Page 469 – Electronics-Lab.com

TPS7A24 – 8V tolerant, 2-µA IQ, 200-mA low-dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator

Posted on 4 January, 2020 by mixos

The TPS7A24 low-dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator supports a 2.4-V to 18-V input voltage range with ultra-low quiescent current (I_Q). These features help modern appliances meet increasingly stringent energy requirements and help extend battery life in portable-power solutions.

The TPS7A24 is available in both fixed and adjustable versions. The fixed-voltage version eliminates external resistors and minimizes printed circuit board (PCB) area. For more flexibility or higher output voltages, the adjustable version uses feedback resistors to set the output voltage from 1.24 V to 17.75 V. Both versions have 2% output regulation accuracy that provides precision regulation for microcontroller (MCU) references.

Features

Ultra-low I_Q: 2.0 µA
Input voltage: 2.4 V to 18 V
Output voltage options available:
- Fixed: 1.25 V to 5.5 V
- Adjustable: 1.24 V to 17.75 V
2% accuracy over temperature
Low dropout: 250 mV (max) at 200 mA
Active overshoot pulldown protection
Thermal shutdown and overcurrent protection
Operating junction temperature: –40°C to +125°C
Stable with 1-µF output capacitors
Package: 5-pin SOT-23

The TPS7A24 LDO operates more efficiently than standard linear regulators because the maximum dropout voltage is less than 250 mV at 200 mA of current. This maximum dropout voltage allows for 92.8% efficiency from a 3.55-V input voltage (V_IN) to a 3.3-V output voltage (V_OUT).

more information: www.ti.com

Google Announces New Coral products for 2020

Posted on 3 January, 20207 April, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Being one of the frontrunners in AI development and having an understanding of the potentials and opportunities in Edge Computing and Local AI, Google started its sojourn into the provision of hardware components and companion software tools for the development of Local AI products last year, with the launch of the Coral Platform.

The platform which comprises hardware components like the Coral Dev Board, the Coral USB Accelerator and PCIe accelerators was well received by the community with a diverse range of applications, across a broad set of industries already built on it. However, showing a strong desire to further grow the Coral ecosystem, Google, on Thursday, announced some of the new Coral products that will be released in 2020. The list included; The Coral Accelerator Module, the Coral Dev Board Mini, and a new Coral System-on-Module.

The Coral Accelerator Module which was developed in partnership with Murata is an easy to integrate Multi-Chip package, power-efficient, and High-Speed on-board Edge TPU coprocessor, capable of performing 4 trillion operations (tera-operations) per second (TOPS), using 0.5 watts for each TOPS (2 TOPS per watt). The module exposes both PCIe and USB interfaces and can easily integrate into custom PCB designs without causing a significant increase in the board size due to its small form factor. The board supports TensorFlow Lite and AutoML Vision Edge, removing the need to build models from the ground up and facilitating the speedy deployment of high-accuracy custom image classification models. According to Google, the Coral Accelerator Module will be available in the first half of 2020.

The Second Product billed for a 2020 arrival is the Coral Dev Board Mini, which according to Google will provide a smaller form-factor, lower-power, and lower-cost alternative to the Coral Dev Board. The Mini is said to be a combination of the new Coral Accelerator Module with the MediaTek 8167s SoC resulting in a board that excels at 720P video encoding/decoding and computer vision use cases. According to the announcement, the Coral Dev Board Mini will also be available in the first half of 2020.

Last but not least on the list is a new Coral System-on-Module. The new module is essentially a variation of the previous version and it comes with 2GB and 4GB LPDDR4 RAM in addition to the original 1GB LPDDR4 configuration. It retains all the other features including easy integration with custom hardware and support for TensorFlow lite and AutoML vision edge among others.

According to Google, all three products (and others under development) will be showcased at the CES 2020 in Las Vegas. The Coral Accelerator Module will be showcased at their booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Tech East, Central Plaza, CP-18, while the Coral Dev Mini will be at the MediaTek showcase located in the Venetian, Tech West, Level 3, and the new Coral SOM alongside several other new SOC and MCU explorations will be showcased at the NXP pavilion at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Tech East, Central Plaza, CP-18.

Meet the $795 USB 4.0 Switch for USB4 Product Development

Posted on 3 January, 20203 January, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

A few months back, the specification for the USB 4.0 was released by the USB implementers forum with a promise of 2x the speed of USB3.2; 40GB/s and while there currently no devices in the market based on it, its features are definitely things device manufacturers will be leveraging on in a few months to increase their competitive advantage. This is why USB Solutions Provider, MCCI, recently announced the launch of their USB4 Switch which is targetted at helping developers and electronics companies fast track the development of their USB4-based devices.

According to MCCI’s product page, the new switch which is called the “3141 USB4™ Switch“, is a computer-controlled programmable 2:1 switch, connecting two USB Type-C™ receptacles to a single Type-C plug. It is compatible with USB4 hosts and devices, as well as older protocols such as Thunderbolt™ 3, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, USB Type-C Alternate Modes, and of course Power Delivery.

The Model 3141 USB4 Switch automates connect/disconnect of one or two devices to a USB Type-C port. It can be used in stress testing, switching between peripherals (for example, a dock and a display), or any automated reconfiguration of a USB Type-C port. It is compatible with the MCCI Model 3101 / Microsoft Type-C ConnEx Connection Exerciser tools and scripts and integrates with the tools in the Windows Hardware Lab Kit(HLK) to support participation in the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program.

Beyond formal compatibility testing of your final products, the Model 3141 has value throughout your product development cycle. In our experience, long-run randomized switching on a USB Type-C port is highly effective in exposing bugs in the hardware-firmware-software stack on both hosts and devices. Developers can use it with a simple UI on the control computer to connect/reconnect a device under test without physically manipulating cables, reducing wear on fragile prototypes. Continuous integration systems can use it to reproducibly test key scenarios of devices under test with a variety of test setups.

Some of the features of the switch include:

Supports USB4, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.2 gen2 (x2 and x1), gen 1 (x2 and x1), USB 2.0 high speed, full speed, and low speed, USB Power Delivery, VCONN-powered devices (up to 0.5A), and alternate modes like DisplayPort™.
A transparent connection between SUT and DUT when in the connected state.
Impedance controlled low loss USB data path.
USB4/Superspeed signals are switched by Diodes PI3DBS16212 20Gbps 1-Lane, 2:1 Mux switches
Uses TI TUSB221 1:2 High-Speed USB Multiplexer/Switch for USB2.0 signals.
Uses Maxim Integrated’s MAX14589E analog switches for CC lines and SBU signals
Handles up to 20V and 5A on VBUS
Includes AVR 32U4 CPU, with open-source Arduino BSP and firmware.>
Controlled and powered via USB micro B connector. Standard firmware uses CDC ACM virtual serial port for remote control.
Indication lights for connection indication, and for cable orientation on receptacles (normal or flipped).
Tiny form-factor (1.6” by 1.6” / 31mm by 31mm), fully enclosed for safe handling.

Limitations

In order to keep the 3141 simple and effective for a variety of applications, a few features were specifically omitted. Contact MCCI if you need more information.

The 3141 handles VCONN powered devices drawing up to 0.5 A of power. Higher power devices are not supported.
The 3141 does not support automatic Type-C cable flipping.
For maximum signal integrity, USB 2.0 lines are available only at A6/A7 pins of the Type-C plug. Some systems connect A6/A7 to B6/B7 as shown in figures 4-3 and 4-4 of the USB Type-C specification, and operate without restriction. Other systems do not connect A6/A7 to B6/B7, and require data orientation to follow CC1 orientation. When working with such systems, you must correctly insert devices into the 3141 Type-C receptacles. The cables/devices must be plugged in with A6/A7 matching 3141 A6/A7 (not flipped, with A6/A7 matching B6/B7). Indicator lights clearly show the operator when the cables are connected in the direct (not flipped) orientation, and the test control computer can also detect the orientation.

Software requirements

When running Microsoft Windows HLK test scripts, the Model 3141 USB Switch is controlled over the micro-USB port by a test control computer running Windows and the Microsoft MUTT ConnEx-C software package. This software may be obtained from Microsoft via the “Tools in the MUTT Software Package” page.

The Microsoft software package includes utilities to update the firmware, switch between the peripheral ports, and send requests to simulate test cases.

MCCI also supports other test scenarios using a USB test control system, with software available from MCCI, or with customer-written software.

MCCI supplies a full Arduino BSP and can support customer-developed software, or can provide firmware customized to meet customer requirements.

Direct control

It’s easy to use the 3141 to implement custom test scenarios for non-Windows platforms, or to test embedded devices. The control port is a standard CDC ACM device, and so will show up as a virtual COM port on most standard operating systems. Commands are easy-to-remember high-level commands.

Custom Variants

Special variants of the 3141 are available by request. Please write sales@mcci.com with your requirements.

Price and Availability

The Model 3141 is available now. Current pricing may be found on MCCI’s online store, https://mcci.io/buy-USB4Switch. For more information, please contact MCCI at sales@mcci.com, Twitter @MCCI, https://mcci.com.

Building an extremely high powered 1-12V lab power supply on the cheap

Posted on 3 January, 2020 by mixos

Matthew Millman has published a new project:

For a number of years now I’ve had a couple of high powered switching power supply units made by Power-One. They’re typically found in I.T. equipment and provide a single output rail of either 12 V or 48 V with a very high current rating. The other cool thing is that in the case of the 12 V model – the output voltage can be changed in software from 1 V to 12 V (12.45 V is the max). The 48 V model does not allow configuration of the output voltage frustratingly.

Building an extremely high powered 1-12V lab power supply on the cheap – [Link]

Seeeduino Crypto Board features ATmega4809 & ECC608

Posted on 2 January, 20202 January, 2020 by mixos

As the name indicates, this board is born for encryption. Seeeduino Crypto is based on high-performance ATmega4809 and featured with Microchip ECC608 crypto chip. With the help of the ECC608 crypto chip, you can experience encrypted communication, such as I2C encryption.

Along with the encryption, Seeeduino Crypto is functionally the same as the Seeeduino V4.2 / Arduino Uno Rev3. It has wealth interface resources, including 6 analog input pins, 14 digital I/O – 5 of which can work as PWM output, not to mention, as part of the Seeeduino family Seeeduino Crypto comes with 2 Grove I2C port and 1 Grove UART Port. Now the whole Grove system is yours, you can play with hundreds of sensors and actuators simply by plugging.

The control solution Seeeduino Crypto is the same as ARDUINO UNO WIFI REV2. The difference is that Seeeduino Crypto does not have onboard WIFI. You can add an Arduino wifi module if necessary. Correspondingly, the price of Seeeduino Crypto is less than half of ARDUINO UNO WIFI REV2.

Features

High-performance ATmega4809 microcontroller
High-securitycryptographic Chip ECC608, supports SHA-256 & HMAC Hash / AES-128
2 Grove I2C + 1 Grove UART, easy to prototype
Type C power supply + data transmit

Specifications

The board is on sale on Seeestudio for $19.90 USD from the CN warehouse.

Torex & NGK Partner on Power Module Reference Design for IoT Devices

Posted on 2 January, 20202 January, 2020 by mixos

Torex Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and NGK Corporation will exhibit a compact power module sample that can be processed through high-temperature surface mount with using Torex power management ICs and NGK EnerCera series batteries at CES 2020 (January 7th to 10th, 2020 at Las Vegas in the USA). [via]

By combining the characteristics of NGK EnerCera batteries which include high capacity with low resistance and surface mounting, with high-temperature reflow process and the characteristics of Torex power management IC’s which are ultra-low power consumption and ultra-small and thin packages, the companies realized a very small space for the battery and charging control circuit including the power management ICs.

The resulting reference design is optimal for IoT devices and smart cards. The companies will exhibit this module sample in the Torex and NGK booths at CES 2020.

About EnerCera Li-ion Batteries

EnerCera is a Li-ion secondary battery with NGK’s original Crystal Oriented Ceramic Plate as electrodes. The Crystal Oriented Ceramic Plate is composed of just an active material and it contains no organic binder or conductive material that exists in a Li-ion battery normally but does not contribute to battery capacity.

As a result, EnerCera realizes high energy density and low internal resistance with a small and thin body and is capable of high-temperature installation. The energy density is double and the internal resistance is less than a half compared to commercial secondary batteries of the same size.

Therefore, EnerCera is an ultra-small/ultra-thin onboard-type high-performance battery for operating ICs, sensors and a wireless communication system that needs large current such as several 10mA to several 100 mA.

In addition, CV (Constant Voltage)-charging capability eliminates the need for a charger IC to control the charge current.

more information:NGK Insulators Ltd. , Torex Semiconductor

300W GaN-Based Ultra-High Power Density AC-DC Adapter Reference Design

Posted on 2 January, 20202 January, 2020 by mixos

GaN Systems and ON Semiconductor announced the availability of the NCP13992UHD300WGEVB, the world’s highest power density 300W ac-dc adapter reference design using GaN Systems’ 650V, 15A gallium-nitride (GaN) E-HEMTs and multiple ON Semiconductor controller and driver ICs, including the NCP51820, NCP13992, NCP1616, and NCP4306.

This complete system reference design is a highly versatile and low cost, allowing designers to easily develop and bring to market ultra-high power density (UHPD) ac-dc adapters for various applications in HDTV power supplies, gaming notebook, and console adapters as well as ultra-small power supplies for industrial and medical devices.

This ac-dc adapter reference design is based on a modular concept that brings several advantages including; versatility, the possibility to test own daughter cards, easy design update, the opportunity for checking functionality separated module, and spare room for additional features. These allow the user to enhance experimenting with daughter cards.

This modular construction also helps to reduce PCB area, thus increasing power density and also allowing for a reduced number of PCB layers. All PCBs are designed as 2−layers with 70μm copper plating for better thermal management. Also, the 70μm copper helps to reduce conduction losses especially on the secondary side which carries relatively high output current.

Assembly steps of the modular NCP13992UHD300WGEVB reference design.

Summary of Features

GaN HEMT Based Design with Ultra−High Power Density Up to 32 W/inch3
Simple Two Layer PCB Design for all Board Modules
300W Maximum Power with Peak Power Up to 340W at Fixed Output Voltage 19V
Wide Input Voltage Range 90- to 265-Vrms
Synchronous CrM PFC with using GaN HEMT
500kHz LLC Stage Incorporated with 600V HV GaN Driver and High Performance Current Mode LLC Controller
Complies with CoC5 Tier2

This reference design/evaluation board demonstrates ON Semiconductor’s high-performance controllers, drivers and discrete semiconductor content capabilities that enable efficient UHPD design implementation. This design includes a synchronous power factor correction boost converter which is operated in the discontinuous conduction or critical conduction mode (DCM/ CrM) depending on loading and LLC power stage, with secondary-side synchronous rectification.

The PFC front stage is driven by NCP1616 controller, which assures unity power factor and low input current THD. Synchronization of the PFC boost SR switch is enabled by the NCP4306 high-performance SR controller.

The LLC stage operates at 500kHz switching frequency while the nominal load is applied. The power stage is managed by the NCP13992 high-performance current mode LLC controller. Thanks to the GaN HEMTs implemented in both power stages at the primary side, the high efficiency is easily maintained despite the fact that the system operates at high frequency. GaN Systems’ GS66504B are incorporated as primary side power switches.

The synchronous rectifier (SR) stage used in the secondary side includes the NCP4306 and two paralleled 60V power MOSFETs for each branch. The synchronous rectification MOSFETs and controllers are implemented on the dedicated daughter card to ease the main power board PCB design and to achieve maximum efficiency.

Ultra-high power density is achieved thanks to the modular design, and the combination of controllers / drivers, GaN HEMTs, and the dedicated power magnetics design. The resulting GaN-based adapter provides a highly cost-effective solution.

“Fast-switching GaN works effectively with our advanced controller and drivers to optimize system designs for high power density, removing design barriers and enabling designers to take advantage of the numerous benefits provided by GaN E-HEMTs,” stated Ryan Zahn, Director of Marketing at ON Semiconductor.

“With rising interest and adoption of GaN, we look forward to continued collaboration with GaN Systems to support and meet the new power requirements taking place across many industries.”

“Our collaboration combines ON Semiconductors’ system applications expertise and industry-leading power IC products with the world’s most advanced 650V GaN E-HEMTs. This reference design developed in collaboration with ON Semiconductor makes it easier and more cost effective to design as GaN gains popularity as a building block in the adapter market,” said Charles Bailley, Senior Director, Worldwide Business Development at GaN Systems. “This release is the first of several systems and integrated packaging innovations in development, which will significantly expand the GaN ecosystem.”

more information: www.onsemi.com

The i.MX RT Family Makes for Some Feature Filled Feathers!

Posted on 2 January, 20202 January, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Thanks to a host of useful feather wings and shields, the Adafruit Feather form factor is becoming a very popular one with a host of other boards now based on it, offering not only the shape and size but also pin compatibility to allow the use feather addons like the FeatherWings and shields. In line with this, Arturo (@Arturo182) recently announced via his twitter handle that he is working on two new Feather form-factor development boards which are based on NXP’s i.MX RT Family of microcontrollers.

The first board, which is based on the RT1062 MCU is loaded with almost the same functionalities you will find on the Teensy 4.0. It comes with the feather standard arrangement of I/O headers with an extra expansion header that breaks out a suite of pins to allow access to the awesome display interface available on the RT1062. The breakout pin’s to the display interface, which is capable of driving WXGA panels which have a resolution 1366 x 768 pixels and it is also available for use as extra GPIOs when using the board without a display.

The second board is, quite the kicker as it implements not just the RT1011 microcontroller, but also the popular ESP32 module. Coming in a black PCB color, the board trades in extra I/O pins for a hand-solderable QFP package, with the ESP32, complete with all RF components, connected in place of the display extension header on the RT1062 based board. Rather than using the ESP32 in its full glory, which I am sure the component itself would maybe have preferred, it is being used as a WiFi Co-processor, providing WiFi connectivity features to the board while leaving the more powerful RT1011 to focus on running the Circuitpython stack and other burdens laid on it.

Both boards contain pretty tightly packed features but a summary of highlight features, common to both boards, include:

Adafruit Feather Form-Factor and Pin Compatibility
NXP i.MX RT series processor on both boards
USB-C connection (with USB2.0 Specifications) for power and data/programming.
Both boards support circuit python
Battery charging for Lithium-Ion cells, via an onboard 2.0mm JST connector

While the boards are still under development, following the twitter thread shows that he has overcome some of the major challenges with the boards and should be rounding them up very soon. The thread also shows several ingenious approaches as for instance, both boards Leverage on the recent inclusion of RT MCU series support in tinyUSB to provide REPL access over UART.

Arturo has created some amazing boards like the SAM D21 based board called “Serpentine” in the past and based on his track records, we should be seeing these boards on his Tindie page very soon.

Meet the STM32 “Black Pill” Development Board

Posted on 2 January, 20202 January, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

After playing second (maybe third?) fiddle for a while to a range of maker-friendly boards from Arduino and others, STMicro finally got it right with the STM32F103C8T6 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller-based “BluePill” development board which can be programmed using the Arduino IDE. As all good hardware requires, a new version of the board which is being called the “Blue Pill 2” or “Black Pill” was recently released.

The new board which is already widely available on platforms like Aliexpress, seems to be based on a diverse range of STM32 microcontrollers including the F1 and F3 series. However, the one we found to be most interesting was based on the Arm Cortex-M4 F401 series, which according to one of the Aliexpress vendors, is cheaper than some of the microcontrollers in the F1- Series.

Asides the cost, the F401 series of microcontrollers were also found to be better than the F1 in terms of frequency and also come with a floating-point arithmetic module, and an IO port that contains all the basic functions. In terms of the specific F4 microcontroller used, most of the boards on sale currently were found to come with the STM32F401CCU6 or the STM32F411CEU6 microcontroller. The STM32F401CCU6 version of the board clocks in at 84 MHz with a 256 KB flash, and 64KB of SRAM, while the STM32F411CEU6 clocks in at 100 MHz with a 512KB flash, 128KB of SRAM. The Black Pill also allows you to add additional flash by soldering an SPI Flash to the board.

The board also follows the pivot away from micro USB by recent development boards as it comes with a USB-C port through which programming is done. Talking about programming, the board could be programmed using the Arduino-C via the Arduino IDE and Micropython. The Arduino Board support files can be downloaded via the Arduino Board Manager, while the Micropython Firmware for the board can be obtained from the suppliers on Aliexpress.

All-in-All, the Black Pill retains the same form factor as the blue pill with dimensions of 5.3cm x 2.2cm and similar pin-outs for the 2×20 GPIO pins some of which carry I2C, SPI, ADC capabilities.

The board is available from different sellers on Banggood and Aliexpress for a price of around $3 and more information on it can be obtained from their product page.

Happy New Year 2020!

Posted on 31 December, 2019 by mixos