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ST reveals high-performance wireless microcontrollers

Wed, Mar 06, 2024

ST has revealed the next generation of its short-range wireless microcontrollers. These all-in-one components enable wearables and smart objects including smart home devices, health monitors, and smart appliances to become ever more miniaturised, easy to use, secure and affordable.

Short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth LE, Zigbee and Thread (popular in smart meters and smart buildings) are the fabric connecting smart devices to home bridges, gateways, and controllers including smartphones. As we all seek solutions for making life more economical, sustainable, and comfortable, vendors are looking to bring creative and high-performing new solutions to market more quickly, within tight cost constraints. They need to be stylish, too: tiny, low-profile, or even embedded out of sight in other equipment, such as in smart bulbs. Going wireless is a part of this trend, for freedom, flexibility, and fashion.

Wireless microcontrollers like ST’s new STM32WBA5 product line allow a one-chip solution that’s extremely compact, reduces the bill of materials, and shortens the time to market by relieving wireless design challenges. Also, being compatible with the development tools and software packs of the STM32 microcontroller development ecosystem, the new line simplifies migrating existing products designed for wired connections.

The new series’ flagship STM32WBA55 microcontroller can communicate using multiple wireless standards concurrently, including low-energy Bluetooth LE 5.4, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter (Thread RCP). Matter border router is a perfect match with the STM32WBA5 for this new open-source connectivity standard for smart-home and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. In this way, the STM32WBA55 supports a great user experience while simplifying hardware and software engineers’ development journey, aiding affordability and time to market for the new product.

With this new generation, ST has also introduced support for the recently completed Bluetooth LE Audio specifications that enable exciting and innovative new products for richer listening and hearing experiences. These include the new Bluetooth Auracast feature, which opens the door to a new world of audio broadcasting applications.

The STM32WBA series is the first wireless MCU in the market to achieve the important SESIP (Security Evaluation Standard for IoT Platforms) Level 3 security certification. With this, smart devices containing STM32WBA microcontrollers are ready to satisfy the US Cyber Trust Mark and EU Radio Equipment Directive (RED) regulations due to become mandatory in 2025.

The new STM32WBA5 product line will be available on st.com on March 12. Sample requests and pricing information are available from local ST sales offices. ST will introduce a ready-to-use module containing the STM32WBA, integrated with necessary external components including power-supply and antenna-balancing circuitry, in June 2024.

https://www.st.com/stm32wba

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Nexperia unveils next gen low-voltage analog switches

Wed, Mar 06, 2024

Nexperia, has introduced a new series of 4- and 8-channel analog switches designed to monitor and protect 1.8 V electronic systems. This series of multiplexers includes AEC-Q100 qualified variants intended for use in automotive applications as well as standard versions suitable for a broader range of consumer and industrial applications including sensor monitoring and diagnostics, enterprise computing and domestic appliances.

When using analogue switches, designers commonly require additional voltage translators because the control circuitry cannot operate from the voltage level used to supply power to the switch. By contrast, the control pins in the NMUX1308 and NMUX1309 switches operate independently of their power supply voltage range, negating the need to use additional components to perform level-shifting and thus saving board-space and reducing costs.

Nexperia has designed this series of switches to include additional features which enhance overall system safety. Fail-safe logic permits control pins to be biased prior to system power-up and remain biased even after the system has powered down. This eliminates the requirement for power sequencing between the analog switch and the system microcontroller unit (MCU). A power-off protection feature allows analog pins to be biased prior to system power-up and to remain biased after system power-down. This removes the restrictions associated with power sequencing for the analog switch and various power rails which support analog signals and ADC circuitry further down the signal-chain. The combination of both features in the NMUX130X prevents back-power of the supply rail through any pin of the analog switch.

These devices integrate injection current control circuitry, limiting output voltage shifts on the active channel to under 5 mV when an overvoltage event happens on disabled signal channels. This eliminates the need for external diode and resistor networks, saving board-space and reducing cost.

The NMUX1308 and NMUX1309 switches include 8-channel and dual 4-channel devices, in standard (-40 °C to +85 °C) and automotive-qualified (-40 °C to +125 °C) versions and are available in leaded and leadless options, including a leadless package which support AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) for automotive applications.

https://www.nexperia.com/analogswitches

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IMDT launches new SOM and SBC with the latest Renesas RZ/V2H SOC

Wed, Mar 06, 2024

IMDT has announced a new line of power-efficient, cost-effective and ready-to-use system-on-module (SOM) and single-board-computer (SBC) solutions, based on the new Renesas RZ/V2H microprocessor.

The IMDT Renesas V2H-based family of products delivers advanced functionality and high performance for Robotic, IoT and industrial applications. Equipped with a powerful, Arm-based CPU and Renesas proprietary AI accelerator, these products support diverse uses, including high-bandwidth communications, machine learning, and high-definition image processing.

The RZ/V2H processor features Renesas’s proprietary AI accelerator, the DRP (Dynamically Reconfigurable Processor)-AI3, which boasts a power efficiency of 10 TOPS/W. Additionally, it integrates four Arm Cortex-A55 CPU cores that reach a maximum operating frequency of 1.8 GHz, tailored for Linux application processing. For high-performance real-time processing, it includes two Cortex-R8 cores operating at 800 MHz, alongside one Cortex-M33 core serving as a subcore. By integrating these cores into a single chip, the device effectively manages both vision-AI and real-time control tasks, making it ideal for demanding robotics applications.

The IMDT V2H based SOM supports 4 x 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 connections, enabling attachment of up to four cameras. Additionally, the full module provides customisable options such as onboard Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, various memory and storage capacities, and PHY configurations, allowing users to tailor the system to their specific needs. The IMDT V2H SBC carrier board transforms the IMDT V2H SOM into a compact, high-performance mini-computer. Measuring only 125 x 80 x 20 mm, this fully customisable small form factor SBC features a cost-effective system design, ideal for diverse applications in robotics, drones, and smart city projects. The V2H SBC provides a multitude of assembly options, personalised and adjusted to meet specific customer needs, alongside comprehensive onboard connectivity. It presents developers with an energy-efficient solution that occupies minimal space.

https://www.imd-tec.com

Written by Annie Shinn

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Renesas unveils powerful single-chip MPU for next-gen robotics

Thu, Feb 29, 2024

Renesas Electronics Corporation, has expanded its popular RZ Family of microprocessors (MPUs) with a new device targeting high-performance robotics applications, the RZ/V2H enables both vision AI and real-time control capabilities.

The device comes with a new generation of Renesas proprietary AI accelerator, DRP (Dynamically Reconfigurable Processor)-AI3, delivering 10 TOPS/W power efficiency, a 10-fold improvement over previous models. Additionally, pruning technology employed in the DRP-AI3 accelerator significantly improves AI computing efficiency, boosting AI inference performance up to 80 TOPS. This performance boost allows engineers to process vision AI applications directly at edge AI devices without relying on cloud computing platforms.

The RZ/V2H incorporates four Arm Cortex-A55 CPU cores with a maximum operating frequency of 1.8 GHz for Linux application processing, two Cortex-R8 cores running at 800 MHz for high-performance real-time processing, and one Cortex-M33 as a sub core. By integrating these cores into a single chip, the device can effectively manage both vision AI and real-time control tasks, making it ideal for demanding robotics applications of the future. Since the RZ/V2H consumes less power, it eliminates the need for cooling fans and other heat-dissipating components. This means engineers can design systems that are smaller in size, less expensive, and more reliable.

Renesas has applied its proprietary DRP technology to develop the OpenCV Accelerator that speeds up the processing of OpenCV, an open-source industry standard library for computer vision processing. The resulting speed improvement is up to 16 times faster compared to CPU processing. The combination of the DRP-AI3 and the OpenCV Accelerator enhances both AI computing and image processing algorithms, enabling the power-efficient, real-time execution of Visual SLAM used in applications such as robot vacuum cleaners.

To accelerate development, Renesas also released AI Applications, a library of pre-trained models for various use cases, and the AI SDK (Software Development Kit) for rapid development of AI applications. By running these software on the RZ/V2H’s evaluation board, engineers can evaluate AI applications easily and earlier in the design process, even if they do not have extensive knowledge of AI.

https://www.renesas.com/rzv2h

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