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New NFC reader IC and modular kit from ST jumpstarts contactless designs

Fri, Jan 24, 2025

ST is making it easier to explore creative applications for contactless near-field communication (NFC) technology with a novel development kit featuring the new ST25R200 reader/writer IC. ST’s latest-generation ST25R200 NFC transceiver combines an advanced design for strong and clear wireless connections with low power consumption and controls for signal quality and power management.

The STEVAL-25R200SA kit for reader evaluation contains an ultra-compact ST25R200 board, ready for power-up, and multiple antennas that let users try single, dual, and flexible designs. The evaluation kit is complete with a 50-Ohm antenna interface and programmable tags.

This modular kit helps quickly build proof-of-concept models to demonstrate convenient short-range wireless communications for device pairing, configuring settings, or product authentication to ensure brand protection. The main board and antennas are NFC-certified and suitable for diverse industrial, consumer, and health technologies, such as medical devices, power tools, household appliances, game consoles, and personal care devices.

The ST25R200 NFC reader features ST’s noise suppression receiver (NSR), which ensures high immunity to interference even when close to a noise source such as an LCD panel contained in the same device. The receive circuitry also features an advanced analog front end (AFE), standard NFC-A/B (ISO 14443A/B) and NFC-V (ISO 15693) data framing.

Enhanced low-power card detection (LPCD), also built-in, eases wake-up to ensure a smooth and seamless user experience. The 1.2W transmitter has dynamic power output (DPO) control to regulate the field strength and overshoot/undershoot protection to ensure consistent signalling throughout data exchanges.

This reader operates over a wide power supply and peripheral I/O voltage range from 2.7V to 5.5V and from -40°C to 85°C. In addition, there are multiple operating modes to assist power management, cutting the device current to as little as 1µA to extend the runtime of battery-powered applications. In reset mode the IC draws just 0.1µA.

 

https://www.st.com

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Advantech adopts Intel Core ultra processors to accelerate Edge AI and Edge computing innovations

Tue, Jan 21, 2025

Advantech has announced that 12 products, including industrial motherboards, PICMG 1.3 full-size single board computers (SBCs), computer-on-modules, server motherboards, compact IPCs, modular IPCs, and AMR & robot solutions will incorporate the Intel Core Ultra processor (Series 2) into their latest edge computing and IoT solutions. This integration will boost AI efficiency and computing performance, reduce development time, and address power and thermal challenges, focusing on high-performance computing with low power consumption.

These product offerings are well-suited for various applications, including machine automation, machine vision, medical imaging, in-vitro diagnostics, automated optical inspection, smart warehouses (DWS systems), self-service kiosks, and edge AI applications.

Advantech products featuring Intel® Core Ultra processors (Series 2) are scheduled to launch starting Q2 2025. The desktop range will feature up to 24 CPU cores, delivering up to 36 total platform TOPS, while the mobile range will offer up to 16 CPU cores, providing up to 99 total platform TOPS. Both product lines are equipped with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU). They are designed to support diverse inferencing workloads and elevate AI acceleration to a new level, thereby supercharging edge computing in the AI era.

https://www.advantech.com

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Nexperia’s new step-down DC-DC converters with lowest quiescent current enhance design flexibility

Tue, Jan 21, 2025

Nexperia has introduced a new series of step-down DC-DC converters featuring devices with stand-by and operating efficiency that offer engineers flexibility for designing various fixed and portable battery-powered applications across consumer, industrial and automotive end-markets.

The NEX30606 is a high-efficiency, high-accuracy step-down converter that offers a choice of 16 resistor-settable output voltages from input voltages ranging from 1.8 V to 5.0 V. It can deliver up to 600 mA of output current and offers the industry’s lowest operating quiescent current (Iq) of 220 μA. This feature makes it ideal for wearable consumer applications like hearing aids, medical sensors, patches and monitors in addition to battery-powered industrial applications like smart meters, asset-tracking and industrial (IIOT) and narrow-band internet-of-things (NBIOT) devices. This device provides >90% switching efficiency for load currents ranging from 1 mA to 400 mA and has only 10 mV of output voltage ripple when stepping down from 3.6 V Vin to 1.8 Vout.

The NEX40400 step-down converter combines high efficiency (up to 8 % higher efficiency than close competition at low – mid load condition) with low operating quiescent current (60 μA typ.) and can provide up to 600 mA output from a wide 4.5 V to 40 V input range for applications. Featuring PFM (Pulse Frequency Modulation) for high efficiency at low to mid loads and Spread Spectrum Technology for minimising EMI, the converter is ideal for industrial distributed power systems and grid infrastructure (e.g. smart e-meters) as well as consumer white goods. Low shutdown supply current (0.3 μA) also makes this converter suitable for use in battery-powered home appliances. Nexperia also plans to release an AEC-Q100 qualified version of the NEX40400 later in 2025 for use in automotive applications such as body electronics and lighting, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), as well as instrument clusters, cameras and displays.

Both the NEX30606 and NEX40400 offer traditional IC protection features such as Overcurrent Protection (OCP), short circuit protection, and thermal shutdown, ensuring reliability in demanding environments.

The NEX30606 is available in a space-saving WLCSP package measuring only 1.09 mm x 0.74 mm with a 0.35-mm pitch, which is almost 50% smaller than similar competing converters. The NEX40400 comes in a cost-effective 6-lead SOT8061-1 (TSOT23-6) plastic, surface-mounted package measuring 2.9 mm x 2.8 mm.

https://www.nexperia.com

 

 

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Microchip announces new family of Switchtec PCIe Gen 4.0 16-lane switches

Thu, Jan 16, 2025

Efficient management of high-bandwidth data transfer and seamless communication between multiple devices or subsystems are critical in automotive, industrial and data centre applications, making PCIe switches an indispensable solution. They provide scalability, reliability and low-latency connectivity, which are crucial for handling the demanding workloads of modern High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems. Microchip Technology has announced sample availability of the new PCI100x family of Switchtec PCIe Gen 4.0 switches in variants to support packet switching and multi-host applications.

The PCI1005 is a packet switch which expands a single host PCIe port to as many as six endpoints. The PCI1003 device enables multi-host connectivity through Non-Transparent Bridging (NTB) and is fully configurable to support from 4–8 ports. All devices are compliant with the PCI-SIG Gen5 specification and operate up to 16GT/s. High-speed DMA is supported on all variants. Advanced Switchtec technology features include Automatic Error Reporting (AER), Downstream Port Containment (DPC) and Completion Timeout Synthesis (CTS). The PCI100x devices are available in wide temperature ranges including commercial (0°C to +70°C), industrial (−40°C to +85°C) and Automotive Grade 2 (−40°C to +105°C) ambient ratings.

“The PCI100x family is a cost-effective solution that does not compromise on high performance and high reliability. It enables designers to now take advantage of PCIe switch capabilities for mass market automotive and embedded computing applications,” said Charles Forni, vice president of Microchip’s USB and networking business unit. “In addition to these connectivity solutions, customers can get many critical components from Microchip including timing, power management and sensors.”

https://www.microchip.com

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