Electronics Weekly – Synopsys Vision Processors, Microsemi Imaging Upgrades & More

New products from Analog Devices, BQR, Microsemi, Synopsys and Texas Instruments.

Analog Devices Digital-to-Analog Converters

(Image courtesy of Analog Devices.)

(Image courtesy of Analog Devices.)

Analog Devices has introduced a pair of integrated 16-channel digital-to-analog (D/A) converters designed to reduce the system footprint for wired telecommunications systems, without any performance compromise.

The 12-bit AD5767 and 16-bit AD5766 are devices with all the required bias ranges for coherent optical systems of medium to long-haul, fiber-based telecommunication deployments. Both ICs integrate an array of discrete components to provide the required voltage ranges and additional system functionality in a very small area. These D/A converters are well-suited for optical modules and electro-optical functions such as bias control, including Mach-Zehnder modulator-bias control.

The converters are available in both 4×4 mm WLCSP and a 6×6 mm LFCSP packages. They provide a range of unipolar or bipolar output voltages from the user-supplied 2.5-V reference; these outputs can be adjusted down to −20 V or as high as +14 V.

Detailed technical schematics are available on Analog Devices’ website.

BQR Maintenance Tool

(Image courtesy of BRQ.)

(Image courtesy of BRQ.)

BQR has developed BQR-Digital, a tool providing actionable insights on field failures for asset and fleet maintenance. BQR Digital is an automatic online analytics service for any CMMS (Computerized maintenance management system). It uses accumulated data, and calculates failure distribution and RUL (Remaining Useful Life) for each component.

BQR-Digital aims to enable analysis for virtually all the components in the facility, yielding a comprehensive overview. By contrast, IOT-based systems are typically connected to only a small number of components.

The tool enables predictive maintenance; when a component status is diagnosed as critical, it can be replaced or monitored, and preparations can be made, preventing high damages when the component actually fails. BQR-Digital can also be connected to any CMMS via the web, immediately providing actionable information.

For more information, visit BQR’s website.

Microsemi Upgrades its Imaging/Video System

(Image courtesy of Microsemi.)

(Image courtesy of Microsemi.)

Microsemi has announced new additions to its imaging/video solution supporting the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) camera serial interface (CSI-2). The enhancements, including a field programmable gate array (FPGA) mezzanine card (FMC)-based daughter card and support for image sensors with MIPI CSI-2 interfaces, enable customers to use the company’s IGLOO2 FPGA and SmartFusion2 system-on-chip FPGA capabilities in CSI-2-based camera systems.

“Our CSI-2 FMC daughter board bundled with our IP enables customers to quickly design a wide variety of imaging solutions. In addition, the low power of our IGLOO2 and SmartFusion2 FPGAs are particularly compelling for camera designs which are often size and power constrained,” said Ted Marena, director FPGA marketing at Microsemi. The MIPI CSI-2 receiver decoder IP supports multi-lane (one, two and four lanes), RAW8 (eight bit data width), and both short packet and long packet formats for transporting image data.

For more information on Microsemi’s imaging/video system, visit the company’s website.

Synopsys Embedded Vision Processor

(Image courtesy of Synopsys.)

(Image courtesy of Synopsys.)

Synopsys has enhanced the convolutional neural network (CNN) engine in its DesignWare EV6x Vision Processors to address the increasing video resolution and frame rate requirements of high-performance embedded vision applications.

The CNN engine delivers up to 4.5 TeraMACs per second when implemented in 16-nanometer FinFET process technologies under typical conditions, four times more performance than Synopsys’ previous CNN engine. It also supports both coefficient and feature map compression/decompression to reduce data bandwidth requirements and decrease power consumption.

The vision CPU scales from one to four vector DSPs and operates in parallel to the CNN engine, delivering maximum throughput for a broad range of high-performance embedded vision applications such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), video surveillance, augmented and virtual reality, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

The enhancements are scheduled to rollout in August and October of this year. For more details, visit Synopsys’ website.

TI Frequency Inverter Reference Design

(Image courtesy of Texas Instruments.)

(Image courtesy of Texas Instruments.)

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced a three-phase, gallium nitride (GaN)-based inverter reference design that will help engineers build 200-V, 2-kW AC servo motor drives and next-generation industrial robotics with fast current-loop control, higher efficiency, and more accurate speed and torque control.

The Three-Phase High-Frequency GaN Inverter Reference Design features TI’s LMG3410 600-V, 12-A GaN power module with an integrated FET, gate driver and protection, announced last year. The GaN module allows the design to switch up to 5x faster than silicon FETs, while achieving efficiency levels greater than 98 percent at 100 kHz and greater than 99 percent at 24 kHz pulse width modulation (PWM) frequency.

With GaN, designers can optimize switch performance to reduce power loss in the motor, and downsize the heat sink to save board space. Operating the inverter at 100 kHz significantly helps improve torque ripple when used with low-inductance motors.

To view and download the reference design, visit TI’s website.


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