EP&Dee no 3

MARCH, 2014 足 ISSUE NO. 3, VOL. 12

DESIGN & MANUFACTURING

EP&Dee ELECTRONICS

PRODUCTS

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DESIGN

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EASTERN

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THE EAST EUROPEAN RESOURCE FOR EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS

MARCH 2014 Table of Contents

Win a PICDEM™ Lab Development Kit from Microchip

DESIGN FEATURES 14 4G + IPv6 = M2M - Smart-talking machines The combination of 4G and IPv6 will bring about a new world of smarter M2M communication, explains Ramanuja Konreddy, Senior Product Marketing Engineer MCU32 Division of Microchip Technology Inc.

18 Requirements for Realizing the Internet of Things (IoT) The Internet of Things (IoT) covers many aspects of life – from connected homes and cities to connected cars and roads to devices which track an individual’s behavior and use the data collected for “push” services. It is forecast that there will be 1 trillion Internet-connected devices by 2025 and define mobile phones as the “eyes and ears” of the applications connecting all of those connected “things.”

24 Energy Saving Network Power management (ES-NP) To meet the European CO2 - emission guidelines, the car manufacturers have investigated all systems with respect to their energy efficiency. Even the smallest load can become a factor in deciding whether a tax of EUR 95 per 1g CO2/km has to be paid or not.

EP&Dee is offering you the chance to win a PICDEM™ Lab Development Kit. The PICDEM Lab Development Kit (#DM163045) is designed to provide a comprehensive development and learning platform for Microchip's FLASH-based 6, 8-, 14-, 18- and 20-pin 8-bit PIC® microcontrollers. Geared toward first-time PIC microcontroller users and students, the development kit is supplied with five of our most popular 8-bit PIC microcontrollers and a host of discrete components used to create a number of commonly used circuits. Expansion headers provide complete access/connectivity to all pins on the connected PIC microcontrollers and all mounted components.

28 Kinetis M - Microcontrollers for Measuring Equipment If you take a look around, you’ll notice that you are surrounded by a lot of metering devices at every step of your everyday life. I’m talking about all the electric, gas and water meters, and the heating meter devices in our homes, not to mention the flow meters, weighing and registration systems at petrol stations and shopping centres.

34 Enabling a New Generation The latest addition to Microchip’s PIC32 family increases performance, integration and connectivity.

36 RFduino much more than just a tiny computer with Bluetooth 4.0 With the RFduino, the Arduino open-source platform is now able to offer a wireless alternative.

The wireless-enabled microcontroller is scarcely the size of a fingertip and communicates with smartphones, tablets and laptops which have a Bluetooth SMART READY logo.

38 A new generation of voltage transducers for the challenges of today’s applications The rail traction and industrial market sectors are noted as extremely challenging environments in terms of electronic systems that are created to monitor the flow of electrical power within them. They demand the highest levels of reliability and performance, and both require that systems continue to operate in very aggressive environmental conditions.

PRODUCT NEWS 41 Embedded Systems (p 4 - 11) (p 16, 23, 27, 33) (p 40, 41)

7 42

45

Active Components (p 42 - 47)

For your chance to win a PICDEM Lab Development Kit, please visit: http://www.microchip-comps.com/epdee-piclabdev and enter your details in the entry form.

Group Publishing Director Gabriel Neagu Managing Director Ionela Ganea Accounting Ioana Paraschiv Advertisement Irina Ganea WEB Eugen Vărzaru © 2014 by Eurostandard Press 2000

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A solderless prototyping block is included for quick exploration of the application examples described in the “hands-on” labs included in the user’s guide. These labs provide an intuitive introduction to using common peripherals and include useful application examples, from lighting an LED to some basic mixed signal applications using the free HI-TECH C® PRO for the PIC10/12/16 MCU Family Lite Mode Compiler.

Alternately, a companion guide featuring the free version of Matrix Multimedia’s Flowcode V3 Visual Programming Environment (VPE) provides a flowchart-based method of implementing a series of introductory labs. A free version of Flowcode V3 can be downloaded on the Microchip website.

Completing the kit are Microchip’s PICkit™ 3 Programmer/ Debugger, which should be used for development purposes only, and a suite of free software tools that enable original applications to be developed quickly.

EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

Contributing editors Radu Andrei Ross Bannatyne Consulting Marian Blejan Bogdan Grămescu Mihai Savu Asian Reprezentative Taiwan Charles Yang Tel: +886­4­3223633 charles@medianet.com.tw

EP&Dee Web page: www.epd­ee.eu EP&Dee Subscriptions: office@epd­ee.eu

EUROSTANDARD PRESS 2000 Tel.: +40 31 805 9955 Tel: +40 31 805 9887 office@esp2000.ro www.esp2000.ro VAT Registration: RO3998003 Company number: J03/1371/1993

EP&Dee (Electronics Products & Design ­ Eastern Europe) is published 11 times per year in 2014 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l.

It is a free to qualified electronics engineers and managers involved in engineering decisions. Starting on 2010, this magazine is published only in digital format.

Copyright 2014 by Euro Standard Press 2000 s.r.l. All rights reserved.

INDUSTRY NEWS Analog Devices unveils two more software-defined radio platform solutions ADI offers four SDR platform solutions that simplify rapid SDR system prototyping and development.

Analog Devices, Inc., a global leader in high-performance semiconductors for signal processing applications, announced two software-defined radio (SDR) platform solutions and ecosystems.

This brings its portfolio to four platform solutions that simplify rapid SDR system prototyping and development in applications ranging from defense electronics, RF instrumentation, communications infrastructure and open-source SDR development projects.

The AD-FMCOMMS4-EBZ is a transceiver FMC module and the newest addition to Analog Devices’ expanding portfolio of single-channel SDR solutions. It includes the AD9364 RF Transceiver IC in a cost-effective 1 × 1 SDR rapid prototyping FMC module. The AD-FMCO MMS3-EBZ is also a transceiver FMC module and was engineered for 70 MHz to 6 GHz wideband tuning applications such as hand-held and whitespace radios. It is built around the AD9361 RF transceiver on a 2 × 2 SDR rapid prototyping module joining the previously announced ADFMCCOMMS2-EBZ FMC module in the dual channel product portfolio.

The new Analog Devices FMC modules include all of the HDL (hardware description language) code and device drivers needed for designers to quickly get their SDR platform up and running on the bench to reduce system development time and risk. For more information on ADI’s SDR solutions, which include RF Agile Transceiver ICs, FMC rapid prototyping platforms and a variety of discrete components visit SDR Revolution.

ANALOG DEVICES www.analog.com

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EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Silicon Labs Launches the World’s Most Energy-Friendly MCUs Based on the ARM Cortex-M0+ Core Silicon Labs introduced the industry’s most energy-friendly 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) based on the ARM® Cortex®-M0+ processor. The EFM32™ Zero Gecko MCU family is designed to achieve the lowest system energy consumption for a wide range of battery-powered applications such as mobile health and fitness products, smart watches, activity trackers, smart meters, security systems and wireless sensor nodes, as well as battery-less systems powered by harvested energy. The new Zero Gecko family is the latest addition to the EFM32 Gecko portfolio pioneered by Energy Micro. The family includes 16 cost-effective MCU products designed from the ground up to enable the lowest possible energy consumption for connected devices enabling the Internet of Things (IoT). The EFM32 Zero Gecko MCUs feature the industry’s most sophisticated energy management system with five energy modes that enable applications to remain in an energy-optimal state, spending as little time as possible in the energy-hungry active mode. In deep-sleep mode, Zero Gecko MCUs have an industry-leading 0.9μA standby current consumption with a 32.768 kHz RTC, RAM/CPU state retention, brownout detector and power-on-reset circuitry

different MCU peripherals to communicate directly with each other and autonomously without involving the CPU. Leveraging the PRS, an EFM32 MCU can watch for a series of specific events to occur before waking the CPU, thereby keeping the Cortex-M0+ processor core in an energy-saving standby mode as long as possible and reducing overall system power consumption.

The EFM32 Zero Gecko MCUs feature many

active. Active-mode power consumption scales down to 110μA/MHz at 24MHz with real-world code (prime number search algorithm) executed from flash. Current consumption is less than 20nA in shut-off mode. The EFM32 MCUs further reduce power consumption with a 2-microsecond wakeup time from standby mode.

Like all EFM32 Gecko products, the Zero Gecko MCUs include a best-in-class energysaving feature called the Peripheral Reflex System (PRS) that significantly enhances system-level energy efficiency. The PRS monitors complex system-level events and allows

The EFM32 Zero Gecko devices are the only Cortex-M0+ MCUs on the market that integrate a programmable current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC). This on-chip precision-analog IDAC generates a biasing current from 0.05-64μA with only 10nA overhead.

The IDAC provides an accurate bias and/or control capability for companion ICs and other external circuits including amplifiers, sensors, Wheatstone bridges and resistor ladders, thereby eliminating the need for external power amplifier components for many cost-sensitive applications.

SILICON LABS www.silabs.com/zero-gecko

of the same power-saving precision analog peripherals included in Silicon Labs’ popular Tiny Gecko, Giant Gecko and Wonder Gecko devices. These low-energy peripherals include an analog comparator, a supply voltage comparator, an on-chip temperature sensor and a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with 350μA current consumption at a 1MHz sample rate.

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Microchip expands low pin-count, generalpurpose 8-bit PIC® microcontroller family for safety-critical applications Microchip announces, from Embedded World, an expansion of its 8-bit PIC® microcontroller (MCU) portfolio, with the peripheral-rich, low pin-count PIC16(L) F161X family. These new MCUs expand the offering of Microchip’s Core Independent Peripherals (CIP), which off-load timing-critical and core-intensive tasks from the

CPU, allowing it to focus on other application tasks. In addition, this family integrates fault-detecting hardware features to assist engineers in developing safety-critical applications.

The PIC16(L)F161X family offers a variety of key features, including the Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT), which monitors proper software operation within predefined limits, improving reliability.

The Cyclic Redundancy Check with Memory Scan (CRC/SCAN) detects and scans memory for corrupted data. This family also includes a Hardware Limit Timer (HLT), which detects hardware fault conditions, including stall and stop, to simplify closed-loop-control applications.

These peripherals make it easier for designers to implement safety standards such as UL & class B, or fail-safe operation.

In addition to the HLT, the PIC16(L)F161X features the unique, 24-bit Signal Measurement Timer (SMT). The SMT performs high-resolution measurements of any digital signal, in hardware,

resulting in more precise and accurate measurements. This is ideal for speed control, range finding and RPM indicators. Both timers are designed to reduce design complexity, by eliminating the need for additional code and external components.

This high level of integration makes these MCUs appealing to a broad range of applications, such as monitoring and fail-safe systems including industrial machinery and power supplies; as well as products with variable-speed motor control such as fans and home appliances.

MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/get/VDLM

Low-Power ARM i.MX 6 on Robust Rugged COM Express® Based on the new VITA 59 - Rugged COM Express standard and equipped with the ARM i.MX 6, the CC10C not only has a leading role in terms of robust COM Express compatible modules, but is also the first standard product from MEN in the low-power COM area using ARM processor technology.

The Freescale ARM i.MX 6 processor with a Cortex-A9 architecture forms the core of the CC10C Rugged COM Express (RCE) module. You can select from the different families of the i.MX 6 series – 6Solo, 6DualLite, 6Dual and 6Quad – and find an individual solution for different demands in calculation and graphics power.

Since the i.MX 6 not only provides scalable CPU performance, but also a wealth of on-chip controllers and interfaces – e.g., Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 or 5-Gigabit PCI Express, UART and CAN bus or interfaces for multimedia applications such as LVDS, DVI, audio and a camera connection –, the CC10C excels by its nearly boundless I/O flexibility.

If you need further I/O exceeding the multiple standard functions, the integrated FPGA with 140 available pins offers additional options for customization.

The selection of memory comprises up to 4 GB DDR3 RAM, a soldered eMMC and 3-Gigabit SATA for external mass storage.

Due to the Rugged COM Express standard, this flexibility is now enclosed in a robust conduction-cooled cover and frame with a thermal connection to the CC10C's PCB. Apart from securing an extended temperature range of -40 to +85°C, this massive and tightly screwed aluminum frame also makes the CC10C 100% EMC tight, shock and vibration resistant and protects against dust, humidity or chemicals.

The CC10C complies with the basic dimensions of the COM Express "Compact" form factor and uses a Type 6 pin-out. By being embedded in the aluminum frame specified by the VITA 59 standard, the module grows to 105 × 105 mm. The new module is also available without a frame and in the standard PICMG COM.0 dimensions of 95 × 95 mm, and is then called CC10.

Price starting from EUR 420 plus VAT for single units.

MEN MIKRO ELEKTRONIK

www.men.de

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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INDUSTRY NEWS Tiny integrated solution powers RF agile radio applications and FPGAS Efficient, reliable PMU for complex integrated power solutions required by advanced software-defined radio and FPGA applications.

Analog Devices introduced an integrated family of efficient power management ICs (integrated circuits) targeting compact, high density power solutions for RF agile radio and FPGA/processor-based (field-programmable gate array) applications.

The ADP505x family of power management ICs was designed as an integrated power solution for picocell and femtocell base stations, portable and handheld devices as well as most applications needing a compact, integrated power solution. Designed to support Analog Devices’ AD9361 RF Transceiver for softwaredefined radio (SDR) applications, it can also be used as an integrated power solution for many of Altera Corp.’s and Xilinx Inc.’s FPGA platforms.

For more information about ADI integrated power management solutions and FPGAs: Integrated Power Solutions for Altera FPGAs and Integrated Power Solutions for Xilinx FPGAs. The ADP505x combines multiple buck regulators and LDOs (low-dropout regulators) or Power on Reset/Watchdog into a single, compact 48-lead LFCSP (7 mm × 7 mm) package resulting in a power density solution of up to 25W in only a 310mm2 PCB area. It is an extremely versatile multi-output regulator with four buck switching regulators (4A, 4A, 1.2A, 1.2A) and one 200-mA LDO in the ADP5051 and ADP5052. The ADP5050 and ADP5051 implements an I²C® interface that allows the input voltage to the device and the die temperature to be monitored, increasing the power solution’s overall reliability. Its integrated design allows a single IC to be designed into many different applications, reducing power supply design time.

ANALOG DEVICES www.analog.com

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EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Rugged PCI/104-Express SBCs with Interchangeable QSeven Computer-on-Modules At Embedded World, Diamond Systems, a leading global developer of compact, rugged, I/O-rich embedded computing solutions for a broad range of real-world applications, unveiled Quantum, a conduction-cooled PCI/104-Express SBC (single board computer) family with interchangeable, full size QSeven COMs processors and a highly integrated I/O baseboard.

The processors available on the new Quantum SBCs include the 1GHz AMD Fusion G-T40E CPU, the 1GHz AMD GSeries eKabini GX-210HA SOC and ARM A9 i.MX6 single/dual/quad cores up to 1.2GHz. The new family of SBCs fully utilize the latest serial high speed buses available with QSeven for extended product viability as well as the concept’s modular plug and play function that enhances performance scalability. The new PCI/104-Express-based

ibility with existing PCIe/104 I/O modules.

The compact connector also enables the board to accommodate more I/O features than other PCI/104-Express SBCs. For additional I/O expansion, Quantum also provides a dual-use PCIe MiniCard/mSATA socket. I/O modules featuring WiFi, Ethernet, analog I/O, digital I/O and CAN are now available in the PCIe MiniCard form factor, providing compact expandability, without increasing total system height.

For rugged applications, wide-temperature mSATA modules up to 64 GB are available in SLC and MLC technologies.

Quantum SBCs run Linux, Windows Embedded Standard 7 and Windows XP operating systems. A Linux software development kit is available with bootable images and drivers to facilitate the start of a design project right out of the box.

family offers a wide range of on-board I/O including data acquisition with A/D, digital I/O, counter/timers and pulse width modulators. Standard PC I/O includes USB 2.0, RS-232/422/485, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA and digital I/O. Designed to excel in harsh environments including industrial, on-vehicle and military applications, Quantum SBCs feature a bottom-side heat spreader that mounts directly to the baseboard, relieving stress on the Qseven module and enhancing durability.

Most I/O is provided on latching connectors for increased ruggedness. The boards also incorporate a 6V to 34V wide voltage power input.

Quantum SBCs support I/O expansion with PCI-104, PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express I/O modules. A new miniature, low cost PCIe connector supports both PCIe/104 Type 1 and Type 2 modules and provides compat-

The Quantum SBC was designed with rugged applications in mind from its extended operating temperature of -40°C to +85°C on most models and the on-board DDR3 SDRAM to the latching I/O connectors.

An integrated bottom-mounted heat spreader simplifies the installation of I/O modules on the top side of the board, eliminating interference from heat sinks and increasing space for I/O functions and connectors.

Several models of the Quantum PCI/104Express single board computer are available offering a choice of QSeven COMs to match your application’s price and performance needs. Pricing is dependent upon processor selected. Complete development kits, software development kits and a cable kit are all available to accelerate development.

DIAMOND SYSTEMS www.diamondsystems.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Microchip expands 8-bit PIC速 microcontroller portfolio with three high-resolution 16-bit PWMs in 8-pin packages Microchip announces, from Embedded World, an expansion of its 8-bit PIC速 microcontroller (MCU) portfolio with the PIC12(L)F157X family, which features multiple 16-bit PWMs with an assortment of analogue peripherals and serial communications in an 8-pin package. These MCUs deliver three

full-featured 16-bit PWMs with independent timers, for applications where high resolution is needed, such as LED lighting, stepper motors, battery charging and other general-purpose applications. In addition to standard and centre-aligned PWM output modes, the peripheral also has four compare modes and can serve as an additional 16-bit timer.

The Complementary Waveform Generator (CWG), in combination with the 16-bit PWMs, can be used to create half-bridge and full-bridge drive control. The CWG is a powerful waveform generator, which can generate complementary waveforms with fine control of key parameters such as

polarity, dead band and emergency shutdown states. It provides a cost-effective solution, saving both board space and component cost when driving FETs in motorcontrol and power-conversion applications. The CWG and 16-bit PWMs are Core Independent Peripherals (CIP) which are coupled with the 10-bit ADCs, com-

parator and 5-bit DAC Analogue Peripherals to enable closed-loop feedback and control. The PIC12F157X MCUs are well suited for a wide range of applications, such as indoor/outdoor LED lighting, and RGB LED colour mixing; consumer applications such as electric razors and radio-control toys; and automotive interior LED lighting.

The PIC12F1572 enables communication with an EUSART, at the lowest price-point in the PIC MCU portfolio. The addition of the EUSART enables general-purpose serial communication and LIN for automotive and industrial control.

MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/get/G6RB

Cost-Effective Build-toOrder Industrial PC with Maximum Flexibility The MH70I Industrial PC offers an open and flexible system platform based on high-performance and robust CompactPCI boards, and complete software support.

It is configurable with a selection of standard hardware, software and accessories and can be used in a multitude of industrial applications, as well as in vehicles.

The MH70I combines flexible functions tailored to industrial applications with robust 19" mechanics, scalable high-end computing and graphics performance, and reliable system management. MEN's first 19" Industrial PC owes its modularity to a combination of CompactPCI, CompactPCI Serial and PCI or PCI Express cards. A pre-installed software package with all drivers required for Windows Embedded Standard 7 makes the MH70I a cost-effective, reliable and long-term available platform with a short time-to-market.

Being the first member of MEN's new system family with a predefined basic functionality, the MH70I is tailored to industrial applications. It boasts a compact size of a half 19" rack, thus making it possible to install two systems side-by-side in a standard 19" housing. It offers space for nine individually configurable slots and can also be wall-mounted.

Two PSU slots ensure a redundant, safe power supply and support AC, DC or USP PSUs. Two slots are provided for both CompactPCI and CompactPCI Serial peripheral boards. Two additional slots, which can either be used for PCI or PCI Express cards, or for two CompactPCI Serial peripheral boards as well as the CompactPCI PlusIO system slot, complete the set-up of the modular system.

The Industrial PC is built around the F22P CompactPCI PlusIO SBC with Intel Core i7 or Celeron processor offering one VGA interface, 2 USB and two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces at the front as well as up to 16 GB DDR3 DRAM. Regarding the choice of the peripheral boards, there are almost no limits to your creativity. Within a pre-defined set of boards you can select analog or binary I/O via M-Modules, fieldbus functions, SATA hard disks or wireless functions, as well as Ethernet interface boards or Ethernet switches. A SATA RAID with up to four HDD shuttles can be built in the CompactPCI Serial slots.

MEN MIKRO ELEKTRONIK www.men.de

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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INDUSTRY NEWS Analog Devices sets new standard in mixed-signal control processors revolutionizing industrial motor and solar inverter designs Analog Devices, Inc. launched a mixed-signal control processor that integrates the industry’s only embedded dual 16-bit A/D converter with up to 14 bits of accuracy together with a 240-MHz floating-point ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor core. Equipment manufacturers require highly accurate, closed-loop control in servo, motor-drive, solar photo-voltaic (PV) inverter and other embedded industrial applications to improve the energy efficiency and performance of their products. The higher precision analog conversion of the ADSPCM40x achieves these goals.

In addition, solar PV has become the largest source of new generation capacity added to the global electricity grid - with a cumulative installation base of 100 GW - and is set to become the fastest growing source of renewable energy generation over the next decade. Increased measurement accuracy, supported by the ADSPCM40x’s integrated high precision converters, is driven by ever more stringent grid compliance requirements. This coupled with faster power control loops, fueled by the emergence of GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) power switching technologies, are combining to enable significant performance and cost improvements in the next generation of solar PV inverter topologies, all enabled with the ADSP-CM40x through its powerful 240-MHz floating point processing capabilities and best-in-class analog conversion speed. The ADSP-CM40x series is the first of a new generation of mixed-signal control processors being developed by Analog Devices for precision control applications. In addition to its analog conversion performance and 380-ns conversion speeds, the ADSPCM40x provides a number of other features such as a full sinc filter implementation to interface directly to isolated sigma-delta modulators (AD7400A/AD7401A) which are used in shuntbased current sensing system architectures.

ANALOG DEVICES www.analog.com

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EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Freescale shrinks world’s smallest ARM-based MCU by an additional 15 percent Freescale Semiconductor announces a breakthrough addition to its Kinetis mini portfolio with the introduction of the Kinetis KL03 MCU, the world’s smallest and most energy efficient 32-bit MCU based on ARM® technology. The Kinetis KL03 MCU builds on the previous generation Kinetis KL02 device with new features, advanced integra-tion, and greater ease-of-use – all in an even smaller 1.6 × 2.0mm2 package. The new capabilities of the Kinetis KL03 device help customers to achieve lower power in a smaller form factor, saving on product design time and cost.

Leveraging advanced wafer-level chip scale packaging, the Kinetis KL03 MCU is more than 15 percent smaller than the previous generation Freescale KL02 device, and 35 percent smaller than competing 32-bit ARM MCUs. The new SoC is ideally suited for space-constrained designs, including a wide range of applications in the consumer, healthcare, and industrial markets. It is ideal for the fastgrowing Internet of Things (IoT) market, where edge nodes increasingly require more intelligence in ever-smaller form factors.

The Kinetis KL03 MCU combines the power efficiency of the Kinetis L series based on ARM® Cortex®- M0+ cores with enhanced low-power functionalities including register files, SRTC, low power UART, and additional low power wake up pins.

Additionally, the new product offers greater ease of use over the previous generation. An added ROM-based boot loader allows factory programming and on-line system firmware upgrades without adding circuitry to the board, reducing program-

ming-related costs for customers. An internal high accurate voltage reference (Vref) delivers improved analog performance by supplying an embedded 1.2 volt reference for the ADC, enabling several use cases for applications requiring high ADC accuracy.

The Kinetis KL03 MCU integrates: • 48 MHz ARM Cortex-M0+ core, 1.71-3.6V operation • Bit manipulation engine for faster, more code-efficient handling of peripheral registers • 32 KB flash memory, 2 KB RAM • 8K ROM with on-chip boot loader • High-speed 12-bit analog-to-digital converter • Internal voltage reference for high ADC accuracy • High-speed analog comparator • Low power wake up • Low-power UART, SPI, I2C (high speed) • Secure real time clock • Powerful timers for a broad range of applications including motor control • -40 °C to +85 °C operation FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR www.freescale.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

RUTRONIK EMBEDDED: Embedded Platforms powered by 4th Generation Intel® Core(TM) U Processors from Advantech The latest platforms from Advantech, based on the 4th generation Intel® Core(TM) U processors, offer high graphics and low power. The Computer On Modules, Single Board Computers, Industrial Motherboards and Fanless Embedded Box PCs are available at distributor Rutronik as of now. The 4th generation Intel® Core(TM) U processors come with improvements in CPU processing, graphics and security capabilities. The product line, including i7/i5/i3 processors and Celeron, is a 1-chip BGA (Ball Grid Array) chipset that integrates CPU and PCH, resulting in a low Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 15W. The new platform also supports improved GT3 graphics for 24% better 3D media and display performance compared to the previous generation platforms. Its low power, low profile design structure

allows system integrators to build compact systems more easily without heat limitation problems. To meet such requirements, Advantech developed a series of industrial-grade embedded boards and systems such as the COM Express Compact module SOM6894, the 3.5'' MI/O Extension Single Board Computer MIO-527, the Thin Mini-ITX Motherboard

AIMB-230 and the slim fanless Embedded Box PC ARK-1550. The platforms are ideal for portable, battery-operated applications with high graphic requirements, such as medical imaging, digital signage, gaming and more.

RUTRONIK www.rutronik.com/6a1180e0.l

Kontron launches two COM Express compact Computer-onModule families with Intel Atom processor E3800 and Intel Celeron processors N2900/J1900 Kontron presented two new COM Express compact Computeron-Module families with Intel Atom E3800 series processors and Intel Celeron N2900 / J1900 series processors. The new modules extend the existing Intel SoC-based COM Express portfolio to embrace especially powerful compact variants with full type 6 I/O support including PCI Express, LAN, USB and Digital Display interfaces. In total, Kontron now offers 16 different configuration options in this COM Express Computer-onModule performance class. These range from particularly costefficient single-core modules for indoor digital signage applications right up to top performance quad-core modules for deployment in harsh outdoor environments and at temperatures of -40°C to +85°C. Due to this high level of scalability, customers will always find a Kontron module with the right feature set that perfectly fits their application, which in turn reduces costs to a minimum.

Silicon Labs Simplifies Embedded Development with Simplicity Studio Platform Silicon Labs introduced a new version of the Simplicity Studio™ development ecosystem that provides unified support for Silicon Labs’ energy-friendly 32-bit EFM32™ Gecko microcontrollers (MCUs) and 8-bit MCUs. This new software release inherits the best features of the original Simplicity Studio by supporting more than 240 ARM®based EFM32 MCUs shipping today while extending development support to Silicon Labs’ 8051-based MCU products. The new Simplicity Studio platform also integrates an Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE) that supports both 32-bit and 8-bit embedded designs.

Simplicity Studio is designed to make the development process easier, faster and more efficient by providing embedded designers with everything they need to complete

their projects, from initial concept to final product, in a single, simpleto-use platform. The Simplicity Studio platform has built-in intelligence to immediately detect the connected target MCU. Graphical hardware configuration tools automatically configure the MCU, freeing the developer from the timeconsuming task of perusing technical documentation. Developers can

get projects up and running in minutes with sample demos and application code examples.

SILICON LABS www.silabs.com

Regardless of which modules are selected by the customer, all the modules profit from excellent Gen7 Intel HD graphics for two independent monitors and the high processor performance offered by the new Intel Atom and Intel Celeron SoC processors which all boast low power consumption of 5 to 10 watts. Target industries include POS/POI and kiosk systems, digital signage players, gaming and medical PCs as well as HMIs and controllers in industrial machinery and equipment. Thanks to the COM Express standard, developers in all these markets have access to by far the world's leading and most extensive eco-system for x86 Computer-on-Modules and a seamless scalability from ultra-lowpower SFF modules to high-end computing cores. Customers also benefit from Kontron's extensive software and customization services, which put them in a position to realize their new SFF designs faster and more efficiently. The standard design of the COM Express compact modules - Kontron COMe-cBT6 - supports the entire portfolio of the Intel Atom E3800 processors (COMe-cBTi6) and Intel Celeron processors N2900 and J1900 (COMe-cBTc6), whereby the E3800 variants are designed for the extended temperature range of -40°C to +85°C. KONTRON www.kontron.com www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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INDUSTRY NEWS Reduce Board Space, Noise, and Power Consumption in Automotive Instrument Clusters with Highly Integrated PowerManagement IC (PMIC) Engineers can now design automotive clusters that are smaller, quieter, and more efficient, thanks to the MAX16993 PMIC from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.

Automotive OEMs often limit instrument cluster module consumption to less than 100μA in standby mode. Given all the functions that the instrument cluster performs, the power supply itself must consume only a tiny portion of the power budget. Under no-load conditions, the MAX16993 is the only 3-channel solution on the market that consumes just 25μA of quiescent current. This makes the PMIC more efficient than traditional DC-DC converters, which often run on several milliamps. Additionally, because the MAX16993 integrates a high-switching-frequency controller and two output converters capable of 3A each, it saves over 50% board space compared to traditional discrete solutions. The device’s 2.1MHz frequency improves AM band noise avoidance and keeps the external inductors and capacitors small. The MAX16993 is ideal for automotive instrument clusters and infotainment applications.

Key Advantages • Small: integrates one high-voltage step-down controller and two 3A, low-voltage step-down converters, saving over 50% board space compared to discrete solutions.

• Efficient: consumes 25μA of quiescent current under no-load conditions, meeting OEM power demands.

• Quiet: reduces AM band noise; provides a spread-spectrum enable input to minimize radiated EMI; includes factory-programmable synchronization I/O to allow better noise immunity.

• The MAX16993 is available in a 5mm × 5mm × 0.75mm, 32-pin TQFN-EP and a 5mm × 5mm × 0.8mm, side-wettable QFND-EP package.

• The device is AEC-Q100 qualified and operates over the -40°C to +125°C automotive temperature range.

MAXIM INTEGRATED www.maximintegrated.com

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EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Analog Devices’ Meter-on-a-Chip enables broad range of portable health applications Analog Devices, Inc., unveiled a high-precision, low-power meter-on-a-chip for a range of portable health applications such as point-of-care diagnostics, home/self-test health devices, and wearable vital signs monitors, including those for sports and fitness.

The ADuCM350 single-chip, scalable platform combines a 16-bit accurate analog front-end (AFE), which includes a configurable multi-sensor switch matrix, hardware waveform generator and discrete Fourier transform (DFT) engine, with a processing subsystem and an industry-standard software development environment to support a complete product development roadmap.

The ADuCM350 meter-on-a-chip offers easy connectivity to passive and active sensors and supports sensor fusion functionality that enables exceptionally accurate measurements of human physiological data even in the presence of interferers.

ADuCM350 Meter-on-a-chip Optimized for System-level Performance The ADuCM350 is optimized for systemlevel performance and signal measurement accuracy, including those monitoring devices powered by a single coin-cell battery, and features a precision AFE with a 16bit accurate, 160-kSPS A/D converter, +/0.2% accurate voltage reference, and a 12bit D/A converter.

Passive complex impedance sensing on the ADuCM350 enables baseline detection and detailed information of physiological, biological and electrochemical reactions, at levels previously unattainable. The fusion of passive and active sensors provides an additional level of signal measurement accuracy, and environmentally robust capacitance-to-digital technology on-chip supports new use cases such as skin electrode detection and next-generation electrochemical test strip technologies. The precision AFE performs auto-calibration ensuring accurate, repeatable measurements in the field for the life of the product.

Scalable Development Platform Supports Rapid Feature Expansion The ADuCM350 healthcare meter-on-a-chip is a flexible platform that supports full product development roadmaps from entry-level to feature-rich devices. Sensor fusion functionality allows designers to expand product measurement capabilities. For example, the ADuCM350 platform can support calorie burn applications by combining galvanic skin response for heart rate and respiration, with an ultra-low-power 3-axis MEMS accelerometer for altitude and motion detection. An extensive peripheral set of communication I/O including USB, audio, display, serial and touch supports differentiation and rapid feature expansion. The ADuCM350 AFE sequencer enables designers to develop the software for a measurement procedure only once and then reliably port it across an entire product family.

ADuCM350 Healthcare Meter-on-a-Chip Key Features • 16-bit accurate 160 kSPS A/D converter • 0.2% precision voltage reference • 12-bit no missing code D/A converter • Hardware accelerators for waveform generation and filtering • 16-MHz ARM® Cortex™ M3 processor • 384-kB flash memory, 16-kB EEPROM and 32-kB SRAM • Sensor fusion support • Configurable switch matrix (amperometric, photometric, impedance, potentiometric) • Complex impedance measurement (waveform generation and filtering) • Robust capacitance-to-digital conversion technology • Communication I/O support: USB, audio, display, beeper, and serial • Extensive power management capabilities • Operation: Coin cell battery compatible ANALOG DEVICES www.analog.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Ericsson power modules new footprintcompatible DC/DC deliver increased flexibility in power system design Ericsson has introduced two new 3E* DC-DC regulators to its family of BMR461 12 × 12 × 8mm digital point-of-load (POL) modules. The two new variants in the BMR461 family offer current outputs of 6A (BMR4612001) and 18A (BMR4614001) and join the existing 12A version (BMR4613001) launched toward the end of last year. Like the 12A BMR461 regula-

module should prove of particular interest to power designers as it is optimised to deliver 18A at 1.8V, making it ideal for processors operating at sub-2V core voltages.

In fact, it is the first product of its kind to deliver this level of output current in a 12 ×12mm footprint, while also delivering automatic loop compensation and full PMBus command capability.

tor, these two new modules also deliver Dynamic Loop Compensation (DLC), advanced energy-optimization algorithms to reduce energy consumption, low-bias current technology, and a land-grid-array (LGA) footprint that guarantees excellent thermal, mechanical and electrical performance.

A very important feature of the two new modules is that they are 100 percent footprint compatible with the existing 12A BMR4613001 product. This means that customers will now have availability of these advanced POL regulators that offer three different output currents – 6A, 12A and 18A – while only having to handle a single module footprint in new systems. This significantly simplifies board design and makes it easier for power architects to move to higher or lower currenthandling power modules without needing to redesign the system board when upgrading to new microprocessors or other advanced logic devices such as FPGAs or ASICs. The 18A (BMR4614001) power

The Dynamic Loop Compensation integrated into the 6A BMR4612001 and 18A BMR4614001 is based on “statespace” or “model-predictive” control, which guarantees stability while also achieving the optimum dynamic performance without requiring any external components. The new products perform an automatic compensation routine based on measured parameters, which enables the construction of an internal mathematical model of the power supply including external components such as filtering and parasitic resistors. Based on the ‘state-space’ mathematical model rather than traditional proportional-integralderivative (PID) regulation, the devices use closed-loop pole placement and a model based on the resonant frequency of the output filter, thereby reducing the number of output capacitors required for filtering and stability.

ERICSSON POWER MODULES www.ericsson.com/powermodules

Kontron launches two new embedded motherboards with Intel Atom processor E3800 series Kontron today announced two new embedded motherboards with Intel Atom processor E3800 series. These particulary energy-efficient SoC boards in the form factors Pico-ITX and MiniITX excel with their outstanding graphics and powerful processor performance while consuming only a few watts. They also offer added value with their hardware-integrated security features for IoT applications as well as their KEAPI implementation, a platform-independent middleware, which allows access routines to hardware resources to be standardized. Once programmed, application code can be re-applied with identical functionality without any changes. This simplifies porting, reduces development costs and shortens time-to-market.

The energy-saving, low-power design of the new embedded motherboards in Pico-ITX and Mini-ITX form factors can easily be integrated into existing systems without any further design effort, making them ready to use right out of the box.

Applications can be found anywhere, where low power consumption and high energy efficiency are required in combination with x86 performance that has not been available up until now. Embedded applications range from POS/POI systems and kiosk terminals with up to two independent monitors up to digital signage players or professional gaming computers.

Industrial applications can be found in HMIs, control systems and automation computers as well as in medical PCs. Outdoor and in-vehicle computing applications can be covered too, as the boards can also be deployed in extended temperature ranges of up to -25°C to +75°C (E1).

The new Pico-ITX with long-term availability in the smallest embedded motherboard form factor (2.5) is equipped with Intel Atom processor E3800 SoC series and ready to use right out of the box. Its particulary small footprint of 100 mm × 72 mm boasts a rich feature set. Most notable are the bootable slot for micro-SD cards and the mPCIe slot, which can also be used for mSATA drives. Another important feature to highlight is that the board has been consistently designed for deployment in harsh industrial environments, which, for example, the lockable DC connectors (5V) and the extended temperature range of 25°C to +75°C (E1) demonstrate.

KONTRON www.kontron.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Ormerod RepRap 3D printer is available at 3D printing is fast becoming an essential part of the design process for both electronics and mechanics, with the ability to create quick turn-around prototypes saving months in the design cycle.

Thanks to the RepRap Project, 3D printing is now lowcost and can be used for small production runs.

The RepRapPro Ormerod is one of the most versatile 3D printers available. Its primary design goal is to offer a printer which is easy to expand in functionality, fast to replicate, and fast to assemble and commission. This new model builds on the already established RepRapPro product portfolio which has undergone brisk development and heavy testing since inception in 2004.

The Ormerod uses a process known a fused filament fabrication, which it employs to build 3-dimensional objects in a range of plastics and in a variety of colours. This process enables the user to create almost any shape which can be modelled on a computer, including some which could not be produced by traditional manufacturing techniques at all. The RepRapPro Ormerod is a monochrome 3D printer configured to work with one type of plastic at a time.

However, the RepRapPro Ormerod head is fundamentally designed to work with three deposition heads and an upgrade kit will be available soon for this machine.

DesignSpark PCB is offered completely Free of Charge and fully featured. This is not a cut down version of an expensive product or one with a time limitation on license. (There are no intentional restrictions on designs). There are unlimited schematic sheets per project, up to 1m squared of board size and no limits on layers, which allow you to get your creativity flowing without restraints. DesignSpark PCB circuit design software can be used for schematic capture, PCB board design & layout, generating impressive 3D View to visualise your design in real time, and generating manufacturing files.

The RepRapPro Ormerod is shipped as kit of parts containing all the components required to get you printing. Full assembly is required.

n n n n n n

Specifications: Full open-source self-replicating RepRap Arduino-compatible enable control via a web-browser Wiring loom for simple plug-in connection – no soldering Build volume: 210 × 190 × 140mm Overall size: 500 × 460 × 410mm Printing materials: ABS, PLA, 1.75mm diameter thermoplastic Build surface: PCB-heated bed to reduce complexity of assembly and to ensure parts do not warp Computer interface: USB Three Z-adjustable deposition head mounts; one head supplied.

Standard nozzle size: 0.5mm Accuracy: 0.1mm Resolution: 0.0125mm Building speed: 1,800 mm/min Moving speed: 12,000 mm/min Deposition rate: 33 cm3 / hr

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n n n n n n n n n

DesignSpark PCB supports importing of Eagle CAD design files, circuit diagrams and libraries In addition to extensive libraries, sophisticated part creation wizards make it easy to design new parts from scratch or by amending downloaded symbols and footprints. Bill of Materials (BOM) report can also be generated at any time; these give RS Components order numbers where appropriate.

Whether you are a professional designer making money from your designs, an electronics education professional, a student or a hobbyist seeking an easy to use, professional standard, unrestricted schematic capture and PCB layout tool, then DesignSpark PCB is right for you!

Aurocon Compec www.compec.ro www.designspark.com

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EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

4G + IPv6 = M2M Smart-talking machines The combination of 4G and IPv6 will bring about a new world of smarter M2M communication, explains Ramanuja Konreddy, Senior Product Marketing Engineer MCU32 Division of Microchip Technology Inc.

The internet has already revolutionised the way in which people communicate with each other and now it is ready to enable another revolution: the proliferation of smart communication between machines.

The technologies which will introduce smart machine-to-machine (M2M) communication are the high-speed 4G wireless standard and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Together, these technologies will enable designers to create a world in which smart devices could offer a new level of M2M services. The pos-

sibilities include: a smart phone which could receive an alert and location message when its owner’s car is stolen; a camera which could communicate with a GPS device to suggest local beauty spots; a fridge which could text a reminder to buy more butter; automatic uploading of data from a personal health monitoring device to a GP; and a machine which could send an alert when it needs to be repaired. These, and so many more applications, will all be enabled by smart M2M communications.

Figure 1 shows the interaction between the key elements of M2M technology. These elements allow the system to receive data from an end-device and transmit that data, over a communication network, to application software which processes and converts it into recognisable nformation for the application.

Typically, M2M networks transmit data using Global System for Mobile (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), power-line or satellite communications.

Designers of industrial applications have been quick to see the potential of M2M communication. The combination of powerful sensors, advanced embedded microcontrollers and wireless networks has enabled new levels of control through applications such as remote monitoring of industrial equipment and fleet management.

Considering these two applications in more detail reveals how M2M communication could transform the way in which the world works, in addition to saving cost, improving efficiency and reducing manual tasks.

Figure 1: The key elements in M2M communication.

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Remote monitoring A remote monitoring system for industrial equipment could use the combined inputs from sensors for detecting vibration, fluid leaks, temperature, mechanical wear and noise, to assess the condition of the equipment. Figure 2a shows the position of each sensor or node, represented by a yellow dot, and connected in a star topology to the network coordinator, shown by the blue dot. Together, the nodes and network coor-

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dinator form a Personal Area Network (PAN). The PAN coordinator acts as a M2M gateway between the PAN and the GPRS network and transmits the data to the remote monitoring station. If a sensor detects a parameter which is outside the

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

normal operating threshold values, the remote monitoring station sends an alert which enables preventative maintenance to be carried out. By providing advance warning of potential equipment malfunctions, M2M communication can be used to reduce

Figure 2: Remote monitoring implementation.

the cost of unplanned downtime and to increase the efficiency of preventative maintenance schedules.

Sensor nodes and PAN coordinator The block diagrams for a sensor node and a PAN coordinator are shown in Figure 2(b) and Figure 2(c).

The sensor parameters of the equipment are transmitted via a 4mA to 20mA current loop, which is a robust sensor signalling standard for industrial process and control.

These parameters are received by the MCU through its on-chip Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC). The MCU uses a PAN protocol stack, such as MiWi™, to interface with an IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver which sends the processed sensor data to the PAN coordinator.

The engine which drives communication for the entire PAN is the embedded MCU within the PAN coordinator. This MCU interfaces to both the IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver and GPRS module through serial ports. The MCU’s flash memory is used to store the map of the complete MiWi PAN, assign network addresses and establish links to new sensor nodes. It also translates the PAN protocol data to GPRS format to send over the GPRS network.

The MCU controls the GPRS module using Attention (AT) commands for data transmission. The key factors for the selection of the embedded MCU should be a high throughput, sufficient memory, and a wide range of peripherals with support for Direct Memory Access (DMA). A proven and robust wireless protocol stack, such as Microchip’s MiWi, and access to a GPRS library is also useful to ensure a stable connection between the PAN and GPRS network. Using a development board, such as Microchip’s PIC32 WiFi®Comm Board shown in Figure 3(a), can also help to fast-track the development of a wireless application.

Figure 3: Microchip demo boards for M2M communication.

Fleet management with M2M Fleet management has become a popular application for M2M technology. Vehicles fitted with GPS devices are tracked and their positions communicated back to the monitoring system using GPRS or GSM modules.

The GPS module is used to provide the position coordinates for the vehicle, whilst the CAN bus is used to collect data from different modules within the vehicle, such as the Antilock Brake System (ABS), Engine Control Unit (ECU) and airbags. www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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A 32-bit microcontroller provides the engine for a CAN/GPRS gateway by interfacing to the CAN bus, as well as to the GPRS and GPS modules, and translating CAN data into the GPRS format before sending it over the GPRS network to the Fleet Management Station.

Microchip’s M2M PICtail™ daughter board contains GPS and GSM/GPRS modules which are equipped with many AT commands in addition to the wide range of features shown in Figure 3(b).

The M2M PICtail board provides all of the hardware information, software binaries including the stack, production test bench design and test software, certification, training and documentation to enable an accelerated time-to-market. It enables a wireless, ultra-compact, low-power communications solution for easy integration into high-volume consumer, industrial and automotive designs.

A smarter world of machines The emergence of high-speed 4G communication and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is enabling communication between machines to become as commonplace as communication between people. The proliferation of communication networks and the flexibility of silicon solutions mean that the world is approaching a tipping point, at which the number of people connected by the Internet will be over-taken by the number of devices and machines which are connected via the Internet. For designers, this means that there is increased pressure to win a race to market for products which are equipped to deliver the full possibilities of M2M communication. n Note: The Microchip name and logo are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A., and other countries. mTouch, PICtail and MiWi are trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A., and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies. www.microchip.com

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

AcQ Inducom is proud to introduce the OpenVPX™ 3U Single Board Computer with Freescale QorIQ T4240 The AcQ Inducom “Medusa” VPX3424 is a 3U OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) Single Board Computer (SBC) featuring the all-new T4240 QorIQ® Processor from Freescale Semiconductor. This 12-core, 24-thread processor running at up to 1.8GHz is based on the e6500 core with AltiVec® technology and offers the cutting edge of both performance (up to 216 GFlops) and power efficiency. With up to 12GB DDR3 RAM with ECC and a range of fast interconnects, it forms the beating heart of this new board, bringing you unparalleled performance.

User-Programmable FPGA The Medusa has a Xilinx Kintex-7, user-programmable FPGA and dozens of customizable OpenVPX™ user I/O pins, allowing you to add support for application specific interfaces or offload specialized tasks to the FPGA. The user-programmable FPGA adds great flexibility to meet your design needs and opportunities for a single-board solution. Due to a fast communication interface (PCIe 4x) between the T4240 and the FPGA, the FPGA can be used for pre-processing, video/image processing or adding extra functionality.

Software Support Support for VxWorks®, Integrity®, PikeOS™ and Linux is planned for the Medusa, as well as an OS-less BSP. Other Operating Systems are available on request. Each supported software environment comes with extensive documentation, example software, compiler and IDE. Furthermore, a development kit will be available for the on-board user-programmable FPGA with code examples and documentation to kick-start your firmware development.

Small Form Factor System A conduction cooled ruggedized REDI (VITA 48) variant of the Medusa is available as part of the upcoming AcQ Inducom OpenVPX™-based small form factor system (VITA 75), a highly modular and extendable platform for a range of embedded applications. This system brings together an optimized combination of performance and SWaP. AcQ Inducom offers a wide range of boards for this system using the OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) architecture. These boards include I/O, networking and audio functionality. A PMC/XMC carrier (VPX3001) is also available. Contact us for more details on this system and how it can meet your application’s needs.

Features • Freescale® T4240 with 12 dual-threaded e6500 cores up to 1.8GHz • Built-in AltiVec® technology accelerators • Up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM ECC up to 1866MT/s • 2Mbit of FRAM • Up to 64GB eMMC • 256MB Flash for programs • User-programmable Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA • Board Management Control on IPMC bus (VITA 46.11) • Extensive on-board monitoring • Multicore-debugging over AURORA and JTAG • Configurable data plane: 2× PCIe ×4 or 1× PCIe ×8 or 1× PCIe ×4 and 1x Serial RapidIO® ×4 • Control plane: 4× 1Gb Ethernet (1000BASE-T or 1000BASE-KX) • 4× 10 Gb Ethernet (10GBase-KR) • 2× SATA 2.0 ports • 2× USB 2.0 ports • Real-time clock and elapsed time interval • Air-cooled and conduction cooled available and REDI • Compatible with many OpenVPX™ slot profiles ACQ INDUCOM

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www.acq.nl/medusa

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The Internet of Things (IoT)

Requirements for Realizing the Internet of Things (IoT)

covers many aspects of life – from connected homes and cities to connected cars and roads to devices which track an individual’s behavior and use the data collected for “push” services. It is forecast that there will be 1 trillion Internetconnected devices by 2025 and define mobile phones as

Authors: Kaivan Karimi, Meera Balakrishnan Freescale Semiconductor

the “eyes and ears” of the applications connecting all of those connected “things.”

Making Things Smart So, what does it really mean when something is smart, and what makes an object smart? Today, we are seeing the electrification of the world around us.

Almost any manufactured good now includes an embedded processor (typically a microcontroller, or MCU), along with user interfaces, that can add programmability and deterministic “command and control” functionality. The electrification of the world and the per-

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vasiveness of embedded processing are the keys to making objects “smart.”

After a device becomes smart through the integration of embedded processing, the next logical step is remote communication with the smart device to help make life easier. Communication capability and remote manual control leads to the next step … how do I automate things and, based on my settings and with sophisticated cloud-based processing, make things happen with-

Others give examples which are less phone-centric or speak of a class of devices not in existence today.

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out my intervention? That’s the ultimate goal of some IoT applications and these capabilities can then enable a new class of services that makes life easier for their users.

For the network, sophisticated cloud-based processing requires a new generation of communications processors and building secure networks that keep up with demand, while simultaneously reducing energy consumption and cost of equipment. This will require all kinds of innovations, well beyond the improvements Moore’s law can deliver.

Application Categories Let’s look at some categories for IOT-related applications.

Category One: Category one encompasses the idea of millions of heterogeneous “aware” and interconnected devices with unique IDs interacting with other machines/objects, infrastructure, and the physical environment playing a remote track, command, control and route (TCC&R) role. Here, safety and security are

INTERNET OF THINGS

paramount. These applications are about extending the automation and machine-tomachine (M2M), machine-to-infrastructure (M2I) and machine-to-nature (M2N) communications that can help simplify people’s lives.

Category Two: The second category is all about leveraging the data that gets collected by the end nodes (smart devices with sensing and connectivity capability) and data mining for trends and behaviors that can generate useful marketing information to create additional commerce. This second category, especially, spurs discussions about privacy, security, governance and the social responsibility that comes along with such a “selfaware,” connected world.

This paper is focused on category one.

Internet of Things Use Cases When devices can sense and communicate via the Internet, they can go beyond local embedded processing to access and take advantage of remote super-computing

nodes. This allows a device to run more sophisticated analyses, make complex decisions and respond to local needs quickly, often with no human intervention required.

Below are the most common use cases for the Internet of Things.

Pervasive Remote Tracking/Monitoring and (if needed) Command, Control and Routing (TCC&R): This refers to remote tracking/monitoring and, if needed, command, control and routing functions for tasks and processes today usually done manually, or, if done remotely, that require additional infrastructure.

Asset Tracking: An extension of these kinds of services is asset tracking, which today is done via barcode and a variety of manual steps, but in the future will leverage smart tags, near-field communication (NFC) and RFID to globally track all kinds of objects, interactively.

Some telehealth-related services also belong in this category.

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Process Control and Optimization: Various classes of sensors are used for monitoring and to provide data so a process can be controlled remotely.

This task can be done in real time by sending the data to a remote computer, analyzing it and bringing a command back to the line so various control actions can be taken to improve the process … without any human intervention.

Resource Allocation and Optimization: The smart energy market provides an ideal example of this use case – accessing information about energy consumption and reacting to the information to optimize the allocation of resources (energy use).

Context-aware Automation and Decision Optimization: This most fascinating category referring to monitoring unknown factors (environmental, interaction between machines and infrastructures, etc.) and having machines make decisions that are as “humanlike” as possible … only better! For example, traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) where a host of new technologies available today and in development that could allow vehicles to communicate with each other as well as with a central control unit.

Requirements common to all of the use cases above include: 1) Sensing and data collection capability (sensing nodes) 2) Layers of local embedded processing capability (local embedded processing nodes) 3) Wired and/or wireless communication capability (connectivity nodes) 4) Software to automate tasks and enable new classes of services 5) Remote network/cloud-based embedded processing capability (remote embedded processing nodes) 6) Full security across the signal path Building Blocks of the IoT 1. Sensing Nodes: The types of sensing nodes needed for the Internet of Things vary widely –e.g. a camera system for image monitoring; water or gas flow meters for smart energy; radar vision for safety; 20

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INTERNET OF THINGS

RFID readers sensing the presence of an object or person; doors and locks with open/close circuits for smart buildings.

These nodes all will carry a unique ID and can be controlled separately via a remote command and control topology.

Use cases exist today in which a smartphone with RFID and/or NFC and GPS functionality can approach individual RFID/NFC-enabled “things” in a building, communicate with them and register their physical locations on the network.

2. Layers of Local Embedded Processing Nodes: Embedded processing is at the heart of the IoT. Local processing capability is most often provided by MCUs, hybrid microcontrollers/microprocessors (MCUs/MPUs) or integrated MCU devices, which can provide the “real-time” embedded processing that is a key requirement of most IoT applications. Use cases vary significantly, and fully addressing the realtime embedded processing function requires a scalable strategy (using a scalable family of

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devices), as one size will not fit all. There are a few requirements that make an MCU ideal for use in the Internet of Things.

• Energy efficiency • Embedded architecture with a rich software ecosystem • Portfolio breadth that enables software scalability • Portfolio breadth that cost-effectively enables different levels of performance and a robust mix of I/O interfaces • Cost-effectiveness • Quality and reliability

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One thing about the connectivity needs of the future IoT market is clear – it is so diverse, large and costconscious that a range of different technologies will be needed (possibly including WAN, LAN, WPAN, WBAN, etc.), and one size will not fit all.

Requirements for communication functions are almost the same as for embedded processing nodes: • Cost-effectiveness

cessing and decision-making done within “their cloud.” Alternatively, some believe only minimal access to the cloud for basic Internet-related services will be required, with most of the “thinking” done locally. The architecture and building blocks of the IoT as described in this paper allow for a number of different approaches, which will likely be necessary due to the wide variety of use cases and configurations anticipated. That flexibility will be needed to optimize system-level performance.

• Low power • Quality and reliability • Security

6. Full Security Across the Entire Signal Path: Without a solid security mechanism for all of the IoT building blocks mentioned above, the IoT will not be as pervasive as it

• Security 3. Wired and Wireless Communication Capability: The role of the communication node is to transfer information gathered by the sensing nodes and processed by local embedded processing nodes to the destinations identified by the local embedded processing nodes.

And, once the data is remotely processed and new commands are generated, the communication node brings back the new commands to the local embedded processing nodes to execute a task.

The IoT will encompass all aspects of one’s everyday life, hence there is no limit to the distances for which command and control communication can/will be used. The IoT will also add the concept of wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs), which are networks that contain sensing and embedded processing nodes that can control their environment.

As with any emerging market, a transition period before system optimization takes place and technologies become better-suited for the end IoT-related applications is likely.

Major volumes for the IoT market will likely not happen for another 10-12 years, and, at that time, the communications technologies may be completely different from those being considered today, or new revisions of existing standards may have emerged.

Alternatively, there could be brand-new technologies better suited for certain aspects of IoT communication that displace the existing standards for the IoT. Or, a disruptive wireless network technology like what Weightless (http://www.weightless.org/) is developing may take hold.

4. Software to Automate Tasks: Getting all segments of the IoT to communicate and work together is key to the success of the technology rollout, and that means deploying a lot of software (and middleware) that will enable various heterogeneous devices to talk with each other and the infrastructure around them.

5. Remote Embedded Processing Nodes (access to cloud computing): Since there are not yet industrywide IoT best practices agreed upon and deployed, many component providers are approaching the connection between devices and the cloud as a connection to their niche cloud, as opposed to the cloud. Some companies promote that all devices will be “dumb nodes,” with all pro-

is anticipated to become.

When we say security, we really mean security of information – the information that gets passed around by various parts of the system and is context- and service-dependent. Here’s what we mean by secure information: • Information needs to be available when needed • Information needs to be confidential • The integrity of data needs to be assured The security of the system is as good as the last threat it was able to prevent, and, as soon as it gets broken, one needs to implement new ways of making it secure again. www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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Device-level Security: There are different types (MCU, hybrid MCU/MPU, integrated MCUs, etc.) and layers of embedded processing at various nodes of the IoT, and for any device to be considered smart so it can be connected to the Internet, it must incorporate an embedded processor. Embedded processors are going to be pervasive in the IoT, and they’d better be very secure.

By now it should be clear that networks of the future will connect more objects, machines and infrastructure to a global neural network of cloud-based services than they will connect people. At the heart of the IoT are layers of embedded processing, from the most remote satellite sensing node to the core of the network.

The diversity of services being planned for the IoT means no one company can develop full solutions and supporting IoT-based innovations. IoT-based innovations will

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INTERNET OF THINGS

require a broad, rich ecosystem of partner companies working together to bring IoTbased services to the market. An open (nonproprietary) platform (www.ARM.com) that allows all partners working together to use the same baseline technologies is key to making the IoT happen.

When Does the IoT Become a Reality?

The pervasiveness of embedded processing is already happening everywhere around us.

Home appliances like a toaster now come with an embedded MCU that not only sets the darkness of the piece of toast to your preference, but also adds functional safety to the device.

There are energy-aware HVAC systems that can now generate a report on the activity in your house and recommend ways to reduce your energy consumption. The electrification of vehicles has already started happening. The cars of the future will indeed be

able to drive themselves. Similar changes are also happening in other aspects of our lives ‌ in factories, transportation, school systems, stadiums and other public venues.

Embedded processing is everywhere.

Connecting those smart devices (nodes) to the web has also started happening, although at a slower rate. The pieces of the technology puzzle are coming together to accommodate the Internet of Things sooner than most people expect. Just as the Internet phenomenon happened not so long ago and caught like a wildfire, the Internet of Things will touch every aspect of our lives in less than a decade. Are you ready for it?

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

New Freescale Metrocell Base Station Processor Drives Next-Generation LTE Infrastructure for the Mobile Broadband Age The explosion of smart connected devices and increasing volumes of rich digital content have created a worldwide flood of mobile data, requiring OEMs and carriers to dramatically boost network performance while controlling capital expenditure costs, increasing power efficiency and supporting 4G/LTE standards. While macrocells remain essential to the world’s wireless infrastructure systems, operators are increasingly looking to metrocells to provide ubiquitous coverage in dense urban areas and throughout large enterprises.

To help address these challenges, Freescale Semiconductor introduces the next generation of its groundbreaking QorIQ Qonverge portfolio of base station-on-chip SoCs. Designed to help operators add capacity and deliver enhanced coverage in user-dense environments, the new B3421 base station SoC integrates digital front-end (DFE) technology, which improves power amplifier (PA) efficiency and significantly reduces base station power and costs. According to ABI

Research, outdoor small cells will have a year-on-year unit growth of 125 percent predicted for 2014 for a value of almost $3.6 billion.

The device’s embedded CPU cores, DSP cores, baseband accelerators and DFE technology deliver a system-on-chip solution that handles base station processing tasks from the front end all the way to the backhaul. The integrated DFE capability, coupled with industry-standard antenna interfaces, allow seamless RFIC interfacing and streamlined RF line-up optimization. Together with Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities to meet low power requirements, support for JESD204B, JESD207 and CPRI interfaces to support various antenna schemes, PCI Express for connectivity to WiFi chipsets, SATA for local content caching and Ethernet SGMII backhaul interfaces, the QorIQ Qonverge B3421 device is the most highly integrated metrocell base station SoC in the industry.

The B3421 device is fully opti-

mized for concurrent LTE and WiFi operation, and supports LTE-TDD, LTE-FDD and LTE-Advanced wireless standards. Advanced 4x4 MiMO algorithms and 3GPP standard up to Release 11, advanced interference cancelling schemes, eICIC and carrier aggregation additionally improve spectral efficiency and provide future-proofing for OEMs and operators.

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR www.freescale.com/qoriqqonverge

Begin your revolution today at RIoTboard.org RIoTboard launches community website for developers based on its open source development platform.

RIoTboard.org, the official community website for RIoTboard – the open source development platform based on Freescale’s i.MX 6Solo processor was launched on February 26th, 2014. Designed from the ground up, the RIoTboard delivers a fully-featured single-board computer that enables developers the freedom to design open-source projects demanding the processing power and expandability for applications like HD video, high-bit transcode and encode, gaming applications and real-time sensing.

RIoTboard.org community serves as the launching pad for innovative open-source projects to enable the Internet of Things (IoT). Designers are encouraged to join the RIoTboard revolution at RIoTboard.org, where they can buy, design and register their projects, as well gain quick access to getting started video tutorials, technical resources such as full schematics, software on both Linux and Android, and join the online community of passionate RIoTboarders. Priced at $74 (USD), the RIoTboard is available from Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 in APAC. David Shen, Chief Technology Officer at Premier Farnell said: “For the electronics industry, IoT is the single most important trend that will globally boost the market and lead a new stage in its history. As a disruptive technology, IoT will impact almost every segment of the economy and society, with many analysts forecasting the IoT market to be worth somewhere between $14 and $33 trillion in just a few years. “The RIoTboard is the latest in our ever-expanding range of solutions, offering everything from starter kits to complete development boards, including the newest releases and exclusive bundles.”

FARNELL ELEMENT14 http://uk.farnell.com/riotboard

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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Energy Saving Network Power management (ES-NP) To meet the European CO2 - emission guidelines, the car manufacturers have investigated all systems with respect to their energy efficiency. Even the smallest load can become a factor in deciding whether a tax of EUR 95 per 1g CO2/km has to be paid or not. Control units not required constantly are now - just like in mobile phones – intended to be put into current saving mode. Two competing network standards are vying for the developer’s attention namely the Pretended Network and the Partial Network. This article analyses each standard in terms of its respective advantages and disadvantages and offers solution approaches.

Challenge - the CO2 tax Since 2012 everybody is talking about the European CO2 tax for cars. Every car manufacturer selling cars in the EU whose CO2 emission exceeds the regulation limits must pay penalty taxes. The intention behind this is make the industry and the consumers aware of the costs of climate changes and environmental damages caused by the CO2 emissions through a clear price adder.

Figure 1

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The CO2 tax is being discussed in public controversially. Heated debates have ensued over the CO2 tax amount, its effectiveness, or the question whether CO2 tax is justified at all.

Actually, the CO2 tax has triggered a long due discussion over a problem, that is, to face the issues of limited resources and climate changes. Besides the emotional debate though, work is long under way to resolve the

problems. The car manufacturers have analysed their car models and evaluated potential improvements already before 2012. In each construction segment like combustion engine, air drag, road resistance right up to electrical loads, potential improvements and corresponding costs have been calculated. From this point of view, the CO2 tax motivates innovation for economical processes and efficient use of energy.

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Saving CO2 through control units This article deals with the role of electronic control units which, assisted by the microcontrollers contribute significantly towards reduction of energy consumption in cars. In a typical premium vehicle up to 100 control units - interconnected in a network - are used to help increase the efficiency.

Some of which are active even when a car is parked (e.g. door control and anti-theft protection). In order to assess the increase in efficiency in this segment, the complete chain of factors impacting the efficiency must be reviewed (refer to figure 1).

One of the biggest loads in a control unit is the microcontroller which is powered by a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator in the control unit is powered by the dynamo, which in turn is driven by the combustion engine. This consumes fuel, exhausting thereby CO2. Therefore, the more current a microcontroller requires, the more fuel is consumed and consequently the vehicle exhausts more CO2.

A premium model with 100 control units has up to now been emitting up to 5g CO2/km purely due to the current consumption of the control electronic, NB without a single other electrical load e.g. the headlights or air conditioner ventilator being on. The CO2 tax envisages levying EUR 95 tax per 1g CO2/km

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coupled with a reduced functionality and additionally the ramp-up time till full functionality is available again is long - just like in case of laptops. Whereas a trailer-light control unit can be switched off completely without any loss of comfort if no trailer is attached to the car; the situation is different though in case of an air conditioner ventilator.

Therefore, the engineers must consider and control precisely as to when a control unit is not required in order to save energy at the expense its functionality.

Network of control units Since in modern cars all control units communicate with each other via a network, the car manufacturers have created standards which define how much and at which point in time control unit current can be saved.

One such Software-Standard-Platform is for example the AUTOSAR. Both approaches, namely the “Partial Network” and the “Pretended Network” were defined here.

Common to both approaches is that 2 current saving levels each have been specified.

In Pretended Network the “Level 1” and “Level 2”; in Partial Network the “Standby” and “Sleep”. The higher the current reduction, the longer is the “wake-up” time of a control unit till it regains the full functionality (refer to figure 2).

Figure 2 per car if weight specific CO2 emission limit is exceeded. Thus, for an emission of 5g CO2/km, a car manufacturer would therefore have to pay up to EUR 475 CO2 tax.

Such assessments have increased awareness even for the smallest energy load. The development departments have been urged to put the control units in the current saving mode as often as possible or even to shut down completely. This idea has been copied from laptops and mobile phones where the displays are switched off and the CPU frequency is reduced if it is idle. Of course, the reduced current consumption is also always

Pretended Network The Pretended Network follows the socalled Best Practice approach; the currents here - compared to the Partial Network – are even under extremely reduced use of resources very low, presently below 7mA (future target - below 2mA). The lower limit of the current is determined by the presently used standard transceiver which, with its 5mA has the largest share in the total standby current. Especially the volume producers appreciate the advantage that the new Pretended Network control units can operate together with the older units in the same network. This

reduces the development risk considerably and also allows continual introduction of this technology within the next generation model.

The wake-up time is considerably shorter than in Partial Network because the microcontroller is never fully powered off and the modern current saving modes of microcontroller can be utilized optimally.

Partial Network Partial Network is the more radical of the two and is also a more expensive approach.

A new type of intelligent network transceiver controls the whole control unit. Hereby, standby currents below 0.5 mA are feasible, but it is not a low cost solution. A complete implementation of this standard requires that all control units of a network must be equipped with the intelligent networktransceivers. Another disadvantage besides the additional costs is that the control unit wake-up time out of the maximum current saving mode is relatively long. This is because for the microcontroller it is almost like a cold-start process which can take up to 10 times as long as a warm-start.

Decision: Revolution or Evolution?

Every car manufacturer must ask himself the question: Revolution or evolution - Partial Network or the Pretended Network - or in other words - how much money and efforts one has to spend to achieve the respective CO2 reduction goal.

Thus, the question to be answered is wouldn't the resources for an expensive network transceiver, additional efforts needed for converting the software of all network control units, and having to live with the slow reaction of the control unit in the maximum current saving mode – be better spent for something different?

Solution approach: Energy Saving Technologies (EST) In parallel to the relatively recent debate over current saving due to European CO2 tax, Renesas has developed multiple technologies which reduce the current consumption of microcontrollers.

All in all 5 different solution approaches have been realised thereby: ES-FT: “Energy Saving - Flash Technology” ES-NP: “Energy Saving - Network Power Management” ES-LPS: “Energy Saving - Low Power Sampler” ES-PM: “Energy Saving - Power Modes” ES-PS: “Energy Saving - Power Scaling” www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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The first two of these technologies would be reviewed more closely here for implementation in the “Partial Network" or the “Pretended Network".

Energy Saving Flash Technology (ES-FT) Renesas has achieved a great success in its current 40 nm technology development for automotive microcontrollers with internal Flash.

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Energy Saving Network Power Management (ES-NP) In addition, Renesas has optimised the microcontroller digital structure in such a way that maximum current saving modes can be utilised (refer to figure 3), while at the same time the microcontroller can still react to external signals. This is totally taken care of by intelligent IPs (Peripherals) without any CPU interaction. Although in STOP

Figure 3 Renesas developed indigenous transistor technology for its 32-bit microcontrollers, increasing performance while reducing the current consumption by 50% at the same time. This reduces the current consumption in operation mode itself by half, without one having to consider any functional limitation of the control units. This implies an efficiency growth by a factor of 2, a feat which only a few automotive construction segments might be able to duplicate.

Renesas did this by optimising the smallest unit of a microcontroller - the transistor. The total current consumption of a transistor is the sum of its dynamic and the static currents: The static currents are determined by leakage currents which flow as soon as power is applied to the transistor.

The dynamic current flows during switching of transistors, that is, when it changes its logical state (1 or 0).

These currents are determined by the internal capacities of the transistors.

Renesas has succeeded in reducing both by modifying the physical structure of the transistor. The internal transistor capacity was reduced by alteration of the oxide material, and by adapting the transistor geometry, the leakage current could be reduced by a factor of 10. These changes also resulted in higher operating frequencies.

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mode the CPU is sleeping, the CAN-IP can participate in the network communication by itself in this configuration. The integrated intelligent message filters wake-up the CPU when a dedicated message type - which is configurable - is detected. Since here the microcontroller is only in STOP mode, it is only a matter of microseconds to execute a warm-start. After wake-up, the CPU can

configuration the current consumption of a control unit which previously constantly consumed 105mA, has been reduced to a bare 6.5mA in current saving mode.

This translates into a reduction by 94%.

There are no additional costs, no other control unit in network must be renewed and the control units wake-up from their current saving mode in a very short time.

The same configuration, with similar current consumption reduction can also be used to emulate the “Standby Mode” of a Partial Network. Though, in such case, one must live with the disadvantages of a Partial Network described above and that e.g. all network control units which are supposed to support the “Standby Mode” - must be adapted.

Conclusion and Outlook There are many ways to reduce the current consumption and with that to reduce the CO2 emission. Renesas is of the opinion that an approach combining the latest microcontroller technology with the Pretended Network is the most efficient and the least risky way to reduce the current consumption of control units in cars with reasonable costs (refer to figure 4).

A similar higher demand would also trigger a further development of the last remaining large load; the CAN transceiver with its 5mA accounts for almost 80% of the standby current. With contemporary 0.5mA, control units with standby currents of 2mA in Pretended Network while still retaining all the advantages would then be feasible.

Figure 4

retrieve the message detected by the filter from the CAN-IP and process it.

This configuration is optimal for realising the “Pretended Network Level 2”: Renesas has tested this configuration in a real application and has thereby achieved an average current consumption of 1.58mA. With such a

Already today, Renesas automotive series RH850/F1x microcontrollers offer full functionality with 50% less current consumption and the current saving in Pretended- or Partial Network applications is even higher, namely above 90%. n www.renesas.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Renesas Electronics Europe Introduces New Inverter Kits that Enable Rotation of Permanent Magnet AC Motors in Under One Minute Renesas Electronics Europe, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced two motor control reference platforms designed to drive any 3-phase permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM), also called Brushless AC motors. They enable engineers to reduce or even eliminate the time they would normally take to calculate motor parameters and evalu-

the application requirements, especially for sensorless field oriented control algorithms.

The inverter kits provide: • Auto-tuning of the current proportional-integral (PI) coefficients: Kp, Ki • Identification of intrinsic motor parameters: Rs, Ls, Λm • Real-time visualisation of the motor phase, current and step response

ate the best tuning algorithm coefficients. As a result, they can rotate a permanent magnet AC motor in less than one minute.

The two new inverter kits revolutionise the integration of 3-phase motors in equipment. Both are based on Renesas’ 32-bit RX family of MCUs, with one kit on RX220 offering 50DMIPS and the other on RX62T offering 165DMIPS.

Both kits include an intuitive PC graphical user interface (GUI), providing engineers with a ready to use inverter reference prototype that enables them to drive their own motors in a few clicks. They also feature a sensorless vector control algorithm, which is used to accurately control the speed and the torque. This algorithm uses flux weakening in order to achieve rotation speeds higher than the nominal speed of the motor.

Each kit contains the YROTATE-IT inverter board, a 24VDC permanent magnet AC motor, a CDROM including the embedded software source code, the PC GUI, the board schematics, the bill of materials, Gerber files, user manual, quick start guide and the power stage schematics/Gerber files.

The RX220 inverter kit is designed for equipment requiring medium dynamics and a low-cost bill of material. The RX62T microcontroller integrates six operational amplifiers, six comparators, a floating point unit and two timer units to drive two 3-phase motors simultaneously. This kit provides the dynamics required to drive motors with a high level of accuracy.

Renesas has developed the two design tools based on RX62T and RX220 MCUs to respond to a challenge encountered by engineers: tuning the embedded software to

A video demonstration of the kits is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =KrMXBWFfbY0 RENESAS ELECTRONICS EUROPE www.renesas.eu/motorcontrol

QorIQ™ Based Communications Platform for CompactPCI® Serial With a total of eight Gigabit Ethernet channels, the G51 CompactPCI Serial SBC makes full use of the capabilities of the QorIQ processor. This makes it a universal communications platform that also comes with high computing performance.

The G51 is based on Freescale’s P3041 QorIQ quadcore processor and offers as many as eight Gigabit Ethernet ports. Three of these are available at the front, and five at the rear. Where needed, you can switch all eight Ethernet channels to the backplane without additional hardware modifications, also due to CompactPCI Serial and its specified full-mesh functionality.

The G51's other I/O functions are just as flexible: One of a total of two rear SATA interfaces can alternatively control an mSATA disk. In addition, there are four PCIe ports at the rear and a total of eight USB 2.0 interfaces – six at the rear, and two at the front. The two front USBs can again complete the eight available channels on the backplane, as an option.

The manifold capabilities for interface configuration, paired with the calculation power of the QorIQ multicore processor, make the G51 the perfect centerpiece in communication and data processing systems.

Additionally, the G51 offers eight Gbytes DDR3 SDRAM, one MicroSD card slot, a number of board management functions and Linux BSP support.

The extended temperature range, the components being soldered for protection against shock and vibration, and the options of conformal coating and robust M12 connectors also make the board best equipped for use in harsh environments. EN 50155 compliant and prepared for the E-mark, the SBC is fit for applications in the railway and avionics sectors, in marine computing or in automation and in the energy sector.

MEN MIKRO ELEKTRONIK

www.men.de

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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Kinetis M Microcontrollers for Measuring Equipment If you take a look around, you’ll notice that you are surrounded by a lot of metering devices at every step of your everyday life. I’m talking about all the electric, gas and water meters, and the heating meter devices in our homes, not to mention the flow meters, weighing and registration systems at petrol stations and shopping centres.

The currently produced metering devices used for billing are electronically controlled by microcontrollers.

Author: Martin Mienkina, Freescale Semiconductor

The accuracy of the billing data in a typical, microcontroller controlled metering application depends, above all, on the precision of the analogue-digital converter (A/D), on the sampling frequency and the sufficient dynamic range of the metrological calculations. It also depends on the reliability of the software, so plenty of attention must be paid to effect of software on the financial transaction. The objective of semiconductor companies is, therefore, to develop a microcon-

troller that not only fulfils the basic technical requirements in terms of measurement precision, calculation throughput and energy consumption, but also provides a sufficient flexibility and the option of separating the “legal” metrology from the other parts of the application. In October 2013, Freescale has launched a brand new series of microcontrollers with the ARM® Cortex®-M0+ core, named the Kinetis® M. In addition to many high-resolution analogue peripherals, digital

Figure 1: Block diagram.

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timers, communication interfaces, and a real time clock with independent power source and temperature compensation, these microcontrollers are equipped with hardware for controlling access to the memories, peripherals, and the I/O ports integrated on the chip.

Characteristics Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the Kinetis M microcontroller.

From this diagram, it is clear that in addition to the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ the microcontrollers also offer four independent 24bit A/D converters (SD ADC) with built-in programmable amplifiers (PGA) and conversion speed up to 100 ksps. The converter design, coupled with principle of the operation (2nd order sigma delta modulator), allows measurement of bipolar analogue signals, ranging from several microvolts to one volt, in all channels simultaneously or with a precisely defined delay.

The other analogue blocks that are included are two high-speed analogue comparators (HSCMP) with a programmable hysteresis 530mV, a 16-bit SAR A/D converter with 12 channels, and a precise 1.2V voltage reference with a 33 ppm/°C temperature coefficient. This voltage reference is designed not only for all the analogue blocks mentioned, but buffered by an internal amplifier, it can

DESIGN

also be used as the source of voltage reference for other circuits on the board. If, however, the parameters of the internal voltage reference were not sufficient, the analogue blocks of the microcontroller can be powered by an external 1.2V reference voltage.

The goal of Freescale was to design programmable devices ideally suited to metering applications. For this reason, the Kinetis M microcontroller series is composed not only of standard blocks from the Kinetis family, but also from others typical in other product

Figure 2: XBAR signals and connections.

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lines. For example, the interconnecting matrix of internal signals, device inputs and outputs (XBAR) and four-channel timer (Quad Timer) are blocks traditionally used in digital-signal controllers (DSC). These blocks allow application developer making more sophisticated connections of internal peripherals, defining time sequences between measured samples and also providing the option of monitoring the operation of the internal peripherals. The connection of on-chip peripherals and I/O pins to the XBAR block is shown in Figure 2.

These blocks can, for example, be used for triggering phase voltage measurements (three channels of 16-bit SAR ADC) from the phase current measurements (three 24-bit SD ADC) in a typical three-phase power meter application. Other areas of use include autonomously measuring the period (frequency) of an analogue signal, detecting the communication speed of RS-485 and RS232 links, modulated IEC 1107 and 38K IR communications, interfacing to external analogue sigma-delta modulators and the generation of high-stability calibration pulses.

The internal clock generation module is represented by the frequency-locked loop (FLL), phase-locked loop (PLL), low frequency oscillator (OSC32K), high frequency oscillator (OSCMHZ), 32kHz and 4/2MHz internal reference clock (IRC) blocks.

Last, but not least, I have to mention also blocks that contribute to the application safety, including “watchdog” timer which meets the safety standard for household appliances (IEC 60730), the cyclic redundancy check accelerator (CRC), random number generator (RNGA) and the unauthorised entry detection (Tamper).

Kinetis M microcontroller family offers two memory configurations and three packages.

Application developers can choose either devices with 64KB or 128KB Flash in 44 LGA, 64 and 100 LQFP packages. Device derivatives in 64 and 100 LQFP packages include a standard LCD controller handling up to 160 and 288 segments, respectively.

The manufacturer guarantees the functionality of all parts at temperature range from –40°C up to +85°C, and supply voltage from 1.71V up to 3.6V. The device derivatives, packages and basic characteristics are listed in Table 1.

Support for distinct separation of legally relevant software International organizations such as the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) and the European Cooperation in Legal Metrology (WELMEC) provide advisory guidelines for writing applications for software controlled measuring instruments, namely, rules for software separation the part of the application that affects billing data, from the other parts of the application. If a manufacturer develops a measuring instrument according to these guidelines and provides evidence of compliance to notified Bodies during the initial approval and verification, it can then modify the other parts of the application without re-approval, gaining flexibility, and significant cost savings. www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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At Freescale, we’re well aware of this fact during device development and hence we took advantage of it by adding hardware for

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Cortex-M0+ core and two DMA controllers.

These active modules (bus masters) access to the other, passive, modules (bus slaves) in

based on a setting of the process identifier (PID). The result is a 3-state hardwareenforced access priority model where: Privileged (Secure) > User Secure > User Non-secure. In the metering application, all tasks connected with “legal" metrology are conducted in the “Privileged” mode, whereas the other parts of the application run in “User” mode.

Instantaneous accesses performed by ARM Cortex-M0+ core and DMA controller are assessed by the memory protection unit (MPU), peripheral bridge (AIPS) and general purpose input-output (GPIO) modules, which, according to user specified criteria, allow or deny access to the chip hardware, that is to memory segments, peripherals and I/O ports. If the designer enables access control and at the same time sets access attributes according to needs of the application, the microcontroller platform will autonomously eliminate any accesses originated by other parts of the application to affect the “legal” metrology parts.

Development tools For new application development, Freescale offers the TWR-KM34Z50M development kit. This kit supports fast and easy development of applications using the SWD (OpenSDA) integrated debug interface with built-in virtual serial port. The virtual serial port, along with the FreeMASTER driver and PC application, can be used for monitoring any static and global variables of the application running on microcontroller device.

Table 1: Device derivatives and packages.

Figure 4: TWR-KM34Z50M development kit.

Figure 3: Platform. controlling the accesses to all integrated memories, peripherals and the I/O ports (see Figure 3).

The Kinetis M platform consists of an ARM 30

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“User” or “Privileged” mode. An additional module, so called miscellaneous control module (MCM) adds an access attribute indicating a “Secure” or “Non-secure” state

Besides connectors for interfacing the microcontroller, the 80 × 90 mm printed circuit board also contains the following circuits: a 160-segment LCD, the MMA8491Q threeaxis accelerometer, a seven-channel programmable sine-wave generator with a USB interface, an NTC-type IRDA temperature sensor, and several LEDs and push-buttons.

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The development kit can be used separately or together with other I/O cards of the TowerTM modular system (see Figure 4).

The microcontroller can be easily programmed using development tools that support the ARM Cortex-M0+ core. You can, for example, use the IAR Embedded Workbench development tool for ARM 6.

70. Namely, the Kickstart edition of this tool that IAR Systems makes available free of charge, will enable you to create an application that is 16KB or smaller. For more demanding applications with a code size up to 64KB, you can use the special edition of the CodeWarrior® IDE for MCU’s 10.5.

This free tool contains a C compiler, assembler, linker and debugger tools accessible from within an Eclipse IDE (see Figure 5).

An integral part, of not only the commercial

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but also the free version, of the CodeWarrior development tool is the Processor Expert® software. Using this tool, you can program an application by simply selecting the parameters by mouse. The Processor Expert software modelling tool continuously checks parameter settings and generate the C code.

This tool is often used for initialising microcontrollers not only by beginners, but also experienced programmers. Using this tool, you can create a simple application without the knowledge of the architecture and registers of the given microcontroller.

Additionally, the generated code does not contain much redundant code.

Obviously, using the Processor Expert software modelling tool, you can never write as efficient code as when you write the program by hand, taking advantage of the C

pre-processor. This type of programming is used mainly by those experienced users who have mastered the microcontroller’s architecture and on-chip peripherals. If you belong to this group of programmers, you will definitely agree with me that to develop an application it is enough to have a welltested software example comprising a “startup” module, definition table for interrupt vectors, linker command file, and bare-metal software drivers for on-chip peripherals.

Numerous software examples are available in the installation package called “Kinetis M bare-metal drivers and software examples”.

The current release (EAR2.2) supports CodeWarrior IDE for MCU’s 10.5, IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM 6.70 and Rowley CrossWorks for ARM 2.3 development tools.

Figure 5: CodeWarrior IDE for MCU’s 10.5 development environment. www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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The on-chip peripheral software drivers have been written with the focus on fast code execution and, together with the examples, are available in the source code form. The installation package also includes a simple utility for creating a new project. A list of software examples that are part of the installation package is shown in Figure 6.

Conclusion Freescale’s Kinetis M microcontroller series is based on the 90-nm Thin Film Storage (TFS) process technology. It is controlled by the ARM Cortex-M0+ core with clock frequency up to 50 MHz. The internal clock generation module comprises the frequency-locked loop (FLL), phase-locked loop (PLL), low frequency oscillator (OSC32K), high frequency oscillator (OSCMHZ), and 32 kHz and 4/2 MHz internal reference clock (IRC) blocks. In addition to the many peripherals for processing analogue signals, digital timers, an LCD controller, communication interface and a real time clock, these devices also include a “watchdog” timer, 16/32-bit CRC accelerator, random number generator and a circuit for unauthorised

Figure 6: List of software examples.

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entry detection. Kinetis M microcontroller series offers two memory configurations, 64/128KB, and three types of packages, 44 LGA, 64 and 100 LQFP. On-chip peripherals, package options and, above all, the hardware support for separating the part of the application that affects billing data, from the other parts of the application, make these microcontrollers especially well suited to billing metering equipment. Freescale currently offers a number of reference designs that demon-

strate these device capabilities in one, two and three-phase power meter applications.

Descriptions of power meter reference designs, manufacturing documentation and the source codes of the applications are available from freescale.com.

With purchases of 300 or more, the unit price of the device starts from 2.25 € (farnell.com, MKM14Z128CHH5, 128 KB Flash, 44 LGA). n www.freescale.com

Product homepage: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/taxonomy.jsp?nodeId=01624698C9FA7D Product catalogue sheet: http://cache.freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/ref_manual/MKMxxZxxCxx5RM.pdf Methodology of separating application parts: http://cache.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/white_paper/KINETISMWP.pdf Development kit: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=TWR-KM34Z50M Bare-metal software drivers and examples: http://cache.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/KMSWDRVAPIRM_SW.zip Programming tool: http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=CW-SUITE-SPECIAL Introduction to a one-phase power meter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMFH6SeYlXo

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Freescale expands family of programmable power management ICs for power-constrained connected devices Freescale Semiconductor announced the addition of the MMPF0200 device to its PF Series of highly programmable power management ICs (PMICs).

Optimized to work seamlessly in systems based on Freescale’s i.MX 6Solo, i.MX 6SoloLite and i.MX 6DualLite applications processors, the exceptional configurability and quick-turn programmability of the MMPF0200 makes it ideal for a host of power-sensitive platforms

including portable medical devices, IP headphones, home security systems, IPTV controllers, tablets and home energy management solutions. And building on Freescale’s long history as a leader in the automotive electronics market, the MMPF0200 is also designed to be Auto AEC-Q100 Grade 3-compliant for automotive applications such as infotainment systems.

The MMPF0200’s quick-turn programmability enables customers to quickly and easily program the device to support a range of system supply requirements, as well as meet the needs of rapidly changing, volatile and emerging markets. The device’s fully configurable architecture supports numerous outputs with various current ratings and programmable voltages, allowing it to work as a system-level power solution supporting the core processor, memory and peripherals. This reduces system design complexity, lowers the overall bill of materials and speeds time to market.

The MMPF0200 is part of Freescale’s PF Series, which also features the MMPF0100. While the MMPF0100 is ideal for systems with higher degrees of complexity such as feature-rich smart mobile devices and high-end automotive infotainment systems, the MMPF0200 is engineered for mainstream systems to complement the lower power members of the i.MX 6 product family, such as the i.MX 6SoloLite, i.MX 6Solo and i.MX 6DualLite SoCs. The MMPF0200 works seamlessly with i.MX 6 technology for faster design cycles and optimized use of onboard resources, IP and features. Sampling now, the MMPF0200 power management device is scheduled for production in March 2014, when the device can be ordered at www.freescale.com/pmic Suggested resale pricing (USD) starts at $2.38 in 10,000-piece quantities.

Freescale plans to offer hardware and software to support the MMPF0200 power management device, including:

Achieve Very Accurate Temperature Measurements Throughout Your Factory Using New 4–20mA LoopPowered Temperature Transmitter with HART Protocol Factories can now easily, and very accurately, measure and transmit industrial temperatures with the Novato (MAXREFDES16#) reference design, a 4–20mA loop-powered temperature transmitter with the HART® communication protocol from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. Temperature is among the most widely measured parameters in industrial process control and automation applications. The Novato reference design transmits temperature measurements from remote sensors to the central control unit over a 4–20mA current-loop using the highway addressable remote transducer (HART) communication protocol. This smart transmitter enables low-power temperature measurement from -200 °C to +850 °C with accuracy better than ±0.1% or ±1.0 °C. Novato’s flexible design supports 2-, 3-, or 4-wire resistance temperature detector (RTD) sensor inputs and works with any type of RTDs, from PT100 to PT1000, making it ideal for a wide variety of industrial applications.

• KITPF0200EPEVBE evaluation board at $118.00 • KITPFPGMEVME PF series programmer board at $99.00 • KITPF0100SKTEVBE OTP programming socket for the PF family of PMIC devices at $110.00 The majority of Freescale analog products meet critical industrial market requirements, including operation across extended temperature ranges. These products are designed and manufactured with rigorous process controls, and qualified using industry standard methodologies designed to yield defect rates in line with the stringent requirements of the automotive market. The PF0200 device, in addition to most of Freescale’s analog products for industrial, is included in Freescale’s product longevity program, which provides assurance of supply for a minimum of 10 or 15 years from the time of launch.

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR www.freescale.com/pmic

• • • •

Key Advantages High accuracy: measures temperature from -200°C to +850°C with accuracy better than ±0.1% or ±1.0°C Flexibility: supports a 2-, 3-, or 4-wire RTD sensor input; PT100 to PT1000 RTDs Low power: consumes less than 3.2mA HART Communication Protocol: the HART functions set is developed by AB Tech Solution, Westford, MA, an engineering firm specialized in product development services for industrial automation applications. The HART stack for Novato runs on the Renesas® RL78/G13 microcontroller and supports all universal and common practice commands.

MAXIM INTEGRATED

www.maximintegrated.com www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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DESIGN

MCUs

Enabling a New Generation The latest addition to Microchip’s PIC32 family increases performance, integration and connectivity.

Author: Bill Hutchings, Senior Product Marketing Manager, MCU32 Microchip Technology

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If there is one characteristic that all modern devices strive to demonstrate - irrespective of the end-application - it is responsiveness.

The ability to react ‘immediately’ is, of course, an illusion, sustained by the speed with which the microprocessor can respond to an event.

Improving the response time of a microprocessor is often closely influenced by the software it executes, however the underlying metric is the theoretical maximum number of instructions that can be executed per second, or MIPS, subsequently improving this figure has long been the driver for microprocessor evolution.

There are a number of recognised techniques for pushing performance up, as measured using the industry-standard unit of Dhrystone MIPS, or DMIPS. The latest member of the PIC32 family of high performance microcontrollers, the PIC32MZ, harnesses the latest MIPS32 core from

Imagination Technologies, which successfully combines many of these techniques to deliver a device that increases performance threefold over its predecessor.

The core at the heart of the PIC32MZ is the recently announced MIPS microAptiv™ core, which features DSP extensions and the microMIPS® instruction set architecture, which allows a combination of 32- and 16bit instructions to run from memory at nearfull rate. In addition, the entire device is capable of running at up to 200MHz, which together results in a device that delivers 330 DMIPS; three times the performance of the PIC32MX family.

The microAptiv DSP extensions provide 159 additional instructions providing single-cycle access to the microarchitecture features that accelerate digital signal processing, such as multiply/accumulate. This means DSP algorithms can execute in as much as 75% fewer instruction cycles than

DESIGN

the same algorithm executing on the PIC32MX. The PIC32MZ is the first family to use the microAptiv core, which as mentioned also introduces the microMIPS feature of 16-bit instructions, resulting in significantly higher code density; as much as 30% greater density than the PIC32MX. The PIC32MZ is also capable of running at higher clock rates, up to 200MHz, which is around twice as fast as the PIC32MX. Together, these features deliver a threefold improvement in raw performance, allowing the PIC32MZ to address applications that demand faster response times when running ever-more complex software.

Built for Embedded Connectivity The PIC32MZ integrates an Ethernet 10/100 MAC and PHY and it also features the highest ever number of serial channels offered in a PIC device. These features, coupled with a high performance core capable of running multiple protocol stacks simultaneously, makes it the most capable 32-bit MCU for applications targeting embedded connectivity. Another first for a PIC® microcontroller is the addition of an integrated HiSpeed USB MAC/PHY, complemented by dual CAN ports, which further enforces the PIC32MZ’s connectivity credentials.

An important aspect of any connected device today is security and, here, the PIC32MZ offers a number of features designed to make embedded connectivity more secure. A full-featured hardware crypto engine, with a random number generator, provides high-throughput data encryption/decryption and authentication, such as AES, 3DES, SHA, MD5 and HMAC.

MCUs

Beyond the high performance core and communications-oriented peripheral set, the PIC32MZ also features two further innovations never before offered in a PIC® microcontroller, both of which are intended to address emerging real-world needs of the target applications; both innovations deal with the need for more sophisticated memory systems.

This feature allows a range of software issue to be addressed in the field without a service interruption, while also retaining the last known good software build in one panel at all times. The benefits of this innovation are far reaching; service calls will be minimised, service interruptions could be avoided entirely and software glitches could be resolved in near ‘real time’.

An increasing number of OEMs are finding that the growing complexity of embedded software means in-field upgrades are becoming unavoidable. Instead of dismissing this trend as a development issue, manufacturers like Microchip are addressing the need head-on, by introducing innovative solutions to in-field software upgrades.

The other innovation intended to improve memory interfacing is the addition of an SQI port. SQI, or Serial Quad Interface, is a highspeed memory interface protocol that uses up to four wires, as opposed to the more common SPI or I2C interfaces which use only one pin for data exchange. The SQI interface uses a multiplexed bus to access 4-bits or nibble - of memory at a time when accessing SQI-compatible memory devices, while still retaining SPI-compatibility.

The PIC32MZ is at the leading edge of this effort, by integrating Dual-Panel Flash memory that allows a full software update to take place while the device is in service, executing program code at full speed. It achieves this by dividing the embedded Flash in to two physical and logical blocks, or panels.

Each panel has its own charge pump and programming circuit, which means one panel is effectively ghost memory right up to the point when it becomes the main memory. As both panels essentially operate independently, one panel continues to operate at full speed while the other is updated in the background, without interrupting program execution.

Once the software update is installed and validated, the device can be reset and start executing memory from the newly programmed panel.

The microAptiv core used in the PIC32MZ features an MMU (Memory Management Unit) and instruction and data caches, and up to 2048 KB of on chip flash and up to 512kbyte of SRAM, capable of supporting multiple protocol stacks running simultaneously, as well as buffer space to support audio processing, and frame buffers to support displays up to WQVGA resolution without the need for an external graphics chip.

Design Support As the new PIC32MZ family is developed for high-end communications-oriented applications that need improved graphics, faster real-time performance and increased security, it is supported by a range of development kits that give full access to its advanced peripherals and crypto engine (for those family members that feature the optional crypto engine). These are further enhanced by a Multimedia Expansion Board II, Starter Kit Adapter and Plug-In Module which supports the Explore 16 Modular Development Board.

The latest addition to Microchip’s 32-bit MCU family drives performance, connectivity and security to new levels in embedded devices. With a threefold increase in raw processor performance, the addition of 159 DSP-specific instructions and innovative memory subsystem the PIC32MZ is well placed to enable a new generation of embedded devices. n www.microchip.com

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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ARDUINO

RFduino much more than just a tiny computer with Bluetooth 4.0 With the RFduino, the Arduino open-source platform is now able to offer a wireless alternative. The wireless-enabled microcontroller is scarcely the size of a fingertip and communicates with smartphones, tablets and laptops which have a Bluetooth SMART READY logo. Using RFduino, developers are able to build a system in just a few minutes which transfers data from sensors to a laptop or other Bluetooth-enabled devices. They can also use a smartphone to control the peripherals connected to the RFduino. Rutronik also offers identical modules and chips for mass production, depending on project requirements.

Author: Bernd Hantsche,

The technical name for the module in SMT design is RFD22301. What this abbreviation actually describes is a small, 15 × 15mm RISC computer module with integrated analogue/digital converters, a 2.4GHz antenna, seven GPIOs, SPI, I²C and a UART interface. With the Arduino IDE and the RFduino operating system extensions, the integrated radio transceiver becomes a dedicated Bluetooth 4.0 lowenergy communications unit. An ARM Cortex M0 32-bit processor, 16kB RAM and 256 kB Flash take on the execution of 36

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Marketing Director Wireless at Rutronik

wireless stack and application-specific programs. Thanks to metal plates and certifications for Europe, the USA and Canada, the module is also ideal for small and medium volume production.

As the name suggests, it is not only the Arduino IDE which runs on the RFduino.

The sandwich principle of the expansion boards, better known as ‘shields’, was also adopted, albeit in a much smaller version.

The RFduino in DIP design RFD22102 is particularly recommended for prototypes and mini-series. When this model is

launched, there will already be a large number of different shields available: A USB shield facilitates programming and supplies the mini computer with energy. If the RFduino is already programmed or flashed, it can also be supplied via a CR2032 button cell shield, an AAA battery shield or a double AAA battery shield. Due to the highly innovative structure comprising an efficient MCU and the latest transceiver unit with technology from Nordic Semiconductor, the energy consumption of an RFduino is so low that, as a rule, the

DESIGN

CR2032 cell lasts for several months or even years.

The energy consumption is higher if, on the fitted proto shield, other external consumers are connected to an RFduino. This increased energy consumption can be taken into account with the two AAA shields. The input and output options of the RFduino can be expanded with a servo shield, a dual-relay shield, a micro-SD shield and an RGB-LED button shield.

Consequently, the system offers a great deal of flexibility, enabling the components for different projects to be individually assembled.

Development kits available in Europe exclusively from Rutronik and its trading partners include a useful selection of accessory boards to help customers to get to know the RFduino. The simplest RFD90101 starter kit with an RFduino and a USB shield accessory board is available for around EUR 30.

ARDUINO

A sensor which monitors the humidity of the potting compost and reports to the smartphone, for example, is also quickly created. Many other suggestions for other gadgets which can be built fast are to be found at www.rutronik.com/RFduino But that’s not all. As the RFduino is essentially based on the nRF51822 System-onChip from Nordic Semiconductor, this opens up other opportunities: Instead of the Arduino IDE, the various wireless stacks from Nordic can also be flashed into the RFduino. Three different Bluetooth low-energy versions are available for selection: The Gazell open-source protocol with

The most comprehensive kit is the 30-part RFD90105 master kit, with the gap between these two kits filled with other kits, all of which can be expanded with individual shields as required.

Endless options The RFduino offers a wide range of application options at little cost. In just a few simple steps, a temperature sensor has been created which proved in tests to be capable of transmitting even through a closed refrigerator door. Thanks to the button cell and its tiny design, the RFduino takes up little space between the sausage and the cheese, yet is large enough not to be accidentally eaten!

Arduino shield is also available for the original Arduino, with which the mini computer can establish a wireless connection. It is based on an RFD21733 module, which is in turn based on a Nordic nRF24LE1 chip and which contains the proprietary RFDP8 protocol from RF Digital.

This means that an Arduino is compatible with the available hand-held remote controls, wireless modules and active antennae with the protocols specified. An overview of the RFDP8 products available can be found at www.rutronik.com/RFDP8 However, Bluetooth Low Energy, and hence also control via commercially available smartphones, is not possible without further action.

The experts at the Rutronik Wireless Competence Center offer support in assembling the modules and the planning of the prototype from medium series on a modular basis up to large series on a chip basis, protocol-specific advice and any questions relating to wireless technology. n

www.rutronik.com

star topology, proximity pairing and many additional features, ShockBurst and special wireless desktop protocols.

This makes the RFduino an alternate low-cost development environment for Nordic chips.

With the RFD21815, an www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

37

DESIGN

VOLTAGE TRANSDUCERS

A new generation of voltage transducers for the challenges of today’s applications The rail traction and industrial market sectors are noted as extremely challenging environments in terms of electronic systems that are created to monitor the flow of electrical power within them. They demand the highest levels of reliability and performance, and both require that systems continue to operate in very aggressive environmental conditions. These sectors also need the highest levels of safety and electrical isolation, both to ensure that personnel are continuously protected against any possibility of contact with dangerous potentials, and that sensitive instrumentation and control circuitry is protected against damage.

by Michel Ghilardi, LEM

At the level of individual components, modules and sub-systems, this translates as a need for higher levels of insulation, and improved partial discharge ratings; and better immunity against external electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields. Almost by definition, any component that delivers high levels of EMI (electro-magnetic interference) immunity to external disturbances (susceptibility) will likely also meet low emission constraints and will not affect the performance of adjacent circuitry – but it is one more area in which performance must be assured.

The railway sector adds special demands in terms of fire and smoke performance; not only must the materials of which components are formed deliver the appropriate electrical performance, they must also meet stringent demands in terms of surviving fire events, and not emitting harmful substances should that occur.

If all of the above were not sufficient challenge for suppliers of measurement products to these sectors, both present increasing demands in terms of performance and 38

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precision. In the railway arena, as well as designing electrical drive systems that perform better, and with greater efficiency, there is the requirement for tighter fiscal metering. Trains that cross international borders and transition from one electrical supply domain to another must generate the data to permit accurate billing. Railway specifications increasingly demand fundamental measurement accuracy significantly better than 1% in voltage and current.

The industrial market is seeking greater efficiency from the drives for its electric motors.

Better control always rests upon better measurement; not only of levels, of voltage and current, but also in time, to precisely identify, for example, zero-crossing points in waveforms, so that inverters can implement lossless switching.

A new transducer generation Against this background, LEM has advanced the performance of its voltage transducers with the introduction of the DVL series that provides isolated voltage measurement from 50 to 2000VRMS.

The demands that each sector places on a transducer – the component at the front end of the measure-and-control chain – translate into the need for excellence in parameters such as immunity to common-mode interference, low thermal drift, fast response time, large bandwidth and low noise.

Some of the specific situations in which there has been a need for increased voltage measurement performance include the railway market; • 750VDC and 1500VDC line values in the catenary-supplied railway network.

• AC train supply lines up to 2000VRMS. • Power conversion and control functions such as inverters, converters, rectifiers, and braking choppers.

• Power distribution substations where voltage transducers monitor DC voltages supplied to the catenaries, at the DC rectifier output.

• In inverter/drive configurations, DC link voltages up to 2000VDC, and individual motor phase voltages.

• Trackside voltage measurements.

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Similarly, demand for improved voltage performance in the industrial and renewable energy fields has been seen from; • AC variable speed drives, and for the static converter for DC drives.

• Battery-supplied applications, including (but not limited to) uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs).

• Specialist power supplies for arc welding, for medical applications, and for mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

• Air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC).

• High power converters and inverters in solar (photovoltaic) and wind-turbine generators.

VOLTAGE TRANSDUCERS

new levels of accuracy and temperature stability, thus greatly simplifying retrofits. At 137.8 × 63 × 64.3 mm the DVL fits within the profile of the LV 100 Hall effect voltage transducer, occupying 271 cm3 less volume, and is 30% lighter than an AV 100 model. The transducers employ a direct electrical connection to the voltage to be measured, and provide internal (galvanic) isolation: they are based on electronic circuit elements and are therefore relatively insensitive to external magnetic fields, compared to Hall effect and Fluxgate -based (magnetic) voltage transducers. Their circuitry has been designed for low power consumption and low losses and external heatsinks are then not required keeping nevertheless a high level of reliability and bring-

From the input pin, where the voltage can be up to ±2kV, the first stage is a voltage divider that reduces the measured potential down to a few hundred millivolts: it is designed to tolerate very high slew rates in the measured signal (high dv/dt), whilst having low thermal drift. Immediately thereafter – at the earliest possible stage in the transducer architecture – the signal is converted to single serial digital form by a sigma-delta modulator. As the majority of the transducer's circuitry is then digital, temperature drift can be held to very low levels, and offsets and sensitivity can be adjusted in software on each individual device during manufacturing.

The digital bit-stream is next passed through the isolation transformer mentioned above:

ing some energy saving for the user.

Small size and low self-heating mean that the transducers can be used in confined spaces – within motor housings, for example – and in sealed cases.

As there is a direct connection between the voltage being measured and the sensing input of the transducer, isolation has to be provided within the unit: this is achieved using a special patented transformer.

A greater understanding of how the transducer works can be gained from Figure 1.

this patented design employs special core protection due to the high voltage environment, yet can be small due to the high frequency of the pulse train (10MHz). On the secondary side the bit-stream is decoded and filtered by a digital filter, yielding a standard digital value that can be used in the digital to analogue converter (DAC) within the microcontroller (MCU). The recovered output signal is completely isolated from the primary (high voltage), and is an exact representation of the primary voltage.

Figure 1

Despite the fact that the systems being monitored and controlled are often large, and are subject to external thermal effects that dwarf the internal power dissipation of devices such as a measurement transducer, there is nevertheless market demand for units to be smaller and to consume less power. In their physical outline, LEM designed its new products to be fully compatible with previous generations of voltage transducers (such as the AV 100 and LV 100 families) in terms of functions, performance and footprint, but with

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

39

DESIGN

Having a microcontroller within the transducer brings all of the flexibility that comes with digital control and software programming. A single device can be easily adapted for different ranges by modifying the gain programmed by the MCU. The MCU cancels offsets and adjusts the gain in software, and then converts the signal from digital to analogue output. The analogue output voltage is then filtered and converted into a current (±75mA full scale) using a current generator that is protected against short-circuits. A version with the 4 to 20 mA output current range commonly used in industrial control is available as an option. The MCU also controls a DC/DC converter that creates internal supply voltages for the primary and secondary circuitries. This architecture permits the low levels of internal power consumption and of losses exhibited by the DVL series; the device uses only 20 to 25 mA from a power supply of ±24 VDC (the complete specified power supply range is from ±13.5 to ±26.4 V), a power saving of 30% relative its predecessors.

Principle features This innovative design yields a measurement device with overall accuracy of ±0.5% of VPN (the maximum steady-state input voltage) at ambient temperature, and an overall

VOLTAGE TRANSDUCERS

accuracy as good as ±1% of VPN over its operating temperature range from -40°C to 85°C, with an offset drift of ±150μA, a sensitivity drift error of ±0.5% and an error of linearity of ±0.5%, all characteristics being over the operating temperature range.

The internal design that places a very high level of isolation in the signal path is matched by a case construction that combines careful choice of moulding material with attention to physical separation of pins and terminals, and to creepage and clearance distances. This results in an insulation test voltage of 8.5 kVRMS for one minute for a working voltage of 2kV, and partial discharge extinction level of over 2.7 kVRMS at 10pC. In its intended application areas, the DVL must exhibit a broad frequency and quick response, to detect rapid input voltage changes and to help maintain waveform quality in inverter circuitry. Its response time is less than 60sec, bandwidth (frequency response) is 14 kHz at the -3dB point, and its output noise is lower than 10μA between 1Hz and 100 kHz. The detail design achieves low parasitic capacitance and the primary circuitry has been configured to be perfectly symmetrical: this contributes to very high immunity to dynamic commonmode noise.

Mechanical and standards A modular design approach offers flexibility in configuring connections; the primary voltage can be brought in by terminals or isolated cable, and a wide range of connections is possible for the secondary; connectors, shielded cables, or terminals. DVL models have been designed and tested according to latest recognised worldwide standards for traction and industry applications, including EN 50155, EN 50178, EN 50121-3-2, and EN 50124-1.

LEM’s main production centres for traction transducers are IRIS certified – a vital qualification for companies supplying the railway market – and have ISO TS16949 approval for the industrial market. DVL transducers are CE marked as a guarantee of compliance to the European EMC directive 2004/ 108/EEC and low voltage directive 2006/ 95/EEC. Eco-design principles have been used throughout the design and production process, using less materials (30% lighter) and reducing power usage by 30%.

Exhaustive testing using temperature cycling and accelerated life-cycle principles has been performed to give a high level of confidence in a very low estimate failure rate over long, stable in-service lifetime. n

Accurately Detect Clear, Red, Green, Blue and Infrared Light with Industry’s Smallest IO-Link Ambient Light Sensor Maxim Integrated’s Santa Cruz ambient light sensor integrates the IO-Link protocol to simplify high-accuracy industrial sensing.

Using the Santa Cruz (MAXREFDES23#) ambient light sensor (ALS) from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., factories can quickly configure and monitor multiple red, green, blue (RGB) and infrared (IR) ambient light sensors with the high accuracy required in industrial applications.

To stay competitive and maintain high quality, modern factories must be agile, maximizing “uptime” while reducing costs. The Santa Cruz ALS solution enables connected factories. This reference system provides a wide, dynamic range of clear, RGB, and IR light, and temperature data. Santa Cruz is tuned to the response of the human eye for accurate system function relative to visible light. In addition, it is unsurpassed for light sensitivity and low latency. The inte40

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grated IO-Link® software and device stack automatically configure the sensor without additional programming, saving valuable time and resources.

Additionally, Santa Cruz fits on a tiny 6.5 mm × 25 mm printed circuit board (PCB), making it the industry’s smallest ALS system.

Key Advantages • Small size: Industry’s smallest ambient light sensing system.

• High integration: Integrates six highly accurate clear light, RGB and IR sensors; a temperature sensor; an economical and ultra-low-power microcontroller; dual integrated 3.3V and 5V linear regulators; programmable flash memory; and IO-Link software.

• High sensitivity: Sensitive over a range of 57,542 lux to 0.001 lux, at low power.

• Ease of configuration: IO-Link enabled, which allows simple identification and connection to existing industrial systems.

MAXIM INTEGRATED www.maximintegrated.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Renesas Electronics Europe Enhances the 'RX Maximisation Program' by adding IAR Embedded Workbench for RX Renesas Electronics Europe, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, has added its Platinum partner IAR Systems, the world-leading supplier of embedded development tools, to its innovative RX MAX software program for European customers.

The program is built around the high performance RX 32-bit microcontroller family and comprises free of charge RTOS and middleware components worth up to €20,000.

It allows firmware developers to quickly customise sample code to initiate their applications faster, while reducing system function costs and accelerating time-to-market. IAR Systems’ complete C/C++ and debugger toolchain, IAR Embedded Workbench® for RX, has been selected because it signifi-

cantly enhances the program by producing the smallest code size and the fastest code execution based on EEMBC CoreMark benchmarks of 3.12. The highly sophisticated C-SPY® Debugger incorporated in IAR Embedded Workbench has excellent debugging features such as Kernel Awareness, which is the ability to display the internal RTOS data structures in a convenient series of windows. It provides the user with information about each of the active tasks in the RX device as well as each semaphore, mutex, mailbox, queue and event flag group along with a list of all the tasks waiting on the kernel objects.

Developers can now qualify for a free-of-charge perpetual unlimited license for the Embedded Workbench C/C++ compiler and debugger toolchain for RX, including one year of support, software upgrades and two hours of web training, valued at € 5,000.

RENESAS ELECTRONICS EUROPE www.renesas.eu

Renesas Electronics Embeds the Largest Flash and SRAM Together to Date in a 32-Bit GeneralPurpose Microcontroller to Enable the IoT Renesas Electronics, unveiled the RX64M Group of microcontrollers (MCUs), its first product in the flagship RX Family of 32-bit MCUs to be fabricated in a 40 nm process.

Based on the new RXv2 CPU core, which was announced in November 2013, the new MCU Group consists of 112 products running up to 120 megahertz (MHz) with zero wait

state from the high-speed embedded flash memory and feature both the high-speed real-time performance as well as large memory capac-

ities required by industrial applications and network equipment. The new MCUs offer system designers a path to quickly and efficiently develop high-performance, lowpower industrial equipment that supports a wide range of communication functions.

With the expansion of the connected society and Internet of Things (IoT) markets, there has been rapid growth in diverse IoT-related products such as connected network and industrial equipment used in factory automation and building automation, driving the need for greater CPU computing performance, improved real-time response, and ever lower power.

RENESAS ELECTRONICS EUROPE www.renesas.eu

Robust and Flexible – Rugged COM Express® with Intel® Core™ i7 Equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor, the CB70C COM module offers high computing performance on a small form factor board. Based on the new Rugged COM Express standard, it is also well suited for use in mission-critical applications.

Rugged COM Express or VITA 59 is a new standard which is based on the proven PICMG COM Express standard. Due to mechanical modifications, the modules are now also able to meet the high requirements of critical markets regarding temperature, shock and vibration, EMC compatibility and resistance against dust and humidity.

The Intel Core i7 processor family with a core frequency of up to 2.1 GHz and a Turbo Boost frequency of 3.1 GHz makes it possible to choose between 1, 2 or 4 processor cores. As many as 16 GB DDR3 DRAM are soldered to the board. In addition, Intel AMT, Open CL 1.1 and high-end graphics are supported.

The adaptable BIOS with integrated Intel AMT support can be flexibly adapted to the final application without additional costs. The Board Management Controller supervises the board functions and temperatures.

I/O interfaces of the CB70C include PCI Express, LVDS, DDI, VGA, HD Audio, SATA, Ethernet and USB. As the CB70C is embedded in an aluminum frame for conduction cooling specified according to the VITA 59 standard, it can be used in the extended temperature range of -40 to +85°C. Due to the soldered components and the compact frame, the module is also protected against shock and vibration and is EMC proof.

MEN MIKRO ELEKTRONIK

www.men.de

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

41

PRODUCT NEWS

ACTIVE COMPONENTS

Exar Releases World’s Lowest Voltage Single Supply LDOs With 140mV Dropout

Exar’s High Power COT Switching Controller Delivers 1% Output Accuracy

Exar Corporation, a leading supplier of high performance analog mixed-signal components and data management solutions, announced two ground breaking low-dropout (LDO) regulators that support 2A and 3A loads from a single low voltage supply with a maximum dropout voltage of 140mV. The XRP6274 and XRP6275 ultra low dropout voltage regulators can operate with industry standard low voltage rails of 1.1V to 2.5V providing a unique single supply solution for convenient point-of-load voltage regulation. The new LDOs are targeted at a wide range of markets including communications, enterprise solutions, industrial systems and space constrained consumer devices.

Exar achieves the ultra low dropout performance of its XRP6274 and XRP6275 regulators without requiring either an external bias voltage or an inter-

Exar Corporation introduced a new high-power switching controller in its line of DC-DC power conversion products.

The XRP6141 Synchronous Step Down Controller supports pointof-load (POL) supplies up to 35A and is designed to achieve excellent transient response and output accuracy using Exar’s proprietary emulated current mode Constant On-Time (COT) control loop. This device delivers core voltage rails for ASICs, FPGAs, DSPs and Network Processors in communications, networking and industrial markets. The XRP6141 is specified with a wide input voltage range of 4.5V to 22V and delivers an adjustable output voltage from 0.6V to 18V. With its exceptional 0.1% line regulation across the entire input voltage range and 1% output accuracy over full temperature range, XRP6141 provides increased headroom to engineers

nal charge pump, which can often generate unwanted noise and affect system operation.

The new ultra LDO’s use a single supply and reduce board layout complexity by avoiding the need to route a secondary bias rail to

the LDO. The start up is guaranteed from an input voltage as low as 1.045V. The XRP6274/75 devices provide output voltages down to 0.6V with an accuracy of 0.5% using ceramic capacitors. In addition, precision enable and power good functions allow for easy sequencing and control of these LDOs. EXAR CORPORATION www.exar.com

Exar’s new LPC UARTs reduce footprint in Industrial PCs Exar Corporation announced the XR28V382 and XR28V384 UARTs for the Intel Low Pin Count (LPC) motherboard bus.

The new LPC UARTs reduce footprint while increasing data integrity and throughput by providing industry leading 128 byte FIFOs. These devices are targeted towards industrial PCs, factory automation, process controllers, network routers, and single board embedded computers.

The XR28V382 is packaged in a small 5×5mm 32 pin QFN and includes two UART channels, while the XR28V384 has four UART channels in a 7×7mm 48 pin TQFP. Exar’s dual and quad LPC UARTs, compared to 128 pin super I/O devices, offer the same or more serial channels in a significantly smaller footprint, offering as much as 8X

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reduction in board space.

Both the two channel XR28V382 and four channel XR28V384 UARTs include Exar’s automatic half duplex control for RS-485 networks. These parts feature 128 byte transmit and receive FIFOs, are rated for the industrial temp range, and operate at 3.3V. Each UART channel supports serial data rates up to 3Mbps.

Suggested retail prices for XR28V382 and XR28V384 are $2.40 and $3.50 respectively, in 1,000-unit quantities.

EXAR CORPORATION www.exar.com

EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

for easier design implementations.

The emulated current mode COT control scheme has the fast transient response of conventional COT control loops without any of the compromises. Exar’s COT con-

trol loop enables operation with ceramic output capacitors, eliminating loop compensation, which simplifies system design and reduces overall component count.

Additionally, the XRP6141 offers a host of supervisory and protection features for proper sequencing, safe operation under abnormal operating conditions and light load operation.

EXAR CORPORATION www.exar.com

Exar Introduces Smallest Multiprotocol Transceiver Exar Corporation announced the SP335 advanced multiprotocol transceiver supporting RS-232, RS-485, and RS-422 serial standards. At 5x5mm2, the SP335 is less than half the size of a comparable discrete design, doubling the number of serial interface channels that can be assembled in the same board space and allowing system designers to easily combine multiple serial protocols over the same connector. Programmable end-of-line termination and multiple configuration modes allow all three protocols to be used interchangeably over a single cable or connector with no additional switching components.

The SP335’s bus pins are protected against severe ESD events

exceeding ±15kV IEC 61000-4-2 Air Gap Discharge, and ±8kV IEC 61000-4-2 Contact Discharge, and can tolerate direct shorts to DC or AC voltages as high as ±18V. These rugged devices are intended for use in software programmable serial ports for industrial

PCs and single board computers, process control, point-of-sale, embedded systems, HVAC controls, building automation networking, and security systems.

EXAR CORPORATION www.exar.com

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AUTOMATION Murata has developed world’s first surface mount ultrasonic sensor Murata announced that it has developed a surface-mount device (SMD)-type ultrasonic sensor and that the product will be manufactured by Hakui Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., with production starting in summer 2014.

Constructed in an ultra low profile package measuring just 5.2 × 5.2 mm and 1.15 mm thick, the MA40H1S-R series is capable of delivering up to 100 dB sound pressure at 40 kHz. Operating voltage is 6 Vp-p and the sensor has a -6dB full angle beam of 80 degrees.

Through the use of an exclusive structural design, including the

ceramic element, Murata Manufacturing has succeeded in developing what it believes to be the world’s first surfacemount device (SMD)-type ultrasonic sensor. Since it is a surface-mount device (SMD), the new sensor requires minimal mounting space, and it enables improved functionality for distance measurement and position detection through the use of ultrasonic waves.

Typical applications include distance measurement, position detection and 3D gesture detection in portable equipment.

MURATA www.murata.eu www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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PRODUCT NEWS

ACTIVE COMPONENTS

Energy-measurement Analogue Front-Ends (AFEs) offer high accuracy for 3-phase smart meters and multiple-load power monitoring Microchip announces its nextgeneration family of energymeasurement Analogue Front Ends (AFEs) with industry-leading accuracy. The MCP3913 and MCP3914 integrate six and eight 24-bit, delta-sigma Analogue-toDigital Converters (ADCs), respectively, with 94.5 dB SINAD, -106.5 dB THD and 112 dB SFDR for high-accuracy signal acquisition and higherperforming endproducts.

The MCP3914’s two additional ADCs enable the monitoring of more sensors with one chip, lowering cost and size. In addition, the programmable data rate of up to 125 ksps with low-power modes allows designers to scale down for better power consumption or to use higher data rates for advanced signal analysis, such as calculating harmonic content.

These AFEs also feature a CRC16 checksum and register-map

lock, for increased robustness.

As the energy-metering infrastructure is being upgraded worldwide, designers are demanding increased AFE accuracy, performance and flexibility to develop the latest generation

of smart meters. These features are also required by the designers of advanced power-monitoring systems for applications such as server power supplies and power distribution units, uninterruptible power supplies, smart power strips and data-acquisition products in the industrial and commercial markets.

MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY www.microchip.com/get/TEND

Ultra-compact multifunctional wireless module supports WLAN standard 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 MSC Technologies presented the WiBear11ac automotive-grade wireless module from Lesswire at its Booth 2 130 in Hall 2 at embedded world 2014, February 25 27, 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany.

The WiBear11ac with dimensions of only 15 mm × 20 mm × 2.5 mm combines for the first time WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and 2.1 as well as NFC on a single module. The module is designed for both simultaneous and independent operation of the different technologies.

The module can be easily connected to a host controller by means of SDIO interface. In addition to a Bluetooth interface, a UART interface is available for Bluetooth operation.

Furthermore, a two-wire serial interface (TWSI) is included on the module for near field communication (NFC). Audio applications benefit from the integrated pulse code modulation (PCM) and inter-IC sound (I2S) functions.

Through the 1x1 antenna configu-

ration, PHY data transfer rates up to 433 Mbps and transfer rates up to 3 Mbps via Bluetooth are feasible. The possibility of 64-bit or 128-bit AES hardware encryption and integrated security mecha-

nisms such as 64/128-bit WEP, WPA, WPA2 and WAPI ensure a high level of data security.

With an output power up to +18 dBm in 802.11b mode and +15 dBm in 802.11a/g/n mode or up to +8 dBm with Bluetooth operation, the wireless interfaces are also especially powerful.

Coexistence functions are supported by an internal TDM unit for WLAN and Bluetooth as well as a 2-wire UART for LTE. MSC TECHNOLOGIES www.msc-technologies.eu

Rutronik includes new Resettable Fuse from Diodes in its program

I'M Intelligent Memory announces its high capacity DDR2 SDRAM IC's

Diodes introduces the NIS5132 resettable electronic fuse. It is suitable for hot plug consumer and industrial products, including external disks, printers and servers, helping to raise power system reliability by protecting against shutdown and catastrophic failures. By allowing a product to restart, the device enables a reduction in unnecessary field returns. The NIS5132 is available at distributor Rutronik as of now.

Operating over a wide input voltage range from 9V up to 18V, and provided in the small, low-profile DFN-303010 package, the 3.6A-rated NIS5132 integrates a low onresistance NMOS buffer and an internal current limit. With the buffer's typical RDS(ON) of only 30mOhm and with no need for

With capacities of up to 4 Gigabit per chip, I'M Intelligent Memory, a Hong Kong based fabless DRAM manufacturer, enters the market for industrial DDR2 memory components with their mission statement "Beyond Limits".

DDR2 SDRAM technology is the memory standard that most industrial applications have been designed around for years. I'M pushes this technology even further by offering higher capacities and wider temperature ranges than other manufacturers. The most common densities of DDR2 continue to be 512Mb and 1Gb. The larger capacities, such as 2Gb and 4Gb, are defined by JEDEC,

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an external sense resistor in the load path, the device minimizes voltage drop and power loss.

To fully safeguard downstream power components from damage or premature aging, the fuse's protection features include

under-voltage lockout, turn-on ramp control, current-limit and thermal shutdown circuits. This thermal shutdown can be either latching type (NIS5132MN1) or auto-retry type (NIS5132MN2).

RUTRONIK www.rutronik.com

EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

but their availability from other manufacturers continues to be very limited. I'M Intelligent Memory focuses on the high end of DDR2 capacities with their 2Gbit monolithic, 2Gbit Dual-Die (DDP) and 4Gbit DDP compo-

nents in standard or industrial temperature ranges. For automotive customers, AEC-Q100 versions are also available.

I'M INTELLIGENT MEMORY www.intelligentmemory.com

PRODUCT NEWS

ACTIVE COMPONENTS

Murata 12 V 20 Amp DOSA compatible quarter brick DCDC converter suits wireless backhaul and smart grid applications Murata announced the UWQ 240Watt quarter-brick DCDC converter from Murata Power Solutions designed for a wireless backhaul, smart grid, and a broad range of networking and other telecommunications applications.

With a fixed 12 VDC / 20 A single output this DOSA compatible open-frame quarter brick package occupies only 58.4 × 36.8 × 11.7 mm.

This compact device helps designers conserve valuable board footprint for today’s space-constrained designs. The converter accepts a wide 3:1 input range of voltage from 18 to 60VDC around a nominal 48VDC. A remote sense feature provides the automatic adjustment of Vout to make up for line and load losses while a trim function allows +/-10% of Vout. The series has tight load and line reg-

ulation that ensures that the output voltage does not vary beyond ±1.25% when the load changes. The UWQ-12/20-T48 has a typical efficiency of 92% and up to 3 units can operate in parallel in order to provide

redundancy or load sharing of a higher power requirement.

Controls include remote On/Off control of either negative or positive logic. In addition, the converter has a number of protection features including overcurrent, overtemperature, input undervoltage and output short circuit.

MURATA www.murata.eu

RUTRONIK EMBEDDED: Powerful 18dBm Bluetooth module with extended range from Free2Move Free2Move introduces the powerful Bluetooth module F2M03GXA. The fully qualified Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module is equipped with exceptional wireless transmission characteristics for data and voice

extensive digital and analog I/O interfaces.

The standard module comes along with the SPP-firmware, other profiles can be implemented upon request. Ideal for most

communication. It is available at distributor Rutronik as of now.

The F2M03GXA comes with a new power amplifier that allows an adjustable transmit power of up to 18.4dBm and a receiver sensibility of down to -89dBm. A Piconet and Scatternet can be set up with up to seven slaves, the PCM interface allows up to three simultaneous voice channels.

Furthermore, the F2M03GXA is compliant to USB v2.0 and has

demanding industrial applications is the module’s operating temperature between -40° and +85°C. The F2M03GXA is fully pin and software compatible to the older version and has full modular approval, making it easy to integrate a wireless solution into a product. The F2M03GXA module is certified according to CE, FCC and IC. RUTRONIK www.rutronik.com/0311d8da.l

Exar Enters Power Module Market With Breakthrough Devices

Avago Technologies Unveils Two New Highly Integrated Smart Gate Drive Optocouplers for Motor Drives and Inverters

Exar Corporation introduced the XRP9710 and XRP9711 multioutput, synchronous step-down, programmable power modules that offer the industry’s highest power density and lowest profile at 2.75mm with 5V-22V inputs. Both devices provide two fully integrated regulators with MOSFETs, inductors, and internal input and output capacitors in a compact 12×12×2.75mm package that support loads up to 6Amps each.

The revolutionary XRP9711 also offers two controller outputs that are each capable of driving loads up to 30Amps, making it the industry’s first module to offer

Avago Technologies announced two new highly-integrated smart gate drive optocoupler devices, the ACPL-336J and ACPL-337J. The ACPL-336J and ACPL-337J have a 2.5A and a 4A rail-to-rail output, respectively, capable of driving high power MOSFET or IGBT directly. The new devices feature rail-to-rail output with high current, integrated LED driver, active Miller clamp, high DESAT blanking current source, and Under Voltage Lock-Out (ULVO) feedback control circuit, providing a complete cost-effective gate drive solution for motor control and power inverter applications.

ACPL-336J/ACPL-337J Product Highlights - Rail-to-rail output with high current eliminating output buffer stage and improving power efficiency.

two fully integrated channels and two controller outputs. The XRP9710 and XRP9711 are com-

plete system power solutions that enable telemetry, reconfiguration and fast time to market in a small footprint without sacrificing performance.

EXAR CORPORATION www.exar.com

- Integrated LED driver, active Miller clamp and high DESAT blanking current source reducing system costs and board space.

- Integrated short circuit protec-

tion and FAULT & UVLO feedback control circuit improving system reliability for driving and protecting IGBT. - High reinforced insulation voltage of VIORM=1414VPEAK for reliable fail-safe protection in high voltage applications.

AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES www.avagotech.com

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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PRODUCT NEWS

ACTIVE COMPONENTS

IQD’s new microcomputer-compensated crystal oscillator delivers ±50ppb stability in a 7 x 5mm package Launched at Embedded World 2014, IQD’s new IQMT-100 series Microcomputer Compensated Crystal Oscillator (MCXO) offers customers OCXO performance in a standard clock oscillator sized package. The design enables a frequency stability of ±50ppb (parts per billion) over the full industrial operating temperature range of –40 to 85°C whilst maintaining an extremely good typical short term stability of 2E10/s. The IQMT-100 is housed in an industry standard sized ceramic package measuring just 7 x 5mm with both 8 and 10 pad options available over a frequency range from 10 to 50MHz. A wide range of standard frequencies have already been developed including 10, 12.8, 16.320,16.3840, 19.2, 19.44, 20.0, 25.0, 26.0, 30.720 and 50MHz. Output compatibility can be specified as either Clipped Sine or HCMOS with 15pF load along with 3.0, 3.3 and 5.0V

supply voltages. A voltage control option is available to control the frequency pulling to compensate for crystal ageing and varying circuit conditions with choices of either ±5ppm to ±10ppm or ±10ppm to ±15ppm.

Ageing per day is 20ppb although 10ppb can be offered for some specifi-

XP Power Brings Industry-Leading Power Product Lineup to Digi-Key Global electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, the industry leader in electronic component selection, availability and delivery, today announced a global distribution agreement with XP Power, a power-solution leader offering the widest range of power products available from one source.

XP Power is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of power supply solutions for the electronics industry, continuously updating their product range to provide leading-edge power supply technology. This constant refreshing of their product line assures customers that they can source the newest, most costefficient products on the market.

cation combinations. Similarly standard ageing over one year is 1ppm although 0.5ppm can be offered for certain frequencies. Typical phase noise performance is -145dBC/Hz @ 100kHz. IQD www.iqdfrequencyproducts.com

“As engineers look to increase the flexibility of their designs to minimize space and maximize efficiency, having access to the newest technologies is a logical need,” said Tom Busher, Vice President, Global Interconnect, Passive, and Electromechanical Product at Digi-Key. “XP Power’s commitment to innovation makes them a great fit for our customers’ changing product requirements.

We are excited at the prospect of this partnership.”

In addition to maintaining the newest technology in their product offering, XP Power also provides significant expertise with assuring that their power solutions meet applicable technical and legislative requirements, specifically in the Industrial, Technology, and Healthcare sectors.

“We are delighted to have significantly strengthened our distribution channel with the signing of this global agreement with Digi-Key. Our partnership will enable us to offer the highest possible levels of service to our customers through Digi-Key,” said Steve Head, XP Power Vice President of Marketing.

XP POWER DIGI-KEY CORPORATION

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EP&Dee | March, 2014 | www.epd-ee.eu

www.xppower.com www.digikey.com

PRODUCT NEWS

ACTIVE COMPONENTS

Cymbet Launches Ultra-low Power EnerChip™ RTC with Integrated Battery

Murata Eighth Brick DOSA compliant 150 W DC DC converter suits distributed power applications

Cymbet Corporation announced the commercial release of the EnerChip™ RTC product family that combines an ultra-low power Real Time Clock with a rechargeable solid state battery and power management IC in a single 5mm × 5mm plastic package. The EnerChip RTC is the world’s smallest RTC with integrated power holdover.

This is accomplished by utilizing bare die RTC, EnerChip battery and PMIC devices combined into a single package that uses Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and reflow solder processes. EnerChip RTCs provide from 30 to over 100 hours of RTC power back-up per charge with thousands of recharge cycles.

The EnerChip RTC is an ideal replacement for bulky and troublesome coin cell batteries and supercapacitors.

The first three devices in the EnerChip RTC product family are: • CBC34123 that combines an NXP RTC with the EnerChip and PMIC for 30 hours power

Murata today announced the UEE series of 150 Watt isolated DC-DC converters from Murata Power Solutions designed for intermediate bus and distributed power architectures.

Packaged in an industry standard eighth brick format, these DOSA compliant converters measure just 58.4 × 22.9 × 10.7 mm and are available with either mounting pins or as a surface mount device.

Accommodating a standard 2:1 input voltage range around a 48 VDC nominal, the UEE series comprises three models offering the popular output voltages of 3.3, 5, or 12VDC. These high efficiency converters, typically up to 92%, have a tight line regulation of ±0.1% and load regulation of up to ±0.25%. Basic input/output isolation is rated at 2250VDC and complies with safety standard EN/UL/

holdover and supports SPI-bus.

• CBC34803 that that combines an Ambiq RTC with the EnerChip and PMIC for 100 hours power holdover and supports I2C-bus • CBC34813 that that combines an Ambiq RTC with the EnerChip and PMIC for 100 hours power holdover and supports SPI-bus

The various EnerChip RTC configurations support: Alarm and timer functions, General Purpose Outputs, XT Oscillator, 256B RAM, Calibration/Auto-calibration, RC Oscillator, Watchdog, External Interrupts, a VBAT switch, and on-chip battery charge control with power management.

CYMBET www.cymbet.com

Avago Technologies Unveils Leading-Edge Retimer IC Solutions for 100G Network Backplane and Portside Applications Avago Technologies announced the availability of a new family of multi-channel retimer IC devices, the AVSP-4412 and AVSP-8801, designed for modern 100GbE systems. Withstanding up to 32 dB of channel loss at 25 Gbps per channel, these devices enable high-density, long-reach 4×25G and 8×25G connections for network backplane interface and VSR connections up to 4×28G for network front port interface.

The AVSP-4412 is a bidirectional 4-channel retimer IC. The AVSP8801 is a unidirectional 8-channel retimer IC. Both devices feature built-in test and channel analysis capabilities such as pattern generation, eye capture, and error detection. A user can con-

trol the device via MDIO, I2C, or JTAG, and the Avago-provided API facilitates seamless software integration. Furthermore, the AVSP-4412 includes an embedded backchannel allowing for

automatic link training such that the Rx and Tx of each channel can be optimized without simulation or system validation to determine the best EQ settings.

AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES www.avagotech.com

EC 60950. The converters are able to deliver the full output power over the industrial equipment temperature range of -40 to

+85°C. Safety features of the series include input undervoltage, output overcurrent, short circuit and overtemperature. A remote On/ Off control input provides the ability to sequence the startup or shutdown of the converter from another application. Also, a remote sense input allows correction of the output voltage in order to make up for line losses, and a trim function provides a user adjustment of the output.

MURATA www.murata.eu

NXP LPC1500 from Mouser Electronics Makes Motor Control Simple Mouser Electronics, Inc. is now shipping the new LPC1500 Motion Control Chip solution from NXP Semiconductor. The LPC1500 is a flexible controller capable of driving a variety of different motors including brushless DC, sensored, sensorless, and permanent magnet motors.

The new NXP Semiconductor LPC1500 Motion Control IC available from Mouser Electronics is optimized for fast and easy motor control in a variety of applications. The LPC1500 is powered by a 72MHz ARM Cortex M3 core combined with specialized motor control peripherals. Two 12-bit, 12 channel ADCs and a quadrature encoder interface provide enough support to drive two motors at the same time. The ADCs sample at a fast 2Msamples/sec and allow for

precision motor position sensing and speed control. Precision PWM generators insure accurate and efficient motor drive control, including stepper motors..

A 12 bit DAC samples at 500Ksamples/sec and provides precision voltage control of DC motors. A on chip temperature sensor monitors system temperature to quickly correct overheating conditions. External control is achieved via a CAN or USB bus. I²C and SPI interfaces are also available.

MOUSER ELECTRONICS www.mouser.com

www.epd-ee.eu | March, 2014 | EP&Dee

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