November 12, 2020 — Crowd Supply, the product development platform connecting hardware creators with early adopters and enthusiastic backers, today announced the availability of Precursor, an open hardware development platform from Sutajio Kosagi that provides secure performance to a broad range of mobile applications.
Uniting secure communication, CPU emulation, and key protection, Precursor was purpose-built to support applications such as crypto wallets, highly secure messaging platforms, and even handheld gaming devices. Precursor is highly versatile and accommodating for developers; the open source platform is modifiable and extendable, enabling the easy addition of hardware and peripheral components. Precursor is part of Silicon Labs’ IoT Accelerator program.
Precursor, developed by Sutajio Kosagi and launched with support from Crowd Supply, is powered by a soft-core Xilinx XC7S50 primary system-on-chip (SoC) with fully open source software, PCB, and case design. The SoC can be easily inspected and modified, allowing customization of virtually every aspect of the development platform. Precursor supports modern crypto primitives and obtains network connectivity using a hardware-sandboxed WF200 chip from Silicon Labs, making it an ideal choice for secure communications applications.
The platform’s FPGA-based SoC can be reconfigured to emulate a broad selection of CPUs, with this customization even applying to old sound chips and controllers. Precursor is designed to be hacked: the platform’s radical transparency allows every component from the mainboard and peripheral boards to the operating system to be inspected and customized.
Precursor, one of the latest hardware projects launched through Crowd Supply, received partial funding from the NGI0 PET Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet program.
To learn more about Precursor, visit https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor. To explore other current and upcoming product launches, visit https://www.crowdsupply.com.
Crowd Supply is the only product development platform offering engineers and companies a full suite of services to successfully launch their innovative products, including marketing, fulfillment, crowdfunding, and ongoing sales through distributors. The creator-focused platform connects backers with exciting projects that address a market need, allowing developers to quickly validate their ideas and capitalize on high levels of interest from early adopters. With a commitment to user rights and a laser focus on successful delivery, Crowd Supply is the future of product development. For more information, visit www.crowdsupply.com.
Helen Leigh