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Multi-protocol microcontroller supports Ethernet and Industry 4.0

Wed, May 04, 2022

As industrial environments move towards industry 4.0, it can be difficult to enable seamless industrial connectivity across both time-sensitive and real time communications. To address this, a crossover microcontroller with integrated Gbit time sensitive networking (TSN) switch has been released by NXP.

The i.MX RT1180 crossover microcontroller enables both time-sensitive and industrial real time communications and supports multiple communications protocols. According to NXP, it bridges the gap between existing industrial systems and industry 4.0 systems. It is claimed to be the first crossover microcontroller to include an EdgeLock secure enclave, a pre-configured, self-managed and autonomous on-die security sub-system for robust, system-wide security intelligence for industrial IoT applications.

Package options start from 10 x 10mm BGA, making the i.MX RT1180 one of the smallest real time industrial networking-capable devices, said NXP. It can integrate TSN and industrial networking capabilities into a variety of industrial use cases, including I/O management, motor control, compact motion control or gateway applications.

It can also serve as a network companion chip, providing all required industrial network connectivity to a host processor via scalable connectivity stepping up to seamless Gb direct communication with the host without on-board PHY.

The i.MX RT1180 is also suitable for automotive connectivity applications, which increasingly rely on Ethernet TSN support for both high bandwidth and real time control data. This allows the i.MX RT1180 to act as an intelligent switch between different automotive engine control units (ECUs).

It features dual-core architecture, including an 800MHz Arm Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M33 and is designed for power efficiency with target use cases starting from 250mW and has an integrated PMIC (power management IC) to optimise energy efficiency, as well as reduce board complexity and cost. It has up 5Gbit ports to support the latest TSN standards, as well as multiple industrial real time network protocols, including EtherCAT, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, CC-Link IE or HSR. The i.MX RT1180 is also designed to help OEMs ease device compliance for ISA/IEC 62443-4-1, -4-2.

The microcontroller operates in the extended industrial qualification temperature range (-40 to +125 degrees C).

http://www.nxp.com

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Nexperia extends DFN packaging to AEC-Q101-compliant discretes

Tue, May 03, 2022

Discrete components from Nexperia are now available in miniature DFN packaging with side-wettable flanks. The company has introduced the AEC-Q101-compliant components to save board space in automotive designs.

The components are intended for applications in smart and electric vehicles, explained the company, with AEC-Q101 devices available cuts across all Nexperia’s product groups.

The new releases are the BC817QBH-Q and BC807QBH-Q series 45V, 500mA NPN / PNP general purpose transistors in a DFN1110D-3 package. There is also the BAT32LS-Q and BAT42LS-Q general purpose Schottky diode in a DFN1006BD-2
package and the BAS21LS-Q high-speed switching diode in a DFN1006BD-2 package.

Nexperia has also introduced the PDTA143 / 114 / 124 / 144EQB-Q series 50V 100mA PNP resistor-equipped transistor (RET) family in the DFN1110D-3 package.

Finally, there are two trench MOSFETs, the 2N7002KQB 60V and the BSS84AKQB 50V, P-channel devices, both in the DFN1110D-3 package.

According to Nexperia, leadless DFN packages are up to 90 per cent smaller than SOT23 packages, contributing to a reduction in the amount of board space required for an increasing number of electronic components in vehicles. The side-wettable flank offers very reliable automated optical inspection (AOI) of solder joint quality, added the company. Nexperia’s DFN packages deliver thermal performance with high Ptot and are claimed to be the most rugged in the industry passing extended lifetime and reliability tests.

Nexperia claims to offer the widest range of AEC-Q101 qualified discrete components in these miniature leadless packages. According to Mark Roeloffzen, senior vice president and general manager of Nexperia’s Bipolar Discretes business group, more than 460 different high volume devices are available in the recently released DFN1412D-3, DFN1110D-3, and DFN1006BD-2 packages. “By offering even more devices in these miniature packages, Nexperia provides design engineers with greater opportunities to make their designs future-proof, having an impact on the mobility of the future,” he said.

The new technology already has design-in and commitment from major Tier 1 automotive suppliers, he added.

Samples and production quantities are available now.

http://www.nexperia.com

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PIC and AVR microcontrollers extend 8-bit families

Fri, Apr 29, 2022

Recognising the increasing market for 8bit microcontrollers, Microchip has added five families to its 8bit PCI and AVR families. In total there are over 60 new devices.

PIC and AVR microcontrollers combine processing power with the ability to easily communicate with other chips and a range of analogue peripherals for configurability without changes to the PCB, said Microchip. They combine ASIC-like capabilities with a simple development experience and can be configured as smart peripheral chips, continued the company.

For example, the MVIO peripheral, including the AVR DD family can be used in systems which use different supply voltages, for example connecting a 5V microcontroller to a 1.8V sensor. The MVIO peripheral on Microchip’s latest 8bit microcontrollers, including the AVR DD family, allows a single port on the microcontroller to operate in a different voltage domain, which eliminates the need for additional external components and negates the need for level-shifting hardware, said Microchip.

For systems which do require a level of speed and response time that is difficult to achieve with software-based processing, Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) are available across the PIC and AVR product ranges. CPIs can be programmed with MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) to form a hardware processing chain and create custom peripherals that eliminate software processing cycle times, explained Microchip. For example, a WS2812 LED array, which requires timing to be driven correctly, can be controlled by configuring a super peripheral (consisting of a pulse-width modulator (PWM), a serial peripheral interface (SPI) and the configurable logic cell.

Microchip’s 8bit microcontroller portfolio is pin-to-pin compatible, which allows an alternative PIC or AVR device to be used when more performance is needed or when a customer wants to maximise product availability while minimising redesign requirements.

Microchip offers an ecosystem of hardware and software tools, including its MPLAB X and MPLAB Xpress integrated development environments (IDEs). The portfolio also includes the MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC), which offers an intuitive graphical interface to generate production-ready set up and application code for 8bit microcontroller-based projects.

The latest AVR and PIC 8bit microcontrollers are currently sampling.

http://www.microchip.com

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Spectrum offers driver support for the Nvidia Clara AGX

Fri, Apr 29, 2022

Driver support for the Nvidia Clara AGX universal computing architecture means that developers can select one of 64 digitisers, arbitrary waveform generators and digital I/O cards from Spectrum Instrumentation for use in artificial intelligence (AI) medical instruments.

For example, the digitiser cards can be used to acquire signals in the DC to GHz frequency ranges by sampling them at rates from 5Msamples per second up to a maximum of 5Gsamples per second.

The arbitrary waveform generator, which outputs samples at 40Msamples per second up to 1.25Gsamples per second, can be used to produce signals with almost any wave shape and frequency content, from DC to 400MHz, said Spectrum.

Individual analogue cards offer one, two-, four- or eight-channel capability. Digital I/O cards and digital data acquisition cards allow the acquisition of digital data at rates up to 720Msamples per second and can generate digital patterns at up to 125Msamples per second. There are different interface options for TTL and LVDS available.

Nvidia’s Clara AGX developer kit can be used to develop software-defined, AI-enabled, real time, point-of-care medical devices. It delivers real-time streaming connectivity and AI inference via the Jetson AGX Xavier, Arm-based SoC, the RTX 6000 GPU and the ConnectX SmartNIC with 100GbE connectivity. The kit also includes full-stack GPU-accelerated libraries, software development kits and reference applications.

Adding a Spectrum card to the Clara system allows sensor signals to be acquired, generated, stored and processed, explained the company. Data can be streamed between the cards, the processor and the GPU. The GPU’s high speed parallel processing capabilities ensure that large volumes of data can be acquired and generated by the Spectrum products. Spectrum already offers SCAPP (Spectrum’s CUDA Access for Parallel Processing) for GPU-based data processing.

The Nvidia Clara is already used in biomedical research programmes and medical devices, around imaging, genomics, patient monitoring and drug discovery.

The M2p- and M4i-series cards all carry a five-year product warranty, with free software and firmware updates. There is customer support directly from the engineering team for the lifetime of the product.

http://www.spectrum-instrumentation.com

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Multi-protocol microcontroller supports Ethernet and Industry 4.0

Nexperia extends DFN packaging to AEC-Q101-compliant discretes

PIC and AVR microcontrollers extend 8-bit families

Spectrum offers driver support for the Nvidia Clara AGX

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