With its Arduino Pro series, the company has developed an offer for companies of all industries and sizes that want to design processes smartly and efficiently, monitor machines or expand systems with smart functions.
The Pro Series offers a wide variety of products: from the powerful Portenta X8 and Portenta H7 boards to compact control units, sensors and shields to boards for connecting existing machines to the network. This guide gives you a quick overview of the Arduino Pro Series. We explain the properties of the products and what advantages Arduino Pro brings you for the implementation of your IoT projects.
The Arduino ecosystem
The special thing about Arduino is that it is not just a series of products, but that they are supplemented by a wide range of software tools, a cloud and other service offers. It’s all about supporting companies with their IoT projects: from product design to rolling out applications in the Arduino IoT Cloud.
Product Overview
Arduino Pro offers several product series – depending on the application and purpose. Powerful developer boards meet a wealth of complementary sensors, shields and connectivity modules.
Arduino Portenta
At the heart of Arduino Pro is the Portenta series. It includes a range of industrial-grade boards for demanding IoT projects, such as running AI algorithms or machine learning. In a compact format, they offer a particularly high computing density and are therefore suitable for complex tasks. Since they are compatible with both the Arduino and the Linux ecosystem, users have the flexibility to choose which development environment makes sense for their project. The products also meet industry standards for hardware security and provide secure over-the-air updates.The Portenta X8 and Portenta H7 deserve special mention: With its enormous computing power and two microprocessors, the Portenta X8 is a multitasking talent: The SOM (System on Module) runs real-time applications and can run high-performance processes on Linux cores at the same time. The board is therefore ideal for state-of-the-art production machines, laboratory devices or for controlling robots. Portenta H7 is also about the simultaneous execution of several complex tasks. The board manages the execution of high-level code or AI tasks while running real-time applications.
You can find an overview of all products in the reichelt online shop.
Arduino Nicola
The Arduino Nicla is the smallest Arduino developer board suitable for industrial use. The product series makes sense when existing infrastructures are to be expanded to include artificial intelligence or machine learning functions. The compact, energy-saving sensors Nicla Sense Me, Nicla Vision or Nicla Voice are ideally suited for this.
Arduino Opta
For this Micro PLC Arduino Opta, Arduino has worked together with Finder, a well-known device manufacturer for industrial and building automation. The controller offers IoT functionality for real-time control, process monitoring or predictive maintenance. With three different variants of the connection standards, it is an ideal companion in the smart factory.
Arduino EdgeControl
As the name suggests, Arduino Edge Control is about remote control. For example, sensor data can be read, machines can be monitored or actuators can be controlled. This board can be of great service to users, especially in agriculture, for example for monitoring and controlling humidity in greenhouses.Arduino MKR
Arduino MKR is about adding connectivity capabilities to existing machines and equipment. The cost-effective boards deliver secure and reliable wireless communications and other features to transform any factory into a smart factory. You can choose from WiFi, WAN, Narrowband or Bluetooth Low Energy, among others.
Arduino Nano
The Nano series is interesting for companies that design and produce smart products. It is very compact, powerful and has integrated sensors and a Bluetooth connection. The Arduino Nano products are the smallest boards that can be used for AI tasks. Therefore, they are well suited for wearables, drones or even for use in autonomous vehicles.
Arduino LoRa Gateway
The Arduino Wisgate Edge Gateways are designed for long-distance connectivity. They offer secure and reliable connectivity with low power consumption. It can be used indoors as well as outdoors.
Development Environment
This wealth of products already shows the variety of projects that can be implemented with Arduino Pro. So that companies can also be successful in programming and commissioning, engineers can fall back on several development tools. Depending on how complex the tasks are, developers have different tools and platforms at their disposal. Each of the development environments presented is open source and free of charge. This makes the barrier to entry particularly low.
Arduino IDE is Arduino’s well-known and already widely used web editor. It makes it particularly easy for beginners, because when programming, you don’t have to worry about whether the hardware you’re working on has enough computing power. With a simple and well-known interface, libraries pre-installed on the boards and some functions for automatic code generation, the first projects are quickly and successfully implemented.
Arduino’s large community of professional and hobby developers also pays off here. Anyone looking for templates for specific tasks or functionalities can quickly find what they are looking for in the community. If you have problems, you can easily find help in forums and on online platforms.
For developers who manage more demanding and complex projects, the use of Arduino IDE 2.0 is worthwhile. The development environment has the same look and feel as the Arduino IDE, but with new features such as an efficient debugger or a new board manager and library manager. The platform is also open to third-party plugins and boards.
Arduino CLI is a powerful command line interpreter. It contains a compiler that can be used to manage both cards and function libraries or to execute commands such as switching on and off.
Arduino PLC IDE is a control system for Industry 4.0. It specializes in production and building automation and is therefore primarily designed for use with Portenta Machine Control and Arduino Opta. It also guarantees IEC 61131-3 standard-compliant programming within the Arduino environment.
Arduino IoT Cloud
If you want to monitor machines or control processes remotely, you need a cloud solution. The Arduino Cloud gives users the ability to easily and securely connect applications with the cloud. All communication is encrypted using the SSL protocol. Read more about the Arduino Cloud in this guide.
Benefits for PRO users
Companies today are under great pressure to innovate. They need to rapidly develop new and novel products, improve services, or rethink their business model to stay relevant and competitive. That’s why they rely on solutions that help them quickly and easily with digitization projects. You need flexibility in execution and reliability in implementation.
The Arduino Pro Series offers companies many options to find an individual solution. Whether it is a high-performance board for real-time AI applications or a compact LoRaWAN module, a new design or an upgrade of existing systems: Arduino Pro can be adapted to the individual needs of companies and offers maximum scalability and flexibility. For example, the integration can be done with the Arduino IoT Cloud or third-party services. The code is easily ported to Arduino Pro products. You can easily expand a project or add new functions.
Most important is: The integration runs simple and with user-friendly tools. Automatic code generation makes programming accessible even for engineers without special knowledge of coding. Engineers can use the Pro version or Linux for demanding projects. Should there be any problems or questions, Arduino offers worldwide customer support through Pro integration partners.
Creating new innovations with the IoT
IoT capabilities open up new opportunities for companies to create value. Companies that have previously created electronic products without smart functions can expand them with connectivity and thus a variety of new services. It is even possible that some companies will switch their business model from a purchase model to a subscription model. This opens up new markets and sources of income.
Images: Arduino, Adobe Stock
