Power for the IoT

Author:
Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

Date
10/03/2020

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Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

Welcome to the October issue of PSD Europe. Autumn is always a busy time of year in the electronics industry. Traditionally it is show time, and most companies are gearing up for their biggest product launches and announcements. COVID-19 has ensured that all of the big conferences that usually host these announcements are closed, but the virus has barley made a dent in the number of new products being introduced. As most the world is leaving lockdown, almost all companies seem to be wanting to hit the ground running with their latest technology. From the products I’ve seen and heard so far, the next few years will be exceedingly bright for innovation. Keep an eye on our newsletter for more information on these new products.

The power industry will be at the heart of that innovation as many of the current trends are based on battery powered devices. As developers try and add more and more features to products, it is innovation in battery technology and power components that allows them. Wearable devices, like smart watches, were once a gimmick that offered a few features and needed charged frequently. Now they offer a wide range of health features as well as many of the functions of a phone. All these new features take more processing, which requires faster processors and more memory. These are usually power hungry devices. It is a testament to the power industry that we can wear these devices for days without charging.

Of course, not all the advanced functions can be provided on the device itself.  These functions are enhanced by cloud connectivity. One of the most popular trends currently is to move that processing to the edge of the network, instead of the datacentre at the centre. This allows decisions to be made closer to where actions need to be taken, but the downside is that AI processing usually requires a lot of power – putting more pressure on power designers.    

Our special report this month looks at this area of industry, the IoT. In our first article, Silicon Labs provides an overview of the components that make up the IoT. It looks at the edge, processing, connectivity and other technologies that are vital to its success. It is important to know about other areas of technology to understand the demands for power that they carry. Our second article in the special report comes from Vicor. This article looks at the datacentre side of the IoT. Datacentres take up a huge amount of power, and as IoT applications become more popular, that demand increases. The processors that provide the computing power in datacentre require hundreds of amps delivered to a relatively small package. The power density is enormous. The Vicor article looks at a solution to power those processors.

As well as the special focus, we will look at industry news, and also feature general articles on power. I hope you enjoy.

Best Regards,

Ally Winning,

European Editor, PSD

 

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