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Eight-port PoE switch supports IEEE 802.3bt for smart lighting

Wed, May 22, 2019

An eight-port Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch released by Microchip guarantees 60W per port for all eight ports simultaneously. The PDS-408G PoE switch can be used for digital ceiling installations to run noiseless, fanless lighting designs.

In enterprise connected lighting applications, the PDS-408G connects separate systems such as lighting, sensors, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and Wi-Fi access points over a single switch. Eight ports is deemed the optimal number for connected lighting and the PDS-408G can save energy and reduce operating costs, claims Microchip.

The PDS-408G complies with IEEE 802.3bt, the new PoE standard. It provides a total of 480W, including up to 90W for any individual port or 60W for eight ports simultaneously.

The PDS-408G is plenum rated and can be installed in any air handling space, and is fanless for noise-free operation in offices, hospitals and hotels. The PDS-408G also exploits PoE with safe power, simple installation, flexible deployment and remote power management features.

The PDS-408G PoE switch is available now.

Microchip offers an array of easy-to-use hardware and software tools to accelerate PoE designs, including the PIC18 PoE mainnboard, which features a PIC18 MCU, ATECC608A secure element and MIC28512 buck regulator.

https://www.microchip.com

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Software development kit streamlines SLAM in mobile devices

Tue, May 21, 2019

To develop simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) –enabled mobile devices, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets, robots, autonomous vehicles and drones, Ceva offers the SLAM software development kit for CEVA-XM intelligent vision DSPs and NeuPro AI processors

The kit incorporates hardware, software and interfaces that can “significantly lower the entry barrier” to integrate efficient SLAM implementations into low-power embedded systems, says Ceva.

According to Ilan Yona, vice president and general manager of the vision business unit at Ceva: “SLAM is the underlying technology that enables high-accuracy 3D mapping of a device’s surroundings”. He believes that the company’s expertise in designing vision DSPs and software algorithms will introduced customers to 3D machine vision design.

The Ceva-SLAM software development kit has a detailed interface from a CPU to offload the heavy lifting SLAM blocks to the Ceva-XM DSP. These building blocks use the DSP to support both fixed point and floating point math and extend the device’s battery life. They also include capabilities for image processing (including feature detection, feature descriptors, feature matching), linear algebra (including matrix manipulation, linear equation solving) and fast sparse equation solving for bundle adjustment. The software development kit can run a full SLAM tracking module on the Ceva-XM6 DSP at 60 frames per second consuming just 86mW (using a frame size of 1280 x 720, running on Ceva-XM6 using TSMC’s 16nm process).

The software development kit, deployed with a Ceva-XM DSP or a NeuPro AI processor, can be used for visual positioning, classical and neural network workloads for imaging and vision using SLAM.

The Ceva-SLAM software development kit is available for licensing now, exclusively in conjunction with the Ceva-XM intelligent vision DSPs and NeuPro AI processors.

Ceva will presenting the Ceva-SLAM software development kit at the Embedded Vision Summit in Santa Clara, California, USA (Wednesday 22 May).

Ceva licenses signal processing platforms and artificial intelligence processors.  It provides low power IP for vision, audio, communications and connectivity including   DSP-based platforms for LTE/LTE-A/5G baseband processing in handsets, infrastructure and cellular IoT (NB-IoT and Cat-M) enabled devices, imaging and computer vision for any camera-enabled device, audio/voice/speech and low power always-on/sensing applications for IoT markets.

http://www.ceva-dsp.com

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Aetina showcases transportation options at Computex 2019

Mon, May 20, 2019

Smart transportation and smart logistics of artificial intelligence (AI) with vehicle cameras will be on display at Computex 2019 at the Aetina stand (H 1-K0806) in Taipei (28 May to 1 June).

The company has identified intelligent transportation and logistics will be the main drivers of smart cities and e-commerce.

The edge AI computing company has worked with a third-party partner to embed AI for road and transit products.

For transportation, Aetina bases its edge computing on the Jetson for data processing when it is used to infer road situations, such as to calculate traffic flow, vehicle recognition, and traffic law enforcement. As well as immediately addressing an urban area’s traffic issues and adjusting conditions for short term gain, this can also help the transportation scheme in the city over a longer period of time and in the planning of future schemes.

In logistics, whether robotics in a warehouse, tracking or monitoring systems, AI can improve edge computing, says Aetina. Aetina has collaborated with ecosystem partners to deliver a 10 meter length of FPD link cameras and internet of vehicles (IoV) hardware, for AI logistics.

According to Aetina’s general manager, Joe Lo, “Everything will not only get onto the internet but will also have the ability to infer, to create more possibilities for a city”.

Aetina was founded in Taiwan in 2012. It is a provider of high-performance general purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) and Jetson edge AI computing products for embedded applications.

Aetina focuses on the industrial market, providing industrial grade components and is also an integrator of artificial intelligent IoT, offering a smart, innovative, and reliable solutions of GPUs.

http://www.aetina.com

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Lens array for optical transceivers include mirror

Fri, May 17, 2019

Optical networks for data centres can maximise density in optical transceivers using the FLHL2 series lens array with mirror from Alps Alpine.

IoT technology and artificial intelligence (AI) has increase IP traffic globally. This is expected to be increased further by the introduction of 5G mobile and wireless networks. As a result, optical transceivers used in facilities like data centres will need to be much faster and have higher density, demanding even greater size reductions and high-density mounting of components.

The FLH2 series was developed by Alps Alpine in responses to these trends. The lens array has a 0.75mm lens pitch and integrates condenser lens and mirror components of an optical transceiver receiver. The array measures just 1.3 x 1.3 x 3.5mm. Now, instead of have to position the lenses and mirror separately to convey light to the photodiode, this integrated lens reduces the number of parts and shortens the optical distance to contributing to downsizing the optical transceivers. Having fewer components also reduces the work required for transceiver assembly, leading to lower costs, adds Alps Alpine.

The lead-free glass used is (RoHS-compliant).

Mass production will begin in August this year and Alps Alpine has also announced that it will develop lens arrays with 0.5mm and 0.25mm lens pitches in anticipation of future market requirements for downsizing and multi-channel transceivers as IoT spreads and 5G services are introduced.

Alps Alpine developed one of the world’s smallest glass lenses for submarine cables in 2000.

Alps Alpine was formed on January 1, 2019, when Alps Electric and Alpine Electronics integrated. The company has over 42,000 employees.

Alps Alpine has expertise in core devices, system design and software development and serves the automotive, mobile devices and consumer electronics markets, as well as new sectors such as energy, healthcare and industry.

http://www.alpsalpine.com

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