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Bridgetek adds Mood Lighting to PanL building automation platform

Fri, Aug 28, 2020

Convenient and cost-effective RGB-enabled lighting control can be implemented, says Bridgetek at the launch of its PanL Mood Lighting (ML) units.

The units extend the PanL home/building automation platform and comply with both DALI and DMX digital interface protocols. The ML units offer users complete control of both the dimming level and colour hue in relation to every light in an assigned living/working space or a place of business, such as restaurants or bars.

Support for DALI and DMX protocols means the PanL ML smart lighting controllers provide a scalable lighting systems and the potential to add more more light fixtures than is possible using alternative protocols, says Bridgetek. The units can address up to 512 RGB DMX output channels and up to 64 DALI drivers, for smooth dimming and better manipulation of different colour effects.

The ML units are based on Bridgetek’s FT903Q 32-bit RISC microcontroller units which are capable of 100MHz operation.

The FCC and CE certified PanL ML units are supplied in compact enclosures, measuring 145.7 x 96.7 x 29.0mm. Installers can connect these units to the PanL Hub via a RS485 serial interface (through which they will receive both power and data). The units are suitable for both new and existing lighting installations. Where a larger number of light fittings are involved, there is provision to daisy chain multiple PanL ML controllers together.

Bridgetek was founded in 2016. It supplies advanced ICs and board level products. Its Embedded Video Engine (EVE) graphic controller ICs integrate display, audio and touch functionality onto a single chip, thereby dramatically reducing the time period and bill of materials costs associated with developing next-generation human machine interface (HMI) systems. The EVE graphic controller ICs are complemented by Bridgetek’s differentiated, speed-optimised microcontrollers with augmented connectivity features.

http://www.brtchip.com

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Renesas has mobility mission with latest reference design

Thu, Aug 27, 2020

Helping customers to accelerate the development of e-scooters, e-bikes, uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) and energy storage systems, Renesas Electronics has unveiled its 48V Mobility Winning Combination. The reference design uses a modular approach in hardware and software to showcase core and optional functional blocks that can be adopted for many 24 to 48V applications. These can range from e-scooters and e-bikes to lawn mowers, electric carts, robot cleaners, power tools and power banks. The reference design uses 15 Renesas ICs, including the ISL94216 16-cell battery front end (BFE), the HIP2211 100V MOSFET drivers, and RX23T 32-bit microcontroller for motor control. The 48V combination design is powered from a 25AHr li-ion battery that drives a 1600W inverter to attain speeds up to 5000 rpm.

Two boards that address the higher battery cell count and power levels mobility applications require. The BFE and charger board focuses on larger, higher voltage battery packs. The motor control and inverter board features synchronised current/voltage measurements and drivers that are pulse width modulated (PWM) to actuate the motor and monitor motor status. The algorithm with the hardware is suitable for driving brushless DC (BLDC) motors. There are also two optional boards – the wireless charging receiver board, and the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE 5.0) control board.

For system control, there is a cost optimised, energy-efficient RX23T microcontroller with built-in floating point unit (FPU) and six high-performance timers specifically tooled for complex inverter control algorithms. The modular design is intended to help engineers reduce the time spent in software and hardware development and debug. The ISL94216 offers several features that balance and monitor system conditions to improve battery life and safety, in contrast to large cell count single-chip battery managers, the integrated ISL94216 performs independently of the microcontroller.

The collective also includes the ISL81601 60V bi-directional four-switch synchronous buck-boost controller for ultra-fast charging. The controller’s CC/CV charger profile is implemented through the system microcontroller.

http://www.renesas.com

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Power amplifier delivers native linearity sufficient for extreme temperatures

Thu, Aug 27, 2020

The first of several 0.25W linear power amplifiers scheduled for release by Guerilla RF is the GRF5507 which provides 24dBm output power.

The InGaP HBT power amplifier targets 5G/4G wireless infrastructure applications which require “exceptional” native linearity over temperature extremes of -40 to +85°C.

Operating over the 700 to 800MHz frequency range, the GRF5507 is tuned to operate within the n12, n14, n28 and n29 5G new radio (NR) bands. It can deliver over 24dBm of linear power over the entire – temperature range while maintaining ACLR levels of better than -45dBc, IMD3 levels less than -20dBm, EVM levels less than one per cent and PAE efficiencies above 15 per cent. These are achieved without the aid of supplemental linearisation schemes like digital pre-distortion (DPD).

The ability to beat the -45dBc ACLR performance metric without DPD is critical for cellular applications like home and commercial repeaters/boosters, femto cells, pico cells and cable loss compensators associated with automotive ‘shark fin’ antennae. In each of these use cases, the sensitivity to cost, power and size constraints prohibits the use of elaborate linearisation techniques like DPD, explains Guerrilla RF. Designers therefore have to rely on the power amplifier’s native linearity to meet the stringent emissions mask requirements demanded by the latest 5G and 4G standards.

Guerrilla RF designed the power amplifiers to be footprint compatible, enabling customers to rapidly customise their designs for a range of cellular frequencies.

The GRF55xx family comes in pin-compatible 3.0 x 3.0mm, 16-pin QFN packages. The common footprint enables a single design to address multiple bands via simple component swaps, says the company.

Samples and evaluation boards are available now.

Based in Greenboro, North Carolina, USA, Guerrilla RF provides high performance monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to wireless OEMs in multiple market segments, including 5G/4G macro and small cell base stations, cellular repeaters/DAS, automotive SDARS/V2X/DAB, mission-critical military communications, navigation and high-fidelity wireless audio.

https://guerrilla-rf.com

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Connected Buildings suite modernises infrastructure for smart cities

Thu, Aug 27, 2020

Solutions integrator, Black Box, has created Connected Buildings, a suite of solutions and services that enable digital experiences in smart, IoT buildings. The company designs, deploys, manages and maintains the foundational technology that connects the internal ecosystem of interoperable devices and sensors to enable human-to-human, human-to-device and device-to-device interaction.

Connected Buildings services modernise the IT infrastructure, solve in-building connectivity challenges and link clients’ devices at locations around the world.

“Now more than ever, our customers need spaces that are interactive, adaptive, automated and secure,” said Doug Oathout, senior vice president, Portfolio and Partnerships, Black Box. “At Black Box, we apply our broad portfolio . . . . to take the complexity out of connected buildings and make it simple for our customers by giving them one trusted partner to handle their IT services. Whether updating hundreds of existing locations or outfitting one location from the ground up, our team of project managers, engineers and technicians works with our clients to craft a solution that creates consistent customer experiences and reliable communications,” he said.

The Black Box Connected Building is enabled by fast, robust technologies, for example 5G/CBRS and Wi-Fi to augment existing wireless systems and create fully connected buildings. It also uses edge networking and data centres to collect data where it is created and combine it with artificial intelligence (AI) to make smarter devices. Addressing cybersecurity there is incident and event monitoring, endpoint detection and response, and VPN and firewall services.

The Connected Building services include assessment, consulting and project management, coupled with on-site services for configuration, staging, installation and logistics.

The services fall into four categories. There are those for multi-site deployments, where the Black Box team is able to handle large-scale national/global installations and provide uniform IT at hundreds or thousands of sites.

There are also IoT deployments, where the team supplies and installs cameras, digital signage, point of sale (POS), sensors and other in-building IoT technologies.

Another category is structured cabling and networking, to ensure the infrastructure necessary to support future bandwidth requirements.

Finally, digital transformation covers the management of implementations and deployments of the IoT.

http://www.bboxservices.com

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Bridgetek adds Mood Lighting to PanL building automation platform

Renesas has mobility mission with latest reference design

Power amplifier delivers native linearity sufficient for extreme temperatures

Connected Buildings suite modernises infrastructure for smart cities

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