SparkFun Thing Plus - RP2350

The SparkFun RP2350 Thing Plus is a highly capable wireless development platform designed to serve as the foundation for your IoT projects. Building on the RP2040 foundation, the RP2350 delivers higher processing speeds and expanded memory capacity, all the while working in tandem with the RM2 radio module in our standard Thing Plus form factor. Additionally, this board includes all of the hardware you expect from a Thing Plus, making it ideal for everything from local sensor nodes to remote, battery-powered devices! RP2350 Core Flexibility Raspberry Pi's RP2350, at the core of this Thing+, is a unique dual-core, dual-architecture microcontroller that runs at up to 150MHz. This chip provides a unique setup that allows you to select, in software, which cores you want to run:

* A pair of Arm® Cortex-M33 cores

* A pair of Hazard3 RISC-V cores

* Or one of each!

It's important to note that this isn't a quad-core MCU. At boot, you will need to select which two processors you want to run, allowing you to develop and test on two different architectures with a single board. The RP2350 also features 520kB of SRAM, two UARTs, two SPI controllers, two I2C controllers, and a USB 1.1 controller for host and device support. Integrated IoT and Memory Capabilities To support demanding network applications and data-heavy tasks, this Thing+ pairs wireless connectivity with expanded onboard memory. This combination allows the board to efficiently manage complex operations while maintaining a steady connection.

* Raspberry Pi RM2 Radio Module: For true IoT capability, the board integrates Raspberry Pi's Radio Module 2 (RM2), providing single-band 2.4GHz WiFi 4 (802.11n) and Bluetooth® 5.2 (supporting BLE, Basic Data Rate, and Enhanced Data Rate). We've designed this board to use the same SPI pins for the radio as official Raspberry Pi boards, ensuring easy software compatibility.

* High-Capacity Storage: The board is equipped with 16MB of external Flash and 8MB of PSRAM connected to the RP2350's QSPI controller, providing ample room for complex applications and large data buffers.

The Thing Plus Advantage This board is built using the SparkFun Thing Plus form factor, making it fully compatible with the popular Adafruit Feather footprint. It breaks out a selection of 21 GPIO pins from the RP2350, along with PTH connections to USB voltage (5V), regulated 3.3V, battery voltage, the RP2350 reset signal, and the voltage regulator Enable pin, to standard 0.1-inch spaced headers.

To make using the RP2350 Thing+ as easy to use as possible, we have equipped this board with several built-in features:

* Qwiic Connector: The built-in Qwiic connector gives you plug-and-play access to the entire SparkFun Qwiic ecosystem of sensors, displays, and actuators.

* Micro-SD Card Slot: The micro-SD card slot provides a simple way to add massive data-logging capabilities or to store configuration files.

* Integrated Power Management: Features a USB-C connector for primary power and programming, plus a 2-pin JST connector for a LiPo battery. The onboard MCP73831 charger and MAX17048 fuel gauge make it incredibly easy to deploy remote, battery-powered projects.

* Expanded Visual Feedback: Includes an addressable WS2812 RGB LED, along with dedicated power, charge, and status LEDs.

The RP2350 Thing+ is built for all developers. It has full software support for C/C++ using the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK, MicroPython, CircuitPython, and the Arduino environment, so you can choose the programming language and environment you prefer.