26 August 2015, element14 has today globally launched the latest addition to the expanding ecosystem of Raspberry Pi accessories, the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT, as featured in the 'Astro Pi' space mission. The Sense HAT will enable enthusiasts to control the same hardware used in space.

The Sense HAT attaches to the Raspberry Pi board, and can be used for many different types of experiments, applications and games, including those due to be carried out on the International Space Station by UK ESA Astronaut Tim Peake.

The Sense HAT is compatible with Raspberry Pi 2, and Raspberry Pi 1 models B+ and A+, and connects to the Raspberry Pi via the 40 GPIO pins.

It has the following technical specifications:

· Gyroscope - angular rate sensor: +/-245/500/2000dps

· Accelerometer - Linear acceleration sensor: +/-2/4/8/16 g

· Magnetometer - Magnetic Sensor: +/- 4/8/12/16 gauss

· Barometer: 260 - 1260 hPa absolute range (accuracy depends on the temperature and pressure, +/- 0.1 hPa under normal conditions)

· Temperature sensor (Temperature accurate to +/- 2 degC in the 0-65 degC range)

· Relative Humidity sensor (accurate to +/- 4.5% in the 20-80%rH range, accurate to +/- 0.5 degC in 15-40 degC range)

· 8x8 LED matrix display

· Small 5 button joystick

Claire Doyle, Global Head of Raspberry Pi at element14 commented: "We are really excited to add such an inspirational new product into the Raspberry Pi ecosystem. The Sense HAT is the perfect product to learn about programming and how we interact with the world around us; I'm sure that with its full array of sensors we are yet to discover all the weird and wonderful applications that the global Raspberry Pi community will invent on this planet and beyond with the Sense HAT."

The LED Matrix displays the data from the various sensors, it can show which way is geomagnetic North by programming a compass using the magnetometer, or simply be used to play games like Tetris, Pong and Snake with the joystick. The joystick can also be used to enable interaction with the programs running on the Sense HAT.

The 'Astro Pi' space competition offered students the chance to devise and code their own app or experiment, to run on a Raspberry Pi, which will be taken to the International Space Station as part of Tim's mission. Themes include space measurements, spacecraft sensors, space radiation, satellite imaging and remote sensing, and data fusion. The Sense HAT uses orientation, pressure, humidity and temperature sensors to measure whether the Raspberry Pi is accelerating, how hot the environment is, how humid it is and which direction the Raspberry Pi is facing.

The Raspberry Pi Sense HAT is priced at $30 and is available from Farnell element14and CPCin UK and Europe, Newark element14and MCMin North America, and element14and Embest in China and Asia Pacific.

Ends

About the Premier Farnell Group

Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance and repair. Trading as Farnell element14in Europe, Newark element14in North America and element14across Asia Pacific, it had sales last year of £960m, the Group is supported by a global supply chain of more than 3,000 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers' needs.



Premier Farnell works to bring to market development kits in a variety of applications, enabling it to support the customer from design concept through to production.

The latest products, software, services and solutions from trusted supplier partners are all available through 43 local language transactional websites. The element14 Communityallows buyers and engineers to access a wide range of independent technical information, tools and the latest resources and the Design Centerenables design engineers to compare kits from the world's greatest range of development tools.

For news updates from Premier Farnell and element14 visit:

Premier Farnell News Centre - www.premierfarnell.com/media-centre
Twitter - @element14
YouTube - element14
Facebook - facebook.com/element14page

Email: pressoffice@premierfarnell.com

Premier Farnell Key facts

  • Operations in 38 different countries
  • More than 4,500 employees
  • More than 3,000 leading suppliers
  • More than 600,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand

· Leaders in providing information on REACH, Conflict Minerals and EU RoHS legislation

For more information visit the website at Premier Farnell.

Global Contact:

Ken Leitch

Global Head of PR

Tel: +44 207 851 4145

Email: kleitch@premierfarnell.com

Global PR Agency:

Darren Willsher/Andrew Hill

Wildfire

Tel: +44 208 408 8000

Email: element14@wildfirepr.com

European Contact:

Jen Patterson

PR Manager, Europe and Global

Tel: + 44 113 3484904

Email: jpatterson@premierfarnell.com

APAC Contact:

Christina Loh

PR Manager, APAC

Tel: + 65 6671 8769

Email: cloh@element14.com

North America Contact:

William Polk

PR and Social Media manager

Tel: +1 773 907 5199

Email: wpolk@newark.com

distributed by