Radio wave ranging sensor is sensitive enough for gesture initiation 

Radio wave ranging sensors announced by Socionext are able to detect minor movements in positional information for tracking. The SC1240 series radio wave ranging sensors use the 60GHz band and have a built-in signal processing circuit for detecting the position and movement of a person.

The sensor that complies with the global broadband 60GHz radio equipment standard. It is able to detect the position and movements of a person, said Socionext and its high precision sensing and built-in signal processing circuits use a 6.8GHz (57.1 ~ 63.9GHz) wide band to detect minor movements as positional information, enabling it to be used in advanced applications such as tracking human movements and operation by gestures.

The sensor has built-in range finding and angle calculating signal processing circuitry, believed to be the first in the industry. It is based on the company’s mmwave radio communication LSIs and 24GHz radio wave range finding sensors. 

The integrated SC1240 series uses 3D position information without the need for high frequency or advanced signal processing technology, claimed Socionext. It includes multiple antennas, wireless circuitry, ADCs, FIFO memory, SPI (serial peripheral interface), a sequencer that flexibly changes the duty cycle and controls power consumption, and a signal processing circuit for distance measurement and angle calculation. It also provides an autonomous activation function. These features allow users to easily obtain the height and positional data on the X, Y and Z planes for precision sensing actions such as the detection of multiple people or gesture without contact.

Average power consumption is 0.72mW at 0.1 per cent duty cycle operation, reported Socionext. The sensor is supplied in an FC-BGA measuring 4.0 x 7.0 x 1.2mm.

Sample shipments are scheduled for Q2 2022, and mass production in Q1 2023.

Socionext supplies SoCs for use in automotive, data centre, networking and smart devices.

Socionext Inc. is headquartered in Yokohama, and has offices in Japan, Asia, the United States and Europe.

Socionext Europe has headquarters is in Frankfurt, Germany with offices in Munich, Germany and Maidenhead, UK. The Munich Design and Support Centre specialises in embedded graphic, hardware and software product development for the automotive sector. The Maidenhead office in the UK supports Socionext’s IP Development & Engineering Centre with a focus on high speed data conversion IP. Socionext Europe offers customers a range of custom SoCs. 

http://www.socionext.com 

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Solid State Supplies adds Silicon Labs’ BG24 and MG25 SoCs

Distributor Solid State Supplies can now supply Silicon Labs’ BG24 and MG24 series of 2.4GHz wireless SoCs for Bluetooth and multiple-protocol operations, respectively.

The low power BG24 and MG24 series support multiple wireless protocols and incorporate PSA Level 3 Secure Vault protection, making the SoCs suitable for smart home, medical and industrial applications.

The 2.4GHz wireless SoCs are claimed to have the industry’s first integrated AI/ML (artificial intelligence / machine learning) accelerators, support for Matter, Zigbee, OpenThread, Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh, proprietary and multi-protocol operation. In addition they have the highest level of industry security certification, said Solid State Supplies, together with low power capabilities and the largest memory and flash capacity in the Silicon Labs portfolio.

There is a new software toolkit designed to allow developers to quickly build and deploy AI and ML algorithms using some of the most popular tool suites like TensorFlow.

Equipped with built-in dedicated AI/ML accelerators (specialised hardware designed to handle calculations in AI/ML implementations), the BG24 and MG24 “represent a huge step forward in the quest to bring the potential of AI and ML to life in real world applications. Their impressive battery life will help to bring AI/ML applications and wireless high performance to battery-powered edge devices,” commented Matt Cook, product group manager at Solid State Supplies.

The single-die BG24 and MG24 SoCs combine a 78MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor, 2.4GHz radio, 20bit ADC, an optimised combination of flash (up to 1536kB) and RAM (up to 256kB), and an AI/ML hardware accelerator for processing ML algorithms while offloading the Arm Cortex-M33, so applications have more cycles to do other work. They support a range of 2.4GHz wireless IoT protocols. System on Module (SoM) versions will also be available to support lower volume applications.

PSA Level 3-Certified Secure Vault, the highest level of security certification for IoT devices, provides the security needed in products like door locks, medical equipment, and other sensitive deployments at risk from external threats.

The SoCs and development kits are available now. SoM versions are due for release later in 2022.

In addition to natively supporting TensorFlow, Silicon Labs has partnered with AI and ML tools providers, SensiML and Edge Impulse, to ensure that developers have an end-to-end toolchain that simplifies the development of ML models optimised for embedded deployments of wireless applications. Using this AI/ML toolchain with Silicon Labs’s Simplicity Studio and the BG24 and MG24 SoCs, developers can create applications that draw information from various connected devices, all communicating with each other using Matter to then make intelligent machine learning-driven decisions.

http://www.sssltd.com  

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Universal development board accommodates add-on boards 

Among the features in the UNI-DS v8 universal development board, MikroElektronika (Mikroe) has included a SiBrain socket to support a choice of microcontrollers and peripherals and over 1,200 add-on boards. 

The board is designed for rapid prototyping and the SiBrain socket enables designers to try different microcontrollers in a prototype system without having to invest in other expensive hardware or learn new tools. SiBrain is the open standard for sockets and add-on boards and currently supports more than 3,300 different microcontrollers from a range of families including STM32, Kinetis, TIVA, CEC, MSP, PIC, dsPIC, PIC32, and AVR. Over 100 SiBrain add-on boards are currently available in Mikroe’s online store.

The UNI-DS v8 board has five mikroBUS sockets into which can be placed any of the company’s Click boards.  These add-on boards save developers time by eliminating the need for the testing and troubleshooting during the prototyping phase. They cover functions including mixed-signal, wireless connectivity, storage, interface, displays, human machine interface, adapter, clock and timing, motor control, power management, and audio and voice. 

The UNI-DS v8 integrates CodeGrip, believed to be the first programmer and debugger over Wi-Fi. Designers can place a UNI-DS v8 development board almost anywhere while still retaining full debugging and programming access, even in difficult-to-access sites such as agricultural settings, high-rise buildings and hazardous environments. CodeGrip supports more than 3,300 microcontrollers from different vendors. Free updates are provided as new microcontrollers and vendors are added.

Nebojsa Matic, CEO at Mikroe commented: “The ability to remotely program and debug over Wi-Fi (USB connection is also possible) plus the integration with Necto Studio, the  . . .  vendor-independent integrated development environment (IDE), means that prototyping has never been easier, no matter where you are or what level of resource you have.”

In 2011, MikroElektronika (Mikroe) invented the mikroBUS development socket standard and the compact Click Boards that use the standard to dramatically cut development time. Now the company offers 1,000 Click and the mikroBUS standard is included by leading microcontroller companies such as Microchip, Renesas and Toshiba on their development boards. SiBrain is Mikroe’s latest standard, for microcontroller development add-on boards and sockets. MikroElektronika also claims to make the world’s widest range of compilers and provides development environments, development boards, smart displays and programmers and debuggers.

http://www.mikroe.com

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Charger IC is wireless power transfer-compatible

A multi-functional, compact charging IC for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, the XC6810, supports wireless power transfer.

Available from Torex Semiconductor, the XC6810 series of charging ICs for Li-ion batteries are suitable for wearables, hearables or IoT devices. Functions include charge and discharge control as well as wireless power supply support. 

Charging current is 1.0 to approximately 25mA, making it suitable for small Li-ion batteries. The ICs can provide a wide charging range of 3.8 to 4.4V.The XC6810 series are equipped with shutdown function to suppress battery discharge when stored or not in use as well as a wake-up function, activated using an external push button, to extend the life of batteries and devices. 

In addition to the conventional LED-driven display, a terminal indicates the charging status, showing charging level by frequency. It also supports charging monitoring using a microcontroller. 

The XC6810 is equipped with a battery voltage monitoring function, which can directly monitor the battery voltage through a microcontroller, or a low battery voltage notification function. 

The wide input voltage range of 3.5 to 28V supports wireless power and energy harvester charging, confirmed Torex. For contact-type charging using a cradle, for example, one version has a terminal which modulates the power supply line for the charging status to be notified by two-wire communication. The charging status and charging control can be displayed through the cradle. 

Torex Semiconductor provides CMOS power management ICs for battery powered and energy efficient applications. The company specialises in CMOS analogue technology, with LDO voltage regulators, voltage detectors and DC/DC converters in its product portfolio.

http://www.torexsemi.com

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