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Gecko series 2 scales IoT connectivity

Wed, Apr 24, 2019

SoCs and software in Wireless Gecko series 2, from Silicon Labs, are designed to optimise smart home and industrial IoT (IIoT) applications. Initial offerings are small form factor SoCs with a dedicated security core and an on-chip radio. According to Silicon Labs, the radio delivers x2.5 the wireless range of competing solutions.

The Wireless Gecko series 2 simplifies IoT product design with integrated SoC options and reusable software that make RF communication more dependable and energy efficient, claims Silicon Labs.

The first products include EFR32MG21 SoCs supporting multi-protocol, Zigbee, Thread and Bluetooth mesh networking, and EFR32BG21 SoCs dedicated to Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth mesh. These SoCs provide line-powered IoT products including gateways, hubs, lights, voice assistants and smart electric meters.

According to the company, the SoCs provide best-in-class RF performance with +20dBm output power and up to +124.5dB link budget. Improved blocking performance enables a robust radio and processing and security are assured with the 80MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core, which has TrustZone technology.

The 40nm process technology yields a low active current SoC (50.9 microA/MHz). The multi-protocol SoCs are in a 4.0 x 4.0mm QFN package.

The company has released some details of future pin- and software-compatible Wireless Gecko Series 2 SoCs and modules, which will have additional dedicated security technologies for connected products with enhanced security features, which is expected to drive mass adoption of the IoT.

Silicon Labs’ Simplicity Studio suite of tools for development support includes a unified wireless development kit, software development kits, energy profiler, patented network analysis, application demos and mobile apps. The Wireless Gecko starter kit mainboard and EFR32xG21 radio boards are also available now.

The EFR32MG21 and EFR32BG21 are available now in sample and production quantities.

http://www.silabs.com

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Microcontrollers replace sensors in industry and the home

Wed, Apr 24, 2019

Materials or liquids can be detected without sensors using the Renesas Electronics Material Detection Solution. Connecting electrodes via Renesas’ RX130 capacitive touch-key microcontrollers, can lower the bill of materials and enable detection at multiple points, using a single chip, points out Renesas.

It can be used by industrial equipment, office automation equipment and home appliance manufacturers in detection systems.

The touchkey microcontrollers’ capacitive touch sensor is sensitive and has a high resistance to noise, explains Renesas. This enables the Material Detection Solution to detect the presence or absence of a powder such as vacuum cleaner dust, a liquid such as refrigerator and coffee maker, or material such as paper by measuring the capacitance between electrodes to the microcontroller. The increase or decrease of the powder, liquid, or material will change the capacitance value between the electrodes.

The development reflects the increased demand for sensor-based technology in industry, the office and the home. These applications require fine-grained sensing for predictive maintenance capabilities. The Material Detection Solution can be used to detect the remaining amounts of consumable materials in, for example vacuum cleaner filters or printers, and inform users in advance when replacements are required.

Although these applications can be implemented by using a mix of pressure sensors for detecting physical objects, photosensors, IR sensors, and CMOS sensors, the use of multiple sensors creates additional cost and heavy development burdens, points out Renesas.

The sensor-less physical object detection connects two thin-film electrodes and measures the capacitance between them using a touchkey microcontroller. Changes in the measured materials are determined by detecting the change in capacitance between the electrodes.

This method eliminates the need for sensor evaluation and operating condition determination, while the initialisation and sensitivity adjustments can be performed using the development support graphical user interface (GUI) tool available for capacitive touch sensor systems. Renesas add that this enables developers to quickly implement a capacitive touch sensor unit in equipment that require a detection function.

The Material Detection Solution is available now for free download.

http://www.renesas.com

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Smart sensors tackle transportation of the future

Tue, Apr 23, 2019

RoboSense has partnered with Horizon Robotics, Cainao Network, Sensible 4 and AutoX to introduce the Smart Sensor System designed for autonomous passenger cars, low-speed autonomous vehicles, high-speed robot taxis, and vehicle to road (V2R) infrastructure. The RoboSense Smart Sensor System combines lidar hardware, artificial intelligence (AI) point cloud algorithms, and an IC design for a smart sensor system that collects and interprets environment information.

At the Shanghai Auto Show, RoboSense announced the RS-Bpearl, a super wide angle blind-spot lidar and the RS-Ruby, a super high-resolution lidar for the sensor system.

The smart sensor system combines the RoboSense RS-Lidar-M1 MEMS -based smart sensor with the RS-Bpearl super wide angle blind-spot lidar, RS-Ruby super high-resolution lidar and RoboSense AI perception algorithms. RoboSense chose MEMS technology because of its high integration levels, high performance, high reliability, easy production, and low cost. It uses 905nm lasers for its solid state lidar system. RoboSense’s RS-Lidar-M1Pre debuted at CES 2018, and the upgraded RS-LiDAR-M1 introduced a wide, 120 degrees, field of view (FoV), a long range of 200m and AI algorithm innovations. The RS-lidar-M1 now meets OEM requirements and delivers safety for L3+ autonomous passenger cars.

Scheduled for mass production in 2021, the RoboSense RS-Lidar-M1 for OEMs will be a smart sensor. RoboSense and Horizon Robotics will build customised chips for the lidar environment perception algorithm, called RS-Lidar-Algorithms. These algorithms will be integrated into the IC and embedded in the lidar hardware. The RS-Lidar-M1 will provide instantaneous 3D point cloud data interpretation and output target level environment perception results in real time to autonomous vehicles.

In another project, RoboSense and Cainiao Network launch a smart sensor system for unmanned, low speed vehicles without blind spots. Previously, these unmanned vehicles used single laser beam lidar, which delivered unsatisfactory environment perception because of blind spots caused by the limitations of vertical FoV.

The RS-Bpearl has a wide FoV of 360 x 90 degrees, within the detection range of 30m (10 per cent) for a 100mm blind spot. The compact size of the sensor makes it easy to be applied to the side of the vehicle body to detect the vehicle’s surroundings, including blind spots. The RS-Bpearl’s modular design also dramatically reduces cost while adding the ability for customisation, says RoboSense.

Robot taxis need lidar with a higher vertical resolution to achieve a longer detection range, leading RoboSense to develop the 128 beam RS-Ruby lidar. It has three times higher 0.1 degree resolution and a three times longer detection range, compared with the previous version, RS-Lidar-32. One RS-Ruby Lidar is the core sensor on top of the vehicle to cover the 360 degree perception and two are located on the vehicle’s sides to detect blind spots.

Vehicle to road (V2R) systems allow vehicles to work with road conditions to co-ordinate and optimise the vehicle’s driving path, improving safety and road efficiency. RoboSense partnered with Sensible 4 to launch the world’s first autonomous driving shuttle bus for all weather conditions, the GACHA. Equipped with RoboSense’s cold-resistant 16-beam mechanical lidar environment perception system works on snow and ice covered roads in harsh winter and other severe weather conditions. RoboSense and Finland-based Sensible 4 will continue to collaborate deeper on future autonomous driving applications.

http://www.robosense.ai

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Renesas launches controller and GaN FET driver for satellites

Tue, Apr 23, 2019

For DC/DC power supplies in small satellites (smallsats) and launch vehicles, Renesas Electronics offers the ISL71043M and ISL71040M, believed to be the first plastic packaged, radiation-tolerant PWM controller and GaN FET driver for small satellite mega constellations in low earth orbit (LEO).

The ISL71043M single-ended current mode PWM controller and the ISL71040M is a low-side GaN FET driver for isolated flyback and half-bridge power stages, and motor control driver circuits in satellite buses and payloads. They meet the need of private ‘new space’ companies launching smallsats to form large constellations operating in multiple LEO planes. Smallsat mega-constellations provide global broadband internet links, as well as high-resolution earth observation imaging for sea, air, and land asset tracking.

The ISL71043M PWM controller provides fast signal propagation and output switching in a small 4.0 x 5.0mm SOIC plastic package, reducing PCB area up to three times compared to competing ceramic packages. The ISL71043’s 5.5mA max supply current reduces power loss by more than a factor of three. The adjustable operating frequency (up to 1 MHz) enables higher efficiency and the use of smaller passive filter components.

The ISL71043M and ISL71040M are characterisation-tested at a total ionising doze (TID) of up to 30krads(Si), and for single event effects (SEE) at a linear energy transfer (LET) of 43MeV•cm2/mg. Both devices operate over an extended temperature range of -55 to +125 degrees C.

The ISL71040M low-side GaN FET driver safely drives Renesas’ rad-hard GaN FETs in isolated topologies and boost type configurations. It operates with a supply voltage between 4.5 and 13.2V, a gate drive voltage (VDRV) of 4.5V, and it includes both inverting and non-inverting inputs. The device’s split outputs adjust the turn-on and turn-off speeds, and its high current source and sink capability enables high frequency operation. The ISL71040M ensures reliable operation when driving GaN FETs by precisely controlling the gate driver voltage to +three to five per cent over temperature and radiation. It also includes floating protection circuitry to eliminate unintentional switching.

The ISL71043M PWM controller and ISL71040M GaN FET driver can be combined with the ISL73024SEH 200V GaN FET or ISL73023SEH 100V GaN FET, and ISL71610M passive-input digital isolator to create a variety of power stage configurations.

http://www.renesas.com

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Gecko series 2 scales IoT connectivity

Microcontrollers replace sensors in industry and the home

Smart sensors tackle transportation of the future

Renesas launches controller and GaN FET driver for satellites

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