In a world where raspberry pi and Arduino set the norm for hardware prototyping, overloaded with clones and spinoffs of both said products, a new alternative seems redundant. However, the boards that compose the Apollo.IoT ecosystem are crafted after careful analysis of the existing solutions. The value proposition is:
- layered approach - boards fall into two main categories with minimum functionality that ensures interoperability: nodes and capes. you can mix processing nodes with I/0 or communication capes and have a system ready for deployment.
- mobile first - nodes must have a flexible power supply scheme, so Apollo boards usually have a LiIon connector as well as two different power supply inputs
- open hardware - most vendors supply limited schematics and no fabrication files for products advertised as open hardware. This is misleading, as open hardware is supposed to be replicated and contributed to. The Apollo boards have their design files available and can be contributed to.