ICs & Semiconductors Archives - Page 212 of 227

Q-Free and Silicon Labs develop sensor to find a parking spot

Thu, Sep 06, 2018

Q-Free and Silicon Labs have collaborated on a new outdoor parking IoT sensor that helps drivers find vacant parking places in towns. The companies have created Q-Free’s ParQSense smart parking sensor, which uses the Silicon Labs’ EZR32WG Wonder Gecko wireless microcontroller for control and sub-GHz connectivity. The sensor was deployed as a pilot this year in the UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and North America, and will be released for commercial use this month.

Q-Free has focused its resources on developing ways to reduce traffic flows. It provides a range of transportation technologies including electronic tolling, vehicle counters, surveillance technologies and parking management solutions. The ParQSense smart parking sensor is one of the company’s first sensor products to support outdoor parking needs. According to an INRIX study, 20 per cent of traffic in urban areas can be attributed to drivers searching for parking spots.

“To develop an IoT sensor solution for outdoor parking that would succeed in today’s market, we had to deliver a combination of low-power, long-range wireless connectivity and high performance,” said Brage Blekken, a project manager in Q-Free’s R&D department. “Silicon Labs helped us overcome this challenge by providing best-in-class wireless technology capable of transmitting data over long distances in the sub-GHz band,” he added.

Many existing outdoor parking sensors on the market had accuracy limitations, and struggled with wireless capabilities and interference from cellular networks commonly associated with urban environments, reports Q-Free.

The Q-Free ParQSense option uses dual radar and magnetic field technology to sense with 99+ per cent accuracy whether a vehicle is present in a parking space. The application transmits data to centralised base stations over long distances using narrowband sub-GHz wireless connectivity.

Q-Free supplies intelligent transportation systems comprising tolling, parking, info-mobility, traffic management and C -ITS/connected vehicle solutions. It was founded in 1984 and headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, the company has over 400 employees, offices in 18 countries.

Silicon Labs provides silicon and software for the internet of things (IoT), internet infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets.

http://www.silabs.com

> Read More

Single-chip motor drivers simplify flexible control logic

Tue, Aug 28, 2018

Low-to-mid-power motor controls in the seven to 45V range, can be simplified with the STSPIN830 and STSPIN840 single-chip drivers, claims STMicroelectronics. The drivers contain flexible control logic and low-RDS_(ON) power switches for industrial applications, medical technology, and home appliances.

The STSPIN830 is designed for driving three-phase brushless DC motors and has a mode-setting pin that lets users control the three half bridges of the integrated power stage with direct U, V, and W pulse-width modulated (PWM) inputs, or by applying signals to each gate individually for higher control flexibility. A dedicated sense pin for each inverter leg simplifies setting up three-shunt or single-shunt current sensing for field-oriented control (FOC).

The STSPIN840 can drive two brushed DC motors or one larger motor leveraging ST’s paralleling concept, which allows the integrated full bridges to be configured as two separate bridges or as a single bridge using the two sets of MOSFETs in parallel for lower RDS_(ON) and higher current rating.

Both drivers contain rich features, including PWM current-control circuitry with adjustable off-time, a convenient standby pin for power saving, and protection circuitry including non-dissipative overcurrent protection, short-circuit protection, under-voltage lockout, thermal shutdown, and interlocking to help create robust and reliable drives.

The integrated power stage of each device features ST-proprietary MOSFETs with low RDS_(ON) of only 500 milliOhm to combine high efficiency with economy. The option to use the output bridges individually or connected in parallel, in the STSPIN840, helps trim the bill of materials for multi-motor applications.

According to ST, the integrated, flexible drivers enable more compact and cost-effective controls for industrial, robotic, medical, building-automation, and office-equipment applications. The STSPIN830 is suitable for factory-automation end-points, home appliances, small pumps, and fans for computer or general-purpose cooling. The STSPIN840 is for use in ATM and money-handling machines, multi-axis stage-lighting mechanisms, thermal printers, textile or sewing machines, and vending machines.

The STSPIN830 and STSPIN840 are both in production now, as 4.0 x 4.0mm QFN devices.

Two STM32 Nucleo expansion boards are also available from ST for product evaluation and to build functional prototypes using the STM32 Open Development Environment. The X-NUCLEO-IHM16M1 is for the STSPIN830 and the X-NUCLEO-IHM15A1 is for the STSPIN840 driver.

http://www.st.com/stspin

> Read More

Single power monitoring IC is industry-first, claims Microchip

Fri, Jul 20, 2018

Claimed to be the industry’s first two-channel device with native 16bit resolution, the PAC1932, and the three-channel PAC1933 are single power monitoring ICs by Microchip.

The power monitoring devices measure from 0 to 32V on a single chip, enabling designers to improve power measurement accuracy. The two-channel device is believed to be the industry’s first with native 16bit resolution, providing leading flexibility across a wide measurement range.

The PAC1932/33 devices include what is needed to measure power on a single IC, integrating multiple channels in a single package for applications such as point of sale (PoS) systems, ATMs and building automation. This reduces costs for system designers, consolidates the bill of materials (BoM) as the measurement of sub-1.0 to 20V voltage rails normally require separate components to measure each rail efficiently, points out Microchip. The PAC1932/33 measure voltage rails up to 32V and also relieves developers from having to reconfigure measurement resolution between low and high current load events.

As the industry’s only two-channel device with 16-bit power measurement, the PAC1932 can measure without host intervention for 17 minutes, relieving developers from adjusting voltage or current range to measure power and energy. The devices include two 16bit analogue to digital converters (ADCs) that can measure voltage and current simultaneously, enabling developers to extract a true power measurement. According to Microchip, developers can design systems to efficiently save power.

As applications continue to seek ways to reduce power consumption, precision DC power measurement has grown as a key element for energy savings. Microchip also offers a four-channel PAC1934 for improved power measurement for Windows 10 devices; the PAC1932/33 two and three channel power monitoring ICs offer improved power measurement for low voltage, high power applications in markets such as embedded computing and networking.

The PAC1932/33 work in conjunction with Linux and Windows 10 software drivers. The ADM00805 register-compatible evaluation board can be used to start development with a graphical user interface reporting Vsense, Vbus, power and accumulated power.

The two-channel PAC1932 and three-channel PAC1933 power monitoring ICs are available now for sampling and in volume production.

http://www.microchip.com/PAC1932

> Read More

Wideband microwave synthesiser has VCO for ‘breakthrough’ performance

Thu, Jul 19, 2018

Claimed to deliver an industry leading phase noise, the ADF5620 is a wideband fractional-N synthesiser from Analog Devices.

It has an integrated voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and generates RF outputs from 55MHz to 15GHz and provides the industry’s lowest phase noise performance on a single chip, claims ADI.

The synthesiser is designed for markets as diverse as aerospace and defence, wireless infrastructure, microwave point-to-point links, electronic test and measurement, and satellite terminals.

When compared to alternative solutions that require multiple narrowband GaAs voltage controlled oscillators and phase-locked loops (PLLs), the ADF5610 offers 50 per cent less power dissipation, a smaller footprint and simpler architecture, says ADI, all of which translates into bill of materials cost savings and reduced time to market.

Developed on ADI’s proprietary SiGe BiCMOS process, the ADF5610 enables high modulation bandwidths and low BIT error rates. It features industry leading VCO phase noise (-114dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset and -165dBc/Hz at 100MHz offset both at 10GHz) and low normalised phase noise floor (FOM) of -229dBc/Hz. The integrated PLL function provides fast frequency hopping and lock times (less than 50 micro seconds with appropriate loop filter). The phase detector spurious levels are below -45dBc typical, and the RF output power level is 6dBm.

The ADF5610 wideband fractional-N synthesizer is supported by the ADIsimPLL, ADI’s PLL synthesiser design and simulation tool for assessing phase noise, lock time, jitter and other design considerations. It is also customer programmable through the use of integrated SPI and control software.

The ADF5610 is specified over the -40 to +85 degree C range. It operates from nominal 3.3V analogue and digital power supplies as well as 5V charge pump and VCO supplies, and features 1.8V logic-level compatibility. The synthesiser also contains hardware and software power down modes.

The ADF5610 is in production from next month and supplied in a 7.0 x 7.0mm LFCSP.

http://www.analog.com

> Read More

Q-Free and Silicon Labs develop sensor to find a parking spot

Single-chip motor drivers simplify flexible control logic

Single power monitoring IC is industry-first, claims Microchip

Wideband microwave synthesiser has VCO for ‘breakthrough’ performance

About Smart Cities