ICs & Semiconductors

Secure SoC devices aid IoT in mesh networks

Mon, Feb 24, 2020

New to market is a family of secure, ultra-low-power Zigbee system-on-chip (SoC) devices designed for eco-friendly Internet of Things (IoT) products deployed in mesh networks. The EFR32MG22 (MG22) series is based on Silicon Labs’ Wireless Gecko Series 2 platform and suits Zigbee devices powered by coin cell batteries or energy-harvesting sources. Target applications include smart home sensors, lighting controls, and building and industrial automation.

Zigbee Green Power technology can help address environmental concerns by reducing residential, commercial and industrial energy footprints. Using the same 802.15.4 PHY and MAC of the Zigbee 3.0 protocol, Zigbee Green Power helps reduces power consumption by decreasing the amount of data required for wireless transmission.

Zigbee Green Power was designed to be a highly efficient protocol enabling IoT devices, whether powered by batteries or by “battery-less” energy harvesting options. Silicon Labs has optimised the MG22 SoCs to provide a best-in-class connectivity solution for these power-sensitive wireless applications.

“As the leading Zigbee provider, Silicon Labs is uniquely positioned to lead the way in Zigbee Green Power mesh networking solutions,” said Matt Johnson, senior vice-president and general manager of IoT products at Silicon Labs. “Our new MG22 SoC solution offers an industry-leading combination of energy efficiency, security capabilities, wireless performance, and software tools and stacks to meet the growing market demand for eco-friendly, ultra-low-power IoT products.”

The MG22 SoCs incorporate a high-performance, low-power 76.8 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone. The SoCs’ combination of ultra-low transmit and receive power (8.2 mA TX at +6 dBm, 3.9 mA RX), 1.4-microA deep-sleep mode power and low-power peripherals helps provide exceptional energy efficiency.

Silicon Labs delivers a suite of security features implemented in Series 2 products including the new MG22 SoCs.

The EFR32MG22 SoCs are planned to start shipping in March in a choice of 5 mm x 5 mm QFN40, 4 mm x 4 mm QFN32 and 0.3 mm x 4 mm x 4 mm TQFN32 packages. The EFR32MG22 SoC starter kit is also scheduled to be available in March, with end device kit pricing starting at $99.

http://silabs.com/mg22

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Microchip offloads tasks to hardware to accelerate design

Thu, Feb 13, 2020

More Core Independent Peripherals are combined in the latest PIC microcontroller family from Microchip. The PIC18-Q43 family moves software tasks to hardware for a faster system response. Microchip has also introduced a development tool ecosystem for real-time control and connectivity design projects.

Microchip’s PIC18-Q43 family’s peripherals are configurable and to allow near-zero latency sharing of data, logic inputs or analogue signals without additional code for improved system response. The PIC microcontroller family can be used to create custom hardware-based functions in real-time control and connected applications, including home appliances, security systems, motor and industrial control, lighting and the IoT. According to Microchip, the PIC18-Q43 family helps reduce board space, bill of materials (BoM), overall costs and time to market.

Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) are designed with additional capabilities to handle a variety of tasks without the need for intervention from the central processing unit (CPU). CIPs include timers, simplified pulse width modulation (PWM) output, configurable logic cells (CLCs), ADCs with computation (ADCC) and multiple serial communications, designed for developers to customise a specific design configuration. The CLC provides programmable logic that operates outside the speed limitations of software execution, so that customers can tailor functions such as waveform generation or timing measurements. CLCs connect on-chip peripherals for hardware customisation and allow developers to customise a device with core-independent communication interfaces, including UART, SPI and I2C. Multiple DMA channels and interrupt management have been added to accelerate real-time control with simplified software loops.

The PIC18-Q43 family operates up to 5.0V which increases noise immunity and enables customers to interface to a wide range of sensors.

Microchip’s development tool suite has been created to offer users the means to quickly and easily generate application code and customise combinations of CIPs in a graphical user interface (GUI) environment.

The PIC18-Q43 family is supported by Microchip’s MPLAB X IDE and MPLAB Xpress IDE development environments, and MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) a free software plug-in that provides a graphical interface to configure peripherals and functions specific to an application. There is also the PIC18F57Q43 Curiosity Nano development board which has programming and debugging capabilities.

http://www.microchip.com

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Analog Devices and Jungo monitor vehicle safety

Thu, Feb 13, 2020

Analog Devices will develop a time-of-flight (ToF) and 2D infra red (IR) –based camera, using Jungo’s Co-driver software to enable driver and in-cabin monitoring in vehicles.

The system will monitor vehicle occupants for levels of drowsiness and distraction by observing head and body position as well as eye gaze. It is also expected to enable smart vehicle interaction based on face, body, and hand gestures and offer a facial recognition capability that identifies individuals and gives them access to features such as infotainment personalisation, personalised services, and ridesharing payments.

3D ToF is a type of scannerless light detection and ranging (lidar) that uses high power optical pulses in durations of nanoseconds to capture depth information (typically over short distances) from a scene of interest. Analog Devices specialises in products and solutions that enhance the capabilities of 3D ToF systems, including processing, laser drivers and power management, development boards and software/firmware to implement 3D ToF solutions.

Jungo’s Co-driver software uses deep learning, machine learning, and computer vision algorithms to detect, in real-time, the head and body position of the driver from cameras.  It also supports in-vehicle full detection technology with functions such as counting of the number of occupants, detection of seat belt wearing or detection or observing of critical medical conditions.

“Jungo’s Co-driver monitoring algorithms are used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to keep their drivers and passengers safe and develop innovative use cases that understand an occupant’s state while in the vehicle,” said Ophir Herbst, CEO, Jungo. “We are delighted to collaborate with Analog Devices to make vehicles smarter and enable OEMs to comply with regulations and innovate in their next-generation vehicles by using our algorithms and ADI’s leading ToF technology.”

Jungo Connectivity was founded in 2013 as an automotive software divestiture from Cisco Systems. The company focuses on in-cabin driver monitoring.

http://www.analog.com

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DC/DC converters simplify design of smart industrial applications

Tue, Feb 11, 2020

High efficiency at all loads, with a maximum value of 95 per cent is maintained byt eh L6983 38V/3.0A synchronous DC/DC converters, says STMicroelectronics.

They are integrated with synchronous MOSFETs on-chip to save external components and to simplify design.

The L6983 converters have low quiescent current of just 17 microA. Two variants, the low current consumption L6983C and the low-noise L6983N, are available. The L6983C enters pulse-skipping mode when the load current is below 0.6A while the L6983N, stays in PWM (pulse-width modulation) mode at all loads to minimise electromagnetic disturbances, making it suitable for noise-sensitive applications.

The L6983 converters have a wide input range from 3.5 to 38V, and are suitable for use over in 12 and 24V industrial bus-powered systems, battery-powered equipment, decentralised intelligent nodes such as smart-building controllers, and always-on devices including smart sensors. They can be ordered with 3.3V, 5.0V, or adjustable output voltage.

All L6983 converters have a ‘power-good’ output pin that can be used for power-up/power-down sequencing, enabling logic circuitry, or as a fault indicator. In addition, integrated feedback-loop compensation, over-voltage protection, and soft-start circuitry simplify the design of a complete power supply system. The switching frequency is programmable from 200kHz to 2.2MHz. Frequency spread-spectrum operation and external frequency synchronisation ease electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) compliance.

ST has also released the STEVAL-ISA208V1 evaluation board to help accelerate device selection and power-supply development using the L6983.

The L6983C and L6983N are in production now, packaged in 3.0 x 3.0mm QFN16 packages.

http://www.st.com/l6983-pr

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