ALL-IN-ONE: Ingenic Newton board can be used to create wearable NFC devices

Chinese embedded CPU provider Ingenic Semiconductor has unveiled a MIPS-based developer board that can be used to create wearable, healthcare and industrial devices that include a wide range of environmental sensors and wireless communications interfaces.

The Ingenic Newton is a single board similar in size to an SD card. It includes a MIPS CPU and memory plus a humidity and temperature module; a three axis gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer; an ECG bio-sensor; and a 4-in-1 wireless module that supports WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and BLE, FM radio and NFC. The platform supports both Android and Linux.

"The three-axis gyroscope, accelerometer [and] magnetometer can track your movement and help the CPU compute how many miles you've walked, for example," MIPS technology owner Imagination Technologies has told NFC World.

"The pressure, humidity and temperature sensor can give you an idea of the weather environment you're in and it helps people who are [sensitive] to these factors be aware of potential health hazards.

"Finally, the bio-signal detection sensor can monitor your heart rate and notify you, your relatives or your family doctor if you're having any potential health issues.

"By integrating all these components on a single PCB, device manufactures save costs — since they have one component that can do everything they need — and reduce area," the company explained. "This platform can be integrated in various devices together with other components, and create devices that are much more aware of their surrounding and can communicate easily with the user."