ICs & Semiconductors Archives - Page 78 of 227

Qualcomm introduces AI to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for smartphones

Thu, Nov 24, 2022

At its Snapdragon Summit 2022, Qualcomm Technologies announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform which enables AI experiences like faster natural language processing with multi-language translation. It also supports INT4, an AI precision format.

Snapdragon Sight technology adds new Cognitive ISP to power real time semantic segmentation for photo and video capture. Based on an upgraded Qualcomm Hexagon processor, users can experience faster natural language processing with multi-language translation and advanced AI camera features, said Qualcomm. It uses an AI neural network to make the camera contextually aware of faces, facial features, hair, clothes, skies and other features and to optimise them individually so every detail receives customised professional image tuning. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is also tuned to support new image sensors. For example, Sony Semiconductor Solutions is the first to develop quad digital overlap HDR technology which is fine-tuned for Snapdragon. The Samsung ISOCELL HP3, is the first 200Mpixel image sensor optimised for Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This is also the first Snapdragon to include an AV1 codec with support for video playback up to 8K HDR at 60 frames per second.

The Hexagon processor features architecture upgrades, including micro tile inferencing and a bigger tensor accelerator for up to 4.35 times increased AI performance. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is the first Snapdragon mobile platform to support INT4, with 60 per cent performance/watt improvement for sustained AI inferencing, Qualcomm reported.

The Sensing Hub consists of dual AI processors and supports intuitive experiences that enable custom wake words. There are also features and tools from the Qualcomm AI Stack, including the AI Studio.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 also introduces Snapdragon Elite Gaming features with the industry standard for real time hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Snapdragon Connect enhancements bring what is believed to be the world’s first 5G AI processor in a mobile platform. Qualcomm also claims that it is the only commercial Wi-Fi 7 SoC with high band simultaneous multi-link.

To support spatial audio, Snapdragon Sound technology supports dynamic head tracking for immersive gaming and multimedia experiences.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is expected to be launched in commercial devices by the end of 2022. The new mobile platform will be adopted by OEMs and brands including Asus Republic of Gamers, Honor, iQOO, Motorola, nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, RedMagic, Redmi, Sharp, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, Xingji/Meizu and ZTE.

https://www.qualcomm.com

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Sine wave architecture enhances NFC reader performance

Wed, Nov 23, 2022

Austrian, fabless semiconductor company, Panthronics has extended its portfolio of NFC reader ICs with the PTX105R and the PTX130R reader. The pair give OEMs new options to design NFC capability into IoT devices, embedded and mobile computing systems, said the company.

The PTX105R reader for IoT and consumer electronics devices is compatible with NFC Forum specifications. It offers accurate digital wave shaping to guarantee interoperability with all NFC-compliant cards, tags and NFC devices in wearable form factors, said Panthronics.

The PTX105R produces RF output power of 1W at the antenna and high receive sensitivity of -80dBc for reliable connectivity in general electronics systems, said Panthronics. The PTX105R’s RF performance enables the implementation of designs based on a smaller antenna than that which is required by competing NFC readers, said the company.

The second introduction is the PTX130R reader. This is an upgraded version of the PTX100R reader IC for point of sale (PoS) terminals. The PTX130R is the first reader IC by the company to feature native support for the Android operating environment. It provides a way to add NFC communications capability to embedded computing systems built around a touchscreen display. Suitable applications are PoS and mobile PoS terminals and can also provide NFC connectivity in embedded computing devices, such as scanners, automated service points such as self-check-in terminals at hotels, and secure access control and home and building automation equipment with a display-enabled human machine interface (HMI).

The PTX130R features very high RF output power of more than 2W at the antenna, enabling OEMs to achieve compliance with the strict requirements of the EMVCo standard for payment card transactions even when operating via an antenna which is placed close to or behind a noisy display.

The company’s sine wave silicon architecture is designed from the ground up for NFC systems and offers higher sensitivity, more accurate wave-shaping, higher output power and a simpler hardware implementation than conventional NFC reader ICs based on a square wave architecture, reported Panthronics.

Panthronics readers also typically offer a read range 40 per cent higher than that provided by conventional readers based on a square wave architecture, added the company.

Evaluation kits for the PTX105R and PTX130R are available directly from Panthronics. They provide a ready-made operating environment including the antenna, to enable design engineers to evaluate NFC performance out of the box.

Panthronics also supplies an NFC connectivity board based on the PTX105R for the Renesas Quick-Connect IoT rapid system prototyping platform. The Panthronics NFC board provides a fast and easy way to build NFC connectivity into IoT systems based on the general purpose microcontrollers which support the modular Quick-Connect IoT format. The board feaures a Pmod connector and can be linked to the Renesas Quick-Connect microcontroller evaluation kits.

http://www.panthronics.com

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Long-reach, single pair PoE drives intelligence in factory automation

Tue, Nov 22, 2022

Believed to be the world’s first single pair power over Ethernet (SPoE) power sourcing equipment (PSE) and power device (PD) solutions to help customers drive greater levels of intelligence into smart buildings, factory automation, and other applications at the edge of traditional networks.

They are designed to facilitate powered, last-mile connectivity for factory and building automation through real-time power management, telemetry, extremely low standby power consumption and ease of installation.

“The Intelligent Edge is one of the most exciting developments of the digital era as computing power is pushed to previously inaccessible applications and locations,” said Leo McHugh, vice president of industrial automation at Analog Devices.

The SPoE solutions, the LTC4296-1 and LTC9111, address the challenges of providing power and data to devices, even in remote, difficult to access endpoint locations, said Analog Devices. They are designed to help new families of endpoint applications to be seamlessly powered and accessed across the network and used to assess local factors such as asset health, environmental conditions and security metrics.

Analog Devices’ SPoE solutions reduce reliance on localised power and batteries by using a single twisted pair of Ethernet cables to provide efficient, reliable, easily installed power at reduced size and weight. When combined with ADI’s Chronous ADIN1100 and ADIN1110 10BASE-T1L, industrial Ethernet solutions, customers can reliably transfer both power and data over 1km, representing a significant increase compared with previous Ethernet standards, said Analog Devices.

The LTC4296-1 5-port SPoE PSE with Classification and LTC9111 SPoE PD with Polarity Correction products support both SPoE and power over data line (PoDL) variants of single pair powering. SPoE augments single pair Ethernet (SPE) to provide more reliable, fault-tolerant, and interoperable point-to-point power solutions, delivering up to 52W. Both products are 802.3cg-compliant and support Serial Communication Classification Protocol (SCCP).

Analog Devices operates at the centre of the modern digital economy, with a comprehensive suite of analogue and mixed signal, power management, radio frequency (RF), and digital and sensor technologies. ADI serves 125,000 customers worldwide with more than 75,000 products in the industrial, communications, automotive, and consumer markets.

https://www.analog.com/

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Renesas unveils family of automotive radar transceivers with high accuracy and low power consumption

Fri, Nov 18, 2022

Renesas Electronics Corporation is entering the automotive radar market with the introduction of a 4×4-channel, 76-81GHz transceiver designed to meet the requirements of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and Level 3 and higher autonomous driving applications.

Renesas will incorporate the new RAA270205 high-definition radar transceiver into its growing sensor fusion portfolio, which combines radar, vision systems, and other sensing modalities.

Designed in co-operation with Steradian Semiconductors Private Limited, which Renesas acquired earlier this year, the new transceiver MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) is especially suited for imaging radar, long-range forward-looking radar and 4D radar, but can also be used for corner and central-processing radar architectures, the so-called ‘satellite’ automotive radar systems, said the company. Equipped with 4Tx and 4Rx channels, the RAA270205 supports up to 16 MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) channels. It can be cascaded to enable higher channel count and better radar resolution.

The RAA270205 features up to 5GHz of bandwidth and a 112.5MSPS ADC (analog-to-digital converter) sampling rate that it claims is nearly three times faster than those of competing devices. Power consumption of 1.2W is 50 per cent lower than that of comparable transceivers and it delivers a noise figure of 9dB, which is 3dB less than other radar transceivers, it says. Its chirp rate of up to 300MHz/microAs improves radar resolution and object detection.

“Today’s radar transceiver MMICs must achieve higher definition to support the high-accuracy requirements of ADAS and autonomous driving safety platforms,” said Vivek Bhan, senior vice-president and deputy general manager of Renesas’ automotive solution business unit. “Working in close collaboration with Steradian, which brings deep radar design expertise, we are expanding our sensor fusion offerings with a focus on functional safety and low power consumption to help our customers lower their development costs and improve time to market.”

Renesas plans to combine the RAA270205 transceiver with other compatible devices from its portfolio to support automotive radar systems. These combinations will include the satellite radar system for AD/ADAS, which will be available in Q2/2023.

The RAA270205 will be available in 1Q/2023 in sample quantities, with commercial production planned for 2024. The transceiver is available in a small, easy-to-integrate eWLB (embedded wafer-level ball-grid array) package, measuring 7.6×5.6mm. It will be fully compliant with automotive industry requirements such as IATF 16949, AEC-Q100 Grade2 and ASIL B.

Visit Renesas at electronica 2022, Hall B4, 179

https://renesas.com

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Qualcomm introduces AI to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for smartphones

Sine wave architecture enhances NFC reader performance

Long-reach, single pair PoE drives intelligence in factory automation

Renesas unveils family of automotive radar transceivers with high accuracy and low power consumption

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