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Antenna range supports transport’s increased bandwidth demands

Tue, Sep 20, 2022

Dedicated antennas optimised for light rail vehicles, such as trams, have been launched by Huber+Suhner. The Sencity Tram rooftop antenna range consists of the Sencity Tram, Sencity Tram MIMO and Sencity Tram Multi multi-application rooftop antennas for cellular, Wi-Fi, Tetra, UHF and GNSS.

“The higher data rates used on-board for passengers and the integration of an increasing number of applications, such as video surveillance, have increased the bandwidth requirements for light rail operators,” explained Michael Thiel, product manager, antennas at Huber+Suhner. The light rail antennas are designed “with the optimal quality, performance, price, certification for the specific application by using specialised materials and constructions for the antennas,” he explained, adding “For each transportation application, we now can offer dedicated solutions”.

The Sencity Tram rooftop antenna provides up to nine radiating elements in one single compact housing. It offers support for a 4×4 cellular, 4×4 Wi-Fi and dual band GNSS option. Tetra bands can also be supported as a separate option. 

The design includes one-hole mounting that allows up to nine radiators to be installed, alternatively, several antennas can be installed apart from each other, to further improve performance, with increased spacing and less interference achieving a maximum MIMO throughput, said the company. 

The Sencity Tram rooftop antenna is certified for railway standards EN 50155, EN 45545-2, NFPA-130 and CE.

Swiss company Huber+Suhner develops and produces components and system solutions for electrical and optical connectivity. The company serves the three main markets industry, communication and transportation with applications from the three technologies of radio frequency, fibre optics and low frequency.

The company has a worldwide production network, subsidiaries and representatives in over 80 countries.

https://www.hubersuhner.com

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32-bit MCU offers functional safety, cybersecurity and AutoSAR compatibility

Fri, Sep 16, 2022

To support developers’ work to automate and connect end applications, Microchip has introduced the PIC32CM JH microcontroller. The 512kbyte flash, 5.0V, Dual CAN FD device delivers features typically only available on more expensive, higher performance devices, said Microchip. 

Automation and connectivity rely on industry standards related to functional safety and cybersecurity protection to ensure products operate safely and securely. To provide manufacturers with an MCU equipped with components that meet ISO 26262 functional safety and ISO/SAE 21434 cybersecurity engineering standards, the PIC32CM JH is the industry’s first MCU-based on the Arm Cortex-M0+ architecture with AutoSAR support, memory built-in self test (MBIST) and secure boot.

The PIC32CM JH is compatible with AutoSAR, an open software architecture, providing suppliers with the ability to change to lower-level hardware while keeping the original application code for ease of migration. AutoSAR-ready is designed to streamline the development process and reduce overall costs. When using AutoSAR, Microchip offers ASIL B microcontroller abstraction layers (MCALs) for functional safety applications, providing the lower-level hardware interface to the MCU. 

Automotive industry OEMs require both functional safety and cybersecurity protection for many in-vehicle applications including touch buttons and touch wheels, door controls and console controls, and body applications such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Pairing the PIC32CM JH with one of Microchip’s Trust Anchor TA100 CryptoAutomotive security ICs, complies to ISO/SAE 21434, the new Cybersecurity standard for automotive. The TA100 employs secure hardware-based cryptographic key storage and cryptographic counter measures to eliminate potential back doors linked to software weaknesses. 

Rod Drake vice president of Microchip Technology’s 32-bit MCU business unit, commented: “OEMs and other manufacturers now have the option to use an entry-level Arm Cortex-M0+ based MCU to meet compliance requirements previously only available on higher-end MCUs.”

The secure boot authenticates the code and prevents malicious code from being loaded onto the MCU. Other hardware features on the PIC32CM JH MCU are error correction code (ECC) with fault injection, loopbacks on the communications interfaces, system memory protection unit and MBIST. 

MBIST is the industry standard method of testing embedded memories and can quickly test the integrity of the SRAM to ensure it is functioning properly before the code is run to mitigate failures. To support developers with implementation, the PIC32CM JH has a safety manual, failure modes effects and diagnostic analysis (FMEDA) and diagnostic code targeting to ISO 26262 ASIL B. 

The PIC32CM JH also includes advanced touch with Driven Shield Plus, for noise and water tolerant operation. This feature is necessary for home appliances, industrial and automotive applications requiring touch operation in harsh environments.

Microchip also provides the PIC32CM JH01 Curiosity Pro development kit (Part number EV81X90A) to support the PIC32CM JH MCU.

The PIC32CM JH MCU and EV81X90A are available now.

http://www.microchip.com

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5G front end modules help improve 5G call quality and internet speed

Thu, Sep 15, 2022

Front end modules and pre-drivers developed by NXP are claimed to improve 5G network coverage and quality. The BTS7202 RX front end modules and BTS6403 / BTS6305 pre-drivers offer high output power, improved linearity and reduced noise.

The RX front end modules (FEM) and BTS6403 / BTS6305 pre-drivers for 5G MIMO (massive multiple-input multiple-output) going up to 20W per channel. The devices were developed and implemented in NXP’s SiGe (silicon germanium) process. They operate with modest current consumption, said NXP, designed to reduce operational costs for mobile network operators (MNOs). They are also claimed to offer improved linearity and reduced noise figure to support better 5G signal quality. 

The BTS7202 RX FEMs and BTS6403/6305 pre-drivers complement NXP’s power amplifier solutions for 32T32R radios. The BTS7202 RX FEMs feature a switch capable of handling up to 20W of power leaking from transmit line-ups, reducing system complexity. The BTS6305 pre-drivers also integrate a balun to reduce costs. 

As 5G networks are adopted, MNOs are increasingly leveraging 32T32R solutions to improve massive MIMO coverage in less dense urban and suburban areas. Utilising 32T32R solutions requires using higher power devices that increase the power level per channel in order to achieve the total power required to ensure strong coverage of the 5G signal. 

Doeco Terpstra, vice president and general manager, smart antenna solutions, radio power, NXP, said: “Our customers recognise that higher power solution offers a way for network operators to address the power needs of 32-antenna solutions without compromising network quality.”

NXP Semiconductors specialises in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, in the automotive, industrial and IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. 

http://www.nxp.com

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8U universal GPU server can train in the metaverse

Thu, Sep 15, 2022

Equipped with Nvidia’s H100 / A100 GPUs, Supermicro’s Universal GPU server has been added to the company’s portfolio. It is claimed to increase AI performance, with improved thermal density resulting in lower power consumption, said the company.

This is the company’s most advanced GPU server, incorporating eight Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs. The advanced airflow design means that the GPU system will allow increased inlet temperatures, which in turn reduces a data centre’s overall power usage effectiveness (PUE) while maintaining the highest performance profile, claimed Supermicro. 

The 8U server is designed for diverse and computationally-intensive in data centres. It has a maximum memory capacity of 8Tbyte, enabling vast data sets to be held there, allowing faster execution of AI training or HPC applications. The architecture is designed for GPU-to-GPU communication, reducing the time needed for AI training or HPC simulations. The server also includes Nvidia GPUDirect Storage, whereby data can be directly accessed by the GPUs, to further increase efficiencies.

The 8U GPU server joins the company’s existing 4U and 5U Universal GPU systems. The Universal GPU platforms support both current and future Intel and AMD CPUs, up to 400W and above, said the company.

According to Charles Liang, president and CEO, of Supermicro. “This new server will support the next generation of CPUs and GPUs and is designed with maximum cooling capacity using the same chassis”. 

The airflow design reduces fan speeds, resulting in less noise in the data centre, lower power consumption, and a reduced total cost of ownership. The system supports both AC and DC power, including support for standard OCP DC rack configurations.

Supermicro supports open standards and adheres to the open power specification for quick delivery and installation, for faster time to productivity.

https://www.supermicro.com

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