Avnet MaaXBoard RT doubles as development board & building block

Global technology solutions provider, Avnet, is enhancing the launch of NXP Semiconductor’s i.MX RT1170 crossover MCU family with the MaaXBoard RT — a low-cost single-board computer that can be used as a development board or as a versatile building block for integration into original equipment manufacturer (OEM) custom systems.

Advanced security features of the NXP i.MX RT1176 MCU, plus additional security capabilities of an onboard secure element device ensure the safety of critical applications. These include crypto engine, key protection, random number generation, secure storage bus encryption, tamper protection, secure boot, and more.

These features enable the security required for many mission critical applications, such as electrical grid control and medical applications.

“As we continue to expand the popular i.MX RT series with our new dual-core i.MX RT1170 MCU family, we are especially pleased that design-in development platforms are readily available like Avnet’s MaaXBoard RT single board computer,” said Mario Centeno, Global IoT marketing director at NXP.

The MaaxBoard RT has a versatile set of peripheral interfaces enabling the rapid development of custom applications. This includes software enablement via drivers, and middleware with bare metal and/or FreeRTOS options, with Azure RTOS options coming soon.

The platform offers several on-board peripherals including 256 MB of SDRAM and HyperFlash, two onboard Ethernet ports, a USB 2.0 port, MIPI-DSI, MIPI-CSI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, four on-board microphones and an audio jack. A Raspberry Pi HAT compatible expansion connector also provides interfaces for UART, SPI, l2C, and GPIO.

“Platforms like the MaaXBoard RT allow design engineers and makers to take full advantage of the large internal SRAM of 2MB, the multimedia capabilities with MIPI-DSI and 2D graphics engine and 1GHz performance to not only evaluate the i.MX RT1170 but to help accelerate time to market,” added Centeno.

“By offering a low-cost i.MX RT1176-based single board computer, Avnet is making the latest, most innovative technology more accessible through the MaaXBoard RT turnkey solution and services for the design and development community,” said Jim Beneke, VP of products and emerging technologies, Avnet. “Designers can use the board to prototype their ideas and then can quickly move to production with the compact, cost effective MaaXBoard architecture.”

This product is ideal for machine learning, IoT, industrial automation, multi-media, security, and audio applications. In addition, to simplify the design of IoT applications even more, the capabilities of the MaaXBoard RT can be extended further when combined with Avnet’s IoTConnect Partner Program and Platform.

Avnet’s IoTConnect Partner Program enables system integrators (SIs) and OEMs to build new solutions and service models for their devices on Avnet’s IoTConnect Platform and helps them leverage Avnet’s experts to accelerate and scale their IoT solution development. The platform is Microsoft Azure cloud based and highly scalable to address common industry needs and challenges. With a standardized way to harness IoT, designers can quickly build smart apps and solutions on the platform.