Electronics Weekly – Maxim Battery Booster, Toshiba Flash Memory & More

Maxim PMICs

(Image courtesy of Maxim.)

Maxim has introduced the MAX77650/MAX77651 power management ICs (PMICs) for wearable devices. Size is critical for hearables and wearables as they continue moving to smaller form factors.

Most PMICs for these small, lithium-ion battery-operated devices require additional components, such as boost, buck, and low dropout (LDO) regulators; a charger; and current regulators for LED indicators. For space-savings and efficiency, Maxim has integrated all these functions into a package that is 19.2mm².

The MAX77650 and MAX77651 feature single inductor multiple output (SIMO) buck-boost regulators that provide three independently programmable power rails from a single inductor, 150mA LDO, and three current sink drivers to reduce overall component count and maximize available board space. For design flexibility, the MAX77650 operates up to 3.3V and the MAX77651 operates up to 5V—both include an analog multiplexer output for safe battery monitoring, making them ideal for low-power designs.

Detailed diagrams of the devices are available on Maxim’s website.

Microchip Network Interface Controller

(Image courtesy of Microchip Technology.)

Microchip Technology Inc. has released the MOST150 Intelligent Network Interface Controller (INIC), enabling automotive manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers to incorporate Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) networks in a daisy-chain configuration on coaxial physical layer with the support of full-duplex communication, in addition to a ring topology.

Microchip’s OS81119 INIC is designed to allow customers to simplify the network architecture of automotive in-vehicle infotainment systems by using integrated coaxial physical layer (cPHY), optical physical layer (oPHY), daisy-chain topologies or hybrid combinations.

Besides an integrated cPHY, a USB 2.0 user interface is also part of the OS81119 INIC. Additionally, utilizing an open-source Linux operating system and driver for the OS81119 helps reduce costs. By using the standard Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), users can also minimize the risk of application issues.

For more information, visit Microchip’s website.

RS Components Neural Compute Stick

(Image courtesy of RS Components.)

RS Components has announced the Movidius Neural Compute Stick (NCS), which is a development tool for low-power deep-learning inference. The tool is intended to enable users to develop and prototype artificial intelligence applications to a broad range of devices in a USB form factor.

Supporting the Caffe Deep Neural Network (DNN) framework, the NCS is suitable for use as a development tool for neural network prototyping and acceleration. The USB-form-factor inference engine enables developers and researchers to free their projects from the Cloud to learn about the performance and accuracy of their neural network applications running in the real world.

The NCS enables deep-learning R&D and prototyping on a Linux laptop or any x86-based host device. In addition, the Neural Compute Platform API allows user applications to run on an embedded host, which can initialise the target platform, load a graph file and offload inferences. Support for the NCS will also be extended in the future to include other platforms, such as the Raspberry Pi.

Information concerning pricing and availability can be found on RS Components’ website.

Synopsys Launches HBM2 IP

(Image courtesy of Synopsys.)

Synopsys has introduced the DesignWare High Bandwidth Memory 2 (HBM2) IP solution consisting of controller, PHY and verification IP, allowing designers to achieve up to 307 GB/s aggregate bandwidth. In addition, DesignWare HBM2 IP provides approximately ten times better energy efficiency than DDR4.

The DesignWare HBM2 Controller supports pseudo-channel operation in either lock step or memory interleaved mode, allowing users to maximize bandwidth based on their unique traffic pattern. Both the HBM2 controller and PHY utilize a DFI 4.0-compatible interface to simplify integration with custom DFI-compliant controllers and PHYs.

For more information, visit Synopsys’ website.

Toshiba Flash Memory

(Image courtesy of Toshiba.)

Toshiba has unveiled the TR200 SATA solid state drive (SSD) series. Leveraging Toshiba’s 3-bit-per-cell TLC (triple-level cell) BiCS FLASH, the TR200 series offers PC gamers and DIY enthusiasts with an SSD containing 64-layer 3D flash memory.

With a 6Gbit/s SATA interface, the TR200 series is rated for sequential read/write speeds of up to 550MB/s and 525MB/s and random read/write performances of up to 80,000 and 87,000 input/output operations per second. TR200 drives will be offered in a 2.5-inch form factor and are available in 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities. The SSDs will be available this fall.

Additional details are available on Toshiba’s website.

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