EEWeb Pulse - Volume 99 by EEWeb Magazines

Kaivan Karimi Director of Global Strategy, Microcontroller Group Freescale Semiconductor

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Kaivan Karimi DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL STRATEGY, MICROCONTROLLER GROUP, AT FREESCALE How the Internet of Things is taking over the semiconductor industry and how Freescale is poised and ready to lead the way.

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INTERVIEW

reescale Semiconductor is a global leader in embedded processing solutions for automotive, consumer, industrial, and networking markets. Their wide array of technologies all contribute to the goal of making the world greener, safer, and more connected. We spoke with Kaivan Karimi, the Director of Global Strategy of the Microcontroller Group at Freescale, about how the Internet of Things is becoming larger than most pre-existing markets and what Freescale is doing to prepare for future IoT technologies.

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EEWeb PULSE What was your work experience prior to joining Freescale? In my early days going through graduate school, I had a research assistantship working with NASA on the ACTS satellite, which led to my involvement with digital communications and ultimately digital cellular communication. Later on I worked as a contractor on some government projects as GSM was coming up and analog standards for cellular were slowly going away. I eventually ended up in the Cadence Wireless Design Services group, which focused on cellular business as well as in connectivity in the early days of Wi-Fi, home RF and Bluetooth. After leaving Cadence I was part of multiple startups focused on technical product marketing of UMTS platforms, and in 2003, I came to Freescale, where I ran the baseband processing product management on the networking side followed by cellular product management on the handset side. In 2007 I left the business unit to lead our corporate development and M&A functions. After around three years of leading corporate development, I wanted to come back to the business unit, so I came to the MCU division to lead the strategy function, new business development, and some of the product related activities. That actually coincided with the early days of us looking into how the connectivity landscape was changing—from the perspective of industrial applications and process automation to the up-andcoming landscape of the Internet of Things. We started pulling strategies and products together that would help us in our future product offerings targeted at this emerging market. As an example, we began moving some of our MCUs to an ARM based platform and put major emphasis on

wireless connectivity. Some of those products are coming out now and some are on our roadmaps. Bottom line, it helped us position ourselves for offering the right products for the up-and-coming IoT market. How long have you been working in the wireless market? I have been working in the wireless market for 16 years collectively and three years now on the MCU side with a different angle towards wireless,

“ Who would of thought of Facebook 10 years before Facebook? We’re in a similar situation in regards to the IoT.”

hence a different perspective than a traditional MCU person. Right now the megaphone is in the hand of the operators and they define it in a completely different way than the reality of what IoT will be once its fully rolled out. If you look at the Internet of Things from communication and connectivity, it’s completely different from some of the things that you read in the press, and that’s part of the reason why most of the material out there is very vague and doesn’t truly describe it from the bottoms up.

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Even folks who understand the architecture talk about it in terms of machine to machine (M2M). Note that the IoT is not just about M2M but also machine to people, machine to infrastructure and machine to nature. When you only talk M2M, you define the issues as only communication issues, as there is a perceived notion of an existing “machine” which is already intelligent and does something. In reality, the ‘things’ are not necessarily intelligent and need to get embedded processing to become smart before they can communicate. How do you envision the Internet of Things and the ecosystem surrounding it?

I think the Internet of Things is going to be significantly bigger than a lot of pre-existing markets. It’s going to be about a lot of services, some of which nobody has thought of yet. It’s going to go through one of these curves that the people who “networked” the Internet went through. Who would of thought of Facebook 10 years before Facebook? We’re in a similar situation in regards to the IoT. When I look at it, I am looking at it from the technology building blocks. I have a graph in my paper that represents it. I started thinking, “Well, the Internet of Things—what are the ‘things?’ What is the taxonomy of the Internet of Things?” Then I started looking at the different nodes that will collectively build up the Internet of Things, from the edge/sensing nodes all the way through the cloud. A “thing” could be something like your toaster oven or any appliance, or a bridge on a road or the road itself. When you read about the Internet of Things, the word “smart” shows up all over. “Smart,” appliances, “smart” homes, “smart” cars, etc. The word “smart” is all over the IoT. So what makes something “smart” when previously

INTERVIEW it was “dumb,” for lack of a better word? What makes your toaster “smart” now and how was it “dumb” before? Well, your toaster used to use a mechanical button to be pushed down and it would be mechanically adjusted for how brown you wanted your toast to be. Now you can add an MCU or an embedded processor to the toaster with a user interface to determine how brown your toast is going to be and it’s more accurate and reliable.

as Bluetooth low energy, Zigbee, 802.15.4, and 6LowPan. There are going to be a handful of short range radios that are going to exist which are going to be communicating via one of the different widgets (Wi-Fi could also be one of them). That toaster is going to connect to a box inside of the home which will be a hub (gateway).

That’s how something becomes “smart.” It’s not by adding cellular connectivity to it—a cellular operator talks about it—but actually by adding a MCU to it.

If I lived in an apartment building, then every door or window that opens, every appliance, every electrical wall outlet, smoke detector, thermostats, etc., would all be connected to an apartment level hub or gateway. Each of the hubs would have an embedded processor in them and they will be communicating via a short-range radio to a box inside of your apartment

The next step is to determine how you can connect this “smart” thing. Chances are you do this with a short-range radio of some sort, such

How many applications could be connected to a hub?

8.7 Billion

which becomes a signal aggregator. That hub would have an embedded processor in it. This signal processor would be able to make a lot of the decisions, from a command and control perspective, locally and pass basic information to the cloud for big data analysis, or pass the majority of the data to the cloud for processing. There is going to be that flexibility all based on the services that will be offered. That example is just for an apartment, but as the IoT grows, there will also be floor-level unit for processing, which will have a hub or gateways. Then there will be building level, and then a neighborhood level gateway. Finally, the last gateway in the hierarchy will start communicating to a gateway server somewhere in the cloud, whether it’s for command and control purposes, or for big data

1 Trillion

Connected Devices

7 Billion

People in the World

7.9 Billion

2012

11,395% Increase

over the course of 13 years

People in the World

(Estimated)

2025 Visit www.eeweb.com

EEWeb PULSE analytics. That’s when the Wide Area Network (WAN) communication will come in—from the building level or neighborhood level, depending on the situation. Then you will need to have WAN coverage and if you have access to a T1 link, then that’s your connection to the core network, and if you don’t, you will potentially need other forms of wireless WAN coverage, including cellular or WiMAX. Most likely there will be a new generation of wireless data communication standards that will be coming up, such as the Weightless standard, that are dedicated to providing WAN coverage for command and control networks at much more lower cost and much better efficiencies. Cellular operates in the 2+ GHz band, so it has poor range, poor in-building penetration and poor power consumption. It is architected from the ground up to support the much higher data rates needed for multimedia rich applications vs. the data rates needed for IoT command and control purposes, which would be significantly lower than what cellular is focused on. If you consider all of the applications in that apartment or house that will be connected to that gateway, and compare that to the number of cellular phones in that household, you realize

that the IoT volumes could dwarf the existing “ultimate consumer market,” which is the cellular handset market. In my household, my wife and I each have a smart phone and we have two young daughters, so in five years we will likely have four cellular phones in our household. Today I have 68 potential IoT sensing/edge nodes in my house alone that in five years could be connected to the gateway box. Hence 68 compared to four, and this is just for the smart home IoT. When you talk about IoT of smart factories and infrastructure, where no smart phones are present, the numbers will be more skewed, so now you realize how much bigger the IoT market will be vs. the cellular market and why the cellular operators make the claims they do, as well as why they characterize the IoT as a cellular phenomenon, when in reality they will have very little to do with it. Will there be embedded processing in each layer of the network? Embedded processing will be in various layers of abstraction as you go from the edge of the network all the way to the core network, with connectivity solutions in between to connect the different pieces and the different layers of hierarchy. On the edge nodes you have either just the

“ Rolling out the IoT is like rolling out the largest control data network in the world, and each node can be a point of intrusion, so security is a huge issue. ”

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embedded processor, in the example of the toaster, or you have sensors and actuators (if it’s something like a thermometer) or RFID tags that show something exists and can be tracked, and an energy source. All of the edge mini-networks, by the way, will have MCUs that enable this communication to go through the connectivity solution to the next layer, which typically includes various types of gateways. Gateways will also have embedded processors in them and will play a key role in the infrastructure of the IoT. What do you think are the biggest obstacles to the development of the Internet of Things? The IoT is going to be the largest data network in the world. It’s estimated that there will be about 1 trillion devices by 2025. Because of the IoT’s massive scale, each node can be a point of intrusion, so security is a huge issue. Like anything else, the weakest link will determine how strong the security of the network will be. Every one of those nodes could potentially be a hacking point—a security vulnerable spot. So how do you come up with a way to ensure security and does everything have to be as secure? What are the layers of hierarchy for security that you need to have? How much of it is network level from a service layer perspective? I recently wrote another paper about the role of sensor fusion in the Internet of Things and how you can use cheap sensors and sensor fusion to actually remotely read the emotions of people who are using their phones with sensors embedded in the buttons or have sensors on their watches or joysticks or even the wheel of a car. There are a variety of ways to do it, but the bottom line is that you can remotely read people’s emotions with

INTERVIEW very high accuracy for tele-health or providing context for big-dataanalysis, and so the biggest issue that pops up is privacy. Then there are endless IoT applications. If you do an online search on IoT, there are so many creative things that people are talking about, from self-driving smart cars, self-maintaining smart homes, and self-harvesting smart farms, to all kinds of other creative “smart” stuff and applications. Because of those applications, there are endless potential types of edge nodes and the technology that needs to be associated with them. Embedded processing certainly needs to be paired up with some sort of sensor, a power source, and some sort of communication technology. The permutation of all of this gives you a lot of variations. There is a lot of fragmentation today when you look at the connectivity solution. I believe the dust will settle down to four or five short range wireless communication technologies—there won’t be one standard that’s going to dominate for sure, but there will be a handful of them. There are a lot of legacy systems that would need to be added to the system in order to put them on the network. In these legacy networks, there was no concept of coexistence or a interoperability plan with other systems for services offerings. I will give you an example of that in a little bit for a smart home application. Will there be an issue of managing all of these networked devices? With all these networks and devices, you will definitely need to have management and provisioning along the service layer, and naturally you will need capacity planning for all of

“When you talk about a smart home, you are also talking about service providers for home health, elderly monitoring and care, home automation, landscape and maintenance, and all kinds of other services that will be offered.” them. When rolling out the largest control data network in the world, you will need to think about the scalability of it, how different parts of the network will be managed, and the lowest cost of ownership—meaning not needing to send service people to the field to change batteries as often. Also needed will be self repairing networks that do not need a service call for resetting in case something comes up and can be self-calibrating. They will have to be harmonized with standards that may not still exist today. There will also be regulatory issues, which can slow down everything. People who have the megaphone right now and control the echo-chamber, whether it’s the cellular operators or people on the consumer side, are used to a different product refresh cycle. If you look at the Internet of things, it’s clear that a lot of things on the edge nodes are going to happen with refresh cycles similar to the industrial side. A lot of these boxes need to become industrial grade boxes. Even if you look at something as simple as the thermostat in your house, you don’t change it that often and there will be things that will need to exist in the field for 10 to 15 years.

The product lifecycle for consumer items can be 18 months to 24 months typically. When you’re talking about things that need to be out there for 15 years, it’s a completely different ball game. How do you envision the Internet of Things affecting homes? Today, in my home for instance, I have Internet service, land line phone and mobile phone service. My electricity, water and gas are from separate companies. A while back, my home phone company had a triple play for our neighborhood, so I got my Internet, cable and land- line phone altogether from one company. My mobile phone still goes through someone else, but those four services are covered. Still, my security system, electric, water and gas are separate. When you talk about a smart home, you are also talking about service providers for home health, elderly monitoring and care, home automation, landscape and maintenance, remote education, and all kinds of other services that will be offered. There will be lots of different companies that will be providing different services to the Visit www.eeweb.com

EEWeb PULSE home and communicating via one gateway box (note that if everything is supposed to be on IPv6 then you only need one box inside your home). The new types of services (like home health or remote education) will probably go along with whatever the standard is that is set for that box. They will accept whatever revenue sharing and business arrangement that is dictated to them. But if you look at the utility, security and telephone/ISP companies now, most of them aren’t working with each other yet. They are having a hard time defining a standard — in fact, they are defining completely different standards at the moment. Certainly today there is no revenue sharing model that they will all accept. I don’t think there are as many technological issues to overcome to make something like a smart home tangible as there are business issues. All these heterogeneous types of service providers from different industries will have to come together and accept some sort of revenue sharing model so they can all work together and share a single gateway box. Once that happens, the flood gates of additional services will open up and your home will become as “cool” and application-driven as your smart phone. In what way has Freescale been preparing to help customers produce IoT products? From Freescale’s perspective, I think we’re in a very good position. When I look at embedded processing, and communications processors, we have significant market share on the networking side, according to industry analysts. We also have a

strong presence in the market on the edge side with our microcontrollers and microprocessors. From an embedded processing perspective at all layers of abstraction, we’re one of the only companies present in every layer of hierarchy - from the edge of the network to the core – and are in a good position to follow trends and respond at the overall system level. We have all categories of customers with whom we’re working as the industry is transitioning from simple automation to the Internet of Things.

to remotely sense and read people’s emotions along with other types of health-related applications. So we have original research, a platform with real example applications and we are looking at the IoT from a variety of perspectives – from the device to the edge of the network and then all the way to the core of the network as well as the service layer.

We talked about how security is an important thing for the IoT. Some of it is certainly semiconductor-related (hardware and software), some of it is standards-related and some of it is service-related. We are listening to the various parts of the industry and implementing what we believe is required from a semiconductor hardware and software perspective. We are also bringing ecosystem partners to help us as well as adding a secure service level infrastructure on top of what we already provide.

We’re tuning our overall portfolio for IoT applications, including our short-range communication products, MCUs and MPUs and all of the supporting development environment, along with our partners. We just announced a microcontroller, the Kinetis® KL02 MCU, which is small enough to be swallowed for potential medical applications. It is tiny -1.9 mm by 2mm - and uses extremely low power consumption but has full 32-bit functionality needed for the robust communication and sensing needs of IoT edge nodes.

We also have excellent sensor offerings. Again, when you look at sensors and actuators and all of that collectively which exists on the edge of the network. We also have some initiatives and work we are doing with our partners that takes our collective offerings one layer higher. We have a home health hub reference platform on which we are working with our partners where we provide the semiconductor content and our partners provide system solutions and software. With sensor fusion on the health side, we have original research with Dr. Jose Fernandez on how to use sensors and embedded processors

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Now that Freescale has its sights set on the IoT, what is the next step for the company?

These are definitely a different class of products compared to traditional product families, and while I can’t say there are revolutionary changes to the products here, they are significantly optimized for the applications from the power consumption, size, and range of devices perspectives. It’s worth noting that almost everything for the IoT is evolutionary stuff—things that exist today but can be optimized for IoT use. And so for the IoT, one size will not fit all. You need to think about different types of applications and then tune your product offerings to be focused for optimum performance. This means a very broad portfolio to support diverse uses. ■

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lthough Compound Photonics has been around for 8 years, you may not have heard of them until recently. That’s because the company has been operating “stealth mode,” developing a potentially game-changing technology for smartphone and tablet devices. After acquiring the laser component part of Alfalight, Inc.—an integrated laser systems company based out of Madison, Wisconsin—Compound Photonics is pleased to announce its full HD light engine that are fully embeddable into smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. We spoke with Scott Niesen, Director of Marketing for Compound Photonics, about the importance of this acquisition, the remarkably small size of their projector, and the potential 3D projection capabilities in the not-so-distant future.

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TECH ARTICLE

Full HD

Embedded Laser Projector

for Smartphone

and Tablet Devices

from Compound Photonics

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Alfalight’s Appeal

Fully Embedded

In order to make this HD laser projector possible, Compound Photonics needed to find a laser diode that was efficient enough to run off of a mobile device’s battery. That’s where Alfalight came in. The commercial laser component part of Alfalight brought two essential technologies into Compound Photonics’ technology portfolio. “Alfalight had set the benchmark for laser diode efficiency at 60%,” Niesen told us, “this means that they take 60% of the power coming into the laser diode and translate it into light output.” This capability allows for the projector to have extremely high performance coupled with an efficient light engine, which is crucial for mobile device components. The other technology Alfalight brought to the table was its wavelength stabilization technology. When a device pumps out laser light as a projection, it’s important to maintain consistent color quality that doesn’t vary. “With Alfalight’s wavelength stabilization technology,” Niesen stated, ‘the light coming out of the laser has a very small tolerance for variation within wavelengths.” With the acquisition finalized, Compound Photonics is in the advanced stages of development for their HD light engine. The light engine integrates the full HD imager, projection lenses, and laser illumination. The light engine includes an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to tell the lasers when to fire and control the pixels. “The ASIC also tells the imager what kind of image is coming in,” Niesen explained, “whether it’s a low resolution YouTube video, or a full, 1080p Blu-ray quality video image.” The ASIC essentially does all the interpretation of the video source coming in.

The HD Projector The technology for the embeddable HD projector was palpable after the acquisition, which meant that Compound Photonics could finally emerge from “stealth” mode. The company appeared in October of 2012 to let everyone know that they had been working on a full HD laser projection light engine that could be embedded in smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Their product is unique in that it is a completely vertically integrated light engine design. Niesen clarified: “By vertically integrated, I mean that we will make the full HD imager, which is a liquid crystal on silicon.” The device is a full 1080p, meaning there are 1,920 pixels across the top, 1,080 pixels running top to bottom, which gives it a 2.2 megapixel display that is ¼ inch in diagonal. The resolution is amazing given that this is such a tiny module.

The device is the world’s smallest 1080p HD projector, delivering a 2.2 megapixel display with a high image brightness that delivers 30 to 60 lumens. In demonstrations of the device, the team was showing a 40- and 60-inch diagonal image in a dimly lit room. Obviously the smaller the image, the brighter it will be, because the light is closer to the surface. The goal, according to Niesen, is to get the projector to be able to show a 30- to 40-inch diagonal image in ambient lighting. The team is currently working with handset manufacturers to figure out where the projector can be placed in smartphone device. “It makes sense if you think about holding a smartphone,” Niesen explained, “You’d be holding it horizontally and you would have your content on the smartphone display.” The device with the HD projector would also come with an intuitive UI. “The UI would show all of the different things you could do with the projector, in terms of brightness and video settings.”

Potential Applications With the unique capabilities of an HD projector in a smartphone device, a seemingly endless array of applications will come about. Since this projector will be implemented in smartphone and tablet devices, user control of power and battery life is a critical component. “The way we approach this is from a perspective of lumens-per-watt,” Niesen stated, “Lumens are a measure of brightness and obviously watts are a measure of power.” Therefore, if you want to project a two-hour movie on your smartphone, the user might want to think about connecting the phone to their charger. Conversely, if you are merely

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TECH ARTICLE

Close-up of the Full HD Imager

showing a friend a short, 6 minute YouTube video, the user could go full brightness on battery power for the duration of the video. The way that Compound Photonics is designing the UI for the module will allow the user to have a lot of controls over these different variables. If the user wants high output (in terms of brightness) for a short period of time, or if they want to extend battery life, that can all be adjusted. “We can give the user an intuitive control,” Niesen said, “That way, the user can set the desired brightness settings through the UI on the phone.” Compound Photonics recently did a survey with mobile application developers to get an idea of what can be developed for the HD projector. “One of the interesting findings in that study,” Niesen told us, “was that the app developers think that projection would be used in conjunction with all of the other functionality that’s integrated into your phone.” These functions range from still or video cameras, GPS, voice recognition, and even touch or gesture recognition. Compound Photonics is

also working to design a projector with 4k capabilities, which is essentially ultra high definition. As of now, it can’t be used in mobile devices, but could be used to create compact, high-resolution 3D-capabale front projectors. The futuristic 3D projections seen in sci-fi movies are suddenly not too far-fetched. “I’ve been in the hardware business for a long time,” Niesen told us, “I’ve taken the perspective that the hardware always comes first and then the people figure out what to do with it.” This was certainly the case with smartphones when they first hit the market. “I don’t think anybody thought GPS would be integrated in your smartphone when they came out,” Niesen said, “Now, Google tells us where to go and how to get there.” Niesen has high hopes for the HD projector; “I think the same thing will happen with having the ability to project what’s on your phone.” The possibilities in these early stages are already unlimited in what the potential applications could be. ■

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EE Making Wireless Truly Wireless: Need For Universal Wireless Power Solution

Dave Baarman Director Of Advanced Technologies

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Power Factor Correction Controllers ISL6730A, ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D The ISL6730A, ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D are active Features power factor correction (PFC) controller ICs that use a boost topology. (ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D are Coming Soon.) The controllers are suitable for AC/DC power systems, up to 2kW and over the universal line input.

The ISL6730A, ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D are operated in continuous current mode. Accurate input current shaping is achieved with a current error amplifier. A patent pending breakthrough negative capacitance technology minimizes zero crossing distortion and reduces the magnetic components size. The small external components result in a low cost design without sacrificing performance. The internally clamped 12.5V gate driver delivers 1.5A peak current to the external power MOSFET. The ISL6730A, ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D provide a highly reliable system that is fully protected. Protection features include cycle-by-cycle overcurrent, over power limit, over-temperature, input brownout, output overvoltage and undervoltage protection.

• Reduce component size requirements - Enables smaller, thinner AC/DC adapters - Choke and cap size can be reduced by 66% - Lower cost of materials • Excellent power factor over line and load regulation - Internal current compensation - CCM Mode with Patent pending IP for smaller EMI filter • Better light load efficiency - Automatic pulse skipping - Programmable or automatic shutdown • High reliable design - Cycle-by-cycle current limit - Input average power limit - OVP and OTP protection - Input brownout protection

The ISL6730A, ISL6730B provide excellent power efficiency and transitions into a power saving skip mode during light load conditions, thus improving efficiency automatically. The ISL6730A, ISL6730B, ISL6730C, ISL6730D can be shut down by pulling the FB pin below 0.5V or grounding the BO pin. The ISL6730C, ISL6730D have no skip mode.

• Small 10 Ld MSOP package

Two switching frequency options are provided. The ISL6730B, ISL6730D switch at 62kHz, and the ISL6730A, ISL6730C switch at 124kHz.

• TV AC/DC power supply

• Desktop computer AC/DC adaptor • Laptop computer AC/DC adaptor • AC/DC brick converters

100

VLINE

Applications

VOUT

EFFICIENCY (%)

VCC ISEN

GATE

ICOMP

GND

ISL6730

VIN

ISL6730A, SKIP

80 ISL6730C

75 70

COMP BO

VREG

FIGURE 1. TYPICAL APPLICATION

40 60 OUTPUT POWER (W)

100

FIGURE 2. PFC EFFICIENCY

TABLE 1. KEY DIFFERENCES IN FAMILY OF ISL6730

February 26, 2013 FN8258.0

VERSION

ISL6730A

ISL6730B

ISL6730C

ISL6730D

Switching Frequency

124kHz

62kHz

124kHz

62kHz

Skip Mode

Yes-Fixed

Intersil (and design) is a registered trademark of Intersil Americas Inc. Copyright Intersil Americas Inc. 2013 All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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TECH ARTICLE

eactive Power Part 1:

at it is; why it is important

ere is a global trend toward adding dynamic reactive devices to serve urban load areas. P. Jeffrey Palermo Executive Consultant DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability

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EEWeb PULSE A number of interrelated factors contribute to this increasing use of dynamic reactive devices, such as the following: •M any urban areas are experiencing a growth in load levels. These urban areas also see less generation close to the load center. Either legacy generating units have been retiring or they are operating less, because they are less efficient than newer generators. Losing these generators reduces the amount of local power generation and dynamic var support available in the urban areas. As a result, urban areas often rely on increased power imports to serve their load. • Increased power imports tend to reduce local transmission voltages, which, in turn, reduce the effectiveness of various devices that support the local voltages. In the extreme, this could become a kind of voltage spiral of death. • I n many cases, there is enough transmission thermal capability to deliver the needed imports, but there are increasingly frequent periods where voltage/var factors limit system operation. • Public opposition to new transmission lines is also common. • In many deregulated markets, there are limited means to require or encourage generator construction or to schedule power outside the normal generation dispatch market. In other markets, requiring generators to operate outside normal economic dispatch can be very costly. These urban areas, however, often face an underappreciated risk associated with the addition of these complex dynamic reactive devices.

While reactive power does not provide useful work, it is essential for AC transmission and distribution systems, motors, and many other types of customer loads.

Reactive Power and Why it is Important Fundamentally, electrical power is developed, delivered, and consumed as voltage and current. In a simple direct current (DC) device (like a flashlight), the power (the brightness of the bulb) is the voltage times the current, which is measured in watts. Watts are a measure of the ability of a device to perform useful work. This is what is called real (and sometimes active) power because it can produce useful (real) work. In alternating current (AC) systems—like all modern power systems—things become a bit more complicated. Common customer load devices—especially motors— have inherent characteristics that shift the relationship between current and voltage. This shift is measured in vars—from the French term Volt-Ampere reactive. Since much of the power system load is motors in factories, businesses, and homes, this becomes a significant issue for utilities. Transformers and transmission and distribution lines and cables also have characteristics that contribute to this shift. Increasing var load reduces the ability of the system to deliver real power and perform useful work. In extreme cases, a high var load can shift the voltage and current so much that it reduces the power system’s delivery capability so that almost no active power can be delivered. There can also be other undesirable effects like low voltages and increased equipment heating and system losses. While reactive power does not provide useful work, it is essential for AC transmission and distribution systems, motors, and many other types of customer loads. For motor loads, sufficient var levels are needed to avoid voltage sags that inhibit the conversion and flow of watts to meet load demand. Therefore, actual power systems require both real and reactive power to function properly.

Compensating for reactive loads The shift of motors and other reactive loads can be offset using compensation devices. Reactive compensation commonly comes from three types of devices: 1. C apacitors are the largest source of compensating reactive power and are commonly used throughout the power system. 2. Synchronous condensers are a type of rotating machine—like a generator—but they do not produce real power, only reactive power. There are also other

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devices that use high-power electronics to rapidly control reactive power from large banks of capacitors. 3. C onventional generators, in addition to supplying real power, are an important source of reactive power. Reactive power loads must be supplied either locally from customer-owned devices or from the system itself. It is almost universal for some of the reactive load to be compensated locally as power-factor correction. Power factor is a measure of the relation between real and reactive power. The power factor ranges from 0.0 to 1.0, where 1.0 means there is only real power (no reactive power); 0.0 means there is no real power, only reactive.

The Difference Between Passive and Dynamic Reactive Resources While there are various differences in the hardware involved, the main distinction between passive and dynamic reactive resources is how quickly they can respond to the changing needs of the power system.

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The mix of dynamic and passive devices will have a significant impact on the cost of providing the necessary reactive compensation. There is also a significant capital cost difference between passive and dynamic devices. Passive devices are about one-fourth the cost of dynamic devices. Therefore, the mix of dynamic and passive devices will have a significant impact on the cost of providing the necessary reactive compensation. A blend of both types of devices is most common. Specific performance factors and capital costs help determine the best mix for each situation.

Passive reactive sources are devices with fixed var ratings, which can be connected or disconnected (switched) as system conditions change. The most common passive device is a capacitor. Capacitors can be permanently connected or switched throughout the day. The switching action can be made in a few seconds using automatic controls. (The response is much slower if it depends on manual actions by a system operator.)

About the Author

While automated switching within a few seconds may seem fast, it is not fast enough for some situations to avoid voltage collapse (a blackout).

He advises and assists utilities in developing and evaluating transmission plans -- including a wide range of system analyses using a variety of steady-state and dynamic system analysis tools and techniques.

Dynamic reactive sources are active devices that can provide variable amounts of reactive power in a few milliseconds. Common examples are static var compensators (SVCs), static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs), synchronous condensers, and conventional generators. All are capable of rapid dynamic response. Some types of renewable generating sources are also capable of providing dynamic reactive supply using power electronics and other means. DNV KEMA recently completed a study where several dynamic reactive sources (SVCs) were needed to reach full output in 10 milliseconds (0.01 seconds). These static var devices then needed to continuously swing from maximum to minimum output to maintain stability within the first 10 seconds. Such a response is not possible with switched passive devices.

Mr. Palermo has more than 35 years of experience in the power sector, with specific expertise in system planning and sector restructuring. At DNV KEMA, Mr. Palermo is responsible for system planning and operating studies of generation and transmission systems within a range of multi-utility coordination schemes.

Mr. Palermo has appeared as an expert witness before FERC, Congressional committees, state legislatures, state and federal courts, arbitration panels, and state and provincial utility commissions. He has provided numerous lectures on restructuring, system planning and system operation. â&#x2013;

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Anthony Wong Fujitsu Semiconductor America

ideo is everywhere, available to users of handheld devices with Internet broadband access virtually any time, any place, and in many formats. One of the major consumer electronics industry challenges in recent years has been to conveniently, seamlessly, and consistently deliver video across a broad range of formats.

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System Example Using Fujitsu MB-86E631

Placeshifting enables viewing and listening to live, recorded, or pre-stored media on a remote device (computer, tablet, mobile phone, or TV) over the Internet or over a data network.

he solution is “placeshifting,” which allows consumers to watch live or DVR-recorded content on any wireless device. Placeshifting enables viewing and listening to live, recorded, or pre-stored media on a remote device (computer, tablet, mobile phone, or TV) over the Internet or over a data network. Placeshifted content can be enjoyed in any location; users can watch sporting events, news programs or comedy shows at home, at work, on the move, in a hotel room or in their favorite coffee spot. To stream “mobile-device-friendly” full HD-resolution content requires the use of transcoding technology, because mobile devices cannot handle MPEG-2. Transcoding adjusts the bit rate required to send the stream over a low-bandwidth network. The optimal transcoder can output the stream for any mobile device. The latest placeshifting technologies use the proven H.264 standard, with its successful application in handheld devices including today’s popular smart phones and small cameras. Compact, low-power ICs now allow widespread deployment of products capable of playing

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H.264/AVC video at standard definition and with HD TV resolutions. In these handheld and mobile devices, H.264 combines high quality with low memory sizes, allowing for seamless video. As the most widely used video-encoding format, H.264 supports the HTML5 video tag, and is supported on every Blu-ray digital video disc (DVD) player, plus most Flash and Silverlight players. The format’s efficient hardware-acceleration capability delivers excellent, high-definition video even on inexpensive mobile and handheld products. The decoding takes place inside the processor; no additional software support is required. Another H.264 benefit is the ability to use video taken directly from a camera on the web with no need to encode it. This is significant because the same video with different encoding typically needs additional software support, consuming power and slowing the process.

TECH ARTICLE “Placeshifting” devices can also transcode audio data for any format, meeting the specifications of the playback equipment.

Mobile Devices and “Placeshifting”

home electronics equipment, smart phones, and other mobile and portable equipment.

To meet the audio and video specifications of playback equipment, the ideal H.264-compliant device provides robust and reliable bidirectional H.264/MPEG transcoding of audio data for multiple formats. Translating adds the ability to convert H.264 video data into H.264 formats of various video resolutions and bit rates.

In addition to full HD transcoding functionality, devices such as the Fujitsu MB86M01/M02/M03 series feature H.264 translating functionality for converting H.264 video data into highly compressed data. These devices can also transcode audio data for any format, meeting the specifications of the playback equipment.

The ICs needed to enable the technology must be flexible, so they can fit the various formats, resolutions and bit rates that differ throughout the world. For example, Japan and the United States use MPEG-2 for broadcasting, while Europe, South America and most of continental Asia use the H.264 specification. Power requirements also have to be minimized, and footprints need to be compact. New generations of devices reduce power consumption below 1.2W when using the H.264 transrating function in full, high-definition mode. This is achieved by using miniaturization technologies and by incorporating memory into the device. As with many other audio and video ICs, the small footprint makes it possible to use the devices in Visit www.eeweb.com

EEWeb PULSE Since demand for wireless distribution of HD content to mobile devices is growing rapidly, Fujitsu designed the new series to meet the specific requirements of multiple regions and bandwidth constraints. Fujitsu’s proprietary transcoding technology delivers industry-leading levels of low power consumption and integrates 1GB of Fast Cycle RAM (FCRAM). The builtin memory technologies and miniaturization process technologies hold power consumption to 1.2W. Connecting two tuner modules to two tuner input terminals enables simultaneous control of a program as it is being viewed and of another program as it is being recorded. The MB86M01/M02/M03 series also reduces the delay time required during transcoding, which speeds distribution over a network. This represents a significant improvement over Fujitsu’s first-generation transcoding products.

bandwidth constraints. The built-in memory architecture lowers power consumption, overcoming thermal effects, enables small form-factor product design, and minimizes the BOM cost. Transcoding solutions can be integrated into accessories as simple and flexible as a USB dongle. Video streaming to mobile devices can be achieved using a Wi-Fi router with a TV tuner for standalone or mobile devices, or a PVR with a built-in HDD and Blu-ray / HDD recorder. The technology also can be applied in a PCTV with a mini-card for notebook PCs and in a USB/PCI-e TV tuner accessory. Two streams for recording to HDD and mobile flash drives can be created simultaneously. Fujitsu’s transcoder enables the development of various PC accessories because of its ultra-small package and low power requirements. The device can also be installed in smallfootprint products like mini-cards, due to its embedded memory. The combination of low power requirements, compact footprint, embedded memory and transcoding functionality enable the placeshifting and other capabilities required to bring all the benefits of H.264 to mobile products.

About the Author Anthony Wong is a senior marketing manager with Fujitsu Semiconductor America based in Sunnyvale, California. He has more than 15 years of technical and business management experience in the semiconductor industry. He is currently engaged in ASSP marketing and corporate strategies. ■

Those products, the MB86H57 and MB86H58, have been widely used in home electronics equipment and mobile products to deal with format-conversion issues while maintaining good video quality. Since demand for wireless distribution of HD content to mobile devices is growing rapidly, Fujitsu designed the new series to meet the specific requirements of multiple regions and

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