Technical Features

June 2021
QSPICE: A Mission to Get SPICE Right

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Figure 1: MOSFET channel punch-through showing outputs from previous SPICE simulators vs. QSPICE

Qorvo’s QSPICE™ simulator for analog and mixed-signal simulation provides power designers with the tools to confidently evaluate their designs. Free to use, QSPICE improves SPICE basics, supports large amounts of digital logic without performance penalties, and delivers the speed and accuracy needed for rel
Date:
11/29/2024
Service Robotics Advanced: Part 3 of  3 Editorial Series Sponsored by Infineon; Driving Wireless Connectivity Innovation Forward

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Figure 1. Infineon’s AIROC™ product portfolio enables small-form-factor IoT designs

Service robots – complexity in design, simplicity to the end-user Innovations in robotics have been accelerated as their use cases span a wide range of different markets. In general, robotic systems can be categorized into four categories: industrial robots, collaborative robots (cobots), service robots, and
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Date:
06/08/2021
Service Robotics Advanced: Part 2 of  3 Editorial Series Sponsored by Infineon; Ensuring the Safe Operation of MOSFETs in Bidirectional Protection Power Switch (BDPS) Applications

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Figure 1. BDPS configurations

Introduction The global market for battery-powered applications is rapidly growing, including power tools, consumer robotics, light electric vehicles, and many others. The evolution of switched-mode power supply (SMPS) topologies enables designers to ensure safe charging and discharging of the equipment’s battery using bidirectional converters through
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Date:
06/08/2021
Service Robotics Advanced: Part 1 of 3 Editorial Series Sponsored by Infineon; Leveraging the Benefits of GaN to Improve Motor System Efficiency and Power Density in Robotics Applications

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Figure 1. Schematic of the CoolGaN™ 100 V-based motor drive

Introduction Robotics is an interdisciplinary field with a strong focus on integration and system optimization. Applications include service robots, collaborative as well as industrial robots, autonomous drones, and automated guided vehicles. An optimized design of the motors and drives in these robotic applications is key for a successful end-product. In a conventional, silicon-based (Si) d
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Date:
06/08/2021
VCSELs in Vehicle Monitoring Applications

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Figure 1: 3D time-of-flight QVGA

Time-of-flight (ToF) sensors are being increasingly used for a variety of in-cabin automotive monitoring applications, including monitoring the gaze direction and head position of the driver. A ToF device is a sensor that detects wavelengths of light. Light waves are modulated at high frequencies—in the lower to
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Date:
06/01/2021
Illuminating the Future of Vehicle Headlights

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Figure 1: Headlight FOV with only a base light module

Recently, there has been a big push in the automotive lighting industry to improve both vehicle headlight functionality and driver visibility, which has led to the development futuristic headlight technologies such as adaptive driving beam (ADB) and high-resolution headlights. Adaptive beam headlights Drivers use headlights t
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Date:
06/01/2021
5 Ways LED Lighting Can Improve Facility Safety

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Figure 1: LED lighting improved visibility at hazardous chemical processing plant

Every seven seconds, a U.S. worker is injured on the job, resulting in some 105 million total days lost to work-related injuries each year. Even more troubling, some 4,572 people were killed in preventable workplace incidents in 2019 alone. In addition to the toll these tragedies take on workers and their fam
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Date:
06/01/2021
Ensuring Predictable Lighting System Performance

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Figure 1: DALI+ is DALI lighting control plus wireless and IP-based networking

When it comes to the best-practice design of power systems that supply lighting loads to commercial and industrial facilities, typical considerations include avoiding unwanted effects such as voltage drop, flicker and transients. For this reason, effective lighting control is among the fundamental concepts that ca
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Date:
06/01/2021
How LED Lighting is Driving a Revolution: Connected Buildings

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Figure 1. LED lighting controls now serve a key entry point into building automation systems, which uses interconnected networks of software and hardware to monitor and control all the building’s electrical and mechanical systems

The “lighting revolution” is old news now. Building automation is the new bedrock-shifting event unfolding within the building world now, and it too is being spurred by advancements in LED technology and controls. The premise that lighting should be independent from other building systems is now antiquate
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Date:
06/01/2021
USB-C Power Delivery Data Lines Demand Enhanced Protection

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Figure 1: A digital camera connected to a tablet via a USB-C cable

USB-C and USB-C power delivery raise voltage and power levels. A new reversible connector with tighter pin pitch than that of USB Micro-B, increases the risk of short circuits. This, in conjunction with the ever-increasing complexity of portable devices leads to enhanced ESD, surge and overvoltage protection re
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Date:
06/01/2021
Power your UV-C Sterilization Designs

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Figure 1. UV-C light-disinfecting robot

The Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection equipment market is projected to grow from $1.3 billion in 2019 to $5.7 billion by 2027.  Applications for this market are found in a variety of areas such as water treatment, wastewater treatment, air treatment, food & beverage disinfection, and surface disinfection.  We've witnessed
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Date:
06/01/2021
Driving SiC and Silicon with the Same Gate Driver Series

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Figure 1: Simple Single Channel Isolated Drivers Line up

Among the few methods of isolating a gate driver, the latest innovations of the coreless transformer technology are paving the way for compact and efficient gate drivers for high voltage systems.The conventional isolated gate driver technology, including discrete transformer, opto isolated, and capacitive methods, th
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Date:
06/01/2021
A New Variation of the Classic Instrumentation Amplifier

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Figure 1. Classic instrumentation amplifier

The need for PGIAs arises because of the often-encountered case of adapting the circuit to a wide range of sensors or environmental conditions.With a fixed gain, suboptimal SNR could compromise precision. Techniques useful in creating accurate, stable PGIAs are discussed in, “Programmable Gain Instrumentation Am
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Date:
06/01/2021
How to Design a Flyback Converter in Seven Steps

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Figure 1: Flyback Converter Schematic

Although simple, the flyback converter design offers great advantages for certain applications. New, more complex topologies have surfaced in recent years, but flyback converters remain a popular design choice. These switch-mode power converters offer competitive size, cost, and efficiency ratios in the lo
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Date:
06/01/2021
Conducted Emissions Testing for Switch Mode Power Supply Designs

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Figure 1: CISPR 25 conducted emissions measurement set-up

Switch Mode Power Supply technology has drawbacks such as the generation of switching harmonics. Converter waveforms are not a pure sinusoid and, consequently, they generate harmonics. The topology chosen and switching scheme deployed will directly influence the magnitude of harmonics generated. The purpose of this applic
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Date:
06/01/2021
Enabling System Upgrades with SiC Technology using Industry-Standard Baseplate-Less Packaging

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Wolfspeed, a Cree company, has introduced the Wolfspeed WolfPACKTM family of power modules, which feature silicon carbide (SiC) devices in a well-known power module package. The modules are built on the years of research and optimization Wolfspeed has dedicated to its SiC material and devices.  Along with critical
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Date:
06/01/2021
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