Page 580 – Electronics-Lab.com

NERO-SP1 – Arduino UNO Compatible Board

Posted on 20 February, 201920 February, 2019 by mixos

ATmega328, FT231X NerO – MCU 8-Bit AVR Embedded Evaluation Board.

This is the NERO-SP1, an Arduino compatible module with short shield pin. This Nero module is a reference design for an energy efficient Arduino UNO compatible board based on the ATMEGA328 with the FTDI FT231X USB- UART delivers 5V at a full 1A without overheating.

The NERO-SP1 board, manufactured by Bridgetek, features a switching mode power supply to provide 5V power, instead of the usual linear regulator found in the vast majority of Arduino boards. Still, a linear regulator is used to provide 3.3V power.

Another difference is the use of an FT232RL chip instead of the ATMEGA8 we find on the official Arduino boards. The board is still detected as an Arduino Uno inside Arduino IDE, but the interesting thing is that the FT232RL goes into a low power mode when the USB cable is not connected.

Features

NerO-SP1 with 2.54mm pitch female header with short shield pins
16MHz ATmega328 32-pin TQFP package microcontroller and FTDI FT231XS USB UART interface
UNO R3 form factor
14 digital I/O pins (6 PWM outputs)
6 analogue inputs
A micro-B USB connects to PC connect or provides power supply over USB for board
VIN input voltage range from 7V to 20V, hardware reset button provided
CE and FCC certified
Optiboot bootloader preloaded, Arduino SW (IDE) & UNO library compatible, Arduino shield compatible

The NERO-SP1 is available for ~20 USD from various distributors online.

LE-37M – 3.5″ Miniboard with Intel® 8th Gen Core™ H-series Processor

Posted on 20 February, 201920 February, 2019 by mixos

Taiwan Commate Computer Inc.(COMMELL), the worldwide leader of Industrial Single Board Computers, unveiled LE-37M 3.5 inch Miniboard embedded system board based on 8th generation Intel® Core™ H-series processors.

The LE-37M 3.5 inch Miniboard platform is designed for the 8th generation Intel® Core™ H-series processors in the FCBGA1440 sockets.support DDR4 memory (Two DDR4 SO-DIMM 2666 MHz up to 32GB).

The platform is based on Intel® UHD Graphics, this GPU offers 24 execution units (EUs) clocked at up to 1150Mhz(depending on the CPU model), The revised video engine now decodes H.265/HEVC completely in hardware and thereby much more efficiently than before. Displays can be connected via 1 VGA, 1 LVDS, 1 HDMI and one DP port up to three displays can be controlled simultaneously. LE-37M offers lots of features including high-speed data transfer interfaces such as 4 x USB3.1 Gen2 and 2 x SATA3, equipped with dual Gigabit Ethernet, and comes with PS/2 port, 2 x RS232 and 2 x RS232/422/485, 4 x USB2.0, Intel® High Definition Audio, and 1 MiniPCIe socket(Supports mSATA), 1 M.2 (Key E).

Features

CPU: Intel® 8th Gen Core™ H-series Processor in the FCBGA1440 sockets.
Memory: Two DDR4 2666 MHz SO-DIMM up to 32 GB, support Non-ECC, unbuffered memory.
Chipset: Intel® QM370 chipset.
Integrated Graphics: Intel® UHD Graphics.
LVDS interface: Onboard 18/24-bit single/dual channel LVDS connector with +3.3V/+5V/+12V supply
Display port interface: Onboard Display port connector. (Only LE-37M5)
HDMI interface: Onboard HDMI connector.
VGA interface: Onboard DB15 VGA connector.
LAN Interface: 1 x Intel® i219-LM Gigabit PHY LAN(Support iAMT 12.0), 1 x Intel® i210-AT Gigabit LAN.
Serial ATA: Support 2 x SATA3.
Audio: Realtek ALC262 High Definition Audio.
Internal I/O: 2 x SATA3, 2 x RS232, 2 x RS232/422/485, 4 x USB2.0, 1 x LVDS, 1 x LCD inverter, 1 x GPIO, 1 x Audio, 1 x PS/2, 1 x SMBus.
Rear I/O: 1 x DisplayPort(Only LE-37M5), 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA, 4 x USB3.1 Gen2, 2 x LAN.
Extended interface: One PCIE Mini card (Support mSATA), one M.2 (Key E).
GPIO interface: Onboard programmable 8-bit Digital I/O interface.
Power requirement: DC input 9~35V.

more info: www.commell.com.tw

Texas Instruments ebook – LDO Basics

Posted on 20 February, 201920 February, 2019 by mixos

Power management is a fundamental block for all electronic systems. Without it, smartphones, computers and many other electronics we know today would not be possible. With the additional portability, computational power and the myriad of sensors implemented today comes the necessity to scrutinize power management design.

The influx of scrutiny for power designs to meet new standards means that you can no longer neglect power design by lever-aging a good enough rail without considering the consequences. What should we worry most about? What specification is critical when powering certain loads? How do you extrapolate the available information in order to determine performance under unspecified conditions? This e-book will help to address all of these questions.

Low dropout regulators (LDOs) are a simple way to regulate an output voltage powered from a higher-voltage input. For the most part, they are easy to design with and use. However, modern applications now include a wider array of analog and digital systems. In turn we are now required to pay attention to the systems and operating conditions which will determine what kind of LDO is best suited for the circuit.

This e-book provides a comprehensive overview of the basics of what you need to know and what to look for. Each chapter of this e-book was originally published as a post on the blog series, “LDO Basics,” which you can still view on TI’s E2E™ Community.

You’ll find these chapters short, to the point and easy to digest. If you’d like more in-depth explanation, there are also accompanying videos on the LDO Training Portal.

The WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 Board Now Available – Ivy5661 IoT Board

Posted on 19 February, 201919 February, 2019 by Ayo Ayibiowu

A few months ago, in November 2018, we talked about the possibility of combining both WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 into one board. The UNISOC UWP5661 was a chip that could make that possible and the same chip powers the IVY5661 96Boards IoT board. At the time of posting about the IVY5661 board and the relatively unknown WiSoC chip little information was available. The product board was categorized as upcoming, but it seems that enough time has passed and the board is available for purchase now on SeeedStudio.

The IVY5661 board was a work in progress at that time, and more information is available now. As stated before, the IVY5661 follows the Linaro 96boards IoT hardware design standard, a standard gaining quite a lot of traction in the past few years. Based on the 28nm UniSoC UWP5661 SoC, it comes powered with an ARM Cortex-M4 CPU running at 416MHz.

With support for both WiFi IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5, the IVY5661 board is all you might need for your IoT connectivity project. It also features High-Capacity storage with built-in 32Mbit storage space. As expected, the IVY5661 board supports the Zephyr operating system, a real-time operating system for IoT devices from the Linux Foundation.

Unboxing Video

Below are the board specifications for the ucRobotics Ivy5661 IoT Edition board:

SoC – UniSoC UWP5661 dual core Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 416 MHz manufactured with 28nm process
Storage – 32Mbit NOR flash
Connectivity (built in SoC)
- Dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi 5 up to Dual-band supports repeater mode, RTT indoor positioning
- Bluetooth 5 with support for high power mode, BT mesh, and AOD indoor positioning features
USB – 2x Micro USB ports
Expansion Interface – 96boards LS (Low Speed) connector with UART, I2C, SPI, I2S, GPIO
Misc – 4x user LED, 2x reset and user button
Power Supply – 5V via Micro USB port
Dimensions – 60 x 30 mm (96Boards IoT edition form factor)

The board is open-source with all schematics, and build documentation are readily available on the product page. The board is available for pre-order from Seeedstudio for about $35 with an estimated shipping date scheduled for 28th of February. Some applications of the board will work in the areas of the intelligent household, IP camera, repeater Wi-Fi amplifier, high-fidelity audio system, and other networking applications.

KEMET – Pyroelectric Infrared Sensors

Posted on 19 February, 201919 February, 2019 by mixos

KEMET’s pyroelectric infrared sensors (PL series) are unobtrusive sensors that contribute to set designs.

KEMET’s pyroelectric infrared sensors use the pyroelectric effect of ceramic by absorbing the infrared rays emitted from the human body. This detects the infrared signature naturally emitted by humans. It can detect infrared rays without using lenses. Due to the absence of a lens, the pyro sensor is low profile making it ideal for demanding visual requirements. Using KEMET’s proprietary piezoelectric ceramic material and element structure of the pyroelectric infrared sensor, it can detect humans through glass or resin. This detection gives even more freedom in the design of the outer appearance of the end product.

Features and Benefits

Reflow capable SMD configuration
Lens not required
Wide view angle up to ±60 degrees
Detection possible through glass or resin
Low power consumption, down in the μA range
Excellent radio wave performance in high-frequency band
Compact and low profile (5.0 mm x 4.8 mm x 1.7 mm)

more: www.kemet.com

AI Enabled RICO-3399: Power and Flexibility that Fits

Posted on 19 February, 201919 February, 2019 by mixos

Pico-ITX Fanless Board with Rockchip ARM Dual-Core Cortex-A72 and Quad-Core Cortex-A53

AAEON, an award winning developer of AI hardware and a leader in industrial embedded solutions, releases the RICO-3399, a powerful PICO-ITX single-board computer that is built for AI applications and high-resolution displays. It features the Rockchip RK3399 ARM hexa-core processor, 4K Ultra HD video at 60 fps via HDMI 2.0, and a wide array of I/O features.

The RICO-3399 features the Rockchip RK3399 ARM hexa-core processor. The Rockchip RK3399 combines the Rockchip Quad-Core Cortex-A53 and Dual-Core Cortex-A72 processors onto a single SoC. The RK3399 divides tasks depending on the performance needs. The Rockchip RK3399 features a built in Mali-T860MP4 GPU which is 50% faster than its previous generation, and provides the video decoding capabilities to deliver 4K Ultra HD at 60 fps via HDMI 2.0.

The RICO-3399 utilizes the unique architecture of the Rockchip RK3399 to deliver power that is unparalleled in its size. With 16GB eMMC storage and 2GB LPDDR3 memory, the RICO-3399 is capable of handling AI applications without the need of additional AI modules, saving money and lowering power consumption. The RICO-3399 is compatible with TensorFlow and Caffe2 to bring AI based on Android NNAPI. The RICO-3399 has the power to handle applications such as smart surveillance and unmanned stores.

Features

Rockchip RK3399 SoC
Onboard LPDDR3 Memory 2GB
Onboard eMMC 16GB
MicroSD Slot
Gigabit Ethernet x 1
eDP and HDMI
RS-232 x 1, RS-232/422/485
USB 2.0 x 1, USB 3.0 x 1, Type C x 1
Supports MIPI Camera

Built on the PICO-ITX standard, the RICO-3399 brings all these features in a package designed to fit anywhere, and with 3G/4G capability, it can connect anywhere, too. The RICO-3399 offers Android 7.1 as standard, providing a flexible platform for APP development. With a wide array of I/O features, such as USB Type-C, USB 3.0, microSD and MIPI camera support, the RICO-3399 is perfect for usage in digital signage, interactive KIOSK, and smart office solutions. Additionally, AAEON’s manufacturer services can customize the RICO-3399 to meet the specific and unique requirements of your application.

The RICO-3399 was built to meet growing customer demands for high-resolution 4K Ultra HD solutions and to provide a compact AI platform suitable for Industry 4.0 applications,” said Owen Kuo, Product Manager with AAEON’s Rugged Mobile Division. “With AAEON’s manufacturer service, the RICO-3399 is a platform with unparalleled power and flexibility.

ACEINNA Launches Industry’s First High Accuracy Current Sensors based on AMR Technology

Posted on 19 February, 201919 February, 2019 by mixos

ACEINNA today announced its new MCx1101 family of ±5A, ±20A, and ±50A Current Sensors for industrial and power supply applications. The first high accuracy wide bandwidth AMR-based current sensors on the market, units and evaluation boards are available now for sampling and volume shipments.

Our new integrated, AMR based Current Sensor family provides the best performance for the price in the industry,

says Khagendra Thapa, VP Current Sensor Product for ACEINNA.

There are other AMR based current sensing solutions on the market, but they require a great deal of integration to make them work. Ours are plug and play.

The MCx1101 are fully integrated, bi-directional current sensors that offer much higher DC accuracy and dynamic range compared with alternative solutions. For example, the ±20A version has a typical accuracy of ±0.6% and are guaranteed to achieve an accuracy of ±2.0% (max) at 85°C.

These new current sensors also guarantee an offset of ±60mA, or ±0.3% of FSR (max) over temperature, which means that high accuracy can be achieved over a roughly 10:1 range of currents. This is a roughly 10x improvement in dynamic range vs. leading Hall-sensor-based devices.

These devices deliver a unique combination of high accuracy, 1.5MHz signal bandwidth with industry benchmark phase shift vs. frequency and 4.8kV isolation making them ideal for high- and low-side sensing in fast current control loops for high performance power supplies, inverters and motor control applications.

The fast response and high bandwidth of the MCx1101 is also ideal for fast switching SiC and GaN based power stages enabling power system designers to make use of the higher speeds and smaller components enabled by wide band-gap switches. Output step response time is 0.3us. The MCx1101 also provides an integrated over current detection flag to help implement OCP (Over Current Protection) required in modern power systems. Over current detection response time is fast 0.2us.

The family includes ±50, ±20, and ±5A ranges, and is offered in both fixed gain (MCA1101) and ratiometric gain (MCR1101) versions. It is packaged in an industry standard SOIC-16 package with a low impedance (0.9 milli-ohm) current path, and is certified by UL/IEC/EN for isolated applications.

more info: www.aceinna.com

Digital 16bit Serial Output Type Color Sensor IC – BH1749NUC

Posted on 18 February, 2019 by mixos

ROHM’s BH1749NUC is a digital color sensor IC with I²C bus interface. This IC senses Red, Green, Blue (RGB) and Infrared and converts them to digital values. The high sensitivity, wide dynamic range and excellent Ircut characteristics make it possible for this IC to obtain the accurate illuminance and color temperature of ambient light. It is ideal for adjusting LCD backlight of TV, mobile phone and tablet PC.

The BH1749NUC is a uniquely packaged low profile surface mounted sensor. The operating voltage is 2.3V to 3.6V with an illuminance detection range of 80 klx (Typ) and operating temperature range of -40 °C to +85 °C. With a wide dynamic range and high sensitivity, this sensor is able to determine the illuminance and color very accurately, which is critical for automatic backlighting adjustments.

Features:

Built-in Ircut Filter
Rejecting 50 Hz / 60 Hz Light Noise
I²C Bus Interface (f/s mode support)
It is possible to select 2 type of I2C bus slave address.
Correspond to 1.8 V Logic Interface
Resolution 0.0125 lx/count (Typ.)(In highest gain and longest measurement time setting)

more info: www.rohm.com & www.sparkfun.com

Renesas Electronics and Miromico Collaboration Brings to Market Enhanced LoRa® Module

Posted on 18 February, 2019 by mixos

New LoRa Module Enables Engineers to Access LoRaWAN™ Networking and Add Functionality Using Renesas Synergy Hardware and Software

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and Miromico AG today announced their collaboration has produced the compact and low-power FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module based on LoRa® devices and wireless radio frequency technology. The new Miromico module enables customers to connect easily to LoRaWAN-based networks that are mushrooming across Europe. The new module employs the innovative Renesas Synergy™ Platform, giving customers access to microcontrollers (MCUs) and a large production-grade software package. Engineers can use the S3A6 MCU on the LoRa-based module to handle various tasks, while seamlessly streaming data across a LoRaWAN-based network to the cloud. The LoRaWAN™ protocol is quickly becoming the de facto standard to connect the “Things” of the Internet of Things (IoT) across long distances (up to 50km), flexibly and securely, while keeping batteries alive for years. Both Renesas and Miromico are LoRa Alliance™ members.

The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module is only 14.2mm x 19.5mm in size. Its operating voltage is 1.8V to 3.3V, and the module’s power consumption ranges from just 1.4uA in sleep mode to 25.5mA (typical) in TX mode (14dBm). Receiver sensitivity is -148dBm in LoRa mode [email protected] kHz, and the module’s operating temperature range is -40 to 85°C. A highlight of the module is the use of the new licensed LoRaWAN stack with Firmware-Over-The-Air (FOTA) capabilities. Designed to meet all relevant certifications, the module can be used as a mass-produced LoRa solution in the field. In particular, the module’s exceptional specifications make it ideal for urban as well as rural sensing applications such as metering, asset tracking, building automation, security, wearables, predictive maintenance and more.

The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module employs the S3A6 MCU with integrated 48 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M4 core, and features 256 KB code flash memory, 8 KB data flash, and 32 KB SRAM, which is enough memory to allow engineers to add a variety of their own functions. Most MCU signals are available at the module level to make them externally accessible. Manufactured in a low- power process, the S3A6 peripheral set includes analog features such as a 14-bit SAR analog- to-digital converter (ADC), 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC), op amps, and comparators. Various timer channels and serial ports, USB function, CAN, DMA, and powerful safety and security hardware makes the S3A6 an ideal MCU for a wide range of battery-operated applications. In addition, the S3A6 is part of a large Renesas Synergy MCU portfolio, making it easy to scale up to more functionality or scale down for cost optimization.

The Renesas Synergy Platform features the Synergy Software Package (SSP), which comprises a large selection of production-grade software. SSP includes the ThreadX® RTOS and lots of associated middleware such as a file system, USB stack, graphical user interface (GUI) software, application frameworks and functional libraries that can be used for encryption and DSP functions. This unique and powerful combination of hardware and software helps customers significantly accelerate their product development schedule.

more information:

Inforce 6560” Pico-ITX SBC features Snapdragon 660

Posted on 18 February, 201918 February, 2019 by Tope Oluyemi

For a while now, the only Snapdragon 660 based SBC known to us is the Intrinsyc’s Mini-ITX form factor Open-Q 660 HDK, focusing on mobile device development. However, Inforce has launched its $220 “Inforce 6560” Pico-ITX SBC. This SBC runs Android 8 and Ubuntu on its octa-core Snapdragon 660 and enables stereoscopic depth sensing through its dual MIPI-CSI interfaces.

The 100 x 72mm SBC ships with an Android 8x board support package and will later add an Ubuntu BSP. The Android BSP has a pre-loaded Hexagon/SNPE/OpenCV SDKs. The Inforce 6560 SBC exploits the Snapdragon 660’s dual Spectra 160 ISPs and Hexagon 680 DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX) for devices that need simultaneous dual streaming abilities with depth perception and vision processing.

Application of this SBC include IoT edge devices in healthcare and telepresence, smart city applications, and connected cameras like 360/VR, sports, bodycam, and IP security cameras. The Snapdragon 660 boasts of up to 20 percent higher CPU performance and 30 percent higher graphics performance than the older generation, like the octa-core Snapdragon 653.

The Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 SoC is faster than the octa-core Snapdragon 625 and the Snapdragon 626, due to its Cortex-A73-like “Kryo” cores, which are present in the higher end Snapdragon 820 and Snapdragon 835. The Inforce 6560 is equipped with 3GB LPDDR4, 32GB eMMC, and a microSD slot. For I/O features the SBC offers dual USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.1 Type-C port with 4K DisplayPort/USB support. The port supports a Gigabit Ethernet module, with support for up to 2x ports. The SBC autonomous PoE header supports an optional ACC-1S70 add-on card with a Power-over-Ethernet enabled GbE, and a RS-485 transceiver port.

Snapdragon 660 Block Diagram

The SBC is equipped with an RTC, and also a 12V input with optional battery header, and a 0 to 70⁰C range. Other features include an HD-ready HDMI port and MIPI-DSI interface. Available also is dual MIPI-CSI connections with option of a third. The CSI connections feature makes provision for an optional HDMI input module and a 21-megapixel ACC-1H70 camera module. The board also features WiFi-ac/BT and optional GNSS, and each has its own UFL antenna. The SBC has audio I/O, a 40-pin GPIO, and a host of headers.

Specifications for the Inforce 6560 include:

Processor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (4x Kryo cores @ 2.2GHz, 4x Kryo cores @ 1.8GHz); Adreno 512 GPU; 2x Spectra 160 ISPs; Hexagon DSP; support for OpenGL 3.0/3.2, Vulkan, DX12 FL 12, OpenCL 2.0 full profile; 4K30 HEVC/H.264/VP8/MPEG4 encode, 4K30 8-bit: H.264/VP8/VP9, 4K30 10-bit: HEVC; concurrent 1080p60 decode + 1080p30 encode
Memory/storage: 3GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB eMMC, MicroSD 3.0 slot
Wireless/networking: 802.11ac 2.4/5Ghz 1×1 with MU-MIMO (Qualcomm WCN3990), Bluetooth 5.0 with BLE (Qualcomm WCN3990), 3x UFL antenna connectors, Optional GNSS (GPS/GLONASS/COMPASS/GALILEO) via Qualcomm SDR660G, Optional 1x or 2x GbE ports (via USB 3.1 Type-C), PoE header with optional PoE add-on (ACC-1S70) with GbE and RS-485 transceiver ports
Multimedia I/O: HDMI 1.3a port for up to HD @ 60fps, DisplayPort via USB 3.1 Type-C for up to 4K, MIPI-DSI (4-lane) for up to HD+, 2x MIPI-CSI (4-lane) with 16MP and stereoscopic support, Optional additional 1x 4-lane MIPI-CSI, Optional Sony IMX230 based MIPI-CSI ACC-1H70camera module, Optional MIPI-CSI HDMI input module, Audio in and out headers
Other I/O: 2x USB 2.0 host ports,USB 3.1 Type-C port with USB/DP support, I2C, SPI, UART headers, 40-pin GPIO
Other features — RTC; optional 3D accelerometer with gyro (STMicro LSM6DS3)
Power — 12V input; PMIC; battery header; 6W to 17W typ. consumption
Operating temperature — 0 to 70⁰

The Inforce 6560 is now available for $220 or $228 with power adapter, acrylics, and USB-C conversion cable option. More information can be found at Inforce Computing’s Inforce 6560 product page.