Today Electric Imp released impOS 30 which features multiple updates and extends the Electric Imp platform with enhanced wireless connectivity and upgraded hardware support options. This latest release also addresses a variety of reliability and compatibility issues. All impOS 30 updates are geared to help customers and developers build better Internet of Things devices that deliver great always-on user experiences.
The imp’s WiFi sub-system benefits from being brought up to date with the latest Broadcom firmware and impOS enhancements for improved compatibility, reliability and a better user experience. For example, WiFi module errors are now managed behind the scenes so they are invisible to the user. Devices will continue to operate while the connection is remade.
Imps running this latest OS release are better able to connect to multi-access point networks and cope with distant wireless routers with low signal strengths. These and other enhancements make the imp able to operate under a wider range of network conditions, an essential feature for an Internet of Things enabler.
Moreover, a number of under-the-hood improvements have been made to BlinkUp™, Electric Imp’s patent-pending optical device configuration technology. ImpOS 30 ensures the BlinkUp process is even more reliable on Android-based devices.
For customers and developers, we have considerably enhanced the imp’s support for the standard SPI, I2C and UART buses, and augmented its general-purpose IO options. A number of these changes will make it much easier – and, in some cases, possible for the first time – to implement other, industry specific protocols, such as DMX, the digital network standard for stage lighting and effects.
Release 30 also marks the first version of the impOS to support the new imp003 module, produced and marketed on behalf of Electric Imp by Murata. Available as the Murata LBWA1ZV1CD, it is the first module to be released through the strategic relationship Electric Imp announced with the Japan-based electronics leader in research, design, manufacturing and sales of wireless module solutions.
The imp003 gives developers many more GPIO options than previous imps: five separate UART, two I2C, two SPI buses, and a dedicated hardware reset pin. The next generation imp003, one-tenth the size of the imp002, provides a dedicated SPI Flash interface for adding storage to projects. ImpOS 30 presents this in the new Spiflash API so developers can access this powerful new hardware resource.
You can learn more about these enhancements and the many bug fixes by taking a look at the latest impOS release notes. Also included in the release notes are 18 new API methods we’ve added in Release 30, which are featured in our API Reference.
Developers will be able to tell they’re using OS 30 by running imp.getsoftwareversion() on the device, which will return “c9bc196 – release-30.10 – Mon Aug 25 17:53:39 2014” after the device has been updated. To install the update, just power cycle your imp, or press Build and Run in the IDE.
As always, we welcome feedback on all the updates to the impOS and the API you use to interact with it through your Squirrel code. Please post your comments and questions in the Electric Imp Forum.
Hugo Fiennes
CEO and Co-founder