Anaren Inc.’s Wireless Connectivity Group announced that its Anaren Integrated Radio (AIR) moduleteam has introduced a range of 1.1 updates and improvements to its recently introduced Anaren Atmosphereonline development platform. Launched in January 2015, Anaren Atmosphere uniquely provides embedded product manufacturers with tools to wirelessly connect their products to the Internet, making the IOT revolution accessible to its customers) via Bluetooth Smart equipped devices. Based on solicited user feedback, the 1.1 version of the platform further enhances user experience and functionality.

“Ever since we launched our AIR module family in 2010, our guiding principal has been to provide small- to mid-size companies with tools to empower them to wirelessly connect their designs to the Internet, leveraging the IoT without having either  RF expertise or App Development skills,” said Mark Bowyer, Anaren’s Director of Wireless Business Development. “The January 2015 introduction of our Atmosphere platform was an important step in that effort. And now, only months later, these new 1.1 features continue that journey.”

BLE & Embedded Features:
•    Data type “selection” for embedded functions has been added to enhance and compresses the transmission time and size
        over BLE
•    Function “type” and “return” selection have been added to reduce transmission-data size, improve efficiency, and allow more
        developer control
•    GATT Elements have been added, including:
        ...BLE GATT Standards
        ...AIR_GATT BATTERY – which effectively exposes the “battery state” and “battery level” of a device’s single battery or set of
           batteries (a power management & longevity both being key considerations in BLE applications)
       ...AIR_GATT_IMMEDIATE_ALERT – which exposes a ‘control point’ to allow a peer device trigger an device alert

Developer Tool Features:
•    Improved Source Download Process – downloading a user’s project source has been ‘split’ into two downloads in order to
        create separate files for both the embedded software and mobile app:
         ...Download Embedded Source -- the entire Anaren Atmosphere core API will now be included automatically with the
            download, for faster dropping and building to Anaren’s WICED Smart SDK.
        ...Download App Source – the entire Phonegap project core is now included and ready to integrate into a Cordova project
•    Image Upload and Base64 Encoding – enable the developer to easily add images (such as brand marks, icons, and buttons)
        to an Atmosphere project from a local computer; Base64 Encoding then adds such images directly to the project for easier
        ‘offline’ use
•    More “sample” projects – when useful to the beginning developer, Anaren’s “sample” projects can be used, modified, tested,
        and deployed to the application saving still more time

Miscellaneous Improvements:
•    Improved compatibility between the Atmosphere developer tool and touch-enabled laptops like Surface Pro
•    Improved compatibility with iOS Tablets, e.g.: iPad
•    Added compression to network transmission for reduced file sizes
•    Support of Windows mobile app compilation
•    Enhanced developer tool compatibility with DPI setting changes
•    Improved new-user account registration process
•    Among others

Those interested in learning more about Anaren Atmosphere 1.0 and the aforementioned 1.1 improvements are encouraged to explore the Anaren Atmosphere development platform first hand. Or contact the AIR team at air@anaren.com.