deantonious @ github.com has shared the Arduino code and PHP api for a simple ESP8266 weather monitor with 128×32 pixel oled display. Not much additional details are given, but we thought worth sharing this interesting mini project.
ESP8266 WeatherMonitor with tiny OLED display – [Link]
UK battery maker Ilika has officially launched its millimetre scale solid state battery for medical implants, including smart contact lenses.
Ilika a few days ago announced the launch of Stereax® M50 mm-scale solid-state batteries designed for medical implants. The Stereax M50 brings all the benefits of the Stereax products whilst taking solid-state batteries to a new level of miniaturisation. Bringing form factor choice enabling medical device innovations that have previously been limited by the available battery technology.
The implantable medical device industry has a growing need for miniaturized, long-life power sources to enable wireless data transfer from increasingly sophisticated devices that are improving patients’ lives
said Mike Nagy, Chief Technology Officer, Endotronix.
The MedTech space is one of the most challenging environments for battery technologies. Batteries need to be small enough to be unobtrusive, enabling implantable devices to be charged in a way that does not restrict a patient. The batteries need to have as long a life-span as possible, avoiding the risks of repeated surgical intervention. They also need to be biocompatible so that they do not pose a risk of leakage. Each device application may require different sizes and form factors, which can now be accommodated with the customisable battery sizes and shapes enabled by the Stereax M50. Innovation in applications that require injection into the blood stream, monitoring heart rhythm or attachment onto the peripheral nervous system for neurostimulation can be enabled with this technology. These batteries enable self-sustaining power sources that do not need to be changed regularly or use inconvenient cabling.
Relative to standard lithium ion batteries, Stereax M50 solid-state batteries have longer life spans of up to 10 years (up to 5x longer) and lower leakage currents (10x smaller), making them suitable for low power wireless charging. They can also be integrated with other electronic components enabling the end medical device to be kept as small as possible. Stereax M50 yields leading edge energy density with 50% extra density compared to other commercially available solid-state batteries.
The Stereax product family continues to grow, addressing a wide range of end applications. Medical applications are some of the most demanding environments for battery technology
said Graeme Purdy, CEO, Ilika.
The Stereax M50 is a smaller, safer and longer lasting battery, opening up the opportunities of life enhancing medical devices.
Providing up to 1,300 mW in an industry standard package, the new LUXEON IR 2720 is optimized for a variety of cost conscious infrared applications requiring high power outputs.
Lumileds today introduced the LUXEON IR 2720 Line, high power emitters that set the standard for abundant radiant power delivered in an industry standard package for seamless integration in existing designs. The emitters provide high radiant power of up to 1,300 mW at 940 nm or 1,250 mW at 850 nm wavelength and feature high efficacy and a popular 120° beam angle. The 2.75 x 2.0 mm LEDs are undomed and especially useful for applications with package height limitations that prevent the use of domed solutions. The emitters address a wide array of cost conscious infrared applications from surveillance and machine vision to iris scanning and health monitors.
Infrared LED uses such as CCTV cameras and machine vision are especially cost sensitive markets, so high performance emitters with high reliability are very much in demand,
said Ryan Dong, Product Manager at Lumileds.
The LUXEON IR 2720 package enables drop-in upgrades in applications that require high punch, long range and high uniformity including positioning and depth measurement, and industrial automation. The state of the art thermal resistance package (4°C/W) effectively solves thermal challenges and ensures system reliability which has been thoroughly tested during the Lumileds extensive qualification process.
The LUXEON IR 2720 Line of 940 nm emitters address such applications as biometric identification, military and law enforcement, and traffic and railroad signaling applications. The 850 nm emitters are workhorses for machine vision cameras and CCTV cameras.
For more information on the LUXEON IR 2720 Line, see www.lumileds.com/products/infrared-emitters/luxeon-ir-2720-line
Nebra Ltd company has launched the world’s smallest pocket-sized projector called “Nebra AnyBeam”. The Nebra AnyBeam is a low cost, high definition laser pico projector that can fit in your pocket. For movie lovers, there can be a movie night every night! It is the world smallest pocket cinema projector – with the ability to project crystal clear pictures on to any surface. The device can be powered by a power bank, or from the USB port of a computer.
The Nebra AnyBeam is different from traditional projectors which tends to be big, hot, noisy, use a lot of power, require focus adjustment, and aren’t very portable. The difference is possible through laser and high-speed two-dimensional scanning by adopting the MEMS scanner. The Nebra AnyBeam projects a high-resolution image of HD (720p at 60 Hz) by reflecting the three color laser by high-speed driving of the MEMS mirror and scanning the horizontal and vertical two-dimensional directions.
The Nebra AnyBeam adjust the focus automatically, unlike the conventional projectors where you need to adjust the focus manually. It makes use of a laser that travels straight and hardly spreads. It also always takes into account the distance, the unevenness of the projected surface, and the curved surface, so it is always in focus. Worthy to note is that as it utilizes a MEMS scanner, it requires no bulb. By exploiting semiconductor lasers of three colors R, G, and B as light sources, the projector displays a wide color gamut and colorful images. The 19 by 60 by 103mm and 140g projector fits in your pocket. The device is equipped with a state-of-the-art laser module with the power to project screens up to 150 inches and beyond. The laser MEMS technology at the core of the Nebra AnyBeam projector range is very light and compact.
The power consumption of the Nebra AnyBeam is as low as 3.0 W, which makes it “power friendly,” and can be used for a long time with a power bank/battery. It also features a screw thread in the base for you to add a tripod. There are four key products in the AnyBeam projector range – allowing you to use the laser projector technology in a number of ways which suits your application. With HDMI compatibility feature, your Nebra AnyBeam projector is compatible with virtually every streaming audio, video or gaming service available. With the Raspberry Pi versions, you can set up your own Kodi / OSMC home cinema set up in a matter of seconds – with a built-in projector. The laser projector is fanless, noiseless and you don’t need to replace the bulb.
NEBRA ANYBEAM HAT
NEBRA ANYBEAM DEV KIT
NEBRA ANYBEAM MONSTER BALL
For more information visit Nebra Kickstarter Page.
Frontier Smart Technologies, the leading technology provider for digital radio, introduces Chorus 4 – the world’s first integrated Smart Radio chip. Chorus 4 will power a new generation of solutions for radios offering internet connectivity, DAB / DAB+ and FM.
The first of these new solutions, Venice X, is being launched by Frontier this week at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. Venice X is a cost-optimised, customisable turnkey system which enables brands and manufacturers to build high quality Smart Radios quickly and cost-effectively.
Smart Radios are the fastest growing category in the digital radio market, with sales volumes currently growing at 30% per year. By combining internet, DAB / DAB+ and FM in a single device, Smart Radios provide end-users with a complete range of listening options – including a rapidly growing number of DAB / DAB+ services, thousands of Internet radio stations, online music services, such as Amazon Music and Spotify, and podcasts from around the world. The inclusion of DAB and FM ensures that the radio can operate even when there is no internet connectivity, for example outdoors, or if users want to use less power or data. Additional features include Bluetooth and full colour user displays.
Anthony Sethill, CEO, Frontier Smart Technologies, said:
Venice X is a cost-optimised solution, based on the world’s first dedicated Smart Radio silicon, Chorus 4. Offering IP, DAB and FM in a single integrated package, at a lower cost than any comparable solution, Venice X offers brands the opportunity to develop Smart Radios at truly mass-market prices
The Chorus 4 integrated SoC represents a distillation of Frontier’s extensive experience in Smart Radio design and combines DAB+/FM radio tuners, an application processor and audio processing with integrated memory.
more information visit: www.frontiersmart.com
Kingbright KPTR series, suitable for reverse mounting, makes it possible to achieve that the LED is hidden in the PCB.
Naturally, manufacturing LED with a zero height is most likely unreal at the current physics status and 3D experience of the world. Nevertheless, it´s still possible to reach the goal that the LED wouldn’t stick out of the PCB – by the above mentioned “reverse” mounting, alias by mounting from a rear side of a PCB. In this case, naturally, there´s a suitable size opening in the rear side of a PCB.
Simply said, PCB tracks to a LED and the package itself is from the rear PCB side. On the top side, on the side on which the LED lights up, you then have a free hand in the placement of other components. In the situation when there are only 0,2mm high LEDs on the market it may seem useless but sometimes even those 0,2mm matter. It can be said that such an assembly practically does not affect the top of the PCB, except the need to have a milled hole for the LED body in the PCB.
By this way, it´s possible to make extra thin backlight panels and mainly also to use LEDs even to backlight components, which weren´t designed/ accommodated for backlight (switches, …). Another advantage of such mounting is that even relatively densely placed LEDs don´t interfere among each other. In result, for example by gluing such PCB to a semi-transparent panel, it´s possible to gain a cheap and high-quality indication panel without undesired light leakage to nearest segments.
The KPTR-3216 series intended for mounting “upside down” is already packed (tape and reel) in the opposite position in order to make it usable for machine (pick and place) assembly.
The KPTR-3216 series contains 15 types in all common colours (except white). Approximate price of majority of types is 4-8 Eur / 100 pcs. In case of serious interest, we can supply you samples for development as well as stable supplies for production.
Raspberry Pi zero is very small, but it’s not cute with a power bank which maybe five times bigger. PiSugar is a battery project designed for Pi zero. It’s super easy to use, no need for soldering, no conflict with other piHats. It perfectly matches the size of Pi zero. via Jdaie @ hackaday.io
Many software engineers are able to developing products base on raspberry pi, but few of them are good at soldering. Pi zero is very small, it’s a good choice when you plan to create a portable prototype. But when it comes with a power bank connected, it’s not longer that cute. So we are thinking if there is a portable, solderless solution to supply power for pi zero, it will be very friendly for raspberry pi beginners!
PiSugar is a combination of a 3.7V, 900mAh lithium-ion battery and a PCB that provides voltage regulation and charging. Both the battery and PCB have the exact same footprint size as the Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W.
The project is open-source, so you can find all of the files on GitHub, including 3D-printable enclosures.
A great guide from TDK about power inductors used in DC-DC converters.
As electronic devices become more advanced, the power supply voltage of LSIs used in them is lowered, so their power consumption can be reduced and their speed increased. However, a decrease in the power supply voltage also causes the requirements regarding voltage fluctuations to become more severe, creating a need for high-performance DC-DC converters to fulfill these characteristic requirements, and power inductors are important components that greatly affect their performance. TDK has a widely varied lineup of power inductor products, and this article describes and explains effective methods for using power inductors, and key points for selecting them, according to the required characteristics of DC-DC converters.
App note: How to use power inductors – [Link]
VersaLogic, a frontier in the development of single board computers, has recently launched a new SBC that is designed for the Android markets called the Android Eval Kit.
The new kit will be an upgrade from Versalogic having generally been know to produce mostly Linux, and sometimes Windows-based single board computers like the Zebra SBC, SandCat, or the Tetra SBC. VersaLogic’s new Android Eval Kit provides an easy way to evaluate Arm/Android performance and includes everything needed to run the Android OS on a high-reliability embedded system.
The “Android Eval Kit” is based on the old NXP i.MX6 that powers both the Tetra and Zebra SBC but comes with a notable 7-inch HDMI 1024 x 600 touchscreen, adapters, hubs and basically everything to make you kickstart your Android experiences. It is pre-loaded with Android 8.0. There are no needs for additional carrier cards, companion boards or other add-ons, it’s just a full fledge SBC, think about it as Raspberry PI that supports Android.
The kit is basically a Tetra Single Board Computer (SBC) with a Quad-core i.MX6 – 7″ display with touch screen. Android Oreo is loaded on the accompanying microSD card, so need to worry about installing or downloading the OS. Also, you will get a wall power adapter, USB hub, startup guide, and all required cables.
Considering the kit is based on the Tetra SBC, it is expected to have a similar footprint of 125 x 95mm, that also matches the COM Express basic computer-on-module specification. Due to i.MX6 processor, power consumption is relatively low, something around 5 Watts.
RAM specification still follows the existing Tetra design, ships with 2GB or 4GB DDR3L SDRAM. All storage is optional, including 32GB eMMC, SATA II, and mini-PCIe-based mSATA. Other features like the 2x USB 2.0 host ports, an HDMI 1.4 port, CAN and serial interfaces, 2-lane MIPI-CSI for a camera, and a GbE port, with the usual i.MX6 bandwidth restrictions will be available.
The kit is designed and tested for industrial temperature (-40° to +85°C) operation and meet MIL-STD-202 specifications for impact and vibration.
The Versalogic’s Android Eval Kit (P/N: VL-EVK-ARM-AND1) is available for $599. More information may be found here. More details on the device specifications are available on the Tetra product page.
Maxim’s MAX86150 delivers both photoplethysmogram (PPG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements for health monitoring from a mobile, battery-powered device. The MAX86150 is a biosensor module comprised of internal LEDs, photodetectors, and an ECG analog front-end (AFE) to provide highly accurate, FDA-certifiable PPG and ECG performance in compact power-saving designs which include mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and smart speakers.
Delivering synchronized PPG and ECG measurements has been challenging because designers have had to utilize two separate biosensors that together consume more board space and power than a mobile device can typically afford. In addition, achieving high accuracy in the measurements has also been challenging, particularly in cases where sensor sensitivity might be impacted by low perfusion levels or dry skin. The MAX86150 overcomes these challenges, sampling both PPG and ECG simultaneously to provide the highest sensitivity of pulse transit time. The module can be shut down through software with near-zero standby current which reduces the battery drain but allows the power rails to remain powered at all times. The MAX86150 is available in a 3.3 mm x 6.6 mm x 1.3 mm, 22-pin optical module.
more information on Maxim’s website and on digikey.com. Available units: MAX86150EFF+T and MAX86150EFF+
[Update 2/05/2019] Related Project: Blood Pressure Without a Handcuff Using the New MAX86150
login
