DECEMBER, 2014 足 ISSUE NO. 11, VOL. 12
DESIGN & MANUFACTURING
EP&Dee ELECTRONICS
PRODUCTS
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DESIGN
足
EASTERN
EUROPE
THE EAST EUROPEAN RESOURCE FOR EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS
DECEMBER 2014 Table of Contents
Win a Microchip MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC32MX1XX/2XX
DESIGN FEATURES 6 European Engineers Embrace Digi-Key for Online Component Sales as B2B Ecommerce Market Readiness Intensifies 8 Motor maintenance Motor control systems are used extensively to keep production lines moving. Routine and planned maintenance keeps processes running smoothly and helps to remove potential costly breakdowns.
10 “Industry 4.0 Has to Prove that It Is Worth the Money”
EP&Dee is offering you the chance to win a MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC32MX1XX/2XX (DM320013). The PIC32 MX1/ MX2 Starter kit is a complete hardware and software tool suite for exploring applications based upon Microchips new low cost, high performance PIC32MX1/ MX2 devices.
The technological basis for Industry 4.0 has long been available – but what is often lacking is the courage to make it a reality. Promises of efficiency increases, even with smaller quantities and custom production of single products, are linked to costs and security risks. But for most companies, there is no alternative.
16 Kinetis MCUs: Meeting the challenge of wearable designs today and tomorrow. 18 Cut the cords! Wireless charging is here! It seems that my phone always runs out of power at the most inconvenient times (as if there’s ever a convenient time). Like the time my phone ran out of power as I was trying to board a plane with my electronic boarding pass.
20 Going spare: boosting voltage using spare MCU peripherals With a few discrete components and some creative thinking, spare microcontroller peripherals can be used to provide a low-current, regulated voltage boost, as Keith Curtis, Technical Staff Engineer, Microchip Technology Inc. explains.
22 Fulfilling the requirements of future EPS systems with the latest microcontroller generation In ever more new cars the EPS (Electric Power Steering) instead of the classical hydraulic power steering is being used. There are manifold reasons for this: lower energy- that is, less fuel consumption, easier installation in the vehicle, lower fault susceptibility, better adaptability to different car models and last but not least more driving comfort and safety through sophisticated control algorithms.
28 What are the price advantages of light color regulation via feedback control? PRODUCT NEWS Embedded Systems (p 4, 5, 7, 17, 19, 26, 27) Active Components (p 35 - 37) Lighting Solutions/Display (p 38, 39) Sensors (p 32, 33, 34, 40) Connectors (p 41) Passive Components (p 42, 43)
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For the chance to win a LED MPLAB Starter Kit for PIC32MX1XX/2XX, visit: www.microchip-comps.com/epdee-mplabpic32mx1xx-2xx
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Managing Director Ionela Ganea Accounting Ioana Paraschiv Advertisement Irina Ganea WEB Eugen Vărzaru © 2014 by Eurostandard Press 2000
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Features include: • 24Bit Audio playback • Integrated Programmer Debugger • USB Powered • 2” Color TFT Display – 220 × 176 pixel • mTouchTM slider and buttons • PIC32MX250F128 with 128KB of Flash, 32KB RAM • Micro SD Flash Card
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Group Publishing Director Gabriel Neagu
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
PIC32 MX1 and MX2 MCUs low pin count 32-bit PIC32 provide 61 DMIPS of performance in packages as small as 5 mm × 5 mm, for space-constrained and cost-sensitive designs. They are Microchip’s smallest and lowest-cost PIC32 microcontrollers, and are the first PIC32 MCUs to feature dedicated audio and capacitive-sensing peripherals. These latest devices also feature USB On-the-Go (OTG) capabilities, making them ideal for developing audio accessories and other applications in the consumer, industrial, medical and automotive markets. This MPLAB Starter Kit is perfect for development of basic user interfaces with mTouchTM buttons and high quality audio. The board is pre-loaded with demo code for an audio player. Simply download a free copy of MPLAB IDE and the demo code source from the web to jump start your development effort.
Contributing editors Radu Andrei Ross Bannatyne Consulting Marian Blejan Bogdan Grămescu Mihai Savu Asian Reprezentative Taiwan Charles Yang Tel: +88643223633 charles@medianet.com.tw
EP&Dee Web page: www.epdee.eu EP&Dee Subscriptions: office@epdee.eu
EUROSTANDARD PRESS 2000 Tel.: +40 31 805 9955 Tel: +40 31 805 9887 office@esp2000.ro www.esp2000.ro VAT Registration: RO3998003 Company number: J03/1371/1993
EP&Dee (Electronics Products & Design Eastern Europe) is published 11 times per year in 2014 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l. It is a free to qualified electronics engineers and managers involved in engineering decisions. Starting on 2010, this magazine is published only in digital format. Copyright 2014 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l. All rights reserved.
INDUSTRY NEWS PLS’ Universal Debug Engine (UDE) now also supports the Infineon TLE986x and TLE987x Embedded Power ICs PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme presents the latest version 4.3.4 of its Universal Debug Engine (UDE), an optimized test and debug tool for the new Infineon TLE986x and TLE987x Embedded Power IC series. The highly integrated Embedded Power family was specifically designed for intelligent motor control in a wide range of automotive applications. The devices come in a standard QFN package with a footprint of only 7 mm × 7 mm. In addition to an ARM® Cortex™-M3 core, the devices include flash memory of up to 128 kB, up to six NFETs, a current sensor, a successive approximation
10-bit ADC, a capture and compare unit (CAPCOM6) for pulse width modulation (PWM) control and several 16-bit timers. A number of general purpose input-outputs (GPIOs) as well as a local interconnect network (LIN) interface compatible with LIN standard 2.2 and SAE J2602 serve as communication interfaces. A defined subset of the standard CoreSight interface is provided for efficient testing and debugging of these highly complex bridge driver ICs. This customized subset is optimally supported by the UDE. The extensively equipped test and debug tool not only takes over control of the ARM® Cortex™-M3 core. With help of the UDE 4.3.4, the onchip peripheral modules of the Embedded Power ICs can also be visualized and configured at symbolic level in text form. Furthermore, in combination with PLS’ highperformance Universal Access Device (UAD), a fast and reliable programming of the on-chip flash memory can be realized. A digitally isolated target adapter for the connection to the device via JTAG is optionally available. Furthermore, a full Eclipse integration with complete cross-debugger functionality is included in the UDE. PLS www.pls mc.com 4
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Microchip announces a microcontroller family that provides closed-loop digital control and safety monitoring with core independent peripherals Microchip announces, from Electronica in Germany, an expansion of its 8-bit PIC® microcontroller (MCU) portfolio, with the peripheral-rich, low-pin count PIC16(L) F161X family. These new MCUs introduce and expand the offering of Microchip’s Core Independent Peripherals (CIP), which were designed to reduce interrupt latency, lower power consumption and increase system efficiency and safety, while minimising design time and effort. These peripherals also reduce system complexity by eliminating the need for additional code and external components. Hardware-based peripherals offload timing-critical and core-intensive functions from the CPU, allowing it to focus on other critical tasks within the system.
rupts at a specific rotational or sinusoidal angle without using the core’s computation. The CIPs can be configured to perform a host of given functions that increase execution speeds and decrease software requirements. Offloading these functions frees up the CPU do other tasks, consumes less programme memory, and reduces the overall power consumption of the MCU. In addition to the MATH ACC and AngTmr, the PIC16(L)F161X features several other peripherals designed to ease implementation and add flexibility of various functions. The 24-bit Signal Measurement Timer (SMT) performs high-resolution measurements of the digital signal, in hardware, resulting in more precise and accurate measurements. This is
The PIC16(L)F161X PIC MCUs offer the Math Accelerator (Math ACC) with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID), which provide completely Core Independent calculations, with the capability to perform 16-bit math and PID operations. The family also includes the Angular Timer (AngTmr), which is a hardware module that calculates the rotational angle in functions, such as motor control, TRIAC control, or Capacitive Discharge Ignition (CDI) systems. Regardless of speed, the AngTmr allows recurring inter-
ideal for speed control, range finding and RPM indicators. The family also includes a Zero Cross Detect (ZCD) module, which can monitor AC line voltage, and indicate zero crossing activity, simplifying TRIAC control applications by greatly reducing both CPU demand and BOM cost. In combination with the new 100 mA, high-current I/Os, the proven Configurable Logic Cell (CLC), and I2C™, SPI and EUSART for communications, this high level of integration helps to speed design, eases implementation and adds flexibility.
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/PIC16_LF161X-Family-Product-Page-111114a
INDUSTRY NEWS
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
NXP and Mouser launch new design contest combining multiple NXP Business Units and products NXP Semiconductors N.V. introduced their line of multi-gate, multifunction, dual PCB configurable logic devices with Schmitt-trigger inputs. By offering more flexibility in the combinations of logic functions that can be achieved, NXP Logic allows design flexibility, reduced inventory cost and faster qualification in customer’s applications. Clifford Lloyd, Business Development Director for NXP’s Logic Business Line who will be presenting to editors and analysts at Electronica, says “To improve design flexibility there has been an increase in the demand for combination logic devices. The dual configurable logic devices combine two or more different functions in a single package offering the flexibility to configure them separately. As a result, engineers will always have glue logic readily available to create design solutions efficiently and economically.” The Dual PCB Configurable Logic product line will be the centrepiece in design contest featuring products from other NXP Business Units, including Smart Analog, Load Switches, Protection and Filtering, Small Signal Mosfets, Small Signal Diodes, and other devices on the same evaluation board.
The Dual PCB Configurable Logic Contest will be this year’s entry in the 2015 Big I.D.E.A. (International Design Engineering Award) Sponsored by NXP and Mouser. The Big Idea will launch worldwide January 1, 2015 with huge cash and merchandise awards for the most creative design using all the NXP products together in one application solution. Developed by Convergence Promotions, the Big I.D.E.A. offers many great prizes. Starting January 1, 2015, the contest will entail engineers navigating from the sign-up process, through an on-line schematic tool, to working with a demo board in the final submission. Prizes are awarded at the conclusion of every stage of the contest, so more engineers can qualify, regardless of how far they go in the contest. According to Glenn ImObersteg, President of Convergence, “This is the first time a contest of this scope has been attempted in the embedded industry. Normally, design contests feature just a MCU or other product from a supplier, but by bringing many of the business units and products at NXP together for this one effort, we can really demonstrate some of the products that NXP can offer the design community.”
Atmel Launches Next-Generation Low-power 8-bit AVR MCUs At Electronica 2014, Atmel® Corporation launched its nextgeneration of 8-bit megaAVR® MCUs. Ranging from 4KB to 16KB Flash memory, the new devices provide next-generation enhancements including additional analog functionality and features for the latest low-power consumer, industrial, white goods and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Since its initial launch in 2002, Atmel’s megaAVRs, the company’s most popular 8-bit AVR MCUs on the market today, can be found in hundreds of millions of applications. Made for engineers of all levels from the professional and established designers to the hobbyist, Do-itYourselfer (DIY) and Maker communities, the 8-bit megaAVR MCUs are ideal for applications in a variety of markets including automotive, industrial, consumer and white goods. Atmel’s next-generation megaAVRs deliver all the benefits of previous generations including a simple, easy-to-use interface for a seamless upgrade and binary compatibility with existing 8-bit megaAVR MCUs. “With over 20 years of MCU experience, we are proud to launch our third generation of 8-bit megaAVR MCUs to the market today - a family that has been highly recognized by a variety of communities from the professional designers using our Atmel Studio ecosystem to the hobbyist and Maker in the AVR Freaks™ and Arduino communities,” said Oyvind Strom, sr. director of marketing of the microcontroller business unit, Atmel Corporation. “As the leader in the 8-bit MCU market, Atmel continues to add easy-to-use, innovative products to our broad portfolio of MCUs.” Key Features for Atmel’s 8-bit megaAVR MCUs • Simple, easy-to-use • Low power • Wide selection of development tools including free Atmel Studio IDE • Extensive set of peripherals, including ADC, Analog Comparator, SPI, I2C and USART • Single-cycle instructions running 1MIPS per MHz • Designed for high-level languages with minimal code space • Real-time performance with single cycle I/O access New Features • Unique ID for every device enabling a more secure device for IoT applications and wireless networks • Improved accuracy of internal oscillators for UART serial communications • Improved accuracy of internal voltage reference for better analog-to-digital conversion results ATMEL CORPORATION
NXP SEMICONDUCTORS
www.atmel.com
www.thebigidea2015.com www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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INDUSTRY NEWS
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
European Engineers Embrace Digi-Key for Online Component Sales as B2B Ecommerce Market Readiness Intensifies Digi-Key’s Distinctive Website Gains Global Traction as Component Buyers Seek Broader Selection & Availability Digi-Key, the industry leader in electronic component selection, availability and delivery, today announced an enormous spike in web traffic and online orders placed by design engineers in Europe. Already ranked as the industry’s top web resource in North America, Digi-Key announced that engineers in Germany, the UK, France and Italy, among other regions of Europe, are rapidly embracing Digi-Key as their “go to” resource for electronic component selection and availability. The company also announced today a record increase in European sales with an average of 26-percent year-over-year growth in 2014, as compared to the first three quarters of last year. After formally announcing its European presence just two years ago, Digi-Key has quickly become known for its unmatched selection of electronic components including one million in-stock parts available for next-day delivery. Today, 81 localized DigiKey websites represent 10 local languages and 16 different currencies. The company attributes over 42% of its sales revenue to customers outside of the United States. A recent Forrester study validates the trend with a predicted growth rate of 11-percent per year across Europe with strong numbers in 2014 representing the UK and Germany with the next wave of growth coming from Southern Europe, namely Italy and Spain. Leadership to Localization Digi-Key’s global website receives 6.2 million visits and 70 million page views per month from 4.5 million unique visitors. The localized websites feature libraries of ‘how to’ articles, reference designs, video tutorials and a wide range of self-service resources including peer-to-peer online communities for problem solving and idea sharing, along with live web chat and other touch points for the customer. “We understand ecommerce infrastructure and, at the same time, we understand the 6
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
importance of localization. As we tap into the readiness of the European marketplace, we are committed to making it as easy as possible for engineers to research, select and purchase electronic components,” said Chris Beeson, EVP of Sales and Supplier Development for Digi-Key. “With a focus on maintaining the broadest inventory of components, we will continue to expand our selection, improve our services and localize our offerings in Europe so that we are, hands down, the engineer’s first choice.” Designed to support product design from prototype to production, engineers may choose to peruse through a library of reference designs and supporting articles. Then, they can use the Digi-Key BOM tool to compare price and availability and place their order. With over one million products in stock, over 99-percent of Digi-Key orders ship for next-day delivery. European E-Commerce Forecast 2013 - 2017 Sales (in billions)
European online retail sales will grow 11% a year from 2013-2017, Forrester Research says. The pace of growth will be fastest, at 18% per year, in southern European countries Source: Forrester Research like Italy and Spain.
Digi-Key’s dynamic online resources include: • Design Tool Ecosystem: Engineers have access to an entire spectrum of EDA tools from the free, easy-to-use schematic tool, Scheme-It, to high-end design software co-developed by Mentor Graphics and Digi-Key. In addition, more than 1,000 in-depth reference designs are available to save engineers both time and costly errors. • Supplier Marketing Centers: Digi-Key partners showcase their product lines on
the site with detailed product information including videos, whitepapers and other downloadable materials. • Multimedia Library: With an ondemand library of over 2,700 tutorial videos, ‘how to’ demonstration videos, justfor-fun electrical project ideas and/or humorous videos, engineers have a fun way to learn from their peers. Thousands of product training podcasts provide useful component-specific examples and supporting information. • Article Library: Nearly 2,000 articles and written resources on trends and/or best practices are easily searchable by product type, supplier, function, and industry, giving designers fast information to guide their product designs. • TechXchange™ Community: An integrated social media destination where thousands of engineers and designers share projects and ideas, post problems, and discuss latest industry news and trends. Mobile Analysts also predict online retails sales made via mobile phones will grow in the UK by 22 percent to a total of 7.92B. Sales using tablets will grow by 100 percent and smartphones will provide over 60-percent of the UK’s mobile shopping. Other European countries with high mobile shares will be Germany, Sweden and France. “Digi-Key has been testing the mobile market for several years,” commented Tony Harris, CMO for Digi-Key. “We’ve developed not only our own Digi-Key mobile application but we’re also testing supplier-specific mobile applications such as the one we created for Freescale that is available on iTunes store. Also, we will continue to tweak our responsive design capabilities and explore new technologies, supporting a broader list of tablets, phones and other devices for our customers.” DIGI-KEY CORPORATION www.digikey.com
INDUSTRY NEWS
Freescale to spark innovation and open development for ADAS and autonomous driving systems with OpenCL environment The “self-driving car” concept has captured the world’s imagination, and today’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are catalyzing this revolution. But the enormous opportunities these markets present come with significant challenges that must first be solved. Freescale Semiconductor is propelling the industry forward by addressing two critical speed bumps on the path toward autonomous driving – the lack of open standards for ADAS system development, and the common-but-empty premise that consumer focused silicon solutions are safe enough for critical autonomous automotive applications.
Freescale announced it will soon introduce an OpenCL (Open Computing Language)-based automotive development environment engineered to open the market for car OEMs and tier-one suppliers alike to bring advanced driver assist and other ADAS technologies to a wider range of vehicles, faster. The company also called on tier-one ADAS system providers and their suppliers to renew their industry-wide commitment to automotive safety via the design and deployment of highly secure embedded semiconductors built from the ground up to meet and exceed automotive-grade quality requirements. The Democratization of ADAS Responding to the current lack of open standards, and to reverse the trend toward closed, proprietary ADAS systems which inhibit development and stifle design innovation, Freescale will offer an OpenCL development environment for ADAS systems targeting Freescale silicon and engineered to reduce R&D overhead – effectively democratizing the ADAS development process. OpenCL is an open, royaltyfree standard for cross-platform, parallel programming. It greatly improves speed and responsiveness for a wide spectrum of applications in numerous markets. OpenCL is an open standard maintained by the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group. Automotive Grade from the Ground Up Despite the increasing publicity surrounding them, autonomous vehicles will simply not exist on a commercial scale without safe, reliable and secure solutions. Freescale believes that the assertion that consumer-oriented silicon solutions designed to enhance gaming graphics or run smartphone apps are safe enough to ensure autonomous driving-quality and reliability in automotive applications presents significant risk to the automotive industry. Such claims are perpetuating a hype cycle that is dissociating reality from the vision of self-driving technology. FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR www.freescale.com
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Secure NFC/RFID Tag Authenticator with Energy Harvesting Protects Sensitive Data Transfer Between Master and Slave Devices Designers can now perform secure wireless data communication on their embedded systems without needing the host microcontroller, but by simply using a single MAX66242 DeepCover® Secure Authenticator from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. The MAX66242 secure authenticator is an advanced tag that combines a wireless NFC/RFID interface with an I2C interface.
Designers can now collect vital system data from portable devices even when the main energy source on the master device is not functional. The I2C and wireless RFID/NFC interfaces make it highly flexible and scalable for a wide range of applications. The MAX66242 is especially useful for applications that require additional external functionality, but do not have the space to place a connector. Ideal applications include secure, wireless transfer of medical data or asset tracking. The MAX66242 enables wireless, contactless data collection between a host and slave device. The integrated, proven SHA-256 cryptographic engine provides symmetric challenge-and-response authentication based on a secret key for data downloads. Needing no separate controller to write data, the MAX66242’s I2C interface port can operate as a master port or a slave port for secure data exchanges. The MAX66242 comes with multiple memory programmable options which let a user configure a secure master/slave system and set usage limits using the EEPROM emulation mode to create nonresettable counters. Designers can also use the MAX66242 to set up easy and intuitive WiFi® or Bluetooth® connections as a means to securely storing the pairing codes. It then provides security for access control, asset tracking, system alert/wakeup, and authentication of medical sensors for the secure transfer of personal data. MAXIM INTEGRATED www.maximintegrated.com www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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INDUSTRY NEWS
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Motor maintenance Motor control systems are used extensively to keep production lines moving. Routine and planned maintenance keeps processes running smoothly and helps to remove potential costly breakdowns. COMPEC supplies a great range of motor and motor control products, together with associated products such as: belt's, couplings and test equipment.
ULTRA COMPACT MULTIFUNCTION COUNTER / TACHOMETER - SERIES H7CX Present value display characters can be switched between red, green and orange (except H7CX-A11 models) l l l l
l
Increased character height and display segments (10mm) Simple operation using UP/DOWN keys for digits Reliable - setting Upper Limit restricts the set time and helps prevent incorrect settings Service Life Notification - The number of times that the control output turns ON is counted and an alarm is displayed when a preset count is exceeded Omron Panel Mounting 48 x 48 RS stock no.: 687-6140
SIRIUS 3RW40 SOFTSTARTER l l l l
Soft starting and smooth ramp-down Two phase control, plus soft starting and stopping of three phase asynchronous motors Solid-state motor overload and intrinsic device protection Ideal replacement for DOL and Star-Delta starters RS stock no.: 420-491
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INDUSTRY NEWS
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
MIT400 SERIES DIGITAL INSULATION & CONTINUITY TESTERS l l l l l
Insulation testing to 1000V with Insulation test voltage display Continuity testing at 200mA down to 0.01ohms Alternative 20mA test current AC/DC Voltage measurement True RMS Measurement to 600V RS stock no.: 535-3129
ALTIVAR ATV 12 SERIES INVERTER DRIVES l l l
The Altivar 12 drive is a frequency inverter for single and three-phase asynchronous motors Plug and play installation, compact size Selectable Profiles: Standard, Performance or Fan/Pump RS stock no.: 669-5777
DIGITAL MULTIMETER l l l l
Rugged, precise and affordable industrial multimeter. Easy to use and suitable for the most of electrical applications High accuracy and IEC1010 -1 safety standards installation category. Resistance continuity beeper & diode test RS stock no.: 757-5110
ÖLFLEX® CLASSIC 100 SY CABLES l l l l
Connection and control cable with coloured cores and steel wire braid Suitable for control devices, machine tools, conveyor belts and production lines in dry, damp and wet interiors Twisted cores in layers, colour coded in accordance with VDE 0293 Compliant with Directive 73/23/EWG (Low Voltage Directive) RS stock no.: 444-0373
Aurocon Compec www.compec.ro www.designspark.com www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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DESIGN
INDUSTRY 4.0
“Industry 4.0 Has to Prove that It Is Worth the Money” Author: Andreas Mangler,
Director Strategic Marketing and Communications, Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH
The technological basis for Industry 4.0 has long been available – but what is often lacking is the courage to make it a reality. Promises of efficiency increases, even with smaller quantities and custom production of single products, are linked to costs and security risks. But for most companies, there is no alternative. “A business that does not embrace the shift towards Industry 4.0 will soon be like the hands-free kit in a car without a phone connection – it's there, but it's cut off and therefore useless”, said Andreas Mangler, Director Strategic Marketing and Communications at Rutronik, outlining the future. “Dinosaurs do not survive; we've seen that often enough.” The drive to increase efficiency is ever present. What's new in this area is the trend towards individualization – whether it's industrial PCs, cars or muesli, customers want their products exactly as they need or want them. Providers such as the drugstore chain dm demonstrate how it is done – using an app or software, customers create their own customized photo album, poster, canvas picture, cellphone case or shower gel with their own photos. dm even collaborates with Deutsche Post to enable customers to add their likeness to a stamp. The data is uploaded via an internet connection, and a few days later, the finished product arrives on the customer's doorstep. “That's Industry 4.0 down to a T”, said Mangler. Many other businesses have also perfectly adapted to the trend towards individualiza10
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
tion – but the scalability of their processes has suffered as a result. Industry 4.0 promises to solve this dilemma by producing customer-specific solutions under mass production conditions, but many businesses still hesitate to establish the smart factory as a core element of Industry 4.0. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the costs, and secondly, the fear of exposing intellectual property (IP), thereby making it vulnerable to loss. Industry 4.0 Needs a Different Cost Perspective Implementing Industry 4.0 requires investment – there's no doubt about that. But in return, it generates long-term savings through increased efficiency. Such savings are generated at other levels though, which is why they are frequently overseen. The current profit center-based approach to company management only considers specific unit or personnel costs in quarterly time blocks, meaning that a perspective of the overall costs, in which all processes are included, is missing. The situations that this circumstance leads to are sometimes grotesque. An example – a developer designs a mature, forward-looking technology, but it is not approved by the purchasing
division due to excessive unit costs. However, the cheaper components are manually taken, recorded and moved several times during the route from the receipt of the goods to production. The process costs incurred here consume the previously generated savings back or even exceed them – even though the purchasing division is unaware of this. This means that expensive manual processes remain in place, as they ostensibly cause lower costs than automation of the process. “This approach prevents both cost savings and innovation”, summarized Mangler. Examining the situation from a total cost of ownership perspective on the other hand accounts for the actual total costs incurred throughout the entire process chain, from development to purchasing and logistics. This enables each business to determine for themselves whether it would be worth implementing Industry 4.0, in which divisions and to which extent. “Not every business can become a full smart factory. The trick is to find the right balance between the technology and investment on the one hand, and the purchasing division with the purchase price and the costs of the automated processes within the logistics chain on the other.
DESIGN
INDUSTRY 4.0
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DESIGN
So businesses will not always incur an enormous outlay in one fell swoop. Taking the first step by establishing an EDI connection with the distributor or supplier is usually sufficient – a very well-established technology”, explained Mangler. “This does mean though that Industry 4.0 needs to prove cost of ownership for the relevant sub-processes in order to demonstrate their benefit.” Safety Requires Expense Aside from the investments in necessary systems, there are also other costs required for necessary safety measures. The fear of loss of data, IP and control is which makes data security an extremely important – if not the most important – aspect. “Big data” – the collection, analysis, storage, processing and management of huge amounts of data – is an enormous challenge. “The winner will be whoever can successfully and securely collect data and ensure its security to the greatest extent possible”, said Mangler. Technologies for this are already available at different levels, for hardware, software developed “close to the metal”, firmware, and all other software systems based on high-level languages.
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INDUSTRY 4.0
“These aspects must be accommodated when selecting components, because Industry 4.0 is dependent on robust systems through hardware in particular”, explained Mangler. And robustness is not just required for components. Operator control systems also need to be robust, and in this respect there are also already solutions available. The use of system redundancy, for example by enabling both touch and motion control, allows data to be compared and manipulation to be prevented. “Of course, this means more expense for businesses, but the long-term value created by Industry 4.0 through increases in efficiency and the resultant continued competitiveness balances this expense out in the medium and long-term. This means that many businesses don't have a choice in the matter – either they follow the trend, or they'll be out of the picture sooner or later”, said Mangler, sharing his assessment. “We're available to assist you as a technology partner, supplier, adviser and contact.” Rutronik laid the foundations years ago to enable it to offer its customers
everything now that they need for Industry 4.0. These are mainly those components that are now bundled under RUTRONIK EMBEDDED, as well as appropriate supply chain solutions. “We were investing in Industry 4.0 long before the term even existed. That's why we are convinced that we are an Industry 4.0 driver”, commented Mangler. RUTRONIK EMBEDDED encompasses the product segments of embedded boards, storage, displays, wired and wireless communications technology, auto ID components, sensors and actuators as well as specific peripheral components. The underlying basis of Industry 4.0 is networking – communications technologies. This basis was established by Rutronik many years ago with the establishment of the Wireless Competence Center, ensuring that all standards and technologies are present in the portfolio and providing the company possesses with many years of extensive in-house expertise. “We were one of the pioneers in the wireless segment back then, which is paying off today”, explained Andreas Mangler. “We made such an advance investment in our logistics division.”
DESIGN
INDUSTRY 4.0
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DESIGN
INDUSTRY 4.0
Rutronik was one of the first distributors to develop concepts and establish the underlying technological conditions for creating modular, fully automated and linked logis-
because we have united our entire product range under this principle.” For each sub-task within the fully-realized Industry 4.0 business at Rutronik, there are
tics processes that directly integrates Rutronik into the process landscape of its customers and suppliers. As a result, all those involved benefit from a highly efficient procurement process. “Industry 4.0 is essentially the perfect opportunity for us,
relevant specialists and processes available – RFID and wireless experts with their solutions ensure that products can be uniquely identified and guarantee that they can be tracked within the Rutronik logistics process. It also enables all deliveries to be tracked
along the supply chain, thereby ensuring that they can be located at all times. This is supported technologically by the GPS and wireless specialists. The Analog & Mixed Signal team and the Power team cover sensors and actuators, whose data is provided as semantically described services. This data can be specifically requested from the resulting products. If the products are given a digital product memory, the controller and memory specialists become involved. This shows how Rutronik takes a global perspective of the production facilities of its customers, because complex dependencies between the physical and digital world are often only represented on a case-by-case basis today, and any change necessitates complex, manual intervention. To enable such a global perspective and to provide its customers with appropriate support, Rutronik has an entire network comprising different services, engineering support by FAEs and sales support within the system comprising development service providers, order fulfillers and end customers, as well as global coordination of all business processes through the use of the right component – worldwide n Rutronik www.rutronik.com
Rutronik launches new website comprising of Rutronik.com company website, Rutronik24 e-commerce platform and new Rutronik-TEC specialist portal Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH has now released its newly designed and arranged website. The focus is placed on a clear differentiation of various contents, so that every visitor can quickly find the information he is looking for. Accordingly, it is now composed of three areas: the Rutronik.com company website, the Rutronik24 e-commerce platform and the Rutronik-TEC specialist portal. The emphasis of the Rutronik.com company website is communication with the customer. Therefore, visitors receive the relevant contact information of the contact partner for the particular topic on every page. Furthermore, all information about Rutronik, from components and vertical markets through a wide variety of services up to and including company news is to be found here. The career area has information and job offers at the ready for potential applicants. 14
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The Rutronik24 e-commerce platform now also includes all functions of the webgate. It is presented with a contemporary and clear user interface, which makes it easier for interested parties to purchase the components they are looking for. On the Rutronik24 start page, visitors obtain direct access to all product categories as well as an overview of the current top sellers. You will find the products you want using the intelligent search functions. By using the Massquotation link, customers can conveniently use their parts list for purchasing. In the Procurement area, customers obtain the customary fast overview of their current and previous orders, offers, article lists, their safety stock, contracts, consignment store as well as traceability. The latest catalogs, procurement information, PCNs as well as numerous media are available to download. Rutronik www.rutronik.com
DESIGN
MCUs
Kinetis MCUs: Meeting the challenge of wearable designs today and tomorrow Author: Donnie Garcia, Kinetis New Products Team, Freescale Semiconductor
In my previous blog I focused on the functionality of the new ARM® Cortex®-M7 core. I wrote of the higher processing throughput, new micro-architecture, cache for the memory interfaces and the advantages of ARM Cortex-M core compatibility. There is another dimension to meeting the challenge of today’s IoT applications that I failed to mention. This is around meeting the challenges of size and space. As electronic devices become more assimilated into our lives, the deeply embedded designer has to consider the aspects of fit and form to be as important as function. This is becoming more apparent everyday as we see the stylishwearable designs that are hitting the marketplace just in time for the holidays. The new ARM Cortex-M7 core provides a great example of how semiconductor manufacturers and their partners are addressing the challenge of size constraints. It delivers an impressive 2.14DMIPS/MHz. As I write this blog, there are no specifics about the size of this highest performance Cortex-M-class core on the ARM website, but if it is anything like the Cortex-M4core, it should be a game changer in delivering the performance/mm2 to meet the growing demands of consumers for their portable devices. As a point of reference, if you are like me and purchased your first computer in the 90s it may have been a processor that ran at 200MHz with < 2DMIPS/MHz. Future embedded solutions from Freescale that utilize the Cortex-M7 core will deliver similar processing capabilities in a fraction of the area that was needed. There is more than Moore’s law at play here; thanks ARM! 16
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
DESIGN Besides the processing to support an immersive user experience on an easy to wear embedded device, there are other aspects of the Kinetis MCU portfolio, Freescale’s microcontroller product line based on ARM Cortex-M cores, which address space constraints. The Kinetis mini MCUs have propagated chip-scale packaging across a wide range of solutions of varying memory size, I/O and processing capabilities. Chip-scale packaging allows area to be optimized because the size of the package closely matches the physical size of the microcontroller. This type of package allows megabits of non-volatile flash memory and plentiful communications peripherals to be accessible in a package size that is close to 5mm x 5mm. Kinetis minis solutions range in size from the world’s smallest ARM powered solution at 1.6mm × 2.0mm to highly integrated solutions at 4.8mm × 5.6mm. Having a wide range of Kinetis minis products allow you, the embedded designer, with the opportunity to find the right functionality per millimeter squared for your applications.
KINETIS In addition to packaging, Kinetis MCUs deliver integration that when utilized allows board space to be optimized. One example is around the USB sub-system on Kinetis devices. As the USB standard requires 3.3V signals, Kinetis devices that integrate USB contain a 5V to 3.3V regulator in order to power the USB sub-system. This feature reduces the need of an external IC in some cases. In addition, on some of the latest Kinetis devices, an external crystal is no longer needed for the USB device mode. An internally generated clock can be utilized for meeting the clocking requirements of a USB device. Features such as these expand the size benefits of a Kinetis device to the supporting infrastructure that must be placed around the MCU. Another key aspect of many wearable devices is around sensing. Many sensors require digital interfaces, such as I2C, but in some cases, an analog interface is needed. Most Kinetis devices contain a very capable Analog to Digital Converter that may be used for interfacing to a wide range of sens-
ing devices. It can provide >12bits of accuracy on a number large number of input pins. On some Kinetis devices there is more advanced integration of higher resolution (up to 24bit Sigma Delta) and opamps or PGAs for signal conditioning. Integrating this advanced capability reduces component count and creates lighter and easier to wear end devices. The Kinetis MCU portfolio provides a wide range of tools to meet the challenges of limited space. Selecting which Kinetis MCU has the right integration for a specific wearable design greatly depends on the goals of the end application. As the wearables use case is diverse and evolving, it is hard to say exactly which features will be utilized the most. Is a Kinetis MCU the right fit for your next design? Try it on. Learn more and order n samples at Freescale.com/Kinetis. Donnie Garcia is on the Kinetis New Products Team www.freescale.com
Freescale establishes Thread beta development program to help companies jump-start next-generation IoT products As a founding member of Thread Group, an industry alliance focused on creating a simple, secure and low-power network for the connected home, Freescale Semiconductor announced its Thread beta development program. Freescale is making its Thread software and evaluation platform available to select developers to encourage adoption of the new Thread IP-based mesh networking protocol aimed at creating a better way to connect devices in the home. Freescale is a recognized leader in providing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for the connected home and is actively involved in defining, delivering and guiding the market adoption of the new Thread protocol. At electronica this week, Freescale will educate developers on Thread and unveil its Thread software and beta development kit, which is based on Kinetis W series MCUs and available now for select developers. Freescale’s beta development kit includes the Thread stack software, integrated on world-class Kinetis wireless MCU platforms, so developers can focus on their unique applications and differentiators. Early adopters can start product planning and development now, and potentially deliver
the first Thread-enabled and Thread-certified products to the market in 2015. Thread is a low-power wireless mesh network protocol that runs on new and existing 802.15.4 networks and is built on proven technologies such as IPv6 and 6LoWPAN. Designed specifically for connecting devices in the home, Thread provides secure communication that connects devices to each other and to the cloud for easy control and access from anywhere. Unlike other technologies, which need to translate protocols to IP packets, Thread natively carries IP from the cloud to the end device, resulting in a simpler, more
efficient solution. Freescale’s Thread implementation is built on low-power Kinetis W series MCUs, integrating 2.4 GHz RF transceivers with ARM® Cortex®-M0+/M4 cores. The Thread beta development kit includes everything needed to evaluate and develop Thread-enabled products and to test them in a multi-node network environment. Beta companies receive: Kinetis KW2x Tower boards, USB dongles, samples and the Thread stack, which includes precompiled Thread libraries and demo application code. Freescale Semiconductor www.freescale.com/thread
www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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DESIGN
WIRELESS
Cut the cords!
Wireless charging is here! Author: Randy Ryder, Business Development Manager, Freescale Semiconductor
It seems that my phone always runs out of power at the most inconvenient times (as if there’s ever a convenient time). Like the time my phone ran out of power as I was trying to board a plane with my electronic boarding pass. Or that time when my motorcycle had mechanical failures and left me stranded on the side of the road with a dead phone and no way to contact a friend. Several times, I’ve been on road trips and used my phone as my navigation system, only for it to die at a critical moment when I needed to know which highway exit to take. The point is that we rely heavily on our mobile devices to provide information and simplify our daily lives, creating increased dependency on them. For this relationship with our mobile devices to be effective, they have to remain powered while we use them. However, opposing forces, such as the need for increased feature density, larger screens, and more wireless connectivity strain these devices’ power reserves. Before the advent of smartphones, a typical mobile phone could easily last a full day on a single charge. Today’s feature rich smartphones, most likely will not remain powered even for a half day under average use. While manufacturers design ever larger batteries for their mobile phones, this benefit is effectively canceled out by new and enhanced features. New methods of dealing with short battery life have to be addressed. 18
Wireless power has the potential to help alleviate dead battery conditions, especially in situations where it matters most – in public spaces and while we’re on the go, such as in the car. Wireless power transmission was first demonstrated by Nikola Tesla in 1893, as he transferred energy wirelessly to light phosphorescent lamps. While his experiments obviously did not lead to the proliferation of transmitting power wirelessly, the foundations for wireless power were built over 100 years ago. It wasn’t until the late 2000s that wireless power would again be a mainstream topic of discussion. Companies began commercializing products that could wirelessly charge mobile devices. In the beginning, these products consisted of bulky mobile phone adaptor sleeves which contained a wireless charging receiver.
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
DESIGN The wireless charging transmitter had to be bought and would only work with certain wireless charging receivers. Soon, several companies were commercializing their own unique wireless charging products, none of which were interoperable. In 2008, the first organization was formed to try and develop a common wireless charging standard. The Wireless Power Consortium began to develop a standard it called “Qi”, pronounced “Chee.” The goal was to create a unified standard where member companies could develop their products for all types of markets, and for which the mandate was interoperability. Fast forward to 2014, and the market now has three competing standards, and a mobile phone market with a high rate of adoption. The need for bulky add-on sleeves has decreased, while more and more OEMs integrate the receiver technology
WIRELESS into their mobile devices. While the competing standards have created some temporary market disruptions, a unified standard will eventually provide a clear path for deploying wireless power technology. For this technology to be truly transformative, though, wireless charging has to be pervasive and available everywhere. This next phase means that the public infrastructure now must adopt wireless charging stations in order to provide the full benefit this technology offers. Airports, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels will all one day offer wireless charging stations for their customers. Since mobile devices will already have the technology embedded, charging will become as trivial as placing it down at a charging station. This, in turn, will promote what I call opportunistic charging behavior. Users will have apps on their phones that
guide them to the nearest charging station. No matter where we are, we will be able to receive some power for our mobile device, thereby avoiding dead battery conditions all together. Whether at a restaurant or sitting on an airplane, placing your mobile device down on a wireless charger will become second nature. Freescale helps to redefine this mobility by designing innovative solutions for both automotive and consumer wireless charging markets. By creating flexible solutions, we provide wireless charging product designers the ability to create new ways to solve the problems facing mobile users. Just as WI-FI grew into a ubiquitous technology over time, wireless power is expected to follow n suit in the foreseeable future. www.freescale.com
Freescale introduces world’s smallest integrated tire pressure monitoring system Freescale Semiconductor introduced the FXTH87 tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) family, which is the smallest integrated package TPMS solution available at an extremely light weight of 0.3 grams. The FXTH87 family is 50 percent smaller than competing products, helping designers reduce overall bill of materials costs. Freescale’s newest TPMS system-in-package solution provides low power consumption combined with the highest level of functional integration in one package, featuring a dualaxis accelerometer architecture, pressure and temperature sensor, integrated MCU, RF transmitter and low frequency receiver. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 23,000 accidents and 535 vehicle fatalities occur each year involving flat tires or blowouts, which TPMS systems help prevent by ensuring proper tire inflation monitoring. In addition, properly inflated tires improve fuel economy and reduce emissions, resulting in many regions worldwide, including the United States, European Union, China, Japan and Taiwan, to begin requiring TPMS in new vehicles. According to IHS iSuppli, TPMS will represent more than 25 percent of the total pressure measurement market for automotive sensors by 2015. Enclosed in a 7 x 7 x 2.2 mm package, the FXTH87 family provides the smallest footprint available, enabling form factors ideal for tire pressure sensor module developers to reduce the weight and overall bill of materials costs. The industry’s lowest RF power consumption at 7mA ldd significant-
ly extends battery life. Both the single- and dual-axis accelerometer options improve accuracy and facilitate more precise tire localization implementation and universal interoperability for original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket applications. And the integrated MCU and dedicated firmware offer the largest customer flash memory at 8 KB, increasing application flexibility and reducing time to market. Product Features • QFN 7 × 7 × 2.2 mm package enables visible solder joint for inspection • 100–450 kPa and 100–900 kPa pressure ranges • Z-axis or dual XZ-axis accelerometers
• • • • • • • •
Accelerometer standard or precision tolerances available Low-power wake-up timer and periodic reset driven by LFO Dedicated state machines for reduced power consumption 8-bit MCU/S08 core with SIM, interrupt and debug/monitor 512 Bytes RAM / 16 k Flash (8 k for Freescale library, 8 k for applications) Internal 315/434 MHz RF transmitter Internal 125 kHz LF receiver Six multipurpose GPIO pins (including two A/D inputs)
Freescale Semiconductor www.freescale.com/TPMS
Freescale's new FXTH87 is the world's smallest tire pressure monitoring system Photo: Business Wire www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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DESIGN
MCUs
Going spare: boosting voltage using spare MCU peripherals With a few discrete components and some creative thinking, spare microcontroller peripherals can be used to provide a low-current, regulated voltage boost, as Keith Curtis, Technical Staff Engineer, Microchip Technology Inc. explains.
With the trend towards higher integration, more peripherals are being packed into each microcontroller. However, when the key peripherals have been mapped, many designers find that other peripherals are simply left unused. With a little creative thinking and a handful of low-cost discrete components, the right mix of spare peripherals can be used to boost a 5V supply voltage to a low-current, regulated 15V.
The microcontrollerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PWM provides a perfect charge pump, whilst the comparator and bandgap can be used as a simple feedback mechanism. Combining the chargepump-multiplier topology with the PWM
gates through the capacitors, adding about 4.5V per stage. When the output is sufficient to raise the inverting input of the comparator above the reference, the output goes low, and the first capacitor does not
The most obvious solution to boosting the supply would be to go to the expense of using an inductive boost. Another option would be to use a capacitive voltage doubler on the raw supply, but this would add another IC onto the board and also make the voltage susceptible to sagging under load. A more creative approach is to harness unused peripherals on the microcontroller to create a simple capacitor-based voltage multiplier. Using the H-bridge-output modes of the microcontrollerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PWM, together with its voltage comparator, bandgap reference, and a few analogue-todigital converter (ADC) channels, plus a few external capacitors, resistors and diodes, it is possible to create an enhanced version of a voltage doubler or charge pump. The original versions of these were used in the early days of television when the Villard cascade voltage multiplier was used to generate the high voltage for the CRT. 20
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Figure 1: Low-current, regulated, voltage boost circuit produces a circuit that could generate 18V unloaded. Regulating the output down to 15V is achieved by switching the PWM outputs on and off, based on voltage feedback. Figure 1 shows that, when the output voltage is low, the first capacitor is charged for half a cycle through the comparator output. The charge is then transferred to the next capacitor on the other half of the cycle. After several more cycles, the charge propa-
charge, preventing any new charge from propagating to the output. A handful of resistors, capacitors and diodes and a few spare peripherals from a PICÂŽ microcontroller can, therefore, be used to provide functions which would otherwise require the cost of an additional IC on the board n Microchip www.microchip.com
DESIGN
MCUs
Fulfilling the requirements of future EPS systems with the latest microcontroller generation Author: BjĂśrn Grothkast, Senior Engineer Chassis & Safety Marketing, Automotive Business Group, Renesas Electronics Europe, DĂźsseldorf
In ever more new cars the EPS (Electric Power Steering) instead of the classical hydraulic power steering is being used. There are manifold reasons for this: lower energy- that is, less fuel consumption, easier installation in the vehicle, lower fault susceptibility, better adaptability to different car models and last but not least more driving comfort and safety through sophisticated control algorithms. In case problems occur in the EPS-ECU, only very limited vehicle operation due to missing power steering assistance is possible. EPS system manufacturers are therefore working to encounter this problem through redundancies and thus be able to offer a fault-tolerant system, which can guarantee at least a minimum of safe operation. 22
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DESIGN
Maximum functional safety The steering function in the automotive field is not only important for the life and safety of the driver but also of his co-passengers, other road users and even that of the non-involved passers-by. A sudden failure or a malfunction can quickly have catastrophic consequences. It is therefore no surprise that in ESP systems ASIL D is derived from the ISO 26262 standard. Thus, in the ECU safety concept, the microcontroller is treated as the Safety Element out of Context (SEooC) and is also developed in accordance with ASIL D using the state of the art technology. The same safety standard of course has also to be
AUTOMOTIVE
comparatively large program memory as well as up to 400 DMIPS computing power, which is associated with electrical power consumption of up to 1 Watt. Car manufacturers as well as their sub-contractors are getting progressively aware of the fact that even EPS systems are exposed to the dangers like unauthorised replicas, modification of settings and functions as well as attempted frauds in terms of guarantee or warranty. Currently available microcontrollers, developed for EPS systems do not offer any specifically protected memory area and no safe random number generator (TRNG). When an error occurs, most of the present
of fault (fail operation). In future EPS systems will also take over functions in conjunction with the comfort and safety field (like for example, lane assistant, crosswind compensation, parking assistant). For these tasks a large amount of sensor data is to be evaluated and processed. Whereas in the previous EPS generations approximately 384 KB memory size for program code was sufficient, currently hardly any EPS systems requires less than 512 KB memory. Following this trend, for the next generation EPS systems, microcontrollers with considerably larger flash memory and a computing power up to 450 DMIPS are required.
Microcontroller roadmap for automotive applications with stricter requirements for functional safety (Renesas) applied to the software. Meanwhile, in the automotive segment there is hardly any 32-bit microcontroller application which is not based on AUTOSAR architecture. Even though at first the AUTOSAR standard based architecture may appear to be very complex, this is the only way to realise an economically meaningful platform concept. Thanks to the harmonised system architecture it is for example - depending upon the project requirements - relatively easy to add-on or to remove features from the software. Also a large portion of the proven application software can be reused while migrating from one microcontroller generation to the next. A precondition for this approach though is a
day EPS systems put the system into safe state in accordance with ISO 26262 by switching off any power steering support. Especially with relatively heavy vehicles of premium segment however, the driving situation in this case can quickly become very critical, for example, when power steering suddenly fails in a curve and the driver is not prepared for that. Goals for the next EPS generation EPS manufacturers are focussing their efforts now just on these points: more driving comfort and safety, lower current consumption, more protection against manipulation and replicas, and particularly important, continued operation as far as possible even in case
Lower current consumption and higher computing power In contrast to other systems where it is possible to switch between different current saving modes, for microcontrollers in the EPS field extreme low current consumption even in full operation mode is very important. The low heat dissipation of the microcontroller is not only supposed to facilitate new, cost-effective power supply concepts and thermal designs (like for example, plastic housing instead of the costly aluminium housing), but will also contribute towards reduction of CO2 emission of the car leading consequently to lower environmental taxes for the car manufacturer.
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DESIGN
Additionally, for the forthcoming EPS generations the cryptographic protection of communication between the EPS-ECU and other ECUs, connected sensors and external diagnostic devices would be an important issue. Also, it must be ensured that during updates in the workshops only the intended original software from the manufacturer can be loaded. EPS- and car manufacturer expect therefore not only hardware support for AES calculations but also that a non-deterministic random number generator for generating high quality random numbers is implemented. Cryptographic keys and cer-
MCUs
tificates may of course only be stored in a special memory area which is protected against unauthorised reading and writing. In ideal case, already the semiconductor manufacturer would provide each microcontroller with a unique, unalterable and software readable identifier. This would, for example allow identification of individual ECUs and explicitly enable functions only for it.
occurs. The car drivers and with that also the car manufacturers expect a reliable system instead, that is, a system in which at least the basic functionality is guaranteed even after the breakdown of a sub-system. Also the rapid development in the field of autonomous driving is a clear indication that reliable EPS systems would become indispensable in the coming years.
Operational safety goal (Fail Operation) For safety and comfort reasons, it would not be sufficient in near future that EPS systems simply switch themselves off in case a fault
At system level, this can for example be achieved by deploying a 2 Ă&#x2014; 3-phases motor. Thus, even after total breakdown of one 3-phase system, up to 50% of power steering support would still be available in this way. This reduction in performance is noticeable in certain situations, still, it is sufficient though to keep the car under control and drive it safely to the workshop. At the microcontroller level it means implementation of such a redundant system so that both 3-phase systems are synchronised very precisely with each other because even minor deviations in synchronisation would put burden on the mechanics resulting in unpleasant driving experience. One possible solution: Renesas RH850/P1M With the RH850/P1M microcontroller, already available in sample quantities, Renesas will offer EPS system developers the possibility to fulfil the aforementioned requirements of future EPS systems in the easiest possible manner. Not only for EPS developers, the efforts required for a changeover from one microcontroller generation to the next is an important time and cost factor. For this reason, Renesas designed the RH850/P1M microcontroller with the goal of keeping maximum possible compatibility with its predecessor, the V850E2/Px4. Besides already implemented necessary functions in V850E2/Px4 generation for ASIL D systems like, for example, Lock-Step Dual Core (LSDC), Memory Protection Unit (MPU) and ECCs, many new functions have been added in RH850/P1M microcontrollers which are practically indispensable for the next EPS generation.
Block diagram of the RH850/P1M with dedicated components for maximum functional safety and cryptographic applications.
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On top, new packages with only 0.4 mm instead of 0.5 mm pin pitch guarantee more compact ECU design with same functionality. The enhanced 450 DMIPS computing power and up to 2 MB integrated program memory allows implementation of very
DESIGN
AUTOMOTIVE
Thanks to modern 40nm technology, RH850/P1M devices consume only about Âź of the power of other comparable microcontrollers.
sophisticated algorithms. The migration to the leading 40 nm technology in automotive segment ensures thereby that the performance increase is even supplemented with reduction in basic current consumption to less than 150 mA. In the car manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books, this reduction means approximately 75 euro cents less in taxes for the CO2 exhaust and with that lower cost under the bottom line. To safeguard the ECU against manipulations and to secure the confidentiality and
authenticity of messages exchanged with other ECUs, the RH850/P1M is equipped with an integrated Intelligent Cryptographic Unit (ICU-S). This SHE specification (refer: www.automotive-his.de) compatible hardware unit provides a specifically protected flash memory, local RAM, a hardware random number generator and an AES-engine. The protected memory cannot be addressed directly by the CPU but is rather managed by the ICU-S. It is therefore ideally suited for example, as protected place-
ment area for cryptographic keys and certificates. The built-in AES-engine supports 128-Bit key, optionally in ECB- or CBCmode. Additionally, Renesas offers EPS manufacturers to provide all RH850/P1M microcontrollers with a fixed, worldwide unique and internally readable device-ID. As it turns out, in the software field, a 100% ASIL D system is neither necessary, nor is it feasible and justifiable within a commercially meaningful framework. Consequently, meanwhile in the EPS field the software has bifurcated itself in safety-critical and non-safetycritical parts. A retroactive effect free interaction of all safety relevant modules is a must, so that the functional safety of the whole system can be guaranteed even in case of a malfunction (freedom of interference). For the RH850/P1M, an ISO 26262 ASIL D capable MCAL is under development. As in case of its predecessor V850E2/Px4, the RH850/P1M field of application will also not be limited just to the EPS systems. The RH850/P1M is suitable for many applications, which have high demands in terms of functional safety in common. These, besides the next generation EPS systems are for example transmission controls, locking systems, airbags as well as battery management and charging systems for hybrid and electric vehicles.
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DESIGN
MCUs
Schematic overview of the Intelligent Cryptographic Unit (ICU-S). The data flash for cryptographic keys and certificates can only be accessed via the ICU-S. Summary & outlook As described above, the requirements in terms of complexity of algorithms, functional safety, current consumption as well as manipulation and operational safety are increasing with every EPS generation. Most of these requirements are clearly defined. For some others, such as the continuity of operations in case a fault occurs (fail
operation), still different approaches are prevalent today and presumably the most eligible one of those would establish itself in the next few years. Next generation microcontrollers which are already under development like for example, the RH850/P1M from Renesas will help EPS developers to fulfil the requirements of the future EPS systems.
Bibliography/references Yasumasu, T.: The Safety Microcontroller for the Steering System, lecture at symposium “chassis.tech plus 2014”, Munich, June 24 – 25, 2014. RENESAS www.renesas.com n
Renesas Electronics Delivers Enhanced User Experience with Integrated Automotive Cockpit Solution Renesas Electronics, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, is enhancing the driving experience with robust new solutions for the integrated car cockpit. As the newest member of Renesas’ state-of-the-art R-Car Series for automotive, the R-Car E2 automotive systems-onchip (SoCs) and the new R-Car E2 software development board deliver optimized infotainment and display audio for entry-level integrated cockpit systems that support smartphone interoperability and, in combination with other Renesas R-Car Series devices, help achieve the scalability required to bridge the full range of integrated cockpit systems from entry-level to highend models. 26
In an integrated cockpit, the converged system integrates and analyzes multiple streams of information and reports the results to the driver in an optimized format, which is increasingly delivered through interoperation with smartphones. This convergence is driving demand for higher level functionality and greater added value for entrylevel applications. Display audio systems are one growth area that is well suited for smartphone interoperation. This interoperability makes it possible to provide functionality that has been difficult to implement in the vehicle information system itself, and the range of functions is expected to continue expanding. This requires a broad scope
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
of support, including support for interfaces enabling connections with multiple smartphones and sufficient speed to accommodate the broad range of applications accessed via these connections. As a result, software develop-
ment has become more challenging, and the resulting slowdown in development speed and sudden increase in development costs are becoming key issues. Renesas Electronics Europe www.renesas.eu
PRODUCT NEWS
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
J-Link support for Silicon Labs 8051 devices SEGGER has added support for Silicon Labs’ 8051 family of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) to its industry-leading J-Link family of debug probes. This includes run control as well as download into RAM and Flash of all supported devices.
J-Link is known for having the highest debug and download performance into RAM and flash memory on all supported targets. This is not different when it comes to debugging 8051 devices. “We have had an outstanding experience with SEGGER supporting our EFM32® Gecko MCU family and are excited to see this sup-
port extended to our 8051-based MCUs,” said Lars Lydersen, Senior Director of Simplicity at Silicon Labs. “We are excited to bring the proven reliability and outstanding performance of the J-Link line of debug probes to the 8051 development community. It shows that SEGGER can not only support 32bit architectures like ARM, MIPS and RX cores, but also 8-bit architectures and still deliver the same benefits such as ease of use, high performance and direct download to flash memory,” says Alexander Gruener, Product Manager of the SEGGER J-Link family of debug probes. More information on J-Link is available at: http://segger.com/jlink-8051.html SEGGER www.segger.com
SEGGER’s J-Link OB and new Drag & Drop programming feature SEGGER introduces a new Drag & Drop “intuitive programming" feature to its J-Link OB singlechip on-board debug probe. A J-Link OB with Drag & Drop capability appears both as a debug probe and as a flash drive on the user’s computer. The J-Link's high performance and functionality for programming and debugging remain unchanged; the additional flash drive capability simplifies programming the target to dragging a Motorola S-record, Intel Hex, or plain binary file onto the J-Link Drive using the desktop. J-Link Drive enables manufacturers, and thirdparty software developers, to deploy ready-to-go demonstra-
tion applications to customers who can then quickly evaluate the capability of the board, software,
and device—all without installing complex development software. SEGGER www.segger.com
Digi-Key Sweeps 2014 Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards Global electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, the industry leader in electronic component selection, availability and delivery, was recently awarded two prestigious honors at the annual Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards event last week in London. Digi-Key President Mark Larson accepted the “Lifetime Achievement” Award and was joined by Digi-Key’s Regional UK Sales Director Ian Wallace and Business Development Manager Ben Brooks to receive the event’s top award, “Distributor of the Year.”
Left: Ben Brookes - EMEA Representative Business Development Manager, Digi-Key Corporation, Mark Larson President, Digi-Key Corporation, Ian Wallace - Sales Director UK, Ireland & South Africa, Digi-Key Corporation According to the judges, Digi-Key was selected based on the rapid adoption of its unique hybrid distribution model along with and its commitment to innovation, leadership, an expanded European customer base and impressive year-over-year sales performance. “Digi-Key has redefined its channel strategy as a hybrid distributor which combines its established web-based sales activity with European field sales teams to provide local support,” explained the Elektra Award judging panel. “It has also developed its shortorder production business targeting new customers. As a result it saw sales growth of 32% in the UK in the last 12 months. A significant change in the distributor’s traditional business model was a bold move and the resulting sale growth was impressive.” Larson was chosen as the winner of this year’s Elektra Lifetime Achievement Award as a result of his leading role in creating one of the largest, fastest growing global brands in electronic component distribution. Attributed to the company’s vast product selection and best-in-class website user experience, the company is consistently chosen by product design engineers “most preferred” distributor in the industry. “Mark Larson was instrumental in expanding this innovative organization from a small, local US-based business to a global leader in ecommerce which today derives the majority of its sales via the Internet,” commented award presenter Richard Wilson of Electronics Weekly. “It’s an astonishing success story to follow Digi-Key from its humble beginnings to a stand-out market leader with an anticipated $1.76 billion in annual sales, 3,200 employees and a fulfillment capacity of over 30,000 orders per day.” The Elektra Awards are the industry’s most respected awards, celebrating the achievements of individuals and companies across the European electronics industry. More information can be found at www.elektraawards.co.uk. DIGI-KEY CORPORATION www.digikey.com www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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DESIGN
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What are the price advantages of light color regulation via feedback control? Author: Dr. Fred Grunert, Managing Director, MAZeT
When looking at color correction or control solutions in LED lighting systems - these are often regarded as an expensive add-on. But actually it is possible to reduce the overall costs and future maintenance costs of a lighting system by using direct feedback solutions. This article demonstrates how to resolve various issues LED engineers have to cope with.
The current state-of-the-art LEDs demonstrate a high luminosity intensity but are in an early development-stage when it comes to brightness relations between chip temperature as well as aging-effects of the lightemitting layer of LEDs.
LED is greater than compared to a blue LED. The brightness decreases by almost 40% during temperature drifts of 5°C (41°F) to 70°C (158°F). Shifts within the color perception and brightness of mixed light are inevitable. Additionally, the user must decide how to calibrate the light source,
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE The dependence of the brightness and the wavelength in correlation to given temperatures are known negative issues. Image 1 demonstrates the behavior of red, green, blue combinations of a LED light source. Image 1 shows that the dependence of a red 28
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Image 1: Dependence of wavelength and brightness regarding to the temperature of an RGB-LED
depending on the environmental influences (such as temperature or pressure) and desired output of light color. Especially in larger projects, consisting of multiple light sources it is problematic to maintain stable light color conditions. Even inexperienced viewers can see color differences and heterogeneous light color conditions at color point tolerance levels of ∆E= 2.5 to 3. Example: A specific characteristic of the human eye is to react to color differences whereas the evaluation of the absolute color value is problematic without comparison values. These differences in color perception can even be increased by varying the brightness levels. Therefore slight color variances in LED panels or backlighting solutions can result into a major technological issue.
DESIGN
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Image 2: Tiling Wall illumination simulation at tolerances of â&#x2C6;&#x2020;E=3
AGING EFFECTS
In other words - drift effects that can be seen by the average human eye. Achieving long-
term color point stability is also a requirement to meet EnergyStar regulations.
Even though the lifecycle of LED data sheets document beneficial statistics compared to the traditional light bulb - LEDs also experience brightness drifts from the first day of usage. Usually the lifecycle of an LED is based on a brightness loss of more than 70% compared to the original values. Far before the 70% loss-level, differences and heterogeneous lighting effects can be experienced, which are proven by scientific tests in lighting laboratories. Image 3 demonstrates the brightness characteristics of a RGB high brightness LED within the first 5000 hours of operation. An interesting fact is that not only brightness loss could be experienced, but also a temporary increase of the light output has been recorded. These characteristics differ, depending on the used materials within red, green and blue LEDs. It has been proven that the brightness loss within the first 5000 operating hours can vary between 5% to 15%.
Image 3: Brightness drift of RGB-LEDs related to time in hours (Source: Avago) www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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DESIGN
Exchanging single LEDs within a lighting system, as a result to environmental effects or damage can be a difficult and expensive maintenance task. These maintenance and running costs can be drastically reduced via feedback control options. The question is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;What kind of cost-efficient solution can resolve these issues?â&#x20AC;? THE CONCEPT OF OPTICAL FEEDBACK SYSTEMS There are known solutions to stabilize the current and voltage of LEDs. There are also solutions that measure the temperature of LEDS (as far as technological possible) and report these values to the LED driver to create a temperature control-loop. These solutions are indirect regulation solutions. An alternative method is the direct regulation via light color. This concept is shown in Image 4. The demonstrated solution differs from the (unregulated) control option by implementing a color sensor, depending on the lighting concept, to send RGB or other color values to the micro controller to directly regulate the LED light output. The software of the micro controller compares the given and set values and directs these to the output driver. Image 4 demonstrates an
SENSORS
RGB system. But this concept works for any LED light source, such as RGB white or RGB amber-white. What is not demonstrated is how the color sensor detects the light. Therefore it is useful to generate simple solutions whereas reflecting light can be send to the color sensor. In other words existing reflectors of manufacturers can be used to achieve this goal at no or hardly any cost increase. BENEFITS OF OPTICAL FEEDBACK SOLUTIONS The LED driver used in can be of simplistic and cost-efficient nature: even a driver without current or LED voltage regulation and without temperature sensor or feedback. A main issue of the overall savings is the calculation of the total costs as well as future maintenance costs. An additional issue is the question of LED binning. It would be ideal if the light sectors could be directly controlled via the given light output. This would eliminate the requirement of buying from specific bins or just from a single LED manufacturer. Therefore this approach is not only technological beneficial but can also save money during the development planning. It is enough if a LED is within a specific color seg-
Image 4: Concept of optical feedback via light color of LEDs 30
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ment to later on adjust the overall light output. The consistency of the light will be regulated via feedback control. If one wants to use the binning segments highlighted in green, the only requirement is to adjust regulation range. The regulation range is usually set to a value of 30% based on aging- and temperature drift effects, therefore the segment needed to eliminate binning effects is of little importance. But it can save money during the purchasing operation, since tolerance ranges of LED Binnings can be strongly reduced or even eliminated. Often it is hard to buy the same classes/ranges of LEDs at one manufacturer without waiting periods. When taking the availability of specific LED classes into consideration, this can ease the entire purchasing process and limit waiting times until the next class of the same manufacturer is ready. The visual light color range is shown in Image 6. The continuous line demonstrates the presentable color gamut based on all tolerances including the regulation range. THE OVERALL SAVINGS POTENTIAL In the end of the calculation one needs to recognize the costs benefits and compare. Eliminating negative issues and effects of LEDs
DESIGN
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Image 5: Binning of LEDs by LED manufacturer Luminus such das binning or color inconstancies as well as creating a long-term stable solutions are just some elements, which can reduce the overall development costs and future running maintenance costs. Therefore it is essential to find the right solution for the given problem and weight the benefits and costs. The given solution sets itself apart from traditional lighting systems by utilizing control options of LED sources,
eliminating negative aging, temperature and light color shifts, generating long-term stability and reducing potential future maintenance costs. It is important to choose a sensor that does not show aging-effects itself and is based on the perception of the human eye. The JENCOLOR sensors by MAZeT offer exact these characteristics n MAZeT www.mazet.de
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) MAZeT-Homepage: www.mazet.de (2) Color sensor product information: www.mazet.de/en/products/jencolor (3) A. Wego, Korrekte Erkennung von Farben und Oberfl채chen mit Farbsensoren, Photonik, 5/2010, pp. 38-42, 2010 (4) AVAGO-Homepage (LED aging-characteristics) FURTHER INFORMATION: (1) Video Webinar: JENCOLOR Webinar: Precise control of LED colors for lighting design
Image 6: Visual range within the color gamut with RGB-LEDs based on color tolerances (Binning) www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
SENSORS
LED color control using Sensor Instruments On an electrical toothbrush the color of the LEDs should be controlled. Furthermore the ON/OFF – times of the LEDs should be determined, too. Thus a color sensor must be used, which is able to detect lightning sources and which comes with a high scan rate and an adequate switching frequency. For the investigations a color sensor type SPECTRO-3-FIO-CL is used in
connection with an optical fiber type R-S-A2.0-(2.5)-1200-67° and an optical frontend type KL-M18-A2.0. The distance from the frontend to the object is around 30 mm. During the tests it has emerged that it is helpful to use instead of the LED OFF mode the DC mode, but with very low power, just as much as necessary to see the white light spot. Since the white light spot shows
exactly the detecting area of the color sensor it´s easy to direct the optical frontend KL-M18-A2.0 to the right position. As shown in the screenshots, the white light spot influences the result of the LED light just a bit, which can be neglected. A proper detection of the color as well as of the intensity of the respective LEDs is possible. The results are shown in the screenshots.
O’BOYLE www.oboyle.ro
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Leuze n n n
ASM
Optical sensors Sensors for logistic applications Safety at work
Contrinex n n
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Linear Sensors Angle Sensors Tilt Sensors
Selec
Optical Sensors Inductive Sensors
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Color Sensors True Color Sensors, Spectrometers Gloss Sensors
Kobold n n n
Flowmeters Level Indicators and Switches Pressure Sensors and Switches
Heavy Duty Industrial Connectors Power and Data Transmission Connectors
Circular connectors M8; M12; M23 Cable and Connectors for Sensors Valve Connectors Distribution Blocks
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Intertec n n
Linear Solenoids Permanent Electromagnets
AUTOMATION Differentiation of leather imitations of interior automotive components using Sensor Instruments Different colored interior components should be distinguished. For this purpose a color sensor type SPECTRO-3-50-FCL-JR is used. The distance from the color sensor to the object is approximately 50mm. The color sensor SPECTRO-3-50-FCL is using the direct light reflection of the surface from the leather imitation, thus a combination of color and gloss control is realized. Especially on parts with no color difference, the different gloss values of different structured objects deliver a good possibility to distinguish between the components. As shown in the screenshots, a proper differentiation of the leather imitations is possible.
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;BOYLE www.oboyle.ro www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
SENSORS
Differentiation of a matt and a glossy chromate knob using Sensor Instruments A matt chromate knob should be differentiated from a glossy chromate knob. Both types are used in the automotive interior field. For this purpose and after we have tested all of the different color sensor types without any success, we have decided to use a
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;BOYLE www.oboyle.ro
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laser displacement sensor type LLAS-LT-50-CL, but not to measure the distance to the object, but to use the different reflectivity of the matt and the glossy surface. The distance to the object is approximately 50mm and the peak of the video signal from
the matt surface, which can be observed on the WindowsÂŽ surface, is significant higher than the peak from the glossy surface (which is nearly zero). The screen shots show that a proper differentiation between matt and glossy knob is possible.
PRODUCT NEWS
ACTIVE COMPONENTS
Toshiba Launches ARM® Cortex®-A9 Based Application Processors with Enhanced Sound and Image Data-Mining and Security Functions Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced the launch of three new application processors as the latest additions to its ApP Lite™ family's ARM® Cortex®-A9-based TZ2000 series. The new TZ2100 group devices are high performance application processors, which support enhanced sound and image data-mining, communications and security functions. Recent advances in big data are making it easier to sift through huge volumes of data and to develop services that provide users with greater value and convenience. These advances require higher performance application processors that support secure communica-
tion and provide timely processing of text, sound and images. TZ2100 group devices can operate at a maximum frequency at 600MHz, a rate supporting high speed processing. They are
Microchip releases 4th-generation JukeBlox® Wi-Fi® Platform for the ultimate streaming audio entertainment experience Microchip announces the release of its fourth-generation JukeBlox® platform that enables audio brands to develop high quality, low-latency products such as standalone or multi-room wireless speakers, AV receivers, mini and micro systems, and sound bars. Microchip’s new JukeBlox 4 Software Development Kit (SDK) in combination with its CY920 Wi-Fi® & Bluetooth® Network Media Module includes next-generation dual-band Wi-Fi technology, MultiZone/multi-room features, AirPlay® and DLNA® connectivity as well as integrated music services to enhance the consumer’s listening experience. Additional costsaving features lower bill of materials and enable competitively priced consumer products.
well suited to a wide range of products such as the embedded devices that will realize the Internet of Things (IoT), handheld devices, and industrial equipment. TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS EUROPE www.toshiba-components.com
Toshiba Launches Microcontroller Enabling High-Speed Arithmetic Processing for Digital Equipment Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has expanded its TX04 series of microcontrollers with the launch of TMPM440F10XBG. The ARM® Cortex®–M4F core-based microcontroller will find application in broad range of digital devices including precision equipment, portable devices and security cameras with motion sensors, single-lens reflex cameras, and amusement machines. Improving performance of digital equipment is driving demand for a reduction in microcontroller arithmetic processing times so that overall performance can be maintained and improved. The new microcontroller integrates a high performance ARM® Cortex®-M4F core, an original programmable servo/sequence controller (PSC) co-processor and NANO FLASH-
100 flash memory. This combination enables the parallel processing of filtering operations and arithmetic operations for various sensor outputs, cutting arithmetic processing time to one fifth that of its predecessor.
TMPM440F10XBG features 1024Kbytes of embedded NANO FLASH-100 flash memory that achieves a zero-wait cycle during random access at the CPU operating speed of 100MHz. TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS EUROPE www.toshiba-components.com
The certified CY920 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Network Media Module is based on Microchip’s new, low-cost DM920 Wi-Fi Network Media Processor, which integrates 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, high-speed USB 2.0 and Ethernet connectivity. Speakers using the 5 GHz band avoid the RF congestion found in the 2.4GHz band, resulting in fewer audio drops and the ability to use a greater number of speakers in multiroom/whole-home audio systems. The DM920 Wi-Fi Network Media Processor also features integrated dual 300 MHz DSP cores that can reduce or eliminate the need for costly standalone DSP chips. An easy-to-use, PC-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) simplifies the use of a pre-developed suite of standard speaker-tuning DSP algorithms, including a 15-band equalizer, multiband dynamic range compression, equalizer presets and various filter types. Engineers with no DSP code-writing experience can easily implement DSP into their designs, while experienced DSP engineers can harness the full power of an industry-standard DSP architecture. With JukeBlox 4, product developers can build solutions equipped to directly stream cloud-based music services such as Spotify® Connect, Qobuz, Rhapsody, Deezer and many others while using mobile devices as remote controls. MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/JukeBlox-Page-120814a www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
Microchip introduces new lowcost PIC32MX1/2/5 32-bit microcontroller series with feature-rich peripheral mix and large, scalable memory configuration Microchip announces a new series of its low-cost, high pin-count 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers (MCUs). By blending the key features of Microchip’s existing PICM32MX1/2 and PIC32MX5 MCU families, this latest PIC32MX1/2/5 MCU series delivers designers the benefits of a rich peripheral set for a wide range of cost-sensitive applications that require complex code and higher feature integration at a lower cost.
With up to 83 DMIPS performance and large, scalable memory options from 512/64 KB Flash/RAM to 64/8 KB Flash/RAM, these new PIC32MX1/2/5 MCUs are ideal for executing the Bluetooth® audio software required for low-cost Bluetooth audio applications, such as speakers, consumer music-player docks, noise-cancelling headsets and clock radios. Flexible, easyto-use CAN2.0B controllers are also integrated into these MCUs, with DeviceNet™ addressing support and programmable bit rates up to 1 Mbps, along with system RAM for storing up to 1024 messages in 32 buffers. This feature allows designers to easily employ CAN communication schemes for industrial and automotive applications. The new series boasts a wide variety of additional features, including four SPI/I2S interfaces for audio processing and playback, a Parallel Master Port (PMP) and capacitive touch-sensing hardware for graphics and touch-sensing interfaces; a 10-bit, 1 Msps, 48-channel Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC); as well as a full-speed USB 2.0 Device/Host/OTG peripheral. In addition to their rich mix of integrated hardware peripheral features, these MCUs are supported by Microchip’s powerful MPLAB® Harmony software development framework, which simplifies the software development process by integrating the licence, resale and support of Microchip and third-party middleware, drivers, libraries and real time operating systems (RTOSs). MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/PIC32MX-Page-110314a 36
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ACTIVE COMPONENTS High Power Two-Fold Low Frequency Initiator Device with Integrated Immobilizer Functionality Utilizing its expertise in wireless technology and passive entry/start systems for automotive, Melexis introduces the MLX74190. This low-frequency (LF) initiator IC, consists of two high power, independently programmable LF drivers plus built-in immobilizers. The device is highly suited to a variety of different wireless communication deployments where power efficient operation is of prime importance, in such diverse sectors as automotive, safety and building automation. One of the main applications for this device is automobile remote passive start, where it is used to transmit a high power LF signal to wake-up the key inside the car. The key sends out its encrypted identification number to the car
via an ultra-high frequency (UHF) signal, enabling the engine to start. It can also serve for a similar purpose with other vehicles, such as motorcycles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), jet skis, snowmobiles and motorboats, where the key holder can be detected
when approaching the engine and will be able to activate it from a ‘Start’ button. MELEXIS www.melexis.com
IR Introduces Rugged AUIRGP66524D0 and AUIRGF66524D0 Automotive- Qualified 600V IGBTs for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles International Rectifier has launched the AUIRGP66524D0 and AUIRGF66524D0 automotive-qualified 600V IGBTs which are optimized for small auxiliary motor drive applications including air conditioning compressors for electric and hybrid vehicles. Leveraging IR’s COOLiRIGBT™ platform and co-packaged with a soft recovery diode, the 24A AUIRGP66524D0 and AUIRGF66524D0 feature low VCE(ON) to reduce power dissipation and maximum junction temperature of 175°C to achieve extremely high power density. Available in a standard length lead TO-247 and long lead TO-247 package, the new devices also offer a minimum 6μs short circuit rating at 150°C. A square reverse bias safe operating area (SRB-
SOA) provides additional ruggedness. The devices are designed with a positive VCE(ON) temperature coefficient for easy paralleling for higher power applications.
IR’s automotive IGBTs are subject to dynamic and static part average testing combined with 100 percent automated wafer level visual inspection as part of IR’s automotive quality initiative targeting zero defects. INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER www.irf.com
PRODUCT NEWS New Microchip USB2.0 4-port controller hub featuring FlexConnect technologyconnects smartphones to automotive infotainment systems Microchip announces the extension of its USB2 Controller Hub (UCH2) portfolio with the new automotive-grade, 4-port, USB84604 IC. Featuring FlexConnect technology and an upstream port that supports both USB2.0 and High Speed Interchip (HSIC) connectivity, the new USB84604 UCH2 is ideal for automotive infotainment system designs, where USB port expansion and connectivity is needed.
Meeting the desire of consumers for a “connected vehicle,” Microchip’s FlexConnect technology allows for easy port reversals or “role swapping.” The USB84604’s downstream port 1 is able to swap with the upstream host port, thus transferring the host capability to the product connected to the UCH2, such as smartphones and tablets. This unique capability allows for the smartphone ecosystem of software and applications to be connected to the automobile infotainment system. The IC’s HSIC connectivity, which incorporates Microchip's Inter-Chip Connectivity™ technology, enables the USB84604 UCH2 connected on a circuit board to utilize the ubiquitous USB2.0 protocol, dramatically decreasing power consumption. This power reduction is most obvious when actively transferring data, and has been measured to be one seventh of the power consumed by a pair of traditional USB2.0 physical-layer transceivers. The 4-port USB84604 UCH2 can attach to an upstream port as a Full Speed hub or as a Full/High Speed hub. When connected to a High Speed host, the four downstream-facing ports can operate at Low Speed (1.5 Mbps), Full Speed (12 Mbps) or High Speed (480 Mbps). Additionally, the USB84604’s integrated battery-charger-detection circuitry supports downstream battery detection and charging, providing the ability to replace external battery chargers with advanced batterycharging modes such as USB-IF Battery Charging (BC1.2) and Apple®. To ensure optimised signal strengths and robust operation in the harsh Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) environments typical of automotive applications, Microchip’s VariSense™ and PHYBoost technologies have also been integrated into the UCH2. MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/USB84604-Page-111014a
ACTIVE COMPONENTS
Microchip introduces new 5V dsPIC33 “EV” family for enhanced noise immunity and robustness in harsh environments Microchip announces from the SPS IPC Drives Conference in Germany a new family of 16-bit dsPIC33 Digital Signal Controllers (DSC) with the dsPIC33 "EV" family. This new family provides 5V operation for improved noise immunity and robustness, ideal for devices operating in harsh environments such as appliance and automotive applications. The dsPIC33EV family is the first dsPIC® DSC with Error Correcting Code (ECC) Flash for increased reliability and safety. For safety-critical applications, the dsPIC33EV devices also include Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), Deadman Timer (DMT), and Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT) peripherals as well as a backup system oscillator and certified Class B software.
Other key features of this family include up to 6 advanced motor control PWMs, 12-bit ADC, and operational amplifiers, an ideal combination for motor-control applications. The dsPIC33EV devices provide easy interface to 5V automotive sensors such as level or flow sensing, with improved noise immunity and enhanced reliability, and provide plenty of performance to execute smart sensor filter algorithms and integrate CAN communication software. For robust automotive touch user interfaces, the higher voltage operation enables more dynamic range and support for larger screen sizes. The dsPIC33EV devices offer up to 150°C operation with AEC-Q100 Grade 0 qualification enabling robust automotive applications that are ideal for under-hood applications. The advanced peripheral integration features include CAN and SENT peripherals for automotive communications, 70 MIPS performance with DSP acceleration for highspeed control algorithm execution. The dsPIC33 “EV” family is supported by Microchip’s dsPIC33EV 5V CAN-LIN Starter Kit (DM330018) priced at $79.99. For motor control applications, a new dsPIC33EV256GM106 5V Motor Control Plug-In Module (MA330036), priced at $25.00, is available to plug into the Low Voltage Motor Control Development Bundle (DV330100) priced at $369.00. MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/dsPIC33EV-5V-Family-Product-Page-112514a www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
Lighting Solutions / Display
Transporting Furniture into the Digital Age; Zytronic Enhances Interactive Tables with Multi-Touch Technology Zytronic, with the assistance of its French distributor Eurocomposant, has secured ongoing business with interactive furniture producer HUMElab. The touchscreen manufacturer is now producing ultra-durable pcap sensors for a series of multitouch table products, targeted at use in home, restaurant and hospitality settings.
furniture with Zytronic’s innovative multi-touch solutions, each HUMElab TABATA table incorporates a large format, HD, touch-enabled display. Through which users can carry out a wide range of exciting functions, such as playing complex multi-user games, ordering food, surfing the web and connecting with friends via social media, etc.
EVERLIGHT debuts Automotive LED light sources for interior and exterior applications EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, is launching several light sources for interior and exterior automotive applications at electronica 2014. LEDs made their way into cars via widespread applications for illumination. The passive safety,
ments play an eminent role. EVERLIGHT has accumulated rich practical experience in both interior and exterior automotive LED applications via design-in into many car models, thanks to the cooperation with global car makers and customers in the car supply chain. EVERLIGHT’s interior automo-
however, that once relied on the driver to identify danger, is now moving towards active safety in smart cars through the combination of advanced LED and electronics technology which enhance safety configurations and energy savings alike - both most important criteria in driving. Among the sensor elements used, the photo-ele-
tive LED solutions include a wide variety of product lines ranging from 0402 (EU), 0603 (EU), 0805 (EU) to 1206 (EU) chip LED package and PLCC series in compact package sizes and multiple color tones for dashboards, audio and control panels. EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS CO. LTD. www.everlight.com
Rutronik presents Osram’s first integrated optical sensor
Requiring leading-edge multitouch operation, it was vital for HUMElab that the touch sensors supplied for this project were able to meet a number of challenging criteria. Firstly: the sensors needed to withstand the stresses associated with high usage public areas, be low maintenance and easy to clean, whilst still maintaining accurate multitouch responses. Secondly, the sensors needed to be aesthetically pleasing and fit comfortably into high-end luxury environments. Zytronic’s award winning Projected Capacitive Technology (PCT™) was chosen as it fulfils all of these requirements. Combining beautifully designed 38
Supplied to HUMElab in 22, 32 and 42-inch formats, each sensor features elegant customised printed borders with sleek polished edges; offering an attractive bezel-less design. While antiglare, thermally-toughened 4 and 6mm glass allows for excellent readability in all light conditions as well as protecting the sensing elements from environmental and physical damage. Zytronic’s PCT™ technology is manufactured using a microfine metal matrix of sensing elements (only 10 microns in diameter) embedded into a laminated substrate. ZYTRONIC www.zytronic.co.uk
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
Distributor Rutronik introduces the first integrated optical sensor from Osram Opto Semiconductors. The SFH 7050 for automatic fitness tracking is used in mobile devices, such as smart watches and fitness armbands, and simplifies personal heart rate or pulse rate measurement. The SFH 7050 sensor has three built-in emitters with different wavelengths of 530nm (green), 660nm (red) and 940nm (infrared). Each of them is based on highly efficient thin-film chip technology with narrow spectral bandwidths of around 30nm. This helps save power and also offers high signal quality for particularly reliable measurements. The red LED has a specified wavelength tolerance of only ±3nm, which guarantees
precise measurements. The emitters enable the pulse at the wrist or fingertip and the oxygen in the blood at the fingertip to be measured. They can be controlled individually so the sensor can be used for different applications. Green light is used for measuring the pulse at the
wrist, red or infrared emitters are generally used for measuring the pulse at the finger as they can then also measure the oxygen content of the blood. RUTRONIK www.rutronik.com
PRODUCT NEWS
Lighting Solutions / Display
Penta Adlink Technology's Medical Panel-PC MLC 4-21 featuring latest Intel Core processors Penta Adlink Technology's new Medical Panel-PC MLC 4-21 being premiered at the Medica 2014 (hall 10, stand F59), are setting a new benchmark in the field of completely hygienic medical PCs with allround IP65-protection. The 21.5 inch panel PCs from Europe's market leader in complete medical systems weighs less that 10 kilograms and can be mounted onto conventional ceiling supply systems with no need for any special mounting kit. At a depth of just 77 mm, the PCs have been constructed much flatter, delivering superior ergonomics over previous systems. The performance of the EN60601-1- and EN60601-1-2-compliant medical panel PCs has been increased significantly in comparison to its predecessors. Thanks to the sys-
tems' excellent graphic capabilities, three independent high resolution screens can be controlled, so that users benefit from increased performance at lower
overall systems costs. Due to the new medical PCs' robust construction and passive cooling (free of fans, cooling slots or any type of cooling fins), a high level of fail-safe operation is ensured enabling reliable, error-free and long-term deployment even under the most critical environmental conditions. PENTA ADLINK TECHNOLOGY www.penta.de
MSC Technologies delivers the first samples of on-cell LCD modules with integrated PCAP touch screen from Kyocera MSC Technologies, a business group of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, a business region of Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT), delivers the first engineering samples of LCD modules made by Kyocera based on an innovative on-cell technology. The new oncell technology ensures an excellent optical performance and good readability of the display coupled with small thickness and reduced weight.
ICOP Technology introduces highly flexible, small-sized panel PC for HMIs Following the miniaturization trend in electronics to ever smaller structures, ICOP Technology announces the introduction of the HMI-043T, a new 4.3 inch, highly flexible and innovative HMI panel which extends its product range of 5.7 to 15 inch panel PCs at the small form factor edge of intelligent x86 devices. The key innovation the expansion I/O bus hidden inside this new HMI product - allows for the highest flexibility and easiest customizability available today in the market. HMI-043T's fanless low-power design features DMP's latest Vortex86EX CPU and operates in harsh environments from -20 to +60°C. Its front panel, including the resistive touchscreen, is IP65 compliant. The two standard products both have an SD Card slot,
USB, CAN and LAN interfaces, but differ in their input voltage supply: either Power over Ethernet following IEEE 802.3at or wide range from +7 to +24V. The HMI-043T is available in a 116 x 94 x 34 mm metal enclosure as well as an open frame version which can be integrated
into the customer's own housing. The HMI device supports DOS, Linux, Windows CE and RTOS. The 100 piece price for the standard HMI panel starts at just €99 per piece. ICOP TECHNOLOGY www.icoptech.eu
For the on-cell technology, the projected capacitive (PCAP) touch sensor is attached directly to the glass front of the display. The polarizing filter is attached above it, without any air gap to the touch screen. The touch-screen controller is also fully integrated in the display module. Because the touch-screen panel and the controller are less subject to the electromagnetic radiation of the LC display and the application environment, they operate with significantly lower radiation effects than displays with separately gluedon touch screen. Furthermore, the simple integration of on-cell LCD modules is possible. The 7 inch (17.8 cm) TCG070WVLRxPCxGDx118/117 TFT modules with USB/I²C interface are available as first samples. The resolution is 800 × 480 pixels with aspect ratio 15 : 9. The contrast ratio is specified as 650 : 1. The displays are based on wide-view technology with 85 degrees in all directions and achieve a brightness of 500 cd/m². The 30-pin single channel LVDS data interface with 6-bit RGB supports a color palette of maximum 262 K colors. The outline dimensions of the LCD module are 169.8 × 109.7 × 9.2 mm. The active area is 152.4 × 91.44 mm. The display surface is equipped with an anti-glare film that has anti-fingerprint treatment. Thanks to its very good readability, the display is also suitable for outdoor applications. The extended operating temperature range is -30°C to +80°C. For applications that require the display to also be read in bright sunlight, the TCG070WVLR×PC×GD×140 model is offered with I²C interface and optically-bonded cover glass. MSC TECHNOLOGIES www.msc-technologies.eu www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
SENSORS
Highly Robust MEMS-Based Pressure Sensors for Direct & Oil-Filled Sensing Systems
Automotive 1.35Mpixel CMOS Image Sensor for Driver Assistance & Driverless Cars
Melexis has introduced two new pressure sensor products which combine high sensitivity and strong linearity. Fully automotive qualified (exceeding AEC-Q100 requirements), the MLX90815 and MLX90816 are discrete micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices for measuring absolute pressure in demanding operational env ironments. The MLX90815 is designed for optimal performance when determining pressures from 0 to 30 bar absolute, while the MLX90816 covers full scale pressures ranging from 30 bar to 50 bar absolute. Both have a maximum deviation in their linearity of just 0.2% FS. Typical sensitivity for the MLX90815 is 1.5mV/V/bar and for the
Melexis introduces its 3rd generation of automotive image sensors – the MLX75421 Blackbird. This automotive grade, high dynamic range (HDR) image sensor features an extensive set of on-chip functional safety (ASIL) support functions. It has been architected for automotive safety applications like automatic emergency braking (AEB), electronic mirrors/camera monitor systems (CMS) and autonomous evasive steering. The device is also highly optimized for next generation viewing applications like surround/rear view systems with object detection functions. The MLX75421 Blackbird’s set of ASIL support functions are explicitly aimed at a cost-effective implementation of ASIL systems. With a resolution of
MLX90816 it is 0.5mV/V/bar. The sensor element incorporated into every one of these MEMS devices consists of a piezo-resistive Wheatstone bridge connected to a micro-
machined silicon pressure membrane, fabricated using Melexis’ own proprietary process technology. As pressure is applied to the membrane, a differential voltage change occurs across the outputs of the Wheatstone bridge while a bias voltage is applied to the bridge inputs. MELEXIS www.melexis.com
ON Semiconductor’s new 2.1 megapixel CMOS Image Sensor delivers high performance 1080p HDR video ON Semiconductor, driving energy efficiency innovations, has introduced its latest high performance CMOS image sensor targeted for use in advanced video security cameras. The AR0230CS image sensor is a 1/2.7 inch optical format device with 105 decibel (dB) dynamic range that com-
bines industry leading low-light capabilities with superior nearinfrared (NIR) performance. For security camera makers looking to upgrade their current 720p IP camera designs, the AR0230CS offers high quality 40
1080p (1920 × 1088 resolution) video, from the 1/2.7 inch 2.1 megapixel (MP) CMOS sensor with integrated high dynamic range (HDR) support. This image sensor enables the capture of high-definition (HD) 1080p video data at a rate of 60 frames-per-second (fps). It includes integrated support for HDR video, with improved motion compensation, advanced local tone mapping (ALTM), and digital lateral overflow (DLO) to minimize motion artifacts and enhance HDR colour reproduction. This complete HDR functionality ensures fast time to market for new HDR 1080p camera designs. Additionally, the AR0230CS provides interleaved T1/T2 output for those using third-party ISP HDR support. ON SEMICONDUCTOR www.onsemi.com
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
1344×1008 pixels, the MLX75421 Blackbird has a 1/3” optical format. It features a 4 stabilized kneepoint HDR response curve which provides up to 125dB of HDR inside every frame. The HDR full frame rate is
45fps, while 60fps can be achieved when capturing image data from 800 rows. This makes the image sensor also compatible with 720p applications. MELEXIS www.melexis.com
Melexis Unveils Software-Defined Sensor Melexis introduces a new, fully programmable, extremely compact sensor IC capable of accurately measuring changes in magnetic flux density along its X, Y and Z axes. Based on the company’s proprietary Triaxis® technology, the MLX90393 provides almost unlimited scope with which all manner of human machine interface implementations can be accomplished - from joystick, slide switches, push/pull switches, levelers, linear swipe switches and rotary knobs, right through to complex 3D position sensing systems. Suitable for micropower applications, the IC draws just 2.5μA of current when idle. It employs a monolithic pixel cell arrangement and has a 16-bit resolution output. Using its SPI and I2C interfaces, engineers can access the MLX90393’s various operating modes; continuous;
single measurement; wake up on change and burst mode. In addition, the device’s settings can be adjusted at runtime as required by the application needs. The burst mode duty cycle programmable range spans between 0.1% and 100%. By having it higher, fast response time applications can be served.
Conversely, by having a lower duty cycle the current consumption can be curbed at supply voltages as low as 2.2V. MELEXIS www.melexis.com
PRODUCT NEWS
CONNECTORS
FCI Introduces PwrBlade+™ Cable FCI, a leading supplier of connectors and interconnect systems, announced today the release of PwrBlade+™ cable connectors. Rated at 60Amps per contact and capable of terminating the widest range of wires in one housing, 26AWG- 6AWG, the PwrBlade+™ cable connectors offer flexibility to meet a wide variety of customer needs. The connectors come in both cable-to-cable and cable-to-board solutions. The cable connectors are offered in either panel mount or free hanging designs. The new slide to lock (STL) panel mount design saves on installation, material, and labor costs by eliminating hardware. The available wire range is 10AWG-6AWG for high power,
16AWG-12AWG for low power, and 26AWG-22AWG for signal allowing users to select the appropriate connector to meet their application needs. The PwrBlade™+ Cable is designed to operate between
-40°C and 125°C. The PwrBlade+™ Cable provides a flexible, low cost solution in applications such as telecommunication switches, high-end servers, and hot swappable power supplies. FCI www.fci.com
EZ-Shield Cans now available in kit form for fast, low cost development Harwin, the leading hi-rel connector and SMT board hardware manufacturer, now offers its EZ-Shield Can EMC protection screening products in kit form, enabling designers to rapidly construct PCB cans at minimal cost for development purposes. Harwin’s EZ-Shield Cans are simply pressed onto pre-positioned surface mount EZ-Shield Clips forming an EMC cage around sensitive ICs and electronic circuitry. This saves expensive, labour-intensive secondary assembly and facilitates rework. A range of can sizes and clips are available. However, during development and test, typically engineers have had to order bespoke cans without being 100% certain of their eventual requirements, incurring costs and creating delays. Now, a can may be created easily and effectively in minutes, with no special tools or experience required.
GCT expands high reliability compact White Lite LED lighting connector range In line with ever evolving customer requirements GCT, a leading provider of interconnection technologies, has expanded its range of White Lite LED lighting connectors. Engineered to be the perfect choice for LED strip light applications, the new BJ300 and 301 two position mating connector combinations offer reliable dual contact design. To speed up design download drawings, 3D models and specifications from the GCT website at www.gct.co LED strip applications are usually low cost, consisting of small panels of LED lights clustered on PCB’s. The PCB’s snap together in co-planar orientation. GCT White Lite connectors fit perfectly with these applications as they’re economically priced and fit onto small and thin PCBs, mated connector height is
2.6mm, with a total mated footprint of 8.80mm (width) × 11.00mm (depth). A dual contact design including a mating guide offers high reliability and protects terminals dur-
The low cost kit comprises two 80mm × 60mm × 0.3mm thick Nickel Silver sheets that are pre-scribed on a 5mm grid to allowing easy cutting and forming, enabling the user to produce a shield can of the required dimensions. Auto-placeable EZ-Shield Can Clips which hold the cans securely in place are also included. Comments Product Manager, Paul Gillam: “Product testing has confirmed that the nickel silver material used provides effective and useable shielding, with up to 24dB attenuation achieved, depending on frequency and configuration. We believe that the kits will save costs and time during development, and help to enable that an optimised EMC solution is found.”
ing mating and un-mating. In addition the connectors are polarised – they may only be plugged together in the correct orientation. Connector pitch spacing is 4.00mm, with a current rating of 3A per contact at 300V and operating temperature of 55° to +105°C. GLOBAL CONNECTOR TECHNOLOGY www.gct.co
The EZ-Shield Kits complement Harwin’s of standard clips and cans which offer a highly cost effective method of screening. Auto placement of the related clips allows post assembly soldering and de-soldering operations to be eliminated leading to significant reduction in PCB damage. Applications will be found in many markets, ranging from Consumer Electronics through to the Industrial, Instrumentation and Control Systems environment. HARWIN
www.harwin.co.uk www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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PRODUCT NEWS
PASSIVE COMPONENTS
KEMET Introduces Automotive Grade Film Capacitors KEMET introduced automotive grade film capacitors at the Electronica 2014 trade fair in Munich, Germany. The F862 Metallized Polypropylene Film Class X2 Series is specifically designed for safety applications subject to harsh environmental conditions such as high humidity. The F862 Series, available in capacitances up to 4.7 microfarads and rated voltages up to 310 VAC features fully-approved RFI X2 capacitors for noise filtering and peak voltage protection when connected parallel to the mains, or in series such as in a smart meter. New design enhancements resist traditional capacitanceloss mechanisms, allowing for longterm high stability. Additionally, the F862 Series meets the demanding Automotive Electronics Council’s AEC-Q200 qualification requirements, passing 1,000 hours life testing
at 85 degrees Celsius with 85% relative humidity at rated voltage of 240 VAC. “KEMET’s latest generation of safety film capacitors offer excellent stability in severe ambient conditions,” said Fabio Scagliarini, KEMET Vice President, Film Business Group
Development. “While these capacitors are used in a variety of AC applications, those who require AEC-Q200 compliance will find this new offering especially interesting.” KEMET www.kemet.com
TE Connectivity’s High-Current Reflowable Thermal Protection Device To address the growing need to increase reliability and safety in extremely harsh automotive environments, TE Connectivity’s Circuit Protection business unit (TE Circuit Protection) has introduced a HighCurrent Reflowable Thermal Protection (HCRTP) device. Specifically suited to high-power, high-current automotive applications – such as ABS modules, glow plugs and engine cooling fans – the robust HCRTP device (model: RTP200HR010SA) can withstand hold currents of up to 90A at room temperature (23°C) and 45A at 140°C. In addition to helping automotive designers comply with stringent AECQ automotive standards (including the AECQ vibration test), the surfacemountable HCRTP device speeds installation. The HCRTP device builds on TE Circuit Protection’s RTP technology. This technology helps protect electronic systems in the event that power FETs, capacitors or other power components fail due to increased resistance, thus causing thermal runaway. The innovative technology utilizes a one-time electrical activation process to become thermally sensitive. Prior to activation, the HCRTP device can withstand lead (Pb)-free solder reflow processes up to 260°C without opening. TE CONNECTIVITY www.TE.com
KEMET Introduces Automotive Polymer Capacitors KEMET introduced its first automotive grade polymer capacitors at the Electronica 2014 trade fair in Munich, Germany. The T591 High Performance Automotive Grade Polymer Tantalum Series delivers stability and endurance under harsh humidity and temperature conditions. The T591 Series is available today in capacitances up to 220 microfarads and rated up to 10 volts. This series features operating temperatures up to 125°C and manufactured in an ISO TS 16949 certified plant. The T591 Series qualification plan was based on AECQ200 guidelines and is available for Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), Part Submission Warrant (PSW) and change control. In the coming months, KEMET will be introducing additional products with higher temperature ratings (up to 150°C) and higher voltages (up to 63V). Typical uses includes decoupling and filtering of DCto-DC converters in automotive infotainment and driver assistance applications, as well as industrial applications where harsh conditions such as high humidity and temperature are of concern. KEMET www.kemet.com 42
EP&Dee | December, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu
PRODUCT NEWS
PASSIVE COMPONENTS
New MOSFET relays from Omron fit tight spaces, solve low-power sensing challenges Equipment designers dealing with tight space constraints or low-strength signals in sensing applications can now overcome these challenges using new G3VM MOSFET relays announced by Omron Electronic Components Europe. The two families being added to the Omron G3VM line-up are a range of tiny VSON devices measuring 2.45mm × 1.45mm × 1.30mm, and ultrasensitive relays that can be triggered by a signal of just 0.2mA. Six new relays are offered in the VSON package, which has little more than half the footprint of competing USOP devices. The package features large, efficient bottom-side contacts, with edge metallisation allowing easier solder-joint inspection. Rated load voltages range from 20V in G3VM-
21UR1/10/11 to 100V in the G3VM-101UR. 40V, 50V, 60V, 75V and 80V ratings are also available, and rated continuous load current is from 100mA to 1A. On-resistance down to 0.18Ω helps minimise power losses, and fast switching times allow use with high-frequency signals
in various test & measurement, telecom and wireless applications, as well as portable consumer devices such as cameras. Omron is to launch a further six VSON devices Spring 2015. OMRON http://components.omron.eu
Toshiba Expands Range of Ultra-Small Photorelays in VSON4 Packages Toshiba Electronics Europe has expanded its range of photorelays with the addition of four ultra-small devices. TLP3475 and TLP3440 have been designed to deal with high frequency signals, while TLP3417 and TLP3420 are designed to deal with the high voltages required for signals of measured devices such as semiconductor testers. The devices have been designed for applications where the mounting areas on boards need to be drastically reduced and high speed / high voltage signals need to be measured – for instance in applications such as semiconductor testers, measurement equipment, medical devices and probe cards. They consist of a photo MOSFET optically coupled with an infrared light emitting diode squeezed into an ultra-small VSON4 package. Photorelays provide design engineers with fast switching speed, high reliability, lower power consumption, and noisefree operation, making them an alternative to mechanical
New Vishay T16 Series wet tantalum capacitors offer extended capacitance, enhanced performance and high reliability – now at TTI Inc Vishay’s new series of tantalumcased wet tantalum capacitors with glass-to-tantalum hermetic seals is now available at TTI, Inc., the world’s leading specialist distributor of passive, connector, electromechanical and discrete components. The Vishay T16 Series is available in A, B, C and D case codes and provide all the benefits of Vishay’s SuperTan® series capacitors with the additional advantage of greater reverse voltage capability (1.5V at +85°C), extended ability to withstand thermal shock of 300 cycles and greater vibration resistance. The Vishay T16 Series is optimised for timing, filtering, energy holdup and pulse power applications in power supplies for avionics and aerospace equipment.
Vishay T16 Series wet tantalum capacitors have low ESR down to 0.70Ω at 120Hz and +25°C. The devices have an operating temperature range of -55°C to
+85°C, increasing to +125°C with voltage derating. All ratings are also available as DLA 13017 part numbers and all 6V to 100V T4 case sizes have full M39006/3 approvals. The devices feature axial tin/lead plated terminations and are suitable for through-hole mounting. TTI, INC. www.ttieurope.com
relays. As the cabinets of various types of semiconductor testers and measurement equipment are becoming smaller, the need for ultra-small photorelays has increased. The VSON4 package enables high-density assembly and by replacing USOP4 packages, can shrink the assembly area by 50% and the assembly volume by 60%. TLP3475 has ON-state resistance of 1Ω (typ.) and output capacitance of 12pF to improve pass characteristics at the time of relay contact-on and avoid problems during high frequency signal transmission. The chip-on-chip device also features OFF-state terminal voltage of 50V (max.) and ON-state current of 0.3A (max.) TLP3440 features improved leakage characteristics for high frequency signals in the off state with OFF-state output terminal voltage of 40V (max.), ON-state current of 0.12A (max.), ON-state resistance of 12Ω (typ.) and output capacitance of 0.45pF. Electrical characteristics of the new devices are equivalent to those of existing TLP3375/3340 photorelays in USOP4 packages, while the mounting area has been reduced by about 50%. TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS EUROPE
www.toshiba-components.com
www.epd-ee.eu | December, 2014 | EP&Dee
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