800G multi-mode test portfolio now supports 400G and 800G validation 

High speed 800G test options from Keysight Technologies have been expanded to include 400G and 800G validation to improve power efficiency in data centres.

The initial 800G test products enable users to verify the performance of a range of optical transceiver modules and components, including vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), photodiodes, modulator drivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) and physical layer (PHY) chips.

The extended portfolio supports 400G and 800G design validation, in accordance with standards defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), across the entire product lifecycle, from early research and development to manufacturing.

As hyperscale data centres adopt 800G as a connectivity technology, there has been an accompanying rise in the use of cloud-native, 5G, AI and IoT applications as well as an increased in data-hungry applications such as video conferencing, streaming and digital entertainment. The latest addition to Keysight’s portfolio of 800G test equipment offer design and validation to support multi-mode interfaces, which are critical for an energy-efficient data centre infrastructure, explained the company. The 800G multi-mode test equipment supports data interconnect speeds of up to 100Gigabits per second.

Test capabilities include multi-mode component characterisation using the N4373E lightwave component analyser, conformance and interoperability validation using N1077B 64Gbaud multi-mode optical and electrical clock recovery options and transceiver module performance evaluation using Keysight’s A400GE-QDD and G800GE layer 1 multi-port test.

Keysight Technologies delivers advanced design and validation products to help accelerate innovation, with software-driven insights and analytics to help bring products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimisation and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Customers operate in communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defence, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. 

http://www.keysight.com

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Tri-band Wi-Fi 6E 2×2 PCIe modules are available at Rutronik

Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E 2×2 PCIe modules developed by Silex for faster, reliable WLAN used in mission-critical applications are now available from Rutronik. The Silex SX-PCEAX tri-band Wi-Fi 6E 2×2 PCIe module has the 6GHz band in addition to 2.4 and 5GHz bands. The module is based on the Qualcomm SoC QCA2066 Wi-Fi 6E module.  

In addition to the tri-band IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax WLAN, the Silex SX-PCEAX supports the Bluetooth 5.2 BR / EDR / LE standards. It can be used in medical applications, especially in the field of diagnostic imaging, warehouse / logistics applications such as self-propelled industrial trucks or intelligent production lines, as well as for use in industrial environments (industrial PCs) and industrial automation. 

Silex offers the modules in several sizes and form factors. The PCI Express card form factor, for example, is suitable for the migration of 802.11ax into existing legacy PCIe designs. The surface mount M.2 LGA type 1418 requires minimal space, says the company while an M.2 plug-in card in M.2 2230 format is also available. 

The SX-PCEAX module is certified for use in Europe, North America, Japan and Canada. Silex also offers additional certification services for previously non-certified regions. 

Operating temperature range is -20 to +65 degrees C. The SX-PCEAX-SMT measures 14.0 x 18.0 x 1.9mm, the SX-PCEAX-HMC measures 29.85 x 26.65 x 2.9mm and the SX-PCEAX-M2 measures 22.0 x 30.0 x 2.7mm. 

Distributor Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente was founded in 1973 and is an independent, family-owned company. It is represented worldwide with more than 80 offices and offers customer support including Europe, Asia, and the USA.

The broad product portfolio includes semiconductors, passive and electromechanical components as well as embedded boards, storage and displays, and wireless products. Divisions are tailored to automotive, embedded, power and smart markets, with both specific products and services tailored to the respective applications.

There is technical support for product development and design-in right to the research area, individual logistics and supply chain management.

Customers also have access to the Rutronik24 e-commerce platform.

http://www.rutronik.com

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Axiomtek partners with Hailo to develop edge AI computer 

Industrial computer manufacturer, Axiomtek has partnered with AI chipmaker Hailo to develop the RSC100, an Arm-based edge AI computer. The computer is also called Plato and support the Hailo-8™ edge AI processor which features up to 26T operations per second (TOPS) for running deep learning applications efficiently, intelligently and sustainably. The partnership with Hailo offers customers a new level of AI across a range of market segments such as smart city, smart retail, industry 4.0 and smart transportation, said Axiomtek.

“The powerful yet affordable RSC100 (Plato) is our first fanless edge AI computing system that adopts the Hailo-8,” said Ken Pan, Axiomtek’s product manager. “The RSC100 (Plato) provides system developers with highly efficient implementation of innovative AI solutions at reduced time-to-market and engineering costs. . . . the RSC100 (Plato) is well suited for use in smart city applications, including smart surveillance, smart factory, smart agriculture, and smart transportation,” he added.

According to Liran Bar, vice president of Business Development of Hailo, the RSC100 (Plato) will serve as a gamechanger in the edge AI space.

The RSC100 (Plato) has flexible and capable storage including a 16Gbyte eMMC onboard, an M.2 Key M 2280 SATA SSD slot with PCIe x4 NVMe interface and a Micro SD slot to maximise performance, density and throughput for critical workloads. Benefiting from dual GbE ports, the RSC100 (Plato) enables IP cameras and lidar connectivity with greater bandwidth for video analytics. Furthermore, the edge computing appliance has two full-size PCIe Mini Card slots, a SIM slot and an M.2 Key B 3052 slot for additional expansion. These slots allow various peripheral modules such as Wi-Fi / Bluetooth, 5G / 4G / LTE and additional storage to expand functionality.

The RSC100 (Plato) offers rich I/O interfaces including one HDMI 2.0 port with support of 4K2K, dual GbE LAN ports, dual RS-232/422/485 ports, dual CANbus ports, dual USB 2.0 ports, 8-CH DIO, one console port, and seven SMA-type antenna connectors for WLAN and 5G / LTE usage. 

The rugged edge AI box is designed with over-voltage protection and over-current protection as well as reverse protection. It can also withstand vibrations of up to 3Grms in harsh environments with a temperature range of -20 to +70 degrees C, making it ideal for compute-intensive AI applications at the edge. In addition, the RSC100 (Plato) supports Linux operating system.

The Hailo-8 architecture enables edge devices to run sophisticated deep learning applications that could previously only run on the cloud. Hailo-8’s advanced structure translates into lower power and minimal latency, with enhanced privacy and more reliability for smart devices operating at the edge, said Axiomtek.

http://www.axiomtek.com 

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JEDEC-compliant multimedia card saves space

Two industrial-grade, embedded multimedia cards (eMMC) have been announced by Alliance Memory. The 4Gbyte ASFC4G31M-51BIN and 8Gbyte ASFC8G31M-51BIN are designed for solid-state storage in consumer, industrial, and networking applications. Each 11.5 mm by 13 mm 153-ball FBGA package integrates NAND flash memory with an eMMC controller and flash transition layer (FTL) management software. 

The devices comply with the JEDEC eMMC v5.1 industry standard, supporting boot operation, replay protected memory block (RPMB), device health report, field firmware updates, power-off notification, enhanced strobe features for faster and more reliable operation, write levelling, high-priority interrupt (HPI), secure trim / erase, and high speed HS200 and HS400 modes. The ASFC4G31M-51BIN and ASFC8G31M-51BIN are also backwards-compatible with eMMC v4.5 and v5.0. 

The eMMCs will be used in products such as smart watches, tablets, digital TVs, set-top boxes, VR and AR headsets, digital cameras, infotainment, CCTV, surveillance, automation, point of sale (PoS) systems, and emerging embedded applications. 

According to Alliance Memory, the eMMCs simplify designs for fast and easy system integration, speeding up product development and time to market. They also save space by eliminating the need for an external controller. The FTL software provides high reliability and stable performance with wear levelling and bad block management. 

The ASFC4G31M-51BIN and ASFC8G31M-51BIN operate over an industrial temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees C and offer programmable bus widths of x1, x4, and x8. The devices’ NAND memory with internal LDO can be powered with a single 3.0V supply voltage, and the controller can be powered by 1.8V or 3.0V dual supply voltages. 

Samples and production quantities of the eMMCs will be available in Q1 2022, with lead times of 12 weeks. 

Alliance Memory provides critical and hard-to-find memory ICs for the communications, computing, consumer electronics, medical, automotive, and industrial markets. The company’s product range includes flash, DRAM, and SRAM memory ICs with commercial, industrial, and automotive operating temperature ranges and densities from 64kbit to 8Gbit. 

http://www.alliancememory.com

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