Belgium-based Avnet Silica has launched the HoriZone RA development kit, which is designed to enable proof-of-concept for edge-to-cloud IoT applications requiring secure communications.

Powered by Renesas RA microcontrollers for secure IoT endpoints and edge devices, the kit delivers security features for resource constrained embedded systems connected to Avnet’s IoT Connect cloud platform based on Microsoft Azure cloud.

The turnkey multi-sensor product is scalable, providing a seamless path from proof-of-concept to project through to deployment, including all the required building blocks. The kit includes sensors for humidity, temperatures, ambient light, air quality and air pressure, plus microphone, digital accelerometer, digital gyroscope and inductive proximity sensor for positioning information.

The board integrates several components from Japanese electronics company Renesas, including the RA RA6M3 microcontroller, which is suitable for IoT applications that require TFT, Ethernet, security, large embedded RAM and USB High Speed. Also included are the ISL88014 voltage supervisor and ISL80102 synchronous boost converter for power management.

“Our RA family of microcontrollers delivers on performance with all the advanced security capabilities and features needed for IoT applications,” said Roger Wendelken, senior vice president of Renesas. “These include our secure crypto engine IP with Nist’s cryptographic algorithm validation programme certifications, Arm TrustZone for Arm v8-M and tamper detection.”

Out of the box, engineers can start developing IoT endpoint and edge devices for a broad range of applications, including industrial and building automation, metering, healthcare, and home appliances.

“IoT growth has increased embedded design complexity exponentially,” said Juerg Siegenthaler, manager of third party management for Avnet Silica. “IoT devices are complex and, with shortening project timelines, the HoriZone cloud-ready platform has all the necessary building blocks that offers designers a ready-made and highly scalable solution for developing new IoT use cases quickly.”

Avnet Silica is the European semiconductor specialist division of Avnet, a global technology distributor, and acts as the smart connection between customers and suppliers.