Your Thoughts on Intel's New TinyTILE Platform

17 Aug 2016

I've just been doing the rounds here at element14, and thought you might like a quick insiders' look at the the new SBC on the block; Intel's TinyTILE. It's a very neat little package, and I like to think that you guys have a similar mindset to myself when it comes to a new board -- the form factor is every bit as important as the pricing.

Not that I know right now what kind of price tag you can expect to see dangling from the TinyTILE (it's looking like it'll be around the $30 mark, similar to its bigger brother), but the size of it conjures up some very interesting project prospects. Let's take a look at the silicon and solder of it.

TinyTILE: A Mini Genuino 101. Kinda.

I suppose that if you wanted to sum up the TinyTILE in the time it takes to chew a Fruit Pastel, that's how you'd pitch it. A miniaturised Genuino/Arduino 101, and that's a pretty mouthwatering flavour, no?

"TinyTILE is an Intel Curie module based board," the official blurb tells us, continuing, "measuring approx 35mm x 26mm." Noice! That's deliciously postage stamp sized. And being that it's an adaptation of the Genuino 101, you can program it either using the Arduino IDE or Intel's own ISPC (Intel Software Platform for Curie) software.

The facts are these:

Low-power 32-bit Intel Quark microcontroller
384kB flash memory
80kB SRAM
Low-power integrated DSP sensor hub and pattern matching technology
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
6-axis sensor with accelerometer and gyroscope
Battery charging circuitry (PMIC)

Low power consumption, Bluetooth, built-in sensors and the option for battery power gives me the impression that we're looking at a great solution for always-on, remote applications. All very IoT, and possibly even wearable tech given it's core focus on inherent motion sensing.

First TinyTILE Impressions

The element14 crew just previewed the TinyTILE for crowds at the Intel Developers Conference in San Francisco, so early reactions to the hardware are imminent.

Given it's such a new piece of kit, we're also waiting on some of the finer details (a launch date, for one, currently expected around and deeper imagery but in the meantime I wanted to hear what you guys thought of TinyTILE, and what kind of projects you envisage it being capable of. Please go nuts with your TinyTILE ideas and suggestions in the comments.

Oh, and if you're looking for a bit of inspiration, here's a project that invades your dog's privacy with impressive ease while you're at work!