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Mouser signs global distribution agreement with Ambiq to deliver ultra-low power AI microcontrollers

Wed, Jan 03, 2024

Mouser has announced a new global distribution agreement with Ambiq, a leading supplier of low-powered, AI-enabled microcontrollers for wearables, hearables, IoT, edge devices and mobile edge computing applications.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Ambiq, which furthers our commitment to providing the latest products and technologies to our customers worldwide,” said Kristin Schuetter, Vice President of Supplier Management at Mouser Electronics. “We look forward to providing engineers and buyers worldwide with their innovative embedded solutions, backed by Mouser’s best-in-class logistics and unsurpassed customer service.”

“Mouser is well-known for its worldwide distribution and support system,” said Mike Kenyon, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Ambiq. “We are excited to enter into this relationship. With distribution through Mouser, we can draw on their expertise in delivering leading-edge technologies and expand our global customer base.”

Among the Ambiq products now available from Mouser are the Ambiq Apollo4 Blue Lite system-on-chip (SoC) and the Ambiq Apollo4 Blue Lite evaluation board. The Apollo4 Blue Lite SoC features a 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M4 core with a Floating-Point Unit, along with a Bluetooth® Low Energy 5.1 radio with robust RF connectivity. This SoC is ideal for use in battery-powered endpoint devices, including smartwatches, fitness bands, animal trackers, voice-activated remotes and digital health products. The Ambiq Apollo4 Blue Lite evaluation board offers a complete demonstration and development platform for the Apollo4 Blue Lite device.

Mouser also offers the Apollo3 Blue Plus evaluation board and the Apollo3 Blue Plus SoC. The Apollo3 Blue Plus device is based on Ambiq’s Voice-on-SPOT (VoS) platform, making it the perfect microprocessor for enabling always-on voice assistant integration and command. The Apollo3 Blue Plus evaluation board enables quick and easy prototyping of the SoC. The Apollo3 Blue Plus Voice-on-SPOT kit, also available from Mouser, facilitates demos, evaluation, and the development of ultra-low power audio and voice capabilities on the Apollo3 Blue Plus SoC. The kit provides always-on voice capability with options for one or two microphones, signal processing, wake word/command detection, codec, and Bluetooth Low Energy communication.

The Artasie AM1805 evaluation board offers an easy method to measure and evaluate Ambiq’s AM18x5 real-time clocks. The evaluation board includes on-chip oscillators to provide minimum power consumption, full RTC functions including battery backup and programmable counters and alarms for timer and watchdog functions, and a PC serial interface for communication with a host controller.

To learn more about Ambiq products available from Mouser, visit https://www.mouser.com/manufacturer/ambiq/.

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R&S verifies NXP’s next generation automotive radar sensor reference design for extremely short object distances

Fri, Dec 22, 2023

The radar target simulator R&S RTS has been used to verify the performance of NXP® Semiconductors’ next-generation radar sensor reference design. This collaboration enables the automotive industry to take another step forward in the development of automotive radar, the principal technology that enables advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving features.

Engineers from both companies conducted a comprehensive series of tests to verify the new sensor reference design which is based on a NXP’s 28 nm RFCMOS radar one-chip SoC (SAF85xx). The R&S RTS radar test system combines the R&S AREG800 automotive radar echo generator with the R&S QAT100 antenna mmW frontend, offering unique short-distance object simulation capabilities as well as superior RF performance and advanced signal processing with many advanced functions. This enables realistic tests of next generation automotive radar applications and brings automotive industry’s vision of fully autonomous driving one step closer.

NXP’s next generation automotive radar sensor reference design is enabled by the industry’s first 28 nm RFCMOS radar one-chip SoC family leveraging the R&S RTS radar test system. The radar sensor reference design can be used for short, medium and long-range radar applications to serve challenging NCAP (NCAP: New Car Assessment Program) safety requirements as well as comfort functions like highway pilot or urban pilot for the fast-growing segment of L2+ and L3 vehicles.

The R&S RTS is the only test system suitable for complete characterisation of radar sensors and radar echo generation with object distances down to the airgap value of the radar under test. It combines the R&S AREG800A automotive radar echo generator as a backend and the R&S QAT100 antenna array or the R&S AREG8-81S as a frontend. The technically superior test solution is suitable for the whole automotive radar lifecycle including development lab, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL), validation and production application requirements. The solution is also fully scalable and can emulate the most complex traffic scenarios for advanced driver assistance systems.

Adi Baumann, Senior Director ADAS R&D, at NXP Semiconductors says: “We have been collaborating closely and successfully with Rohde & Schwarz for many years on the verification of our automotive radar sensor reference designs. Rohde & Schwarz’ cutting-edge automotive radar test systems allows us high-quality and highly efficient validation of our automotive radar products and proves outstanding performance of our radar one-chip. The level of experience, quality and support that Rohde & Schwarz provides to NXP is making a difference.”

Gerald Tietscher, Vice President Signal Generators, Power Supplies and Meters from Rohde & Schwarz says: “We are grateful for the collaboration with NXP to accelerate the deployment of advanced automotive radar sensors based on 28 nm automotive radar chips. They serve ever more challenging NCAP safety requirements and will help enable new safety applications. Our experience in automotive radar testing allows us to provide a best-in-class test solution for this radar sensor design based on the industry’s first 28 nm RFCMOS one-chip radar SoC.”

NXP will present the latest developments for radar including the automotive radar sensor reference design at CES 2024 trade show in Las Vegas from January 9 to 12, 2024, at booth CP18.

https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/

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SemiQ unveils high-performance QSiC power modules in half-bridge packages

Wed, Dec 20, 2023

SemiQ has expanded its QSiC power modules portfolio with the introduction of a new series of 1200V silicon-carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs in half-bridge packages.

Engineered and tested to operate reliably in demanding environments, these new compact, high-performance modules enable high-power-density implementations while minimising dynamic and static losses. Featuring high breakdown voltage (>1400V), the new QSiC modules support high-temperature operation (Tj = 175°C) with low Rds(On) shift over the full temperature range. In addition, the modules exhibit industry-leading gate oxide stability and long gate oxide lifetime, avalanche unclamped inductive switching (UIS) ruggedness and long short-circuit withstand time.

With a solid foundation of high-performance ceramics, the new SiC modules are suitable for EV charging, on-board chargers (OBCs), DC-DC converters, E-compressors, fuel cell converters, medical power supplies, photovoltaic inverters, energy storage systems, solar and wind energy systems, data centre power supplies, UPS/PFC circuits, Vienna rectifiers, and other automotive and industrial applications.

To ensure that each module has a stable gate threshold voltage and high-quality gate oxide, SemiQ’s modules undergo gate burn-in testing at the wafer level. Besides the burn-in test, which helps to stabilise the extrinsic failure rate, stress tests such as gate stress, high-temperature reverse bias (HTRB) drain stress, and high humidity, high voltage, high temperature (H3TRB) allow achieving the required automotive and industrial grade quality levels. The devices also have extended short-circuit ratings. All modules have undergone testing exceeding 1350V.

https://semiq.com/

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Nordic-powered module provides Bluetooth LE audio connectivity

Tue, Dec 19, 2023

Wireless communications company Rayson Technology has released a multiprotocol module based on Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF5340 System-on-Chip (SoC). The SoC is designed for advanced Bluetooth LE audio applications, as well as sophisticated metering, wearable, smart home, industrial, and medical use cases. Measuring just 16.5 by 13.0 by 2.5 mm, the ‘BTM-N340X’ module supports LE Audio and its Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3), which together enable higher quality, lower power wireless audio streaming compared with existing Classic Bluetooth audio solutions.

The module employs the nRF5340 SoC’s dual Arm Cortex-M33 processors – providing a high performance application processor capable of DSP and Floating Point (FP) alongside a fully programmable, ultra low power network processor. The application core manages the LC3 codec, while the Bluetooth LE protocol is supervised by the network processor.

“The BTM-N340X module has been designed for a wide range of applications, aiming in particular to provide enhanced audio experiences via Bluetooth LE Audio,” says Bob Wu, CTO at Rayson Technology. “It enables one device to stream audio to multiple pairs of wireless headphones, and can facilitate audio broadcasts through public address systems, such as in airports and museums. This module is also compatible with smart speakers and home audio systems.”

The module’s ultra-low power consumption is made possible due to the nRF5340’s power-optimised multiprotocol radio, which offers a TX current of 3.4 mA (0 dBm TX power, 3 V, DC/DC) and RX current of 2.7 mA (3 V, DC/DC). The sleep current is as low as 0.9 µA. Additionally, because the cores can operate independently, developers have the flexibility to optimise performance for power consumption, throughput, and low latency response.

Two flexible antenna options are available for the module—a pre-certified U.F.L Connector and a PCB pin out—depending on the product application. The module is designed to operate within a temperature range of -40 to +85°C.

“The dual processors made the nRF5340 SoC an excellent choice for this module’s LE Audio applications,” says Wu. “The large memory capacity, radio sensitivity, and low power consumption were also major drawcards. In addition to the excellent technical capabilities of the chip, the high level of support from Nordic was a key factor when making our selection.”

https://www.nordicsemi.com

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Mouser signs global distribution agreement with Ambiq to deliver ultra-low power AI microcontrollers

R&S verifies NXP’s next generation automotive radar sensor reference design for extremely short object distances

SemiQ unveils high-performance QSiC power modules in half-bridge packages

Nordic-powered module provides Bluetooth LE audio connectivity

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