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Battery-operated video camera systems add AI for cloud IoT devices

Thu, May 25, 2023

InnoPhase IoT adds AI and solar panel augmentation to battery-operated video camera system via the Talaria TWO ULP (ultra low power) Wi-fi-optimised reference kit for cloud-connected IP video IoT devices.

In addition to applications such as battery-operated video cameras, smart video doorbells, wearables, smart appliances, home security cameras and in-vehicle dashboard monitoring devices, OEMs and ODMs are introducing new categories of video devices with designs that use solar technology and AI, said InnoPhase IoT.

Based on the Talaria TWO ULP Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) platform, the reference kit consists of dual stack, power optimised software combined with an advanced digital polar radio design to address the challenges involved with yesterday’s power-hungry processing of video IoT designs with a multi-protocol, cloud connected camera system, said the company.

The InnoPhase IoT Talaria TWO wireless platform for video supports up to 2K camera resolution and has an integrated microcontroller which enables off-loading of TCP-IP networking and cloud connectivity stack when ISP (image signal processing) is powered down. An always on, always connected enables low latency and mitigates image loss issues and the low power Wi-Fi at BLE power levels enables a two to four times improvement in battery life.

Until now, untethered wireless cloud connectivity and a long battery life were major design barriers for video IoT. Approximately 10 per cent of video cameras are currently battery-operated primarily because of battery life limitations, reported InnoPhase IoT. Moving to a wireless format wasn’t possible since ubiquitous Wi-Fi is inherently power hungry, rapidly draining video camera’s batteries. The possibility of adding even more features such as AI would mean an even shorter battery life.

The new InnoPhase IoT video reference kit address all of these challenges and provides 40 per cent lower power consumption and a battery life in excess of one year. The company also said it offers device developers a variety of market ready solutions from OEMs and ODMs.

“Using InnoPhase IoT Talaria TWO and an Ingenic T31 integrated reference design, we have been able to build an AI-enabled smart video camera with battery life two to three times longer than today’s solutions. We’re also achieving multi-year battery life when augmented with a solar panel”, said Larry Yang, product manager of smart product line at CE-Link, a wireless video camera OEM. The reference design can be customised, enabling customers to quickly bring branded wireless camera systems to market, he added.

According to Jason Lim, CEO at Kenxen, Taiwan, a smart video camera ODM, the Talaria TWO Wi-Fi / BLE module enables low power, direct-to-cloud connectivity for battery operated cameras. “This allows us to offer quick time to market video products for our end customers,” he added.

InnoPhase IoT president and COO, Wiren Perera, said: “InnoPhase IoT’s Talaria TWO untethers cameras from all wired power and network connections, resulting in more accurate data for cloud processing. It supports the addition of enhanced features such as artificial intelligence and unleashes design creativity only possible with the low-power, long battery-life model.”

The reference kits are currently available for evaluation. Each includes hardware and software integration with an image signal processor, cloud connectivity software and access to ODMs.

http://www.innophaseiot.com

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Imagination says IMG CXM is the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces

Wed, May 24, 2023

Seamless visual experiences for cost-sensitive consumer devices are assured with the IMG CXM GPU of RISC-V compatible cores, said Imagination Technologies. The range includes what is claimed to be the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces natively.

The IMG CXM cores can lower the cost of DTV and other consumer devices in smart homes, for example, said Imagination. Another driver is content providers seeking to integrate 4K and HDR features to enrich content, continued the company.

There are three new configurations which extend the range of performance options already available in Imagination’s GPU family of products for the consumer space. Imagination has released the CXM-2-64, claimed to be the smallest GPU to support native HDR applications. It is suitable for wearable devices, SmartHubs or mainstream set-top boxes.

The CXM-4-64 is suitable for integrating into SmartHubs, set-top boxes or mainstream DTVs and the CXM-4-128 is a performance dense option for premium DTVs, advised Imagination.

The company has boosted the performance density of the IMG BXE and BXM range of GPUs for the CXM GPUs and added native support for HDR.

The CXM GPUs support 10bits RGBA / YUV to deliver a HDR graphical user interface with images with less visible banding. To smooth the outline of texts and images, they employ 4xMSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility, an application programming interface (API) for user interface accessibility).

TFBCv2, the new generation of Imagination’s Tiny Frame Buffer Compression, delivers higher quality lossy / lossless compression and an additional compression level (37.5%) for improved design flexibility.

The IMG CXM GPU range boasts nearly a 50 per cent uplift in performance density compared to the IMG BXM range.

The IMG CXM is supported by software that supports APIs, including Vulkan 1.3, and has been optimised for leading CPU architectures including Arm and RISC-V application processors.

Dr. Charlie Su, CTO and president of Andes Technology said: “The RISC-V ecosystem is growing rapidly. To continue its growth and showcase the many possible ways it can be deployed, we partnered with Imagination to provide a quick and easy path to validated GPU and CPU IP blocks that can reduce SoC design time, risk, and cost for our customers. With Imagination’s flexibly designed GPU, and our AndesCore high performance, low power RISC-V CPU, we are able to satisfy the requirements for display-oriented SoC in a short time and generate the optimum configuration.”

James Chapman, chief product officer, Imagination Technologies commented the CXM GPUs will “transform user experiences” and he expects to see the GPUs deployed in a diverse range of applications from wearables to premium 8K DTVs.

Imagination will be demonstrating TFBCv2 at the 2023 RISC-V Con Shanghai and 2023 RISC-V Con Beijing events, hosted by Andes Technology.

https://www.imaginationtech.com/

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SigmaSense partners with NXP Semiconductors for future sensing systems

Fri, May 19, 2023

Texas company, Sigma Sense has developed a sensing technology which it says will improve the performance of practically anything with a touchscreen, for example mobile phones, automotive, industrial, gaming, wearables, digital signage, industrial / IoT and even improve the performance of EV batteries.

SigmaSense’s technology intends to ‘shake up’ the industry in which the underlying technology behind most of today’s touch sensing devices has changed little in decades.

It said its approach captures more granular data from the physical world making interactive advances possible. The technology makes possible high speed touch interfaces of all sizes and shapes, new surface materials beyond glass, operation in rain and with gloves, economical large format interactive displays with the speed of a mobile experience.

SigmaSense has announced a license and co-development deal with NXP Semiconductors to transition from traditional touch interfaces to multi-dimensional sensing. It has licensed its technology to NXP, and the companies will collaborate on high-performance sensing products for specific applications, in particular those with demands for faster, more robust, fully immersive software-defined experiences.

“The next generation of smart devices and applications are demanding data for enhanced functionality that requires an entirely new software-programmable approach to sensing,” explained Lars Reger, CTO of NXP Semiconductors.

Rick Seger, CEO of SigmaSense, added: “Our co-development with NXP marks the transition to a universe of new data-centric design options driven by software-defined sensing.”

SigmaSense’s multi-dimensional sensing works through many different surfaces, shapes, and materials, enabling previously impossible designs. It makes it possible to extract “vastly more” data from the physical world for a wide range of products and systems, said the company. With the ability to measure current direct-to-digital, SigmaSense claimed to deliver an industry first of low voltage, frequency domain sensing. Fast, continuous, high-fidelity data capture with intelligent digital signal processing moves analogue challenges to the digital domain, where design flexibility can deliver orders of magnitude improvement, continued SigmaSense. The technology has the potential to change system designs “from foldable displays to EV batteries,” said the company.

SigmaSense invented software-defined sensing which achieves breakthrough levels of speed, accuracy, resolution, and noise immunity previously deemed impossible for sensing systems. Sensing through the noise, SigmaSense products increase the depth and quantity of data that can be captured from the physical world to enable exciting new experiences in a wide range of devices including mobile, automotive, battery sensing, digital signage, wearables, and all sizes of IoT touch displays.

SigmaSense is headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, with offices in Boise, Idaho and Taipei, Taiwan.

https://sigmasense.com

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Thin magnetic sheets have high permability for NFC

Wed, May 17, 2023

Noise suppressing / magnetic sheets by TDK have high permeability and low magnetic loss for NFC (near field communication) applications. The IFQ06 thin magnetic sheets are flexible and can be easily formed to a desired shape, said the company.

The sheets are suitable for 13.56MHz NFC applications and protect the system from metal objects located directly behind coils.

The latest addition to the Flexield family of magnetic shielding materials, the IFQ06, has high permeability and low magnetic loss, said TDK and provides highly effective protection against performance-reducing design features that can complicate NFC designs, such as metal objects directly behind the antenna.

These hazards are becoming increasingly common as electronic devices evolve to be smaller and more multi-functional, making it increasingly difficult to keep advanced functionalities from interfering with each other. NFC uses electromagnetic induction where the antenna receiving a carrier wave from a reader / writer allows the on-board IC chip to perform signal processing.

Metal objects, in particular, can absorb or disturb the magnetic flux lines of the generated H field, creating eddy currents which reduce effective range. These disturbances can also shift the inductance value and self-resonance frequency, reducing performance because of tuning issues between the two antennas. In some cases, metal close to the antenna will carry an induced current that produces a countering magnetic field, shortening the communication distance and making communication impossible.

Placing the IFQ06 material between the antenna coil and any metal surface confines the magnetic flux within the magnetic shield generated by the reader / writer. As a result, the generation of an induced current on the metal surface is eliminated and optimum 13.56MHz communication conditions can be maintained.

TDK lists other benefits of the IFQ06 series as its ability to shape / direct the magnetic H field, influence the quality factor (Q) of the inductive antenna, increase the coupling factor (K) between two antennas, help set the inductance value (Ls) for resonant tuning, complete the magnetic field path and to improve security by encapsulating the magnetic field and its respective information.

TDK’s IFQ06 flexible magnetic sheet materials are offered in a choice of three formats: roll or sheet materials for prototyping, lower volumes or where large areas need to be covered and custom cut parts which exactly match design requirements for higher volume or automated assembly options.

Standard thicknesses available are 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2mm. Thicknesses of 0.065 and 0.075mm are available on request.

High surface resistivity is above 10 MOhm allowing for direct contact to metal antennas.

The material is available with an optional high temperature resin [IFQ06S] that supports applications up to +125 degrees C.

http://www.tdk.com

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Battery-operated video camera systems add AI for cloud IoT devices

Imagination says IMG CXM is the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces

SigmaSense partners with NXP Semiconductors for future sensing systems

Thin magnetic sheets have high permability for NFC

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