ICs & Semiconductors

SiP uses Bluetooth for direction finding

Wed, Oct 20, 2021

Suitable for indoor and industrial positioning applications, the Anna4-B4 module is a compact, Bluetooth low energy SiP by u-blox.

The compact Bluetoth 5.1 SiP features Bluetooth long range, Thread and Zigbee, as well as Bluetooth direction finding. Anna-B4 targets applications in harsh environments such as smart lighting networks and industrial circuit breakers as well as indoor positioning use cases in manufacturing sites, warehouses, hospitals, and smart cities.

The module measures 6.5 by 6.5mm including its integrated antenna. It integrates the Nordic nRF52833 chipset and supports Bluetooth mesh, long range, and direction finding, Thread and Zigbee protocols. Operating temperature is up to 105 degrees C, and the SiP is globally certified.

The Anna-B4 is available in two variants. The Anna-B412 is delivered with the u-connectXpress command application programming interface (API) based on industry-standard AT commands for accelerated time to market. Security includes secure boot which helps prevent malicious attacks by ensuring that only authenticated and authourised firmware and updates can run on the device.

There is also the Anna-B402, which features a powerful open CPU architecture for custom applications and adds support for the Zigbee and Thread wireless communication protocols. In addition to enabling concurrent communication over multiple wireless protocols, the module lets product developers build using these protocols using one single module.

Anna-B4 can be used in smart lighting networks that co-ordinate light intensity in response to presence detection and ambient light sensors using mesh technology.

Indoor asset tracking can benefit from Anna-B4’s small size, low power demand, and its support for Bluetooth direction finding, says u-blox. In particular, the ability to precisely locate tagged mobile assets in indoor environments. Indoor asset tracking is gaining traction in smart buildings, factories, hospitals, and warehouses.

Engineering samples of the Anna-B4 SiP will be available in January 2022.

u-blox  provides positioning and wireless communication in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. The services and products let people, vehicles, and machines determine their precise position and communicate wirelessly over cellular and short range networks. The company has a broad portfolio of chips, modules, and secure data services and connectivity to empower its customers to develop solutions for the IoT, quickly and cost-effectively.

The company has headquarters in Thalwil, Switzerland and offices in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

http://www.u-blox.com

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RAA78815x transceivers lead the industry in EFT immunity, says Renesas

Fri, Oct 15, 2021

Claimed to have the industry’s highest electrical fast transient (EFT) immunity, the RAA78815x family of 5V RS-485/422 transceivers have been released by Renesas Electronics.

The differential transceivers deliver ±5000V EFT immunity and up to ±16,000V electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity, making them suitable for a variety of industrial and automation applications.

There are six full and half duplex ruggedised devices in the series. All meet the RS-485 and RS-422 communication standards and can be used in industrial network, process control network, building automation, long-haul network, and security camera network applications.

The RAA78815x family are characterised by differential output voltage performance, says Renesas; for example 3.1V into the RS-485-required 54 Ohm load. The high speed transceivers also feature bus leakage currents of maximum 125 microA, representing a true 1/8 unit load to the RS-485 bus. Developers can connect up to 512 transceivers on the same bus without using repeaters and without compromising the RS-485 network standard’s 32-unit load maximum. As a result, the transceivers can lower implementation and downtime costs because a single network can support more nodes with lower likelihood of communications issues due to ESD and EFT over-voltage transients.

“EFT immunity is mission critical for devices operating in harsh industrial and automation environments, such as HVAC, factory, and smart grid equipment, where devices are frequently turned on and off or added and disconnected from the system” said Bobby Matinpour, vice president of the Standard Products Business Division at Renesas. “Featuring superior EFT immunity, output drive, and supply current levels, the RAA78815x family builds on 50 years’ experience in RS-485/422 transceiver design to deliver robust solutions for industrial and factory automation.”

The RAA78815x transceivers are available now in MSOP and SOIC packages with pin counts ranging from eight to 14. An evaluation board for the new transceiver family is also available.

https://www.renesas.com

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Renesas bases RA2E2 microcontroller family on Arm Cortex-M23 core

Thu, Oct 14, 2021

For small and energy-sensitive IoT, wearable, medical, industrial automation, consumer and home appliance applications, Renesas offers the RA2E2 microcontroller group. It is based on the Arm Coretex-M23 core and is the latest addition to the 32-bit RA family.

The family of microcontrollers is claimed to offers a combination of low power consumption, a set of peripherals targeted at IoT endpoint applications and space-saving packaging options including a tiny 16-pin WLCSP (wafer level chip scale package) measuring only 1.87 x 1.84mm. The 48MHz RA2E2 family is claimed to offer the industry’s lowest operating power in their class, consuming only 81microA/MHz in active mode with software standby current of only 200nA with fast wake up. They also support a wide temperature range of Ta = -40/+125 degrees C for harsh IoT operating environments. The RA2E2 microcontrollers support an I3C bus interface and integrate cost-saving peripheral functions, including an on-chip oscillator with precision of +/- one per cent, power on reset, low voltage detector, EEPROM and a temperature sensor.

The RA2E2 Group includes nine devices, spanning from 16- to 24-pin packages, and from 16 to 64kbyte of flash memory and 8kbyte of SRAM. The devices also include 2kbyte of data flash memory, which is atypical in low-pin count devices, says Renesas. They are also claimed to be the only microcontrollers in their class to offer an I3C bus interface, delivering high-speed communications of 4.6Mbits per second while significantly reducing power consumption. Security features include a cryptography accelerator (AES256/128), a true random number generator (TRNG) and memory protection units.

The RA2E2 group is available today. Renesas is also offering the EK-RA2E2 evaluation kit.

The Renesas RA family includes over 160 parts ranging from 48 to 200MHz. They have a wide range of communications and security options, including Arm TrustZone technology. All RA devices are supported by the Renesas Flexible Software Program (FSP) that includes drivers and middleware to ease the implementation of communications and security. The FSP’s graphical user interface (GUI) simplifies and accelerates the development process, says Renesas. It enables flexible use of legacy code as well as easy compatibility and scalability with other RA devices. Designers using FSP also have access to the Arm ecosystem and tools as well as Renesas’ partner network.

http://www.renesas.com

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3D Hall-effect position sensor is industry’s most accurate, says TI

Wed, Oct 13, 2021

High precision at speeds of up to 20ksamples per second provides faster real time control in factory automation and motor drive applications, says Texas Instruments as it introduces the TMAG5170 3D Hall-effect position sensor.

It is claimed to be the industry’s most accurate 3D Hall-effect position sensor. It has integrated functions and diagnostics to maximize design flexibility and system safety, while using at least 70 per cent less power than comparable devices, says the company. The TMAG5170 is the first device in a family of 3D Hall-effect position sensors for industrial use, from high performance to general purpose models.

“Smart factories have an increasing number of highly automated systems that must operate in a more integrated manufacturing flow while simultaneously collecting data to control processes,” said Noman Akhtar, senior research analyst, Omdia. 3D position-sensing technology delivers accurate, fast and power efficient real-time control for automated equipment for system efficiency and reduced downtime, he added.

The TMAG5170 provides a low 2.6 per cent full-scale total error at room temperature. It also features best-in-class drift of three per cent total error, says TI, which is 30 per cent lower than the next closest competitor. It also has at least 35 per cent lower error than comparable devices in the presence of a cross-axis field, says TI. These characteristics result in higher accuracy than any other 3D Hall-effect position sensor, according to the company, eliminating the need for end-of-line calibration and off-chip error compensation.

The TMAG5170 eliminates the need for off-chip computation and enables flexible sensor and magnet orientations by integrating features such as an angle calculation engine, measurement averaging, and gain and offset compensation. In this way the control loops are faster to reduce system latency. Software development is also simpler, regardless of sensor placement, claims TI. The sensor’s integrated computation functions also reduce the system’s processor load by as much as 25 per cent, enabling engineers to use general purpose microcontrollers such as those in the company’s low power MSP430 series to minimise overall system cost.

Smart diagnostic capabilities include checks for communication, continuity and internal signal path – as well as configurable diagnostics for the external power supply, magnetic field and system temperature. This allows engineers to customise a safety scheme at both the chip and system level for long-term reliability and lower design costs.

The TMAG5170 is available now in an eight-pin, 4.9 x 3.0mm very thin shrink small-outline package (VSSOP).

http://www.TI.com

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