Embedded technologies are found in everything from home appliances to vehicles to military systems, and their importance continues to grow as more specialized solutions are sought for increasingly complex electronic systems. The annual Embedded World exhibition and conference in Nuremberg, Germany, taking place on March 14-16, will highlight the latest innovations in hardware, software, displays, embedded vision, IC and IP design, security and more.
Embedded World, organized by NürnbergMesse GmbH, started in 2003 with two halls and more than 350 exhibitors. Reflecting the dramatic growth in embedded technologies over the past two decades, the show had over 720 exhibitors and attracted over 18,000 visitors last year, recovering after COVID-19 closed the show in 2020 and 2021.
Below are some of the numerous product launches at Embedded World. The Embedded World website has complete information about the show.
Accelerate prototyping
Not surprisingly, as product designs become more complex and time-to-market pressures mount, tools that enable design engineers to reduce time-to-market are a key concern for embedded system designers. To that end, Renesas Electronics has unveiled its Quick-Connect Studio, a cloud-based online IoT system design platform that allows users to graphically create hardware and software to quickly validate prototypes and accelerate product development.
Quick-Connect Studio enables engineers to save time and reduce risk in product designs before committing to hardware layout. “This tool is designed for rapid prototyping and leverages cloud computing resources for rapid compilation,” said Brad Rex, director of systems and solutions at Renesas Electronics, in a recent interview with Design News. The platform dynamically reconfigures software code and provides a drag-and-drop environment that allows designers to quickly reconfigure and test product designs. “Because it runs in the cloud, designers can configure product designs without having to install any software,” added Rex.
Renesas
Renesas Quick-Connect Studio enables engineers to save time and reduce risk in product designs before committing to hardware layout.
Machine learning processor
Renesas Quick-Connect Studio is coupled with the company’s Quick-Connect IoT platform, which provides off-the-shelf hardware and software building blocks to enable rapid prototyping of IoT systems. Aspinity has released its AB2 AML100 Application Board which will be shown at Embedded World. The board accelerates the development of always-on, performance-constrained AI products using the Renesas AML100 analog machine learning processor and Quick Connect IoT platform or other development platforms with an Arduino Uno Rev3 connector.
Designed using Aspinity’s analogML™ core, the AML100 near-zero power analog machine learning processor consumes 15 µA for sensor interface, signal processing, and decision making entirely within the analog domain. When programmed with one of Aspinity’s custom-designed event detection algorithms, the AB2 allows system designers to quickly implement the AML100 as an analog front-end event detector that keeps the Renesas MCU in its lowest power state unless the sensor event of interest is detected. and further processing is required. By keeping the MCU in sleep mode most of the time, the AML100 allows system designers to leverage the features and functionality of their favorite high-performance Renesas.
Embedded Vision
Embedded Vision advancements will also be on display in abundance at Embedded World. ARIES Embedded shows embedded modules based on Microchip’s PolarFire® SoC architecture and various system-in-packages according to the versatile OSM standard.
The platforms, dubbed M100PF and M100PFS, provide energy-efficient computing for smart embedded vision, industrial automation, communications, and IoT. The M100PF SoM family implements the PolarFire FPGA and includes 100,000 Logic Elements (LEs) to 300,000 LEs. It features 12.7G transceivers and offers up to 50 percent less power than competing mid-range FPGAs. The M100PFS SoM integrates a hardened, real-time, Linux-enabled, RISC-V-based MPU subsystem in the mid-range PolarFire SoC FPGA family, providing embedded systems with low power consumption, thermal efficiency, and defense-grade security.
child presence detection
Wireless and sensor technologies are also in the spotlight of the embedded world. CEVA, Inc., which licenses wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies and co-creation solutions, announced that its RivieraWaves™ ultra-wideband (UWB) IP has been enhanced to include UWB radar for child presence detection (CPD) according to the specifications of Euro-NCAP and similar specifications in other regions.
Child Presence Detection is a safety system designed to detect and warn when a child or pet is accidentally left in the vehicle. In Europe, Euro NCAP actively promotes CPD through its safety rating metrics. In China, CNCAP similarly promotes CPD, and in the US, the Hot Cars Act was passed and NHTSA is reviewing CPD policies. The UWB-based in-cabin radar proves to be an excellent technology solution for occupancy detection, capable of detecting even micro-movements down to breathing rate.
The use of UWB radar sensors instead of alternative camera-based sensors also addresses the privacy concerns of in-cabin sensor systems and aids in low-light operation. Additionally, by reusing the UWB anchor points for secure digital keys that are becoming more common in automobiles, UWB-based CPDs can be economically deployed across the automotive market spectrum, from premium to budget.
The CEVA UWB Radar solution is an add-on software package for CEVA RivieraWave’s UWB PHY and MAC IP. The solution provides robust breaths per minute (bpm) detection for CPD with a resolution of less than 1 bpm, exceeding Euro NCAP requirements. Leveraging a coherent demodulation architecture and advanced range algorithms, the CEVA RivieraWaves UWB with radar delivers excellent range and angle measurements in the complex in-cabin environment, enabling gesture recognition and intruder alarm functions. The solution can be optimized for different environments, including a configurable number of antennas. The solution is designed to coexist with the Car Connectivity Consortium® (CCC) Digital Key and allows reuse of the Digital Key UWB anchor hardware.
Ceva
CEVA’s RivieraWaves™ Ultra-Wideband (UWB) IP has been enhanced to support UWB radar for Child Presence Detection (CPD).
WiFi and Bluetooth
Among other wireless products exhibited at Embedded World, Infineon will showcase its combination of ultra-low power AIROC™ CYW43022, dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth®. The CYW43022’s ultra-low-power architecture delivers industry-leading performance with a reduction in power consumption of up to 65 percent in “deep sleep” and significantly extends battery life for applications such as smart locks, smart wearables, IP cameras, and thermostats.
Infineon’s ultra-low power dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.3 AIROC CYW43022 combination includes Wi-Fi network offloads and an embedded Bluetooth stack that reduces performance requirements on host processors. To support designs with smaller antennas or designs that require longer range, the combo includes a Class 1 Bluetooth PA with +18 dBm transmit power. Secure Boot with firmware image authentication, which requires signed Infineon firmware, protects against hacker attacks.
Also in the field of Bluetooth technology, ON Semiconductor will show its low-power Bluetooth low-energy solution (Bluetooth LE) for the automotive market. The AEC-Q100 qualified device is ideal for tire monitoring and vehicle access applications. The solution offers the latest in embedded security and helps vehicle manufacturers looking to implement wireless connectivity to reduce the cost and weight of wiring associated with vehicle sensing and communications.
Infineon
Infineon’s AIROC™ CYW43022 dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth® combo achieves a 65 percent reduction in power consumption during “deep sleep” and extends battery life for smart locks, smart wearables, IP cameras and thermostats.
storage for vehicles
With the growth of high-speed computing and electric and autonomous vehicles, the need for memory that can keep up with high system bandwidth and faster read-write cycles increases. At Embedded World, Everspin Technologies will showcase its EMxxLX STT-MRAM devices – the industry’s first xSPI serial port persistent memory based on Everspin’s industrial STT-MRAM technology.
The memory offers densities up to 64 MB, an octal interface with 400 MB/s bandwidth and is compatible with the xSPI standard. The MRAM devices are aimed at applications that require fast read-write cycles and constant software updates, according to Joe O’Hare, Everspin’s marketing director, in an interview with Design News.
O’Hare anticipates that the EmxxLX STT-MRAM will find applications in industrial programmable logic controllers, process and factory automation, and even smart city and smart grid applications. He also foresees MRAM being developed in embedded memory applications using FPGAs.
edge computing
Among the edge computing products at Embedded World, Nuvoton will be showing its MA35D1 microprocessor, which enables detection and detection of edge computing objects using the deep learning MobileNet SSD model. This system runs TensorFlow Lite on Linux, can display inference results in real time on a screen, and supports image sensors such as USB cameras and parallel RGB CMOS. The system has an inference rate of 20 FPS with an image resolution of 60×60, and the MobileNet SSD and other popular models can be used in the Nuvoton NuEdgeWise™ Embedded Edge AI Creator IDE tool.
In addition, this product provides an easy-to-use, integrated machine learning development flow, from model training on a PC to deployment on Nuvoton Edge devices.
Spencer Chin is Senior Editor for Design News and covers the electronic beat. He has extensive experience in developing components, semiconductors, subsystems, power supply and other facets of electronics from both a business/supply chain and technology perspective. He can be reached at [email protected]
