And we begin our coverage of Hardware Pioneers Max 2023! In the first of 12 interviews, ipXchange chats with Stefano from Arduino, who talks us through the entirety of Arduino’s PRO range of boards. Unlike the more familiar products that many engineers will have used when first learning about embedded systems, Arduino’s PRO line takes the popular ecosystem to the cutting-edge with industrial grade security and pre-certification for applications such as industrial control, edge-AI processing, and robotics. This comes with next-level processing power to match.
The Portenta boards form the core of the Arduino PRO devices, with a modular structure that allows engineers to easily expand their design using shields to add functionality such as connectivity protocols or sensors. A key difference to other Arduino boards is Portenta’s 80-pin, high-density connectors for interfacing with the PRO-series expansion boards at up to 65 Mbps data transfer rate. This, top-of-the-line hardware security features, and processing options that can support AI, real-time operating systems, and/or Linux set the Portenta boards at a new level for Arduino while retaining the familiar ecosystem that is a go-to for many designers.
Throughout this interview, Stefano points to examples of where Arduino’s PRO products can be used within various applications, from smart fashion to agricultural and predictive maintenance, two of which use the remarkably compact Nicla sensor boards. Arduino even has turnkey solutions for fast integration with existing industrial designs, and the Opta microPLC also marks the first PLC that ipXchange has covered.
With so many items discussed in this interview, there was no way ipXchange could write detailed board pages for every device mentioned, so we have summarised the complete Arduino PRO catalogue in a user-defined board form here: https://ipxchange.tech/boards/user-defined-application-form-for-arduino-pro-mkr-and-nano-product-ranges/
If there is anything in this interview that you wish to learn more about or evaluate for use in a commercial application, fill in that form, and ipXchange will do our best to connect you with the right people in Arduino who can help bring your project to market.
To finish, Stefano briefly shows us the latest MKR UNO product, something that we’re sure will bring a smile to many designers’ faces as a familiar sight of where it all started for their embedded journey. Yes, Arduino forms the heart of many projects, and with the PRO products, that heart has never beaten stronger.