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Low power chipset address narrowband/2G applications

Thu, Feb 25, 2021

Completing Sony’ Semiconductor Israel’s Altair cellular IoT portfolio, the ALT1255 is a low power chipset for narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) networks. It is designed to address NB and NB/2G applications.

The NB2 chipset is 5G-ready and designed with an integrated SIM (iSIM), user microcontroller, application layer, and GSM/GPRS fallback modem.

The ALT1255 chipset can be used to develop low-power, cost-sensitive connected devices at a global scale to monitor, manage, and control critical infrastructure, medical devices, logistic trackers, and a large variety of low power, wide area (LPWA) applications.

It was developed in-house and based on the LTE-M/NB ALT1250 chipset, leveraging globally certified NB/2G technology. The chipsets share software architecture, modem application and networking layer, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for integration within the Altair product family.

“Module designs based on the ALT1255 will provide reliable connectivity for smart meters, logistics, telematics, and smart cities applications,” commented Dima Feldman, vice president of product management and marketing at Sony Semiconductor Israel.

The iSIM removes barriers related to cost, size, and power, and adds an additional layer of security, says the company. The GSM/GPRS modem fills the gaps in LPWA network coverage and allows future-proof technology deployment in countries with mixed 2G/NB coverage.

The ALT1255 also integrates a low power Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller. This is separated from the modem functionality and designed to run a variety of IoT and sensing applications. An adaptation layer interconnects within the existing ecosystem.

The chipset provides secure cloud connectivity, using communication protocols such as the power-efficient constrained application protocol (CoAP) and the lightweight machine to machine (LWM2M) protocol.

The ALT1255 is commercially available now. It has received the Global Certification Forum (GCF) certification, which allows customers to accelerate module and device certification.

Sony Semiconductor Israel Ltd. (formerly known as Altair Semiconductor) provides small, highly integrated LTE CAT-M and NB-IoT chipsets, featuring low power consumption, hardware-based security, and a carrier-grade integrated SIM (iSIM), all 5G ready.

Its low power and cost-efficient chipsets are for a range of industrial and consumer IoT applications such as trackers, smart meters, smart labels, wearables, and vehicle telematics. The Altair chipsets are commercially deployed on the world’s most advanced LTE networks, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Docomo, KDDI, SoftBank, Telstra, Verizon, and Vodafone.

https://altair-semi.com

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Xilinx tackles data centre evolution with SmartNICs

Wed, Feb 24, 2021

Addressing the demands of the modern data centre, Xilinx has introduced a family of Alveo SmartNICs.

The Alveo SN1000 is the industry’s first composable SmartNIC offering software-defined hardware acceleration for all function offloads, says Xilinx. They are designed to optimise networking performance by directly offloading CPU intensive tasks. They have an open architecture and use the Vitis Networking platform and industry standard, high-level programming languages such as P4, C, and C++. Software developers can create network functions, protocols, and applications that operate in hardware and quickly compose or adapt existing, network functions to accommodate new protocols and applications without the expenditure incurred with hardware replacements.

The SN1000 SmartNICs provide software-defined hardware acceleration for networking, security, and storage offloads, such as Open vSwitch and virtualisation acceleration (Virtio.net). Security offloads include IPsec, kTLS and SSL/TLS and accelerated storage applications including Virtio.blk, NVMe™ over TCP, Ceph, and compression and crypto services.

The SmartNICs are based on the Xilinx 16nm UltraScale+ architecture and powered by the low-latency Xilinx XCU26 FPGA and a 16-core Arm processor. SN1000 SmartNICs deliver dual-QSFP ports for 10/25/100Gbits per second connectivity with what is claimed to be leading small packet performance and a PCIe Gen 4 interconnect. The SN1000 is offered in a full height, half length (FHHL) form factor in a 75W power envelope.

The Alveo SN1000 SmartNIC will be generally available in March 2021.

At the same time as introducing the SmartNIC family, Xilinx also introduced Smart World AI video analytics applications, an accelerated algorithmic trading reference design and the Xilinx App Store.

The AI video analytics platform is supported by an ecosystem of partner solutions for complex, latency-sensitive AI video inferencing applications. The Xilinx Smart World platform is powered by the Video Machine-learning Streaming Server (VMSS) and delivers whole application acceleration to support multiple neural networks on a single Alveo accelerator card at deterministic sub-100ms pipeline latency.

Today, the Xilinx Smart World ecosystem solutions available include a smart city and smart retail solution by Aupera which combines Aupera’s intelligent, video processing with Alveo accelerators. There is also Mipsology’s toolset for easy migration of existing AI applications from GPU-based architectures to the Alveo platform. A third partner, DeepAI, offers AI training at the edge on Alveo accelerators with up to a 10x performance per cost advantage compared to GPU-based solutions.

The Vitis development platform now includes an accelerated algorithmic trading (AAT) reference design which gives software developers the ability to quickly and cost-effectively deliver sub-microsecond trading performance without the need for custom hardware development.

AAT, implemented on Alveo accelerator cards, provides a modular design that includes all the necessary components for an end-to-end, low-latency trading solution. Each module can be customised using C and C++ in the Vitis platform to meet each firm’s specific needs.

The AAT reference design is available today at no cost for Alveo accelerator card customers.

The first FPGA app store has been announced by Xilinx. It has ready-to-deploy accelerated applications from Smart World AI video analytics to anti-money laundering and live video transcoding. Developed by Xilinx ecosystem partners, the containerised pre-built applications provide an easy way to evaluate, purchase and deploy accelerated applications in minutes, says Xilinx.

http://www.xilinx.com

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EPC introduces GaN IC to shrink lidar systems in robotics

Wed, Feb 24, 2021

The first device in a GaN IC family has been unveiled by Efficient Power Conversion (EPC). The laser driver integrates a 40V, 10A FET with integrated gate driver and 3.3 logic level input in a single chip. It is intended for time of flight (ToF) lidar systems in robotics, surveillance systems, drones, autonomous cars, 3D sensing and vacuum cleaners.

The EPC21601 laser driver is controlled using 3.3V logic at high frequencies exceeding 100MHz to modulate laser driving currents up to 10A. Turn-on and turn-off times are 410 and 320 pico seconds respectively. The EPC21601 can be used with EPC’s eGaN FET, based on its proprietary GaN IC technology in a chipscale BGA form factor that measures 1.5 x 1.0mm. Integrating several functions into the small form factor results in an device that is 36 per cent smaller on the PCB compared to an equivalent multi-chip discrete implementation, says EPC.

The EPC21601 is the first in what will be a family of integrated laser drive ICs available in a chipscale package (CSP). EPC expects devices in the family to accelerate adoption of ToF systems in multiple end user applications, from vehicles and robotics to domestic appliances.

Alex Lidow, CEO, and co-founder of EPC, commented: “Integrating an eGaN FET plus driver on one chip generates an extremely powerful, blazingly-fast IC and reduces size and cost wider adoption in consumer applications.” He added that he expects the family of GaN ICs to dramatically improve performance while reducing size and cost for time-of-flight lidar systems.

A development board is also available. The EPC9154 features the EPC21601 eToF laser driver IC and is primarily intended to drive laser diodes with short, high current pulses. Capabilities include minimum pulse widths of less than 2 nano seconds, peak currents up to 10A, and bus voltage rating of 30V.

EPC supplies enhancement mode GaN-based power management devices and ICs. The company was the first to introduce enhancement-mode GaN-on-silicon (eGaN) FETs to replace power MOSFETs in applications such as DC/DC converters, wireless power transfer, envelope tracking, RF transmission, power inverters, remote sensing technology (lidar), and Class-D audio amplifiers with device performance many times greater than the best silicon power MOSFETs.

http://www.epc-co.com

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MEMS-based inertial sensor has digital SPI for cm machinery positioning

Wed, Feb 24, 2021

Offering six degrees of freedom (6-DoF), the SCHA63T MEMS-based XYZ axis inertial sensor has been designed by Murata for high-precision machine control and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning support.

The sensor has a digital serial peripheral interface (SPI) which enables engineers to deliver industrial equipment with robust and reliable, centimetre-level positioning accuracy, even in environments where there is high mechanical shock and vibration, says Murata. Target industrial applications include inertial measurement units (IMUs), machine control and guidance equipment, navigation and positioning systems, dynamic inclination, robotic control, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The SCHA63T sensor has gyro bias instability down to one degree per hour and gyro noise density of 0.0015 degrees per second per √Hz. These parameters contribute to a best in class performance, says Murata. The low acceleration linearity error ensures high accuracy machine control and guidance while cross-axis calibration enables better than 0.14 degrees orthogonality error. Additional features include user-selectable filter settings of 13/ 20/ 46/ 300Hz, and extensive self-diagnostics enable the sensor to be used in safety-critical applications.

The SCHA63T 6-DoF XYZ-axis inertial sensor is currently in mass production, with product samples available upon request.

https://www.murata.com

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Low power chipset address narrowband/2G applications

Xilinx tackles data centre evolution with SmartNICs

EPC introduces GaN IC to shrink lidar systems in robotics

MEMS-based inertial sensor has digital SPI for cm machinery positioning

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