Page 287 – Electronics-Lab.com

PIR Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light – Arduino Compatible

Posted on 25 March, 2021 by mixos

This motion sensor LED ceiling light board has been designed using 4 white LEDs each of 1-3W, PIR sensor module, Atmega328 microcontroller, low ohm IRLR7843 MOSFET, and few other components. The PIR sensor detects the infra-red rays emitted by human motion within the detection area and switches on the 4 white LEDs for 10 seconds. The project helps in energy-saving applications and new green building projects. Detecting distance: 1 to 20 feet. Detecting angle: 360 degrees. Installation height 2-15 feet. 2 mounting holes are provided to mount this board. It is advisable to use this board indoors.

PIR Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light – Arduino Compatible – [Link]

Two Channel Smart Low-Side Power Switch for Inductive, Resistive and Capacitive Loads – Arduino Shield

Posted on 25 March, 202125 March, 2021 by mixos

The project presented here enables users to switch all kinds of resistive, inductive and capacitive loads, limited by clamping energy (EAS) and maximum current requirement. The user may interface 2 x inductive, resistive, and capacitive loads such as solenoid, dc motor, high current contact switch, high current relay, LEDs, lamps, and piezo etc. The project is most suitable for inductive loads as well as loads with inrush current. The project has been designed using BTF3050TE IC which is a 50 mΩ single-channel Smart Low-Side Power Switch in a PG-TO252-5 package providing embedded protective functions. The power transistor is built by a N-channel vertical power MOSFET. The device is monolithically integrated. The BTF3050TE is automotive qualified and is optimized for 12V automotive and industrial applications. Two loads can be controlled using Arduino UNO. IC has a thermal-restart function. The device will turn on again, if input is still high, after the measured temperature has dropped below the thermal hysteresis.

Two Channel Smart Low-Side Power Switch for Inductive, Resistive and Capacitive Loads – Arduino Shield – [Link]

Seeed Studio’s Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board Brings The CM4 To Router Projects

Posted on 25 March, 202122 December, 2021 by Emmanuel Odunlade

The latest design from Seeed Studio is one that will pique your interest if you are a software router enthusiast, a Linux developer, an HTPC maker, or just the regular Raspberry Pi user. It is a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and it offers two Gigabit Ethernet ports.

“The Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 was designed with soft router applications in mind,” says Seeed Studio. “It features dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual USB 3.0 ports, a rich set of I/O peripherals such as MIPI CSI, MIPI DSI and micro-HDMI for display and camera connectivity, a standard 9-pin USB 3.0 for further USB expansion, microSD card slot and FPC connector. Despite this, the Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board maintains a small form factor of 75 by 64 by 21mm [around 2.95 x 2.52 x 0.82in] – that’s one third the size of the official I/O Board!”

The carrier board is designed in a way that allows users to explore more possibilities with CM4. The MicroSD card slot in the compact carrier board implies that it can support all Raspberry Pi CM4 boards including those without an onboard eMMC storage like the Compute Module 4 Lite family. The carrier board will support up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. Extra connectivity for the carrier board is provided by the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth onboard selected CM4 boards.

Seeed Fusion team is launching a Raspberry Pi CM4 Sponsorship Program to support CM4-powered designs. Manufacture your custom Raspberry Pi CM4 Carrier Board with the Seeed PCB Assembly Service and get up to $500 Off! –

Features and Specifications of the Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board include:

2x Gigabit Ethernet connectors for soft router applications
Camera / display connectivity using:
- 1x MIPI CSI connector
- 1x MIPI DSI connector, and,
- 1x Micro HDMI connector
Onboard 2x USB 3.0 with 1x additional USB 3.0 9-pin header for more external ports
1x microSD card slot to load system image for non-eMMC version of CM4
More expandability via FPC Connector (I2C, SPI)
External fan support with fan power connector
USB 3.0 to GbE (Gigabit Ethernet Bridge): Microchip’s LAN7800
Power Supply: 5V/3A using USB Type-C Port
Dimensions: 75 mm x 64 mm x 21 mm
Weight: 43 grams
Temperature Range: -40°C to +85°C

Application scenarios include:

Smart home
Internet of Things
Gateways
Routers
Camera projects

Pricing and Availability

The Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board is currently available for pre-order on Seeed Studio at $45 but the company is offering some discounts for those who will be purchasing in bulk units — $43 for quantities above 10 but less than 20, while $41 for 20 and above. Shipping is expected to start before the end of April this year.

Tiny microsupercapacitor that could power future wearables

Posted on 25 March, 2021 by Emmanuel Odunlade

A group of researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea, have designed a really tiny and ultra-dense Micro-supercapacitor that can be printed directly into circuits.

“Microsupercapacitors (MSCs) have garnered considerable attention as a promising power source for microelectronics and miniaturized portable/wearable devices. However, their practical application has been hindered by the manufacturing complexity and dimensional limits.”

the team explains in the abstract of the paper.

The Micro-supercapacitor, as tiny as it is (roughly the width of a human fingerprint), is being positioned as the next big thing in the world of IoT — it could power both future wearables and embedded IoT devices.

The team from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering was able to conduct a study, the first of its kind that exploits electrohydrodynamic jet printing in the micro-supercapacitors. They fabricated a new class of ultra-high areal number density solid-state MSCs directly on a chip via EHD jet printing. EHD jet printing is a high-resolution patterning technique that uses the electrode and electrolyte for printing purposes. It is similar to conventional inkjet printing but it can control printed liquid with an electric field.

And the results?

“We were able to produce up to 54.9 unit cells per square centimeter (cm2) via electro-hydrodynamic jet printing technique, and thus the output of 65.9 volts (V) was achieved in the same area,” the first author of the project, Kwonhyung Lee, explains.

Professor Lee and his team also claimed that they were able to fabricate 36 unit cells on a chip (area = 8.0 mm × 8.2 mm, 54.9 cells cm−2) and areal operating voltage (65.9 V cm−2) — something far beyond those of previously reported MSCs fabricated by other printing techniques. These cells also showed that they could withstand excessive heat that may be generated from the actual operation because they maintained the normal cyclic voltammetry profiles when exposed to very high temperatures.

The prototype MSCs from the study are so tiny but they can be printed during a chip’s manufacturing process, giving it an internal power source.

“In this study, we have demonstrated on-chip UHD SS–MSCs fabricated via EHD jet printing,” Professor Lee further explained. “The on-chip UHD SS–MSCs presented here hold great promise as a new platform technology for miniaturized monolithic power sources with customized design and tunable electrochemical properties,” he added.

Further Details

Full details on the team’s work concerning the micro-supercapacitors can be found in the “Science Advances” journal where it was published.

Meet BPI-M2 Pro SBC — A More Compact Amlogic S905X3 SBC From Banana Pi

Posted on 25 March, 202125 March, 2021 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Banana Pi has unveiled a more compact model of their Amlogic S905X3 based single board computer equipped with a quad -A55 Amlogic S905X3, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, and BT connectivity, HDMI video output, 40-pin GPIO, and two USB 3.0 ports — the BPI-M2 Pro SBC.

The new BPI-M2 Pro is second in line of a bigger but similar open-spec Banana Pi BPI-M5 SBC that closely follows the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B form factor. The BPI-M2 Pro shares almost the same specifications as the BPI-M5 except for some slight differences which I would just like to share briefly.

The BPI-M5 board is also an Amlogic-based board with 4x, up to 2GHz Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G31 GPU running @up to 650Mhz, 16GB to 64GB eMMC, a microSD slot and 1GbE LAN. The BPI-M5 has double the RAM of the BPI-M2 Pro at 2GB as well as up to 4x USB 3.0 ports instead of the 2x found in the BPI-M2 Pro. There’s also an audio jack in the BPI-M5 that is not available with the BPI-M2 Pro.

The BPI-M2 Pro on the other hand adds a WiFi/BT module and uses a DC Jack for power supply input instead of the Type-C port.

The new SBC also follows in a line of other BPI-M2 boards like the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry and the Banana Pi BPI-M2+ which is of the same size as the BPI-M2 Pro.

Features and Specifications of the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro include:

Processor: Amlogic S905X3 (4x Cortex-A55 @ up to 2GHz); 12nm fab
ARM Mali-G31 GPU @ up to 650MHz
2GB LPDDR4 RAM
16GB eMMC with optional up to 64GB
MicroSD card slot for up to 256GB
1x Gigabit Ethernet port
Dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 1×1
Bluetooth 4.2 (Realtek RTL8821CU) module
HDMI 2.1 port for up to 4K@60Hz with audio, HDR, CEC, EDID
2x USB 3.0 host ports
1x Micro-USB OTG port
3-pin UART header for serial console
40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header (28x GPIO with support for UART, I2C, SPI or PWM plus 5V, 3.3V, GND)
IR receiver
2x LEDs (Power and status LEDs)
SW key
Power Supply: 5V/3 DC input jack (micro USB port does not support power input)
Reset button and boot switch
Dimensions: 65 mm x 65 mm
Weight: 58 grams
Operating system: Android and Linux

The SBC is supported with Android 9 and Linux flavors including Ubuntu, Debian, and CoreELEC. Since software support is not really a strength of Banana Pi, judging from past projects, the BPI-M2 Pro will most likely be more appreciated and better used by experienced developers and engineers.

There is no information on pricing and availability yet, but the board will likely cost less than the BPI-M5 that sells for $53. Further details however may be found on the company’s wiki page.

Compact 3.5 inch iBase IB386 SBC Featuring Intel Elkhart Lake SoC

Posted on 25 March, 2021 by Saumitra Jagdale

In December 2020, we saw iBase unveiled the release of the 10th generation intel core Mini ITX motherboard. Now, the company has announced its compact 3.5-inch iBase IB386 SBC featuring Elkhart Lake SoC. There was another 3.5-inch ECM-EHL SBC which had a similar Elkhart Lake SoC but, it comes with 1GbE ports instead of the GbE and 2.5GbE ports on the ECM-EHL.

Discussing further, Intel’s Elkhart Lake SoC is specific to the next generation of IoT edge devices. The SoC comes with new levels of CPU and graphics performance with built-in IoT features, real-time performance, manageability, and security. “It runs on 10nm SuperFin Tremont CPU cores and up to 32EU Intel Gen11 graphics with triple 4K. The SoC offers improved AI performance over the earlier, Atom-class Gemini Lake, which iBase used on its 3.5-inch IB822 SBC.”

Key Features of IB386 SBC

Intel Elkhart Lake Atom x6000E, Celeron, and Pentium (2x or 4x 10nm Elkhart Lake cores working up to 1.8GHz/3.0GHz.
Intel UHD Graphics with 11th generation up to 32EU.
Memory includes up to 32GB DDR4-3200 through two slots and IBECC RAM.
Storage includes 2x SATA 3.0 and mSATA is available through mini-PCIe shared with SATA port.
3x Intel PCI-E GbE LAN for networking.
M.2 sockets and Mini PCI-E slot for expandability.
Watchdog timer, Digital I/O interfacing, and TPM (2.0)
9V to 36V wide-range DC input supply.
Extended operating temperature in certain models.

The iBase IB386 SBC comes with USB 3.1 host ports, the port is a Type-C USB with DP support. It also has USB 2.0 headers for plugging compatible devices with the SBC. The SBC also features three RS-232 headers for connecting serial devices which are capable of transmitting only one bit at an instance.

The iBase says “The unit supports Intel IBECC (In-band error-correcting code), an error-correcting architecture works to detect and correct single-bit memory errors to enhance safety and reliability. With a 15-year life cycle, the guaranteed availability ideally fits customer demands for their projects in smart retail, intelligent transportation, healthcare, and industrial automation applications”

The iBase IB386 SBC comes with non-condensing relative humidity tolerance and has an operating temperature range from -40 to 85°C on Atom models. The dimensions of the SBC are 147 x 102mm with a “3.5-inch form factor”. It supports Ubuntu Linux and Windows operating systems.

There is no pricing or availability information of the SBC at this point in time. For More information visit the official product page of IB386 SBC. Images and technical specifications have also been taken from the product page.

Source: LinuxGizmos

ScioSense’s ENS210 relative humidity and temperature sensor with I²C interface

Posted on 23 March, 2021 by mixos

ScioSense’s ENS210 is a high-performance digital output sensor that monolithically integrates one relative humidity sensor and one high-accuracy temperature sensor. The device is encapsulated in a QFN4 package and includes an I²C slave interface for communication with a master processor.

Features

Compact size: 2.0 mm x 2.0 mm x 0.75 mm
Typ. accuracy: temperature sensor ±0.15°C, relative humidity sensor ±2.0% RH
Digital pre-calibrated output in K and %RH
Wide operating range: 1.71 V to 3.60 V
Ultra-low power: standby current 40 nA, active current 6.6 μA @ 1 Hz (1.8 V)
Low drift: 0.25% p.a.
Fast response: τT < 1 s, τRH < 3 s

Applications

Home appliances (dryers, cookers, hoods, refrigerators)
Home and building climate control systems
Transportation condition monitoring
Wireless sensor nodes
Personal health and wellness monitoring
Industrial automation (e.g., server rooms)

Available Tool: Evaluation Kit for ENS210

The ENS210 Evaluation Kit is a combination of an ENS210 shield and a USB-to-I²C dongle. The evaluation kit connects to a Windows PC via USB port, and the sensor is powered via the USB connector. It can be controlled by a Windows PC-based application, which demonstrates the relative humidity and temperature values measured by the sensor. The PC application can also be used for logging sensor data and monitoring the I²C transaction. The evaluation kit can also be used for quick integration into the end customer’s application. The ENS210 evaluation kit comes with an extensive set of documentation such as a quick start guide, a user manual, application notes, and others, and reference drivers for easy design-in.

more information: https://www.sciosense.com/products/relative-humidity-and-temperature-sensors/ens210-relative-humidity-and-temperature-sensor/

Analog Devices’ LT3950 1.5 A multi-topology LED driver offers 20,000:1 range dimming of the LED

Posted on 23 March, 2021 by mixos

High contrast applications (day to night) require high dimming ratios, and ADI’s LT3950 provides up to 20,000:1 dimming ratio, providing high dynamic range dimming for day/night vision. The flexibility to combine with analog input dimming provides accurate LED brightness control and eliminates the need for a microcontroller.

The LT3950 is a multi-topology DC/DC converter designed specifically to drive high current LEDs. It contains a 1.5 A, 60 V DMOS switch and supports an external PWM dimming PMOS. The LT3950 has an internal PWM generator for dimming that maps an analog control signal to an exponential scale used to define PWM dimming duty ratio. Using an exponential scale to define duty ratio preserves dimming resolution across a wide range of LED current. In addition to operating as a constant current source, the LT3950 also provides output voltage regulation. This can be used to prevent damage to the part in case of open LED events. A programmable switching frequency offers flexibility in design for higher efficiency or reduced component size. Enabling spread spectrum frequency modulation reduces EMI. The switching frequency can also easily be synchronized by driving the SYNC/SPRD pin with an external clock. LED current is programmed with a single external sense resistor and can be adjusted from zero to full-scale by an analog signal at the CTRL pin.

DC2788A is a boost LED driver featuring the LT3950. This demonstration circuit powers a string of LEDs at 330 mA. The step-up topology can be used to drive a string of up to 28 V of LEDs as assembled. The maximum output voltage capability of the LT3950 is 60 V. DC2788A runs from an input voltage range of 6 V to 24 V as built. It also runs at 2 MHz and has the capability to turn on spread spectrum frequency modulation (SSFM) for a frequency range of 2.0 MHz to 2.5 MHz. Dimming control can be achieved with analog dimming or PWM dimming either from an external or an internally generated clock source. DC2788A features undervoltage lockout (UVLO) set at 6.6 V with a 1.0 V hysteresis for turn-on.

The UVLO voltage, LED current, output voltage range, switching frequency, brightness control, SSFM, and the topology can all be adjusted with simple modifications to the demonstration circuit.

Features

20,000:1 external PWM (pulse-width modulation) dimming allows high dynamic range dimming of the LED load
Accurate PWM control and short-circuit protection so it can maintain constant brightness of LEDs in side-by-side strings and protect LEDs from damage
SSFM ensures low EMI performance; passes CISPR25 Class 5; synchronized to PWM frequency to eliminate visible LED flicker

Applications

General-purpose: scanners, industrial panels, display backlighting, video wall displays, LED arrays
Automotive: high contrast instrument clusters, TFT-LCD LED backlighting, heads-up displays (HUD)
Aerospace and defense: HUD, LED backlighting, high contrast instrument clusters
Healthcare: COVID testers

more information: https://www.analog.com/en/products/lt3950.html

LPS27HHTW MEMS Pressure Sensor acts as a digital output barometer

Posted on 23 March, 2021 by mixos

STMicroelectronics’ ultra-compact piezoresistive absolute pressure sensor functions as a digital output barometer

STMicroelectronics’ LPS27HHTW is an ultra-compact piezoresistive absolute pressure sensor that functions as a digital output barometer. The device also embeds a temperature sensor to monitor ambient temperature. The LPS27HHTW comprises a sensing element and an IC interface that communicates through I²C, MIPI I³C^SM, or SPI from the sensing element to the application.

Features

Pressure sensor with water-resistant package
Potting gel and grounded metal cap
260 hPa to 1260 hPa absolute pressure range
Current consumption down to 4 µA
Absolute pressure accuracy: 0.5 hPa
Low-pressure sensor noise: 0.7 Pa
Temperature accuracy: ±1.5°C
Embedded temperature compensation
24-bit pressure data output
ODR from 1 Hz to 200 Hz
SPI, I²C, or MIPI I³C interfaces
Embedded FIFO
Interrupt functions: data-ready, FIFO flags, pressure thresholds
Supply voltage: 1.7 V to 3.6 V
ECOPACK lead-free compliant

more information: https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/lps27hhtw.html

MPM3650 Synchronous Ultra-Thin Power Module

Posted on 23 March, 2021 by mixos

MPS’ 2.75 V to 17 V, 6 A, 1.2 MHz module is ideal for applications such as industrial equipment

MPS’ MPM3650 is a fully integrated, high-frequency, synchronous rectified, step-down power module with an internal inductor. It offers a very compact solution to achieve 6 A of continuous output current over a wide input range with excellent load and line regulation. The device has synchronous-mode operation for higher efficiency over the output current load range. Full protection features include SCP, overcurrent protection (OCP), UVP, and thermal shutdown. The constant-on-time control operation provides a very fast transient response, easy loop design, and very tight output regulation. The MPM3650 is available in a QFN-24 (4 mm x 6 mm) package.

Features:

Wide operating input range: 2.75 V to 17 V
Output current: 5 A
Fixed switching frequency: 1,200 kHz
External, programmable soft-start time
EN and power good for power sequencing
OCP and hiccup mode
Thermal shutdown
Internal power MOSFETs
Output adjustable from 0.6 V
High-efficiency synchronous-mode operation
High efficiency with DCM in light-load operation
Supports pre-biased startup
Package: QFN-24 (4 mm x 6 mm)

more information: https://www.monolithicpower.com/en/mpm3650.html