Electronic specifier product 2015 / 02

february 2015 | volume 6, issue 2

www.electronicspecifier.com

Low power MCUs target wearable applications

Sensors

Test & Measurement

Optoelectronics

News

Optimising automotive sensing systems

Graphical sampling integrated into digital multimeter

Smart lighting manager enables constant lux levels

One more step towards a quantum leap in computing

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Contents 04 Comment 06 News 10 Distribution Blog 12 Feature: Sensor 16 Sensors 18 Wearables 20 Automotive 22 Passives 24 Optoelectronics 26 Test & Measurement 28 Power 32 Micros 34 Alternative Energy 35 FPGA’s 36 Cables & Connecting 38 Design 40 Communications 42 Wireless Editor: Nat Bowers nat.bowers@electronicspecifier.com

Ad sales: Ben Price ben.price@electronicspecifier.com

Designer: Stuart Pritchard stuart@origination-studio.co.uk

Publishing Director Steve Regnier steve.regnier@electronicspecifier.com

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32 Head Office: ElectronicSpecifier Ltd Comice Place, Woodfalls Farm Gravelly Ways, Laddingford Kent. ME18 6DA Tel: 01622 871944 www.electronicspecifier.com

Copyright 2013 Electronic Specifier. Contents of Electronic Specifier, its publication, websites and newsletters are the property of the publisher. The publisher and the sponsors of this magazine are not responsible for the results of any actions or omissions taken on the basis of information inthis publication. In particular, no liability can be accepted in result ofany claim based on or in relation to material provided for inclusion. Electronic Specifier is a controlled circulation journal.

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Comment

Shortage of people will damage growth prospects With a few notable exceptions, it will be a shortage of qualified and experienced engineering people that will hurt the growth prospects of many countries over the next ten years. In the UK, where investment in manufacturing has not been a priority but yet somewhat offset by a growth in design and development capability, this people shortage will have pretty serious consequences – so says EngineeringUK which reckons failure to overcome the skills deficit will cost the UK something like £27bn a year going forward.

In a report (2015 The State of Engineering), Paul Jackson, Chief Executive, EngineeringUK, claims that engineering companies will need almost 200,000 skilled people a year from now until 2022.

According to Jackson, there is currently an annual shortfall of 55,000 skilled workers.

So what’s to be done? EngineeringUK has called for collaborative action across government, engineering businesses, the education sector and the wider engineering community to achieve a doubling of the number of engineering graduates or a 50% increase in the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) graduates as well as non-STEM graduates who are known to enter engineering companies.

In addition, EngineeringUK wants to double the number of young people studying GCSE physics as part of triple sciences and a growth in the num-

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ber of students studying physics A level (or equivalent) to equal that of maths - with a particular focus on increasing the take-up and progressing by girls. If this wasn’t ambitious enough, there is also scope, says Jackson, for a two-fold increase in the number of Advanced Apprenticeship achievements in engineering & manufacturing technology, construction planning & the built environment and information & communications technologies.

It will certainly be interesting to watch and see if anything like these numbers can be achieved.

Hoovering up engineers Last July, we highlighted Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering recruitment programme and now we are equally encouraged to note that another world-leading company – Dyson – is to invest £1.5bn into research and development and hopes to add as many as 3,000 people to its workforce.

Many of these are set to be scientists and engineers so we wish Dyson well in its search for these people given the content of the previous paragraphs on this page. It will be interesting to see if the output of Dyson’s R&D machine will be available to benefit other organisations and companies or whether all the projects will be internal use - unlike F1 teams McLaren and Williams who are leaders in their field but also undertake technology and product development for third parties and have many successfully completed projects to their name.

Intelligent Design

Starts with Intelligent Analog PIC® Microcontrollers

Analog design is difficult and consumes precious development time.

Microchip’s intelligent PIC® MCUs integrate analog functions such as high performance Analog-to-Digital Converters, Digital-to-Analog Converters and op amps providing simple-to-use interfaces that ease analog design. A single-chip solution enables reduced system noise and provides higher throughput, while dramatically reducing design time and cost.

Applications

■ Environmental quality sensors ■ Portable medical equipment ■ Industrial equipment ■ Power conversion ■ Efficient motor control

■ Lighting ■ Power measurement and monitoring ■ Energy harvesting equipment ■ Solar inverters

microchip.com/intelligentanalog The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their registered owners. © 2014 Microchip Technology Inc. All rights reserved. DS00001743A. MEC0003Eng07.14

News

3D printing market Targets can cut energy-related water use by 22% worth $20bn According to a new report by by 2025, report the International Renewable predicts Energy Agency (IRENA), a 22% The 3D printing market surpassed $1bn in revenues during 2012, and growth is expected to continue throughout all target sectors to reach $20bn by 2025. Printer manufacturers are reporting a surge in sales, as awareness of the technology grows. This and much more is discussed and analysed in the IDTechEx report ‘3D Printing 20152025: Technologies, Markets, Players’.

The oil and gas industry is the largest emerging user of 3D printing, with the highest forecast growth, followed by the aerospace industry.

IDTechEx predicts that when significant penetration has occurred into the aforementioned markets, 3D printing in these big industries will lock into the capital expenditure cycles associated with them, and, as is the case for other Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, periodic fluctuations in sales will occur. 3D printing opens up the opportunity for the introduction of cheap complexity into manufacturing.

Read more...

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reduction in water consumption for power generation and associated fuel extraction could be achieved by meeting the renewable energy targets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. ‘Renewable Energy in the Water, Energy and Food Nexus’ provides a detailed analysis of how

renewable energy can help address some of the most pressing challenges across the water, energy and food sectors.

Read more...

Download...

Vodafone recognises STMicroelectronics as outstanding Vodafone has recognised STMicroelectronics for Outstanding Delivery Performance. ST provides secure MCU products for advanced SIM

and M2M modules to Vodafone and its partner companies across multiple geographies.

Read more...

One more step towards a quantum leap in computing In order to develop future quantum computer networks, it is necessary to hold a known number of atoms

and read them without them disappearing. To do this, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have developed a method with a trap that captures the atoms along an ultra thin glass fibre, where the atoms can be controlled.

The results are published in the scientific journal, Physical Review Letters.

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News

Tech giants prepare to release navigation offerings As could be seen at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, Apple and Google clearly have the automotive industry in their sights. Both companies look set to bring their expertise to cars, with significant implications for drivers, makers and suppliers of car audio and navigation systems.

Semicast Research has looked at how Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto could impact the market for traditional onboard car navigation systems.

Onboard car navigation systems store mapping data internally; traditionally media formats such as CD and DVD were most common, but system design has moved almost entirely to HDD, SSD and SD Card storage in the last three years.

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Cheap oil impact on IC market growth The current price trend for oil gives credible upside potential to IC Insights’ current expectations for worldwide GDP and semiconductor market growth, say the company. The steep drop in the price of oil in the second half of 2014 took many oil producing countries and companies by surprise. Countries such as Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran will likely face severe economic distress.

Read more...

News

Buzzword guide explains commonly-used cloud computing terms To explain terms commonly used to describe cloud computing, European Automation has released a buzzword guide for the automation industry.

Like many rapidly developing sectors, the automation industry is prone to using buzzwords to describe innovative processes. Terms such as ‘Industry 4.0’, ‘disruptive technology’ and the ‘Internet of Things’ are examples of these words.

MCU, sensors & PM components used to monitor bees With the aim of eliminating parasites that contribute to honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), STMicroelectronics and Eltopia Communications have announced that Eltopia’s Intelligent Foundation, codenamed ‘MiteNot’, uses an STM32F0 MCU, multiple sensors, and power-

management components from ST to monitor and collect data on environmental conditions.

Read more...

HMI & SCADA open control software achieves SIL-2 Copa Data has received the Safety Integrity Level 2 (SIL2) certification, carried out

by TÜV Süd rail, and thus now meets requirements in accordance with the

Although cloud computing has been around for a number of years, it is constantly improving and becoming more bespoke.

Read more...

international standard IEC 61508 for the reliability of the safety functions of operational facilities. Companies that use its zenon software offering can achieve SIL-2 for their systems and infrastructures this way. The SIL serves to evaluate electrical, electronic or programmable electronic systems with regard to reliability and safety.

Read more...

Engineering scholarships for women Brunel University London has revealed that it will be offering, for the second year running, scholarships across its MSc engineering courses open to females only. In total, 30 of the

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£10,000 a year scholarships are available, following the successful introduction of its Women in Engineering (WiE) programme in 2014. The WiE programme combines bursaries and a range of

other activities from matching students with professional engineers in industry to leadership, communication and leadership skills training.

Read more...

News

NI and CERN join forces on Linux initiative NI is to collaborate with CERN to push the standardisation of all CERN control systems to Linux 64-bit OSs, with goals to boost system performance, design cost-effective distributed control systems and enlarge opportunities for small and medium enterprises with expertise in NI and open-source technologies.NI has been working with the European Organisation for Nuclear

Research, more commonly known as CERN, since the early 1990s on applications that help explain what the universe is made of and how it began.

EXPAND YOUR MARKET

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IN CHINA

Infineon successfully acquires IR Infineon has announced that it has closed the acquisition of International Rectifier, which has become part of Infineon following the approval of all necessary regulatory authorities and IR’s shareholders. The combined company is led

Learn about business rewards and challenges in China. Geographically distinct, each region has its own trade possibilities. Explore the various market niches and find the one(s) best for your company. Discover business opportunities in exporting to China.

by Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO; Arunjai Mittal, Member of the Management Board Regions, Sales, Marketing, Strategy Development and M&A; and Dominik Asam, CFO.

• Voltage – 220V • Frequency – 50Hz • Most frequently specified plug pattern – Chinese plug

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Scan the QR code below to read more in our “Exporting to Asia” white paper.

Finger, ear & voice authentication to become more mainstream According to a recent report by Juniper Research, more than 770m biometric authentication applications will be downloaded each year by 2019. This is up from just 6m this year and will dramatically reduce dependence on alphanumeric passwords in the mobile phone market. Results from the report indicate that a number of highprofile deployments of biometric

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authentication techniques would drive wider adoption, highlighting Apple’s combination of Touch ID authentication with tokenisation in NFC payments.

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Distribution Daily posts on the world of electronic parts distribution in EMEA by electronics industry veteran Mick Elliott mick.elliott@electronicspecifier.com

Blaze deal stokes Ginsbury LCD range Display specialist Ginsbury has completed a new distribution agreement with LCD manufacturer Blaze Display Technology. Blaze specialise in the design, manufacture and supply of segment, character and graphic LCD display modules. Ginsbury will promote and distribute the full range of Blaze display products in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Ken Berry, product manager, Ginsbury said, “With over 30 years’ manufacturing

experience, Blaze is an established supplier of high quality monochrome displays.

Blaze offers a highly costeffective range of monochrome segment, character and graphic LCD modules.

Read more...

RS Components & Weidmuller seal global deal RS Components has completed a new global trading agreement with industrial connectivity specialist Weidmuller. “Our new agreement with RS Components advances

the vision of Weidmuller to grow globally,” said Jaime Jose Obiols, Vice President Global Distribution Manager, Weidmuller.

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Orlandi takes over as president at Silica Mario Orlandi has been named as President of Silica in succession to Miguel Fernandez who was promoted to President of Avnet Electronics Marketing (EM) EMEA earlier this month.

Orlandi most recently served on the Silica executive team as vice president sales for Europe where he reorganised the sales organisation and developed Silica’s sales and demand creation strategy.

He has nearly three decades of experience in the technology industry and brings a broad spectrum of sales management and market knowledge to the president’s role at Silica.

Read more...

Acal BFi & Axsem ink European disti pact Acal BFi and Axsem has signed a pan-European distribution agreement.

Located in Switzerland, Axsem is a leader in the development and manufacture of lowest-

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power high-performance VHF and UHF radio IC and microcontrollers as well as SoC. The company’s product portfolio is ideal for a wide range of applications including automatic meter reading,

security devices, entrance controls, medical and energy harvesting applications and compatible to many standard protocols.

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Ultra-Low RDS(on) Automotive COOLiRFET™ Package

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The new International Rectifier AEC-Q101 qualified COOLiRFET™ technology sets a new benchmark with its ultra-low RDS(on). The advanced silicon trench technology has been developed specifically for the needs of automotive heavy load applications offering system level benefits as a result of superior RDS(on), robust avalanche performance and a wide range of packaging options.

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Sensors

Optimising automotive sensing

systems using next-gen programmable Hall effect sensors

By Dieter Verstreken, Melexis Improving the safety of vehicle drivers and passengers is receiving ever greater emphasis, with automotive engineers deploying sensing devices in their systems that deliver increased sophistication and set higher performance benchmarks. A multitude of different design and integration pressures must be considered, meaning for such sensors to be effective they must not impact heavily on the engineering overhead, the financial investment involved, or bring weight penalties that impact efficiencies.

This article will describe some of the demands being placed on automobile design projects and show how dynamics now in place call for specification of a new type of sensor.

Mechanical components, such as magnetic reed switches and precious metal contact switches, were widely used in certain automotive sensing applications for several decades. While relatively cheap and simple to incorporate, with new opportunities for sensor technology in automobiles emerging, they are reaching technical limitations. Automotive safety standards now require, for example, knowledge of seat position and whether the belt buckle mechanism is latched or not. Though reed switches are in principle capable of executing such tasks, increasingly mechanical devices of this kind are found to be lacking. This manifests itself in several key areas, such as the depth of functionality offered, compactness and assembly process robustness. The typical

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Figure 1: Schematic of Seat Positioning Sensor System

working environments for these devices expose the switches to build-up of dirt, grease, pet hair and food/drink spillages. Mechanical switches, which are reliant on moving parts, are more prone to failure in such settings and have shorter lifespans as a result. Therefore their potential is somewhat limited as the scope for sensing systems in vehicles continues to rapidly grow. For example seat buckle latch detection mechanisms and load cells can be utilised to check vehicle occupancy for airbag deployment purposes. Conventional mechanical switches are not reliable enough to be fully effective in this sort of application.

A non-contact, solid state solution is, for a number of reasons, far more attractive - offering an extremely streamlined way of capturing required position data with boosted ruggedness

Sensors and diagnostic messaging of proper function. Though optoelectronic devices present one noncontact alternative to mechanical implementation, their effectiveness can still be marred by exposure to contaminants. Hall effect sensors, however, thanks to the greater accuracy and responsiveness they exhibit, plus their robust construction, have the attributes needed to supplant reed switches in many automotive position sensing applications.

Magnetic sensors can be in used seat positioning, for instance, to ascertain if the front seat is close to the dashboard, in a collision this critical information directs the airbag controller to inflate the airbag with less force than if the seat were placed further back. Figure 1 describes a typical seat position sensor system, based on a magnetic sensing mechanism. The ferrous metal frame of the seat trigger’s the magnetic sensor, which means that the engineer has to rely on a back-biased approach, with the sensor and magnet mounted into a single module and the module then mounted onto the seat track.

Movement along the track alters the magnetic field lines and this is picked up by the sensor For any form of magnetic sensor within automotive environments it is necessary to set acceptable tolerances, as there is a lot of variation in operating conditions to factor in.

This is difficult however and can compromise the effectiveness of the sensor’s operation.

Each sensor being used for a different function in the automotive system will require the setting of switch thresholds that are relevant to the particular application. Rather than stocking an extensive inventory of different Hall effect sensors, all of which have very similar functional attributes, a costly and logistically challenging exercise, it would be better to have sensor

Figure 2: Comparison between 3-Wire & 2-Wire Hall Sensor Implementations

platform that can be custom programmed for different uses. There is as a result a clear need for a more versatile approach which has provision for supporting numerous different magnetic actuations.

The advent of programmable sensors, based on automotive grade non-volatile memory technology has already proved to be of great benefit to the automotive industry. Through these devices, support for in-situ programming can be offered to engineering teams.

Prototyping greatly simplifies the engineering phase while production benefits from the improved repeatability, compensation for mechanical assembly tolerance variation and reduced inventory part types.

The sensing systems for which the sensors are constituent parts can thereby be optimised for particular functional requirements. This enables migration to cheaper ferrite magnetic materials as well as providing engineers with the ability to compensate for thermal drift (as certain magnets become weaker when the ambient temperature rises). While a mechanical switch can only distinguish between a current being present or no current at all, a programmable magnetic sensor has the advantage of supporting full diagnostics. It can determine a variety of different current states. There is, as a result, better process in place not just for identifying that a problem has arisen, but also determining the exact nature of that problem (e.g. short circuits, broken wires causing open circuits, etc.). electronicspecifier.com

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Sensors As we have seen for back biasing applications, such as seat positioning sensors, a degree of programmability is needed in order to define the range and resolution of the magnetic thresholds, as well as thermal sensitivity coefficients.

Implementation of programmable Hall sensors enables this to be accomplished, but unfortunately it can increase system complexity and raise the overall bill of materials costs. Employing sensor devices with 2-wire rather than 3-wire interfaces can bring about marked reductions in Figure 3: Functional Block Diagram from the Melexis MLX92242 the cabling and the component be used with all kinds of magnets (including count. This decreases the the low cost ferrite materials) with the expense associated cost, shortens implementation time associated with position, proximity detection and utilises less space. 2-wire magnetic sensor and encoding applications thus being curbed.

ICs allow the reuse of the cable wire harness The MLX92242 still provides all the necessary that was previously designed for the incumbent diagnostic capacity to respond accordingly mechanical switch device, thereby easing a malfunction condition arise, but only upgrades - with improved performance and requires use of the VDD and GND pins. This greater reliability but no change to the basic set means that it can facilitate modernisation of up. a sensor system - so that bulky, less reliable mechanical switches can be dispensed with Fabricated on a proprietary submicron mixed while not calling for any alteration in the existing signal CMOS technology, Melexis‘ MLX92242 infrastructure. Alternatively when implemented Hall latch/switch, unlike other Hall sensor into brand new automotive designs it can devices, supports 2-wire implementation. help vehicle manufacturer to deploy sensing It includes a voltage regulator, Hall sensing systems requiring far less cabling - with element, non-volatile memory, diagnostic space, weight and cost advantages. The offset circuitry and a current sink-configured output cancellation system within the magnetic core driver all in a single package. Via the builtof the MLX92242 enables faster and more in EEPROM memory it is possible to carry precise processing of the data acquired from out end-of-line calibration, so that during the the sensing element while being resilient to vehicle production process all the various temperature fluctuations and other forms of tolerances that will affect the sensor’s operation stress. On-chip thermal protection disables the in relation to a particular application can be output if the junction temperature increases dealt with. Once programmed the memory can above a pre-set value and automatically be locked. The temperature compensation recovers once the temperature decreases below afforded by this device counterbalances the a safe value. influence of magnetic drift. This means it can

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Sensors

Capacitive MEMS accelerometers provide reliable results A family of analogue surface mount Leadless Chip Carrier (LCC) MEMS variable capacitive accelerometers has been announced by ETLG Inertial Aerosystems, targeting markets including aerospace, automotive, energy, industrial, oil & gas and test & measurement. The Model 1510 series accelerometers offer reliable general purpose vibration measurements, with excellent long-term stability.

Incorporating a micromachined variable capacitive sensing element and custom IC, the accelerometer produces two analogue voltages which vary proportionately according to measured acceleration levels.

The units respond to either AC or DC acceleration, with choice of either +4V differential or 0.5-4.5V single ended outputs. Both outputs read nominally at +2.5V at 0m/s2.

Two reference voltages of +5.0 and +2.5V (nominal), are required, and the output scale factor is directly proportional to the +5VDC 6mA (typical) reference voltage.

Read more...

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Datasheet...

electronicspecifier.com

Temperature sensors provide 35 times better power efficiency A family of temperature sensors, which offer outstanding precision and power efficiency, has been released by Silicon Labs. The Si705x temperature sensors consume only 195nA (typical average current) when sampled once per second, minimising self-heating and enabling multiyear coin cell battery operation.

Offering four accuracy levels up

to ¹0.3°C, the devices maintain their accuracy across the full operating temperature and voltage ranges.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Thermopile array sensor uses IR to detect temperature Panasonic Automotive & Industrial has launched its first SMT thermopile array sensor. Grid-EYE features 64 thermopile elements in an 8x8 grid format that detect temperatures and temperature

gradients by infrared radiation, providing thermal images. It is possible to detect multiple people and identify positions and direction of movement.

Read more...

Plug-and-play position sensing solution A plug-and-play signal processing system, designed for laboratory and industrial laser spot position detection, has been released by LASER

COMPONENTS. By plugging a Position Sensing Detector (PSD) into the SEEPOS system, users can monitor readings on an IBM compatible PC via a high speed USB port.

Offered with features such as data analysis, time scaling and background calibration, the system monitors the laser spot position in real time XY, Xt and Yt graphs.

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Datasheet...

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Wearables

Load switch provides 36mΩ in 0.76x0.76mm package Offering a 2A, 1.1-3.6V power rail with controlled turn-on and -off profiles, the SC724, SC725, SC728 and SC729 load switches have been introduced by Semtech.

The SC72X family is suitable for portable applications, including wearable electronics, portable video cameras, smartphones and tablets, as well as non-portable applications such as HDTVs, set-top boxes and networking devices. The SC72X devices feature on-resistance of just 36mΩ in a tiny CSP measuring 0.76x0.76x0.60mm with a four-bump connection at a pitch of 0.5mm. The SC724 and SC728 provide fast turn-on of just 19.5µs (at 1.8Vin) and float the output when disabled.

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Switches’ 0.01μW power consumption suits wearables Claimed to be the smallest such devices in the industry, three 200Ω precision monolithic quad SPST analogue switches have been introduced by Vishay Intertechnology.

The DG2501, DG2502 and DG2503 are supplied in the ultra-compact 4x4 bump array WCSP to save space in wearable electronics and

sensors, as well as consumer and communication devices.

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Datasheet...

Low power MCUs target wearable applications A family of 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F MCUs, which are particularly suitable for wearable applications, has been released by Ambiq Micro.

According to the company, it’s featured Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology

Datasheet...

(SPOT) platform allows the Apollo MCUs to consume five to ten times less energy than competing MCUs. The devices allow engineers to design or redesign wearable devices to operate for months or years rather than days or weeks. The expanded power budget also provides engineers with the opportunity to add features or use a smaller battery.

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Datasheet...

One-chip solution for smart car access enables wearables A true one-chip solution for smart car access, which is claimed to be a world first, has been introduced

by NXP Semiconductors.

The NCF29A1 combines Passive Keyless Entry

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(PKE), an RF transmitter for remote control and an immobiliser in an HVQVN32 package. Key designs and form factors such as PKE chips in smartphones, smartwatches or

smartphone cases, which support complementary car access via mobile devices, can be realised using this solution.

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Wearables

Tantalum capacitor is claimed to be world’s smallest Measuring just 0.6x0.35x0.35mm, AVX has claimed that the sub-millimetre 0201 TACmicrochip series is the world’s smallest and lowest profile tantalum capacitor. The 0201 E case TACmicrochip capacitors provide standard tantalum technology benefits, including inherent immunity to piezoelectric noise, as well as higher stability, higher reliability and higher temperature performance than comparable MLCCs. Electrically and mechanically robust, TACmicrochip series

Report expects wearable materials market to become valuable niche

capacitors provide a long lifecycle performance suited for use in miniature, wearable medical devices, audio and power amplifier modules and as coupling/decoupling capacitors in handheld electronics.

Read more...

Datasheet...

In 2025, over $25bn will be spent on formulations and intermediate materials for wearables, IDTechEx predicts in its report, ‘Wearable Technology Materials 2015-2025’.

Companies at this early part of the value chain will participate in a rapidly growing market over the coming decade.

Read more...

Automotive

Thermocouple interface IC facilitates greener cars Enabling accurate and reliable monitoring of high operating temperatures for next-gen powertrains, a high performance sensor interface IC has been announced by Melexis.

The MLX90327 can operate over a temperature range from -40 to +155째C without compromising accuracy.

This makes it also suited for braking systems of trucks and high temperature industrial processes.

The device includes a digital SENT interface for advanced powertrain ECUs and can be supplied with a PWM output for general-purpose automotive and non-automotive applications. Both Ptsensors and thermocouples can be conditioned and monitored.

EDLC cell balancing IC reduces mounting area by 38% Contributing to increased miniaturisation, greater stability and longer life for EDLCs, the BD14000EFV-C cell balancing IC has been released by ROHM. The device integrates over 20 discrete components required for EDLC cell balancing on a single chip, reducing mounting area by 38%. This also eliminates component variations, making it easy to configure EDLC systems.

The AEC-Q100 qualified IC can balance up to six cells.

For simultaneous control of more cells, multiple ICs can be connected in series.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Power amplifier IC enhances incar audio experience Designed to enhance noise tolerance and negate interference from in-car mobile phone use, a 45W per channel power amplifier IC has

Read more...

been introduced by Toshiba Electronics Europe. The fourchannel TCB001HQ provides increased reliability with a newly developed filter circuit and reinforced protection circuits, including thermal overvoltage, output to VCC, output to GND and output to output protection.

Read more...

High power connectors suit EV & hybrid applications Suited for use in EV and hybrid automotive applications, Lane Electronics is supplying the high power 38999 Series III circular connectors from

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Souriau. The shielded, threaded coupling connectors are designed to withstand the harsh environments found in automotive applications,

handling up to 850A over a temperature range from -65 to +175째C. Read more...

Datasheet...

Automotive

Infotainment system enhances in-car interaction Aiming to enhance the way that consumers interact with their vehicles, Texas Instruments and Ford have collaborated to produce the Ford SYNC 3, a communications and infotainment system. The SYNC 3 incorporates TI’s OMAP 5 processor, a member of the Jacinto automotive processor family, the WiLink 8Q single chip, combining WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GNSS, power management and FPDLink III Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes). Together the TI devices provide enhanced voice recognition and

Protect against load dump without expanding design footprint

navigation, quality hands-free Bluetooth connectivity, WiFi enabled software updates and enhanced driver interactivity.

TI’s industry-leading technology enables Ford’s SYNC 3 to be faster, more intuitive and easier to use for the driver.

Read more...

Datasheet...

A TVS diode, designed specifically to protect sensitive electronic equipment from voltage transients induced by load dump and other transient voltage events, has been released by Littelfuse. The SLD series TVS diode, which is AEC-Q101 qualified, offers a 5000W (10/1000μs) or 2200W (load dump) peak pulse power dissipation rating in a standard P600 package.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Nuremberg: 24-26.02, Hall 5, Stand 268

BIG IDEAS IN MIND? Make them a reality with our smart home innovations See your big smart home ideas become big successes with Toshiba’s solutions support. Our technology lies behind many of the latest developments for smart homes. Like wearable device processors with integrated wireless transmission using our Buetooth® 4.0 ICs, or smart metering and measurement systems using our ARM Cortex MCU. We can also help to make your big ideas reality with our ultra-fast TransferJet™ data exchange devices and FFSA™ technology for SOC devices. Add to this our e•MMC and NAND memory products and a full range of MOSFETs. So whatever you have in mind, our range of smart home innovations is here to help you take it to the next level. www.toshiba-components.com/smarthome

Passives

Diode saves PCB space for smartphone & tablet ESD protection Providing a reverse avalanche breakdown voltage above 15.5V alongside a low forward voltage, Vishay has released a Bidirectional And symmetrical (BiAs) single-line ESD protection diode for portable

electronics in the ultra-compact LLP1006-2L package. With a small 1.0x0.6mm footprint and an extremely low profile of under 0.4mm, the Vishay VESD15A1-HD1-G4-08 is designed to reduce the board space required for ESD protection in smartphones, tablets, gaming systems and MP3 players.

Read more...

Datasheet...

HDMI protection ICs support 4K Ultra-HD data rates Designed for maximum performance up to today’s fastest 4K UltraHD data rates, a series of single-chip HDMI signal-conditioning and protection ICs

have been released by STMicroelectronics. The HDMI2C1 series provides active pull-ups on all display data channel lines.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Three position controller features Hall effect technology A single axis three position Hall effect thumb control, designed for material handling and construction applications requiring a reliable device for ‘change direction’ and ‘gear switching’ functions, has been released by APEM. The FR series switch operates from a 5VDC supply, providing an analogue voltage output at each detent location.

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To provide long life performance, the device features contactless Hall effect technology.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Resistor features a resistance range of 1-500Ω Designed for connection to the secondary-side of current sensing transformers, the Bulk Metal Foil Burden through-hole resistor has been released by Vishay Precision Group. Expanding the Vishay Foil Resistors product line, the device offers low TCR down to ±0.2ppm/°C from -55 to +125°C, 25°C ref., and loadlife stability of ±0.005% after 2,000 hours at 0.1W at 70°C. Current sensing transformers act as current sources and require a load. Like a voltage source, a current source should not be left open, as it would cause an infinite voltage. The resistor converts the current to a limited voltage.

Typically, the Burden resistor will be used to discharge a capacitor when the circuit is no longer powered.

The device is designed to be connected to the output of the power device for the discharging of the bulk output filter capacitor when it is charged and connected to a large power source. Offering a low resistance, the Burden resistor prevents the influence of inrush current to the device.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Passives

Power resistors have an inductance of only 10nH

Featuring a compact non-inductive design, suitable for high frequency, fast speed pulse circuit applications, the XNP-20S series of TO-220 power resistors has been released

by Willow Technologies. Offered as surface mount or through-hole mounting devices, the power resistors have a low profile of just 4.5mm, with an inductance of only 10nH. The devices, which operate across a temperature range from -55 to +155°C, feature a low TCR of 50-250ppm and are offered in ±1 or ±5% tolerances with power variants of 35 and 50W. Read more...

PANASONICS‘ CONTACT-LESS THERMOPILE ARRAY SENSOR

AC film capacitors provide Class X2 interference suppression

Cost-effective and compact SMD solutions for contactless temperature measurement across the entire specified area can be and with very accurate results. The built-in silicon lens provides a viewing angle of 60°.

FEATURES:

Suited for use as acrossthe-line capacitors, EMI filters and spark-killer circuits in power and RF applications, AVX has announced a series of AC film capacitors. The FV series metallised polypropylene film capacitors feature selfhealing properties, high moisture resistance, high tolerance for over voltage stress and excellent active and passive flame resistant capabilities.

Read more...

> Dimensions: 11.6 x 4.3 x 8.0mm (L x H x W) > Operating voltage: 3.3V or 5.0V (depends on P/N) > Current consumption: Typ. 4.5mA (normal mode); 0.8mA (stand-by mode), 0.2mA (sleep mode) > Temperature range of measuring object: with amplification factor high gain: 0°C to 80°C, with low gain: -20°C to 100°C > Field of view: 60° (vertical and horizontal) > Number of pixels: 64 (vertical 8 x horizontal 8) > External interface: I²C (fast mode) > Frame rate: 1 or 10 frames/s > Typical absolute temperature accuracy: Typ. ±2.5°C (depends on P/N)

Safety

Datasheet...

electronicspecifier.com

INFRARED ARRAY SENSOR GRID-EYE

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Air Condition

Medical Systems

Lighting Control

Industrial Temperature Measurement

For more information search online: http://eu.industrial.panasonic.com/products/sensors-optical-devices/sensors-automotive-and-industrial-applications/infrared-array

Optoelectronics

High-output LED high bay is now CE compliant Dialight announces that its Vigilant high-output LED high bay is CE compliant.

It offers an output of approximately 60,000lm from a single 480W power supply. The LED delivers 125lm/W at, what is claimed

by Dialight to be, less than half the power consumption of conventional HID products.

Designed to withstand high ceiling and high ambient temperature environments, the Vigilant high bay is supplied in a sleek, durable and lightweight package which isless than 46cm tall with a diameter under 61cm and a weight of less than 19kg.

CE compliance allows European facilities the first truly, viable replacement for costly and inefficient 1,000W traditional HID highoutput fixtures.

Read more...

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Datasheet...

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Smart lighting manager enables constant lux levels ams has introduced what it claims to be the industry’s first integrated chip-scale IoT-connected smart lighting manager. The AS721x Autonomous Daylighting Manager integrates photopic sensors to sense the ambient daylight and enable the delivery of constant lux levels by managing subtle

adjustments as the amount of outside light varies.

Read more...

Control up to 64 bulbs via Bluetooth 4.0 Mesh technology An interior lighting bulb, which is wirelessly configurable and displays more than 16m colours, has been introduced

by ADATA Technology. The AURA RGB bulb features a Bluetooth 4.0 Mesh wireless

transmitter, allowing users to link their Bluetooth-enabled smart phone with as many as 64 AURA RGB bulbs via a dedicated app.

Read more...

Imperfect optical chips allow nanometre-scale laser Researchers around the world are working to develop optical chips where light can be controlled with nanostructures.

These could be used for future circuits based on the

behaviour of photons instead of electrons - that is, photonics instead of electronics. But it has proved to be impossible to achieve perfect photonic nanostructures: by nature they are inevitably imperfect.

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have discovered that imperfect nanostructures can offer entirely new functionalities.

Read more...

Optoelectronics

USB 3.0 cameras support NVIDIA Jetson TK1 DevKit e-con Systems’ See3CAM USB 3.0 cameras now support the NVIDIA Jetson TK1 DevKit for image processing or computer

vision applications. The See3CAM family of USB 3.0 cameras are UVC compliant and don’t need any special drivers to be installed on the PC or the host side. This is an important feature that enables the customers to use these cameras on almost any platform.

Read more...

Cable combines power & control for lighting systems Targeting commercial lighting designs in smart buildings, AFC Cable Systems has announced its MC Luminary cable series. The metal-clad cables, suitable for both LED and fluorescent dimming applications, combine electronic lighting and control circuits under a single robust, interlocked armour. The MC Luminary features two or three single copper THHN

conductors, one single THHN insulated ground, and a twisted jacketed pair of TFN conductors.

Read more...

Dual-zone diffraction grating suits broad spectral ranges Developed for applications which require broad spectral ranges, LASER COMPONENTS has introduced a dual-zone diffraction grating. This provides a choice of two gratings with peak efficiency wavelengths optimally spaced within the desired spectral range. The size of these zones can then be used to balance the spectral output, which allows for a compact single element solution without compromised efficiency.

LASER COMPONENTS offers a wide range of standard, ruled or holographic, reflection and transmission gratings.

The standard gratings are optimised for UV, VIS and IR wavelengths on a variety of materials.

Read more...

Test & Measurement

USB arbitrary waveform generator aims at multiple applications ACCES I/O Products has released a new USB high speed arbitrary waveform output board with flexible ranges and configurable digital I/O lines. Industry standard BNC connectors are used for the analogue waveform output and the gate control input, while the utility digital I/O lines are accessed via a 16-pin shrouded connector.

The USB-AO-ARB1 can be used in an assortment of embedded applications including stimulus-response, test, simulation, industrial equipment control, waveform/ audio synthesis, advanced substance scanning and detection, medical imaging systems, military/mission critical, cyber security systems, manufacturing test and process monitoring.

Arbitrary waveform generation capability becomes increasingly necessary as CPUs are burdened with a greater abundance of complex tasks.

Read more...

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Datasheet...

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DC electronic loads offer transient operation up to 25kHz B&K Precision has added a new product to its range of standalone DC load offerings.

The 8600 series programmable DC electronic loads deliver the performance of modular system DC electronic loads in a compact benchtop form factor.

The series includes three models of 150-250W electronic

loads that can sink current up to 60A at wide voltage ranges up to 500V. Read more...

Datasheet...

Software adds PAM-4 analysis capability to oscilloscopes Fast and accurate characterisation of PAM-4 signals can now be made using Keysight Technologies’ 86100D DCA-X widebandwidth oscilloscope platform. The 86100D-9FP PAM-N analysis software provides comprehensive analysis of optical and

electrical PAM-4 (pulse amplitude modulation with four amplitude levels) signals.

Read more...

Whitepaper...

eMBMS test solution accelerates mobile device development Anritsu has released its protocol test solution for enhanced Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (eMBMS).

It says the new solution is

already helping mobile chipset and device makers accelerate the development of products that can receive LTE broadcast services. EXPWAY’s e-Cast Broadcast Multicast Service Centre (BM-SC) Server has been integrated with Anritsu’s MD8430A LTE signalling tester and Rapid Test Designer (RTD).

Read more...

Datasheet...

Test & Measurement

Graphical sampling integrated into digital multimeter

Test solutions accelerate USB 3.1 compliance

“Typically with a digital multimeter, the engineer only sees a numerical display of test results. They want more.”

Another trend is the change in expectations. “There is a new generation of engineers used to smartphones and tablets.

They are not familiar with lots of buttons,” Bachmeyer remarks. The new 7-1/2 digit instrument integrates a high accuracy digital multimeter, a digitiser for waveform capture, and a capacitive touchscreen user interface.

Citing a market trend for more accurate low power measurements, Keithley Instruments has launched a graphical sampling digital multimeter. “The time to market pressure on engineers is relentless,” says Peter Bachmeyer, Technical Marketing Manager, EMEA, Keithley Instruments.

A comprehensive set of USB 3.1 compliance test solutions that allows designers to quickly verify designs against the latest USB specifications and achieve fast time to market while minimising costs has been launched by Tektronix. The new release expands Tektronix’ already extensive USB 3.1 and USB 2.0 test capabilities to include a new USB 3.1 receiver test solution.

Datasheet...

Read more...

Read more...

SMALLER – LIGHTER – FASTER

ODU AMC® HIGH-DENSITY Innovation in a compact package.

MINIATURE CONNECTORS

With the AMC High-Density ODU created a highly robust miniature connector series that absolutely fulfils the demands of modern military equipment.

The compact and lightweight connectors offer an excellent transmission performance, easy handling and high reliability in the field.

FEATURES • • • • • • • • • •

MILITARY AND SECURITY MEASUREMENT AND TESTING

INDUSTRIAL

ENERGY

AUTOMOTIVE

14 mm

MEDICAL

4 sizes, up to 40 contacts More than 5,000 mating cycles Break-Away for maximum safety Tested according MIL Salt spray resistance Watertight protection class IP 68 Blind mating possible Mechanical and color coding USB 3.0 Power up to 15A

fig. 1:1

www.odu-uk.co.uk

Power

PMIC helps to optimise power management functions Designed to optimise power management functions, Toshiba Electronics Europe introduces a system PMIC for mobile products such as smartphones, tablets, handheld medical devices, industrial PDAs, barcode readers and portable instruments. The TC7734FTG integrates power path, switching charger, four buck converters, three LDO regulators and two LED backlight drivers.

The PMIC’s charger block detects various USB port conditions and restricts the input current to 100, 500, 1000 or 1500mA. The charger functions operate automatically without external control signals.

MOSFET driver’s small package improves efficiency The first in a new product family, Microchip Technology has introduced two power MOSFET drivers in SOT-23 and 2x2mm DFN packages.

The MCP14A005X and MCP14A015X are designed for applications including embedded power conversion, brushed DC motor, unipolar stepper motor and solenoid/ relay/valve control in power

supply, lighting, automotive and consumer electronics markets.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Doherty power amp enables control processing flexibility To address the needs of small cell designers, Cree has introduced the CDPA35045 asymmetric Doherty Power

Read more...

Amplifier (PA) reference design for the 3.5-3.7GHz band. This band is an additional spectrum space intended to complement small cell technology by providing increased wireless system capacity for both licensed wireless carrier services and unlicensed public use, such as WiFi. Read more...

Module simplifies power supply design for FPGAs A dual 3A/single 6A stepdown DC/DC power module, which simplifies power supply design for FPGAs, ASICs, MPUs and DSPs, has been introduced by Intersil. The ISL8203M measures 9.0x6.5x1.83mm

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and features an efficiency of 95%, providing power system designers with a high performance, easy to use solution for their low power, low voltage applications.

The device features a PWM

controller, synchronous switching MOSFETs, inductors and passive components to build a power supply supporting an input voltage range of 2.85-6V. Read more...

Datasheet...

Redefining

Industry Expectations • 25 to 180 W open frame power supplies • 2” x 3” and 2” x 4” footprints • Low profile from 1” (25.4 mm) • Up to 95% efficiency • Industrial/IT & medical approvals

ECS

25/40/45 Watts 2” x 3”

Series

• < 0.5 W no load input power

ECP Series

• 3 year warranty

60 Watts 2” x 3”

65/100/130 Watts 2” x 4”

Visit our website to request a copy of our latest Power Supply Guide and see our complete line of power products.

GREEN

POWER

150 Watts 2” x 4”

180 Watts 2” x 4”

Power

Battery balancer provides a standalone solution A single IC, stand-alone multicell battery balancer for 12V lead acid batteries has been introduced by Linear Technology. To balance battery charge, the LTC3305 absorbs charge from higher voltage batteries and transfers it to lower voltage batteries.

Charge is transferred using a lower capacity battery that is sequentially connected across the batteries in the stack. When absorbing charge, the battery also absorbs energy, adding to the total energy in the stack and increasing capacity.

The balancer features sequencing, drive circuitry for high voltage external NFETs, voltage monitoring and protection. Designed for stand-alone operation, the device does not require an MPU or other control circuitry. With the LTC3305, one battery in the stack can be replaced and balanced to the remaining batteries.

Suitable applications include telecomm backup systems, home battery-powered backup systems, EVs and industrial lighting systems.

Read more...

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Datasheet...

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Power MOSFETs achieve industry’s ‘lowest’ resistance A number of N-channel power MOSFETs have been released by Texas Instruments, expanding its NexFET product line. The MOSFETs include the 25V CSD16570Q5B and the 30V CSD17570Q5B, designed for hot swap and ORing applications, and the 12V CSD13383F4 for lowvoltage battery-powered applications. Offered in a 0.6x1mm FemtoFET package,

the CSD13383F4 achieves a resistance which is 84% lower than competing devices.

Read more...

Datasheet...

DC power sources run at 6000W for extended periods Designed for demanding applications which require absolute reliability, Powersolve has introduced a series of programmable power sources providing up to 6000W. The high-

performance SM6000 series of rack-mount or benchtop devices are capable of operating at full power for extended periods.

Read more...

Datasheet...

MOSFET H-bridge simplifies inductive wireless charging Cutting component counts and reducing PCB footprints by 50%, Diodes Incorporated has announced a pair of

MOSFET H-bridges which simplify motor driving and inductive wireless charging circuits. The 40V DMHC4035LSD suits automotive motor driving applications, while the 30V DMHC3025LSD is suitable for 12V single-phase fan applications.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Power

Open frame AC/DC modules do not need active cooling

Power supplies are approved for use in medical applications

The RAC48/OF and RAC60/ OF open frame power supplies have been introduced by RECOM, offering 48 and 60W outputs, respectively. The Class II modules operate over a temperature range from -20 to +50째C at 100% load and up to 70째C at derated load - typically not requiring active cooling.

The efficient AC/DC power supplies have a long hold-up time of 60ms and consume less than 0.5W in standby mode, making them compliant with the European ErP directive.

RAC48/OF and RAC60/OF are available with output voltages of 5, 12, 15 and 24VDC (adjustable via the on-board preset) and a universal input voltage range of 90 to 265VAC. Read more...

Datasheet...

THE GOLD STANDARD

Suitable for medical, industrial and IT applications, the LPS360-M series of 360W AC/DC power supplies has been released by Artesyn Embedded Technologies. The open frame devices, which have a 76.2x127mm footprint, are available in 12, 15, 24, and 48V adjustable outputs with a 5V standby output at 2A and a 12V fan output at 1A. Read more...

Micros

MCUs offer industry’s lowest power consumption at 1MHz Claimed to realise the industry’s lowest power consumption at 1MHz, Renesas Electronics has announced the RL78/I1D MCUs. Integrating analogue functions for various sensing applications, the MCUs are optimised for detectors that sense minute variations in the output of sensors used to monitor for smoke, gas and motion or vibrations. Data transfer controller, event link

32-bit MCUs provide 240MHz for real time operation

controller and data operation circuit perform data processing and transfer, and implement long-interval timers, without CPU intervention.

Read more...

Datasheet...

MCUs can operate two BLDC motors simultaneously Expanding its ARM CortexM4F based TX04 series, Toshiba Electronics Europe has introduced two MCUs

which can operate two BLDC motors simultaneously.

The TMPM470FDFG and TMPM475FDFG incorporate two modules, each containing a programmable motor drive, 12-bit ADC and vector engine, ensuring efficient and simultaneous operation.

Read more...

Doubling CPU operating frequency from 120 to 240MHz, Renesas has extended its RX family of 32-bit MCUs with the RX71M group. Developed for use in industrial equipment and described by Renesas as the ‘flagship’ product of the series, the group is available with up to 4MB of on-chip flash memory. As system size and complexity increases, there exists a growing demand for greater adaptability and scalability from the onchip flash memory MCUs commonly used in midrange industrial equipment. With the rise of dispersed, lowvolume, high-mix development in preparation for the age of the IoT, the risk of leaked or duplicated core technologies has also grown.

Read more...

Datasheet...

MCUs feature up to 384kB of multi-port SRAM memory Four series of MCUs, which are particularly suitable for the automotive, IoT and industrial connectivity markets, have been introduced by Atmel. The M7-based SAM E70, SAM

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S70, SAM V70 and SAM V71, which expand the company’s Atmel | SMART ARM CortexM-based MCU portfolio, offer outstanding memory and connectivity options for

design flexibility. The devices allow customers to scale-up performance and deliver SRAM and system functionality.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Micros

PlayStation MIPS chip reaches Pluto after nine years Conducting the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft recently came out of hibernation for its longawaited encounter with the world’s most famous dwarf planet. Traveling across the solar system, the $650m New Horizons spacecraft is now approximately 3.5bn miles from the Sun, nine years after its launch from Cape Canaveral.

The probe, projected to arrive around 14th July this year, is carrying the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the American

astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930. The probe has been navigating the solar system at approximately 36,373 mph, using two computer systems: one for command and data handling and the other handling guidance and control.

Read more...

MCUs support smart-energy & IoT applications To enhance support for costsensitive consumer, smartenergy, communicationgateway and IoT applications, STMicroelectronics has added MCUs with USB connectivity and larger Flash options to its STM32F0 ARM Cortex-M0 series. The STM32F030CC and STM32F030RC MCUs feature 256kB programme Flash in 48- or 64-pin LQFP packages.

Read more...

Datasheet...

PCIM_2015_ANZ_E_190x130 01.10.14 16:36 Seite 1

International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management Nuremberg, 19 – 21 May 2015

Power meets electronics – Join the PCIM Europe!

Your market place for power electronics

More information at +49 711 61946-0 pcim@mesago.com or pcim-europe.com

Alternative Energy

Solar cell features a 22.02% conversion efficiency imec has announced that it has improved its large area n-type Passivated Emitter, Rear Totally diffused (PERT) crystalline Si solar cell on 6” commercially available n-type Cz-Si wafers.

The solar cell now has a conversion efficiency of 22.02%, which is the highest efficiency achieved for this type of two-side-contacted solar cell on an industrial large area wafer size. Compared to p-type silicon solar cells, n-type cells

Design components driven by RF energy harvesting

do not suffer from light induced degradation and feature a higher tolerance to common metal impurities.

Read more...

3D WindScanner utilises Lidar to assess turbulence The WindEEE Research Institute has confirmed the successful installation of a short-range 3D WindScanner, based on ZephIR Continuous Wave Lidar technology and supplied by the Wind Energy

Department of the Technical University of Denmark, to study turbulence effects for wind turbines, buildings and structures.

Read more...

IGBTs’ low switching frequencies suit PV inverters Optimised for 50Hz to 20kHz switching frequencies typically found in PV and welding inverters, Infineon announces a new class of low saturation voltage (V CE(sat)) IGBTs. The L5 family is based on the TRENCHSTOP 5 thin wafer technology with an optimised carrier profile further reducing the intrinsically low conduction

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losses. With a typical V CE(sat) of 1.05V at 25°C, up to a 0.1% efficiency improvement in a NPC 1 topology or up to a 0.3% efficiency improvement in a NPC 2 topology can be achieved when replacing preceding TRENCHSTOP IGBTs with the L5 family.

A development platform for UHF RFID battery-free devices which includes an ANDY100 chip with EPC C1G2 communication and an MSPG2233IPW20 MCU from Texas Instruments for communication with developers’ circuits, the Medusa has been introduced

by Farsens.

Without requiring batteries on the tag, the Medusa allows users to develop their own wireless sensors or actuators using energy harvested from the RF field created by the RFID reader to power up the ANDY100 IC, the MCU and the circuitry and devices attached to it.

The ANDY100 operates under standard EPC C1G2 commands so that proprietary or custom commands are not needed. Any commercial UHF RFID reader can be used just by programming with the correct standard commands.

Read more...

Read more...

Datasheet...

Datasheet...

FPGAs

FPGAs feature ‘unclonable’ technology for IoT applications Microsemi’s SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA and IGLOO2 FPGA now feature Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) technology licensed from Intrinsic-ID, providing system designers with a more secure solution for developing IoT applications. According to Microsemi, its SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA and IGLOO2 FPGA are the industry’s first and only FPGAs to integrate hardened PUF technology. The company implemented the technology using on-chip SRAM, which allowed it to become analogous to a ‘fingerprint’ of the FPGA. Microsemi has achieved a much higher level of resistance to tampering than that provided by FPGA soft IP or software-based solutions.

Read more...

FPGA development kit extends to high speed digitisers Keysight Technologies has unveiled an updated version of its U5340A FPGA development kit. The new version allows for expanded deployment of on board IP signal processing across the full range of Keysight PCIe high-speed digitisers and the 12-bit AXIe 8-channel wideband digital receiver/digitiser. The FPGA development kit is a complete environment for the design,

verification and implementation of real-time, user-defined signal processing algorithms.

Read more...

Datasheet...

FPGA kit simplifies evaluation for bridging & I/O expansion To allow easy evaluation and design for its family of MachXO3L instant-on, non-volatile FPGAs, Lattice Semiconductor has released the MachXO3L Starter Kit. Product developers can immediately deploy programmable bridging and I/O expansion with breakthrough I/O density, at Lattice’s lowest cost per I/O offering.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Software supports hardened floating point DSP blocks Providing immediate support for the hardened floating point DSP blocks integrated in Arria 10 FPGAs and SoCs, Altera has released version 14.1 of its Quartus II

software. Three unique DSP design entry flows enables users to achieve up to an industry-leading 1.5TFLOPS of DSP performance. The software also includes

optimisations to improve designer productivity by accelerating Arria 10 FPGA and SoC design time.

Read more...

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Cables & Connecting

Direct solder terminals suit space constrained applications Claimed to deliver industry leading right angle connections with low applied cost, Molex’s SolderRight direct solder terminals can now fulfil direct solder wireto-board designs where a very low profile right angle solder option for wires exiting a PCB is necessary due to severe space constraints. This enables a secure and reliable connection with a minimal ‘z’ profile.

In addition to a very low profile, the SolderRight one-piece crimp solder terminal includes unique design features such as multiple terminal and wire sizes, solder pins positioned between insulation and conductor crimps and twin solder pins. Terminal wire sizes range from 14 to 28AWG enabling both signal and power current capability while optimising PCB space. Solder pins positioned between insulation and conductor crimps offer superior wire strain relief and resist terminal and solder join breakage.

Read more...

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Datasheet...

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Higher density enables 25% more contacts in the same space Enhancing the company’s Han-Modular industrial connector family, HARTING has announced the highest-density module available - the Han DD Quad. By incorporating space for 42 Han D contacts with crimp termination, users can place around 25% more contacts in the same space, enabling complete connector configurations to be realised

in a smaller volume and more cost effectively.

Read more...

Duobinary encoding enables error-free, 56Gb/s transmission Using duobinary encoding over a channel including the ExaMAX high speed backplane connector, FCI has successfully demonstrated an error-free transmission at a data rate of 56Gb/s.

ExaMAX connectors combine speed, superior signal integrity performance and low crosstalk while eliminating insertion loss resonances.

Read more...

Datasheet...

Connectors target cloud computing platforms AirBorn’s HD4 connectors, designed to be an electricallyoptimised and highly dense physical layer medium for the HyperTransport Technology Consortium’s HyperShare interconnect technology, have been released by Astute Electronics. Featuring high bandwidth and minimised signal loss, the connectors are suitable for multidimensional network fabrics

and fast storage/SSD cluster applications used in nextgen data centre and cloud computing platforms.

The HD4 connectors provide up to six I/O ports on a 7.4mm pitch along a lowprofile PCIe, making them suitable for rack-in-cabinetbased systems.

Read more...

Cables & Connecting

SIM connector designed for the 4FF Nano SIM card A Nano SIM connector, which is particularly suitable for hand held or wearable devices where space is limited, has been introduced by Gradconn.

Measuring 12.3x10.0mm, the CH03-KA six-contact, pushpull connector is the company’s smallest SIM product. The device is designed for the 4FF Nano SIM card, which is currently the smallest SIM available, measuring 12.3x8.8mm.

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Back-flip actuator eases flexible printed circuit insertion Available in 11-61 positions, the ZIF connector range has been expanded by GTK with the addition of 0.3mm FPC connectors. These connectors incorporate a dual-contact style for design flexibility, and a back-flip actuator for easy insertion of the flexible printed circuit. The gold-plated connector contacts mate with standard 0.2mm thick FPCs with a staggered 0.3mm pitch contact array. “ZIF connectors

are suitable for applications where space saving is required and, as the demand for increasingly smaller devices rises, these products are becoming more popular.

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Permissible bending radius is five times outside diameter

Designed for both static connectivity to sensors and dynamic applications, such as in chains and robotics equipment, the Flamar-Flex cable has been announced

by Molex. The cable can operate reliably and safely in extremely small bending radius applications as a result of its permissible bending radius, which is five times the outside diameter.

The Flamar-Flex cable is UL/CSA approved (style 21209 / 21757) for temperature ranges from -50 to +90°C (static), -40 to +80°C (dynamic) and -30 to +60°C (drag chain).

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Connector series provides space-grade reliability In January 2015, the Rosetta spacecraft successfully landed its Philae probe on the surface of comet 67P/ Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Smiths Connectors’ K

and CMD/CSD series connectors were chosen for critical board-to-board interconnects in ground and navigation equipment, and for the satellite’s on-board

S and X-band Deep Space Transponder, necessary for the probe to communicate its findings back to Earth.

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Design

Design kit enables comparison between IGBTs & MOSFETs Providing all of the components needed to evaluate Cree MOSFET and Schottky diode performance in a configurable half bridge circuit, Cree has introduced

Control threephase motors in minutes The C2000 Piccolo F2806x InstaSPIN-MOTION LaunchPad DevKit, which allows developers to control three-phase motors in minutes, has been released

by Texas Instruments.

Alongside an MCU, the kit features emulation and InstaSPIN-MOTION software, enabling the quick design of real-time motion control systems with optimised sensored or sensorless motion control.

The software, which is based on the company’s InstaSPIN-FOC motor control solution, reduces controller tuning to a single parameter, optimises complex motion sequences and tracks trajectories with a high level of accuracy across operating ranges.

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a MOSFET design kit. Quick and easy to assemble and use, the design kit enables comparative testing between IGBTs and Cree MOSFETs, and provides

an effective layout example for properly driving Cree MOSFETs with minimal ringing.

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First wireless Arduino programming app for Windows The Windows Bean Loader has been launched by Punch Through Design, hailed as the first-ever wireless Arduino programming app for Windows users. This enables Windows-based developers and hobbyists to easily upload code to their LightBlue Bean MCU board and experience the power of BLE, without cables or a physical connection to the LightBlue Bean. Available

from the Windows Store, this app fills a gap in the market for Windows-based developers and DIY’ers looking to create smartphone-controlled devices.

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Raspberry Pi accessory board adds sensory & output modules The GrovePi+ is an accessory board that allows users to interface a Raspberry Pi SBC with Seeed’s Grove line of sensors, inputs, and output

devices. The GrovePi+ drivers and SDK can be utilised to easily write software for the Raspberry Pi that interacts with Grove devices. The GrovePi+ Starter Kit from Seeed Studio and Dexter Industries includes a GrovePi+ board and a selection of Grove modules.

The GrovePi+ operates with C/C++ and Python.

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Design

Biometric signature authentication guards EMR access Every hospital administrator, CFO and medical group CEO must comply with recent regulations from federal HIPAA and HITECH legislation, or risk forfeiting funds previously received from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Great emphasis is being placed on physicians and paramedical staff, as well as record keeping and insurancebilling departments, actually using the EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) as required.

There have been recent introductions of biometric signature authorisation systems

that allow users to effortlessly manage EMRs on their existing smartphone, tablet or desktop. At the same time, the latest iterations of biometric signature authorisation meet the ‘meaningful’ needs of the medical organisation.

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16-bit MCUs added to code development plug-in tool Microchip has extended its MPLAB Code Configurator Plug-In to support 16-bit PIC MCUs. Microchip has added support for more than 50 16-bit devices into the latest release of the MPLAB Code Configurator, a code development tool aiming to enable developers to enhance design experience with faster application development.

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Win a Microchip 3DTouchPad Electronic Specifier Design is offering you the chance to win a Microchip 3DTouchPad! Microchip introduces the first 2D/3D input sensing Development Platform. The 3DTouchPad (DM160225), is a production-ready development kit and reference design which combines 2D tracking of up to ten fingers, with 3D air gesture recognition for fast development of advanced input sensing for PC peripherals and other applications.

Based on Microchip’s GestIC® technology, 3DTouchPad’s robust and innovative 3D gesture recognition technology offers a detection range of up to 10 cm, whilst the highly responsive 2D projected-capacitive multi-touch input sensing supports up to 10 touch points and multi-finger surface gestures.

As a plug-and-play PC peripheral, 3DTouchPad connects to a PC using a single USB cable and includes a free Graphical User Interface (GUI), Software Development Kit (SDK) and Application Programming Interface (API). It also offers out-ofthe-box driverless features to enhance the user experience for Windows® 7/8.X and MacOS®.

For the chance to win a Microchip 3DTouchPad, visit:

www.microchip-comps.com/esd-3dtouchpad and enter your details in the online entry form.

Communications

Switch ICs support transmission speeds up to PCIe Gen3 The TC7PCI3212MT and TC7PCI3215MT SPDT switch ICs, which support transmission of a signal speed up to PCIe Generation 3 (8Gb/s), have been released

by Toshiba Electronics Europe.

The devices are suitable for applications involving the switching between different high-speed controller ICs such as PCIe Gen3, USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 or the multiplexing of a single controller IC to expand the number of available

peripheral interfaces. Typically, this occurs in industrial and consumer PCs, as well as networking and storage applications.

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Hubs connect USB devices anywhere on a wired or wireless LAN Amplicon has extended its range of Digi AnywhereUSB devices, with the introduction of three new models. The networkattached USB hubs allow USB devices to connect to a PC via existing TCP/IP network infrastructure. Eliminating the need for local host PCs, the

USB hubs connect USB devices anywhere on a wired or wireless LAN. The AnywhereUSB devices are, therefore, suitable for hostile or non-secure environments where having a local PC is neither practical nor permitted.

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Bedside terminal provides home comforts for patients A 10.1” multi-touch medical terminal, powered by TI’s OMAP 4470 Dual core Cortex-A9 and Android OS 4.1.1, has been released

by Arbor Technology. The lightweight, slim-profile M1012 terminal is suitable for bedside infotainment and medical thin-client applications. Supporting 75mm VESA, the M1012 can be mounted with arms or stands. In addition to a rolling stand, Arbor offers the Htab system, a combined stand and terminal. M1012 looks stylish and modern. The slim device features a 10.1” LCD 1280x800 HD resolution display, 10-point multi-touch screen, a 2.0MP front-facing camera, built-in microphone, and the hidden OTG microUSB 2.0.

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Transceiver features 24 transmit & receive channels The Leap On-BoardTransceiver (OBT) is a one inch square board mounted optical module which has been introduced by FCI. The device includes

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12-transmit and 12-receive channels, each working at 25Gb/s over distances up to 100m with a total of 300Gb/s throughput. When placed near the host ASIC,

the LEAP enables shorter copper board traces, better signal integrity and lower power consumption.

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Communications

Nanowire provides SBC operates at 5-10W thermal ‘ultimate’ semi-to- design power A 4” SBC, which features lowsuperconductor power consumption at only contact 5-10W thermal design power, has been introduced by DFI. The BT253, which expands the company’s Intel Atom E3800 SoC product portfolio, features BGA 1170 packaging technology. LVDS, HDMI, VGA (standard) and DVI-I (optional) interfaces, with dualindependent display capability, Researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute are behind the discovery of a new type of ‘nanowire’ crystal that fuses semiconducting and metallic materials on the atomic scale. The breakthrough has great potential, and could lay the foundation for future semiconducting electronics, potentially enabling technologies such as quantum computation and solar cells.The development and quality of extremely small electronic circuits are critical to how and how well future computers and other electronic devices will function. The nanowire material, comprised of both a semiconductor and metal, has a special superconducting property at very low temperatures.

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enhance onboard graphics capabilities.

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Gesture controller makes intuitive UI a reality Featuring simplified UI options focused on gesture detection, enabling true onestep design-in of 3D gesture recognition in consumer and embedded devices, Microchip announces the second

member of its GestIC family.

The MGC3030 3D gesture controller expands the use of sought after 3D gesture control features.

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Innovation inside a PC, inside a mouse Desktop PCs are predicted to enjoy a resurgence in the coming few years, in favour of tiresome tablet touchscreens and tiny phone interfaces. Heading off the anticipated demand for compact computing, a team of developers from Poland has introduced the MouseBox, a combination of two of the most important elements

in a PC set – a computer and a mouse. In the beginning, moving computers was a real challenge.

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Wireless

Wireless combo SoC targets IoT & wearable applications A wireless combo SoC, designed for the growing IoT and wearable markets, has been released by Atmel.

The WILC3000 wireless link controller, which expands the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SmartConnect wireless portfolio, combines WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth Smart-ready technologies with Atmelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s patented adaptive co-existence engine in a 4.1x4.1mm WLCSP. Featuring multiple peripheral interfaces including UART, SPI, I2C, and SDIO, along with the associated cloudready connectivity software, the device is suitable for wireless connectivity to any MPU running Android or Linux MPUs. The company has also introduced the WINC3400, a network controller featuring embedded flash memory, which allows the device to host network service stacks, WiFi stacks and Bluetooth Smart profiles. This enables rapid design development with no wireless expertise required from the designer.

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Control your TV with your voice Voice-over remote control technology, developed by Texas Instruments, has been selected by Comcast for use in its XFINITY TV remote control. The ZigBee RF4CE wireless MCU integrated within the remote control allows consumers to use voice commands to search for networks and shows, set DVR recordings and receive recommendations. Enabling

reliable operation, the MCU provides non line-of-sight bidirectional communication and link budget.

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LNAs enable small cells, macro base stations & DAS The GRF2051 and GRF2052 LNAs, which are optimised for frequency ranges of 1700-2700MHz and 23003800MHz, respectively, have been released by Guerrilla RF. Featuring adjustable current, external matching and flexible

Vdd, the LNAs support a wide range of infrastructure devices including high performance small cell LNAs, macro base station LNAs, DAS and general purpose LNAs. Read more...

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Multilayer low pass filter achieves 50% size reduction TDK has released a multilayer low-pass filter for LTE and other next-gen high-speed

wireless communication systems. Thanks to thinner ceramic layers, finer conductor lines and an optimised internal electrode design, the DEA071910LT-4003B1 achieves a miniaturised footprint of 0.65x0.5mm and a slimmer insertion height of just 0.3mm (form factor 06505).

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Wireless

FFSA LSI solution enables microwave communication equipment NEC has now begun the commercial production phase of its iPASOLINK microwave communication equipment for mobile networks, which utilises Toshiba’s FFSA (Fit Fast Structured Array) custom LSI solution. Toshiba’s solution, which employs licensed technology from BaySand, meets NEC’s performance,

power and time-to-market requirements.

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Antenna is suitable for spectrum management A 0.5-8GHz right or left hand circularly polarised spiral antenna, which is fitted with an SMA type connector, has been introduced by Steatite. Based on the company’s 0.5-22GHz spiral antenna, the QSP-RC0.5-8-S-SG is suitable for 360° spectrum management and direction finding antenna arrays. Robert Lowther, Sales and Marketing Manager, Steatite, commented “We believe we have developed a

competitive wideband spiral antenna that reinforces our position as an innovative microwave antenna company for the EW/SIGINT market.”

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Simplify EM compatibility & interference analysis CST EMC STUDIO, a product for ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and ElectroMagnetic Interference (EMI) analysis, has been introduced by Computer Simulation Technology.

Engineers can use the tool to study effects such as radiated or conducted emissions in consumer electronics devices, or susceptibility to ESD, lightning strike and high-intensity radiated fields.

Electromagnetic simulation solutions help identify potential compliance issues before the actual prototype is built and analyse products that fail compliance testing. CST EMC STUDIO includes proven solver technology for the study of EMC effects, with general purpose 3D modules.

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Bluetooth 4.1 network processor operates from 1.7V Supporting the latest Bluetooth version 4.1 enhancements, a BlueNRG Bluetooth SMART network processor has been introduced by STMicroelectronics. The

BlueNRG-MS network processor introduces 1.7V operation for longer-lasting battery-powered applications.

Integrating a complete Bluetooth PHY and 2.4GHz radio as well as a dedicated

AES-128 security coprocessor, the BlueNRG-MS network processor utilises the ARM Cortex-M0 MCU to run the Bluetooth 4.1 protocol stack.

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