Xilinx reports record revenues and searches for UK engineers

Xilinx has posted record revenues of $2.54 billion for the fiscal year 2018, an increase of 8% from last year. Revenues were $673 million for Q4 of FY 2018, up 7% from the prior quarter and up 10% from Q4 FY 2017. CEO Victor Peng attributes the growth to :a three-pronged approach”, focusing on data ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/finance/xilinx-reports-record-revenues-searches-uk-engineers-2018-04/

Women Inventors In Korea and China top WIPO Patent Filings

  South Korea and China lead the West in patent filings where at least one female inventor was named. In Korea it’s over 50%; in China it’s 48%. In third place is the Western. country with the highest percentage – Belgium. Then came Spain (35%), the USA (33%) France (32%) Netherlands, India and Switzerland (28%) ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/rd-mannerisms/women-inventors-korea-china-top-wipo-patent-filings-2018-04/

Andes adopts UltraSoC

Andes has adopted UltraSoC’s  embedded analytics technology for use in its AndesCore range of RISC-V processors. “We are collaborating with mutual customers on implementations which utilise the  V5 AndeStar architecture with the support of UltraSoC’s SoC analytics and debug IP, and processor trace, ” says UltraSoC CEO Rupert Baines (pictured). Andes will leverage UltraSoC IP ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/andes-adopts-ultrasoc-2018-04/

Ed Feathers His Post-Ministerial Nest

It’s becoming ridiculous. If you want a ton of dough dumped on you by a VC, say you’ve got an AI start-up, Ed muses in his diary. The great thing about AI is that it’s like IoT – undefined, familiar to anyone who’s read a science fiction novel and open to anyone who can think ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-finds-another-earner-z-ventures-2018-04/

Last chance to enter! Win an NXP NFC-enabled LPC8N04 devboard

The closing date is fast approaching! Check out this competition on Electronics Weekly, which offers the chance to get your hands on NXP NFC-enabled LPC8N04 development board.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/competitions/competition-win-nxp-nfc-enabled-lpc8n04-devboard-2018-04/

Speech recognition for the Arduino via Android

What's not to like about a bit of IoT-style speech recognition, using Arduino and Android? To drive or control a servo, an LED lamp or some other device...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/arduino/speech-recognition-arduino-via-android-2018-04/

Imperial launches GraphicsFuzz bug-hunter start-up

Imperial Innovations, the technology commercialisation partner for Imperial College London, announces the launch of Imperial College London spinout, GraphicsFuzz, a software company which has developed a testing solution for graphics drivers. GraphicsFuzz was founded by Imperial researchers in the Multicore Programming Group at Imperial College London and is led by Alastair Donaldson, Hugues Evrard and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/imperial-launches-graphicsfuzz-bug-hunter-start-2018-04/

The Future Of Tech And The Courts

The Net Neutrality issue is currently exercising the US courts.  42 years ago the US courts were hearing a similarly seminal issue about the future of techno,igy. In 1976, the year the video age was formally declared, a lawsuit was filed in the United States that attempted to nip this new video culture in the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/future-tech-courts-2018-04/

Toshiba launches 256GB USB 3.0 drive

Toshiba has announced a 256GB USB 3.0 flash drive with a maximum read speed of 150MB/s in a retractable form factor. Four variants are available, with 32, 64 128 and 256GB of storage. The 256GB model can hold approximately 5 hours of 4K video or  715 five-minute songs of high-resolution 192 kHz/24bit stream audio. U365’s cap-less ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/526506-2018-04/

Survey: Your thoughts on The State of Display

Are you involved in the specification or design of electronic products featuring integrated displays? If so, please enter a short survey we are running with Plastic Logic to identify the latest display trends.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/industry-comment/survey-thoughts-state-display-2018-04/

Top 10 most read on ElectronicsWeekly.com (to 27-Apr-2018)

With AI, Intel and node sizes, the Raspberry Pi, the Queen's Awards and Honda vehicle LEDs all figuring prominently...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/general-electronics/top-10-read-electronicsweekly-com-27-apr-2018-2018-04/

Get Mannerisms, Gadget Master, the Daily and the Weekly, in newsletter form

Let our content come straight to you! Easily digestible newsletter emails straight to your inbox.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/site-update/get-mannerisms-gadget-master-daily-weekly-newsletter-form-2018-04/

Qualcomm and partners demonstrate vehicle-to-everything comms

What is believed to be the world’s first demonstration for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) direct communications technology operating across vehicles from different manufacturers took place in Washington DC, USA this week. Using Qualcomm’s C-V2X chipset in Audi and Ford vehicles, demonstrations showed how C-V2X communications can alert nearby vehicles to potential hazards when the driver’s view ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/communications/qualcomm-partners-demonstrate-vehicle-everything-comms-2018-04/

Daisy the Apple robot disassembles 200 iPhones an hour

Pictured is Daisy, the Apple robot, described by the company as its "latest innovation in material recovery". It can automatically disassemble nine different iPhone models in order to recover valuable materials.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/consumer-electronics/daisy-apple-robot-disassembles-200-iphones-hour-2018-04/

Interfacing AVRs (and Arduinos) to voltages higher than Vdd

One of the nicest logic families ever – HC (and HCT) CMOS – has the marvellous characteristic that someone thought about interfacing its inputs with voltages higher than Vdd early – and created a really nice input protection structure. What is good, is that, by design rather than luck, up to +20mA can be pushed ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/interfacing-avrs-arduinos-voltages-higher-vcc-2018-04/

Memristor-based physically-uncloneable function for hardware security

US researchers have used memristors to create a copy-proof hardware security block for integrated circuits. The particular block is a ‘physically uncloneable function’ (PU) – a block with logic inputs and outputs that can be mass produced, with each individual item always booting-up with the same numerical characteristics, that are statistically unrelated to the numerical ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/memristor-based-physically-uncloneable-function-hardware-security-2018-04/

Fable: The Fabulous Physicist

46 years ago, on October 19th 1972, a very great scientist was phoned by a journalist to be told he’d won the Nobel Prize for Physics. It wasn’t the first time. 16 years before he’d also been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Second time round, in 1972, he held a press conference. “He had ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-fabulous-physicist-2018-04/

Osmium compound opens door to quantum spin liquid, and maybe quantum computing

A new material could sustain a quantum spin liquid, and be useful in quantum computing, according to Oregon State University wher it was invented. Lithium osmium oxide is the compound, where the osmium atoms form a honeycomb-like lattice, enforcing a phenomenon called ‘magnetic frustration’ that could lead to a quantum spin liquid predicted by condensed ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/526396-2018-04/

Market launch for 3D Global autostereoscopic displays at FEEU

Fujitsu Electronics Europe is entering into a sales and support partnership with 3D Global, a manufacturer of three-dimensional display systems.  This marks the commercial market launch for German firm 3D Global and its autostereoscopic displays. Fujitsu Electronics Europe (FEEU) will be responsible for global product sales, project planning and customer support through its local organisations ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/market-launch-3d-global-autostereoscopic-displays-feeu-2018-04/

Harting adds wireless to MICA industrial computer range

Harting has upgraded its MICA industrial computer range to include the MICA 2, which offers three to five times the computing power of the MICA Basic for demanding data acquisition and processing. It has also introduced the MICA Wireless with 2G/3G/4G, 802.11a/b/g/n and Glonass for data acquisition and communication and the MICA Energy, which allows ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/harting-adds-wireless-mica-industrial-computer-range-2018-04/

Study links cancer to blue light and white leds?

An epidemiology study has found a link between blue outdoor light at night and the prevalence of two cancers – breast and prostate – in Madrid and Barcelona. The full study, ‘Evaluating the association between artificial light-at-night exposure and breast and prostate cancer risk in Spain (MCC-Spain study)‘ is published on Environmental health perspectives with ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/study-links-cancer-blue-light-leds-2018-04/

Arrow offers low power wireless node development

Arrow Electronics has added a development board  which uses the NXP Semiconductors Kinetis KW41Z multi-protocol wireless MCU for low-power design of connected devices. Dubbed the Tiger board, it is likely to be used for design of products like smart door locks, portable healthcare technology, wearable sports monitors and RF remote controls. The Kinetis KW41Z’s integrated ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/arrow-offers-low-power-wireless-node-development-2018-04/

Solar PV inverter market to decline over next four years

According to research by GlobalData, the global solar PV inverter market will decline from $6.3bn in 2017 to $3.7bn by 2022. The report Solar PV inverters – Update 2018 says that Asia Pacific, currently the leading market for solar inverters, with a market valued at £3.75b in 2017, will suffer the most and see its market share fall ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/market-sectors/power/solar-pv-inverter-market-decline-next-four-years-2018-04/

SMD antenna covers multiple IoT bands

Fractus Antennas has focussed on antennas for NB-IoT, LoRa, Zigbe and SigFox IoT with an application note. The note studies the effect on ground plane size (across 40×20 to 75x54mm) on the effectiveness of its 3x12mm (2.4mm high) FR01-S4-224 surface-mount antenna, operating in this case in the 863-928MHz band. “IoT could be anything around and the challenge ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/526365-2018-04/

Honda introduces all-led vehicle headlamp

Honda has introduced a motorcycle with an all-led headlamp. Peering at the picture, it looks like Honda has gone for side-fire leds and half reflectors, which has to be the best way to do headlights – Busch & Muller was the first company that I saw do this, on a bicycle light, and I am ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/honda-introduces-led-vehicle-headlamp-2018-04/

Wilma is AI finalist

Wilma, the AI system developed by  Shropshire agritech start-up Small Robot Company, is a finalist for Computing’s Big Data Excellence Awards. The Small Robot Company harnesses the power and precision of robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the way that food is produced and minimise chemical usage. Wilma will work alongside Small Robot Company’s ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/wilma-ai-finalist-2018-04/

China Asks For Foreign Capital For IC Industry

China is getting a tad desperate in its plan to catch up with Western chip technology. It’s now asking for foreign investment. China’s National Integrated Circuit Investment Fund, which kicked off four years ago with $20 billion, is now trying to raise a second fund of $30 billion. The second fund was announced in March ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/china-asks-foreign-capital-ic-industry-2018-04/

20mm circular connectors now range from 2 to 12 ways

Bulgin has extended its 4000 series of miniature circular power connectors, adding 2, 4, 6 and 10-pole versions to the existing 3, 8 and 12-pole types. “These additions to our 4000 series connectors give designers more options when selecting rugged connectors for their designs,” said Bulgin engineering team leader Christian Taylor. “Not only does having the exact ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/20mm-circular-connectors-now-range-2-12-ways-2018-04/

Autonomous cars will be drivers’ eyes and ears

The University of Warwick’s Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) will contribute connected, autonomous driving systems skills to the AutopleX project to develop autonomous vehicles that can “see” around corners and through obstacles. The £4.7m project is funded by Innovate UK and led by Jaguar Land Rover, to combine connected and live mapping technology for fully- and semi-automated vehicle technologies. As ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/self-driving-cars-see-around-corners-2018-04/

Digital indicator works with up to eight sensors

A single UM33A digital indicator from Yokogawa can receive, process, and sequentially display data from up to eight RS-485 Modbus RTU field sensors. “In recent years, there has been a growing need to strengthen the monitoring of data from field sensors,” said the firm. “For safety and other reasons, operators need the ability to remotely ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/test-measurement-products/digital-indicator-works-eight-sensors-2018-04/

Manchester and Shandong collaborate on nanoscale transistor for flexible displays

Researchers at the University of Manchester and Shandong University, China have developed a fast nanoscale oxide semiconductor-based TFT for flexible displays in devices, including wearable electronic devices. The teams report that this is the first oxide-semiconductor based transistor capable of operating at a benchmark speed of 1GHz. The hope is that this could be used in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/materials-rd/manchester-shandong-collaborate-nanoscale-transistor-flexible-displays-2018-04/

Pressure sensor built over finished CMOS

Fraunhofer IMS has developed a way to build pressure sensors on top of finished CMOS wafers, saving chip area over the alternative side-by-side approach, claimed the institute. “Due to the specially developed sensor process steps, which run at temperatures below 400°C, the circuit and sensor production can be decoupled from each other,” said the Fraunhofer, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/pressure-sensor-built-finished-cmos-2018-04/

TTI stocks Panasonic’s power choke coil and hybrid capacitors

Power choke coils and conductive polymer hybrid aluminium surface mount capacitors from Panasonic are now available in Europe from TTI. The LP-series power choke coils and ZE series capacitors (pictured) have a high ripple current (up to 2.0A) and a low ESR value. The rugged LP power choke coils offer inductance stability over a broad temperature range, have low ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/passives/tti-stocks-panasonics-power-choke-coil-hybrid-capacitors-2018-04/

MICA enhancements boost computing power

At this year’s Hannover Fair, Harting announced new models for its MICA (Modular Industry Computing Architecture) industrial computer platform. The first is MICA 2, which offers three to five times the computing power of the Basic version to meet data acquisition and processing demands for industry 4.0 and other computing applications. There is also MICA ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/mica-enhancements-boost-computing-power-2018-04/

Top 8 Foundries Have 88% Of The Market

The top eight foundries held 88% of the $62.3 billion total foundry market, says IC Insights. TSMC remains dominant with sales of $32.2 billion in sales last year. GloFo is second with sales of $5 billion. Hua Hong which includes Grace and Huali had the biggest growth at 18%. Intel’s foundry sales were under $1 ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/top-8-foundries-88-market-2018-04/

Amplicon offers Cisco Ethernet switch for extreme environments

Amplicon has introduced as Cisco premier partner the IE 4010, an industrial rackmount Ethernet switch designed for extreme industrial environments. The ethernet switch offers 24Gbit PoE/PoE+ capable ports, making it suitable for use as access switches in industrial environments to connect high definition IP cameras, Access Points and IP phones.  These switches provide high-bandwidth switching (Layer ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/amplicon-offers-cisco-ethernet-switch-extreme-environments-2018-04/

Würth Elektronik offers tiny step-down DC-DC converter

Würth Elektronik eiSos has expanded its range of power modules with a high power density step-down converter with variable output voltage. Called the MagI³C-VDMM (variable step down micro-module), it comes in a small LGA-6EP package with dimensions of 3.2 × 2.5 × 1.6mm. The input voltage range VIN for the step-down converters extends from 2.75 ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/wurth-elektronik-offers-tiny-step-dc-dc-converter-2018-04/

Millimetre-wave research lab at Queen’s University Belfast gets Keysight testers

A new millimetre-wave research lab at Queen’s University Belfast has been equipped by test system supplier Keysight Technologies. The lab, which can accommodate 60 researchers, students and engineers, is located in the Centre for Wireless Innovation at the University’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT). Professor Vincent Fusco, Chief Technical Officer of ECIT and ...

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Rad hard 12bit ADC spreads 6Gsample/s over four channels

Teledyne e2v has released its most advanced ADC yet, with four 12bit 1.5Gsample/s converters that can be mixed and matched across one to four inputs – allowing single-channel 6Gsample/s operation. Called EV12AQ600, it is offered in a radiation-tolerant version, “making it the first quad-channel ADC suitable for space applications”, said the firm. “Customers can design systems ...

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Resettable fuse carries 20A for Li-ion batteries

Bourns has introduced a series of miniature resettable thermal cut-off (TCO) devices for dense, high capacity lithium-ion battery packs. The Model AC series offers five trip temperatures: 72, 77, 82, 85 or 90°C (all +/-5°C) – the latter of which “is capable of carrying up to 20A at 60°C, making it the highest current-carrying TCO ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/emech-enclosures/resettable-fuse-carries-20a-li-ion-batteries-2018-04/

Partner in Imagination’s owner convicted of insider trading

A co-founder and partner in Canyon Bridge, the China-backed private equity firm which took over Imagination, has been convicted of insider trading by a New York federal court. The insider trading relates to Canyon Bridge’s failed attempt to buy Lattice Semiconductor in 2016. Benjamin Chow was found guilty of passing details of the proposed deal ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/partner-imaginations-owner-convicted-insider-trading-2018-04/

Tandem organic solar cells reaches 15% efficiency

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a way to stack solution-processed organic solar cells on top of vacuum-processed cells, creating an tandem solar cell with 15% efficiency. “For the last couple of years, efficiency for organic photo-voltaics was stuck around 11 to 12%,” said Michigan physicist Xiaozhou Che. The top solution-processed non-fullerene-acceptor cell ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/tandem-organic-solar-cells-reaches-15-efficiency-2018-04/

Manchester thin-film oxide transistor hits 1GHz

The university of Manchester has made a 1GHz thin-film transistor from amorphous IGZO – indium gallium zinc oxide. The devices, created with Shandong University in China, are made on a high-resistance silicon substrate using Ta2O5 gate dielectric. The material is 80% transparent, opening the door to display applications. “Making a high performance device, like our GHz ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/manchester-thin-film-oxide-transistor-hits-1ghz-2018-04/

Picture Gallery: PA’s Raspberry Pi Competition 2018, in picture form

The theme for this year’s PA Consulting’s Raspberry Pi Competition 2018 was Sustainability. More than 100 schools were challenged to build projects around the credit card-sized computer that could help to ‘save the planet’. And these entries were whittled down to the nine finalists judged at the IET, at Savoy Place, last week. The imaginative ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/raspberry-pi-development/picture-gallery-pas-raspberry-pi-competition-2018-picture-form-2018-04/

Patience Is A Virtue

There are few things so seductive as a technology whose time seems to have come and few forces so strong as a scientist in pursuit of a research budget. This conjunction appears to be driving ELLIS – European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems – which wants to set up multiple AI labs in major ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/rd-mannerisms/patience-is-a-virtue-2018-04/

Power supply market surges in the UAE as World Expo 2020 approaches

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) market revenues are projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.4% during 2018-24 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to a report from 6Wresearch. This is being driven by a UAE government programme, called Under UAE Vison 2021 to boost development of several sectors such as education, healthcare, social infrastructure, housing, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/power-supply-market-surges-uae-world-expo-2020-approaches-2018-04/

Sound shaping technology to be funded by RAEng

A professor at the University of Sussex has been given the job of making the UK a world-leader in sound shaping technology. Professor Sriram Subramanian has been named a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) chair for the development of novel acoustic interfaces. This is one of a ten areas of development emerging technology being created ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/sound-shaping-technology-funded-raeng-2018-04/

Control a drone with a Smart Glove and FlyJacket exosuit

Lean your torso back and the drone climbs. Lean forward and the drone pitches downs. Bend and twist and the drone will roll. Got that?

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/sensors/control-drone-smart-glove-flyjacket-exosuit-2018-04/

Internal magnet means Hall sensor detects plain steel

Allegro MicroSystems precision programmable Hall sensor IC that includes differential Hall elements and an internal rare-earth magnet to allow it to detect ferrous targets that are not themselves magnetic. Called ATS344, it is intended for automotive applications requiring high resolution detection of long stroke (>5 mm) linear motion. “The ATS344 is well-suited for applications that require ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/sensors-products/internal-magnet-means-hall-sensor-detects-plain-steel-2018-04/

Blighter wins first radar sale into India

Cambridge-based Blighter Surveillance Systems has made its first sale into India for its Blighter B400 series ground surveillance radar. The contract was awarded by system integrator Tata Power following a trial organised by India’s border management organisation in Gwalior in 2016. Blighter radars will be deployed by Tata during 2018 as part of the Indian ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/blighter-wins-first-radar-sale-india-2018-04/

1,200W Class-D audio amplifier has 130dB SNR and built-in mains PSU

Designed with a whisper-quiet noise floor – <30μV (130dB SNR), 1200AS is a family of high power Class-D audio amplifiers from ICEpower of Copenhagen. Intended for PA speakers, line arrays and professional single or dual sub-woofers, they are based on the firm’s own ICEedge chip-set and include a universal mains switch mode power supply with ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/analogue-linear-mixed-signal-ics/1200w-class-d-audio-amplifier-130db-snr-built-mains-psu-2018-04/

Build your own slide guitar from scrap

Check this project out - building your own slide guitar from scrap. It's already got my attention, but it's also noteworthy for being the work of Josh Bowen, an EW BrightSparks 2017 winner!

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/general/build-slide-guitar-scrap-2018-04/

Queen’s Awards recognise Cambridge IC, and others

This year Queen’s Awards for Enterprise as usual feature many electronics companies. One such is Cambridge IC, maker of rotary and linear position sensing chips, which was awarded a ‘Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – International Trade’. “Our international trade has increased 5x over the last four years,” founder David Ely told Electronics Weekly. “Almost all ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/queens-awards-recognise-cambridge-ic-others-2018-04/

Tiny PC spectrum analiser for serial busses

Ikalogic has introduced four-channel USB logic analysers, primarily for debugging serial data busses. Protocol decoding for 30 busses including I2C, SPI, RS232, CAN or 1-Wire are available. Called ScanaQuad, the devices are 50x50mm in size and operate with the firm’s ScanaStudio software running on a host Windows PC, Linux PC or Mac.   “The software lets ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/test-measurement-products/tiny-pc-spectrum-analiser-serial-busses-2018-04/

The CEO Who Called His Company

They say CEOs should phone their own companies occasionally to see how responsive they are to customers. In the book about Amazon called The Everything Store by Brad Stone the story is told that, at a meeting of 30 top Amazon execs, Jeff Bezos asked the then vp for customer service, Bill Price, how long ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/consumer/ceo-called-company-2018-04/

House of Lords raises space concerns

The House of Lords EU Internal Market Sub-Committee has written to Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, to raise concerns about the progress of, and the Government’s commitment to UK space programmes after Brexit. The letter calls on the Government to act quickly to achieve an agreement that preserves UK ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/house-lords-raises-space-concerns-2018-04/

Only Connect: On going green with Alpha Wire (again)

Welcome to another post in the series by Nick Locke, of Nicab Ltd, who has more than 15 years experience in the electronics manufacturing industry specialising in interconnection cable assembly. In a previous blog post, I told you about the development of Alpha Wires’ Eco-Flex range. Well they have only just gone and done it ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/industry-comment/connect-going-green-alpha-wire-2018-04/

RS launches DesignSpark Marketplace

RS Components (RS) has unveiled a beta version of a new platform called DesignSpark Marketplace which enables makers, pro-makers, start-ups and small businesses to promote and sell their own inventions and product creations to a wide audience of fellow makers and engineers, including more than 650,000 members of the RS DesignSpark engineering and maker community. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/rs-launches-designspark-marketplace-2018-04/

End-to-end sub-GHz kit from Farnell

Farnell element14 has launched the element14 development kit for the TI SimpleLink Sub-1 GHz Sensor to Cloud Linux Gateway. M The kit provides an end-to-end tool to enable a Sub-1 GHz sensor network with an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway and cloud connectivity. In the growing industrial IoT market, there is a need for connecting ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/end-end-sub-ghz-kit-farnell-2018-04/

Ed Gets Flamenco

We’ve had a request from the Spanish asking for help over their cyber security arrangements, Ed confides to his diary. I think this spells opportunity for yours truly and I have suggested a meeting in Madrid. A couple of nights at the Villa Magna at the Dagos’ expense could be an agreeable respite from the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-gets-flamenco-2018-04/

Gadget watch: HP X2, the first detachable Chromebook

Introducing the HP X2 Chromebook, the first detachable chromebook where the screen can be separated for use as a tablet.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/gadget-watch/gadget-watch-hp-x2-first-detachable-chromebook-2018-04/

Maker: Fritzing and a motor driver

I have been trying Fritzing, the free schematic capture and pcb layout tool, which also does breadboard layouts too. It is good? The short answer is excellent – particularly as it seems to be the work of a few people and not a giant team. To try it out, I had a go at designing ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/maker-fritzing-motor-driver-2018-04/

Biniru

On October 1st 1962, Sony opened its showroom on Fifth Avenue, New York. It had been a tale of chaos, recounts Sony’s history. Although some members of the Sony staff could understand English, that did not mean that their English was understandable to Americans. In one instance, a member of the design department of Sony ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/523468-2018-04/

PA’s Raspberry Pi Competition 2018 tackles Sustainability

The always-excellent PA Consulting's Raspberry Pi Competition took place this week, with an inspiring collection of school teams addressing the theme of Sustainability.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/raspberry-pi-gadget-master/pas-raspberry-pi-competition-2018-tackles-sustainability-2018-04/

Competition: Win an NXP NFC-enabled LPC8N04 devboard

The closing date is fast approaching! Check out the new competition on Electronics Weekly, which offers the chance to get your hands on NXP NFC-enabled LPC8N04 development board.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/competitions/competition-win-nxp-nfc-enabled-lpc8n04-devboard-2018-04/

Top 10 most read on ElectronicsWeekly.com (to 20-Apr-2018)

With an energy harvesting IC, some AI projects for the Raspberry Pi Zero WH, flexible OLED printing, EUV machines, and Intel FPGAs in servers all figuring prominently...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/general-electronics/top-10-read-electronicsweekly-com-20-apr-2018-2018-04/

6A SMD IDC connectors are only 2.55mm high

AVX has released surface-mount insulation-displacement wire-to-board connectors that are a mere 2.55mm high. Rated at 300V and 6A (22AWG wire – 24AWG is 5A, 26 is 4A) and known as the 9176-800 Series, operation is across -40°C to +125°C. 28AWG versions are in development. The metal part is fatigue resistant phosphor bronze and the wire can ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/6a-smd-idc-connectors-2-55mm-high-2018-04/

Get Mannerisms, Gadget Master, the Daily and the Weekly, in newsletter form

Let our content come straight to you! Easily digestible newsletter emails straight to your inbox.

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/site-update/get-mannerisms-gadget-master-daily-weekly-newsletter-form-2018-04/

Sign up for the Gadget Master newsletter

Ensure you receive the latest and greatest Gadget Master news, hot and fresh, straight into your inbox!

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/general/sign-up-for-the-newsletter-2-2018-04/

Design Automation Conference reflects emergence of AI alongside EDA

The 55th Design Automation Conference (DAC) programme reflects the changes in the design industry, with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the IoT, storage and security listed as conference topics, alongside the more ‘traditional’ EDA, IP and embedded system design sessions. Alongside EDA companies, Cadence Design Systems, Siemens’ Mentor Graphics and Synopsys, will be NEC, IBM, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/eda-and-ip/design-automation-conference-reflects-emergence-ai-alongside-eda-2018-04/

Toshiba shipping gate driver optocoupler in SO8L package

Toshiba has launched  of a new gate driver photocoupler housed in a low-profile SO8L package. The TLP5832 delivers 2.5A peak output current (IOPH,IOPL) and can directly drive medium-class IGBTs and MOSFETs in applications such as inverters for industrial, air conditioning and solar applications as well as servo amplifiers. Adoption of the SO8L package delivers a ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/525763-2018-04/

NTU robots master Ikea furniture

What's not to like about this? Robots that can put together flat-pack Ikea furnture in less than ten minutes. Just give them another ten minutes to plan the motion pathways and 3 seconds to locate the parts...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/robot/ntu-robots-master-ikea-furniture-2018-04/

New twist on old technique could extract electricity from low-grade heat

Pyroelectricity could extract energy from heat sources below100°C, offering an alternative to thermo-electric generators (TEGs). TEGs make electricity through the Seebeck effect, where different conductive materials in contact develop a potential difference across the contact point. Pyroelectric materials, in contrast, develop a potential across a crystal of one material due to electrons shifting as a ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/new-twist-old-technique-extract-electricity-low-grade-heat-2018-04/

Fable: Civil War

In 1976 Japan lined up for Civil War. In one camp was: Sony, Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Aiwa and Pioneer. In the other camp was: Matsushita, Hitachi, Sharp, Mitsubishi and Akai. Then came betrayal – three members of one camp – Toshiba, Sanyo and NEC – decided to have a foot in both camps. Then came ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-civil-war-2018-04/

Telonic Instruments announces Kikusui’s benchtop power supplies

The UK release of the Kikusui PWR-01 series of programmable benchtop DC power supplies

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/telonic-instruments-announces-kikusuis-benchtop-power-supplies-2018-04/

Waterproof wire-to-wire connectors for up to 6A

Squba is a 1.80mm-pitch sealed wire-to-wire connector system from Molex, designed to fit in small spaces and provide protection against liquid, dust and dirt. The connectors carry up to a 6A and provide an IP67 NEMA rating on the seals – seals are retained with caps to provide manufacturers of sensors, lighting, vending machines and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/waterproof-wire-wire-connectors-6a-2018-04/

Eval kit for blood pressure wearables

Renesas has launched a blood pressure monitor evaluation kit including a circuit board, pressure sensor, arm cuff, pump, electronically-controlled valve, LCD panel and software. The PCB is based around a dedicated RL78 core-based chip (RL78/H1D) that includes the analogue functions needed for blood pressure measurement. Reference software is included, as is graphical user interface (GUI) ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/micros/eval-kit-blood-pressure-wearables-2018-04/

2.5A 5kV isolated gate driver is just 2.3mm high, with 8mm creepage

Toshiba’s TLP5832 gate driver photo-coupler delivers 2.5A peak output current from an SO8L package only 2.3mm high – approximately 50% lower than the firm’s current SDIP6 and DIP8 packages. “In spite of its small size, the IC offers an isolation voltage [BVS] of 5,000Vrms and guarantees creepage and clearance distances of minimum 8.0mm, making it suitable for applications ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/2-5a-5kv-isolated-gate-driver-just-2-3mm-high-8mm-creepage-2018-04/

Nordic supports concurrent Zigbee and Bluetooth for smart homes

Nordic Semiconductor has a Zigbee protocol stack to its nRF52840 multi-protocol system-on-chip, which now supports concurrent Zigbee and Bluetooth (5.0 and LE) operation. “Nordic’s multi-protocol solution for nRF52840 enables use cases that take advantage of several wireless technologies,” according to the firm. “Examples include interaction with a Zigbee smart lighting network from a smartphone via ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/nordic-supports-concurrent-zigbee-bluetooth-smart-homes-2018-04/

IoT sensor control app available on Android Play Store

Ruuvi has announced that the first public beta of its Ruuvi Station mobile application for controlling IoT sensors is now available on Play Store. The app superpowers RuuviTag sensors Also an iOS version is on its way and a 3rd party app is already available on Apple App Store. The RuuviTag open source sensor beacon, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/iot-sensor-control-app-available-android-play-store-2018-04/

Farnell element14 adds 160MHz ARBs from Aim TTi

Farnell element14 has added  Aim TTi TGF3000 series of dual channel arbitrary function generators to its instrumentation range. The TGF3000 series initially consists of two models, the TG3082 (dual channel, 80MHz, 14 bits / 400MS/s) and TG3162 (dual channel 160MHz, 16 bits / 800MS/s), with two channels that can operate as independent generators or in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/farnell-element14-adds-160mhz-arbs-aim-tti-2018-04/

Solid State returns to roots in power products

Solid State Supplies has been appointed as the exclusive representative-distributor in the UK & Eire for high reliability power modules and other products from VPT. Solid State Supplies will provide pre- and post-sales support for VPT’s various product lines including DC-DC converters, EMI filters, inrush current limiters and thermal pads that are designed for high ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/solid-state-returns-roots-power-products-2018-04/

Large hadron collider beams – made in Switzerland, monitored by Germans

Over 140 digitiser cards from Spectrum Instrumentation are being used to protection systems in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The needle-like particle beams within the LHC contain huge amounts of energy – 350MJ, about as much as the Flying Scotsman at full speed – and cannot simply be turned off. Instead, each is ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/test-and-measurement-2/large-hadron-collider-beams-made-switzerland-monitored-germans-2018-04/

Renesas develops blood pressure evaluation kit

Renesas is selling a blood pressure monitoring evaluation kit including a pressure sensor, arm cuff, pump, electronically controlled valve, LCD panel, and a reference board that incorporates an RL78 MCU-based ASSP  that includes analogue functions required for blood pressure measurement. Reference software and graphical user interface (GUI) development tool are also part of the new evaluation ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/renesas-develops-blood-pressure-evaluation-kit-2018-04/

Intel closes New Devices Group

Intel is closing down its New Devices Group, which developed AR  and  wearables. “Intel is continuously working on new technologies and experiences. Not all of these develop into a product we choose to take to market,” said Intel. Intel’s  AR spectacles, Vaunt, will not now be marketed. “We are going to take a disciplined approach ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-closes-new-devices-group-2018-04/

Qualcomm to start job cuts

Qualcomm is reported by Bloomberg to be about to cut 1,500 jobs in California. The company has 33,800 full-time and temporary employees. Severance packages have been offered. “Qualcomm is conducting a reduction of our full-time and temporary workforce,”  says a spokesperson. During its fight with Broadcom, Qualcomm told investors it would make $1 billion in cost ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/qualcomm-start-job-cuts-2018-04/

UK and India ink tech deal

The UK-India Tech Partnership, established yesterday between Theresa May and Indian PM Narendra Modi is expected to identify and pair businesses, venture capital, universities and others to provide access routes to markets for British and Indian entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises. The UK will initially invest £1 million to pilot the approach and potentially ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/uk-india-ink-tech-deal-2018-04/

Semi packaging materials market reaches $16.7bn

The semiconductor packaging materials market reached $16.7 billion in 2017, report SEMI and TechSearch International. While slower growth of smartphones and personal computers – the industry’s traditional drivers – is reducing material consumption, the slowdown was offset by strong unit growth in the cryptocurrency market in 2017 and early 2018. Flip chip package shipments into ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semi-packaging-materials-market-reaches-16-7bn-2018-04/

The Most Outré Boss On Earth

Most of us work for bosses who require authorisation for the most trivial of expenditures, but there are  a select few who get to actually reduce the amount that must be approved by them to $1 million as a cost-saving measure. One such is the one and only Elon Musk. Here’s his email to employees ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/genius/525651-2018-04/

What If ZTE Writes Its Own Mobile OS?

Would it be a good thing if ZTE is banned from using Android? Well it could be. A simpler-to-use mobile OS would be a boon to many. Android, IMHO, is clunky and non-intuitive compared to iOS.  And even iOS has become over-cute and over-complex in recent iterations. Most ordinary people want to feel in control ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/zte-writes-mobile-os-2018-04/

Nano-C raises $11.5m

Nano-C has closed an $11.5 million funding round of which Ray Stata, the co-founder and chairman of Analog Devices, invested $3 million. Nano-C is the company providing the new materials (carbon nanotubes and fullerenes) to Nantero for NRAM memory, Merck for Solar, Irresistible Materials for EUV photo-Resist, and a major display company to be announced. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/525578-2018-04/

UHF harvester powers retail tag over 2m gap

US energy harvesting firm Powercast has developed a battery-free retail price tag that can be changed from 2m away using a hand-held UHF programmer. Key to the tag is the firm’s PCC110 UHF-to-dc harvestign chip and an Eink display that only needs power to change, retaining its display after power is removed. “Powercast developed the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/communications/uhf-harvester-powers-retail-tag-2m-gap-2018-04/

Two-channel power system monitors current, power and energy

LTC2972  is a 2-channel power system manager, featuring current, power and energy monitoring around an intermediate bus and point-of-load (POL) converter. Monitoring circuit board power and energy use is a prerequisite for managing, optimizing and reducing their consumption in order to lower server rack and data center cooling and utility costs. The LTC2972 relieves the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/ltc-2-channel-power-system-monitors-current-power-energy-2018-04/

Willow offers high current blowout relay for electric vehicles

Willow Technologies are selling a magnetic arc blowout relay from Durakool which has a maximum switching voltage of 145Vdc. It is designed for electric vehicle systems which might use 48Vdc, 72Vdc or 80Vdc, which can be difficult to switch using traditional relays. According to Willow, the DG85CM electric vehicle relay features AgSnO2 contacts with high ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/willow-offers-high-current-blowout-relay-electric-vehicles-2018-04/

Raspberry Pi gets IP40 protection from Phoenix Contact

Phoenix Contact has introduced a housing for Raspberry Pi minicomputers which are designed to provide Raspberry Pi B2 and B3 models with mechanical and physical protection. The UCS-RPI series of light grey or black housings offer IP40 degree of protection are available in the sizes 125 mm x 87 mm and 145 mm x 125 ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/raspberry-pi-gets-ip40-protection-phoenix-contact-2018-04/

Distributors prepare for the worst on US-China tariffs

“We need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” says ECSN and IDEA chairman Adam Fletcher, following the announcement that US proposes an additional tariff of 25% on electronic components produced in China and imported into the US. The list of electronic components included contains over 1,400 products includes all tantalum, aluminium, ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/distributors-prepare-worst-us-china-tariffs-2018-04/

Huawei gets Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

Huawei has achieved Cyber Essentials Plus certification. The Cyber Essentials scheme, which was launched by the UK Government in 2014 and is part of the Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy, involves an independent assessment of security controls that businesses need to have in place to mitigate risks from common cyber threats. By taking part in ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/huawei-2018-04/

Leading Semi Companies Increase Share

The top  25 companies held more than three-quarters of the worldwide semiconductor market in 2017 as the leading semiconductor suppliers significantly increased their marketshare over the past decade, says IC Insights. The top 5 semiconductor suppliers accounted for 43% of the world’s semiconductor sales in 2017, an increase of 10 percentage points from 10 years earlier. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/525193-2018-04/

Italian designer turns to Toshiba high-CRI leds for classic re-vamp

Lumina Italia, founded by designer Tommaso Cimini in 1975, has been making its Daphine lamp ever since. This year it has been updated to use leds to form the ‘Daphine Tri-R’, using Toshiba’s Tri-R high-colour-rendering leds which have a violet die and phosphors at multiple wavelengths – scoring >Ra97 for CRI and Qa96 for CQS. ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/525182-2018-04/

Brushed motor driver handles up to 50V 9A

Toshiba has created a motor driver for brushed electric motors used in, for example, domestic robotic vacuum cleaners, banking terminals and cash dispensers. Called TB67H420FTG, it can separately control two 50V motors running at up to 4.5A, or via a separate mode the bridges can be combined to power a single 50V 9A motor. The internal mosfets ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/brushed-motor-driver-handles-50v-9a-2018-04/

Schizo Facebook

The Zuckerberg hearing revealed a conflicted company which isn’t sure what it is. Is it a neutral platform – ‘a platform for all ideas’ – or is it a content provider – a publisher? Facebook is employing 15,000 – rising this year to 20,000 – ‘content checkers’ and with 20k people editing content it is ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/schizoid-facebook-2018-04/

Osram aims at automotive with high-power IR leds

For automotive applications, Osram has introduced six high-power infra-red leds that can be pulsed at up to 5A (up from 3A in earlier versions). Part of the Oslon Black family, there are 850nm versions intended for exterior applications such as night vision, pedestrian protection, pre-field recognition and lane detection, as well as 940nm versions for ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/osram-aims-automotive-high-power-ir-leds-2018-04/

Most powerful commercial off-shore wind turbine installed off Aberdeen

Vattenfall has installed the first of 11 wind turbines off Aberdeen, in the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC). While most fo the turbines will be 8.4MW  ‘V164-8.4MW’ types, two including the first are modified to produce a maximum of 8.8MW. Total installed capacity will be 93.2MW, with annual production estimated at 312GWh, which the firm equates to: ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/engineer-in-wonderland/powerful-commercial-off-shore-wind-turbine-installed-off-aberdeen-2018-04/

Woz Quits FB

One rather hopes, but one suspects not, that people will desert Facebook in their zillions. Otherwise social media sites will think they can get away with murder. The highest profile Facebook Leaver is Steve Wozniak who told USA Today that he is fed up social media sites’ careless attitude to peoples’ private information. “Users provide ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/woz-quits-fb-2018-04/

Scorpion Automotive sponsors motorcycle racing

Lancashire electronics manufacturer Scorpion Automotive is sponsoring a team in the British Superbike Championship, through its specialist motorcycle brand Datatool. The team is Team WD40 of GR Motosport, and Datatool logos will be seen on motorcycles ridden by Mason Law, Alastair Seeley and Liam Delves throughout the 2018 Championship Series. “Our sponsorship of GR Motorsport is a great opportunity ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/scorpion-automotive-sponsors-motorcycle-racing-2018-04/

Mouser to sponsor NXP Cup for autonomous vehicles

Mouser will be the lead distribution sponsor for the NXP Cup, a global competition where student teams build, program, and race model cars around a track. The EMEA finals of the NXP Cup will take place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Erlangen, Germany. The NXP Cup challenges student teams from around ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mouser-sponsor-nxp-cup-autonomous-vehicles-2018-04/

Dc-dc supports 48V GPUs in 12V data centres for 1,000A GPUs

Vicor has announced a 12-48V non-isolated up converter to support 48V high-performance GPUs in data centres with legacy 12V power distribution. NBM2317S14B5415T00 converts 750W continuously (1kW peak) through a 23 x 17 x 7.4mm surface-mount SM-ChiP package with >98% peak efficiency. “The NBM supports state-of-the-art 48V input GPUs using power-on-package [PoP] modular current multipliers [MCMs] driven ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/dc-dc-supports-48v-gpus-12v-data-centres-1000a-gpus-2018-04/

EDA industry reports 10% growth 2016-2017

The Electronic Design System Design (ESD) Alliance reports increases in industry revenue from Q3 2016 to Q4 2017, and eight consecutive years of growth. Overall industry revenue increased 10.7% to $2218.6m in Q4 2017, from Q4 2016’s $2455m. The highest growth was in the Americas, where revenues increased 19.5% in the period, followed by Asia-Pacific region ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/eda-industry-reports-10-growth-2016-2017-2018-04/

Mouser takes on Altitude

Mouser has signed Altitude Technology to a global distribution agreement. Altitude is designer and supplier of intelligent sensorbtechnologies for the smart home and IoT markets. As part of the agreement, Mouser Electronics becomes an authorized distributor of Altitude Tech’s line of IoT Bit HAT modules and accessories, which integrate with the Raspberry Pi single-board computer ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/mouser-takes-altitude-2018-04/

Alliance is formed to address 48V conversion

Four companies, Artesyn Embedded Technologies, Bel Power Solutions, Flex and STMicroelectronics have formed the Power Stamp Alliance with the aim of defining a standard footprint for 48V DC/DC modules with a designated pin-out. The Alliance will mean there is no single source for the modules which will combine DOSA (Distributed power Open Standards Alliance) and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/alliance-formed-address-48v-conversion-2018-04/

Luxoft launches open source automotive software development platform

The automotive division of Luxoft Holding has launched PELUX 1.0, a base development platform designed to provide the building blocks for automotive software development projects, which is now available on Open Source. PELUX 1.0 was developed from Luxoft’s PELUX software suite which, for over four years, has helped carmakers and tier one suppliers to develop ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/luxoft-launches-open-source-automotive-software-development-platform-2018-04/

Mullard Work On Transistor Noise Problem

NOISE  in transistors is a far more complex problem than in thermionic devices. So, 58 years ago, a story started in Electronics Weekly’s edition of November 2nd 1960. The story continues: Mullard Ltd. are working on the problem of specifying noise and identify ing it by parameters. “There is need for a relatively simple system ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/mullard-work-transistor-noise-problem-2018-04/

Tosh’s Dilemma

Toshiba’s new boss has an interesting dilemma. Should Toshiba stick to its word and flog its memory unit to Bain/Hynix for $18 billion? Or should it kick Bain/Hynix into the long grass on the legalistic pretext that the China competition guys  didn’t OK the deal by March 31st which was a contractual condition for the ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/toshs-dilemma-2018-04/

Only Connect: A guide to crimp tools and terminology

Welcome to another post in the series by Nick Locke, of Nicab Ltd, who has more than 15 years experience in the electronics manufacturing industry specialising in interconnection cable assembly. In this guide I am going to walk you through the various types of crimp tools and the common terminology used. Many of you will ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/industry-comment/connect-guide-crimp-tools-terminology-2018-04/

Finnish battery start-up raises €500,000

One year-old lithium-ion diagnostic startup Akkurate of Turku Finland, which specialises in the testing, optimising, and analysing of lithium batteries, has raised €500,000. Investors include Finnish Lifeline Ventures, Suffice International from Hong Kong and the Lappeenranta University of Technology investment company Green Campus Innovations.  The start-up was born out of Microsoft’s takeover of Nokia. “The ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/finnish-battery-start-raises-e500000-2018-04/

Step-up µModule regulator in a 6.25mm x 6.25mm x 2.42mm BGA package.

The Power by Linear LTM4661 is a low power step-up µModule regulator in a 6.25mm x 6.25mm x 2.42mm BGA package. Only a few capacitors and one resistor are required to complete the design, and the solution occupies less than 1cm² single-sided or 0.5cm² on double-sided PCBs. The LTM4661 incorporates a switching DC/DC controller, MOSFETs, inductors and ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/524957-2018-04/

Farnell signs Nordic

Farnell has signed Nordic Semiconductor. “Farnell’s profile matches Nordic Semiconductor’s requirement to make its Bluetooth 5 and other low power wireless connectivity solutions available to the widest audience” says Nordic’s Geir Langeland, “through the partnership, Nordic’s range of nRF51 and nRF52 Series multiprotocol SoCs, RF protocol stacks and development tools are now even more accessible ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/farnell-signs-nordic-2018-04/

Ed Encounters Scientific Integrity

Who’d be Minister for Science? Ed asks his diary, most of the time it’s a doss but it can suddenly erupt into a bed of nails. First the data leak now the nerve agent. The Department’s scientists are supposed to cover the PM’s arse but they’ve  been making a pig’s ear of it on chemical weapons ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-encounters-scientific-integrity-2018-04/

When Andy Grove first met Steve Jobs

Andy Grove was offered a seat on the Apple board in the early days. In Charlie Sporck’s book SPINOFF Grove recalls being given “one of those pink message slips from my secretary. My secretary gives it to me with a big grin It says Mike Markkula, Apple Computer, please call him back.” “I said, “Apple ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/andy-grove-first-met-steve-jobs-2018-04/

February semi sales up 21% y-o-y

February’s semiconductor sales were 21% up on the $30.47 billion sales of February 2017 at $36.8 billion, but 2.2% down on January’s $37.6 billion, according to the SIA. “The global semiconductor market continued to demonstrate substantial and consistent growth in February, notching its 19th consecutive month of year-to-year sales increases and growing by double-digit percentages ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/february-semi-sales-21-y-o-y-2018-04/

KEMET expands ceramic capacitor series

KEMET  has expanded its ESD rated ceramic capacitor series into a complete product portfolio. Automotive and commercial grades are now available in EIA 0402, 0603, 0805 and 1206 case sizes with voltage ratings of 16 to 250 VDC. These devices provide miniaturization and enhanced flexibility to optimize ESD suppression, RF filtering, blocking, sensing, and circuit ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/kemet-expands-ceramic-capacitor-series-2018-04/

Kyocera sues Preh for haptic feedback patent infringement

Kyocera is suing German automotive component supplier Preh for infringement of its haptic feedback patents. The lawsuit, in a Dusseldorf court, says that Kyocera has been creating haptic technologies through its own R&D efforts since 2008. Kyocera says that, utilising ergonomics and virtual reality technology that Kyocera has developed over the years as well as its ...

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from Electronics Weekly https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/kyocera-sues-preh-haptic-feedback-patent-infringement-2018-04/