Notable & Newsworthy

June 2022
12W DC/DC Converter in SIP-8 Package w/ 4:1 Input Range

12W DC/DC Converter in SIP-8 Package w/ 4:1 Input Range

­TRACO POWER announces their new TMR 12WI series of 12 Watt DC/DC converters featuring the highest power density of 4.73W/cm³ in a standard SIP-8 package (12 watts in a 0.87” x 0.32” footprint).  The TMR 12WI consists of 24 Models offering 4:1 input ranges of 4.5~18 / 9~36 / 18~75 VDC and output v
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Date:
06/30/2022

Bourns Expands its POWrFuse High-Power Fuse Product Family w/ Semiconductor Models

Bourns expands its POWrFuse High-Power Fuse family with new model PF-F and PF-M series

­Bourns, Inc., announced the expansion of the Company’s POWrFuse High-Power Fuse product family. The two new POWrFuse model PF-F and PF-M series are high power rating industrial fuse links specially designed to meet the UL 248-13 semiconductor (aR) standard. These high power fuses ar
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Date:
06/30/2022
Touch Controller Family Disrupts Traditional Touchscreen Designs

Touch Controller Family Disrupts Traditional Touchscreen Designs

­Many automotive and industrial touch HMI designers are looking to merge the benefits of a mechanical rotary encoder input with the flexibility of modern multi-touch displays. Microchip Technology Inc. announces the maXTouch Knob on Display (KoD) controller as the first automotive-grade touchscreen co
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Date:
06/30/2022
IIoT Gateways Optimized for Integration with the Azure IoT Edge Computing Platform

Moxa Launches New IIoT Gateways Optimized for Integration with the Azure IoT Edge Computing Platform

­Moxa launched the new AIG-300 Series of IIoT gateways. Optimized for seamless integration with the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge computing platform, AIG-300 gateways provide the stable connectivity needed in distributed and unmanned sites to collect, store, process, and analyze operational data from sensors an
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Date:
06/30/2022
Navitas Powers Xiaomi's First In-Box GaN 100 W Laptop Fast Charger

Navitas Powers Xiaomi's First In-Box GaN 100 W Laptop Fast Charger

­Navitas Semiconductor has announced that the latest Xiaomi Redmi laptop family 100 W fast chargers are driven by next-generation GaNFast power ICs with GaNSense technology. Consumer electronics giant Xiaomi has adopted GaNFast technology to develop an ultra-compact, high-power-density charger now shipping with a
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Date:
06/30/2022
Touch Controller Supports New-Generation AMOLED Energy-Saving Displays

Touch controller from STMicroelectronics supports new-generation AMOLED energy-saving displays

­The FingerTip FTG2-SLP touchscreen controller from STMicroelectronics enables advanced features to support the latest active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays that promise more power saving and extended runtime in smartphones. Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) AMOLED di
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Date:
06/29/2022
Mouser Electronics and Diotec Semiconductor Announce Global Distribution Agreement

Mouser Electronics and Diotec Semiconductor Announce Global Distribution Agreement

­Mouser Electronics, Inc., the authorised global distributor with the newest semiconductors and electronic components, announces a global distribution agreement with Diotec Semiconductor, designers and manufacturers of discrete semiconductor components. According to the agreement, Mouser will offer customers Di
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Date:
06/29/2022
Rad Hard GaN Transistors Offer Highest Density and Efficiency on the Market

Rad Hard GaN Transistors Offer Highest Density and Efficiency on the Market

­EPC announces the introduction of the EPC7004 radiation-hardened GaN FET. The EPC7004 is a 100 V, 7 mΩ, 160 APulsed, rad-hard GaN FET in a small 6.56 mm2 footprint. The EPC7004 has a total dose radiation rating greater than 1 Mrad and SEE immunity for LET of 85 MeV/(mg/cm2). The EPC7004, along with the
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Date:
06/29/2022
Bluetooth Low-Energy Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems for Automotive OEMs

Sensata Technologies Develops New Bluetooth Low Energy Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems for Automotive OEMs

­Sensata Technologies announced it has developed a new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) for vehicle OEMs to help improve vehicle safety and performance.  Interest in BLE TPMS is on the rise as vehicles become more connected, electrified, and autonomous. While com
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Date:
06/29/2022
1,000 V AC/DC AEC-Q200 Common Mode Choke Solution for EMI Suppression in Harsh Environments

1,000 V AC/DC AEC-Q200 Common Mode Choke Solution for EMI Suppression in Harsh Environments

­As part of the YAGEO Group and leading global electronic components supplier, KEMET announces its new SCF-XV series of AEC-Q200 qualified common mode chokes. This series fulfills the growing need for high voltage automotive and harsh environment industrial EMI filtering applications. The SCF-XV series offers up
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Date:
06/29/2022
3A Buck Module with Integrated Passives Suitable for Industrial Applications

3A Buck Module with Integrated Passives Suitable for Industrial Applications

­Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited announced the release of the AOZ29303QI, a simple-to-use highly integrated buck module. The product is available in a 9mm x 6mm QFN 48-lead exposed pad package with a 3.7mm height. AOZ29303QI can deliver an output current of 3A with input voltage up to 30V and ou
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Date:
06/28/2022
Battery Tester Tests Lead Acid Batteries, NiCD Batteries, and Lithium-Ion Batteries to 200Vdc

The BITE5 Battery Tester

­Megger now offers a battery tester that can assess lead acid batteries, NiCD batteries, and lithium-ion batteries up to 200Vdc. The BITE5 is ideal for use in transmission and distribution substations, solar, UPS maintenance, telecom and data center applications. Test and measurement This new handheld tester ca
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Date:
06/28/2022
New Approach Reduces EV Battery Testing Time by 75%

Wei Lu, a U-M professor of mechanical engineering cycling batteries in the Lu Lab at the George G. Brown Laboratories building on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

­Testing the longevity of new electric vehicle battery designs could be four times faster with a streamlined approach, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown.  Their optimization framework could drastically reduce the cost of assessing how battery configurations will perform over the long
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Date:
06/27/2022
Personal Health Trackers May Include Smart Face Mask, Other Wearables

An infrared image of a person wearing a smart mask concept.

­For years, automotive companies have developed intelligent sensors to provide real-time monitoring of a vehicle’s health, including engine oil pressure, tire pressure and air-fuel mixture. Together, these sensors can provide an early warning system for a driver to identify a potential problem before it may ne
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Date:
06/27/2022
Powercast & InPlay Team on Battery-free BLE Sensor Beacon Powered over 120 Feet

Powercast and InPlay have created a platform for designing battery-free, maintenance-free, IoT sensor systems that can be powered over long distances up to 120 feet.

­Sensors Converge – Powercast Corporation and InPlay, inventor of the programming-free, ultra-low-cost and low-power Bluetooth sensor NanoBeacon system-on-chip (SoC) technology, have created a platform for designing battery-free, maintenance-free, long-range wireless IoT sensor systems that de
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Date:
06/27/2022
Coreless TMR-Based Current Sensing Devices Deliver World-Best Class Accuracy and Fast-Response

Murata’s first coreless TMR-based current sensing devices deliver world best class accuracy and fast-response

­Murata announces the MRD series of open-loop current sensors for industrial systems. Each integrates high-performance tunnel magneto-resistive (TMR) elements - enabling precision measurement with regard to both DC and AC currents up to 40A, as well as maintaining stable characteristics across an extensive te
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Date:
06/27/2022
RWE's U.S. Hickory Park Solar Project with Co-Located Storage Facility in Operation

Silvia Ortin, CEO RWE Renewables Americas: "Projects like Hickory Park, With its co-located battery storage systems, will become increasingly important as renewables from a bigger part of the energy mix...."

­RWE Renewables' Hickory Park Solar project, a 195.5-megawatt (MWac) facility coupled with a 40 MW 2-hour battery storage system, located in Mitchell County, Georgia, is in operation. RWE is operator/manager of the solar facility, selling the energy and renewable attributes from the facility to Georgia Powe
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Date:
06/24/2022
Electric Car Charging Project sees Coventry Graduate win National Accolade

Coventry University graduate Anujan Metheus was presented with the Association of Project Management (APM) Student of the Year Award

­A Coventry University graduate’s work to help prepare Coventry for the electric car revolution, has seen him honoured with a top project management award. Anujan Metheus, who completed his Masters in Engineering Project Management at Coventry University last year, was presented with the Association of Projec
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Date:
06/24/2022
Cocrystal Engineering— A Clever Way for Designing Multifunctional Material

Flu-TCNQ cocrystal with integrated n-type charge transport and red emission properties.

­Cocrystal engineering is an ingenious strategy for assembling organic molecules through the non-covalent interaction force, avoiding harsh experimental conditions (i.e., high temperature and high pressure). By selecting the appropriate components, the donor-acceptor (D-A) molecules can be assembled like the ji
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Date:
06/24/2022
University of Houston Research Allows for 3D Printing of 'Organic Electronics'

Mohammad Reza Abidian, associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, has introduced a new photosensitive resin doped with an organic semiconductor material to fabricate highly conductive 3D microstructures....

­When looking at the future of production of micro-scale organic electronics, Mohammad Reza Abidian – associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering – sees their potential for use in flexible electronics and bioelectronics, via multiphoton 3-
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Date:
06/24/2022
Efficient Satellite Downlink with a Ka Band Dual Circular Polarization Transmitter

Efficient Satellite Downlink with a Ka Band Dual Circular Polarization Transmitter

­Low earth orbit (LEO) satellites are being increasingly used for environmental monitoring of the earth, as well for logistic purposes, such as the navigation of maritime vessels. The data transmitted from the satellite terminals to the receivers on Earth, known as “downlink,” is steadily increasing and, as
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Date:
06/24/2022
Solving the Solar Energy Storage Problem with Rechargeable Batteries that can Convert and Store Energy at Once

This review focuses on recent progress of the working principles, device architectures, and performances of various closed-type and open-type photo-enhanced rechargeable metal batteries, exploring their challenges and future perspectives.

­As the climate crisis looms, scientists are racing to find solutions to common clean energy problems, including solar energy storage. Solar energy is one of the best renewable resources we have, but it has challenges that prevent it from being widely adopted and replacing conventional energy sources. Because so
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Date:
06/24/2022
MIT Receives DOE Award to Study the Deployment of Accident Tolerant Fuels in Small Modular Reactors

Seth Grae, President and CEO of Lightbridge

­Lightbridge Corporation announced that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) has been awarded approximately $800,000 by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Nuclear Energy University Program R&D Awards to study the deployment of Accident Tolerant Fuels in Small Modular Reactors. Th
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Date:
06/22/2022
SEGGER announces Flasher Support for Infineon TriCoreTM AURIX

SEGGER announces Flasher Support for Infineon TriCoreTM AURIX

­SEGGER Flashers are a family of professional in-circuit programmers, designed to be used in service environments, prototype programming, and for mass production. They program the flash (non-volatile) memory of microcontrollers and Systems-on-a-Chip (SoCs) as well as (Q)SPI flashes. They are fast, robust, r
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Date:
06/22/2022
Industry's Most Complete Intelligent Sensor Solutions for IoT Applications

Industry's Most Complete Intelligent Sensor Solutions for IoT Applications

­Renesas Electronics Corporation is changing the way designers build sensor-connected IoT applications with a range of new solutions targeted at faster design cycles, improved accuracy, and reduced system cost. In addition to the new HS4XXX family of relative humidity and temperature sensors, Re
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Date:
06/22/2022
PMICs Designed for Camera Modules in Next-Gen Vehicles

PMICs Designed for Camera Modules in Next-Gen Vehicles

­ROHM Semiconductor announced the availability of ISO 26262 and ASIL‑B compliant PMICs, BD868xxMUF-C (BD868C0MUF-C, BD868D0MUF-C), for automotive camera modules, which are increasingly being adopted in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).  The continuing evolution of ADAS in recent ye
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Date:
06/22/2022
Turtle Trackers Fly Drones Out of Sight

Uncrewed aerial systems, or drones, show promise for observing sea turtles to better understand their reproductive behaviors and support conservation. (Embry-Riddle)

­In a first, an uncrewed aircraft system, or drone, operated by an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University team has begun searching for threatened and endangered sea turtles beyond visual sight lines. Thanks to a first-ever “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLOS) waiver from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administr
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Date:
06/22/2022
8-bit MCU Development Board Connects to 5G LTE-M Narrowband-IoT Networks

8-bit MCU Development Board Connects to 5G LTE-M Narrowband-IoT Networks

­IoT network developers are looking for an easy path to implement a secure cellular connection in their design applications but are faced with design complexities and high deployment costs. To offer a solution for network designers who need the ultimate in location flexibility, low-power consumption and deployment si
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Date:
06/22/2022
40V STripFET F8 MOSFETs Save Energy and Lower Noise

40V STripFET F8 MOSFETs Save Energy and Lower Noise

­Cutting both on-resistance and switching loss, while optimizing body-diode properties, the STMicroelectronics 40V MOSFETs, STL320N4LF8 and STL325N4LF8AG, save energy and ensure low noise in circuits for power conversion, motor control, and power distribution. The new 40V N-channel enhanceme
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Date:
06/20/2022
Research Study: On-Road Hydrogen Vehicles to Exceed 1 Million Globally by 2027

According to ­a new study from Juniper Research, the number of hydrogen vehicles in service globally will exceed 1 million in 2027.

­A new study from Juniper Research has found the number of hydrogen vehicles in service globally will exceed 1 million in 2027, from just over 60,000 in 2022 – a substantial growth of over 1,500%. Juniper Research defines hydrogen vehicles as vehicles that use hydrogen propulsion systems as the
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Date:
06/20/2022
Cellular-to-Cloud IoT Development Platforms Powered by RA and RX MCU Families

Cellular-to-Cloud IoT Development Platforms Powered by RA and RX MCU Families

­Renesas Electronics Corporation announced two new cloud development kits, CK-RA6M5 and CK-RX65N, providing a complete connectivity solution for the RA and RX Families of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs). The cloud kits are the first to be equipped with Renesas’ RYZ014A Cat-M1 module, a certified LTE cellular mo
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Date:
06/20/2022
Largest Family of Inductive Position Sensors Includes Solution for ISO 26262-Compliant EV Motor Control Applications

Largest Family of Inductive Position Sensors Includes Solution for ISO 26262-Compliant EV Motor Control Applications

­Developers of motor control systems are rapidly replacing Hall Effect position sensors and older magnetic resolver solutions with inductive alternatives that eliminate expensive magnets and other heavy transformer-based structures so they can be integrated onto simple, compact printed circuit boards (PCBs). Ex
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Date:
06/15/2022
5G M2M Embedded SIMs Certified to Latest Industry Standards

5G M2M Embedded SIMs Certified to Latest Industry Standards

­STMicroelectronics has announced the ST4SIM-201 embedded SIM (eSIM) for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, which meets the latest standards for 5G network access, M2M security, and flexible remote provisioning and management. Compliant with ETSI/3GPP release 16, the ST4SIM-201 can connect to 5G standal
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Date:
06/15/2022
The World's First Ultra-Fast Photonic Computing Processor Using Polarization

Polarisation as an independent channel

­New research uses multiple polarisation channels to carry out parallel processing – enhancing computing density by several orders over conventional electronic chips. In a paper published today in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a method using the polarisation o
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Date:
06/15/2022
Insect-Inspired AI for Autonomous Robots

Swarm of tiny drones is able to localize gas leaks

­Small autonomous mobile robots, such as drones, rovers, and legged robots, promise to perform a wide range of tasks, from autonomously monitoring crops in greenhouses to last-kilometer delivery. These applications require robots to operate for extended periods while performing complex tasks, often in unknown, ch
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Date:
06/15/2022
High-Density Medical Desktop Power Supply is Half the Size

High-Density Medical Desktop Power Supply is Half the Size

­XP Power has released a new range of ultra-compact medical desktop power supplies that meet the need for space-saving fan-less solutions in both home healthcare and hospital applications with power densities up to 11W/in3. Compared to existing solutions currently on the market, the new solutions reduce the
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Date:
06/14/2022
Automotive Grade Three-Terminal 0402 MLCC is World's First to Deliver 4.3 µF Capacitance

Automotive Grade Three-Terminal 0402 MLCC is World's First to Deliver 4.3 µF Capacitance

­Murata announced it has set a new capacitor performance benchmark with the introduction of its NFM15HC435D0E3. The product is the world’s first automotive-grade three-terminal multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) to provide a capacitance of 4.3 µF in a 0402-inch (1.0 × 0.5 mm) size. It also delivers superior po
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Date:
06/14/2022
Digital 40A PoL is Efficient and Easy to Configure

Digital 40A PoL is Efficient and Easy to Configure

­Flex Power Modules is announcing their BMR473 digital Point of Load converter packaged in a space-saving SIP or horizontal mount format. The product is rated at 40 A continuous and up to four can be paralleled for up to 160 A, with synchronization and phase spreading for minimum EMI. Excellent thermal performance, a
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Date:
06/14/2022
System on Chip Features Flexibility, Low Power, and High-Performance Connectivity

System on Chip Features Flexibility, Low Power, and High-Performance Connectivity

­Infineon Technologies AG is adding the AIROC CYW20820 Bluetooth & Bluetooth LE (low energy) system on chip (SoC) to its AIROC Bluetooth Portfolio. The AIROC CYW20820 Bluetooth & Bluetooth LE SoC is a Bluetooth 5.2 core spec compliant device tailor made for IoT applications. It is designed to
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Date:
06/14/2022
Renesas Invests $10M in Arduino to Access Huge Open-Source Developer Community

Chris Allexandre, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales and Corporate Digital Marketing, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas

­Renesas Electronics Corporation announced an investment in Arduino’s new round of Series B funding. The partnership with Arduino enables Renesas to make its broad range of products available for Arduino’s technology platforms used by its worldwide developer community. Arduino was first developed as an eas
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Date:
06/14/2022
Vishay VCNL3036X01 High-Resolution Proximity Sensors at TTI

Vishay VCNL3036X01 High-Resolution Proximity Sensors

­TTI, Inc., is now stocking VCNL3036X01 Proximity Sensors from Vishay. These sensors are targeted to meet the requirements of various medical, process automation and industrial sensing applications. Vishay’s VCNL3036X01 integrates a proximity sensor (PS), a mux and a driver for up to three external IREDs int
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Date:
06/09/2022
Robot Skin Heals

Illustration showing the cutting and healing process of the robotic finger (A), its anchoring structure (B) and fabrication process (C).

­Researchers from the University of Tokyo pool knowledge of robotics and tissue culturing to create a controllable robotic finger covered with living skin tissue. The robotic digit had living cells and supporting organic material grown on top of it for ideal shaping and strength. As the skin is soft and can ev
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Date:
06/09/2022
New Feedback System can Improve Efficiency of Fusion Reactions

From left: graduate student Ricardo Shousha, an image of solar flares, and graphs showing details of plasma discharges

­Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have refined the use of magnetic fields to improve the performance of doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks. The improved technique protects internal parts from damage by instabilities called “edge-localized mo
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Date:
06/09/2022
URI Chemist Earns DOE Early Career Award to Study Potential Fuel Cell Chemical Reaction

Dugan Hayes, URI assistant professor of chemistry, in his lab at the Beaupre Center for Forensic and Chemical Sciences on the Kingston Campus.

­With an Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, a University of Rhode Island chemist will study a surprising chemical reaction that could be useful in releasing hydrogen for fuel cells. Dugan Hayes, an assistant professor of chemistry, is one of only 83 scientists nationwide chosen in
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Date:
06/09/2022
PSDcast – TE's AI Cup Helps Solve Real-World Challenges

The founder of the TE AI Cup and Vice President Technology, TE Global Operations, Dr. Roberto Lu.

­Held annually since 2018, the TE AI Cup connects talent from Asia, North America and Europe to help solve real-world challenges, and on the line to discuss this is the founder of the TE AI Cup and Vice President Technology, TE Global Operations, Dr. Roberto Lu.
Date:
06/09/2022
Tektronix 2 Series Mixed Signal Oscilloscope Available from TestEquity

­TestEquity announced that the new Tektronix 2 Series MSO is now available.

­TestEquity announced that the new Tektronix 2 Series MSO is now available. With the widespread use of embedded systems in modern electronics, engineers need to troubleshoot complex signals both on and off the bench. This means working with complicated power supply sequences, testing more voltage levels, s
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Date:
06/08/2022
Local Governments Must Take Responsibility for Clean Heat

Sir John Armitt, chairman of the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission

­Net zero energy goals for heating need to be owned and delivered by regional and local governments, according to a new report led by the University of Birmingham. In addition, the report emphasises the need to balance these on-the-ground local decisions with long-term policy decisions from Government. For example, it calls on the Government to fund pathfinder projects that will decarbonise 30,000 homes in the next five years and recommends the s
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Date:
06/08/2022
Compact Inductors with Enhanced Performance Capabilities to Address Smartphone Power Circuit Demands

The new TFM201208BLE series of inductors

­TDK Corporation has developed the new TFM201208BLE series of inductors optimized for space-constrained smartphone power circuits. These are available in 0.24, 0.33 and 0.47 µH versions. Mass production will begin in June 2022. Each supplied in a 2.0 (L) x 1.2 (W) x 0.8 mm (H) form factor, the inductors in this l
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Date:
06/07/2022
First SOSA-Aligned PowerPC SBC for Real-time Data Processing in Military and Defense Applications

The U-C9140

­Aitech Systems now offers the low power U-C9140, a PowerPC-based 3U VPX single board computer (SBC) that is aligned to The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard, Edition 1.0, providing for fast integration, improved time-to-market and lower risk. Military and defense
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Date:
06/07/2022
OPTIGA Trust M Express and CIRRENT Cloud ID Allow for Easy Deployment of IoT Devices to the Cloud at Scale

OPTIGA Trust M Express

­In IoT systems, trust is the foundation for all interactions between devices and cloud services. For this reason each device must have a secured identity as unique and must be able to proof that they are what they claim to be. Additionally, OEMs are facing the challenge of having to implement this secured ID
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Date:
06/07/2022
Designing Interconnects for EV Battery Management Systems

Click image to enlarge

Figure 1. Many intelligent systems are working together within the battery management system, and they all need to be connected.

­Electric vehicles are becoming the new norm on the road—as of Q1 2021, Americans bought more electric vehicles than ever before, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Consumers purchased more than 122,000 electric vehicles in March 2021 alone, making electric vehicles 7.6 percent of the market sh
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Date:
06/07/2022
onsemi Accelerates Building Automation with Industry First Solutions for KNX and PoE

The NCN5140S

­onsemi announced the introduction of two complete system solutions supporting the most widely used building automation network protocols - Power over Ethernet (PoE) and KNX.  Easing the development of access and control panels, the NCN5140S is the first System-in-Package (SiP) certified
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Date:
06/07/2022
Motor Control MPU Enables Fast, High-Precision Control of Servo Motors

RZ/T2M Motor Control MPU

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced Renesas’ highest-performance RZ/T2M motor control microprocessor units (MPUs) for applications such as AC servo drives and industrial robots. The RZ/T2M combines fast and highly precise real-time motor control capabilities and the latest industrial Ethernet on a
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Date:
06/07/2022
New Processors Make Edge AI More Accessible While Cutting Power Consumption in Half

New Processors Make Edge AI More Accessible While Cutting Power Consumption in Half

­Expanding on its history of delivering highly integrated processors, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced new Sitara AM62 processors that help expand edge artificial intelligence (AI) processing into next-generation applications. The low-power design of the new processors enables support for dual-screen displays an
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Date:
06/03/2022
BLDC Motors Put the Power in Present Day Power Tools

Click image to enlarge

Figure 1: Windings of a three-phase brushless DC motor are driven in a set sequence

­The first idea that electricity could be used to produce rotary motion originates in the 1740s in experiments by a Scottish Benedictine monk, Andrew Gordon. It took nearly another century before a practical battery-operated version appeared in 1834 and then, through the work of Tesla and others, the ground wa
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Date:
06/01/2022
Unlocking GaN's Full Potential

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Figure 1a: Discrete GaN FET on PCB and ‘hidden’ parasitic resonant network with switching current paths

­GaNFastPower ICs have enabled 10x higher switching frequencies versus Silicon and achieved unprecedented power densities (1.3 W/cc) due to their integrated and regulated gate drive technology. Discrete GaN FETs continue to have slow adoption due to ruggedness & reliability concerns, plus difficulties with des
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Date:
06/01/2022
Custom Voltage Transformers Extend Broad Applications

Click image to enlarge

­As governments and regulatory bodies strive to improve safety and reduce environmental impact, custom transformers are increasingly used to meet increasingly exacting performance and regulatory requirements. Approvals for these transformers need to run from design, development, and manufacture through to installation an
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Date:
06/01/2022
4-Switch Buck-Boost Controller with Pass-Thru Capability Eliminates Switching Noise

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Figure 1. LT8210 8 V to 16 V Pass-Thru regulator circuit.

­A common dc-to-dc converter problem is generating a regulated voltage when the input voltage can be above, below, or equal to the output—that is, the converter must perform both step-up and step-down functions. This scenario is typical when powering vehicle electronics from a nominal 12 V battery, which ca
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Date:
06/01/2022
Back to the Office, or Not?

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

­Since the beginnings of the COVID pandemic, one thing that I have heard regularly is that when it is over, things would never return to what they were before. There would be a whole “new normal”. Hopefully, as I said in my ViewPoint column earlier, the success of PCIM last month showed that it need not be
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Date:
06/01/2022
Is our Increased Reliance on Technology a Bad Thing?

Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD

­Digital Trends has an extremely provocative piece about overreliance on smart homes, but if we extrapolate even a tiny bit, it applies to the Internet of Things and the extent of our tech-driven existence (including and especially smartphones). The author mentions going on vacation and trying to raise Ale
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Date:
06/01/2022
The Lighting Market: Big Growth, Big Challenges

Kevin Parmenter, Director, Applications Engineering. TSC, America

­Recently, I visited a big box store looking for a replacement incandescent bulb for a candlewax warmer, but it was almost impossible to find one. Basically, the lighting market is the LED market, and it’s growing fast. According to fortune business insights the global lighting market size was $118.33 billion in
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Date:
06/01/2022
How to Cancel Ambient Light for LIDAR Receivers

Click image to enlarge

Figure 1: Example of different laser outputs

­LIDAR works by using a laser to send out a narrow pulse of light, which hits a target, and the light reflects back. A detector measures the time the reflection takes to return. By knowing the speed of light and round trip time of the laser pulse, the distance can be calculated. Generally, the higher the amplitude of
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Date:
06/01/2022
Five Essential Types of Industrial Lighting Solutions

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Figure 1: High-bay LED lighting at a Walmart fresh food distribution warehouse center in Balzac, Canada. (Photo courtesy of Walmart per CC BY 2.0.)

­Ample lighting is essential to productivity, product quality and employee health and safety. In industrial environments like factories and warehouses, lighting can be used for illumination, indication and even communication. Five essential types of industrial lighting are overhead lighting, assembly, inspection an
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Date:
06/01/2022
Gesture Recognition from Dream to Reality

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Figure 1: Typical methods of interacting with high-tech equipment

­Some may remember the 2002 film Minority Report with Tom Cruise, where the main character uses special gloves to control an interface. Some years later, Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 manipulated and analyzed holographic renditions of various environments using hand gestures and voice commands. Many have dreamed ab
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Date:
06/01/2022
5 Ways Better Lighting Improves Steel Plant Safety & Sustainability

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Figure 1. Dialight SafeSite LED High Bay hazardous location-certified fixture

­Over the past few years, we’ve seen a major push toward implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in industrial settings that focus on providing a safer environment for people and the planet. Because of health concerns and staff shortages related to COVID-19, companies have implemented a
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Date:
06/01/2022
PCIM Lights the Way

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

It really feels like things are finally getting back to normal. I know that I’ve said that on this page before, but on my recent trip to PCIM in Nuremberg, everything almost felt like it did before the COVID pandemic. If it wasn’t for masks being a requirement on public transport in Germany, it could have be
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Date:
06/01/2022
Lighten up in June

Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD

­Lighting/illumination/optoelectronics has come a long way – from back when solid-state lighting was a novelty to today, when it’s the norm. And this is a great month to lighten up, what with Lightfair on the horizon (or possibly now, depending on when you read this). In 2022, Lightfair is set to return to
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Date:
06/01/2022
LEDs Can Become Point-Like: Why Can’t Their Drivers?

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Figure 1: NexGen Vertical GaN. The GaN Drift Layer grows on a GaN wafer

The lighting industry continues to push innovation in LED applications. First, more compact designs are needed without sacrificing light quality. As designs become sleeker, light sources can disappear into the background and consumers can enjoy their lighting without having to see the direct light source, or wo
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Date:
06/01/2022
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