Garrett Cona

Cards help prototype SoCs with pre-engineered interfaces

July 19, 2016 By Garrett Cona Leave a Comment

S2C Inc., a worldwide leader of FPGA-based prototyping solutions for today’s innovative designs, announced today the addition of 8 new Prototype Ready interface cards and accessories to its extensive library of over 90 pre-engineered hardware and software components aimed at accelerating the development of SoC prototypes. These new modules enable users to prototype SoC designs with a variety of interfaces and work out-of-box with S2C’s comprehensive family of Logic Modules. These preengineered solutions enable users to focus on SoC prototype development and product differentiation to gain an edge in today’s competitive markets.

“We pride ourselves on giving our users the tools they need to be successful in their prototyping endeavors and to get a jump on their competition,” said Toshio Nakama, CEO of S2C. “We are always expanding our comprehensive library of Prodigy interfaces and accessories so that users can feel confident about getting the hardware they need for their specific design requirements.”

S2C
www.s2c.com

Chips add remote voice control to Bluetooth LE, ZigBee, multistandard apps

July 19, 2016 By Garrett Cona Leave a Comment

Expanding its leadership in voice remote controls, Texas Instruments today announced new voice remote control solutions as part of its SimpleLink ultra-low power platform. These were created to help developers easily add ultra-low power Bluetooth low energy, ZigBee RF4CE or multi-standard connectivity to their designs for voice remote controls, TVs, set-top boxes and more.

Developers can do more with less power by taking advantage of the ultra-low power nature of TI’s new SimpleLink ZigBee RF4CE CC2620 wireless microcontroller as well the existing Bluetooth low energyCC2640 wireless MCU or the multi-standard CC2650 solution to create feature-rich remote controls with different technologies. Engineers can reuse their R&D investment for multiple standards and products. Additionally, developers can differentiate products without sacrificing battery life with advanced features such as voice-activated commands and search, gesturing, pointing and more.

TI makes Bluetooth low energy and RF4CE development for remote controls easier by offering an all-in-one SimpleLink multi-standard CC2650 remote control development kit which also connects to the SimpleLink SensorTag ecosystem to expand functionality using DevPack plug-in modules.

Using the MSP430FR2633 MCU with CapTIvate technology, developers can also add features like gesture pad, capacitive buttons, sliders and grip detection to their remote designs while operating at less than 4 uA average current. To learn more, read this blog post about our remote control reference design featuring the CC2650 wireless MCU and MSP430FR2633 MCU with CapTIvate technology.

The SimpleLink ultra-low power platform of wireless MCUs has integration at its core with an ultra-low power, multi-standard radio, ARM Cortex-M3 core, direct microphone interface, up to 31 GPIOs, sensor controller and more in a single package from 4×4 to 7×7 mm. With advanced integration and size options, developers can implement RF4CE, Bluetooth low energy or multi-standard connectivity solutions with voice capabilities into a wide range of applications such as wearables, building automation and automotive, as well as in the traditional remote control use cases for TVs and set-top boxes. In addition to these traditional ways of controlling your electronics or TV, this technology can enable end users to use their voice to search for or record their favorite TV show, control lights from across the room or simply input text with their voice.

Texas Instruments
www.ti.com

Next-gen BLE chips sport ASCII-style command interface to eliminate complicated coding

July 12, 2016 By Garrett Cona Leave a Comment

Microchip Technology, a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, today announced two next-generation Bluetooth Low Energy solutions with an easy-to-use ASCII-style command interface that makes the devices easy to configure and eliminates any complicated code compiling. The RN4870 and RN4871 support the latest Bluetooth 4.2 specification and have a Bluetooth stack on board with a scripting engine to enable standalone operation and eliminate microcontroller use for simple applications. These next-generation Bluetooth devices enable fast time to market and improve the total manufacturing cost.

The RN4870 and RN4871 devices deliver up to 2.5 times the data throughput improvement over previous generation products based on the Bluetooth 4.0 standard. In addition, the new Bluetooth solutions offer Federal Information Processing Standards based connection security coupled with advanced features. The devices can seamlessly transfer serial data over BLE devices and can support different beacon formats like iBeacon or Eddystone via a single command. Both devices with a

shield option are fully certified to meet worldwide regulatory standards and are available with compact package options as small as 6 x 8 mm. This, combined with Microchip’s user-friendly interface, helps speed customers’ time to market.

“This latest offering from Microchip will ultimately enable Internet of Things developers to build better end applications with lower power consumption,” said Steve Caldwell, vice president of Microchip’s Wireless Solution Group. “With our products, developers can reduce design complexity and shorten time to market significantly. These new RN-style modules are the easiest way for customers to get started with Bluetooth Low Energy solutions in their products.”

Each module has an on-board software stack and pairs well with any of Microchip’s large range of low-power microcontrollers or any microcontroller with a UART interface. The RN4870 and RN4871 are designed to complement Microchip’s diverse low-energy solutions designed for IoT applications.

Microchip Technology
www.microchip.com

Fujitsu Components America and CRATUS Technology release new reference design platform

July 7, 2016 By Garrett Cona Leave a Comment

As part of a joint product development partnership, Fujitsu Components America, Inc. and CRATUS Technology, Inc. today released a complete, edge device platform to expedite the development of Industrial Internet of Things wireless sensing and control products for OEM applications.

The new BlueBrain platform features embedded hardware, software, and industry standard interfaces and peripherals, and is highly configurable. Primary components include a high-performance CORTEX-M4 microcontroller from STMicroelectronics and a Bluetooth® Smart wireless module from Fujitsu Components. Multiple on-board sensors can detect motion and temperature events, as well as installation orientation, and can connect or control hundreds of sensor combinations using analog and digital interfaces.

BlueBrain also features an onboard real time clock, configurable ADC channels and GPIOs. Basic IOS and Android apps are included to facilitate application development. A development board with 3V & 5V I2C, CAN, 8X GPIO, UART, USB, SPI and analog interfaces is also available.

“We surveyed our customers and prospects about their wireless monitoring and data collection needs,” said Zeki Gunay, CEO, CRATUS Technology, Inc. “Their feedback was our blueprint for designing the BlueBrain subsystem to help them deploy products running simple or complicated algorithms with a fast and easy development cycle,” he said.

BlueBrain attaches to a standard 32-Pin 1.6” X 0.7” EEPROM-style IC socket, or equivalent footprint, on any mezzanine board. There are a series of available mezzanine boards customized for specific markets and applications, including industrial, agriculture, automotive and telematics, retail, smart buildings and civil infrastructure.

“With the ubiquitous presence of smartphones and tablets in work environments, In
dustrial IoT, particularly in factory automation, is primed for tremendous growth,” said Bob Thornton, COO, Fujitsu Components America, Inc. “BlueBrain’s backward compatibility and flexibility make it easy for systems designers to collect, store, view and monitor machine data on any Bluetooth Smart device, at any time, using the available mobile application,” he said.

Fujitsu Components America, Inc.
www.fujitsu.com

CRATUS Technology, Inc.
www.cratustech.com