Electronica Azi International no. 2 - 2022 by Electronica Azi

2/2022

I N T E R N A T I O N A L A PAN EUROPEAN MAGAZINE

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

PRODUCT NEWS

Infineon introduces NAC1080: Single-chip solution with integrated H-Bridge for passive NFC lock applications

The global smart lock market size was valued at 1.38 billion USD in 2020. The demand was recorded at 8.9 million units and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4 percent from 2021 to 2028 [1]. With integrated HBridge and energy harvesting modules, a smart actuator can be implemented in a single-chip solution with minimum components required. Infineon Technologies AG has developed a new programmable 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M0 microcontroller (MCU) with embedded near-field communication (NFC) frontend to enable cost effective development of smart actuators, such as passive locks. Using the NFC interface, the NAC1080 MCU enables devices to be controlled directly

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by smartphones. Advanced local and cloud functions can be extended within the mobile app offered by regional marketing partners. This reduces the bill of material and supports miniaturized product design. NAC1080 supports various operation modes and can be powered either in passive mode by the NFC field with the energy harvested from the mobile phone, or through a battery supply in active mode. NAC1080 also provides an integrated AES128 accelerator and a true random number generator to enable data encryption/de-encryption in an ultra-low power environment. Besides the passive NFC lock application, NAC1080 can also be used as an emergency backup power supply application. Active lock systems, for example, depend on battery power. If they are discharged, the NFC interface IC for electronic devices can power the door lock. Since the electric power is transmitted via NFC, this use case may take longer than in passive mode. In the Greater China region, Infineon is working together with IH Tech and FIoTOpen Lab to offer complete smart NFC lock solutions based on NAC1080 combining IC products, application development,

IoT device testing, certification and standardization. This collaboration enables the three companies to support local customers to accelerate the system development cycle and foster the ecosystem development together. [1]

Source: Grand View Research, Smart Lock Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report Availability Infineon’s NAC1080 MCU is available now. More information about the complete solution is available at https://www.infineon.com/NAC1080. IH Technology limited, a subsidiary company of Contel Technology Company Limited based in Hong Kong, is a leading IC application solutions and IC related service provider specialized to support customers on mass production level designs. https://www.conteltechnology.com FIoT-Open Lab, based in Fuzhou China, is a leading platform for enabling new “Smart+” technologies, especially for IoT, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. http://www.fiotlab.org Infineon Technologies https://www.infineon.com 3

Electronica Azi International » TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 | Infineon introduces NAC1080: Single-chip solution with integrated H-Bridge for passive NFC lock applications 6 | Anritsu and Yotavis launch a unique open lab for communication technologies testing in Switzerland 7 | Navitas Acquires VDD Tech to Expand High-Power, Next-Gen Semiconductor Capabilities 8 | Award-winning: congatec’s support of customers through dramatic business challenges and technological change 9 | EquipmentCloud® IIoT service solution expanded with Quanos spare parts management

46 | Sensor Fusion - It’s all about Prediction 48 | Würth Elektronik published its Wireless Connectivity & Sensors Product Guide Radio Modules, Sensors and Tips for the IIoT 46

10 | What Are the Best Applications for IoT in the New World of IC Power Management? 16 | Autonomous Mobile Robot - Types and Applications 21 | Improving dimensional awareness with COM-HPC modules 26 | Renesas IIoT strategy: “Sustainable intelligence from the core to the endpoint”

49 | Pulse EFD15 power transformer PGT646xNL at Rutronik 50 | A Look at the Latest Distribution Market Challenges 54 | New highly-efficient IPOL DC-DC buck regulator power modules with an integrated inductor enable spaceefficient and simpler designs 55 | Advanced Energy Adds 300 W Power Supply to SLB Series, Expanding its Low Power Open Frame Products 56

30 | 35 | 40 | 43 |

printf, “just”-Flash and other Debugger Stories Reaching the goal faster with co-creation Understanding the Function of Analog-to-Digital Drivers Andes Technology RISC-V Processors Reveal Outstanding Performance and Efficiency in MLPerf Tiny 43 | Farnell introduces new Test Workflow software from NI 44 | Infineon to strengthen its leading expertise as IoT solution provider by acquiring verification expert NoBug in Romania and Serbia 44 | Advanced Energy Expands High Accuracy Temperature Monitoring Portfolio with New Luxtron® FluorOptic® Sensing Platform

56 | Out of the cloud trap and into a new business model 59 | Analog Devices Launches Industry’s First High-Resolution Module for 3D Depth Sensing and Vision Systems 59 | Pre-assembled, tested, ready to connect 60 | Renesas and Cyberon Partner to Deliver Integrated Voice User Interface Solutions for Renesas RA MCUs Supporting Over 40 Global Languages 61 | u-blox announces best-in-class, low-power multi-GNSS module with built-in antenna 62 | An advance into the world of mixed-critical real-time servers 63 | Electrically small dual-band antenna with great performance 64 | New eBook from Microchip and Mouser Highlights Flexibility and Function of Embedded Solutions 65 | Mouser Electronics and Smart Camera Experts Labforge Announce Global Distribution Agreement 66 | Half-Size PICMG1.3 SBC Card for Compact Industrial PC Systems

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Electronica Azi International is published 4 times per year in 2022 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l. It is a free to qualified electronics engineers and managers involved in engineering decisions. Copyright 2022 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l. All rights reserved.

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

COMPANIES

Anritsu and Yotavis launch a unique open lab for communication technologies testing in Switzerland Anritsu Corporation and its authorized Swiss distributor YOTAVIS AG have launched the Swiss Communication Competence Center (SCCC), an open telecommunication test laboratory that allows companies and engineers to test new products and innovations for quality, performance, and compatibility. The laboratory, located in the Switzerland Innovation Park in Biel/Bienne, offers an extensive range of measurement equipment, as well as a team of telecommunications technology specialists. These facilities allow to conduct a wide variety of measurement tasks within the neutral and confidential confines of the SCCC. The SCCC is a creative space that will accelerate the use of the best new modern communication technologies in rapidly developing products such as autonomous cars, drones, wearable devices, smart IoT devices and much more. As Riccardo Rossetti, the General Manager of Anritsu EMEA GmbH says: “Testing is at the core of ensuring quality, so we decided to bring our best Anritsu technologies to the SCCC to help the entire ecosystem with product development and enable faster time to market for their new innovative solutions. We want to establish 6

strong cooperation with other key stakeholders to make sure the centre of excellence becomes an open environment where everyone – students, start-ups, our customers, and other organizations – can use the best testing technologies and Anritsu expertise in the latest communication technologies to build state of the art products.” At every stage, from blueprint to a high performing and reliable product, engineers and companies from Switzerland and Europe need a variety of test methods to verify the performance of their devices. Thanks to the SCCC, which is fully equipped with an extensive range of ‘ready to use’ instruments, these tests can be done faster and at lower costs. The on-demand equipment in the SCCC can emulate 3G, 4G, and 5G, as well as WLAN and Bluetooth or IoT wireless networks. For wired LAN and WAN networks, the SCCC allows the measurement of high-speed links, providing data on error performance, quality of fibre links, and much more. Explaining the idea behind the SCCC, Stefan Junker, CEO of YOTAVIS AG, says: “This unique lab is created with a mission to establish easy access to high quality test and measurement solutions based on a concept of a ‘sharing community’ - engineers

from industries such as electronics, healthcare, education, or research will have access to modern technologies without the need to invest in sometimes expensive equipment.” The idea of an innovative test lab is also supported by ASUT, the independent association of the telecommunications industry in Switzerland. Its CEO Christian Grasse states: “It is remarkable that a globally active company like Anritsu is committed to establishing a centre of excellence in the communications sector. This commitment underlines the importance of Switzerland as a business location for the telecommunications industry.” YOTAVIS AG is the Swiss representation and distributor of ANRITSU and realises customer-specific projects in Switzerland and Europe. The YOTAVIS AG team has many years of experience in ensuring ‘Quality of Communication’ in all telecom technologies. YOTAVIS AG's long-standing customers include federal organisations, industrial companies, institutes, and Universities ETHZ, EPFL and numerous universities of applied science and many more. Anritsu Corporation https://www.anritsu.com/en-gb Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Navitas Acquires VDD Tech to Expand High-Power, Next-Gen Semiconductor Capabilities Proprietary new isolation technology enables smaller, faster, lighter power conversion for consumer, motor drive, solar, data center, and EV markets. Navitas Semiconductor, the industryleader in gallium nitride (GaN) power integrated circuits (ICs) has announced the acquisition of VDD Tech, creator of advanced digital-isolators for next-generation power conversion. Advanced digital-isolation techniques are essential to deliver size, weight, and system-cost improvements in highpower markets such as consumer, motor drive, solar, data center, and EV. VDD Tech’s proprietary modulation-technique enables stable, reliable, efficient power conversion at MHz+ switching speeds. Proprietary dV/dt sensing, blanking, and refresh technologies enable an unprecedented combination of very-high-voltageisolation capability with the highest frequency of operation requiring 5-10x higher dV/dt immunity than legacy Silicon. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Low isolation-capacitance (<0.5pF) and innovative, robust modulation deliver low-jitter digital-communication for isolated-driver control and analog-sensing feedback. A minimum 200 V/ns CommonMode Transient Immunity (CMTI) is uniquely guaranteed across all temperature and operating conditions. VDD Tech was founded in Mont-SaintGuibert, Belgium, by Vincent Dessard, quickly joined by Aimad Saib, each of them holding a doctorate and 15+ years’ experience in analog / mixed-mode IC research and development. Dessard and Saib have taken leading roles in Navitas’ advanced R&D teams. “It’s exciting to see two breakthrough technologies – optimized digital-isolators and GaN power ICs – combine to deliver such leading-edge, high-power solutions,” said

Dessard, adding “High-speed and highreliability are the critical factors to accelerate wide-band-gap-semiconductor adoption over legacy silicon-chips, and we’re very excited to be a catalyst in this once-ina-generation revolution, with new, highpower products launching in 2023.” “VDD Tech’s isolation technology is a key part of our growing power-and-control integration strategy, creating an additional $1B/yr market opportunity,” said Gene Sheridan, Navitas CEO and co-founder. “We continue to research and review new technologies that we could add to Navitas’ core strengths, and deliver significant CO2 emission-reduction benefits as we continue our mission to “Electrify Our World™.” Navitas Semiconductor https://www.navitassemi.com 7

COMPANIES

“congatec is one of the top three vendors in the boards and modules category to have received VDC’s Platinum Award for IoT & Embedded Hardware Vendor Satisfaction beside AMD-Xilinx and PHYTEC. We are immensely proud to be in the top position in our core competency area of Computer-onModules such as COM-HPC, COM Express and SMARC, and to have been recognized by our clients for delivering best-in-class service,” said a delighted Christian Eder, Director Product Marketing at congatec, when receiving the award. Achieving platinum status is a solid foundation for the future development of congatec as customer loyalty is high – 79.2% will definitely or probably use the same vendor.

Award-winning: congatec’s support of customers through dramatic business challenges and technological change congatec receives VDC Research’s Platinum Vendor Satisfaction Award for IoT & Embedded Hardware technology congatec – a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology – has received the Platinum Vendor Satisfaction Award for IoT & Embedded Hardware technology from VDC Research. The deciding factor that won congatec the award is their outstanding support for customers going through dramatic business challenges and technological change. The award is based on vendor satisfaction ratings from more than 700 IoT, embedded, and edge solution providers sourcing commercial hardware platforms. 8

The list includes OEMs, system integrators and engineering services companies. “Design and solution requirements are not easing up, and neither is the macroeconomic landscape with a variety of geopolitical, environmental, and supply/logistics issues across the world. It is now more important than ever to have a strong hardware technology platform provider to remain competitive in an increasingly complex and challenging environment,” says Chris Rommel, Executive Vice President at VDC Research.

However, there is still a huge potential of customers to acquire: More than 20% of all providers sourcing commercial hardware platforms are either unsure whether they would like to change the vendor (16.7%) or will definitely or probably change the vendor (3.8%). Convincing those customers will be easier with such an excellent rating of services, which simplify the use of embedded computer technology in addition to distinct hardware features. VDC also ranks the most important technical selection criteria for boards and modules in their survey. First and foremost are the quality and reliability of the boards, followed by flexible high-performance networking capability and processor type. Long product availability as well as software frameworks and libraries are the next important criteria when sourcing boards and modules. Vendors who cannot deliver excellent results in these categories as well would never make the platinum rank. In this respect, the award is also a distinction for product excellence, which is a particular strength of congatec as a world leading vendor in this area.

Further information on VDC Research’s 2022 IoT & Embedded Hardware Vendor Satisfaction Awards and congatec’s comprehensive product and service offerings can be found at: congatec https://www.congatec.com Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

EquipmentCloud® IIoT service solution expanded with Quanos spare parts management Kontron, a leading global provider of IoT/Embedded Computer Technology (ECT), offers industrial software for crossindustry automation solutions through its subsidiary Kontron AIS GmbH. The latter cooperates with Quanos Service Solutions GmbH to expand the EquipmentCloud® IIoT service solution with the SpareParts Pro module.

lighting. As well as saving time, the risk of incorrect orders is minimized. Using an integrated maintenance calendar with an automatic notification function, it is easy to plan and keep track of routine and preventive maintenance and servicing tasks at any time. EquipmentCloud® users also benefit from the advantages of both software solutions on one platform:

This cooperation enables an efficient spare parts management by adding the Quanos SIS.one digital spare parts catalog. That is how machine and plant manufacturers strengthen their customer loyalty, expand their after-sales offering and increase the turnover of their spare parts business. Because the module is integrated into the EquipmentCloud® customer portal directly, plant operators can identify spare parts simply and quickly using 2D or 3D images, spare parts catalogs, schematic drawings or interactive high-

• Flexible catalog creation from various sources, e.g. CAD, ERP, PLM, DMS/CMS • Application-specific definition and publication of catalogs in a customer portal • Flexible definition of spare parts lists, prices or bundles • Easy navigation within spare parts catalogs at machine level • Integrated individual user and access management • Quick overview of shopping cart including order tracking

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• Optimized service with live data access and full machine integration • Full overview thanks to a dynamic dashboard at any time This also gives existing Quanos users access to an agile IIoT service solution for the digital transformation of mediumsized machine and plant builders. Various user-friendly modules easily map internal and external processes and collect as well as analyze plant-related data centrally. All relevant information and key indicators are available to users at any time – around the clock if required, using a mobile app for smartphones. This enables fast service response times and the sustainable design of optimized and efficient processes. Kontron – Member of the S&T Group https://www.kontron.com 9

What Are the Best Applications for IoT in the New World of IC Power Management? This article explores Internet of Things (IoT) battery technology. It describes some of the problems that designers face with power sourcing and provides solutions from Analog Devices. These solutions are highly efficient and can help curb other problems in your IoT devices, including size, weight, and temperature. Author: Diarmuid Carey | Central Applications Engineer Analog Devices

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » The best applications for IoT

With the growing use of IoT devices in industrial equipment, home automation, and medical applications, there is increasing pressure to optimize the power management portion of these devices – either through smaller form factor, better efficiency, improved current consumption, or faster charging times (for portable IoT devices). All of this must be achieved in a small form factor that does not negatively impact thermals nor interfere with the wireless communication implemented by these devices. What Is IoT? This particular IoT application area comes under many different guises. It generally refers to a smart, network connected electronic device that is likely battery-powered and sends precomputed data to the cloudbased infrastructure. It utilizes a mixture of embedded systems such as processors, communication ICs, and sensors to collect, respond to, and send data back to a central point or other node in the network. This can be anything from a simple temperature sensor reporting room temperature back to a central monitoring area, all the way up to a machine health monitor that tracks the long-term health of very expensive factory equipment.

Other areas include wearable healthcare and infrastructure sensing applications.

Ultimately, these devices are being developed to solve a particular challenge, whether that be to automate tasks that would typically require human intervention, like home or building automation, or perhaps to improve the useability and longevity of equipment in the case of industrial IoT applications, or even to improve safety if you consider conditionbased monitoring applications implemented in structure-based applications such as bridges.

▶ Smart health – supporting vital signs monitoring applications both at a clinical level as well as consumer applications. ▶ Smart factories – focusing on building Industry 4.0 by making factories more responsive, flexible, and leaner. ▶ Smart buildings/smart cities – using intelligent sensing for building security, parking space occupancy detection, as well as thermal and electrical control. ▶ Smart agriculture – using the technology available to enable automated farming and resource usage efficiencies. ▶ Smart infrastructure – building on our condition-based monitoring technology to monitor movement and structural health.

Example Applications The application areas for IoT devices are almost endless with new devices and use cases being thought of every day. Smart transmitter-based applications gather data about the environment in which they sit to make decisions about controlling heat, setting off alarms, or automating particular tasks. In addition, portable instruments like gas meters and air quality measurement systems provide an accurate measurement through the cloud to a control center. GPS tracking systems are another application. They allow the tracking of shipping containers as well as livestock such as cows through smart ear tags. These comprise just a small area of cloud connected devices. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

A significant growth area is industrial IoT applications, which are part of the fourth industrial revolution where smart factories take center stage. There’s a broad range of IoT applications that are ultimately trying to automate as much of the factory as possible, whether that be through the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), smart sensors such as RF tags or pressure meters, or other environmental sensors positioned around the factory. From an ADI perspective, the high level IoT focus has been on five main areas:

More information on these focus areas and the technologies available to support them can be found at: https://www.analog.com/en/applications/ technology/internet-of-things.html IoT Design Challenges What are the key challenges facing a designer in the ever-growing IoT application space? The majority of these devices, or nodes, are being installed after the fact or in hard-to-reach areas, so running power to them is not a possibility.

This of course means that they are totally reliant on batteries and/or energy harvesting as a power source. Moving power around large facilities can be quite expensive. For example, consider powering a remote IoT node in a factory. The idea of running a new power cable to power this device is costly as well as time consuming, which essentially leaves battery power or energy harvesting as the remaining options to power these remote nodes. The reliance on battery power introduces a need to follow a stringent power budget to ensure that the lifetime of the battery is maximized, which of course has an impact on the total cost of ownership of the device. Another downside to battery usage is the need to replace the battery after its life has expired. This includes not only the cost of the battery itself, but also the high cost of human labor to replace and possibly dispose of the old battery. An additional consideration on the battery cost and size – it is very easy to just overdesign the battery to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to achieve the lifetime requirement, which is very often greater than 10 years. However, overdesign results in additional cost and size, so it is extremely important to not only optimize the power budget but also to minimize the energy usage where possible in order to install the smallest possible battery that will still meet your design requirements. Power in IoT For the purposes of this power discussion, the power sources for IoT applications can be seen as three scenarios: ▶ Devices that rely on nonrechargeable battery power (primary battery) ▶ Devices that require rechargeable batteries ▶ Devices that utilize energy harvesting to provide system power 11

IoT

These sources can be used individually, or alternatively combined if the application requires it. Primary Battery Applications You are all aware of different primary battery applications, which are also known as nonrechargeable battery applications. These are geared toward applications where only occasional power is used – that is, the device is powered up occasionally before going back into a deep sleep mode where it draws minimal power. The main advantage of using this as a power source is it provides a high energy density and a simpler design – since you don’t need to accommodate battery charging/management circuitry – as well as a lower cost, as batteries are cheaper and fewer electronics are required. They fit well into low cost, low power drain applications, but because these batteries have a finite lifetime, they are not well suited to applications where power consumption is a little higher, so this incurs a cost for both a replacement battery as well as the cost of the service technician required to replace the batteries. Consider a large IoT installation with many nodes. As you have a technician on-site replacing the battery for one device, very often all the batteries will end up being replaced at one time to save the labor cost. Of course, this is wasteful and just adds to our overall global waste problem. On top of that, nonrechargeable batteries provide only about 2% of the power used to manufacture them in the first place. The ~98% of wasted energy makes them a very uneconomical power source. Obviously, these do have a place in IoTbased applications. Their relatively low initial cost makes them ideal for lower power applications.

There are loads of different types and sizes available, and as they don’t need much additional electronics for charging or management, they are a simple solution. From a design perspective, the key challenge is making the most use out of the energy available from these little power sources. To that end, much time needs to be spent creating a power budget plan to ensure that the lifetime of the battery is maximized, with 10 years being a common lifetime target. For primary battery applications, two parts from our nanopower family of products are worth considering – the LTC3337 nanopower coulomb counter and the LTC3336 nanopower buck regulator, shown in Figure 1. The LTC3336 is a low power DC-to-DC converter running from up to a 15 V input with programmable peak output current level. The input can go as low as 2.5 V, making it ideal for battery-powered applications. The quiescent current is exceptionally low at 65 nA while regulating with no load. As DC-to-DC converters go, this is pretty easy to set up and use in a new design. The output voltage is programmed based on how the OUT0 to OUT3 pins are strapped. The companion device to the LTC3336 is the LTC3337, a nanopower primary battery state of health monitor and coulomb counter. This is another easy device to use in a new design – simply strap the IPK pins according to the peak current required, which is in the 5 mA to 100 mA region. Run a few calculations based on your selected battery, then populate the recommended output cap based on the selected peak current, which is noted in the data sheet.

Ultimately, this is a fantastic pairing of devices for IoT applications with a limited power budget. These parts can both accurately monitor the energy usage from the primary battery and efficiently convert the output to a usable system voltage. Rechargeable Battery Applications Let’s move on to rechargeable applications. These are a nice choice for higher power or higher drain IoT applications where primary battery replacement frequency is not an option. A rechargeable battery application is a higher cost implementation because of the initial cost of the batteries and the charging circuitry, but in higher drain applications where the batteries are drained and charged frequently, the cost is justified and soon paid back. Depending on the chemistry used, a rechargeable battery application can have a lower initial energy than a primary cell, but on a longer term it is the more efficient option, and, overall, is less wasteful. Depending on the power needs, another option is capacitor or supercapacitor storage, but these are more for shorter-term backup storage. Battery charging involves several different modes and specialist profiles depending on the chemistry used. For example, a lithium-ion battery charge profile is shown in Figure 2. Across the bottom is the battery voltage, and charge current is on the vertical axis. When the battery is severely discharged, as on the left of Figure 2, the charger needs to be clever enough to put it in precharge mode to slowly increase the battery voltage to a safe level before entering constant current mode. In constant current mode, the charger pushes the programmed current into the battery until the battery voltage rises to the programmed float voltage.

Figure 1: LTC3337 and LTC3336 application circuit.

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » The best applications for IoT

The charger maintains this voltage for the length of time defined by the termination timer – in this case, a 4-hour window. This time is programmable on many charger parts. For more information on battery charging, as well as some interesting products, I’d recommend the Analog Dialogue article “Simple Battery Charger ICs for Any Chemistry.”

Figure 5 provides an approximate energy level when using different harvesting methods. As for disadvantages, the initial cost is higher compared to the other power sources discussed before, since you need a harvesting element such as a solar panel, piezoelectric receiver, or a Peltier element, as well as the energy conversion IC and associated enabling components.

Figure 2: Charge current vs. battery voltage. When the float voltage is reached, it can be seen that the charge current drops to zero and this voltage is maintained for a time based on the termination algorithm. Figure 3 provides a different graph for a 3-cell application showing the behavior over time. The battery voltage is shown in red and charge current is in blue. It starts off in constant current mode, topping out at 2 A until the battery voltage reaches the 12.6 V constant voltage threshold.

Figure 4: The LTC4162, a 3.2 A buck battery charger. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Both the programmed current and voltage are defined by the battery type used – the charge current is limited by the Crate and the required charge time, and the float voltage is based on what is safe for the battery. System designers can reduce the float voltage a little to help with lifetime of the battery if required by the system – like everything with power, it’s all about trade-offs.

Figure 3: Charge voltage/current vs. time. Figure 4 shows a nice example of a versatile buck battery charger, the LTC4162, which can provide a charge current up to 3.2 A and is suitable for a range of applications including portable instruments and applications requiring larger batteries or multicell batteries. It can also be used to charge from solar sources. Energy Harvesting Applications When working with IoT applications and their power sources, another option to consider is energy harvesting. Of course, there are several considerations for the system designer, but the appeal of free energy cannot be understated, especially for applications where the power requirements aren’t too critical and where the installation needs to be hands off – that is, no service technician can get to it. There are many different energy sources to choose from, and they don’t need to be an outdoor application to take advantage of them. Solar as well as piezoelectric or vibrational energy, thermoelectric energy, and even RF energy can be harvested (although this has a very low power level).

Another disadvantage is the overall solution size, particularly when compared to a power source like a coin cell battery. It’s difficult to achieve a small solution size with an energy harvester and conversion IC. Efficiency wise, this can be a tricky one to manage low energy levels. This is because many of the power sources are AC, so they need rectification. Diodes are used to do this. The designer must deal with the energy loss resulting from their inherent properties. The impact of this is lessened as you increase the input voltage, but that’s not always a possibility. The devices that pop up in most energy harvesting discussions are from the ADP509x family of products, and the LTC3108, which can accommodate a wide range of energy harvesting sources with multiple power paths and programmable charge management options that offer the highest design flexibility. A multitude of energy sources can be used to power the ADP509x but also to extract energy from that power source to charge a battery or power a system load. 13

IoT

The data sheet shares a typical energy harvesting application circuit (see Figure 7), powered from a piezoelectric source and being used to provide power to an ADC or an RF IC. Energy Management Another area that should be part of any discussion relating to applications with a limited power budget is energy management. This starts with developing a power budget calculation for the application prior to looking at different power management solutions. This essential step helps system designers understand the key components used in the system and how much energy they require.

Figure 5: Energy sources and approximate levels available for various applications.

Figure 6: Block diagram of the ADP5090 in a harvesting application. Anything from solar (both indoor and outdoor) to thermoelectric generators to extract thermal energy from body heat in wearable applications or engine heat can be used to power the IoT node. Another option is to harvest energy from a piezoelectric source, which adds another layer of flexibility – this is a nice option to extract power from an operational motor, for example. Another device that is capable of being powered from a piezoelectric source is the ADP5304, which operates with a very low quiescent current (260 nA typical with no load), making it ideal for low power energy harvesting applications. 14

This impacts their decision to select a primary battery, rechargeable battery, energy harvesting, or a combination of these as the power supply methodology.

Figure 7: ADP5304 piezoelectric source application circuit. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » The best applications for IoT

The frequency of the IoT device gathering a signal and sending it back to the central system or cloud is another important detail when looking at energy management, which has a large impact on overall power consumption. A common technique is to duty cycle the power usage or stretch the time between waking the device up to gather and/or send data. Making use of standby modes on each of the electronic devices (if available) is also a useful tool when trying to manage the system energy usage.

– – – –

Conclusion As with all electronic applications, it is important to consider the power management portion of the circuit as early as possible. This is even more important in powerconstrained applications such as IoT. Developing a power budget early in the process can help the system designer identify the most efficient path and suitable devices that meet the challenges posed by these applications while still achieving high energy efficiency in a small solution size.

Engage with the ADI technology experts in our online support community. Ask your tough design questions, browse FAQs, or join a conversation.

Visit: https://ez.analog.com ■ Analog Devices www.analog.com

References Dostal, Frederik. “New Advances in Energy Harvesting Power Conversion.” Analog Dialogue, Vol. 49, No. 3, September 2015. Knoth, Steve. “Simple Battery Charger ICs for Any Chemistry.” Analog Dialogue, Vol. 53, No. 1, January 2019. Murphy, Grainne. “Internet of Things (IoT): What’s Next.” Analog Devices, Inc., January 2018. Pantely, Zachary. “One-Size-Fits-All Battery Charger.” Analog Devices, Inc., September 2018.

About the author Diarmuid Carey is an applications engineer with the European Centralized Applications Center based in Limerick, Ireland. He has worked as an applications engineer since 2008 and joined Analog Devices in 2017, providing design support for the Power by Linear portfolio for European broad market customers. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in computer engineering from University of Limerick. He can be reached at diarmuid.carey@analog.com

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Autonomous Mobile Robot Types and Applications This article compares and contrasts traditional mobility solutions such as conveyor systems and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) with AMRs. It looks at the benefits of using AMRs and how the proliferation of AMR designs is expanding their utility. It discusses software integration of fleets of AMRs with other systems, including precision navigation capabilities, the potential impact of AMRs on worker safety, and how to manage and simulate fleets of AMRs. Finally, this article briefly considers how routine maintenance can maximize AMR lifespan, identify potential problems before they result in unscheduled downtime, and help proactively schedule repairs and part substitutions based on scheduled shutdowns and other operational considerations. Author: Rolf Horn | Applications Engineer Digi-Key Electronics

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are used in many industries in a growing variety of logistics applications. Unlike fixed material transport systems like conveyors, AMRs can drive around a facility unlimited by a fixed route. Their wireless communications and onboard navigation systems enable them to receive commands on where to go next. AMRs can navigate to the requested location without being programmed and can even find an alternate path if an obstacle is encountered. AMRs can make warehouse operations, manufacturing processes, and workflows 16

more efficient and productive by performing non-value-added tasks, such as transporting, picking up, and dropping off materials, to free up people to perform complex tasks that add value. Although it’s a relatively young technology, AMRs have already branched off into many distinct varieties, each of which is optimized to perform a specific type of task. AGVs can deliver material to a specific location with more flexibility than a conveyor system but are much less flexible than AMRs. Like conveyors, AGVs have a

fixed route. But with AGVs, the route can be more easily and quickly modified than conveyor systems. AMRs can work collaboratively with people, offer much greater flexibility, and find the most efficient route to accomplish a specific task. If an AMR encounters an obstacle, it can change its course accordingly and continue to its destination. If an AGV encounters an obstacle, it stops and requires assistance before continuing along its preassigned track (Figure 1). AMRs use a combination of onboard and centralized computing power and sophisticated sensors to interpret their environment and navigate around both fixed obstacles such as racks and workstations and variable obstacles such as forklifts, people, AGVs, and other AMRs. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » AMRs - Types and Applications

The Integration Toolkit (ITK) is Omron’s interface that enables centralized integration between the AMRs and client application software such as a manufacturing execution system (MES) or a warehouse management system (WMS). For example, AMRs can be integrated with the warehouse’s control systems in a warehouse and distribution center environment, giving the AMRs increased flexibility to create their routes between locations within a facility. The result is a robot that is much better able to work with humans within the dynamic environments of most order fulfillment and warehouse operations.

Using HAPS, the AMR can follow magnetic tape (mag tape) on the floor to navigate to a goal, similar to an AGV. A HAPS sensor underneath the AMR is used to smoothly transition from fully autonomous mode to the path defined by the mag tape. The AMR then uses a combination of onboard sensors and floor markers to precisely navigate and stop at specific locations (Figure 2). When operating in HAPS mode, an Omron AMR can enter and leave a mag tape path at any point. That enables the AMR to smoothly transition from natural feature and autonomous navigation to AGV-like mag tape guidance.

If it’s outfitted with front and rear HAPS sensors, the AMR can accurately move backward and forward along the mag tape path. The Omron AMR system can be customized by developers, integrators, and end-users for various payloads and tasks (Figure 3).

In addition to the facility integration possibilities supported by ITK, the combination of CAPS and HAPS increases the capability of these AMRs when accurate and repeatable positioning is needed and is opening up new applications such as: n

• Delivery of carts full of materials • Inventory inspection in retail stores • Secure courier robots to deliver items to hotel guests or high-value components to workstations • Disinfection of public spaces • Custom collaborative AMRs • Conveyor tops • Delivery of heavy objects up to 1,500 kg

Figure 1

An AMR can also work like an AGV Some AMR applications such as material deliveries to conveyors, feeders, and testing stands need the robot to stop at a specific location with high accuracy and repeatability. Fleet managers using Omron AMRs can select from two high-accuracy positioning systems; cell alignment position system (CAPS) and high accuracy positioning system (HAPS). CAPS or HAPS can improve goal arrival precision from about ±100 mm to ±8 mm. The main safety scanning laser on the front of the AMR is used by CAPS technology to detect a target location and enables the AMR to move to the location with high accuracy. Figure 2

HAPS technology also can consistently move through a defined space with enhanced precision and/or precisely stop at a predefined goal, but with a twist. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

When an AMR approaches an obstacle (left), it can independently navigate around it. When an AGV approaches an obstacle (right), it stops until help arrives.

Omron CAPS (left) uses the AMR’s front scanning laser combined with autonomous navigation to locate and move to a target location with high precision. HAPS (right) uses a combination of markers such as magnetic tape and onboard sensors to navigate to and stop at specific areas.

Autonomous Mobile Robots

Figure 3 AMRs are available in various configurations optimized to perform specific tasks.

Safe roboting Safe operation is mandatory for AMRs. Examples of standard safety sensors include rear sonar and front lasers for obstacle detection, a front bumper sensor to stop the AMR if it contacts an object, and light disks to alert people in the vicinity that the AMR is operating (Figure 4). Optional sensors can be added for specific requirements, such as identifying protruding or hanging obstructions.

System-level safety assessments Meeting various national and international standards is only the start of AMR safety. AMRs are an evolving technology. They are getting more complex and handling heavier payloads creating new safety challenges. To address the evolving safety concerns with AMRs, Omron offers a safety consulting service that provides design assistance, risk assessment, testing, and validation of AMR deployments. For example, the new ISO 3691-4 standard includes specific requirements for © Omron

AMRs are required to comply with various national and international safety regulations such as EN 1525 (Safety of Industrial Trucks, Driverless Trucks and Their Systems), ANSI 56.5:2012 (Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial

Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles), and JIS D 6802:1997 (Automated Guided Vehicle Systems - General Rules on Safety).

Figure 4 Omron AMRs comply with ISO EN1525, JIS D6802, and ANSI B56.5 safety standards, have multiple standard sensors dedicated to safety and can be outfitted with optional sensors for enhanced safety in specific application scenarios.

clearance between mobile robots and other structures. Support provided by Omron Safety Service consultants includes: • Layout design review and zones identification as required by ISO 3691-4 • Design calculations, especially in applications with high traffic or where heavy loads are being moved • On-site solution testing and validation AMR fleet manager It’s almost unheard of to deploy a single AMR. Fleets of 100 AMRs are common, and Omron has an AMR management solution that provides built-in data capture, analytics, and reporting to enable organizations to optimize the performance of the overall facility operation as well as the resident robot fleet. The Enterprise Manager 2100 network appliance is a hardware and software solution designed to manage a fleet of AMRs (Figure 5). Queuing management software is used to communicate with the individual AMRs; it assigns tasks to each AMR based on job requests from users or automated equipment. The Omron Fleet Operations Workspace (FLOW) solution runs on the Enterprise Manager 2100 and provides an intelligent fleet management system that monitors mobile robot locations and traffic flow. The Enterprise Manager 2100 enables users to manage and update AMR configurations. It coordinates the interaction and movement of AMRs, so each robot knows the location and path of any AMR in its vicinity. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » AMRs - Types and Applications

By automating various robot management tasks, FLOW software reduces programming demands on manufacturing execution systems (MES) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

AMR localization, path planning, obstacle avoidance, task simulation, and fleet management based on a map of the actual facility can be accurately modeled using Omron’s Fleet Simulator.

Figure 5 Omron 2100 Enterprise Manager network appliance is designed to manage fleets of up to 100 AMRs.

Features of FLOW include: • Fleet integration toolkit based on industry standards including Restful, SQL, Rabbit MQ, and ARCL • Prioritization of tasks based on level of importance • Identification and selection of the fastest routes based on human and robot traffic • Identification of blocked paths and assignment to alternative routes • Optimization of AMR job assignments • Optimization of battery charging schedules to maximize fleet uptime

AMR wellness Once in the field, AMRs are expected to operate almost continuously, and preventative maintenance can be a crucial element in successful deployments. To support that need, Omron offers Wellness Visits that include regular infacility evaluations of the condition of individual AMRs, enabling maintenance to be scheduled in advance, minimizing costly downtime. Benefits of Wellness Visits include: • Maximization of AMR operating life • Maintenance of peak AMR operating efficiency © Omron

Simulation can optimize fleets of AMRs Even before the EM2100 network appliance is deployed for fleet management, Fleet Simulator software enables users to plan traffic and workflows for fleets of autonomous mobile robots and helps identify and solve possible problems.

In addition, the simulations can be used to optimize the composition of the AMR fleet and predict throughput. An EM2100 can be configured as a Fleet Simulator at the factory or with a software update in the field.

• Advanced identification of potential problems, minimizing unscheduled downtime • Proactively scheduling repairs and part substitutions based on scheduled shutdowns and other operational considerations Summary AMRs are being used to make warehouse operations, manufacturing processes, and workflows more efficient and productive by picking up and dropping off materials, freeing up people to perform complex tasks that add value. As the variety of tasks using AMRs has expanded, new AMR formats have been developed, complicating the management of AMR fleets. Managing fleets of AMRs begins with simulating the interactions of AMRs in a synthetic environment before launching the fleet.

Once the fleet has been deployed, AMRs must operate safely, efficiently, and with minimal downtime. Centralized hardware and software appliances are available that can be used to simulate potential AMR deployments as well as monitor the safe, efficient, and reliable operation of AMR fleets. ■ Digi-Key Electronics www.digikey.com

Figure 6 Omron fleet simulator runs on the 2100 Enterprise Manager network appliance and can optimize an entire fleet of heterogenous AMRs before deployment. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Modular platforms for 3D vision systems

Improving dimensional awareness with

COM-HPC modules

Three-dimensional awareness has extremely high computing demands. The 12th generation Intel Core processing technology in COM-HPC modules from congatec transfers twice as much data due to PCIe Gen5.

Machine vision in three dimensions can’t compare to the performance of human eyes, but it comes the closest from technology that’s currently available. As a result, it’s used for many types of tasks and is paired with machine learning more and more often. The manufacturing industry directly benefits from this advance, with Vision Guided Robotics (VGR) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) utilizing improved three-dimensional awareness for increasing the performance of Industry 4.0 applications. Helping with the migration of this technology to hardware by significantly amplifying its processing power is the latest batch of COM-HPC modules from manufacturers like congatec. Author: Zeljko Loncaric | Marketing Engineer congatec The use of 3D vision is on the rise, with an increase of close to 15% year-on-year. Two factors at play are a decrease in citizens actively working and an increase in citizens requiring health care. Additional robots are therefore required, due to a https://international.electronica-azi.ro

reduction in the workforce. Robots achieve much higher production efficiency than humans in the manufacturing industry, while robots provide care and promote autonomy/mobility in healthcare.

Bringing the future into focus However, there is still a lot of development work to be done before robots can perform any heavy work. For example, inspection systems are stationary and immovable. While Vision Guided Robotics (VGR) does offer more mobility, and is experiencing dynamic development, its movement is still rather limited. 21

COMPUTER-ON-MODULES

Computer-on-Modules that adhere to the new PICMG COM-HPC Client specification are available from congatec with 12 Gen Intel Core processors (Alder Lake). Increased availability and equalized performance of durable modular edge servers in vision guided robotics systems and mobile logistics vehicles are guaranteed by their standardized footprint.

The main function of immobile robots is to watch things closely. The use of 3D cameras allows them to perform this task more efficiently by identifying objects from three axis and measuring lengths. A thirst for increased flexibility in discrete manufacturing is driving industry growth in this area, which mainly comes from the importance it has gained as a result of the Industry 4.0 trend of moving closer to batch size 1. Feeding and output systems in discrete manufacturing are mainly VGR and auto-

COM-HPC client module sizes 22

mated guided vehicles (AGV), with a projected growth rate of 14.1% per year until 2027. Permanently installed conveyor systems will be minimized, or eliminated, due to the implementation of AGVs for moving and transporting products. Due to their mobility, they do no block areas like conveyor systems. They move along pre-programmed routes that optimize warehousing, transport, and other tasks. When used with mobile pick & place robots, integration with VGR systems is the result.

Modularity plays a crucial role Advanced mobile robotic systems may require additional subsystems. A good case to highlight is a robot that was constructed with four legs and featured a total of three Computer-on-Modules. Each module performed a specific task – locational awareness, motion control and task fulfilment. This example demonstrates the advantageous use of Computer-on-Modules, which can be easily scaled for each specific task.

COM-HPC server module sizes Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Modular platforms for 3D vision systems

Controls could also be combined within a single system for communication with the drives’ actuators/frequency inverters in real-time using a two-wire Ethernet, although modules with significantly more power on a time-proven platform strategy would be required. It should be noted that all in all 10 processor cores on 3 modules, which have not been introduced on the market for ultra low-power mobile embedded systems, were used in this example to deliver the required computing power and ensure real time operation. Supercharging multi-purpose with higher core counts COM-HPC modules that eclipse current COM Express module performance with substantially more interfaces, bandwidth, memory and cores are starting to become available after the PICMG standardization committee ratified the COMHPC Computer-on-Module specification. This is true for COM-HPC client modules, but affects the server category even more, as future solderable entry class COM-HPC server modules will be more durable and scalable, allowing for consolidation of decentralized real-time control systems in multi-purpose embedded edge computer solutions.

ate

o ©c

Computer-on-Modules from congatec are compatible with Real-Time Systems’ real-time hypervisor technology for combining multiple edge applications in a single system. © congatec

A three level training kit, based on congatec Computer-on-Modules, was created by the Autonomous System Lab at Intel Labs China. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

COMPUTER-ON-MODULES

Hypervisors from manufacturers like RealTime Systems would be required for virtual machines capable of real-time operation. Real-time hypervisor solutions are required for uninterrupted, deterministic real-time control, regardless of rebooting on the same HMI processor of the production cell or the evaluation and conversion or data or processing of tasks in parallel by the integrated loT gateway. A growing hunger for higher performance Processor hungry 3D imaging needs the power of COM-HPC. Just consider the creation of point clouds acquired by time-offlight (ToF) technology, which outputs 32 bits of spatial coordinates for each pixel. A resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps) therefore produces 35 MB of 3D data per second. On top of this the color information of a classic 2D camera, with generally 4 times higher resolutions has to be processed as well. At 1.2 mega pixels (1280 x 1024 pixels) and 8-bit color depth per channel, we are talking about an additional 112.5 MByte per second. These result in up to around 150 megabytes of data that is to be processed per second, not to mention the excessive processing power required for two cameras operating in stereo. Since the amount of data and CPU / GPGPU computing power are extremely demanding, the

brand new generation of COM-HPC modules utilizing 12th generation Intel Core processor technology (Alder Lake) are preferred. Their standout attributes include providing PCIe Gen 5 with four times as much bandwidth between processors and cameras, as well as discrete GPUs, compared to PCIe Gen3. Native support of MIPI-CSI cameras also provides two main benefits – reduction of processing requirements and the need for investments in camera technology. Customizable connections of 1GbE and 2x 2.5GbE (with TSN) Ethernet options to dual 10GbE, which are coming from congatec’s COM-HPC starter set, are compatible with the modules. Interfacing with smaller devices, such as actuators and sensors, is therefore possible if two-wire Ethernet is used. Keeping AI firmly in the mix congatec has ensured additional plugand-play friendliness with IIoT and Industry 4.0 networked embedded systems by providing extensive AI compatibility with cameras connected by MIPI-CSI. Intel DL Boost based vector neural network instructions (VNNI) and 8-bit integer instructions (Int8) can be implemented on the GPU for AI and inference acceleration. Compatibility with the Intel Open Vino ecosystem for AI should also be mentioned. A COM Express based platform for training purposes, together with a “Ready

for Production” kit certified by Intel for workload consolidation, have already been introduced by the Autonomous System Lab of Intel Labs China. With this HERO platform, engineers can now evaluate this OpenVINO ecosystem from the software libraries to Adaptive HumanRobot Interaction (AHRI) or Simultaneous Localization & Navigation (SLAM). Evaluation by the ATX carrier board conga-HPC/EVAL-Client Smart vision robotics and autonomous logistics vehicles can be also evaluated by the ATX carrier board conga-HPC/EVALClient. It comes with two massively performant PCIe Gen4 x16 interfaces and many LAN options for data bandwidth, transmission, and connectors. Mezzanine cards allow the carrier to run up to two 25GbE interfaces. The conga-HPC/cTLU Computer-on-Module is the main component of the starter kit presented for COMHPC Client designs. Three processor configurations are available, with three cooling solutions to go with the configurable 12 to 28 W TPD range of the 11th generation Intel® Core™ processors. ■ congatec www.congatec.com

COM-HPC Client boards from the congatec portfolio: conga-HPC/cTLH and conga-HPC/cTLU.

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Modular platforms for 3D vision systems

Three-dimensional applications from Basler – congatec’s embedded vision partner

A Deep Learning-based vision system with a Basler blaze time-of-flight (ToF) camera that can be effortlessly combined with congatec’s embedded systems. High-resolution, three-dimensional images are acquired by the Basler blaze camera with close to millimeter accuracy. In addition to the output of a greyscale intensity image, ToF technology analyzes pulses of

light in the near infrared spectrum for calculating the distance to each pixel. Unlike 2D RGB images, shape data takes the place of color information, so both red and green apples are detected at the same time. Further applications are also utilized, such as the dimensions and precise location of objects. The Basler blaze camera features an easy to use interface that runs on all operating systems for trouble-

free integration of Data Spree’s Deep Learning DS software. This software solution, which is based on deep neural networks, requires zero knowledge for the development of Deep Learning models. The various development stages of the system – acquiring data, annotating, training, and deployment to application of the trained network on the target hardware – are noticeably simplified.

BCON for MIPI allows for trouble-free connection of cameras

Models from Basler’s Dart series are an advantageous first step when adding the processing of images to standard processors.

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

There use is not dependent on how the COM is constructed or the design of the carrier-based embedded system.

The custom BCON for MIPI interface from Basler, which is based on the MIPI CSI-2 interface standard, allows for trouble-free integration. BCON for MIPI models are as easy and convenient to deploy as a plugand-play camera interface, such as USB 3.0 BCON (Basler Connectivity), thereby adding the powerful and well-proven machine vision features from the embedded industry’s established data transmission standards (i.e., LVDS or MIPI CSI-2). Due to integration with machine vision standards (GeniCam), and the pylon SDK, you are provided with easy and convenient access to standard technologies. Extremely secure data throughput with elevated bandwidth is the final result.

IIoT

Interview with Dr. Sailesh Chittipeddi

Renesas IIoT strategy: “Sustainable intelligence from the core to the endpoint” Dr. Sailesh Chittipeddi

A lot has been happening at Renesas recently, especially in the IoT and Industrial Business Unit. Electronica Azi International talked to Dr. Sailesh Chittipeddi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit of Renesas, to get an update.

What's the business logic of Renesas' acquisitions in recent years? Dr. Sailesh Chittipeddi: Any acquisition we make fits in with our vision as our CEO Shibata-san has outlined which is “Making Our Lives Easier by complementing human capabilities”. Within that framework for IIBU we acquire or partner with companies to fit in with the IIBU strategy which is “Enabling Intelligence from the Core to the End Point Sustainably”. From a market segment perspective our acquisitions fall into one of the 3 market segments we address which are: Industrial, IoT and infrastructure. Finally, from a domain expertise outside of our core competencies in embedded processing the major areas we focus on are power, sensing, connectivity or actuation. You will not see us step outside these domains and markets in our partnerships and acquisitions. 26

Let's talk about the Dialog acquisition. How does the ex-Dialog products complement Renesas' product portfolio, to make a good combination? Dialog adds several good technology elements into the Renesas portfolio. #1 low power technologies which are differentiators in the marketplace. #2 from a connectivity perspective, low power connectivity with BT and Wi-Fi. Dialog is very uniquely differentiated in the connectivity marketplace, and that's very helpful for wearable devices, medical devices as well as things such as door locks that use low power Wi-Fi. #3 they certainly bring capabilities with the technologies like certain ASICS especially around industrial connectivity solutions such as Ethercat, which support major industrial customers.

#4 they also have AC-DC, configurable mixed-signal IC (CMIC’s) as well as display power capabilities which were for the consumer market and elements of these are being redirected towards the industrial market. Additionally in the automotive area, power management complements MPU & MCU products, and further, BLE connectivity complements tire pressure monitoring systems. So broadly it's been very good from a revenue synergy perspective. The other competency which is very useful is that Dialog brings a geographically distributed engineering community. Dialog has R&D centers located across Europe, and they have established centers of competency. In this era of continual challenges in the search for talent, their established presence globally helps us greatly. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Renesas IIoT strategy

How's the integration progressing, the integration at the operating level, like how do you work together now, and what's the difference of technical cooperation between now and before? The teams from a product line perspective are completely integrated into the IIBU, ABU, Ops and SG&A teams. Dialog has a far more significant presence on the IIBU side of the business. We’ve integrated all power areas be it industrial, consumer notebook, mobile and data center under one umbrella, so the teams are completely one business unit relative to how we operate and how we face the customer. The sales teams are fully integrated within Renesas. Now with our mass market, we are able to extend their reach to a broader base of customers.

It's fully integrated now. How could you complete that in such a short time? We planned our potential organization structure concurrently with the diligence process. We had to think through what would make sense and how our customers would react best when we offered the full product portfolio. Obviously, we couldn't involve the Dialog team too much because we had to operate as two independent companies prior to it, but we had put a good bit of thought as to how best we could serve the customers on Day 1. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

We knew from the prior acquisitions of Intersil and IDT what the key challenges would be. There will be some fine tuning that will do as we go along, but from a structural perspective and a roadmap perspective, we had a pretty clear view of what we wanted to do. That's kind of what we were focused on. Speaking of the Celeno acquisition, how does the Celeno wireless connectivity portfolio fit to Renesas? Celeno is predominantly about Wi-Fi 6 and 6 Edge, these technologies are important for IoT and the industrial segment. In addition, Celeno also offers expertise on the access point side. Dialog, on the other hand, was largely focused on Wi-Fi 4, which is 2.4 GHz, and with Celeno we now

also cover Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, plus a fully integrated solution with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth for the client side. With the acquisition of Celeno, we can now cover the entire spectrum and align with longer term connectivity needs for Renesas. There're so many chances and potentials for Renesas in the industrial automation field. Could you detail those potentials, like potential applications to which Renesas' products can be applied? The major trends that are occurring in the industrial landscape today are the drive to improve sustainability and productivity.

Labor costs are getting higher globally. From an AI perspective China is very focused on AI for the manufacturing environment. The US, on the other hand, is much stronger on enterprise AI. If we want to grow in the industrial ecosystem, the right companies or the right customers to pursue for Renesas outside of large customers in the US and EU are in the Greater China region who in general tend to move aggressively compared to the more traditional industrial giants. When it comes to sustainability it is a global trend. As with other areas drive for efficiency improvement is very applicable in the industrial landscape. One percent improvement in efficiency and motors makes a huge difference in terms of power consumption. Those are global trends which will drive growth for us in the industrial landscape.

Very important advantage of Renesas' products are the so called Winning Combinations. What about the technical advantages here? Winning Combinations can be proof-ofconcept boards, or schematics which integrate Renesas products. Winning combinations can be largely, although not entirely hardware-based. The other area we leverage with our complete portfolio in the industrial market is a complete system solution, meaning both HW and SW. The amount of effort involved by customers is very different when Renesas is supporting both HW and SW. 27

IIoT

That's the advantage to the customer is they can pick a winning combination or system solution or a discrete solution based on their needs. The advantage to Renesas is more content, by gaining more of the overall BOM, we're taking on more of the work traditionally done by the customer and at the same time allowing them to get to market faster. The DRP/e-AI technology from Renesas will probably play an important role in the factory automation area, right? Some other market players are very competitive in this field. So, what's the key benefit here?

The AI market that we're focusing on today is vision-based AI primarily. That's where we're differentiated, and we've optimized the DRP solution for visionbased AI applications. We're not going very broad AI to address every domain that you can think of with our DRP solution. The DRP technology offers visionbased AI at very low power. We used feedforward neural networks or DRP purpose primarily for optimization for the application space and our focus right now is to enable the libraries and enable the IDHs, to gradually support a broader range of customers. There are other adjacent markets where this technology works well and we will in time expand to other areas like preventive maintenance as well as other markets for which feed forward neural networks are well suited. 28

What's the position of RISC-V in Renesas? Do you think it will be the future of IoT? RISC-V will play an increasingly important role in the ecosystem of MCU and MPU. On the embedded processing side, we are working on both 32-bit and 64-bit cores. For certain applications we truly believe there is a general push in the marketplace towards a less proprietary ecosystem that is more configurable for the customer and with less or no royalty. The RISC-V offers nonproprietary cores while providing the ability for the customer to do some level of programmability.

So over time we think all three ecosystems will exist whether the truly proprietary, the ARM ecosystem or the RISC-V ecosystem each will have a role based on the end markets that one is trying to address and what you're going after. For us with RISC-V was we wanted to demonstrate to the marketplace that we could be leaders again, and with the RISC-V products were one of the first in the marketplace on the MCU area as well as with MPU to be out there with viable products, not test chips. Another big move recently was Renesas entering the FPGA market. Could you give some details about the ForgeFPGAs, like the application area, their technical advantage, and what does this mean to Renesas? Before we talk about the ForgeFPGA, I should mention we have a family of products called GreenPAK.

(Dialog bought Silego a while ago and they brought the GreenPAK technology on board.) GreenPAK technology consists of mixed signal and analog components that can be configured with a state machine. It pulls the number of these parts together so the customer can very quickly figure out their needs, as opposed to optimizing individual components. They can take GreenPAK circuit and put it together and integrate and be up and running much faster than they could have their own. We sell hundreds of millions of these units on in any given year. With ForgeFPGA we extend this concept for very low gate count gate arrays.

We're not competing with Xilinx, Altera nor Microchip or Lattice. There's a very interesting market domain in the low power, low gate count area with a high level of programmability for IoT and industrial devices that can be put together and provide a customer an advantage that they couldn't get before. This is a very nice niche in the marketplace that hasn't been addressed. The combination of low power, low gate count, is a very nice domain that very few people have gone after and this addresses that market needs. The reason we call it a ForgeFPGA is it allows us to forge ahead into the industrial market with these kinds of applications. ■ Renesas Electronics Europe www.renesas.com

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

EMBEDDED SOFTWARE

printf, “just”-Flash and other Debugger Stories In the 1990s, there were basically two tool-based solutions for debugging embedded software on real hardware: The monitor debugger, i.e., a piece of software that was programmed in the memory of the embedded system and reacted to requests of a debugger software from outside. And the in-circuit emulator, a (large) piece of hardware that replaced and emulated the microcontroller/ processor located in the target hardware by adaptation. Author: Erol Simsek | CEO iSYSTEM

The monitor debugger solution was cheap and fulfilled basic debugging functions; the in-circuit emulator solution was very expensive, complicated to use, and the adaptation was often shaky and error-prone. In return, the developer received full transparency and access to all buses of the microcontroller/processor. Both, timing measurements and code coverage analysis were already possible at that time.

However, semiconductor manufacturers had to develop a special, so-called emulation chip with additional pins for this purpose. A crucial cost factor for all involved. The increasing miniaturization of semiconductors and the introduction of on-chip debug interfaces had a big impact on the architecture of a debugger as a development tool itself. More and more functionality that was previously realized in hardware was now implemented in software.

The development environments and debugger software became more powerful, the hardware smaller with increasing performance in terms of bandwidth and speed. However, the basic use cases of debugging are still the same today. Hardware Debugger in Development From printf to “just” flash to breakpoints, real-time watches, and step over, this is how you could briefly describe debugging. In principle, debugging is used for development and troubleshooting in driver development, board/hardware bring-up, boot processes and much more as a standard method for “low-level”, i.e., hardwarerelated, development. A debugger is quickly taken out on the desk to flash the software onto a target hardware, to start the execution or to stop it at a certain point in the code by means of a breakpoint, to check memory areas and registers or to manipulate them for testing, to read out the call stack and so on. In terms of application, it's simple, understandable and in principle what most developers understand by debugging.

Figure 1 In-circuit emulation at the end of the 1980s

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

Hardware-Debugging

Figure 2

Hardware debugging – an embedded software developer’s daily business

Most of the time, one doesn't have the time to deal intensively with the debugger itself to possibly discover “the holy grail of debugging”, additional features that could ultimately save a lot of time in debugging and testing. For instance, and in this context, an underestimated technique is tracing. It provides insights into the software's execution without affecting the runtime behavior. The developer thus gets a real image of the software execution on the hardware. Sporadically occurring errors and bottlenecks in the software can be uncovered. This is just one example of many alternative use cases of a debugger.

Figure 3

Microcontrollers, Processors and SoCs The evolution of debugging has been accompanied with the miniaturization of semiconductors, their increasing complexity and speed. Over the last 15 years, the embedded industry, in particular the automotive industry, introduced many additional functions into their products to meet current and future environmental regulations, to reduce the number of car accidents in general, to develop and produce vehicles more efficiently by distributing functionality across multiple electronic control units (ECUs) instead of developing a dedicated ECU by function, and to differentiate themselves from the competition.

The winIDEA Analyzer from iSYSTEM; on the left the recorded objects and on the right their temporal correlation.

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

To achieve all of this, the automotive industry needed semiconductor manufacturers which meet their requirements by developing and producing more compact and faster microcontrollers. This was the birth of embedded multicore microcontrollers, controllers with two or more cores. The shift from single to multicore architectures in ECUs came with new challenges for everyone. Embedded software tool vendors were confronted with new issues, from how to easily access all the cores of a multicore ECU to how to distribute embedded and legacy software on different cores that run most efficiently while maintaining high performance. The traditional way of developing embedded software was already being questioned at this point. With the introduction of high-performance/-computing platforms and manycore systems, even more complex processor architectures are now used for the development of high-sophisticated applications. What role does debugging still play here? In principle, it remains with the basics. In addition to a microcontroller’s internal flash components, SoC external flash components must be operated as well. Debuggers first help to control the boot process and then, in the next step, to closely examine the individual parts and cores of these processors as well as the software running on such devices.

EMBEDDED SOFTWARE

Software Development Processes and Standards Distributed development teams, an increasingly complex code base, growing functional requirements, standardization, and time pressure: even in the development of embedded software, the challenge to bring a reliable and safe product to market in the shortest possible time can only be met with a higher degree of abstraction and automation.

In addition to simply interfacing to a target hardware, debuggers provide more advanced debugging functionality including testing capabilities as well. Here, the developer has the possibility to trace the execution of the running software. For this purpose, the program state can be inspected, and the execution of the program can be stopped under certain conditions. This is done with minimal or no influence on the software being tested. Professional debug solutions additionally enable the recording of processes in the software in real time (tracing), the logging of execution times in the range of clock cycles as well as the assessment of the processed parts of the software relevant for testing (code coverage). For a customer to be able to flexibly use all this functionality, the debugger manufacturers provide generic interfaces (API) that enable the integration of these tools into the customer's development and test process (Figure 4). These interfaces must be suitable for solving a wide variety of tasks (developing, testing, verifying, and validating software and hardware).

Figure 4 Today, debuggers offer APIs that realize development and test processes with smooth and automated tool transitions. Development tools in the classical sense therefore must be more versatile than ever. Previously used exclusively by microcontroller experts as a hardware-related development tool, a debugger can now increasingly be found in a wide variety of software development situations. The debugger is still the connection to the actual target hardware via standard debug interfaces with the purpose of developing and testing embedded software as close as possible to the actual hardware. 32

The standard here is the support of programming (C, C++, C#, Java etc.) and scripting languages (Python etc.) for "remote control" of the development tool from another (also customer-specific) application. Basically, parts of the process can then be automated both during development and testing. Furthermore, today's debuggers provide so-called “mini-HIL” functionalities (hardware-in-the-loop, measurement, and stimulus

modules for tests) to generate or measure digital and analogue signals while recording and corelating the program execution at the same time. This makes it possible to test very close to reality and as early as possible during software development. All realized from the known environment, almost on-the-fly and without learning a new methodology. A typical use case of these flexible interfaces for test automation is Continuous Integration (CI). CI supports agile/distributed software development and test by integrating the changes or newly created code by developers into a repository shared with the team at short intervals. There are several suitable Continuous Integration servers for this purpose, such as Jenkins, GitLab, TeamCity, CircleCI or GitHub Actions. With integration, a rapid and highly automated series of steps – called a “pipeline” – is triggered via CI software hosted in-house or in the cloud. The pipeline usually includes and combines the build, static analysis, unit and system tests.

In addition to standard debugging functions, and due to the increasing complexity of these software systems, analysis options such as timing analysis, function profiling or CPU load measurement are increasingly being used (Figure 3). Prerequisites for this are the availability of trace interfaces on the semiconductor used and a corresponding debugger whose software implements such functions. The technical developments in the semiconductor industry are changing the software development process and, in turn, the debugger as a fundamental tool to a process tool.

The classic debugger thus becomes a test tool for tests on the real hardware. Generally, software can also be subjected to extensive tests on a PC platform, independently of the target hardware. Nevertheless, not all potential errors are detected in simulated environments: for example, the required hardware periphery is often not available, or the application does not behave the same as on real hardware, the timing behavior is different, or the cross-compiler generates target-specific Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Hardware-Debugging

object code and thus not the same code as the compiler used for the test environment. Therefore, it makes sense to test as close as possible to the real hardware at an early stage to ensure the correct function of the final product as well as the exact timing behavior of the application.

the tools by independent third parties, or reference tool suites that support the customer in carrying out the proof of correctness. The methods described above for automating test procedures using debuggers are very well suited for implementing such tool qualification processes.

to buy tools, they want to use them whenever and wherever those are needed. New business models for embedded software development and software testing will come into play where tools, knowledge transfer and consultancy are a common product and ultimately a service.

Conclusion The debugger is more and more turning into a process tool. The basic functions of a debugger find their ordinary application and are supplemented by powerful analysis functions. The increasing complexity of software, the vast number of software and hardware tools used in software development itself, and their interdependencies, drive the need for knowledge transfer and consulting services between tool manufacturers, chip suppliers and customers. A continuous and open communication between all parties involved in these developments is the key to success. Already today, customers no longer want

Just like in the software industry, the subscription business model is most appropriate for global embedded software development and testing.

Figure 5

The pipeline of a Continuous Integration infrastructure with build, static analyses, unit tests, system tests, and finally a deliverable product.

Safety standards such as ISO26262 and DO-178C have an influence on the functional scope of tools and on the provision of proof of the correctness of these functions to the customer. Particularly in aviation, tool manufacturers have been required to cooperate in terms of tool qualification for quite some time – but also more recently in the automotive industry with ISO26262. To this end, tool manufacturers must create verification options for the functional correctness of the tools used in relation to specific use cases. These can be organizational measures, for example external audits of the development process or certification of

About the author:

Erol Simsek is CEO of iSYSTEM, a privately held company that develops and manufactures tools and solutions for embedded software development and testing. ■ iSYSTEM www.isystem.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Development of cybersecure medical edge computing platforms

Reaching the goal faster with co-creation

To make sure that their networked medical devices are trustworthy and secure, medical device manufacturers need strong development partners across the entire supply chain – from embedded computing suppliers to medical computer system developers to security platform providers.

Medical devices and medical networks need cybersecure gateways for the digitization of healthcare. S.I.E and congatec have entered a strategic value-added partnership to develop dedicated medical edge gateway platforms that enable all players utilizing this new medical technology platform to reach their digitization goals faster. It is a special kind of partnership that goes beyond the classic concept of collaboration, where companies join forces to develop new products and then offer them on the market. In this case, the two companies offer individual co-creation services for customers. This allows medical device manufacturers and hospital IT providers to procure and implement better solutions much faster. One of the first customers to take advantage of this innovative offering based on agile development methods is secunet Security Networks AG. In a remarkable design sprint that took only a few months, the https://international.electronica-azi.ro

companies involved developed a new class of secunet gateway in two variants. Besides a controllable information flow for medical digitization concepts, it also offers a protected connection to centralized services and a secure execution environment for users’ own applications. Trustworthy cooperation creates trustworthy products With secunet medical connect Carna, the partnership has created a medical device gateway for the point-of-care (POC) environment. This gateway is designed for use as a medical IT accessory as well as for

medical device approval. For safety-critical networking scenarios, it therefore not only provides the functions but also the necessary formal requirements from a single source – including essential approval information and evidence of quality management system ISO 13485:2016 or risk management ISO 14971 compliance. This gateway separates the connectivity layer of medical devices from the actual medical device, which makes it possible to regularly update the interface to the outside world without having to recertify the medical device itself. 35

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

This ensures that the security and the operation of the various interfaces that change over time is always up to date. The medical device itself remains in the field unchanged. For data-intensive use cases or clusters of medical technology devices, the 19-inch rack server family Athene was built. It can be deployed in individual department networks or also centrally in the hospital data center. Depending on the design, it can be used either as a cloud frontend, security gateway or as a secure execution for AI tasks close to the medical data source. Open and secure – that’s a challenge Such application-ready medical gateway and server platforms are immensely important as digital healthcare transformation poses major challenges for all players involved. Medical device manufacturers must open their systems so that the collected data can be exchanged. At the same time, they must meet the highest security standards to protect this data exchange and their devices.

Hospitals, on the other hand, must open their IT networks for such devices, while at the same time meeting legal requirements to ensure critical infrastructure (CRITIS) security and data protection (GDPR). As a result, all companies involved in the digitization process must pay constant attention to the IT security aspects of critical medical technology and its sensitive data. Yet this is not a core competence of the medical OEMs nor of the hospital operator. That is why secunet, as one of Germany’s leading cybersecurity companies, has joined forces with S.I.E and congatec to develop medical-device-compliant solutions that meet this need. The focus is on compliance with numerous standards and regulations – from EN 60601-compliant interfaces, to MDR and FDA cybersecurity guidelines to ISO 80001. The early bird catches the worm To co-create these products, the companies got together very early on in design sprints for hardware and software system integration. Functional prototypes were in place after just four and a half days.

We have benefited immensely from the strategic value-added partnership between S.I.E and congatec and their co-creation offering. Development has been a truly joint effort, from product ideation to manufactured gateway. This has enabled us to significantly accelerate our time-to-market and better address our customers’ needs, from hardware through to application,” explains Torsten Redlich, Global Head of Business Development and Deputy Head of eHealth at secunet Security Networks AG.

The secunet medical connect product family is based on secure gateway technology that bundles modern security and IT technology solution concepts in a single platform. 36

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Development of cybersecure medical edge computing platforms

With a classic approach, it would have taken months for anything comparable to emerge. This is because internal company secrets and added value are normally protected and sealed off from other companies. A system design and integration house like S.I.E, which also takes care of the series production and assembly of such OEM platforms, does not usually bring its module supplier to the customer’s table during a pitch. The module supplier could all too easily decide to cooperate directly with the customer... However, considering the high division of labor within the embedded and edge computing supply chain, the immense lead times from initial idea to first prototype or finished series product are severe bottlenecks for OEM customers. To break down the walls between departments and companies, they are therefore looking for holistic solutions. Ultimately, and as far as possible, they’d like all development tasks to run in parallel and in continuous synchronization with customers to create best-practice solutions. congatec and S.I.E have taken on this challenge and formed a co-creation team that offers joint project and product development in collaboration with customers and the customer’s customers. The focus shifts to the added user value The advantage of such holistic co-creation offerings is that it is possible to think across the entire value chain in the design sprints. Development can therefore focus fully on creating added value for the product end user. “Classically, it is the OEM customers who initiate embedded computing business. While they usually know exactly what kind of system they need, they may not have considered every aspect, where the supplier often has more expertise. However, it is the customer’s requirements specification that sets the delivery expectations for the embedded computing supplier. So, if you start communicating before all the details are nailed down, you can already exchange ideas in the important creative phase,” emphasizes Josef Krojer, General Manager at S.I.E System Industrie Electronic GmbH. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Alternatively, if S.I.E had followed the classic value chain, it would have had to conduct a requirements survey at secunet and then use this to enter negotiations with the module supplier, who would not have had any knowledge of the ultimate end user needs.

During the product design of medical connect Carna and Athene, both the medical technology manufacturers – who want to be able to connect their devices securely – and the hospital infrastructure operators and their service providers – whose interests are often

The new secunet Carna and Athene products enable manufacturers to offer digital services without compromising the IT security of hospital networks. © congatec In fact, the conventional development process upstream along the supply chain resembles the children’s game of ‘Chinese whispers’, where it is basically preprogrammed that information will be lost or misinterpreted and then passed on incorrectly. In a game like ‘Chinese whispers’, the results are often very funny.

seen as counteractive to such developments – were on board. After all, the latter’s main concern is to safeguard their own network from the medical device. Integrating both sides into such a creative process and identifying all their requirements was the ultimate aim of the co-creation process.

But that’s not the case when it comes to product development processes worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

The goal was to develop a product that fully satisfies both stakeholder groups. To achieve this, it was of course necessary to evaluate various application scenarios to find out what additional requirements the prototype had to meet, and eventually – after several agile design sprints – to specify the final product design. After eight months, the two gateway products are now ready for market launch.

All hands onboard In this specific case, the prototype was developed jointly by secunet, S.I.E and congatec right from the start. Once it was operational, the end customers were also involved. This enabled them to also provide active input at a very early stage in the proof-of-concept phase and gave them the opportunity to shape the design of the product that they would ultimately be using.

The users decide what they want Ultimately, this co-creation approach enables human-centered design if the medical device manufacturer also gets the users on board. 37

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Their feedback is immensely important to increase the quality and precise match of the solution. Co-creation means that development is no longer driven by purely technical considerations and happening

in isolation before being pushed out into the market. Instead, users decide what they want, with the effect that development changes from push to customercentric pull.

Naturally, building such co-creation teams that operate across all departments, hierarchy levels and company boundaries requires a corresponding corporate culture and methodological skillset. For example, in a design sprint everyone – from career starter to management – must be allowed to express their opinion freely. Every voice is important and welcome. Only when everyone is heard can the best result be achieved. This is also why it’s important to set up interdisciplinary teams. Everyone has the same voting rights and openness is not only permitted but actively encouraged.

The secunet Carna gateway system utilizes a customized COM Express module, includes everything for certification as a medical device, and is suitable for use in pointof-care environments.

“congatec offers the perfect solution kit for such agile development processes. Standard modules and carrier boards are ideal for rapid prototyping. They are scalable from low to high performance and come with all interfaces. Adapting them individually at a later stage is also much faster than with fullcustom solutions. If the quantities allow it, you can still implement a full-custom design with COM and carrier fusion. This is much faster and more efficient than any other approach,” says Gerhard Edi, congatec’s Chief Strategy Officer, accentuating the technological basis of the co-creation alliance. 38

The 2U rack server secunet Athene offers high performance for resource and compute-intensive processes and is based on COM-HPC server modules from congatec.

Forethought instead of afterthought This is an entirely different approach to product development. More holistic, it is ultimately also faster as it is easier to master a steeper learning curve by thinking and preparing ahead. Instead of waiting until the end of a long development phase to present the customer with a finished product based on the requirements specification, various intermediate loops are made as the product gradually approaches the desired target solution. In the end, for medical connect Carna, the choice fell on a Computer-on-Module that was optimized for the application. In the case of medical connect Athene, the decision was taken to go for a new high-performance module based on the COM-HPC standard. congatec is the only leading embedded computing provider worldwide that focuses on core competencies around board level products, particularly Computer-on-Module technology.

Gerhard Edi (CSO congatec), Markus Dillinger (General Manager S.I.E) and Josef Krojer (General Manager S.I.E) were responsible for developing the joint co-creation offering (from left to right). Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Development of cybersecure medical edge computing platforms

To better serve customers who, like secunet, demand individually tailored system-level products with full system responsibility, the company is investing in strong vertical market partnerships such as the one with S.I.E and aims to create similar co-creation offerings also for other vertical markets. Creative minds seeking new challenges Such a co-creation offering is not just ideal for OEM customers in the medical device sector; it also suits any other customer requiring tailored system integration. From medical OEMs who want to redesign a medical device, to healthcare solutions that require comparable cyber-

security without a medical device, to companies outside the medical sector who simply want a full-custom design that can be developed quickly, efficiently and precisely to spec by a development partnership such as the one between S.I.E and congatec. After all, time-to-market and user-centered engineering are the keys to successful product launches.

It is precisely in this area that secunet offers outstanding core competencies with its own hardened operating system, proven security expertise over the entire lifetime of systems, and the provision of secure virtualized execution environments to shield applications from the core functions of the secure medical gateway and server platforms.

secunet medical connect also brings flexibility. For instance, you can use Docker applications to enable own and third-party providers to process data from the medical device. Of course, only data that you want to process and have granted access to. The transfer of this data must be highly secure.

“Looking only at the rising risk of cyber attacks to critical infrastructures and the need for a higher class of quality, traceability and documentation that comes with MDR regulations, we see an ever increasing number of applications that can benefit from the strategic partnership between congatec and S.I.E, which bundles each of our strong core competences into best-in-class quality for our OEM customers. Together, we offer an unparalleled value proposition with full system responsibility – from the computing core to certification, mass production and life cycle management. This is especially valuable if customers in regulated markets are looking for a source with central European roots,” emphasizes Josef Krojer, CEO at S.I.E. System Industrie Electronic. As a result, the solutions address any digitization need and are open for future digitization requirements despite their highly secure design. Safe and secure In addition to critical healthcare infrastructures and medical OEM equipment, S.I.E and congatec also aim to enter further embedded and edge computing markets with critical infrastructures, such as the financial and insurance sector, water and energy utilities, information technology and telecommunications, or transportation and traffic, all of which rely on cybersecure systems for their IT infrastructure. ■ congatec www.congatec.com

Computer-on-Modules are not only ideal for rapid prototyping; they also offer a host of other advantages. © congatec https://international.electronica-azi.ro

ADCs

Understanding the Function of Analog-toDigital (ADC) Drivers

Author: Kevin Tretter Senior Product Marketing Engineer Microchip Technology

What is an analog-to-digital converter driver and why do I need one? As the name implies, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) drivers are specialty amplifiers that are designed specifically to work alongside ADCs, including successive approximation, pipelined and delta-sigma based architectures. These specialty amplifiers are critical circuit components that enable the ADC to function at full performance, as will be explored in the next sections. The need for analog signal conditioning, including ADCs, continues to grow as sensors become more and more abundant within a variety of end markets. These end markets include: • • • • • 40

Communications Medical Consumer Industrial Automotive

For ADCs, the market trend is toward higher resolution and higher speed devices as the cost of such solutions becomes more affordable. Understanding ADC Inputs Before discussing the technical functions required from an ADC driver, a brief overview of the input architecture of today’s ADC is needed. A differential signal can be defined as two nodes that have equal but opposite signals around a fixed point (the common mode level). The two signal nodes are typically referred to as positive and negative (non-inverting and inverting), as shown in Figure 1. In the above example, the full-scale input voltage is 5V peak-to-peak differentially, with each leg swinging 2.5V peak-topeak. The common mode level in this example is 2.5V. A majority of today’s higher performance ADCs implement a

differential input architecture, as it provides superior performance (relative to single-ended inputs). These performance benefits include the ability to reject common mode noise and common interference signals and a 6 dB (or a factor of 2) increase in dynamic range. ADCs can pose an especially difficult challenge to system designers, offering a variety of different input sampling architectures that must be considered on the system level. For the purposes of this discussion, the focus will be on ADCs that use a switched-capacitor structure to accomplish input sampling. In its most basic form, this input structure is composed of a relatively small capacitor and an analog switch, as shown in Figure 2. When the switch is configured in position 1, the sampling capacitor is charged to the voltage of the sampling node, in this case VS. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » What is an analog-to-digital converter driver and why do I need one?

The switch is then flipped to position 2, where the accumulated charge on the sampling capacitor is then transferred to the rest of the sampling circuitry. The process then begins all over again. An unbuffered switched-capacitor input, like the one described above, can cause significant system level issues. The current required to charge the sampling capacitor to the appropriate voltage must be supplied from the external circuitry connected to the ADC input. When the capacitor is switched to the sampling node (switch position 1 in Figure 2), a large amount of current will be required to begin charging the capacitor.

Distortion can also occur if the input node is not fully settled prior to the next sampling cycle. Solution: ADC Drivers Maintaining the required sensor signal integrity to take full advantage of these higher resolutions, higher speed ADCs becomes very challenging. As the resolution and speed of the ADC increases, the effects of noise and distortion from the sensor signal become more noticeable. At higher ADC sampling speeds, care must be taken to ensure that the input signal has settled before the sampling event and that higher bandwidth signals do not alias back into the signal bandwidth of interest.

Finally, similar to most amplifier components, ADC drivers can provide amplification of the input signal as well as active filtering. It should be noted that most ADC drivers are specified with relatively low gain, typically gains of only 1 or 2 V/V. By keeping the amplifier’s closed-loop gain low, the loop gain is maximized, resulting in the lowest distortion. For example, if an amplifier has an openloop gain of 100 dB and is configured for a closed-loop gain of 200, or 46 dB, this leaves only 54 dB of open-loop gain margin to ensure linearity, or about one part in 500.

Figure 1

Differential Sine Wave Example.

The magnitude of this instantaneous current is a function of the size of the sampling capacitor, the frequency at which the capacitor is switched, and the voltage present on the sampling node. This switching current can be described by the following equation:

Figure 2

Simple Switched-Capacitor Input Structure.

To overcome these signal conditioning challenges, many ADC applications require an ADC driver that provides sufficient settling and anti-aliasing. As described above, most modern ADCs implement a differential input architecture. One of the main functions of the ADC driver is to provide single-ended to differential conversion of the incoming signal.

iin = CVf In the example above, C is the capacitance of the sampling capacitor, V is the voltage present on the sampling node (in this example denoted as VS), and f is the frequency at which the sampling switch is turned on and off. This switching current results in high current spikes on the sampling node, as illustrated in Figure 2. The implications of this switching current must be considered when designing the analog circuitry in front of the A/D converter. As this current passes through any resistance, a voltage drop will occur, resulting in a voltage error at the sampling node of the A/D converter. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Another function of the ADC driver is to buffer the input signal, hence isolating the rest of the circuitry from the charge injection on the input node of the ADC. The ADC driver provides an instantaneous charge to ensure that the sampling node is settled within the track time, thus minimizing any distortion related to settling. Most ADC driver amplifiers also provide a hardware pin that enables the user to level shift the common mode voltage. This feature is ideal for ensuring that the resulting differential signal is centered within the input voltage range of the ADC, hence maximizing the dynamic range.

Therefore, it is common to have a separate gain stage that is located close to the signal source. To get the most out of your data converter, the ADC driver must optimize performance while adding negligible distortion, noise, and settling time errors to the source signal. The MCP6D11 differential driver is specifically designed to maximize the performance of high-speed ADCs such as the MCP33131, which is a 16-bit, 1MSPS SAR ADC. For an example of how these two devices work together to maximize performance, check out the associated MCP331x1 Evaluation Board (ADM00873). ■ Microchip Technology www.microchip.com

PRODUCT NEWS

Farnell introduces new Test Workflow software from NI

Andes Technology RISC-V Processors Reveal Outstanding Performance and Efficiency in MLPerf Tiny Andes Technology, a leading supplier of high efficiency, lowpower 32/64-bit RISC-V processor cores and Founding Premier member of RISC-V International, submits MLPerf Tiny v0.7 benchmark for Andes V5 RISC-V processors, including the AndesCore™ D25F and D45 (with DSP/SIMD Extension) and AndesCore™ NX27V (with Vector Extension). The MLPerf Tiny benchmark suite is intended for the lowest power devices and smallest form factors, such as deeply embedded, intelligent sensing, and internet-of-things applications. The remarkable out-of-box results reveal the outstanding Andes processor capabilities with performance and power consumption. The out-of-box results of the MLPerf Tiny v0.7 are enabled by high-performance AndesCore™ and the enhanced “TensorFlow Lite for Microcontroller” with “Andes NN Library”. AndesCore™ V5 processors with DSP/SIMD (P draft) and Vector (V) Extensions are designed for applications needing highly efficient or intensive data computation. RISC-V DSP/SIMD Extension (RVP) efficiently addresses the requirements of lowvolume data computation with straightforward hardware implementation for low power consumption without handcraft optimization in the model and software package. According to the Visual Wake Words and Image Classification scores, at the same 200MHz, Andes V5 RVP cores can deliver 11 fps on the D25F and 15 fps on the D45F while typical MCUs are only capable of 6-7 fps. By providing the compact and efficient SIMD and DSP capabilities, the D25F and the D45 processors form a very comprehensive and competitive basis for the TinyML, AIoT, and signal processing applications on edges and endpoints. RISC-V Vector Extension (RVV) targets high-volume data computation. No matter in the edge or cloud, the NX27V processor provides scalable, efficient, and powerful compute capabilities for general AI, NN, and data processing applications. Moreover, “Andes NN Library” dramatically speeds up the development of Neural Network algorithms with 17.3x speedup of MobileNet-v1 INT8 using AndesCore™ NX27V with the 128-bit vector configuration over the same core executing only RISC-V baseline (scalar) instructions. ■ Andes Technology Corporation https://www.andestech.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, has today introduced the brand new Test Workflow subscription bundles from NI that expands engineers’ access to the software needed to design and automate a test or measurement system through a single software license. With engineers firmly planted at the centre of digital transformation, they need to access to more advanced, higher performing tools than ever before. The Test Workflow software bundle recognises the increased productivity that results from using several software tools and provides streamlined access through a SaaS model. “Engineers use NI’s software to improve every phase of their product lifecycle, producing valuable measurements, data, and insights,” said Shelley Gretlein, vice president of software strategy at NI. “Test Workflow ensures engineers have all the software they need to streamline their test and measurement applications and seamlessly transition from design to validation.” NI’s new Test Workflow bundle is a subscription-based collection of software for engineers working on research, validation, and production test applications. The bundle, available from Farnell globally, provides access to NI’s most popular test and measurement software through one low-cost, easy-to-manage license for software products that gets projects to market faster. The combination includes LabVIEW, TestStand, FlexLogger, and DIAdem, and enables engineers to gain actionable insights, improving their test system development, and delivering more value from their test data. With the ability to scale up or down as needed, users have additional control over project costs. James McGregor, Global Head of Test, Tools & Production Supplies at Farnell, said: “As engineers move from design to production they have to test several different criteria and conditions, often requiring use of multiple software and tools. It is critical to maximise productivity and efficiency and with NI’s Test Workflow bundle, engineers now have all the tools they need in a single place. Farnell is committed to supporting engineers in their journey to be as efficient as possible and to maximise easeof-use. We are really excited to be bringing this brand new offering from NI to market for our Test customers globally.” Farnell customers can save up to 50% off a Standard Test Workflow subscription and up to 60% off Test Workflow Pro when compared to purchasing the software individually. Customers can purchase the brand new Test Workflow Software from Farnell in EMEA, element14 in APAC and Newark in North America. ■ Farnell | https://uk.farnell.com 43

COMPANIES

Infineon to strengthen its leading expertise as IoT solution provider by acquiring verification expert NoBug in Romania and Serbia

Advanced Energy Expands High Accuracy Temperature Monitoring Portfolio with New Luxtron® FluorOptic® Sensing Platform

Infineon Technologies acquired NoBug Consulting SRL (Romania) and NoBug d.o.o. (Serbia). Founded in 1998, NoBug is a privately owned engineering company providing verification and design services for all the digital functionalities of semiconductor products. With approximately 120 engineers, NoBug Consulting SRL and NoBug d.o.o. are represented in Bucharest, Brașov, Iași (all Romania) and Belgrade (Serbia). By adding these R&D competence centers, Infineon is further accelerating the ability of its Connected Secure Systems (CSS) Division to work on complex IoT product developments. Thus, Infineon is building the basis for the IoT infrastructure of the future, enabling cybersecurity, AI and machine learning as well as robust connectivity. “We are looking for the highestskilled experts to grow our IoT business,” said Thomas Rosteck, President of Infineon’s Division CSS. “Therefore, Romania and Serbia are the locations of choice for expanding our R&D activities in Eastern Europe.” Together, NoBug and Infineon are now perfectly equipped to tackle this growing market: While Infineon delivers a comprehensive IoT portfolio, NoBug brings along specialized expertise in the digital verification of complex System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions. “This considerable increase in superior verification know-how lets Infineon offer its customers more of its leading products at a reduced time-to-market,” said Guenter Krasser, Vice President and Managing Director of Infineon Romania. “The acquisition will also further bolster Infineon Romania as a growth location for R&D in Europe and opens up ample new development opportunities for our engineers.” Now with over 500 R&D engineers, Infineon Romania holds R&D ownership in a variety of Infineon’s product segments. The Development Center in Bucharest was founded in 2005 and has become one of Infineon’s largest R&D centers in Europe.

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. – a global leader in highly engineered, precision power conversion, measurement and control solutions – has expanded its Luxtron® family of FluorOptic® Thermometry (FOT) solutions with a new converter platform and two proprietary phosphor formulations. The Luxtron M-1000 converter with RubiluxTM and VioLuxTM phosphor formulations enable high accuracy temperature measurement over an expanded temperature range for the most advanced semiconductor etch and deposition processes. Featuring a new light source and improved low noise photodetection, the Luxtron M-1000 provides dual channel capability with accuracy variations as low as ±0.2°C, stability above 0.05°C and the industry’s broadest operating range from -200 to 450°C. The converter is optimized to work with both phosphor formulations to accommodate the full temperature range.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

For decades, Advanced Energy’s Luxtron FOT sensing technology has been leading the industry with high temperature accuracy and wide operating range. The Luxtron FOT sensing system combines a phosphor-coated fiber optic probe with a high-performance converter that integrates an advanced light source, a photodetector proprietary software algorithm and low-noise amplification circuitry. Because measurement is based on optical sensing, Luxtron FOT systems offer more accuracy than conventional electrical sensors in processes involving strong electromagnetic fields, including plasma etch and deposition, MRI systems and power transformers.

■ Infineon Technologies | https://www.infineon.com

■ Advanced Energy | https://www.advancedenergy.com

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

AUTOMATED DRIVING FUNCTION

Sensor Fusion It’s all about Prediction Sensor fusion systems spend a significant amount of resources in predicting the future. Here is why this improves automated driving functions. Author: Dr. Eric Richter Director of Customer Relations and co-founder BASELABS

It is often stated that automated driving and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) need to correctly perceive the vehicle’s environment. In this context, we frequently see camera images with object detections that come from sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) based detection methods typically visualized by rectangular bounding boxes as an overlay on top of the image. From a human perspective, these image detections often give the impression that the problem is solved and that a machine now could decide how the car should proceed. However, in contrast to currently available machines, humans can extract much more context information from a single image. For example, a human might understand that a pedestrian is rushing to a cab and that he or she will cross the street so that harsh braking might be appropriate. For an automated driving function such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with its limited recognition capabilities to react similarly, it must not only know where an object is located right now but also where it will be in the near future − the object’s position needs to be predicted to this near future. In this article, I will explain why prediction is not only used by the driving function itself, but has massive impact to the performance of the sensor fusion system that provides the environmental model. 46

Sensor Fusion in a Nutshell In automated driving, the combination of multiple diverse sensors compensates for individual sensor weaknesses, e.g., a camera better detects pedestrians than a radar while a radar provides long-distance coverage. Converting the different sensor data into a uniform image of the vehicle environment is called sensor data fusion − or sensor fusion for short. Sensor fusion is not a single monolithic algorithm. Instead, it assembles multiple algorithms whose selection and combination depend on the sensor setup and the driving function. However, the main task of any sensor fusion system is to compare the sensor observations or measurements with the system’s expectation of these measurements. From the differences, the system’s state gets adapted or updated. An example: A vehicle is driving in front of us. Let’s assume the sensor fusion system already knows that the vehicle is approximately 50 meters away and 10 m/s slower than us. If a sensor observes that vehicle 100 milliseconds later, the sensor fusion system could expect the vehicle at 49 meters using simple kinematics s = s0 + v∙t − the so-called motion model. However, if, in reality, the vehicle was 15m/s slower than us, the observed distance would be 48.5 instead of 49 meters. From the difference 49m − 48.5m = 0.5m, the sensor fusion may conclude that its initial velocity estimation was “wrong” and should be around 15m/s = 10m/s + 0.5m/0.1s instead − the system’s state gets updated.

To perform the described update step, sensor measurements need to be associated with already known objects or socalled tracks. For this association, all tracks are predicted to the time of the measurements using the motion model. Then, each measurement is associated with the track whose prediction is closest to the measurement, and the track gets updated with that measurement. The prediction quality is essential for the association and thus for the overall sensor fusion performance. Suppose the association fails to find a measurement close to a predicted track, or it selects a track the measurement does not belong to due to an unsuitable prediction. In that case, tracks either won’t get updated or get updated using the wrong measurement, which in turn leads to invalid track states like a wrong track position. Often, such incorrect association leads to a sensor fusion failure and incorrect driving function behavior. Let’s see how we can avoid this. The Right Number of Models While the example’s motion model seems obvious, other models might be more appropriate: • If the sensor fusion needs to support turning vehicles, models that include the curvature should be considered, e.g., the so-called constant curvature and acceleration (CCA) model. • If the same sensor fusion system also needs to support pedestrians, a motion model with a higher degree of freedom could be used, e.g., the constant velocity (CV) model. Using a separate model for each object class can significantly increase the sensor fusion performance as track predictions get better and thus, the association gets better. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » Sensor fusion systems

• For bicyclists, the CCA model might be used as well. However, the model parameters probably differ from the parameters used for vehicles. Unfortunately, the class of an object is often not reliably known to the sensor fusion system if it is a “new” object, e.g., an object that enters the sensor’s field of view. Imagine the radar of a system detects the new object first (and does not provide classification information). Then, the system cannot decide on a single motion model as this could be wrong and, thus, would again lead to wrong predictions and associations.

Instead, the sensor fusion should create multiple hypotheses, one for each class the system should support, e.g., one hypothesis assuming that the object is a vehicle using the CCA model and one hypothesis assuming that the object is a pedestrian using the CV model. Then, all of these hypotheses can be used to predict the track’s state. With such a Multiple Model approach, it becomes more likely that the correct measurements get associated with the track. Over time, when more measurements arrive, the sensor fusion system should resolve the model ambiguity as soon as possible to save compute and memory resources. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

There are several options on how to get rid of invalid hypotheses: • The actual motion of the object may not fit a track hypothesis. In such case, measurements may appear in large distance to the hypothesis. Sensor fusion systems with integrated existence estimation decrease the existence probability of hypothesis whose measurements are unlikely. If the existence value drops below a specific value, the hypothesis gets removed. • The object’s class is determined by a sensor like a camera at some point in time. Hypotheses that belong to other classes can be removed.

Modern sensor fusion systems have to handle even more hypotheses due to a higher level of ambiguity. A typical challenge in urban areas is that the objects’ driving direction or heading often cannot be reliably derived from the first frames after initial detection. If the “wrong” heading value is used in the motion model, the prediction gets wrong again. To overcome this, multiple hypotheses with different heading values are created, and the most likely hypothesis will survive in the sensor fusion system.

In addition to dedicated motion models per object class, the detection and measurement models should be class-specific. By this, the sensor fusion can consider class-specific sensor characteristics, and better measurement predictions can be determined. The performance of sensor fusion systems depends on their capability to predict different object classes. In particular, sensor fusion systems should support • class-specific motion models using multiple model approaches to account for different object behaviors,

Challenging scenario for the protection of pedestrians inspired by the NCAP AEB test catalog. The pedestrian must be recognized as endangered before he or she enters the road so that the vehicle can initiate a harmless emergency stop. Predicting the pedestrian’s motion using different behavior assumptions is a crucial requirement for the sensor fusion system. • to initialize tracks using multiple hypotheses to cope with initialization ambiguities, • to apply different sensor models depending on the object class, • to efficiently handle the hypotheses to save CPU and memory resources. ■ BASELABS www.baselabs.de

Handling all hypotheses correctly and efficiently is a complex task that needs to be addressed by modern sensor fusion systems. 47

PRODUCT NEWS

Plug&Play for railway vehicles:

RECOM's 500 W DC/DC converter RMD500 at Rutronik

With the RMD500 series, RECOM offers 500 W DC/DC converters designed for the specific requirements of transportation and especially rail vehicles. Their 4:1 input voltage range can cover input voltages from 43 VDC to 137,5 VDC (nominal 72 V resp. 110 V) in a range with isolated and regulated 24 V output. That is possible due to a reinforced isolation system. The RMD500 series and other RECOM products are available at https://www.rutronik24.com. The converter has a constant and high efficiency of 95% and is parallel connectable in n+1 redundancy. The baseplate mounting allows a wide operating temperature range -40°C to +70/85°C for class OT4+ST1&ST2. That provides full power over the entire temperature range without the need for derating or additional fans. Input reverse polarity protection, inrush current limiting, 10 ms hold-up time, remote control, and output O-ring diode round out the functionality of this compact and fully railway-ready plug-and-play device. EN62368-1-marked and fully tested to the latest EN50155 railroad standards, including all associated ones, target applications include traction & propulsion, drive systems, electrical containers, and cabinets, break and door systems, train control monitoring systems, HVAC, safety systems, data loggers, lighting, WLAN systems, radio communications and displays such as for passenger information. For more information about the RMD500 series from RECOM and a direct ordering option, please visit our e-commerce platform. ■ Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH https://www.rutronik.com 48

Würth Elektronik published its Wireless Connectivity & Sensors Product Guide

Radio Modules, Sensors and Tips for the IIoT The Wireless Connectivity & Sensors Division at Würth Elektronik wanted to publish more than just a catalog and presents a “Product Guide”. Its 200 pages offer a wealth of information about the products and the technologies behind them for application development. The Product Guide can be ordered at we-online.com/order-catalog. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Reliable solution with innovative coil design:

Pulse EFD15 power transformer PGT646xNL at Rutronik es

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Wireless Connectivity & Sensors Product Guide

The Wireless Connectivity & Sensors Product Guide mainly serves to make it easier for customers to select the right products for them by providing overviews, schematics and graphics on the technologies. Würth Elektronik's broad portfolio of radio modules with various common but also proprietary radio technologies forms the basis for new Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. Equipping temperature, humidity, pressure or vibration sensors with minute power-saving radio modules is an important aspect of intelligent solutions. As adding "smart" IoT features to its own products allows many possibilities to be offered, Würth Elektronik provides numerous examples and solution strategies in the Product Guide for Smart Factory, Smart Industry, Smart Home, Smart Building and other application areas. "We explain the products and the technologies used and strive to provide ideas on how sensor technology and networking open up new options. Of course, we also provide our customers with advice and support—through to design-in assistance. This is also what we understand as 'more than you expect'," says Markus Eberle, Marketing Manager at Würth Elektronik eiSos. ■ Würth Elektronik eiSos https://www.we-online.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Pulse is expanding its EFD15 portfolio, known for its versatility in DC/DC converter applications, with the PGT646xNL series. The series uses the current first-in-class 5 + 5 pin SMD platform design. The innovative coil design extends the creepage distance between pin and core to at least 5.1 mm. At the same time, the component retains its dimensions of 22.0 mm × 16.5 mm × 11 mm and does not require more space. Wire selection and design allow for automated winding that provides exceptional reliability for high-performance applications like in industrial and automotive environments, as well as data communications. The Pulse PGT646xNL series is available at https://www.rutronik24.com. Pulse is introducing two transmitters that differ specifically in their dielectric strength and input voltage range. The PGT6465NL has a high input voltage and utilizes the full isolation capability of the extended leakage current platform with an isolation specification of 4,000 Vrms. Whereas the PGT6466NL meets the requirements of low voltage inputs with application isolation of 3,000 VDC. The PGT646xNL series also features a wide temperature range of -40°C to +125°C and can be used with a flyback topology. The power range is up to 12.5 watts. For more information about the PGT646xNL-series from Pulse and a direct ordering option, please visit our e-commerce platform. ■ Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH https://www.rutronik.com 49

A Look at the Latest

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Distribution Market Challenges The distribution industry is adapting to a “new normal” and making strong investments for the future.

Just over two years after the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the electronic components industry is settling into a “new normal” rhythm, coping with COVID-19 variants, high customer demand and tight supply. Author: David Stein | Vice president of global supplier management Digi-Key Electronics

To be sure, new disruptions like COVID lockdowns, extreme weather events and armed conflicts continue to cause global ripple effects, but as a whole, the various stakeholders in the industry have been able to address these issues with practiced flexibility, increased investments and a sense of understanding. So where are things today? In some areas, the picture looks pretty similar to how it’s been for the past couple years. But there have been meaningful shifts in other areas as the industry adapts to this “new normal” and prepares for the future. 50

Demand stretches lead times Demand is still exceptionally high across all industries and verticals, so lead times are stretched in all product categories. Some product types are in a more “normal” amount of demand, but within semiconductors, for example, microcontrollers, sensors, commodity linear, analog and discrete are still a struggle to obtain in full supply as lead times in many cases have continued to remain in the 40+ week area. Today, the reason for product shortages is primarily related to demand and manufacturing capacity rather than supply chain issues.

At the height of the pandemic, lead times were affected fairly evenly by both supply chain issues and manufacturing capacity. Now, I would estimate that only 20% of extended lead times are due to supply chain issues, while closer to 80% of delays are due to lacking manufacturing capacity. One still needs to keep an eye on supply chain issues, as these continue to pop up ad hoc in different regions of the world. While keeping inventory in stock is still a challenge, Digi-Key’s inventory levels are growing month-over-month. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » The Distribution Market Challenges

In March 2022, we received the most product that we have ever received in the history of the company and Q1 2022 was the highest receiving quarter we’ve ever had, so we are making meaningful progress on continuously increasing our inventory.

Our sales and technical support teams also handle many customer inquiries to help engineers find part cross references to replace out-of-stock components in their designs or to qualify multiple options in their designs.

Semiconductors feel the pinch For the past several years, manufacturers have been investing in new technologies to produce cutting-edge products and increase production. Semiconductor manufacturers in particular have made strong investments into 12-inch wafer fabs over the past couple of years, and we are expecting to see that supply come online at the end of this year and into 2023.

And in some cases, we are seeing engineers redesigning their end products to use parts that we have in stock; or starting the design by searching the Digi-Key website for in-stock product and designing their product around available inventory.

In the meantime, however, there has not been an equal level of investment into increasing output of some of the older technologies based on 6- or 8-inch wafer fabs, despite the fact that there are still many products that are based on those lines, such as automotive or industrial designs. Unfortunately, those products cannot be easily shifted over, so there will likely continue to be a pinch in this area for the next several years. Supporting design engineers In our current environment, we encourage engineers to create designs with components that can be sourced from multiple suppliers. Of course, they can’t do that for every part, but there are often ways to reconfigure a design in a few ways using different part numbers. Having a bill of materials (BOM) for parts with different manufacturers creates some insurance in the event that stock is not available. Digi-Key’s goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to find alternative solutions that may fit their needs. When a customer tries to order a part number from our website and it is out of stock, Digi-Key automatically presents potential alternatives from our database of nearly 60 million part number cross-references.

Keeping an eye on availability High service distributors like Digi-Key keep a close pulse on the product that is in stock and which suppliers typically deliver stock at the specified lead time, rather than pushing it out. We encourage customers to maintain close relationships with their distributor partners and lean on them for information when they need it – they should be able to provide an objective view on which suppliers typically keep their lead time commitments and which push them out. One other “pro tip” I would share would be to look into which manufacturers are vertically integrated – those that control their own destiny, so to speak. Vertically integrated manufacturers often rely less on outsourced materials, meaning they likely have more control over their lead times and output. Digital solutions enhance procurement Because things change so quickly these days, it is critically important to leverage digital solutions that can provide real-time information. Digi-Key offers three major digital solutions: EDI, APIs and Punchouts, which are all designed to make a digital connection between Digi-Key’s system and your organization for streamlined quotes, detailed purchase orders, search, price and availability, and more.

The easiest way to get started with digital solutions is by setting up a quoting process. A quoting process alone represents a major timesaver for whoever handles your organization’s quotes. Establishing a quoting process will also show you the power and speed of digital solutions. These solutions are designed to help you work smarter, not harder. Communication remains the key In this line of business and in this current market, there truly isn’t such a thing as overcommunication – simply getting on the phone, making that individual connection and keeping all parties in the loop. The Digi-Key team excels at staying in close contact with our supplier partners to give them as much visibility as possible into the products that are in highest demand, and in some cases, we’re already placing orders as far out as midto-late 2023 to ensure that our inventory is pipelined accordingly. In addition to that close human connection, we’re also investing in technologies that help connect us more automatically and electronically with our suppliers, such as Advance Shipping Notifications (ASNs) which provide real-time, automated updates to the Digi-Key system about when product will be shipping. This provides the most upto-date information from our supplier partners to our customers. In my opinion, we’ve already made it through the worst period of history in this industry in terms of supply and demand – it will only get better from here. ■ Digi-Key Electronics www.digikey.com

David Stein is vice president of global supplier management for Digi-Key Electronics.

David Stein

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Digi-Key is both the leader and continuous innovator in the high service distribution of electronic components and automation products worldwide, providing more than 10.9 million components from over 2,300 quality name-brand manufacturers. 51

Image source: ZIEHL-ABEGG / Ufuk Arslan

COMPANIES

Rocket League will be providing the 2022 finale to the International Royal eSports Masters in August. Once again, employees of the German machine manufacturer will be providing the commentaries for the event. The competition is also open to outside teams.

International Royal eSports Masters in Summer 2022 Ziehl-Abegg opens registration for Rocket League, CS:GO and RainbowSixSiege “We’re going all out for gaming”, says Holger M. Rößler. The IT trainer will be the pivotal and focal point of contact for the four-week, open eSports tournament being staged by Ziehl-Abegg, the industrial company based in Southern Germany. Online gaming will take place each weekend in August, with participation open to employees and outside teams, marking the start of a new field for the machine manufacturer’s employees as well as external parties. The impact on recruiting was already evident in the HR department shortly afterwards.

In August this year gaming will take place on Saturday and Sunday of each weekend.

The registration phase has already begun. “We have teams from Europe and the USA heading for the start,” says Rößler happily. Pre-registrations have also been received from German university teams. For ZiehlAbegg, the industrial company in Southern Germany, this is the third series of tournaments. Whereas in August last year it was played over two days, in March 2022 it was over six days, spread across over three weekends.

The player and team administration, as well as the updating of the tournament tree using “Toornament” – a special software package for organising eSports tournaments – and the provision of the technical facilities for a functioning connection to the live streaming service “Twitch”, pose no problems for the IT team. “It was the procurement of the hardware and, in particular, dealing with the requirement for compliance with the legal

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

The organisation of and technical preparations for the eSports tournaments will be conducted by the IT department under trainer Holger M. Rößler, assisted by a number of IT trainees. “I’m not the only one who likes online gaming occasionally in their spare time. Some of us from the IT department are actually quite well placed in the international gamer rankings for wellknown games such as Rocket League” emphasised the IT trainer.

regulations on data privacy, that proved more complicated”, emphasises Rößler. Once again, the commentaries on all games will be provided by trainers and trainees as well as dual students – every one of them participants in eSports themselves. A different employee ‘calls the shots’ for each tournament in the proverbial sense: Holger M. Rößler for Rocket League, Marvin Glattbach for Rainbow Six and Fabian Gnauck for CS:GO. Ziehl-Abegg is excited about the international eSports tournament, which now includes participants from the USA. Joachim Ley, Member of the Executive Board, sees the eSports event in a positive light: “Ziehl-Abegg is playing a pioneering role and not only making advances in development and production technology. Tournaments like these raise our profile amongst young people in a positive way”. Ziehl-Abegg https://www.ziehl-abegg.com 53

Halo Microelectronics’ 2:1 Charge Pump Direct Charger IC Powers Samsung’s Galaxy A23 Smartphones Halo Microelectronics, a maker of analog and power management integrated circuits enabling energy-efficient smart systems, announced that its HL7132, a 2:1 Charge Pump Direct Charger IC is used on Samsung’s Galaxy A23 smartphones. The HL7132 is a low-voltage 2:1 fast direct charger IC for 1cell Li-ion and Li-polymer batteries that enable the charge current to be doubled by doubling the input current from a power delivery (PD) adapter. For example, the 3A output PD adapter can charge the current up to 6A, thereby, reducing the battery charge time by 50% and offering less waiting time for A23 smartphone users. The switched capacitor converter architecture and the integrated FETs in the HL7132 are optimized to enable a 50% duty cycle operation under charge pump mode. The 2:1 charge pump mode allows the output voltage, VOUT to be around half of the input voltage, VIN, and the output current to double the input current, reducing the losses over the input power cable as well as limiting the temperature rise in the application. According to Insight Analytical Labs’ teardown of the Galaxy A23 smartphone, they discovered Halo Microelectronics’ WQN10 (HL7132) switched capacitor direct charger on the main board. It also showed the Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G 8-core processor is used on the smartphone. According to Samsung’s website, the Galaxy A23 comes in a 6.6-inch PLS TFT LCD, a 50MP rear camera resolution, and weighs 195g. Its battery is 5000mAh (typical) and can last up to 27-28 hours depending on internet usage LTE or Wi-Fi. The Galaxy A23 uses the USB Type-C interface for connectivity. “Halo Micro’s leadership in ultra-fast charging technology is now permeating from high-end phones to middle-end phones. We are proud to be selected in Samsung’s high-performance economical Galaxy A23 smartphones,” said David Nam, CEO of Halo Microelectronics. ■ Halo Microelectronics | https://halomicro.com 54

New highly-efficient IPOL DC-DC buck regulator power modules with an integrated inductor enable space-efficient and simpler designs Contemporary server, communication, and network storage applications struggle to minimize power losses and solution size. Meanwhile, the rapidly changing market also requires system solution providers to address market needs faster than usual. Therefore, Infineon Technologies AG now introduces the highly efficient and reliable step-down DC-DC converter modules. Adding to the point of load (POL) family, these modules are ideal for system designers looking for compact, fully integrated, and easy-to-design POL products to help them expedite time-to-market. They primarily address space and thermally constrained applications, telecom and datacom applications, servers, and network storage. TDM3883 and 3885 IPOL are fully integrated single-output buck converters, offering a high-efficiency continuous 3A/4A load capability and line regulation over a wide input supply range (4.5 – 14 V). The integrated inductor and capacitors reduce external components and allow easier designs with much higher power density. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Advanced Energy Adds 300 W Power Supply to SLB Series, Expanding its Low Power Open Frame Products

The integration offers improved performance compared to discrete solutions due to the low parasitic parameters by minimizing the PCB wiring trace needed. At the same time, thanks to their tiny package size, the modules can fit into the restricted PCB space offering up to 80 percent area saving on the customer solution. In both optimized modules, Infineon excessively tests the integrated inductor and capacitors in reliability and final test (FT), eliminating the effort of passive components selection and test. Both modules feature a low supply current (10 μA) at shutdown resulting in longer battery life for portable applications. Also, due to their tight reference voltage V REF tolerance (0.5 V±1.0 percent) and low ripple, they provide accurate power delivery and contribute to system stability and reliability. To further support this, they employ an Enhanced Stability COT (constant on time) engine with ceramic capacitors without external compensation as well as a forced continuous conduction mode (FCCM) option. In addition, the modules come with thermally-compensated internal over-current protection (OCP), enhanced light load efficiency with reduced switching frequency and diode emulation mode (DEM). With ultra-light loads, they can enter a low quiescent current mode making it ideal for standby power supplies. Other features include internal soft-start, enable input, pre-bias start-up, thermal shut down, a power-good output, over-voltage protection (OVP), and UVLO. Availability TDM3883 and TDM3885 integrated POL 3A/4A single output high-efficiency buck regulator modules with integrated inductor are available in a 2.7×3.1×2.3 mm3 PG-LGA-15-1 package and a 3.1×3.8×2.3 mm3 PG-LGA-15-2, respectively. More information is available at https://www.infineon.com/ipol More information about Infineon’s contribution to energy efficiency: https://www.infineon.com/green-energy ■ Infineon Technologies | https://www.infineon.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. – a global leader in highly engineered, precision power conversion, measurement and control solutions – today expanded its SL Power SLB series with a new 300 W power supply. Designed for ease of integration into critical medical and industrial equipment, the SLB300 offers stable power through power fluctuations and features long operational life by integrating high-quality electrolytic capacitors. The SLB300 is a single-output power supply offering a 300 W (200 W convection cooled) output power in a compact 3" × 5" × 1.4" package that fits 1U rack mount applications. It features an 80264 VAC universal input and a wide -10°C to +70°C operating temperature range. Output voltage is available from 12 – 48 V. Dual certified for the latest medical and industrial standards, the SLB300 is certified to EN/CSA/IEC/UL62368-1 and EN/CSA/IEC/ UL60601-1-1 3rd Edition, as well as IECIEC60601-1 Type BF. The model comes with a three-year warranty. “The SLB300 is a versatile power supply that can be used to provide reliable, long-term operation in a wide variety of critical end systems,” said Paul Kingsepp, Medical Product Line Manager at Advanced Energy. “We continue to expand our range of high performance, cost-effective power supplies including the SLB series. Our customers benefit from its dual certification, which eases adoption into their medical and industrial applications.” The SLB product family is designed for easy integration into medical applications such as laboratory, dental and operating equipment and patient monitoring devices; industrial applications such as test and measurement, communications, automotive testing, process control, machine building and factory automation; as well as outdoor applications such as architectural lighting and digital signage. Other models in the SLB series of dual certified power supplies include the SLB65 65 W convection-cooled module and the SLB125 125 W fan-cooled module. Both models are suitable for 1U rack-mounted applications. For detailed product information and technical specifications, visit our website. ■ Advanced Energy | https://www.advancedenergy.com 55

Out of the cloud trap and into a new business model “America First” was a favorite political slogan of the last US President. And it certainly rings true with cloud platforms: US providers are leading the way in this field. However, European alternatives are now available for many data processing tasks. They provide data sovereignty and the opportunity for a new business model. Author: Bernd Hantsche Vice President Product Marketing Embedded & Wireless Rutronik Windows and Office have been the software of choice on most computers around the world for decades. Despite this, another division at Microsoft has been growing rapidly in recent years and will soon be responsible for half of the technology company’s operating profit: the Azure cloud platform. But you would be wrong to think that Microsoft plays the same leading role in the cloud business as it does in operating systems and office software. A company founded as an online book retailer back in 1994 has likewise expanded its business to offer Amazon Web Services (AWS), an even larger cloud platform. According to Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data, AWS is responsible for about one third of cloud services, while 56

Microsoft’s Azure accounts for around one fifth. Search specialist Google follows in third place with GCP and holds a market share of just over 9%. Another player in the market for B2B cloud solutions is IBM, with a share of the market of roughly 6%. But cloud offerings are not just a US phenomenon: Chinese company Alibaba has also set up a platform. However, due to fears about the Chinese government’s access to data, the company is having trouble gaining the trust of users in the West and its market share is still small. After all, data is the new gold, and people are somewhat reluctant to transfer their gold to someone under the control of a government where conflicts of interest in terms of data protection, economic growth, knowledge advantage, and leadership are inevitable.

Two approaches for more data sovereignty All that said, US providers also need to retain or regain sovereignty with regard to data and information. That, however, is not 100% feasible since Azure, AWS, GCP, and the IBM Cloud offer unique services for which there are few alternatives. Nevertheless, for the majority of data processing tasks, such as data archiving, the use of VM (virtual machines), SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), or the use of containers (e.g. Docker), companies will, in the near future, be able to switch to solutions that technically speaking offer the same level of security, and even a higher one when it comes to data protection and political influence: Gaia-X and the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP).

The Dfinity Foundation is focused on defining and introducing the Internet Computer Protocol. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

DESIGN SOLUTIONS » European alternatives for many data processing tasks

An example of an innovation based on the Gaia-X infrastructure is Catena-X, which was specifically created for the automotive industry and its supply chains. It is intended to enable the fully automated and secure exchange of traffic-related data à la car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure, as well as production-related data throughout the entire supply chain from semiconductor supplier to vehicle supplier.

In Insights – Digital Assets: Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder, Goldman Sachs stated: “Recently, a still more ambitious blockchain-based platform, the Dfinity Internet Computer, proposes replacing the current Internet with a new paradigm in which all data and applications are hosted in a cohesive manner. Decentralized applications are already being launched with the goal of replacing centralized technology platforms such as Facebook, Google and LinkedIn.” Just two months after the launch, more than 500 developers have created applications, such as DSCVR, a decentralized social content aggregation platform similar to Reddit, but where users control not only the content but also the actual platform. Fleek is a decentralized web hosting system with numerous websites deployed, while OpenChat provides realtime decentralized, blockchain-based messaging.

Internet Computer Protocol banks on distributed processing power The Internet Computer, or Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), is being promoted by the Swiss-based Dfinity Foundation. ICP is a distribution of data processing tasks based on blockchain technology. This means: the data is not entrusted to a cloud company but distributed in small units within a partner network depending on the available computing capacity. When processing these smart contracts, the relevant server operator receives corresponding ICP tokens. ICP tokens are the digital currency of this data processing network; they are traded on a crypto exchange like Bitcoin. The data processing of smart contracts is, therefore, decentralized and also completely encrypted and anonymous. If you want to earn ICP tokens and then exchange them for euros or dollars on a crypto exchange, you need servers that are as powerful as possible to process the smart contracts.

Cloud 3.0 business model Despite all their differences, the two projects also have a lot of similarities: they want to offer the highest levels of security, data sovereignty, and speed. Their ecosystems are still emerging, but their purpose makes them promising in the fight against the centralized data sovereignty of just a handful of US companies. They also offer companies that still have a bit of space left in their data centers a lucrative business model opportunity.

While the Internet Computer Project with its highly innovative – possibly disruptive – protocol as well as the corresponding

The intention is to use Gaia-X to interconnect various elements via open interfaces and standards in order to link data and create an innovation platform. For instance, it uses the rulebook of the IDSA (International Data Spaces Association), meaning customers do not have to set up all the security concepts from scratch for each new project.

programming language for customer applications has been around for many years, the ICP token only went public in May 2021.

Int

Gaia-X connects elements via open interfaces and standards As goddess of the earth, Gaia is one of the first deities in Greek mythology. She is also the namesake of the project for a high-performance, competitive, secure, and trustworthy data infrastructure for Europe. The European project is still in its infancy: it was presented to the general public at the Digital Summit 2019 in Dortmund. The Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud was first founded in February 2021 and has its official headquarters in Brussels.

In addition to Catena-X, various other consortia from a range of industries are likely to form soon, building on the Gaia-X infrastructure and specifying similar blockchain solutions for their value chains. The key drivers in this respect are not only the new supply chain law and a detailed carbon footprint throughout the entire value chain, but also improved traceability of legal and technical production data of the individual product finishing steps.

They are based on very different technical concepts: Gaia-X focuses on the creation of policies, standards, federated identity, and access management, meaning users do not have to rely on specific software or hardware. In contrast, ICP is a closed network that is not (!) based on previous protocols such as TCP/IP. It is rather a fully independent software approach that even has its own programming language. Despite this, both initiatives have the same goal: to provide an independent framework of solutions and services based on international standards and European values, which is available to all providers. Further, both approaches require immense processing power.

Figure 1 According to an Intel and Bain analysis, up to 80% of workloads will run on a cloud architecture by 2024. Intel Data Center Blocks for the cloud help accelerate and simplify the transition to the cloud.

The Catena-X Automotive Alliance was founded in May 2021. According to Oliver Ganser, Chairman of the Board and Head of Consortia Catena-X Automotive Network, the plan is to develop data concepts and to ensure they become binding for the industry within just three years. https://international.electronica-azi.ro

CLOUD PLATFORMS

Especially as storage space, computing capacity, and servers are in great demand for both cloud models. When selecting and procuring energyefficient servers or server components, it is definitely worth taking a closer look at the portfolio of a distributor. It provides a chance to compare several product providers in the same setting – and not simply on the basis of data sheets, but also with regard to soft yet essential characteristics such as long-term availability, complaint rate, goodwill behavior, and roadmap.

Customers can select from a number of preconfigured servers or customize a system for their unique needs.

High-performance servers and components Rutronik offers ready-built servers from Advantech, Asus, Calmo, Kontron, and Intel, as well as individual components for building custom mainframes to play a high-performance role in the networks of GAIA-X or Internet Computer Protocol.

To guarantee a powerful power supply for server parks and data centers, Rutronik offers, for example, the online UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) solution FSP EPOS (Figure 2). It includes various models between 10 kVA and 200 kVA with true double conversion technology. Reliable output power is ensured by DSP technology and active power factor correction in all phases of the 50 Hz / 60 Hz frequency converter mode. The N+X battery redundancy function reduces power failure and optimizes the charging and usage behavior of battery networks. The easy-to-configure products of the EPOS series range offer users plenty of flexibility when it comes to meeting the ever-increasing power demands of IT and network environments.

For example, when generating a 3D simulation of a car accident and its impact on the individual assemblies, you need an extremely graphics-intensive server. Rutronik offers special barebone servers and very powerful graphics cards for such applications. The portfolio also includes housings, fans, CPUs, mainboards, memories, and data storage units, as well as AI and graphics accelerators. Intel Data Center Blocks (DCB) for the cloud (Figure 1) are pre-certified and fully validated to help accelerate and simplify the transition to the cloud.

The Intel VRN2208WFAF84R server system, for example, has been designed for VMware Virtual SAN (Storage Area Network) and is based on scalable Intel Xeon processors and the Intel R2208WF0ZSR server system mainboard. It is available as standard with 1 TB of raw memory (384 GB DDR4 RAM, 1 TB DCPMM) and 24 TB of raw storage (0.48 TB boot device, 1.5 TB cache tier, 24 TB capacity tier).

FSP also offers power supplies, redundant power supplies, and UPS to ensure that smaller power consumers can also be supplied effectively and efficiently.

Figure 2

The online UPS solution FSP EPOS protects server farms and data centers against all conceivable disturbances, such as noise, lightning, and leakage current.

In contrast to traditional IT distributors, Rutronik also has many years of experience in the embedded segment, i.e. in sophisticated and robust industrial computers, and in-depth knowledge of the electronic component market. Thanks to close partnerships with suppliers of semiconductors, plug connectors, or LEDs, for example, Rutronik’s experts know how long the voltage converter chip on a mainboard will be around, how many mating cycles the M.2 interface will survive, or why there is often a tenfold difference in prices for SSDs offering exactly the same capacities, and how the controller chips of the SSD ensure the perfect balance between data security, longevity, and speed. As such, companies receive a reliable and future-proof solution. The next crash is a matter of when, not if The shares of the largest cloud providers Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Alphabet (Google) have recovered faster after the most recent stock market crash than most financial experts had predicted. Cloud growth is likely to have played its part in this development – and it has increased more than ever before due to the COVID19 pandemic. Which crash is on the cards? Economic war, including a trade embargo? Damaged submarine cables to overseas destinations? Crashed satellites? In any case, Europe and European companies would be well advised to (also) focus on alternatives in order to reduce their dependence on US corporations. Major US firms that dominate the top sales rankings include not only cloud-based services, but also semiconductor suppliers and distributors – and the European industry is heavily dependent on them. To regain more sovereignty, some European countries are investing in the development of advanced microprocessors and semiconductors and have launched initiatives such as the “Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (ECSEL) Joint Technology Initiative (JTI).” Rutronik welcomes this move and, as an internationally active broadliner with European roots, is committed to strengthening local companies while promoting global exchange in an open and cooperative manner.

■ Rutronik www.rutronik.com

Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Pre-assembled, tested, ready to connect

Analog Devices Launches Industry’s First High-Resolution Module for 3D Depth Sensing and Vision Systems Analog Devices, Inc. announced the industry’s first high-resolution, industrial quality, indirect Time-of-Flight (iToF) module for 3D depth sensing and vision systems. Enabling cameras and sensors to perceive 3D space in one megapixel resolution, the new ADTF3175 module offers highly accurate ±3mm iToF technology available for machine vision applications ranging from industrial automation to logistics, healthcare and augmented reality. The ADTF3175 offers designers a scalable, fully engineered, and calibrated depth system that can be integrated into 3D sensing and vision systems, eliminating the need to design specialized optics or address electromechanical integration challenges. This in turn speeds time to market by simplifying the complex sensor design process. The robust, high-resolution module is specifically designed to perform in a range of environmental settings and leverages state-of-the-art triple junction verticalcavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology from Lumentum Operations LLC, a leading provider of VCSEL arrays for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and 3D sensing applications, to enable sensing in a wide range of lighting conditions. The ADTF3175 features an infrared illumination source with optics, laser diode and driver, and a receiver path with a lens and an optical band-pass filter. The module also includes flash memory for calibration and firmware storage plus power regulators to generate local supply voltages. It comes pre-programmed with several operating modes that are optimized for long and short range. The ADTF3175 module will be accompanied with an opensource reference design for implementing the full system, all of the required drivers and access to ADI’s sophisticated depth processing capabilities. ADI also offers guidance on how to achieve Class One eye safety certification for the end product.

Less effort, fewer errors: With ready-to-connect cables from binder, single-core wiring is no longer necessary. They provide the essential basis for cost-effective plug&work concepts in M12 field installation. binder, a leading supplier of industrial circular connectors, offers pre-assembled, overmolded and already tested cables in the standardized M12 segment. Customers in industrial automation can use these to shorten installation time and avoid errors. Mandatory national and international standards ensure that products can be replaced quickly and easily.

User benefits thanks to standardization M12 circular connectors are basic components of automation technology. Today, they are indispensable for the connection of sensors, actuators and other components in the field – both for signal and data transmission as well as for the power supply of devices. M12 connectors are suitable for various industrial networks such as CAN, Profibus or Profinet, depending on their respective coding. Thanks to standardization, M12 connectivity solutions are compatible across manufacturers: DIN EN 61076-2 regulates geometric requirements, electrical characteristics, as well as application-related specifications for the products and prescribes testing requirements. For example, DIN EN 61076-2-101 regulates M12 connectors with codings A to D for signal transmission, fieldbus use, and Industrial Ethernet, respectively. DIN EN 61076-2-109 defines mandatory characteristics of industrial Xcoded data connectors up to 10 Gbit/s, DIN EN IEC 61076-2-111 concerns S-, T-, K- and L-coded M12 power connectors. Standardization eases the exchange of M12 components, makes users independent of individual suppliers, and – currently a red-hot aspect – helps prevent supply bottlenecks.

Download data sheet and order samples: https://www.analog.com/en/products/adtf3175

Ready-to-connect cables The binder portfolio of ready-to-connect cables in the M12 segment includes a large number of connector types with different codings. Designed with 3 to 12 pins, straight and angled products – molded on one or both sides – are available in various cable qualities. In addition to the M12 size, binder offers further ready-to-connect products, for example for the smaller and also standardized M8 form factor.

■ Analog Devices | https://www.analog.com

■ binder | https://www.binder-connector.com/en

https://international.electronica-azi.ro

PRODUCT NEWS

Infineon launches industry’s first battery-powered AI/ML-based acoustic event detection and sensor fusion alarm system

Infineon Technologies AG is introducing its battery-powered Smart Alarm System (SAS). The technology platform achieves high accuracy and very low-power operation using sensor fusion based on artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). This technology combined with low-power wake-on acoustic event detection provides remarkable performance. The compact design exceeds the detection accuracy of acoustic-only alarm systems used today in smart buildings and homes, and other IoT applications while achieving equal or greater battery life compared to less sophisticated solutions. The solution incorporates Infineon’s high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analog XENSIV™ MEMS microphone IM73A135V01, XENSIV digital pressure sensor DPS310 and PSoC™ 62 microcontroller. Infineon also provides a sensor fusion software algorithm based on precisely trained AI/ML that combines acoustic and pressure sensor data to accurately differentiate between sharp sounds inside a home and distinctive audio/pressure events. These events can be created when glass is broken, or a house alarm is triggered due to a smoke alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm or an intrusion is detected through a door or window. The AI/ML sensor fusion algorithm is also capable of eliminating many other background sounds or background pressure events that can generate false positives due to the similarities to alarm systems. The new home security alarm SAS reference design technology is available today, with the board available in September 2022. More information is available at: https://www.infineon.com/smartalarm ■ Infineon Technologies | https://www.infineon.com 60

Renesas and Cyberon Partner to Deliver Integrated Voice User Interface Solutions for Renesas RA MCUs Supporting Over 40 Global Languages Customers to Quickly Add Voice Recognition Technology for Endpoint Applications Within Home Appliances, Building Automation, Industrial Automation and Many More Renesas Electronics Corporation , a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and Cyberon Corporation, a leading embedded speech solution provider, today announced that they have partnered to deliver voice user interface (VUI) solutions for customers using Renesas’ entire RA MCU line. Renesas RA customers will now have complimentary access to Cyberon’s industry-leading continuous command-based VUI toolchain, enabling them to add voice-recognition to a variety of endpoint applications in home appliances, building automation, industrial automation, wearables, and many more. Voice recognition is growing rapidly worldwide, driven by the explosion of IoT applications and the COVID-19 pandemic. Cyberon’s proven voice-recognition technology has been adopted in millions of devices worldwide. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

u-blox announces best-in-class, low-power multi-GNSS module with built-in antenna u-blox, a leading global provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies and services, has announced the u-blox SAM-M10Q antenna module, offering a best-inclass low-power positioning solution. Featuring an integrated antenna, the module offers product developers the easiest pathway to integrate u-blox M10 GNSS technology into their devices. Typical applications include industrial tracking and telematics, automation and monitoring, and small UAVs.

Renesas is making a Voice Reference Hardware Platform available to enable rapid prototyping and development of voice interfaces. The new hardware platform enables local voice recognition without a network connection using Cyberon’s DSpotter solution. DSpotter’s phoneme-based modelling approach allows quick command customization with only text input, eliminating the need for massive voice data collection and thereby reducing development costs and time. DSpotter supports over 40 global languages, empowering customers to adopt voice technology on embedded applications worldwide. This Voice User Interface (VUI) solution demonstrates how easy it is to control a system with a simple voice command interface without extensive coding experience or in-house expertise. Key Features of the Renesas Voice User Interface Reference Solution • Complimentary access to the DSpotter Toolchain • Voice Activity Detection (VAD) to reduce power consumption by more than 30%, allowing power-constrained IoT end-point applications to run in always-on mode • Voice Audio Playback (VAP) to enable voice input and voice responses • Support for up to two digital microphones and two analog microphones • External QSPI flash provides the ability to store voice samples and library data • Multiple communications interfaces including a Pmod interface (type-2A/3A/6A), USB type-C and micro-B, and on-board J-Link Segger debugger/programmer Availability A recent blog on Renesas.com offers an excellent overview of voice user interface design. More information on Renesas’s VUI solutions, including a link for qualified customers to request the new kit and the VUI solution package, is available at: https://www.renesas.com/voice-recognition ■ Renesas Electronics Corporation https://www.renesas.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Robust performance with low power consumption At the heart of the SAM-M10Q is the ultra-low-power u-blox M10 GNSS positioning engine, offering maximum position availability with concurrent reception of all four GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou). As a result, users benefit from higher positioning accuracy and a faster position fix, even in weak signal environments such as urban canyons. The module’s integrated wide-band antenna along with its SAW filter and low-noise amplifier (LNA) architecture deliver proven superior out-of-band jamming immunity, providing robust performance when located near a cellular modem – a common issue in asset tracking and telematics devices. Easiest design-in and integration As a ready-to-use GNSS solution requiring no external components or radio frequency (RF) expertise, the SAM-M10Q enables easy design-in and quick time to market, helping customers who need a ready-to-use GNSS solution and depend on external RF expertise and resources to develop a robust antenna solution. Pin-to-pin compatibility with the ublox’s previous antenna module, the SAM-M8Q, makes it easy for existing customers to upgrade their products to benefit from the advanced u-blox M10 GNSS technology. Designed as a surface-mount device, SAM-M10Q allows for efficient product assembly by enabling automated manufacturing processes. The antenna module’s compact size (15.5 × 15.5 × 6.3 mm) and simple interface, ensure easy integration into small end devices. Engineering samples of the SAM-M10Q antenna module will be available in August 2022. ■ u blox | https://www.u-blox.com/en 61

Nexperia releases the smallest DFN MOSFETs in the world Nexperia, the expert in essential semiconductors, announced the release of a new range of 20 V & 30 V MOSFETs in the world’s smallest DFN package, the DFN0603. Nexperia already offers ESD protection devices in this package, but has now succeeded in bringing it to their MOSFET portfolio, a feat as yet unmatched in the industry. Next generation wearable and hearable devices are incorporating new levels of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), creating several challenges for product designers. Firstly, available board space is at a premium as functionality is added, plus heat dissipation becomes a problem as power consumption increases. Nexperia has drawn on its decades of experience as an industry leader in the production of discrete components and designed this innovative range of tiny MOSFETs to successfully overcome both concerns. The ultra-low-profile DFN0603 package, measuring only 0.63 × 0.33 × 0.25 mm, uses 13% less space than MOSFETs in the next smallest package (DFN0604). Impressively, this size reduction has been achieved without compromising device performance – in fact the RDS(on) of these devices has been reduced by 74%, helping to improve efficiency and thereby enabling wearable equipment designers to achieve even greater power density. This new range of tiny MOSFETs includes: • PMX100UN 20 V, N-channel Trench MOSFET • PMX100UNE 20 V, N-channel Trench MOSFET with 2kV ESD protection (HBM) • PMX300UNE 30 V, N-channel Trench MOSFET • PMX400UP 20 V, P-channel Trench MOSFET Nexperia has plans to add two more MOSFETs to this range later in 2022. Samples are available now. For more information, including product specs and datasheets, please visit: https://www.nexperia.com/DFN0603-MOSFETs ■ Nexperia | https://www.nexperia.com 62

An advance into the world of mixed-critical real-time servers congatec a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology – extends its Intel Xeon D-2700 processor based Server-on-Module portfolio by launching five new modules in the compact (160×160mm) COM-HPC Server Size D performance class. The launch underlines the massive industry demand for edge server performance in a small form factor that is rugged and outdoor capable. It also takes the Intel Xeon D-2700 processors, with up to 20 cores even deeper into the realm of real-time demanding mixed-critical applications. Compared to the already available larger (200×160mm) COM-HPC Server Size E modules, the number of supported DRAM modules is halved from 8 to 4 bars. Nevertheless, impressive 512 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2,933 MT/s are provided. The benefit of limiting the RAM is that the modules take up less space, which reduces the required footprint by 20% compared to Size E. Target applications of the new Intel Xeon D-2700 processor based COM-HPC modules are deeply embedded, space-constrained edge server deployments with high data throughput but less memory-intensive workloads. They are typically found in IIoT-networked real-time environments of smart factories and critical infrastructures. Independent of the various Server-on-Module specifications, all congatec COM-HPC Server modules with Intel Xeon processors (formerly Ice Lake D) in Size E and Size D as well as the COM Express Type 7 form factor accelerate the next generation of real-time microserver workloads in rugged environments and extended temperature ranges. Improvements include up to 20 cores, up to 1 TB RAM, double throughput per PCIe lane to Gen 4 speeds, as well as up to 100 GbE connectivity and TCC/TSN support. Target applications range from industrial workload consolidation servers for automation, robotics and medical backend imaging to outdoor servers for utilities and critical infrastructures – such as smart grids for oil, gas and electricity as well as rail and communication networks – and also include vision enabled applications such as autonomous vehicles and video infrastructures for safety and security. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Electrically small dual-band antenna with great performance

congatec launches five new COM-HPC Server Size D modules with Intel Xeon D2700 processors following the “less is more” approach Besides the huge bandwidth and performance improvements, congatec’s Server-on-Module families significantly extend the lifecycle of next-gen rugged edge server designs compared to common servers as long-term availability of up to ten years is part of the roadmap. The module families further convince with a comprehensive server-grade feature set: For mission critical designs, they offer powerful hardware security features including Intel Boot Guard, Intel Total Memory Encryption – Multi-Tenant (Intel TMEMT) and Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX). AI applications benefit from built-in hardware acceleration including AVX-512 and VNNI. For best RAS capabilities, the processor modules integrate the Intel Resource Director Technology (Intel RDT) and support remote hardware management features. The feature set in detail The five new conga-HPC/sILH Server-on-Modules with Intel Xeon D-2700 series processors extend congatec’s existing COM-HPC Server Size D product family with Intel Xeon D-1700 processors. Both processor series are based on the generation formerly codenamed Ice Lake. The present launch doubles the available number of cores of this compact, 160x160mm high-performance Server-on-Module from up to 10 to up to 20. Memory support is extended from up to three to up to four DDR4 RAM channels with up to 512 GB at 2,933 MT/s. For the connection of a broad range of dedicated controllers, computing accelerator cards and NVMe storage media in rugged edge server installations, they feature 32x PCIe Gen 4 lanes besides 16x PCIe Gen 3 lanes. For real-time networking there is 1x 2.5 GbE with TSN and TCC support on top of an extended Ethernet bandwidth of 100Gb in various configurations including 1x 100 GbE, 2x 50 GbE, 4x 25 GbE as well as several other configurations via KR or SFI interfaces. Further interfaces include 4x USB 3.1, and 4x USB 2.0. For non-volatile storage, the modules optionally support an integrated eMMC 5.1 with up to 128 GB capacity as well as 2x SATA III interfaces. The new application-ready COM-HPC Server-on-Modules come with comprehensive board support packages for Windows, Linux and VxWorks. For workload consolidation, real-time virtual machine support is available thanks to congatec’s comprehensive support of RTS Hypervisor implementations from Real-Time Systems. congatec also offers perfectly matched cooling solutions, ranging from powerful active cooling with heat pipe adapter to fully passive cooling solutions for best mechanical resilience against vibration and shocks. ■ congatec | https://www.congatec.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

Würth Elektronik is now launching an additional multilayer chip antenna for the miniaturization of radio applications. Measuring just 40 × 6 × 5 mm, the WE-MCA antenna (7488918022) covers the 700 to 960 MHz and 1710 to 2690 MHz frequency ranges. With its hitherto unachieved form factor and slender profile, the antenna offers an excellent size-to-performance ratio. Extremely compact antenna (for 700 to 960 MHz and 1710 to 2690 MHz): WE-MCA

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WE-MCA is ideally suited for applications such as GSM 900, WLAN/WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS/GNSS, ZigBee, and mobile communication (4G/LTE). Together with a broad variety of radio modules and EMC products for highfrequency applications, Würth Elektronik offers a complete portfolio of products for the development of radio applications, including among others compact IoT and smart-building applications. With an operating temperature range from -40°C to +85°C, these chip antennas are also perfectly suited for robust applications. For the perfect PCB layout The layout of miniaturized radio applications and the selection of suitable inductors and capacitors to eliminate interferences is an art in itself. This is why Würth Elektronik also offers an Antenna Matching and Characterization Support for its WE-MCA range of multilayer chip antennas. The WE-MCA chip antennas are supplied packaged in reels for SMT assembly, with no restrictions regarding the number of items. Free-ofcharge samples are available on request. ■ Würth Elektronik eiSos https://www.we-online.com 63

New at Mouser: ams OSRAM AS7050 Medical and Health Sensors for Smart Devices and Wearables Mouser Electronics, Inc., the industry’s leading New Product Introduction (NPI) distributor with the widest selection of semiconductors and electronic components™, is now shipping the AS7050 medical and health sensor from ams OSRAM. The AS7050 provides design engineers with next generation biosignal conversion for a variety of applications, including smart devices; heart rate, electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) monitoring; optical sensor platforms; wearables and more. The ams OSRAM AS7050, available from Mouser Electronics, is a biosignal sensor analog front end that offers up to eight LED driver outputs, samples up to six photodiode inputs, and includes support for external electrodes, enabling the highest flexibility for multiple LED and photodiode arrangements in different applications. The analog front end provides two analog-to-digital converter (ADC) channels for simultaneous PPG and ECG measurements and an automatic photodiode offset control. The AS7050 sensor operates from a supply voltage range of 1.7V to 1.98V and features a 1 MHz fast-mode plus, 400 kHz fast mode, and 100 kHz standard mode through an I²C bus for maximum efficiency. Mouser also stocks the ams OSRAM Evaluation Kit for the AS7050, which includes a main board and breakout board for full flexibility. The breakout board incorporates a biosensor, temperature sensor, accelerometer, and electrodes that can be reconnected to the main board via flexible printed circuit (FPC) cable or external electrodes. The breakout board can also be connected to a wristband via a Molex PicoBlade connector. To learn more about the ams OSRAM AS7050 sensor, visit https://www.mouser.com/new/ams-osram/ams-osram-as7050medical-sensor ■ Mouser Electronics | https://www.mouser.com 64

New eBook from Microchip and Mouser Highlights Flexibility and Function of Embedded Solutions Mouser Electronics, Inc., the New Product Introduction (NPI) leader™ empowering innovation, announces a new eBook in collaboration with Microchip Technology, exploring the use of embedded microcontrollers in device design. In Effortless Embedded Solutions, industry thought leaders offer unique perspectives on how Microchip microcontrollers can simplify device design for medical, safety, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The constantly changing nature of modern electronics design requires creative approaches and modular components. From professionally tested software libraries and reference designs to flexible peripherals, Microchip’s portfolio of microcontrollers makes it possible for designers to work quickly and adapt their tools to specific applications and use cases. Electronica Azi International | 2/2022

PRODUCT NEWS

Mouser Electronics and Smart Camera Experts Labforge Announce Global Distribution Agreement Mouser Electronics, Inc., the New Product Introduction (NPI) leader™ empowering innovation, announces a global distribution agreement with Labforge Inc., a designer and developer of smart cameras. According to the agreement, Mouser will offer customers Labforge’s Bottlenose™ family of highresolution smart cameras for robotics, industrial automation, Internet of Things (IoT), and security applications.

The new eBook from Mouser and Microchip features a combination of informative videos and articles to explain the vital roles Microchip products play in applications ranging from testing medical solutions to deploying IoT devices. Effortless Embedded Solutions provides direct links to key Microchip products needed to address modern design challenges. Featured solutions include the 32-bit SAM microcontroller family which offer an extensive range of advanced peripherals, providing a high-performance combination of power efficiency and design flexibility. Microchip PIC16F15 mid-range microcontrollers are designed specifically for applications requiring efficient performance. The devices’ highly integrated architecture and peripherals support low power consumption and reduced operating costs, making them an ideal choice for a variety of general-purpose applications. Microchip Technology solutions available from Mouser include microcontrollers, sensors, timing devices, and embedded solutions. To learn more, visit: https://eu.mouser.com/manufacturer/microchip To read the new eBook, go to: https://eu.mouser.com/ebooks/Effortless-Embedded-Solutions As a global authorised distributor, Mouser offers the world’s widest selection of the newest semiconductors and electronic components - in stock and ready to ship™. Mouser's customers can expect 100% certified, genuine products that are fully traceable from each of its manufacturer partners. To help speed customers’ designs, Mouser’s website hosts an extensive library of technical resources, including a Technical Resource Centre, along with product data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, engineering tools and other helpful information. ■ Mouser Electronics | https://www.mouser.com https://international.electronica-azi.ro

“Our new partnership with Mouser Electronics will make it possible for more integrators, designers, and engineers throughout the world to integrate our high-performance cameras into their new designs and applications,” said Kendra Serbinski, Business Development Manager at Labforge. “Mouser’s leading distribution expertise and best-in-class service enables innovation across industries and geographies, and we are pleased to be a part of their efforts.” “Object detection, classification, and 3D mapping have become essential requirements for industries ranging from agricultural technology to security and defense,” said Andy Kerr, Vice President of Supplier Management at Mouser Electronics. “We’re delighted with this new global distribution agreement with Labforge and look forward to our future success together.” Bottlenose cameras, available in monocular and stereo versions, offer a comprehensive, high-performance solution for robotics, industrial automation, and security applications. Stereo versions include dual image sensors, and both monocular and stereo versions have hardware-synchronized, triple-axis gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers. Engineers can connect the cameras over standard Ethernet using GigE Vision 2.1 or a serial port. The cameras have a 20.5 TOPS processor for HDR, feature point detection and matching, dense disparity, and artificial intelligence. Customers will be able to use this capability for on-camera object detection, segmentation, classification, depth computation, and feature tracking. The cameras have no minimum compute requirements on the client side, allowing engineers to use a simple microcontroller to read results via the serial port. For advanced applications, results can also be seamlessly read via popular frameworks like MVTec HALCON and ROS via the GigE Vision 2.1 API. https://www.mouser.com/manufacturer/labforge ■ Mouser Electronics | https://www.mouser.com 65

PRODUCT NEWS

How to reduce RF interference currents most effectively

Image source: Würth Elektronik

Application Note No. 98: Real measure-ments and practical simulations illus-trate PCB-layout techniques for multi-stage filter and blocking capacitors for the supply pins of digital ICs.

With its Application Notes, Würth Elektronik deals in detail with challenging issues regarding the design of circuits, providing valuable tips for practical applications. This new Application Note, ANP098 “Effect of layout, vias and design on the blocking quality of filter capacitors” (https://www.we-online.com/ANP098), is aimed at blocking capacitors, which filter out higher frequencies from the signal path by deriving RF signals superimposing a DC current against ground. Using real measurements and practically realistic simulations, PCB-layout techniques for filter and blocking capacitors are also described that are ideally suited for the supply pins of digital ICs. This Application Note was written by Field Application Engineer Andreas Nadler, whose job at Würth Elektronik eiSos is located in the Business Unit for passive and active components and who is responsible for the EMC-conform design of power-supply systems and the suppression screening of electronic modules. In his AppNote, Nadler describes the effects of layout, vias, and design on the blocking quality of filter capacitors, a topic that is otherwise dealt with in handbooks only at the theoretical level. The fundamental task of blocking capacitors on supply pins is basically to short-circuit the clocked current loop of the digital circuits locally using a low impedance. This reduces the radiated magnetic field strength and the RF interference currents coupled into the supply voltage level as much as possible. If the capacitors are optimally selected with regard to their impedance curve and geometrically optimally placed at the VCC pins, then the clocked RF current can be blocked in the best possible way. Avoiding mistakes The aim of the new AppNote ANP098 is to illustrate the influence that the MLCC design, the number of ground vias, and the placement of the filter components have on each other. In addition, it is clearly shown how unexpected problems can arise as a result of the unfortunate dimensioning of capacitor banks. The Application Note is now available for downloading at https://www.we-online.com/ANP098 ■ Würth Elektronik eiSos https://www.we-online.com 66

Half-Size PICMG1.3 SBC Card for Compact Industrial PC Systems High-performance and compact industrial computer systems can be realized with the new PICMG1.3 half-size slot CPU card from ICP Germany. In contrast to its full-size counterpart PCIEQ470, the HPCIE has a size of only 169x126 mm. The HPCIE-Q470 supports all Core-ITM, Celeron® or Pentium® processors with up to 65 Watt Thermal Design Power. Thus, depending on the processor used, up to 10 CPU cores and 20 threads are available for multitasking applications. The HPCIE is also equipped with two DDR4 RAM sockets and can manage up to 64GB of RAM in dual-channel mode at up to 2933 MHz. The Intel® UHD graphics unit offers a resolution of up to 4096x2160 pixels at 30 Hz on the HDMI 1.4 port. Two Intel® I225V network ports provide network speeds of 2.5Gb. In addition, the HPCIE-Q470 offers two USB3.2 Gen1 (5Gb/s), one USB3.2 Gen2 (10Gb/s) with USB Type C connector, two USB2.0, two RS-232/422/485 serial ports, twelve digital EAs, SMBus, I²C, and an audio header for the Audio Kit expansion module. The PCI Express lanes on the HPCIE-Q470 allow for x16, x8+x8 or x8+x4+x4 operating modes, enabling the use of a variety of different backplanes. In addition, the PCIE-Q470 offers an M.2 2230 Type-A with PCIe Gen3 x2 and USB2.0 signal, as well as an M.2 2280/2242 Type-M PCIe Gen3 with x4 signal slot for NVME SSDs. The HPCIE-Q470 is equipped with Intel® PTT TPM2.0 functionality and supports Windows 11 operating system among others. The HPCIE-Q470 is suitable for operation under temperatures from 0°C to +60°C. On request, ICP can configure the HPCIE-Q470 with a suitable processor, industrial RAM or as a ready-to-use system. Specifications • Half-Size PICMG 1.3 CPU Card for Intel® CoreTM i9/i7/i5/i3, Pentium® or Celeron® • Chipset Intel® Q470E • Max. 64GB DDR4 SDRAM memory • Dual 2.5GbE LAN • USB, COM, SATA 6Gb/s (RAID 0/1)

• Extensions: two M.2 sockets • TPM2.0 • Operating temperature: 0°C ~ +60°C Applications • Industrial PCs • Workstations • Compact PCs • Measuring systems

■ ICP Deutschland GmbH | https://www.icp-deutschland.de Electronica Azi International | 2/2022