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Energy harvesting PMIC available as samples

Posted on 24 June, 202024 June, 2020 by mixos

Nowi BV (Delft, The Netherlands) has samples available of its NH2 energy harvesting power management IC (PMIC).

The NH2D0245 comes in a QFN package measuring 3mm by 3mm. Including the external capacitor, it has an assembly footprint of just 3mm by 3.6mm. The NH2 is designed to extract the low power output of an energy harvesting source to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as a rechargeable battery or a super-capacitor. It is optimized for Solar PV (indoor and outdoor).

NH2 (NH2D0245) – production ready samples of NOWI high-performance energy harvesting PMIC for low power applications. NH2 comes in the compact QFN package of only 3mm x 3mm. Including the external capacitor it has an assembly footprint of just 3mm x 3.6mm. NOWI PMIC is designed to extract the low power output of an energy harvesting source to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as a rechargeable battery or a super-capacitor. It is optimised for Solar PV (indoor and outdoor).

The NH2 is essentially a dc-to-dc converter that sits between the source and a capacitor. It has maximum power point tracking (MPPT) with an interval of less than 1 second.

more information: www.nowi-energy.com

ODROID-H2+ SBC Features Celeron J4115 Processor Upgrade, and Dual 2.5GbE Networking Ports

Posted on 24 June, 202024 June, 2020 by Tope Oluyemi

In November 2018, Hrdkernel announced the ODROID H2 as a “new generation of single-board computers.” However, despite its success, they could not ship enough of them to satisfy the demand due to the Intel Gemini Lake J4105 CPU supply shortage. Due to the shortage of the ODROID H2, the Odriod-H2+ was introduced, which has a slightly faster CPU, and will ship in large volume, and also has a pair of much faster 2.5GbE Ethernet ports. Intel started early this year to offer a slightly modified chip called the J4115, and the Odroid-H2+ runs Ubuntu on the quad-core J4115. Hardkernel says:

“We therefore expect that most of the existing parts supply problems to be resolved.”

Hardkernel says:

“Beyond the CPU update, we upgraded the Ethernet controllers and RJ45 jacks to support much faster 2.5 GbE networks. The new NIC chipset RTL8125B requires users to proceed with a manual driver installation since the upstream kernel still needs a patch. We have also increased the number of GPIO pins from 20 to 24 to add USB 2.0 and HDMI CEC signals. If you want to use the CEC function, you need to buy a 3rd party CEC adapter board.” They continue “Finally we also changed the 12V SATA power circuit to improve the suspend-resume power control sequence of 3.5” HDDs.”

The Intel J4115 clocks at 1.8GHz, and offers a Turbo Boost speed of up to 2.5GHz or 2.3GHz in multi-thread mode. This is a huge difference from the earlier J4105 that clocked at 1.5GHz/2.3GHz when the H2 was launched. The J4115 offers Intel UHD Graphics 600 and a 10W TDP, just like the J4105. The SBC is compatible with Ubuntu 20.04 image, Linux distros, and Windows 10.

Hardkernel says:

“We decided to call this new iteration of the H2 the ODROID H2+ (ODROID H2-plus). Accordingly the board revision code is REV-B+ (while the previous production batch was REV-B).” They continue “The additions described above being put aside the H2 and H2+ are 100% forward hardware and software compatible, including the same board size and overall configuration. Everything you do on the H2 from a hardware viewpoint can be done exactly the same way on the H2+, including converting the M.2 NVMe slot to PCIe2 x4 with a 3rd party adapter cable, connecting the H2+ to a 1 Gbe or 2.5 Gbe switch or other SBC or PC NIC, using the GPIO, etc. The ODROID H2+ just happens to offer more!”

The last year’s RevB model featured some upgrades to the PCIe-to-SATA bridge, SATA power, NVMe I/O, and BIOS. The upgrade is the major difference between the H2+ and the H2. The H2+ enables 2x SATA 3.0, HDMI and DP, 4x USB (2x 3.0), and an M.2 slot for NVMe storage. Additional features include an RTC and a heatsink that supports 70°C temperatures at full load. The Odroid-H2+ is available for $119 plus shipping without RAM, storage, or power adapter. “We hope you understand that the price increases from $111 to $119 due to the hardware components upgrades.” Says Hardkernel. They conclude “We expect to continuously manufacture the ODROID H2+ with no interruption of the CPU production from Intel.”

More information can be found on Hardkernel’s announcement and shopping page.

TinyHVSP – High Voltage Serial Programmer based on ATtiny84

Posted on 24 June, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Stefan Wagner’s EasyEDA profile is definitely the go-to source for all things ATtiny. He’s built 10s of projects, some of which we have covered here, that are based on the tiny microcontrollers, and it only makes sense that one of his latest projects, called the TinyHVSP, is a tool to help with development using the Attiny series of microcontrollers.

The device which is based on the ATtiny84 microcontroller is a High Voltage Serial Programmer (HVSP) and Fuse Resetter for ATtiny 13/25/45/85 microcontrollers.

HVSP is one of the numerous ways through which members of the AVR family of microcontrollers (especially the smaller chips like the ATtiny series) can be programmed. It involves the use of 4 pins consisting of the SCI (serial clock input), SDI (data in), SII (instruction in), and SDO (data out). Along with these four pins, the RESET, VCC, and GND pins are also used.

Programming a microcontroller using the HVSP approach involves the application of a “high voltage” (12 volts) to the RESET pin to put the microcontroller in the high-voltage serial programming mode. It is called “serial” because data is sent to the chip serially in a manner similar to what is experienced with SPI.

The fuse resetting feature of the device allows the developer to restore factory default values to the microcontroller. In situations where the RESET pin, for instance, has been configured as an I/O pin in the firmware, programming the board will be impossible unless the fuse reset is done.

The TinyHVSP features a nicely put together enclosure, an OLED display, a pushbutton, and a socket to hold the microcontroller to be flashed. The pushbutton is used to initiate the fuse rest process and the details of the process, including the fuse value, before and after the reset has been done, are all displayed on the OLED.

Consistent with all Stefan’s projects, the ATtiny84 TinyHVSP is totally open source and all resources including the schematics, BOM, PCB designs and firmware are available on the project’s GitHub page.

More information about the project, along with a video showing the programmer in action, can be found on the project’s EasyEDA page.

Meet FontEdit – The Custom Font Editor for LCD, LED and E-Paper Displays

Posted on 24 June, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Fonts sourcing/creation, usage and management, are some of the major challenges firmware developers face with projects where the display (TFTs, Epaper displays, etc.), is a critical element of the project’s performance. From access to clear and good looking fonts to managing the size of the font files when running on MCUs with limited memory, is an issue that cost developers tons of time during product development, but all of that is about to change thanks to Fontedit.

Developed by Dominik Kapusta, as a personal solution to the challenges with fonts for an E-paper display based project, Fontsedit is a software that provides embedded software developers with an easy way to import, preview, edit and export a font for use in embedded systems’ displays.

It is capable of opening any general-purpose fixed-width desktop font and gives users the freedom to use custom fonts (although, for now, it has to be a font registered in your operating system). The software automatically imports font glyphs for characters in the ASCII printable range (32…126 or 0x20…0x7e), and list all the available glyphs with an edit view that allows users to fine-tune individual glyphs.

Font glyphs can be edited by interacting with the editor using the mouse and the keyboard. For example, Clicking and dragging the mouse can be used to set pixels (making them black), while holding Alt or Ctrl (⌘) can be used to erase. The touchpad scroll (or mouse wheel) with Ctrl (⌘) can be used to zoom (in or out) the editor canvas.

Asides editing existing imported font glyphs, new glyphs can also be added to existing font documents by copying an existing glyph, starting from scratch with a blank canvas, or adding a glyph from a character you put in (useful for adding non-ASCII characters to your font).

Once the font edit/creation is completed, it can be exported either as a C file (also suitable for C++), an Arduino-specific C file (using PROGMEM), or as a Python list or bytes object (both compatible with Python 2.x/3.x and MicroPython). The export screen allows users to switch between MSB and LSB mode, invert all the bits, and conditionally include line spacings in font definition.

The software is written in C++17 with UI in Qt and it has been tested on MacOS, Linux (Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.10), Windows 10, and Raspbian Buster, so it’s pretty flexible and works with most Operating systems.

The compiles software packages are available on the project’s GitHub Releases page. While the source code is available under the conditions of GPL v3 on the project’s GitHub page.

Dominik has reiterated his desire to continue improving the tool and users/community folks who are interested in contributing to the project can report bugs and request features via GitHub Issues or as a pull request.

Vecow Launches MTC-7000 Series All-in-One Multi-Touch Computer

Posted on 24 June, 2020 by mixos

Vecow Co., Ltd., a team of global embedded experts, announces the release of the latest Industrial Multi-Touch Computer, MTC-7000 Series. With various LCD sizes from 10.1″ to 21.5” widescreen multi-touch computer, MTC-7000 Series is powered by 8th Gen Intel® Core™ U-series processor (Whiskey Lake) and is ideal for Machine Vision, Telemedicine, Factory Automation, Smart Retail and ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) or any AIoT/Industry 4.0 applications.

Vecow MTC-7000 Series features 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor that delivers a 40% improvement in CPU performance and enables more powerful system performance than 7th Gen Intel® Kaby Lake processor. Vecow MTC-7000 Series provides projected capacitive touch technology with 10-point multi-touch function for highly responsive sensing, zoom in/zoom out function for improving the ease and efficiency of data and information processing and user-preference settings. It also meets the durability requirement by supporting up to 7H hardness anti-scratch touch surface to elevate longevity on the touch screen.

Vecow MTC-7000 Series supports a various set of I/O configurations, including 4 10G USB, 2 GigE LAN, 2 COM, 1 2.5” easy-access SSD/HDD kit, and a full-size mSATA, providing a higher level of customization. For example, it features 2 Mini PCIe slots that allow the user to install the 3rd party wireless modules such as WiFi/4G/3G/LTE/GPRS/UMTS for seamless communications. With 9V to 48V DC-in and 500V Surge Protection, Vecow MTC-7000 Series not only prevents overvoltage but keeps the system stable.

“Vecow MTC-7000 Series comes with a widescreen design that provides a 40% increased viewing area compared to traditional 4:3 display, delivering optimized visualization of information,” said Alan Chou, Senior Product Manager, Embedded System & Platform Division at Vecow. “Vecow MTC-7000 Series is powered by 8th Gen Intel® Whiskey Lake platform with outstanding system and graphics performance. Besides, the fanless design and the support for operating temperature of -5°C to 55°C make it the perfect solution for AOI as a control panel, machine vision applications or Panel PCs for retail Kiosk and recognition applications”

“We are glad to introduce this new series All-in-One Panel PCs to our customers,” said Joseph Huang, Sales Manager, Sales & Marketing Division at Vecow. “It features thin and light with an elegant ID design and supports Panel Mount and VESA mount kit that can be easily deployed in diverse industrial applications and is a good fit Panel PCs for AIoT applications.”

Powered by 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor, All-in-One integration, industrial-grade reliability and smarter manageability, Vecow MTC-7000 Series is available at LCD sizes from 10.1”, 15”,15.6” to 21.5” and can be implemented as control Panel and Kiosk, from Machine Vision, Telemedicine, Factory Automation, Smart Retail and ITS or any AIoT//Industry 4.0 applications.

To learn more about Vecow Industrial Multi-touch Computer, please visit the MTC-7000 Series product page or www.vecow.com for more details.

MTC-7021W 21.5″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
MTC-7015W 15.6″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
MTC-7015 15″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
MTC-7010W 10.1″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer

New 6 mm Potentiometer for High Temperature Lead-free SMD Production

Posted on 23 June, 202023 June, 2020 by mixos

Piher Sensing Systems has re-designed its popular PT-6 Carbon Potentiometer for high temperature lead-free SMD production.

High-temperature plastics, flat suction areas for vacuum pipettes optimum assembly and a new pad design enables PIHER’s customers to employ automated placement of this components on their circuit board using reflow solder and thus simplify their manufacturing processes.

A wide range of options, including the unique stop positions (detents) that provide users desirable tactile feedback on each position setting and selection. Detents not only add a crisp “click” sensation for each position but also offer significant savings in both cost and space; and are particularly advantageous in industrial, home automation and domestic power tool applications to prevent accidental movement.

“The detent feature for 6mm potentiometer lines is a complete market breakthrough, says Jose Luis Macía, Commercial Director. “With the re-engineered 6mm potentiometers, PIHER now provides a reliable rotary ‘click’ sensation into its smallest line of rotary controls on both standard mounting versions (through hole and SMD).”

The new detents, which include as standard up to 10 equally spaced positions, have a spring feature that is incorporated into the product’s rotary action. This creates a resistance to rotation at predetermined angles that gives the user a ‘click’ action, alerting of the current position of the control. For maximum design versatility, the detents can be set at custom angles to suit specific requirements.

PIHER’S 6mm potentiometers, already popular in hundreds of white goods, motor control, power supply, appliance panel control, and automotive sensing applications, now offer product designers the full features of PIHER larger products in a miniature package.

The 6mm family features flame-retardant plastics (meets UL Standard 94 V0), a carbon resistive element, dust and waterproof enclosure (IP54). The new pot is supplied in reels for easy automatic insertion and is available with a variety of options including rotors, standard knob and shafts and long-life versions.

New Phase Locked Oscillators Available in Tape and Reel Packaging

Posted on 23 June, 2020 by mixos

High Performance Fixed Frequency PLO at 9.25 GHz

Z-Communications, Inc. announces a new RoHS compliant fixed frequency phase locked loop model SFS9250C-LF operating in the X-band. The SFS9250C-LF is a simple to use plug and play PLO allowing for quick integration. It is designed to produce a fixed signal at 9250 MHz while locked to an external 10 MHz reference oscillator. This remarkable PLO features exceptionally low phase noise of -75dBc/Hz, -92dBc/Hz, and -118dBc/Hz at the 1kHz, 10kHz and 100kHz offsets, respectively.

The SFS9250C-LF is designed to deliver an output power of -3 dBm into a 50 ohm load while operating off a VCO voltage supply of 5Vdc and drawing 90mA and a phase locked loop voltage of 3Vdc while drawing 11mA. This unmatched product features a typical harmonic suppression of -30dBc and spurious suppression of -70dBc. It is housed in Z-COMM’s standard SFS-L1 package measuring 1.0 in. x 1.0 in. x 0.22 in. The SFS9250C-LF is also ideal for automated surface mount assembly and is available in tape and reel packaging.

Features:

SFS9250C-LF features a typical harmonic suppression of -30 dBc and spurious suppression of -70 dBc
Delivers an output power of -3 dBm into a 50 ohm load while operating off a VCO voltage supply of 5 VDC and drawing 90 mA and a phase locked loop voltage of 3 VDC while drawing 11mA
Designed to produce a fixed signal at 9250 MHz while locked to an external 10 MHz reference oscillator

The SFS9250C-LF is a great choice for quick product rollouts, and is well suited for radar applications requiring operation over the temperature range of -40 to 85°C. For further information on this model or any other product from Z-Communications, Inc. please contact our Applications department via email at applications@zcomm.com or call us at 858-621-2700.

Broadcom AFBR-S50MV85I time-of-flight sensor module

Posted on 23 June, 2020 by mixos

AFBR-S50MV85I is a multi-pixel optical distance and motion measurement sensor module, based on the optical Time of Flight principle

AFBR-S50MV85I is a multi-pixel optical distance and motion measurement sensor module, based on the optical Time of Flight principle. The technology has been developed with a special focus on applications with the need for the highest speed and accuracy at medium distance ranges, with small size and very low power consumption. Due to its best-in-class ambient light suppression, use in outside environments is possible in full sunlight. The sensor accurately measures against white, black, colored as well as metallic and retroreflective surfaces.

Key features

Very Fast Measurement Rates: up to 3 kHz
Operation up to 200 kLux
Multipixel for 3D Motion Detection
Accuracy Error Typically Below ±1%

Additional features

An integrated calibrated clock source
Unambiguous range up to 100 m in 2f mode
Reference Pixel for system health monitoring
Laser Class 1 eye safety ready

Additional Info

The module has an integrated infrared laser light source and an internal clock source. A single power supply of 5.0 V is required. Data is transferred using a digital Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) using standard 3.3 V CMOS levels. For system health monitoring a Reference Pixel is used in addition to the integrated voltage and temperature sensors. Frame rates of up to 3 kHz are supported, depending on the Microcontroller, the data streaming mode, and the number of evaluated pixels. For frame rates of up to 100 Hz, a dual-frequency (2f) mode is used to achieve an unambiguous range of 50 m in short-range and 100 m in long-range mode.

Available tools

https://www.broadcom.com/products/optical-sensors/time-of-flight-3d-sensors/afbr-s50mv85i

EFS Series Surface Potential Sensors

Posted on 23 June, 2020 by mixos

TDK’s EFS series sensors eliminate the effects of disturbances in the electric field intervening between the photosensitive drum and the detection electrode

TDK’s EFS series sensors are feedback surface voltage sensors that support the improved image quality of color copiers and next-generation color printers with the reliability of ±0.05 V or below. The voltage sensors are constructed using high-stability output circuits that feed the detected photosensitive drum surface potential back to the electrical field control chopper and probe shield cover. EFS series sensors eliminate the effects of disturbances in the electric field intervening between the photosensitive drum and the detection electrode. They also show extremely stable and precise output performance where the adverse effects of temperature fluctuations and detection distance (probe positioning) are greatly reduced.

Features:

Reliability of ±0.05 V or lower
Available sensing distance of 1.5 mm to 3.5 mm
- In this range, output voltage variation is small and robust output stability can be obtained despite changes in the ambient temperature
Unique optimized structure and circuit design have achieved miniaturization and weight reduction, as well as greater performance in response to market needs
Quick responsiveness of 11 ms which supports high-speed machines
Extremely stable output performance is maintained for long periods of time through accurate driving made possible with the unique structural design and superelastic alloy chopper consisting of the piezoelectric element with optimized conversion efficiency
Quick responsiveness to high-speed and high image quality needs

ATtiny814 Power Analyzer

Posted on 23 June, 202023 June, 2020 by Emmanuel Odunlade

Not sure there is anyone on the internet who loves the Attiny series of microcontrollers as much as Stefan Wagner. We have explored a number of projects from him, from the USB power tester to the TinyRemote with ATtiny13, all based on a member of the Attiny series of microcontrollers. Going over his EasyEDA profile a few days back I noticed another project; the ATtiny814 Power Analyzer.

Based on the ATtiny814, the power analyzer is a programmable electronic constant current dummy load with two high side voltage and current sensors for automatic analysis of power supplies, DC/DC converters, voltage regulators, batteries, chargers, power consumers and other related devices. It comes with a USB serial interface through which it can be controlled via a serial terminal software like the serial monitor or the Python-based Software developed by Stefan.

Based on Stefan’s description of the device’s operation, the ATtiny814 controls the electronic dummy load via its internal digital to analog converter (DAC) with all the 5 internal reference voltage being used to get the maximum accuracy and resolution of the DAC. The device features two (2) INA219 current sensors, one of which is used to perform Voltage and Current measurements at a resolution of 4mV/1mA via a high side 8mOhm shunt resistor connected to it, while the other is connected to another 8 mOhm shunt resistor between the PWR-IN and PWR-OUT terminal.

Via the USB Serial interface, the device can be connected to a PC or a RaspberryPi, and commands can be sent to the Analyzer via a terminal software or by the GUI-based Python script. The Analyzer has different built-in automatic test algorithms and the data/result is sent back via the serial interface/USB to the PC/RaspberryPi to be analyzed by the Python software, or exported to a spreadsheet program for further analysis.

There are several builtin tests that can be performed using the power analyzer, some of the major ones include;

A Load Test
Power Efficiency Test
Voltage Regulation Test
Battery Discharge Test
Long Term Multimeter

The heatsink and fan are an important part of the device to prevent a thermal breakdown of the MOSFETs, to ensure they are not overloaded and are in good condition at all times, the ATtiny814 measures the power and temperature of the heatsink, controlling the fan and cutting off the load when the temperature is too high.

Like all Stefan‘s projects, the power analyzer is completely open-source and everything you will need (including schematics, BOM, firmware, PCB designs, and build guides) to build your own version of the device is available on the project’s page here.