Low dropout voltage regulator packs performance into small footprint

Trade-offs between quiescent current, output power, dynamic response, and package size are relieved, says STMicroelectronics at the launch of its STLQ020 low dropout (LDO) voltage regulator.

By combining small size with high performance and energy efficiency, the STLQ020 is particularly suitable for use in battery-powered consumer products like smartphones and tablets, smart watches, audio or media devices, and wearables. It helps extend battery life in IoT endpoints such as smart meters and wireless sensors, healthcare devices like wearable monitors, and industrial applications such as factory automation or sensor networking.

Drawing just 300nA quiescent current (Iq), and capable of supplying up to 200mA to the load, power-supply rejection (PSRR), and transient response, the STLQ020 is available in a choice of compact packages which can be as small as a 0.8 x 0.8mm flip-chip4.

The STLQ020’s dedicated low-power design and adaptive bias circuitry is claimed to ensure fast response and a stable output with high PSRR. In addition, dropout voltage as low as 160mV (typical) at maximum load allows longer equipment runtimes as the battery discharges. The 5nA logic-controlled shutdown mode allows the STLQ020 to extend the interval between coin-cell replacements in low-duty-cycle applications, like remote sensors.

With an input voltage range of 2.0 to 5.5V, the STLQ020 can be powered directly from a suitable battery voltage (VBAT) or logic rail. The output voltage can be set between 0.8 and 4.5V, with either fixed-output or adjustable-output versions available. The fixed output voltages are selectable in 50mV increments.

The STLQ020 is in production now, and available as a 2.0 x 2.0mm DFN6, 0.8 x 0.8mm flip-chip4, or 2.1 x 2.0mm SOT323-5L.

A quad-LDO evaluation board (STEVAL-LDO001V1) based on STLQ020 and three other low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulators are available to order.

http://www.st.com

> Read More

Software brings Amazon Alexa to connected objects

The X-Cube-AVS software package from STMicroelectronics enables Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS) to run on STM32 microcontrollers This means, simple connected objects such as smart appliances, home-automation devices, and office products, can support advanced conversational user interfaces with Cloud-based intelligence like automatic speech recognition and natural-language understanding.

The expansion package for the STM32Cube software platform, X-Cube-AVS contains ready-to-use libraries and open routines that accelerate porting the AVS software development kit (SDK) to the microcontroller. Application samples are also included. The software abstracts developers from the complex software layers needed to host AVS on an embedded device. STMicroelectronics claims that this is the first package to cater specifically for microcontrollers. In contrast, AVS development usually targets more power-hungry and expensive microprocessors. As a result, X-Cube-AVS makes Alexa technology accessible to a wider spectrum of developers and projects, says STMicroelectronics.

The software handles low-layer communication and connection to AVS servers. It provides application-specific services, and encapsulates the AVS protocol to ease application implementation. Connection management includes a persistent-token mechanism for directly restoring connection losses without repeated user authentication. A software test harness is for endurance testing, which can simulate events such as network disconnection to facilitate robustness testing and validation of the user application.

X-Cube-AVS comes with a demonstration example for the STM32F769 Discovery kit which shows how to connect a simple smart-speaker to AVS, leveraging the board-configuration interface included in the software. X-Cube-AVS can be used with other STM32F7 microcontrollers, or any STM32 device with adequate CPU performance and memory to run the AVS SDK.

X-Cube-AVS is available now to download, free of charge, from the STMicroelectronics website.

This news story is brought to you by softei.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news.

To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep informed of the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here:  softei.com

Readers can also register to receive the monthly newsletter from our sister site, weartechdesign.com. This is the only website dedicated to developers of wearable electronic products. Simply click this link to register: weartechdesign.com

We have a Fitbit to give away on both Softei.com and Weartechdesign.com! Register today to enter the competition to win a Fitbit at softei.com or weartechdesign.com.

http://www.st.com

> Read More

ImageFlex 2.0 speeds development of autonomous vehicles

Abaco Systems has announced Release 2.0 of its ImageFlex  image processing and visualisation toolkit at this week’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC).

ImageFlex leverages the power of GPU technology to provide an easy-to-use application processor interface (API) framework to speed and simplify the development, optimisation and maintenance of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) applications, says Abaco Systems, especially those targeted at autonomous vehicles.

ImageFlex enables developers of image/video processing and visualisation applications on graphic processor units (GPUs) to be more productive by hiding the complexity of the underlying software layers, while maintaining high performance, explains Abaco Systems. By providing an OpenGL abstraction layer (no OpenGL experience is required) it can reduce the number of lines of code required by a factor of five. According to Abaco, this radically reduces the effort and time needed to create, test and maintain the application. This means faster time-to-market as well as lower development cost, adds Abaco Systems.

New features for ImageFlex Release 2.0 include tools and reference examples enabling AI-based applications to be deployed on Abaco’s Nvidia-based GPU products. There is also the provision of a reference target tracking example – a core building block for tracking applications and high quality, GPU-optimised image stabilisation.

ImageFlex is complementary to Abaco’s Nvidia GPU-based GVC1000 and GVC2000 hardware platforms, which use the Nvidia Jetson supercomputer on a module for AI computing at the edge. Degraded Visual Environment (DVE), 360° situational awareness, helmet mount sight processing, target identification and tracking and other EO/IR processing applications can therefore be developed. It is portable across a range of graphics processing architectures and operating systems, and is potentially safety certifiable, adds Abaco Systems.

The ImageFlex API provides for a range of image processing operations from simple image transformations through to more complex lens distortion correction and image morphing. It includes optimised, high quality image fusion, stabilistion, tracking and distortion correction algorithms, as well as a comprehensive set of reference application examples that provide core software building blocks. ImageFlex also provides tools and reference examples demonstrating how to integrate with sensors and deploy AI-based applications such as object detection and recognition.

ImageFlex provides an image fusion function that can fuse image data from multiple sources of different resolutions. The algorithm adaptively adjusts to pull through the regions of highest contrast in each source to a produce a fused result, enabling an observer or processing stage to act on the combined information of the sources.

http://www.abaco.com

> Read More

Microsemi releases Switchtec PCIe Gen 4 switch development platform

Switchtec PCIe Gen 4 development platform has been released by Microsemi to enables customers to immediately begin PCIe Gen 4 system hardware designs based on the company’s PCIe Gen 4 switch and develop firmware using its Switchtec software development kit (SDK).
 
PCIe Gen 4, an advance in I/O technology, is expected to be widely adopted across data centre and automotive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) equipment using processing and peripheral devices such as graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), network interface cards (NICs), NVM Express (NVMe) solid state drives (SSDs), storage controllers, automotive cameras and Infotainment. Applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as traditional enterprise workloads using networking, storage and offload processors, all benefit from the increased bandwidth of PCIe Gen 4 systems, adds Microsemi.

Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe Gen 4 family comprises switches from 96 to 24 lanes, providing high port density with up to 48 ports and 48 non-transparent bridges (NTBs), flexible port bifurcation, from two to 16 lanes per port, switch partition capabilities with up to 24 switch partitions, advanced error reporting and error containment for surprise-plug and unplug to prevent system crashes, and advanced diagnostics and debug features to identify, diagnose and fix problems.

Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe Gen 4 development platform is available now to select lead customers. 

This news story is brought to you by softei.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news.

To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep informed of the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here:  softei.com

Readers can also register to receive the monthly newsletter from our sister site, weartechdesign.com. This is the only website dedicated to developers of wearable electronic products. Simply click this link to register: weartechdesign.com

We have a Fitbit to give away on both Softei.com and Weartechdesign.com! Register today to enter the competition to win a Fitbit at softei.com or weartechdesign.com.

https://www.microsemi.com

> Read More

About Smart Cities

This news story is brought to you by smartcitieselectronics.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the Smart City Electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news. To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep yourself informed on the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here: Smart Cities Registration