Ahead of this week’s CES 2014, where wearables are anticipated to lead the show, comes the announcement of a new wearable platform kit designed to provide the building blocks needed to develop wearable product designs at “warp speed.”
The Wearable Reference Platform (WaRP), a collaboration between Freescale, Kynetics and Revolution Robotics, is similar to a miniature Raspberry Pi and features embedded wireless charging, sensors, open-source software, and processors. It is designed to implement multiple wearable form factors such as smartglasses, sports monitors, smartwatches, activity trackers, and healthcare/medical applications.
The mini-computer allows wearable devices to be developed and tested before release.
“Wearables represent one of the ultimate edge node sensors for the Internet of Things, and hold tremendous promise for equipment makers, service providers and consumers alike,” said Rajeev Kumar, director of worldwide marketing and business development for Freescale’s Microcontrollers business. “This new solution is engineered to dramatically streamline the design and development of exciting new wearable products. It allows designers and OEMs to go from concept to prototype as quickly as the market is changing.”
The platform kit includes the main board, a daughter card, a micro USB cable and an LCD display battery.
Other features include:
• Android OS support
• Freescale i.MX 6SoloLite ARM Cortex A9 apps processor
• Freescale’s Xtrinsic MMA955xL intelligent motion-sensing platform
• Freescale’s FXOS8700CQ 6-axis Xtrinsic sensor with integrated linear accelerometer and magnetometer
WaRP is expected to be available for Q2 2014.
