Google has released the Project Ara Module Developers Kit (MDK) . The newly released MDK version 0.10 covers guidelines for developers for designing Project Ara smartphones, creating valid module dimensions, components and layout for power pads.
Paul Eremenko, Head, Project Ara posted below message in a Google+ post
Announcing the Project Ara MDK v0.10
Today we’re announcing the first release of the Project Ara Module Developers Kit (MDK) v0.10. You can download the release at projectara.com/mdk/. This is a very early version but our goals are to give the developer community an opportunity to provide feedback and input, and to help us ensure that the final MDK–anticipated at the end of 2014–is elegant, flexible, and complete.
Next week, we’re hosting the first Project Ara Developers Conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. We invite developers to attend in person (projectara.com/ara-developers-conference/) and provide feedback and input on the MDK. An online livestream option is also available. Registration closes tomorrow. Also, we’re kicking off the Project Ara Module Developers forum and mailing list–check it out.
The Module Developers Kit (MDK) defines the Ara platform for module developers and provides reference implementations for various design features. The Ara platform consists of an on-device packet-switched data network based on the MIPI UniPro protocol stack, a flexible power bus, and an elegant industrial design that mechanically unites the modules with an endoskeleton. Throughout 2014, the Project Ara team will be working on a series of alpha and beta MDK releases.
About Project Ara
Project Ara is the codename for an initiative by Google that aims to develop a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. The platform will include a structural frame that holds smartphone modules of the owner’s choice, such as a display, keyboard or an extra battery. It would allow users to swap out malfunctioning modules or upgrade individual modules as innovations emerge, providing longer lifetime cycles for the handset, and potentially reducing electronic wast.
The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) team within Motorola Mobility while it was a subsidiary of Google. Although Google had sold Motorola to Lenovo, it is retaining the project team who will work under the direction of the Android division.
