How Electric Imp’s Modules Compare
There are currently four hardware modules on the market that contain embedded Electric Imp technology: the imp003, imp004m, imp005 and imp006. All of these modules are fully compatible with the Electric Imp Platform and existing applications (with trivial modifications — see the imp pin mux pages). The following table shows how these modules compare in terms of their size and the range of functionality they offer.
These modules include impOS™, which is provided by Electric Imp under license and is subject to a commercial software licensing fee that is not included in the module purchase price. For more detailed information on impOS licensing, please see Commercial Software Licensing for Third-Party imp Modules.
For information on ordering any of these products or becoming a distributor, please contact us.
| Name | imp003 | imp004m | imp005 | imp006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part No. | Murata LBWA1ZV1CD | Murata LBEE5ZZ1MD | Murata LBWA1UZ1GC-901 | |
| Form Factor | Multi-chip module | Board containing multi-chip module plus antenna | Multi-chip module | STM32F423ZHJ6I module plus required radio(s) |
| Size (L x W) | 10x7.9mm | 21x17.5mm | 10x10mm | 10x10mm plus required radio(s) |
| IO Pins* | 23 | 18 | 34 | 54 |
| GPIO Pins* | 23 | 18 | 27 | 54 |
| SPI | Two channels | Four channels | ||
| UART | Five channels | Three & a half channels | Three channels | Seven channels |
| I²C | Two channels | Three channels | ||
| PWM | Seven channels | Six channels | Eight channels | |
| ADC | Ten | Seven | No | Ten |
| Sampler | Yes | No | ||
| DFSDM in | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| DAC | Two | No | Two | |
| Fixed-frequency DAC | Yes | Via Dual-PWM | No | Yes |
| WiFi & Bluetooth | 802.11bgn 2.4GHz (20MHz, 1x1), +17dBm max output power, -97dBm best sensitivity. No BLE. | 802.11bgn 2.4GHz (20MHz, 1x1), +17dBm max output power, -97dBm best sensitivity. BLE 4.1. | 802.11abgn 2.4/5GHz (20MHz/40MHz, 1x1), +17dBm max output power, -98dBm best sensitivity. No BLE | Optional eg. Murata 1MW (802.11abgn/ac+BLE), Murata 1DX (802.11bgn+BLE) |
| Cellular | None | Optional Quectel module† | ||
| Antenna | External antenna required, PCB design provided | On-board antenna | External antenna required, PCB design provided | Radio-specific |
| Approval | FCC/IC modular approval, CE tested | FCC/IC modular approval, TELEC modular approval, CE tested | FCC/IC modular approval, CE tested | Radios have modular approvals |
| Ethernet | None | 10/100Mbps with external RMII PHY | None | |
| USB | None | USB 2.0 FS Host | None | |
| Core | ARM Cortex M4F | ARM Cortex R4 | ARM Cortex M4F | |
| CPU Clock | 144MHz | 96MHz | 320MHz | 96MHz |
| Application RAM | 130KB | 180KB | 1200KB | 240KB |
| Application Code Space | 256KB (Approx. 10,000+ lines of code excluding comments) | 768KB (Approx. 30,000+ lines of code excluding comments) | 512KB (Approx. 20,000+ lines of code excluding comments) | |
| Compatibility | Write once, run on any module | |||
| Power | Low power w. ultra-low power 5µA sleep mode with RTC and GPIO wake, and control of external PSU to maximize battery life in 2 x AA/AAA configurations | Low power w. ultra-low power 9µA sleep mode with RTC and GPIO wake, and control of external PSU to maximize battery life in 2 x AA/AAA configurations | No low power modes | Low power w. ultra-low power 6µA sleep mode with RTC and GPIO wake, <TBD idle on-network |
| Minimum Design Requirement | >=4Mbit SPI flash, phototransistor, bi-color LED, antenna. Load switch and 32kHz xtal for low power mode support | >=8Mbit SPI flash, phototransistor, bi-color LED. 32kHz xtal for low power mode support | >=32Mbit SPI flash, phototransistor, BlinkUp circuit, bi-color LED, 32kHz xtal | >=64Mbit SPI flash, phototransistor, bi-color LED, 32kHz xtal for low power mode support |
| PCB Requirement | Four-layer | Two-layer | Four-layer | Four-layer |
*imp003, imp004m, imp005 and imp006 deliver other IO and peripheral bus via GPIO pins; imp005 also has seven dedicated peripheral bus pins.
†Requires impOS 46. impOS 44 supports Quectel BG96 only. For details, please see Design with imp006.
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