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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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Barometric pressure sensor tracks altitude in harsh conditions

Tue, Jan 10, 2023

Barometric pressure sensors are a key component in fitness tracking wearables, to determine altitude. Bosch Sensortec has introduced the BMP585 robust barometric pressure sensor that can be used under water and in harsh environments.

It has a liquid-proof gel cover, which means it can be used in wearables that will be exposed to water or other liquids, including salt water and chlorinated water in swimming pools. It includes all the features of Bosch’s existing BMP581 pressure sensor with robustness and low power consumption ensures long battery life in wearables, hearables, and portable applications.

The sensor measures a change in height of just a few centimetres. It can therefore detect movements in fitness training down to the level of individual pull-ups or push-ups. “At the same time, users do not have to worry about environmental conditions – thanks to its ruggedness,” said Dr. Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO at Bosch Sensortec.

The BMP585 provides reliable mapping data for distance travelled and meters of altitude for hiking or running trips, thus supporting GPS data and enabling accurate localisation and navigation.

With its resistance to water and chemicals, the BMP585 is also suitable for a variety of industrial use cases such as liquid-level detection. The seal blocks access to dust for clog detection in home appliances such as vacuum cleaners.

The BMP585 provides excellent relative accuracy of ±0.06hPa and typical absolute accuracy of ±0.5hPa. The BMP585 has a typical temperature co-efficient offset (TCO) of just ±0.5Pa/K and low RMS noise of 0.08Pa at 1000hPa (typical). Long-term drift over 12 months is only ±0.2hPa.

Typical current consumption of just 1.3 microA at 1Hz data rate substantially extends battery life, said Bosch Sensortec. The BMP585 offers an I2C, I3C and SPI digital, serial interface.

The BMP585 is provided in a compact nine-pin LGA package with a metal lid, measuring just 3.25 x 3.25 x 1.86 mm³, small enough to use in smartwatches and other wearables.

The BMP585 is available in Q2 2023.

https://www.bosch-sensortec.com

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Marktech Optoelectronics introduces two InGaAs photodiode photodetectors

Thu, Jan 05, 2023

Optoelectronics designer and manufacturer, Marktech Optoelectronics has released two indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) photodiode photodetectors with extended 2.6 micron wavelength responsivity cut offs.

The high speed 2.6 micron InGaAs PIN photodiodes have sensitivity wavelength ranges of 600 to 2,600nm with active area diameters of 1.0mm.

The MTPD2601T-100 InGaAs photodiode is packaged in a TO-46 hermetic metal can with a flat lens and the MTPD2601N-100 InGaAs component uses a TO-46 package with a domed lens. TO metal can packaging provides the highest protection against the ingress of vapour and moisture, said the company, which contributes to reliable, long lifetime InGaAs photodiode detectors.

The 2.6 micron InGaAs photodiode detectors in a TO metal can packages are available now through distributors Digikey Electronics and Mouser Electronics.

Marktech’s InGaAs photodiode manufacturing partner in Japan, Optrans, is recognised as producing some of the industry’s highest integrity visible through SWIR (short wave infra red) detectors.

In addition to standard InGaAs detectors, Marktech can provide many additional services often required to rapidly move a project from the design to the finished product stage, such as detector and emitter selection, application and specification development, InGaAs photodiode customisation, package type selection and custom packages,electro-optical testing and troubleshooting, circuit and assembly design and build and supply of InGaAs photodiodes.

Standard offerings are 1.7 and 2.6 micron but Optrans can tailor the peak responsivity to wavelengths lower than 2.6 micron for applications with sufficiently high annual volumes.

InGaAs PIN photodiodes are available in various package types such as hermetically sealed metal cans (TO-5, TO-18, and TO-39), ceramic SAW packages, pigtail cans, 3mm molded plastic through-hole (flat lens or dome ceramic), and Marktech’s latest enhanced SMD packaging system, the hermetic Atlas package.

Custom-engineered packaging to OEM specifications are also available.

The high sensitivity of InGaAs detectors combined with low noise characteristics (high signal/noise ratio) in the NIR and SWIR wavelengths make InGaAs suitable for medical devices and wearables such as glucose monitoring (non-contact, optical), blood alcohol monitoring, exhaled breath gas analysis, urinalysis. In the field of spectrometry, they can be used for FTIR spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, tunable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS), scanning or dispersive NIR spectrometry, non-dispersive infra red (NDIR) spectroscopy, electroluminescence and fluorescence spectrometry, emerging infra red spectroscopy methods, temperature and flame detection, infra red pyrometry or non-contact radiation thermometers, flame and spark detection and regulation, moisture detection and compositional sorting, moisture meters (spectrophotometric), precision agriculture, food sorting and food quality instruments, plastics sorting and recycling.

For photonics test instrumentation, they can be used for coherent measurement systems, IR laser diode characterisation and monitoring, monitoring SWIR LEDs and illuminators, optical power meters, communication receivers in the O, L, and C bands, gas sensing, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and lidar.

Marktech also has capabilities to design and manufacture custom photodetectors to OEM specifications from prototype to production volumes. These include custom photodetector engineering and the manufacturing range includes custom InGaAs photodiodes (wafers, die, packaged InGaAs PDs, and assemblies). In addition, Marktech can co-package InGaAs photodiodes with emitters, filters, thermoelectric coolers (TECs), and transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs).

InGaAs photodiodes from Optrans Japan and silicon photodiodes from Marktech’s Simi Valley plant are assembled in the same package to produce wide spectral band detectors – (SWIR/MIR to mid UVB). This technology makes hybrid InGaAs-silicon detectors with responsivities from 250 to 2,600nm feasible.

https://www.marktechopto.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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nRF7002 companion IC and development kit create low power Wi-Fi 6 IoT

Barometric pressure sensor tracks altitude in harsh conditions

Marktech Optoelectronics introduces two InGaAs photodiode photodetectors

NFC reader ICs sharpen digital wave shaping for faster transmission

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