London : Low cost Embedded Pi board from element14 provides 3-in-1 design functionality for engineers, students and Makers

element14 today launched the low cost triple-play Embedded Pi platform that bridges the massively popular design worlds of Raspberry Pi, Arduino and 32 bit embedded ARM.

One of a strong pipeline of exclusive Raspberry Pi accessories to be launched this year, Embedded Pi is available through Newark element14 and MCM in North America, Farnell element14 in Europe, CPC in the UK and Ireland and element14 in Asia Pacific.

The new platform allows the Raspberry Pi to interface directly with Arduino shields.  It features a STMicroelectronics STM32F103 microcontroller, is supported with easy to use design examples and users can download CooCox development tools, a free and easy-to-use ARM development tool environment for Cortex-M MCU.  Raspberry Pi and the STM32 MCU can work independently or in conjunction with each other to control the Arduino shields or other accessories.

Embedded Pi works as a hardware connection bridge between Raspberry Pi and Arduino shields

Embedded Pi works as a base platform and the STM32 controls the Arduino shields directly

The Embedded Pi STM32 can control the Arduino shields, and the Raspberry Pi works as the GUI or command line console to send commands/data to and receive data from Embedded Pi.

Embedded Pi connects to the GPIO on the Raspberry Pi and is form factor compatible with both 5V and 3.3V Arduino shields, selectable with jumpers.  The 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 STM32F103 MCU operates at 72MHz, with 128KB Flash, 20KB RAM, motor control, USB, and CAN.

The free to download eclipse based Coocox development tools provide users with an easy to use development environment for ARM Cortex-M and includes an IDE, OS, flash programmer and in circuit emulation capabilities.

David Shen, CTO of Premier Farnell, said “We are seeing revolution and convergence in the electronics and computer programming domain as the barriers to entry in terms of cost and design-entry continue to fall.  With Embedded Pi we have developed a truly flexible hardware and software development platform that makes it quick and easy for developers to bridge between the popular worlds of Raspberry Pi, Arduino and ARM Cortex-M series MCU.”