element14, the first collaborative community and electronics store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts and part of global electronics distributor Premier Farnell, is now supplying the new Freescale Freedom development platform for Kinetis KL2 32-bit MCUs. Working in close collaboration with Freescale, element14 becomes the first and only distributor to take early orders for the Freescale Freedom development platform.  To make it easy for designers to use this platform, element14 also provides a full ecosystem solution with complete technical data and easy access to design tools and engineering experts.

The company is first to offer the board on a pre-order basis, allowing designers to secure first access to the newly manufactured boards immediately upon availability in Q3, 2012. The new low-power, ultra affordable development board will allow for quick application prototyping and demonstration of this new technology, which is poised to transform consumer and industrial applications that currently employ legacy 8- and 16-bit architectures.

The Freescale Freedom development platform is a small, low-power, cost-efficient evaluation and development system for quick application prototyping and demonstration based on the Kinetis L series, the industry’s first microcontrollers built on the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor. The development platform combines an industry-standard form factor with a rich set of third-party expansion board options. Using this platform to speed development, applications such as small appliances, gaming accessories, portable medical systems, audio systems, smart meters, lighting and power control, can now leverage 32-bit capabilities and the scalability needed to expand future product lines, all at 8 and 16-bit price and power consumption levels.

“We are delighted to partner with Freescale in the launch of their groundbreaking technology,” said David Shen, Chief Technical Officer, element14. “By combining the Freescale Kinetis Freedom development platform with the technical data and tools designers need, element14 provides users with the ideal opportunity to migrate their legacy systems to this 32-bit architecture improving performance without increasing power consumption. Our unique design ecosystem for engineers will make it easy for designers to adopt the Kinetis L series MCUs.”

“Legacy 8- and 16-bit architectures simply can’t keep up as the Internet of Things gains traction,” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Industrial & Multi-Market MCU business. “As designers move to the enhanced performance, low power, and scalability of the Kinetis 32-bit portfolio, access to the design ecosystem, technical resources and community of engineers from element14 will help speed adoption.”

The Freescale Freedom development platform is form-factor compatible with popular third-party hardware designed to work with Arduino and Arduino-Compatible boards, providing engineers the freedom to connect to a broader range of expansion boards to achieve even greater technological breakthroughs. Access to additional design tools available from Freescale, include Processor Expert software, and the Kinetis MCU Solution Advisor, plus all the detailed information necessary to perform new evaluations using the development system, are also available at the knode on element14.

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