Page 534 – Electronics-Lab.com

ICE Tower CPU Cooling Fan for Raspberry Pi 4

Posted on 5 July, 20195 July, 2019 by mixos

Meet this super ICE Tower CPU Cooling Fan for Raspberry Pi! Tower structure, 5mm copper tube, multi-layer heat sinks, 7 blades powerful fan, all the above combinations make this super radiator for Raspberry Pi. In the case of overclocking, it can reduce the temperature of the Raspberry Pi from 80℃ to 40℃. What amazing! Best of all, this super cooling fan support both Raspberry Pi 3 and the new Raspberry Pi 4.

Features

DC 5V Power in (Can be powered by the Raspberry Pi)
Ice Tower Structure
5mm copper tube
Super heat dissipation
Rated power 0.4W @5V, 0.08A

The cooling fan is available for pre-order on SeeedStudio but it seems a bit pricey for $19.90 compared to the price of a single Raspberry Pi 4 board.

IC Locker – Online inventory for your IC components.

Posted on 5 July, 2019 by mixos

IC Locker is an online Inventory management Software that seems to be online for a couple of years but we just found it. It also seems being on an early stage. To create your own parts database you have to create an account and you are ready to add your first components. All is free.

Easily manage your collections of components so you always know what you are missing. Share your collections with your colleagues and coworkers.
Organize all components by elements, categories, properties and put them in collections.
The app will remind you which components are running low: yellow for almost out of stock and red for out of stock.
Add the information from your favourite component store and manage orders right from the app.

IC Locker – Online inventory for your IC components – [Link]

WebFPGA: Rapid FPGA Development System on the cloud

Posted on 5 July, 201911 July, 2019 by mixos

WebUSB programmable FPGA development boards. Cloud-based synthesis.

Until recently, FPGA development has suffered from a high barrier to entry for newcomers. In the past, development boards using Xilinx, Lattice, and Altera chipsets easily fetched $250-$2000 price tags. The hardware barrier has been all but eliminated by recent entrants, which include MojoBoard (https://alchitry.com/products/mojo-v3), the IceBreaker (https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga), and TinyFPGA (https://tinyfpga.com/) who offer sub-$100 kits.

WebFPGA is a cloud-based development environment for FPGAs with compatible development boards. Our software toolchain uses a recent browser technology called WebUSB to program the FPGA, without any software required other than a modern web browser (Chrome/Opera/Edge75 supported for now). We also provide a browser-less, command-line solution.

“We aim to completely revamp the digital logic development experience. Our cloud-based toolchain performs synthesis on our backend, forwarding the logs and final bitstream to the client for flashing. Local CPU expenditure is zero. WebFPGA is a remote wrapper around these powerful and complex toolchains. Simply feed it your hardware description in Verilog source files and about a minute later it will return a synthesized bitstream, ready for flashing! (VHDL will be supported in the future).”

From the second you receive our board, you will be able to plug it in, synthesize Verilog, and flash it. NO SOFTWARE REQUIRED!

What’s an FPGA?

FPGA is an acronym for “Field Programmable Gate Array”. In essence, the “field programmable” isn’t too relevant other than implying that the whole “gate array” is programmable. The “gate array” is the cool part. Think of the whole chip as an array of logical gates (e.g. AND/OR/etc). These logic gates can be wired up however you may desire. For example, you might decide to write some logic that tints an entire image red. On a CPU, each pixel would need to be tinted one by one. But in digital logic, each pixel can be tinted simultaneously. Microcontollers, CPUs, GPUs, etc. consist of logical gates solidified into an integrated circuit at a silicon foundry. However, with FPGAs, these gates can be reprogrammed on the fly. FPGAs are used to develop specialized, dynamic digital logic systems.

General Specs

4-IO bridged communication between MCU and FPGA
On-board Neopixel RGB LED
User button
Reset button
User Single-Color LED
On-board precision clock oscillator

FPGA Specs

Lattice iCE40UP5k FPGA
39 IOs (32 accessible)
5280 logic cells
1 Mbit SRAM
120 Kbit Block RAM
Hardened SPI/I2C macros
10 Khz & 48 MHz internal oscillator
On-board PLL & DSP functions

Microcontroller Specs

STM32F04-Series MCU
WebUSB interface
Fully user-programmable
48 MHz internal clock
32 KB flash
6 KB RAM
UART/SPI/I2C
16 Mbit shared flash

FPGA Device; 32 GPIOS and 5,280 Logic Cells

The project is live on kickstarter and has 10 days to end. Pledges start from 29USD for a standalone FPGA board.

AK09940 High Precision Tri-Axis Magnetic Sensor

Posted on 4 July, 2019 by mixos

AKM’s AK09940 is ideal for magnetic particle testing and metal contamination detection

AKM’s AK09940 is a general-purpose, digital output, tri-axis magnetic sensor IC with ultra-low noise and ultra-low power consumption using TMR technology. The sensor that is based on previous tri-axis electronic compass sensing solutions can increase the magnetic 6-DOF position-tracking accuracy for AR, VR, MR, and wearable devices.

The AK09940 is ideal for magnetic particle testing and metal contamination detection with triaxial magnetic measuring, which measures wet field, small changes, and distortion in magnetic fields with high precision. Magnetic position tracking used in controllers such as AR and VR devices has the advantage that it can be detected even if the sensor is hidden behind objects. However, due to signal noise on the receiving side, sufficient performance ordinarily may not be obtained in terms of detection range, position accuracy, and response speed. This problem is solved with the ultra-low noise tri-axis magnetic sensor on the receiving side.

Features

Ultra-low noise allows for measurement of minute magnetic signals with 40 nT RMS in the X, Y, and Z axes
Ultra-low current consumption of 40 nA @ 100 Hz makes it ideal for devices with small-capacity batteries
Small LGA 1.6 mm x 1.6 mm package

Applications

Augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) devices
Wearable devices
Magnetic metal particle testers
Magnetic mapping

more information on: www.akm.com

Infineon’s new 80 V DC-DC buck LED driver IC offers excellent dimming performance

Posted on 4 July, 201916 January, 2020 by mixos

Infineon Technologies AG introduces the new LED driver IC ILD8150/E. It features an innovative hybrid dimming mode technology for achieving 0.5 percent of the target current. With its supply voltage range from 8 V _DC up to 80 V _DC, the driver IC provides a high safety voltage margin for applications operating close to safe extra-low voltage (SELV) limits. The driver IC is ideally suited for general and professional LED lighting applications with high dimming requirements.

The ILD8150/E offers a deep dimming performance without flicker and prevents audible noise. A PWM input signal between 250 Hz and 20 kHz controls the LED current in analog dimming output mode from 100 to 12.5 percent and from 12.5 to 0.5 percent in hybrid dimming mode, with a flicker-free modulation frequency of 3.4 kHz. The digital PWM dimming detection with high resolution and the low power shutdown perfectly match the ILD8150/E to microcontrollers. The device also has a dim-to-off function and a pull-down transistor to avoid LED glowing in dim-to-off mode.

Infineon’s new ILD8150/E drives up to 1.5 A using a high-side integrated switch. The latter one with a low R _DS(on) of 290 mΩ (ILD8150) enables high power designs with an efficiency of more than 95 percent. It incorporates a soft-start function to protect the primary stage from abrupt current requests and a shunt resistor for adjustable maximum output current. Precise output current accuracy of typical 3 percent from one device to another under all load and input voltage conditions makes the IC perfect for e.g., tunable white and flat panel designs where current must be identical. Additionally, under voltage lockout (UVLO) for the bootstrap voltage and over temperature protection functions provide an ideal fit for professional LED lighting solutions.

Availability

The LED driver IC is packaged in a DSO-8 housing which enables wave soldering. Higher thermal performance can be achieved with the ILD8150E in a DSO-8 package with an exposed pad. Both variants can be ordered now. More information is available at www.infineon.com/ild8150 and www.infineon.com/ild8150e.

3D Gesture Tracking Shield for Raspberry Pi MGC3130

Posted on 4 July, 2019 by mixos

Seeed has released a $12.90 “3D Gesture & Tracking Shield” for the Raspberry Pi that uses Microchip’s electrical near-field sensing technology for touchpad input and 3D gesture tracking at up to 10 cm.

This shield is based on Microchip MGC3130 chip, which enables the Raspberry Pi with 3D gesture recognition and motion tracking function. It can capture x y z position information, can also do proximity sensing and touch sensing, support tap and double click.

As shown in the figure below, the recognition area is divided into two parts: the strip area distributed around and a central panel.

The strip areas can sense the orientation change, including the North, South, West, and East. The central area can sense touch, tap, double click, and gestures in the air above. That’s why we call it 3D Gesture & Tracking Shield, you don’t even need to touch the central area directly, just wave your hand above the central area, and this shield can sense your movements.

Thanks to the Microchip’s patented GestIC® technology, this shield utilizes electrical near-field sensing to detect movements. The shield generates a magnetic field above the central panel when the hand approaches, it will interfere with the magnetic field, and the magnetic field receiver below the shield can detect the change.

Features

Recognition of 3D Hand Gestures and x, y, z Positional Data
Proximity and Touch Sensing
Built-in Colibri Gesture Suite (running on chip)
Advanced 3D Signal Processing Unit
Detection Range: 0 to 10 cm
On-chip Auto Calibration
Compatible with various models of Raspberry Pi 2, 3, and zero

This hat communicates with Raspberry Pi via the I2C interface, also we have reserved a Grove I2C connector in case you need to work with other modules.

What an amazing module, with the help it, you can use gestures to control lights, TV, speakers… Just unleash your imagination and create more magical projects.

The 3D Gesture & Tracking Shield is available for $12.90 worldwide at this Seeed shopping page. Volume discounts are available. Seeed has also posted a wiki with sample code and a YouTube video.

Silanna Semiconductor Introduces Versatile 12A Buck Converter for Ultra-Compact PCB Layout

Posted on 4 July, 2019 by mixos

1 MHz operation and high integration in a compact 3mmx4mm QFN package to deliver the best power density with a minimum external component count.

Silanna Semiconductor, an innovative producer of disruptive technologies, today announced its highly integrated SZPL8216A family of synchronous point-of-load (PoL) buck converters. These DC/DC buck converters integrate the functions of the DC/DC constant-on-time (COT) controller, output gate drivers and output power blocks all in one compact 3mmx4mm QFN package to deliver the best power density with a minimum external component count. The devices enable designers to achieve ultra-compact PCB layout, high power density and high efficiency for low power loss in demanding and space-constrained applications such as enterprise servers, telecommunications, and networking equipment.

The SZPL8216A-A, SZPL8216A-B and SZPL8216A-C family of devices delivers up to 12 Amps with 94% peak efficiency when converting from a nominal 12 V input down to a 0.6 V to 5.5 V output voltage range. Providing design versatility, the devices feature a selectable switching frequency, 600 kHz to 1 MHz, allowing users to make design-specific decisions to optimize their component size versus efficiency. With the ability to operate at 1MHz, designers can use a smaller output filter to minimize their total PCB solution size.

Other features include programmable current limit and soft start time; remote output voltage sensing; pre-biased start-up and a full suite of robust power supply protection features including UVLO/OCP/OVP/UVP and OTP. Providing additional design versatility, the devices may operate from a single supply using their internal LDOs, or designers may bypass them and instead use an external 3.3 V or 5 V bias supply to increase conversion efficiency further.

The SZPL8216A COT controlled devices employ Silanna’s proprietary S-LoopTM control architecture which provides near instantaneous response to load transitions with minimal increase in overshoot or undershoot. Such performance is critical for multi-core CPU and FPGA applications that quickly power on and off with high current load transients and require a very stable power supply voltage.

Key Specs:

Ultra-compact QFN 3mmx4mm package
94% peak efficiency
Up to 1 MHz switching frequency
4.5V to 16V input voltage range
0.6V to 5.5V output voltage range

Key Features:

Proprietary S-Loop control and adaptive COT architecture for fast load transient response
All ceramic output capacitor solution
Programmable current limit
Internal LDO for MOSFET driver bias
Output tracking with external reference input
UVLO/OCP/OVP/UVP/OTP protections
Pre-bias startup with programmable soft start time
Diode emulation mode for light load efficiency boost

Availability:

The family includes three different versions, all packaged in the same 21-lead, 3mmx4mm QFN package, allowing for different fault mode behaviors, voltage references, and AVCC operating voltages:

SZPL8216A-AE34: Latched Fault Mode; VREF 0.9 V; AVCC 3.3 V
SZPL8216A-BE34: Hiccup Fault Mode; VREF 0.6 V; AVCC 3.3 V
SZPL8216A-CE34: Hiccup Fault Mode; VREF 0.6 V; AVCC 5.0 V

Sample quantities are available now. The devices are priced at $0.86/1,000 pieces and will be available in mass production in Q3. An evaluation PCB is also available.

More information and visuals are available at: https://www.silannasemi.com

Panasonic’s EEHZ hybrid capacitors offer long lifetime at high temperature

Posted on 3 July, 20193 July, 2019 by mixos

EHZ family available now in production volumes from Future Electronics

They are an ideal choice for electronics designers who require capacitors that offer stable electrical characteristics at high frequencies, while giving high reliability.

The EEHZ family capacitors are available now in production volumes from Future Electronics. Serving customers from 48 branches in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, including six branches in Germany, Future Electronics offers the industry’s largest available-to-buy inventory of electronics components – including passive components such as the EEHZ family.

Panasonic’s EEHZ conductive polymer hybrid aluminium electrolytic capacitors combine the benefits of aluminium electrolytic and polymer capacitors, producing capacitors which feature:

High endurance
Low equivalent series resistance (ESR)
High tolerance for ripple current, in-rush currents and high temperatures

You can find full pricing and delivery information by clicking here

The compact size of the EEHZ family parts gives designers scope to reduce the size of their board designs. Panasonic supplies vibration-proof versions of the EEHZ parts.

Devices in the EEHZ family may be specified as alternatives to multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).

The EEHZ family includes:

EEHZA series – low ESR, high ripple current, 10,000h endurance at 105°C
EEHZC series – low ESR, high ripple current, 4,000h endurance at 125°C

Winston Privacy Web Filter For Ad-Free, Tracking-Free & Anonymous Internet Browsing

Posted on 3 July, 2019 by Tope Oluyemi

Online privacy is a thing of concern for most internet users today, with ads, pop-ups, and malicious website threatening our internet security. This has led to products and solutions aimed at protecting internet users against tracking, targeted ads, cookies, and various other threats that has been popping up. The likes of Fingbox and Firewalla are available, but their hardware seems limited, and software solutions like PiHole may not be suitable for everyone. However, a new device is available for internet security. The Winston privacy filter is a plug-and-play solution, based on Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 SoC network processor. The network processor makes sure your network performance is not impacted and enables a boost of performance for most visited websites as a result of the resources that are being blocked out.

The device launched on Kickstarter a few weeks ago, that successfully funded of $514,669 which greatly surpassing their $20,000 funding goal. The device supports Linux, with two Ethernet cables, and a power adapter available. The mainboard is designed by Globalscale Technologies, and it appears to be a highly-customized version of the company’s ESPRESSOBin board, indicating that Winston is likely based on Marvell Armada 3700LP (88F3720) processor. If the aforementioned is the case, it is tremendous, because the company can leverage the software support for the community board.

The device is easy to use. All you need to do is to connect the WAN port to your ISP’s router, and the LAN port to another router or switch. If WiFi devices are available, ensure they are connected to the router behind Winston, and not the ISP’s router if not they won’t be protected. The table shared by the company indicates that Winston function is not limited to VPN, Ad Blockers, firewall, or anti-spyware and anti-malware programs, it also prevents third-party data collection, it anonymizes your location, and functions effectively with video streaming services. Nevertheless, we can question some of the claims in the table, like Ad Blockers may also enable speedy internet connectivity, and with a good VPN service, you should be able to anonymize your web browsing. Traffic is routed through 20 to 30 other Winston units, thereby enabling randomization.

An online dashboard is available, that allows you to monitor blocked ads and trackers, view network health, monitor activity, adjust your privacy settings, and view detailed usage reports. Plugins for Firefox, Chrome, and later Safari are enabled to improve privacy and allow browsing experience more versatile, like temporarily disabling Winston on specific websites. Rewards begin at $349 with Winston and a lifetime subscription. The box enables you to drop paying for your VPN, so it may pay off over time, with the clause that the company stays afloat. Winston is not totally available worldwide, and you can only get it shipped to one of three countries: the United States ($9), Canada ($25), and the United Kingdom ($29). The reward for backers should be expected in October 2019 if everything takes place accordingly.

Specifications listed include:

SoC – Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz with security and data acceleration engines
System Memory – 1GB DDR4 @ 800 MHz
Storage – TBD
Networking – Dual Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) for WAN and LAN
Dimensions – 117 x 66.85 x 24.8 mm

The device runs Linux, and ships with two Ethernet cables, and a power adapter.

Digital Caliper Computer Interface

Posted on 3 July, 2019 by mixos

Digital Caliper Computer Interface can be used to log data on a spreadsheet. Report by Jeremy S. Cook @ blog.hackster.io

With a few pointers found here, he found that this data is transmitted in a continuous stream in 24 bits at 1.5 volts. He therefore level-shifted the 1.5V output to 3.3V and fed into a logic analyzer to further decode this data. With this worked out, input signals are fed into an ESP32 module on a special SAM32 board for the final(?) implementation, which also contains a Microchip SAM D51 microcontroller running CircuitPython. The SAM D51 handles sending the data to a computer, which is entered nicely into Excel!

Digital Caliper Computer Interface – [Link]