ICs & Semiconductors

u-blox antenna board enables Bluetooth positioning indoors

Wed, Mar 16, 2022

In order to bring reliable indoor positioning devices to market, u-blox offers the ANT-B10 antenna board for Bluetooth direction finding and indoor positioning applications. The board is designed for integration into commercial end-products and enables low power, high precision indoor positioning. It also speeds up evaluation, testing and commercialisation of Bluetooth direction finding and indoor positioning solutions, said u-blox.

Bluetooth indoor positioning uses the angle of arrival (AoA) of a Bluetooth direction finding signal emitted by a mobile tag at several fixed anchor points to calculate the tag’s location in real-time with sub-meter accuracy. The technology exploits Bluetooth’s vast ecosystem and interoperability across platforms and is gaining traction due to its low cost, high accuracy and relative ease of installation and maintenance. 

The ANT-B10 is a self-contained Bluetooth low energy antenna board for direction finding and indoor positioning. It has an antenna array comprising eight individual patch antennas, and is built around a u-blox NINA-B411 Bluetooth 5.1 module. After processing incoming RF signals emitted by mobile tracker tags in the module’s radio and angle calculation processor, the antenna board outputs the calculated angle of arrival without requiring any additional processes. 

The release also includes the XPLR-AOA-3 explorer kit. This features an application board, which offers developers a quick and easy way to evaluate and test the ANT-B10 antenna board, as well as u-blox’s direction finding algorithm. An off-the-shelf pin header on the application board allows for easy bring-up and testing of ANT-B10 and third-party antenna boards. Connecting the two boards yields a ready-to-use AoA indoor positioning anchor point in seconds, added u-blox. 

ANT-B10 and XPLR-AOA-3 complement u-blox’s indoor positioning portfolio which includes the XPLR-AOA-1 and XPLR-AOA-2 kits. Developers can use u-connectLocate, which runs on ANT-B10’s Bluetooth module, to execute the angle calculation algorithms using AT commands. 

Common use cases for Bluetooth indoor positioning and direction include tracking assets in industrial settings such as in warehouses as well as people and things in hospitals, retail environments, or museums. Additionally, access control systems deployed in connected buildings can use angle detection to determine which side of a door users are located on. 

To determine the angle of arrival of incoming signals for direction finding, the ANT-B10 board concurrently processes them on all eight patch antennas. Implementing multiple RF paths connected to multiple RF switches unnecessarily increases power demand and introduces errors, so the ANT-B10 board uses a single RF switch component from CoreHW that cycles through the eight antennas in microseconds.

The ANT-B10 boards are available today.

http://www.u-blox.com 

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HBT amplifiers provide flat gain responses for broadband

Mon, Mar 14, 2022

Two wideband gain blocks extend Guerilla RF’s portfolio, extending reach from near DC to the X band. The GRF3012 and GRF3016 wideband gain blocks target broadband applications like instrumentation, microwave backhaul, and general purpose RF and microwave amplification. Each covers multiple octaves, with frequency ranges extending from near-DC to up to 12GHz, and overall coverage extending across the HF, VHF, UHF, L, S, C and X bands.

When operating at 5GHz, the GRF3012 draws only 22mA of current while delivering 11dB of gain, 18dBm of OIP3 linearity, a compression level of 5dBm, and a noise figure of 5dB. The GRF3016 is claimed to provide enhanced linearity and compression with an increased bias level of 70mA. At its mid-band point of 5GHz, the GRF3016 provides 13.5dB of gain, 30dBm of OIP3 linearity, 16.5dBm of OP1dB compression and a low noise figure of only 4.2dB. Both components are supplied in pin-compatible 1.5 x 1.5mm, six-pin DFN packages.

According to Ryan Pratt, CEO and founder of Guerrilla RF: “The GRF3012 and GRF3016 represent the next natural progression for our growing family of broadband components. After identifying specific performance requirements within the instrumentation market, we were able to leverage our deep library of amplifier cores to create two new devices that offer an ideal blend of flat gain, linearity, compression and noise performance.”

Samples and evaluation boards are available now for the GRF3012 and GRF3016. 

Guerrilla RF provides monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to wireless OEMs in multiple market segments – including 5G/4G macro and small cell base stations, cellular repeaters / DAS, automotive telematics such as SDARS / V2X / GPS / DAB, mission-critical military communications, navigation, and high-fidelity wireless audio. 

https://www.guerrilla-rf.com 

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Infineon and Sleepiz combine radar and algorithms to monitor sleep 

Mon, Mar 14, 2022

To research sleep patterns and difficulties, Infineon Technologies has collaborated with Swiss digital health company, Sleepiz to offer a sleep monitoring system for use at home. 

Sleep apnea, interrupted breathing, can cause daytime fatigue, as well as more difficult issues such as heart problems and diabetes. Diagnosing sleep apnea often includes observing a patient in a sleep laboratory. The two companies have collaborated to produce a sleep monitoring for use at home. The system can be integrated into any connected smart home device, from smart speakers to bed lamps. It is based on Infineon Xensiv 60GHz radar technology and Sleepiz algorithms.

According to Philipp von Schierstaedt, senior vice president and general manager Radio Frequency & Sensors at Infineon: “The Xensiv radar sensors allow the measurement of vital signs such as heartbeat and breathing rate without touching the body or intruding on privacy”.

“With Infineon’s decades of radar experience and our expertise in analysing respiratory and sleep-related diseases and disorders, we make sleep monitoring easy-to-use while delivering accurate data,” added Dr. Soumya Sunder Dash, CEO and co-founder of Sleepiz.

Understanding vital data can help millions of patients and doctors detect sleep disorders like apnea to improve sleep quality. The Xensiv 60GHz radar technology is used to collect relevant vital sign data contactless and anonymously without identifying the person. The high sensitivity of the technology means it can detect this data and sense sub-millimeter movements of the person closest to the device through various materials, such as blankets. Data is analysed with the help of machine learning (ML) algorithms from Sleepiz and stored anonymously in a cloud for the user to access.

As a medical device manufacturer Sleepiz is already selling medical sleep monitoring devices with Infineon’s radar technology to doctors in Switzerland and Germany today. Now the two companies would like to jointly revolutionise the consumer market and integrate their solution into smart speakers and other smart home devices.

Sleepiz AG was founded in 2018 by Marc Rullan, Max Sieghold and Soumya Sunder Dash as a spin-off from ETH Zürich. Sleepiz brings healthcare into homes and empowers patients to take charge of their own health. The company has developed a comfortable and cost-effective product to screen and diagnose sleep disorders like sleep apnea and to monitor patients with chronic diseases. The company has more than 50 employees across two continents and has received support from institutions like Innosuisse (Swiss Federal Innovation Agency) and the European Commission. 

Infineon Technologies is one of the ten largest semiconductor companies worldwide.

http://www.sleepiz.com

http://www.infineon.com

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EPC and Analog Devices jointly develop reference design for GaN FETs

Fri, Mar 11, 2022

The EPC9160 reference design uses EPC’s enhancement mode GaN FET, the EPC2055, with Analog Devices’ LTC7890 two-phase analogue buck controller with integrated GaN drivers. 

The two companies collaborated in the development of the reference design which delivers up to 2MHz switching frequency for the highest density DC/DC converters using GaN FETs, claimed EPC.

The EPC9160 dual output synchronous buck converter reference design board converts an input voltage of 9.0 to 24V to a 3.3 or 5.0V output voltage and delivers up to 15A continuous current for both outputs. The high switching frequency ensures the converter size is small, with dimensions of 23 x 22mm for both outputs. The height of the inductor is 3.0mm. 

The high density and thickness of the design, together with the 2MHz switching frequency make the EPC9160 suitable for automotive console applications, where 2MHz switching frequency is preferred, advised EPC. It can also be used in computing, industrial, consumer and telecomms power systems which require a small size and a very thin profile. According to EPC, eGaN FETs  provide the fast switching, high efficiency and small size that can meet the stringent power density requirements of these leading-edge applications.

The LTC7890 100V, low Iq, dual, two-phase synchronous step-down controller is fully optimised to drive EPC eGaN FETs and integrates a half bridge driver and smart bootstrap diode. In addition, it offers optimised near-zero deadtime or programmable deadtime and programmable switching frequency up to 3MHz. The quiescent current of 5 microA (Vin = 48V, Vout = 5V, CH1 only)  enables very low standby power consumption and light load efficiency, EPC said.

The EPC2055 40V eGaN FET offers 3mOhm max RDS(on), 6.6nC QG, 0.7nC QGD, 1.3nC QOSS and zero QRR in a 2.5 x 1.5mm footprint. It can deliver up to 29A continuous current and 161A peak current. The dynamic parameters allow very small switching losses at 2MHz switching frequency, confirmed the company.

The efficiency of the EPC9160 is greater than 93 per cent for 5V output and 24V input . In addition to light load operating mode and adjustable dead time, the board offers under-voltage lock out, over-current protection and power good output.

Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC commented, “We are delighted to work with Analog Devices to combine the benefits of their advanced controllers with the performance of GaN to provide customers with the highest power density and low component count solutions that increases the efficiency, increases power density, and reduces system cost”

“The . . . LTC7890 is designed to fully exploit the high performance of EPC’s eGaN FETs for high power density solutions” said Tae Han, senior product marketing manager at Analog Devices. Commenting on the high switching frequency and optimised deadtime and lower power consumption will allow customers to “take advantage of the very fast switching of GaN for the highest power density.”

The EPC9160 demonstration board from EPC is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key.

EPC specialises in enhancement mode gallium nitride (eGaN) -based power management. eGaN FETs and ICs provide performance many times greater than the best silicon power MOSFETs in applications such as DC/DC converters, remote sensing technology (lidar), motor drives for eMobility, robotics, and drones, and low-cost satellites, said EPC.

Analog Devices offers a suite of analogue and mixed signal, power management, radio frequency (RF), and digital and sensor technologies for industrial, communications, automotive and consumer markets.

http://www.epc-co.com

http://www.analog.com

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