Latest News

Surveillance camera reference design has auto-focus for object detection

Tue, Aug 04, 2020

Renesas Electronics and Novatek Microelectronics have collaborated on a surveillance camera reference design offering phase-detection auto-focus. It delivers fast and superior object detection and recognition for 4K video security and surveillance applications.

The ultra-high-definition (UHD) surveillance camera reference design addresses the high accuracy object detection and recognition needs of video security and surveillance systems. The reference design includes a camera image sensor (CIS) board with phase-detection auto focus (PDAF), and a high performance image signal processing (ISP) board and auto focus zoom lens software.

The surveillance camera reference design enables 4K resolution, excellent coluor imaging and better recognition accuracy of objects, including small objects in low-light conditions, claims Renesas. Its high speed auto focus operation can also be realized with low-priced lenses for a high performance 4K video security camera reference design and software that helps shorten the development time required in building a camera system with fast auto focus and enhanced imaging performance.

The reference design is built around Renesas’ high performance RAA462113FYL CMOS image sensor and Novatek’s dual core SoC image signal processor. The CIS board includes the RAA462113FYL, DC/DC buck converters, LDOs, motor driver and lens. The ISP board features the SoC and associated signal chain components.

The CMOS image sensor has high sensitivity, low noise, low power with high resolution 8M pixels. The sensor features HDR, PDAF functions and MIPI-CSI2 output, which support 30 frames per second at12-bit digital output.

The signal processor board includes an 800MHz dual core SoC image signal processor with sensor interface and interfaces for display, PHY, Wi-Fi module, GPS, and RS-485. There is also support for RTC, I2C, SPI, GPIO, audio IF, Flash/SD card, HDMI, Ethernet, SDIO, SCI, UART and an SDRAM controller.

Renesas developed the reference design in collaboration with Novatek Microelectronics and it was designed by, and is available from, Systemtec.

http://renesas.com

> Read More

HDMI module connects and controls to CEC standard

Tue, Aug 04, 2020

Based on its HDMI controller IC, the cecTalker HDMI module is designed to integrate HDMI-equipped devices, says Socionext.

The module connects, controls and links devices that have HDMI terminals, such as audio and video equipment.

It uses CEC (Consumer Electronics Control), a communication standard of HDMI to connect devices via HDMI cables. Users can integrate HDMI- compliant devices, even if they originated from different manufacturers and without the standard linkage functionalities. cecTalker can be used for PCs and supports development platforms such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino and SPRESENSE. The cecTalker module will be certified to the HDMI standard and can be used either in standalone mode or built into other products with added features and applications.

Applications include connecting audio and video equipment with smart appliances, building home IoT systems, and using video streaming services, medical imaging and industrial applications.

The cecTalker family includes the HDMI model with HDMI input and output terminals, and the V-by-One model with the added V-by-One and HDMI conversion functionality.

Both require a 5V/1A input.

Both models are currently being delivered as samples. Volume production and shipping are scheduled to start in January 2021.

Socionext designs, develops and delivers SoC solutions to customers worldwide. The company is focused on technologies that drive todayʼs leading-edge applications in consumer, automotive and industrial markets. Socionext has an extensive IP portfolio.

The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It has offices in Japan, Asia, United States and Europe to lead its product development and sales activities.

http://www.socionext.com

> Read More

32bit microcontroller brings sound to home, offices and industry

Mon, Aug 03, 2020

Microcontrollers from Epson can bring sounds to home appliances and other equipment in a variety of settings. The Arm Cortex-M0+ based S1C31D51 microcontroller has dedicated hardware which can play sound on either a speaker or buzzer.

The S1C31D51 is suitable for a variety of applications and environments. Epson says it can be used to integrate sound into home electronics, remote controllers for home appliances, industrial devices, health and fitness equipment with guidance systems, or alarms in office buildings, shopping complexes, and factories.

An Arm Cortex-M0+ processor integrated with a dedicated hardware processor provides two-channel sound on a single microcontroller chip. There is a variety of speech and audio playback functions, two-channel mixing sound (for playing background music and voice) and voice speed conversion, with a playback speed that is adjustable in five per cent increments between 75 and 125 per cent.

It is possible to output voice guidance sound like error and warning messages on a buzzer instead of a speaker. Epson says it has improved buzzer sound output performance, which can often be poor because of low volume and limited bandwidth, by using a combination of software and hardware support.

The hardware processor plays sound without requiring CPU resources, so these can be allocated to other processes even during sound playback. The use of a high data compression algorithm (16kbits per second at 15.625kHz) reduces the size of sound data memory, making it possible to provide a large amount of sound data and sound data in multiple languages.

Epson`s Voice Creation PC software tool will be provided free of charge to customers. It is a simple development environment for creating sound data for 12 languages without studio recording. Existing WAV data can also be used.

The S1C31D51 has a self- memory check function that can detect failures in built-in RAM, built-in flash, and external QSPI-flash memories without using CPU resources.

There is a variety of ways to play back sound: electromagnetic buzzer, piezoelectric buzzer and a speaker.

The S1C31D51 evaluation board includes the electromagnetic and piezoelectric buzzer by TDK that allows quick audio testing along with the pre-set demonstration.


http://www.epson-electronics.de

> Read More

Collaboration bring ‘ready made’ IoT edge gateways for retail and industry

Mon, Aug 03, 2020

In a collaboration to bring hardware and software for IoT edge gateway devices together, Beechwoods Software and GigaPic believe they provide a complete solution for retail and industrial applications.

The IoT Edge software is based on Beechwoods’ Edge Optimised Software (EOS) which is a supported edge computing platform which includes a pre-packaged Linux distribution, integrated edge analytics, dashboard application software and a setup configuration console. There is also support for leading cloud service providers like Amazon IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, Google IoT Core and IBM Watson IoT for hybrid cloud use case scenarios.

The EOS software has been validated on GigaPic’s industrial motherboard which is powered by AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 and R1000 Series processors. The processor provide the performance and capabilities required to securely manage data processing, aggregation and analytics at the edge as well as headroom for future proofing, assures GigaPic.

According to Michael Daulerio, Beechwoods’ vice president, marketing and business development: “We’re pleased to join forces with GigaPic to provide a product-ready IoT edge solution based on AMD Ryzen Embedded Processor technology.”

GigaPic is an independent spin-off from GigaByte. It was established in 2018. It has an award-winning Taiwan-based manufacturing facility, synchronising with its R&D department to deliver high quality and reliable products. The company says it aims to offer not only high-quality computing platforms but also world-class service and support.

Beechwoods Software provides software development services and solutions for businesses and OEMs developing embedded and resource-constrained products. Its team provides services across multiple domains: embedded software development, engineering, integration and stack hardening, IoT platform solutions, integration and interoperability, video processing, rendering, and transport, set top box (STB) development lifecycle (inception to customer deployment) and mobile application development (iOS, Android). It also contributes to open source projects and organisations (OCF, RDK, LF Edge).

http://www.gigaipc.com

> Read More

About Smart Cities

This news story is brought to you by smartcitieselectronics.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the Smart City Electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news. To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep yourself informed on the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here: Smart Cities Registration