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Cube architecture targets powerful edge AI devices, says Winbond

Mon, Oct 02, 2023

Affordable edge AI computing can be enabled in mainstream use cases with the CUBE customised ultra-bandwidth elements) architecture which has been introduced by Winbond Electronics. The architecture optimises memory technology for seamless performance running generative AI on hybrid edge/cloud applications.
CUBE enhances the performance of front-end 3D structures such as chip on wafer (CoW) and wafer on wafer (WoW), as well as back-end 2.5D/3D chip on Si-interposer on substrate and fan-out solutions, said Winbond. It is compatible with memory density from 256Mbit to 8Gbit with a single die, and it can also be 3D stacked to enhance bandwidth while reducing data transfer power consumption.

Winbond said CUBE is a major step forward, enabling seamless deployment across various platforms and interfaces. The technology is suited to advanced applications such as wearable and edge server devices, surveillance equipment, ADAS and co-robots, said the company.
The company believes that the integration of cloud AI and powerful edge AI will define the next phase of AI development. “With CUBE, we are unlocking new possibilities and paving the way for improved memory performance and cost optimisation on powerful edge AI devices,” added the company.
CUBE is power efficient, consuming less than 1pJ/bit, ensuring extended operation and optimised energy usage. It has bandwidth capabilities ranging from 32Gbytes per second to 256Gbytes per second per die for accelerated performance that exceeds industry standards.
Memory capacities range from 256Mbit to 8Gbit per die, based on the 20nm specification now and 16nm in 2025. This allows CUBE to fit into smaller form factors seamlessly. The introduction of through-silicon vias (TSVs) further enhances performance, improves signal and power integrity while reducing the I/O area through a smaller pad pitch, said Winbond. It also reduces heat dissipation, especially when using SoC on the top die and CUBE on the bottom die, advised the company.
It is also cost-effective, said Winbond, boosting the data rate up to 2Gbits per second with total 1K I/O. When paired with legacy foundry processes like 28nm/22nm SoC, CUBE unleashes high bandwidth capabilities, reaching 32 to 256Gbytes per second, equivalent to harnessing the power of 4-32pcs LP-DDR4x 4266Mbits per second x16 I/O bandwidth.
Stacking the SoC (top die without TSV) on top of the CUBE (bottom die with TSV) minimises the SoC die size, eliminating any TSV penalty area, said Winbond.
The company said CUBE can unleash the full potential of hybrid edge/cloud AI to elevate system capabilities, response time, and energy efficiency.
The company added that it is actively engaging with partner companies to establish the 3DCaaS platform, which will leverage CUBE’s capabilities.
Winbond Electronics supplies semiconductor memory products with capabilities of product design, R&D, manufacturing and sales services. The company’s product portfolio consists of specialty DRAM, mobile DRAM, code storage flash and TrustME secure flash for tier-1 customers in communication, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial, and computer peripheral markets.
Winbond is headquartered in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), and has subsidiaries in the USA, Japan, Israel, China, Hong Kong and Germany and 12 inch fabs in Taichung and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

https://www.winbond.com

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Contactless connections simplify and streamline design, says Molex

Wed, Sep 27, 2023

The MX60 series of contactless connectivity solutions have been developed to ease device pairing, streamline design engineering and boost product reliability, said Molex.

These low power, high speed, solid state devices feature miniaturised mmWave RF transceivers and built-in antennas in a single package. They deliver faster, simpler, device-to-device communications without the use of physical cables or connectors, said the company. The MX60 solutions can offer seamless device pairing and increased communications reliability for video displays, sleek and light consumer electronics, industrial robotics and devices operating in harsh environments, the company continued.

The MX60 series is based on wireless chip-to-chip technology and more than 350 filed patent applications acquired in 2021 with the purchase of core technology and IP from high-speed, contactless connectivity company, Keyssa. The acquired technology operates at data rates from 1,0 to 5.4Gbits per second on the 60GHz band with no Wi‑Fi or Bluetooth interference.

The first models in the MX60 series replace traditional DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet and USB SuperSpeed connectors to reduce development time, cost and risk, explained Molex. An integrated retimer optimises signal integrity at higher data rates.

A space-saving, contactless solution that provides USB2 and other low-speed interfaces is currently in development.

“Every piece of real estate counts when designing smartphones, AR/VR glasses, smartwatches and other consumer devices,” said Walter Rivera, senior manager, wireless connectivity product manager for the Micro Solutions business unit at Molex. “By combining USB2 and other low-speed interfaces in one contactless solution, we will offer product developers a critical head-start as they won’t have to worry about fitting extra components into ever-shrinking form factors,” he added.

The MX60 series also improves the durability of products exposed to harsh environmental conditions, such as dust, moisture and corrosion. The series addresses a variety of applications and devices, including smartphones, AR/VR glasses, tablets, self-driving vehicles, video walls, industrial robotics, medical wearables and wireless docking stations.

The sealed, contact-free solutions provide significant benefits over physical metal-to-metal contacts which can degrade over time and impact product performance and reliability, claimed the company. The contactless connectivity solutions are less prone to risks associated with ingress and repeated motion, including high-vibration and rotational products. The ability to remove diagnostic ports on wirelessly charged devices also can reduce development and production costs while boosting overall product reliability.

Production samples are available for MX60 USB SuperSpeed products, for high vibration and harsh environments, including mobile devices and networking applications, MX60 Gigabit Ethernet, for wireless infrastructure, industrial automation, medtech and networking applications and MX60 DisplayPort main and auxiliary, the high speed replacements for conventional DisplayPort connectors.

Plans are underway to expand the MX60 series further by leveraging Molex’s mmWave antenna, high-speed signal integrity and volume manufacturing expertise.

http://www.molex.com

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Electronic shelf label eliminates paper price tags and updates prices via an app

Wed, Sep 27, 2023

Chinese company, Minew Technologies, has introduced the STag58P electronic shelf label which replaces traditional paper labels in retail, warehousing, medical, and smart office applications.

Equipped with a Bluetooth 5.4 nRF52833 SoC by Nordic Semiconductor, it enables prices of thousands of products to be updated simultaneously.

The STag58P can display text, numbers, colour blocks, icons, lines, barcodes, QR codes, and pictures that can be remotely updated via a cloud-connected gateway from a central point. For example, a supermarket chain with multiple outlets across multiple states could update the prices of a single product line across every single store, with just the touch of a button from head office.

The STag58P is powered by Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52833 multi-protocol SoC, that provides Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity between the labels and a gateway for onward relay to the cloud. Alternatively, the labels can be updated via an app on a user’s smartphone for in-person label updating.

The STag58P is based on the Nordic implementation of the Bluetooth SIG’s new Electronic Shelf Label Service and Profile. This leverages several new features recently released in the Bluetooth Core Specification, and already supported by the Nordic SoftDevice Controller (Bluetooth 5.4 qualified) in the nRF Connect SDK (software development kit). For example, it supports periodic advertising with responses (PAwR) which enables a single gateway to control and update thousands of individual shelf labels with low latency, while keeping the communication encrypted using the new EAD (encrypted advertising data) feature.

“The biggest difference between electronic labels and paper labels are the cost reduction and efficiency increases,” says Sue Li, field application engineer, Minew. “The old process of changing a price tag—from printing to physically replacing them—is no longer necessary, and the bigger the retail outlet the more time and money that is going to save.

“The system also has a quick positioning function that provides each product with its own ID, enabling the specific location of the products in store to be displayed in the retailer’s back-end system. This improves the efficiency of staff picking and replenishing goods because they know exactly where in the store each product is located,” added Li.

The tag joins Minew’s existing electronic shelf labels (ESL) in a range of sizes from 1.54 inches (3.9mm) up to 31.2 in (79.2 mm) with a full colour, IPX5- and IPX7-rated waterproof e-ink display. Other features include multi-colour LED lights, customisable templates, rapid refresh, as well as multi-language and NFC support.

Minew ESL labels are powered by replaceable button, pouch, or AAA cells depending on label size, and only use power when changing prices, not in normal display mode. Labels can achieve up to five years’ battery life (at a rate of five updates per day). The nRF52833 SoC has a low power 2.4GHz radio supporting proprietary, 802.15.4, and Bluetooth 5.4 (including Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding), a fully-automatic power management system, native NFC support, and over-the-air device firmware update (OTA-DFU) capabilities.

The new tag can be customised by Minew’s ODM and design services, or can be supported by the company’s proprietary ESL Cloud platform and its Cloud Tag and GoMeeting smartphone apps. The cloud platform enables the user to configure system parameters as well as manage electronic tags and gateways in each location. From the app, staff can manage and modify the content and template of individual labels without the requirement for a gateway. The GoMeeting app is designed for smart office applications and allows the user to perform meeting room management and meeting reservation functionality.

http://www.minew.com
http://www.nordicsemiconductor.com

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AI module brings natural language interaction without the internet

Mon, Sep 25, 2023

Useful Sensors’ the AI-In-A-Box module hosts its LLM (large language model) file locally, enabling its inexpensive microprocessor to understand and respond instantly to spoken natural language queries or commands without reference to a data centre.

The module understands natural language, answers queries and solves real-world problems but like other LLM-based AI devices, it operates entirely locally.

The AI module enables intuitive, natural language interaction with electronics devices locally and privately, with no need for an account or internet connection. It can answer queries and solve problems in a similar way to well-known AI tools based on a LLM but uses in-house developed compression and acceleration technologies to host its LLM file locally. This enables the low-cost microprocessor to understand and respond instantly to spoken natural language queries or commands without reference to a data centre.

Disconnected from the internet, the AI-In-A-Box module eliminates user concerns about privacy, snooping, or dependence on third-party cloud services, which are prevalent with conventional LLM-based AI products and services, said Useful Sensors.

Founder and CEO, Pete Warden, explained that the user can talk naturally to the module’s model, with no network connection, account, or API (application programming interface) calls. “It offers the benefits of AI – an intuitive, natural way to control devices in the home, answer queries or just have a chat with a natural-language avatar – without having to share any of your conversations or other data with a big tech company or a cloud service provider,” he said. “At home, every conversation with the box stays within the user’s four walls.”

The AI-In-A-Box module contains a single, general purpose Arm Cortex-A-class microprocessor running all AI operations to answer questions, tell stories and jokes, and give opinions on topics such as art or sport without requiring arrays of high-performance and high-cost GPUs hosted in a data centre, said Useful Sensors.

The module can be used as a bolt-on hardware and software platform for OEMs and developers who want to provide an intuitive and natural voice-based user interface for any electronics product. The software runs locally so the user avoids any need for account registration or system configuration – eliminating privacy concerns.

Other capabilities include real-time closed captions of nearby conversations, which could benefit users with hearing difficulties, for example. Upgrades in development will add the ability to translate between English and other languages, and the ability to use the box as a voice keyboard (speech-to-text function).

The Useful Sensors compressed LLM file stored locally on the AI-In-A-Box module, and its other operating software, are supplied by Useful Sensors as open-source software under a GPL v3 license. Commercial license terms are available for OEMs.

http://www.usefulsensors.com

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Cube architecture targets powerful edge AI devices, says Winbond

Contactless connections simplify and streamline design, says Molex

Electronic shelf label eliminates paper price tags and updates prices via an app

AI module brings natural language interaction without the internet

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