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Renesas launches controller and GaN FET driver for satellites

Tue, Apr 23, 2019

For DC/DC power supplies in small satellites (smallsats) and launch vehicles, Renesas Electronics offers the ISL71043M and ISL71040M, believed to be the first plastic packaged, radiation-tolerant PWM controller and GaN FET driver for small satellite mega constellations in low earth orbit (LEO).

The ISL71043M single-ended current mode PWM controller and the ISL71040M is a low-side GaN FET driver for isolated flyback and half-bridge power stages, and motor control driver circuits in satellite buses and payloads. They meet the need of private ‘new space’ companies launching smallsats to form large constellations operating in multiple LEO planes. Smallsat mega-constellations provide global broadband internet links, as well as high-resolution earth observation imaging for sea, air, and land asset tracking.

The ISL71043M PWM controller provides fast signal propagation and output switching in a small 4.0 x 5.0mm SOIC plastic package, reducing PCB area up to three times compared to competing ceramic packages. The ISL71043’s 5.5mA max supply current reduces power loss by more than a factor of three. The adjustable operating frequency (up to 1 MHz) enables higher efficiency and the use of smaller passive filter components.

The ISL71043M and ISL71040M are characterisation-tested at a total ionising doze (TID) of up to 30krads(Si), and for single event effects (SEE) at a linear energy transfer (LET) of 43MeV•cm2/mg. Both devices operate over an extended temperature range of -55 to +125 degrees C.

The ISL71040M low-side GaN FET driver safely drives Renesas’ rad-hard GaN FETs in isolated topologies and boost type configurations. It operates with a supply voltage between 4.5 and 13.2V, a gate drive voltage (VDRV) of 4.5V, and it includes both inverting and non-inverting inputs. The device’s split outputs adjust the turn-on and turn-off speeds, and its high current source and sink capability enables high frequency operation. The ISL71040M ensures reliable operation when driving GaN FETs by precisely controlling the gate driver voltage to +three to five per cent over temperature and radiation. It also includes floating protection circuitry to eliminate unintentional switching.

The ISL71043M PWM controller and ISL71040M GaN FET driver can be combined with the ISL73024SEH 200V GaN FET or ISL73023SEH 100V GaN FET, and ISL71610M passive-input digital isolator to create a variety of power stage configurations.

http://www.renesas.com

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Sub-miniature tact switch targets IoT in the home

Thu, Apr 18, 2019

Electromechanical switch manufacturer, C&K, has introduced a sub-miniature PTS815 tact switch aimed at design engineers developing home automation and IoT electronic devices.

It has a footprint of just 4.2 x 3.2mm and is 2.5mm thick to save space in designs with limited space and frees up board space for other components to be added.

With a large actuation surface for easier integration, the switch is suited to applications such as home automation, IoT devices and e-cigarettes, as well as control systems for items such as drones, e-bikes and robot vacuum cleaners.

The PTS815 is manufactured in surface-mount technology (SMT) format and uses a hard actuator, ensuring that it can be fully integrated into standard processes, with no need for an additional interface button, reducing time and costs for the end equipment manufacturer.

It is available in the versions most commonly used by the market to meet the needs of many commercial applications, while retaining rigid quality control. The PTS815 retains high reliability at over 100,000 cycles, reports C&K.

According to the company, the PTS815 offers easier integration due to its variable range of force before the actuator is tripped, audible click from the hard actuator and large actuation surface.

Three operating-force levels are available: 180gf, 250gf and 400gf. The PTS815 switch is rated at 50mA, has a bounce time of less than 10ms and an operating temperature range of -20 to +70 degrees C.

The PTS815 is now available to OEMs.

Founded in 1928, C&K produces electromechanical switches and has custom design capabilities. C&K offers more than 55,000 standard products and 8.5 million switch combinations to companies that design, manufacture and distribute electronics products. Used in automotive, industrial, IoT, wearables, medical, telecomms, consumer products, aerospace and point of sale terminals, C&K products include tactile, pushbutton, snap-acting, toggle, rocker, detect, DIP, keyswitch, navigation, rotary, slide, switch lock, thumbwheel, smart card readers, high-rel connectors and custom assemblies.

http://www.ckswitches.com

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Operations and visualisation software maximises system investments

Thu, Apr 18, 2019

The latest version of Yokogawa Electric’s real-time operations management and visualisation software, Fast/Tools R10.04 is available from today.

Part of Yokogawa’s OpreX Control and Safety System family, the flexible and scalable supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software is suitable for use in smart IoT-enabled applications through to enterprise-wide integrated operations spanning multiple sites and subsystems. Yokogawa adds that Fast/Tools R10.04 will help customers derive maximum value from their investments over the entire system lifecycle.

The IoT, big data analytics and the cloud are driving the convergence of information, operational, and engineering technologies (IT, OT, and ET) in unmanned, remote-controlled, and enterprise-wide operations.

Sharing data on operational capacity/conditions and its use in production/maintenance planning and forecasting can shorten production and delivery cycles as well as help with production/maintenance planning and forecasting.

Fast/Tools R10.04 supports third digital industrial ecosystems and has information models that simplify and enhance sub-system integration with the Centum VP integrated production control system.

To integrate with Centum VP, Yokogawa provides an enhanced graphics integration tool, together with support for industry standard interfaces and protocols which has additional support for Mitsubishi MELSEC iQ-R series controllers and the FINS protocol used by Omron programmable controllers.

To make it easier to incorporate Fast/Tools into an existing IT infrastructure, authentication and authorisation services are handled as one centralised process for all system users. This means that logged-on/off activities will be visible in one window, to improve the audit trail. The Fast/Tools encryption process has been improved to provide more secure communication between server and clients.

The Fast/Tools graphics editor is able to generate native displays to the HTML5 standard for PC-based and tablet or smartphone applications. An enhanced graphics editor simplifies the task of creating screens that deliver the data operators require, says Yokogawa.

The IIoT-enabled SCADA software improves visualisation, collaboration, decision support, configuration, communication, security, deployment, connectivity, operational alarm management/analysis, and history data storage/management. It can be set up to run on systems that employ Yokogawa’s advanced dual-redundant technology, enabling automatic switch-over to a back-up system in the event of a hardware failure.

https://www.yokogawa.com.eu

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FPGA claims world-leading CNN performance

Wed, Apr 17, 2019

Optimised for the Intel Arria 10 GX architecture, the Omnitek deep learning processing unit achieves 135Goperations per second per Watt at full 32-bit floating point accuracy when running the VGG-16 convolutional neural network (CNN) in an Arria 10 GX 1150. This, says Omnitek, is a world-leading performance for a mid-range SoC FPGA.

Omnitek has designed the deep learning processing unit around a mathematical framework combining low-precision fixed point maths with floating point maths to achieve the high compute density with zero loss of accuracy.

Scalable across a wide range of Arria 10 GX and Stratix 10 GX devices, the processing unit can be tuned for low cost or high performance in either embedded or data centre applications.

It is software programmable in C/C++ or Python using standard frameworks such as TensorFlow, enabling it to be configured for a range of standard CNN models including GoogLeNet, ResNet-50 and VGG-16 and also for custom models. No FPGA design expertise is required to do this, adds Omnitek.

Omnitek’s deep learning processing unit can be configured to provide optimal compute performance for CNNs, RNNs, MLPs and other neural network topologies and for as-yet unknown algorithms and optimisation techniques.

Omnitek was formed in 1998 to design intelligent video and vision systems based on programmable FPGAs and SoCs. Its technology enables customsed vision and artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing capabilities on FPGAs for customers across a range of end markets. Omnitek’s IP addresses demanding application requirements in areas such as video conferencing, projection and display and medical vision systems.

Today, it was announced that Intel had acquired Omnitek. “Omnitek’s technology is a great complement to our FPGA business,” said Dan McNamara, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Programmable Solutions Group. “Their deep, system-level FPGA expertise and high performance video and vision related technology have made them a trusted partner for many of our most important customers. Together, we will deliver leading FPGA solutions for video, vision and AI inferencing applications on Intel FPGAs and speed time-to-market for our existing customers while winning new ones.”

http://www.omnitek.tv

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Renesas launches controller and GaN FET driver for satellites

Sub-miniature tact switch targets IoT in the home

Operations and visualisation software maximises system investments

FPGA claims world-leading CNN performance

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