[Updated: Apr. 19] — Intel released an open-spec development kit for its RTOS-driven Quark D2000 MCU, featuring Arduino shield compatibility, sensors, and a micro-USB port.

In November, Intel announced three Quark processors that, unlike the 400MHz Quark X1000 chip found on the Intel Galileo Gen 2 board and numerous IoT gateways, do not support Linux. The bare-metal ready Quark D1000 was followed by the higher-end, RTOS-compatible Quark D2000, which is now on sale alone and as part of a $15 Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000.

Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000

Like the Quark D1000, the Quark D2000 is a single-core, 32MHz, 32-bit microcontroller unit (MCU) aimed at IoT, and hardened with industrial -40 to 85°C support. Whereas the Quark D1000 is limited to Pentium ISA compatibility, and supports only bare metal implementations, the Quark D2000 and the third new Quark — the Quark SE — also supply “full Intel x86 instruction set architecture” but without an x86 FPU, according to Intel. The D2000 and SE models support real-time operating systems (RTOSes) such as Wind River Rocket and the Linux Foundation’s new Rocket-based Zephyr.


Two views of the Quark D2000 Microcontroller Development Kit SBC
(click images to enlarge)

The Quark SE is already built into Intel’s Curie module, as well as IoT devices from Honeywell and Yanzi. It’s expected to ship on its own as well as in Curie in the first half of this year.


Quark D2000 (left) and D1000 block diagrams
(click images to enlarge)

The 32MHz Quark D2000 integrates 8KB of SRAM, 32KB of instruction flash, 8KB of OTP flash, and 4KB of OTP data flash. The 6 x 6mm, 40-pin QFN packaged chip supports more I/O than the D1000. Peripheral support includes 2x timers, 2x PWM, 2x UARTs, 2x SPI, and a single I2C interface.

The Quark D2000 is further equipped with a 19-channel ADC, 19 analog comparators, 25x GPIOs, plus a watchdog, RTC, and various oscillators. Like the D1000, the D2000 provides more advanced security than the more powerful Linux-ready Quarks, with features including secure update, 8k OTP, JTAG lock, isolated SRAM, and NVM read/write access control. The processor requires a 2.0–3.3 Volt DC power source.

 
Inside the D2000 Developer Kit

The Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000’s SBC is equipped with a Bosch BMC150 eCompass sensor hub, which integrates a 6-axis compass, magnetometer, accelerometer, and temperature sensor. The SBC also offers flexible expansion by means of both an Arduino Uno-compatible shields interface, and a TI BoosterPack modules interface. Other features include a micro-USB 2.0 port for programming and debug, as well as a coin cell battery slot and a 5-Volt power supply. Reset and user buttons are also available.

Block diagram for Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000
(click image to enlarge)

The open-spec Developer Kit D2000’s hardware is supported with a detailed design guide and schematics. Additionally, the kit ships with Intel System Studio for microcontrollers, an Eclipse-based IDE for Linux and Windows hosts. The IDE includes the GNU compiler collection (GCC), the Intel Integrated Performance Primitives for microcontrollers, and a BSP for the Quark microcontroller software interface (Intel QMSI). Sample applications are also provided.

 
Further information

The Intel Quark D2000 MCU is available now for $3.90, or $2.53 in 250+ volume, and the Intel Quark Microcontroller Developer Kit D2000 is available now for $14.95. The Quark D2000 can be found at Arrow, Avnet, and Mouser, and the kit at Avnet and Mouser, according to Intel. At publication time, however, we could find no Avnet pages. Here are links for the Arrow D2000 product page, as well as more detailed Mouser pages for the D2000 and D2000 dev kit.

More information on the Quark D2000 and D2000 dev kit may be found at Intel’s Quark D2000 product page.