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Small capacity e.MMC and SD memory cards are cost-efficient for green IIoT

Thu, Jun 29, 2023

Swissbit has introduced cost-efficient, small capacity e.MMCs and SD memory cards for IIoT and smart city applications. The EM-30 and S-56(u) series are based on 3D TLC NAND and have capacities from 4Gbyte.

The EM-30 and S-56(u) series are available as an embedded component in the form of an e.MMC or as flexible, interchangeable SD memory cards. They also guarantee data security said Swissbit.

The EM-30 product series (153 ball BGA) complies with e.MMC-5.1 specifications and is fully backwards compatible. It is designed for an extended temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees C and is suitable for use in harsh environmental conditions. Based on durable industrial-grade 3D-TLC-NAND and with storage capacities ranging from 4.0 to 8Gbyte, the range offers sequential data rates of up to 280Mbyte per second read and 120Mbyte per second write, as well as 11k IOPS random read and 16k IOPS random write.

The S-56(u) SD and microSD memory cards attain sequential read and write data rates of 95Mbytes per second and 74Mbytes per second, respectively. Random read IOPS is 2,200 and random write IOPS is 1,300. Over-provisioning and pSLC technology ensure the S-56 series offers the highest endurance for write-intensive workloads. Combined with up to 100,000 PE cycles, its endurance for small data logging even surpasses that of an SLC card for the first time, reported Swissbit.

The cards are suitable for applications which require minimal storage space, for example green IIoT technologies like charging stations, smart meters, and PV inverters. Only a small amount of memory is required to run boot software or to communicate with cloud applications in these instances.

The capacities mean they are suitable for use as boot media or for data logging small amounts of data, without sacrificing performance or durability in green IoT applications such as smart meters, controllers for intelligent building management, or generating and using sustainable energy through charging stations.

Other typical applications for small-capacity flash memory include white goods, payment devices and point-of-sale systems, industrial control systems, and medical diagnostic and patient monitoring devices.

http://www.swissbit.com

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Versal Premium VP1902 is largest FPGA-based adaptive SoC, says AMD

Wed, Jun 28, 2023

AMD said that the Versal Premium VP1902 is the world’s largest FPGA-based adaptive SoC for emulation and prototyping. It offers twice the capacity of earlier generation FPGAs said the company.

The VP1902 adaptive SoC is an emulation-class, chiplet-based device designed to streamline the verification of increasingly complex semiconductor designs. Designers can use it to innovate and validate application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and SoC designs.

FPGA-based emulation and prototyping allows fast silicon verification and enables developers to begin software development in advance of silicon tape-out.

As complexity grows in ASIC and SoC designs, coupled with the rapid advancement of AI and ML-based chips, extensive verification of both silicon and software before tape-out is a must, said AMD. The VP1902 delivers 18.5M logic cells for 2X2 higher programmable logic density and 2X4 aggregate I/O bandwidth compared to the previous generation Virtex UltraScale+ VU19P FPGA.

For both pre-silicon verification and concurrent software development, the VP1902 finds and addresses bugs before tape-out. The Versal architecture, including the programmable network-on-chip, provides up to 8X5 faster debugging compared to the prior generation VU19P FPGA.

The AMD Vivado ML design suite provides a comprehensive development platform to quickly design, debug and validate applications and technologies to accelerate time to market. New features that support more efficient development on the VP1902 adaptive SoC include automated design closure assistance, interactive design tuning, remote multi-user real-time debugging and enhanced back-end compilation, which enables end users to iterate IC designs faster, said the company.

AMD has collaborated with EDA vendors, including Cadence, Siemens and Synopsys to help designers access an ecosystem of fully-featured and scalable solutions.

The AMD Versal Premium VP1902 adaptive SoC will begin sampling in Q3 to early access customers with production expected in the first half of 2024.

Kirk Saban, corporate vice president, Product, Software, & Solutions Marketing, Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group, AMD, commented: “Chip designers can confidently emulate and prototype next-generation products using our VP1902 adaptive SoC, accelerating tomorrow’s innovations in AI, autonomous vehicles, Industry 5.0 and other emerging technologies.”

https://www.amd.com

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Arduino Uno Wi-Fi variant is powered by 32bit microcontroller

Tue, Jun 27, 2023

Open source hardware and software provider, Arduino, has announced next generation Uno board, describing it as “a significant revision of its 8bit technology”. The Uno R4 is powered by a 32bit microcontroller and is available in a basic (Uno Ra4 Minima) and a comprehensive Uno R4 (WiFi) for different budget and creative levels of the maker community.

The Uno R4 has the same standard form factor, shield compatibility and 5V power supply of the Uno R3, with the addition of a 32bit microcontroller with up to 16x the clock speed, memory and flash storage with the integration of the RA4M1 processor from Renesas.

The RA4M1 microcontroller is based on an Arm Cortex-M4 core and features a clock speed of 48MHz for higher processing power. To accommodate more complex projects, the Uno R4 is fitted with 32kbyte of SRAM and 256kbyte of flash memory. The Arm Cortex-M4 core features a floating point unit (FPU), boosting performance for certain applications, said Arduino. Software scalability is also supported on the new board, allowing easy upgrades for projects made with Uno R3 or Leonardo.

In response to requests from the Arduino community, the USB port has been upgraded to USB-C and the maximum power supply voltage has been increased to 24V with an improved thermal design. The board provides a CAN bus, which allows users to minimise wiring and execute different tasks in parallel by connecting multiple shields as well as two SPI and two I2C serial ports. The board also includes a 12bit DAC and operational amplifier.

The pinout, voltage and form factor are the same as for the Uno R3 to ensure maximum hardware and electrical compatibility with existing shields and projects. This also ensures the Uno R4 is a drop-in replacement.

The Uno R4 WiFi version comes with an Espressif ESP32-S3 module for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. The bright 12×8 red LED matrix is suitable for creative projects using animations or for plotting sensor data without the need for additional display hardware. The board has a variety of compatible modules that can be connected via the Qwiic I2C connector, combined with the large ecosystem of shields for Uno already in the market and allows the creation of projects without soldering, breadboards or manual wiring. For more advanced uses, there are also additional pins to turn off the microcontroller while keeping the RTC (real time clock) powered by an external buffer battery.

For makers seeking a boost in processing power without the additional features, the Uno R4 Minima is a cost-effective option. It has HID over USB capability for makers to simulate a mouse or a keyboard to create interfaces with minimal effort.

Production of the Uno R3 will continue, said Arduino. To offer a consistent developer experience between the 8-bit Uno R3 and 32-bit Uno R4, significant efforts are being made to ensure maximum backward compatibility with existing code examples and tutorials, the company continued.

https://store.arduino.cc/pages/unor4

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High gain drivers support lower supply voltage for 5G mMIMO applications

Tue, Jun 27, 2023

High gain, high linearity driver amplifiers that support lower supply voltages and which allow for 34 per cent reduction in power consumption have been released by Guerrilla RF. The GRF5123 and GRF5124 are designed specifically for 5G mMIMO transmitters.

They have a rated operating range of 1.8 to 5.0GHz and each device can cover all major mMIMO bands with separate tunes covering 1.8 to 2.2GHz, 2.3 to 2.7GHz, 3.3 to 4.2GHz and 4.4 to 4.7GHz.

Both devices have a 3.0 x 3.0mm QFN-16 footprint that has become the de facto standard for many 5G mMIMO driver applications, said Guerilla RF. The two devices differ in rated gain; the GRF5124 offers approximately 3dB more gain than the GRF5123. These gain options provide latitude when designing for 64T64R and 32T32R 5G mMIMO systems where different gain levels are desired.

Each core can be operated from a 5.0V or 3.3V supply voltage. The ability to operate on a lower 3.3V rail allows for a 34 per cent reduction in power consumption while trading off approximately 2dB in compression and linearity performance. For 64T64R systems, this lower supply voltage can save up to 10W in consumed power, advised the company.

When operated at 2.5GHz with a 5V supply and only 100mA of current, the GRF5123 delivers 37.4dB of gain, 22.9dBm of OP1dB compression, 38.6dBm of OIP3 linearity, and a low noise figure of 1.2dB. The device can also be operated with a 3.3V rail with 36.5dB of gain and comparable linearity, compression and noise performance.

Given the same operating frequency and supply rail, the GRF5124 provides 40.2dB of gain, 23.3dBm of OP1dB compression, 36.3dBm of OIP3 linearity, and a slightly higher noise figure of 1.6dB. Using a 3.3V supply reduces the gain by 1dB and the linearity and compression performance by 2dB.

“The GRF5123/4 are specialised, high-gain variants of Guerrilla RF’s popular pHEMT driver cores which are already used in 4G and 5G base station applications,” says Jim Ahne, Guerrilla RF’s vice president of automotive and 5G products.

Samples and evaluation boards are available for the GRF5123 and GRF5124.

https://www.guerrilla-rf.com

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Small capacity e.MMC and SD memory cards are cost-efficient for green IIoT

Versal Premium VP1902 is largest FPGA-based adaptive SoC, says AMD

Arduino Uno Wi-Fi variant is powered by 32bit microcontroller

High gain drivers support lower supply voltage for 5G mMIMO applications

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