Ethernet PHYs optimise network performance

Two Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceivers have been introduced by Texas Instruments. They are designed to offer more connectivity options for designers of both space-constrained applications and time-sensitive networks (TSNs).

The DP83825I low-power 10-/100-Mbits per seocnd Ethernet PHY has a 44 per cent smaller package size than competing devices, claims Texas Instruments and provides a 150m cable reach. The DP83869HM is the industry’s only gigabit Ethernet PHY that supports copper and fibre media, and offers high -temperature operation up to 125 degrees C, which enables engineers to leverage the speed and reliability of Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in harsh environments.

The small package, low power consumption and long cable reach of the DP83825I enable designers to reduce the size and cost of compact IP network camera, lighting, electronic point-of-sale and other space-constrained applications without sacrificing network reach, explains Texas Instruments. The high operating temperature of the DP83869HM, as well as its electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity and support for media conversion, are claimed to help increase performance and design flexibility in factory automation, motor drive and grid infrastructure equipment designs.

Network reach can be expanded while system size and cost can be reduced, with the DP83825I. This is claimed to be the industry’s smallest Ethernet PHY, in a 3.0 x 3.0mm QFN 24-pin package. It also has a long cable reach and helps designers shrink system designs while increasing the physical span of networks, says Texas Instruments. The device’s extended cable reach eliminates the need for Ethernet repeaters, which further reduces operating costs.

The DP83825I reduces thermal loading and power demands for Ethernet connectivity and enables the allocation of power to other critical components within a system by consuming less than 125mW. The device also includes power-saving features such as energy-efficient Ethernet, wake-on-LAN and media access control isolation.

The DP83869HM is claimed to have the industry’s widest temperature range and high ESD immunity. Operating temperature is -40 to +125 degrees C for Gigabit fibre operation and ESD immunity exceeds the 8kV International Electrotechnical Commission 61000-4-2 standard. The DP83869HM helps improve Ethernet system reliability in high-temperature and static-prone industrial environments such as factory floors.

It supports 1000Base-X and 100Base-FX Ethernet protocols and conversion between copper and fibre Ethernet standards, to extend long-distance networks. There is also TSN support through low latency (less than 390 nano seconds total) for both 1000Base-T and 100Base-TX standards.

Evaluation models for both PHYs are available.

http://www.ti.com

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Microprocessor adds Linux distribution to accelerate IoT innovation

As part of its commitment to 10-year industrial-grade supply, STMicroelectronics has introduced the STM32MP1 microprocessor series with Linux distribution. According to STMicro, the multi-core STM32MP1 architecture is particularly suited to open-source software-based applications in real-time and power-constrained sub-systems

It also reduces development time using OpenSTLinux mainlined, open-source Linux distribution and the established STM32Cube ecosystem

STMicro has applied its Arm Cortex expertise to expand the capabilities of its STM32 microcontroller to applications which require more performance, resources and large open-source software. The STM32MP1 multi-core microprocessor series has compute and graphics support combined with power-efficient real-time control to support developers of industrial, consumer, smart home, health and wellness applications.

The STM32MP1 series microprocessor uses the STM32-family ecosystem from ST and its partners, including tools and technical support.

“The STM32MP1 brings the strength of the STM32 experience to applications that need MPU compute and graphics support, combined with power efficient real-time control and high feature integration,” said Ricardo De Sa Earp, general manager of STMicroelectronics’ microcontroller division. “Our commitment to consolidating open-source Linux software and microcontroller development support, combined with the longevity that consumer-oriented alternatives cannot equal, establish solid confidence in STM32MP1 for embedded MPU projects,” he adds.

Designers can use the STM32MP1 microprocessor series to develop a range of applications using the STM32 heterogeneous architecture that combines Arm Cortex-A and Cortex-M cores. The architecture performs fast processing and real-time tasks on a single chip, always achieving the greatest power efficiency, says STMicro. For example, by stopping Cortex-A7 execution and running only from the more efficient Cortex-M4, power can typically be reduced to 25 per cent. From this mode, going to standby further cuts power by 2.5k times – while still supporting the resumption of Linux execution in one to three seconds, depending on the application.

The STM32MP1 embeds a 3D graphics processor unit (GPU) to support human machine interface (HMI) displays. It also supports a wide range of external DDR SDRAM and flash memories. The large set of peripherals can be seamlessly allocated either to Cortex-A / Linux or Cortex-M / real-time activities. The STM32MP1 series is available in a range of BGA packages to minimise PCB cost and use the smallest board space.

The release of OpenSTLinux distribution has already been reviewed and accepted by the Linux community: Linux Foundation, Yocto project and Linaro. The distribution contains all the essential building blocks for running software on the application-processor cores.

Enhanced STM32Cube tools, upgraded from the STM32Cube package for Cortex-M microcontrollers, accelerate microprocessor development using Arm Cortex-A-core MPUs.

Two evaluation boards (STM32MP157A-EV1 and STM32MP157C-EV1) and two Discovery kits (STM32MP157A-DK1 and STM32MP157C-DK2) will be available through distribution channels in April.

http://www.st.com

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Microcontroller has virtualisation assist for self-drive vehicles

For next-generation automotive architectures, Renesas Electronics has introduced a 28nm microcontroller with virtualisation-assisted functions. The 600MHz flash microcontroller combines enhanced built-in self-test (BIST) and a Gbit Ethernet (GbE) interface.

The company described the verification of the automotive test chip as a technological stepping stone toward the realisation of next-generation automotive-control flash microcontrollers employing a 28nm low power process.

The microcontroller has four 600MHz CPUs with a lock-step mechanism and a large flash memory capacity of 16Mbyte as well as virtualisation-assisted functions. This technology allows multiple software components to run on a single microcontroller without interfering with each other to satisfy the requirements of the highest automotive safety integrity level specified under the ISO 26262 functional safety standard for road vehicles, ASIL D.

The enhanced BIST functionality allows for microcontroller self-diagnostic fault-detection, which is necessary to implement ASIL D. The newly developed standby-resume BIST (SR-BIST) function is executed during the standby-resume period.

There is also enhanced networking functionality, including a GbE interface for high-speed transfer of sensor information.

Automotive microcontrollers need to meet the requirements of running software components with varying safety integrity levels simultaneously and without interference. Automotive control requires software independence as well as real time responsiveness. To meet these next-generation requirements, Renesas has developed new technologies led by virtualization-assisted functions for automotive-control MCUs, as demonstrated in the new test chip.

Typically, software-based (hypervisor) virtualisation requires greater processing time as it has to emulate hardware virtually. The increased processing time is problematic for automotive-control microcontrollers that must maintain real time responsiveness. The hardware-based virtualisation-assisted functions were developed to reduce the virtualisation overhead and boost responsiveness. Allowing software components to operate independently makes it possible for the microcontroller to deliver both virtualisation and real-time performance as required by ASIL D.

One way to avoid disturbing a CPU processing period is to to perform self-diagnostics in the period between when the microcontroller enters the standby state and when resume occurs. There is, however, limitation regarding current fluctuations, meaning that the increase in the current fluctuation rate caused by resume due to self-diagnostics is a concern. Renesas has developed SR-BIST to minimise the current fluctuation rate. SR-BIST runs before the CPU begins operating each time there is a transition from standby to resume. To ensure rapid start up, the on-chip oscillator supplies a clock for the fault diagnostics. An N/M divider is used to gradually increase the frequency of the clock, reducing the current fluctuation rate when SR-BIST is executing. As a result, it allows functional safety that meets the requirements of ASIL D, confirms Renesas.

Ethernet will be the high-speed communication interface to handle the volume of data generated by connected vehicles. Renesas has developed a GbE interface using 5V transistors that supports the Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) standard and provides electrical noise tolerance. To deal with deterioration of the signal bandwidth due to the use of 5V transistors, dedicated circuits were added for receiver and driver. This results in signal quality that complies with the SGMII standard, says Renesas.

Renesas presented the test results at this week’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2019, in San Francisco, USA.

http://renesas.com

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Compact LoRa module uses Renesas Synergy

Hardware and software supplied by Renesas Electronics is used by Miromicro following the companies’ collaboration to develop an enhanced LoRa module, based on Synergy.

The compact and low-power FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module is based on LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency (RF) technology. The Miromico module enables customers to connect easily to LoRaWAN-based networks and uses the Synergy platform to give customers access to microcontrollers (MCUs) and a large production-grade software package.

Engineers can use the S3A6 MCU on the LoRa-based module to handle various tasks, while seamlessly streaming data across a LoRaWAN-based network to the cloud. The LoRaWAN protocol is quickly becoming the de facto standard to connect the ‘things’ of the IoT across long distances (up to 50km), flexibly and securely, while keeping batteries alive for years.

The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 measures only 14.2 x 19.5mm. Operating voltage is 1.8 to 3.3V and power consumption ranges from 1.4 microA in sleep mode to 25.5mA (typical) in TX mode (14dBm). Receiver sensitivity is -148dBm in LoRa mode SF12 at 10.4 kHz and operating temperature range is -40 to +85 degrees C.

The licensed LoRaWAN stack has firmware over the air (FOTA) capabilities. The module’s specifications make it suitable for urban as well as rural sensing applications such as metering, asset tracking, building automation, security, wearables and predictive maintenance, says Renesas.

The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module employs the S3A6 MCU with integrated 48MHz Arm Cortex-M4 core, and features 256kbyte code flash memory, 8kbyte data flash, and 32kbyte SRAM. Most MCU signals are available at the module level to make them externally accessible.

Manufactured in a low- power process, the S3A6 peripheral set includes analogue features such as a 14-bit SAR ADC, 12-bit DAC, op amps, and comparators. Timer channels and serial ports, USB function, CAN, DMA, and powerful safety and security hardware makes the S3A6 suitable for battery-operated applications. As part of the Renesas MCU portfolio, the S3A6 can be scaled up for more functionality or scaled down for cost optimisation.

The Renesas Synergy Platform features production-grade software in the Synergy Software Package (SSP). This includes the ThreadX RTOS and associated middleware such as a file system, USB stack, graphical user interface (GUI) software, application frameworks and functional libraries that can be used for encryption and DSP functions.

Samples of the FMLR-61-x-RSS3 LoRa module are available now from Miromico and distributor, Avnet Silica. Mass production is scheduled to start in Q2 2019.

Both Renesas and Miromico are LoRa Alliance members.

The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 demo kit will be on display at the Avnet Silica at Embedded World 2019, in Nuremberg, Germany (Hall 1 – Stand 1-370).

http://www.renesas.com

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