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Nordic introduces Bluetooth 5.1 SoC for multi-protocol applications

Tue, Oct 22, 2019

Temperature-qualified, the nRF52833 SoC joins Nordic’s nRF52 series. The multi-protocol SoC includes a Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding-capable radio for low power Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4GHz proprietary wireless connectivity. It is qualified for operation across a -40 to +105 degrees C temperature range.

The nRF52833 features a powerful 64MHz 32bit Arm Cortex-M4 processor with a floating-point unit (FPU) and includes 512kbyte of flash and 128kbyte of RAM, suitable for use in commercial and industrial wireless applications including professional lighting, asset tracking, smart home products, wearables, and gaming.

The SoC’s memory capacity also supports a dynamic multi-protocol capability, suitable for applications such as professional lighting where concurrent Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth mesh, Thread or Zigbee support enables provisioning, commissioning, and interaction with a lighting mesh network from a smartphone using Bluetooth Low Energy. The temperature range also enables the nRF52833 to operate in professional lighting applications which typically feature elevated ambient temperatures, adds Nordic.

The nRF52833’s radio is capable of all Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding features and its memory can support both receiver and transmitter roles for angle-of-arrival (AoA) and angle-of-departure (AoD) applications. Direction Finding enables positioning applications that not only rely on received signal strength indication (RSSI) but also the signal direction. Applications include real-time location systems (RTLS) and indoor positioning systems (IPS).

The nRF52833 includes full-speed USB, high-speed SPI, and +8dBm output power. The increased output power together with Bluetooth 5 technology’s long-range (LoRa) feature enables the nRF52833 to be used in smart home applications.

The SoC includes up to 42 general-purpose I/Os (GPIOs) and a range of analogue and digital interfaces such as an NFC-A Tag, ADC, UART, SPI, TWI, PWM, I2S, and PDM. Additionally, a two-stage LDO voltage regulator and a DC/DC converter with a 1.7 to 5.5V input supply range allows the nRF52833 SoC to be powered by coin cells, rechargeable batteries, or the on-chip USB.

The nRF52833 is supported by the S113 or S140 SoftDevices, Nordic’s Bluetooth RF protocol stacks. The S140 is a qualified Bluetooth 5.1 stack and includes support for 2Mbits per second throughput, Bluetooth LoRa and improved coexistence through Channel Selection Algorithm #2.

The nRF5 SDK for Mesh and nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee are scheduled for release in Q4 2019.

An nRF52833 development kit is for Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth mesh, 802.15.4, Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4GHz proprietary applications running on the nRF52833 SoC. It is compatible with the Arduino Uno Rev3 standard.

The SoC will be made available in three packages: a 7.0 x 7.0mm aQFN73 with 42 GPIOs, a 5.0 x 5.0mm QFN40 with 18 GPIOs and a 3.2 x 3.2mm wlCSP with 42 GPIOs.

nRF52833 engineering samples are available now with volume production due Q4, 2019.

http://www.nordicsemi.com

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Green tags encourage green RFID products

Thu, Oct 03, 2019

Smartrac Technology Group introduces the Eagle Green tags, the latest in the company’s green tag program. The compact inlays and tags are targeted at retail-optimised applications.

Eagle Green uses plastic-free, fully recyclable paper as the substrate, foregoes adhesives as much as possible, and comes with a laser-cut aluminium antenna that allows the complete recycling of aluminium residues, resulting in a significant carbon footprint reduction. All products within the green tag programme aim to address businesses that recognise the importance of a greatly reduce environmental impact across all applications and markets.

The tags are among the smallest retail-orientated inlays with global performance available on the market. Both have passed Auburn University’s ARC categories A, B, C, D, F, G, I, K, M, Q, W2 and W5, and are available in dry and paper-tag delivery formats with a compact size of 44 x 28 mm / 1.7 x 1.1 in, which helps in the conversion for end-application usage.

Equipped with an NXP UCODE 8 IC, which shares memory size and typical IC features with NXP’s UCODE 7 IC, a self-adjust feature helps maximises product performance in challenging environments, offers improved read and write sensitivity and a fast encoding speed.

The chip has an integrated brand identifier function to prove product authenticity and a memory safeguard system to protect business data.

These tags benefit from Smartrac’s platform and data management capabilities to record and manage a complete set of unique transponder data, for example UID no, order no, batch no, or yield, at production level in a controlled and secure way. The company’s product digitisation solutions enable full traceability of delivered RFID products.

“Our new Eagle green tags not only demonstrate that Smartrac’s green tag programme is gaining momentum: it also reinforces our resolve to provide the market’s most versatile, most advanced, innovative and sustainable RFID products designed and certified for a broad range of applications,” said Hal Hikita, senior vice-president, product management at Smartrac.

https://www.smartrac-group.com

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Adaptable buck-boost converters deliver up to 2.5A in tiny packaging

Tue, Oct 01, 2019

A family of four high-efficiency, low-quiescent-current (IQ) buck-boost converters that feature tiny packaging with minimal external components for a small solution size is now available from Texas Instruments (TI).

The integrated TPS63802, TPS63805, TPS63806 and TPS63810 DC/DC non-inverting buck-boost converters offer wide input and output voltage ranges that scale to support multiple battery-driven applications, helping engineers simplify and accelerate their designs.

Each of the devices automatically selects buck, buck-boost or boost mode according to the operating conditions. Their complete solution size of 19.5 square mm to square mm 25 is a result of compact packaging, an advanced control topology requiring few external multilayer ceramic capacitors, and tiny 0.47-microH inductors.

The devices offer a 1.3-V to 5.5-V input and 1.8-V to 5.2-V output voltage range, to help engineers speed their designs and encourages reuse across multiple applications.

These DC/DC converters are the latest addition to TI’s low-IQ power-management portfolio, providing low 11- to 15-microA IQ for light-load efficiency while minimising power losses and extending run times in battery-driven applications such as portable electronic point-of-sale terminals, grid infrastructure metering devices, wireless sensors and handheld electronic devices.

The TPS63802 is a 2-A buck-boost converter with low 11-microA IQ consumption suitable for pulsed-load applications such as industrial Internet of Things devices. The TPS63805 is a 2-A buck-boost converter with a 22-microF output capacitor and 0.47-microH inductor resulting in a small solution size of 19.5 mm squared that meets the requirements of handheld industrial and personal electronics applications.

The new series also includes the TPS63806, a 2.5-A buck-boost converter with a focus on improved load-step regulation for applications with an aggressive load profile that require tight regulation, such as time-of-flight sensors in smartphones, cameras or augmented reality devices. And the

TPS63810 is a 2.5-A buck-boost converter with I2C interface for dynamic voltage scaling through either a two-wire interface or the VSEL pin, enabling the device to serve as a pre-regulator or voltage envelope tracker for systems found in smartphones, wireless hearing aids or headphones.

http://www.ti.com

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Microchip simplifies hardware-based IoT security

Mon, Sep 30, 2019

A pre-provisioned solution that provides secure key storage for low-, mid- and high-volume device deployments using the ATECC608A secure element is now available from Microchip Technology. According to the company, the Trust Platform for its CryptoAuthentication family enables companies of all sizes to implement secure authentication.

The platform consists of a three-tier offering, providing out-of-the-box pre-provisioned, pre-configured or fully customisable secure elements, allowing developers to choose the platform best suited for their individual design. As the first solution to provide ready-to-go secure authentication for the mass market, the first tier – Trust&GO – provides zero-touch pre-provisioned secure elements with a minimum orderable quantity (MOQ) as low as 10 units.

Device credentials are pre-programmed, shipped and locked inside the ATECC608A for automated cloud or LoRaWAN authentication onboarding. In parallel, corresponding certificates and public keys are delivered in a “manifest” file, which is downloadable via Microchip’s purchasing e-commerce store and select distribution partners.

With the ability to authenticate to any public or private cloud infrastructure, Microchip’s Trust Platform is also flexible and customisable. For customers who want more customisation, the program includes the TrustFlex and TrustCustom platforms.

The solution helps simplify provisioning logistics, says the company, making it easy for mass market customers to secure and manage edge devices without the overhead cost of third-party provisioning services or certificate authorities.

The second tier in the program, TrustFlex, offers the flexibility to use the customer’s certificate authority of choice while still benefiting from pre-configured use cases.

These use cases include baseline security measures such as transport layer security (TLS) hardened authentication for connecting to any IP-based network using any certificate chain, LoRaWAN authentication, secure boot, Over-the-Air (OTA) updates, IP protection, user data protection and key rotation. This can reduce the time and complexity involved in customising the device without requiring customised part numbers.

For customers who would like to customise their designs entirely, the third tier in the program – TrustCustom – provides customer-specific configuration capabilities and custom credential provisioning.

https://www.microchip.com

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Nordic introduces Bluetooth 5.1 SoC for multi-protocol applications

Green tags encourage green RFID products

Adaptable buck-boost converters deliver up to 2.5A in tiny packaging

Microchip simplifies hardware-based IoT security

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