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Farnell stocks Analog Devices’ low power real time clock 

Thu, Apr 06, 2023

Accessed through an I2C serial interface, the MAX31331 is a low power, real time clock (RTC) time keeping device from Analog Devices, which is now available from Farnell. 

The MAX31331 supports a wide range of 32.768kHz crystals and is accessed through an I2C serial interface. It consumes nominal 65nA time-keeping current, extending battery life, making it suitable for battery-powered and portable devices, including, wearables, medical devices and IoT nodes. The MAX31331 includes an automatic switch reverting to a back up supply in the event of a power failure, ensuring accurate timekeeping even in adverse conditions.

It is compact, with a small footprint of 1.66 x 1.26mm for use where space is limited. For ease of use, there are timestamps for various events, low battery voltage detection, 1/128 second register and alarms and countdown timer

The MAX31331 can be purchased from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC. 

Farnell has over 80 years’ experience in the high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance and repair. It supports its broad customer base, from hobbyists to engineers, maintenance engineers and buyers, working with leading brands and start-ups to develop new products for market, and supporting the industry as it seeks to develop the current and next generation of engineers.  

Farnell trades as Farnell in Europe; Newark in North America; and element14 throughout Asia Pacific and sells direct to consumers through a network of resellers and its CPC business in the UK.

Farnell is a business unit of Avnet, a global technology solutions provider with an extensive ecosystem that delivers design, product, marketing and supply chain expertise for customers at every stage of the product lifecycle. 

http://www.farnell.com 

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Smart waste sensor module is world’s smallest, says adhoc networks

Tue, Apr 04, 2023

Measuring 71 x 43 x 28mm, the Oscar smart waste sensor module is the world’s smallest, said Adhoc Networks.

The sensor has a long battery life which combined with its size opens up a range of applications needing remote fill-level detection. 

The optics can measure up to four metres within a container with a cone angle of 27 degrees to determine the fill level. They can be used as part of a local authority or private companies’ automated, fill-level detection and collection to reduce unnecessary collection trips to containers that are only partly filled.

The optical sensor in the device monitors the fill level in a waste container and sends that data for centralised processing to enable a schedule of waste collection to be created. Waste is only collected when the containers are full, reducing a collection fleet’s CO2 emissions by up to 40 per cent, reported adhoc networks.

“Knowing the exact level in every container ensures that there are no wasted collections of part filled containers and, even more importantly, no overflowing containers,” explained Ole Ostermann, adhoc networks’ CEO. The smart sensor module monitors new waste containers which are larger than previous models and which are located below ground level. “These are not currently easy to check the fill level apart from lifting a lid so they are usually emptied more often than necessary just to be sure, but that is a waste of resources,” explained Ostermann.

Oscar uses a Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 SiP to collate data and send it to the cloud over the mobile network LTE-M and Narrowband-IoT. It is a low power device, using a 3.6V Li-thionyl chloride battery which has an operational life of up to five years based on, typically, twelve fill measurements a day and three uplinks of the data to the cloud.

Oscar replaces the company’s first-generation sensor, called Phil, launched in 2021 and currently in use by local authorities around the world. 

The miniaturised version’s footprint is equivalent to a stack of around 10 credit cards, said Ostermann, which enables it to be used in small bins in parks, airports, as well as donated clothes, agricultural produce in storage hoppers or industrial materials such as plastic pellets used for injection moulding. 

http://www.ad-hoc.com

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COTS card with direct RF sampling features Electra-MA chip

Tue, Apr 04, 2023

COTS board and systems supplier, Annapolis Micro Systems, is now shipping what it claims is the industry’s first COTS card to feature Jariet Technologies’ Electra-MA chip with 64Gsample per second, 10-bit ADC and DAC capability. The SOSA-aligned WILD FMC+ DME1 card targets demanding applications which require direct sampling frequency coverage from 0.1 to 36GHz (VHF through Ka-band) and/or wide instantaneous bandwidths.

According to Annapolis Micro Systems, the direct sampling Jariet transceiver performs frequency conversion and filtering in the digital domain, eliminating the need for costly analogue frequency conversion. 

The DME1 card can be integrated into RF and microwave systems. It has usable analogue bandwidth of 36GHz and a maximum instantaneous bandwidth of 6.4GHz on both channels simultaneously. All transceiver channels feature onboard digital downconverters (DDCs) and digital upconverters (DUCs), including sub-band channelisers for dynamic frequency selection.

The DME1 is available for use with Annapolis’ WILDSTAR 3U OpenVPX baseboards (one WFMC+ mezzanine site) or 6U OpenVPX baseboards (two WFMC+ mezzanine sites). 

The company also offers the WILDSTAR 3AE1, 3U OpenVPX baseboard and the WILDSTAR SAF1 standalone small form factor module.

The DME1 comprises Annapolis’ WILD100 EcoSystem that aligns with SOSA 1.0. The EcoSystem is an interoperable portfolio of rugged high-performance OpenVPX COTS boards and systems that are used for challenging data acquisition, digital signal processing, and data storage applications.

http://www.annapmicro.com 

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Vibration-tolerant MEMS gyroscope positions aircraft

Tue, Apr 04, 2023

A high stability and vibration-tolerant digital MEMS gyroscope from TDK, the GYPRO 4300 features a ±300 degrees per second input measurement range, together with 200Hz bandwidth and one millisecond latency with a closed-loop architecture.

It is the first product in the company’s Tronics GYPRO4000 digital MEMS gyro family which complements the recently announced AXO300 closed loop digital accelerometers range. 

It offers precise navigation and positioning, with bias instability of 0.5 degrees per hour as typical value (two degrees per hour maximum) and an ARW (angular random walk) of 0.1 degrees per square hour. The GYPRO4300 is a miniature, digital and low-SWaP (size, weight and power) high performance MEMS gyro, said TDK, for precise positioning, navigation and stabilisation functions in dynamic applications such as railway, land vehicles, VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles), marine and sub-sea systems, bore hole drilling and surveying instruments. 

The closed loop architecture offers a strong vibration rejection of 0.5 degrees per hour per g² under harsh conditions. The GYPRO4300 gyros are housed in a miniature, hermetic, ceramic J-lead package that ensures long operational and storage life and guarantees a high compliance with the stringent thermal cycling requirements of critical applications. 

There is also a 24-bit digital serial peripheral interface (SPI) for a swift integration into inertial navigation systems (INS), inertial measurement units (IMUs) as well as attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS). To minimise mechanical cross-coupling in multi-axis applications, the GYPRO4300 is available in three frequency ranges. 

Suitable applications for the miniature, low power consumption, the Tronics GYPRO4300 gyro is an cost-effective and low-SWaP alternative to bulky, expensive, and power-consuming solutions like dynamically tuned gyroscopes (DTGs) and fibre optical gyroscopes (FOGs). The solid-state architecture also reduces the number of internal components and system complexity required. As a result, the GYPRO4300 demonstrates a MTBF (mean time between failure) higher than 1,000,000 hours, more than 10 times better than incumbent DTGs and FOGs with similar performances, said TDK. The built-in self-test ensures both an initial verification of the sensor’s integrity and a continuous in-operation functionality test, advised TDK. 

http://www.tdk-electronics.tdk.com

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