Fisego and Panasonic collaborate for smart power strips with integrated safety technology

Panasonic  has announced a strategic collaboration with Fisego Holding GmbH. The start-up based in Hesse, Germany, is setting new standards in fire prevention with its advanced fire protection systems and smart power strips featuring integrated safety technology. A key component of these next-generation devices is Panasonic Industry’s polarised DW-YL relay.

The already available Fisego EINS automatically cuts off the power supply in the event of technical faults or imminent fire hazards and sends a real-time alert to the user via the associated app. This not only protects property but, more importantly, safeguards human life. The 20A relay stands out for its high inrush current capability of up to a 320A, making the power strip suitable for almost any load scenario. The latest iteration of the DW relay has been structurally optimised: enhancements, including improvements to the contact materials, ensure the contacts do not weld – even when switching capacitive loads with high inrush currents. The smart sockets are VDE-certified and offer a wide range of applications, from protecting large appliances to integration in smart home environments and industrial settings. Notably, Fisego’s sockets are the only smart sockets worldwide to hold a VDE certification.

Fisego’s products are distinguished by the use of sustainable materials that offer excellent energy efficiency, reduce environmental impact and lower operating costs. Panasonic Industry’s relays contribute significantly to these benefits. Their polarised drive system optimises energy consumption, reduces the overall system power demand of the power strip and extends the product’s lifespan. This also results in reduced heat generation within the housing, which, combined with the compact footprint of the DW-YL relay, supports stringent space-saving design requirements.

https://www.fisego.de

http://industry.panasonic.eu 

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Ambient Scientific announces new AI-native processor for edge applications

Ambient Scientific has launched the GPX10 Pro, a system-on-chip (SoC) which uses innovative AI-native silicon technology to enable high-performance AI inference on battery-powered edge devices.

The GPX10 Pro’s AI engine supports all important neural networking model types, including CNNs, RNNs, LSTMs and GRUs, locally at the edge. Offering up to 100x improvements in power, performance and area compared to conventional 32-bit microcontrollers, the GPX10 Pro is based on Ambient Scientific’s proprietary DigAn silicon architecture.

This technology enables a neural network model’s matrix-multiply operations and activation flows to be mapped directly to in-memory analog compute blocks, a structure which eliminates the wasted cycles and overheads of a conventional processor’s general-purpose instruction set.

As a result, the GPX10 Pro performs common edge AI functions such as voice recognition, keyword spotting, low-frequency computer vision and intelligent sensing much faster and at much lower power than today’s MCUs, NPUs or GPUs can.

The GPX10 Pro is a highly integrated SoC which enables local AI inference in edge and endpoint devices, even those powered by just a single coin cell battery.

AI processing is performed in two sets of five MX8 AI cores in two separate power domains. One set is in an always-on block which supports ultra-lower power sensor interfacing and fusion – for instance, when performing always-on keyword spotting, the chip consumes less than 100µW. The 10 MX8 cores perform up to 2,560 multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations per cycle, producing total peak AI throughput of 512 GOPs.

The GPX10 Pro’s compute function is supported by 2MB of on-chip SRAM – ten times more than in the existing GPX10 – to enable implementation of larger and more complex AI models.

The GPX10 Pro also features an Arm Cortex-M4F CPU core for classic control functions. Integrated analog functionality includes an ultra-low power ADC, enhanced I2S logic, and interfaces for up to eight simultaneous analog and 20 digital sensors.

Ambient Scientific provides the Nebula AI enablement toolchain to accelerate the training, development and deployment of AI models to the GPX10 and GPX10 Pro. It is compatible with leading model training frameworks including TensorFlow, Keras and ONNX. The chip’s AI cores, which are programmable in the Nebula toolchain, give designers the flexibility to adapt to evolving AI model types and topologies.

Ambient Scientific also provides the SenseMesh hardware sensor fusion layer, which enables low-latency sensor fusion by connecting multiple sensors to a core via a tightly-coupled mesh. This produces instant responses to trigger events, and ultra-low Idle mode power, as it offloads sensor polling from the CPU.

https://www.ambientscientific.ai/

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TI unlocks premium motor control with ultra-low-cost real-time MCUs

Texas Instruments has introduced its most affordable C2000 real-time microcontrollers (MCU). The F28E120SC and F28E120SB MCUs deliver 30% faster computing power compared to previous C2000 MCUs for single motor and power factor correction systems, helping transform the performance of home appliances, from washing machines and dishwashers to vacuum cleaners and power tools.

Powered by TI’s proprietary InstaSPIN field-oriented control (FOC) software and advanced algorithms, these new MCUs enable smoother, quieter and more efficient motor performance. Their advanced capabilities – including high-speed sensorless FOC, high-torque zero-speed startup and vibration compensation – deliver precise, responsive motor control for everyday applications.

Today’s consumers demand appliances and power tools that operate as efficiently, smoothly and quietly as possible. Yet, historically, system designers have had to compromise by using MCUs with less computing performance and analog integration to meet cost targets.

The F28E12x series of MCUs helps solve this challenge by delivering the performance needed to enable premium motor-control features at a lower price than competing devices. These MCUs eliminate additional components by integrating TI’s C28x digital signal processor core and industry-leading analog peripherals, including a high-speed analog-to-digital converter and programmable gain amplifier, helping simplify designs and lowering costs.

Moreover, TI’s F28E12x series facilitates fast execution of the sensorless FOC algorithm, enabling motor speeds over 120,000rpm, or 2kHz electrical frequency. The ability to run a motor at high speeds reduces gear transition noise and improves reliability, enabling engineers to design products with smooth, quiet operation. The MCUs can also run a vibration compensation algorithm to achieve up to 60% speed ripple reduction, counteracting the acoustic noise and vibrations caused by an imbalanced load in applications such as washing machines.

https://www.ti.com

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Infineon expands XENSIV MEMS microphone lineup

Infineon has expanded its XENSIV MEMS microphone lineup with the introduction of the IM72D128V and IM69D129F, two innovative digital PDM microphones designed for exceptional audio performance, energy efficiency, and robustness. Leveraging Infineon’s proprietary Sealed Dual Membrane (SDM) technology, both microphones achieve a high level of robustness against water and dust (IP57), making them suitable for use in demanding environments.

The IM72D128V is distinguished by its top-tier Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of 71.5 dB(A), making it particularly suited for applications requiring precise low-noise audio pick-up. It operates at ultra-low power consumption, with 430 µA in high-performance mode and 160 µA in low-power mode, which makes it ideal for energy-efficient, battery-powered devices such as high-end headphones. With a footprint of 4 x 3 x 1.2 mm³, it is still small enough to fit most space constraint consumer devices.

The IM69D129F is tailored for compact design, with a footprint of 3.5 x 2.65 x 0.98 mm³, which makes it ideal for space-constrained devices. It achieves reliable audio performance with an SNR of 69 dB(A) and features low power consumption, operating at 450 µA in high-performance mode and 170 µA in low-power mode, contributing to extended battery life in portable devices ensuring extended battery life. Its small size makes it particularly suited for multi-microphone designs in compact systems. The devices can be used in Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) headphones and earbuds, as well as high-quality audio capturing in laptops, tablets, conference systems, and cameras.

The IM72D128V and IM69D129F also support Voice User Interface (VUI) applications in smart speakers, automotive infotainment, IoT devices, and home and industrial automation. Furthermore, both microphones can be used in industrial or home monitoring applications that require audio pattern detection, such as industrial monitoring and home security systems.

In addition, the IM72D128V and IM69D129F are equipped with a low-noise preamplifier and a sigma-delta ADC, providing digital PDM output for seamless integration into modern audio systems. Their shared features include an 11 Hz flat frequency response for precise sound reproduction and a ±1 dB sensitivity tolerance, making them ideal for multi-microphone arrays. Whether used for far-field audio pick-up or portable devices, these microphones enable high-quality audio capturing in challenging environments while enhancing energy efficiency and reliability. Both microphones comply with IEC (60747, 60749) and JEDEC (47/20/22) standards, ensuring reliability and robustness for consumer and industrial applications.

www.infineon.com/mems

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