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What is it?

Think of it like an electric cochlea. Self balancing robots, motion processing, and more!

This is a Wireless IMU platform, with significantly improved range. It is Arduino compatible, and includes the following:

• One (1) FemtoBeacon coin (SMD Antenna, uFL antenna connector, RGB LED, IMU Altimeter, USB Host mode, r2.0.7)
• One (1) FemtoBeacon RF Dongle (SMD Antenna, uFL antenna connector, RGB LED, r2.0.6)
• Optional. Two (2) uFL antennas. (While supplies last)
• Optional. Pair of USB adapters. (While supplies last)
• Optional. One (1) FemtoBeacon coin 3D printed case.
• Arduino examples
• One (1) hour Setup support is always included free of charge, if you need it.

We recommend the USB OTG cable and Adapter. The cable and adapter allows you to power your device off a USB Charger battery, or have the coin act as a USB HOST device!

The FemtoBeacon coin, RF dongle, and code are 100% Open-Source. We are continually adding new examples, including support for VR integration (Unity3D, UE4). You can stream real-time wireless IMU and RF data to any machine. We even have examples for Android/iPhone on the way!

Here are some features on this tiny beast

• About 18mm in diameter (antenna area adds about 4mm of length to one side).
• 100% Arduino compatible. Sketch upload via USB, or Atmel ICE programmer.
• Omnidirectional SMD antennas with ~30ft (~9.144m) range.
• Accepts up to 5.5V via USB Port, or VIN pin. Outputs 3.3V on 3V3 line.
• Integrated High Speed USB. Coin is USB HOST mode capable.
• Runs at 48MHz. The chipset is ATMEL SAM R21E (ATSAMR21E18A), is Arduino compatible.
• Coin: Precision Altimeter (MS561101-BA03) on I2C. See datasheet.
• Coin: 9 Axis IMU (MPU-9250) on I2C. See datasheet.
• Coin: Works with the latest FreeIMU library updates (from the femtoduino/FreeIMU-Updates repository!)
• 2.4 GHz RF, and can be programmed to use any available 2.4 GHz RF stack (we use LwMesh)
• Can generate an internal 96MHz Fractional Digital Phased Locked Loop (FDPLL)!
• Built-in RTC (Real-time Clock). See example Arduino sketch for sleep/wake!
• RGB LED

Chip Specs (ATMEL ATSAMR21E18A)

• ARM Cortex M0+ at 48MHz, can be configured to provide an internal 96MHz Fractional Digital Phased Locked Loop clock source.
• Single-cycle hardware multiplier
• Micro Trace Buffer (MTB)
• 256KB in-system self-programmable flash.
• 32KB SRAM
• Power-on reset (POR) and brown-out detection (BOD)
• Idle and standby sleep modes
• Sleepwalking peripherals
• See data sheet

Voltage

• Input voltage 5.5V max (via USB or VIN pin only!). Outputs 3.3V on the 3V3 line.
• Operating voltage is 1.8V - 3.6V, can be supplied via 3V3 line.
• A small LiPo can easily power a coin (continuous transmission) for hours on end. Using sleep mode extends battery life significantly.

Dimensions

• FemtoBeacon Coin is ~18mm in diameter (plus part of USB port and antenna area).
• FemtoBeacon RF Dongle connects to a standard USB 2.0 port (on your computer, or to a USB battery charger)

Pinout

• up to two (2) I2C sets of pins.
• INT (Interrupt pin)
• FS (FSYNC pin, tied to GND by default using a 330 ohm resistor)
• USB+ and USB- pins broken out.
• SWD pins
• Up to four (4) GPIO digital pins.
• Data may be read/written via SerialUSB in your Arduino sketch! (Windows users must assert 115200 baud or less, unless someone figures out how to set a COM port to a higher rate)

Arduino Core and Bootloader, libraries

• Arduino core, bootloader, examples for SAM D21E, SAM R21E
• FreeIMU-Updates library, see FreeIMU.h for config!
• Arduino port of LwMesh as a library, at86rf233 support branch
• Femtoduino fork of RTCZero library, osculp32k branch
• Arduino driver of internal AT86RF233 radio module

Hardware schematic and board design

• EAGLE PCB schematic and board, develop branch

Why did you make it?

We are incredibly grateful for all of the FreeIMU community's hard work. We wanted to give back to the open source FreeIMU community by providing a 100% Open Source platform that would replace the original FreeIMU board. We hope it proves useful in the fields of physical computing, wearables, and robotics.

Our design is provided as an EAGLE PCB schematic and board (4-layer). It uses 0201 components (two sided), but is still something you can assemble by hand.

What makes it special?

It is the smallest wireless (open source!) IMU in the world! Not even the Curie module is a match for this design. Our design is 100% open source, 100% Arduino compatible, and AWESOME for projects where precision, weight and size are critical.