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Demonstration board drives eGaN FETs for ToF and lidar systems

Mon, Jan 13, 2020

Using fast transition eGaN FETs from Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), the EPC9144 is a 15V, 28A high current pulsed laser diode driver demonstration board.

It is designed to illustrate the use of eGaN FET technology in developing systems that enhance the accuracy, precision, and processing speed of time of flight (ToF) and flash lidar systems.

Reliable ToF systems rely on the speed and accuracy of object detection. EPC says that the EPC9144 board demonstrates the rapid transition capability of the company’s AEC Q101-qualified EPC2216 eGaN FETs to provide power pulses to drive laser diodes, vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSELs) or LEDs up to 10 times faster than an equivalent MOSFET, in a small fraction of the area, energy, and cost.

eGaN FETs and ICs provide the high current pulses, extremely narrow pulse widths, and small size that make affordable, high performance lidar possible, EPC maintains. The short pulse width leads to higher resolution while the small size and low cost make eGaN FETs particularly well suited to ToF applications in a range of applications from automotive to industrial, healthcare to smart advertising, gaming, and security.

The EPC9144 ships with an interposer board. This is a collection of break-away 5.0 x 5.0mm square interposer PCBs with footprints to accommodate different lasers, RF connectors and other footprints designed to allow engineers to experiment with different loads in development projects. The use of the interposers allows many different lasers or other loads to be mounted, allowing users to test the performance with the load requirements that are appropriate to their application, adds EPC.

GaN can be used in autonomous vehicles and other ToF applications, advises the company, such as facial recognition, warehouse automation, drones and topological mapping. The EPC9144 can also be used for applications requiring a ground-referenced eGaN FET, for example, in class E or similar circuits.

http://www.epc-co.com

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Siemens and Arm partner to develop and validate automotive safety systems

Fri, Jan 10, 2020

To help automotive designers develop and validate electronic systems, Siemens has paired its PAVE360 software with Arm’s automotive IP in a partnership that will bring IP, methodologies, processes and tools together to help automakers, integrators and suppliers collaborate, design and bring to market their next-generation platforms much faster, says Siemens.

Bringing together IC methodologies, processes and tools will help the automotive supply chain solve design and verification challenges, by validating differentiated safety enabled systems, ICs and software solutions in the context of the entire vehicle the company added.

Siemens’ PAVE360 is part of Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Xcelerator portfolio. This partnership was formed to address the increasingly complexity in developing platforms to realise active-safety, advanced driver assistance, in-vehicle infotainment, digital cockpits, vehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-infrastructure and self-driving vehicles. Advances in computing and sensor technology are enabling companies to redefine mobility beginning with the ICs and software within automotive electronics systems.

Siemens’ PAVE360 digital twin environment, featuring Arm IP, applies high-fidelity modelling techniques from sensors and ICs to vehicle dynamics and the environment within which a vehicle operates. Using Arm IP, including Arm Automotive Enhanced (AE) products with functional safety support, digital twin models can run entire software stacks providing early metrics of power and performance while operating in the context of a high-fidelity model of the vehicle and its environment.

Using PAVE360 with Arm automotive IP allows automakers and suppliers to simulate and verify sub-system and system on chip (SoC) designs and understand how they perform within a vehicle design from the silicon level up, before the vehicle is built. By rethinking IC design, manufacturers can consolidate electronic control units (ECUs), saving thousands of dollars per vehicle through reduced the number of circuit boards and lengths of wire within the vehicle design, says Siemens. These savings also reduce vehicle weight which can promote longer range electric vehicles (EVs).

Siemens‘ PAVE360 platform will be demonstrated in the Siemens Mobility booth at CES in Las Vegas (7 to 10 January 2020).

http://www.siemens.com

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Harting snaps into Rinspeed concept car for power, data and signals

Fri, Jan 10, 2020

Swiss automotive manufacturer, Rinspeed is presenting its metroSnap concept vehicle at CES this week, and Harting has designed an interface that supplies the vehicle with power, data and signals.

The module helps the driver use the vehicle for a wide range of tasks. It is divided into the Skateboard, which serves as an optimised electric vehicle (EV), and the Pod, which can be switched to accommodate different tasks. Communication, signal transmission and the power supply must all work smoothly between these two elements. Connectivity is automatically established as soon as the Pod and the Skateboard are securely connected.

The two companies have partnered before, with a fast charger from Harting Automotive, Harting’s subsidiary which reported a sharp increase in demand for e-mobility solutions. The company leverages its decades of experience in the field of connection and transmission technology to develop and produce charging equipment for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs).

In 2016, Harting’s Mica was integrated into Rinspeed’s Etos vehicle for autonomous emission and condition monitoring. In 2017, Harting its miniMICA to support Rinspeed’s Oasis car. The following year, Harting provided the fast-charging technology for the Snap and in 2019, the microSnap was charged using the fast-charging push.

http://www.harting.com

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NIR sensor saves power for mobile 3D optical sensing systems

Thu, Jan 09, 2020

3D optical sensing applications such as face recognition, payment authentication can operate at much lower power than alternative implementations, using the CGSS130, CMOS global shutter sensor (CGSS) near infra red (NIR) image sensor by ams.

The CGSS130 enables battery-powered devices to run for longer between charges while supporting sophisticated sensor functions.

According to ams, the CGSS130 sensor is four times more sensitive to NIR wavelengths than other image sensors on the market today, and detects reflections from very low power IR emitters in 3D sensing systems. It is the IR emitter that consumes most of the power in face recognition and other 3D sensing applications, says ams, which means using the CGSS130 sensor will enable manufacturers to extend battery runtime in mobile devices.

The 1.3Mpixel sensor also creates the opportunity to implement face recognition in wearable devices and in other products which are powered by a very small battery, or to enable a new range of applications beyond face recognition as the increased sensitivity extends the measurement range for the same power budget.

Following ams’ partnership with CMOS image sensor supplier, SmartSens Technology, the first 3D active stereo vision (ASV) reference design based on the CGSS130 was produced. The 1.3Mpixel stacked BSI sensor offers the highest quantum efficiency at 940nm, claims ams and, by supplying all main parts of the 3D system (illumination, receiver, software) it enables superior system performance with lower costs and a faster time to market.

The stacked BSI process used to fabricate the CGSS global shutter image sensors, results in a small footprint of 3.8 x 4.2mm. The sensor produces monochrome images with an effective pixel array of 1080 x 1280 at a maximum frame rate of 120 frames per second. The high frame rate and global shutter operation produce clean images free of blur or other motion artefacts, says ams.

The sensor also offers a high dynamic range (HDR) mode in which it achieves dynamic range of more than 100dB. It also implements advanced functions such as external triggering, windowing, and horizontal or vertical mirroring.

The CGSS130 is available for sampling.

ams is demonstrating the CGSS130 at CES, in the Venetian Tower, Suite 236 / 30th floor.

https://ams.com

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