The mbed Hardware Development Kit (HDK) provides full microcontroller sub-system design files and firmware for building development boards and custom products that benefit from the native support of the mbed SDK and free mbed Online Compiler and mbed Developer Platform.

The HDK specifies all support components and circuits including the mbed USB Onboard Interface design that provides simple USB drag-n-drop programming and CMSIS-DAP debug interface for the target microcontroller.

Development boards that are already based on the HDK are the quickest way to get started with the mbed platform. We manufacture official mbed Microcontroller modules that are specifically optimised for flexible rapid prototyping, and are available from distributors worldwide. Our partners are now also creating mbed-enabled hardware such as ultra low-cost ARM evaluation boards in the popular Arduino form-factor.

Microcontroller Sub-systems¶

Each of the subsystems designs include

• Hardware design files (Schematics, PCB, CAM and Design Rule files)
• RoHS compliant Bill of materials
• Datasheets for all the components
• Interface binary for the mbed onboard interface

Currently supported designs:

• mbed HDK LPC1768
• mbed HDK LPC11U24

An example of how a microcontroller sub-system might be used to build an evaluation board.

mbed USB Onboard interface¶

The onboard Interface is a microcontroller based single chip solution that provides, Drag and Drop programming, CMSIS-DAP debugger and USB serial interface to a range of Cortex-M based microcontrollers.

The small footprint, low number of passive components and rich feature set provide a low cost, low overhead solution that can easily be integrated on a PCB.

The firmware required to turn the low cost microcontroller into a powerful programming, debug and communication interface, is available to be used freely, including for use in commercial products.

The mbed USB onboard interface provides three main functions over a single physical USB connection :

• USB Disk “drag and drop” programming - ideal for fast turn around prototyping, or in-field upgradable products
• Debug interface using the CMSIS-DAP - Provides full debug capability with tools like Keil MDK
• USB Serial interface between the host computer and the target

Benefits of the HDK¶

There are various benefits to building a custom design onto of the mbed HDK. The ready made schematics are a great short cut, so you can get started on all the things that make your design, without worrying if you've correctly implemented all the "necessary bits" of the design. The HDK incorporates the mbed onboard interface. This provides USB drag and drop programming, CMSIS-DAP debugging and USB serial communication. The mbed SDK supports each of the exact configurations of HDK designs, and libraries that have been written to the APIs in the mbed SDK are highly reusable. Lastly, the mbed community has developed a wealth of libraries, applications and code examples using the SDK/HDK, and this active community offers a lot of opportunities for support and even hiring in required skills.

Using the HDK in custom designs¶

The mbed HDK currently supports the NXP LPC1768 and LPC11U24, and is available upon request for registered mbed users. Please contact support@mbed.org

Existing development boards¶

There are a number of existing prototyping modules and development boards available that use the mbed HDK which are a great way to get started; see:

• mbed Hardware