Silicon Labs has announced their Series 3 platform, purpose-built for embedded IoT (internet of things) devices. With a move to the 22 nanometer (nm) process node, new Silicon Labs Series 3 devices will be designed to offer compute, wireless performance, and energy efficiency with high levels of IoT security architected to the silicon.
To help developers and device manufacturers streamline and accelerate product designs, Silicon Labs also announced next version of their developer tool suite, Simplicity Studio. With support for Silicon Labs’ entire portfolio, including Series 3, Simplicity Studio 6 will allow developers to utilise some of the most favored integrated development environments (IDEs) on the market, while giving developers the tools to support their continued development on Series 2 as well as Series 3.
“Our Series 3 platform is built for a more connected world that demands development flexibility and that more intelligence be pushed to the edge,” says Silicon Labs CEO Matt Johnson. “Series 3 not only meets the needs of developers and device manufacturers today but is built to meet their needs for the next decade.”
Series 3 platform brings new performance capabilities, efficiencies, and diversified supply chain
The initial Series 1 and current-gen Series 2 platforms continue helping to scale the IoT, connect more and more devices, and open up new applications. In large part, this is because they formed a platform with many commonalities that developers could leverage, and Series 3 follows in the same mold.
Series 3 devices will be able to answer the challenges that the continued acceleration of IoT poses: demands for more processing power at far-edge devices across all IoT applications in key areas including, but not limited to, smart cities and civil infrastructure, commercial buildings, retail and warehouses, smart factories and Industry 4.0, smart homes, personal and clinical healthcare, and the demand for increasingly portable, secure, compute-intensive applications. Series 3 advances Silicon Labs’ wireless platform:
- More security: Building on Silicon Labs’ secure vault technology, the security package to earn PSA (prostate-specific antigen) Level 3 certification, Series 3 devices will include all security features available on Series 2 devices with new enhancements to make them the most secure devices in the IoT marketplace. By targeting critical power points with proprietary improvements, Series 3 is designed to add years to a device’s battery life.
- New levels of compute: Series 3 will bring more than 100X processing capability, including integrated AI/ ML (artificial intelligence / machine learning) accelerators for edge devices, enabling consolidation of system processing into wireless SoCs (system on chip). In other words, with Series 3, with the increases in programmable compute, developers can eliminate MCUs (MicroController units) taking up space and adding cost to their systems. This will include digital and analog peripherals enabling higher-performance systems.
- More scalable: Series 3 is the multi-radio IoT platform with a common code base for over 30 products across key wireless protocols including, but not limited to, Bluetooth LE (low energy), Wi-Fi, Wi-SUN (wireless smart ubiquitous network), 15.4, multiprotocol, and proprietary protocols. This will allow developers to use one common set of tools to build applications and programme countless devices. In addition, Series 3 will support an extendable, scalable memory architecture, including support for external flash.
The move to 22 nm will also open scalability for Series 3. The past several years have included several events and trends that have put a strain on the semiconductor supply chain across the entire industry, and the IoT hasn’t been immune. In an effort to minimise geographic risk and disruptions for customers, Series 3 will be produced in multiple fabs across multiple geographies.
Silicon Labs simplicity studio 6 enhances developer tools with visual studio code support
Silicon Labs continues to invest in the developer experience for its customers including everything from documentation, partnerships with external tool providers, integrating new plug-ins and extensions into existing SDKs (software development kit). Along with the Series 3 hardware, Silicon Labs is also announcing Simplicity Studio 6, the version of its application development and productivity tools. Simplicity Studio 6 will bring the development tools to the entire Silicon Labs portfolio of devices, including Series 1 and Series 2, will giving developers a bridge to Series 3.
One of the most common pieces of developer feedback is that they don’t want to be locked into vendor-specific tools, and they increasingly want to leverage open-source communities and third-party applications to enhance their development capabilities. Because of this, the impactful change to Simplicity Studio 6 is the decoupling of the IDE from our productivity tools. With the launch of Simplicity Studio 6, Silicon Labs is enabling developers to utilise some of the most requested IDEs in the industry and not be locked into a vendor-specific IDE.
“We recognise that development is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” says Michael Norman, senior product manager of IoT development at Silicon Labs. “That’s why we wanted to present developers with the most complete set of tools, support for an expansive universe of providers, and let them choose. We want to offer a great platform, tools, and support and get out of their way.”
In a move to fulfill that goal, Silicon Labs has announced an extension for Microsoft Visual Studio Code, a tool for software development in the world. This extension will enable Silicon Labs applications, new or existing, to be developed from within Visual Studio Code. A Beta release of the Silicon Labs extension is available for download in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace that works with the version of Simplicity Studio 5.
In addition, to be a supportive partner in the development process, Silicon Labs also revealed an expanded Developer Journey for Amazon Sidewalk as well as an all-new Matter Development Journey. Both provide the tools, documentation, hardware, and expert support needed for development in the two technologies, backed by Silicon Labs.
Silicon Labs collaborates with developers conference for informed embedded IoT development discussion
These announcements are being made during Silicon Labs’ fourth annual Works With Developer’s Conference. The free virtual conference takes place on August 22nd and 23rd, with sessions available on-demand shortly after their original broadcast. This year, Works With covers everything from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to Matter and LPWAN and explores the latest developments in security and AI/ML. Those interested in joining on August 22nd and 23rd as well as those interested in watching the sessions on-demand at a later date can register for Works With 2023 here.
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