Microcontroller Tips

Microcontroller engineering resources, new microcontroller products and electronics engineering news

Abby Esposito

Miniature enclosures optimized for USB interconnect

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Each size is available in five colors with a satin texture finish as standard: RAL 9011 black, RAL 7035 grey, translucent clear, translucent smoke and translucent red.
Each size is available in five colors with a satin texture finish as standard: RAL 9011 black, RAL 7035 grey, translucent clear, translucent smoke and translucent red.

When USB3.0 was introduced, offering theoretical data signaling rates of 5 Gbits/s compared with the 480 Mbits/s available from USB2.0, the protocol became significantly more useful across a variety of applications. The latest standard to be published, USB3.1, further increases performance to 10 Gbits/s and reduces line encoding overhead.

All flavors use a Type A standard plug as the interface to the host machine. To house small PCBs using USB as the external power and signal interconnect, Hammond Manufacturing has extended its popular 1551 miniature family with three new sizes: 1.38, 1.97 or 2.56 in. (35, 50 or 65 mm) long, 0.79, 0.98 or 1.18 in. (20, 25 or 30 mm) wide respectively, all 0.61 in. (15.5 mm) high.

The sizes have been chosen after customer consultation to provide prototype builders and small volume OEMs generous room for their PCB. The 1551USB IP54 ABS enclosures are a traditional lid and base design. All versions feature a dedicated cut-out for a standard USB Type A plug in one end and have a recess in the lid for an inlay, label or HMI keypad. The two smaller units have two PCB standoffs molded into the base; the largest one has four.

Each size is available in five colors with a satin texture finish as standard: RAL 9011 black, RAL 7035 grey, translucent clear, translucent smoke and translucent red. Custom colors can be supplied, and to reduce time to market and modification costs all 1551USB enclosures are available factory modified with machining and silk screening to the user’s specification; to help with the design process, AutoCAD and PDF dimensioned drawings can be downloaded here.

Hammond Manufacturing
www.hammondmfg.com

Rugged flash drive available in new sizes

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Rugged flash drive
Miniature–the size of a key ring–and lightweight, the Fischer Rugged Flash Drive has proven to be the durable solution for people on the go who need to download and securely transfer confidential data, images or videos from devices used in extreme environmental conditions or in hard-to-reach areas.

Fischer Connectors, a worldwide manufacturer in push-pull circular connectors and cable assembly solutions, launched the USB 3.0 version of its ultra-portable, miniature, lightweight and extremely tough Fischer Rugged Flash Drive. This memory stick has been specially designed for the safe transportation and storage of sensitive data in harsh environments.

The USB 3.0 Fischer Rugged Flash Drive is even faster, smaller and more user-friendly than the USB 2.0 product introduced to the market in 2011. The read speed is now up to five times faster; standard memory sizes are 32, 64 or 128 GB; the body is shorter; and, in order to guarantee secure access, it is now available not only with the Fischer UltiMateTM Series interface, but also with the Fischer MiniMaxTM Series interface. The activity LED is a further feature of the new product to improve usability.

Miniature–the size of a key ring–and lightweight, the Fischer Rugged Flash Drive has proven to be the durable solution for people on the go who need to download and securely transfer confidential data, images or videos from devices used in extreme environmental conditions or in hard-to-reach areas.

It is perfectly adapted for applications where data security and confidentiality are critical, such as the defense and security, financial, medical, industrial, energy, underwater, motor and extreme sport sectors, e.g. for civil or military UAVs, ROVs, test & measure equipment or rugged computers.

Safe and secure

The Fischer Rugged Flash Drive is both safe and secure. Its rugged casing provides full protection against extreme environmental conditions. The flash drive is waterproof down to 120 meters and is resistant to extreme operating temperatures (-40° to 85° C). Thanks to the unique proprietary Fischer Connectors’ circular connector interface combined with a durable encapsulation technique, it guarantees data security in case of loss or theft.

Showcased as world premiere at Eurosatory tradeshow

The new Fischer Rugged Flash Drive is showcased for the first time, along with the company’s new electrical and optical connectivity solutions, at the Eurosatory tradeshow in Paris from June 13 to 17, 2016, at Fischer Connectors’ booth G 497, Hall 6. The Fischer Rugged Flash Drive will be commercially available in July.

Fischer Connectors
fischerconnectors.com

Low-power Ethernet switches
optimized for industrial IoT uses

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IIoT Ethernet switch
Designed for the specific needs of industrial Ethernet switch applications, Microsemi’s new devices simplify IIoT network migration to an Ethernet backbone with flexible interfaces, TCAM-based classifications, 1588 timing and ring protection in a small package.

Microsemi, a provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, announced its new Ocelot product family, a low power, feature-rich Ethernet switch family optimized for communications networking in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market. Designed for the specific needs of industrial Ethernet switch applications, such as factory automation, process control, smart grid/smart energy and physical security, Microsemi’s new devices simplify IIoT network migration to an Ethernet backbone with flexible interfaces, TCAM-based classifications, 1588 timing and ring protection in a small package.

According to ARC Advisory Group, the industrial Ethernet switch market is now over $1 billion USD annually and expected to grow at double-digit rates for the next five years.

Microsemi’s Ocelot family encompasses:

  • VSC7511, a four-port, layer 2 gigabit Ethernet switch with four fully integrated copper PHYs;
  • VSC7512, a 10-port, layer 2 gigabit Ethernet switch with four fully integrated copper PHYs;
  • VSC7513, an eight-port, layer 2/3 gigabit Ethernet switch; and
  • VCS7514, a 10-port layer 2/3 gigabit Ethernet switch.

In addition to leveraging Microsemi’s technology to offer low power, small package sizes, 1588 timing and ring protection, the Ocelot switches feature optimized port configurations, unmanaged and managed options, and IStaX software optimized for the industrial market.

Product availability
Microsemi’s Ocelot product family is sampling now with production scheduled for summer 2016. Evaluation boards for the devices are available now.

Microsemi
www.microsemi.com

Reference platform speeds
connected car development efforts

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Connected Car Reference Platform
The Connected Car Reference Platform allows automakers and their suppliers to explore, prototype and commercialize connectivity designs using modules and solutions offered based on Qualcomm Technologies’ roadmap. Image source: www.electronics-eetimes.com

Qualcomm through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, announced the Qualcomm Connected Car Reference Platform aimed at accelerating the adoption of advanced and complex connectivity into the next-generation of connected cars. As a developer in automotive connectivity with more than 340 million chips shipped so far for products for over 20 automakers, Qualcomm Technologies developed a product designed to maintain pace with an ever-increasing set of automotive use cases facilitated by the latest advances in 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. The platform is also designed to solve for challenges such as wireless coexistence, future-proofing and support for a large number of in-car hardware architectures.

The Connected Car Reference Platform is built upon Qualcomm Technologies’ broad automotive product and technology portfolio, including Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 and X5 LTE modems, quad-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System and 2D/3D Dead Reckoning location solutions, Qualcomm VIVE Wi-Fi technology, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) for V2X, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and broadcast capabilities such as analog and digital tuner support using software-defined radio through Qualcomm tuneX chips. In addition, the platform features in-vehicle networking technologies such as Gigabit Ethernet with Automotive Audio Bus and Controller Area Network interfaces.

Highlights of the Connected Car Reference Platform design are:

  • Scalability: Using a common framework that scales from a basic telematics control unit up to a highly-integrated wireless gateway connecting multiple electronic control units within the car supporting critical functions such as over-the-air software upgrades, data collection and analytics.
  • Future-proofing: Allowing the vehicle’s connectivity hardware and software to be upgraded through its life cycle, providing automakers with a migration path from DSRC to hybrid/cellular V2X and from 4G LTE to 5G.
  • Wireless coexistence: Managing concurrent operation of multiple wireless technologies using the same spectrum frequencies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy.
  • OEM and third-party applications support: Providing a secure framework for the development and execution of custom applications. The Connected Car Reference Platform allows automakers and their suppliers to explore, prototype and commercialize connectivity designs using modules and solutions offered based on Qualcomm Technologies’ roadmap.

The Qualcomm Connected Car Reference Platform is expected to be available by the end of 2016. Qualcomm Technologies is showcasing the Connected Car Reference Platform, along with application demos from collaborating companies including OTA updates by Movimento, V2X communications by Savari, and vehicle data management and analytics by Hortonworks, at the TU-Automotive Detroit conference on from June 8 to 9, 2016 booth #C69.

Qualcomm Technologies
www.qualcomm.com

SoC development environment cuts compilation time,
adds system-level profiling tools

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SoCs
Xilinx announced the 2016.1 release of the SDSoC development environment, enabling software defined programming for the Zynq family of SoCs and multi-processing (MP) SoCs using C and C++ languages.

Xilinx announced the 2016.1 release of the SDSoC development environment, enabling software defined programming for the Zynq family of SoCs and multi-processing (MP) SoCs using C and C++ languages. The new release includes support for the recently introduced 16 nm Zynq UltraScale+MPSoC. Additionally, this release enables a significant leap in productivity through system level profiling tools and by reducing the compilation time in half.

“The SDSoC development environment has ramped quickly to over 650 users; many of them getting to market very quickly with production Zynq SoC-based designs,” said Nick Ni, senior manager of SDSoC product marketing and planning at Xilinx. “In addition to Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC support, we have dramatically reduced compilation time, and the time to eliminate system level performance bottlenecks.”

Systems and embedded software engineers can leverage the SDSoC development environment to easily program Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC devices. At the click of a button, SDSoC automates the acceleration of C/C++ functions from the ARM application processor unit into the FPGA fabric by generating custom hardware IPs using high-level synthesis, hardware connectivity, software drivers and application executable files.

Unlike traditional siloed embedded software and hardware development flows that can result in development delays and uncertainty in system architecture and performance, SDSoC is architected to provide rapid system profiling and architecture exploration, in a familiar Eclipse IDE framework. This release adds real-time system-level visibility into performance bottleneck using hardware and software event trace monitors.

Availability
SDSoC 2016.1 is now available for download.

Xilinx
www.xilinx.com

1-Gbit DDR3 RAMs carry ECC

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ISSI
The new product has an embedded ECC, which detects and corrects bit errors on-the-fly. It requires no monitoring, nor intervention to use, yet it is backward compatible with standard DDR3. Image source: www.directindustry.com

Integrated Silicon Solution, a developer of advanced memory solutions, announced it has begun sampling production units of its new 1-gigabit (1Gbit) DDR3 DRAMs with ECC. The new product has an embedded Error Correcting Code (ECC), which detects and corrects bit errors on-the-fly. It requires no monitoring, nor intervention to use, yet it is backward compatible with standard DDR3.

The 1Gbit DDR3 device is the IS46TR16640ED, which is organized as 64Mbx16, packaged in a 96-ball BGA, and operates at 1.5 V. ISSI is also offering IS46TR81280ED, which is organized as 128 Mbx8, packaged in a 78-ball BGA, and operates at 1.5 V. Both are available in three automotive temperature grade options: A1, which operates over -40° to 95° C; A2, which operates over -40° to 105° C; and A3, which operates over -40° to 125° C. This adds to the DDR3 SDRAM product family and ISSI’s extensive selection of DRAMs. Just as ISSI is doing with its other DRAM products, ISSI is able to provide the long lifecycle product support as required by customer applications in automotive, industrial and other high-reliability market segments.

In addition to the new DDR3 with ECC, ISSI offers a broad line of SDR, mobile SDR/DDR, DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 products, as well as a comprehensive line of asynchronous and synchronous SRAMs with densities from 64 Kb to 72 Mb, 256 Kb to 256 Mb automotive grade flash memory products and analog & mixed signal products. And ISSI supports a range of known good die devices in its portfolio.

Integrated Silicon Solution
www.issi.com

World’s First WiGig USB Dongle

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USB dongle
Peraso Technologies announced the company will be demonstrating interoperability between its USB dongle reference design and a WiGig wireless AP.

Peraso Technologies, a developer of Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) chipsets, announced the company will be demonstrating interoperability between its USB dongle reference design and a WiGig wireless AP. As several AP suppliers had announced products at CES 2016, it is critical for the WiGig ecosystem that consumers be able to enable legacy equipment into the WiGig ecosystem.

Peraso is in production with WiGig IC solutions, addressing both next generation WiFi opportunities in the consumer electronics space, as well as outdoor devices in the 60 GHz wireless infrastructure space. Market research firm ABI Research estimates that by 2018, over 600M WiGig chips will be sold annually. Product categories include access points, portable PCs, tablets, smartphones and networking adaptors.

The Peraso WiGig USB dongle reference design is based on their W110 chipset. Peraso is a vital player in the WiFi Alliance compliance efforts, and it is the only WiGig silicon vendor on the market with a WiGig USB solution.

Some of the key features of the design are:

  • small, low cost design for elegant WiGig adaptor solutions;
  • independent antenna solution allows for application optimization;
  • Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 driver included; and
  • complete design files available, such as schematics, BOM and Gerbers.

Peraso’s WiGig USB Dongle will be on display in the Peraso suite at the Grand Hyatt, Computex 2016, from May 31 to June 3, 2016.

Peraso Technologies
www.perasotech.com

Chipset delivers 1 Gbps broadband over existing phone lines

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Qualcomm-Wi-Fi-Chips-and-GigaDSL-to-Raise-the-Bar-for-Broadband-Network-Capacity-680x350
Qualcomm introduces end-to-end GigaDSL products that enable broadband operators to seamlessly transition deployments from VDSL to Gigabit.

Qualcomm announced at COMPUTEX 2016 that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, introduced end-to-end GigaDSL products that enable broadband operators to seamlessly transition deployments from VDSL to Gigabit access technologies. Designed to meet the requirements for the migration for existing VDSL by operators, especially in Korea and Japan, the new QCO5700 for multiple dwelling units (MDU) and the QCM5720 for customer premises equipment (CPE) can provide up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) broadband over existing telephone lines while maintaining interoperability with carriers’ existing modems and seamless coexistence with deployed infrastructure.

The new GigaDSL chipsets are ideal as operators keep pace with consumer demand and national mandates for broadband access, with minimal service interruption. They are the industry’s first wireline solutions to support Gigabit data rates up to 100 m on existing telephone lines providing a high-speed extension for VDSL without losing any spectrum capacity. The existing deployment base can be upgraded to products based on Qualcomm Technologies’ latest GigaDSL processors, without costly and time intensive wiring on-premise.

Several leading manufacturers are already building or preparing to build products based on the QCO5700 and QCM5720, such as Sumitomo Electronic, NEC and Wave Electronics. Sampling for Qualcomm Technologies’ GigaDSL chipsets is expected to be available June 2016, both for “Fiber to the Building” infrastructure and CPE.

Qualcomm Technologies
www.qualcomm.com

Ri-radio 802.11ac platforms boost Wi-Fi signals

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1-8-2013wilocity-card
Qualcomm Technologies’ new three radio solutions combine two 5 GHz radios and a 2.4 GHz radio to provide greater flexibility in the way that routers or repeaters use wireless spectrum and capacity, which can improve connectivity in a variety of network configurations.

Qualcomm announced at COMPUTEX 2016, that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, launched a new family of tri-radio 802.11ac platforms designed to boost the capacity of home networks and optimize its usage to deliver better consumer Wi-Fi experiences. The new platforms are designed to bring premium Wi-Fi features, like Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) and Qualcomm Wi-Fi SON (Self-Organizing Networks) technology into a new class of mainstream routers and smart repeaters, which will help accelerate adoption of technologies that simplify seamless connectivity.

Qualcomm Technologies’ new three radio solutions combine two 5 GHz radios and a 2.4 GHz radio to provide greater flexibility in the way that routers or repeaters use wireless spectrum and capacity, which can improve connectivity in a variety of network configurations. In homes using a mix of Wi-Fi technologies, the router can dedicate a radio (typically the 2.4 GHz radio) for legacy devices, which can alleviate network congestion and ensure more robust bandwidth for newer 802.11ac devices. Furthermore, when used in distributed networks, the third radio can provide a dedicated link to range extenders or help extend the range of mesh nodes.

Qualcomm Technologies is offering two new tri-radio platforms, both of which use its latest 802.11ac System-on-Chip (SoC), the IPQ40x9, which integrates the Qualcomm Internet Processor with 2-stream 802.11ac and Gigabit Ethernet. The platforms can be combined with Qualcomm Technologies’ new 2-stream 802.11ac radio, the QCA9886, to enable a new class of mainstream routers offering an unprecedented 2.2 Gbps of aggregate capacity, or its popular 4-stream 802.11ac radio, the QCA9984, to boost the capabilities of the premium routers and repeaters to up to 3.1 Gbps.

These new platforms, along with our dual-band platforms, also offer our advanced connectivity features, which had been previously aimed at the premium tier, to a wider mainstream audience. Through Qualcomm Wi-Fi SON technology, home networks are becoming simpler to install, more secure and automatically optimized. The self-configuring features make onboarding and configuring new devices, such as Bluetooth devices, on a Wi-Fi network much easier. The technology also includes self-managing features, which is designed to eliminate the guesswork from allocating capacity with tri-band products by automatically shifting traffic between bands and radios depending on real-time conditions. Wi-Fi SON now supports Qualcomm Technologies’ HomePlug AV2 powerline solutions, which allows for seamless roaming between a home’s wireless and wired networks.

With the demands required of today’s home networks, additional speed is no longer a convenience, but a necessity. Qualcomm Technologies’ Wave 2 802.11ac features meet this demand through its industry-leading MU-MIMO technology to provide two to three times faster connections. It also offers support for 160 MHz channels, which doubles connection speeds at close range.

This new family of tri-radio 802.11ac platforms is sampling to customers now.

Qualcomm Technologies
www.qualcomm.com

Dual-band Wi-Fi chip consumes little power

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QCA4012
The introduction of the QCA4012 brings dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity to complement the existing QCA4010 single-band solution, making the new chip well-suited for applications in interference-sensitive environments.

Qualcomm announced at COMPUTEX 2016 that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, is extending its flagship QCA401x connectivity solutions with a new product. The new QCA4012 chip brings dual band Wi-Fi, enhanced security, low power and a small size at a price point that best supports the development of connected devices. Qualcomm Technologies also announced the expansion of the QCA401x software ecosystem to include support for HomeKit, Google Weave and AllJoyn, as well as new cloud providers.

Premier Wi-Fi connectivity solution for the IoT
The introduction of the QCA4012 brings dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity to complement the existing QCA4010 single-band solution, making the new chip well-suited for applications in interference-sensitive environments. It also offers increased computing performance, memory and advanced features while minimizing size, cost and power consumption. The QCA4012 integrates low-power Wi-Fi and a fully featured micro-control unit (MCU) in a single-chip solution that combines design flexibility and rich development capabilities with a comprehensive set of hardware interfaces.

Detailed features of the QCA4012 are:

  • dual band capable of supporting both 2.4 and 5 GHz for more robust Wi-Fi connections, with antenna diversity for extended range coverage;
  • full MCU capability with 1.5MB on-chip RAM for future upgradability of features and bug fixes, which is critical for applications with long life cycles;
  • enhanced security with secure boot, over-the-air secure software update, anti-rollback, one-time-programmable memory and on-chip crypto engine for application-level security;
  • rich interfaces including UART, HS-UART, I2C, I2S, up to 42 GPIOs, PWMs, ADCs, SPI/SDIO to directly interconnect to sensors, actuators, display, lighting and audio components;
  • low power Wi-Fi to support energy efficient applications; and
  • pin-compatible part to support I-temp.

Software Ecosystem Support for Wi-Fi Solutions
The QCA401x solutions now also feature pre-integrated software support for Apple’s HomeKit and Google’s Weave in addition to the AllSeen Alliance’s AllJoyn software framework. This is designed to help address fragmentation in the IoT, by allowing products to connect across different brands and communication platforms. QCA401x helps achieve interoperability among products in the home, making them easier and more secure to use.

In addition, Qualcomm Technologies is providing developers with technical tools and community enablement to help them develop new and innovative solutions for the IoT and accelerate commercialization. Based on the QCA401x software development kit, cloud service providers such as Ayla, Exosite and IOTA Labs have developed solutions such as cloud agents, API interfaces and other tools to support integration with IoT clouds.

Furthermore, Silex and various other ODMs are working on hardware platforms based on QCA4012. Silex, Lite-on, WNC and WISOL also continue to work with the single-band QCA4010 introduced last year.

Qualcomm
www.qualcomm.com