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STMicroelectronics adds Zigbee 3.0 support for wireless microcontrollers

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

Based on Zigbee PRO protocol stacks, Zigbee 3.0 has been added to the STM32WB55 wireless microcontrollers. The company says that STM32 developers can leverage the interoperability and power-saving features of Zigbee to enhance networking for projects such as home automation, smart lighting, smart building, and broader IoT connectivity.

Zigbee 3.0 unifies the features of Zigbee specifications for consumer and industrial applications. Consumer and internet brands have elected to choose Zigbee connectivity for smart home products.

ST’s Zigbee 3.0 software for STM32WB55 includes the Exegin Zigbee PRO protocol stack, which is provided free of charge, and delivered and fully supported by ST. The stack is used in Exegin products certified as Zigbee Golden Units and is approved as a reference stack for use by test laboratories. ST supports 46 Zigbee 3.0 clusters to establish the capabilities of devices. Another21 clusters support legacy products.

STM32WB55 microcontrollers also support Thread and Bluetooth 5.0, with over the air (OTA) update capability. There are 10 STM32WB55 variants, in a choice of package styles and flash density from 256kbyte to 1Mbyte. The company has announced that it will introduce further variants in Q3.

Devices feature the Arm Cortex-M4 with floating point unit, DSP instructions and a memory protection unit (MPU) that enhances application security. Arm Cortex-M0+ co-processor is dedicated to managing the integrated IEEE 805.15.4 radio. The microcontroller’s cyber protection features ensures real time, low layer operations run smoothly without compromising application execution. The RF transceiver has a link budget of 106dB, to ensure reliable connections over distance.

The STM32WB55 devices are based on patented low power microcontroller technologies and integrate features such as radio balun circuitry. These characteristics are designed to help designers meet tight power and size constraints in a range of IoT and wearable devices. There are rich analogue and system peripherals, as well as cyber-protection, adds ST, and ID features including secure firmware installation (SFI), customer key storage, hardware public key authority (PKA), and cryptographic accelerators. Capacitive touch and LCD controllers simplify user-interface integration.

The Zigbee 3.0 software is now included in the STM32CubeWB MCU package, which provides embedded software including low-layer (LL) application programming interfaces (APIs) and hardware abstraction layer (HAL) drivers for STM32WB microcontrollers, as well as Bluetooth 5.0, Mesh V1.0, and Thread libraries, FreeRTOS kernel, FatFS file system and the STMTouch capacitive-sensing library.

The STM32Cube ecosystem includes the STM32CubeMonitor-RF for RF testing and STM32CubeMX for device configuration and code generation.

http://www.st.com

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SoC is optimised for cost-conscious, two-layer PCB wireless products

Fri, Jun 19, 2020

Available in a wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP), optimised for compact, two-layer PCB wireless products, the nRF52805 SoC adds Bluetooth 5.2 to Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52 series.

The nRF52805 SoC offers Bluetooth low energy (LE), high-throughput device can be used for cost-constrained applications such as disposable medical products, styluses, sensors, and beacons

The nRF52805 Bluetooth 5.2 SoC in a WLCSP measures just 2.48 x 2.46mm. The WLCSP SoC is optimised for two-layer PCB designs, avoiding the need for more expensive four-layer PCBs in compact, budget-constrained designs, says Nordic. The SoC is capable of Bluetooth LE high-throughput 2Mbits per second and enhanced Channel Selection Algorithm #2 (CSA #2) for improved co-existence.

Based on a 64MHz, 32bit Arm Cortex-M4 processor (144 CoreMark) with 65 CoreMark/mA efficiency, the SoC also includes 192kbyte flash memory and 24kbyte RAM. The multiprotocol (Bluetooth LE/2.4GHz) radio offers up to +4dBm power output and -97dBm sensitivity (1Mbits per second Bluetooth LE) for a link budget of 101dBm. The radio’s peak power draw is only 4.6mA (TX 0dBM, RX 1Mbits per second) and the SoC’s current draw is as low as 0.3 microA in system off and 1.1 microA in system on with 24kbyte RAM retained and real time clock (RTC) running. The SoC features a range of analogue and digital interfaces such as SPI, UART and two wire interface (TWI), a two-channel 12-bit ADC, and ten general purpose I/Os.

Nordic offers a 9.5 x 8.8mm reference layout with all ten general purpose I/Os available, which requires only 10 external passive components (including two crystal load capacitors).

The SoC can be powered from a 1.7 to 3.6V supply and integrates LDO and DC/DC voltage regulators.

The nRF52805 is currently supported by the S112 SoftDevice and Nordic confirms that support for the S113 SoftDevice follows soon. The S112 and S113 SoftDevices (Bluetooth 5.1-qualified protocol software) are memory-optimised peripheral stacks which support high-throughput 2Mbits per second and CSA #2 features. The stacks support up to four connections as a peripheral concurrently with a broadcaster.

The number of connections and bandwidth per connection is configurable, enabling memory and performance optimisation.

Both the S112 and S113 also support LE Secure Connections, improving security compared to LE Legacy Pairing. S113 also supports LE Data Packet Length Extension, resulting in higher throughput and less overhead per packet.

There is a guide explaining how to use the nRF52805 with Nordic’s nRF5 software development kit (SDK). Nordic recommends the nRF52 development kit can be used to emulate the nRF52805 and is a good hardware basis to start designs before moving over to a custom development board.

The nRF52805 is now in volume production.

http://www.nordicsemi.com/nRF52805

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Smart sensors are the jewel in the crown

Wed, May 20, 2020

Scientists have taken inspiration from the biomimicry of butterfly wings and peacock feathers to develop an opal-like material for use in smart sensors.

Scientists, led by the Universities of Surrey and Sussex, have developed colour-changing, flexible photonic crystals that could be used to develop sensors that warn when an earthquake might strike next.

The research draws on the Materials Physics Group’s (University of Sussex) expertise in the liquid processing of two-dimensional nanomaterials, Soft Matter Group’s (University of Surrey) experience in polymer colloids and combines it with expertise at the Advanced Technology Institute in optical modelling of complex materials. Both universities are working with the Sussex-based company Advanced Materials Development (AMD) Ltd to commercialise the technology.

The wearable, robust and low-cost sensors can respond to light, temperature, strain or other physical and chemical stimuli making them a promising option for cost-effective, smart, visual sensing applications in sectors such as healthcare and food safety.

In research, published by Advanced Functional Materials, the team outlines a method to produce photonic crystals containing a minuscule amount of graphene and which results in outputs that can be directly observed by the naked eye.

The material is intensely green under natural light, but the sensors change colour to blue when stretched, and turn transparent when heated.

Dr. Izabela Jurewicz, Lecturer in Soft Matter Physics at the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said “This work provides the first experimental demonstration of mechanically robust yet soft, free-standing and flexible, polymer-based opals containing solution-exfoliated pristine graphene. While these crystals are beautiful to look at, we’re also very excited about the huge impact they could make to people’s lives.”

Potential applications for the sensors are time-temperature indicators (TTI) for intelligent packaging. The sensors are able to give a visual indication if perishables, such as food or pharmaceuticals, have experienced undesirable time-temperature histories. The crystals are extremely sensitive to even a small rise in temperature between 20 and 100 degrees C.

They can also be used in fingerprint analysis where their pressure-responsive shape-memory characteristics can reveal fingerprints, showing well-defined ridges, for biometric access systems.

They sensors’ mechanochromic response also makes them suitable as body sensors to help improve technique in sports players. They could also be used in a wrist band which changes colour to indicate to patients if their healthcare practitioner has washed their hands before entering an examination room.

http://www.sussex.ac.uk

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Signal conditioner IC targets industry 4.0, medical and IoT sensor applications

Thu, May 14, 2020

The latest addition to the sensor signal conditioner (SSC) range is the ZSSC3240. According to Renesas, it delivers high accuracy, sensitivity, and flexibility for sensor applications such as resistive pressure sensors and medical infra red thermometers. It is also claimed to deliver best-in-class performance and speed with up to 24 bits analogue to digital conversion (ADC) resolution.

The ZSSC3240 has a flexible sensor front end and a range of output interfaces, enabling the SSC to be used for nearly all types of resistive and absolute voltage sensor elements. Engineers can develop complete sensing platforms from a single SSC device, said Renesas. It is also small in size, for use in a variety of sensor-based devices for the industrial, consumer, and medical markets, including smart meters, continuous smart health monitors, factory automation devices, industrial pressure transmitters, HVAC sensors and weight scales.

Unlike micro-machined and silicon-based sensing elements which provide mostly non-linear and very small signals, which need to be converted into a linearised output, the ZSSC3240 SSC provides programmable, wide gain and quantisation functions, combined with powerful, high-order digital correction and linearisation algorithms, explained Renesas. High performance, and flexible sensor front end configuration and analogue output options enable sensor platform design using a single IC, allowing users to leverage the SSC cost effectively for a wide variety of sensor elements that have different characteristics.

The ZSSC3240 SSC has a high-gain analogue front end supporting up to 540V per Volt (V/V) and an integrated 26bit DSP for high-precision sensor calibration. Current loop output is 4.0 to 20 mA.

The ZSSC3240 SSC is available now in a 4.0 x 4.0mm, 24-lead QFN package. The SSC is also available in bare die format.

http://www.renesas.com

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STMicroelectronics adds Zigbee 3.0 support for wireless microcontrollers

SoC is optimised for cost-conscious, two-layer PCB wireless products

Smart sensors are the jewel in the crown

Signal conditioner IC targets industry 4.0, medical and IoT sensor applications

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