Weartech-ICs & Semiconductors Archives - Page 20 of 41

STMicroelectronics reveals single-chip antenna-matching ICs for easier, faster design with Bluetooth LE SoCs and microcontrollers

Tue, Feb 07, 2023

STMicroelectronics has extended its range of single-chip antenna-matching ICs that simplify RF-circuit design with two new devices optimised for BlueNRG-LPS system-on-chip ICs (SoCs) and STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x wireless microcontrollers.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 for BlueNRG-LPS and MLPF-WB-02D3 for STM32WB integrate the complete filtering and impedance-matching network needed for best RF output power and receiver sensitivity with an external antenna. Each has 50Ohm nominal impedance on the antenna side. The chip-scale package has a minuscule footprint, 0.4mm bump pitch and a profile of only 630micro after reflow soldering. Also featuring a 2.4GHz low-pass filter, ST’s antenna-matching ICs ease compliance with worldwide radio regulations, including FCC, ETSI, and ARIB specifications.

The circuit elements are fabricated on a glass substrate leveraging ST’s integrated passive device (IPD) technology, which, the company claimed, minimises insertion losses and outperforms circuits built with discrete components. Integration on the same die is said to ensure consistent component parameters for end-product quality. In addition, ST’s IPDs help accelerate time to market, reduce bill-of-materials costs and miniaturise circuit dimensions.

The BlueNRG-LP and Blue NRG-LPS SoCs and STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x contain ST’s energy-efficient 2.4GHz radio IP and come with royalty-free protocol stacks and dedicated software tools. They help developers quickly design state-of-the-art wireless products, even without having extensive RF-design skills. Both provide on-chip features such as memory, peripherals, communication interfaces, power regulation and advanced hardware security including encryption, memory protection and public key acceleration (PKA).

BlueNRG-LPx SoCs can be used in standalone or network processor applications and support Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3 features including point-to-point and mesh communications, advertising extensions and direction finding.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 IPD is compatible with all variants, comprising the BLUENRG-3x5Vx, BLUENRG-3x5Ax and BLUENRG-332xx in UFQFPN and WLCSP packages.

The STM32WB5x and STM32WB1x MCUs are Bluetooth 5.3, Zigbee 3.0 and OpenThread certified and feature an Arm Cortex-M4 core for application processing with a Cortex-M0+ dedicated to managing the radio. They are available in WLCSP and UFBGA packages that connect directly to the MLPF-WB-02D3 IPD. A different IPD is available for other MCU variants in UQFN and VQFN packages.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 and MLPF-WB-02D3 single-chip antenna-matching ICs are available from $0.14 for orders of 1,000 pieces.

https://www.st.com/

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nRF7002 companion IC and development kit create low power Wi-Fi 6 IoT

Thu, Feb 02, 2023

The first IC in Nordic Semiconductor’s Wi-Fi product family is the nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. The low power Wi-Fi 6 companion IC provides seamless dual band (2.4 and 5.0GHz) connectivity. The nRF7002 IC can be used with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52 and nRF53 series multi-protocol SoCs and the nRF9160 cellular IoT (LTE-M / NB-IoT) system in package (SiP), but can be used in conjunction with non-Nordic host devices.

In IoT applications, Wi-Fi 6 has power efficiency gains for battery power Wi-Fi operation and management in smart home products, industrial sensors, asset trackers, and wearables. They also contribute to the management of large IoT networks comprising hundreds of devices, said Nordic Semiconductor.

According to Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO and executive vice president of R&D and Strategy at Nordic: “This highly integrated and flexible solution will empower developers to create new, innovative Wi-Fi 6-enabled products. Supported with the nRF7002 DK and the award-winning nRF Connect [software development kit], combined with Nordic’s . . . technical support, I believe it has never been easier to develop great Wi-Fi products.”

“The nRF7002 is designed to work alongside Nordic’s nRF52 and nRF53 Series making it a perfect fit for Matter, a smart-home standard backed by Amazon, Apple, Google, Nordic, Samsung, and hundreds of other companies,” explained Finn Boetius, product marketing engineer with Nordic. “The introduction of the IC and the nRF7002 DK now makes it easy for developers to get started on Matter and any other Wi-Fi based applications.” Matter uses Thread and Wi-Fi for data transport, and Bluetooth LE for commissioning.

The nRF7002 brings low power and secure Wi-Fi to the IoT. The dual-band IC complies with Station (STA), Soft Access Point (AP), and Wi-Fi Direct operation, and meets the IEEE 802.11b, a, g, n (Wi-Fi 4), ac (Wi-Fi 5), and ax (Wi-Fi 6) standards. The product also offers co-existence with Bluetooth LE, Thread and Zigbee.

The nRF7002 supports target wake time (TWT) a key Wi-Fi 6 power saving feature. Interfacing with a host processor is done via serial peripheral interface (SPI) or quad SPI (QSPI). The IC offers a single spatial stream, 20MHz channel bandwidth, 64 QAM (MCS7), OFDMA, up to 86Mbits per second PHY throughput, and BSS (base service set) colouring.

In addition to general IoT applications and Matter, the nRF7002 implements low power SSID-based Wi-Fi location when used with Nordic’s nRF9160 SiP and the company’s nRF Cloud Location Services. SSID-based Wi-Fi location supplements GNSS- or cell-based location by providing accurate positioning indoors and in places with a high density of Wi-Fi access points.

The introduction of the nRF7002 is accompanied by the launch of the nRF7002 DK, a development kit for the Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. The DK includes an nRF7002 IC and features an nRF5340 multi-protocol SoC as a host processor for the nRF7002. The nRF5340 embeds a 128MHz Arm Cortex-M33 application processor and a 64MHz high efficiency network processor. The DK supports the development of low-power Wi-Fi applications and enables Wi-Fi 6 features like OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing), beamforming, and TWT (target wake time). The DK includes Arduino connectors; two programmable buttons; a Wi-Fi dual-band antenna and a Bluetooth LE antenna, and current measurement pins.

The nRF7002 companion IC and nRF7002 DK are available now from Nordic’s distribution partners.

http://www.nordicsemic.com

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NFC reader ICs sharpen digital wave shaping for faster transmission

Tue, Nov 29, 2022

Adding to its portfolio of NFC reader ICs, Panthronics announced the PTX105R reader for IoT and consumer electronics devices. It is compatible with NFC Forum specifications and offers accurate digital wave shaping to guarantee interoperability with all NFC-compliant cards, tags and NFC devices in wearable form factors.

The RF output is 1.0W at the antenna and the reader has high receive sensitivity of – 80dBc for reliable connectivity in general electronics systems. The RF performance enables designers to implement designs based on an antenna which is smaller than that required by competing NFC readers, said Panthronics.

The company also announced the PTX130R reader which is an upgraded version of the PTX100R reader IC for point of sale terminals.

It is the first Panthronics reader IC to feature native support for the Android operating environment and provides a way for designers to add NFC communications capability to embedded computing systems built around a touchscreen display.

It is suitable for static and mobile point of sale terminals and can also provide NFC connectivity in embedded computing devices. Typical examples include scanners, automated service points such as self-check-in terminals at hotels and secure access control and home and building automation equipment which has a display-enabled HMI (human machine interface).

RF output is more than 2W at the antenna enabling the PTX103R to comply with the strict requirements of the EMVCo standard for payment card transactions even when operating via an antenna which is placed close to or behind a noisy display, explained Panthronics.

The PTX105R and PTX130R NFC readers, like the PTX100R versions, use the company’s sine wave silicon architecture to offer higher sensitivity, more accurate wave-shaping, higher output power and a simpler hardware implementation than conventional NFC reader ICs based on a square wave architecture, said Panthronics.

For mobile phone and point of sale terminal users, this means operations are completed faster and with easier validation of conformance with standards such as EMVCo 3.1. Panthronics readers also typically offer a read range 40 per cent higher than that provided by conventional readers based on a square wave architecture, Panthronics reported.

Evaluation kits for the PTX105R and PTX130R are available directly from Panthronics. They provide an operating environment including the antenna, to enable design engineers to evaluate NFC performance. Panthronics also supplies an NFC connectivity board based on the PTX105R for the Renesas Quick-Connect IoT rapid system prototyping platform.

http://www.panthronics.com.

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Sine wave architecture enhances NFC reader performance

Wed, Nov 23, 2022

Austrian, fabless semiconductor company, Panthronics has extended its portfolio of NFC reader ICs with the PTX105R and the PTX130R reader. The pair give OEMs new options to design NFC capability into IoT devices, embedded and mobile computing systems, said the company.

The PTX105R reader for IoT and consumer electronics devices is compatible with NFC Forum specifications. It offers accurate digital wave shaping to guarantee interoperability with all NFC-compliant cards, tags and NFC devices in wearable form factors, said Panthronics.

The PTX105R produces RF output power of 1W at the antenna and high receive sensitivity of -80dBc for reliable connectivity in general electronics systems, said Panthronics. The PTX105R’s RF performance enables the implementation of designs based on a smaller antenna than that which is required by competing NFC readers, said the company.

The second introduction is the PTX130R reader. This is an upgraded version of the PTX100R reader IC for point of sale (PoS) terminals. The PTX130R is the first reader IC by the company to feature native support for the Android operating environment. It provides a way to add NFC communications capability to embedded computing systems built around a touchscreen display. Suitable applications are PoS and mobile PoS terminals and can also provide NFC connectivity in embedded computing devices, such as scanners, automated service points such as self-check-in terminals at hotels, and secure access control and home and building automation equipment with a display-enabled human machine interface (HMI).

The PTX130R features very high RF output power of more than 2W at the antenna, enabling OEMs to achieve compliance with the strict requirements of the EMVCo standard for payment card transactions even when operating via an antenna which is placed close to or behind a noisy display.

The company’s sine wave silicon architecture is designed from the ground up for NFC systems and offers higher sensitivity, more accurate wave-shaping, higher output power and a simpler hardware implementation than conventional NFC reader ICs based on a square wave architecture, reported Panthronics.

Panthronics readers also typically offer a read range 40 per cent higher than that provided by conventional readers based on a square wave architecture, added the company.

Evaluation kits for the PTX105R and PTX130R are available directly from Panthronics. They provide a ready-made operating environment including the antenna, to enable design engineers to evaluate NFC performance out of the box.

Panthronics also supplies an NFC connectivity board based on the PTX105R for the Renesas Quick-Connect IoT rapid system prototyping platform. The Panthronics NFC board provides a fast and easy way to build NFC connectivity into IoT systems based on the general purpose microcontrollers which support the modular Quick-Connect IoT format. The board feaures a Pmod connector and can be linked to the Renesas Quick-Connect microcontroller evaluation kits.

http://www.panthronics.com

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STMicroelectronics reveals single-chip antenna-matching ICs for easier, faster design with Bluetooth LE SoCs and microcontrollers

nRF7002 companion IC and development kit create low power Wi-Fi 6 IoT

NFC reader ICs sharpen digital wave shaping for faster transmission

Sine wave architecture enhances NFC reader performance

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