What could you make with a key fob containing a Bluetooth (BCM20737S) Smart chip, gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, barometer and humidity/temperature sensors? Broadcom are hoping their WICED (pronounced wicked) Sense kit will make an ideal development platform for engineers and developers working on the next generation of IoT applications. Together with the hardware Broadcom have an integrated Software Development Kit (SDK) using the WICED Smart SDK v2.1 and a downloadable WICED Sense app from the Apple App store or from Google Play for Android devices to allow interaction with the fob via a smartphone or tablet etc.

An example application given in the product briefing is to use the WICED tag to sense temperature in a room and issue an alarm when it goes outside preset thresholds. The fob is powered by a single coin cell and a simplified set-up process takes less than five minutes to allow users to establish a link from the tag to their mobile device and start gathering data from the sensors.

The BCM20737 Bluetooth Smart SoC inside the tag ensures privacy with advanced security and encryption features and also includes software to support iBeacon technology. The hardware kit is available for a $20.