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Automotive 6-Axis motion tracker handles telematics, vision system apps

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TDK Corporation announces worldwide availability of the InvenSense IAM-20680HP high-performance automotive monolithic 6-axis MotionTracking sensor platform for non-safety relevant automotive applications, which includes the IAM-20680HP IMU MEMS sensor and the DK-20680HP developer kit. InvenSense’s IAM-20680HP combines a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer in a thin 3 x 3 x 0.75mm (16-pin LGA) package and is automotive qualified based on AEC-Q100 Grade 2. The IAM-20680HP shares pin-to-pin and register compatibility with the full automotive non-safety product family from InvenSense: IAM-20680 (6-axis IMU), IAM-20380 (3-axis gyroscope), and IAM-20381 (3-axis accelerometer). It also features an extended FIFO up to 4096-bytes that can lower the traffic on the serial bus interface and reduce power consumption by allowing the system processor to burst read sensor data and then go into low-power mode. In addition, the IAM-20680HP provides industry-leading sensitivity tolerance and temperature stability in combination with proven high robustness by supporting 10,000g shock reliability.

The IAM-20680HP platform is designed to enhance positioning systems accuracy, to enable advanced telematic features, and to stabilize the vision systems by delivering precise and reliable inertial data up to 105°C. It also provides best-in-class low noise performance, on-chip 16-bit ADCs, a 3-axis gyroscope with a user-programmable full-scale range of ±250 DPS to ±2000 DPS, and a 3-axis accelerometer with a user-programmable full-scale range of ±2g to ±16g. Other industry-leading features include programmable digital filters, an embedded temperature sensor, programmable interrupts, and factory-calibration of both sensors, ultimately reducing production-line calibration requirements. The device features I2C and SPI serial interfaces and a voltage operating range of 1.71V to 3.6V.

IAM-20680HP, with its 6-axis integration, enables manufacturers to eliminate the costly and complex selection, qualification, and system-level integration of discrete devices, guaranteeing optimal motion performance.
IAM-20680HP shares pin-to-pin and register compatibility with the full automotive non-safety product family: IAM-20680, IAM-20380, and IAM-20381.

DK-20680HP
Features a single board “Out of the Box” experience, comprehensive software tools to expedite evaluation and development, and on-board embedded developer tools to help with code development.

The InvenSense IAM-20680HP and DK-20680HP developer kits are available from multiple distributors and are part of a fully compatible, multi-axis, multi-grade IMU portfolio of automotive products from TDK.

Chip-scale atomic clock produces super-stable frequencies

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IQD is pleased to present its new chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC), ICPT-1. The ICPT-1 uses the Coherent Population Trap (CPT) method to obtain a very stable frequency.

While common rubidium oscillators detect the atomic transition with the help of a rubidium discharge lamp (Rb lamp), the ICPT-1 uses a laser to induce quantum transitions. A major advantage of the laser is much lower power consumption. Additionally, the life cycle of an Rb lamp is very limited – typically around ten years – whereby the laser has a much longer life expectancy.

Users have the possibility to connect either an external 1 PPS input or take the internal clock for a 1 PPS output for synchronization in various applications. Whilst in free-running mode, relying on the internal clock of the ICPT-1 as the source of the 1 PPS signal, the ICPT-1 offers a suitable holdover behavior. Digital frequency adjustment and optional 1 second time of day (TOD) counter can be accessed via a UART serial communication interface.

Housed in a 36.0 x 45.0 x 14.5 mm package, the ICPT-1 is smaller compared to traditional rubidium oscillators and comes with a current consumption of only 500 mA @ 3.3 V typically. With its frequency tolerance of 0.05 ppb, its short-term stability of 0.09 ppb @ Tau = 1 s, and its aging of only 0.03 ppb per day this product is comparable to common standard Rubidium products.

Among others, the device is ideal for synchronization or as a reference clock in satellite & secure communications, navigation systems, and also in financial, utility, security, and communications timing applications.

LTE-M development kit speeds IoT connectivity projects

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Avnet makes the development of IoT devices more efficient with the new Monarch LTE-M Development Kit.

By providing developers with a complete set of components, software, and services from NXP Semiconductors, Sequans, Microsoft, Verizon, and Avnet, the kit speeds time to market for the development of IoT solutions using LTE-M connectivity. The kit is powered by the Sequans Monarch LTE-M modem, NXP’s LPC55S69 MCU microcontroller, Verizon’s SIM and ThingSpace IoT platform, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, and Avnet’s end-to-end engineering services.

LTE-M connectivity is a crucial feature for today’s IoT devices. Its wide availability, bandwidth, and speed are ideal for the always-on, reliable data connectivity that IoT applications demand, such as remote monitoring, asset tracking, and smart city/smart home applications. The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit has been designed to meet the needs of developers looking to incorporate LTE-M connectivity in their IoT devices, ensuring they can rely on Avnet’s end-to-end ecosystem to bring their projects from idea to design and design to production.

The connectivity in the kit is provided by the Sequans Monarch Go LTE-M modem. The modem is certified for end-use on the Verizon network, eliminating the need for certification testing and significantly improving time to market. Verizon’s ThingSpace IoT platform is also incorporated in the kit, simplifying device deployment on the Verizon LTE-M network and ensuring data integrity with reliable network connectivity.

The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit bundles the Monarch Go Arduino Shield with an NXP LPC55S69-EVK board and includes example code showing how it all works together to create a cellular-connected edge device-to-cloud connectivity. The kit’s evaluation board features an NXP LPC55S69 MCU, a secure microcontroller which balances high performance and power efficiency while incorporating TrustZone-M for enhanced security. Avnet is also offering the Monarch Go Arduino Shield as an accessory item for developers who may want to enable other Arduino-compatible MCU boards with LTE Cat-M1 connectivity.

Embedded developers can build upon the provided out-of-box cloud connectivity and dashboard examples using Microsoft’s Azure IoT Central and Avnet’s IoTConnect cloud platforms. From monitoring sensor data from the NXP MCU board to sending commands remotely via the Verizon network, these cloud-based examples will accelerate application development and time to market.

The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit is available for $99 and the Monarch Go Arduino Shield is available for $69.95.

Enterprise-grade 16-channel PCIe 4.0 NVMe hardware + firmware combo speeds SSD development

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Silicon Motion Technology Corporation announced the SM8266, a complete enterprise-grade 16-channel PCIe 4.0 NVMe hardware plus firmware turnkey SSD controller solution. Customers can rapidly develop and bring to market enterprise SSDs for data centers by using our complete development platform that includes a turnkey NVMe firmware stack and hardware reference design kit.

The SM8266 controller solution features Silicon Motion’s state-of-the-art firmware and hardware technology to provide consistent, low latency QoS domains. Offering capacity up to 16TB with 16 NAND flash channels, the SM8266 is designed to support the latest 3D TLC and QLC NAND flash technologies. To ensure enterprise-level reliability, data integrity, and retention at PCIe Gen4 performance, the SM8266 is equipped with Silicon Motion’s proprietary technologies including:

  • 6th generation NANDXtend technology, which incorporates machine learning algorithms supporting Silicon Motion’s proprietary high-performance LDPC error correction code (ECC) engine with RAID, ensuring better data integrity even in extreme operating environments.
  • End-to-end data path protection, which applies ECC to the SSD’s SRAM and DRAM buffers as well as to the primary NAND flash memory array. This maintains data integrity as data is transmitted between the host and the SSD, and between buffer memories and NAND flash.
  • Power loss protection, which eliminates the risk of data loss in the event of an unexpected power outage.

Other features of SM8266 include: High-performance PCIe Gen4 x4 & NVMe 1.4 compliance; Turnkey stacks enable standard NVMe SSD as well as proprietary Open-Channel and Key-Value SSD implementations; Support for up to 16TB of physical NAND capacity; Low and consistent latency enabled by physical and logical isolation; Ultra-high sequential read performance of up to 6.5GB/s and 950K sustained random read IOPS; Data security with AES 256-bit hardware supporting SED, Secure Boot, and TCG Opal

SMARC board speeds development of HMI, AI IoT face/object detection, image processing

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Renesas Electronics Corporation introduced a scalable System-on-Module (SoM) Smart Mobility ARChitecture (SMARC) Winning Combination board solution comprised of 10 Renesas ICs, including a microprocessor (MPU), power and analog ICs. The board solution speeds the development of artificial intelligence (AI) IoT face/object detection, image processing, and 4K video playback applications, including surveillance cameras, inspection equipment, and a range of industrial and building automation HMI and embedded vision systems.

The Renesas scalable SoM winning combo board is based on the SMARC 2.0 industry standard, which specifies an 82mm x 80mm form factor. The SMARC SoM board offers designers a choice of three different scalable versions of the Renesas 64-bit RZ/G2 MPU: an RZ/G2N dual-core Arm Cortex-A57 MPU operating at 1.5 GHz for mid-range performance; the RZ/G2M MPU with dual-core Arm Cortex-A57 and quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 (1.2 GHz) for high performance; and the RZ/G2H MPU with quad-core Arm Cortex-A57 and quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 for ultra-high performance. All three MPUs (two cores up to eight cores) feature integrated 600 MHz PowerVR 3D graphics and a 4K UHD H.265 and H.264 codecs to satisfy the needs of different computer processing requirements.

The SMARC SoM winning combo board offers designers their choice of RZ/G2 MPU with up to 35.6K DMIPS performance, plus 2GB to 4GB LPDDR4 RAM memory, and 32GB eMMC. Each RZ/G2 MPU is capable of running edge video analytics and AI frameworks. The MPUs feature an integrated AI software library, comprehensive set of interfaces, error checking and correction (ECC) protection on both internal and external memories, Linux OS, and a Verified Linux Package (VLP) tested and maintained by Renesas. The solutions also feature Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) Super Long-Term Support (SLTS) kernel, and a Linux kernel bundled with a software development environment. Best of all, the SMARC SoM board provides optimized power and a programmable timing tree to assist the RZ/G2 MPU with a wide variety of applications.

Key Features of the SMARC 2.0 SoM Board include: Supports dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for wireless communication; Fast communication interfaces such as USB, SATA, LVDS, HDMI, CSI, I2S, PCIe, and Gigabit Ethernet are easily accessible through the SMARC 2.0 connector; Fast start-up boot from QSPI or eMMC memory; Features ISL1208 low-power real-time clock for calendar-based applications powered by a small 400nA battery, or supercapacitor during a power failure; Features P8330 power management IC (PMIC) for delivering power to multiple supply rails; Two clock sources supplied by Renesas small form factor VersaClock 3S programmable clocks with integrated 32.768kHz DCO powered by a single coin cell battery during a power failure; PCIe clock is generated with the Renesas 9FGV0641 supporting six 100 MHz differential clock outputs, with PCIe Gen 1-4 support; Easy connection to two external cameras and LCD panel with capacitive touch

The Scalable AI SMARC SoM Winning Combo Solution board was designed by Renesas and developed through a collaboration with RelySys Technologies.

The Scalable AI SMARC SoM board is also available for purchase from RelySys Technologies.

Industrial-grade router features global LTE Category 4 connectivity in single SKU

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Digi International launched the Digi IX10 industrial router. The newest addition to the Digi IX industrial cellular router family is purpose-built to provide cost-effective, rightsized connectivity in industrial infrastructure environments, including digital signage, critical asset monitoring, and unattended retail applications.
 
The Digi IX10 offers a comprehensive feature set with advanced manageability, security, reliability, and network intelligence in a rugged form factor for remote assets located in geographically dispersed locations and harsh industrial environments.
 
The router fully integrates with Digi Remote Manager, Digi’s acclaimed device management cloud platform that unlocks the full potential of IoT solutions. Remote Manager adds visibility into mission-critical assets along with group configuration, monitoring, and control of thousands of devices through a single console or integration into enterprise systems through available APIs. In addition, the IX10 provides in-depth traffic analysis and bandwidth monitoring through NetFlow, while enhancing device security and identity and data privacy through Digi TrustFence, Digi’s built-in security framework.
 
The Digi IX10 features global LTE Category 4 connectivity in a single SKU reducing the need for customers to maintain regional variants.   The IX10 will support RS-232/485 for out-of-band (OOB) management scenarios, as well as Modbus for use within industrial settings such as utility meters and reclosers, oilfield applications, and industrial automation. Through dual SIM slots and Digi SureLink, the IX10 provides reliable cellular connections with fast failover to maintain uptime via multiple cellular carriers.
 
This product debut comes on the heels of the Digi IX20 launch, demonstrating Digi’s commitment to providing a comprehensive suite of products and solutions that matches user needs and addresses highly complex connectivity challenges. Digi’s family of routers supports numerous industries, including industrial settings, transportation, traffic management, and emergency response.
 
The Digi IX10 is available now in the U.S., Canada, Europe (and countries that honor CE), Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Colombia. Certifications are ongoing for Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, and Malaysia, and are expected to be finalized by mid-next year.

Camera simultaneously monitors drivers, captures vehicle occupants for one-way videoconferencing

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OmniVision Technologies, Inc. announced in advance of AutoSens Detroit the automotive industry’s first complete solution for dual-mode camera applications. This joint solution simultaneously monitors drivers while capturing vehicle occupants for one-way video conferencing. It features OmniVision’s automotive industry-first OV2312 image sensor, with a dual-mode global shutter that captures both RGB color images and IR images under low-light conditions. These dual captures are then processed simultaneously by Ambarella’s CV22AQ CVflow computer vision processor, which runs Smart Eye’s algorithms to analyze the driver’s state and alert the vehicle to any unsafe indicators, such as drowsiness. The companies worked together to integrate and fine-tune this solution, which is available as a complete reference design, allowing automotive designers to focus on differentiating their final application while simplifying the overall design effort.

The companies are currently in discussions with automotive OEMs regarding the implementation of this reference design in upcoming car models. This joint solution enables the full range of driver and cabin monitoring implementations, from safety applications to augmented reality displays and interior sensing with deep neural networks and AI. The solution’s one-way video conferencing allows remote conference participants to see those in the vehicle, while the vehicle receives only audio to reduce driver distraction.

The OmniVision OV2312 is a dual-mode automotive image sensor, enabling single-camera driver state monitoring and viewing applications, such as the videoconferencing capability in this reference design. It remains the automotive industry’s only RGB-IR global shutter image sensor while offering the smallest size in its class of 2MP sensors. The OV2312 provides advanced ASIL functional safety and industry-leading near-infrared (NIR) light performance of 14% quantum efficiency at the 940nm wavelength, along with excellent modulation transfer function (MTF). Its power consumption is also industry-leading, consuming just 190mW in typical conditions. The end result is that the OV2312 reduces the number of image sensors in the system, saving both power and space by eliminating the need for multiple rolling shutter sensors.

The OV2312 is the latest member of OmniVision’s automotive global shutter image sensor family. It is pin-to-pin compatible with the OV2310 and OV2311 family members, which provides designers with the flexibility to choose the best feature set for their needs.

Ambarella’s scalable CVflow processor family provides a full range of systems on chip (SoCs) across multiple performance and price points. The company’s powerful image signal pipeline (ISP), with support for OmniVision’s dual-mode RGB-IR color filter arrays, enables high-accuracy detection and monitoring, even in low-light, in-cabin environments. Its high dynamic range (HDR) processing extracts maximum image detail in high-contrast scenes, further enhancing the chip’s computer vision capabilities and the performance potential of Smart Eye algorithms.

Smart Eye’s DMS solution offers eye-tracking software for integration in passenger cars and other vehicles to facilitate better safety and other functions that improve the user experience. By carefully studying eye, facial and head movement, Smart Eye’s interior vehicle algorithms can draw conclusions about a person’s alertness, attention, and focus.

This joint reference design, including a demo board equipped with the three companies’ pre-tuned devices and software, is expected to be available to qualified customers later this quarter. Customers interested in obtaining this 3-way demo should contact their local sales representative for one of the three companies.

Receiver platform tracks four GNSS constellations simultaneously

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u-blox has announced the u-blox M10, its latest highly integrated GNSS (global navigation satellite system) platform designed fully in-house for ultra-low-power high-performance positioning applications. u-blox M10 defines a new level of positioning performance in a wide range of applications such as sports watches or asset and livestock trackers, all in an extremely compact format and with a very long battery life.

The new u-blox M10 positioning platform can track up to four GNSS constellations at once to deliver positioning data even in challenging environments such as deep urban canyons. The receiver’s Super-S technology helps distinguish positioning signals from background noise to capture positioning data even when satellite signals are weak. Its high RF sensitivity also enables it to work well with small antennas, making it ideal for compact product designs. In sports watches, for instance, u-blox M10 guarantees highly dynamic positioning accuracy during a run in cities, woods, or under an open sky, while preserving battery life.

u-blox M10 is designed to consume 12mW in continuous tracking mode, five times less than the power consumed by previous u-blox meter-level GNSS technology, making it ideal for battery-powered applications. u-blox M10’s enhanced RF sensitivity also cuts the time it takes for the platform to achieve a first position fix when initialized, further reducing systemic power consumption. And switching to the improved Super-E mode can extend battery life even more.

This new GNSS platform will be supported by AssistNow, u-blox’s well established assisted GNSS service, to accelerate positioning and improve accuracy. Depending on the required level of assistance, the service is available free of charge or for a recurring fee.

The u-blox M10 platform benefits from u-blox’s experience in building robust GNSS receivers, incorporating proven techniques for detecting spoofed signals through the analysis of raw GNSS data, jamming-detection strategies, and embedded filters to mitigate the effects of in-band RF interference.

The first products based on the u-blox M10 positioning platform are the MAX- M10S GNSS module and the UBX-M10050 GNSS chipset, which are both available now. The Design-in of the new u-blox M10 platform is enhanced and simplified with the newly designed u-center GNSS evaluation software.

Tiny, dual-antenna GPS/GNSS module provides accurate positioning and heading

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Septentrio expands its GNSS module portfolio with a mosaic-H heading receiver. With dual antenna capabilities, this surface mount module delivers reliable heading & pitch or heading & roll information on top of centimeter-level positioning. mosaic-H is the new addition to Septentrio’s existing mosaic module family, which already includes high-performance RTK and timing modules as well as modules with integrated GNSS corrections. Having a single standard footprint across multiple specialized receiver modules enables integrators to create multiple application-specific products based on a single design.

mosaic-HTM delivers orientation angles immediately from the start, helping initialize inertial systems that otherwise would require movement before they can measure 3D orientation. INS initialization with GNSS attitude from power-up allows machine trajectory path optimization and fully informed navigation of robotic systems immediately from mission start.

The mosaic-H receiver will be available for integrator testing and customer evaluation by end of December 2020. The full product production is expected by spring 2021.

Development platform speeds 2K high-resolution imaging radar work

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Arbe announced the rollout of their Radar Development Platform empowering customers to revolutionize their imaging radar systems. Tier 1s, OEMs, and new mobility players are enhancing their perception algorithms based on the 2K high-resolution Imaging Radar Development Platform, or A Sample as referred to in the automotive industry.

Arbe is currently collaborating with over 20 tier-1 and OEM customers in The United States, Europe, China, Korea, and Japan that are developing their next-generation radar systems based on this Imaging Radar Development Platform. This launch will enable Arbe technology-based radars to be implemented in vehicles on the road as early as 2022.

Highlighting the advancement of Arbe’s Radar Development Platform, current radars on the market process 12 channels, and industry radars in development are promising 192 channels. Right now, Arbe’s chipset processes 2304 (48×48) channels, providing 2K ultra-high resolution, far beyond what any other radar can provide. Arbe’s imaging radar solution, with its superior resolution and object detection in all environment conditions prevents the causes of some of the recent ADAS road accidents, as it tracks vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, and can detect stationary objects like a parked vehicle in a lane, or road construction on the highway. It also eliminates false alarms, that are common with current generation radars, so that ADAS and AV systems can finally trust the reading from the radar.

Additionally, the Development Platform for 4D Imaging Radar serves as a base for advanced perception capabilities including accurate real-time inference of the vehicle’s ego-velocity and in lane localization. Post-processing the radar data allows tracking and classifying objects in the entire field of view of the vehicle and determines their orientation and motion vector, as well as provides precise and accurate free space mapping to distinguish drivable from non-drivable environments in any weather or lighting condition.

Arbe’s Imaging Radar Development Platform includes the entire Arbe imaging radar chipset with RF transmitter and receiver chips of 2K channels (48 receiving by 48 transmitting channels). And the patented imaging radar processor capable of processing 30Gbps of radar data. The patented chipset provides ultra-high resolution and supports over 100,000 detections per frame; A radar antenna with the densest channel array in the industry, delivering a form factor designed to perfectly fit automakers’ current sizing and vehicle mounting specifications; A software layer – that abstracts the hardware access and scheduling; A reference design to guide tier-1 and OEM customers’ radar system development.