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Sensor tags detect temperature, moisture and liquid volume

Fri, Apr 01, 2022

For use in a range of healthcare, industrial and IT applications, the Sense passive range of RFID devices by Omni-ID, are temperature, moisture sensing and liquid volume measurement devices that incorporate the Axzon Magnus M3D chip.

The Sense range consists of ceramic tags and printable on-metal and off-metal self-adhesive labels which can read live temperatures as low as -70 degrees C and up to +125 degrees C. They indicate the presence of moisture and measure the volume of liquids in containers. They are battery-less so do not require maintenance and are therefore suitable for monitoring the condition of assets in transit and storage.

They serve a broad range of use cases including monitoring the volume of liquids in glass vials for vaccine management systems, monitoring the temperature of machine components to enable predictive maintenance, cold chain management of foods and pharmaceuticals and monitoring the moisture levels and live temperature monitoring of servers in data centres.

The wireless devices accurately measure temperature to a tolerance of 0.5°C and offer read ranges between 1.75m and 5m, making them ideal for use in hazardous industrial environments where thermocouples would traditionally be used to monitor the current temperature of assets.

The tiny ceramic tags measure 15 x 15mm to monitor the condition of assets where space is limited, while on-metal and off-metal labels are designed to attach to assets with flatter surfaces.

The Omni-ID Sense passive range is made up of the Sense FIT 500, the Sense IQ 550P, the Sense IQ 175, the Sense IQ430 and the Sense IQ 200P.

The Sense FIT 500 is a small form ceramic tag for sensing temperature and moisture with a read range of up to 5. The Sense IQ 550P is a global frequency, printable off-metal label for sensing temperature, moisture and liquid fill level with a read range of up to 5.8m. The Sense IQ 175 is a US and EU dual frequency printable on-metal label for sensing temperature and moisture with a read range of up to 1.75m. The Sense IQ 430 is a dual frequency (US and EU) printable on-metal label designed for sensing temperature and moisture with a read range up to 4.3m and the Sense IQ 200P is an off-metal circular label for sensing temperature and moisture on non-metallic assets with a read range of up to 2m.

The Sense passive tags join the SenseIoT range of active tags which provide high-powered, long-range tracking and sensing via Bluetooth, LoRa, Quuppa and GPS.

http://www.omni-id.com

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Nowi unveil energy harvesting PMIC with a cold start feature

Fri, Apr 01, 2022

Dutch semiconductor company, Nowi, extends its energy harvesting and power management portfolio with the Diatom chipset. The 4.0 x 4.0mm Diatom (NH16D3045) is an energy harvesting PMIC, which has a wide power input range from micro W to mW and a fast MPPT (maximum power point tracking) for efficient energy harvesting.

It is designed to extract the power output of a wide range of energy harvesters to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as rechargeable batteries or supercapacitors.

The cold start feature enables batteryless applications, which helps companies reduce maintenance costs, as well as a more sustainable and easier to use option, the company said.

Diatom caters to the need for increased integration in order to lower implementation cost, size and complexity whilst improving performance, added Nowi. It combines integrated energy harvesting and power management into a single product and has regulated output, over-voltage protection and USB charging.

Diatom enables power autonomy in a variety of low power applications, from the smart home to industry 4.0 and retail applications. It can be used in IoT devices, electronic shelf labels (ESLs), to smart wearables such as smart bands, glasses, and consumer electronics like remote controls, tags.

According to Nowi, Diatom perpetually powers devices with clean ambient energy, simplifies the design process and lowers the threshold to develop energy autonomous products.

Simon van der Jagt, CEO at Nowi, said that the inductorless design and integrated power management functionalities will contribute to reduced implementation cost and area required, and make new designs possible.

Semiconductor company, Nowi was founded in 2016, based in Delft, the Netherlands. It ha regional offices in the US and in Shanghai.

Nowi has developed energy harvesting power management ICs (PMICs) that combine harvesting performance with small assembly footprint and low bill of materials (BoM) cost.

http://www.nowi-energy.com

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RF power transistors extend 5G for urban deployment, says NXP

Thu, Mar 31, 2022

Discrete RF transistors by NXP Semiconductors enable smaller, lighter weight 5G radios to facilitate deployment in urban and suburban areas. The 32T32R active antenna systems use proprietary GaN technology and join NXP’s discrete GaN power amplifiers for 64T64R radios, covering all cellular frequency bands from 2.3 to 4.0GHz. According to NXP, it now offers the largest RF GaN portfolio for massive multiple input, multiple output (massive MIMO) 5G radios.

Mobile network operators are adding 32T32R radios to increase massive MIMO coverage beyond dense urban areas. By combining 32 antennas instead of 64, coverage can be maintained more cost effectively, reasoned NXP, while maintaining the high-end 5G experience enabled by massive MIMO.

The latest RF power transistors deliver twice the power in the same package as NXP’s 64T64R devices, for a smaller and lighter overall 5G connectivity solution. The 32T32R devices are pin-compatible with the earlier generation of devices, for rapid scaling of 5G networks.

The GaN discrete devices are designed for 10W average power at the antenna, targeting 320W radio units, with up to 58 per cent of drain efficiency. The design includes driver and final-stage transistors as well as NXP’s RF GaN technology.

“As 5G deployments continue to expand globally, network operators need to extend their coverage while maintaining performance,” noted Jim Norling, vice president and general manager, High Power Solutions, Radio Power, NXP. “By offering twice the power in the same package size, NXP enables RF engineers to create base stations that are smaller, lighter and easier to deploy and conceal in urban and suburban areas.”

NXP offers a 5G portfolio from antenna to processor to accelerate 5G deployments for secure infrastructure, industrial, and automotive applications, including the Airfast RF power family and the Layerscape family of multi-core processors for wireless data links, fixed wireless access, and small cell devices.

http://www.nxp.com

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Smart mobility computing operates in automotive temperature range

Thu, Mar 31, 2022

Vehicle computing technology for smart mobility has been introduced by congatec, at Intertraffic Amsterdam (29 March – 01 April).

The rugged vehicle computing platforms are designed to simplify and accelerate digitisation and autonomous driving in harsh environments such as transportation, logistics, construction, and agriculture. The computing platforms target the next generation of real-time 5G connected, unmanned, functionally safe vehicles and systems designed for digitising the mobility kinematics of existing fleets. The goal is to provide accurate orientation data to improve situational awareness and to optimise the movement and operation of autonomous vehicles, said congatec.

Mobility OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers must tackle a variety of tasks when designing the next generation of smart autonomous mobility controllers, advised congatec. The first is to integrate vision and other sensors for gathering situational raw data, and to implement data pre-processing and AI to improve data analytics. They also need to design controller logic for autonomous vehicle movement and operation. In addition, the systems need 5G network sliced device connectivity for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. An added complication is that all of this needs to be implemented with real-time capabilities and functional safety.

One focus for congatec at Intertraffic Amsterdam, will be the Intel Xeon D processor-based COM-HPC server modules for edge servers in autonomous railway applications and 5G wayside equipment. Another is the 12th Gen Intel Core processor-based COM‑HPC client and COM Express modules for smart vehicle gateways and vehicle network controllers. There is also an application-ready, Intel Atom processor-based, real time kinematic platform by congatec’s partner Etteplan.

This is based on congatec Computer-on-Modules and features an RTK-enabled GNSS unit with accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. It is designed for automotive voltage ranges up to 36V. It supports a wide operating temperature range of -40 to +85 degreesC and provides IP65 / IP67 protection.

For vehicle communication network connectivity, it offers extensions for real-time Ethernet (TSN), RS232, RS485 and CAN. Further edge connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as LTE/5G. There are also ambient pressure, humidity and temperature sensors.

The platform is available as a prototype that can be ordered immediately for engineering purposes. For larger quantities, customisation is possible on a project basis. The standard system platform is scheduled to go into series production in the second half of 2022.

http://www.congatec.com

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Sensor tags detect temperature, moisture and liquid volume

Nowi unveil energy harvesting PMIC with a cold start feature

RF power transistors extend 5G for urban deployment, says NXP

Smart mobility computing operates in automotive temperature range

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