SparkFun (PID 15170 Edge Development Board - Apollo3 Blue

Edge computing is here! What is "the edge" and why does it matter? The cloud is impressively powerful but all-the-time connection requires power and connectivity that may not be available. Edge computing handles discrete tasks such as determining if someone said "yes" and responds accordingly. The audio analysis is done at the edge rather than on the web. This dramatically reduces costs and complexity while limiting potential data privacy leaks.

In collaboration with Google and Ambiq, SparkFun's Edge Development Board is based around the newest edge technology and is perfect for getting your feet wet with voice and even gesture recognition without relying on the distant services of other companies. The truly special feature is in the utilization of Ambiq Micro's latest Apollo3 Blue microcontroller, whose ultra-efficient ARM Cortex-M4F 48MHz (with 96MHz burst mode) processor, is spec'd to run TensorFlow Lite using only 6uA/MHz. The SparkFun Edge board currently measures ~1.6mA@3V and 48MHz and can run solely on a CR2032 coin cell battery for up to 10 days. Apollo3 Blue sports all the cutting edge features expected of modern microcontrollers including six configurable I2C/SPI masters, two UARTs, one I2C/SPI slave, a 15-channel 14-bit ADC, and a dedicated Bluetooth processor that supports BLE5. On top of all that the Apollo3 Blue has 1MB of flash and 384KB of SRAM memory - plenty for the vast majority of applications.

On the Edge you'll have built-in access to sensors, Bluetooth, I2C expansion, and GPIO inputs/outputs. To support edge computing cases like voice recognition the Edge board features two MEMS microphones, an ST LIS2DH12 3-axis accelerometer on its own I2C bus, and a connector to interface to an OV7670 camera (sold separately & functionality coming soon). As TensorFlow updates their algorithms more and more features will open up for the SparkFun Edge.