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Eight-bit MCU development board connects to 5G LTE-M NB-IoT networks

Thu, Jun 23, 2022

Microchip Technology’s AVR-IoT cellular mini development board is the latest to join its ABR family. It is based on the AVR128DB48 eight-bit microcontroller (MCU). It provides a platform to start building sensor and actuator nodes on 5G narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) networks.

The small form factor board aimed at developers who want to connect IoT devices to an available 5G network. This is an essential feature for devices on the go or located in remote areas with limited availability of long range (LoRa) networks or other low power wide area networks (LPWAN).

The AVR128DB48 eight-bit MCU family includes security protection with Microchip’s ATECC608 CryptoAuthentication device. The ATECC608 can be configured to most major cloud service providers through Microchip’s IoT provisioning tool.

“Microchip continues to expand its family of AVR eight-bit MCUs for developers to implement a variety of embedded designs with ease and flexibility,” said Greg Robinson, vice president of marketing for Microchip’s eight-bit MCU business unit.

The ability to connect remote and mobile devices to a 5G narrowband network with an eight-bit MCU opens up new opportunities for battery-operated devices due to the low power combined with high-quality analogue peripherals, he added.

The AVR-IoT cellular mini development board comes pre-configured to send data from on-board light and temperature sensors to the cloud, viewable using Microchip’s sandbox portal. The sandbox portal lets customers track and monitor their device in real time from a remote location.

This functionality covers the core requirements of many applications in various industries including agriculture, industrial and energy, as well as consumer spaces such as transportation of goods, alarm systems, building automation and remote monitoring.

To provide an easier, more efficient and more cost-effective solution for connecting IoT devices to 5G using the AVR128DB48 MCU, Microchip has partnered with Sequans to include its Monarch 2 GM02S single-chip radio equipped with 5G LTE-M and narrowband IoT. Microchip also partnered with Truphone to provide the SIM card for cellular service that offers coverage worldwide.

The Monarch 2 GM02S is a 5G-ready LTE-M and NB-IoT solution on a single chip, designed specifically for NB-IoT applications, including sensors, wearables and other low data, low power devices. By partnering with Microchip on its AVR-IoT cellular board, Sequans claimed to simplify and lower the costs of IoT device design.

“Owning and operating all elements of the eSIM ecosystem in-house coupled with access to a large number of low-power cellular networks through a single SIM SKU, provides Microchip customers looking to connect IoT devices a future proof cellular service.” said Steve Alder, chief business development officer of Truphone.

The AVR-IoT cellular mini development board fits the Adafruit Feather form factor. It features a Qwiic/Stemma I2C connector for easy functionality extension, creating a clear path to production. It is also Arduino-compatible and is supported by Microchip’s Github Library, which provides functionality for HTTPS, MQ telemetry transport (MQTT), and low power.

Users can access the Microchip sandbox page for a tutorial on how to get up and running and establish a connection with the AVR-IoT cellular mini development board.

Microchip Technology provides smart, connected and secure embedded control, serving more than 120,000 customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defence, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers technical support along with dependable delivery and quality.

https://www.microchip.com

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Renesas’ SmartBond DA1470x SoCs are integrated for wireless connectivity

Wed, Jun 22, 2022

Renesas Electronics has announced the SmartBond DA1470x family of Bluetooth low energy (LE) integrated SoCs for wireless connectivity.

Renesas claimed the DA1470x family to be the only device in the Bluetooth LE space to integrate a power management unit, a hardware voice activity detector (VAD), a graphics processing unit (GPU) and Bluetooth LE connectivity all into a single chip.

This combined functionality provides smart IoT devices with advanced sensor and graphical capabilities and seamless, low power, always-on audio processing. The SoCs are suitable for wearables, such as smart watches and fitness trackers, glucose monitor readers and other consumer medical and healthcare devices, home appliances with displays, industrial automation and security systems, and Bluetooth consoles such as e-bikes and gaming equipment.

“The DA1470x family … enables developers to push the boundaries of connected consumer and industrial applications and future-proof their IoT products to fit the needs of multiple applications, while optimising their bill of materials,” commented Sean McGrath, vice president of the connectivity and audio business division in Renesas’ IoT, Industrial and Infrastructure business unit.

The high level of integration results in “significant cost savings” on the bill of materials (BoM), enabling cost-effective system solutions, according to the company. It also reduces component count on the PCB, enabling smaller form factor designs and freeing up space for additional components or larger batteries. With fewer components on the PCB, the reliability of the system improves, it claimed, delivering a further reduction in the total cost of goods sold (COGS) of the end product.

The wireless SoCs feature a multi core system – with an Arm Cortex-M33 processor as the main application core and Cortex -M0+ as the sensor node controller.

An integrated 2D GPU and display controller supports DPI, JDI parallel, DBI and single / dual / quad serial peripheral interfaces (SPIs) and there is a configurable Mac supporting Bluetooth LE 5.2 and proprietary 2.4GHz protocols.

An integrated 720mA JEITA-compliant USB charger supports rechargeable Li-ion / Li-Po batteries, while an integrated low quiescent current SIMO DC/DC converter of the PMU supplies internal system and external components.

Low power hardware VAD enables seamless and always-on audio processing.

The DA1470x family consists of four new devices, all of which are in mass production and available now.

The DA14706 has already been used in the Xiaomi Mi band 7 wearable activity tracker with a 1.62-inch, 192×490 Amoled display, 120 sports modes and a 15-day battery life for typical use.

The DA1470x family will be demonstrated at Embedded World (21-23 June) in Nuremberg, Germany, at Booth Hall 1-234.

A provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines its expertise in embedded processing, analogue, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications.

http://www.renesas.com

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Infineon adds the AIROC CYW20820 system on chip for flexibility, low power and high-performance connectivity

Mon, Jun 20, 2022

Infineon Technologies is adding the AIROC CYW20820 Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE (low energy) system on chip (SoC) to its AIROC Bluetooth portfolio. The AIROC CYW20820 is a Bluetooth 5.2 core specification-compliant device for IoT applications. It is designed to support a wide spectrum of uses for home automation and sensors, including medical, home, security and industrial, as well as lighting, Bluetooth Mesh, or any IoT application that needs Bluetooth LE or dual mode Bluetooth connectivity.

The AIROC CYW20820 is claimed to provide reliable connectivity and low power with high performance compute capability, integrating an Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller unit with a floating point unit. It features multiple digital interfaces, an optimised memory subsystem and a power amplifier that delivers up to 11.5dBm transmit output power in LE and BR (basic rate) modes, reducing the device footprint and the costs associated with implementing Bluetooth solutions.

Infineon is also adding three modules that include an onboard crystal oscillator, passive components and the AIROC CYW20820 SoC. These integrated modules are globally certified to support fast time-to-market of IoT devices. The AIROC CYBT-243053-02, CYBT-253059-02 and CYBT-243068-02 are supported by ModusToolbox software and tools with code examples to support the rapid development of Bluetooth applications.

“The AIROC CYW20820 Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE SoC and modules are key additions to our portfolio and provide a solution that is low-power, cost-efficient and with scalable performance. With certified AIROC modules, Infineon is taking care of key steps in Bluetooth design to enable customers to have the quickest path to market.” said Sonal Chandrasekharan, vice president of the Bluetooth product line at Infineon.

Infineon’s AIROC wireless products, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combos, have shipped more than a billion devices, claimed the company.

AIROC Bluetooth products leverage a common software framework and are pre-integrated with Infineon’s ModusToolbox software and tools, allowing developers to deliver differentiated products to market on time and on budget.

The AIROC CYW20820 will be shown at Embedded World, Nuremberg, Germany, from 21 to 23 June 2022, in hall 4a, booth #138.

http://www.infineon.com/wireless

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STMicroelectronics’ new inertial modules enable AI training inside the sensor

Mon, Jun 20, 2022

STMicroelectronics has introduced ISM330ISN inertial sensors that contain an intelligent sensor processing unit (ISPU). The company said the power the onlife era: interacting with trained devices, with intelligence moving from “on” the edge to “in” the edge.

The ISM330ISN always-on, six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) for movement and position sensing uses its embedded intelligence to deliver unrivalled performance and accuracy for its size and power, claimed ST. Used in IoT and industrial applications, the IMU sets to accelerate response time and extend battery life in equipment such as condition monitors for predictive maintenance, as well as battery-operated asset trackers and industrial applications, such as robots.

The intelligence built into the ISM330ISN enables smart devices to perform advanced motion detection functions in the sensor without interaction with the external microcontroller (MCU), thus saving power at system level. ST’s approach integrates a specialised processor, the ISPU, in a small area directly on the sensor chip, optimised for machine learning applications. This enables the ISM330ISN module to have a 50 per cent smaller footprint and consume 50 per cent less power than a typical co-packaged MCU, claimed the company.

Developers can programme the ISPU using ST’s NanoEdge AI Studio. This tool is used to deploy AI applications on STM32 microcontrollers. The technology is now available for programming the ISPU, enabling users to easily generate automatically optimised machine learning libraries. Designing an anomaly detection library with AI learning capability directly inside the ISPU is possible with minimal data and just a few clicks, claimed the company, and with no specific data science skills needed.

“Intelligence formerly implemented at the network edge, in an application processor, is now moving to the deep edge, inside the sensor,” said Simone Ferri, general manager of marketing, Analogue MEMS and Sensors Group, STMicroelectronics. “Our ISM330ISN IMU heralds a new category of smart sensors, leveraging embedded AI to handle complex operations such as pattern recognition and anomaly detection with greatly increased efficiency and performance.”

The ISM330ISN has the same 3.0 x 2.5 x 0.83mm package outline as conventional inertial modules. Designers can therefore upgrade products quickly and cost-effectively with no obligation to change an established circuit board layout.

The ISM330ISN is covered by ST’s 10-year longevity programme, which provides long-term availability assurance for product designers and manufacturers.

The ISM330ISN is part of ST’s iNEMO family of IMUs. It contains a three-axis accelerometer and three-axis gyroscope with low-noise sensing performance, and an output data rate (ODR) of 6.6kHz. With the ISPU, the sensor ensures consistently high accuracy while consuming only 0.59mA in combination mode with the accelerometer and gyroscope active.

ST’s ISPU architecture, based on digital signal processing (DSP), is compact and power-efficient, with 40kbytes of RAM, and occupies just 8,000 gates on the sensor die. Performing floating-point operations with single-bit precision, ISPU is suitable for machine learning applications and binary neural networks, claimed the company.

The ISM330ISN is scheduled to enter production in the second half of 2022 and will be available from st.com or distributors. NanoEdge AI Studio enabling the creation of libraries designed for specific ISPU part numbers is available at no charge on ST.com.

ST’s ISPU and the NanoEdge.AI tools have been shortlisted for the Embedded Award at Embedded World 2022, in the Hardware and Software categories respectively (in Nuremberg, Germany, 21-23 June). ST will be exhibiting in Hall 4A-148.

https://www.st.com

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Eight-bit MCU development board connects to 5G LTE-M NB-IoT networks

Renesas’ SmartBond DA1470x SoCs are integrated for wireless connectivity

Infineon adds the AIROC CYW20820 system on chip for flexibility, low power and high-performance connectivity

STMicroelectronics’ new inertial modules enable AI training inside the sensor

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