Microchip AVR® and PIC® BLE Development Boards First Look

Welcome to First Look, brought to you by Digi-Key and Microchip Technology. Microchip’s AVR and PIC BLE Development Boards help developers address some of the most difficult challenges of working on wearable, IoT, mobile, and other connected devices: keeping the device secure and meeting deadlines. Once an afterthought, security needs to be addressed at the beginning of any connected design. The AVR and PIC BLE Development Boards leverage Microchip’s ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication device. The ATECC608A offers secure hardware-based key storage and cryptographic acceleration, enabling cloud authentication, secure boot, and other security capabilities in a small, easy-to-use device. The AVR and PIC BLE Development Boards both utilize Microchip’s RN4870 Bluetooth Low Energy module. The module is Bluetooth 5 certified and has modular certification regulatory bodies in many parts of the world. Modular certification allows the RN4870 to be used in new designs without recertifying the module, reducing certification time, risk, and cost. The only difference between the boards is the MCU, with developers able to select an AVR ATMega3208 or PIC16LF18456. Both MCUs integrate Core Independent Peripherals that eliminate complex firmware development to help meet deadlines and free the CPU to handle other tasks. The development boards include a temperature sensor and accelerometer, as well as a MikroBus header for quick hardware expansion without breadboarding. The on-board debugger and integration with Atmel Studio 7 and MPLAB X provide a seamless development and debugging experience.