IoT

Sfera Labs expands Strato Pi Max capabilities with new industrial I/O expansion boards

Tue, Mar 04, 2025

Sfera Labs has announced the release of two new expansion boards for its Strato Pi Max modular industrial controller, the industrial analog inputs X2-Series expansion board (X2BI10XAIZ) and the industrial analog outputs X2-Series expansion board (X2BI10XAOZ).

The Strato Pi Max is not just a robust, DIN-rail-mounted industrial edge server—it’s a modular powerhouse designed for demanding environments. By combining the processing capabilities of the Raspberry Pi Compute 4 or 5 and the RP2040 microcontroller with industrial-grade reliability, Strato Pi Max is ideal for a wide range of applications in industrial automation, IoT, and edge computing.

These boards seamlessly integrate with the Strato Pi Max, broadening its capabilities and enabling users to tailor the system precisely to their control application needs.

The X2BI10XAIZ expansion board provides four 4-20mA and four 0-10V, galvanically isolated, highly accurate inputs to connect standard industrial probes, as well as two additional inputs specific for PT100 and PT1000 temperature sensors. The analog signals are converted by the 24-bit AD4112 ADC, which provides for high accuracy and resolution. The board also features a 5V auxiliary power output and two digital I/O lines compatible with protocols like 1-Wire, Wiegand, and I²C.

This board is designed for monitoring and controlling industrial processes, such as temperature sensing in manufacturing, current and voltage monitoring in energy management systems, and data acquisition in IoT applications.

The X2BI10XAOZ expansion board offers four analog outputs, configurable as either 0-10V voltage or 0-20mA current drivers. It also includes two digital I/O lines and a 5V auxiliary power output, making it a versatile solution for controlling industrial actuators, valves, and other analog devices.

The X2BI10XAOZ is ideal for controlling actuators, valves, motors, and other industrial equipment requiring analog signals. It can be used in various applications, including process control, building automation, test and measurements setup and robotics.

https://www.sferalabs.cc

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Infineon sensor technology enables integration of industry-first 5-axis robot arm

Fri, Feb 28, 2025

Infineon provides sensor technology to Roborock for its state-of-the-art Saros Z70 robotic vacuum. The standout feature of the smart robot is its industry-first 5-axis robot arm that can move obstacles out of its way and clean in areas that were previously blocked. This innovation is made possible by the small form factor of Infineon’s REAL3 Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology. Unveiled at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, today, Roborock launched the new Saros series in Germany.

Infineon’s REAL3 Time-of-Flight, jointly developed with pmdtechnologies, enables a next level of navigation and object recognition of robot cleaners with best-in-class performance and space efficiency. The technology is 100 times smaller compared to conventional laser distance scanner freeing up space for the integration of the retractable robot arm while maintaining a sleek and slim design, marking a significant advancement in the robotics industry. Furthermore, the integration of an additional Time-of-Flight camera from Infineon guarantees the precise and smooth operation of the robot arm, significantly enhancing the capabilities of the Saros Z70. For customers, this translates into increased benefits when using the robotic vacuum for home cleaning, as the robot arm can now move blocking objects and clean areas that used to be inaccessible.

“It’s a major breakthrough that Roborock, a market leader for robot vacuum cleaners, has recognised the full potential of Infineon’s sensor technology and transformed it into an innovative product that consumers have never seen before”, said Andreas Kopetz, Vice President of Ambient Sensing at Infineon. “The collaboration is a great example for Infineon reinforcing its position as a leading player in the field of sensors and its goal to make life easier, safer, and greener. Together with customers and partners.”

Enabling the industry-first 5-axis robot arm for a robot vacuum underlines Infineon’s ambitions to further strengthen the competitiveness and go-to-market approach in the area of sensors. To accelerate innovation and value to customers further, Infineon has combined its sensor and RF expertise in a new business unit (SURF, sensor unit and radio frequency) to drive the company’s growth in the sensors market. This strategic move will capitalise on the vast potential of the sensor and RF markets, projected to exceed 20 billion US-Dollars by 2027.

https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/sensor/

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Mouser now shipping Nordic’s Thingy:91 X prototyping platform for wireless IoT applications

Thu, Feb 27, 2025

Mouser is now shipping the new Thingy:91 X Prototyping Platform from Nordic Semiconductor. The Thingy:91 X is an easy-to-use, battery-operated prototyping platform for cellular Internet of Things (IoT) proof-of-concept (PoC) demos and initial cellular IoT device development for logistics, asset tracking, smart city, predictive maintenance, industrial and wearable applications.

The Nordic Semiconductor Thingy:91 X is designed to address the needs of emerging low-power cellular IoT applications utilising Nordic’s nRF9151 cellular IoT system-in-package (SiP) with an integrated Arm Cortex-M33 CPU and Arm TrustZone and CryptoCell security technology, which supports LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS, and NR+ certified for global operation. The Thingy:91 X platform comes preloaded with an asset-tracking application and a comprehensive set of sensors that monitor environmental conditions and movement, enhancing its utility in various IoT applications. The Thingy:91 X includes multiple digital and analog interfaces and peripherals for many design possibilities, including expansion options through a debug board connector and an expansion board connector compatible with Qwiic, STEMMA QT, and Grove systems.

The Thingy:91 X Prototyping Platform comes with all necessary modem firmware, RTOS, application software examples, and hardware reference designs to implement a full cellular IoT design. The Thingy:91 X features two user-programmable buttons for user input, with user-programmable RGB LEDs for output, along with a Nano/4FF SIM card slot, supporting (e)SIM, and bundled Onomondo and Wireless Logic SIM cards preloaded with data to connect to nRF Cloud out-of-the-box. The package also includes a 1350mAh rechargeable Li-Po battery to facilitate prototype field testing.

https://eu.mouser.com

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Rutronik System Solutions expands functionality of RDK3 base board

Tue, Feb 25, 2025

The growing demand for IoT devices is accompanied by an equally growing demand for energy-efficient energy harvesting modules. In order to meet the ecological and economic challenges of this trend, Rutronik is focusing on innovative solutions for harvesting energy from the surrounding environment. To this end, Rutronik’s System Solution developers, together with Rutronik’s wireless application experts, are introducing an innovative extension for the RDK3 Base Board. The new Ambient IoT remote control uses energy harvesting technology and thus offers a sustainable solution for the growing IoT ecosystem – without the need for a battery.

Thanks to the use of efficient wireless system-on-chip and power management semiconductors, energy harvesting can now replace conventional batteries in many applications. In addition to being environmentally friendly, this technology also reduces the costs associated with battery maintenance, supply chain, logistics, and disposal.

For the new extension of the RDK3, Rutronik allows the Infineon PSOCTM 64 (Secured MCU) integrated in the development kit to communicate with an EnOcean PTM 216B module, which contains a nRF52 SoC from Nordic Semiconductor, with an integrated Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface. In the developed demo, the latter is located in a standard light switch and draws its electrical energy from mechanical motion – such as a keystroke. The RDK3 enables easy, cross-supplier communication between components, which means added design flexibility.

This type of technology is already established in light switches in buildings based on the Sub GHz EnOcean protocol. This protocol and ecosystem are maintained by the American EnOcean Alliance, which takes care of this 868 (EU) / 902 (USA) / 928 (JPN) MHz protocol. The German EnOcean GmbH manufactures the hardware for this. In a single module, both the components for kinematic energy harvesting and wireless connectivity are embedded. For the RDK3-based remote control, the company’s expertise and patents in the field of energy harvesting are used, but combined with Nordic Semiconductor’s Bluetooth technology, instead of the original Sub GHz-SoC.

https://www.rutronik.com/

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