Mouser Electronics, Inc., the authorized global distributor with the newest semiconductors and electronic components, is the first distributor to stock the LTE-M expansion kit from Silicon Labs and Digi International. Designed to jumpstart cellular Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the new kit enables seamless cloud connectivity with ultra-low-power application capability.
The Silicon Labs LTE-M expansion kit, available exclusively from Mouser Electronics, is comprised of the Silicon Labs EXP board and the EFM32 Giant Gecko 11 starter kit (sold separately). The EXP board includes a pre-certified Digi XBee3 LTE-M embedded modem module that provides secure low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) connectivity to the cloud. Additionally, the EXP board is designed to be compatible with all Digi XBee through-hole modules, offering a wide array of wireless connectivity options, such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi, 3G and LTE cellular. Similarly, the Giant Gecko 11 microcontroller is code-compatible with the entire family of Gecko microcontrollers, wireless Gecko system-on-chips (SoCs), and pre-certified modules.
Engineers can easily add functionality, configure and test the XBee3 module through standard Digi XBee API frames and AT commands, MicroPython, and XCTU software tools. With Digi Remote Manager, the Digi XBee3 module can be easily configured and controlled from a simple, central platform. The module also includes built-in Digi TrustFence security, identity and data privacy features, which use more than 175 controls to protect against new and evolving cyber threats.
Silicon Labs EFM32 Giant Gecko 11 starter kit is based on the ultra-low-power EFM32 Giant Gecko Series 1 microcontroller with a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 core, 2 MBytes of flash, and 512 Kbytes of RAM. The starter kit includes sensors and peripherals to demonstrate capabilities of the microcontroller and serves as a starting point for application development. The Giant Gecko 11 features an onboard SEGGER J-Link debugger and the Advanced Energy Monitoring system to enable programming, debugging, and real-time current profiling of applications without using external tools.
The LTE-M expansion kit offers onboard GPS, user-selectable high-power and low-power modes, and test points for all XBee3 pins. The kit includes an LTE-M patch antenna, global nano-SIM card with 1 Mbyte of free data for prototyping, and ready-to-use software demos for the Giant Gecko 11 starter kit.