Page 311 – Electronics-Lab.com

Infineon Technologies EiceDRIVER™ low side driver 2ED24427N01F

Posted on 25 January, 202125 January, 2021 by mixos

The 2ED24427N01F is a dual-channel ±10 A driver (typical) in a SOIC-8 package with a power pad for increased thermal efficiency

The 2ED24427N01F is a dual-channel ±10 A driver (typical) in a SOIC-8 package with a power pad for increased thermal efficiency. It includes one enable pin for both channels and under-voltage lockout (UVLO) protection that is compatible (11.5 V) with IGBTs and MOSFETs.

The 2ED24427N01F is ideal for higher power or faster switching systems and can be used to drive paralleled IGBTs or MOSFETs in different applications such as interleaved PFC, Industrial Drives, Synchronous Rectification, and as transformer driven applications used in power conversion applications such as Industrial SMPS and UPS.

Key features

10 A sink and 10 A source driver capability (typical)
11.5 V under voltage lockout
24 V maximum supply voltage
Enable function
CMOS Schmitt-triggered inputs
Output in phase with input
3.3 V, 5 V and 15 V input logic compatible
PSOIC-8 package with thermal pad
2 kV HBM ESD

Example Circuit

Additional benefits

Enables higher power applications with a single device that would typically require at least two competing devices with 4 A to 6 A source and sink drive capability
Enables higher frequency applications to help reduce system BOM cost enabling the use of smaller and less expensive passive components
The power pad enables higher power density by efficiently dissipating heat to the PCB ground plane.

Applications

Industrial drives
DC-DC
Fast EV charging
Motor control and drives
Power Management (SMPS)

more information: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/gate-driver-ics/2ed24427n01f/

MKR Windy – Arduino MKR inspired board with STM32WL LoRa SoC

Posted on 25 January, 2021 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Just recently, we wrote about Midatronics’ MKR SharkyPro BLE, Zigbee, OpenThread development board that is based on STM32WB55 MCU in an Arduino MKR form factor. We are back with excitement to inform you that the company also has a similar looking MKR Windy board that follows the same Arduino MKR layout but is based on the Windy STM32WL module and adds LoRa connectivity.

The MKR Windy board is built around the company’s WINDY Module, an IoT module based on the STMicro STM32WL, with onboard uFL connector and an SoC that integrates both the general-purpose microcontroller and a sub-GHz radio.

“Built on an Arm® Cortex®‐M4 core architecture, STM32WL microcontrollers also support multiple modulations – LoRa®, (G)FSK, (G)MSK, BPSK – to ensure flexibility in wireless applications with LoRaWAN®, Sigfox® or any other suitable protocol in a fully open way.” says Midatronics.

Key Features and Specifications of the MKR Windy include:

Windy module (MDX-STWLU-R01)
- STMicro STM32WLE5JX/STM32WL55JX Arm Cortex-M4 MCU running @ 48 MHz; 256KB flash; 64KB SRAM
- Semtech SX126x sub-GHz radio with LoRa, (G)FSK, (G)MSK, and BPSK modulations; 150 MHz – 960 MHz
- uFL connector for external antenna
- 1.8 V to 3.6 V supply voltage
- Temperature Range: 40°C to 85 °C
- RX Sensitivity: 123 dBm for 2-FSK, -148 dBm for LoRa
- Dimensions: 16 mm x 26 mm
1x Micro USB port for power and programming
2x 14-pin headers compatible with Arduino MKR boards with USART, ADC, SPI, I2C
8-pin SWD connector
Reset button
User button
User LED
Power Supply: 5V via Micro USB port; 2.5V – 5.5V via Vin pin; 2.0V – 5V via Vbatt pin (battery)
Dimensions: 63 mm x 25 mm

Not much has been said about the MKR Windy board for now, so there is no available information on its product brief or datasheet. The company has not also said anything about programing the board but they made us to understand that:

“the module is totally open and can be easily and quickly programmed with ST software by UART, virtual USB or with the ST-Link by SWD port.”

We suspect however, that the MKR board could also be programmed with both STMicro software tools and the Arduino IDE, just like we saw with the SharkyPro boards. We also suspect that the MKR Windy is closer to being an evaluation platform for the Windy module than a direct competitor of other boards that also offer LoRaWAN connectivity.

Further details on the MKR Windy board along with technical documentation of the Windy module are available and can be found on the product page.

Intel Apollo Lake SBC and micro server, “ZimaBoard” starts at $70

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

Ice Whale’s ZimaBoard is a small, fanless computer that serves as both an x86 SBC and an appropriate power of a micro server. It is a low-cost standard SBC or mini PC with a 6-watt Intel Apollo Lake processor and a 4K capable mini DisplayPort connector.

“ZimaBoard was created by makers who got tired of recurring fees, unfriendly presets, and isolated systems,” says Ice Whale. “We want to make the home digital experience more attractive and affordable. It is not the first of its kind as a single board computer, nor as a router or a micro server, but while traditional single board computer products focus on desktop-level scenarios, ZimaBoard is the first private server designed for Makers, DIYers, and Hackers.”

The board features LPDDR4 memory, eMMC storage, dual SATA III ports for up to 4TB local storage, PCIe based storage modules and dual USB 3.0 ports for additional storage. It will be available in two models: ZimaBoard 216 and ZimaBoard 832 which are quite similar but a bit different in chipset, system memory, on-board storage, and of course price.

Features and Specifications of the ZimaBoard include:

SoC
- ZimaBoard 216: Dual-core, 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz Intel Celeron N3350 processor; 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 650 MHz; 6W TDP
- ZimaBoard 832: Quad-core, 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz Intel Celeron N3450 processor; 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz; 6W TDP
System Memory
- ZimaBoard 216: 2GB LPDDR4
- ZimaBoard 832: 8GB LPDDR4
On-board storage
- ZimaBoard 216: 16GB eMMC flash
- ZimaBoard 832: 32GB eMMC flash
Display: 1x Mini-DP 1.2 that supports up to 4K@60Hz video
Video Decoding: 4K H.264, H.265, MPEG-2, VC-1
Storage interface: 2x SATA III 6.0 Gb/s ports for HDD or SSD
Connectivity: 2x GbE ports
USB: 2x USB 3.0 ports
Expansion: 1x PCle 2.0 4x slot
Dimensions: 120 mm x 74.5 mm x 25 mm

The 120 mm x 74.5 mm x 25mm SBC is enclosed in a case that doubles as a heatsink. You can use the board for applications like media server, video streaming, personal server, network-attached storage (NAS), software router, file share and collaboration, VPN gateways and firewall.

Software support is Linux by default but it’s expected that the board should also support other OS like Windows, OpenWrt, pfSense, Android, and LibreELEC, since it is an x86 SBC.

The board is currently available for pre-order on Kickstarter and should start shipping to backers by June. You can pledge for the ZimaBoard 216 at $70 and the ZimaBoard 832 for $130. Retail prices however will be $100 for ZimaBoard 216 and $180 for ZimaBoard 832.

Further details can be found on the official website.

Raspberry Pi Dives Into The Microcontroller World With The New Raspberry Pi Pico

Posted on 25 January, 20211 February, 2021 by Micael Coutinho

Today, we woke up to some very interesting news. The Raspberry Pi foundation is finally taking their first steps in Arduino territory! Well, not quite, as they are more working together than rivaling each other. After both companies dominate the maker market with their widely popular, easy to use boards that the community loves, the Raspberry Pi Pico comes in, a blazing fast and peripherall-rich microcontroller, based on the brand new RP2040 chip.

The Raspberry Pi Pico is a dual-core microcontroller board available for a mere $4, but the star of the show is not even the price, ιτ is their RP2040 chip. With specifications that are mind-boggling for the price and an extremely detailed release, I believe we are in for a treat.

Here are the specifications, to back up the high pedestal I placed it in:

Dual Core ARM Cortex-M0+ processor, with a configurable clock that goes as high as 133 MHz
Memories: 264 kB SRAM and 2 MB of on-board Flash
Peripherals: 26x GPIO pins, with access to 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x UART, 3x 12-bit ADC and 16x PWM channels
Hardware accelerated floating-point libraries
USB 1.1 with device and host support. Easy drag-and-drop programming

Regarding software, you get the popular C/C++ and Micropython development environments, and I want to just take a second and praise their incredible documentation! Now, all documentation should be done like this, easy for us to grasp and be ready to develop in the time it takes to ship one to our house (and disinfect it with alcohol, sure). Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more a rare beauty, and many manufacturers should see that they are losing a lot of customers by not taking the time to make these readily-available documents and examples.

What may seem confusing at first is how they are working together. That is an easy answer and is not only related to Arduino, but also to other companies that take a huge share of the maker market, such as Adafruit and Sparkfun. They are all creating their own “adaptations” of the Raspberry Pi Pico, by making use of the RP2040 chip and bringing it to their own world. Arduino, with the Nano RP2040 connect, which adds external SPI Flash, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and other things to the mix, Adafruit, placing the brand-new silicon in their Feather form, and SparkFun, creating 3 different variations of it. And there are more, I just mentioned these. And they are not available yet, so you have the time to decide on your favorite.

The Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect. A joint project in the works

Can we call it all a delayed Christmas present? I just love it when communities unite instead of cancelling each other out, and here we have a magnificent example of it. With boards for every taste, it will be difficult to decide which RP2040 I am going to use. One thing is for use: I will.

Raspberry Pi Pico link: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-pico/

65V Input to 12Vdc Output – 1A synchronous buck DC/DC converter using LM5164

This is a step-down DC-DC converter mainly designed for application such as high-cell-count battery packs, power tools, garden tools and electric scooters, drones. Some of the features of the project is precision enable, input voltage UVLO, internal soft start etc. The project operates over wide input voltage range of 15V to 65V to provide a regulated 12V-1A output at 300Khz working frequency. D1 is the power LED, and 4 Pin male header connectors provided for input and output. The full-load efficiency of the project is 90% @ nominal input voltage of 48 V and an output voltage of 12 V. The switching frequency is set by resistor R4 at 300 kHz. The output voltage soft-start time is 3 msec.

6-V to 100-V input, 1-A synchronous buck DC-DC converter with ultra-low IQ

The LM5164 synchronous buck converter is designed to regulate over a wide input voltage range, minimizing the need for external surge suppression components. A minimum controllable on-time of 50 ns facilitates large step-down conversion ratios, enabling the direct step-down from a 48-V nominal input to low-voltage rails for reduced system complexity and solution cost. The LM5164 operates during input voltage dips as low as 6 V, at nearly 100% duty cycle if needed, making it an excellent choice for wide input supply range industrial and high cell count battery pack applications. With integrated high-side and low-side power MOSFETs, the LM5164 delivers up to 1-A of output current. A constant on-time (COT) control architecture provides nearly constant switching frequency with excellent load and line transient response. Additional features of the LM5164 include ultra-low IQ and diode emulation mode operation for high light-load efficiency, innovative peak and valley overcurrent protection, integrated VCC bias supply and bootstrap diode, precision enable and input UVLO, and thermal shutdown protection with automatic recovery. An open-drain PGOOD indicator provides sequencing, fault reporting, and output voltage monitoring.

Features

Wide input voltage range of 15 V to 65V
Output 12V DC – 1A
Output has 1.5% Accuracy
Junction temperature range: –40°C to +150°C
Fixed 3-ms internal soft-start timer
Peak and valley current-limit protection
Input UVLO and thermal shutdown protection
PCB Dimensions 32.70 x 32.70mm

Schematic

Parts List

Connections

Gerber View

Photos

Video

Datasheet

STM32WLE5 Microcontrollers support LoRa RF protocol and other sub-1GHz modulation schemes

Posted on 23 January, 202123 January, 2021 by mixos

STMicroelectronics STM32WLE5 wireless SoC products combine LoRa^® LPWAN and other power-efficient sub-1GHz radio communications capabilities with a low-power MCU in a single chip.

With its low power consumption and small footprint, the STM32WLE5 enables the production of energy-efficient, compact, and lightweight new products for fast-growing industrial and IoT markets.

The new 7mm x 7mm QFN48 package option is particularly well suited to a simple two-layer board design which further eases manufacturing and reduces BoM costs.

The world’s first LoRa-enabled SoC, the STM32WLE5 also supports other RF modulation schemes including (G)FSK, (G)MSK, and BPSK.

STM32WLE5 Features

Up to 256kbytes Flash memory
Up to 64kbytes RAM
Security capabilities:
- AES 256-bit hardware encryption
- True random number generator
- Sector protection against read/write operations
- CRC calculation unit
- Unique device identifier
- 96-bit unique die identifier
- Hardware public key accelerator
Rich analog peripherals
- 2.5Msamples/s 12-bit ADC
- 12-bit low-power sample-and-hold DAC
- Two ultra-low power comparators
Ultra-low power platform
- Supply-voltage range: 1.8V-3.6V
- Dynamic voltage scaling
- ART Accelerator™ engine for zero-wait execution from Flash
- 31nA shut-down mode current at 3V
- 360nA stand-by mode current at 3V
10-year longevity commitment
Operating-temperature range: -40°C to 105°C

MORE INFO

IMP23ABSU – Analog bottom port microphone with frequency response up to 80kHz

Posted on 23 January, 2021 by mixos

IMP23ABSU – Analog bottom port microphone with frequency response up to 80kHz for Ultrasound analysis and Predictive Maintenance applications

The IMP23ABSU is a compact, low-power microphone built with a capacitive sensing element and an IC interface.

The sensing element, capable of detecting acoustic waves, is manufactured using a specialized silicon micromachining process to produce audio sensors.

The IMP23ABSU has an acoustic overload point of 130 dBSPL with a typical 64 dB signal-to-noise ratio. The sensitivity of the IMP23ABSU is -38 dBV ±1 dB @ 94 dBSPL, 1 kHz.

The IMP23ABSU is available in a package compliant with reflow soldering and is guaranteed to operate over an extended temperature range from -40 °C to +85 °C.

Key features

Single supply voltage operation 1.52 V – 3.6 V
Omnidirectional sensitivity
High signal-to-noise ratio
High acoustic overload point: 130 dBSPL typ.
Package compliant with reflow soldering
Enhanced RF immunity
Ultra-flat frequency response
Ultrasound bandwidth (up to 80 kHz)
Low latency
Ultra-low-power: 150 µA max.
ECOPACK, RoHS, and “Green” compliant

more information: https://www.st.com/en/mems-and-sensors/imp23absu.html

Temperature Controlled RGB LED Light Stick – Mood Light

Posted on 23 January, 2021 by mixos

The circuit presented here is a LED light stick which changes its color in respect with the room temperature. This is an Arduino compatible open source project consisting of 20 x WS2812B Addressable RGB LEDs, LM35 Temperature Sensor and ATmega328 microcontroller. Atmega328 microcontroller reads the LM35 temperature sensor and changes the RGB LEDs color as per sensor analog output. Multiple units of this board can be installed in the room to create full light color effects. Colors of this light will change as the atmosphere’s temperature changes. Placing the LED stick underneath a furniture or behind picture frames on the wall helps create a nice effect as well as improve the ambience of the room.

Temperature Controlled RGB LED Light Stick – Mood Light – [Link]

AIR-T: When Artificial intelligence meets with Radio – Transceiver

Posted on 22 January, 2021 by Emmanuel Odunlade

The concept of Software-defined radio is not new, it has been around for years. It is basically about moving complex signal handling over to a digital software platform via PCs and smart systems.

While we have seen Artificial Intelligence already been implemented in a host of applications like speech recognition, gaming and autonomous vehicles, we are yet to see it being adapted for software-defined radio or incorporated into an RF hardware solution. This is why Deepwave Digital, a hardware and software solutions provider, has taken it upon themselves to come up with a Software-defined Radio with deep-learning muscle, called AIR-T.

AIR-T is a board that combines both high-end hardware and RF deep learning for SDR. AIR-T is equipped with three signal processors: a NVIDIA Jetson TX2 for signal processing and deep learning applications, a Xilinx Artix 7 FPGA for real-time operations and integrated CPUs for I/O, hardware, and software applications. The system also has a dual-channel MIMO transceiver with two 100MHz RX channels and two 250MHz TX channels, along with a rich set of connecting options including GPS Sync via 1 PPS and 10MHz, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI, USB 2.0/3.0, SATA, and high-speed digital I/O.

“This versatile system can function as a highly parallel SDR, data recorder, or inference engine for deep learning algorithms. The embedded GPU allows for SDR applications to process bandwidths greater than 200 MHz in real-time.” says Deepwave. “The AIR-T also uses zero copy memory access to overcome the data transfer overhead typically associated with GPU processing.”

Features and Specifications include:

Dual Channel MIMO Transceiver with:
- 300 MHz to 6 GHz
- A pair of 100 MHz bandwidth Rx channels, and,
- Two 250 MHz bandwidth Tx channels
Xilinx Artix 7 FPGA
NVIDIA Jetson TX2
Quad-core ARM Cortex-A57 CPU
Dual-core NVIDIA Denver2 CPU
256-core NVIDIA Pascal GPU
8 GB of memory
USB 3.0, USB 2.0/3.0,
1x SATA port
High-speed digital GPIO/UART
1 Gbps Ethernet
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS Sync via 1 PPS and 10 MHz
Dual Power Mode: 22/14 W
Dimensions: 17.0 cm x 17.0 cm x 3.5 cm
Weight: 0.35 kg
Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04

AIR-T is mentioned to be Ubuntu 16.04 along with a custom GNURadio block, with an option of programming the GPU using Python or C++.

The AI radio transceiver is currently available through the crowdfunding campaign that was launched on crowd supply with a USD 20,000 funding goal. The campaign was funded about three years ago and has so far raised over 900% of its goal which is more than USD 193,000.

More information on the AIR-T can be found on the project’s page on crowd supply.

Vayyar 4D Imaging Radar

Posted on 22 January, 2021 by Micael Coutinho

Recently, we have showed how radar technologies are useful for the automotive industry, when we dove into the Antenna-On-Package mmWave Sensor from Texas Instruments. As a refresher, more precise radars can be put into great use in the vehicles. Further enhanced seatbelt reminders, enhanced children detectors, better airbag deployment and intruder alert are some of the key advantages. Today, we will take a similar route (pun not intended), by overviewing Vayyar’s 4D imaging radar, which has the premise to cut down costs and complexity, while not compromising on safety.

Your first question might be what is perceived of a 4D imaging radar. Let us start with that. Us, humans, can only see three dimensions. Electronics do not have such limitation. Usually, radars, use a moving antenna to examine the environment and extract 3 dimensions from it: azimuth, elevation angle and speed of objects. By adding the Doppler effect to the mix, you can detect if an object is moving towards or away from you, creating this fourth dimension, time. What this means? Better mapping of the environment.

Now that we have that out of the way, we will see how Vayyar takes things to a whole new level. Common radar solutions utilize a small number of antennas for sending (2-3) and receiving (3-4) the signals. They have increased the number to a staggering MIMO array of 48 antennas, which in practice yields a high-resolution mapping of the radar’s surroundings. But it does not end there: they paired it with an ultra-wide azimuth-elevation field of view, making an incredibly accurate 4D point cloud that can differentiate children, adults and objects in car seats, automate emergency braking, assist with parking and even tracking your breathing, and since it does not use cameras, your privacy is not a concern. Overall, it has the ability to replace around 26 sensors in a car, in such a small form factor.

This is what the sensor sees in a car seat

So far, we only discussed its capabilities in our regular automobiles. What about other transportation methods, can they use it? The answer is yes! Real-time passenger counting, occupancy distribution and fall detection are some of its key features for public transportation, such as planes, trains and buses. Overall, it is a very solid package for its size. But what about the pricing, is it competitive? There is not much information on pricing, and it is easily justifiable by its market: this is more for car manufacturers, tier 1 manufacturers and OEM’s. It’s not something you would pick up on a Tuesday for your personal projects. But they promise to cut down costs, and considering what this sensor incorporates, we will take their word for it. As some final thoughts, this is a very interesting product and it would be no surprise if I found it being used in my next car.

Its use is not limited to personal vehicles

Resources:

Vayyar 4D imaging radar link: https://vayyar.com/auto/
Article on TI’s mmWave sensor link: https://www.electronics-lab.com/texas-instruments-antenna-on-package-mmwave-sensor/