February 5, 2012
Murata has developed a 1608-size 10mF monolithic ceramic capacitor, the GRM188R61E 106M, which is the world's smallest with a 25V rating. Compared to previous 10mF/ 25V models, the new capacitor is approximately 60% smaller in volume, contributing to equipment downsizing. Further, its capacitance has been increased ten-fold compared to previous Murata capacitors with the same case size, rated voltage and temperature characteristics. Demand for high capacitance, high rated voltage capacitors with small form factors is increasing as these parts are used in LED backlight electronics for devices such as LCD-TVs, mobile phones and notebook PCs.
www.murata.eu
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. announced a new ultra-high-capacitance, wet tantalum capacitor approved to the new DSCC Drawing 10004. Vishay's new DSCC 10004 device features the industry's highest capacitance in the axial T1, T2, T3, and T4 case codes. For high-reliability applications, the extended SuperTan® 10004 features a glass-to-metal hermetic seal, operates over a temperature range of - 55°C to + 85°C, to +125°C with voltage derating, and provides low maximum ESR down to 0.25W at +120Hz.
www.vishay.com
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. announced that it has extended its MC AT series of professional thin film chip resistors to include devices in the 0402, 0603, 0805, and 1206 case sizes. In addition, a new precision version of the series with lower TCR and tolerances has been released. An increasing number of electronic designs require components that can withstand the effects of high temperature and humidity, which can affect device stability and performance. Vishay's MC AT professional and precision resistors are designed to deliver stable performance in such applications. The new professional series devices feature high-temperature performance to 175°C for 1,000 hours and high power ratings of 400mW at an 85°C ambient temperature. Their high-temperature capability and high power ratings allow designers to use the MC AT resistors in harsh and high-temperature environments without compromising electrical performance and reliability.
www.vishay.com
A new series of wire-bondable, bare die chip resistors and resistor networks optimized for extreme high-temperature environments such as down-hole drilling and aviation applications was released by Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. The new Vishay Sfernice RMKHT wire-bondable chip resistors and resistor networks feature an operating temperature range from - 55°C to + 215°C, with a maximum storage temperature up to + 230°C, an industry first for any resistor built on thin film technology. Even with this high temperature rating, the devices feature a load life stability of 0.5% after 1,000 hours at 215°C, as well as tight TCR and tolerance values.
Typical TCR for the new discrete resistors is 25ppm/°C, with available tolerances down to 0.05%. Typical tracking TCR for the resistor networks is 2ppm/°C with a ratio tolerance as low as 0.02%.
The RMKHT devices feature a wire-bondable construction with aluminum pads and a metallized backside option.
www.vishay.com
Avago Technologies announced the expansion of its series of compact, energy efficient 3-Watt (3W) high power LEDs for solid-state lighting (SSL) applications. Avago's ASMT-Ax3x Power LED emitter has a footprint that is one of the most commonly used throughout the SSL industry. Typical applications include architectural lighting, retail display lighting and decorative lighting.
Avago's ASMT-Ax3x provides superior light output uniformity with a wide viewing angle of 140 degrees which is suitable for backlighting of advertising displays, channel letters and contour lighting. The ASMT-Ax3x delivers high flux output up to 113 lumens (lm) at 350 mA driving current and features a maximum allowable junction temperature of 135 degrees-C to provide lighting designers with more design flexibility. Moreover, this LED has a high Electrostatic Discharge (ESD resistance of 16kV which makes this LED insensitive to ESD.
www.avagotechlighting.com
Avago Technologies announced one of the industry's smallest, most energy efficient 3-Watt (3W) high power LEDs with high color rendering index (CRI) for use in a wide range of solid-state lighting applications. With dimensions of 5mm by 4mm by 1.85mm thick, Avago's compact 3W ASMT-Jx33 is packaged in a 6-leaded small outline package (SOP) and capable of being driven to up to 700mA to provide high flux output performance. Additionally, this competitively priced compact LED emitter provides a wide viewing angle and features long life reliability. The ASMT-Jx33 has a wide viewing angle of 140-degrees to meet the needs of designers who require good color uniformity. This LED provides a high typical CRI of 80 for cool white and 90 for warm white. Avago's 3W emitter is a high performance LED designed to handle high thermal and high drive currents. By delivering a high flux output of 70 lumens at 350mA, this new 3W LED emitter is ideal for use in general lighting applications.
www.avagotechlighting.com
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. launched a new IHLP® low-profile, high-current inductor in the 1212 case size. Vishay's smallest IHLP device to date, the compact IHLP-1212BZ-11 offers a 3.0-mm by 3.6-mm footprint and ultra-low 2.0-mm profile, with a high maximum frequency and standard inductance values from 0.22 µH through 1.5 µH.
With a frequency range of up to 1.0 MHz, the new IHLP-1212BZ-11 serves as a high-performing, space- and power-saving solution for voltage regulator module (VRM) and dc-to-dc converter applications in end products including next-generation mobile devices, notebooks, desktop computers, graphic cards, portable gaming devices, personal navigation systems, personal multimedia devices, and automotive systems.
www.vishay.com
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. announced that it is expanding its offering of Bulk Metal® Foil and Z-Foil ultra-high-precision voltage divider resistors with the release of eight new and enhanced devices, including the new high-power VFD244/Z and conformally coated VSH144/Z, and the enhanced 300144/5 and 300144Z/5Z. All Foil devices offer a low typical TCR of ± 2ppm/°C from - 55°C to +125°C, + 25°C ref., while the Z-Foil devices feature TCR of ±0.05ppm/°C typical from 0°C to + 60°C and ± 0.2 ppm/°C typical from -55°C to + 125°C, + 25°C ref. The Z-Foil resistors provide PCR tracking (“DR due to self heating”) of ±5ppm at rated power. The devices' low TCR is combined with tight tolerances and excellent load-life stability values for precision instrumentation amplifiers, bridge networks, and differential amplifiers in high-end medical, military, aerospace, automatic test, and down-hole drilling equipment.
www.vishay.com
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. introduced the first p-channel TrenchFET® Gen III power MOSFET in the chipscale MICRO FOOT® package. The 20-V device features the industry's lowest on-resistance for a p-channel MOSFET in the 1.5-mm by 1-mm footprint area.
The new Si8499DB is the first chipscale product built on TrenchFET Gen III p-channel technology. This leading-edge technology allows a superfine, sub-micron pitch process that cuts the industry's best on-resistance for a p-channel MOSFET by up to half.
Vishay's TrenchFET Gen III p-channel technology allows the Si8499DB to offer ultra-low on-resistance of 32mW at 4.5V, 46mW at 2.5V, 65mW at 2V, and 120mW at 1.8V. These values are 50% lower at 4.5V and 35% lower at 2.5V than the previously leading 20-V p-channel chipscale device. The Si8499DB combines TrenchFET Gen III p-channel technology with the maximum die size to footprint ratio of the device's chipscale packaging, providing an ultra-low on-resistance in a very compact device.
www.vishay.com
Avago Technologies announced the expansion of its market leading ultra low-noise GPS front-end modules for mobile GPS applications. The ALM-2712, which has the lowest noise figure of any GPS filter-LNA-filter modules in the industry, integrates pre- and post-high rejection FBAR filters to provide superior performance. This integrated FBAR filter provides low insertion loss in GPS band frequencies and exceptional out of band rejection at cellular, DCS/PCS and WLAN band frequencies, making it an ideal device for use in simultaneous GPS (S-GPS), voice and data operations in today's mobile handsets. S-GPS and other location-based GPS services used in mobile handsets require a high level of receiver sensitivity. Avago's ALM-2712 delivers a very low noise figure and high linearity performance which helps to significantly improve the sensitivity of the GPS receivers.
www.avagotech.com
AVX Corporation, has announced its new X8L dielectric multilayer ceramic capacitors that deliver high capacitance values at temperatures of up to 150°C. The new parts extend AVX's high temperature MLCC range: previously-available X8R dielectric parts are also rated for use at similarly high temperatures and are very stable with temperature, but do not offer the same high capacitance performance at elevated temperatures. X8R and X8L MLCCs are RoHS-compliant and feature excellent low loss performance and good temperature stability - X8R devices exhibit a capacitance variation over temperature of ±15% between -55°C and +150°C, while X8L products have a variation of ±15% between -55 to 125°C and +15/-40% from +125 to +150°C.
www.avx.com
Avago Technologies announced it has developed one of the industry's most compact and innovative low-cost, high-bandwidth parallel optic solution for short-range data and communication interconnect applications. Avago's miniature 12-channel embedded MicroPOD™ parallel optics transmitter and receiver modules support lane rates of up to 12.5Gbit per second for an aggregate bandwidth of up to 150 Gbps. These modules enable higher density interconnect solutions than previously possible with other embedded or edge -mount pluggable optical or electrical interconnect solutions. As an industry leader in delivering embedded parallel optics technologies for differentiated solutions, Avago's compact transmitter and receiver modules will pave the way in the development of next generation supercomputers, networking switches and routers used in data centers, and in science, research and entertainment industries.
www.avagotech.com
Avago Technologies announced a new pair of low cost 1-Watt power amplifiers (PAs) for use in millimeter wave (mmW) communication transmitters that operate at frequencies between 37 and 40GHz. Avago's AMMP-6442 monolithic microwave IC (MMIC) is a linear power amplifier offered in a 5 by 5 mm surface mount (SMT) package, while the AMMC-6442 is a MMIC die. Typical applications include Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multi-Point radio systems, and mmW communication applications. Both the AMMP-6442 and AMMC-6442 PAs from Avago provide 30dBm of typical output power and 23dB of typical small-signal gain and are designed to provide high efficiency to help reduce power consumption.
www.avagotechwireless.com
International Rectifier has introduced the IRF6706S2PbF and IRF6798MPbF DirectFET® MOSFET chipset that provides best-in-class efficiency for 12V input synchronous buck applications including servers, desktops, and notebooks. Featuring IR's latest generation MOSFET silicon technology, the IRF6706 S2PbF and IRF6798MPbF 25V chipset combines industry leading Figures of Merit (FOM) with the superior switching and thermal characteristics of the Direct FET package to provide a solution optimized for high frequency DC-DC switching applications.
www.irf.com
Intersil has announced the iSim Active Filter Designer for operational amplifier-based active filters. This new tool, the latest in Intersil's growing family of online design solutions, provides users with the industry's:
- Best parts recommendations: iSim delivers a ranked list of possible amplifiers that fit specific requirements considering supply voltages, signal swing limits, and dynamic characteristics that are often overlooked in more basic tools.
- Enhanced implementation strategy: iSim's component calculations account for subtle amplifier and parasitic effect, improving the nominal filter accuracy and adding design margin. Designers can go from simulation to production with high confidence.
- More accurate simulations: iSim's op amp macromodels include second order effects such as bandwidth vs. gain and loading, input-output impedance, and I/O clipping.
www.intersil.com
The 27D-S and 27D-D series DC/DC converters generate single and bipolar output voltages of 5, 9, 12, 15 or 24V with an accuracy of ±3%. Internal precision regulation keeps the output voltage deviation at less than ±0,5% over the input voltage range of 5-9V, 9-18V, 18-36V or 36-72V respectively. Further, the 27D-S and 27D-D series converters offer a high efficiency up to 85%. Additional features of both of the series include an internal input-to-output isolation of 1000 VDC, continuous short circuit protection with foldback current limit, low ripple and noise and operation with natural convection cooling from -40°C to + 85°C. A control pin allows remote on/off. The single output voltage models include a control pin for connecting an external capacitor to further reduce ripple and noise in critical applications.
The 27D-S and 27D-D series converters are RoHS compliant and specified with an MTBF rating of 3.5 million hours (MIL-HDBK-217F at 25°C).
www.msc-ge.com
Adding to the performance and popularity of Everlight's 1W Shuen series High Power LED with a luminous flux up to 100 lm at 350 mA, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. announces the brand new 3W Shuen High Power LED with up to 170 lm when driving at 700 mA.
Both 1W and 3W Shuen packages are surface-mount high-power devices offering high brightness in a compact and slim form factor, making them suitable for different lighting applications including general illumination, flash, spot, signal, industrial and commercial lighting. The thermal pad of both the 1W and 3W Shuen Series are electrically isolated providing for improved thermal and electrical characteristics. It is well known that the benefits of LED devices are their environmentally friendly nature, energy savings, reliability and long life. All Shuen families exhibit these advantages while providing high efficiency luminous output.
www.everlight.com
Power Integrations launched CAPZero, a family of innovative, two-terminal, automatic X capacitor discharge ICs that eliminate power losses while allowing power supplies to comply with safety standards. X capacitors are typically positioned across a power supply's input terminals to filter differential EMI noise. Alone, these components could present a safety hazard because they can store unsafe levels of high-voltage energy for long periods of time after the AC is disconnected. To meet safety standards, resistors are commonly used in parallel with the X capacitor and across the AC line to provide a discharge path. However, these discharge resistors produce a constant power loss while the AC is connected and are a significant contributor to no-load and standby input power consumption. CAPZero acts as a smart high-voltage switch when placed in series with discharge resistors. When AC voltage is applied, CAPZero blocks current flow in the X capacitor safety discharge resistors, reducing the power wasted in these components to zero at 230 VAC.
www.powerint.com/lp/capzero
International Rectifier, IR , introduced the full-featured IRS2573 DS High-Intensity Discharge (HID) electronic ballast control IC for low-, medium- and high-power general purpose industrial HID applications including retail store spotlights, general outdoor lighting applications and outdoor street lighting. The IRS2573DS 600V IC combines a high-side, dual-mode buck controller together with a full-bridge driver. The device's novel buck circuitry enables continuous-conduction mode control during lamp warm-up and critical-conduction mode during steady state running. The full-bridge driver includes all high- and low-side gate driver outputs as well as integrated bootstrap MOSFETs for the high-side supply voltages. The IRS2573 DS offers a high degree of flexibility and programmability.
www.irf.com
Avago Technologies announced three new miniature high performance duplexers for use in UMTS Bands 2, 4, and 8 handsets and data terminals. Avago's ACMD-7410/7609/7606 duplexers are low insertion loss, high isolation and high rejection duplexers that are achieved using Avago's proprietary Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) technology. Avago's innovative Microcap bonded wafer technology allows these duplexers to be assembled in a molded chip-on-board module that is less than 0.95 mm high with a footprint of 2.0 by 2.5 mm.
These latest additions to Avago's family of miniature UMTS duplexers have been designed to enhance the sensitivity and dynamic range of handset receivers by providing high isolation of transmitted signals from the receiver input, and high rejection of transmit-generated noise in the receive band.
www.avagotechwireless.com
International Rectifier has introduced the company's first dedicated family of automotive qualified MOSFETs for a range of applications requiring low on-state resistance (RDS(on)) including Electric Power Steering (EPS), Integrated Starter Alternator (ISA) pump and motor control, DC-DC conversion, battery switch, and other heavy loads on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and hybrid vehicle platforms. The new devices, built on IR's proven Gen 10.2 technology, deliver on-state resistance as low as 1.0 mOhm RDS(on) (maximum), and are available across a range of voltages from 24V to 100V in a variety of Surface Mount Device (SMD) and through-hole packages. Several of the devices feature revised maximum current ratings of up to 240A in a D2Pak-7P and 195A in a D2Pak.
www.irf.com
Intersil helps propel high-tech business, education and research in Florida with gift of Palm Bay semiconductor manufacturing plant, real estate and consulting expertise
Intersil, a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analogue and mixed-signal semiconductors, has announced that it will donate a high-technology semiconductor wafer fabrication facility and the land it occupies to the University of Central Florida. The gift consists of 100,494 square feet (approximately 9,336 square meters) of office space, manufacturing and cleanroom facilities, plus a 5-acre (2 hectare) property. In addition, Intersil will provide utilities and assist with operating expenses during the first three years of UCF's ownership, enabling a turnkey solution for the university.
www.intersil.com
For long haul 10/100/1000 Base-T applications MSC Vertriebs GmbH now supplies the 30F-2X series magnetic modules from YDS. These modules support 4 pairs of category 5 UTP cables.The series 30F-2X magnetic modules provide the cable interface with an isolation of 1500Vrms and fully meet or exceed the specifications of the IEEE802.3ab standard. Besides a number of different standard configurations special models can be made to customer specifications. Common features are low insertion loss, high return loss, excellent common mode suppression and low cross talk. Users have the choice between a molded package that measures 17.53 × 12.20 × 5.51mm and a bottom potted version measuring 18.13 × 12.19 × 6.2mm. The slightly larger potted package ensures a remarkably lower stress at the internal connections during temperature variations.
www.msc-ge.com
“EP&Dee” is offering its readers the chance to win the new MPLAB PICkit 3 Debug Express kit from Microchip. The PICkit 3 Debug Express allows debugging and programming of PIC® and dsPIC® Flash microcontrollers at a low price point using the powerful graphical user interface of the MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The PICkit 3 Debug Express works with 8- and 16-bit PIC® MCUs and dsPIC® digital signal controllers (DSCs), and will support 32-bit PIC MCUs at a later date.
The PICkit 3 Debug Express kit includes PICkit 3 debugger and programmer probe, 44-pin demo board populated with a PIC18F45K20 MCU, free MPLAB® IDE and free version of the MPLAB C Compiler for PIC18 MCUs. All this is supported by easy-to-understand lessons and tutorials, and a host of other software utilities, examples with source code and full documentation.
For your chance to win a Microchip PICkit 3 Debug Express kit, visit
http://www.microchip-comps.com/epdee-pickit3
and enter your details in the online entry form.
TI's technology and Lemnis Lighting's application experience are bringing LED lighting home
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) introduced a complete LED lighting driver reference board in collaboration with Lemnis Lighting to help address three important issues: cost, dimming and efficacy. The TPS92010 LED-lamp Reference Board applies TI's semiconductor technology for general LED lighting and Lemnis Lighting's expertise in dimmable lighting applications. The board can help speed adoption of energy-saving retrofit LED light bulbs. The reference board will be available in mid-second quarter and is accompanied by a user's guide that contains the schematics, bill of materials and test results needed to design a dimmable LED lamp. For details see: www.ti.com/tps92010referenceboard-pree.
The reference board is based on TI's new TPS92010 LED lighting controller. The TPS92010 offline LED lighting controller implements quasi-resonant flyback power converters to achieve high efficiency of up to 87 percent, small size and lower cost for AC/DC LED lighting drivers. The TPS92010's control technique allows designers to develop replacement light bulbs in tight, small form factors, and helps reduce overall system cost. The device's system-level features, such as overvoltage detection and shutdown, prevent system damage caused by an open LED string. Its over-temperature shutdown feature protects against excessive heat in the system.
The TPS92010 is the first of a new family of TI LED controllers designed for general lighting applications, such as residential LED fixtures; retrofit LED bulbs; commercial troffers; down-lights; wall sconces; pathway lighting; overhead lighting; and architectural and display lighting.
Building on the successful development of the TPS92010 LED-lamp Reference Board, TI and Lemnis Lighting will continue to collaborate on future cutting-edge driver solutions for LED lighting applications.
Key features and benefits of the TPS92010 LED-lamp Reference Board
- The TPS92010 LED-lamp Reference Board features a seamless, high-performance dimming interface to TRIAC (triode for alternating current) based wall dimmers.
- The TRIAC dimming interface circuit maintains high efficiency even during deep dimming (60 percent efficient at 10 percent LED current).
- The reference board is an isolated driver with low EMI to simplify safety certification and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) compliance. To order the TPS92010 LED-lamp Reference Board see www.ti.com/tps92010referenceboard-pree.
Conforming to the European energy saving strategy, TME extends its offer with new LED lamps. According to the EU directives, wolfram filament bulbs are being withdrawn from production. LED lamps make a perfect replacement for the Edison's invention now belonging to the past. LED lamps are characterized by high efficiency, which accounts for their lower power consumption. They also provide substantially longer lifetime. For comparison,
the lifetime of a wolfram filament bulb is about 1000 hours, the lifetime of an energy saving bulb is about 10 000 hours, whereas for a LED lamp it is from 50 000 to 60 000 hours (which corresponds 7 years of continuous operation). Currently LED lamps are available with 3 mm super bright LEDs as well as more efficient high power LEDs. The use of various number of diodes offers many different applications, e.g.: lamps of limited brightness may be used for backlight illumination of objects, whereas lamps of high brightness may successfully replace traditional light sources.
Currently available light sources based on LEDs emit luminous flux of 36 to 1120 lm. Hence users may choose lamps tailored to their needs. Additionally, the lamps feature the most popular threads E27, E14, GU10, MR16 as well as less commonly used PAR38 type threads utilized in disco lamps. The lamps are fitted for standard power supply voltages: 230 V and 12 V. A great advantage of LED lamps over other light sources is the possibility to emit light of different colours without the need to use filters reducing light intensity. Almost every LED lamp series offers models emitting light of the following colours: green, red, yellow, blue, white. The offer also includes models emitting warm light which is more natural and does not tire the eye.
For more information:
Transfer Multisort Elektronik
93-350 Lodz, ul. Ustronna 41
Tel.: 042 645 54 44
Fax: 042 645 54 70
export@tme.eu
www.tme.eu
Intersil and Techwell, Inc. have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Intersil to acquire Techwell through a cash tender offer at $18.50 per share. Net of Techwell's cash and equivalents, the transaction values Techwell at approximately $370 million.
Techwell, with over 200 employees in the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and sells mixed signal video solutions for the security surveillance and automotive infotainment markets. Techwell's products enable the conversion of analogue video signals to digital form and perform advanced digital video processing to facilitate the display, storage and transport of video content. Major applications using Techwell products include industrial DVRs, networked video recorders, multiplexers, as well as automotive front consoles, rearview mirrors and rear seat LCD displays. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Intersil's 2010 earnings, excluding one-time costs and other acquisition-related charges.
www.intersil.com
Lattice Semiconductor announced that effective immediately Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. will distribute the full range of Lattice products on a global basis. Nu Horizons currently distributes Lattice products throughout the Asia Pacific region.
“Nu Horizons Electronics is very excited to expand globally with Lattice,” said Kent Smith, President of Nu Horizons Global Distribution Division. “Lattice is one of the world's leading providers of FPGAs, PLDs, Programmable Clock and Power Management devices, software design tools and IP cores, and our sales and engineering teams around the world are extremely familiar with programmable logic technologies. Lattice is an ideal match, enabling us to provide innovative product choices for our customers in every region.” "Lattice is extremely pleased to welcome Nu Horizons Electronics as one of our global distribution partners," said Stacy Fender, Lattice's Corporate Vice President of Sales.
www.nuhorizons.com
MSC Vertriebs GmbH has become a member of the FeaturePak™ Initiative unveiled March 1, 2010 which supports a new flexible embedded I/O expansion standard. The FeaturePak™ specification defines tiny, application-specific I/O modules with a size of 65 x 43 mm that snap into low-cost, low-profile sockets on computer-on-module (COM) baseboards. With the I/O modules, customers are able to add additional functions to COM baseboards without adding height to the system. The compactness of the FeaturePak™ modules is specially important in combination with Qseven™ modules in 70 x 70 mm format.
Like the power-saving Qseven™ COMs, FeaturePak™ I/O modules interface to the baseboard via a single low-cost 230-pin MXM connector.
www.msc-ge.com
VLSI specialises in the production of advanced circuits which are designed to code and decode sound in the most common digital formats (MP3, WMA, Ogg, AAC+) without the need to use an additional processor.
VLSI product advantages include:
- ease of use - minimum number of auxiliary components;
- no limited length and number of the message files (depends on digital memory capacity);
- digital file format enables its simple transfer and updating.
Typical applications are:
- MP3 Players;
- Audio Guides (e.g. in museums), Audio Books;
- VIP communication, Internet radio;
- Audio Recorders and Answering Machines;
- notification, alarm, fire systems, etc.;
- GPS navigations, elevators, toys.
The distribution range covers Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Slovenia.
www.tme.eu
Silicon Laboratories Inc. has expanded its popular ISOpro™ family to include ISOdriver isolated gate drivers that support up to 5 kV isolation ratings. Silicon Labs' new 5 kV-certified Si82xx isolated gate drivers reduce cost and complexity for safety-critical industrial systems and universal-powered systems with 120/220 volt supplies. Target applications include isolated switch mode and uninterruptible power supplies, test and measurement equipment, robotic assemblies, industrial drives, industrial and electric vehicle motor controls, battery and solar inverters, wind turbines, air conditioning systems, plasma displays and electronic lighting ballasts. The new 5 kV Si82xx isolated gate drivers include the Si822x optocoupler-input-compatible devices and the Si823x digital-input devices.
www.silabs.com/pr/isolation
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced it is again expanding its Analog manufacturing capacity for customers with the recent purchase of more than 100 tools from Qimonda North America and Qimonda Dresden, Germany. This is the first step in launching the Phase II expansion of RFAB, the industry's first 300mm analog wafer fab, located in Richardson, Texas, near TI's headquarters. When complete, Phase II of RFAB will double the analog manufacturing capacity in the North Texas facility, bringing its revenue capability to about $2 billion. TI will begin moving Phase II equipment into the facility immediately so it is ready to be brought online as market demand warrants. Phase I and II combined will fill only two-thirds of the 1.1 million square foot facility, leaving additional room for future expansion. The fab will produce analog integrated circuits based on TI's proprietary process. Customers will use these chips in electronics ranging from smartphones and netbooks to telecom and computing systems.
Phase II of RFAB is the most recent in a series of analog manufacturing expansions by TI over the past 24 months:
- In 4Q09, TI began installing nearly 200 manufacturing tools for 200mm production in Dallas, Freising, Germany and Miho, Japan.
- In 3Q09, TI announced the Phase I opening of RFAB, the industry's first 300mm Analog manufacturing facility, and immediately began to move in equipment.
- TI is installing more than 400 additional testers between 2Q09 and 2Q10.
- In early 2009, TI opened Clark, an 800,000-square-foot assembly and test facility in the Philippines, which quickly ramped production with the latest packaging technologies.
- In 2008, TI redeployed more than 150 tools from an underutilized wafer fab in Dallas to fortify capacity in other analog fabs worldwide.
www.ti.com/capacity-pr
Farnell, the leading distributor of electronic components, announced the launch of its very own iPhone and Google Android applications. The new mobile tools will enable customers interact with Farnell Technical Support Team directly and will allow them to use interactive linecards of the most popular products. The application is now available to British customers and will be launched in other European regions in the upcoming months. It has been created with several unique features including latest electronic industry news, a unit converter, interactive linecards and one touch button to call Technical Support or Sales departments. Further enhancements in the future are planned as the application evolves based on customer feedback.
The features of the Farnell application include:
- Latest Electronic Industry news and updates
- Interactive Linecards with regular upgrades
- Unit Converter
- One touch button to call Farnell Sales or Technical Support departments
The announcement follows a similar successful launch of element14 application in December last year. element14 is company's one-stop online technology resource and community created exclusively for electronic design engineers. The portal uses web 2.0 functionality and facilitates interaction, collaboration and information sharing among users.
www.farnell.com
SMT Maschinen- und Vertriebs GmbH & Co. KG, announces that it has been awarded the 2010 SMT VISION Award in the category of Soldering Equipment “Best New Product” for the SMT Vacuum Plus N2 system. The annual SMT Vision Awards recipients are selected by the American PennWell Corporation and recognizes the people and products within the surface mount technology industry that serve as benchmarks of excellence and innovation. The award was presented to the company during a April 5, 2010 ceremony that took place at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center in Las Vegas before the start of APEX 2010. The SMT Vacuum Plus N2 module is an independent unit which can be integrated in an SMT Reflow Soldering System. Due to the modular design of the SMT Reflow Soldering System our new Vacuum Plus module can easily be retrofitted into an existing SMT Reflow Oven. The Vacuum Plus unit is positioned immediately after the peak zone, and can be utilized when required. The continuous reflow pass is then automatically switched to vacuum operation.
www.smt-wertheim.com
According to the results of a survey conducted by the SIPLACE team at the 2009 Productronica trade show, new technologies and production concepts along with associated communication platforms help electronics manufacturers to become more productive and successful. Producers also like to discuss new impulses and ideas and put them to good use. Another finding: the exchange of information should be easy, fast and global. Users are particularly interested in technology- and manufacturing-relevant issues. The SIPLACE team has accepted this challenge and is offering a new Internet-based information and discussion platform about the future of electronics manu-facturing. Starting in early April, the BTO (Build-to-Order) column on www.siplace.com will cover order-oriented manufacturing in great detail. At a single Web address, interested electronics manufacturers will find lots of interesting information about practice-oriented concepts, tools, methods and best practices related to BTO. New articles written by experts from various industries, science and industry media will be published in regular intervals to promote lively discussions about the capabilities of BTO manufacturing in the electronics industry. Questions and discussions with experts will play a particularly important role.
www.siplace.com
The DEK team is currently celebrating a record-breaking number of award wins following this year's Apex exhibition, held in Las Vegas. Not only did the mass imaging leader collect its eighth consecutive Service Excellence Award during the show, but it also received three Innovative Technology Center accolades and a New Product Introduction trophy for the breakthrough represented by its VectorGuard® Platinum Double Layer stencil.
For the eighth year in a row, DEK was awarded Circuits Assembly magazine's Service Excellence Award, an accolade which recognizes companies who excel in the area of customer service. Customers ranked DEK in five critical areas of support - dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, responsiveness to requests and changes, technology, and value for money. With DEK receiving the highest customer service ratings in the Screen Printing category, the prestigious Service Excellence accolade is an important vote of confidence from its worldwide customer base.
The DEK team at Apex was also celebrating recognition by the Innovative Technology Center (ITC); each of the three DEK technologies entered in the program was selected for an honor. Sponsored by Apex show organizer IPC, the ITC recognizes products for their innovation and ability to deliver real and relevant value to the electronics supply chain.
www.dek.com
Following a successful evaluation period, DEK's ProFlow® ATx enclosed print head technology has been adopted by a high profile electronics company due to its ability to meet complex mass production requirements. As specialists in design, production and product management, the electronics solutions company had strict evaluation criteria that the DEK system successfully met and even, in some cases, exceeded.
Aware of the operational benefits and productivity advantages of the ProFlow ATx system, the electronics specialist wanted to assess the technology's ability to withstand the challenges of large-scale production. The DEK customer also set out to test ProFlow ATx's ability to handle the product complexity it manages on a frequent basis - which often includes fine pitch components such as 0402s and 0201s. In a bid to improve print process quality, capacity and capability, a rigorous evaluation assessed the DEK system's printing performance against conventional squeegees, along with its ability to reduce solder paste wastage and enhance cycle time. During the evaluation, ProFlow ATx achieved all of the company's core targets for quality, throughput, solder paste usage and wastage. For example, tests saw solder paste wastage reduced by over 2100 grams per week - an impressive figure ideal for mass production environments.
www.dek.com
OK International has extended access to its range of Soldering/ Rework, Fume Extraction and Fluid Dispensing products for customers throughout Europe with the launch of a brand new webstore. Opening up the company's comprehensive product range to English, French and German speaking online shoppers, www.oki-europe.com prioritizes ease-of-use, rapid delivery and secure order processing. Following the success of OK International's original webstore in North America, the new European webstore is based on the same best practice guidelines that made the first store such a success with customers. In just a few clicks, webstore visitors can search and identify the exact tip or cartridge they need and securely place an order. By opening an account in the webstore, OK International customers will speed through the checkout process, with the option to choose multiple delivery addresses and track their order from the shop right through to their dock. Usability and accessibility are at the heart of the new European webstore; OK International has teamed up with two leading e-Commerce providers to ensure delivery runs as smoothly as possible. PayPal provides fast and secure handling of debit and credit card payments, while the UPS worldwide shipping and logistics network assures speedy and fully traceable delivery.
www.oki-europe.com
As a leading global supplier of high quality solar cells, Ningbo Solar has reinforced its commitment to driving business growth with the purchase of a further 50MW worth of photovoltaic metallization lines from DEK Solar. The announcement comes just months after Ningbo Solar's purchase of eight metallization lines from the mass imaging leader. Following an extensive evaluation period which yielded impressive results, Ningbo Solar was impressed by the DEK PV1200 line's ability to achieve 6-sigma process capability at a resolution of ±12.5 micron for maximum repeatability and accuracy. In addition, Ningbo Solar was also impressed by DEK's commitment to rapid delivery and the exceptional service facilitated by local Centres of Excellence. In fact, according to Ningbo Solar President Zhou Jianhong, DEK is one of the company's top vendors for customer service. DEK Solar's PV1200 photovoltaic metallization line combines the award-winning PVP1200 screen printer with purpose-designed loader/unloader, buffering, inspection and wafer flipping solutions. Driving throughput in the production of high-quality and energy-efficient solar cells, the metallization line delivers superior print accuracy making it ideal for depositing features ranging from sub-100-micron current collectors to low-resistivity bus bars.
www.deksolar.com
A thermal technology that will produce and maintain a specific, self-regulated temperature with a heater that requires no calibration and responds directly to thermal loads has been applied to PV tabbing and bussing applications with measurably improved results.
Uniquely available from OK International ( www.okinternational.com) the proprietary SmartHeat® Technology consists of a high frequency alternating current (AC) power supply and a self regulating heating element. The heater utilizes the electrical and metallurgical characteristics of two different metals; copper, which is a material with high electrical conductivity, and a magnetic material with high resistivity. During the soldering operation, differential thermal expansion of the copper and the silicon elements can occur at temperatures greater than 300°C. This differential can result in the formation of micro-cracks that may not be detected during the manufacturing process and result in reduced field lifespan.
www.okinternational.com
Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon has won three major pick & place awards for 2010. Besides collecting Circuits Assembly's Service Excellence Award for the seventh year running and the tenth since 2000, Assembléon has picked up two awards for its MC-24X modular placement machine. That has won both SMT's VISION pick & place award and Circuits Assembly's New Product Introduction award, making the MC-24X the hottest pick & place introduction in 2010. Introduced as the most versatile, space-efficient machine on the market, Assembléon's MC-24X modular placer targets equipment manufacturers who need a wide component range and many component feeding positions, large board sizes, and significant output within a very small floor space. “These products and services represent the best tools that our industry has to succeed in this tough economic climate. The SMT VISION award winners affirm the energy and vitality of the electronics manufacturing industry” said Meredith Courtemanche, SMT's Executive Editor. Leo van de Vall, Assembléon's CEO in the US, added: “In a year in which the industry had to look closely at productivity and costs, the MC-24X stood out as giving unrivalled value for money.”
www.assembleon.com
Leading EMS provider NBS announced their achievement of AS9100 certification for both design and assembly at their Santa Clara, CA manufacturing headquarters. Certification was granted by SGS Group following the successful completion of an exhaustive and comprehensive audit of the company's quality processes. AS9100 is the quality management system (QMS) standard specific to the aerospace industry. The current version includes all of the ISO 9001:2000 standard plus supplementary processes that address the stringent quality requirements of the international aerospace industry, from commercial aviation to defense.
www.nbscorp.com
The world's most widely used standards for printed boards and electronic assemblies were recently updated, providing new coverage for advanced technologies and processes as well as guidance on the new challenges that state-of-the-art can bring. To help industry members understand the ramifications of the changes to the standards that they and their customers depend on, IPC will host a number of full-day technology workshops, taught by the leaders of the task groups that worked on the standards' revisions. www.ipc.org/events
Celebrating the best of electronic interconnection research being conducted by both industry leaders and academia, IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced the 2010 Best Industry Posters and the winners of the second annual IPC Academic Poster Competition at IPC APEX EXPO, held April 6-8, 2010 in Las Vegas.
Twenty-three industry posters were presented at this year's show. The event's Technical Program Committee selected the winners through a ballot process. Tied for first place honors were Christopher Hunt, Ph.D., National Physical Laboratory, for “Solder Joint Reliability from Material Properties,” and David Lee, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, for “Comparison of the Electrochemical and Physical Properties of the Nanocrystalline Copper Deposition in the Fabrication of Wiring Boards.”
www.IPC.org
IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries® has released IPC-4202A, Flexible Base Dielectrics for Use in Flexible Printed Circuitry. This document provides comprehensive data to help users more easily determine the capability and compatibility of flexible base dielectric materials in manufacturing flexible printed circuitry and flexible flat cables.
Included in new revision of IPC-4202, flexible base material specification sheets have been updated with the newest properties for specification material types such as polyimide, fluorocarbon and polyethylene teraphthalate films; reinforced epoxy; aramid paper and others. In addition, dielectric metrics of properties such as permittivity and loss tangents have been expanded to include frequencies of one megahertz, one gigahertz and ten gigahertz. The IPC-4202A standard establishes the most current classification system, qualification and quality conformance requirements, and test methods for flexible base dielectric materials. For more information on IPC-4202A, Flexible Base Dielectrics for Use in Flexible Printed Circuitry, or to purchase, visit www.ipc.org/4202.
Santa Clara, California based EMS provider NBS recently enjoyed a highly successful Apex exhibition. Not only did the leading contract manufacturer generate widespread interest in its 'EMS, Evolved' concept, but it also collected three Service Excellence Awards during the show.
Presented to NBS in the categories of Value, Quality and Technology, the prestigious awards program is sponsored by Circuits Assembly Magazine. Set-up to recognize companies who receive the highest customer service ratings, the award saw NBS ranked in relation to five key areas of support, spanning dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, responsiveness to requests and changes, technology, and value. An important vote of confidence from NBS' customer base, the unprecedented award trio was testament to the company's commitment to evolving EMS through the combination of exceptional performance and continual innovation.
www.nbscorp.com
Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is stocking solid state thin film thermoelectric device evaluation kits from Micropelt, an innovator in Peltier cooler and thermogenerator devices.
Mouser's stock of Micropelt products includes the TE-Power NODE Evaluation Kit for thermal energy harvesting. Highly modular, the kit shows how free excess heat can provide a continuous power source for low-power wireless sensing applications. The kit provides customers with an easy-to-handle plug and play wireless sensor system which allows the user to explore and understand thermal harvesting and comes complete with the thermoelectric generator TE-Power Base, various power and power modules, a low-power wireless sensor module and Texas Instrument's USB Wireless Receiver. This simple-to-use evaluation kit lets you demonstrate thermoelectric generation within minutes of unpacking it. Also available from Mouser is the Micropelt TE-Power PLUS Evaluation Kit, allowing the designer to determine the available power to drive low-power wireless applications by matching energy budget and duty-cycle control. Easily producing 100s of microwatts to some milliwatts, the harvester refills its extendable 100µF capacitor during the latency periods of the duty cycle. The TE-Power Plus has an integrated DC-DC converter that allows the user to set the desired voltage level based on the available gross power. To learn more about these products from Micropelt, visit www.mouser.com/micropelt.
www.mouser.com
A new cost-saving plastic connector which eliminates the need to use board- to-board connectors has been developed by ITT Interconnect Solutions. The APD direct PCB connector provides a direct interface into the “box” but is connected to a PCB internally, instead of using the standard crimped cable connection. Additionally, this new connector requires no harnessing which saves board space and results in reduced manufacturing costs.
Robust and lightweight, the APD connector is sealed to IP67/IP69K, providing protection against the effects of dust and temporary immersion. Combined with excellent resistance to oil, this connector suits a wide range of industrial, transportation and military applications. Operating voltage is 48V maximum. The connector is available in 6, 7, 19 37 or 51-way versions, plus a 4-way configuration for sensor applications. Machined contacts have a press-in contour and up to four colour and mechanical codings are available. It is compatible with selective wave solder processing.
www.ittcannon.com
The narrowly focussed cylindrical light beam (diameter < 4 mm) of these miniature diffuse sensors enables the reliable detection of objects in tubes as well as through holes or gaps. Even closely lined-up or laterally approaching objects whose distance from the sensor cannot be kept constant are detected without problem. The rectangular miniature size (5 × 7 × 40mm) of the 0507 types and the lateral light emission permit their mounting in places where space is limited. Moreover, the sensor may be fixed vertically or horizontally directly onto its support. The diffuse sensors are available either with a calibrated operating distance of between 20 and 25 mm, as well as with 50 mm or 90 mm distance. Despite their miniature size, these devices are fully self-contained and therefore do not require an additional evaluation unit.
www.oboyle.ro
With the introduction of the APF relay, Panasonic Electric Works has advanced slim power relay technology to the next level.
The APF relay is intended to replace the highly successful APE relay. In conjunction with transferring the production line from China to the Czech Republic, Panasonic Electric Works redesigned the APE relay to increase reliability and lifetime. At just 5mm wide, the APF relay is an excellent candidate for high-density applications. It boasts an impressive nominal switching capacity of 8A 250V AC for resistive loads. For inductive loads, the APF relay fulfills the AC15 and DC13 criteria of IEC 60947-5-1 and can reliably switch 3A at 250V AC or 2A at 24Vdc. The APF is available with 1 Form A or 1 Form C contact arrangements and a wide range of coil voltages from 4.5 to 60V. Of course, the relay complies with all relevant safety standards: UL, C-UL and VDE. Whether you require a slim power relay for PLC temperature control, for a compact interface unit in an industrial switching cabinet, or wherever space is an issue, the APF relay is the product of choice.
www.oboyle.ro
In order to ensure that signal relay applications in the future are more energy efficient and long-lived, Panasonic Electric Works has added another member to its GQ/GN relay family.
The small, single-side stable relay boasts a coil power loss of just 100mW - an improvement of almost 30%.
This innovative component is both extremely compact and reliable.
Moreover, its state-of-the-art design makes it especially well suited for mobile, battery-operated applications.
www.oboyle.ro
Wherever food, beverages, pharmaceutical products or even cosmetics are manufactured, processed or packaged, hygienic design has become a central requirement for machines and systems.
Leuze electronic presents new, globally unique contrast scanners in WASH-DOWN design that withstand the increasingly necessary and more intensive cleaning and disinfection cycles.
Wherever food, beverages, pharmaceutical products or even cosmetics are manufactured, processed or packaged, hygienic design has become a central requirement for machines and systems.
Leuze electronic presents new, globally unique contrast scanners in WASH-DOWN design that withstand the increasingly necessary and more intensive cleaning and disinfection cycles. In addition to the contrast scanners of the 3B series, Leuze electronic has, with the KRT 55 contrast scanners, developed a scalable housing technology. Its V4A stainless steel housing makes this technology particularly well suited for areas that are intensively cleaned and disinfected. The new sensors fulfill the requirements of ECOLAB, IP67, IP69K and also the CleanProof+ standard defined by Leuze. Here, Leuze electronic extends the test range by including additional substances, testing at increased temperatures. With the KRT 55 contrast scanners, devices are available with two transmitter variants - RGB light and white light - that are characterized by extremely short response times of 50 µs and high repeatability. With regard to their configuration options, they also perform big. Here, IO-Link makes on-site configuration possible with unmatched simplicity and reproducibility. With the three teach processes: 2-point teach, static 1-point teach and dynamic 2-point teach, the optimum teach process is available for every type of machine use. Furthermore, the switching thresholds ascertained via teach-in can be changed during running operation with EasyTune. By means of this online switching-threshold correction, it is possible to quickly respond to changed process parameters without performing a new teach-in. One special feature is YellowBoost, a form of yellow support developed by Leuze with which contrast detection of the white-light contrast scanner is optimized.
www.oboyle.ro
With the new LRS 36 and LPS 36 light-section sensors, Leuze electronic has realized sensors for economical object detection over long measurement ranges from 200 to 800 mm.
The transmitters and receivers are contained in an easy-to-install unit with very compact housing design.
Line range sensors (LRS) detect the presence of objects through scanning, similar to light barriers or laser scanners. By comparison, line profile sensors (LPS) measure the dimensions or position of static or moving objects.
Where previously complex sensor solutions, sensor combinations or additional evaluation units were necessary, the new LRS 36 and LPS 36 light-section sensors from Leuze electronic, with their 800 mm measurement range, open new fields of application.
www.oboyle.ro
Harwin, the leading manufacturer of connectors and interconnect solutions for high-reliability applications is exhibiting for the first time at the Aircraft Interiors Exhibition, Hamburg Mess, 18-20 May 2010. The company will be demonstrating its Datamate 2mm interconnection system that is suitable for ultra-high reliability applications but which is priced in-line with commercial products. Datamate is already extensively used in aircraft applications including control systems as well as in-flight entertainment products.
www.harwin.co.uk
Tyco Electronics unleashes a new next-generation Ethernet link -- the RJ point five connector system -- designed to offer double the port density of the standard RJ 45 Ethernet link while maintaining field termination capability. The product supports Gigabit speeds of Cat5E UTP cable, in integrated and non-integrated magnetic solutions, with a roadmap to support PoE+ and 10GBASE-T over Cat 6a cable. With port spacing on a 7mm centerline, the RJ point five connector occupies about half the space of a RJ 45 Ethernet link - utilizing the same footprint to support both integrated magnetic and non-integrated solutions. The modular configuration of the receptacle allows for easy and rapid deployment of product extensions.
www.tycoelectronics.com/help
Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it has more than doubled its stock of Hirose Electric's interconnect products, including exciting new FFC / FPC connectors, waterproof circular connectors, and I/O connectors. Customer demand for Hirose's high quality components triggered Mouser's accelerated expansion that includes access to Hirose's entire portfolio.
• FFC / FPC Connectors - hundreds of options; gold-plated mating area; 4 - 120 positions; and mounting heights from 0.6mm to 4.85mm. The new BM10 Series of 0.4mm pitch connectors feature stacking heights of 0.6mm or 9.8mm, allowing a space savings of 2.98mm in depth. Also new, FH28 Series of 0.5mm ZIF connectors provide a 2.5mm board height. Learn more about Hirose FFC / FPC.
• Circular Connectors - including the HR30 Miniature Waterproof Plastic Connectors, rated IP67 for complete protection against dust and water penetration and feature a built-in lock / release mechanism. Hirose just expanded the popular HR30 series and introduced a new overmold version.
• The latest in board-to-board connectors, wire-to-board connectors, and a varied I/O connector collection that includes MicroSD™ Card connectors, Mini-B USB connectors, and the versatile ST Series that supports various kinds of connections with peripheral equipment. To learn more, visit www.mouser.com/hiroseconnector
www.hiroseusa.com
ITT Interconnect Solutions has announced a new version of its popular PowerLock Box with a flange to provide easy and secure sealing into equipment panel cut-outs. The new PowerLock Box with Flange is available in both lidded and un-lidded versions and has an extended front panel measuring 107mm. which provides a seal around the whole box.
ITT's PowerLock Box with Flange uses standard PowerLock connectors, with all ports keyed and colour coded for sequential mating, ensuring ground is connected first, vital in applications where fast installation is required. Connector ports are environmentally sealed to IP65, suiting outdoor applications such as mobile generators, riverside power plants and outdoor leisure equipment, including theme park rides. Security is assured for installations accessible to the public, for example, in hospitals, factories, shops and offices, as the PowerLock Box with Flange prevents tampering and unauthorised entry to equipment.
www.ittcannon.com
Tyco Electronics has released the new IDC solid state lighting (SSL) connector for quick, tool-less termination of discrete wires onto LED printed circuit boards (PCBs). The product terminates 18 through 24 AWG solid and stranded wire utilizing insulation displacement technology to eliminate the labour-intensive task of pre-stripping wires and soldering.
The robust design of the IDC SSL connector suits harsh environments in the solid state lighting industry. Specific LED applications include: lighting controls, general illumination fixtures and interconnection of strings in PCB light modules. Additionally, the product supports various non-lighting applications that require the attachment of discrete wire leads to PCBs. The RoHS-compliant connector -- available in one, two, three and four positions -- meets UL 1177 specifications. Product offerings include SMT/THT and closed-end/feed-thru configurations. The closed-end version contains a “viewing” window to ensure that the wire is fully seated and secure after termination.
www.tycoelectronics.com/help
TTI, Inc. has named the winners of its Supplier Excellence Awards for 2009, which recognise outstanding performance in a number of tightly-measured categories over the year. Murata won the Platinum Award and Molex scooped Gold, while Bourns, Kemet and Phoenix Contact achieved Silver standard. Harwin and FCI also appear in the honours roll for the first time. Commented Geoff Breed, Vice President Marketing, Europe, TTI, Inc.: “Our European Awards reward best-in-class performance by our suppliers each year. We do this by closely monitoring and tracking certain criteria throughout the year and evaluating the specifics of our business with all our suppliers. More than just a trophy, these awards signify suppliers that have made great contributions to the way TTI's business is run and the level of performance we are able to provide to our customers.”
www.ttieurope.com
Atego, the leading independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative development tools for engineering complex, mission- and safety-critical architectures, systems, software and hardware, announces the release of Aonix PERC Ultra SMP® 5.4 with support for concurrent multi-processor garbage collection technology. Aonix PERC Ultra SMP responds to the need for multiprocessor and multicore solutions in complex mission-critical embedded and real-time Java™ applications. Atego's flagship Virtual Machine technology and supporting tool chain, Aonix PERC Ultra® is one of the most deployed embedded and real-time Virtual Machines in the industry and was recently tested and deployed in time-critical applications ranging from the Aegis weapons system on the guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill to the in-flight entertainment and cabin management systems on the Cessna Citation CJ4 business jet. Aonix PERC Ultra SMP adds support to empower large mission-critical systems to more fully utilize multiple processors at peak performance. Aonix PERC Ultra SMP, first introduced in 2008 provided parallel garbage collection (GC), a memory management technique allowing the use of all processors/cores for faster identification and collection of unused objects. A dual quad-core Xeon-based Linux real-time system could collect discarded memory nearly eight times faster than a single-threaded garbage collector but could not run concurrent with other application threads until now.
www.Atego.com
IAR Systems announced that IAR Embedded Workbench is now available for STMicroelectronics STM8 microcontrollers. Support for the STM8 family extends the support already available for the ARM® Cortex-M3™ based STM32 range of microcontrollers. The consistent tool chain for STM8 and STM32 microcontrollers allows developers to use the same reliable and powerful tools for developing embedded software across both architectures. A common user interface and a single naming convention of embedded specific language extensions make switching between the 8-bit target and the 32-bit target an easier, quicker and more reliable task, allowing developers to focus on application development instead of learning new tools. IAR Embedded Workbench for STM8 is a comprehensive set of embedded development tools for applications employing the STM8 platform. It supports all STM8 devices in the STM8A, STM8L and STM8S families. IAR Embedded Workbench for STM8 includes a project manager, editor, build tools and debugger in a tightly integrated development environment. Real-time on-chip debugging is available through the ST-LINK and STice debug probes available from STMicroelectronics. Powerful debug features including performance analysis through function profiling and code coverage utilities, and exact execution control using complex code and data breakpoints, saves project time. An evaluation version is available for download on www.iar.com/ewstm8.
www.iar.com
With over 130 pages, the new Kontron Product Guide offers a comprehensive overview of over 300 products and Kontron value-added services including custom design and manufacturing for OEMs. The number of featured products has increased by 30% over last year and includes COTS boards and mezzanines, Computer-on-Modules, HMIs and displays, systems and platforms.The new catalog offers key vertical markets such as industrial automation, communications, medical, energy, infotainment, transportation and military a comprehensive portfolio of board and system solutions. In the high-performance segment, new solutions have been added based on the latest Intel Core i7 processor series across several product lines including VPX, AdvancedMC, CompactPCI and COM Express. Kontron has also made the new 32 nm Intel Xeon 5500 Series processors available on the AdvancedTCA, Communication Rack Mount Server (CRMS) and Server Motherboard product lines.
Featured for the first time in the catalog is the new precision Swiss-engineered product portfolio, which includes small form factor (SFF) single board computers such as PC/104, PC/104-Plus and PCI/104-Express and fanless,compact computers for stationary and mobile applications. With these new products Kontron enhances its rugged portfolio for the transportation, military and medical markets with an emphasis on compact solutions.
www.kontron.com/support/literature-library
IAR Systems announced it has added support for the ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor to IAR Embedded Workbench. Building on the support already offered to other ARM Cortex processors, this latest release of IAR Embedded Workbench also adds software performance for the signal processing capabilities found in the ARM Cortex-M4 processor.
The ARM Cortex-M4 processor, announced by ARM in February, adds DSP instructions and an FPU to the ARM Cortex-M processor series, making it suitable for use in embedded audio, motor control, power management, and other applications where such processing is a central task.
The new signal processing capabilities are well utilized by the IAR C/C++ compiler, part of the IAR Embedded Workbench suite, whose intelligent optimizations schedule the architecture's extended instruction set to add software performance for digital signal control devices. The compiler's built in FPU support guarantees that the maximum performance for floating point operations is reached without the need for time consuming assembly level libraries.
IAR Embedded Workbench incorporates the IAR C/C++ Compiler, assembler, linker, librarian, text editor, project manager, and IAR C-SPY Debugger combined in an integrated development environment (IDE). IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM is available for download at www.iar.com/ewarm.
www.iar.com
Designed to enable easy and efficient development and validation of real-time appliances based on the smallest x86 solutions, Kontron introduced the Intel Atom Processor-based COM Express compatible Kontron nanoETXexpress Starterkit for the latest VxWorks platform. This special starter kit is pre-configured with the Kontron nano ETXexpress-SP Computer-on-Module, featuring the Intel Atom Z530 (1.6GHz) processor, and is validated by the Wind River Partner Validation Program for use with VxWorks. The Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP Starterkit for VxWorks allows developers to address critical issues such as integration costs, time-to-market, and long-term support, right from the start of platform evaluation. The Kontron nanoETXexpress Starterkit for VxWorks provides a rich HMI application platform, well-suited for distributed or mobile ultra small form factor devices such as those used in healthcare, medical, small-footprint industrial devices, automotive telematics, military, and networking. All of these application areas require optimized system responsiveness and solution flexibility.
www.nanoETXexpress.org
Diamond Systems Corp., a leading supplier of ruggedized single-board computers (SBCs) and I/O expansion modules targeting real-world applications, unveiled an adapter board that allows the use of FeaturePak I/O expansion modules in systems that provide SUMIT-ISM expansion stack locations. The FeaturePak socket on the SUMIT/FP Adapter consumes a single PCI Express x1 lane from the SUMIT-A bus connector on the SUMIT-ISM module. The adapter provides a pair of 50-pin I/O header connectors for convenient access to all FeaturePak I/O. In addition, it includes pass-through connectors for the SUMIT-ISM stack’s SUMIT-B bus and PC/104 (ISA) bus. An extended operation temperature range of -40°C to +85°C is supported.
http://featurepak.org/
Kontron expands its extensive portfolio of long-term available Kontron Industrial Silent Severs (KISS) with a new Quad-Core 2U rack-mount platform in four variants. With the new Kontron Industrial Silent Server KISS 2U KTQ45/Flex, Kontron fills an extremely wide range of requirements for different applications in test and measurement, image processing, process control, video surveillance and gaming. With four different versions and various expansion options, the Kontron Industrial Silent Server KISS 2U KTQ45/Flex offers customers perfectly tailored systems and a faster time-to-market. The systems come in a full box depth of 472 mm or in a short version for confined spaces with a depth of only 350mm. With 2U height, the high-performance quad-core systems still offer enough space for four low-profile PCI and PCIe cards or two full-height cards (2x PCI or 2 x PCIe or 1x PCIe & 1 PCI). Despite its compact and space-saving footprint, the KISS 2U KTQ45/Flex offers numerous expansion options. Customers can choose the right system from four different versions based on two different case depths and two expansion options (2 x PCI or 2 PCI and 2 PCIe).
www.kontron.com
Diamond Systems Corp., a leading supplier of ruggedized single-board computers (SBCs) and I/O expansion modules targeting real-world applications, unveiled the industry’s first digital I/O module compatible with the recently-introduced FeaturePak embedded I/O expansion standard. Despite its diminutive size (see actual size photo at right), the FP-GPIO96 integrates 96 buffered, programmable digital I/O lines with byte-wide and bit-wide port direction control, eight 32-bit counter/timers, four 24-bit pulse-width modulation circuits with 0-100% duty cycle, and a watchdog timer with system reset capability. It interfaces to host systems via the FeaturePak host interface’s high-speed PCI Express bus interface. The FP-GPIO96 is shipped in a standard configuration, based on the “personality” pre-programmed into its on-board FPGA. Alternate personalities may be downloaded at no charge from Diamond’s website and programmed into the board using a Diamond-supplied software utility. The FP-GPIO96 also supports -40°C to +85°C extended temperature operation.
Software Support
Diamond supplies a Universal Driver software toolkit at no extra charge with the FP-GPIO96 digital I/O FeaturePak module, to ease the task of supporting its data acquisition functions in applications under Linux, Windows XP, Windows Embedded Standard, and Windows Embedded CE. The toolkit also includes demo programs and example code for each supported OS, to further accelerate application development.
http://featurepak.org/
The nonprofit CiA (CAN in Automation) organization has released the last part of the reviewed CiA® 302 series of additional application layer functions. This part 3 specifies the configuration manager and the program download via the CANopen® network. The other parts of CiA 302 have been released earlier. They specify the network management including the NMT flying master (part 2), the network variables and the process image (part 4), the SDO manager (part 5), bus-line (network) redundancy (part 6), and multi-level networking (part 7). “The completion of the CiA 302 version 4.1 is an important milestone,” said Holger Zeltwanger, CiA Managing Director. “The new version will enable the CANopen device and system designer to improve their products and solutions.”
www.can-cia.org
Pigeon Point Systems (PPS), an Actel company, announced new AdvancedTCA® (ATCA) IPM Controller (IPMC) and ATCA/AdvancedMC™ (AMC) Carrier IPMC Board Management Reference (BMR) Starter Kits using Actel's new SmartFusion™ intelligent mixed signal FPGA. SmartFusion is the only device that integrates an FPGA, hard ARM® Cortex™-M3-based microcontroller subsystem (MSS) and programmable analogue, offering full customisation, IP protection and ease-of-use. These comprehensive IPMC and Carrier IPMC solutions based on Pigeon Point's field-proven IPMC offerings and the SmartFusion intelligent mixed signal FPGA accelerate customer design cycles and enable designers to concentrate on differentiating their ATCA board products (including those with AMC slots) instead of expending internal effort meeting management requirements for xTCA™ specification compliance. By leveraging Pigeon Point's proven record for compliance, interoperability and responsive support, together with the flash-based SmartFusion device for power and system management, Pigeon Point Systems delivers comprehensive IPMC and Carrier IPMC reference solutions that reinforce Actel's commitment to the strong worldwide adoption of xTCA by telecom equipment manufacturers. xTCA includes the ATCA and AMC architectures, as well as the complementary MicroTCA architecture.
www.pigeonpoint.com
Atego, announces the latest successful deployment of its Aonix PERC Ultra® Virtual Machine in Rockwell Collins' Venue high definition Cabin Management System. The most recent certification was completed on the Cessna Citation CJ4 business jet. The award-winning Venue™ HD CMS, built and delivered by Rockwell Collins, is standard equipment on this new aircraft. Already deployed in hundreds of thousands of systems in the military/aerospace, telecommunications, transportation and industrial control markets, Aonix PERC Ultra is used by Rockwell Collins in its Venue cabin management system, providing deterministic, real-time performance and high productivity development. Venue combines home theatre quality XM Radio, hi-def Blu-Ray™ DVD and integrated real-time flight status information, together with cabin environmental cooling and heating features. Rockwell Collins relies on Aonix PERC Ultra's reliability and predictability in performance envelopes supporting millisecond latencies.
www.Atego.com
The new RISC-based Kontron Panel PC Pico Client with 5.7" touch screen, which Kontron introduced at Embedded World in Nurnberg, Germany, is an extremely compact, cost-effective and energy-saving industrial panel PC. The front-side IP65-protected Kontron Pico Client with resistive 5.7-inch VGA TFT touch-screen (640x480) is designed for visualization and control tasks in machinery and equipment. Thanks to its low-power design, it is also attractive for mobile devices and vehicles. The Jazelle extension integrated in the 200MHz/32Bit ARM9 processor runs Java code directly on the hardware, which speeds up cross-platform Java applications by up to eight times. This enables Kontron's low power Panel PC to run even complex Java applications on an extremely compact footprint, bringing more flexibility and usability to cost sensitive applications with tight power restrictions in markets such as industrial and building automation, logistics and process control.
www.kontron.com
Atego, the leading independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative development tools for engineering complex, mission- and safety-critical architectures, systems, software and hardware, has announced the successful deployment of its industry-leading Aonix PERC Virtual Machine technology in support of Lockheed Martin's Java language components used in the Aegis Open Architecture System during recent combat tests. The guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52), modernized with the Aegis Weapon System, completed an operational trial of its full combat system.
Already deployed in thousands of fielded systems in the military/aerospace, telecommunications, transportation and industrial control markets, Aonix PERC Ultra is used by Lockheed Martin in its Aegis Weapon System, providing deterministic, real-time performance and high productivity development.
www.Atego.com
Kontron announced at the Hannover Fair today the fanless Kontron ThinkIO-Solo embedded IPC and the Debian Linux desktop distribution for the Kontron ThinkIO-Duo/-Solo.
The extremely compact (70mm deep / 35mm connector level) and maintenance free Kontron embedded IPC ThinkIO-Solo is equipped with an Intel Celeron M processor clocked at 1.06 GHz, 1 GB RAM, up to 4 GB soldered internal flash and 512KB non-volatile memory.
Both the Kontron ThinkIO-Solo and ThinkIO-Duo include robust aluminium housing, compact flash socket for adding mass storage, standard PC interfaces, and field bus options including industrial Ethernet and a modular I/O interface option. The Kontron ThinkIO enables remote access and connection to a company's IT infrastructure (ERP systems and databases) while simultaneously providing control functionality at the field level. The interrupt capable onboard inputs can be used to trigger a rapid response to events, such as failure of the external 24 V power supply when using the optional 10ms holdup module according to IEC61131-2/severity level PS2 or when traversing an end stop switch. A watchdog timer and real-time clock are also included.
Kontron also expanded the software portfolio for its long term available family of embedded IPCs. The new Debian desktop distribution, specifically tailored to the Kontron ThinkIO, includes a convenient PC interface, which enables faster development time. Along with the easy integration of existing software, the user-friendly interfaces help improve customer time to market. Powerful packet-management software for easy upgrading and version control is also included. The new Debian desktop distribution, in addition to Windows XP Embedded and real-time Linux cross compile package, give customers more software options for higher flexibility.
www.kontron.com/thinkio
On April 1, 2010, Test and Measurement World announced that the VI Technology MMTS™ Moving Video Test System would be awarded the prestigious Best in Test Award. This is the second year in a row readers of this leading magazine for engineers in electronic test and measurement have voted VI Technology, an Aeroflex Company, Best in Test in the “Audio/Video and Multimedia” category. MMTS Moving Video Test System uses state-of-the-art automated analysis techniques to uncover errors that were previously undetectable with manual testing procedures. Instead of capturing a still image frame and manually analyzing one frame at a time for errors, the MMTS Moving Video Test System captures the entire video sequence and compares it to a reference golden video stream. Engineers can analyze all frames for a user-designated period of time and analyze each frame for common video errors. Multiple videos or a series of images can be used to create and edit a golden video. The test system is ideal for the automated testing of modern consumer electronics, such as Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, smart phones, mobile devices and computers.
www.vi-tech.com/mmts/movingvideo
Aeroflex introduced the ALT-8000, the world's first RF-based portable radio altimeter flightline test set. The ALT-8000 is a lightweight universal test set for 4.3 GHz FMCW (frequency modulated continuous carrier wave) radio altimeters and pulse radio altimeters with a large 30cm (12") colour touch screen for ease of use.
The ALT-8000 is the first flightline test system of its kind. A breakthrough in avionics test technology, the ALT-8000 is an inexpensive, portable simulator for testing radio altimeters installed in aircraft and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles). Until now, flightline test sets have not been RF-based and have only tested the analogue or digital back-end of the receiver via test port signal injection. Existing RF based test systems have been confined to bench test applications and rely upon heavy, bulky and expensive delay lines to check altitude indications at one or two fixed points.
By contrast, the ALT-8000 is easy to use and can be carried to the flightline. The ALT-8000 may be directly coupled to the radio altimeter transmitter/receiver (Tx/Rx) ports or may be connected via supplied Tx/Rx antenna couplers, which accommodate most aircraft antenna variants.
www.aeroflex.com
Atego, the leading independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative development tools for engineering complex, mission- and safety-critical architectures, systems, software and hardware, has announced that Aonix ObjectAda Real-Time® for Windows targeting Intel x86 architectures running Wind River's VxWorks RTOS has been selected for the prestigious Editor's Choice award for the January/February edition of Military Embedded Systems.
The award of Editor's Choice from Military Embedded Systems follows closely on the heels of the formation of Atego, a new and strong independent force in the mission- and safety-critical systems and software development tools market. Headquartered in San Diego CA, USA and Cheltenham, UK, Atego was created from the recent merger between Artisan Software Tools and Aonix. Artisan Software Tools distinguished itself as the world's largest independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative modeling tools for complex, mission and safety-critical systems and software and Aonix as a leading supplier of critical systems development tools, virtual machines and services for real-time/embedded Java and Ada solutions.
www.Atego.com
The new Kontron 2U Butterfly Backplane xPB-6E5PO for PICMG 1.3-based system designs boasts comprehensive PCI Express Gen 2 support in the smallest of spaces. Compared to competing custom solutions, the PICMG 1.3-compliant standard component offers a more cost-effective and fast system design using COTS components, ultimately helping to accelerate OEMs' time-to-market and reducing total cost of ownership.
Thanks to PCI Express Gen 2 support, the Kontron 2U backplane xPB-6E5PO is designed for highest throughput (5.0 GT/s) with the latest frame grabbers, graphics and network cards. The space-saving butterfly backplane was developed for image processing, gaming and infotainment as well as networking applications. Via standard graphics cards, the high-speed backplane can provide, for example, 10 displays with different video signals. With high-end components, control of up to 40 monitors - each with different content - is possible. In the same way, very fast image processing systems with multiple frame grabbers and graphics cards or ultra-bandwidth routers with integrated firewall and 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet for upstream and downstream can be implemented. For expansion ports, the new Kontron backplane offers 1 x PEG (PCIe ×16), 1 × PCIe ×8 and 3 × PCIe ×4 as well as the PICMG 1.3 slot for the SHB (system host board). Connections for 4 × USB 2.0, 2 × SATA and 1 × LAN round out the interface offerings of the new Kontron PICMG 1.3 Backplane.
www.kontron.com
