ICs & Semiconductors

Infineon goes beyond standard Wi-Fi with lates AIROC device

Fri, Oct 27, 2023

The latest addition to Infineon Technologies’ AIROC portfolio is the Airoc CYW5551x. This single device combines Wi-Fi 6 / 6E performance and advanced Bluetooth connectivity, making it suitable for a host of IoT applications.

The AIROC CYW5551x Wi-Fi 6/6E and Bluetooth 5.4 family delivers secured, reliable 1×1 Wi-Fi 6 / 6E (802.11ax) connectivity that goes beyond the standard, said Infineon. This is combined with advanced low power Bluetooth connectivity. The optimised CYW55512 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 solution and the CYW55513 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 / 6E device. Both feature power-efficient designs that are suitable for use in smart homes, industrial applications, wearable devices and equipment and other small factor IoT applications, said the company.

“Infineon’s new CYW5551x family brings the range, reliability, and network robustness from our 2×2 Wi-Fi 6/6E CYW5557x family of devices to an IoT optimised family,” said Sivaram Trikutam, vice president of Wi-Fi Products of Infineon. “As part of the company’s digitalisation and decarbonisation strategy, this family is optimised for very low power consumption, making it ideal for battery-operated devices like wearables and IP cameras,” he said. They are also tuned for best performance across a wide temperature range, enabling them to serve industrial and infrastructure applications such as electric vehicle charging and solar panel controls, logistics.

The AIROC CYW551x family offers support for the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E, delivering lower latency and reduced interference. Bluetooth 5.4 low energy (LE) with Audio is range and power optimised with up to 20dBm transmit power. 

Other features include improved multi-layer security (PSA Level 1-certifiable) and design versatility supported by a wide ecosystem of module and platform partners. 

The devices feature Linux, RTOS and Android support, and have a fully validated Bluetooth stack and sample code to accelerate development time.

Infineon’s AIROC CYW55512 and CYW55513 are sampling now. The CYW5512 will be commercially available in March 2024, and the CYW55513 will be commercially available in June 2024. 

http://www.infineon.com

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Wireless charging transmitter reference design meets Qi2 standard

Mon, Oct 23, 2023

In response to the enhanced Qi wireless charging standard released by the Wireless Power Consortium, Infineon Technologies has released its first Qi2 Magnetic Power Profile (MPP) charging transmitter reference design kit, the REF_WLC_TX15W_M1. 

The MPP in Qi2 offers magnet-based fixed positioning for precision locating of charging devices. It has significant benefits in automotive and consumer applications, such as in-cabin wireless charging, smartphones and EarPods cases, portable speakers, and healthcare equipment through better efficiency and safety, said Infineon.

The reference design kit is highly integrated and form factor optimised with a diameter of less than 43mm. It also has a programmable wireless charging transmitter centred around an Infineon WLC1 controller – the Qi2-capable WLC1 is already on the market. The IC integrates a microcontroller with flash memory, a 4.5 to 24V DC input buck-boost controller, inverter gate drivers and factory-trimmed current sensing. It features analogue protection peripherals, USB PD, and LIN as well as serial interfaces enabling efficient and smart power delivery.

The REF_WLC_TX15W_M1 is supported with code examples in ModusToolbox to help users take advantage of the IC’s configuration capabilities. The 15W Qi2 MPP board is backwards compatible with a basic power profile (BPP) that allows receivers without MPP support to wirelessly charge at 5W. There is also a multi-path ASK demodulator and adaptive foreign object detection (FOD) provided for a robust and secure wireless power design.

“With the emerging Qi2 standards, our programmable solutions offer the flexibility that the industry needs to adapt swiftly and offer differentiated features for automotive and consumer applications,” said Ganesh Subramaniam, senior vice president and general manager of the Wired Connectivity Solutions Product Line at Infineon.

The WLC1 transmitter controllers can be ordered now. There are two versions, the WLC1515 for the automotive package and the WLC1115 for the consumer package. REF_WLC_TX15W_M1 board is available on demand. 

The first public live demonstration of the wireless charging transmitter solution board will take place during OktoberTech Silicon Valley, the annual technology collaboration forum hosted by Infineon. This year, it will take place in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, USA on 25 October.

http://www.infinenon.com

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NXP reference platform puts two-wheelers in the picture

Fri, Oct 13, 2023

A combined digital instrument cluster and connectivity reference platform delivers high performance graphics and rich connectivity for an advanced two-wheeler user experience, said NXP Semiconductors.

It is designed for mass-market two-wheelers, including motorcycles, electric scooters and commuter bikes. It combines the i.MX RT1170 crossover microcontroller with AEC-Q100 Grade 3 qualification. This helps reduce system costs due to the highly integrated nature of the i.MX RT1170, which does not require expensive external memory or power management subsystems, said NXP. The NXP Wi-Fi and Bluetooth device drivers are pre-integrated into the MCUXpresso SDK (software development kit), along with display and GNSS, making it easy for developers to create their own twowheeler connected cluster. The dual-core i.MX RT1170 crossover MCU provides a wide range of interfaces for connecting peripherals, such as WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, audio, displays, and camera sensors, plus a vector graphics accelerator. The i.MX RT1170 crossover MCU’s rich graphics capabilities are supported by NXP’s broad ecosystem of partners, including Altia, The QT Company, Embedded Wizard by TARA Solutions, and Crank.

The reference platform also includes the integrated AW611 a highly integrated dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth/Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2 single-chip solution with AEC-Q100 Grade 2 qualification. This high degree of integration enables efficient coexistence between internal radios, as well as with external radios, while helping to reduce system costs, said NXP.

The KW45 secure wireless access microcontroller delivers secure vehicle access and vehicle location services. Its three-core architecture integrates a 96MHz Arm Cortex-M33 application core, a dedicated Cortex-M3 radio core and an isolated EdgeLock secure enclave. It also integrates a Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3-compliant radio that supports up to 24 simultaneous secure connections.

Connected digital displays with rich graphics are essential to the safe operation of two-wheeler electric vehicles, which are rapidly gaining in popularity for transport around cities. The displays can provide critical information that allows drivers to compare navigation details to battery levels and health, as well as the location of charging points.

Telemetry in the field also provides OEMs with important information about usage and battery lifetimes.

NXP’s digital instrument cluster and connectivity reference platform is designed to allow OEMs to deliver these capabilities, while also enabling a wide variety of different connectivity use cases designed to improve the user experience, for example three-way Bluetooth pairing between the phone, scooter’s digital cluster, and headphones, rider and pillion music sharing or even location capabilities such as “find my bike” in a parking lot.

“Not only does the digital instrument cluster inform the driver of the state of their vehicle, it also represents the main way a driver can customise their vehicle to their preferences,” said Dan Loop, vice president and general manager, Automotive Edge, NXP. “NXP’s digital instrument cluster and connectivity platform enables consistent updates and customizations to support the latest safety, security and connectivity features, all in a platform that balances performance and wireless connectivity capabilities with cost considerations.”

The platform enables high-performance graphics and rich connectivity use cases such as hands-free calling, wireless pairing for smartphone projection, Bluetooth audio, over the air (OTA) updates, cloud connectivity, fleet management, secure vehicle access and vehicle location.

http://www.nxp.com

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Functionally safe positioning hardware-software model minimises time to market

Wed, Oct 11, 2023

Pre-certified to ISO-26262/ASIL-B, u-safe is end-to-end positioning hardware-software by u-blox and based on market-proven safe components which have been extensively tested in autonomous driving conditions, said u-blox. It can be seamlessly integrated into future-proof advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) architectures, which “significantly” minimising time to market, said the company.
The model for vehicle positioning is designed to accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicles. It uses components that are proven in automotive driver navigation systems to offer Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs driver automated and assistance systems in, for example, ADAS Level 3 and above applications requiring high integrity and functional safety features. In addition, ADAS Level 2+ applications can also benefit from u-safe, said u-blox, to ensure that these systems are future proof and ready for a transition into higher levels of automation.
u-blox claimed to be the only supplier in the market today to offer a functional-safety-and-SOTIF compliant safe end-to-end positioning solution combining proprietary hardware with customised software and correction service. The company said u-safe is simplifying the automotive supply chain for customers working on ADAS up to SAE Level 5.
Integrated into ADAS and autonomous driving stacks, u-safe represents an additional layer of safety by offering functional safety (ISO-26262 standard), high integrity and trustworthy positioning for automated and autonomous driving markets.

u-blox said u-safe ensures ASIL-B GNSS localisation for sophisticated safe automotive systems. It incorporates u-blox’s ninth generation GNSS technology platform with A9 ASIL-B chipset and module, PointSafe which uses GMV’s high accuracy and safe correction service and on-board safe position engine, the u-blox Thingstream IoT platform, as well as customised integration support.
u-safe follows the recently announced partnership with GMV, which specialises in navigation for connected and autonomous vehicles. u-blox and GMV joined forces to pioneer functional safety with market-proven components to bring functional safe E2E positioning solutions to the automotive industry for mass-market applications.
u-blox operates in positioning and wireless communication in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. The company has a broad portfolio of chips, modules, and secure data services and connectivity. The company headquarters are in Thalwil, Switzerland, with offices in Europe, Asia, and the USA.
http://www.u-blox.com

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