IoT platform comes with Google cloud out of the box

IoT platform comes with Google cloud out of the box

September 3, 2015

An IoT (internet of things) hardware platform which will connect with mobile services around the world has been introduced by Sierra Wireless.

With connection to Google cloud services for collecting data from connected devices, the hardware, dubbed the IoT Acceleration Platform, is unusual because it will provide mobile connections with Sierra Wireless and third-party network operator SIMs.

The aim, said Sierra Wireless v-p Emmanuel Walckenaer, is to try to reduce “the complexity in building and deploying Internet of Things connectivity solutions is critical for our customers in getting their products and services to market quickly”.

The hardware platform comes pre-connected to the Google Cloud Platform which allows it to be used for data collection with data analytics or full IoT applications.

Sierra Wireless will demonstrate the integration of Google analytics tools with the IoT Acceleration Platform at CTIA Super Mobility Week, September 9 to 11 in Las Vegas.

ADI launches GaAs pHEMT driver amplifier

September 3, 2015

Analog Devices has introduced a medium-power, distributed driver amplifier which operates between 24GHz and 35GHz.

The HMC1131 amplifier provides 22dB of gain, +35dBm output IP3, and +24dBm of output power at 1dB gain compression.

ADI launches GaAs pHEMT driver amplifier – ADI hmc1131

It reduces the number of components required to achieve the desired output power and small signal gain, which lowers development costs and design time by enabling simpler transmit line-ups and higher integration, according to Analog.

Based on a GaAs pHEMT design, the HMC1131 is intended for civil and defence communications systems, including point-to-point and point-to-multi-point radios and VSat and Satcom applications.

The HMC1131 can supply +25dBm of saturated output power with 16% PAE and is housed in a compact, leadless 4x4mm ceramic surface-mount package.

The company writes:

The HMC1131 is a gallium arsenide (GaAs), pseudomorphic high electron mobility transfer (pHEMT), monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), driver amplifier that operates from 24 GHz to 35 GHz. The HMC1131 provides 22 dB of gain at the 24 GHz to 27 GHz range, 35 dBm output IP3, and 24 dBm of output power at 1 dB gain compression, while requiring 225 mA from a 5 V supply. The HMC1131 is capable of supplying 25 dBm of saturated output power and is housed in a compact, 4 mm × 4 mm ceramic leadless chip carrier (24-lead LCC). The HMC1131 is an ideal driver amplifier for a wide range of applications, including point-to-point radios, from 24 GHz to 35 GHz.

Imec delivers clothing display

September 3, 2015

Imec delivers clothing display

Imec, the Centre and CMST, Imec’s associated lab at Ghent University, have demonstrated the world’s first stretchable and conformable thin-film transistor (TFT) driven LED display laminated into textiles.

The conformable display is very thin and mechanically stretchable. A fine-grain version of the proven meander interconnect technology was developed by the CMST lab at Ghent University and Holst Centre to link standard (rigid) LEDs into a flexible and stretchable display.

The LED displays are fabricated on a polyimide substrate and encapsulated in rubber, allowing the displays to be laminated in to textiles that can be washed. Importantly, the technology uses fabrication steps that are known to the manufacturing industry, enabling rapid industrialization.

Next generation displays feature smaller LEDs mounted on an amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFT backplane that employs a two-transistor and one capacitor (2T-1C) pixel engine to drive the LEDs.

These second-generation displays offer higher pitch and increased, average brightness. The presentation will feature a 32×32 pixel demonstrator with a resolution of 13 pixels per inch (ppi) and average brightness above 200 candelas per square meter (cd/m2). Work is ongoing to further industrialize this technology.

IoT sensor prototyping board has Bluetooth interface

Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems is selling an evaluation kit for its Grid-Eye infrared array sensor, which incorporates a Bluetooth Smart module and a microcontroller.

IoT sensor prototyping board has Bluetooth interface – Grid-EYE

The kit is intended for prototyping the infrared array sensor which is a 64 pixel IR camera in a surface mount package measuring 11.6mm x 8mm x 4.3mm, which integrates the MEMS sensor, lens and I2C interface.

The integrated Bluetooth module in the evaluation kit, the PAN1740, draws 4.9mA in transmit or receive operating modes, which means it can be powered by coin cell batteries.

The IR sensor, which was introduced two years ago, has 64 thermopile elements in an 8×8 grid format that detect absolute surface temperature without any contact.

Applications include hot-spot detection, human detection and contactless temperature measurement.

Dev board puts ECP5 FPGAs in small cells

Lattice Semiconductor is targeting its ECP5 range of FPGAs at small cell wireless basestations and communications terminals and it has introduced a development kit for system prototyping and test.

Lattice Versa dev board

The ECP5 Versa development kit allows designers to evaluate system performance against interface standards such as PCI Express, Gigabit Ethernet, DDR3 and generic SERDES.

Lattice has also created a version of its Diamond software suite specifically for the ECP5 Versa kit and this will be available free of charge to all users purchasing the board.

The new Versa development kit is available direct from Lattice at a limited promotional price of $99.

ECP5 FPGAs are inetnded as low cost, low density devices with less than 100K LUTs. The FPGA architecture incorporates small LUT4 based logic slices, dual-channel SERDES and DSP blocks.

Keysight buys UK-based asset management firm

Keysight buys UK-based asset management firm

Keysight Technologies continues to build its test equipment support services business and it has bought a UK-based repair and asset management services company.

The test services business is new focus for Keysight following last year’s separation from Agilent Technologies life sciences businesses.

Electroservices Enterprises, which is based in Telford, carries out electrical, mechanical and physical calibration, repair and asset management services to defence, telecoms and industrial customers.

“This move demonstrates a commitment to offer customers in Europe a rapidly expanding spectrum of high-quality support services covering their full range of assets,” said Chris Rennie, managing director of Keysight Technologies UK.

Keysight said lats year that it wanted to grow its calibration services business. It also aid it would add an asset management business and training services.

Keysight has identified the services business as a growth opportunity, perhaps growing faster than the hardware test market which has matured to steady, but not exceptional growth rates in recent years.

“We believe the services side of the business will be a big differentiator, it can sustain and support the hardware/software test business,” says Rennie.

TI Delfino MCU gets in-system programming

Texas Instruments’ latest 32-bit floating-point microcontroller, called Delfino, gets in-system programming with the FlashRunner line from SMH Technologies of Italy.

TI Delfino MCU gets in-system programming

The in-circuit programming of the F2837xD microcontrollers, which have two real-time control accelerators (CLAs), avoids the limitations associated with traditional programmable devices (On-Socket or Pre-Programmed).

Villotta di Chions-based SMH says the FlashRunner programmer’s open architecture makes its firmware upgradable to also support TI TMS320F2837xD devices.

The dual real-time control subsystems are based on TI’s 32-bit C28x floating-point CPUs with a newly integrated trigonometric math unit are designed to support fast execution of algorithms with trigonometric operations common in transforms and torque loop calculations.

The MCU supports up to 1Mbyte of onboard flash memory with error correction code and up to 204kbyte of SRAM. Two 128-bit secure zones are also available on each CPU for code protection.

The FlashRunner in-circuit programmer is available in the UK from Adaptsys.

China launches FPGA family

Gowin GW1N FPGA

Twenty-month-old Gowin Semiconductor of Guangdong has a two-device family of FPGAs called GW1N – GW1N-1K and GW1N-9K.

They are made on TSMC’s 55nm process with an embedded flash block which can be randomly accessed.

According to Gowin they have up to 9K LUTs; up to 198K embedded block SRAM bits and nearly 20K Shadow SRAM bits; up to 2 million user flash memory bits; up to 20 dedicated 18×18 multipliers and accumulators; up to 276 I/O which include 44 true LVDS output and also support PLLs and DLLs applications.

Packages include WLCSP25, QFN32, LQFP100, LQFPQ44, MBGA160, BGA204, PBGA256, and PBGA484.

FPGA “instant on”

The FPGAs have an “instant on” when powering up and support two types of core Vcc devices: LV and UV. It also supports multiple IO standards and protocols, JTAG, MSPI configuration and a dual boot option.

The front end of Gowin design flow is supported by Synplify of Synopsys. The back end of the design flow is supported by proprietary Gowin tools. From HDL/RTL to bit stream data file generation, the entire design flow is covered.

Gowin expects to provide engineering samples and an evaluation board in Q4, 2015.

Harsh environment isolated current sense amp from Si Labs

Harsh environment isolated current sense amp from Si Labs

Silicon Labs has introduced an isolated current sense amplifier for delivering current shunt measurement for power control systems operating in harsh environments such as industrial motor drives, solar inverters, high-voltage power converters, UPS and electric/hybrid-electric vehicle (EV/HEV) systems.

Measuring current on high-voltage rails with a galvanicly-isolated amplifier provides critical information to the low-voltage controller that improves system response time and efficiency.

The Si8920 isolated amplifier provides a differential, low-voltage input scaled for connection to current shunt resistors, says the company, enabling the controller to make precise measurements of current on high-voltage rails while maintaining electrical isolation. The device’s isignal bandwidth (up to 750kHz) ensures rapid, precise DC current measurement and accurate representation of the primary signal and harmonics.

The amplifier uses Silicon Labs’ CMOS-based isolation technology, which meets UL, VDE, CQC and CSA standards, supports up to 5kV withstand and 1,200V working voltage, and offers a wider operating temperature range, better noise immunity and longer lifetimes than competing isolation technologies, the company claims, adding that the device’s 1µV/°C offset drift ensures stable performance over diverse operating conditions.

It is aimed at industrial automation, green energy and Internet infrastructure equipment, where many power systems feature long lifetime warranties and are expected to operate for 25 years or more in the field and isolation often can be a point of first failure and a lifetime-limiting device in many power systems.

According to Silicon Labs, CMOS-based isolation components such as the Si8920 isolated amplifier operate over a full industrial temperature range and can support product lifetimes of up to 100 years.

The amplifier has 0.75µs signal delay across the isolation barrier, allowing power control systems to react rapidly to transient load conditions. Low signal delay enables control loops to respond quickly, it says, resulting in a more efficient and stable system as the controller can act sooner to maintain performance. Low signal delay also enables the power system to make quick corrective responses to unusual, potentially dangerous events, which helps reduce equipment repair and maintenance costs.

The Si8920 isolated amplifier is available in standard SOIC and DIP packages, which are easy to handle with automated assembly systems. Si8920 pricing in 10,000-unit quantities begins at $2.39.

The Si8920ISO-KIT evaluation kit costing $29 enables developers to connect quickly to a shunt resistor to evaluate Si8920 analogue isolation functionality including low-voltage differential input, response times, offset and gain characteristics.