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What is LinkIt

MediaTek LinkIt™ is an operating system designed for Wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that can connect to other smart devices or directly to cloud applications and services.

MediaTek LinkIt is designed to run on the world’s smallest commercial System-on-Chip (SoC) for Wearables, MediaTek Aster (MT2502). This SoC works also with MediaTek’s energy efficient Wi-Fi and GPS companion chipsets.

To make it easy to prototype wearable and IoT devices and their applications, you can make use of the MediaTek LinkIt Development Platform. This platform delivers:

  • The LinkIt Software Development Kit (SDK) for the creation of apps for LinkIt devices. The first SDK offered is for Arduino IDE, with an Eclipse version planned for later this year.
  • The LinkIt Hardware Development Kit (HDK) for prototyping devices. Based on MediaTek hardware reference design, LinkIt ONE from Seeed Studio is the first third party development board available for the platform.

Key features of LinkIt:

  • Optimized performance and power consumption to offer consumers appealing, functional Wearables and IoT devices
  • Comprehensive communications and media options, with support for GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth EDR/BLE, SD Cards, and MP3/AAC Audio, as well as Wi-Fi and GPS (hardware dependent)
  • LinkIt SDK for Arduino IDE, with support for Eclipse planned
  • LinkIt ONE HDK from partner Seeed Studio

LinkIt OS overview

Running on top of the Aster (MT2502) and, where used, its companion GPS and Wi-Fi chipsets, the LinkIt OS is based on an RTOS kernel. On top of this kernel is a set of drivers, middleware, and protocol stacks that expose the features of the chipsets to a Framework. The LinkIt Run-time Environment then provides the APIs used in apps, developed as Arduino Sketches with the LinkIt SDK for Arduino, and drivers for third-party hardware.


Hardware core: Aster (MT2502)

The hardware core for MediaTek LinkIt is Aster (MT2502). This chipset also works with our Wi-Fi and GPS chips, offering high performance and low power consumption to Wearables and IoT devices.

Aster’s highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) design avoids the need for multiple chips, meaning smaller devices and reduced costs for device creators, as well as eliminating the need for compatibility tests.

With Aster, it’s now easier and cheaper for device manufacturers and the maker community to produce desirable, functional wearable products.

Key features

  • The smallest commercial System-on-Chip (5.4mm*6.2mm) currently on the market
  • CPU core: ARM7 EJ-S 260MHz
  • Memory: 4MB RAM, 4MB Flash
  • PAN: Dual Bluetooth 3.0 and 4.0 LE stack
  • WAN: GSM and GPRS modem
  • Power: PMU and charger functions, low power mode with sensor hub function
  • Multimedia: Audio (list formats), video (list formats), camera (list formats/resolutions)
  • Interfaces: External ports for LCD, camera, I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO, and more