Design and Implementation of a Low-Cost Core Board for Mobile IoT Rapid System Prototyping and Service Roll-Out

To enable fast development of specific and general mobile Internet of Things (IoT) systems and services, apart from writing cloud-side applications, the requisite hardware production, e.g., procurement of chips and materials, design and manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCBs), completion of surface mounted technology (SMT) operations, etc., can be a source of delay. Here a low-cost generic core board, which is IoT-service and loT-system prototyping ready, is proposed. Flexible and adaptable to many mobile IoT applications, it is based on a robust low-power consumption microcontroller unit (MCU), with boot-loading and remote software upgrading attributes, and running an open-source real time (RT) operating system (OS), which is well supported with IoT sensor and peripheral sensor drivers. The key hardware, supporting IoT communication protocols embedded, comprises GPS/GPRS, NB-IoT, and LTE modules. The paper sets out the basics of the board design.