In ipXchange’s final interview with Arduino at Maker Faire Rome 2023, we chat with Adriano about another couple of demonstrations that use Arduino’s PRO line of industrial-grade boards.
The first is the Opta micro-PLC (micro-Programmable Logic Controller), a complete solution for engineers to quickly implement industrial control and home/building automation without additional hardware. Opta is built around an STM32H747XI dual-Arm Cortex-M7, Cortex-M4 32-bit MCU and comes in an IP20-rated, 69 x 80 x 90-mm, DIN-rail-mountable enclosure, with full certification for immediate use.
Depending on your experience, it can be programmed within the well-documented Arduino ecosystem or using IEC 61131-3-standard PLC languages, making it a great device for bridging the gap between industrial and non-industrial development spaces.
As shown in the demo, Opta can be used to control lights, lock and unlock doors or windows, monitor energy consumption or sensor data, and more. Several options include Optas with ethernet and RS485 half-duplex connectivity interfaces for wired communication, and Optas with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE connectivity to send data and be controlled by cloud-based dashboards, including Arduino IoT Cloud and third-party cloud services.
Learn more about the various Opta micro-PLCs on this dedicated board page. As always, ipXchange can hook you up with samples if you’re interested.
Next, Adriano shows us a demo which uses the Nicla Vision AI/ML module for pest-control applications within a vineyard. The Nicla Vision module comes in a compact size of just 22.86 x 22.86 mm and features a 2 MP colour camera, a 6-axis IMU, a time of flight (distance) sensor, and a microphone, making it ideal for installing AI image, sound, or gesture recognition into new or existing products.
In this case, an AI algorithm running on the Nicla Vision has been trained to recognise the specific insects that may be a threat to wine crops, which also means that if non-threatening insects are on your plants, the Nicla Vision can let users know that no pesticides or alternative countermeasures are required.
There’s so much more to check out with the Nicla Vision, including standalone operation on a rechargeable battery, so read the full technical writeup here, and apply to evaluate it if you’ve got a cool commercial project.
Though the Nicla Vision has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity on board, this demo interfaces it with an Arduino MKR WAN 1310 board for LoRa connectivity to the cloud. As Adriano explains, LoRa is a great protocol for vineyards due to the long communication range of around 1 km. He then guides Eamon around the corner to see a LoRaWAN gateway mounted at the top of the Arduino stand, and reveals that it is taking data from many sensors all around Arduino’s displays.
Well, there are plenty of Arduinos with full technical writeups now, so follow the links above to apply to evaluate the boards used in these demos, or head to the User-Defined form below, which will give you a complete guide to Arduino’s PRO, MKR, and Nano ranges, with links to complete technical writeups of individual boards throughout. If you’ve got a project, ipXchange is very keen to hook you up!
Keep designing!
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