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Digi-Key Electronics signs sensing specialist, Aceinna

Thu, Oct 22, 2020

Sensor, autonomous vehicle guidance and power management by Aceinna are now available from Digi-Key Electronics, following a global distribution agreement.

The partnership is part of Digi-Key’s Marketplace initiative, broadening what it claims to be the world’s largest selection of electronic components and making the distributor more of a one-stop-shop than ever before, says the company.

Amongst the Aceinna products available are real time kinematic (RTK), inertial navigation system (INS) tilt and inertial measurement unit (IMU) products, including the OpenIMU300RI IMU (pictured). Digi-Key will also supply Aceinna’s current sensing products used for power supply and management in data centres, server farms, electric vehicles and lorries, large industrial machines, and commercial appliances.

David Stein, vice president, global supplier management at Digi-Key. “Aceinna’s latest generation of IMUs feature a triple-redundant architecture, all wrapped in small, low-cost packaging that, when combined, meet the challenging performance, reliability and cost requirements of the robotic and autonomous market.”

Aceinna’s integrated, anisotropic magneto resistive (AMR) -based isolated current sensor family is a single chip solution with one of the industry’s highest bandwidths, fastest response times and highest accuracy, says Digi-Key. It is suitable for high power conversions including those using fast switching wide bandgap silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power switches.

Aceinna provides sensing solutions for automotive, industrial, telecomms, data centre and cloud infrastructure, consumer appliances, agricultural and construction market sectors. Its precise positioning products MEMS-based, open-source, inertial sensing systems that enable centimetre-accurate navigation systems for autonomous systems.

Aceinna’s isolated current sensor product family is based on an AMR technology that enables industry leading accuracy, bandwidth and step response in a simple, cost effective single chip form factor.

Aceinna has R&D facilities in San Jose, California, Andover, Massachusetts and Chicago, USA and manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, China.

Digi-Key Electronics, headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA. It is an authorised global, full service distributor of electronic components, and provides access to unlimited adjacent products and technologies through its online Marketplace. The distributor offers more than 11 million components, with over 2.6 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from over 1,300 quality name-brand manufacturers.

Marketplace Product provides a singular shopping experience for all things related to technology innovation, for example, IoT, industrial automation, test and measurement.

http://www.digikey.com

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MCUs integrate peripherals for sensor-based IoT applications

Wed, Oct 21, 2020

Sensor-based IoT applications use a combination of analogue functionality and digital control capability to meet cost, size, performance and power parameters for efficiency. In response, Microchip has combined analogue peripherals and multi-voltage operation with inter-peripheral connections in its PIC18-Q41 and AVR DB MCU families. In addition to these attributes for increased system integration and reduced signal acquisition times, they offer the convenience and efficiency of operating in a single design environment, says Microchip.

The introduction bring s easy-to-use analogue capability to cost-effective PIC and AVR MCUs, says Greg Robinson, so designers can meet the requirements of large-scale IoT systems,” said Greg Robinson, associate vice president of marketing for Microchip’s 8-bit microcontroller business unit. “With a unified, seamless development tool experience, designers can use these MCUs as a single-chip controller, or as an intelligent analogue signal conditioning component in a larger system,” he explained.

The PIC18-Q41 MCU has a configurable operational amplifier and ADC with computation and DACs for signal conditioning in space-constrained sensing and measuring applications such as IoT end nodes and industrial, medical devices, wearables, automotive and lighting systems. It is also well-suited for IoT and large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge, including predictive maintenance edge nodes in a smart factory, added Microchip. It is offered in compact 14- and 20-pin packages and can be used with Microchip’s 32-bit MCUs and other controllers that require analogue integration.

For mixed-signal IoT systems which often include multiple power domains, the AVR DB MCU integrates true bi-directional level shifters to reduce cost. Typical use examples are automotive, appliances, HVAC and liquid measurement applications. Microchip has added three configurable op amps, a 12-bit differential ADC, 10-bit DAC, three zero cross detectors and Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) enabling the AVR DB MCU to be used wherever analogue signal conditioning and processing functions are required.

The PIC18-Q41 and AVR DB MCU families are supported by Microchip’s MPLAB X integrated development environment (IDE), its MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) and the MPLAB Mindi Analog Simulator. MCC is a free software plug-in that provides a graphical interface to configure peripherals and functions specific to an application.

The AVR DB is additionally supported by Atmel START, Atmel Studio and third-party tools such as IAR and the GCC C compiler.

The PIC18F16Q41 Curiosity Nano evaluation kit (EV26Q64A) and the AVR DB Curiosity Nano evaluation kit (EV35L43A) are also available with programming and debugging capabilities.

http://www.microchip.com

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UWB ICs enable emerging use cases for the IoT

Wed, Oct 21, 2020

Secure ultra-wideband (UWB) technology ICs have been added to NXP’s portfolio. The Trimension SR040 and SR150 ICs deliver “relative position” with a very high level of accuracy, says NXP to enable new IoT use cases such as smart locks and real-time location system (RTLS) tags.

“To accelerate the adoption of UWB and create meaningful new experiences, smart edge devices need to gain spatial awareness, whether it’s a smartphone, car, or different IoT device form factor,” said Rafael Sotomayor executive vice president of BL Connectivity & Security with NXP. “Imagine the possibilities of moving through daily life with fewer barriers as devices anticipate our actions,” he proposed.

UWB technology enables doors to lock and unlock in response to the owner’s presence; cars can be shared with a simple touch of a screen or accessed hands free; smart home automation systems follow their owners intuitively and efficiently from one room to another. Another advantage is that people spend less time searching because misplaced items can be tracked instantly.

A fine-ranging capability will also enable new location-based services and device-to-device IoT applications in consumer products and industrial applications.

The Trimension SR150 adds angle-of-arrival (AoA) technology to increase precision. It is suitable for UWB in larger infrastructures, such as access control installations, indoor localisation set ups, and payment schemes, as well as consumer electronics. For example, several SR150 IC devices can be placed in a room as UWB anchors to help localise people and objects as they move.

The Trimension SR040 is optimised for low power operation, and is intended for use in battery-operated IoT devices, including UWB trackers and tags. It can be integrated with Bluetooth Low Energy or other connectivity controllers in one device.

NXP also offers Trimension OL23D0, an open, customer programmable UWB controller for IoT applications.

Trimension SR150 and SR040 ICs are available in modules and development kits supplied by selected NXP partners.

http://www.nxp.com

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Modem and tracker reference design accelerate IoT development

Tue, Oct 20, 2020

The LoRa Basics Modem-E software modem and LoRa Edge Tracker reference design lower development costs and eliminate design complexity for IoT applications, claims Semtech.

Both are designed for its LoRa Edge platform. LoRa Basics Modem-E is a software modem which complies with the LoRaWAN protocol for the LoRa Edge platform that runs inside the LoRa Edge transceiver.

LoRa Basics Modem-E is part of the LoRa Basics library of software tools and accelerators while the LoRa Edge Tracker reference design incorporates LoRa Edge hardware with the LoRa Basics Modem-E software modem in an industrial sensor design. The integrated LoRa Cloud services provide a ready-to-deploy reference solution for asset tracking, says Semtech.

“LoRa Basics Modem-E significantly simplifies the development of long range, low power IoT solutions. Leveraging the strengths of the LoRaWAN protocol, LoRa Basics Modem-E runs inside the LoRa Edge transceiver and by abstracting complexity allows IoT solution developers to focus efforts on developing value added solutions for their customers with less focus on connectivity development,” said Sree Durbha, director of LoRa product line management in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products group.

The LoRa Edge Tracker reference design supports the rapid evaluation of LoRa Edge-based asset tracking applications, Durbha continued. It provides a blueprint for commercial asset tracking products and services, reducing time to market in a a variety of markets, including transportation, logistics and supply chain, cities and building infrastructure, home and communities, healthcare, agriculture, food services, he added.

LoRa Basics Modem-E embedded software will be tested and maintained by Semtech (along with the latest versions of the LoRaWAN protocol). It supports AES-128 bit encryption and enables the secure connection of sensors to any LoRaWAN -compliant gateway.

According to Semtech, because it is fully certified and production-ready, the LoRa Basics Modem-E fast tracks the LoRa Alliance certification process, to accelerate time-to-market. LoRa Basics Modem-E also has application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate with Semtech’s LoRa cloud geolocation and LoRa cloud device and application services, including GNSS almanac updates, designed to further simplify development.

The LoRa Edge Tracker reference design has been developed in collaboration with Actility and Tago.IO, and includes LoRa cloud Geolocation capabilities and Tago.IO’s cloud-based dashboards and analytics. Actility will also provide a complete tracking kit including the LoRa Edge Tracker reference design and a pre-provisioned gateway operating on the LoRaWAN protocol to enable customers to quickly evaluate a complete end-to-end IoT tracking system.

http://www.semtech.com

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Digi-Key Electronics signs sensing specialist, Aceinna

MCUs integrate peripherals for sensor-based IoT applications

UWB ICs enable emerging use cases for the IoT

Modem and tracker reference design accelerate IoT development

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