MediaTek renews their range in the Internet of Things Chipset Market

Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek has recently announced several new chipsets that deliver powerful capabilities for innovative Internet-of-Things, multimedia and wearable computing hardware products of all kinds. The first of these new products is the MT2523 chip, aimed specifically at the needs of today's wearable computing applications.

This compact, low-power system-on-chip combines an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller core, a Bluetooth Low Energy radio for wireless networking with other devices, and a GPS receiver - a powerful combination of energy-efficient 32-bit microcontroller, GPS and wireless connectivity that is ideal for wearable computing and data logging applications such as personal fitness trackers.

The MT2523 offers efficient power consumption, delivering week-long battery life in a typical wearable consumer design, as well as a 41 percent reduction in chip size, which makes this chip attractive for wearable and portable devices where space is at a premium.

Another interesting new chipset from MediaTek which is aimed at the Internet-of-Things market is the MT7697 IoT Bridge. As the name suggests, this chipset is designed to help bring together the plethora of different network technologies and protocols used by the growing number of IoT and home automation products in the market.

The MT7697 chipset supports the latest Bluetooth Low Energy standards as well as dual-band Wi-Fi, enabling this device to act as a central gateway that can converge data from different kinds of connected devices. This is essential as consumer uptake of Internet-of-Things and home automation products with different connectivity technologies increases, making it a very attractive part of a "future-proof" home IoT network.

MediaTek have also recently announced their new M8581 chipset for optical media players, with one device able to decode all the familiar optical formats from CD to DVD to Blu-Ray, enabling high-definition viewing experiences at up to 4K ultra-high-definition with support for High Dynamic Range. It includes support for many of the latest audio and video codecs, including H.264 video and Dolby Digital Plus audio.

This ability to support many different media formats and codecs, including the most modern formats as well as legacy ones, consolidates the bill of materials in media appliances and keeps the cost of hardware low while offering consumers strong product capabilities and user experiences.

The MT2502 Aster system-on-chip is claimed to be the world's smallest system-on-chip commercially available, and along with MediaTek's own Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE and GPS silicon products, it's ideally suited for wearable computing, Internet-of-Things and mobile applications where space is at a premium.

The Aster SoC was launched last year, and made its debut as the core of the Omate X smartwatch. This smartwatch is expected to last up to a week on a single battery charge, showcasing the strong energy efficiency of this platform.

MediaTek has also recently launched its MediaTek Labs initiative, where the company that has been best known for its smartphone and tablet processors aims to diversify its research and development for the next generation of mobile gadgets, staying at the forefront of the latest trends in Internet-of-Things and wearable computing.

Their goal is to provide developers and engineers with tools such as MediaTek development kits to help build new devices and write new software, and to make these tools and resources as accessible as possible.

An interesting feature is that MediaTek Labs won't be a private club only for major industry players - it's designed to be used and enjoyed by both professionals and amateurs, everyone from students to CEOs.

According to the vice president of MediaTek Labs, MediaTek has big plans for the Lab, and they hope that the projects and technologies explored in it will "drive the next wave of consumer gadgets" and "apps that will connect billions". MediaTek Labs is particularly interested in the growing market for wearable computing devices - everything from basic health and fitness trackers to more powerful mobile devices such as smartwatches.

As you'd expect, MediaTek is promoting its own development tools and silicon products, such as Aster, LinkIt, the MT2523 and M7697 as the first choice used for the development of projects and technologies at MediaTek Labs.

The Omate X smartwatch, or the Aster chip itself, can run MediaTek's LinkIt operating system, which makes the configuration and development of embedded software faster and easier, enabling engineers to bring their ideas and creations to fruition faster.

All these applications and more, including home automation or other Internet-of-Things applications that aren't necessarily wearables, seem well suited one or more of these products - the Aster system-on-chip, other MediaTek chipsets providing connectivity features such as GPS and Bluetooth Low Energy, and the LinkIt operating system.

If any of these products or ideas are of interest, and you’re looking to introduce your own Internet-of-Things device – there is a method of development that is rapid and successful. Here at the LX Group we have the systems in both hardware and software to make your IoT vision a success.

We have end-to-end experience and demonstrated results in the entire process of IoT product development, and we’re ready to help bring your existing or new product ideas to life. Getting started is easy – click here to contact us, telephone 1800 810 124, or just keep in the loop by connecting here.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in IoT embedded systems and wireless technologies design.

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.