IC market tracking global GDP more closely

The correlation coefficient between global GDP and the IC market will rise to 0.95 between 2018 and 2022 up from 0.88 in the 2010-2017 time period, says IC Insights. IC Insights depicts the increasingly close correlation between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth through 2017, as well as its forecast through 2022, in Figure ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ic-market-tracking-global-gdp-closely-2018-08/

TCL comes to UK

TCL, the world’s third largest TV manufacturer, has  entered the UK market with its UK debut range now available in retail channels and fully supported. “We see the UK market as one of great opportunity for TCL,” says TCL’s UK boss Bernie Chen. TCL entered the European market by partnering withThomson in France in 2004 ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/tcl-comes-uk-2018-08/

Connector sets compliant with VITA 42 XMC.

Samtec has launched connector sets compliant with the revised ANSI/VITA 42.0-2016 XMC Standard. VITA 42 XMC defines an open standard for supporting high-speed, switched interconnect protocols on an existing, widely deployed form factor. This revision further defined the concept for the preferred Standard connectors in XMC applications including: Solder ball attachment replaced Paste-On-Pad (POP) for ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/connector-sets-compliant-vita-42-xmc-2018-08/

49 members of US Congress object to semi tariffs

49 members of  the US Congress have asked the Trump Administration to remove tariffs on U.S. semiconductor products imported from China. In a letter to Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the government body charged with issuing the tariffs, the Representatives stressed the importance of semiconductors in the modern economy, arguing that the duties ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/50-congressmen-objectbto-semi-tariffs-2018-08/

Green Hills and Paragon partner on IVI systems

Green Hills Software has combined its INTEGRITY RTOS with Paragon Software’s  File System Link to deliver safe and secure IVI systems. Paragon’s drivers enable car owners to connect USB devices, SD cards, or other storage media directly to in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems and instantly enjoy audio and video recordings, regardless of the file system used. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/green-hills-paragon-partner-ivi-systems-2018-08/

New Seeker release from Synopsys

Synopsys has announced  availability of  a new Seeker release, an interactive application security testing (IAST) solution redesigned to enable DevSecOps and continuous delivery of secure web applications. Seeker integrates into CI/CD pipelines and monitors web applications during preproduction testing cycles. It clams to be the only application security solution that detects and automatically verifies whether ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/new-seeker-release-synopsys-2018-08/

Top Ten (+3) Google Uses Of AI

Thanks to Google for this one – their top thirteen  applications of AI 1. Search for “dogs” or “hugs” in your Google Photos library to find your favorite furry friends and (non furry) moments. Even if you haven’t captioned any of your photos, Google can surface the ones that have the object or action you’re ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/top-ten-3-google-uses-ai-2018-08/

University sets up service to tap into the graphene boom

Aiming to bridge the link between R&D into graphene’s properties and making its application into products on an industrial scale, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI, pictured)  at the University of Manchester, have set up a graphene characterisation service. Graphene is stronger than steel, yet is lightweight and flexible, it ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/university-sets-service-tap-graphene-boom-2018-07/

Boost-converter eval board maximises runtime for wireless devices

An evaluation board from Recom, maximises runtime for small battery-powered wireless devices. The R-78S evaluation board (R-78S3.3-0.1-EVM) for Recom’s 3.3V R-78S boost converter is now available from Dengrove Electronic Components. The evaluation board maximises runtime by generating a regulated 3.3V output as the battery discharges to as low as 0.65V. Test points measure load current and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/boost-converter-eval-board-maximises-runtime-wireless-devices-2018-07/

Naughty, but fascinating – hobby lock-picking

I watched my tablet entranced as someone called the LockPickingLawyer did what it said on the tin. This all started when one of the high-security Yale ‘Euro’ locks that I fitted to my house jammed – it is at the repairers now. Anyway, I googled it to see if this was a known problem – it ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/naughty-but-facinating-2018-07/

Making America Resurgent Again

 33 years after Sematech, the Americans are embarking on a new semiconductor R&D programme which could be just as significant.  Unlike 1985, when the Japanese had overtaken the Americans in memory process technology and in semiconductor market share, today’s threat from China is less immediate.  But the  current Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) could turn out ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/rd-mannerisms/533401-2018-07/

Thalia and Catena deliver first analogue IP re-use projects

Thalia Design Automation and Catena have delivered the first of their analogue IP reuse projects. The two companies have worked together to migrate Catena’s WiFi and variants of Bluetooth IP including a low-power version, between multiple sub-40nm process nodes and foundry providers. Analogue IP providers increasingly need to respond to customer demands for absolute flexibility in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/thalia-catena-deliver-first-analogue-ip-re-use-projects-2018-07/

An iron-based 2D material from nature

An international team has added another two-dimensional material to the expanding list that started with graphene. Hematene is a three-atom-thick iron oxide mono-layer, which has been made at Rice University in Texas by exfoliating it from the naturally-occurring iron ore heamatite (or ‘hematite’). Transmission electron image shows a single sheet of hematene. Scale bar 0.5μm ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/iron-based-2d-material-nature-2018-07/

IQD launches quartz crystals operating at up to 200MHz

IQD has launched a range of quartz crystals which can operate in the fundamental mode up to 200 MHz. The quartz crystals are housed in an hermetically sealed 2.5 x 2.0 x 0.6mm (IQXC-152) and 2.0 x 1.6 x 0.5mm (IQXC-153) ceramic 4 pad package, 2 of the pads are grounded to the metal lid to ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/iqd-launches-quartz-crystals-operating-200mhz-2018-07/

IIoT consortium formed

Advantech, Behr Technologies (BTI), Hitachi Solutions America, and Microsoft are collaborating to deliver wireless communications for private industrial internet of things (IIoT) networks. The joint effort will provide a mass-market, end-to-end wireless gateway to ensure connectivity with sensors for production-level industrial and commercial applications. This collaboration aims to meet growing demand in the marketplace for ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/533376-2018-07/

Tencent joins LoRa Alliance

Tencent has jouned the LoRa Alliance to develop LoRaWan technology. Tencent has invested significantly in technology and applications for LoRaWAN and will support further development of the LoRaWAN ecosystem. The company also announced plans to build a LoRaWAN network in Shenzhen with local partners. Finally, it provides device-edge-cloud LoRaWAN solutions on its network for a ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/tencent-joins-lora-alliance-2018-07/

NASA makes ultra-cold atoms in space

Researchers from NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) have produced clouds of ultracold atoms called Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) aboard the International Space Station (ISS), representing the coldest experiments ever conducted in space. BECs, which can reach temperatures just above absolute zero, the point where atoms should theoretically stop moving entirely, have never previously been produced in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nasa-makes-ultra-cold-atoms-space-2018-07/

Uber ditches self-driving trucks

Uber will stop it’s autonomous truck development to concentrate on self-driving cars. Two years ago, Uber bought Otto which develops self-driving technology for trucks. Uber is said to have paid $680 million for Otto which was started by an ex-Waymo engineer who, Waymo alleged, had stolen 14,000 documents from Waymo. That precipitated a bitter lawsuit ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/uber-ditches-self-driving-trucks-2018-07/

T-Mobile gives Nokia $3.5bn contract for US 5G network

T-Mobile, the third largest US mobile network, has given Nokia a $3.5 billion contract to build its US  5G network. The move may incentivise other operators to build 5G networks which they have been reluctant to do because of cost. T-Mobile says it will run a 5G service next year in LA, Las Vegas, New ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/t-mobile-gives-nokia35bn-contract-us-5g-network-2018-07/

Extensive Use Of Transistorised Equipment At Elstree

EXTENSIVE use of transistorised equipment, three alternative definition standards, and vision mixers claimed to provide more facilities than any  other mixer in existence, are some of  the main technical features of Associated Television’s new Elstree Studion Centre. So, 57 years ago started a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of April 12th 1961 The story continues: The ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/xtensive-use-transistorised-equipment-elstree-2018-07/

16 optical fibre connectors in 1U rack panel

Surrey-based Cliff Electronics is offering pre-assembled fibre-optic connector rack panels, fitting 16 connectors in each 1U x 19” panel. Based on the firm’s ‘FeedThrough’ profile, which fits various electrical and optical connectors in the standard cut-out for an XLR connector, there are four pre-loaded panels – include one with the ST MM (multi-mode) fibre-optic connector whose straight ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/533371-2018-07/

Q2 a record for wafer shipments.

Q2 silicon wafer area shipments rose 2.5% to 3,160 million square inches from Q1’s  3,084 million square inchesM  according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). Q2 total area shipments are 6.1%  higher than Q2 2017 shipments. “The second calendar quarter of the year typically enjoys a volume increase over the first quarter,” says SEMI SMG chairman ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/q2-record-wafer-shipments-2018-07/

The Big T

Tomorrow Apple, if its numbers are good, could be the first to grab the trillion dollar crown. Apple announces Q2 figures tomorrow. Its market cap is currently $939 billion. A good set of results could push it over the line to get a trillion dollar market cap. If it doesn’t, Amazon could grab the crown ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/the-big-t-2018-07/

Charcroft signs Euroquartz

Charcroft Electronics, the Llanwrtyd Wells-based specialist components manufacturer and distributor, has signed a UK distribution franchise agreement with Euroquartz which manufactures quartz crystals, oscillators, filters and frequency-related products to the electronics manufacturing industry world-wide.  “The addition of the Euroquartz product range is a natural extension to our existing portfolio of Defence, Space-grade and high-reliability products,”says Charcroft md Debbie ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/charcroft-signs-euroquartz-2018-07/

RS details RISC-V processing hardware in the shape of Arduino

RS Components has some information on HiFive1 – and Arduino-compatible board with a RISC-V processor on its website, written by Andrew Black of the Free and Open Source Silicon Foundation, and the Open Source Hardware User Group. RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) – that makesit , sort of, similar to the closed-source ARM or ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/risc-v-processing-hardware-shape-arduino-2018-07/

UK made: low-pressure over-moulding service

EC Electronics is offering low-pressure over-moulding encapsulation for PCBs and cable assemblies from its facility near Reading, as well as its Romanian factory. The process is an alternative between traditional potting and injection moulding. “Although initially used in the automotive industry to waterproof connectors and to add strain-relief for wires and cables, over-moulding is now used to ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/emech-enclosures/uk-made-low-pressure-moulding-service-2018-07/

Dual quiet low-capacitance p-jfet, for when n-fets miss the spot

“Historically, p-channel jfets availability has declined,” according to Californian fet maker Linear Integrated Systems (LIS). “Complementary single n-channel and p-channel jfets have become limited to a few industry standards. Complementary monolithic dual n-channel and p-channel jfets have not been offered for many years, leaving designers under supported.” And its answer to the dearth of choice is ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/discretes/dual-quiet-low-capacitance-p-jfet-n-fets-miss-spot-2018-07/

Toshiba in volume shipment of new current photorelays

Toshiba shipping volume quantities of two new high current photorelays that are fabricated using the latest U-MOS IX semiconductor process. The TLP3553A and TLP3555A devices feature OFF-state output terminal voltage ratings of 30V and 60V, and ON-state continuous current ratings of 4A and 3A – higher than previous generation products. When operated in pulsed mode, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/533335-2018-07/

Infineon in production of 1200V TRENCHSTOP IGBT S6 series.

Infineon is in volume production of  the 1200V TRENCHSTOP IGBT6. It is the first discrete IGBT duopack on the market manufactured on 12 inch wafers. The product family was optimized for use in hard switching and resonant topologies operating at switching frequencies from 15 kHz to 40 kHz. Typical applications for the IGBT6 are uninterruptible ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/infineon-production-1200v-trenchstop-igbt-s6-series-2018-07/

Connecting Devices Securely to the IoT

Learn how to reduce complexity when adding security – Register now for the webinar

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/connecting-devices-securely-iot-2018-07/

Kingston holds on to top DRAM module slot

Kingston maintained its lead in the DRAM module market last year with 60% growth, reports DRAMeXchange. ADATA was No.2, growing  its sales 146%. DRAM module makers saw sales rise 69% last year to $11.7 billion. Driving this was the rising ASP of DRAM which rose 50% in 2017 and rose 60% in the spot market. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/kingston-holds-top-dram-module-slot-2018-07/

SEMI objects to China tariffs

SEMI has objected to tariffs on Chinese imports used by the semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry SEMI’s Jonathan Davis has called for the removal of 29 tariff lines covering items critical to semiconductor manufacturing including machines and spare parts used to make, wafers, flat panel displays and masks. Davis stressed that while SEMI supports stronger protections ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semi-objects-china-tariffs-2018-07/

DCMS objects to Facebook responses

The DCMS ( Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ministry) published a report yesterday saying that Facebook was disingenuous in answers to questions from a parliamentary committee ‘to the point of obstruction’. The DCMS report was investigating the use of Facebook to interfere in elections and to publish fake news  and Is  looking at whether social ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/dcms-objects-facebook-reponses-2018-07/

Ed Stockpiles

This really is the Silly Season, Ed confides to his diary, I have been sent off to Slovakia  and Slovenia to sell the PM’s Brexit plan. Clearly the PM doesn’t have a very high regard for my persuasive abilities. The PM is playing a canny game. She has to. She knows that if the Awkward ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-stockpiles-2018-07/

Virgin Galactic reaches mesosphere

Virgin’s amazing rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo ‘VSS Unity’ climbed to 170,800ft on its third powered flight, the first time it has reached the mesosphere. And it hit Mach 2.47 during the flight. Launch was from the more conventionally-engined WhiteKnightTwo. There is a video of the flight. An interesting snippet from the Virgin website is that WhiteKnightTwo’s twin cabins come ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/virgin-galactic-reaches-mesosphere-2018-07/

BridgeTek puts colour touch screen on Arduino

Sunflower Shield adds a touch-enabled 3.5in QVGA TFT LCD to Arduino projects, and demonstrates Bridgetek’s FT813 video controller – which uses the firm’s innovative ‘EVE’ video controller which does away with the need for video ram. Designed by Cowfish Studios, it will render 24bit colour content in either landscape or portrait orientations, plus support smooth 60frame/s animations as ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/displays-2/bridgetek-puts-colour-touch-screen-arduino-2018-07/

Panasonic launches high ripple current electrolytic capacitors

Panasonic  is releasing a new series of automotive-qualified Aluminium electrolytic capacitors benefiting from very high ripple current (2 to 2.5 times higher than existing FC series products) and large capacitance values (up to 60% higher than existing FC series products). FP series radial lead type devices also feature a high endurance of 4000h up to ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/panasonic-launches-high-ripple-current-electrolytic-capacitors-2018-07/

Hauser’s Influences

Hermann Hauser KBE, FRS, Acorn and ARM founder and top UK tech VC, describes a number of influences on him. Asked if he ever had a hero or mentor, he repies:  “Well Clive Sinclair was certainly the leading figure of the time and we benefited from his mail order business model. He certainly played an important role.” ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/hausers-influences-2018-07/

Picture of the Day: A motorcycle born to be wild

Brazilian Tarso Marques made his name as a motorcycle racing champion Formula 1 driver and designer. Check out his motorcycle concept, the TMC Dumont.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/humour/picture-of-the-day-a-motorcycle-born-to-be-wild-2018-07/

Element14 and Xilinx launch ‘Path to Programmable’.

Element14 is launching a new reality series called “Path to Programmable” sponsored by Xilinx. The series will take five community members new to FPGASoCs and train them to better understand the technology, development tools and design flow process over the course of the twelve-week programme. From Machine Learning and 5G Wireless to Cloud Computing and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/element14-xilinx-launch-path-programmable-2018-07/

Another neat fet amplifier app note

Dipping into the Linear Systems website again, revealed another interesting app note on fet amplifier front-ends, written around the firm’s LSK489 monolithic dual low-noise n-fet. Called, LSK489 Application Note, and written by Bob Cordell, it is well worth a look. Amongst the many things I had not seen before (although sadly this is not saying much, considering ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/another-neat-fet-amplifier-app-note-2018-07/

Custom MMIC adds LNA and Phase Shifter MMICs

Custom MMIC has added to its LNA and Phase Shifter MMIC portfolio. The LNA is a C Band, 4-8 GHz device housed in a leadless 3×3 mm plastic surface mount package. The LNA delivers greater than 16 dB of gain with a corresponding output 1 dB compression point of +18 dBm and a noise figure ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/custom-mmic-adds-lna-phase-shifter-mmics-2018-07/

Applied, Symetrix and Arm win DARPA contract to pursue CeRAM-based switch.

Applied Materials, Symetrix and ARM have won a DARPA contract to develop a neuromorphic switch based on CERAM (Correlated Electron RAM), The contract is part of DARPA’s ERI (Electronics Fesurgence Initiative) aimed at accelerating the performance of electronic systems. The CeRAM approach is looking at sppeding up the processing of analogue signals. gCeRAM is a ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/applied-symetrix-arm-pursue-ceram-based-switch-2018-07/

Intel expects $69.5bn revenues for 2018

Intel had Q2 net profit of $5.91 billion on sales 15% up y-oy of $16.96 billion. The PC business had revenues of $8.73 billion up 6% y-o-y. The server business had revenues of $5.55 billion- up 27% y-o-y. The memory business had revenues of $1.08 billion – up 23% y-o-y the IoT business had sales ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-expects-69-5bn-revenues-2018-2018-07/

How Braiwashed Are FB’s Users?

Schadenfreude at Facebook’s expense – a 20% drop in share price from $218 to $176, a $120 billion market cap drop; a $15 billion fall for Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth – is widespread, Maybe a few hundreds of millions of zealots out of  FB’s 2.5 billion users still see the site as a warm, cosy, club ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/delusions/533249-2018-07/

VTOL electric plane carries you 25 miles

BlackFly Ultralight from Opener is an electric aeroplane that can take off vertically. Once up, the wings are rotated to provide lift during forward flight, increasing range. Powered by eight electric motors, each capable of delivering 60kg of thrust, it is said to be able to fly for 25 miles at 60mph and still have ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/533224-2018-07/

EPSRC puts £16m into low-carbon research

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has released the funding it promised for low-carbon ‘Supergen’ national energy research centres last year. £15m will be shared between the centres, which are to be multi-disciplinary collaborations between universities, academic bodies and industry. Getting £5m each, the three Supergen Energy hubs will be focused on off-shore renewable energy, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/epsrc-puts-16m-low-carbon-research-2018-07/

GMSL camera operates up to 15m from host for remote robotics

Long distance cameras in the NileCam series operate up to 15m from the host processor while still supporting low latency and high frame rates, says e-con Systems. The cameras use GMSL technology, a serdes technique, to carry high speed video, bidirectional control data and power over a single coaxial cable. The cameras can be used where long ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/bus-systems-sbcs/gmsl-camera-operates-15m-host-remote-robotics-2018-07/

Colloidal robot goes with the flow

MIT has found a way to get electronics into hard-to-access places, by flowing it in as a colloid. Colloids, milk is one, are suspensions of particles in a liquid that never settle out. “We wanted to figure out methods to graft complete, intact electronic circuits onto colloidal particles,” said MIT chemistry professor Michael Strano. What ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/colloidal-robot-goes-flow-2018-07/

Fable: The Unnatural Bedfellows

28 years ago, a guy was put in charge of a mobile phone manufacturing operation which had been unprofitable for three years. Ten years later the phone operation was the fifth most valuable brand on the planet with nearly 30% market share for phones , $30 billion of annual revenues, and a $200 billion market ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-unsuccessful-succession-2018-07/

140kV probe for bench work

Vitrek has introduced a 140kVdc 100kVac smart bench-top test probe. Called HVL-150, it is intended to expand the measurement range of the firm’s Model 4700 precision high-voltage meter. The probe has a proprietary low thermal coefficient attenuator that minimises the effects of self-heating (0.2ppm of reading per KV2), and low capacitance for ac measurement. Alone, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/test-measurement-products/140kv-probe-bench-work-2018-07/

Simple constant current LED drivers for automotive

Diodes has released simple LED driving chips for regulating current in strings of LEDs, particularly in cars and other road vehicles – some of which match parts from Infineon and Nexperia (see table below). Called the the BCR4xxUW6Q series, they come in SOT26 (SC70) packages and are expected to find use with LEDs displacing conventional bulbs ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/led/simple-constant-current-led-drivers-automotive-2018-07/

Industrial computers are certified to rail standards

Industrial computing systems from Captec, now include 1U and 2U (pictured) computers that are certified to EN 50121-4:2006. They have trackside approval to 3m and can be used for overground and underground rail installations.   Model feature and extended temperature range for operation in harsh rail environments. They are compatible with Intel processors, including the i-7 processors. They ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/industrial-computers-certified-rail-standards-2018-07/

APC Technology buys RF-TM distributor, Aspen

Specialist component distributor, APC Technology Group, announced its second acquisition of 2018, buying RF and microwave component, test and measurement equipment distributor, Aspen Electronics for £2.2million. Since 1974, Aspen Electronics has supplied RF and microwave components and test and measurement equipment from more than 50 manufacturers. The company also has a service facility to design, manufacture and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/apc-technology-buys-rf-tm-distributor-aspen-2018-07/

Simulation helps decide which molecules interact best for building nanomaterials

A simulation developed by Kyoto University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology could help scientists decide what molecules best interact with each other to build nanomaterials from scratch. The approach involves connecting the chemical properties of molecules with the nanostructures that form as a result of their interaction. A machine learning technique generates data that ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/simulation-may-help-decide-molecules-interact-best-building-nanomaterials-2018-07/

8cm high Ethernet switch

 Advantech has introduced an 8cm high EKI-2525LI Ethernet switch. The EKI-2525LI is an unmanaged 5-port Ethernet switch in an ultra-small enclosure whit fits in the palm of a hand. Compact devices such as PLCs typically have a height of only approximately 10 cm. Conventional Ethernet switches however, are usually taller than this, resulting in a ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/8cm-high-ethernet-switch-2018-07/

Ultrasound module market starts to take off.

The ultrasound modules market had sales of $2.1 billion in 2017, and expects a  CAGR of 18% between 2017 and 2023. The market in 2023 should reach $5.7 billion, says Yole Developpement. A Yole report: Ultrasound Sensing Technologies for Medical, Industrial & Consumer Applications  looks at the ecosystem and its players. It points out the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ultrasound-module-market-starts-take-off-2018-07/

BrainChip makes Akida Development Environment available

BrainChip is offering access to its Akida Development Environment – a machine learning framework for the creation, training, and testing of spiking neural networks (SNNs). The Akida Development Environment includes the Akida Executiony Engine, data-to-spike converters, and a model zoo of pre-created spiking neural network (SNN) models. The framework leverages the Python scripting language and its ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/brainchip-makes-akida-development-environment-available-2018-07/

Samsung starts mass production of LPDDR4X DRAM

Samsung has begun mass producing  2nd-generation 10nm-class (10-19nm) LPDDR4X (Low Power, Double Data Rate, 4X) DRAM to improve the efficiency and lower the battery drain of smartphones and other mobile applications. Compared to the mobile DRAM memory chips most used in current flagship mobile devices (1x-nm 16Gb LPDDR4X), the 2nd– generation LPDDR4X DRAM features up ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/samsung-stsrts-mass-production-lpddr4x-dram-2018-07/

Qualcomm-NXP deal off

As expected, China’s regulatory approval for the takeover of NXP by Qualcomm had not been received by the deadline of midnight New York time yesterday and the deal has been called off. “We obviously got caught up in something that was above us,” says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. The US-China trade spat scuppered the deal. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/qualcomm-nxp-deal-off-2018-07/

EU Unemployment Back To Pre-Crisis Levels.

After ten years the EU is nearly back to the same level of unemployment as it had before the 2008 financial crisis. Before the 2008 crisis, EU unemployment stood at 6.8%, now it stands at 7.1%. The UK did better – in 2008 UK unemployment was 5.7%; now it’s 4.1% Post-2008 unemployment peaked in the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/eu-unemployment-back-pre-crisis-levels-2018-07/

IR, red and violet leds cure ulcers

A combination of IR (850nm), red (660nm) and violet (405nm) leds has proved effective against ulcers on fingers caused by the auto-immune disease systemic sclerosis, according to University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust which 14 ulcers amongst eight patients were exposed to 10J/cm2 for 15 minutes twice weekly for three weeks, with follow-up ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/ir-red-violet-leds-cure-ulcers-2018-07/

Bulgin launches range of rugged capacitive touch switches,

Bulgin has launched  a range of rugged capacitive touch switches suitable for repetitive operation. The sealed IP68 rated switches are activated by the touch of a finger and can be used across a wide range of applications from heavy industrial to consumer appliances. As the switches feature no moving parts, they require no operating force to ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/bulgin-launches-range-rugged-capacitive-touch-switches-2018-07/

Summer Fridays

‘Summer Fridays’ will be offered to staff by 46% of North American organisations says a survey by Gartner of 144 HR bosses. That’s 30% more than in 2012, says Gartner. On a Summer Friday you can leave early or not show up at all. ‘Organizations that offer this type of perk may have a competitive ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/summer-fridays-2018-07/

16bit data acquisition over 48 channels at 125Msample/s

Spectrum Instrumentation has added twelve new products to its family of German-made LXI-based digitizerNETBOX data acquisition instruments. Designed specifically for situations where multiple signals need to be acquired, stored and analysed, users can select from models that provide 24, 32, 40 or 48 synchronised channels. Called the DN6.59x series, the digitisers are all based on ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/test-measurement-products/16bit-data-acquisition-48-channels-125msample-s-2018-07/

Neat app note on low-noise fets

Having become addicted to the works of Linear Tech apps engineer Jim Williams, I have learned to respect the addition of discrete transistors to op-amps to improve certain characteristics. Imagine my interest when I stumbled across an app note on the website of Linear Systems that advocates the use of discrete low-noise fets in all ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/neat-app-note-low-noise-fets-2018-07/

pA diodes protect sensitive inputs

Intended for protecting op-amp, sample-and-hold and multiplexer inputs, Linear Systems has created a range of extremely low-leakage picoamp diodes (PADs) with reveres currents ranging from 1pA to 100pA, which are “pin-for-pin replacements for Siliconix-Vishay”, said Linear. They are available in: TO-92 two-lead (part name = JPAD, 35Vmax reverse) TO-72 (PAD, 45Vmax) SOT-23 (SSTPAD 30V) DFN eight-lead ...

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ST looking to 14-17% growth this year

 ST had Q2 revenues of $2.27 billion up 18% on Q2 2017. Gross margin was 40% and profit was $261 million. It expects Q3 revenues to show growth of 10% to about $2.5 billion. The company’s growth target for the year is between 14 and 17% growth.  “We are growing significantly in the third and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/st-looking-14-17-growth-year-2018-07/

Imec achieves 27.1% PV cell conversion efficiency

Imec has achieved  a record result for its 4-terminal Perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaic cell. With a power conversion efficiency of 27.1%. The imec  cell beats the most efficient standalone silicon solar cell. Further careful engineering of the Perovskite material will bring efficiencies over 30% in reach. Perovskite microcrystals are a promising material system to make high-performance ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/imec-achieves-27-1-pv-cell-conversion-efficiency-2018-07/

Tsinghua buys Linxens

Tsinghua Unigroup is to buy connector, inlay and antenna specialist Linxens of France for $2.6 billion, reports Reuters. The deal still has to be approved by French and German regulators. Following objections by the US regulators to a string of proposed takeovers, the Chinese have reduced investment in the US by 75% and have spent ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/tsinghua-buys-linxens-2018-07/

C-SKY Micro licenses UltraSoC

C-SKY Microsystems  a China-based semiconductor company acquired by the Alibaba Group in April, has licensed UltraSoC’s embedded analytics technology for use in C-SKY’s SoCs. The companies plan a long-term partnership, with the first products targeted at sophisticated artificial intelligence-based applications. C-SKY will employ UltraSoC’s embedded analytics technology to enable advanced product developments based on its own ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/c-sky-micro-licenses-ultrasoc-2018-07/

DARPA to invest $1.5bn in IC R&D

DARPA, the US Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is to work with  research teams from industry and academia under DARPA’s $1.5 billion Electronics Research Initiative (ERI) to boost long-term semiconductor research. The partnerships will target advances in semiconductor circuit design, materials, and systems architectures. ERI is divided into three main research thrust areas – ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/darpa-invest-1-5bn-ic-rd-2018-07/

SEMI June billings down 8% on May

June billings of $2.48 billion for semiconductor manufacturing equipment were 8% lower than May’s 2018 $2.7 billion, and is 8.1% higher than June 2017 billings of $2.3 billion. “Global billings of North American equipment manufacturers declined for the current month by 8% from the historic high but is still 8% higher than billings for the same ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semi-june-billings-8-may-2018-07/

Marvell opens EMC lab for automotive Ethernet products

Marvell has opened an EMC lab. The testing facility is CISPR 25 qualified and Delivers an in-house capability to perform a wide range of emission, immunity and ESD testing. With this facility, Marvell’s automotive Ethernet products can be designed into system solutions that meet the EMC challenges faced by automotive manufacturers and help shorten the time-to-market. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/marvell-opens-emc-lab-automotive-ethernet-products-2018-07/

SiTime and Intel to work on timing for wireless ICs .

MEMS timing specislist  SiTime and Intel are to work together on integrating timing for Intel’s 5G multi-mode radio modems, Intel’s 4G chips, and its  millimeter-wave wireless, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS products. SiTime’s MEMS timing solutions enhance system performance in the presence of stressors such as vibration, high temperature, and rapid thermal transients. Such stressors can ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/sitime-intel-work-wireless-ic-timing-2018-07/

Top Ten Analogue IC Companies

Thanks to IC Insights for this one – the top ten analigue IC suppliers:  

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/top-ten-analogue-companies-3-2018-07/

Android platform stats: Oreo waxes as Nougat wanes

Some newer devices are keeping up to date, tracking Android developments. Older devices, not so much...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/eyes-on-android/general-eyes-on-android/android-platform-stats-oreo-waxes-nougat-wanes-2018-07/

Faffing Around

FANG, FAMG, GAFA, are acronyms used for the Kings of Tech, though why Netflix is a FANG component is unclear – except as providing a nice aggressive sounding acronym. After all the market caps are  Apple $930m Amazon $890m Alphabet $830m Microsoft $820m Facebook  $600m . . . . . .and. . . . . ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/faffing-around-2018-07/

DevBoard Watch: MKR VIDOR 4000 first Arduino to go FPGA

The idea is that you can configure it the way you want, to essentially create your own controller board. Thanks to the presence of an Intel Cyclone 10 FPGA.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/boards/devboard-watch-mkr-vidor-4000-first-arduino-go-fpga-2018-07/

150Vin buck converter idles at 9µA

Analog Devices has introduced a 150V buck converter that draws 9µA quiescent – that is only 1.35mW wasted at full input voltage. Called LTC3894, its input range is 4.5 to 150V, and the the firm makes an interesting point: that this wide range can eliminate the need for external surge suppression devices on lower voltage rails. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/150vin-buck-converter-idles-9%c2%b5a-2018-07/

Toshiba sampling SSDs using 96-layer TLC NAND

Toshiba is sampling SSDs that are based on its 96-layer, 3D flash memory. They come in 256GB, 512GB and 1024 GB capacities. The first SSD to use this technology, the XG6 series, is targeted to the client PC, high-performance mobile, embedded, and gaming segments – as well as datacentre environments for boot drives in servers, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/toshiba-sampling-ssds-using-96-layer-tlc-nand-2018-07/

AMS makes Q2 loss on reduced Apple orders.

AMS had a Q2 operating loss of $48.6 million on revenues of $252.8 million after a key customer, believed to be Apple, cut back orders for 3D sensors for iPhones. In Q2 2017, AMS had an operating profit of $1.6 million. AMS blamed a delay in orders which left it with unused capacity. AMS, which ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ams-makes-q2-loss-reduced-apple-orders-2018-07/

Apple 3D sensors and LIDAR boost GaAs wafer demand

The market for GaAs substrates will see a 15% CAGR in volume between 2017 and 2023, says a report from Yole Développement (Yole). Photonics applications will grow at 37%. Apple’s choice of  GaAs-based VCSELs for 3D sensing and the use of GaAs for LIDAR have ignited demand for GaAs wafers, reports Yole. The  report, “GaAs Wafer & Epiwafer ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/apple-3d-sensors-lidar-boost-gaas-wafer-demand-2018-07/

AI will create as many new jobs as it loses

Many thanks to SEPAM for pointing up this one – a report by PwC on the affect of AI on jobs. PwC, the business consultancy, reckons that as many UK jobs will be created by AI as will be lost by AI. A PwC report forecasts that about 20% of UK jobs will be automated ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/532950-2018-07/

Qualcomm launches 5G and sub-6GHz RFModules

Qualcomm is sampling 5G NR mmWave and sub-6 GHz RF modules for mobile devices. The Qualcomm QTM052 mmWave antenna module family and the Qualcomm QPM56xx sub-6 GHz RF module family pair with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem to deliver modem-to-antenna capabilities across several spectrum bands, in a footprint that is suitable  for mobile devices. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/qualcomm-launches-5g-sub-6ghz-rfmodules-2018-07/

ON Semi launches USB Type-C audio switch and current sense amplifiers

ON Semiconductor has launched a USB Type-C analog audio switch with integrated protection, and the NCS21x series of current sense amplifiers. TheUSB Type-C port multimedia switch, designated FSA4480, supports analog audio headsets allowing a common USB Type-C port to pass USB2.0 signals, analog audio and analog microphone signals. The device, which supports an audio sense path, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semi-launches-usb-type-c-audio-switch-current-sense-amplifiers-2018-07/

Perf-O-Data Hits UK Market

A new company in the British data-processing market, Document Processing Ltd. are to demonstrate Perf-O-Data at this year’s Electronic Computer Exhibition. So, 57 years ago, started a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of April 12th 1961. The story continues: This is a system of printing cheques, hire-purchase slips, etc., with perforated figures which can be read ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/perf-o-data-hits-uk-market-2018-07/

Elektra Awards 2018 entries deadline extended

The deadline for entries to the Elektra Electronics Industry Awards 2018 has been extended to 10 August 2018.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/elektra-awards-2018-entries-deadline-extended-2018-07/

Woofie McMarsy

Taking a bit of a risk, the European Space Agency is asking the public to name its Mars rover which is scheduled for take off the year after next. “Exploring the surface of another planet is what many scientists and researchers dream of and now a British-built rover will travel the surface of Mars to ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/woofie-on-mars-2018-07/

Harting mounts current sensors directly onto busbars

Harting has introduced a range of current sensors which can be directly mounted on busbars.   With dimensions of 6cm in height and 14cm wide, the HCME range of current sensors measure high currents up to 5500A.  The design of the HCME sensors is based on the open-loop measurement principle. This provides a direct representation ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/harting-mounts-current-sensors-directly-onto-busbars-2018-07/

67mm zoom collimator from Gaggione, and a new website

Gaggione has introduced a 67mm dia one-piece zoom collimator for 6mm diameter emitter CoBs – where is it said to zoom across ±5 to ±11° to 50% (10-22° FWHM) and ±9° to ±22.5° to 10% (18-45° FWTM). As this is zoomed simply by moving the one-piece collimator back and forth in front of the CoB, I was ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/67mm-zoom-collimator-gaggione-new-website-2018-07/

DCMS wants universal FTTH by 2033

FTTH will be universal by 2033 under a plan from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) . “We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity, no matter where they live, work or travel,” said DCMS Secretary Jeremy Wright, “this radical new blueprint for the future of telecommunications in this ...

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Rutronik offers Intel Core i7+ and 3D XPoint memory speed in HDD PC designs

The Intel Core i7+ and Core i5+ Boxed Solutions, available from Rutronik, combine Intel Core processors of the eighth generation with Optane Cache modules in packages for notebooks and desktop PCs.  The combination of powerful processors and Optane Cache modules accelerates systems with HDDs especially. It serves both in desktop PCs and notebooks as an alternative to the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/rutronik-offers-intel-core-i7-3d-xpoint-memory-speed-hdd-pc-designs-2018-07/

RS adds free IoT design tools download to DesignSpark

RS Components is working with a start-up company that develops ‘middleware’ software for Internet of Things (IoT) projects and applications.  The distributor’s agreement with Zerynth will mean its IoT development environment will be available via a portal on the RS DesignSpark engineering community, allowing customers to download the tools. Zerynth has developed a suite of ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/eda-and-ip/rs-adds-free-iot-design-tools-download-designspark-2018-07/

Only Connect: On Molex’s Edge Lock series and positive locking

In the latest in our series of Only Connect posts, Nick Locke highlights the development of Molex's Edge Lock series.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/industry-comment/connect-molexs-edge-lock-series-positive-locking-2018-07/

Nanocrystalline Common Mode Power Line Choke

WE-CMBNC from Würth Elektronik is a common mode choke with a nanocrystalline core.

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NXP-Qualcomm deadline this Wednesday

Wednesday may see the end of the NXP – Qualcomm saga. If the China government doesn’t OK the deal by then, it’s off. Qualcomm says that if there’s no approval on Wednesday it will not seek an extension to the approvals process. Qualcomm will have to pay NXP a $2 billion break-up fee if the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nxp-qualcomm-deadline-wednesday-2018-07/

Purdue creates fastest-ever rotor

Researchers have created the fastest man-made rotor in the world which revolves more than 60 billion times a minute – more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill. “This study has many applications, including material science,” says Purdue’s  Tongcang Li, “we can study the extreme conditions different materials can survive in.” Li’s team ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/purdue-creates-fastest-ever-rotor-2018-07/

TSMC expects 7nm will account for 20% of revenues next year

TSMC has  taped out ICs for an enhanced 7nm EUV process and expects 7nm to account for over 20% of sales next year.  Crypto mining weakness has caused TSMC to drop its year-end growth forecast for 2018 from 10% to between 5-9%, reports Digitimes. The forecast capex for 2018 has been revised from $11.5-12 billion ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/tsmc-expects-7nm-will-account-20-revenues-next-year-2018-07/

Ed Looks To Stiff The Deplorables

PPP – don’t you love it? – it offers so many opportunities for a rake off, Ed confides to his diary. Socialising the cost and privatising the profit is the formula – I particularly admire these bike ride organisers who charge cyclists £80 each for engaging in events on public roads and persuade the authorities ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-looks-stiff-deplorables-2018-07/

Printer for plasmonic structures works at room temperature

Printing nano-scale features in surfaces it difficult, according to Purdue University, particularly if the required features are smaller than the gains in the metal – the grains govern the ‘formability limit’. Sputtering metal into moulds is another route, so long at the resulting rough surface texture is not an issue. Now Purdue is claiming both ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/printer-plasmonic-structures-works-room-temperature-2018-07/

The Non-Entrepreneurial Company Founders

“The idea of setting up a company never occurred to us. None of us had an entrepreneurial inclination. We thought we liked working together and decided it would be nice to find some place to work together. We hoped that a company might hire the entire group,” recalled Gordon Moore on the founding of Fairchild. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/non-entrepreneurial-company-founders-2018-07/

Toshiba prototypes 96-layer 1.3Tbit NAND

Toshiba has developed a prototype 96-layer BiCS FLASH, memory using 3D flash quad level cell (QLC) technology. The IC achieves the industry’s maximum capacity of 1.33 terabits for a single chip. This also realises an unparalleled capacity of 2.66 terabytes in a single package by utilising a 16-chip stacked architecture. The huge volumes of data generated ...

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Most Read articles – Plessey power, Pasquale Pistorio, Li-ion batteries

What topics have your peers been reading? There are Plessey power additions to its Plymouth fab, executive changes at TI, Intel buying a structured ASIC specialist, a Mannerisms post on Pasquale Pistorio, and a possible research breakthrough in Li-ion batteries by Norwegian researchers...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/site-update/most-read-articles-plessey-power-pasquale-pistorio-li-ion-batteries-2018-07/

Flow battery uses liquid sodium-potassium alloy

Researchers at Stanford University have proposed liquid sodium-potassium alloy as an electron donor in a flow battery. Instead of storing electrons within the structure of a battery, a flow battery stores electrons in the form of chemicals in tanks, which are pumped into an electrolytic cell when charge or discharge is required. The action decouples ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/flow-battery-uses-liquid-sodium-potassium-alloy-2018-07/

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/general/sign-up-for-the-newsletter-2-2018-07/

Just in case your electric vehicle to too peaceful

Analog Devices has a reference design for a engine noise maker for electric vehicles. It consists of an ADSP-BF706 DSP and firmware EVWSS (electric vehicle warning sound system) and “enables automobile manufacturers in North America and other global regions to comply with future safety regulations mandating external engine sound for EVs and HEVs travelling at ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/just-case-electric-vehicle-peaceful-2018-07/

Kenya goes Loony

Google’s Loon balloons are to be deployed over Kenya to provide internet access in the first commercial use of the technology. Loon will work with Telkom Kenya to deliver the service. “We will work very hard with Loon, to deliver the first commercial mobile service, as quickly as possible, using Loon’s balloon-powered Internet in Africa,” ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/kenya-goes-loony-2018-07/

Huawei telecoms kit is a risk to UK networks

Huawei telecoms equipment poses a risk to the UK telecoms network, concludes a report by the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC). “Through 2017, HCSEC has continued to find issues in Huawei products, demonstrating their continued ability to discover weaknesses in the Huawei product set,”says the report. “The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has advised ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/huawei-telecoms-kit-risk-uk-networks-2018-07/

Xilinx buys China start-up

Xilinx has bought Beijing start-up DeepPhi Technology which specialises in machine learning, deep compression, pruning, and system-level optimization for neural networks. DeePhi Tech has been developing its machine learning solutions on Xilinx technology platforms, and the two companies have worked closely together since DeePhi Tech’s inception in 2016. DeePhi Tech’s neural network pruning technology has ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/xilinx-buys-china-start-2018-07/

Nicomatic launches miniature EMM connector

Nicomatic, the French connector manufacturer, has launched  a rugged micro connector, the 1.27 mm pitch EMM series which targets defense and other high-reliability applications. Designed to meet the performance requirements of MIL 83513, EMM series connectors occupy 40% less space than previous-generation connectors from the company, are 20% smaller than Micro D connectors for 16-pin ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nicomatic-lsunchrs-miniature-emm-connector-2018-07/

Easy Car Hire Shock

There are many frustrations in travel – customs inspections, queuing, delays etc – but one of the worst, IMHO, is the car hire process. You pay for the thing in advance, you say when you’re arriving and off which plane, you accept or refuse their insurance – all in advance of your arrival at the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/treats/easy-car-hire-shock-2018-07/

Picture of the Day: 3D injection moulded structural electronics

Check out a striking image of 3D injection moulded structural electronics produced by Finnish company TaktoTek for an automotive part.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/picture-of-the-day/picture-of-the-day-3d-injection-moulded-structural-electronics-2018-07/

Seven tiny DevBoards that will take your projects wireless

Take a look at seven boards that are smaller than the Arduino Uno but still feature built-in wireless options. We're talking the Particle, Wemos D1 Mini, Pycom, Feather, and Espurino...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/boards/seven-tiny-devboards-will-take-projects-wireless-2018-07/

Fable: The Highwayman

There was once an analogue chip designer who loved to take the piss. The two major Silicon Valley companies which he worked for each became No.1 in analogue while he was creating designs for them. He retired to Mexico, but frequently visited the USA . This made the Mexican border guards suspicious. They asked him ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-the-highwayman-2018-07/

Low phase noise 55MHz-15GHz fractional-N synth

ADI’s ADF5610 fractional-N synthesiser covers 55MHz to 15GHz, and is claimed to have “industry’s lowest phase noise performance on a single chip” by its maker. Fabbed on a SiGe BiCMOS process, at 10GHz VCO phase noise is -114dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset and -165dBc/Hz at 100MHz offset. Normalized phase noise floor is -229dBc/Hz. Typical output power is  ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/low-phase-noise-55mhz-15ghz-fractional-n-synth-2018-07/

Screwless pluggable PCB mounting terminal blocks

The CamBlock Plus range of PCB mounted terminal blocks, from CamdenBoss, is a family of terminal blocks with UL and VDE safety approvals that span 2.54mm to 10.16mm pitch. New to this are two product lines: A 2.54mm pitch rising clamp terminal block with from 2 to 12 poles Screw-less pluggable types covering 2.5, 3.5, 3.81 ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/screwless-pluggable-pcb-mounting-terminal-blocks-2018-07/

US looks for ways to help educate semiconductor industry employees

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has sent out a questionnaire to the semiconductor industry, its suppliers, trade bodies, equipment manufacturers, educational organisations and others. Specifically it is asking about:* The types of technical positions for which hiring is most difficult Educational levels at which hiring is most difficult Expected changes in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/532677-2018-07/

Narrow beam IR LED for security cameras

Osram has added to its Oslon Black portfolio for infra-red illumination with a ±25° beam version – called SFH 4718A – narrow enough to do away with secondary optics for cameras with a medium capture range, according to the firm. “With the addition of the SFH 4718A, the Oslon Black portfolio now comprises three wavelengths ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/led/narrow-beam-ir-led-security-cameras-2018-07/

China memory production gets closer

China’s memory companies are looking to start volume production next year, reports Digitimes. Yangtze River, owned by Tsinghua Unigroup, is the most advanced – running 5k wafers a month of 32-layer NAND. It is building capacity for 100k wpm for 2020 and an eventual capacity of 350-400k wpm out of three fabs. The other two ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/china-memory-production-gets-closer-2018-07/

PolarFire design suite launched

Microsemi, now owned by Microchip, has announced a new release of the Libero SoC PolarFire Design Suite, introducing lower static power devices to the PolarFire FPGA family. Available now, the Libero SoC PolarFire Design Suite v2.2 gives designers access to “L” series PolarFire devices which deliver 30 percent lower static power over standard PolarFire FPGAs, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/532654-2018-07/

BEHOP paves way for beam hopping in satellite systems

Current satellite communication systems use static beams, with little or no options of adjusting beam capacity to a varying demand. Beam hopping, based on the DVB-S2X broadcasting standard, allows redirecting capacity between beams, making satellite systems more flexible and efficient. Working with WORK Microwave and Eutelsat, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS has successfully ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/behop-paves-way-beam-hopping-satellite-systems-2018-07/

Semi Content Of Electronic Systems To Reach Record High

The average semiconductor content of electronic systems will  reach a record high this year at 31.4%, says IC Insights. IC  Insights forecasts that the 2018 global electronic systems market will grow 5% to $1,622 billion while the worldwide semiconductor market is expected to surge by 14% this year to $509.1 billion, exceeding $500 billion for the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/semi-content-electronic-systems-reach-record-high-2018-07/

TI sacks new CEO after six weeks in the job

TI has sacked its new CEO Brian Crutcher (pictured) who was appointed on June 1st.  Crutcher’s predecessor as CEO, Rich Templeton is moving back into the CEO slot. Templeton took over as Chairman when Crutcher became CEO The reason for Crutcher’s dismissal was given as ‘code-of-conduct violations’. “The violations are related to personal behavior that ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ti-sacks-new-ceo-six-weeks-job-2018-07/