PURE Modules Aim to Make Prototyping Easier

[Sashi]’s PURE modules system wants your next wireless microcontroller and sensor module project to be put together using card-edge connectors. But it’s a lot deeper than that — PURE is an entire wireless gadget development ecosystem. Striking a balance between completeness and modularity is very difficult; a wire can carry any imaginable electronic signal, but just handing someone a pile of wires presents them a steep learning curve. PURE is at the other end of the spectrum: everything is specified.

So far, two microcontroller options are available in the system, the nRF52 series and TI’s CC2650. Both of these run the Contiki OS, so it doesn’t matter which of these you choose. Wired data is all transmitted over I2C and connects up via the previously-mentioned card-edge connectors. On the wireless side, data transport is handled through an MQTT broker, using the MQTT-sn variant which is better suited to small radio devices. At the protocol layer everything uses Protocol Buffers, Google’s newest idea for adding some structure to the data.

What all this means is that it should be very easy to get code, devices, and WiFi-connected computers and services all working together. Besides the overview available at Hackaday.io, there are hardware and software repositories on GitHub, and [Sashi] even put together an Instructable to get you started making your own modules. It’s also up on Kickstarter at the moment, so check that out if you’re not feeling DIY.

PURE uses current open-source and interoperable technologies at every step of the way, coming together into what looks like a well thought-out system. Will something like this help you escape the connector zoo that characterizes our modern hacking scene? We have no idea, but it looks like a totally reasonable fifteenth standard.

Filed under: misc hacks