Farnell element14, the Development Distributor, has substantially expanded its inventory of NXP semiconductor products by investing in product areas such as MCUs and MPUs, wireless products, development tools, sensors and RF devices.

“This investment gives Farnell element14 a world-class solution-based NXP portfolio, with a further 1,500 products added to the expanding range of competitively priced NXP devices” commented Simon Meadmore, Global Head of Semiconductors for Premier Farnell and Farnell element14. “This expansion makes Farnell element14 a “one stop” destination for NXP products, with one of the most comprehensive NXP ranges in the global marketplace”.

Two new products that have been introduced to the Farnell element14 NXP portfolio are the LPCXpresso 51U68 Development Board and the NXP Rapid IoT Prototyping Kit.

The LPCXpresso™ family of boards provides a powerful and flexible development system for NXP's Arm®Cortex®-M family of MCUs. The LPCXpresso51U68 Development Board for the LPC51U68 MCU has been designed to enable evaluation and prototyping using the high-performance Cortex-M0+ core, plus the power-efficiency and cost-sensitive capabilities provided by the MCU device. The board also features an on-board, CMSIS-DAP/SEGGER J-Link compatible debug probe. Other key features include:

• Link2 probe that can be used with on-board LPC51U68 or external target
• Support for external debug probes
• Tri-color LED
• Target reset, ISP, and wake buttons
• Expansion options based on Arduino™ UNO and PMod™, plus additional expansion port pins
• On-board 1.8/3.3V or external power supply options
• Built-in power consumption measurement
• UART, I2C and SPI port bridging from LPC51U68 target to USB via the on-board debug probe
• FTDI UART connector

NXP’s Rapid IoT Prototyping Kit is a comprehensive, secure and power-optimised solution designed to accelerate prototyping and development of an IoT end node. Rapid IoT integrates 11 NXP devices (microcontroller, low-power connectivity, sensors, NFC, secure element, power management, interface) in a small form-factor hardware design, and combines it with proven software enablement (drivers, RTOS, middleware, cloud connect) and a web IDE with GUI based programming. Rapid IoT provides the easiest and fastest path for anyone to take their “connected thing” idea to a proof-of-concept model. Key features include:

• Kinetis® K64 MCU based on Arm® Cortex®-M4 Core
• KW41Z Wireless MCU (BLE, Thread, Zigbee)
• NT3H2211 NFC Forum Type 2 Tag
• A1006 Secure Authentication & anti-counterfeit IC
• Multiple sensors (Gyroscope, Acc/Mag., Barometer/Temp., Air Quality, Ambient light and capacitive touch)
• Rapid IoT Studio IDE
• Automatic source code & project generation for MCUXpresso IDE/SDK
• iOS/Android mobile apps and IoT Cloud connect platforms
• Expandable to most IoT end-node use cases with 400+ Click boards™
• Compatible with NXP IoT Modular Gateway

View a comprehensive NXP portfolio at Farnell element14 in EMEA, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in Asia Pacific.

Premier Farnell, The Development Distributor, is now shipping the NXP LPCXpresso Board for LPC54608.

The board is comprised of a target LPC54608 device with an on-board CMSIS-DAP / SEGGER J-Link compatible debug probe. The on-board probe is compatible with MCUXpresso IDE and other leading tool chains such as those from Keil and IAR. The board is also equipped with a standard 10-pin header enabling the use of 3rd party debug probes. In addition to standard LPCXpresso V3 features, this board includes a complete set of peripheral interfaces to enable developers to fully explore the capabilities of LPC5460x devices.

The LPCXpresso54608 is equipped with a 272 x 480 colour LCD with capacitive touch screen as well as three user LEDs, plus Reset, ISP (3) and user buttons. It also has an on-board high-speed USB Link2 debug probe with CMSIS-DAP and SEGGER J-Link protocol options, UART and SPI port bridging from LPC546xx target to USB via the on-board debug probe, and support for an external debug probe.

There are multiple expansion options, including Arduino UNO and PMod, and it has built-in power consumption measurement for target LPC546xx MCU. This board also features a 128Mb Micron MT25QL128 Quad-SPI flash along with an 8MB Micron MT48LC8M16A2B4 SDRAM. A Knowles SPH0641LM4H digital microphone, a full size SD/MMC card slot, an NXP MMA8652FCR1 accelerometer are also included. Finally, there is stereo audio codec with line in/out, high and full speed USB ports with micro A/B connector for host or device functionality, and 10/100Mbps Ethernet (RJ45 connector).

The LPCXpresso Board for LPC54608 is available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in APAC. Please visit the element14 Community for more information on the LPCXpresso Board for LPC54608.

Premier Farnell, the Development Distributor, is today announcing a Global franchise with NEXPERIA, following the sale of the brand by Global semiconductor manufacturer NXP.

NEXPERIA is the Global leader in Small Signal Discretes, Logic and PowerMOS devices.

With over 7,000 products available globally Premier Farnell customers can expect to receive the same quality and service from NEXPERIA that they received with NXP.

The products are mostly low cost commodity products and NEXPERIA also excels in miniaturization which is key for designers with space constraint applications.

Markets include portable devices, industrial, communications infrastructure, consumer and computing and automotive.

For more information please visit Farnell element14

Global electronics distributor element14 today announces the addition of a new NXP® low-cost development platform to its extensive portfolio of products for the Internet of Things (IoT). The FRDM-KW40Z is enabled by the Kinetis® W series KW40Z/30Z/20Z (KW40Z) family and is ideal for applications in the IoT space, including home automation, building automation and healthcare.

Built on the ARM^® Cortex^®-M0+ processor, FRDM-KW40Z features an integrated 2.4 GHz transceiver supporting Bluetooth^® Smart/Bluetooth^®Low Energy (BLE) v4.1 and/or IEEE^® 802.15.4standards. The kit contains two boards, enabling point-to-point, out of the box connectivity. Each board can be configured as a Freedom development board or as a Freedom shield for connection to a host processor.

The FRDM-KW40Z hardware is form-factor compatible with the Arduino^™ R3 pin layout, providing a broad range of expansion board options. The FRDM-KW40Z also features a highly-sensitive, optimised 2.4 GHz radio with PCB F-antenna, which can be bypassed for connection to test equipment via SMA connection, multiple power supply options, push and capacitive touch buttons, switches, LEDs and integrated sensors.

The USB-KW40Z, also added to the Farnell element14 portfolio is the same development platform as the FRDM-KW40Z, but available on a convenient USB dongle form factor. The USB-KW40Z can be used as a Bluetooth^® Smart/Bluetooth^® Low Energy and/or IEEE^® 802.15.4 packet sniffer or development board for optimal connectivity and efficiency.

The packet sniffers are essential for wireless network development, allowing over-the-air traffic monitoring, with the BLE and 802.15.4 protocols allowing the continued development of power efficient IoT applications, including BLE functionality in the health and fitness wearables. The 802.15.4 standard has been widely adopted as the premier ultra-low power, low-cost, mesh networking technology for home automation applications, with the possibility of more growth ahead due to increased adoption in commercial and industrial applications, such as lighting and building automation.

The FRDM-KW40Z (priced from £126.80) and USB-KW40Z (priced from £59.39) are available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America, and element14 in Asia.

Get more details, downloads and participate in discussions on the element14 community.

The 13 challengers in the Make Life Accessible Design Challenge, their home countries and their solutions include:

• Yao Feng, China: Intelligent elbow motion assist module
• Ambrogio Galbusera, Italy: Eye tracker and automated drawing system
• Douglas Wong, Canada: Solar powered device to direct sunlight to melt snow
• David Delebassee, Belgium: Pen cap remover
• Graham Webber, Saudi Arabia: Smart storage system
• Brenda Armour, Canada: Mobile resting station to lift cats
• Carlos Rios, Mexico: Vibrating glove for two way communication
• Benjamin Bonnal, Switzerland: Automated bedside drawer opener
• Mocanu Andreea Catalina, Romania: Motorized guiding stick for people with unusual impairment
• Alexandros Pilios, Netherlands: Motorized Brain Assist. Modular system (MOBRAS)
• Scott Coppersmith, United States: Motorized articulating table top
• Bram Kools, Netherlands: Adjustable room furniture
• Tyler Roush, United States: Motorized carousel system to reach high cupboards

Challengers have until June 6 to build and submit their projects to be eligible for prizes. element14 will provide an official Design Challenge Kit and NXP Freedom Development Board, which challengers are required to use in their design.

Final projects will be judged on originality, innovation and technical merit by a panel of expert judges including NXP’s Mark Houston and Benjamin Heckendorn, host of element14’s The Ben Heck Show. The winners will be announced on June 21 and their awards will be the following:

• Grand Prize – Design will be featured on element14’s The Ben Heck Show and the designer will receive an NXP High-Voltage Development Platform Kit, Oculus Rift, Oculus Touch Controller and Go Pro Hero 4 Black
• Second Prize – The designer will receive an Oculus Rift and an Oculus Touch Controller
• Third Prize – The designer will receive a GoPro Hero Session

All Challengers who submit a completed project will receive NHT Superbuds. Each of the 13 challengers will provide weekly updates on their progress through blog posts, photos and videos via the element14 Community.

To learn more about the Make Life Accessible Challenge and follow along with the 13 challengers, visit https://www.element14.com/makelifeaccessible.

The hardware design is Arduino™ form-factor compatible, featuring Ethernet, crystal-less USB, scalable, secure and OpenSDA to simplify code development. Other features for the FRDM-K66F for Kinetis K66, K65 and K26 include :

• Audio features such as audio codec, digital MEMS microphone, auxiliary audio input jack, headset/analog microphone jack and two inputs for additional analog microphones.
• Peripherals enable rapid prototyping, including a 6-axis digital accelerometer and magnetometer to create full eCompass capabilities, dual role high-speed USB interface with Micro-B USB connector, a microSD card slot, and connectivity using onboard Ethernet port and headers for use with Bluetooth® and 2.4 GHz radio add-on modules.
• OpenSDA v2.1, the NXP open source hardware embedded serial and debug adapter running an open source bootloader, offers options for serial communication, flash programming, and run-control debugging.

This new kit is the latest in element14’s diverse variety of solutions ranging from starter kits to complete development boards, including the newest releases and exclusive bundles at its Design Center.

For more details, downloads and to participate in discussions on the NXP Freedom Development Platform K66F go to the element14 Community.   

The NXP Freedom Development Platform FRDM-K66F is available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 and North America, and element14 in Asia.

• expansion of technical and sales support in Shanxi and Guangdong
• new products from TE Connectivity, Bulgin, NXP and Richtek
• register to join in Xian on 14 April, and Guangzhou on 18 May

element14 has launched its new series of roadshows in major cities that are experiencing significant development in electronics design. At these interactive events electronics designers and buyers will get to meet with industry-leading suppliers who will introduce the newest solutions and recommend the best products for specific applications in industrial, military, aviation, communications and manufacturing. Suppliers at the Xian and Guangzhou events include TE Connectivity, Bulgin, NXP and Richtek.

Several new ranges will be presented at the roadshow, including products from TE Connectivity, Bulgin, NXP and Richtek -

A new microsite on TE solutions for power distribution is located at http://cn.element14.com/te-efficient . Power products from TE Connectivity offer flexible and cost effective solutions for applications in current ratings of >100amps, 30-99 amps and <30amps. The comprehensive range addresses design challenges across Bus Bar systems, Wave Crimp flat conductors, or Multi-Beam XL systems.

element14 offers Bulgin and Arcolectric connectivity brands and currently stocks over 1,500 product lines, including the popular Buccaneer® 6000 and 7000 connectors, and the recently launched piezo switches. Bulgin Buccaneer® 7000 Series, available in both metal and plastic, boasts of IP66, IP68 and IP69K ratings with a quick-turn locking mechanism which offers robust, rapid connections for harsh environments.

High-power bipolar transistors from NXP, housed in LFPAK56 (Power-SO8) packages, deliver DPAK-like thermal and electrical performance in half the footprint. Offering reliable, energy-efficient performance, they are AEC-Q101 qualified and support high-temperature operation (175 °C).

To join the element14 roadshow and get hands-on demos and view the newest products from leading suppliers please contact cn-sales@element14.com or register at http://cn.element14.com/xian-seminar-2016 or http://cn.element14.com/guangzhou-seminar-2016

FRDM-KW24D512 is a development platform based on the MKW24D512 Kinetis W Series microcontroller and is enabled by software support for Thread, ZigBee Pro, 802.15.4 MAC, SMAC and Kinetis Software Development Kit (SDK).

Kinetis MKW24D512 MCU is a low-power, compact integrated device consisting of a high-performance 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 compliant radio transceiver and a powerful ARM® Cortex®-M4 core system with connectivity and precision mixed-signal analog peripherals.

FRDM-KW24D512 evaluation boards are designed to work either in standalone mode or as part of the Freedom development platforms for quick application prototyping. Its features include :

• supports MKW24D512 Kinetis microcontroller (up to 50 MHz Cortex-M4 MCU, 512 KB Flash)
• Full IEEE 802.15.4 compliant wireless node
• Software support : Thread, ZigBee Pro, 802.15.4 MAC and SMAC, Kinetis Software Development Kit (SDK)
• Reference design area with small footprint, low-cost RF node:
• Integrated PCB inverted F-type antenna and SMA RF port

This new kit is the latest in element14’s diverse variety of solutions ranging from starter kits to complete development boards, including the newest releases and exclusive bundles at its Design Center.

Get more details, downloads and participate in discussions at the element14 Community. 

The NXP Freedom Development Platform FRDM-KW24D512 is available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 and North America, and element14 in Asia.

element14 is today launching the LPC43S67 & A70CM Cloud Connectivity Kit for the design engineer to successfully build secure IoT applications with AES encryption, NFC, WiFi, and a host of sensing technologies, driven by powerful, multi-core ARM processing capabilities.

The LPC43S67 & A70CM Cloud Connectivity Kit offers a high-performance, dual-core ARM Cortex processor along with IC-enabled security and add-on boards affording the designer a range of IoT features like NFC, AES128/192/256 encryption, WiFi connectivity, Ethernet, accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature sensor, and an LCD, making it a great platform for anyone experimenting with IoT or cloud-backed mobile applications.

Beyond the target hardware, which includes the LPCXpresso43S67 board with LPC43S67 dual-core (M4F and M0+) MCU and NXP A7001CM Secure Element, NTAG NDC plug-in card, LPC General Purpose Shield (hosting an accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature sensor, joystick and LCD), IEEE 802.11b/g SD card, this kit is supported by NXP’s LPCXpresso IDE and ZentriOS – a complete connected product operating system available as a licensable software solution. The Zentri SDK, can be easily combined with the rich editing and debugging capabilities of the LPCXpresso IDE by installation of a free plugin.

Debugging is simplified by LPCXpresso43S67’s on-board Link2 probe, which provides full source code debugging capability without the need for any additional hardware.

element14 is also launching the NXP LPCXpresso43S67 and LPCXpresso4367 Development Boards individually enabling development and prototyping on the LPC43xx and LPC43Sxx series MCUs from NXP.

The LPCXpresso Development Boards offer a high-performance, dual-core ARM Cortex processor Cortex-M4F and Cortex-M0+ running at up to 204MHz, along with IC-enabled security for development and prototyping of secure mobile or cloud-connected applications LPC43Sxx devices only. The board is expandable by way of Arduino Uno R3 and Pmod-compatible headers. Debug is enabled via on-board, high-speed USB debug probe.

The LPCXpresso family of boards provides a powerful and flexible development system for NXP's Cortex-M MCUs. The LPCXpresso boards have been developed by NXP to enable evaluation of and prototyping with the LPC4300 series of MCUs, and features the LPC43S67 and LPC43S67 in their 100 PIN BGA package option.

With LPCOpen Software Packages, users can quickly and easily utilize NXP's extensive array of microcontroller software libraries to create and develop multifunctional products.

The NXP LPC43S67 and A70CM Cloud Connectivity Kit, NXP LPCXpresso43S67 and LPCXpresso4367 Development Boards are available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in APAC.

With a wide range of accessibility and mobility solutions needed, participants have the opportunity to showcase their skills by creating designs that cater to a variety of groups including the elderly, military veterans, motorcyclists, athletes, children and more.

element14 will accept applications for the Make Life Accessible Design Challenge from now until Feb. 19. Fifteen official challengers will be announced on March 1. Challengers are required to use the NXP Freedom Development Board in their design, but are also encouraged to incorporate additional components from the official Design Challenge Kit provided by element14. Each of the 15 challengers will provide weekly updates on their progress through blog posts, photos and videos via the element14 Community.

Challengers will be invited to attend on the Community an Assistive Domotics Webinar hosted by NXP on Feb. 3 to learn more about how motor control addresses accessibility issues, technology trends for improving quality of life and more. Registration is free and now open.

Finalists will have until May 6 to submit their projects. Entries will be judged on originality, innovation and technical merit by a panel of expert judges including NXP’s Mark Houston and Ben Heck, host of element14’s The Ben Heck Show. The winners will be announced on May 21.

The grand prize winning design will be featured on element14’s The Ben Heck Show and the designer will receive an NXP High-Voltage Development Platform, Oculus Rift, Oculus Touch Controller and Go Pro Hero 4 Black. The second and third place winners will receive similar prizes ranging from $700 to $1200.

To learn more about the Make Life Accessible Challenge and to submit an entry, visit http://www.element14.com/community/community/design-challenges/makelifeaccessible.

element14 has announced the addition of three new NXP development boards in the LPC Xpresso family to its extensive portfolio of technology products, which includes the biggest range of development kits available globally from one single source.

These new LPC Xpresso V3 boards are part of an established and popular toolchain featuring the power of LPC microcontrollers based on ARMs Cortex-M cores. The boards are able to work with most existing LPC Xpresso accessories and Arduino compatible shields to enhance functional capabilities, offering more versatility for applications in motor control, power management, white goods, RFID readers, embedded audio applications, industrial automation, and e-metering.

David Shen, Group Chief Technology Officer at Premier Farnell said, “We are excited to work with NXP to add these new Xpresso V3 boards to the highly popular LPC Xpresso ecosystem.  With the built-in debug probe, PMOD and Arduino connectors as well as an additional row of expansion port pins, these boards offer a rich hardware and software experience for rapid prototyping of products based on the LPC8000 and LPC4300 dual-core microcontrollers.”

LPC Xpresso 18S37 -  ARM Cortex MCU development board offers evaluation and prototyping opportunities for the LPC1800 LPC MCU family; it features an ARM Cortex-M3 core running up to 180MHz

Both LPC Xpresso 4337 and 43S37 ARM Cortex MCU development boards offer evaluation and prototyping opportunities for the LPC4300 LPC MCU family; it features dual ARM cores (M4F and M0+) running up to 208MHz

Both the 18S37 and 43S37 include an AES hardware encryption engine for protecting data communications and application code in required in multiple applications including IoT.

The LPC General Purpose Shield Board works with V2, V3, and MAX LPCXpresso MCU development boards to provide easy access to several commonly used peripherals like LCD dot matrix display, user LEDs and 5 position joystick, inertial and temperature sensors and more. Join the discussion at http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-74446

The NXP LPC Xpresso boards are available from Farnell element14 in Europe (priced from £12.35), Newark element14 in North America (priced from $25.00), and element14 in Asia (priced from S$35.18); details are available at http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-74693