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Dialog Semiconductor combines Wi-Fi and BLE in DA16600 modules

Thu, May 28, 2020

Leveraging the DA16200 VirtualZero Wi-Fi technology with SmartBond Tiny DA14531 Bluetooth, Dialog Semiconductor claims that the DA16600 module offers best-in-class battery life and configurability.

The DA16200 SoC was purpose-built for battery-powered IoT applications, including connected door locks, thermostats, security cameras and other devices that require an always-on Wi-Fi connection, but may be only used sporadically. Its VirtualZero technology enables the industry’s lowest level of power consumption for Wi-Fi connectivity, so that even continuously connected devices can achieve up to five years of battery life in many use cases, said Dialog Semiconductor. The DA16600 module also leverages the capabilities of the SmartBond TINY DA14531, claimed to be the world’s smallest and lowest power Bluetooth SoC.

The DA16600 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy module combines the two complex protocol stacks, eliminating issues often caused by the co-existence of two radios at 2.4GHz in the same design, said Dialog. Bluetooth Low Energy provides ease of configurability for Wi-Fi in the application, simplifying the task of Wi-Fi set up for the end user. The module design is optimised to be incorporated into an embedded IoT product using is a simple set of guidelines provided by Dialog.

The module is certified for worldwide operation, including certifications for FCC, IC, CE, Telec, Korea and SRRC. It is also Wi-Fi Certified for interoperability.

Evaluation boards and a complete software development kit (SDK) are available for the DA16600 module via DigiKey. The SDK includes sample applications, provisioning apps, AT command library and power management tools.

https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com

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NFC reader IC delivers rapid car key response and extended range

Thu, May 28, 2020

STMicroelectronics says the latest addition to the ST25R NFC reader ICs deliver rapid car-key response and reliable connections over extended distances. The ST25R3920 complies to the recently published Digital Key Release 2.0 specification by the Car Connectivity Consortium and certified by NFC Forum.

Digital keys let drivers conveniently lock and unlock their cars using smartphones, and support added-value features including easy sharing and management of access privileges for other users. The keys could also enable new vehicle-ownership models, including car subscription services.

The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) Digital Key Release 2.0, relaying on NFC, offers the ability to use the key while the phone battery is so low that normal device operation is disabled.

The ST25R3920 uses Dynamic Power Output (DPO) and Noise-Suppression Receiver (NSR) technologies to increases RF output power and enhance input-circuit design for rapid car-key response, said STMicroelectronics.

With DPO, the device operates at up to 1.6W continuous RF output power and 2.5W short-term input peak, to maintain reliable NFC connections over distance with a small antenna. ST’s NSR technology increases immunity to interference from noise sources to simplify EMI and is also claimed to ease certification. Automatic antenna tuning compensates for changes in the RF environment to maintain the best possible connection to the user’s smartphone, while low-power key-signal detection with inductive wakeup minimises load on the battery when the key is not being used.

The ST25R3920 has been designed for space-constrained locations that severely limit the maximum antenna size, as a result in can be positioned in door handles, B-pillar, or centre console.

The ST25R3920 supports the CCC Digital Key Standardization Release 2.0, the architecture endorsed by the world’s leading carmakers, smartphone manufacturers, and electronics suppliers. ST is a CCC member and plays a key role in setting NFC standards as a member of the NFC Forum board, various working groups, and ISO 14443 and ISO 15693 task forces.

The IC is also certified by NFC Forum and can work as an NFC reader or NFC universal device. Compliance with NFC Forum standards for pairing applications, as well as EMVCo 3.0 standards, allows its use as an in-car contactless-payment terminal for services such as electric-vehicle charging. In addition, a Qi wireless charging NFC-card protection algorithm enables safe wireless charging of portable devices.

The ST25R3920 is in production now.

http://www.st.com

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XMC graphics card swoops on digital video for surveillance

Thu, May 28, 2020

A six-channel XMC graphics/ general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) card for simultaneous capture of analogue/digital video and audio allows users to combine legacy video with newer digital video formats in high-end surveillance applications, says EIZO Rugged Solutions.

The Condor NVP2102AxX card has a chip-down NVIDIA® Quadro® P2000 (GP107) design supporting four 3G-SDI inputs, two CVBS (NTSC/PAL), and two audio inputs, as well as two 3G-SDI and two DVI or DisplayPort video outputs.

The card enables direct video capture to GPU memory using GPUDirect RDMA (remote direct memory access) for high-speed data transfer and exceptionally low latency, added EIZO.

It has 768 CUDA cores and 4Gbytes of GDDR5 memory. At maximum power consumption, the Quadro P2000 GPU delivers 2.3 TFLOPs of single-precision floating point compute performance (FP32).

The Condor NVP2102AxX card has the ability to capture, process, encode, decode, display, and stream video data. The card also supports CUDA and OpenCL based GPGPU computing, artificial intelligence (AI) processing, deep learning and H.265/H.264 encoding/decoding.

High-speed data transfer and exceptionally low latency levels are achieved with the graphics processor by optimising Nvidia’s GPUDirect RDMA feature. This enables video data to be sent over PCIe, bypassing system memory, directly to GPU memory for analysis/processing. In GPU memory, the applications can do processing such as image analysis, image enhancement, 360-degree video stitching, sensor fusion, and target detection using the GPGPU (CUDA/OpenCL) technology.

The XMC card is intended to offer a bridge for customers who want to combine legacy video with the newer, digital video formats. For example, it has been used by a military airborne customers to upgrade a gimbal/sensor pod running analogue video to a digital system using a single card. This dramatically lowered CPU overhead, reduced latency and improved data transfer times, reported EIZO.

Built to survive in harsh environments, the Condor NVP2102AxX is tested to withstand high temperatures, shock and vibration (MIL-STD-810G). It is available in conduction-cooled or air-cooled variants with rear XMC I/O on Pn6. The rear XMC pin-out is compatible with VPX systems that follow VITA 46.9 x12d+x8d+24s. 3U VPX and PCIe form factors are supported by carrier boards.

Customisation options include support for other video input and output formats such as additional DVI, DisplayPort, STANAG 3350, or ARINC 818. Special analogue Sync-on-Green video formats such as RS-343 are also available. The XMC IO can be re-routed as PMC IO or to the front panel.

http://www.eizorugged.com

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Arm introduces CPU, GPU, NPU and customisation programme

Wed, May 27, 2020

Multiple announcements by Arm form its next-generation mobile offering, with a new Cortex-A78 CPU, a new GPU on the Valhall architecture, an enhanced neural processing unit and a customisation programme.

For PC-level productivity in smartphones, the Cortex-A78 CPU is described by Arm as it is efficient Cortex-A CPU ever designed for mobile. It represents a 20 per cent increase in performance compared with Cortex-A77-based devices, in anticipation of 5G services. It also has a more efficient management of compute workloads and greater on-device machine learning (ML) performance, added Arm. The Cortex-A78’s performance-per-Watt makes it suitable for computing on foldable devices with multiple and larger screens.

Following last year’s introduction of the Mali-G77 GPU on the Valhall architecture, Arm has also increase graphics performance, with the Mali-G78, which delivers a 25 per cent increase compared to the Mali-G77. Asynchronous top level, tiler enhancements and improved fragment dependency tracking have resulted in support for up to 24 cores. Additionally, power- and energy-efficiency contributes to extended mobile device battery life, for users to enjoy mobile entertainment experiences for even longer while on the go. For developers, this means content can be easily optimised to run seamlessly on Arm Mali GPUs, confirmed the company. Enhanced tools include the Performance Advisor, which allows quick detection of bottlenecks and real-time reporting to enable continuous integration and faster workflow.

The premium Mali-G78 is accompanied by the Arm Mali-G68, which supports up to six cores.

To address expanding machine learning (ML) use cases from augmented reality (AR) -based smartphone applications to smart home hubs, the Ethos-N78 neural processing unit (NPU) has been introduced. It offers 25 per cent more performance efficiency than the Ethos-N77, and delivers greater on-device ML capabilities, said Arm. The Ethos-N78 is claimed to offer unprecedented levels of configurability with available configurations starting at one up to 10 Terra operations per second (TOPS).

Arm also introduced the Cortex-X Custom program for customisation and differentiation beyond the traditional roadmap of Arm Cortex products. The programme’s first CPU is the Cortex-X1 – the most powerful Cortex CPU to date. It has a 30 per cent peak performance increase over Cortex-A77.

http://www.arm.com

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Dialog Semiconductor combines Wi-Fi and BLE in DA16600 modules

NFC reader IC delivers rapid car key response and extended range

XMC graphics card swoops on digital video for surveillance

Arm introduces CPU, GPU, NPU and customisation programme

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