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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Flutter - a $20 wireless ARM development board with over 1 km (half-mile) range, secured using 256-bit AES encryption

Here's a very interesting Wireless Prototype Board, being developed. It's Called Flutter and it's another Kickstarter Campaign...

Don

Introducing Flutter

Video Link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABy1KBEYFJI

Flutter is an open source ARM-powered wireless Arduino with 1000m+ (3200 ft) range and 256-bit AES hardware encryption.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a wireless electronics development platform based on Arduino. With over half a mile of usable range, a powerful ARM processor, and integrated encryption, Flutter makes it easy for you to build projects that communicate across the house, across the neighborhood, and beyond.

Whether you want to check the temperature of a beer-brewing setup, have your mailbox send you a text message when the mailman arrives, control a swarm of flying robots, or just turn on your lights with your phone, Flutter gives you the range, power, and flexibility to do it.

We’re not just building circuit boards though. Our goal is simple: make it easier for engineers, makers, builders, and hackers to go farther with their projects than ever before. Even if it's their first time. We’re going to arrange and keep a set of basic electronics tutorials so getting started with Flutter is as easy as possible.

Getting Connected

Creating Flutter networks is easy, even if it’s just two boards. Specify networks in Arduino code or configure Flutter with our mobile app. Once configured, devices can enter and exit the network seamlessly. This makes it extremely easy to set up a network at home (or anywhere else) where all of your projects can reliably communicate. Flutter is like a second network for your devices.

Multiple options

Building wireless projects shouldn’t have to be expensive. Flutter was built from the ground up with cost in mind, that’s why our boards start at just $20. We’ve worked hard to keep costs as low as possible and deliver you a quality product you can afford to use in as many projects as you’d like. To accomplish this, we're designing two boards:

Flutter Basic ($20)
Still under development, the Flutter basic is tiny and simple. You get all the features of Flutter in a circuit board with an low-profile integrated antenna, rather than the large antenna shown in the video. Featuring micro USB for power and programming, components on both sides to reduce size, an LED, and a button, as well as plenty of digital and analog I/O.

Flutter Pro ($30)
Prototypes of this board are what is shown in our video. The Flutter Pro adds battery charging, a professional screw mount antenna, an additional button, and more memory for more code.

Range

Flutter devices can communicate with each other from over 1000 meters apart, giving you more than 10x the range of wifi, and 100x the total coverage area. This allows for a wireless platform without borders, and no longer being chained to a router means your projects are free to follow you out the front door, through the yard, and down the street.

Security

You can't build a wireless product without considering security, so we've designed flutter with best-in-class 256-bit AES encryption and strong cryptographic hardware. Flutter keeps your communication private and gives you complete control over who has access to your network.

Affordability

We want people to be able to build as much cool stuff at possible, so price has been one of the key driving factors of our development. With our Basic board priced at just $20, we hope it will be easy for everyone to really benefit from the power of connected projects.

Open Source

Flutter is 100% Open Source Hardware and Open Source Software, with permissive copyleft licenses that allow you to build your own products with flutter.