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New 600 V CoolMOS™ PFD7 series enables the next level of ultrahigh power-density designs

Posted on by mixos

Building on superjunction technology innovations and more than 20 years of experience, Infineon Technologies AG broadens its CoolMOS™ portfolio with the PFD7 product family combining best-in-class performance with state-of-the-art ease of use. The devices are suitable for ultrahigh power-density designs such as chargers and adapters as well as for low-power drives and specific lighting applications.

Robustness and reliability gains together with increased efficiency, minimized switching losses and improved thermal behavior make this product family the ultimate choice for contemporary engineering designs. The CoolMOS PFD7 series supports the key trends of small and light mobile products and energy saving in major home appliances pushing the limits of affordable ultrahigh power-density. The devices are optimized for high efficiency, especially at light-load conditions and still being able to fulfill EMI requirements.

These switches offer best-in-class figures-of-merit R DS(on) x Q RR. The excellent commutation ruggedness is enabled by the integrated fast body diode. The implemented Zener diode supports electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection up to 2 kV. Infineon offers a great variety of R DS(on) values ranging from 125 mΩ to 2000 mΩ. The broad package portfolio makes it easy to select the right parts for design fine-tuning to improve customers’ convenience.

Availability

The CoolMOS PFD7 series is now available. More information can be found under www.infineon.com/pfd7-600v

Arrow’s Shield96 Trusted Platform is for Hardware Secutiry

Posted on by mixos

The Shield96 Trusted Platform will be available for shipment on March 18th, 2020. To preorder please click the “buy” button. Your boardwill be shipped on or before March 18th 2020.  

The Shield96 Board based on Microchip silicon available preloaded with the EmSPARK Security Suite by Sequitur Labs provides a secure platform applicable across all IoT verticals to enable secure devices and protect firmware, keys and data throughout the lifecycle of a product.

EmSPARK is the essential software companion suite complementing the Microchip hardware providing a cost-effective solution appropriate for every connected device built with the ATSAMA5D2 processor. Engineers can leverage this solution for digital transformation built on trust extracting the full value of the advanced embedded security features of the ATSAMA5D2 MPU. ”

Security Features

  • Secure firmware update
  • Secure storage
  • Tamper detection
  • Managed key store and certified authority store
  • Unique device ID, immutable, bound to the HWRoT
  • Crypto engine in secure domain with OpenSSL adaptor

Hardened Security Simplified

  • Pre-configured to use ATSAMA5D2 security architecture
  • Secure boot
  • Strong domain partitionin
  • On-the-fly memory encryption/decryption
  • Hardware crypto engines
  • Simple abstraction APIs for the hardware security features and preloaded keys and certificates
  • Hardware enforced domain isolation (Arm® TrustZone®) for security related tasks, keystore and certificate management
  • Secure provisioning provides firmware packaging for manufacturing and secure provisioning in non-secure facilities

Advanced Security Capabilities. Delivered.

  • Trusted boot – Integrity and confidentiality assurance from the entire boot chain from bootloader to TEE to Linux kernel
  • Firmware Protection – Encryption of embedded firmware and execution of authenticated firmware
  • Trusted Device ID – Unique device certificate securely constructed through provisioning, protected by TrustZone
  • Secure storage – Encrypted storage for application data and key material
  • Secure communications – Strong security for TLS/SSL stack and mutual authentication
  • Secure firmware updates – Predefined firmware update function complementing the trusted boot architecture

more information & purchase: www.arrow.com

Craftalight – Brighten up your (hand)bags

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Interesting how what started as a little discussion turned out to be one great solution at MAKE 100 as founders and owners of Staudt Technologies, Katharina and Yannic share their newly discovered solution with the world.

Having realized how really difficult it is to quickly find stuff in equipped handbags, backpacks, purses, etc., the couple decided to hack a solution to test with a small and light USB powered LED light that uses a magnetic sensor to hack and locate things easily in no time. All you need do to start enjoying brightened up accessories is just to sew the Craftalight and a magnet in your handbag and hook it to a power bank.

When considering options for incorporating such features into backpack designs, collaborating with a reputable manufacturer like Fieldtex can ensure not only the quality of the final product but also a timely delivery. With Fieldtex’s expertise in custom sewn products, you can trust that your backpacks will be crafted with precision and durability, meeting the needs of modern consumers seeking innovative solutions for their everyday carry essentials.

For those who prefer the allure of second-hand luxury, integrating such inventive features into pre-owned designer bags could revolutionize the market. Imagine a vintage Chanel or a gently loved Hermès Birkin, now enhanced with the convenience of a Craftalight. Partnering with trusted retailers specializing in authenticated pre-owned luxury goods, like The RealReal or Vestiaire Collective, could pave the way for a new era of functional elegance.

However, in the realm of high-end fashion, discerning authenticity is paramount. Alongside the allure of a gently used designer piece, customers must remain vigilant for fake louis vuitton handbag signs, ensuring that their investment is not only stylish but genuine. By seamlessly blending innovation with timeless luxury, these revamped accessories offer a compelling solution for those seeking both utility and sophistication in their everyday carry.

The Craftalight can also be used as a lightener for drawers, cabinets, glove-boxes, and suitcases or as an STM-8 microcontroller breakout board with low power LDO, white LEDs, and hall-effect sensors. It has high quality and low-stress design components; an STM8 value-line microcontroller and a hall-effect magnetic sensor, that detects the presence of a magnetic field, so the magnet on the lid of your bag switches the Craftalight on when the bag is open and off when the bag is closed.

Other features and specifications include:

  • Open-source hardware and firmware.
  • EPDM rubber seal that helps to prevent dust from gathering between the PCB and the acrylic diffuser
  • 3200K warm white LEDs under the frosted acrylic diffuser window.
  • Hall-Effect switches to help detect whenever the purse is open.
  • Strong sew-able magnet
  • Sewable Electronics using the holes in the PCB
  • Adjustable brightness
  • 10g Weight
  • 70 x 20 x 6.5mm Dimensions
  • Current consumption: 230mA while fully on but about 60uA in the off state
  • LED rating: 150mA at 3V (but driven with 110mA max on the Craftalight)

The Craftalight can be powered via the 3.3v or 5V pads on the PCB or with a USB power bank, unfortunately, the kit does not come with a USB power bank so you’d have to get one for yourself.

 

Rounding up, Kathrina and Yannic have promised to release the firmware sources on Github as well as the schematics, and mechanical drawings so users can customize Craftalight for other desired applications. They have also broken out the unused pins to pads on the back of the PCB and added a switched power pad that you can attach to any device, to allow for as much as 500mA from the pad when the Craftalight is switched on.

Katharina and Yannic recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for Craftalight. The campaign has already garnered close to $1000 with 26 backers and 16 more days to go. If you are interested, ensure you check the campaign ASAP. More information on the project can be found on the project’s Kickstarter page

Meet LoraPaper, A Weather Station That Runs On No Batteries!

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Whenever we have projects that require displaying human-readable information, we typically go with LEDs or different gadgets that draw lots of juice from the available power supply. Sometimes, this is fine, yet on the off chance that your power options are quite constrained, or you need something to be shown for quite a while, this can be fairly wasteful.

This is why Electronic-Paper displays (EPDs or simply ePaper) like those used on Amazon’s Kindle, are becoming quite a trend in applications because of their ability to hold static text and images indefinitely without electricity, hence, power is only required while updating the display with new information, otherwise, there won’t be any power consumption.

Robert Poser, passionate about ePaper displays and the famous creator of Paperino ( an easy-to-use, micro ePaper shield for the Particle & Arduino) has created LoraPaper, a LoraWan-connected ePaper display powered by only ambient light – this implies no batteries, at all, as it is entirely solar-powered through a PV cell on its back that constantly keeps an AEM10941 supercapacitor charged. Therefore, it runs autonomously when attached to the window or close to it.

LoraPaper’s display is sourced from Plastic Logic, a Hong Kong-based company that develops and manufactures truly flexible, glass-free electrophoretic displays for smart cards, mobile devices, signage, wearables e.t.c. Also, its charging is automated by an energy harvesting charge controller developed by E-peas semiconductors.

During the recently concluded The Things Conference, Robert showcased a 2.1-inch display version of the device (An upgraded version from the original 1.1-inch display) with a flexible lowlight PV cell on its backside. He noted that he is currently working on enabling support of external SPI flash for loading/saving images.

Depending on several conditions and the image content. It takes on average roughly 4mA at 3.3V for ~300ms to transition display, that is when the device connects to the web via The Things Network (TTN).

The LoraPaper is based on the Atmega328p microcontroller and as such, can be programmed with the Arduino IDE with help from it’s Arduino library which accounts for the slower clock speed nature of the LoRaPaper.

An FTTI programmer will be needed to program the LoraPaper through the pins exposed on the bottom side.

More information on the project along with the datasheet, schematics, and examples for LoraPaper can be found on it’s Github project page.

0 to 5V output Analog Hall Sensor for Foot Controller

Posted on by mixos

This project includes an analog Hall Effect sensor and an Op-Amp circuit which can be used as position or angular sensing with the benefits of no contact and wearing, high stability and wide sensing range. Two configurations of the magnet and Hall sensors are analyzed. Trimmer Potentiometer PR2 provided to adjust the offset and PR1 helps to set the system gain. The Op-Amp circuit helps to achieve the desired output bias and range. The sensor provides an approximately linear response, adapt wide magnet types and field range. DRV5053 Sensor is the heart of the project. The DRV5053 device is a chopper-stabilized Hall IC that offers a magnetic sensing solution with superior sensitivity stability over temperature and integrated protection features.  The project is useful for applications like Foot Controller, Industrial control stick, Industrial foot pedal, general position or angular sensing.

0 to 5V output Analog Hall Sensor for Foot Controller – [Link]

ESP32 LoRa Sensor Monitoring with Web Server (Long Range Communication)

Posted on by mixos

I’m a big fan of the ESP32 boards because of the number of communication options they managed to squeeze on the board, but I became more impressed recently when I came across the TTGO LoRa32 development boards which adds LoRa to the onboard communication features of the ESP32.

The LoRa communication capacity of the board opens up a web of possibilities and as a demonstration of how the board works, for today’s tutorial, we are going to build a LoRa Sensor Monitor with a webserver.

The idea behind the project is simple and not so different from the “Introduction to LoRa communication” project we built recently. It comprises two parts; a Transmitter and a Receiver. The transmitter comprises of a TTGO LoRa32 development board along with a BME280 sensor which is used to obtain temperature and humidity parameters from the environment. The data obtained are sent using the LoRa Communication features of the TTGO LoRa32, to the receiver which receives the data and displays it on a webpage via a webserver hosted on the board. By visiting the IP address of the server on any device on the same network as the receiver’s LoRa32 board, users will be able to see the data displayed on a webpage.

At the end of today’s project, you would know how to use both the WiFi and LoRa features of the TTGO LoRa32 board.

ESP32 LoRa Sensor Monitoring with Web Server (Long Range Communication) – [Link]

Smart Power Bank Keep-Alive

Posted on by mixos

@ZakKemble published another interesting project. This time it is a USB device that aims to keep your power bank from powering down due to low current draw. He writes:

Ever wanted to power a project from a USB power bank, only to have it keep shutting itself off because the current draw was too low? This project aims to fix that with these handy and slightly over-engineered USB modules containing a microcontroller, op-amp, MOSFET and a few other bits to create a pulsed adjustable constant current sink, as well as supporting USB 3 pass-through!

A quick hack to keep power banks alive is to use something like a 150R resistor across the power output to draw an extra 33mA, but some power banks might need as much as 100mA to stay on, requiring a 50R 1W power resistor. Usually, power banks don’t need to have current continuously flowing to stay on, where a 2 second pulse every 15 seconds might be enough to keep it alive. This pulsing technique drastically improves the battery life of the power bank, perfect for powering a small project for a few weeks.

[…]

The smarts of this device is an ATtiny10 which controls the on and off cycling of the constant current sink (pulse duration and interval is adjustable via firmware). The current is adjustable via a small trim potentiometer from 0mA to 140mA and the supply voltage can be anywhere from 1.8V to 5.5V.

Designs and firmware are on his GitHub and he also sells it on Tindie.com

snopf is a Tiny USB password token

Posted on by mixos

snopf is a very simple, yet effective and easy to use USB password tool. The snopf USB device creates a unique and strong password for every service from the same 128 bit secret which never leaves the token.

Whenever snopf is plugged into the computer you can make a password request and then the red LED will light up. If you press the button within 10 seconds snopf will imitate a keyboard and type the password for the requested service.

snopf is designed as a hardware-based password generator to tackle the security issues most commonly encountered with stored passwords on ordinary PCs, such as reading of password files by malware or browser exploits. It generates passwords deterministically from a securely kept master secret unaccessible to software running on the host.

 

Advantages of snopf

  • Very simple and robust design
  • Easy to use
  • You don’t have to remember any passwords anymore (except preferably a master PIN for snopf)
  • Every password is unique and as strong as the accessed service allows
  • The actual password creation is only happening on the USB device
  • It is possible to restore all passwords from a 12 word mnemonic representing the 128 bit secret
  • It’s more secure than a common pure software based password manager because the password creation is physically detached from the computer
  • As snopf emulates a regular keyboard, no passwords are stored in the clipboard

more details about the snopf project can be found on github.com

Batbot – the battery monitor that keeps you informed

Posted on by mixos

A vehicle and leisure battery monitor that alerts you remotely on your phone when the battery is about to be discharged beyond use.

Batbot simply hooks up via two croc clips (provided) to the battery points under your vehicles bonet and can be secured in place with a cable tie.

Once installed the device then sends your battery’s data to the cloud where alerts are generated and then sent to your mobile device or email address. Unlike other products, Batbot uses the Sigfox or LoRaWAN radio networks to send this data, so no bluetooth connection is required.

You can choose which version of Batbot will work best for you, based on the coverage in your area. We’ll go into more detail on this a little later on…

Key Benefits of Batbot:

  • Quick and easy to use
  • Keeps track of your battery state
  • Alerts you when action is required
  • Saves destroying batteries with deep discharge
  • Regular daily “All Ok” status for peace of mind
  • No monthly SIM contract
  • First year subscription included
  • Low further yearly subscription (£7 ~ £10)
  • Chose Sigfox or LoRaWAN version of product
  • LoRaWAN has Home Gateway option to provide cover in remote areas
  • Helps identify when your battery or vehicle has an electrical fault.
  • Avoids the vehicle not starting when needed for emergency or planned use
  • Save’s garage call out charges to jump start your vehicle
  •  24V lorries can be difficult to find a suitable jump start source for, or require a garage call out. Batbot helps you avoid this problem

Features:

  • Detects when your battery is discharging to a “beyond use” state and allows you to take corrective action, for example by starting the engine.
  • Supports 6V, 12V and 24V Battery Systems.
  • Comes with Croc Clips or Ring Terminals as a connection methods. (Accessory Pack provides further options).
  • Daily ‘All Good’ status, provides peace of mind that the vehicle is still in a good condition.

The project is live on kickstarter and had 24 days to go.

PICO-WHU4: Compact Board Built for the Edge

Posted on by mixos

AAEON, an industry leader in embedded AI Edge solutions, announces the PICO-WHU4, the latest compact board designed for embedded artificial intelligence, and edge computing. Built on the PICO-ITX form factor and powered by 8th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors, the PICO-WHU4 is a powerful and compact solution for a wide range of applications.

The PICO-WHU4 is built to offer high performance computing in a compact size. It features the 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 and Celeron® processors (formerly Whiskey Lake) combined with support for up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. This setup provides an impressive level of computing performance on the compact PICO-ITX form factor, allowing the PICO-WHU4 to power many AI and edge computing applications. With a wide operating temperature range from 0°C to 60°C, the PICO-WHU4 is a tough and reliable system for any working condition.

Built to meet the ever-growing demands for embedded AI and Edge Computing, the PICO-WHU4 offers an I/O configuration designed to integrate with almost any embedded application. The PICO-WHU4 features two Ethernet ports, two HDMI ports, and four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. The board also features two COM headers, supporting RS-232/422/485 serial port operation.

The PICO-WHU4 is also easy to expand, with an M.2 slot providing support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a mSATA/mPCIe slot which can support expansions such as the AI Core X with Intel® Movidius® Myriad™ X. Manufacturer Support from AAEON can also custom configure the PICO-WHU4 to suit customer projects, helping to reduce development time and time-to-market.

The PICO-WHU4 is also available as a turn-key solution, the PICO-WHU4-SEMI compact embedded system. With a compact chassis, the PICO-WHU4-SEMI is built to provide customers a complete system solution which is easy to setup and deploy.

“The PICO-WHU4 is a powerful solution that’s built for the edge,” said Kevin Chiu, Head of AAEON’s Embedded Computing Division. “With compact size and Intel® Core™ processors, the PICO-WHU4 is the perfect solution for vertical markets including Smart Retail applications and Smart City infrastructure.”

more information: www.aaeon.com

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