MUNICH — The Internet of Things took a dominant role at the 2014 Electronica Show in Munich, Germany. Developing ultra-low-power nodes for sensors that can be connected wirelessly to the wider Internet is opening up many different design options, and both silicon and embedded software suppliers are developing a variety of architectural approaches.
New silicon from NXP, Cypress Semiconductor, and Atmel is reducing the power consumption and adding a range of new peripherals, including programmable logic. At the same time, new protocols are extending the range of the wireless nodes, reaching across the city of Munich.
New ways of connecting systems across the factory floor, the enterprise, and the home are being driven by other protocols, such as Thread, that were also demonstrated across the show.
Here are seven approaches to the IoT controller from Electronica 2014.