.
Benefits:
- HW Development time can be cut by over 50%
- Cost savings due to simplified connectivity
- Power hungry peripherals can be directly connected to Motherbyrd without external cabling
- Rugged connectivity options, ideal for outdoor usage
- Interfaces are fully programmable, no jumpers or mini switches required