Particle’s Electron is a “cellular Arduino” with a global data plan

ARM and GSM based board promises quick on-ramp for mobile IoT development.

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[Uxorious]

With a bag of these and a DRTbox, you don't even need cell service to bug anything, anywhere, anytime...

 

[SmokeTest]

I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

 

[lewax00]

After reading the first paragraph I thought "this thing should be called the Photon, that seems to fit better with the wireless communication aspect". Next sentence: "Electron is the follow-up to Particle's Photon, a Wi-Fi based device with similar capabilities." Apparently I wasn't too far off the mark...though Boson and Gluon still seem to be available (since they also carry information of a sort).

 

[Hinton]

This looks to heavy for my cockroach.

 

[John_5mith]

Hinton[/url]":2h400e39]This looks to heavy for my cockroach.

Is a cockroach a 'thing'? I guess so.

There is no shortage of cheap boards to connect 'things' to the internet and/or cell networks. I'm really curious to see how this turns out after the hype has diminished in say, 10 years.

 

[gizmotoy]

1MB is not a lot. If you keep your packet to the minimum 64 bytes (~22 payload bytes per packet assuming UDP) you could only send a packet every 30 seconds. So for things like tracking location it might not be the best choice.

That said, that might be plenty for devices that only need to communicate infrequently. Pretty neat idea for the price.

 

[SiberX]

gizmotoy[/url]":kdw2ncie]1MB is not a lot. If you keep your packet to the minimum 64 bytes (~22 payload bytes per packet assuming UDP) you could only send a packet every 30 seconds. So for things like tracking location it might not be the best choice.

That said, that might be plenty for devices that only need to communicate infrequently. Pretty neat idea for the price.

Make sure you hardcode those IPs for both the device and its server too; wouldn't want to pay the extra overhead to run any DNS queries.

That being said, there are definitely applications where 34kB/day would be sufficient.

 

[MosquitoBait]

If that is $2.99 per month per device it sounds rather unaffordable unless you sell each "thing" for several hundred dollars.

 

[realwarder]

What carrier is this with? I.e. T-Mobile might be ok around a city but not great in the countryside.

 

[realwarder]

MosquitoBait[/url]":ss5f6r2z]If that is $2.99 per month per device it sounds rather unaffordable unless you sell each "thing" for several hundred dollars.

Sell a subscription too to cover it. $2.99 is a great starting price.

 

[Hinton]

MosquitoBait[/url]":2b2eyu81]If that is $2.99 per month per device it sounds rather unaffordable unless you sell each "thing" for several hundred dollars.

I assume the 2.99USD is optional?

I have a SIM card that allows me 100MB free per month for example (a promotion thing in Denmark, where telcos want to show you who has the best network).

 

[Drizzt321]

SmokeTest[/url]":2zwbab9o]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

 

[rei_vilo]

Real challenge is the software and the IDEs. I haven't been impressed by the solutions offered so far by Particle for the previous boards.

 

[Statici]

Hmm, I'm not having the easiest time thinking about what to do with something like this, but I suppose people could use it to build their own solar-powered weather stations or something. Anything at home can be done with a wifi-enabled device; the data plan is just so...small. Maybe in a few years it'll be realistic to have data plans of a gig or so for the same price.

 

[Wickwick]

Statici[/url]":364sxd8y]Hmm, I'm not having the easiest time thinking about what to do with something like this, but I suppose people could use it to build their own solar-powered weather stations or something. Anything at home can be done with a wifi-enabled device; the data plan is just so...small. Maybe in a few years it'll be realistic to have data plans of a gig or so for the same price.

Water level meters, rain gauges, sunlight sensors, etc. You could deploy dozens of solar-powered and/or battery-operated devices in a larger area and collect data over time and space in a relatively cheap manner. You could even upload GPS way points for a tractor or heavy machinery.

 

[Statici]

GPS would be way cool. Cheapo cat trackers!

 

[jandrese]

1MB is a downright pathetic amount of data. $1/MB overage charges is hideous too. That's data plan pricing straight from 1995.

Even normally "trivial" amounts of data will add up to a MB in a hurry. GPS tracking for example won't work unless you limit it to a few hours a month or turn the fidelity way down. It makes me wonder if the SMS functionality is exposed on the cell modem, and if there is a SMS plan for the device. If it's on T-Mo then the SMS may be free with the line.

 

[Hat Monster]

Easy access for amateurs and groups with poor understanding is exactly what the security situation of IoT doesn't need.

 

[SmokeTest]

Drizzt321[/url]":31b9fxe6]

SmokeTest[/url]":31b9fxe6]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

 

[Natrina]

jandrese[/url]":259dgsb0]1MB is a downright pathetic amount of data. $1/MB overage charges is hideous too. That's data plan pricing straight from 1995.

Even normally "trivial" amounts of data will add up to a MB in a hurry. GPS tracking for example won't work unless you limit it to a few hours a month or turn the fidelity way down. It makes me wonder if the SMS functionality is exposed on the cell modem, and if there is a SMS plan for the device. If it's on T-Mo then the SMS may be free with the line.

Their data plan is not designed to be used for high bandwidth applications. It's designed to be as small and cheap as possible. If I had a small DHT sensor (which only updates ever 3 seconds) and forwarded that data every 3 seconds, you would still not use up your full MB.

While I agree that the prices are extreme, welcome to North American telecommunications... If you really need more bandwidth, you can always purchase a SIM from another provider. A quick Google search turned up several. The problem isn't really the data plan, it's the with various levels of hidden charges, such as monthly access fees. You're looking to pay $1-3 per SIM card for fees and then $1/MB.

 

[lewax00]

Drizzt321[/url]":1ei8tj66]

SmokeTest[/url]":1ei8tj66]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

Arduino is AVR, not ARM (well, the most common ones).

EDIT: It really is. Most Arduino boards run some form of Atmega chip, which is from Atmel's megaAVR line.

 

[bjornte]

I'm using the 2015 iPod Touch as my primary phone (yes, really). Would this kit be suitable for making a SMS/MMS/calling app (presumably with a normal SIM card and communicating with the phone using Bluetooth or the Lightning connector)? If yes, can it even be powered by the Lightning connector, so that the module's battery could be removed?

 

[SmokeTest]

gizmotoy[/url]":228fge2q]1MB is not a lot. If you keep your packet to the minimum 64 bytes (~22 payload bytes per packet assuming UDP) you could only send a packet every 30 seconds. So for things like tracking location it might not be the best choice.

That said, that might be plenty for devices that only need to communicate infrequently. Pretty neat idea for the price.

It might not sound like it, but a ping/poll rate of once every 30 seconds is really fast for a mobile device. The radio doesn't power up and down instantly, and it takes power to turn it on, so these devices typically leave the radio powered up for up to a minute. Saves power in most cases, because generally network communication comes in bursts.

As a result, ping/poll rates on mobile devices are usually very, very low. Once every 5 minutes is pretty common, every 15 minutes isn't uncommon. So assuming you power up once every five minutes, you can send about 400 bytes per packet without going over.

Not a ton of data, but for remote data logging, it's plenty. Still an exorbitant cost, would be much better if you could buy a larger chunk of data (at a reasonable rate) to share among many devices.

 

[NoMorePosting]

I'm guessing its the "nearly anywhere in the world " that's the big deal?

Data plans like that have been available for years for anyone buying in bulk (e.g. Telemetry users)

As for form factor - programmable modems with a few I/O have also been around for years in smaller form factors. e.g. Sierra Wireless.

 

[SmokeTest]

lewax00[/url]"3tf0b6j]

Drizzt321[/url]"3tf0b6j]

SmokeTest[/url]"3tf0b6j]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

Arduino is AVR, not ARM (well, the most common ones).

So buy the ARM model if you need ARM.

My point is, all those features are things that Arduino already has, and has had for a long time.

 

[microlith]

Hat Monster[/url]":309uah5l]Easy access for amateurs and groups with poor understanding is exactly what the security situation of IoT doesn't need.

I agree, we should just prohibit individuals from using compilers and computers altogether. /s

 

[okmurphy]

Drizzt321[/url]":2bz85bj5]

SmokeTest[/url]":2bz85bj5]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

So how do Photon/Electron compare to Adafruit's Feather Huzzah/FONA? I mean, feather boards are already pretty tiny and host an M0. I'm sure a Feather FONA will be in the making soon enough. They also have a nice data platform (forgot the name) to interact with. Should I even care to look at "Particles"?

 

[lewax00]

lewax00[/url]":2gr98e13]

Drizzt321[/url]":2gr98e13]

SmokeTest[/url]":2gr98e13]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

Arduino is AVR, not ARM (well, the most common ones).

So buy the ARM model if you need ARM.

My point is, all those features are things that Arduino already has, and has had for a long time.

Form factor alone is a pretty big feature, IMO (personally, I love my collection of Microduino and associated shields for precisely that reason). But...it's exactly the same the same question you could ask for the entire group of Arduino-compatible hardware. Arduino is open source precisely so projects like this can exist. Having choices is good, it promotes competition and innovation.

 

[Drizzt321]

okmurphy[/url]":1f1v00sl]

Drizzt321[/url]":1f1v00sl]

SmokeTest[/url]":1f1v00sl]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

So how do Photon/Electron compare to Adafruit's Feather Huzzah/FONA? I mean, feather boards are already pretty tiny and host an M0. I'm sure a Feather FONA will be in the making soon enough. Should I even care for "Particles"?

Well, again, the Fona is an add-on board, not standalone including the processor & such. The Huzzah is similar to what's in the article, except it's WiFi only.

The Huzzah also is a 32-bit RISC running at 80MHz with 96 KB of RAM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266). On the whole, that's actually a lot of functionality for cheap. Especially how Adafruit added some streamlining to make it easier to work with. Not sure how much flash storage is included, seems that SoC can have varying amounts. WiFi only though.

On the Particle side, it's a 120 MHz Arm Cortex M3, 128 KB of RAM, 1MB of flash memory included. There's also a lot more GPIO pins over the Huzzah. Also, as mentioned, onboard 2G/3G GSM capabilities, including external antenna. There's also the Photon, which is basically the Particle but with WiFi only and half the price. Still more expensive than the Huzzah, but you get a bit more CPU horsepower to go with it. Probably not a ton, but depends on what you need.

 

[SmokeTest]

lewax00[/url]":33r8smrb]

lewax00[/url]":33r8smrb]

Drizzt321[/url]":33r8smrb]

SmokeTest[/url]":33r8smrb]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

Arduino is AVR, not ARM (well, the most common ones).

So buy the ARM model if you need ARM.

My point is, all those features are things that Arduino already has, and has had for a long time.

Form factor alone is a pretty big feature, IMO (personally, I love my collection of Microduino and associated shields for precisely that reason). But...it's exactly the same the same question you could ask for the entire group of Arduino-compatible hardware. Arduino is open source precisely so projects like this can exist. Having choices is good, it promotes competition and innovation.

Sure, I'm just trying to figure out what's so special about this that it deserved news coverage.

I'm asking "why did Ars write an article about this?" not "why does this exist?" Countless widgets get launched every day that are much more novel than this, I'm just curious what piqued Ars's interests to make them write about it.

 

[lewax00]

lewax00[/url]":2tb018kc]

lewax00[/url]":2tb018kc]

Drizzt321[/url]":2tb018kc]
They are (in part) selling service (including their whole cloud management thing), but it's a standalone device that's highly integrated and a lot smaller than an Arduino shield. Also it's Arm and allows coding in c/c++/asm besides the normal sketch. A bit expensive on the whole for a per-device thing, but as a fast prototyping of a few dozen IoT devices, it's not terribly expensive and fits into a pretty small space.

You basically just described an Arduino. A small, cheap ARM based computer that can be programmed in C/C++/ASM for rapid prototyping. There's really not a lot to differentiate it, aside from size and the service package.

Arduino is AVR, not ARM (well, the most common ones).

So buy the ARM model if you need ARM.

My point is, all those features are things that Arduino already has, and has had for a long time.

Form factor alone is a pretty big feature, IMO (personally, I love my collection of Microduino and associated shields for precisely that reason). But...it's exactly the same the same question you could ask for the entire group of Arduino-compatible hardware. Arduino is open source precisely so projects like this can exist. Having choices is good, it promotes competition and innovation.

Sure, I'm just trying to figure out what's so special about this that it deserved news coverage.

I'm asking "why did Ars write an article about this?" not "why does this exist?" Countless widgets get launched every day that are much more novel than this, I'm just curious what piqued Ars's interests to make them write about it.

Fair enough, In that case, I think it's summed up here:

Part of the appeal (and the business model) for Electron is that it comes with its own global data plan.

Plenty of equivalents with GSM (I have a GSM shield around somewhere, though I've never used it), but I don't know of any that include a data plan (all BYO SIM AFAIK).

 

[Matty]

Does anyone know which GSM network they use in the US?

 

[eas]

SmokeTest[/url]":251upias]

Because it is an "off the shelf" offering from a company that didn't disappear after releasing its first product, and therefore provides a useful illustration of whats "easy" today for people who don't follow this stuff closely?

 

[zaqzlea]

SmokeTest[/url]":2q0jphdp]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

I find funny that most of these "shields" usually have a lot more processing power than the actual 8-bit AVR chip in the bottom board.

Edit: also, compare the Arduino+Shield price to this, if you really need the GSM/GPRS thing I find this to be a better deal. The Arduino has the better ecosystem (you can find a library for nearly everything), but that's it.

Edit 2: fixed ARM -> AVR.

 

[Peevester]

SmokeTest[/url]":1g87os14]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

Having it all as a tiny embedded unit is a lot nicer then having to use a shield - this unit is nicely compact.

I'm a big fan of the Yun - I have one outside right now controlling my now year-round lighting display, which I have changed for four different holidays so far while sitting upstairs at my computer. Specialized units with the basic trick bag of calls, the ability to use the myriad libraries, and some bridge code to a daughterboard is a big win. I can think of several uses for this, and with a pay-as-you-go sim, pretty cheap, too.

 

[roguethunder]

Peevester[/url]":23yfqqqp]

SmokeTest[/url]":23yfqqqp]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

Having it all as a tiny embedded unit is a lot nicer then having to use a shield - this unit is nicely compact.

I'm a big fan of the Yun - I have one outside right now controlling my now year-round lighting display, which I have changed for four different holidays so far while sitting upstairs at my computer. Specialized units with the basic trick bag of calls, the ability to use the myriad libraries, and some bridge code to a daughterboard is a big win. I can think of several uses for this, and with a pay-as-you-go sim, pretty cheap, too.

Not to mention the 2G version is like, half the price of even an off-brand arduino+the GSM shield.
And with 1MB of memory and a 2-digit-Mhz class cpu, I can't see 2G being significantly limiting. Not that the 3G versions a useless waste of 20$ more, just... likely unnecessary for the gross majority of builds.

 

[Peevester]

roguethunder[/url]":2mtlp5lc]

Peevester[/url]":2mtlp5lc]

SmokeTest[/url]":2mtlp5lc]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

Having it all as a tiny embedded unit is a lot nicer then having to use a shield - this unit is nicely compact.

I'm a big fan of the Yun - I have one outside right now controlling my now year-round lighting display, which I have changed for four different holidays so far while sitting upstairs at my computer. Specialized units with the basic trick bag of calls, the ability to use the myriad libraries, and some bridge code to a daughterboard is a big win. I can think of several uses for this, and with a pay-as-you-go sim, pretty cheap, too.

Not to mention the 2G version is like, half the price of even an off-brand arduino+the GSM shield.
And with 1MB of memory and a 2-digit-Mhz class cpu, I can't see 2G being significantly limiting. Not that the 3G versions a useless waste of 20$ more, just... likely unnecessary for the gross majority of builds.

Yeah, at this tiny message size you don't need the speed. Though I do wonder how much 2G infrastructure even still exists. I assume LTE can talk to 2G radios in some kind of "oh no, it's THIS damn guy again" mode?

 

[Baeocystin]

zaqzlea[/url]":3j1bshm4]

SmokeTest[/url]":3j1bshm4]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

I find funny that most of these "shields" usually have a lot more processing power than the actual 8-bit ARM chip in the bottom board.

Edit: also, compare the Arduino+Shield price to this, if you really need the GSM/GPRS thing I find this to be a better deal. The Arduino has the better ecosystem (you can find a library for nearly everything), but that's it.

Long history of that. The floppy drives that the old Commodore 64s and 128s used had better processors than the computers using them!

 

[Drizzt321]

Peevester[/url]":fe3yyepl]

roguethunder[/url]":fe3yyepl]

Peevester[/url]":fe3yyepl]

SmokeTest[/url]":fe3yyepl]I'm not sure what's special about this. Arduino has had GSM support for quite a while now.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield

Is it because they're also trying to sell service? Or that this is a standalone device?

Having it all as a tiny embedded unit is a lot nicer then having to use a shield - this unit is nicely compact.

I'm a big fan of the Yun - I have one outside right now controlling my now year-round lighting display, which I have changed for four different holidays so far while sitting upstairs at my computer. Specialized units with the basic trick bag of calls, the ability to use the myriad libraries, and some bridge code to a daughterboard is a big win. I can think of several uses for this, and with a pay-as-you-go sim, pretty cheap, too.

Not to mention the 2G version is like, half the price of even an off-brand arduino+the GSM shield.
And with 1MB of memory and a 2-digit-Mhz class cpu, I can't see 2G being significantly limiting. Not that the 3G versions a useless waste of 20$ more, just... likely unnecessary for the gross majority of builds.

Yeah, at this tiny message size you don't need the speed. Though I do wonder how much 2G infrastructure even still exists. I assume LTE can talk to 2G radios in some kind of "oh no, it's THIS damn guy again" mode?

From what I understand actually quite a bit. I think all of the GSM equipment is backwards compatible. Plus, they need to fail down to lower speeds in order to have sufficient reception for calls/sms. Especially since VoLTE is only being deployed in the last year or two at best.