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Fanless embedded system is palm-sized for digital signage

Fri, Nov 22, 2019

The latest fanless embedded system from Advantech is the EPC-U2117. The palm-sized system uses the latest Intel Atom E3900 processor technology to give a 30 per cent CPU performance enhancement and a 45 per cent graphic performance boost, says the company.

The EPC-U2117 is designed with dual display output, multiple I/O and a wide range of 12 to 24V DC power inputs, making it suitable for smart vending machines, digital signage and smart kiosks. The EPC-U2117 is compatible with Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Linux OS and has Advantech’s WISE-PaaS DeviceOn intelligent software integrated for remote system monitoring and management.

The EPC-U2117 is a palm-sized metal chassis which measures only 170 x 117 x 52.6mm for mounting as a desktop PC, or via wall, or DIN-Rail mounting. The aluminium, passive heatsink thermal management is designed for -20 to around 60 degrees C.

There are two expansion slots including one M.2 for Wi-Fi or GPU module, and one full size Mini PCIe for 3G/LTE connection or mSATA storage. EPC-U2117 reserves four antenna apertures to support wireless connection.

The thermal design and two independent add-on modules enable the EPC-U2117 to be used in outdoor or harsh environments and in space-limited applications, such as outdoor vending machines and passenger information systems.

Customers can directly use the EPC-U2117 system from different power supplies without extra adapters. EPC-U2117 has multiple connectivity and expansion options including one RS-232 and one ccTalk. Intel’s latest Intel Atom E3900 processor suits the graphic and processing parameters of smart vending machines or smart kiosks and digital signage. The COM port can also be customised to MDB and RS-422/485 for device control and payment device. There are also four USB 3.0 ports, one audio jack, dual gigabit LAN ports and CANBus for general system control.

Multiple storage is supported, including on-board eMMC up to 128Gbyte, mSATA, and 2.5-inch SSD/HDD for flexible storage options. Customers can install operating systems and key data in eMMC for security protection and reliability, assures Advantech. If a customer requests larger storage capacity and high data transfer, they can use mSATA or SATA SSD.

EPC-U2117 comes with Advantech’s WISE-PaaS DeviceOn software, which offers remote management, system monitoring for better device performance, security, and reliability, and predictive maintenance. WISE-PaaS also supports BIOS/FW OTA to upgrade the system and devices with latest firmware to keep everything running at peak performance.

http://www.advantech.e

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Temperature sensor delivers power savings for mobile monitoring

Wed, Nov 20, 2019

Typical temperature reading accuracy of 0.25 degrees C, low operating and standby current, make the STMicroelectronics STTS22H temperature sensor particularly suitable for temperature and heat-flow monitoring in asset trackers, shipping-container loggers, HVAC systems, air humidifiers, refrigerators, building automation systems and smart consumer devices, says the company.

The STTS22H is I2C- and SMBus 3.0-compliant and supports flexible operating modes including configurable output data rate (ODR) down to 1Hz, a power-saving one-shot mode and an interrupt pin that supports SMBus alert response address (ARA). This allows the sensor, as an SMBus slave, to signal the application if a user-programmed upper or lower temperature threshold is exceeded. Programmable I²C/SMBus slave addresses allow up to two STTS22H sensors to share the same bus.

Power consumption is very low, drawing just 2.0 microA at 1Hz ODR and 1.75 microA during periodic one-shot measurements, to extend the running time of battery-powered devices. In standby mode with the serial port inactive, the STTS22H draws just 0.5 microA (typical). The 1.5 to 3.6V operating voltage range allows use with various power sources such as a small lithium cell.

The fast-acting sensor has a conversion time of 5milliseconds and provides 16-bit temperature data. The package’s metal slug minimises thermal resistance to ensure fast settling at the ambient temperature, says ST. The sensors are delivered factory-calibrated and maintain the 0.25 degrees C typical accuracy from -10 to 60 degrees C, eliminating any need for user calibration.

The STTS22H is in production now as a compact , low-profile 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.5mm, six-lead UDFN.

http://www.st.com

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Power amplifier is designed for enterprise small cells

Tue, Nov 19, 2019

Extending the power amplifiers available from Skyworks, the company has announced the SKY66318-11 high-efficiency power amplifier for infrastructure and small cell applications.

The power amplifier targets the stringent requirements of enterprise small cell applications with wide instantaneous bandwidth (100MHz) and it is fully I/O matched with high gain and efficiency. On-chip active biasing circuitry is also integrated to compensate for power amplifier performance over temperature, voltage, and process variations.

The SKY66318-11 comes in a compact 5.0 x 5.0mm package and operates from a single 5V power supply. It is suitable for use in 4G LTE and 5G NR systems from 3,300 to 3,600MHz.

The SKY66318-11 is also part of major transceiver reference designs. It is part of a high-efficiency, pin-to-pin compatible PA family supporting major 3GPP bands.

Skyworks Solutions says it is empowering the wireless networking revolution, with innovative analogue semiconductors connecting people, places and things spanning a number of applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets.

Skyworks has engineering, marketing, operations, sales and support facilities located throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

http://www.skyworksinc.com

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Intel introduces GPU architecture for HPC/AI

Tue, Nov 19, 2019

At this week’s Intel HPC Developer Conference in Denver, Colrado, USA this week, Raja Koduri,  senior vice president, chief architect, and general manager of architecture, graphics and software at Intel (pictured), introduced a new category of discrete general-purpose GPUs optimised for artificial intelligence (AI) and high performance computing (HPC) convergence.

The Ponte Vecchio general purpose GPU is based on the Xe architecture.

“HPC and AI workloads demand diverse architectures, ranging from CPUs, general-purpose GPUs and FPGAs, to more specialised deep-learning neural network processors (NNPs), which Intel demonstrated earlier this month,” said Koduri.

Ponte Vecchio is architected for HPC modeling and simulation workloads and AI training. It will be manufactured on Intel’s 7nm technology and will be Intel’s first Xe-based GPU optimised for HPC and AI workloads. Ponte Vecchio will leverage Intel’s Foveros 3D and EMIB packaging and feature high-bandwidth memory, Compute Express Link interconnect and other IP in one package.

Intel also launched the oneAPI initiative to define programming for an AI-infused, multi-architecture world. oneAPI delivers a unified and open programming experience to developers on the architecture of their choice without compromising performance and eliminating the complexity of separate code bases, multiple-programming languages, and different tools and workflows. It preserves existing software investments with support for existing languages while delivering flexibility for developers to create versatile applications.

The oneAPI specification includes a direct programming language, powerful application programming interfaces (APIs) and a low-level hardware interface. Intel’s oneAPI beta software provides developers a comprehensive portfolio of developer tools that include compilers, libraries and analysers, packaged into domain-focused toolkits. The initial oneAPI beta release targets Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Core processors with integrated graphics and Intel FPGAs, with additional hardware support to follow in future releases.

Developers can download the oneAPI tools, test drive them in the Intel oneAPI DevCloud.

http://www.intel.com

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