Renesas Synergy AE-CLOUD2 Kit

The Renesas Synergy AE-CLOUD2 kit is a complete hardware and software reference design that allows embedded developers to quickly evaluate cellular connectivity options and build low-power wide-area (LPWA) cellular Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Together with the Synergy Software Package (SSP) version 1.5.0, the kit is said to simplify connecting IoT sensor devices to enterprise cloud services using 4G/LTE Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1, also called NB-IoT, with fallback to 2G/EGPRS cellular networks. Its rich functionality is said to accelerate prototyping cellular-enabled IoT devices for asset tracking, retail and agriculture monitoring, smart cities/utilities, mobile health care and industrial automation.

Each kit includes a Synergy S5D9 microcontroller (MCU) baseboard, tri-mode cellular modem with cellular and GPS antennas, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and various sensors such as lighting, microphone, temperature, humidity, pressure, air quality, geomagnetic, accelerometer and gyroscope. For cellular access, developers simply insert a SIM card with a data plan purchased from a local cellular carrier.

The hardware kit’s software allows developers to provision the kit to connect to a 4G/LTE IoT cellular network and their preferred cloud service provider: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure or Medium One Cloud. Users can visualise their sensor data on a customisable, password-protected dashboard.

The hardware kit ensures good EMC performance, having passed global RF emissions tests. In addition, the kit complies with global regulatory certifications for FCC, CE, RoHs, WEEE and Japan MIC. Its fully optimised hardware/software is designed to save developers months of design time and resources, creating a scalable, energy-efficient and secure end-to-end LPWA cellular IoT application that can be used anywhere in the world.