— May 5th, 2021
We have very big plans for Arduino Cloud this year, which took a major leap forward with the recent name change. But that’s not all we’re working on. We’ve already got some exciting new features to bring to you, including a watchdog timer that keeps your hardware ticking.
WiFi Module Firmware Update
First of all, we’re updating the WiFi module firmware on Arduino Cloud-compatible boards. It’ll be moving to a newer version (1.4.4), as well as the library used to connect devices to Arduino Cloud.
These measures will significantly reduce memory footprint on SAMD. The primary benefit of which is allowing for larger user sketches than was previously possible.
Just follow the process below to update your boards to the latest WiFi firmware.
How to Update Your Firmware
- The WiFi module firmware is updated automatically when uploading a new sketch from Web Editor or Arduino Cloud interface. So you don’t need to take any action to do this.
- If you want to manually apply a firmware update, go to “Devices” and select your device. Look for “NINA firmware” in device properties. If the device firmware is older than 1.4.4, an update button will be available. Please remember that if you update firmware this way, you’ll have to re-upload your sketch when it’s complete.
Watchdog Function
This release of the Arduino Cloud IoT library also adds watchdog functionality. It’s intended for all ATSAMD21G18-based cloud-connected boards such as MKR boards and Nano 33 IoT.
The watchdog is essentially an electronic timer, counting down from a preset value. When it hits zero, the watchdog triggers a reset of the microcontroller. The timer is periodically reset to its starting value at the beginning of the loop() function, which means the software is running smoothly.
Should something on your Arduino board crash, the starting value doesn’t get reset and the watchdog eventually restarts it. This will save you a lot of time as it helps to automatically recover from temporary hardware faults or unrecoverable software errors whenever you have an unattended or remote device. Watchdog enabled by default, but can easily be disabled, should you wish to.
You can read more about the new watchdog functionality here. Come and join us on the forum to let us know how the new features are working out for you.
