MSP430 USB LaunchPad and NFC BoosterPack let developers tap into IoT

DALLAS, USA: Designed with input from the engineering and maker communities, Texas Instruments (TI) announced the highly anticipated MSP430 USB LaunchPad Evaluation Kit and supporting ecosystem of software and support for its portfolio of USB microcontrollers.

The MSP-EXP430F5529LP LaunchPad, based on the ultra-low power MSP430F5529 microcontroller (MCU), provides engineers and makers of all experience levels more connectivity, memory and performance options for a variety of low-power consumer, industrial, medical and wireless connectivity applications.

Implementing USB was traditionally a complex task, especially from a software perspective. To ease development, TI's robust MSP430 USB portfolio includes the comprehensive MSP430 USB Developers Package which contains free and open source USB API stacks, source code, sample applications and a code-gen tool to quickly configure USB applications for all MSP430 USB microcontrollers.

Boosting connectivity to IoT
The added functionality of TI's new near field communication (NFC) BoosterPack and NFCLink Library make the MSP430 USB LaunchPad a perfect starting point for IoT development. Based on TI's TRF7970A NFC transceiver, the DLP7970ABP NFC BoosterPack gives developers a quick and easy connection via NFC for only USD $25.00.

TI's existing Wi-Fi, Sub-1GHz and ZigBee BoosterPacks can also easily plug into the MSP430 USB LaunchPad to enable wireless connectivity to smart home and building, health and fitness and portable consumer applications.

The new MSP-EXP430F5529LP LaunchPad includes support for Energia. The community-developed, open-source integrated development environment (IDE) based on the Wiring framework enables code compatibility across TI's Energia-supported MCU LaunchPads and BoosterPacks including the new NFC BoosterPack and recently announced SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 BoosterPack.

Developers can now leverage Energia to port code developed for these BoosterPacks and easily add NFC connectivity and secure short range wireless connectivity or Wi-Fi to applications for the IoT.