ICs & Semiconductors Archives - Page 101 of 235

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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RA and RX development kits power cellular-to-cloud IoT development

Thu, Jun 16, 2022

Microcontrollers, sensors, analogue and power devices are combined with Cat-M1 cellular modules by Renesas Electronics to enable end-to-end cloud connectivity.

Renesas has announced two cloud development kits, the CK-RA6M5 and CK-RX65N, for the RA and RX Families of 32bit microcontrollers. The cloud kits are the first to be equipped with Renesas’ RYZ014A Cat-M1 module, a certified LTE cellular module that can establish wireless connection between microcontrollers and cloud services quickly and securely without a gateway.

Armed with these cloud kits, users can rapidly develop IoT cloud products and solutions without having to design their own complex circuitry and software stacks, Renesas explained.

The kits include the RYZ014A Cat-M1 Pmod module, multiple sensors, a high-performance microcontroller, hardware-based security and a reliable software stack.

The cloud kits are ready to connect to global cloud service providers such as AWS Cloud and IoT services. Both kits are designed to run on AWS (Amazon Web Services) FreeRTOS for CK-RA6M5 using FSP (Flexible Software Package) and CK-RX65N using RDP (RX Driver Package). Once connected to AWS IoT Core, the kits have access to many cloud and IoT services from AWS for data analytics and IoT device management.

“With Renesas’ first cellular Cat-M1 module, we are adding ubiquitous cellular connectivity to our cloud solution offerings, providing our customers more flexible and reliable cloud connectivity options,” said Roger Wendelken, senior vice president in Renesas’ IoT and Infrastructure business unit. Engineers can focus on designing IoT systems that can be adopted in a variety of applications such as building and home automation, smart metering, healthcare and industrial applications, Wendelken added.

“Mobile cloud computing is leading a new era for data storage and processing, especially now that cellular IoT devices have become so pervasive,” said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans Communications. “Packed with on-board sensors and the Cat-M1 module powered by Sequans’ Monarch technology, Renesas’ cloud kits will be ideal platforms for evaluating and deploying mobile cloud applications for wireless IoT systems.”

The CK-RA6M5 and CK-RX65N both have identical hardware and software features and a common dashboard user interface to access real-time cloud data.

In addition to the Cat-M1 RYZ014A wireless module, the kits also provide an option to use Ethernet to securely connect to cloud when the Cat-M1 network is not available. Renesas plans to offer more wireless connectivity options in the future.

The CK-RA6M5 and CK-RX65N kits are available from Renesas worldwide distributors.

http://www.renesas.com

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ToF sensors advances use less energy or double range

Mon, Jun 13, 2022

Metasurface lens technology is introduced by STMicroelectronics in its second generation, FlightSense multi-zone direct time of flight (ToF) sensor. The VL53L8 uses less energy and can range twice as far as existing products, said the company.

The FlightSense ToF ranging sensor for smartphone camera management and augmented reality / virtual reality (AR / VR) offers up to four metres in range in all zones indoors, while reducing the power consumption by half compared to the previous-generation device, operating in common conditions.

The ToF sensor’s metasurface lens technology and power-efficient architecture reduces battery loading, extends camera autofocus ranging and enhances scene-understanding features, explained Eric Aussedat, executive vice president and general manager of the imaging sub-group within ST’s Analog, MEMS and Sensors group.

What is claimed to be the world’s first optical metasurface technology was developed in partnership with Metalenz. It enables optical systems to collect more light, provide multiple functions in a single layer and deliver new forms of sensing in smartphones and other devices, in the form factor of a single, compact package, added ST.

This second-generation ranging sensor incorporates an efficient optically diffractive metasurface lens technology, manufactured at the company’s 300mm fab in Crolles, France. The VCSEL driver is three times more capable than the previous generation with an efficient VCSEL, enabling the VL53L8 to deliver twice the ranging performance of earlier VL53L5 or reduce power consumption by 50 per cent, when operating in comparable conditions. It delivers this performance while maintaining the same field of view and discrete output-ranging zones (4×4 at 60 frames per second or 8×8 at 15 frames per second).

The module embeds a high output 940nm VCSEL light source, an SoC sensor with an embedded VCSEL driver, the receiving array of SPADs (single photon avalanche diodes) and a low power, 32-bit microcontroller core.

The VL53L8 adopts a metasurface lens technology in both the transmit and receive apertures and delivers 16 or 64 discrete ranging zones with stable and accurate ranging, said ST.

The sensor is housed in a single reflowable component that offers 1.2V and 1.8V I/O compatibility for ease of system integration. It is also claimed to significantly reduce the host processor loading over the demands of the first-generation sensor.

Like all other FlightSense ToF proximity sensors, the VL53L8 retains an IEC 60825-1 Class 1 certification and is fully eye-safe for consumer products with an advanced lens detach detection system.

The VL53L8 can be used in smartphones and tablets in both user-facing, like object tracking and gesture recognition, and world-facing applications, such as laser-autofocus, camera selection, touch-to-focus, and flash dimming. It is also suitable for accessories in personal electronics equipment (e.g. smart speakers and AR / VR and mixed reality (MR). The VL53L8 will deliver even greater benefit to these features in low-light conditions, said ST. It can also support indoor/outdoor detection and smart-focus bracketing, as well as consumer lidar, where depth mapping is required.

The VL53L8 is entering mass production now for select customers.

http://www.st.com

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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

RA and RX development kits power cellular-to-cloud IoT development

ToF sensors advances use less energy or double range

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