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RF mmWave connector is for 5G applications up to 25GHz

Thu, Sep 30, 2021

Greater design freedom is offered with the Flex-to-board RF mmWave connector 5G25 series, says Molex. The compact connector is for demanding 5G mmWave applications up to 25GHz and is robust enough for RF antenna modules, says the company.

The micro connector enables manufacturers of mobile devices and RF antenna modules to optimise high speed 5G components while alleviating space constraints on small, crowded PCBs, says Molex.

“Each new generation of RF antenna modules and smartphones brings us closer to realizing the full potential of 5G performance,” says Stephen Drinan, director of core products, micro solutions, Molex. He says the company has applied decades of experience in RF and antenna design, high-speed connectivity and volume manufacturing to support 5G’s higher frequencies “while raising the bar in signal stability, robust performance and fast assembly”.

In Molex’s recent The Future of Mobile Devices global survey, respondents ranked ultra-fast 5G (e.g., mmWave) as the leading technology to drive disruption in smart, consumer mobile device manufacturing.

The Molex Flex-to-Board RF Connector 5G25 series supports high speed data transmission in a space-saving format that offers extra protection from harsh environmental conditions. Signal pitch is 0.35mm and the mated body height is 0.6mm while the body is 2.5mm wide and 3.6mm; dimensions which printed wiring board (PWB) design flexibility, according to Moles. The 5G25 enables designers of RF antenna modules and mobile devices to combine RF and non-RF signals, which reduces the need for additional connectors to contribute additional space and cost savings.

The 5G25 features full EMI shielding, encompassing both RF terminal and full connector shielding for signal integrity performance. A centre shield-in contact with receptacle and plug allows each row to be isolated to boost overall signal integrity stability. Molex’s fully-shielded design is claimed delivers best-in-class far-field gain performance for connecting 5G antennas to the rest of the transceiver.

The Molex Flex-to-Board RF Connector 5G25 series is designed for fast, trouble-free assembly. The compact connectors have robust peel force to increase reliability and minimise the load on assembly operators or automatic assembly machines.

http://www.molex.com

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Mouser offers explorer kit to evaluate u-blox location hardware and software

Thu, Sep 30, 2021

To evaluate the potential of Bluetooth 5.1 direction finding and high precision indoor positioning for access control, collision detection, smart home appliances and asset tracking, the u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 Explorer Kit for Bluetooth Direction Finding is available from Mouser.

The u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 Explorer Kit contains an antenna board with a u-blox NINA-B411 Bluetooth Low Energy module, transmitter tag with NINA-B406 Bluetooth Low Energy module and u-connectLocate direction finding software. The software runs directly on the NINA-B411 module’s embedded Nordic Semiconductor nRF52833 SoC, calculating the angle of arrival (AoA) of the incoming signals with no additional processing required.

Engineers can combine several XPLR-AOA-1 kits and triangulate directions from three or more antenna boards to create a full positioning system. Target applications include detecting whether a person or an object is approaching a door, avoiding collisions between moving objects, and directing a camera at a moving tag.
Mouser claims to offer the world’s widest selection of the newest semiconductors and electronic components — in stock and ready to ship.

To help speed customers’ designs, Mouser’s website hosts an extensive library of technical resources, including a Technical Resource Centre, along with product data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, engineering tools and other helpful information.

Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an authorised semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on new product introductions (NPIs) from its leading manufacturer partners. The distributor’s website is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5m products from over 1,100 manufacturer brands. Mouser offers 27 support locations worldwide to provide customer service in local languages, currencies and time zones.

u-blox provides leading positioning and wireless communication technologies for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, for people, vehicles, and machines to determine their precise position and communicate wirelessly over cellular and short range networks.

http://www.mouser.com

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LoRa may hold the key to zero carbon tracking technology

Wed, Sep 29, 2021

Maintenance-free, energy harvesting can be used for zero carbon asset management. Analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor company, Semtech,

Ryoden, a LoRa ecosystem and network provider have used the RE microcontroller family from Renesas to connect directly to the LoRa Cloud using Semtech’s LoRa Edge platform (LR1110).

LoRa Edge allows for geolocation capabilities driven by energy harvesting, the battery-free energy solution. It also has security features, making it suitable for tracking of personal valuables, transportation and logistics, animals, and healthcare equipment and assets.

Dr. Shiro Kamohara, senior principal specialist from Renesas’ low power product department, says: “The energy harvesting RE family represents the evolution of microcontroller products that have the advantages of being maintenance-free while keeping top-class efficiency. Through our collaboration with Semtech, we are able to offer a cost-efficient green energy solution for our customers.”

The energy-efficient RE family microcontroller is based on the Arm Cortex M0+. It has a built-in controller which can make a battery-less, maintenance-free product. It also has security capabilities that are critical to the IoT and can help protect IoT embedded devices from viral infections and eavesdropping.

When integrated with Semtech’s LR1110, the power consumption of the product is reduced, reports Semtech. Semtech’s LoRa device-to-Cloud platform enables the rapid development and deployment of low power, cost-efficient and long range IoT networks, gateways, sensors, module products, and IoT services worldwide. Semtech’s LoRa technology provides the communication layer for the LoRaWAN standard, which is maintained by the LoRa Alliance, an open IoT alliance for low power wide area network (LPWAN) applications that has been used to deploy IoT networks in over 100 countries. Semtech is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance.

“With the low power nature and end-to-end security of the LoRa Edge platform, the embedded LoRa Basics Modem-E native modem software operating on the LoRaWAN standard, and the LoRa Cloud geolocation and device and application services, the Renesas RE Family is one of the most power-efficient MCUs available on the market,” says Sree Durbha, director of product management in Semtech’s wireless and sensing products group.

Target applications for the LoRa Edge platform with Renesas RE include asset management, tracking of goods through the supply chain and several other use cases requiring continuous indoor or outdoor tracking.

Ryoden is a member of the Mitsubishi Electric Group and is a LPWAN (low power wide area network) communication carrier. It provides data communication services that utilise IoT devices. In addition, the company manages and operates network servers as a network service provider for LoRaWAN communications, and provides related applications and support services.

http://www.renesas.com

http://www.semtech.com

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Siemens enter the IC power analysis market with mPower software

Wed, Sep 29, 2021

Power integrity software from Siemens is claimed to be the only power integrity analysis software available for analogue, digital and mixed-signal IC designs of any size. mPower helps IC designers dramatically boost quality, enhance reliability and speed time to market through accelerated power integrity analysis cycles, says Siemens Digital Industries Software.

The IC power integrity verification software provides virtually unlimited scalability for analogue, digital, and mixed-signal ICs, enabling comprehensive power, electromigration (EM) and voltage drop (IR) analysis for large IC designs.

mPower software delivers power integrity analysis for all versions of 2D designs, in addition to 2.5/3D IC implementations at any scale. It also integrates into existing design flows easily, adds Siemens. mPower can help IC designers to quickly and thoroughly verify designs to meet power-related design goals.

Analog ICs convert physical, data such as sound, motion and video into digital form, and they are increasingly critical to consumer electronics, autonomous vehicles, IoT designs. Siemens explains how mPower replaces rough static analysis and SPICE simulation of select nets to deliver simulation-based EM/IR analysis on large blocks and chips. Customers using mPower have seen overall runtime improvements compared with their current solution, ranging from two times faster to actually completing first-pass EM/IR analysis of large analogue IP blocks, which was previously impossible, reports Siemens.

Siemens’ digital mPower scalable EM/IR engines also provide analysis for all-digital IC designs. This integrates into existing design flows, provides power analysis functionality and requires low per-machine memory into complete verification of even the largest digital design, says the company.

“Before using mPower, we could not do a single-run full chip EM/IR analysis on our 1000+ core 64-bit RISC-V AI chip,” said Darren Jones, vice president of VLSI at AI computer developer, Esperanto. “Using mPower enables us to run our 24-billion transistor 7nm AI chip on our server farm with fewer resources,“ he adds.

The mPower power integrity joins Siemens‘ electro-physical signoff suite addressing power, performance, and reliability analysis which also includes Calibre PERC reliability software, PowerPro software, HyperLynx software, and the Analog FastSPICE platforms.

“Design companies must run both block and full-chip EM/IR analysis to confirm that the power grid delivers the necessary current to the devices, and that wires will not fail prematurely,” says Joe Sawicki, executive vice president for Siemens’ IC EDA Segment. He believes mPower provides a fast, scalable dynamic analysis option for analogue, digital and mixed-signal layouts of any size, as well as silicon-proven accuracy and fast turns for even the largest digital chips, he says.”

Siemens’ mPower power integrity analysis solution for analog, digital and mixed-signal IC designs is available now.

http://www.sw.siemens.com

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RF mmWave connector is for 5G applications up to 25GHz

Mouser offers explorer kit to evaluate u-blox location hardware and software

LoRa may hold the key to zero carbon tracking technology

Siemens enter the IC power analysis market with mPower software

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