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Long range microcontrollers simplify wireless design for smart buildings

Tue, Nov 21, 2023

Wireless device design expertise gained by STMicroelectronics is combined with its STM32 architecture in the new STM32 SoC which has low power operation and multi-protocol support.

The microcontroller simplifies wireless system design for diverse use cases including metering and monitoring devices in smart buildings, factories and cities, said the company. It is characterised with power-saving features which enable the extension of battery life in the new wireless microcontroller of more than 15 years.

The STM32WL3 wireless microcontroller is designed to be used in remotely deployed applications including metering and monitoring devices and data from alarm systems, actuators, and sensors in smart buildings, smart factories and smart cities. It can help limit power consumption and prioritise activities to improve user experience, service delivery and to reduce the environmental footprint, explained ST.

This is the latest in ST’s lineup of integrated wireless chips. The STM32WL3 contains an advanced, power-efficient multi-protocol radio suitable for long range communication and using license-free frequency bands reserved globally for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) applications.

The long-range radio on the STM32WL3 microcontrollers operate in the internationally designated license-free frequency bands, 413MHz to 479MHz and 826MHz to 958MHz, with the support for 169MHz coming in 2024.

In addition to the main radio, ST has integrated a low power radio and the system can power down to save energy while listening continuously for a wake-up signal.

The radio is multi-protocol and multi-modulation capable, supporting 4-(G)FSK up to 600kbit per second, 2-(G)FSK, (G)MSK, DBPSK, DSSS, OOK, ASK modulation schemes.

The STM32WL3 microcontrollers can add value to smart connected devices, for example to reduce power and add long range wireless connectivity to existing networking products, as is the case with Lierda which uses the microcontroller’s wake-up radio to minimise power consumption, while the Lierda module monitors and maintains network equipment across a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless connection.

Another customer, Silent Smart Technology, has created a family of modules based on STM32WL3 wireless mictrocontrollers that operate in various sub-1GHz frequency bands. The modules support multiple transmission modes, channel monitoring, wireless relay and other functions. The wakeup feature allows the modules to operate in deep-sleep mode, consuming only about 1microA overall current while remaining ready to return to full operation.

Benoit Rodriguez, wireless business line general manager, STMicroelectronics, said: “Special features such as the wake-up radio and our flow-metering LC sensor controller enable energy-saving designs in smart metering, smart agriculture, and asset tracking that run for up to 15 years from a small battery.”

The radio is multi-protocol and multi-modulation capable, supporting 4-(G)FSK up to 600kbit/s, 2-(G)FSK, (G)MSK, DBPSK, DSSS, OOK, ASK modulation schemes to maximize versatility and ease deployment.

On-board peripherals include an LCD driver, a 12-bit 1Msample per second ADC, analogue comparator, DAC and multiple timers. Together with an integrated balun, RF power amplifier and switch mode power supply, they minimise external bill of materials (BoM) for a cost-optimised solution with short time-to-market, said ST.

Tailored to the specific needs of smart-metering applications, the STM32WL3 embeds an LCD controller and a specific peripheral – LC sensor controller – for fluid flow measurement. The multi-protocol support enables cost-efficient deployment of one single platform over different long-range wireless technologies, including Sigfox, KNX, mioty, M-Bus said ST.

The complete lineup in the STM32WL3 series contains devices with Flash density from 64kbyte to 256kbyte and 16kbyte or 32kbyte RAM, in a 32-pin or 48-pin VFQFPN package. There is also an extended temperature range option, from -40 to +105 degrees C.

All variants are covered with ST’s 10-year longevity guarantee for industrial products. Sample quantities are available now.

https://www.st.com.

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ITEC claims latest RFID inlay die bonder is fastest and most accurate yet

Tue, Nov 21, 2023

According to ITEC, its ADAT3 XF Tagliner is the industry’s fastest and most accurate RFID inlay die bonder. It has placement speeds of up to 48,000 units per hour (UPH), with positional and rotational accuracies better than nine microns and 0.67 degrees at one sigma. It is three times faster and 30 per cent more accurate than other die bonding equipment, claimed the company. “

The ADAT3 XF Tagliner is fully automated, with yields in excess of 99.5 per cent. It is also claimed to have the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership for equipment of this type, enabling it to bring a “significant competitive advantage” through lower manufacturing costs, said the company. It can be used in a broad range of new RFID applications including retail and automotive labels, access control, railway tickets, airline luggage tags and shipping containers.

ITEC has over 30 years’ experience in RFID, installing high-volume semiconductor chip-attach systems in multiple markets. The ADAT3 XF Tagliner includes semiconductor industry-standard features like automatic wafer change (for eight- and 12-inch wafers) and multiple high-resolution cameras inspecting before and after every process step.

The machine’s high-precision glue curing system has only two thermodes. This results in fewer moving parts for improved reliability and maintainability. The curing time of 65 milliseconds is two orders of magnitude lower than other RFID die bonders (typically several seconds), which increase operating efficiency.

The ADAT3 XF Tagliner can accommodate a diverse range of transparent and opaque web materials. That gives it another advantage over incumbent RFID die bonding equipment, said ITEC which can only use transparent material. The system integrates BW Paper systems winders and Voyantic readers, which allows it to be used with emerging and more sustainable substrate materials like paper, which are gradually replacing PET plastics. Even up to a web pitch of 50.8mm, it mains a speed of 48,000 UPH, confirmed ITEC.

The RFID die bonder has been qualified for qualified for major chip suppliers and meets the industry’s most rigorous temperature, humidity, and mechanical reliability requirements, said the company. Today it can place dies with dimensions as small as 200 microns, and this figure will improve over time. Upgrades over the course of the ADAT3 XF Tagliner’s lifetime will further optimise operation and boost performance, said the company.

Headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, ITEC is a back-end semiconductor equipment manufacturer specialising in high-volume production of semiconductors. ITEC provides the highest productivity assembly, test, inspection, and smart manufacturing platforms, targeting mass volume manufacturing from small signal to power MOS devices.

ITEC is rooted in semiconductor manufacturing, combining over 30 years of equipment and automation expertise as partner to Philips and Nexperia. In 2021, ITEC became a separate legal entity.

http://www.itecequipment.com

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Wi-Fi companion IC is first silicon-to-cloud locationing solution, says Nordic

Wed, Nov 15, 2023

The nRF7000 Wi-Fi companion IC is a low-power Wi-Fi 6 chip, optimised for Wi-Fi network scanning on both the 2.4- and 5GHz Wi-Fi frequency bands.

It is the final part of Nordic Semiconductor’s SSID-based Wi-Fi location solution, said the company. The nRF7000 Wi-Fi companion IC, together with Nordic’s nRF91 Series cellular IoT system in package (SiP), enables SSID-based Wi-Fi location fixing. Nordic’s SSID-based Wi-Fi enables the acquisition of accurate location fixes in a power efficient manner both indoors and outdoors, and in urban and suburban areas. Nordic explained that this is a valuable complement to GNSS, especially in buildings and in dense urban areas where GNSS can fail due to signal fading and interruptions. Scanning for Wi-Fi SSIDs for location finding is commonplace in products such as smartphones.   The nRF7000 IC is optimised for low power Wi-Fi SSID scanning and does not support data communication via Wi-Fi. The result is a balance between power consumption and location precision, said Nordic.
The nRF7000 IC is used for Wi-Fi scanning with an nRF91 series SiP for cellular communication to Nordic’s nRF Cloud. Instead of relying on traditional methods like cell towers or satellite signals, SSID-based Wi-Fi location fixing scans the signals from nearby Wi-Fi access points to accurately determine a tracker’s location. This offers a location accuracy that is better than cellular-based, said Nordic, but less accurate than GNSS, while being more power-efficient than GNSS and almost as power-efficient as cellular-based options.

“Nordic’s dedication to low power wireless technology enables us to provide highly efficient solutions for numerous IoT applications,” says Kjetil Holstad, executive vice president strategy and product management at Nordic Semiconductor. “Customers now need to come to just one place for a comprehensive, low power location-ing solution,” he said. “This streamlines the process and saves them significant time and money.”   Finn Boetius, product marketing engineer at Nordic Semiconductor, added: “Competing solutions tend to use general-purpose Wi-Fi ICs for Wi-Fi location-ing. These are usually over-sized and not optimised for this specific use case. This makes them both more expensive and more power-hungry”.
This option allows a trade-off between position accuracy and power consumption, continued Boetius. “In situations where high position precision is needed, GNSS is the best option. But if GNSS is unavailable or only a very rough location is needed, you can use cell-based locationing and save battery life; this will be accurate enough to tell you in which neighbourhood your device is. If you’re still without GNSS and need more, accurate information, you include Wi-Fi information at the cost of a little more power. This will be accurate enough to tell you in which house the device is located.”
Nordic’s SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing solution is supported by the nRF Connect SDK (software development kit), the company’s single software development environment. When used in conjunction with Nordic’s nRF Cloud Services, the SDK enables effortless over-the-air updates for application, middleware, and / or modem firmware while providing a secure and reliable update procedure.   Nordic offers the nRF7002 EK (evaluation kit) to help developers get started on location projects. The EK is supplied in an Arduino shield form factor and can easily be combined with an nRF9160 DK (Development Kit).   The nRF7000 Wi-Fi Companion IC and the nRF7002 EK are available now through Nordic’s distribution partners.

https://www.nordicsemi.com/

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Two data lane ReDriver supports MIPI D-PHY 1.2 protocols

Wed, Nov 15, 2023

A low power, high performance MIPI D-PHY 1.2-compliant signal ReDriver by Diodes, the PI2MEQX2503, regenerates signals transmitted at data rates up to 2.5Gbits per second from cameras to displays. It is suitable for various applications, including laptops, tablets, mobile phones, IoT devices, commercial displays, augmented reality headsets, drones and robots.

It has a dual data lane equaliser and a single clock lane. The PI2MEQX2503 compensates for PCB, connector, cable and switching-related losses. This ReDriver enables optimum electrical performance from a CSI2 source to a DSI sink. It operates at up to 2.5Gbits per second to comply with the MIPI D-PHY 1.2 specification for camera images with increasing numbers of pixels.

The 120mW active-mode power consumption of the PI2MEQX2503 is more power efficient compared to a ReTimer, said Diodes. The low power (5mW), ultra low power (2mW) and shutdown (0.2mW) modes of operation offer further power savings, helping to extend battery life. It also has programmable receiver equalisation, output swing and pre-emphasis to compensate for channel loss with low latency over longer length traces while minimising power consumption.

For added robustness, the PI2MEQX2503 supports a -40 to +85 degrees C operating temperature range for industrial applications. The ReDriver is supplied in a small X1QFN-24 (XEA24) package measuring only 2.0 x 4.0mm.

Diodes is a Standard and Poor’s SmallCap 600 and Russell 3000 Index company, which delivers semiconductor products to companies in the automotive, industrial, computing, consumer electronics and communications markets. It leverages an expanded product portfolio of discrete, analogue and mixed-signal products and packaging technology to meet customers’ needs. The company has 32 sites worldwide, including engineering, testing, manufacturing, and customer service, to serve high volume, high growth markets.

http://www.diodes.com

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Long range microcontrollers simplify wireless design for smart buildings

ITEC claims latest RFID inlay die bonder is fastest and most accurate yet

Wi-Fi companion IC is first silicon-to-cloud locationing solution, says Nordic

Two data lane ReDriver supports MIPI D-PHY 1.2 protocols

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