Designed specifically for all cellular IoT (CIoT) technologies, including the 5G RedCap specification, the E7515R is Keysight Technologies’ wireless test platform for chipset, device and module makers. The network emulation platform supports the development workflow from early design and development to deployment, said Keysight.
The E7515R is based on the company’s 5G Network Emulation Solutions platform, a streamlined network emulator specifically designed for protocol, radio frequency (RF), and functional testing of all CIoT technologies.
The E7515R features streamlined capabilities for RedCap without the additional features needed to test a full-spec 5G device. The integrated platform combines RF, protocol, functional, and performance testing in a compact footprint.
The 5G RedCap specification introduces support for wireless devices with reduced 5G capabilities. These devices are less complex, and consume less power, allowing them to address new CIoT use cases such as industrial sensors and wearables such as smartwatches. Like other cellular devices, RedCap devices require time-consuming and expensive certification from accredited labs before they can be released to the market. By performing lab validation early, to identify and correct design issues, device and module manufacturers can shorten the certification process for RedCap and other CIoT devices, said Keysight.
The E7515R supports 5G Release 17 RedCap and legacy CIoT technologies, including Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), LTE Category M, and LTE Cat-1bis.
The E7515R is built on the same architecture as Keysight’s 5G Network Emulation Solutions platform. The E7515R also uses the same software, providing workflow consistency and reduced learning curves.
The E7515R is shipping now and Keysight will demonstrate the solution’s 5G RedCap network emulation capabilities at MWC 2023 in Barcelona (27 February to 02 March): Hall 5 Stand 5E12.
Keysight delivers design and validation products across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimisation and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defence, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets.
IoT
Gigabyte unveils servers for HPC, 5G edge and green computing at MWC 2023
At next week’s MWC in Barcelona, Gigabyte will present 5G edge and green computing servers.
There will be a new server series aimed to deliver impact in high performance computing (HPC), AI development and cloud computing. The servers are for a academic institutions, and a variety of industries, such as aerospace centres, public cloud services, semiconductor companies and animation studios.
Gigabyte’s edge data centres will accelerate the 5G ecosystem growth, said the company. They can process data with “exceptional transmission speed and computing performance using less energy”. The short depth chassis design allows the servers to fit into limited spaces near data sources. They support a large amount of IoT devices in real time.
With growing coverage of 5G networks, smart manufacturing, automotive technology and smart cities are all driving increasing demand for edge data centres. Gigabyte said its edge servers are aimed to empower enterprises and institutes to unlock the infinite 5G-related business opportunities.
Another industry trend addresses by Gigabye is for “green” computing to boost data centre performance with a smaller carbon footprint and to contribute to meeting net zero targets. Electricity price hikes and extreme weathers make data centre cooling a critical demand in IT strategy. Gigabyte’s immersion cooling and compatible servers have been adopted by an IC foundry to improve its HPC data centre’s carbon emission and heat dissipation. Its PUE (power usage effectiveness) was significantly lowered to under 1.08 and the performance of HPC processors was boosted by over 10 per cent, reported Gigabyte.
Gigabyte has over 30 years’ of experience in motherboards and graphics cards, and provides businesses with server and data centre expertise. The company is devoted to inventing smart solutions that enable digitalisation from edge to cloud, and allow customers to capture, analyse, and transform digital information into economic data.
Visit Gigabyte at MWC 2023 (27 February to 02 March) Hall 5-5F60
Software has a vision for programming industrial robots
Mitsubishi Electric has updated its RT Toolbox3 and iQ Works2 to offer a new visual editor for programming SCADA and six-axis industrial robots. It has been designed with operators that are new to robotics in mind, and is designed to help users streamline the set-up of automated applications.
Both entry-level and experienced users can benefit from the new additions to RT Toolbox3 and iQ Works2, said Mitsubishi Electric. The latest update adds an intuitive GUI (graphical user interface) that features drag-and-drop building blocks to the programming environment. This enables the creation of flowchart diagrams to quickly set up and simulate robot workflows without requiring any specialist knowledge, said Mitsubishi Electric.
The pre-coded modules feature a configuration wizard that helps users to insert the parameters needed for the machine to move, pick, pause and repeat. As a result, it is possible to customise the robot actions for flexibility to make it easier to deploy industrial robots.
The tool mirrors the framework used to set up and run the MELFA Assista collaborative robot (cobot). This means any operator that has experience with this system will be able to interact with industrial robots using a familiar environment with the option to compare the visual flowcharts with the automatically generated scripts. This will support users advance programming skills and offers an educational platform to interact with the two programming forms and develop a company’s future workforce.
Barry Weller, robotics product manager at Mitsubishi Electric, commented: “Industrial robots are generally misperceived as time, resource and cost intensive as well as too complex to be used for entry-level applications”. These additions expand the tools available, and with the graphical programming interface, targets novice users for ease of configuration and installation of any type of industrial robot, said the company.
“More experienced engineers can also benefit from this update, as it can help simplify and reduce their programming time,” said Weller. This is why Mitsubishi Electric has made the new functions available to new and existing customers. “We want to maximise accessibility to help companies improve and futureproof their operations,” he added.
The update is automatically included in recently purchased robot packages.
STMicroelectronics releases nine RF integrated passive devices (RF IPDs)
Nine RF integrated passive devices (RF IPDs) from STMicroelectronics combine antenna impedance-matching, balun, and harmonic filter circuity optimised for STM32WL wireless microcontrollers.
The STM32WL MCUs combine application-level processing and wireless communication for smart, connected devices. They integrate an Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller with a sub-GHz long range radio managed by a Cortex-M0+ core. The radio is LPWAN-compliant, supports multiple modulation schemes, and comes with LoRaWAN and Sigfox stacks included in the STM32CubeWL microcontroller software package.
The RF IPDs are in tiny chip scale packages. They connect the STM32WL microcontroller to its antenna and help maximise the RF performance. By integrating all the components on one die, STMicro said performance is consistent and avoids the process variations that affect conventional matching networks built with discrete components. They also simplify circuit design, save on bill of materials, and permit a smaller form factor, added ST.
The nine RF IPD variants let designers choose the optimum parameters according to the RF frequency range and power, microcontroller package type, and two- or four-layer PCB.
The series comprises the BALFHB-WL-01D3 through BALFHB-WL-06D3 for applications at 868MHz and 915MHz. The BALFLB-WL-07D3, BALFLB-WL-08D3, and BALFLB-WL-09D3 are optimised for 490MHz. Each integrates the complete receive and transmit signal paths between the microcontroller and antenna. The integrated filter provides high attenuation of unwanted transmitter harmonics, for designers to satisfy the regulations set by radio licensing authorities worldwide.
All devices are in production now. They are offered in a 2.13 x 1.83mm eight-bump wafer-level chip-scale package with a profile below 630 micron after reflow.
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