ICs & Semiconductors

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

> Read More

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

> Read More

Capacitive touchscreen controller is at home in harsh, noisy environments

Wed, Oct 13, 2021

Functional safety-certified capacitive maXTouch touchscreen controllers from Microchip now include the MXT448UD-HA and MXT640UD-HA models, designed to address screen sizes beyond 10 inches.

Networked and connected home appliances enable both users and manufacturers to communicate with them via the internet. This can be a user of a kitchen oven looking up a recipe online or a manufacturer performing remote diagnostics or over-the-air firmware updates. Displays and touch sensors are essential for enabling this functionality in modern appliances and now Microchip Technology has extended the Class B portfolio of touchscreen controllers with two models for larger screen sizes, providing scalability.

The two new members of the IEC/UL 60730 Class B certified touchscreen controller family comply with the IEC61000-4-6 Class A specification for conducted noise immunity up to 10 Vrms (level three for industrial use). This enables products with a touchscreen interface to function in very harsh factory environments where EMI can be caused by conveyer belts, power rails or assembly machinery. In home appliances, manufacturers will benefit from an increased reliability and production yield, says Microchip, rather than risk consumers using unprotected touchscreens on an oven or washing machine that may result in false or missed touches due to EMI from unshielded power transmission, electric motors and neighbouring electrical equipment.

The MXT448UD-HA and MXT640UD-HA touchscreen controllers come with two serial interfaces (SPI and I²C) that operate simultaneously allowing redundancy in a design through the integration of safety features, such as individual communication between the touchscreen controller to the host microprocessor in addition to a safety microcontroller. Touch events are provided to both processors at the same time. This architecture shortens time to market and reduces development cost by allowing all safety-critical firmware to be developed on a dedicated safety-certified microcontroller (with mandatory source code review by an IEC/UL test lab) separate from the main processor running the appliance’s graphical user interface (GUI).

According to Clayton Pillion, director of Microchip’s human machine interface business unit: “maXTouch technology delivers outstanding noise immunity performance allowing for safe and robust operation throughout its lifetime. We have worked closely with customers to deliver the first functional safety touch controller families and are seeing high adoption where noise immunity is critical to a successful product.”

In addition to the IEC compliances, the MXT448UD-HA and MXT640UD-HA family supports an operating temperature up to 105 degrees C, which is a key requirement for cooktops and ovens where the human machine interface (HMI) system is near heating elements.

Microchip offers software to supplement the controllers, including maXTouch Studio (development tool) and maXTouch Analyzer (production end-of-line test/inspection tool).

The general-purpose ATEVK-MXT640UD-A evaluation kit (EVK) is available. The home appliance functional safety version of this evaluation kit is available on request.

The ATMXT448UD-CCUHA1 and ATMXT640UD-CCUHA1 are available in volume production now.

http://www.microchip.com

> Read More

V2X hardware security module is based on tamper-proof microcontroller

Tue, Oct 12, 2021

Trends such as electrification, autonomous driving and connected cars are leading to an increase in the number of communication interfaces in vehicles – wired or wireless. This presents new challenges because the numerous communication channels create new attack surfaces and increase the vulnerability of the systems, explains Infineon Technologies.

To provide the highest level of protection, it has launched the SLS37 V2X hardware security module (HSM) for vehicle to everything (V2X) communication. The SLS37 V2X HSM is based on a secured, tamper-resistant microcontroller tailored to the security needs in V2X applications within telematics control units. It protects the integrity and authenticity of messages, as well as the privacy of the sender. The HSM received the Common Criteria EAL4+ certification, which is expected to become mandatory in European V2X systems.

In a V2X host environment, the discrete HSM helps system integrators to solve the conflicting requirements of high performance and high security. The scope of the SLS37 V2X HSM is focused on high security tasks such as key storage and the generation of signatures for outgoing messages. This removes the burden of a Security Certification from the host processor, which runs the Linux OS (operating system), from the application software as well as the verification of incoming messages.

In addition to automotive telematics control units, the SLS37 V2X HSM can be used in roadside units or other infrastructure for V2X communication. It supports all major vehicle credential management systems including SCMS, CCMS and ESPS. It accepts a wide supply voltage range from 1.6 to 3.6V, comes with a high speed serial peripheral interface (SPI) with up to 10MHz and is qualified for harsh automotive applications according to AEC-Q100.

Infineon offers complementary host software package for immediate use. The personalisation concept leverages chip-unique and customer-individual certificates and keys to enable vendor verification, pairing and transport protection as well as secured-in-field-updates. As a discrete security controller, SLS37 also provides scalability for platform development covering different regions with different security-requirements, adds Infineon.

The SLS37 V2X HSM can be ordered now. .

http://www.infineon.com/SLS37-V2X

> Read More

About Smart Cities

This news story is brought to you by smartcitieselectronics.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the Smart City Electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news. To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep yourself informed on the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here: Smart Cities Registration