Sector News

Renesas RF microcontrollers are supported by Segger

Mon, Feb 08, 2021

Development tools, embedded software and production tools for the entire Renesas RE microcontroller family are available from Segger Microcontroller.

According to the company, the support makes firmware development for the Arm-based Renesas RE microcontrollers fast and easy.

Segger’s Embedded Studio integrated development environment (IDE) includes an optimised run-time library and the company’s own compiler and linker to generate small and efficient application code.

The J-Link debug probe offers the fastest flash download, including an unlimited number of breakpoints in flash memory, claims the company.

Application software includes an RTOS and communication, security, GUI and IoT software designed in-house, specifically for embedded systems. Segger’s system verification tool, SystemView, reveals the true runtime behaviour of the application. On completion of development, Segger’s Flasher series of production programmers can be used for mass production.

Trial versions of the software are available. Segger’s technical team and ecosystem offer support throughout the development process.

The power efficient Renesas RE family microcontrollers, combined with the low resource usage of Segger software, minimises – and sometimes even removes  – the need to recharge or replace batteries. This efficiency is particularly useful for home and building automation, smart farming and factory applications as well as for a range of medical devices and wearable applications.

Segger Microcontroller has over 25 years’ experience in embedded computer systems, and produces software libraries, and offers software tools and hardware tools for development and production.

Its software libraries include communication, security, data compression and storage and user interface software.

The company’s range of software libraries and tools for embedded system development are optimised for the requirements imposed by resource-constrained embedded systems.

The company was founded by Rolf Segger in 1992. It is privately held and has a US office in the Boston area, branch operations in Silicon Valley and the UK, and distributors on most continents.

Segger software is not covered by an open-source or required-attribution license and can be integrated in any commercial or proprietary product, without the obligation to disclose the combined source.

http://www.segger.com

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DRAM modules for FPGAs are first industrial grade versions

Mon, Feb 08, 2021

Innodisk claims that its industrial-grade DRAM modules are the first available in the industry. The rugged modules are for FPGAs and provide wide temperature support for artificial intelligence and IoT applications.

FPGAs can be used for inference in embedded, edge computing, AI, and IoT applications. Customisable FPGAs offer greater performance with lower power consumption than general purpose graphics processing units (GPUs) and are more flexible for adjustment in the field than ASICs, explains Innodisk.

“We expect this to be a game-changer that can roll with the tide of AI,” said Samson Chang, global DRAM vice president of Innodisk. “Industrial-grade DRAM is key to the integration of FPGAs in applications like AI and [industrial IoT] IIoT,” he added.

The $5.9 billion FPGA market is expected to see a 7.6 per cent average annual growth rate over the next five years, fuelled primarily by increased AI and IoT adoption, Innodisk reports.

Chang said the Innodisk‘s DRAM modules provide “large capacity, low-latency memory access for FPGAs”. The industrial-grade DRAM modules for FPGAs include single or dual rank formats for high capacity applications. The DRAM modules has a -40 to +85 degrees C temperature tolerance, to surpass JEDEC standards. They also feature anti-sulphuration to guard silver alloys against sulphur corrosion and HumiSeal conformal coating to protect from dust, dirt, and corrosion. They also have side fill technology to bolster chip-to-PCB solder joints.

Innodisk provides flash memory, DRAM modules, and embedded peripheral products for industrial and enterprise applications.

https://www.innodisk.com

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Fujitsu 5G radio units use Xilinx UltraScale+

Fri, Feb 05, 2021

Fujitsu has developed its O-RAN 5G radio units (O-RUs) using UltraScale+ technology by Xilinx. Fujitsu O-RUs will be deployed in the first O-RAN-compliant 5G green field networks in the US.

Fujitsu O-RUs are suitable for a range of spectrum and multi-band applications for 5G O-RAN networks. The Xilinx UltraScale+ devices used in Fujitsu O-RUs were selected for a balance of cost economies as well as the adaptability and scalability required for the evolving needs of 5G O-RAN network requirements, says Xilinx. The adapting computing company will work with other O-RAN ecosystem partners to ensure continued validation of the hardware and software necessary for 5G networks.

“Our design team worked closely with Xilinx on our O-RAN radio units to enable greater flexibility and cost savings while also delivering greater innovation as well as new capabilities for 5G networks,” said Masaki Taniguchi, senior vice president and head of the Mobile System Business Unit at Fujitsu.

The first greenfield 5G O-RAN systems will be deployed this year.

Fujitsu is also evaluating Xilinx RFSoC technology to further reduce cost and power consumption for additional future site deployments.

Xilinx develops flexible and adaptive processing platforms that enable rapid innovation across a variety of technologies – from the cloud, to the edge, to the endpoint.

It is the inventor of the FPGA and Adaptive SoCs (including the Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform, or ACAP), designed to deliver the dynamic computing technology. Xilinx collaborates with customers to create scalable, differentiated and intelligent solutions that enable the adaptable, intelligent and connected world of the future.

http://www.xilinx.com

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Evaluate NFC technology with NFC Tag kit

Thu, Feb 04, 2021

Smart packaging and connected products company, Tapwow has partnered with materials science specialist, Avery Dennison Smartrac and introduced the Getting Started with NFC Tag kit, based on NXP chip technology. It allows customers to evaluate NFC technology with customised content and use cases.

The kit features a variety of the most popular NFC tags from Avery Dennison Smartrac based on NXP NFC ICs combined with the DIRX2 tag management software platform from Tapwow. The NFC use NXP’s NTAG and ICODE chip technology to offer a mix of functionalities and security levels, to meet customers’ specific needs.

The kit has been introduced to allow customers to get started with NFC projects quickly and easily. As more customers are pursuing the opportunities in smart packaging and connected products featuring NFC technology, the kit is designed to be easy to use and to allow customers to use NFC tags in their own environment and assign meaningful content.

With a few clicks within the DIRX2 platform from Tapwow, a customer could create a working demo or proof of concept including tap analytics that could be accessed from any smartphone.

“It is an exciting time for touchless connectivity throughout the world,” said Michael Sher, CEO of Tapwow. “We worked with Avery Dennison Smartrac . . . to get NFC tags in the hands of the end user to see what was possible and how easy the technology is to use,” he explained.

“With recent surges in touchless connectivity and payments, more brands have been looking at how to take advantage of NFC technology to create a Hand to Brand connection with their customers. This kit gives them the tags and the software to get started,” he continued.

Avery Dennison has experience in the design, development, production and implementation of NFC tags across many industries. “Based on our NFC Forum Certifications around both quality and performance, our NFC Tags are reliable and positioned to globally scale to enterprise volumes at a moment’s notice,” added Amir Khoshniyati, head of NFC business at Avery Dennison Smartrac.

The tag kit is designed to showcase NFC products, featuring NXP ICs in a format that makes the technology accessible and easy to configure with the Tapwow software, he explained.

The kit is suitable for a wide variety of industries, from pharmaceuticals, consumer goods to healthcare, wine andspirits. According to Avery Dennison, the capabilities of NFC can provide exciting opportunities in customer engagement, brand protection, traceability, and reuse and recycle.

The Getting Started with NFC Tag kit is available today.

 http://www.tapwow.net

http://www.averydennison.com

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