Electronica Azi International no. 5 - 2018

5/2018

A PAN EUROPEAN MAGAZINE

www.international.electronica-azi.ro

NEWS VISITORS ARE INVITED TO “WIN WITH DIGI-KEY” AT ELECTRONICA 2018 MUNICH

Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, invites engineer, purchaser, and student attendees of electronica 2018 Munich to stop by booth B5.165 to see how they can “Win with Digi-Key”. Guests can learn more about the access they have to over 8.4 million products from 750+ manufacturers that Digi-Key is an authorized distributor for, with more than 1.5 million parts in stock, by visiting digikey.com.

In addition to having the world’s largest selection of electronic components available for same-day shipment, with typical delivery in 48 hours throughout Europe, Digi-Key has an impressive selection of robust online technical content, resources, and tools. Demos and videos of these tools will be available in the booth for visitors to interact with, as well as information on the newest technologies and products from Digi-Key’s supplier partners.

This year’s booth is not all about information and learning, however.

Attendees are encouraged to stop by and enjoy Digi-Key’s fun and exciting games, activities, and giveaways: • Register to win a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro V8 Convertible − NEW this year – Can’t make it to the show? Register online!

• Grab a free token and try your luck at several different games, including: − 8 slot machines with a chance to win one of 15,000 travel tool kits with level − 4 crane games with the chance to win a stress soccer ball or smiley face, with some prizes having a key that unlocks a bigger prize locker!

• Get a FREE soccer ball to take home for yourself or the kids • InstaLab Kit Raffle − Students are encouraged to post a photo on social media using #makewithdigikey for entry to win one of 10 InstaLab kits • Pose for pictures with “Marilyn Monroe” throughout the show Be sure to stop by and visit with the Digi-Key team to discover how to fuel your next great idea and “Win with Digi-Key!” Digi-Key Electronics | www.digikey.com www.international.electronica-azi.ro

CONTEST

Win a Microchip SAM L11 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit

Win a Microchip SAM L11 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit (DM320205) from Electronica Azi International.

The Microchip SAM L11 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit is ideal for evaluating and prototyping with the ultra-low power SAM L11 ARM® Cortex®-M23 based microcontrollers. The new SAM L11 MCU features Arm TrustZone® for Armv8-M, a programmable environment that provides hardware isolation between certified libraries, IP and application code. Microchip enables robust security by including chip-level tamper resistance, secure boot and secure key storage which, when combined with TrustZone technology, protects customer applications from both remote and physical attacks.

The SAM L11 Xplained Pro Evaluation kit features a microBUS socket and Xplained pro extension headers to expand the development with Mikroelektronika click boards and Xplained pro extension kits. The kit also includes an on-board Embedded Debugger and a Xplained Pro Analog Module(XAM) that can be used with the Data Visualizer tool to monitor and analyze power consumption in real time.

The Pro Evaluation Kit supports all SAM L10/11 MCUs by the Atmel Studio 7 Integrated Development Environment (IDE), IAR Embedded Workbench, Arm Keil® MDK as well as the Atmel START. Microchip’s QTouch® Modular Library, 2D Touch Surface Library and QTouch Configurator are also available to simplify touch development.

For your chance to win a Microchip SAM L11 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit, please visit: http://page.microchip.com/eleazi-inter-saml11.html and enter your details in the online entry form.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 | CONTEST: Win a Microchip SAM L11 Xplained

18 | Drones - An Ongoing Journey

Pro Evaluation Kit 3 | Visitors are Invited to “Win with Digi-Key” at electronica 2018 Munich 6 | Big, Tough and Connected

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20 | Maintenance matters 23 | The modern car KEY FOB is more sophisticated than you think

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10 | Interview with Thomas Rudel, CEO Rutronik “Do not expect the allocation to be over soon”

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23 | Industry’s First Authenticator IC with SHA3-256 10

12 | High-quality WiFi and Bluetooth communications

Cryptographic Engine 24 | Posital: Absolute singleturn − Angular measurement devicesDEVICES

tailored to IoT devices using Espressif Systems

26 | Leuze: Distance sensors ODS 110 / HT 110

distributed by Comet Electronics

30 | SEICA AUTOMATION - Handling systems for the

16 | NB-IoT data transmission using BC95G shields

electronic production

® Management Managing Director - Ionela Ganea Editorial Director - Gabriel Neagu Accounting - Ioana Paraschiv Advertisement - Irina Ganea Web design - Eugen Vărzaru

“Electronica Azi” is a registered trademark at OSIM - Romania, Registered position: 124259

Contributing editors Cornel Pazara PhD. Paul Svasta PhD. Norocel Codreanu PhD. Marian Blejan PhD. Bogdan Grămescu

ISSN: 1582-3490 Printed by

EURO STANDARD PRESS 2000 srl VAT: RO3998003 | Tel.: +40 (0) 31 8059955 | Tel.: +40 (0) 722 707254 office@electronica-azi.ro | www.international.electronica-azi.ro

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Electronica Azi International is published 6 times per year in 2018 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l.

It is a free to qualified electronics engineers and managers involved in engineering decisions.

Copyright 2018 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l.

All rights reserved.

Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

BIG, TOUGH AND CONNECTED How advancements in Ethernet EMC are transforming industrial vehicles The autonomous car has gained a lot of attention and holds promise for the future, but that is not the only vehicle that looks to be automated. Industrial vehicles and trucks also seek to gain the advantages of growing autonomy.

Industrial vehicles, such as those used in construction, agriculture and transport, pose a unique challenge to communication technologies currently under development for the car − chief among them is size. Whether it is length or enormous girth, the communications cable length is much longer than the car. And to make matters worse, that increased cable length means more potential to be exposed to environmental noise, which adversely affects its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance.

By Jason Tollefson, Sr. Marketing Manager

AUTONOMY IN INDUSTRIAL VEHICLES Safety and efficiency are two benefits that arise from autonomy in construction vehicles.

Safety can be improved by integrating camera vision systems that provide 360° realtime vision around a dig site, for example, so that machine-to-man interaction is reduced.

Remote control of industrial vehicles is another safety benefit of automation. One example would be implementing remotecontrol dozing at a construction site. By 6

Examples of industrial vehicles removing the operator from the vehicle, risk of harm to the operator is eliminated.

Another efficiency boost comes from integrating Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) with blade position sensors and inertial sensors that can automate the task of soil grading, speeding the completion of work.

Efficiency is the goal of autonomy in farm equipment too. By combining camera systems with steering control, the amount of damaged crops by tire tracks is reduced. It

also allows for increased vehicle speed due to the precision with which it can position the vehicle, increasing crop yield and reducing the time to perform work.

Finally, semi trucks are integrating automation. Last year, a fully autonomous truck was put to the test by making a beer delivery.

With the integration of cameras, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and other sensors, the truck was able to drive autonomously throughout several western Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

AUTONOMOUS CAR

U.S. states that permit autonomous vehicles.

This technology promises massive savings in energy costs, increased safety and higher vehicle utility.

To implement these advancements of safety and efficiency, communications are required throughout the vehicle over very long cable distances. Let’s examine the technologies that are most commonly used in automation and their compatibility with these huge industrial vehicles.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES To connect the various video, audio, sensor and telematic sub-systems of autonomous vehicles, there are several options currently in consideration; CAN, CAN-FD, LVDS, MOST® and Ethernet are the most prominent. As we have seen, the cable reach of each technology and its associated bandwidth must be considered because of the enormous size of these vehicles.

Electromagnetic Energy

Table 1: Bandwidth and cable length of communication technologies

The source of the emissions might be from nearby electronics or electric motors inducing noise onto the Ethernet conductors. To reduce sensitivity to these emissions, technologies like Quiet-WIRE improve the sensitivity and filtering at the receiver circuit built into the device, while also reducing the emission of noise on the transmitter side.

Table 1 describes the data rate of communication technologies vs. transmission length at their highest bandwidth.

While suitable for localized sensor data, CAN and CAN-FD data rates are too low for video transmissions. 4k compressed video can consume more than 12 Mbps, considerably higher than CAN-FD. As more cameras are added, more bandwidth will be required. A semi-truck trailer in the U.S. can be up to 18 meters long. This would rule out LVDS and 802.3bw (100Base-T1) as technologies that can transmit video without repeaters or switches. That leaves just two communication options for delivering high data rates over long distances: MOST and Ethernet with Quiet-WIRE® technology.

EMC – Electromagnetic Compatibility To be big and tough, you have to be robust in harsh environments. That means when there is electromagnetic energy in the neighborhood, you ignore it. And more importantly, you don’t cause EMC issues and the loss of communications throughput that comes with it. www.international.electronica-azi.ro

Table 2: Signaling methods of communication technologies All of the technologies discussed above are robust, after all, that’s why they were selected for automotive use. Table 2 shows the signaling methods by which the robustness is designed into the cabling of each technology.

Ethernet technology is gaining traction in industrial vehicles over competitive technologies due to its respectable and well understood EMC performance, high bandwidth and, most importantly, standardsbased technology. Let’s examine how Ethernet performance is affected by EMC. The components of EMC, emissions and susceptibility, can cause packet loss.

That is the failure of the data to be properly transmitted or understood by the nodes or link partners.

Bulk Current Injection (BCI) is a commonly used method for gauging noise immunity performance.

Figure 1 shows the performance of QuietWIRE-based receivers using the BCI method. The data confirms that QuietWIRE receivers have error-free transmissions in the presence of 200 mA noise current injection, across the complete frequency range 1 MHz to 400 MHz, exceeding automotive OEM limits. In contrast, receivers not using Quiet-WIRE technology experience significant degradation of signal reception of 9dBm − nearly 10X poorer performance.

Another benefit of Quiet-WIRE technology is the Signal Quality Indicator.

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EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

This numerical value approximates a signalto-noise ratio and is a measure of cable length, cable quality and coupled environmental noise. It can be monitored in real time, and can be used to predict link failure or to ensure that performance standards are being met for highly-reliable, safe operation.

Quiet-WIRE® Switches and PHYs A full Quiet-WIRE network can be implemented using the KSZ8061 PHY and the KSZ8567 switch from Microchip Technology.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram for an industrial vehicle with these components.

The KSZ8061 PHY and KSZ8567 switch have a strapping pin option enabling Quiet-WIRE at the time of manufacture without any software intervention required.

However, if desired, the filtering can be disabled via software. An additional benefit of Quiet-WIRE technology is that it is compatible with standard Ethernet devices. For example, a standard Ethernet device, such as a diagnostic tool, may be used with the Quiet-WIRE switch and still demonstrate improved performance versus standard Ethernet alone.

Figure 1: Performance of Quiet-WIRE-enabled PHY vs. standard PHY

There are twenty-four Ethernet products with Quiet-WIRE technology from Microchip to select from, including AEC-Q100 qualified products supporting extended temperatures up to 105°C. LET’S GET TOUGH It’s now possible to achieve robust, reliable operation in the biggest, toughest applications like those found in construction, agriculture and semi trucks.

With a complete portfolio of Quiet-WIRE products addressing the key design issues

Figure 2: Industrial Vehicle Networking Diagram of cable length, data rate and EMC; integration of autonomous features into vehicles is underway. Quiet-WIRE and its enhanced EMC performance up to 10X over cable lengths of up to 80 meters is sure to be

instrumental in ushering in an era of safer, more productive industrial vehicles.

Microchip Technology www.microchip.com

Additional resources: • For additional information on Quiet-WIRE technology, visit: www.microchip.com/quiet-wire Sources: • www.forconstructionpros.com/equipment/earthmoving/excavators/product/12075529/volvo-construction-equipment-volvo-ew160e-ew180e-wheeled-excavators • www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAsi7m3X8pI • www.cat.com/en_US/by-industry/mining/surface-mining/surface-technology/command/command-for-dozing.html • www.komatsuamerica.com/innovation/intelligent-machine-control • www.deere.com/en_US/products/equipment/ag_management_solutions/guidance/guidance.page • www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2016/10/25/this-buds-for-the-robot-otto-anheuser-busch-claim-first-automated-truck-shipment/#5c122c845615 • http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2015/01/4k-streaming-bandwidth-problem.html Table 1 Sources: • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus • www.copleycontrols.com/Motion/pdf/CAN-Bus.pdf • www.maximintegrated.com/en/app-notes/index.mvp/id/1856 • www.ieee802.org/3/1TPCESG/public/BroadR_Reach_Automotive_Spec_V3.2.pdf Bulk Current Injection: • www.cvel.clemson.edu/workshop/pdf/AutoEMC-Workshop-Steffka.pdf • www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/Watt_to_dBm.htm 8

Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

PRODUCT NEWS

MONITOR TEMPERATURE AT MULTIPLE LOCATIONS WITH LOW-POWER 1.8V TEMPERATURE SENSOR FAMILY Microchip announces five new 1.8V temperature sensors, including the industry’s smallest five-channel temperature sensor with standard lead spacing. The EMC181x temperature sensor family also introduces system temperature rate-of-change reporting, a feature that provides advanced warning on how the temperature of a system is fluctuating.

The temperature sensors enable designers to reduce power consumption and lower system voltage in applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and personal computing devices in which temperature measurement is central to functionality.

Monitoring temperature at multiple locations with a single, integrated temperature sensor reduces board complexity and simplifies design.

The EMC181x temperature sensor family offers a variety of remote

channels at 1.8V operation to fit different design needs, ranging from two to five channels. The family is ideal for applications migrating from 3.3V systems to lower voltage rails, such as battery-operated IoT applications, personal computing devices, Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Additionally, the EMC181x family is register- and voltage-compatible with Microchip’s popular 3.3V EMC14xx temperature sensors, making migration to 1.8V testable and achievable. With the three-channel sensor available in an 8-pin 2 × 2 mm footprint and the five-channel in a 10-pin 2 × 2.5 mm footprint, the sensors can also reduce the number of devices needed for remote temperature monitoring.

With the ability to measure the system temperature rate-ofchange, the EMC181x devices are the industry’s first to offer twodimensional temperature sensing. In addition to reporting on the regular temperature, the feature notifies customers of the rate of temperature change in a system and shares data that can help to better regulate applications. At 1.8V, the EMC181x multi-channel sensor family is compatible with Microchip’s extensive portfolio of low-voltage and low-power microcontrollers.

The ADM00773 evaluation board provides everything needed to demonstrate the 1.8V three-channel two-wire EMC1833 temperature sensor and gives functional insight into the other EMC181xx family members. It facilitates evaluation of programmable features such as rate-of-change, temperature alert limits and Resistance Error Correction (REC), in addition to providing off-board temperature measurements and data logging. The evaluation board connects to a PC through a USB interface board and comes with the Microchip Thermal Management Software Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Microchip Technology | www.microchip.com

INFINEON TO DRIVE EDGE-COMPUTING BASED APPLICATIONS RUNNING ON AMAZON WEB SERVICES Semiconductors are key components for the Internet of Things (IoT). They connect the real with the digital world now evolving to cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI) functionality. Infineon Technologies AG allows for easy and secured use of new generation sensors featuring new AI functionalities running on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Infineon’s XMC4000™ family of 32-bit-microcontrollers now supports Amazon FreeRTOS, a microcontroller operating system that makes small, low-power edge devices easy to program, deploy, secure, connect, and manage. Key success factors for IoT comprise hardware-based security solutions and industry-leading sensor technology. With their smart interplay, multiple new options of edge-computing based applications for consumer and industrial markets are enabled.

Securely connecting manufacturers’ devices both locally and to the cloud is paramount for customers to take up the connected service offering. People living in smart homes and working in smart buildings can benefit from the seamless interaction of the new generation XENSIV™ sensors. Radar, pressure sensors and MEMS microphones are accompanied by OPTIGA™ hardware security solutions. Infineon-enabled solutions in energy, light management, health care and building operation running on AWS can improve the quality of life and deliver substantial cost savings. www.international.electronica-azi.ro

For example, Infineon’s XMC4800 family Connectivity kit WiFi runs on AWS. This development platform brings edge-computing services to the next level of interaction in customers’ applications, including WiFi connectivity and ETHERCAT. XMC4800 devices are powered by Cortex ARM M4F microcontrollers. They also offer up to six standard CAN and ETHERCAT connectivity, for IoT gateway applications, plus many other peripherals with the benefit of the Arduino and Click Board compatible form factor.

Infineon Technologies | www.infineon.com 9

Interview with Thomas Rudel, CEO Rutronik “Do not expect the allocation to be over soon�

Due to the worldwide shortage of passive electronic components, manufacturing companies are having an increasingly difficult time planning their production. In order to secure supplies for its customers, Rutronik has entered into a long-term agreement with Yageo for ceramic capacitors and resistors. As a result, it can guarantee supplies through mid-2020. In the interview, Thomas Rudel, CEO of Rutronik, informs about measures to counter the allocation, gives recommendations to customers and talks about the future of distribution.

The industry is worried about passive components.

Especially MLCCs, thin-film and thick-film resistors are extremely short in supply. Some industry insiders call it the worst allocation situation ever seen. Would you agree or is it rather a hype?

It is a matter of fact that there is a current shortage of passive components in general, and MLCCs, resistors, and some semiconductors in particular. In the past years the industry has not faced an allocation situation of this magnitude.

How can a distributor manage such an extreme shortage situation?

Distributors can manage and influence allocation to a certain extent making a key difference for the customers. Rutronik already increased the warehouse capacity last year. Only due to the excellent relationships with our manufacturers we were able to increase the supply quantities considerably. In addition to regular communication we hold periodic meetings and negotiations at top management level. This way we made an agreement with Yageo to ensure supplies of ceramic capacitors and resistors through mid-2020. Other critical parts are scheduled until end of 2020. We are able to react quickly to changes as our orders are constantly being monitored and dedicated teams are available for escalation as necessary.

Furthermore, we hired more than 50 new employees for critical components in our Logistics center in Eisingen. They are handling the extremely increased volumes while maintaining our quality standards. As manufacturers are increasingly delivering mixed product 10

types bundled on a pallet, our warehouse handles extensive sorting and storing processes.

In order to further expedite deliveries we have optimized our processes and established exception process flows such as for an increased number of packages or express deliveries. This additional effort certainly impacted our freight costs. Additionally, Rutronik has invested in our internal transportation systems technology aiming at a quicker throughput of the product in the warehouse.

Another important step are trainings for our field sales engineers and product managers enabling them to suggest alternative products to our customers or make recommendations for the redesign with smaller case sizes.

However, most producers prefer to discontinue non profitable products instead. Rutronik does offer this value added service also for passive components which is a genuine competitive

advantage. Due to increasingly higher handling costs with very low margin business with passive components is not always profitable.

Even those planning long in advance do currently have issues with the above mentioned product types. Is there a way to make forecasting and supply chain solutions attractive for your customers under these circumstances?

Absolutely! The situation would be even worse without adequate planning in advance. Those customers working closely together with us, transmitting their forecasts on a regular basis or using logistics agreements are in a much better situation. Therefore, we strongly recommend our customers to order well in advance and take advantage of our logistics solutions.

We offer a variety of solutions and added services which can be combined according to the customers’ individual needs.

INTERVIEW During a distribution forum end of April it was said that some manufacturer prefer to deliver the larger volumes of the leading consumer OEMs at the expense of medium sized customers. What is Rutronik’s experience? In other words, how do you currently work with manufacturers of passive components especially for the affected product groups MLCC and resistors? How does Rutronik manage internally the assignation by customer?

The decision of assignation of critical product is based on the following. On the one hand we look at customers we have been successfully working with for a long period of time and we deliver the needed quantities despite allocation as far as possible. On the other hand we deliver to customers who do not only order MLCCs and resistors but also other products.

Thus, we make sure our customers can keep their production running and we supply the whole range of the ordered product mix.

Therefore customers with a broad product mix are especially important to us.

In relation to medium size customers: Rutronik makes more than 80 percent of its turnover with this very important customer group. At the same time it is important to know that Rutronik holds approximately 40 percent market share of C parts in Europe. This purchasing volume puts Rutronik in the position of negotiating at a level playing field with e.g. an Asian OEM. The majority of our manufacturers are currently investing in increasing their production capacities. These investments will eventually lead to expected price increases, for example from Murata and Samsung.

MLCC manufacturers always aim at the maximum production output possible. That means they focus on the component size allowing for production of the largest number of components possible from the same raw material.

Following is an example of case sizes 0603 and 0402: Due to its geometric characteristics the production output from the same raw material of case size 0402 capacitors is four times higher than of the 0603 case size.

Murata is extending their legacy program, including components without any increase in production to be expected. Almost every second Murata product at Rutronik is affected.

Samsung EM increases their productivity by eliminating certain non-standard components from their portfolio.

Yageo, however, had already been investing at least half of the turnover in their production lines since 2016. Thus, they increased their production capacities for resistors and MLCCs significantly during the past 3 years despite the fact that these product groups used to be unprofitable. With a world market share of more than 25 percent for both product groups combined, www.international.electronica-azi.ro

this strategy has a decisive positive influence on global availability. Thanks to our new agreement with Yageo, our customers can benefit directly from these increased capacities.

What are your recommendations to the customers these days regarding design in, BOM and second source approvals, etc.?

For new designs or re-designs it is important to use the smallest case size possible, because the manufacturers prefer to produce smaller case sizes. Another recommendation is to approve as many alternative manufacturers as possible for each board (or PCB).

Do you consider switching to AEC Q200 is a good idea due to alleged better availability of automotive components?

Yes, indeed! Several manufacturer have better availability of some products as automotive qualified products can not only used in the automotive industry but also in the industrial sector. Of course, it is much more attractive for the manufacturers to supply the same product for different markets. However, it is recommended to always check availability case by case as there might be exceptions.

On the one hand manufacturers assert that they increased capacities and on the other hand customers claim that it is not the case or at least not sufficient as production capacities were only reassigned to more feasible products. You as a distributor are positioned in between. How do you manage this situation?

It is important to mention that especially for these products we have been seeing high pressure on pricing for quite some time. Year after year prices declined and that was mainly caused by those customers complaining most these days. In consequence these products and product groups were barely profitable preventing manufacturers to invest in new production capacities. Rutronik as a distributor was exposed to the same situation as well.

In the meantime capacities are being increased,

however, installing production may take at least one or two year. In the interim we manage the situation by virtue of our excellent relationships with the manufacturers, securing the volumes needed for continuous supply of our customers.

How important is pricing? There are rumors that premium fees are being paid in order to get product. Can you confirm that?

Pricing is particularly important in relation to investment in added capacities as short term return of investment of new production capacities can only be accomplished by price increases.

At least in Europe and via Rutronik no additional

product is released by means of premium fees. In some cases manufacturers might charge additional costs for deliveries at reduced lead time.

Evidently, we need to forward any manufacturer price increase which is a considerable administrative effort (for the latest price increase of resistors close to 100.000 order lines in our system needed to be amended manually).

When will allocation end?

We do not expect allocation to be over any time soon due to several reasons. Supply shortages are caused by drastic demand increase due to increasing electrification of many products and extremely high global demand, as well as many manufacturers focusing on smaller case sizes. In addition, the launch of the new mobile network 5G may cause a peak in demand for smart phones which may aggravate the supply situation. Planned production increases can only compensate this impact to a limited extend.

Furthermore, a shortage of raw material is to be expected, including packaging material such as e.g. reels! Also environmental and energy policy related restrictions need to be taken into account, for example in China. Some sub-suppliers even had to close their production facilities, or relocated to other countries. All these effects are rather unpredictable and not projectable.

Rutronik www.rutronik.com 11

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

High-quality WiFi and Bluetooth communications tailored to IoT devices using Espressif Systems distributed by Comet Electronics Espressif Systems is a multinational, fabless semiconductor company established in 2008, with headquarters in Shanghai and offices in Greater China, India and Europe. We have a passionate team of engineers and scientists from all over the world, focused on developing cutting-edge WiFi-and-Bluetooth, low-power, IoT solutions.

Among our popular products are the ESP8266 and ESP32 series of chips, modules and development boards. By leveraging wireless computing, we provide green, versatile and cost-effective chipsets. We have always been committed to creating IoT solutions that are secure, robust and power-efficient.

The Internet-of-Things era has spurred the development of appliances that require secure and fast Wi-Fi connectivity. ESP8266 was Espressif Systems’ answer to this new reality and the first step in leaving our mark on the rapidlygrowing IoT market. Then, we gave the world ESP32, which has become the integrated Wi-Fi & Dual-Mode Bluetooth chip in the IoT industry. It offers the advanced power control and software development kits for any IoT application.

Espressif Systems is committed to providing the IoT devices and software platforms in the industry.We also take pride in helping our customers build their own IoT solutions.We are dedicated to enabling our partners reduce development time and deliver great products with optimized wireless connectivity.

Espressif chips, modules and development boards are widely deployed in such products as tablets, OTT-boxes, cameras and IoT gadgets.

Espressif Systems designs a range of high-performance Wi-Fi+Bluetooth (BLE) chipsets and modules. We work with OEMs and ODMs to enable wireless connectivity in their products by developing software solutions that optimize the performance and reduce development time.

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ESP8266 - Integrated Wi-Fi solution with very low power The ESP8266EX microcontroller integrates a 32-bit RISC Tensilica L106 processor that delivers low power consumption and achieves a maximum clock speed of 160MHz. Real-time OS (RTOS) and Wi-Fi stack allow about 80% of processing power to be available for user application programming and development.

The ESP8266EX is integrated with a 32-bit Tensilica processor,

standard peripheral digital interfaces, antenna switches, power amplifier, low noise amplifier, filters and power management modules. All of this is included in a small package, ESP8266EX LOW POWER ARCHITECTURE Designed for mobile devices, portable electronics and IoT applications, ESP8266EX performs low power consumption combining several patented technologies.

The energy saving architecture features three modes of operation: active mode, sleep mode, and deep sleep mode. This allows battery-powered models to work longer.

HIGH RELIABILITY The ESP8266EX is capable of consistently operating in industrial environments due to its wide range of operating temperatures.

With integrated chip features and minimal external discrete components, the chip delivers reliability, compactness and robustness.

QUICK INTEGRATION SOLUTIONS ESP-WROOM-02 is a 32-bit MCU Wi-Fi MCU based on ESP8266 chip. The TCP / IP network, 10-bit ADC and HSPI/UART/PWM/I2C /I2S interfaces are all embedded in this module.

Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

WIRELESS

The ESP-WROOM-S2 uses a 2 MB SPI flash connected to HSPI, running as a slave SDIO / SPI, with SPI up to 8 Mbps.

The ESP8266 can work in a low-power connectivity mode. For example, if it works in DTIM10, it consumes only 1.2mW, maintaining a Wi-Fi connection. The module also integrates a 16 Mbits SPI flash used for storing user programs, data, and firmware.

OPTIMIZED LAYOUT The layout of the ESP-WROOM-32 module pins is optimized, the IC IO pins are grouped together and it facilitates the design of the application board with a minimum trace of the external paths, making the application more compact.

ESP32 - Power and performance for IoT

OPEN AND FREE We are again open-source! ESP-WROOM-32 schemes and PCB layout are available for download free of charge and can be used as a design reference for the development of customized hardware models based on ESP32.

HYBRID WI-FI AND BLUETOOTH CHIP ESP32 can function as a fully independent system or slave device for a host MCU, reducing the impact of communication on the main application processor. ESP32 can interface with other systems to provide Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality via the SPI / SDIO or I2C / UART interfaces.

LOW POWER CONSUMPTION Designed for mobile devices, portable electronics and IoT applications, ESP32 delivers extremely low power consumption with a combination of several proprietary software. ESP32 also includes state-of-the-art features, using different power modes and dynamic power scaling.

HIGH LEVEL OF INTEGRATION ESP32 is highly integrated with built-in antenna switches, power amplifier, low noise amplifier, filters and power management modules. ESP32 adds precious functionality and versatility to your applications with minimum printed circuit board (PCB) requirements.

ROBUST DESIGN The ESP32 is capable of operating safely in industrial environments with an operating temperature between -40째C and + 125째C. With advanced calibration circuits, the ESP32 system can dynamically eliminate external circuit imperfections and adapt to changes external conditions.

READY FOR PRODUCTION Suitable for the development of robust design applications on a four-layer board, FCC, CE (RED), IC, TELEC, SRRC and KCC, and with a wide range of operating temperatures from -40째C to 85째C. ESP32 - DevKitC Get what's important right away - start the prototype with our new SoC, ESP32.

ESP32 - WROOM-32 Based on the ESP32 SoC (System-On-Chip), the ESP32-WROOM32 has high performance, a wide range of peripherals, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio, providing a complete solution tailored to advanced IoT applications.

COMPACT DESIGN The ESP-WROOM-32, which measures only 25.2 mm x 18 mm, contains ESP32 SoC, flash memory, precision discrete components and PCB antenna to deliver remarkable performance in space-limited applications. www.international.electronica-azi.ro

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EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

ESP32-DevKitC is a minimal system development board that is powered by our new ESP32-WROOM-32 module and can easily be linked to a test card.

NEW AND POWERFUL Built around the ESP-WROOM-32 system, this minimal system development board achieves optimal performance thanks to the rich peripheral settings, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth provided by our new SoC, ESP32. The only limit is your imagination!

port the popular ESP-WROOM-32 module, but it also supports the new ESP32-WROVER module.

ESP32 - LyraTD-MSC Designed for intelligent speakers and AI applications. Supports Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Wake-up Interruption and Voice Interaction

FAST PROTOTYPING Get straight into designing and developing applications without worrying about RF performance and antenna design.

The ESP32-DevKitC system already has the basic system requirements covered. Connect only the USB cable and you are ready to develop!

FLEXIBLE AND FEATURE-RICH ESP32-DevKitC contains the entire basic support circuitry for ESP32-WROOM-32, including a USB-UART bridge, reset- and boot-mode buttons, an LDO regulator and a micro-USB connector. Every important GPIO is available to the developer.

ESP - WROVER-KIT ESP-WROVER-KIT is a highly integrated ultra-low-power development board, achieving great performance with a 4.5MB RAM and a dual-core 240 MHz CPU. Create Internet cameras, smart displays or Internet radios by connecting LCDs, microphones and codecs to it. Have fun!

HARDWARE CHARACTERISTICS ESP32-LyraTD-MSC is designed for smart speakers and AI applications. This audio development board consists of two parts: the upper board, which provides a three-microphone array, function keys and LED lights; and the lower board, which integrates ESP32-WROVER, a MicroSemi Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, and a power management module.

WIDE APPLICABILITY ESP32-LyraTD-MSC implements voice interaction and cloud-ondemand services for smart speaker applications, human-machine interaction and image recognition for AI applications, as well as interconnectivity and real-time feedback for smart home devices.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE ESP32-LyraTD-MSC facilitates the quick and easy development of dual-mode (Bluetooth + Wi-Fi) audio solutions, as it supports onekey Wi-Fi network configuration, Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), near/far-field voice wake-up, cloud platform access, voice recognition, wake-up interrupt and audio decoding.

BUILT-IN USB-JTAG DEBUGGER Bogged down in bugs? We have come up with a solution! ESP32 supports JTAG debugging, while the ESP-WROVER-KIT integrates a USB debugger, as well. This makes debugging and tracing complex applications very easy, without the need for any additional hardware.

ESP32 - LyraT An open-source development board, supporting Espressif Systems’ ADF and featuring voice wake-up, a wake-up button and an audio player. Designed for smart speakers and smart-home applications.

ADVANCED HARDWARE ESP32 is engineered to be fast, smart and versatile.

The ESP-WROVER-KIT complements these characteristics by offering an on-board high-speed MicroSD card interface, VGA camera interface, as well as a 3.2” SPI LCD panel and I/O expansion capabilities.

WIDE COMPATIBILITY Have you been developing your applications around the ESPWROOM-32 module? Not only does the ESP-WROVER-KIT sup14

Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

WIRELESS

HARDWARE CHARACTERISTICS ESP32-LyraT is an open-source development board for Espressif Systems’ Audio Development Framework (ADF). It is designed for smart speakers and smart-home applications. The dev board consists of the ESP32-WROVER module, a Micro SD card, expansion interfaces, touch buttons and several function keys.

WIDE APPLICABILITY With a great variety of voice commands, interactive voice functions and a rich peripheral set, ESP32-LyraT allows the fast development

of applications relating to consumer electronics, wearables, smart home and industrial automation.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE It facilitates the quick and easy development of dual-mode (Bluetooth + Wi-Fi) audio solutions , also supporting one-key WiFi configuration, a wake-up button, voice wake-up, voice recognition, cloud platform access, and an audio player.

In conclusion, whenever you want the rapid development of your wireless communication, you can use Espressif Systems chips and modules available through the official distributor Comet Electronics.

For more information, please contact: Eng. Ciprian Varga Technical Director, Comet Electronics Str. Sfânta Treime Nr. 47, Bucureşti, Sector 2 Tel.: 021 243 2090 | Fax: 021 243 4090 www.comet.srl.ro | office@comet.srl.ro

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

TASTE THE NB IoT FLAVOR − NB-IoT DATA TRANSMISSION USING BC95G SHIELDS On September 19th 2018, Vodafone Romania announced the deployment of their NB IoT network at national level [source: https://www.vodafone.ro – press release 2018]. itbrainpower.net [R&D Software Solutions] is welcoming the commercial launch of NB IoT technology in Romania and wants to support its use by offering a 35% discount (for Romanian customers) to the list price for our current NB IoT products, until December 31st 2018. will be supported by 5G networks. Weighting those, we can estimate the life span of NB IoT and LTE CAT M1 to 20-25years. Obviously, now is the right time to invest in IoT technologies based on NB IoT and LTE CAT M1.

What is NB IoT technology anyway?

The NB IoT technology reaches the long range, has a better indoor coverage (164dB link budget), low power and high density goals by downsizing the system bandwidth to 200kHz, by using DSSS modulation and by having Guard band and In Band as Operation Modes. Also, some other LPWR techniques as PSM and i-e-DRX make NB IoT the technology of choice for very low rate and infrequent data transmission. Good to know, though, that not all NB IoT caracteriscs are on the right side – the above mentioned performaces come together with big latecy (up to 10 seconds) and small data bit rates (up to ~200kbits/~200kbits UL/DL)) − according to your application specifications it may be possible that LTE CATM1 usage be more convenient compared with NB IoT.

Testing NB IoT data transmission, how to This NB IoT test will be exemplified using the xyz-mIoT shield equipped with Quectel BC95G module, PN: XYZMIOT209#BC95UFL-xxxxxxx, and will consist in 4 steps (around 15-20 minutes).

Driven by the power and versatility of the embedded ARM0 (ATSAMD21G) core and equipped with various interfaces [I2C, SPI, UART, 13 digital I/O – 1WIRE and PWM capable, 5 analog inputs and more], “xyz-mIoT by itbrainpower.net” provides multiple interfaces in order to support wide range of devices, sensors and actuators.

The xyz-mIoT shield may have up to 5 built-in sensors such as: THS (temperature and humidity sensors) − HDC2010, tVOC & eCO2 (air quality sensor − CO2 total volatile organic compounds − CO2 equivalent) − CCS811, HALL (magnetic sensor) − DRV5032 or IR (infrared sensor) KP-2012P3C, secondary IR (infrared sensor) − KP-2012P3C, TILT (movement vibration sensor) or REED (magnetic sensor) − SW200D. Sensors collection that populates the xyz-mIoT board can be ordered using different Part Numbers.

The xyz-mIoT shield was designed and it is manufactured in EU by itbrainpower.net team.

Due to mobile market evolution and limited radio spectrum, the MNOs (mobile network operators) are forced to shutdown the 2G and 3G support − not necessarily in this order − and to migrate to newer communication technologies as 5G. Good to know – existing LTE/4G technologies, including LTE Low Power (NB IoT and LTE CAT M1), 16

In order to perform the NB IoT data transmission test, the following items are required: 1 x capacitor 1000-2200uF/6.3V low ESR, one GSM antenna with uFL connector (or one uFL to SMA F pigtail and one GSM antenna with SMA) and, obvious, one SIM card having NB IoT support (in our tests we used Vodafone Romania SIM card).

Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

WIRELESS

NB IoT BG95G test step 1 [hardware preparation]: a. Solder over the SJP6 pads. By doing this, the xyz-mIoT shield will be powered from USB 5V. b. Solder the electrolitic capacitor on Vbat and GND supercapacitor pads (see above image).

NB IoT BG95G test step 2 [put hardware together]: Insert the NB IoT nano-SIM in the xyzmIoT SIM slot. Usually, data SIMs came without PIN code checking.

Otherwise, disable the PIN code check option [directives here: https:// itbrainpower.net/FAQ/].

Connect the GSM antenna with the xyz-mIoT shield.

Using one USB type mini B cable, wire the xyz-mIoT developing board to your computer.

NB IoT BG95G test step 3 [download and install software. preliminary settings]: Compiling and software upload will be performed in Arduino.cc (v> 1.8.5 ). a. Download and install "xyz-mIoT shields Arduino class" available, for registered users, here: https://itbrainpower.net/downloads.php #xyz-mIoT . Installing guidelines are specified in download page. b. Download and install "NB IOT [UDP mode] support for xyzmIoT/u-GSM shields" available at same web address. c. Install "udp_echo.py" listenerul (demo UDP service that simple returns the received datagram) available in "NB IOT [UDP mode] support for xyz-mIoT/u-GSM shields" package or, online at: https://itbrainpower.net/downloadables/udp_echo.py. Write down IP address și UDP PORT listner parameters. d. Update some parameters in h files inside "itbpNBIoTClass": ▶ in "itbpGPRSIPdefinition.h" update the NETWORKID (numeric network id code) for your NB IoTprovider – Eg.:"22601" for Vodafone Romania. ▶ in same file, update the SERVER_ADDRESS and SERVER_PORT with values from step c (echo listener, up-here). ▶ in same file, update the LTE_BAND with LTE band used by your NB IoT provider – Eg.: 20 – Vodafone Romania use LTE B20 band. ▶ in "itbpGSMdefinition.h" set xyzmIoT as value for _itbpModem_parameter(lines 60-61). ▶ in same file, lines 64-65, chose BG95G as value for _Qmodule_.

NB IoT BG95G test step 4 [compile and upload the software. run the test]: a. Open “xyz_mIoT_NBIoT_Class_example_UDP_echo.ino” project in Arduino.cc (version >=1.8.5) from Arduino "File/Examples/ itbpNBIoTClass" menu. b. Select xyz-mIoT board and programming port in Arduino (see below image). In order to activate programming mode press twice www.international.electronica-azi.ro

(fast) the xyz-mIoT shield RESET switch. c. Compile and upload the software.

Use Arduino console, or other serial console, to receive the debug messages. Set serial parameters to 57600bps, 8N, 1.

After the demo project is uploaded, the xyz-mIoT shield, will perform the data exchange process at each 10 minutes.

Network connecting steps, send datagram, the received one and swich between NB IoT transmission stages [ENTER ACTIVE MODE, ENTER IDLE MODE/LEAVE ACTIVE MODE and ENTER PSM MODE] will be shown into debug console. Same, the xyz-mIoT shield LEDs will signalize ACTIVE, IDLE and PSM modes.

As alternative, the very same NB IoT tests may be performed using the u-GSM modular modem shield equipped with Quectel BC95G, PN: UGSM219-BC95G#UFL. More details and info about NB IoT test, including guidelines for u-GSM shield usage, can be seen here: https://itbrainpower.net/ a-gsm/ BC95G-NBIoT-data-transmission-how-to R&D Software Solutions Romanian embedded hardware and software solution provider implements their original and innovative concepts and ideas into smart IoT platforms and solutions. Our Low Power LTE/LTE/3G/GSM modems design allows engineers to implement IoT solutions by facile integration with SBCs (single-board computers as Raspberry PI, BeagleBone Black, other..) Arduino shields and other micro-controllers. Deeply involved in innovation, R&D Software Solutions received in 2006 as acknowledgement for its innovative ideas, the “GST SSC Bronze Award” between competitors like: IBM, Computer Associates, 17 European Universities and a batch of SME. We are looking for distributors.

Universities and high schools may apply for permanent 40% discounts for all our IoT products. Write to us in order to join our educational program.

Orders can be done via https://itbrainpower.net/order or contact us via email: dragos@rdss.ro Autor: Dragos Iosub, R&D Software Solutions https://itbrainpower.net | dragos@rdss.ro | +40 745 611 611 17

Drones An Ongoing Journey

Originally developed by and for the military, drones have grown far beyond the battlefield and are now used everywhere from oil fields to private farms. They are being used for delivering packages, surveying land and assisting in disaster relief. Their scope is becoming ever more varied and their parameters are broadening.

Key to the growing range of applications for drones is the increasingly sophisticated electronics systems being incorporated. The miniaturised sensors used in today’s drones allows them to be ever smaller, more lightweight and more affordable, while improved machine vision (enabled by a new generation of powerful onboard flight control systems) is providing them with better autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and real-time analytics. Drone development has traditionally been difficult, expensive and time-consuming, but today, the availability of drone development platforms has changed all that. New platforms from Intel, Infineon and Parallax are making it easier than ever to hit the ground running when implementing drone applications.

MILITARY ORIGINS Ever since humans first took to the air, the idea of an unmanned aerial vehicle has been extremely compelling. Aircraft let us travel quickly, get a birds-eye view of things 18

and move freely unabated by groundborne obstruction. However, one of the biggest obstacles that they face is us. When it comes to flight, lighter is better, but since they need to accommodate a human being comfortably, airplanes have to be built larger and heavier, than they would otherwise have to be. This means more complexity, higher cost and less range, as carrying more weight requires burning more fuel.

Drones solve all these issues. Being unmanned these airborne vehicles can be made lighter, smaller and much cheaper, as life support systems are not needed.

Instead, these vehicles are focused on being as light, manoeuvrable and long-range as possible. Without the risk of a human casualty, drones can also take on more dangerous tasks than manned vehicles. It’s no wonder then that the development of drones has been deeply rooted in the military.

Unmanned aerial vehicles initially appeared in the 1930s II. Early drone developments included balloons designed to time-release bombs over enemy lines, and unpiloted planes with explosives on board, intended to crash after a certain number of engine revolutions. The advent of radio technology brought better navigation. One of the first radio-controlled (RC) drones was used during World War II to train anti-aircraft gunners how to shoot down realistically-moving

By Mark Patrick Mouser Electronics aerial targets. From then on, the pace of drone progression quickened and they were used increasingly in actual combat scenarios. Drones have been used since the 1970s in major conflicts across the world.

MICRO REVOLUTION While drones have been used in a military context for a considerable time, it is only in this decade that they have become affordable enough to enter the consumer market.

Personal drones have been made possible by innovations in micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, driven by the requirements of the smartphone market.

Aerial navigation requires sophisticated sensors to monitor physical orientation, as well as acceleration along 3 different axes. In the past, this involved using relatively large and expensive inertial measurement units (IMUs) which consist of accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers. These macro-sized sensing units were large, heavy and extremely expensive, limiting them to professional aerospace, naval and defence applications.

Using the same techniques that are applied to semiconductor manufacturing, MEMS technology shrunk accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers, allowing them to be much smaller, cheaper and even more reliable. Today a 9-axis sensor like the Bosch BNO055 that measures compass Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

DRONE TECHNOLOGY

orientation, physical orientation and acceleration in 3 axes can be the size of a tiny chip, smaller than a finger nail. The tremendous size and weight reduction of MEMSbased IMUs has allowed them to drive today’s drones, and their low price has meant that drones can be affordable to the average consumer or small business.

With drones starting to get into the hands of everyday consumers and businesses, we have now come up with ever greater and more creative uses for them. Today, drones are used in everything from logistics to rescue operations.

For the logistics industries, drones have been used for delivering packages quickly and efficiently. Their ability to fly lets them beat traffic and navigate over groundbased obstacles. Not only can drones do deliveries faster and more efficiently than humans, but they can also deliver to areas or locations that humans currently cannot.

Do you live on the 15th floor of an apartment building? A drone can deliver a package directly to your balcony. If you decide to have an impromptu picnic at the park, a drone could deliver pizza directly to your smartphone’s GPS location.

The ability of drones to do quick and accurate 3D mapping of large areas has transformed surveying, and offers the potential to change other industries like tourism as well.

A remotely controlled drone with high precision GPS can take detailed photos of large areas in hours or even minutes. These high resolution photographs can then be pieced together with photogrammetric software to build incredibly precise 3D maps of terrain.

Areas which once took a team of groundbased surveyors weeks to survey can now be dealt with in days, thanks to drones.

Drones are also transforming disaster recovery, and search and rescue operations. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, key infrastructure such as roads and electricity can be seriously damaged, making it difficult for ground-based relief to arrive quickly and work efficiently. In these situations, drones can perform aerial surveillance of an area to discover the location and status of disaster or search for injured people. Drones can even be used as first responders, to deliver critical items such as food or medicine to victims in remote areas.

DRONE TECHNOLOGY As miniaturised, wirelessly controlled aerial vehicles, drones are a technological tour-deforce. They contain some of the latest naviwww.international.electronica-azi.ro

gational, computational and aeronautical technologies we have today. A drone consists of a chassis, rotors, motors, electronic speed controllers, a battery and a flight controller. While the mechanical aspects such as its rotors, chassis style, and motors determine its flight characteristics and carrying capacity, it is the constituent electronic systems that are on board which distinguish modern drones from yesterday’s RC planes and helicopters.

Each rotor and corresponding motor has an electronic speed controller (ESC) which controls the speed of the motor. The ESC is a mixed signal circuit which delivers high resolution 3 phase AC power to drive a brushless motor based on a control signal.

Connected to a motor and the battery, ESCs are sized according to the amount of current they can drive.

Besides the ESC, the flight controller is the other essential electronic system on board a drone. Whereas RC airplanes and helicopters give operators direct control over motor speed, modern drones have multiple rotors, and the complexity of rotor speed coordination means an automated system is required.

The flight controller uses an array of sensors, such as GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, compass and barometers, to stabilise and navigate the drone by adjusting the speed of the rotors.

Modern flight controllers can range from providing simple stability control to full-on autonomous navigation with obstacle avoidance using machine vision − possible with advanced platforms like Intel’s Aero compute board.

GETTING STARTED WITH DRONES While there is a certain joy in building your own drone from scratch, it takes a great deal of time, effort and perseverance. Thankfully, these days there are pre-built unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms available, which allow you to choose exactly how deep you want to dive in. Perhaps the most complete, yet flexible UAV platform so far is Intel’s Aero series. This platform can come either as a flight controller compute board, or a readyto-fly drone development platform.

In the ready-to-fly option, Intel’s Aero drone is a fully assembled quad-copter running Linux on a multi-core Atom SoC processor. It has flight controller software pre-installed allowing users to fly the drone out of the box without any programming being needed.

The ready-to-fly Aero platform allows users to focus on developing sophisticated drone

applications immediately, rather than wasting time struggling with the mechanics of flight control.

The Aero drone also has multiple cameras, including a front-facing Intel RealSense™ R200 camera. The R200 is a depth-sensing machine vision camera system including dual conventional cameras as well as an infrared camera and infrared laser projector. The stereo vision and infrared components allow for 3D imaging and depth sensing capabilities. These can be used for collision avoidance, surveying, 3D mapping, surveillance applications and more. Besides selling as a complete, ready-to-fly drone, the Aero platform is also available as a compute board with optional enclosure and RealSense Camera, allowing the compute and machine vision capabilities to be integrated onto other multi-copter drone chassis.

Whereas they were once simply hobbyist’s toys, drones today have penetrated numerous markets and are aiming for many more.

At the same time, developing drone applications has never been easier. For those trying to go straight into advanced drone application development, Intel’s Aero platform offers a ready-to-fly solution, and for those wanting to get down and dirty, integrated components from suppliers like Infineon and Cypress can significantly cut development time and cost.

Mouser Electronics www.mouser.com 19

COMPANY NEWS

MAINTENANCE MATTERS Aurocon COMPEC supports the rapid pace of technology development for the maintenance engineer. Maintenance, in its various forms, is a certainty. However, what really matters is how you tackle the tasks involved, and how you make sure that you minimize its impact on daily productivity.

Aurocon COMPEC supports any requirement, from urgent delivery of the package to specialized technical support.

WHY IT’S TIME TO RE-THINK YOUR APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE? Unplanned maintenance and the resulting production downtime are the bane of most organizations. Deloitte reports that such downtime costs industrial manufacturers £37 billion [$50 billion], and that 42% downtime is caused by equipment failure.

The combination of connected technology (the Industrial Internet of Things) becoming available at lower costs and greater data analytics makes it possible to monitor almost any machine and predict failure before it happens. This makes it possible for organizations to identify problems and plan downtime to suit their own schedule.

However, access to a range of sensors is only part of the overall picture. “Intelligent maintenance is more than just technology and products, it’s actually a way of thinking,” says Richard Jeffers, Technical Director Northern Europe at RS. “It’s about anticipating potential failure and taking the right action to prevent or reduce the impact of that failure on your operations. Technology is what you use to enable and make predicting failure easier.”

The first step for organizations looking to reduce their unplanned maintenance, according to Jeffers, is to recognize the value of a predictive approach. Deloitte has found that predictive maintenance can “reduce the time required to plan maintenance by 20% to 50%, increase equipment uptime and availability by 10% to

20%, and reduce overall maintenance costs by 5% to 10%”. For many organizations, and their maintenance teams, the big question around smarter maintenance is where to start. For a lot of businesses, the test and learn approach works best as individuals and the organization as a whole establish the best solutions for their needs.

“I visited a customer’s logistics site recently and they have taken a very sensible

the next year as the technology proves itself.”

For many organizations, there is a need for expert help and access to knowledge that will help them adopt new technology. Recent research by RS and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply showed that 54% of procurement and supply professionals in the maintenance, repair and operations function want access to knowledge services from suppliers, not just the products.

approach to introducing maintenance intelligence into the business,” recalls Jeffers.

“They had around 800 motors in their building but had identified 13 that were crucial to their operations, so they have put temperature and vibration sensors on those motors to alert the maintenance team if they start to fail. This is a trial, but the business will start to roll out the technology to other motors over

“RS provides a range of sensors for customers looking to adopt and enable their smart maintenance strategy,” says Jeffers.

“But we also have expertise within the business to help customers understand and make the most of IIoT. We are using this technology in our own warehouse in Nuneaton, so we have first-hand knowledge of the technology in practice.”

20MM FUSE KIT − 180 FUSES • A kit of 20 × 5mm fuses in both LBC and HBC formats from 0.5A to 10A – including quick blow and anti-surge versions.

• Compartmentalized storage box contains 10 of each fuse rating – ideal for service or project workshops

RS Stock No. Description 420-268 General purpose 20mm fuse kit www.compec.ro 20

Electric & Electronic Components Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

COMPANIES

METERSCOPE • Professional true RMS industrial digital multimeter with oscilloscope functions • Large 50,000 count 320 × 240 TFT color LCD display • 20MHz/50MS/s bandwidth/Real time sample rate • Logging function with Trend Capture for easy review of logged data • Bluetooth PC interface for easy data transfer & accuracy calibration • IP67 rated • EN61010-1 CAT IV 600V, CAT III 1000V

RS Stock No. Description 144-5337 HS-608 www.compec.ro

Test & Measurement

FERRULE CRIMP KIT • A handy kit of insulated bootlace ferrules and crimp tool covering sizes of 0.5 mm² to 10 mm² • 200 ferrules (0.5 − 15.mm²), 100 of 2.5mm², 50 of 4mm², 30 of 6mm² and 20 of 10mm² • Colors follow the French color-coding standard

RS Stock No. Description 228-0321 Kit 1 contains only bootlace ferrules 266-0288 Kit 2 contains insulated bootlace ferrules and crimp tool www.compec.ro

Electric & Electronic Components

INTERFACE RELAY MODULES • • • •

Relay interface modules of 6.2mm width for use with PLC systems Supplied with integral coil indication and protection circuit Easy removal of relay from module – replacement relays via Finder 34 series 35mm Din rail (EN 50022) mounting

RS Stock No. 386-4403 386-4419 386-4425 431-7447 386-4431

Description SPDT, 6A 12VDC, 38.51.7.012.0050 SPDT, 6A 24VDC, 38.51.7.024.0050 SPDT, 6A 24VAC/DC, 38.51.0.024.0060 SPDT, 6A 125VAC/DC,38.51.0.125.0060 SPDT, 6A 230VAC, 38.51.0.240.0060

www.compec.ro

Control & Automation

METAL CASED EN50047 LIMIT SWITCHES • GLC series die cast metal cased limit switches with IP66 protection • 1NO + 1NC (SPDT) snap action actions rated at 10A resistive (3AAC-15) • PG 13.5 gland entry

RS Stock No. 308-1793 308-1816 308-1822 308-1664 308-1850 308-1670 308-1838 308-1844

Description Pin Plunger − GLCB01B Roller Plunger − GLCB01C Fixed Side Roller Lever − GLCB01A1A Adjustable Side Roller Lever − GLCB01A2A Fixed Top Roller Lever − GLCB01D Large Side Rotary Lever − GLCB01A9A Coil Spring Actuator − GLCB01E7B Adjustable Side Rotary Rod Lever − GLCB01A4J

www.compec.ro www.international.electronica-azi.ro

Control & Automation 21

COMPANY NEWS CHASSIS MOUNT POWER SUPPLIES • Compact, high efficiency, long life switch mode power supplies with short circuit protection • High operating temperature up to 70°C • Adjustable output voltage 10.8 − 13.2V at 12V • Harmonic current compliance to EN 61000-3-2 and EMC meets EN 55022 Class B

RS Stock No. 621-0578 621-0590 621-0629 621-0635

Description 12Vdc 25W − RS-25-12 12Vdc 36W − RS-35-12 12Vdc 50.4W − RS-50-12 12Vdc 72W − RS-75-12

www.compec.ro

Control & Automation

MEGGER MIT500 SERIES INDUSTRIAL INSULATION TESTERS − 5 AND 10KV Robust and reliable testers for high performance in the real-world.

The new MIT series: MIT515, MIT525, MIT1025 are designed for industrial and power distribution applications.

• 10 TΩ (5 kV) / 20 TΩ (10 kV) max. insulation resistance • Timed IR plus PI and DAR diagnostic tests • Operate with dead battery when on line power/mains • Rapid charge Li-ion battery – up to 6 hrs continuous testing (5 kV) • Dedicated voltmeter function (30 V to 660 V) • CATIV 600 V safety rating • Large LCD display with automatic backlight • Noise filter – rejects up to 3 mA noise • High altitude operation up to 3000 m

RS Stock No. Description 763-9260 MIT1025, Insulation Tester 20TΩ CAT IV 763-9267 MIT515, Insulation Tester 10TΩ CAT IV www.compec.ro

Test & Measurement

6 LOCK LOCKOUT KIT • Designed to ensure the safe isolation of an electrical circuit and prevent the supply being inadvertently turned on • Ensures the safety of workers when cleaning, servicing or repairing electrical equipment • Kit is compatible with most circuit breakers and includes a padlock with its own unique key • Also includes a safety hasp that enables multiple workers to lock off • Full details are available on the RS website

RS Stock No. Description 757-5084 LOKKIT1 www.compec.ro

Author: Bogdan Grămescu www.rsromania.com 22

Electric & Electronic Components

Aurocon COMPEC authorised distributor for RS Components Electronica Azi International | 5/2018

PRODUCT NEWS

Much is expected of the modern car key fob. It should be small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket, its buttons should give a reassuring “click” when pressed and, most importantly, it should open the car door when required – especially in the airport long-stay car park in the pouring rain. Above all else, the key fob needs to operate reliably when used, often several times a day over the life of the car, for up to several years. Along the way the device is likely to suffer no small amount of abuse – being thrown around, soaked in the rain, or maybe even going through the washing machine!

All this means that switches for key fobs require some specific characteristics.

Generally speaking, they need to provide a good tactile feeling for a clear acknowledgement of the opening or closing of the vehicle’s doors. Bearing in mind that protecting and sealing the mechanics of the switch will affects its behaviour, a decisive, snapping effect is an important feature.

An important consideration with any device designed to be handled is its size, and the space required for each element. Space constraints are increasing, not because the fob is becoming smaller, but due to the increased number of functions, and therefore buttons. So space can be limited, and this is why small tactile switches are necessary. Consumer electronics these days offer a variety of tactile switches at small sizes.

However, automotive requirements are much stricter than consumer electronics, and having the right level of performance is crucial – which tends to exclude “basic” switches from this application.

THE MODERN CAR KEY FOB IS MORE SOPHISTICATED THAN YOU THINK

By Eric Grange, Global Segment Manager, Automotive, C&K Switches Many key fobs have a form factor that follows the credit card format; here the main constraint is height, as the system must be as flat as possible, necessitating very low-profile switches. Perhaps the most important aspect of the key fob is its robustness. Ensuring the reliability of such a well-handled device requires consideration of all the possible failure modes, under harsh conditions as well as through simple ageing. This, in turn, demands improved switch characteristics.

With this in mind, C&K has introduced three tactile switch series dedicated to key fob application: • RKA – a low-profile switch for applications where height is a consideration • RKA – for applications where robustness is needed • RKC – for applications where space is limited All series target a high actuating force to give the best possible tactile performance.

Key fobs also need to cope with increasing levels of car connectivity. It’s true that smartphones can interact with the vehicle for various applications (such as temperature setting, or user identification when car sharing); however, the key fob remains a

proven and safe way to lock and unlock the vehicle. Some key fobs now incorporate displays, which requires a drastic change of architecture. The major impact on switches is moving them from the top to the side of the unit. Side actuation switches are now required for this new arrangement, again with the necessary levels of robustness and reliability. Here integration, tolerance management and resistance to shear are critical.

The C&K KSS series is a perfect product for this type of application.

Conclusion In summary, there’s a great deal of functionality packed into the modern car key fob.

Much of the intelligence and electronics of the RKS system benefits from IoT technology, but the switches, which represent the key user interface, bear the brunt of the potentially harsh environmental conditions and are expected to perform day in, day out.

With a 30-year track record in the industry, C&K embodies the core values of automotive switching, and its products, such as the RKX range of tactile switches, are ideal for remote keyless systems.

C&K | www.ckswitches.com

Industry’s First Authenticator IC with SHA3-256 Cryptographic Engine Embedded systems designers can now easily and cost-effectively integrate the industry’s most advanced crypto-strong authentication into their designs with the DS28E50 Deep Cover® secure hash algorithm 3 (SHA3-256) authenticator IC from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. With SHA3-256, the DS28E50 delivers the latest technology for challenge-and-response authentication, providing the strongest defense against counterfeiting, unauthorized usage and other application problems in a secure IC solution suited for teams with limited or no cryptography expertise. Designers are seeking to protect product integrity against aftermarket counterfeits and strengthen guarantees that sensors inside these devices are genuine and not substandard www.international.electronica-azi.ro

clones. The DS28E50 provides embedded system developers with advanced ability to prevent counterfeiting, aftermarket cloning and unauthorized use of smart, connected industrial, medical and consumer devices.

In addition to providing the industry’s first SHA3-256 authentication IC, the DS28E50 also integrates Maxim’s patented ChipDNA™ physically unclonable function (PUF) technology to prevent the IC-level attacks that are routinely attempted on security ICs. Key Advantages of the DS28E50 • Cost-Effective, Crypto-Strong Security • Ease of Implementation • Tiny, Low-Power, Rugged Package Maxim Integrated www.maximintegrated.com 23

POSITAL: ABSOLUTE SINGLETURN − ANGULAR MEASUREMENT DEVICES A Comparison of Inclinometers and Singleturn Rotary Encoders Absolute angular measurement over a 360° range is notably one of the key measurements in many industries and manufacturing units. In this article we will be discussing / comparing the similarities and the differences between single-turn rotary encoders and inclinometers based on their applications.

Encoders have evolved over time from simple incremental to more complex and very precise multiturn absolute encoders. The technology also has considerably changed.

Various different technology options like optical, magnetic, and inductive are available with small differences in measurement resolution and accuracy. Whereas, inclinometers have been around for centuries and its evolution has been very diverse. The basic principle of inclinometers is that it measures the tilt of a plane surface. The technology has slowly evolved from simple mechanics using air bubbles and pendulums, to modified potentiometers, to magnetic based measurement. At present, very advanced inclinometers like TILTIX from POSITAL use cutting edge MEMS technology for measurement.

A common misconception was that inclinometers cannot measure a full turn in the range of 0 − 359.99° like single turn encoders. But, the advances in technology have made that possible and only a few companies provide IXARC Rotary Encoders and TILTIX INCLINOMETER

single axis inclinometers which can measure a full range of 360°. So, in this article we will compare our inclinometers and rotary encoders and discuss the possibility of inclinometers as replacements to single turn encoders in a few applications constrained by a few factors.

IXARC Magnetic Singleturn Encoders The technology used to detect shaft position is fairly simple in magnetic encoders.

There is a permanent magnet attached to the device’s shaft and a 2-axis Hall Effect sensor mounted on the encoder casing. As the shaft and magnet rotate the Hall Effect sensor measures changes in the magnetic field and reports the angular measurement to the control system. Because IXARC magnetic encoders are individually calibrated before they are shipped, they can also provide higher accuracy (around one part in a thousand) than that typical with other magnetic rotary encoders.

IXARC Optical Singleturn Encoders Optical encoders are made up of a revolving shaft with a code disc, an infrared light source and an optoelectronic scanning unit. The code disc is made of unbreakable plastics and usually printed with a unique pattern for each angular position (in Gray code). Infrared light from an LED is collimated and passed through the code disc. On the opposite side a photoreceptor array with a reticle picks up the information from the tracks. At every angle position a unique sequence of photoreceptors are blocked from light by dark segments on the code disc.

Highly Dynamic MEMS It is basically a Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor cell containing an array of electrodes that is embedded to a fully molded ASIC. It works based on a simplified model with only two electrodes: one is fixed, and the other is flexible (connected with spring elements). When the inclinometer is in a horizontal position, a corresponding capacitance is measured. If the sensor is tilted, the flexible electrode will

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change its position relative to the fixed electrode.

This results in a change of the capacitance between the two electrodes which is measured by the sensor cell.

The change of the capacitance is converted to a corresponding inclination.

Applications TILTIX MEMS inclinometers, for instance is the best choice for applications and industries which require a good range of resolution/accuracy over a 360° range but with space and installation constraints. Unarguably, the most attractive feature of TILTIX MEMS is its compact size, its ability to be mounted vertically or horizontally and easy installation almost anywhere. Cost-wise TILTIX MEMS is the best option and it can be very useful in many industries like construction, robotics, and mining and in various applications involving farm machinery, mobile platforms, solar energy and drilling machinery where TILTIX MEMS’s compact size, high ingress protection and simple measurement and output features will be an added advantage.

The IXARC optical encoders on the other hand have a very high resolution/accuracy, best dynamical performance, good resistance to temperature, shock and vibration and diverse output features. The most important aspect of IXARC encoders is the availability of all the communication interfaces in the industry which makes it easy to install in already available networks. These characteristics find applications in elevators, control systems, defense equipment, industrial robots, medical equipment, manufacturing, automotive where multiple outputs have to be

Leuze: MLC 530 SPG with new function “Partial Gating” The safety light curtains MLC 530 SPG with Smart Process Gating now includes the feature “Partial Gating” as well.

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monitored and the precision, resolution are all important considerations. Summarizing, the IXARC optical encoders are best needed when there is a need for high end dynamic sensing & measurement and there are no constraints on cost, size and skilled labor.

The IXARC magnetic encoders are very much similar to the optical encoders in the fields of application and characteristics. Major differences arise only with respect to the technology of measurement, the cost and size. Heavy duty magnetic encoders are available which are smaller in size when compared to optical but have high protection of up to IP69K and are even submergible (but with a lesser IP). All these characteristics lead to the use of magnetic encoders in industries which require good resolution, compact size, low cost and varied output features like industrial doors, drives and gear motors, food product machinery, material handling, rolling mills, wind energy, port machinery and textile industries.

Conclusion For detecting up to 360°, POSITAL provides various options as discussed earlier and the user never needs to worry about the compatibility of the output to the equipment because as mentioned earlier, all the products come with a variety of communication interfaces to facilitate diverse fields of application. The single axis inclinometers and the singleturn encoders are two devices which measure in a range of 360°, but are chosen according to the characteristics of the measurement undertaken and its compatibility. When it comes to multi-turn, the encoders are the only option available. But in case of singleturn there is always an option of using inclinometers as replacements to the encoders. www.oboyle.ro

With this feature the last 4 beams at the top of the MLC remain always active, even during the gating process. Any interruption of these beams will cause the MLC to shut off.

Applications examples are e.g. the monitoring of swing gate as they are used in automotive production lines. The MLC can monitor the closing state of the gates. Safety switches for the gates and related cabeling are not required any more. The function can also be used as an additional protection to prevent persons from riding on top of low transport goods.

The feature “Partial Gating” can be selected via the new Function Mode 6. It includes the features of the already available Function Mode 1 (qualified stop) plus the Partial Gating feature. www.oboyle.ro 25

Leuze: Distance sensors ODS 110 / HT 110 Smart is when more than two switching points can be combined in one sensor With our expanded line of distance sensors, you can choose from a large selection of different designs with especially large operating ranges and multiple switching points.

Compartment occupation check

Push-through protection

Collision protection

Aisle end

Positioning

Shelf positioning

Special features of the product range: ■ Absolutely independent of color and surface thanks to very small black/white error ■ High repeatability ■ Large operating ranges in various sizes ■ IO-Link ■ Analog outputs and up to three independent switching points ■ Different equipment options, e.g., with measurement value display ODS 110 / HT 110

ODS 10 / HT 10

HRT 25B L

Cost-optimized series for automated material flow with an operating range of 5 meters

High-performance series for automated material flow with an operating range of 8 meters

Especially small model as switching version with an operating range of 2.5 meters and 2 switching points

■ Operating range up to 5m on bright objects and 3m on dark objects ■ Repeatability < 5 mm ■ Models with 2 switching outputs or analog output ■ Simple configuration via teach buttons or IO-Link ■ Easy alignment thanks to focused, highly visible red light laser

■ Operating range up to 8 m on objects and 25 m on reflective tape ■ Repeatability < 5 mm ■ Models with up to 3 switching outputs or analog output ■ Configurable analog output: current of 4-20mA or voltage of 0-10V ■ Easy configuration via display with control buttons or IO-Link ■ Easy alignment thanks to focused, highly visible red light laser

■ Operating range up to 2.5 m on objects ■ Repeatability of 10 mm ■ Models with up to 3 switching outputs ■ Simple configuration via teach button or IO-Link ■ Large infrared light spot

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Rent Your SMT Line Not having to spend a lot of money upfront can help your business manage its cash flow more effectively. Whether you’re starting out or expanding, renting is the smart option for your business.

Staying Ahead of the Game We live in a time of constant changes where every day we have to adapt to our customers’ needs. Either because of the new technological challenges, a focus on ROI “return on investment” or better productivity against new competition. The reasons can be many, and we believe we can help in providing the right solution.

Keeping up with the pace and always being a step ahead of your competitors is what we are all striving to. Today you can rent almost everything starting from airplanes and properties to cars and machines.

So, why not rent your next SMT equipment?

Advantages of Renting 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

It’s the right to use the equipment, and not the ownership, that creates revenue and profit for the company.

Rentals can be customized from 18 months, and to customer's needs: monthly, quarterly or annually.

Renting allows your company to “protect” your normal bank relationship.

Renting allows you to minimize your risk on big asset depreciation.

Renting does not affect a take away from the balance sheet as debt-financed assets; it has a positive effect on a number of key figures.

Cash Flow; payments are allocated over the period during which the equipment is used and generates profit. (When you have bought the equipment your cash is locked away) Renting strengthens the company’s competitiveness; use your cash where your returns are the greatest. (Production companies often choose to use their cash on new development, salaries or purchase of raw materials which equals the highest return on investment) Flexibility – you are not “stuck” with your SMD-Line. Renting provides you the possibility to change your equipment depending on your customer's demands and market requirements!

What equipment fits your business best?

To give you a choice in our rental concept, we have created two different product production lines. The first one is called the “PREMIUM SMT CONCEPT” and the second one is called “ECONOMIC SMT CONCEPT”.

PREMIUM SMT CONCEPT It contains all the premium brands you know such as Assembléon, DEK, Vitronics-Soltec, and others. Everything to make you feel secure with the machines that will deliver your client's products. Scalable from 9,000 to 165,000+ CPH.

ECONOMIC SMT CONCEPT Here we have selected the equipment that is of high quality and proven reliability and that gives you a competent and powerful alternative, that maintains a lower price image without compromising on quality and reliability, and with access to good service and support. Scalable from 8,000 to 80,000+ CPH. LTHD Corporation S.R.L. Head Office: Timișoara - ROMÂNIA, 300153, 70 Ardealul Str., lthd@lthd.com, www.lthd.com Tel.: +40 256 201273, +40 356 401266, Fax: +40 256 490813

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FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC MANUFACTURING Standard leasing solutions are restricted to any improvement / changes.

The financial solution of SMTHOUSE is tailored to the needs of electronic production environments and includes the following additional advantages. n n n n n n n

Choose your manufacturing equipment based on today’s and future need from market leading suppliers.

Total SMT line solutions or single machines Best competitive monthly rates based on contracts between 18-72 months Fixed rates including service, maintenance and spares SMTH Technology Guarantee allows you to swap your installed equipment during the contract period Additional options can be added into the running contract at any time Flexible options after the end of the contract based on your needs

Configure your SMT Lines upon your demands from world known manufacturers like KNS/Assembleon, Hanwa/Samsung, Mirae, DEK, Reprint, Vitronics Soltec, MEK, TRI and others.

Adapt it to your changing demands during the rental agreement and get your full flexibility regarding changing production demands.

PREMIUM LINE / 70 - 175.000 cph (IPC) Renting instead of buying from 13.995,- EUR per month Scalable output without the need to exchange machines COMPETITIVE LINE / 36.000 Bt/Std. (IPC) Highly flexible SMT Production line

Renting instead of buying from

4.995,-

EUR per month

ENTRY LINE / 15.000 Bt/Std. (IPC) Renting instead of buying from 2.495.- EUR per month Complete SMT Production Line for low volume and NPI

LTHD Corporation S.R.L. Head Office: Timișoara - ROMÂNIA, 300153, 70 Ardealul Str., lthd@lthd.com, www.lthd.com Tel.: +40 256 201273, +40 356 401266, Fax: +40 256 490813

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SEICA AUTOMATION was founded to fulfill customer needs of handling systems for the electronic production.

The company can supply every kind of automation systems to complete production lines, from the easiest to the most elaborate ones.

Thanks to its engineering department, which uses themost advances tools for development and 3D design, SEICA AUTOMATION can offer high quality standards, fast conceiving times and a wide customization of the modules.

The internal production department assures the possibility to put on trial every single machine in its entire working cycle; systems development and later upgrades can be also available.

People with more of 20 years of experience in board handling gives Seica Automation team the necessary know-how to find always the most efficient solution and to solve any production issue.

SEICA AUTOMATION manufactures loaders, unloaders, conveyors, buffers, shuttles, and has a wide range of standard handling systems as well as an infinite number of other customized solutions.

An experience of more than 20 years gives to SEICA AUTOMATION the necessary know-how to find the efficient solution for customer board handling,traceability and custom automated solution, we propose to our customer the complete realization of turnkey assembly system.

SEICA AUTOMATION product portfolio include Board Handling, Traceability product like label applicators and laser marking, soldering line, press fit cell and many other custom products. The whole production flow is “MADE IN ITALY”, under the control of SEICA AUTOMATION R&D and quality dept, all European rules and laws are fully respected.

BOARD HANDLING Create your PCB line flow process with our proven, flexible and reliable handling system. Seica Automation is organized to design and manufacture our product lines and accessories to ensure the rapid response times needed to meet the demands of SMT manufacturers, providing solutions that are high performance, flexible and that have an optimum price/quality ratio. Each unit is equipped with its own control PLC and is fully SMEMA compliant. Our two different product lines, Flo and Flex, have been designed to satisfy every customer requirement.

FLO SERIES® Has a great price/performance ratio, and is the ideal solution for standard lines handling small to medium size PCBs. FLEX SERIES® Guarantees maximum performance for every handling requirement, thanks to its high level of flexibility and customization. We provide standardized solutions designed for your specific applications, such as traceability, testing, curing, cutting, and dispensing. High performance robots are equipped with specific tools to fulfill each application.

TRACEABILITY The traceability system enables the user to locate boards requiring verification or modifications. It is therefore possible to track, for each assembled PCB, every component used, as well as the operator responsible. Seica Automation has a wide range of both laser marking machines and labeling machines.

SOLDERING LINES Soldering lines can solve every PCB manufacturing cycle requirement involving manual assembly, by optimizing carrier logistics as well as handling of single boards.

The information made available through barcode readers and pin codes, enables carriers to be sent to specific areas, as well as the automatic selection of soldering programs and the implementation of customized assembly cycles. This structure enables the operators to work either in-line (sequential assembly) or in work areas of varied complexity. We can implement your project, whether it be a simple or very complex soldering line.

LTHD Corporation S.R.L. Head Office: Timișoara - ROMÂNIA, 300153, 70 Ardealul Str., lthd@lthd.com, www.lthd.com Tel.: +40 256 201273, +40 356 401266, Fax: +40 256 490813

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