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Executive Interview: Hassane El-Khoury
CEO of Cypress Semiconductor
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November 2011 Electronic Engineering Times Europe1

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 CONTENTS MARCH 2019

Dear readers, www.een

ewseurop
e.com

Gearing up for LOPEC (Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention) to be

News
March 20
19

held in Munich, our main feature this month is LEDs & OLEDs Technologies, cover- electron
ics euro
pe New
s
ing novel process and design strategies and promising luminous and conformable
user interfaces.
This feature expands largely on the design of ultraviolet emitters, addressing high-
value applications that have not yet been commoditized as it has been the case
with the generic LED lighting market, for which LED manufacturers are struggling
to make a profit due to over-supply.
Other topics covered in our March edition include Microwave & RF Circuits and CMOS NE
M
Automotive Electronics. for tunab S
Enjoy this edition of eeNews Europe and don’t hesitate to get in touch to tell us le RF switch
ing
your stories, from starting up a company to developing your first prototypes,
achieving your first product design-in, sharing your insight on this fast-paced
industry or to contribute your expertise on some of the topics we’ll be cover-
ing along the year.
Special Fo
cus: LEDs
& OLEDs
Ex ecutive
CEO of Cy Interview: Hassan
press Sem e
iconducto El-Khoury
Julien Happich r
europe
business an
press

Editor in Chief Novemb

er 2011 Electroni
c Engineer
ing Time
s Europe
1

190205_8
-4Mill_EEN
E_EU_Snip
e.indd
1

2/4/19
11:53 AM

4 - 49: OPINION 28 - 35: MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

Uncommon Market: Bring the IoT to your devices with LoRaWAN
Platform puts data privacy in As a radio protocol that
the hands of users needs to coexist with
other systems that may
Last word: GloFo gets warm use the same unlicensed
words, but for how long? radio bands, LoRaWAN
uses spread-spectrum
6 - 16: NEWS & TECHNOLOGY technology. However, it
does not employ the direct-sequenced spread-spec-
Focus will make Cypress win and grow trum (DSSS) modulation found in other protocols.
Hassane El-Khoury has been CEO of Cypress Semi- LoRaWAN replaces DSSS with chirp spread-spec-
conductor for just over two trum (CSS) technology, which dispenses with the
years having taken over from need for an accurate clock.
company founder T J Rodgers
in 2016. Prior to his appoint- 36 - 41: AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
ment El-Khoury had spent nine
years with Cypress rising to be What can GPUs bring to ADAS?
the head of its automotive busi- The GPU’s highly parallel, throughput-oriented
ness. eeNews Europe caught nature makes it a great
up with El-Khoury at Embed- fit for the challenges of
ded World in Nuremberg. ADAS. It is essentially a
turbo-charged multiply,
18 - 27: LEDS & OLEDS TECHNOLOGIES accumulate engine which
is the basis of neural net-
Correcting 0-10V LED dimming with digital drivers work-type algorithms.
The 0-10V convention for luminaire dimming is widely
accepted by the lighting 46: READER OFFER
industry. Unfortunately, This month, Nanoport
these dimming instruc- Technology is giving
tions are unidirectional, away three TacHammer
and one-way communica- Developer Kits, worth
tions does not offer any 400 Euros each, for
indication if the luminaire eeNews Europe’s readers
has dimmed or even is dimmed to the appropriate to win.
lumen output level.
48: DISTRIBUTION CORNER

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 3

 UNCOMMON MARKET
Platform puts data privacy
in the hands of users
By Jean-Pierre Joosting
A
platform developed by MIT and Harvard University
researchers ensures that web services adhere to users’
preferences on how their data are stored and shared in
the cloud.
Cloud computing enables users of mobile apps and web
services to store personal data on remote data center servers.
Services often aggregate multiple users’ data across servers
to gain insights on, say, consumer shopping patterns to help
recommend new items to specific users, or may share data with
advertisers. Traditionally, however, users haven’t had the power
to restrict how their data are processed and shared.
In a paper, researchers from MIT and Harvard University
describe a platform, called Riverbed, that forces data center
servers to only use data in ways that users explicitly approve. In
Riverbed, a user’s web browser
or smartphone app does not
communicate with the cloud
directly. Instead, a Riverbed
proxy runs on a user’s device to
mediate communication. When
the service tries to upload user
data to a remote service, the
proxy tags the data with a set of
permissible uses for their data,
called a “policy.”
Users can select any number
of predefined restrictions – such
as, “do not store my data on per-
sistent storage” or “my data may
only be shared with the external
service x.com.” The proxy tags
all the data with the selected
policy.
In the datacenter, Riverbed
assigns the uploaded data to an isolated cluster of software
components, with each cluster processing only data tagged
with the same policies. For example, one cluster may contain
data that can’t be shared with other services, while another may
hold data that can’t be written to disk. Riverbed monitors the
server-side code to ensure it adheres to a user’s policies. If it
doesn’t, Riverbed terminates the service.
Riverbed aims to enforce user data preferences, while main-
taining advantages of cloud computing, such as performing
large-scale computations on outsourced servers. “Users give a
lot of data to web apps for services, but lose control of how the
data is used or where it’s going,” says first author Frank Wang,
a recent graduate of the Department of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory. “We give users control to tell web apps,
‘This is exactly how you can use my data.’”
On that thread, an additional perk for app developers, Wang
adds, is establishing more trust with users. “That’s a big thing
now,” Wang says. “A selling point for your app would be saying,
‘My app’s goal is to protect user data.’”
Joining Wang on the paper are PhD student Ronny Ko and
associate professor of computer science James Mickens, both
4 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
DATA PRIVACY
of Harvard. In 2016, the European Union passed the General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which states that users
must consent to their data being accessed, that they have the
right to request their data be deleted, and that companies must
implement appropriate security measures.
For web developers, however, these laws provide little
technical guidance for writing sophisticated apps that need to
leverage user data.
In the past, computer scientists have designed “information
flow control” (IFC) systems that allow programmers to label pro-
gram variables with data policies. But with so many variables
and many possible interactions between variables, these sys-
tems are difficult to program. Thus, no large-scale web services
use IFC techniques.
Primarily, Riverbed leverages
the fact that the server-side code
of an app can run atop a special
“monitor” program – programs
that track, regulate, and verify
how other programs manipu-
late data. The monitor creates a
separate copy of the app’s code
for each unique policy assigned
to data. Each copy is called a
“universe.” The monitor ensures
that users who share the same
policy have their data uploaded
to, and manipulated by, the
same universe. This method
enables the monitor to terminate
a universe’s code, if that code
attempts to violate the universe’s
data policy.
This process incorporates
a custom interpreter, a program that compiles programming
language into code that’s understood by a computer. Interpret-
ers are also used to help runtime programs implement low-level
commands into an original program as it runs. The researchers
modified a traditional interpreter to extract defined policies from
incoming user data and labels certain variables with specific
policy direction. Labels will, for instance, denote whitelisted
web services for data sharing or restrict persistent storage –
meaning the data can’t be stored when the user stops using the
web service.
“Say I want my data to be aggregated with other users. That
data is put into its own universe with other user data with the
same policy,” Wang says. “If a user doesn’t want to share any
data with anyone, then that user has their own whole universe.
This way, you don’t have any cross-pollination of data.”
For developers, this makes it much easier to comply with
GDPR and other privacy laws, Wang says, because users have
given explicit consent for data access. “All users in each uni-
verse have the same policies, so you can do all your operations
and not worry about what data is put into an algorithm, because
everyone has the same policy on data in that universe,” Wang
says.
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Control of Anything, From
Anywhere with Peace of Mind
Build Smart, Connected and Secure Designs

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The Microchip name and logo and the Microchip logo are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries.
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© 2018 Microchip Technology Inc. All rights reserved. DS00002758A. MEC2220Eng08/18
 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
NREL slashes the margin on photovoltaic
panel measurements
By Nick Flaherty
R
esearchers at the National Renewable Energy Labora-
tory (NREL) in the US has reduced the uncertainty in
measuring the power of a photovoltaic (PV) module to
just ±1.1%, the lowest in the world. This compares to a 0.4%
tolerance on measurement of primary reference cells and 0.6%
for secondary reference cells at NREL.
“This is over a $30 billion industry now,” said Keith Emery,
a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) and,
before he retired in 2016, the point person for the laboratory’s
work to measure the efficiency of PV technology. “That $30 bil-
lion industry is weighted in units of watts, so a 1% uncertainty
in a $30 billion industry
is a big deal.”
“Manufacturers
need some kind of
yardstick at the end of
their production line
because they’re crank-
ing out thousands of
modules a day,” said
Dean Levi, Emery’s
successor and man-
ager of the Cell and
Module Performance
group in the National
Center for Photovolta-
ics at NREL.
Manufacturers price
PV modules based on
watts generated and
typically provide a
power tolerance of -0% to +3%. This means a 300W solar mod-
ule, which sells for 30 cents per watt on the global wholesale
market, has a margin of error for this module equates to 9W.
“Because of the way PV modules are rated for power, there’s
a pretty good chance they’re selling you a 309-watt module for
the price of a 300-watt module—and they don’t like that,” said
Levi. “Manufacturers have been pushing for a long time for labs
like ours to reduce our uncertainties because then they don’t
have to sell a 309-watt module for the price of 300 watts. If their
uncertainty is plus or minus 1%, they can instead sell that 309-
watt module as a 306-watt module, so they’ve made that much
more money.”
Although that only amounts to $1.80 more per module, large
PV manufacturers produce more than 30 million 300-watt mod-
ules per year, so this small reduction in uncertainty can result in
a $50 million improvement in annual revenues, he says.
To ensure proper calibration, manufacturers usually send at
least two modules of the same model type to NREL’s South Ta-
ble Mountain Campus in Golden, Colorado, as golden samples.
There, the output performance of each is measured and the
laboratory certifies that the module produces, for example, 302
watts, plus or minus 1.1%. Back at the factory, the modules are
used to check that output against the company’s solar simula-
tor, which is essentially a large table that illuminates the module
with light approximating sunlight.
6 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
ENERGY HARVESTING
“One of the biggest uncertainties in measuring power output
is how accurately can you measure the light output of your
simulator,” said Levi. “With this golden module, the manufac-
turer can set the light output of their simulator very accurately.
Then they put that module in a safe place and they get out an-
other module, just like the first one. They measure that module
on the simulator and that’s their ‘silver module.’ That one they’ll
use every morning, or maybe several times a day, to set the
intensity of their simulator.”
“The simulator sits at the end of the production line,” Levi
continued.” Every module that comes off the production line
gets tested, and its
power output gets as-
signed, based on that
simulator—which is ul-
timately traceable back
to our measurement of
their module.”
The main work
by Carl Osterwald,
an NREL electrical
engineer, and Larry
Ottoson, a technician
at the laboratory’s
Outdoor Test Facility,
reduced the margin
of error by eliminat-
ing anything that was
causing errors in the
calibrations, such as
eliminating light leaks.
“Not any one of our systems by itself could get better than 2%,”
said Osterwald. “So, we had to use a combination method. It
was a combination of a whole bunch of things. We completely
changed the calibration procedure for PV modules.”
One change considered the fact that light from a simulator
isn’t uniform, something that can dominate the uncertainty. In
the new procedure, the current produced by a module is first
calibrated outdoors, which provides a very uniform light source.
Then, that carefully calibrated module can be used as its own
reference module for the other tests. After the current is mea-
sured outdoors, the module is put into a simulator and the light
level is set correctly.
“With each of these, we became the lowest uncertainty in the
world when we attained those accreditations,” said Levi.
“A lot of the PV power we get is from huge utility-scale
power plants they build out in the desert or out in the plains,”
he added. “Most of those are financed by banks, and banks
don’t like risk. If a bank perceives more risk in a project, they’re
going to charge a higher interest rate. And that interest rate
directly impacts the cost of the power that project produces. If
the banks have a higher confidence in the energy output, then
they’re going to charge a lower interest rate, and that’s one
of the major factors that DOE has identified as a pathway to
reduce the cost of solar energy: To reduce the perceived risk by
the investors.”
www.eenewseurope.com
 EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Focus will make Cypress win and grow

By Peter Clarke

H
assane El-Khoury has been CEO of Cypress Semicon- This leads to the observation that a wave of consolidation
ductor for just over two years having taken over from that swept the semiconductor industry in 2015 through 2017
company founder T J Rodgers in 2016. Prior to his seemed to recede in 2018.
appointment El-Khoury had spent nine years with Cypress ris- “There is always consolidation. In 2016 and 2017 you were
ing to be the head of its automotive business. eeNews Europe reading about it in the public domain. China was attempting to
caught up with El-Khoury at Embedded World in Nuremberg. buy a lot of companies but often didn’t close. Now China is not
Cypress is an interesting chip company because at $2.5 bil- putting players up for obvious reasons,” said El-Khoury.
lion annual revenues, while not a giant of the semiconductor in- El-Khoury pointed out that Cypress is in a sort of middle
dustry it still offers a broad range of products. It started back in region between small, which he defines as less than $1 billion
1982 as a vendor of memories and programmable logic, which in annual sales, and big, which he defines as greater than $5
it still offers in the form of programmable SoCs (PSoCs). By a billion in annual sales. But he is sure this will change. “In five
series of acquisitions and incubations the company has moved years’ time Cypress will be much bigger – either because we
into MCUs, wireless, PMICs, touch sensors, timing solutions, have acquired or because we have been acquired.”
and interface ICs including USB.
It offers many products but often
quite application sector specific so we
started by asking El-Khoury if Cypress
is too broad – or not broad enough.
“Cypress has the balance that I
want it to have. The types of products
and market sectors are in balance,”
El-Khoury shot back.
“For automotive: MCU, memories,
PMICs, SoCs. We have every one of
those. For the world of IoT there need-
ed to be the RF next to it, which is why
we bought Broadcom’s IoT business.
We are one-third automotive, one-third
consumer, 17 percent industrial and 17
percent extra pieces.”
The reference to consumer is also
interesting because the volatility of
that market and the recent saturation
of the smartphone market has had
many companies rushing to move their
capabilities into steady markets such
as automotive and industrial.
“There is a difference between
exposure to consumer and exposure
to one or two companies,” said El-
Khoury. “Cypress is not in that boat.
We do not have one 10 percent customer and we have walked “We are growing, stable and predictable which puts us in an
away from orders worth $150 million over two years. What we area where we can be disciplined. In terms of acquisitions I can
have is ‘sticky’ high-value consumer customers like Netgear wait. I am not going to overpay. But for the right target we can
and Amazon.” move fast, assimilate quickly and monetize the deal. We can be
With a history of acquisition it would be interesting to know the consolidator.”
what will come next. What market areas can Cypress expand into?
“The merger with Spansion in 2015 was big [valued at $5 “IoT is not so much a market as a capability that runs across
billion]. But we don’t do acquisitions just for scale. We are very all our markets. It is the smart-home, the connected factory, the
disciplined about what we do. We did acquire the Broadcom’s connected car,” he said re-iterating Cypress’s consumer, indus-
wireless IoT business in 2016 [valued at $550 million]. We are trial and automotive interests.
now in radio because of our MCU business. We also acquired a And on the technology front does Cypress need to develop
software company in 2018 [Cirrent Inc.]. We’re always looking. artificial intelligence and non-volatile memory?
Standing still is not an option.” “I don’t follow the next shiny thing,” said El-Khoury. “But I do
El-Khoury will not release any information on any upcoming see the significance of ‘edge intelligence’,” he added. “We need
deals but is willing to set the scene. “Our debt is the lowest it to be adding capabilities at the edge that can run on batteries.
has ever been and with that liquidity we’ve been buying back As to memory; we are the King of Memories. We are number
shares. You could argue that Cypress is ready to do some- one in automotive flash.”
thing.” There are a number of companies coming through with vari-

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 7

 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
ants of resistive RAM, magnetic RAM, phase-change memory,
to provide non-volatility at geometries that flash is unable to
achieve although often in the form of intellectual property as
embedded memories, rather than discrete.
“The thing is we don’t dabble; we focus. We can choose
whether to develop something organically or license it in. It de-
pends on how fast we want to do it. Machine learning could be
an edge device in your smart home. But the use cases are lag-
ging the technology.” So, that suggests there is time to develop
something organically? El-Khoury agrees but adds “It’s about
return on investment and the right time to market.”
“MRAM is probably the most viable non-volatile memory but
does not serve all use cases. It only goes to 85 degrees C and
maybe 105 degrees C in a couple of years.” These low operat-
ing temperature limits make it unsuitable for many automo-
tive and industrial applications. “Cypress has embedded flash
memory. We have SONOS [silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon]
and eCT [embedded charge trap] memory. At 40nm we offer
8Mbytes of embedded flash. At more advanced nodes custom-
ers tend to use external flash, El-Khoury said.
There is an argument that customers use external discrete
memories because no non-volatile memory has yet emerged
with the right balance of speed, density and endurance and ap-
plicable at 20nm and below, but that when it does it will sweep
the field.
There are many next-generation memory technologies that
are interesting, said El-Khoury but added: “I won’t bet the
ranch. All of these technologies have already been in the works
for years.” The implication is Cypress will let others do the
heavy lifting and gain access to the most appropriate embed-
ded memory technology when it is available from a foundry.
Cypress runs a mixed manufacturing business model with
its own 200mm fab in Austin, Texas. In 2017 the company sold
Silicon microfluidics heatsink dissipates over 600W/cm2
By Julien happich
I
mec has unveiled a silicon-based compact microchannel
heat sink that enables high heat flux dissipation. The heat
sink achieves a low total thermal resistance of 0,34K/W to
0.28K/W at less than 2W pump power, it can be assembled to a
high performance chip to cool it.
Imec sees such chip coolers as a
possible answer for the heat challenge
that the new generation of power
electronics and systems in a package
are faced with. The downscaling of
integrated chips and their packaging is
a major trend in the electronics indus-
try. However, with the ever-increasing
power density has detrimental heat
effects that impact the reliability and
performances of the devices. Liquid
is more effective in removing that heat
compared to air, because of its higher
thermal conductivity and specific heat
capacity.
Silicon as a material is a rela-
tively good heat conductor. The use of
small, parallel, high-aspect-ratio sili-
con microchannel structures of 32µm
wide and more than 260µm deep in imec’s chip cooler further
8 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
its Bloomington, Minnesota wafer fab, which became Skywa-
ter Technology Foundry, with a multi-year supply contract to
produce legacy products for Cypress. “All future [manufacturing
process] technology at 40nm and below are foundry,” El-Khoury
added. El-Khoury said that if embedded MRAM or ReRAM with
the right characteristics emerged it would likely be available
from a foundry.
The ending of an economic cycle, together with exceptional
items such as the US-China trade war, seems to be leading
forecasters to the conclusion that 2019 will be a difficult year.
El-Khoury doesn’t disagree but said that from Cypress’s point of
view it doesn’t change anything.
“I don’t make a knee-jerk to short-term events. Things
maybe slower in the first half of 2019 and build again in the sec-
ond half. But all our peers see the same thing. We will weather
through it and not change our strategy. We will invest. Small
companies can’t afford to, but I will double-down on demand
creation; press the accelerator because we have the opportu-
nity.”
How does El-Khoury view China as a market and source of
competition?
“China is another one of a list of competitor countries – Ja-
pan, South Korea, Taiwan – but leading-edge development still
happens in the US. China is still one or two generations behind
[in manufacturing process technology]. There’s also a lot of
talk about intellectual property as the next frontier and the US
has a lot of IP. China needs to invest faster to catch up,” said
El-Khoury.
“China is important as a market. We just celebrated being in
that market for 20 years. But it is important that we protect IP
there just as we do everywhere else. But we welcome com-
petitors on a technology basis, because we will win where we
focus.
increases the convective heat transfer surface area and the heat
transfer coefficient, enabling high heat flux removal. This makes
it possible to dissipate over 600W/cm2, an increase in heat flux
by two orders of magnitude compared to classical metal heat
sinks, while keeping the component
temperature below 100°C.
The key attribute of silicon is that it
can realize high-aspect-ratio micro-
structures at low cost by leveraging
massively parallel production pro-
cesses and can be directly integrated
in the semiconductor infrastructure.
In the current version, the Si-based
microchannel heat sinks are fabricated
separately and then interfaced to the
back side of a heat-dissipating chip.
Using an optimized Cu/Sn-Au inter-
face, imec achieves a very low thermal
contact resistance between both
parts. Since the fluidic performance
and thermal behavior can be predicted
with a high degree of accuracy, imec’s
microcooler can also be tailored ac-
cording to external system constraints
such as space and liquid supply.
www.eenewseurope.com
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stocking more products for your next design.
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 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Consortium to boost silicon and solid state battery
production in Europe
By Christoph Hammerschmidt
T
he Si-DRIVE project is aiming to develop a cell by 2030
that consists of a nanostructured silicon anode, a novel
solid electrolyte based on ionic liquids and a completely
cobalt-free but lithium-rich cathode. A cell with this structure and a
comprehensive recycling program could make sustainable battery
production possible.
Around 90% of lithium-ion cells are cur-
rently produced in Asia and there are various
efforts in Europe to set up their own bat-
tery production. The Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology (KIT) and the Helmholtz Institute
Ulm (HIU) are developing a cell concept in
this context: it will be sustainable and based
exclusively on ecologically and economically
uncritical materials.
“What is special about this project is that we are working
together to cover all steps of the battery value chain, from material
development to prototype cell production and recycling,” explains
Professor Stefano Passerini, Director of the HIU. His research
group is developing the novel, cobalt-free cathode material with
non-critical elements such as iron or aluminium. Cobalt is listed by
the European Commission as a critical raw material because it is
a scarce resource and geopolitically difficult to access, which can
VW sets up pilot battery recycling plant
By Nick Flaherty
V
olkswagen is setting up a pilot plant to recycle lithium ion
batteries from electric vehicles, either for other uses or to
recover the metals within them.
The recycling plant in Salzgitter, Germany, can handle 1200
tons of batteries from 3,000 cars, starting in 2020. But it is only
expected to be used in volume
when the first generation of electric
cars come to the end of their bat-
tery life. The first battery systems
for the ID electric car family are set
to leave manufacturing at Zwickau
at the end of 2019, using batter-
ies from a plant in Braunschweig,
so recycling the batteries is not
expected until 2028 or 2029.
“For ten years now, we have
been researching how we can
recuperate raw materials. These
include, above all, cobalt, lithium, manganese, and nickel,” said
Thomas Tiedje, Head of Technical Planning. “We already have
sustainable battery expertise in the Group and are developing
this further,” says Tiedje.
VW is launching the ID later this year, followed by the ID
BUZZ minivan, the ID CROZZ SUV and ID VIZZION sedan.
These will be supplied by batteries from Braunschweig. At
Salzgitter the returning battery packs will be analyzed and either
given a “second life” or recycled.
10 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
BATTERY
lead to supply bottlenecks. Moreover, in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, where most of the extraction takes place, the element is
sometimes extracted with child labour and inhumane conditions.
“At the same time, we want to significantly increase the lithium
content in the coating oxide cathode compared with conventional
materials in order to achieve a significant increase
in energy density,” says Passerini.
Five project partners will also work on the con-
cept of a closed-loop economy in order to identify
further applications. Scenarios are conceivable in
which “low-age” batteries from electric cars are
combined and reused as stationary storage units.
The anode and electrolyte concept also follow
this sustainability concept, so that in the end a
recycling rate of over 50% is to be achieved. The
nanostructures of the anode are designed in such a way that a
long cycle stability can be made possible by an ideal geometry
with high mass loads. The structure of the anode will be optimized
by modelling in such a way that volume expansion and mechani-
cal deformation can be buffered in the best possible way while
maintaining maximum energy density. The newly developed solid
electrolyte is based on ionic liquids, which provide greater stability
at high voltages, maximum safety and low flammability.
One possible second life for batteries is as a component for
flexible charging stations. These are quick charging stations
which can be operated autonomously, for example at festivals
or large-scale events. They work according to the principle of
a power bank. Alternatively, the quick charging stations are
equipped with power connections
and thus provide e-drivers with
a quick charging option on long
trips along freeways and national
highways.
Other batteries will be shredded,
then the material will be dried and
sieved, allowing the employees to
extract the so-called “black pow-
der.” This contains the valuable raw
materials of cobalt, lithium, man-
ganese, and nickel. These materi-
als then just have to be separated
individually, after which they are available again for the produc-
tion of new batteries.
“We prefer to recycle it ourselves and qualify our employees
to do this, especially since we expect large batch sizes in the
future,” says Tiedje.
In the long term, VW has a goal to recycle 97 percent of all
raw materials. Today, it reaches 53 percent, and the plant in Sal-
zgitter will bring this figure up to 72 percent. Future distributed
recycling plants will increase this to 97 percent.
www.eenewseurope.com
 MEMORY

Multi-bit memory chip stacks on top of CMOS for edge-AI

By Julien happich

I
n a joint paper titled, “A 43pJ/Cycle firsts for RRAM technology. These include new
Non-Volatile Microcontroller with 4.7μs algorithms that achieve multiple bits-per-cell
Shutdown/Wake-up Integrating 2.3-bit/ RRAM at the full memory level, new techniques
Cell Resistive RAM and Resilience Tech- that exploit RRAM features as well as application
niques” presented at the International characteristics to demonstrate the effectiveness
Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) of multiple bits-per-cell RRAM at the computing
2019 in San Francisco, researchers from CEA-Leti and Stanford system level, and new resilience techniques that achieve a useful
University disclosed a proof-of-concept multi-bit chip said to lifetime for RRAM-based computing systems.
overcome NVM’s read/write, latency and
integration challenges.
As a world’s first, the researchers inte-
grated multiple-bit non-volatile memory
(NVM) Resistive RAM (RRAM) technology
with silicon computing units, as well as
new memory resiliency features said to
provide 2.3-times the capacity of existing
RRAM.
Target applications include energy-
efficient, smart-sensor nodes to support
artificial intelligence on the Internet of
Things, or “edge AI”.
The proof-of-concept chip has been
validated for a wide variety of applications
such as machine learning, control and
security. Designed by a Stanford team led
by Professors Subhasish Mitra and H.-S.
Philip Wong and realized in CEA-Leti’s
cleanroom in Grenoble, France, the chip
monolithically integrates two heteroge-
neous technologies: 18 kilobytes (KB) C

of on-chip RRAM on top of commer- M

cial 130nm silicon CMOS with a 16-bit

general-purpose microcontroller core with
Y

8KB of SRAM. CM

The new chip is reported to deliverMY

10-times better energy efficiency (at

similar speed) versus standard embed- CY

ded FLASH, thanks to its low operationCMY

energy, as well as ultra-fast and energy-

K
efficient transitions from on mode to off
mode and vice versa.
Non-volatility enables memories to
retain data when power is off, an es-
sential on-chip memory characteristic
for edge nodes that must be able to turn
themselves off. The 2.3 bits/cell RRAM
enables higher memory density and
was tested to yield better application
results, such as a 2.3x increase in neural
network inference accuracy, compared
to a 1-bit/cell equivalent memory. The
CEA-Leti and Stanford team also cre-
ated a new technique called ENDURER
that overcomes the typical write failures
of NVM technologies, giving the chip a
10-year functional lifetime when continu-
ously running inference with the Modi-
fied National Institute of Standards and
Technology (MNIST) database. Mitra said
the chip demonstrates several industry

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 11

 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY LIFI INTEGRATION

LiFi is ready for mass integration, says pureLiFi

By Julien happich

C
atching up with pureLiFi’s CEO Alistair Banham during Europe, showing the LiFi-equipped smartphone side-by-side
Mobile World Congress (MWC), eeNews Europe got with the tiny footprint occupied in the HP laptop. “And that’s in
a glimpse of the future. To show its readiness for the an environment completely stuffed with RF”, he added referring
mobile market and lure smartphone OEMs into integrating LiFi to MWC’s thousands of visitors all trying to connect to WiFi at
in their next generation of products, the company exhibited the same time.
a working demonstrator. At the booth, tiny apertures into a “We now have the right components at the right size and the
standard HP laptop allowed the company’s embedded optical right cost to have discussions with big OEMS for the integration
LiFi components to support Gbit data transmission speeds (for of LiFi on their roadmap” the CEO said. We were not given to
the downlink, 400MB/s uplink) between the laptop and a POE- see the discrete optical components (IR emitter and receiver)
connected LiFi light fixture fitted with a GU10 bulb. as their actual packaging and size were deemed too sensitive
pureLiFi already information to be shared publicly, but Banham had the parts
boasts about 130 LiFi ready to expose to key customers. “All the big brands are que-
deployments globally rying us about integration, QoS is a big bottleneck for opera-
in over 20 countries, tors”.
mostly in corporate “We own the design of the optical components, we have our
offices and campuses. secret sauce to package the photosensor with the emitter and
At last year’s MWC, the analogue circuit, and we will further integrate those”, the
the company had CEO said.
made the first ever The IEEE 802.11bb standard for light communication is
skype call using a expected to be ratified in 2021, ASICs will then be designed
smartphone connected to drive LiFi products and pureLiFi expects to integrate all the
The plug-in LiFi module connected through a plug-in LiFi necessary components
to a smartphone side-by-side with module. More and between 2021 and 2022
more use cases are so it could ship devices in
the shrunk optical components
cropping up for LiFi volume in about three years’
embedded in an HP laptop computer.
on the basis that the time.
wireless optical con- Talking about the com-
nection is immune to petitive landscape, Banham
RF interferences and says the market for LiFi is
also considered more being created right now,
private as it does not and the more competitors
reach beyond walls. the better to help grow the
“In one year, we market size. “But from what
went from a 43MB/s our customers say, we are
data throughput to pretty advanced in terms of
1Gbit/s and we have integration and data rate.
significantly shrunk our Of course we don’t know
The speed of a live LiFi connection at optical components”, what’s in the kitchen of oth- Example of a LiFi infrastructure.
MWC 2019. Banham told eeNews ers”, the CEO concluded.

BMW taps Israeli high-tech startup creativity

By Christoph Hammerschmidt

T
he Bavarian vehicle manufacturer BMW plans to open
a technology office in Israel. The planned location is Tel
Aviv, the centre of Israel’s fast-growing start-up scene.
The BMW Group has been cooperating
with Israeli partners in various fields of tech-
nology for several years. The company has
now announced that it will open an office for
trend and technology scouting in Israel. “Tel
Aviv has one of the fastest growing startup
scenes in the world - especially in the key fu-
ture fields for us such as autonomous driving
or connectivity,” said Klaus Fröhlich, Chief
Development Officer of BMW AG. “Our local
presence ensures that we have faster access to relevant trends
and technologies, whether from founders or universities.”
It is expected that the BMW Group Technology Office will
start work at the technology hotspot Tel Aviv in the middle of
this year. A small, agile team of experts from different disciplines
is planned, which will network closely with
local startups and evaluate and promote
relevant trends, technologies and innova-
tions. BMW will focus on the entire spectrum
of local technology companies. In addition,
research cooperations with universities are to
be set up.
In addition to the existing Technology
Offices in the USA, China, Japan and South
Korea, the Technology Office in Tel Aviv will
be the fifth of its kind in the global research and development
network of the BMW Group.

12 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com


Organic transistor mimics synapse, suitable for ML/AI
By Peter Clarke
R
esearchers from Linköping University have reported the
development of an organic electrochemical transistor
(OECT) that shows short- and long-term memory effects
and demonstrates the behaviour of a bio-
logical synapse.
The OECT is formed by electropolymer-
izing a self‐doped conjugated monomer,
sodium 4‐(2‐(2,5‐bis(2,3‐dihydrothieno[3,4‐
b][1,4]dioxin‐5‐yl)thiophen‐3‐yl)ethoxy)
butane‐1‐sulfonate (ETE‐S), as the transis-
tor channel and this channel can be formed,
grown, shrunk or obliterated in situ and un-
der operation. This transistor can be trained
to react to a certain input signal so that the channel becomes
more conductive and the output signal larger. For the research
the PETE‐S OECT channel was fabricated on a silicon oxide
substrate patterned with source and drain electrodes to give a
channel length of 30 microns and a channel width of 1 micron.
The voltage scheme for action is at around 2V and below.
The authors report that the long‐term modulation of the
channel conductance persists for months while short‐term syn-
aptic plasticity occurs on a time‐scale of seconds.
“It is the first time that real-time formation of new electronic
Consortium seeks to scale artificial intelligence
By Peter Clarke
F
our diverse companies – Crossbar, Gyrfalcon, mtes Neural
Networks and Robosensing –have joined forces in a con-
sortium called SCAiLE for the development and commer-
cialization of artificial intelligence platforms.
SCAiLE stands for SCalable AI for Learning at the Edge and
the consortium is working with the Japanese authorities to
review opportunities for the 2020 Olympics, including video-
based event detection and response capability.
“It is an open group and we have other companies express-
ing an interest to join,” Sylvain Dubois,
vice president of marketing and business
development of Crossbar, told eeNews
Europe.
Crossbar is a US semiconductor
memory IP company; Gyrfalcon is a
machine learning processor company;
mtes Neural Networks is a Japanese IoT
equipment company and Robosens-
ing a software company with use cases
and datasets for IoT. As a result, the
four companies bring a broad platform
perspective and can provide full system-level solutions.
These could include smart lighting systems for a railway
station, airport or city or smart car parking and traffic systems,
Dubois said.
Through its four founding members the organization will
combine acceleration hardware, resistive memory (ReRAM) and
optimized neural networks to create ready-made, power-effi-
cient solutions with unsupervised learning and event recognition
capability.
The consortium foresees that the growth of IoT systems with
www.eenewseurope.com
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
components is shown in neuromorphic devices,” said Simone
Fabiano, principal investigator in organic nanoelectronics at
the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Campus Norrköping,
in a statement. The claim is that this is the
first synaptic device that can generate new
synapses within its working environment in
a similar way to how biological synapses
establish, evolve, and operate.
Although machine learning and artificial
intelligence are supported quite directly
in hardware in some commercial systems
these are nearly always digital systems
and would typically use multiple transis-
tors to mimic synaptic activity and therefore have higher power
consumption.
The monomer ETE-S has a number of properties that make
it suitable for synaptic transistor operation: it forms sufficiently
long polymer chains, is water-soluble while the polymer form
is not, and it produces polymers with an intermediate level of
doping.
The authors conclude that they are confident the PETE-S
OECT can be implemented in a cross-bar array and is singularly
suited for neuromorphic applications.
thousands of remote edge devices – such sensor-equipped
cameras – will create a torrent of unstructured information that
cannot be handled effectively by classification alone.
The SCAiLE solution will be to accelerate neural networks
at the edge to analyze and respond to multi-modal information
including video, images, speech, keywords and sensor feeds.
Gyrfalcom AI acceleration architectures and high bandwidth
very wide ReRAM from Crossbar will allow rapid searching
across multi-modal datasets, Crossbar said.
“We have been working closely with
Gyrfalcon Technology Inc., mtes Neural
Networks Corporation and Robosensing,
and expect rapid progress in designing
the platform,” said George Minassian,
CEO of Crossbar, in a statement.
“The large volume of new kinds of
information cannot be handled by mere
classification,” said Matt Kobayashi,
CEO of Robosensing Inc., in the same
statement. “We need new ways of han-
dling unstructured data at the edge, and
the planned SCAiLE platform can help us get rid of the ‘tyranny
of data classification’ through power-saving self-learning de-
vices that use clustering to detect and interpret events.”
For now Crossbar is offering up straightforward digital
non-volatile memory with broadly parallel access although it is
possible that at some point in the future Crossbar ReRAM could
be used for processing-in-memory [PIM], Dubois said. “PIM is a
separate thing. At some point it may be part of SCAiLE but it’s
not there yet. The next step will be for the SCAiLE consortium
to set up and demonstrate its AI platform.
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 13
 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Clean Sky project leverages AI to monitor pilot drowsiness
By Julien happich
C
oordinated by Swiss R&D center CSEM SA, European
Clean Sky project HIPNOSIS aims to provide tools to
evaluate pilots’ fatigue state. Under the guidance of
Honeywell, project partners CSEM, SERMA Ingénierie and
Innov+ will combine artificial intelligence (AI) with aeronautics
expertise to enable next-generation pilot-aware cockpits.
The HIPNOSIS consortium aims to improve the evaluation of
pilot fatigue using a specific vision-based system
combined with a bio-physiological signal sensor.
The safety kit consisting of smart cameras and
wearable electronics will enable the real-time
detection of signs of drowsiness, thus improving
fatigue-risk management for long flights.
Last November, an Australian pilot fell asleep
while operating a passenger flight, overshooting
its destination by 50 kilometers. A few months
earlier, in the US, investigators found that an air
disaster had been narrowly avoided in San Francisco the previ-
ous year. Once again, the danger had been brought about by a
pilot’s lack of sleep. Human fatigue is a serious issue affecting
the safety of the traveling public in all modes of transportation.
Nearly 20 percent of the major US Transportation Safety Board
investigations completed between 2001 and 2012 identified
fatigue as a probable cause, contributing factor, or a finding.
HIPNOSIS won the tender launched by the Clean Sky 2
Joint Undertaking, a European research program dedicated to
aeronautics.
“We will implement computer vision and machine learning
Startup preps automatic-focus eye glasses
By Peter Clarke
S
ihto NV (Ghent, Belgium), which trades as Morrow Optics,
has developed electronically operated, automatically
focusing eye glasses.
The company has presented electronic spectacles at the
Mido trade fair in Milan, with which, by pressing a button on the
frame, the user can switch between near or distance vision.
Such glasses could be a replacement for
glasses with bifocal or multifocal lenses and
a boon to people with presbyopia, the nor-
mal age-related loss of near focusing that
affects nearly all people older than 45.
The electronic adjustment of the lens
operates across the entire surface of the
lens and does so by including a thin layer
of liquid crystal in foil. Changing the electric
field across the crystal, changes the refractive index lens by up
to +1.5 diopters, according to the Morrow Optics website.
It is also possible to create eyeglasses that track the user
and adjust dynamically to the situation, although the company
does not say how this would be done. One method would be
to measure the distance between the inside edges of the pupils
of the eye using camera technology. When they are furthest
apart the subject is trying to focus at infinity and as the eyes
turn inwards to focus at closer distances the inter-pupil distance
reduces. However, this could also leave a requirement for cali-
bration of such lenses to a particular user.
14 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
algorithms in order to detect signs of drowsiness in pilots in
real time”, explained Andrea Dunbar, head of Embedded Vision
Systems at CSEM. These algorithms will be integrated into a
specific camera developed by the French startup Innov+, which
already commercializes similar solutions for the automotive
industry.
“CSEM will also use its know-how in the measurement of
physiological parameters to develop a
wearable sensor that monitors pilots
before and during a flight,” added Dun-
bar. “The collected data will be fused
with eye-gaze-related measures as well
as head pose, observed by the vision
system.” French company SERMA
Ingénierie will be in charge of integrat-
ing HIPNOSIS into a cockpit prototype
for preliminary testing.
Clean Sky II core partner Honeywell Aerospace is the one to
define the requirements for the technology to integrate it into
the overall pilot monitoring system. Final results are expected
in 2021. Clean Sky is a public–private partnership between the
European Commission and the European aeronautics industry,
aiming to strengthen European leadership in aviation, focusing
on the reduction of aircraft noise and CO2 and NOX emissions
while promoting collaboration, global leadership, and competi-
tiveness. Over 36 months the HIPNOSIS project funded by the
EU’s Horizon 2020 program will have access to EUR 800,000
grant.
Morrow’s electronics is “low power” the company claims
allowing for easy integration of the lenses in almost any frame.
Such autofocal glasses are powered by a battery designed to
last more than one week to charge up in one hour.
Sihto was founded in 2016 by Jelle De Smet and Paul
Marchal, who met while they working at IMEC, the nanoelec-
tronics research institute. De Smet serves
as CTO and Marchal as CEO.
Initially Sihto received seed investment of
€1.4 million (about $1.6 million) from Tokai
Optics, Fidimec, QBIC, Arkiv NV and Sofi.
To date the company has now received
€10.4 million (about $11.8 million) from
both European and American investors that
include New Science Ventures, imec.Xpand,
Tokai and PMV.
The technology rests on many years of development work by
De Smet on tunable contact lenses. Sihto has opted to address
the opportunity in eye glasses first but notes that the same
technology could be used in glasses for augmented and virtual
reality.
“Our approach is to integrate an active element, called a
lens-in-foil in traditional optics. It allows the wearer to adjust
his view to each situation electronically,” said De Smet in a
statement. Morrow is looking for partners to commercialize its
technology.
www.eenewseurope.com

Edge Access Program for commercial and open source users
By Jean-Pierre Joosting
P
acket is launching an Edge Access Program that pro-
vides both commercial and open source users with free
access to edge computing building blocks.
The program will function on a rolling basis and feature stock
bare metal configurations targeted at both cloud native and
telco deployments. Customized infrastructure can be deployed
on a case-per-case basis. Initial program
participants include Catchpoint, DNSFilter,
Federated Wireless, Fly.io, Hatch, Macrome-
ta, MobiledgeX, Mutable, Nodeweaver, Open-
Nebula, Ori, Oort, Rafay Systems, Section.io,
Travelping, VMware, and Volterra.
“The edge computing ecosystem is
evolving quickly, and our goal with the Edge
Access Program is to accelerate that mo-
mentum while simultaneously working with
partners to solve the very real challenges that
exist,” said Zachary Smith, Packet CEO. “By
combining cloud native bare metal infrastruc-
ture and wireless connectivity at the edge
with unique real estate, capital, technology
and software partners, we are providing a compelling real-world
laboratory to foster innovation.”
Packet is widely known for its developer-friendly cloud,
which is available in 18 global locations and supports over 60k
Intel pushes AI-based check-out for 24/7 autonomous shop
By Julien happich
A
t Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, Intel was demon-
strating among many other things how AI-driven edge
computing could be leveraged to create small 24/7
autonomous retail shops with automated check-out. The dem-
onstration consisted of a small gated shop floor with a footprint
of about 6 square meters, packed with shelves, monitored by a
set of four cameras mounted on the ceiling feeding their video
streams to a local rack sporting Intel’s edge-AI
hardware.
In the demonstration, pre-registered shop-
pers first had to identify themselves by scanning
a phone ID QR-code to unlock the gate. Once in
the shop, they could pick and choose whatever
items sitting on the shelves, or even change their
mind and place back some items on the shelves.
AI-enabled computer vision algorithms running
across the four cameras’ video streams automati-
cally identified and tracked the items, adding
them to the shopper’s virtual shopping cart and
charging users the right amount upon exit through
the mobile payment method of their choice. The
AI algorithms were developed by 2017 startup
CloudPick using Intel’s OpenVINO (Open Visual
Inference & Neural network Optimization) toolkit,
itself specifically designed to take computer vision and deep-
learning inference to vision applications at the edge.
Shailesh Chaudhry, product manager for retail at Intel
explained eeNews Europe that while CloudPick licenses its
algorithms to retail managers, its business model is to pro-
www.eenewseurope.com
EDGE COMPUTING
bare metal installs each month. Packet’s combination of flex-
ible bare metal automation, focus on subscale “go anywhere”
deployments and carrier-grade networking has positioned it at
the center of the edge computing conversation.
In addition, Packet has also announced the availability of
two edge sites in Chicago in partnership with Vapor IO. The
new locations — along with a site separately
deployed near Gillette Stadium in Foxbor-
ough (MA) — are the first of 15 locations to
be launched in 2019.
With today’s announcement, Vapor IO and
Packet expand upon their existing partner-
ship, which includes the Kinetic Edge Alli-
ance (KEA), a powerhouse group of leading
edge computing companies committed to
rolling out hardware and software across a
nationwide network of edge locations.
“The Kinetic Edge Alliance and our
partnership with Packet will accelerate the
creation and deployment of new edge ap-
plications,” says Cole Crawford, Founder &
CEO of Vapor IO. “Packet’s bare metal approach to cloud is a
perfect match for edge computing. Their Edge Access Program
provides the best way for developers to explore edge comput-
ing and build real world applications for the edge.”
vide Fulfillment-as-a-Service (FaaS), enabling efficient order
fulfillment picking operations for brands and retailers. As well
as supporting automated check-out, Cloudpick’s Intelligent
Retailing Platform (C-IRP) also automates inventory analysis
and monitors shoppers’ traffic which can help retailers optimize
store layout for example.
According to Chaudhry, the four camera setup in a small
shop alleyway worked reliably with up to 25
shoppers at a time, without inducing AI-infer-
encing errors from vision occlusion. Catering for
more people at a time is just a matter of increas-
ing the computing power, he said.
Such cashier-less grab-and-go grocery retail
stores could deliver 24/7 service in hotels, high-
rise apartment blocks and office complexes, but
Chaudhry even envisions that such autonomous
shops could become mobile. This could be
implemented as a container-type mobile shop
operated at different fixed locations and replen-
ished by the retailer’s logistics. In the future, one
could even imagine that a fleet of autonomous
driving shops would drive to your door step, of-
fering on-demand corner shops.
CloudPick has already established some
partnerships with large retail corporations and it has 30 installa-
tions operating in China. The company is now talking to retailers
in the US and in Korea.
The retail market has always been a big vertical for Intel, and
it is getting bigger and bigger, Chaudhry concluded.
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 15
 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY NANOELECTRONICS

Cheap flexible sensor detects magnetic fields down to 20nT

By Julien Happich

A
team of researchers from Germany sensitive to magnetic fields down to 20nT,
and Argentina have devised an ultra- on par with state of the art values reported
thin planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor for rigid sensors. Even when bent to a 1mm
capable of detecting very faint magnetic Fabrication steps of the planar Hall radius, the sensors still exhibited a high
fields even when flexed or wrapped around effect (PHE) sensor. sensitivity of 0.63 V/T, the paper reports.
a wire. The authors anticipate that such flexible
In a paper titled “Highly compliant planar and easy to manufacture magnetic field
Hall effect sensor with sub 200 nT sensi- sensors could be used to detect magnetic
tivity” published in Nature’s npj Flexible functionalized objects flowing in a fluidic
Electronics journal, the researchers describe channel (when wrapped around it), to detect
a very simple fabrication process, whereby the stray magnetic field generated by a
assymetrical Permalloy (Py) Hall crosses SEM photos of the flexible sensor, flat current-carrying wire. As a proof-of-con-
just 20nm thick are patterned on 6µm-thick and bent, showing the elliptical stripe. cept, they used the tiny sensors to measure
PET foils before being magnetized through the magnetic field generated by a pulsing
multiple magnetic field sweeps (between DC current in a 2mm diameter insulated
±3 mT). stranded copper wire. They were able to
The Hall cross described in the paper, oc- measure the magnetic field on the surface
cupying an area of about 400x400µm2, has a of the wire (running a 100mA DC current
high aspect ratio of 10:1. This induces a pre- through it) at just about 20µT, conclud-
ferred magnetization axis of the Py structure ing that their flexible PHE sensors offer a
by shape anisotropy, further facilitated by performance at least 10 times better than
one of the stripes being elliptically-shaped that of conventional bulky and rigid clamp
instead of rectangular. Four electrical con- meters used for current sensing today.
tacts complete the device, sensitive mostly What’s more, the new sensors can be
to the fields applied parallel to its elliptical The PHE flexible sensor wrapped around used to detect magnetic fields at an angle,
axis. a wire. as their output exhibits an angular depen-
Testing the flexible PHE sensor under various bending radii, dence with the relative orientation of the magnetization with
the researchers report a resistance variation of only 0.3% after respect to the biasing current. This means the devices could be
more than 150 bending cycles, and a maximum sensitivity of used as an angular sensor to provide orientation information in
0.86 V/T in the linear range of ±50 µT, making these sensors soft robotics applications.

CMOS NEMS for tunable RF switching

By Julien Happich

A
s well as announcing its first commercial product, CMOS, such as the nec-
a CMOS-based 2D motion detector leveraging essary antenna tuner.
nanometer-sized electromechanical systems (NEMS), “We are still elaborat-
UK-based startup Nanusens was showcasing nanoscale me- ing the specs and that’s
chanical RF switches at Mobile World Congress. why we are also exhibiting
Although the company didn’t want to share its roadmap this capability at MWC
on NEMS RF switches, Nanusens’ CEO Dr. Josep Montanyà for potential customers
told eeNews Europe that since the devices were built with the so they can tell us what
same standard CMOS processes used for its NEMS sensors, Nanusens’ NEMS RF switches under the they need” Montanyà said,
it took advantage of microscope. pointing to a prototype
every tape out to run switch running under a
split wafers and make microscope. When made
progress on the RF aware of Menlo Micro’s
front too. venture in the RF market
The CEO boast- with MEMS switches built
ed the NEMS RF on glass substrates, the
switches would beat CEO emphasized how
all incumbent solu- using a standard CMOS
tions found in today’s process really simplified
smartphones on a everything from a design
cost and footprint perspective, lowering
basis, especially when overall systems costs
Nanusens’ CEO Dr. Josep Montanyà co-designed with A running demo of NEMS RF switches while garanteeing fab
holding a CMOS wafer. extra functionalities in built in CMOS. freedom.

16 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

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 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Correcting 0-10V LED dimming
with digital drivers
By Russ Sharer
S
olid-state luminaires have taken the market by storm due
to the amount of energy they save. LED luminaires use
one-third the power of fluorescent lighting and less than
half the power of incandescent lighting. Dimming capability can
increase energy savings even more, while
improving the work environment for tenants.
But the problem is that 0-10V LED dimming
is not truly standardized. If you mix and
match LED luminaires from different vendors
you will likely get different dimming profiles,
which can really be a problem especially for
lighting retrofit projects.
The design of dimming electronics has
evolved, and many earlier LED luminaires
are not compatible with conventional dim-
mers. What’s more, traditional switch-mode Software and an intelligent LED driver
power supply controllers don’t work with can enable customized programming of wiring every luminaire driver in the zone,
most LED ballast installations. Running
a dimming curve.
low-voltage control wire to every luminaire
to circumvent the problem is not cost-effective and can create
even bigger issues with LED retrofit projects. There needs to
be a more elegant, universal solution to control LED dimming
systems.
The 0-10V convention for luminaire dimming is widely ac-
cepted by the lighting industry, and LED drivers usually come
with a firmware upgrade to accommodate
0-10V dimming. Unfortunately, these dim-
ming instructions are unidirectional, and
one-way communications does not offer
any indication if the luminaire has dimmed
or even is dimmed to the appropriate lumen
output level. There is no way to determine
if the light levels are visibly correct or the
energy consumption has been reduced.
To overcome these challenges, intel-
ligent microprocessors are being integrated Fulham’s intelligent driver with handheld guaranteed.
into LED drivers to provide digital dimming programmer for field or production line
control. With programmable controls, which
programming.
can sometimes include two-way communi-
cations, you can reduce installation costs and use software for
rezoning luminaires and reprogramming to ensure consistent
light output and quality, even among multiple manufacturers.
However, even with digital dimming controls you still need to
compensate for driver variables via software.
Understanding variations in 0-10V dimming
Since there is no standard for 0-10V LED dimming, each manu-
facturer has its own dimming curve for their luminaires. For one
vendor, a 5V signal could indicate dimming to 50 percent of
initial output, while for another vendor 5V could translate to 30
percent or even 80 percent output. There is no consistency and
the only way to ensure uniform lighting is by reprogramming the
Russ Sharer is Vice President of Global Marketing and Business
Development at Fulham – www.fulham.com - He can be
reached at rsharer@fulham.com
18 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES
dimming curves in the luminaires using digital drivers.
Also, with no 0-10V dimming standard you are never really
sure if a luminaire is truly “off” at 0V. For example, is the dim-
ming curve truly 0-10V or is it really 1-10V. Some drivers are set
to dim only to 1V, which is 10 percent, so
the luminaire may be perceived to be off
when it is still using power. Some of these
types of drivers may even require a sepa-
rate relay for off, i.e. 0V. Without digital driv-
ers and luminaire monitoring you may never
know if you are wasting energy.
Ideally, you also want centralized control
over individual luminaires and zones so you
don’t have to configure each luminaire man-
ually. To control various zones you could in-
stall low-voltage control wiring, but requires
and you would still have to adjust lighting
panels, occupancy sensors, photocells, and
time clocks manually. Even with a well-designed low-voltage
control system you can still miswire or mislabel a connection,
creating headaches for you and for the next building tenant.
What’s more, any simple change in the lighting layout means
ripping and replacing this control wiring, which is messy and
disruptive. Control wires are not economical or practical.
There also is no standard for 0-10V dim-
mers either, so one manufacturer’s dimmer
may not work with another vendor’s drivers.
If the luminaire flickers or fails then the dim-
mer or driver will have to be replaced. If you
are using a variety of manufacturers’ drivers
and LED lamps, then you risk having lights
pop on or off or darken completely when
dimmed, or they could flicker or strobe
when turned on or off. Compatibility is not
Programmable drivers deliver
uniformity
With digital LED drivers all the settings, including dimming,
can be software controlled. The driver hardware has on-board
intelligence as well as programmability so luminaires can be
grouped and programmed, then regrouped and reprogrammed
to accommodate updates and changes without disruption. This
configuration also enables complex zoning, which can improve
functionality and energy savings.
Digital LED drivers can be programmed at the factory, at
the warehouse, or on-site. Using handheld devices, luminaires
can be configured to ensure that luminaire brightness, hue, and
other characteristics match the other luminaires either installed
or being added, as well as programming dimming profiles
for uniformity. To simplify installation and software updates it
makes more sense to connect luminaires into a single, centrally
managed infrastructure.
Rather than worrying about control wiring, the new genera-
tion of LED drivers are equipped with wireless options that en-
www.eenewseurope.com

able two-way communications for dimming
and other controls. Bluetooth mesh, for
example, is becoming increasingly popular
with luminaire manufacturers because it
is an open standard and easily scalable.
Since the wireless mesh structure is based
on Bluetooth, wireless driver compatibility
can be assured and the broadcast mesh
infrastructure is scalable and allows you to
add or remove devices without disruption.
Once it is connected, the entire luminaire
ecosystem can be managed by software
from a central dashboard to ensure consis-
tent luminaire performance, including 0-10V
dimming.
Two-way communications also en-
sures that luminaires perform as expected.
Monitoring across the ecosystem provides
information about luminaire characteristics,
as well as the performance of other com-
ponents in the system such as switches,
panels, dimmers, and sensors. Remote
diagnostics and maintenance often can be
performed remotely using software com-
mands sent over a wireless link. And by us-
ing open standards such as Bluetooth mesh
for communications users aren’t locked into
only one manufacturer’s proprietary system
Researchers create UV laser out of AlGaN nanowires
By Julien happich
A
team of researchers from the McGill University (Canada)
and the University of Michigan (USA) have leveraged the
unique properties of Aluminum-Gallium-Nitride (AlGaN)
nanowire structures, such as their low
defect densities and reduced strain-induced
polarization fields, to create a low-threshold
photonic crystal ultraviolet laser.
First the researchers used simulation to
design and study the properties of a pho-
tonic crystal based on AlGaN nanowires.
Described in a paper titled “An electri-
cally injected AlGaN nanowire defect-free
photonic crystal ultraviolet laser” published GaN/Al Ga N multiple quantum disk
in Optics Express, the AlGaN nanowire pho-
tonic crystal laser was grown on a sapphire
substrate using a site-controlled selective
area growth (SAG) process.
In selective area growth, the nanow-
ire formation is directly controlled by the
nanoscale apertures created on a substrate
using a well-defined top-down process.
AlGaN nanowire arrays with controlled size
and spacing were selectively grown on
GaN-on-sapphire template using plasma-
assisted molecular beam epitaxy. They were
fabricated into photonic crystal lasers using
standard photolithography, e-beam lithog-
raphy, dry etching and contact-metallization
techniques. The researchers deposited Ni/
Au and Ti/Au metal layers on the nanowire
www.eenewseurope.com
Retrofits are increasingly popular for
reducing energy usage.
Bluetooth mesh is a standard way to
interconnect lighting elements.
top surfaces and n-GaN template to serve as p-and n-metal
contacts, respectively. Because the nanowire structures exhibit
nearly identical size distribution, they limit optical scattering
Schematic illustration of
x 1-x
nanowire structure and a titled view SEM
image of nanowire arrays.
Schematic of GaN/AlxGa1-xN nanowire
photonic crystal laser grown by selective
area epitaxy.
eeNews Europe
LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES
– no more limited programming options or
expensive service contracts.
Digital LED dimming systems can be
integrated into building management sys-
tems as well. Lighting is the most prevalent
electrical system in any building and the
same programmable LED drivers can be
equipped with sensors to detect tempera-
ture, ambient light, and more. The two-way
intelligent lighting control infrastructure can
be extended to manage HVAC and other
building systems. Automating building
management could result in an additional
40 percent energy savings in addition to the
energy savings from an LED retrofit. More
advanced systems can even use the smart
lighting infrastructure to track hardware
using Bluetooth tagging, or to support for
wayfinding, safety and security, and even
quality control using various types of wire-
less beacons.
The first step, however, has to be intel-
ligent digital drivers. With digital program-
mability, LED drivers can be configured to
delivery consistent dimming characteristics,
and by adding wireless connectivity you add
an entire new dimension of capabilities and
control.
losses and do not require any particular mir-
roring structure.
Thanks to the topological high-Q
resonance (Q factor of 11,460 according to
initial simulations) of a defect-free nanowire
photonic crystal, the authors were able to
create electrically pumped lasers capable of
operating at 369.5nm with a relatively low
threshold current density of about 2.1 kA/
cm2 under continuous wave operation at
room-temperature.
What’s more, the 500 µm2 device emit-
ted its UV laser with a very narrow spectral
linewidth of about 0.2nm.
Further characterization showed that the
fabricated nanowire photonic crystal lasers
exhibit good current-voltage characteristics,
with a relatively low turn on voltage of about
4V and a low leakage current of about 69µA
at −9.5V, significantly smaller than that of
previously reported nanowire devices, the
authors claim.
The researchers anticipate that device
performance could be further improved
by optimizing the design of the nanowire
photonic crystal optical cavity to achieve
predominantly surface or edge emission.
March 2019 News 19
 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES

Anticipating AR’s future

By Soeren Steudel

A
ugmented reality (AR) glasses are expected
to become the next big thing in info-tain-
ment. They will allow us to overlay virtual
objects on top of our regular environ-ment, and
experience these objects as if they were real. AR
glasses will enable exci-ting new applications, and
will dramatically impact the way we interact and
commu-nicate with each other. But users will only
accept them if they are unobtrusive and ‘work-
ing perfectly’. And this drives today’s technology
development. Soeren Steudel, principal scientist
at imec, discusses the trends in infotainment, how
they translate into technology and how they might
impact our lives in 2035...
“It is the year 2035... Three designers col-
laborating on an art project have gathered in the
gallery where they will soon release their newest
creation. They all wear sty-lish augmented reality
(AR) glasses allowing them to virtually overlay the
latest mock-up of their art object on the real gal-
lery environment. They can even touch the virtu-al
object, manipulate it and change its shape with
their hands. All three of them can evaluate – in
real time – the impact of the manipulations from
their point of view. When they eventually agree on
the object’s final shape and color, they send their “AR glasses have the potential to replace the smartphone within 10-15 years
creation to a 3D printer to have a first prototype of
from now.” Soeren Steudel, principal member of technical staff at imec.
their artwork.”

Towards increased natural Overlaying virtual objects

human experience
A scenario like this builds on the big trends that we see in
infotainment and on how those translate into new technolo-
gies. Infotainment can be described as the way we interact with
electronics on a personal level, in numerous domains such as
industry, healthcare, entertainment, education, communication
etc. Today, dominant designs in infotainment systems are for
example digital cinema, the (connected) tv, ‘Alexa’ audio home
control systems, the pc, gaming consoles and smartphones.
In this se-quence, they answer an ongoing trend towards ever
more mobility, and hence more energy constraints. But they all
have one thing in common: they interface with hu-man beings
using only a limited number of human senses – being sight,
hearing and, to a limited extent, touch.
In the future, this number of human senses will definitely in-
crease. Future infotain-ment systems will allow us to experience
the virtual world as if it were the real world. Designed to be un-
obtrusive, the electronics will allow us to interact intuiti-vely with
virtual objects – thereby gradually using all our senses, includ-
ing smell, tas-te, proprioception (the sense through which we
perceive the movement and position of our body) and sense of
balance. And this drives the development of the next-generation
infotainment platforms. As a first step, we have already wit-
nessed the emergence of virtual reality (VR), where fully closed
headsets take us into a fully si-mulated world. Virtual reality is
however merely confined to niche activities such as gaming.
Soeren Steudel is principal member of technical staff at imec,
where he is leading the display activities – www.imec.be
The next big thing will be AR glasses, allowing us to enhance
our perception of the real world. AR glasses will overlay contex-
tual information and/or virtual objects on top of the real world.
The system will interface with human beings in an unobtrusive
way, using senses such as sight, hearing, touch, smell and
taste. AR glasses will create tremendous possibilities in areas
such as industry (e.g. to assist in product design), art, entertain-
ment, and healthcare (e.g. to assist the surgeon during surgery),
and in the way we communicate and collaborate with each
other.
We can expect that within 10-15 years, this vision will be-
come reality. First AR glasses are already emerging. In the fol-
lowing years, their performance specifications will be gradually
improved to become true AR products. They have the potential
to become a new platform competing against the mobile phone,
at some point even replacing it. But users will only accept the
new technology if all technology challenges will have been
solved and the product is ‘working perfectly’. And if AR glasses
will have evolved from the bulky goggles – as in today’s prelimi-
nary applications – to light weight and stylish implementations.
From sensors and actuators
to self-learning systems
To trigger all human senses, we need innovations in low-power
sensors and actuators. Finding solutions for senses such as
sight and hearing seems relatively simple: an ac-tuator for sight
is a display, a sensor is a camera; for hearing, we can make use
of loudspeakers and microphones. At imec, for example, we are
scaling down our micro-OLED platform to enable very high res-

20 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

 LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES

olution displays. We also work on eye-

tracking technology that will enable
an enhanced AR experience. And we
work on haptic feedback solutions to
enable touch and create push backs
in 3D. Developing actuators for senses
as taste, smell, proprioception (i.e.,
how can you manipulate your feel-
ing of strain?), and sense of balance
remains however a huge challenge.
One future opti-on is to use directed
ultrasound to stimulate nerves in our
brain or vertebrae, or to trigger these
senses by directed implants.
We will need innovations both in
hardware and software. The ability
of AR systems to provide 3D visual
information overlay will require low-
power image recognition and data
extraction solutions, at the lowest
possible latency. With these solutions,
AR glasses will for example be able to Trends in infotainment – an imec view.
quickly visualize where you can find a bakery in the street you or educational context. But let’s leave it aside if people would
are walking in, and to display the types of bread that are avail- welcome such a technology in their everyday life...
able in the shop.
This will drive computation requirements and data rates far How is imec contributing to this future?
beyond what can be achieved today. To give an example, 3D Imec is actively contributing to this future vision with the devel-
high-resolution video image overlay may re-quire data rates opment of a broad range of technology building blocks. On the
of about 1TB/s – 10TB/s. We will also need sensor fusion and actuator side, imec is developing semi-transparent AM(O)LED
machine learning tools, both on the glasses and in the cloud. displays, and haptic feedback solutions to address touch. On
“To minimize information overload for the user, we need self- the sensor side, various solutions are being developed, includ-
learning systems that know which information is relevant for ing radar, lidar, sonar, imagers, EEG systems and chemical sen-
their user and what is not.” sors. More specifically, in 2018, imec achieved breakthroughs
And at all levels of technology development, a dramatic in radar technology, and developed solutions for high-speed
increase in power efficiency will be required to guarantee a long snapscan and shortwave infrared range hyperspectral imaging.
lasting battery autonomy. Last but not least, the user will only Imec also works on algorithms and software for sensor fusion,
accept this new technology if AR glasses can be made light 3D scene mapping, object detection and machine learning. In
weight, sty-lish, unobtrusive and comfortable, and provide a 2018, a breakthrough was announced in eye-tracking technolo-
natural image to the eye. gy, develo-ped to enable high-quality AR/VR experiences. Imec
and Holst Centre have also proposed a prototype of an EEG
Beyond AR glasses... headset that can measure emotions and cognitive processes
Looking further into the future, say 15-25 years from now, we in the brain. Besides, imec contributes with activities in high-
will gradually move towards mobile holographic projection. With bandwidth communication, neuromorphic IC development and
holo projection, everyone in the room will be able to visually ex- energy management.
perience 3D virtual objects, but without wearing glasses. These
holographic projectors might be comple-
mented with directed sound projec-tion to
actuate hearing, and with haptic feedback
solutions to trigger touch.
“And far beyond 2035, the next wave
might be direct brain-to-computer inter-
faces.”
Human senses will be triggered by
directly stimulating certain areas of the
brain. In a first phase, this could be done
by non-invasive technologies such as
EEG systems or ultrasound stimulation.
In a next phase, we could think of brain
implants. People al-ready work hard to
realize this vision, referring to e.g. Elon
Musk’s company Neura-link. Without any
doubt, brain-to-computer interfacing will
create endless possibili-ties and useful
Imec develops eye-tracking solutions to improve AR and VR experiences.
applications, for example in a medical

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 21

 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Printing OLED displays: has their time
finally come? Asks IDTechEx
Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh
S
olution pro-
cessed light
emitting organic
materials were demon-
strated in 1989 with a
tiny 0.1 EQE (external
quantum efficiency).
Since then there has
been tremendous
progress on material
synthesis/production
as well as on display
processing. However,
thus far, commercialization has remained elusive, but a page
may be about to turn.
This could have important consequences for the large area
display markets, especially if printing can enable a significant
reduction in the production cost.
Today, there are two main approaches to OLED display pro-
duction. Both use evaporated organics. In one, the emissive lay-
ers are evaporated through a fine metal mask (FMM) to achieve
patterned side-by-side R, G, and B emitters. This approach
works well for small up to medium sized displays. Indeed, to-
day, it fully dominates the market for such products.
The technology however has proven difficult to scale up
to large areas. The FMM is often made very thin to minimise
shadowing effects during the evaporation. The downside of this
thinness is that wide area masks become flimsy, easily sagging
or warping under their own weight. This distorts the mask pat-
tern. The FMM also, by definition, blocks and thus wastes 2/3
of the material. The blocked materials further add weight to the
mask film, further aggravating the situation.
Numerous approaches have been proposed to overcome
these shortcomings, for example using a scanner over the
substrate. None have, however, fully resolved the issues.
Therefore, FMM has failed to transition to large area displays.
The other approach is based upon white OLED (WOLED). Here,
the organic layers are not patterned. Instead, they are blanket
deposited. This way multiple OLED stacks are formed on top of
one another to achieve white colour emission. In this approach,
it is often common to have two blue layers to divide the drive
voltage across two stacks whilst maintaining the brightness
levels.
In general, WOLED involves depositing many layers. The
RGB color effect comes from color filters. As such, the sys-
tem has low efficiency (filters waste 2/3 of light). In turn, this
demands higher brightness, leading to harsher drive conditions
and shorter lifetimes. The primary advantage of this approach is
that it can be scaled to large areas. This is why it is the technol-
ogy of choice for OLED TVs. Reducing production cost however
thus far has proven complicated although steady progress is
being made.
Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh is Research Director at IDTechEx -
www.IDTechEx.com
22 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES
Both approaches rely upon evaporated
materials. An immediate question then is
why is printing not being used. This way
direct RGB patterning over large areas with
high material utilization could be achieved.
In the remainder of this article we will cover
the progress and prospects of printing
OLEDs.
Printed OLED displays: are the
materials good enough yet?
Developing solution processible OLED
materials has not been easy. At first, only
polymeric materials could be solubilized. In the early genera-
tions, this would give very low EQEs and lifetimes. With time,
polymer/small molecule and even solution-processible small
molecule OLED materials were developed. The polymeric-only
products also improved tremendously.
The upshot is that today after three decades of global re-
search and development effort solution-processible OLEDs are
becoming a viable proposition. Finally, the performance gap in
Cd/A between leading printable OLEDs and commercial evapo-
rated ones has been nearly bridged. This is true for green and
red materials, and it is also the case for the blue with appropri-
ate colour coordinates commonly used in displays.
Previously, any transition from evaporation to solution pro-
cessing would impose a significant performance penalty. This
is no longer necessarily the case. Therefore, the performance
progress on the material side has eliminated, or at least strongly
weakened the major barrier against the adoption of printing.
The lifetime of solution OLEDs still need to be further ex-
tended, though. An exact benchmarking is difficult because
suppliers do not always speak the same language and mean
different things by ‘lifetime’. Each can use a different brightness
level or lifetime definition (T90, T50, etc). Nonetheless, it is still
the case that the lifetime of solution OLED materials lags behind
evaporated ones. This gap will likely be closed with further
development.
Printed OLED displays: can they be
commercially manufactured?
The processing of solution OLED materials over large areas
and in a commercial production is not, and has not been,
easy. However, as can be seen below, the community now has
extensive accumulated knowhow. This is because it has been
working on printing OLEDs for over 15 years. Indeed, the first
commercial product with a printed OLED display appeared as
early as 2004. Granted, this was a small passive matrix display.
Since then there have been numerous prototypes. These proto-
types often targeted large area displays such as TVs, since the
benefits of printing are stronger in that size range. Furthermore,
large area displays can do with low PPI levels, thus relaxing
fine feature printing requirements. Of course, there have also
been small-sized high-PPI demonstrators but there are far fewer
since the commercial motivation behind them is weaker.
www.eenewseurope.com

Today, inkjet-printed mid-size, e.g., 21.6”, 204PPI
OLEDs displays are transitioning into production by a
Japanese consortium. This consortium brings together
Japanese material suppliers, equipment makers, and
display manufacturers. We feel that the objective of
the consortium is to pool the early risks involved in the
learning curve of printing OLED displays. But once the
technical hurdles will be sufficiently overcome and the
technology mature enough, there will likely be a tech
transfer from the consortium to a display maker.
Interest is not limited to Japanese and Chinese makers
though. In fact, even today’s leading OLED manufacturers are,
and have been, actively developing printing technology. Indeed,
there are many strong strategic motivations that keep printing
firmly on the agenda. First, those with an FMM technology want
to urgently obtain or establish a technology towards large are
OLED displays. Second, incumbents are concerned that print-
ing can one day bring about a step change in the production
cost, thus reconfiguring the competitiveness map to leave them
behind. Third, they see the mastery of display printing as being
essential for quantum dot (QD) displays.
In the latter case printing will be heavily used. It will be used
in QD colour filter displays both on LCDs and OLEDs. More
importantly, in the long term, it will be used to develop the ulti-
mate QLED (quantum dot light emitting diode). We say ultimate
because this display technology, despite its current immaturity
and technology challenges, offers complete contrast, extremely
wide colour gamut, thinness, flexibility, etc.
In general, printing can no longer be dismissed as immature
Europeans want better workplace lighting, survey reveals
By Julien happich
C
onducted as part of the Repro-light project, a pan-
European survey revealed that current lighting in the
workplace is not satisfying end-users and their needs,
while at the same time having a big impact on productivity and
human well-being.
As part of the project’s first phase, the survey, conducted
by consortium members Bartenbach GmbH and Mondragon
University, set out to investigate what end users really want in
their workplace lighting in order to develop a user-centric light-
ing design solution for the future.
1100 workers across Germany, Spain, Italy and Austria
were asked to consider their working environment’s lighting
and what changes they would like to see that could improve
their productivity, mood, and performance.
56% of end users said they would like the better work place
lighting. An
astonishingly
high level as
workspace
lighting should
follow a strict
lighting design
code (e.g.
EN. 12464-
1), which
guarantees,
for instance,
that a certain
www.eenewseurope.com
LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES
or futuristic. Material-side progress has eliminated or substan-
tially narrowed the EQE penalty that traditionally would have
to be paid when adopting printed materials. Steady long-term
progress on the processing-side is also enabling commercial
production.
Of course, there is much further progress to accomplish.
The process yield and TACT will need to be further improved.
The dimensions of the commercially printed OLEDs displays
will need to be enlarged from the monitor to the TV range. The
lifetime of solution OLEDs will need to be further extended
especially if the end product is to have an extend lifecycle.
Printing resolution will need to become finer.
These ongoing development trends are however often incre-
mental in nature and are present in almost all display technolo-
gies. The important point is that printed OLEDs have already
broken through enough technical barriers to demonstrate their
viability. As such, printed OLEDs have becoming an exciting
topic. We think this is a space to closely watch in the coming
years.
level of bright-
ness is reached
in a workplace.
The survey
showed, that
the individual
requirements
for the lighting
differ, showing
that personal-
ized lighting is
needed to sat-
isfy all the us-
ers. The results
go to show that women significantly more often encouraged
an improvement in workplace lighting, and the workers over 50
showed a greater desire for improvement of work place lighting.
It is not only the need for improved light, over 50% said that
the physical luminaire aesthetics where important to them, es-
pecially workers under 30. 80% of those questioned would like
to have workplace lighting which automatically adapts to per-
sonal needs, with over 75% wanting their work light to change
colour when it turns dark outside.
All of these factors play a role in the greater impact of lighting
on the workforce of Europe, and not surprisingly over 90% of
those asked said they believe their work lighting can impact
their mood, 87% said it affects their performance, and 92 %
said it influence their vigilance in the work place.
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 23
 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Knowing more about glō:
executive interview by Yole
By Julien Happich
D
uring his CES visit, Eric Virey,
Senior Display Technology
and Market analyst for mar-
ket research firm Yole Développe-
ment was invited in glō’s private
suite to see an impressive series
of demoes and working proto-
types such as a 1.5” 264 ppi RGB
wearable display on a LTPS glass
backplane, and a 0.7” 1000ppi RGB
display for AR / HUD on a CMOS
backplane.
Interviewing Fariba Danesh and
Aniruddha Nazre, respectively CEO glō’s 0.7” 1000ppi RGB display for AR / HUD on a
and executive chairman of glō, Virey CMOS backplane. (Source: Courtesy of glō)
was able to learn more about the
company’s recent progresses as well as its manufacturing and
commercialization strategy. This interview first appeared on Yole’s
www.i-micronews.com site.
Eric Virey (EV): Could you please introduce glō to our readers?
Fariba Danesh (FD) & Aniruddha Nazre (AN): glō started as a
compound semiconductor company that was founded in Sweden
and moved to Silicon Valley eight years ago. Its investors include
FAM, Wellington Partners, Nano Future Invest, TeknoInvest and
Google.
EV: How long have you been working on microLEDs, and more
specifically on display applications?
FD & AN: The company has worked on developing highly effi-
cient microLEDs made from InGaN for more than a decade. Most
of the effort has been on developing green microLEDs and later
red microLEDs. Over the last four years glō has also invested in
significant R&D toward developing a selective direct wafer trans-
fer technology, building a complete display technology portfolio.
EV: What are glō’s key elements of differentiation in the mi-
croLED display field?
FD & AN: glō makes all three colors (RGB) from InGaN, in sizes
from 20 microns down to 1.5 microns. The unique characteristic
of glō microLEDs is that they peak at current densities that are
1/100th that of traditional LEDs, making them ideally suited for
displays being driven by transistors on LTPS glass substrates or
CMOS substrates. Being able to use commercial backplanes in
LTPS and CMOS allows glō to make displays of various sizes and
resolutions with the best performance possible in terms of bright-
ness, efficiency, color gamut, contrast, refresh rates and life time. regard. How are you addressing the challenge of microLED non-
EV: Do you focus specifically on epitaxy and chip design or are
you also working on other aspects of microLED technologies
such as transfer, drivers etc?
FD & AN: glō is vertically integrated in terms of systems design.
glō designs its own InGaN microLEDs to optimize light extrac-
tion and render uniform color with the right emission angles. In
addition, glō has developed its own direct wafer transfer technol-
ogy that allows it to make display panels with sizes from 0.1” to
75” with resolutions up to 3000ppi on either glass LTPS or silicon
CMOS backplanes.
Since we leverage commercial backplane and related drivers, we
24 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES
do not work on those items.
EV: Could you briefly describe the
demos and prototypes you recently
showed at CES? How do they com-
pare with LCD and OLED in term of
performance?
FD & AN: The working displays pre-
sented at CES were:
• a 1.5” diagonal RGB smart watch
display with 20 micron microLEDs
at 264ppi on a LTPS glass back-
plane. This display produces 4000
nits brightness, has infinite con-
trast, 120Hz refresh rate, 121% of
DCI-P3 color gamut and uses less
than 1W of power.
• a 0.7” diagonal RGB display for AR glasses and HUD applica-
tions with 10 micron microLEDs at 1000ppi on a CMOS back-
plane. This display produces 100,000 nits of brightness, has
infinite contrast, 120% DCI-P3 color gamut, 120 Hz refresh
rate and uses 3.25W power.
The best OLED display can produce a brightness of 1000 nits,
but the organic LEDs degrade rapidly because they cannot
withstand the higher currents required. An equivalent LCD display
would have to use over ~85W of power, which is obviously not
practical for any wearable display. An LCD display also does not
offer the same color gamut, contrast or refresh rate. To sum-
marize: glō microLED displays offer 10x more brightness and 5x
better power efficiency with equal or better color quality than the
best OLED
EV: Are those displays using 2D chips or your nanowire technol-
ogy?
FD & AN: glō uses its unique epitaxy technology developed over
the many years of nanowire work in all its microLEDs. The tech-
nology can be used to make both LED types, depending on the
application. This month in Photonics West, our 100,000 nits HUD
demo showcases our latest 2D LEDs, while the smartwatch dis-
play showcases the same technology in our latest 1D rendition.
EV: In its MicroLED Displays 2018 report, Yole highlighted the
challenges of driving microLEDs, especially with traditional TFT
backplanes such as LTPS or Oxide (Yole will also discuss the top-
ic at the upcoming SID –Display Week Conference in San Jose in
May). glō seems to have made significant breakthroughs in that
linearity? What kind of compensation circuits might be needed
and how do they differ from other emissive technologies such as
OLEDs?
FD & AN: The standard compensation circuitry needed for OLED
LTPS and CMOS uniformity are suitable for glō’s LEDs. There are
two attributes in glō’s technology that allow us to use standard
LTPS driver electronics and compensation:
• glō microLEDs are specifically designed to be efficient in the
low current regimes offered by LTPS and CMOS back planes.
• All colors of glō microLEDs, including red, are made with
InGaN material, simplifying the demands on compensation cir-
www.eenewseurope.com
 LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES

cuits. The InGaN semiconductor microLED displays based on CMOS

material also has the advantage backplanes.
of longer life times and better Key challenges are reducing time
temperature stability, reducing to market by efficiently ramping
the burden on compensation manufacturing volume together with
circuitry. our partners to produce high quality
EV: What kind of brightness levels microLED displays that are also cost
can be achieved with glō microLED competitive.
displays on CMOS vs LTPS back- EV: MicroLEDs also bring some chal-
planes? Can they both deliver a lenges in terms of supply chain with
wide dynamic range? a need to bring together 2 different
FD & AN: To date glō has been industries and technologies (LED and
able to achieve 4,000 nits from Displays) and essentially bridge them
LTPS backplanes and up to by creating a 3rd one from scratch:
150,000 nits from CMOS back- microLED assembly. What do you
planes. Both CMOS and LTPS think the microLED supply chain will
backplanes offer the ability to turn look like?
off a pixel completely while the FD & AN: We think that specifically
adjacent pixel is fully bright. This developing the technology to per-
enables true high dynamic range mit the leveraging of existing supply
(HDR) displays, i.e., the achievable chains is the way to go. With our
brightness difference between ad- manufacturing partnerships we plan to
jacent pixels is orders of magnitude use the existing LED and LCD industry
better than OLED. equipment and capacity to produce
EV: Your display prototypes fea- better performing microLED displays
ture native RGB LEDs (no color than OLED. We believe that microLED
conversion) that are all made on a displays will breathe new life into the
GaN material platform. Making red LCD /TFT industry.
nitride LEDs is notoriously difficult. EV: Could trade disputes affect this
What kind of efficiency have you supply chain and your business
achieved so far and how are you model if they were to continue or even
tackling that challenge? worsen?
FD & AN: glō has spent over a glō’s 1.5” 264 ppi microLED display on LTPS backplane FD & AN: We have deliberately cho-
decade perfecting the epitaxial next to an Apple Watch. (Source: Courtesy of glō) sen partners that value and respect
growth and fabrication of green and our intellectual property and that are
red microLEDs. glō’s IP in unique device design is the key to have outside current “dispute zones”. A shortened supply chain with
all three colors in InGaN. This capability includes having a red high intellectual property content fits our business model.
LED with sufficient efficiency to allow us to demonstrate an RGB EV: Which applications and segments do you think microLED will
LTPS panel with 4000 nits and operating at less than 1W. be applied to? Do you see a clear path to be cost competitive
EV: The low efficiency of small size microLEDs (NDLR: i.e. < 10 with OLED or other technologies in those segments?
µm) was often seen as a potential show stopper. What kind of FD & AN: We believe that in the near term, mobile and micro
performance are you able to achieve for a very small die? displays are best suited for microLEDs. In the long-term large
FD & AN: Our patented device designs and fab processes are displays can also be addressed with microLEDs.
designed to meet this challenge. The display panels we have • Micro displays (<1” diagonal + >1000ppi) such as contact lens
shown in public, such as our demos at the CES show, set the bar displays, AR glasses, heads up displays (HUD).
for light output and power efficiency. • Mobile displays (>1” to < 8” diagonal + 200 to 600ppi) such as
EV: You are partnering with various display makers. Could you wearables, smartphones, phablets, etc.
elaborate more on those partnerships? What is glō’s business • Large displays (>8” diagonal + 80 to 200ppi) such as automo-
model? tive dashboards, tablets, laptops, 8K, 16K and 24K TVs / wall
FD & AN: glō is a fully fabless operation. glō has partnered with displays.
a leading global LED manufacturer to produce microLEDs in vol- EV: Any other comments or messages you would like to add for
ume for commercial products. In addition, glō has also partnered our readers?
with few of the largest display panel manufacturers to produce FD & AN: glō microLED displays offer the best performance in
display modules. terms of brightness, power, color, dynamic range, contrast and
EV: What are the next steps for glō in term of technology mile- lifetime as compared to LCD or OLED, due to the inherent phys-
stones and product release? What obstacles and challenges are ics behind the architecture. Inorganic LEDs perform better and
still ahead and which one are you prioritizing? last longer than do organic LEDs. They emit more light and are
FD & AN: Together with our manufacturing partners, glō is work- more stable than OLEDs. glō microLED displays offer 10x more
ing toward a commercial launch of microLED displays on LTPS brightness and 5x better power efficiency with equal or better
backplanes for smartwatches / wearables in the second half of color quality than the best OLED.
2019. After the launch of smartwatch displays on LTPS, glō will InGaN LEDs have been used in the lighting industry for decades.
introduce smartphone displays. The LCD industry has been using LTPS backplanes for displays
In parallel, we are working with manufacturers of AR glasses for decades. glō has brought two disciplines together to make
and HUD for automotive and defense applications to produce the best of both worlds.

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 25

 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES

Pin-hole optics combine with OLED microdisplays for AR

By Julien Happich

K
orean startup LetinAR together and German OLED mi- Although the
crodisplays specialist Fraunhofer FEP have co-designed prototype uses
a joint demonstrator of what could enable AR eyewear a monochrome
of the future. The demonstrator stacks one OLED microdisplay green OLED
onto the top edge of LetinAR’s Pin Mirror (PinMR) lens, in effect microdisplay,
a piece of optics that implements the “Pinhole Effect” with tiny it could be
mirrors embedded in the optical glass. expanded to a
The PinMR reflects the light from the microdisplay and full-color system
guides it into the pupils of the AR glass’ wearer, creating a to integrate into
virtual image that overlaps real world sceneries as seen through glasses, caps, or
the eyewear. LetinAR says that compared to traditional optical helmets.
systems based on half-mirrors, diffractive optical elements and “It is an honor
waveguides, its Pin Mirror lens is narrower and easier to manu- to collaborate
facture, while supporting accurage colour reproductions. with the world-
renowned spe-
cialist for the customized development of OLED microdisplays,
Fraunhofer FEP,” said Jeonghun Ha, CTO at LetinAR says. “The
co-operation between LetinAR and Fraunhofer FEP will break
down the technical barriers that have long hindered the com-
mercialization of ‘True’ Augmented Reality (AR) glasses”, the
CTO added.
The demonstrator convinces by a very high optical efficiency
of the LetinAR technology, at present no comparably efficient
transparent optics are available on the market. In combination
with the extremely small-sized OLED microdisplay the new solu-
tion could find its way in future AR glasses.

Better colour capture 230VAC LED engine integrates dimming

thanks to Spectral Pure flash LEDs from cold to warm light
Lumileds’ Luxeon 1.4x1.4mm Flash 9X LED is said to The Dim2Warm LED engine announced by Swedish company
produce photos with the finest colour quality thanks to the Optoga AB enables a lighting module with a standardized pack-
company’s Spectral Pure Technol-
ogy, including more realistic skin
tones capture. “The improved
picture quality with Spectral Pure
Technology is stunning when
compared side-by-side with photos
captured at 80 CRI, the former
industry standard. Pictures taken with LEDs supported by
Spectral Pure Technology have richer colours and facial
tones appear more attractive than before,” says Thierry De
Smet, Director of Product Marketing at Lumileds.
Key to this exceptional colour quality is the spectral opti-
mization of the camera flash, which matches the camera
response curve and is characterized by its Camera Colour
Index (CCI), a more effective metric Lumileds is introduc- age size that dims down from white to warm white (candle white).
ing to replace Colour Rendering Index, CRI, for camera For light fixture manufacturers in the Hospitality area this will be a
applications. “CRI really only applies when viewing objects revolution as the LED engine works with regular dimmers, dimming
directly with the human eye, but a camera captures from 3000K for working atmospheres to 2000K colour temperature
colours differently, and the flash should be designed to for warmer and more welcoming scenarios. This means the same
counter this difference,” explains De Smet. The Luxeon luminaires can adapt to completely different scenarios and behav-
Flash 9X delivers a flux of 240lm at 1A drive current and iour patterns. As an example, the company says that the same
25°C, and is hot flux stable at higher currents. The flash luminaires could operate in the evening at the bar, at the conference
is produced at 4500K colour temperature with excellent daytime and at breakfast in the morning, correctly addressing very
colour stability of ±250K. different needs.
Lumileds Optoga
www.lumileds.com www.optoga.com

26 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

 LED & OLED TECHNOLOGIES

UV LEDs grown on graphene: ten times more efficient, cheaper and flexible
By Julien Happich

F
ounded in June 2012 as a
spin-off from the Norwegian
University of Science and Tech-
nology (NTNU), startup CrayoNano
AS promises UV-A LEDs (emitting at
365nm) with 10 times the efficiency
of existing deep UV LEDs at a tenth
of the cost, thanks to graphene. Fabricating a flip-chip UV LED device based on RF-PAMBE grown GaN/AlGaN
The company CTO and co-
nanocolumns on a double layer graphene/silica glass substrate.
founder and also professor in nano-
electronics & nano-photonics at the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology, Dr. Helge Weman co-authored a paper
comforting all these claims.
The paper “GaN/AlGaN Nanocolumn Ultraviolet Light-
Emitting Diode Using Double-Layer Graphene as Substrate and
Transparent Electrode” published in the Nano Letters describes
how a multi-disciplinary team of Norwegian and Japanese re-
searchers leveraged the unique properties of atomic-thin layers
of graphene as a hexagonal lattice template for the nucleation
and growth of perfectly crystalline GaN/AlGaN nanowires (with The p-GaN side of a 75μm
less than 2% of lattice mismatch). Standing vertically on their diameter aperture LED device
graphene substrate (on top of amorphous silica), the 220nm (before flip-chip).
diameter nanocolumns exhibit near-perfect hexagonal cross-
sections and their growth is so perfectly controlled by radio fre- CTO admitted, adding that CrayoNano is an early stage com-
quency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (RF-PAMBE) pany and expects to have commercial devices ready in three to
that they all have the same average height, making it easy to four years.
cap them with a planar electrode. CrayoNano is backed by Norwegian investors with the larg-
The growth process is fast too, with nanowires reaching a est one being “Norsk Innovasjonskapital” fund NIK III.
1µm height within minutes. Being transparent in all parts of
the electromagnetic spectrum including the whole UV region, Slim IR laser flood illuminator
graphene offers an excellent alternative to indium tin oxide as
the top-emitting transparent conductive electrode (TCE) for GaN optimized for 3D scanning
and InGaN LEDs, the authors write. Another benefit of graphene ams has launched an infra-red (IR) laser flood illuminator module
is its extreme thinness and flexibility. which provides the uniform light output needed in mobile 3D sens-
Here, the original graphene substrate serves as the top con- ing applications such as user face rec-
ductive electrode in what becomes a vertical “flip chip” GaN/Al- ognition. By introducing a Vertical Cavity
GaN LED configuration. The GaN nucleation droplets coalesce Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL)-based
at the top of the nanowires which are then capped with a gold flood illuminator in a slim package, the
electrode, while a metal contact on the continuous graphene company wants to push 3D sensing ap-
electrode allows for efficient vertical current injection through plications in mainstream mobile phones.
the nanocolumns, the paper reports. Based on the measured The 2W Merano-PD is suitable for use in
temperature-dependent photoluminescence of their device, the the latest technologies for 3D sensing,
authors estimate its internal quantum efficiency (IQE) to around including the time-of-flight and struc-
46%. tured light methods. Benefiting from optimized thermal design, the
This technology is patented by NTNU and licensed by Crayo- 2W-Merano-PD module measures 2.4x3.3x1.2mm for easy integra-
Nano AS who claims on its website a 10-fold wall plug efficien- tion into a mobile phone’s design. The MERANO-PD emits pulsed
cy (WPE) increase over other state-of-the-art UV LEDs. Weman bursts of invisible IR light. A separate IR light detector senses the
and his co-workers aim to further increase the devices’ IQE sequence of reflections from objects in the field of illumination and
by optimizing the nanowire’s geometry through various growth renders them as a 3D depth map or scan. The MERANO-PD may
parameters. With this new development, the company aims to also be used in dot-pattern recognition (structured light) systems
bring significant efficiency improvements and cost reductions for 3D sensing, for flood illumination in IR cameras and for indus-
to UV lighting applications such as water and food processing trial 3D sensors and scanners. The 940nm IR output, as well as
disinfection, air purification and environmental monitoring and the illumination pattern, is precisely controlled in the pre-defined
life science measurements. field of illumination for best system efficiency. The device also
Questioned about its business model, Weman said it was still integrates a photodiode which detects impairment of the device’s
an open question whether CrayoNano would become a UV LED diffuser. When linked to a separate monitoring circuit, this means
chip producer or if the company would license the technology that the mobile phone can disable the illuminator for eye-safety.
to established UV LED manufacturers. ams
The efficiency is still behind today’s traditional UV LEDs, the www.ams.com

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 27

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS
Bring the IoT to your devices
with LoRaWAN
By David Armour
A
key requirement for the internet of things (IoT) is sup-
port for communication no matter where an end-node
is located. Whether it is located in an urban cellar
or a pipe alongside a road or railway, the device needs to
be able to report its status to remote servers and receive
commands. The difficulty of laying cables to every location
makes wireless communication practically mandatory for
IoT devices. And, unless many local gateways are deployed
to relay communications, long-distance wireless support
is essential. This is why LoRaWAN has become an obvi-
ous choice for IoT communications. It offers a protocol for
low data rate, low-power, low-cost and long-range sensor
applications in a variety of vertical markets. Thanks to these
attributes, there are already millions of LoRaWAN-enabled end-
nodes in use today.
Many suppliers already have devices that do not currently
benefit from IoT communications. LoRaWAN offers those sup-
pliers a relatively straightforward way to bring new versions of
those devices into the IoT. Despite the huge upgrade in func-
tionality LoRaWAN provides it does not demand major changes
to the core architecture of an existing sensor-node device. But
to maximise battery life and useful wireless range some simple
design strategies will help a great deal.
As a radio protocol that needs to coexist with other systems
that may use the same unlicensed radio bands, LoRaWAN uses
spread-spectrum technology. However, it does not employ the
direct-sequenced spread-spectrum (DSSS) modulation found
in other protocols. For cost- and space-sensitive systems, an
issue with DSSS is that it requires a highly accurate reference
clock. LoRaWAN replaces DSSS with chirp spread-spectrum
(CSS) technology, which dispenses with the need for an ac-
curate clock.
The chirp signal varies in frequency over its duration and has
found applications in radio design thanks to itslow transmis-
sion power requirements and inherent robustness from channel
degradation mechanisms such as multipath, fading, Doppler
distortion and interference.
Through the use of spread-spectrum modulation, in which
bits of information are encoded redundantly across multiple
transmitted codes, LoRaWAN offers a power optimised trade-
off of sensitivity against data rate and bandwidth through the
use of different spreading factors. For example, a sensor locat-
ed close to a gateway should be transmitted at a low spreading
factor because there is little requirement for a high link budget.
A sensor located 10km from a gateway may, however, need
to transmit with a much higher spreading factor, which will re-
duce the amount of data that can be sent in a given period. The
tradeoff ensures that packets have a higher likelihood of being
received correctly under a wide variety of conditions and allows
greater flexibility in RF circuit and antenna design.
With LoRaWAN, all communications are between end-nodes
David Armour is Senior Product Manager at Semtech
Corporation - www.semtech.com. He can be reached at
Darmour@semtech.com
28 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS
Fig. 1: LoRa chirp signal example
and a gateway unit.
This forms a network with a star topology, which provides a
simple structure and also allows for modes of communication
that allow for battery management through a choice of access
classes.
Class A is often used for battery-powered end-nodes,
although all LoRaWAN IoT end-nodes have to at least support
this class of operation. Class A is based on the Aloha Protocol
that is used in many wireless networks. Each device can trans-
mit an uplink message to the gateway at any time: there is no
pre-set schedule or assigned timing slot. For every LoRaWAN
uplink message, the end-node expects a downlink message
in response. This downlink message can come in one of two
receive downlink slots. Once the downlink message is received,
the end-node can go to sleep to conserve battery power. If the
end-node receives a downlink message in the first slot, it does
not have to wait and listen for a second receive time slot, letting
the device power down its receiver circuitry as quickly as pos-
sible.
With Class A, there is no procedure for a LoRaWAN gateway
to wake up the end-node. As a result, Class A is a good choice
for sensors that will be woken locally by timers or changes
sensed on I/O lines but not for actuators such as irrigation
valves or door locks that need to be able to respond to remote
commands quickly. For these circumstances Class B and Class
C end-nodes were defined.
Under Class B, which is often favoured for battery powered
end-nodes with actuator capability, each device is assigned
a time slot that is based on a periodic beacon signal supplied
by the gateway. The advantage of an assigned time slot is that
the node can sleep in between those periods. Potentially, with
a smart RF interface, only that subsystem needs to wake up
to listen for the duration of the slot while the core processor
remains in a quiescent, low-power state.
Only if a message is received is the processor woken up to
process it. A real-time clock can supply the necessary series
of interrupts needed to ensure the Rx subsystem is awake for
each slot. Uplink messages can be sent whenever the device is
not scheduled to be listening for a downlink message. Typically,
this will happen if a local interrupt signals that some sensor
input has been received and the processor software determines
that this is important enough to relay to a server. A typical ap-
plication for Class B is in irrigation valves, where the application
www.eenewseurope.com
 MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

can tolerate a latency from com- from this key. An MCU with
mand to valve activation of up to dedicated secure on-chip flash
several minutes. or EEPROM is the ideal choice.
Class C is generally employed Very often, wireless transceivers
for mains-powered end-nodes, designed for LoRaWAN will include
such as street lights, that need to the necessary encryption and key-
respond to network messages as storage functions.
quickly as possible. These devices
constantly listen for a downlink Another key factor is the choice
message from the gateway. The of antenna: this is a key compo-
only exception is when the end- nent for guaranteeing devices can
node is transmitting an uplink function long distances from a
message. As a result, Class C gateway. IoT device designers can
devices behave most like those choose between a variety of an-
that operate on networks that do tenna types. The choices typically
not have the power optimisations Fig. 2: LoRaWAN End-node Class A Timing Diagram include: a simple quarter wave-
of LoRaWAN. length wire antenna; a PCB-anten-
For most devices, the operating duty cycle and its interac- na that is printed on the circuit board; a chip-based antenna; a
tion with interrupt sources is an important consideration when simple quarter wave coil antenna; or an external quarter wave
designing end-nodes. However, most MCU platforms have whip antenna.
the required features in place already: low-energy sensors will Designers who opt to employ an off-the-shelf LoRaWAN
almost certainly be making use of sleep modes. As long as the module or system-in-package will often find the required an-
device can be woken in time to deal with network messages, tenna is already integrated, which will simplify design though it
generally through the actions of a real-time clock, it can support may be less flexible than an antenna tuned for the end device.
the requirements of LoRaWAN and in a way that maximises Thanks to the availability of readymade and customisable
power efficiency though the designer needs to analyse how the solutions for LoRaWAN technology, it is easy for designers to
addition of wireless communications will affect battery life. incorporate long-range, low-power wireless communications
Many battery-operated systems will need to operate for into their designs and bring the advantage of IoT compatibility
many years on a single battery charge because it is too expen- to their systems. Consideration of system and software archi-
sive to send maintenance crews on a regular basis. Therefore, tecture will ensure the resulting system offers high performance
it is important to estimate consumption that takes into account and power efficiency.
wireless communications. This can be performed by analysing
power consumption in sleep and active states and then
determining how long the device will spend in each. The
regular downlink slots used by Class B device help set a
limit on how much activity the Rx subsystem will have to
sustain over its lifetime.
In terms of software integration, a basic LoRaWAN
stack takes up about 55-60Kb of code space. As an
increasing number of systems need to accommodate
over-the-air software updates, designers should take into
account the amount of non-volatile memory that will be
needed to buffer new firmware and store the existing code
to support the upgrade process. Storing both new and
old software makes it possible to roll back updates if one Fig. 3: LoRaWAN End-node Class B Timing Diagram (Only RX time
should fail. slots shown).

A further consideration in terms of processor capability is

support for security functions. A key feature of the LoRaWAN
network protocol is its built-in support for secure, encrypted
communications. Its baseline authentication and security
framework is based on the AES 128 encryption scheme, with
separate keys used to protect user data and network metadata
in each packet.

This lets LoRaWAN offer a higher-level of security compared

to single key implementations. The advantage of the AES 128 is
that it offers robust security with comparatively low overhead.
It can be implemented entirely in software or with hardware
assistance where higher performance is required. As LoRaWAN
data payloads are relatively short – often fewer than 12 bytes –
software implementation is practical.
It is important to protect the symmetric keys needed for the
device’s unique key and the session keys that will be derived

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 29

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

RADAR development and evaluation kits

By Randall Restle

R
adio detection and ranging (RADAR) is over
100 years old, but it was in the 1930s when
RADAR became an essential technology.
Whereas the principles have not changed in this time,
the technology has changed dramatically as have the
applications. Today, RADAR is an affordable technol-
ogy for the masses and the tools are available that
enable research on a personal basis. This article
discusses design considerations for the new technol-
ogy, some details about how it works, calls attention
to some new needs for RADAR, and provides a list of
some inexpensive, off-the-shelf development kits that
make it easy to start experimenting. As can be seen Fig. 1: Contents of a RADAR System-in-Package (SiP)
in tables 2 & 3, RADAR development kits range from (compliments of Acconeer)
around $50 to around $900.
In the past, RADAR had been
expensive to implement, was usually
high power, and required expertise in
radio frequency electronics that was
trickier than most engineers wanted to
master. However, RADAR has some key
advantages over ultrasonics and Light
Detection and Ranging (LiDAR).
Note that LiDAR, also based on
electromagnetic waves, shares some of
the advantages of RADAR, but there are
not as many LiDAR development kits as
there are RADAR kits now and LiDAR’s
narrower beam, due to its much higher
frequency, is more easily blocked than
RADAR.
Now, let’s get into some operating
basics.
RADAR is a technology used to
most fundamentally measure distance.
Fig. 2: Transmission of pulse of energy and reflection to source
RADAR and its competitors each have
trade-offs, but each transmits a pulse or (compliments of Acconeer)
continuous wave of energy and measures the time of flight (ToF) Still other RADAR systems output a so-called “chirp” which
for the signal to hit a distant object and reflect to the transmit- consists of a transmission that quickly slews from one frequen-
ter’s source – see figure 1. cy to another.
In addition to ToF, phase shift of the reflected signal can be Chirping introduces frequency diversity which improves SNR
used to produce a very fine, continually updated resolution of but makes coherent phase detection more difficult to perform.
distance. Continually measuring phase shift via a continuous There are many variations to RADAR solutions.
wave improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system
through the repetition of back-to-back cycles of the RF trans- Simply trying them can be the easiest way to learn what
mission. works best in your application.
Inexpensive RADAR units are available with resolution in the International standards such as the European Telecommuni-
range of 0.5 mm. However, continually transmitting consumes cations Standards Institute (ETSI) and the Federal Communica-
power which reduces battery life. This is mitigated, in at least tions Commission (FCC) define several radio frequency bands
one solution, using a coherent transmitter. for use by RADAR. Acceptable power levels and what applica-
A coherent transmitter maintains constant phase sync from tions can use them are specified. For example, RADAR in the
radiated pulse to radiated pulse, allowing the radio to perform 76-81 GHz band is for use in automotive systems as so-called
processing as if it was transmitting a continuous wave and long-range RADAR (LRR). All things being equal, the higher the
thereby producing finer resolution but with the additional benefit frequency, the smaller the unit.
of significantly reduced power since it might only be transmit- There are so many options to consider when starting to
ting 1% of the time. experiment with RADAR. 24 GHz and 60 GHz industry, science,
and medical (ISM) bands are the most popular among the least
Randall Restle is Vice President of Applications Engineering at expensive kits. Make sure the RADAR development kit you buy
Digi-Key Electronics - www.digikey.com is appropriate and legal for your application.

30 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

 MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

varies over frequency. Table 1 shows permittivity of objects at

Table 1. Relative permittivity of different objects (compliments
of Acconeer)
An advantage that interests me over the alternative tech-
nologies is that ABS plastic electronic enclosures are virtually
transparent to 60 GHz radio waves. I capture rainwater into a
cistern at my house and have a need to
detect water level so that I can divert my
downspouts to prevent my basement from
flooding due to an overflowing cistern. A
battery-operated, self-contained RADAR
module in an ABS plastic box leaves me
with no concern about contamination, or
corrosion, from water or the organisms that
thrive there.
60 GHz. However, it may be far more productive to simply try a
RADAR solution than to know the exact permittivity of objects in
your application.
Knowledge of permittivity is helpful in designing lenses for
RADAR beams. Lenses can be made by layering materials with
different permittivity values in a sort of sandwich. There is much
technical information on Fresnel lensing readily available online.
Anyone wishing to build a lens is encouraged to research this
material.
Now is a great time to learn the details about RADAR. The
development kits and evaluation boards allow you to adjust
and tweak nearly any parameter you want. You can assess the
effects of changes in pulse width, pulse repetition rate, modes
of operation (i.e. pulsed or continuous), battery life, enclosures,
materials with different permittivity, robustness of software li-
braries, software development kits (SDKs), suitability of RADAR
to your applications, and more.

System-in-Package (SiP) is the tech-

nology that has enabled these low-cost
RADAR solutions. A SiP has the advantage
that extremely different technologies can
be contained in the same package. RADAR
SiPs contain the RF transmitter, receiver,
antenna, processor, power, timing, and
more - see figure 2. System-on-Chip (SoC) Table 2. RADAR development kits available for immediate shipment
cannot accommodate such a varied set of
from Digi-Key Electronics
components without severely compromis-
ing system performance. SiPs can.
The new SiP-based RADAR solutions are generally close Digi-Key conveniently stocks many RADAR development and
range compared to other well-known applications like the evaluation kits for immediate delivery. Tables 2 and 3 below
RADAR used to determine the position of flying aircraft. The show a list of them as of March 2019.
new solutions are more suited to collaborative robots (cobots) Although RADAR technology has been around for over a
that work alongside human operators. Cobots promise to help century, the need for the technology remains essential and has
reduce some forms of human injury from repetitious movements changed dramatically to adapt to today’s applications.
like carpel tunnel syndrome. The current available inexpensive, off-the-shelf development
It will be important that cobots stay out of the way of their kits allow designers to experiment with RADAR and find out
human co-workers. Close range RADAR is a perfect solution exactly what is needed to elevate the quality and features of
here. Typically, close range RADAR is from a couple of millime- their designs.
ters to tens of meters.
The amount of energy reflected from an object to its source
is a function of an object’s reflectivity (γ), cross section of the
object, and the distance to the ob-
ject. A reflection occurs when there
is a difference in the relative permit-
tivity in the medium in which the
RADAR wave is travelling.
This reflectivity is given by:

Permittivity (ε) is one of the most Table 3. Additional RADAR development kits available for immediate shipment
important factors in RADAR and it from Digi-Key Electronics

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 31

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

Nanoscale MEMS resonator structure yields

controllable MHz-range filter, isolator
By Bill Schweber

B
y fabricating a nano-MEMS honeycomb lattice,
researchers developed a solid-state device that
can function as a voltage-tunable filter or unidi-
rectional energy coupler for electrical energy in the 10 to
20-MHz range that’s been converted into acoustic-like
phonons.
As electronic devices shrink, there’s an increasing
need for on-chip high-performance functions such as
unidirectional waveguides (isolators), filters, and delay
lines, especially those with key parameters that can be
controlled on chip. A team of researchers from ZTH Zu-
rich and Caltech is using silicon-nitride (SiN) nanomem-
branes that operate at high frequencies (10-20 MHz) as
conduits for phonons, the acoustic-like waves passing
through a solid or liquid material to build such devices
(a situation very roughly analogous to surface-acoustic-
wave, or SAW, devices). The nanoelectromechanical
metamaterials (NEMM) include the voltage-controlled
frequency tuning of the individual resonators.
They fabricated and tested high-frequency “topologi-
cal” insulators with six lattice sites in a unit cell. The na-
noelectromechanical lattice (NEML) design has periodi-
cally etched holes of 500 nm diameter in an extended
honeycomb lattice, and insulating Si-rich silicon-nitride
(SiNx) membranes (average thickness of ~79 nm) that
Fig. 2: Shown is the discrete-element model of the NEML for analytical
form a phononic crystal with periodic, curved boundar-
ies (see figure 1). calculation of frequency dispersion. At the top of (a) is the false-color
The neighbouring membranes are overlapped to scanning electron microscope image showing three unit cells with the
create mechanical coupling. By changing the distance deposited electrodes; at the bottom is a schematic diagram of the mass-
between etch holes, the researchers were able to con- spring systems used to solve the dynamic model. A close-up view of a
trol the amount of lattice coupling. Their work has been half-unit cell (b) shows the two rotational springs connected by a rigid
theoretical, beginning with a discrete mass-spring model bar, and the elastic foundation, showing all relevant parameters and
and the many forces on each element (see figure 2). degrees of freedom. (Source: Caltech)
They then proceeded to in-depth, deep-dive physics
analysis of the lattice’s electromechanical and related proper- pendent electric field, they were able to significantly shift the
ties, as well as its responses. frequency bands of the device (see figures 3 and 4).
Finally, they went beyond the theory and its postulated per- It’s desirable that a physical channel being used as a wave-
formance by fabricating and evaluating several devices. guide be both stable and defect-free for reliable, consistent
By applying a dc gate voltage VT to create a voltage-de- performance.
However, they noted that energy transport in
high-frequency mechanical systems, such as these
microscale phononic devices, is particularly sensitive
to defects and sharp turns because of backscatter-
ing and losses.
Since actual devices aren’t perfect, they also in-
vestigated the influence of possible fabrication errors
that happen during the deposition process.
In this case, the non-uniformity in the film thick-
ness causes disorder in the mass matrix parameters
used in the many equations of the dynamics. An-
Fig. 1: Scanning electron microscope image of the nonlinear NEML: other interesting feature of the design is its robust-
ness with respect to waveguide imperfections such
Simultaneously applying Vdc and Vac voltages to the excitation electrode
as sharp corners. To study this, they also fabricated
via a bias tee electrostatically triggers flexural motions while VT is a tuning
a zig-zag waveguide with two sharp corners of 60⁰.
gate voltage applied to the tuning electrodes to activate on-site electrostatic Their test results showed that the energy transport
potentials (scale bar is 10 μm). (Source: Caltech) had negligible backscattering from these corners.

32 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com


Fig. 3: Frequency response of the lattices with 120 unit-cells.
The upper panel shows the response of the device without
electrodes, while the lower panel is with electrodes; the
shaded area indicates the frequency stop bands. (Source:
Caltech)
The researchers maintain they have tangibly demonstrated
that nanoelectromechanical metamaterials can create on-chip
acoustic devices that function as stable yet controllable ultra-
sound-based, RF signal-processing elements. Their extremely
detailed published papers provide full analysis of the molecular
and lattice physics, the fabrication process for their devices,
their simulation results, and actual measured data. Support for
www.eenewseurope.com
MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS
Fig. 4: Position of the bandgap center and size as a function
of VT (left). The red and blue squares (dots) show the
experimental (numerical) data for the bandgap center and
bandgap frequencies, respectively. Averaged Q (quality) factor
as a function of VT (right). Q is calculated by averaging f0/Δf
of the individual peaks in the frequency spectra for different
values of VT; f0 and Δf are the center frequency and full-width
at half maximum of a resonance peak, respectively, while
error bars represent the standard deviation of the resonance
peaks for each VT. (Source: Caltech)
the research was provided by the National Science Foundation,
the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology Center at IBM Re-
search-Zurich, and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech.
This article first appeared on Electronic Design -
www.electronicdesign.com
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 33
 DESIGN & PRODUCTS
240GHz chip sees through fog, dust
By Julien Happich
R
esearchers from MIT have leveraged the unique propa-
gation properties of sub-terahertz wavelengths to design
a sensor chip able to detect objects hidden by fog or
dust.
Akin to the working principle of LiDAR imaging, forward-
transmitted sub-terahertz wavelengths bounce-off objects and
the reflected signal can then be detected and processed for ob-
ject detection and mapping. The difference being that sub-tera-
hertz wavelengths (between microwave and
infrared radiations) can be detected through
fog and dust clouds with ease, whereas
such conditions scatter the infrared-based
signal emitted by LiDARs.
In a paper “A 32-Unit 240-GHz Hetero-
dyne Receiver Array in 65-nm CMOS With
Array-Wide Phase Locking” published in
the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, the
researchers report the integration of two
interleaved 4x4 phase-locked dense het-
erodyne receiver arrays within a 1.2mm² die area, enabling the
concurrent steering of two independent beams.
Based on their measurements, sensitivity (at a bandwidth
of 1kHz) of a single unit was 58fW, offering a 4300x sensitivity
improvement in phase-sensitive detection. The paper concludes
that larger sensing arrays could be designed simply by tiling up
more receiver units while still enabling a very compact design.
Movandi and NXP look to mmWave to connect 5G everywhere
By Jean-Pierre Joosting
N
XP Semiconductors N.V. and Movandi have formed
a joint partnership to collaborate on millimeter wave
(mmWave) for 5G networks. The partnership will com-
bine digital networking and signal processing portfolio from
NXP with Movandi’s RF transceiver and systems architecture
to deliver high-performance 5G as well as the wireless commu-
nications infrastructure for applications such as smart homes,
self-driving cars and future mobile cloud-
based services.
5G is set for rapid deployment, but to
meet the requirements of very low latency,
high bandwidth, greater availability, faster
speeds, and consistent coverage, it must
overcome challenges such as line of site
and blocking, high path loss and self-install
issues. The technology must also deliver
reduced lag time between devices and cell
towers while ensuring constant connectiv-
ity and total geographic coverage, even in
the most remote, hard-to-reach indoor areas.
NXP and Movandi are working to solve these impediments
with high-speed communication systems that combine each
company’s expertise and technology.
“The growing partnership with Movandi brings NXP new op-
portunities,” said Tareq Bustami, senior vice president, Digital
Networking, NXP. “Movandi’s disruptive solutions for 5G ap-
plications address the growing challenges of deploying 5G mil-
limeter wave networks and interface well with NXP’s advanced
34 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS
“A big motivation for this work is having better ‘electric eyes’
for autonomous vehicles and drones,” explained co-author
Ruonan Han, an associate professor of electrical engineering
and computer science, and director of the Terahertz Integrated
Electronics Group in the MIT Microsystems Technology Labora-
tories (MTL). “Our low-cost, on-chip sub-terahertz sensors will
play a complementary role to LiDAR for when the environment
is rough.”
The key to the design is what the re-
searchers call “decentralization.” In this de-
sign, a single pixel — called a “heterodyne”
pixel — generates the frequency beat (the
frequency difference between two incom-
ing sub-terahertz signals) and the “local
oscillation,” an electrical signal that changes
the frequency of an input frequency. This
“down-mixing” process produces a signal
in the megahertz range that can be easily
interpreted by a baseband processor.
The output signal can be used to calculate the distance of
objects, similar to how LiDAR calculates the time it takes a laser
to hit an object and rebound. In addition, combining the output
signals of an array of pixels, and steering the pixels in a certain
direction, can enable high-resolution images of a scene. This
allows for not only the detection but also the recognition of
objects, which is critical in autonomous vehicles and robots.
5G modem technology.”
NXP will contribute products from the Layerscape family
of high-performance Arm-based communications processing
platforms and programmable baseband processing. Layerscape
SoCs possess a common hardware and software architecture
and are scalable in performance, power and cost. Hardware
differentiation is provided by programmable acceleration and
offloaded security. On the software side, NXP
provides solution-level packages for specific
applications including wireless, cloud, secu-
rity and virtualization.
Movandi will bring its world-class RF
design, beamforming capabilities, and high-
receive sensitivity for 5G to the partnership.
According to Maryam Rofougaran, Co-CEO
of Movandi, then technology partnership has
allowed Movandi to develop the just released
BeamXR 5G system, which delivers improve-
ments in performance, coverage and latency
to connect 5G everywhere. A key technology for the partner-
ship, BeamXR solves the issue of 5G coverage limitations
caused by the propagation characteristics of radio signals at 5G
millimeter wave frequency bands and increases 5G coverage,
while reducing infrastructure costs, simplifies deployment and
increases network capacity, enabling new high-reliability, low-
latency services, a great deal of modularity and flexibility to help
ensure that 5G and mmWave technology can be implemented
across numerous use cases and deployment scenarios.
www.eenewseurope.com
 AUTORISIERTER
DISTRIBUTOR

MICROWAVE & RF CIRCUITS

Microchip shrinks WPAN

low-power sensor nodes
Microchip Technology has announced what it says is the indus-
try’s smallest IEEE 802.15.4-compliant module to meet the needs
of wireless, space-constrained
sensor nodes such as home
RV-8063-C7
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Developed for low-power wire-
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module combines an ultra-low-
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a sub-GHz radio. The IEEE 802.15.4-based module supports pro- to AEC-Q200 Rev. C,
prietary networks that can be easily customized and configured. Size: 3.2 x 1.5 x 0.80 mm,
The module features ultra-low-power sleep modes, with wake Temperature range:
from general-purpose input/output (GPIO) or its built-in real-time -40°C to + 85°C,
clock (RTC) while consuming approximately 800 nA. Devices can 100% leadfree,
sleep for years, only waking as needed to transmit data. The SAM RoHS-compliant
R30 module measures 12.7x11mm and includes the necessary www.microcrystal.com
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to 256 kilobytes (KB) of Flash and 40 KB of RAM, as well as serial
data interfaces, USB, and digital and analog I/O for advanced sen-
sor development. Operation in the sub-GHz RF spectrum enables M I C R O C R Y S TA L S W I T Z E R L A N D
twice the connectivity range and better propagation through walls
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and floors than similarly powered devices operating at 2.4GHz.
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www.microchip.com AEL_EEnews 136x91.qxd:Layout 1 07/12/2018 09:56 Page 1

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www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 35

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

What can GPUs bring to ADAS?

By Bryce Johnstone

O
ne of the most talked about topics in the automotive not merely a nice to have – for car OEMs to move from smaller
industry today is advanced driver assistance systems CPUs or microcontrollers to more powerful GPUs to drive those
(ADAS). These systems assist the driver in dealing with screens, and given this, embedded GPUs have made obvious
potential issues in a number of ways. They can provide visual inroads in this area.
and audible warnings to the driver, but they can also take con-
trol of the brakes, accelerator and steering to move the car out Why GPUs are the obvious choice
of the way of danger. These systems rely on higher-quality data for automotive
from an increasing number of discrete sensors, such as Light Compared to graphics, ADAS asks different questions of
Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), which measures the distance to the GPU, requiring something very different than traditional
a target with a pulsed laser light, Radio Detection and Rang- rendering. If we look at computer graphics, the use of compute
ing (RADAR), which is similar to LiDAR but uses radio waves shaders is now a standard for delivering advanced graphical
instead of a laser, and infrared (IR) cameras systems. These all effects. Essentially, the GPU runs small computer programs that
enable ADAS to better interpret the environment and improve its define the colour and shade of the millions of individual pixels
ability to help the driver. on screen. Rather than graphics, ADAS platforms can leverage
this GPU compute capability to process and analyse sensor
Introducing the GPU data in real-time.
Within a car’s central electronic control unit (ECU), you will find And it’s not just sensors, but also conventional cameras
one or more large silicon devices that contain a multi-core cen- that feed the GPU the data it’s traditionally been happy to work
tral processing unit (CPU), on. Image processing is a
a graphics processing unit natural problem domain for
(GPU), a memory subsys- the GPU. Indeed, almost
tem that feeds the sensor any kind of computationally
data for real-time process- dense parallel computation
ing, and a range of other is a good fit.
cores, such as I/O, periph-
eral connection, dedicated GPU virtualization
video and DSP. The GPU’s for automotive
highly parallel, throughput- The level of performance
oriented nature makes it a future ADAS platforms
great fit for the challenges will require necessitates
of ADAS. It is essentially increasingly larger GPUs,
a turbo-charged multiply, which will inevitably in-
accumulate engine which is crease manufacturing costs.
the basis of neural network- To mitigate this, platform
type algorithms. Therefore, vendors will look to increase
it’s no wonder that many of the value of the GPU by
today’s leading ADAS ven- using it to perform multiple
dors are starting to exploit workloads in the car. This
the ability and performance will only be possible if the
of embedded GPUs in order GPU has rock-solid support
to make the generational for hardware accelerated
leaps in capabilities and virtualization. Virtualization
performance required over lets the GPU run multiple
what is available in cars Fig. 1: Hardware-backed virtualization. operating contexts, such
today. as an app/OS container,
Historically, the GPU plays a more traditional role in a car’s without any of those contexts being aware of each other or in
technical makeup – namely driving the displays. Consumers any way affect each other.
increasingly expect that their new car offers the same cutting- This is important. Imagine a situation where a problem with
edge technology they are used to from their smartphone or the dashboard software was able to affect the correct opera-
tablet. Therefore, we are seeing a move to digital dashboards tion of the driver assistance system. This could be potentially
with multiple high-resolution screens. 1080p is now common catastrophic and must be avoided at all costs. The ability to
in mid-range cars and increasingly 4K screens are specified for have protected, virtualized, execution contexts supported by
luxury and executive cars. the GPU will ensure that this situation does not arise.
These larger, higher-resolution and more responsive screens Virtualization works at its best when there is hardware sup-
are enabling drivers and passengers to interact with their car port for entirely separate managed address spaces for each
in more natural and intuitive ways. It is, therefore, a necessity – context to use and for restarting or flushing a context that’s mis-
behaving. This isolation is key to allowing cooperative use of the
Bryce Johnstone is Director of Automotive Segment Marketing GPU, while keeping critical software, such as driver assistance
at Imagination Technologies - www.imgtec.com systems, from being corrupted by any other process.

36 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

 AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

Enabling new revenue opportunities and high end.

From a car OEM’s point of view virtualization offers an addition- Imagination also delivers a toolset to support the develop-
al benefit. It enables ment, optimisation
a safer environment and deployment of
to deliver various ap- neural networks across
plications and services GPU and AI accelera-
without any concerns tors. It is one unified
about the electronics tool-chain that enables
systems being taken developers to take
down by a rogue piece multiple frameworks
of software. It also and multiple network
means that rather than types and bring them
a traditional hardware into a format that
box with fixed software allows them to be
for the infotainment deployed on either the
and engine manage- GPU as a Compute
ment systems the car Engine, on our Pow-
becomes a flexible, erVR Series2NX and
configurable software 3NX neural networks
platform that’s update- accelerators, or as a
able over-the-air. It mixture of the two,
would enable OEMs to where the flexibility of
swap paid-for services the GPU to implement
in and out easily, with- Fig. 2: Computer vision implemented from car’s perspective. a layer in a new variant
out disruption to the of the network can
operation of the car, thus offering them potential new revenue be complemented by running the remaining layers on a highly
streams. optimised, high-performance dedicated CNN accelerator.
Thus, ADAS platform designers can use the GPU as a first-
Why Imagination class component in the overall system architecture of the car,
Imagination’s PowerVR GPUs offer a set of desirable proper- while allowing the system vendor to amortize their investment
ties for ADAS functions. The core compute architecture inside by also using the GPU to accelerate in-vehicle infotainment
today’s PowerVR GPUs was designed from the ground up to software, in a safe and secure manner.
offer fast performance and low power consumption for re- The design of the PowerVR GPU microarchitecture, with its
duced-precision computation, especially half-precision floating best-in-class power efficiency and memory bandwidth usage,
point (FP16). Running provides a balanced
at lower precision GPU design that fits
(where lower is usually well with the car’s
classed as less than technology needs and
32-bits) is one of the lends itself perfectly for
best ways to reduce next-generation ADAS
power dissipation in applications. It offers
an embedded GPU outstanding perfor-
without significant mance for the large
loss of accuracy. and higher resolution
We’ve designed the displays with which the
FP16 hardware as a driver and passengers
separate data path interact.
from the full-precision
FP32 hardware. While Looking to the
shared data path future
designs are common The requirements
since they’re simpler of ADAS plays to
in many ways, hav- the GPU’s inherent
ing discrete hardware strengths, especially
for each enables us in the areas of image
to offer the best possible power consumption and efficiency analysis and parallel signal processing. As these advanced
because each data path accepts less compromise in the design driver assistance systems become more prevalent in the
to do what it needs to do. vehicles we use the importance of the GPU will only increase
As we have described virtualization enables all contexts run- and systems that don’t utilise the GPU and function-specific ac-
ning on the GPU to operate in isolation from each other to en- celerators to their advantage will be quickly left behind. It is the
sure that all ADAS functions are run safely, and as it is support- GPU rather than the CPU that will be able to deliver the com-
ed in hardware, it can do so at the performance level required. pute capabilities that will enable cars of the future to become
Hardware backed virtualization is a key strength of PowerVR more aware of their surroundings so that they can operate as
and Imagination offers it on all its graphics core across the mid smoothly and safely as we need them to.

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 37

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS
BMW, Daimler join forces for automated
driving technologies
By Christoph Hammerschmidt
F
ollowing the recent merger of their mobility services,
Daimler AG and the BMW Group intend to join forces in
the development of technologies for automated driving.
The goals of the cooperation are developing a flexible vehicle
platform and shorter innovation cycles.
As a first step, the development of driver assistance systems
and automated driving on motorways and for automated park-
ing functions (up to SAE Level 4 in each case) is to be advanced
in the next technology generation. The two companies signed
a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop this key
technology for mobility in the future. The partners speak of a
long-term and strategic cooperation and aim to make the next
technology stage available on a broad basis before the middle
of the next decade.
Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daim-
ler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz
Cars Development: “For us, autonomous driving is one of the
most revolutionary trends
on which we are work-
ing intensively through-
out the Daimler Group.
Instead of individual
isolated solutions, we are
interested in a reliable
overall system that offers
our customers tangible
benefits. Together with
the right partners, we
want to significantly ad-
vance the performance of
this technology and put it
safely on the road.”
“The BMW Group is
building on long-term
partnerships to advance the industrialization of autonomous
driving as part of a flexible, scalable and non-exclusive plat-
form. By bringing together the great competencies of our two
companies, we are increasing our innovative strength and ac-
celerating the spread of this technology,” says Klaus Fröhlich,
Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Develop-
ment.
For Daimler and BMW, the advantages of the planned coop-
eration are obvious: With the expertise and experience of the
individual partners and a scalable architecture, the development
of future generations of technology will be accelerated and
more efficient. In addition to these synergies, new technologies
are to be passed on to customers more quickly and updated
in shorter innovation cycles. The reliability of the systems is a
central criterion in the cooperation, the two companies assured
in a joint press release. Both partners continue to claim to set
the pace for development.
The joint development is to include several automation levels
up to Level 4 via a scalable architecture, with Level 3 and Level
4 technology enabling automated driving on motorways in Eu-
rope as well as in the U.S. and China. In addition, the partners
also aim to discuss extending the scope of cooperation in the
38 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
future to higher levels of automation on motorways as well as
for urban areas and cities. This underlines the long-term and
sustainable character of the cooperation towards a scalable
platform for automated driving. However, the development of
the current generations and the cooperation between the two
companies are unaffected by this and will continue unchanged.
Both companies will examine further partnerships with technol-
ogy companies and car manufacturers that can contribute to
the success of the platform.
Autonomous driving in the BMW Group
BMW has been working on highly automated driving since 2006
and has established a non-exclusive platform with technology,
supplier and OEM partners for the development to series matu-
rity. Among others, Intel and supplier Denso are involved in this
platform. Since 2017, BMW has been bundling development
at its Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleißheim near
Munich. The agile soft-
ware development used
there for the first time
accelerates the devel-
opment of the platform
and sets standards in
the automotive industry.
BMW is currently testing
the latest developments
with more than 70 test
vehicles on the road
worldwide. The vehicles
collect data to further
improve the technol-
ogy through machine
learning with artificial
intelligence in virtual
simulation and test new functions from Level 2 to Level 5 on the
road. The technology generation currently being developed will
go into series production with Level 3 for the first time in 2021 in
BMW iNEXT and will be qualified for pilot projects with Level 4.
Autonomous driving at Daimler
Daimler has been working on series development projects for
both Level 3 and Level 4/5 vehicles for some time now. The
Stuttgart-based company is building on its long-standing role
in active safety systems, many of whose functionalities are pro-
grammed in-house from the outset. In San José in Silicon Val-
ley, the first pilot for tests by Daimler and Bosch for self-steering
vehicles (Level 4/5) in urban areas will be launched in 2019.
This represents a further milestone in the existing cooperation
between the two partners and will allow the collaboration to
continue as planned. At the beginning of the coming decade,
Daimler will launch both highly automated (Level 3) and fully
automated (Level 4/5) vehicles on the market. As the only OEM
worldwide, Daimler considers itself to be well positioned for all
relevant applications of autonomous driving due to its complete
portfolio from passenger cars to vans, buses and trucks, and
therefore relies on scalable solutions for automated driving.
www.eenewseurope.com
 AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

Toshiba partners with OSR Enterprises

to deliver in-car datacentre
By Julien Happich

T
oshiba Memory One of the elements supporting this capabil-
Europe GmbH ity is an advanced high-density in-car storage.
and OSR Enter- The collaboration with Toshiba Memory Europe
prises AG have decided contributes to OSR’s ability to meet the increas-
to extend their collabo- ing demand of its OEM customers for managing
ration on OSR’s in-car the growing amounts of data in a “Datacenter on
Datacenter to enhance Wheels”. The combination of the technologies en-
live data management sures that the development cycles of OSR’s OEM
and logging in cars. customers are shortened, while retaining robust-
The cooperation will ness for a solid development process.
combine the technical Toshiba Memory’s CM5 NVM Express (NVMe) is
know-how of both com- built with its latest 64 layer, 3-bit-per-cell enter-
panies and will create a prise-class TLC (triple-level cell) BiCS FLASH,
“Datacenter on Wheels” making today’s demanding storage environments
with high-density and low-power solid state drives. possible. This, combined with selectable power modes in Toshi-
OSR’s Evolver is a high-performance central “AI brain” for ba Memory’s SSDs, allows the thermal performance and heat
ultra-smart, autonomous and securely networked vehicles. The dissipation of the system to be improved. Additionally, optimal
hardware and software platform provides computing power and operation and data integrity is provided by its advanced power
operates as a central data hub which stores, processes and loss protection technology within the storage components in
analyzes real-time data for artificial intelligence and analytical OSR’s “Datacenter on Wheels”
insights.

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www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 39

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS
Transparent cockpit helps to avoid shunting accidents
By Christoph Hammerschmidt
T
he blind spot when looking out of the cockpit is all too
often to blame for serious road traffic accidents. The
Fraunhofer Institute IOSB (Karlsruhe, Germany) has devel-
oped a “transparent cockpit” and is convinced that this technol-
ogy can help prevent accidents.
In cooperation with Rio, a subsidiary of the truck and bus
manufacturer MAN, the Fraunhofer Institute
for Optronics, Systems Technology and Im-
age Evaluation IOSB designed, implemented
and evaluated a novel vehicle assistance
system for truck maneuvers. With the help
of virtual reality glasses and stereo cameras,
it makes the vehicle virtually transparent, so
that the driver can see all obstacles directly
and three-dimensionally at their real posi-
tion. Strictly speaking, the system creates
an extended representation of reality, a
superimposition of the normal driver’s per-
spective with a virtual view generated by a
computer based on the camera images.
“The goal of this method is to reduce the
number of accidents when maneuvering
with trucks and cars. Until now, drivers often overlook obstacles
or rely too much on existing assistance systems,” explains
Daniel Secker, who devised the system. Especially for trucks
Cold temperatures shrink electric car range, AAA study finds
By Julien Happich
R
ecent research from the AAA (American Automobile As-
sociation) revealed that the use of heating and air condi-
tioning systems in electric vehicles causes a substantial
drop in their driving range under freezing temperatures.
The AAA study reveals that when the mercury dips to 20°F
(about minus 7ºC) and the HVAC
system is used to heat the inside
of the vehicle, the average driving
range is decreased by 41 percent.
This means for every 100 miles of
combined urban/highway driving,
the range at minus 7ºC would be
reduced to 59 miles.
AAA tested five electric vehicles,
all with a minimum EPA estimated
driving range of 100 miles, in part-
nership with the Automotive Club
of Southern California’s Automotive
Research Center. Real-world driving
conditions were simulated using a
dynamometer, essentially a treadmill
for cars, in a closed testing cell where ambient temperature
could be closely controlled. To determine the effects on driving
range, scenarios for cold and hot weather conditions – both
when using HVAC and not – were compared to those of driving
with an outside temperature of 75°F (about 24ºC). When colder
temperatures hit, electric vehicle owners to be aware of a re-
duction in range and the need to charge more often to minimize
the chance of being stranded by a dead battery, warns AAA.
40 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
with trailers, it is only possible to detect the relevant environ-
ment with additional mirrors. Even objects directly in front of the
vehicle can only be seen indirectly. This is a potential source of
error and increases the reaction time.
The transparent cockpit, on the other hand, should enable
intuitive visualization. An algorithm recognizes the position of
objects in space on the basis of the camera
images and colors them orange when
approaching; if they fall below a safety
distance, the color changes to red.
In a user study, Secker asked 15 test
persons to park their cars backwards -
without and with VR glasses. The result:
the drivers can actually assess the distance
better through the glasses, but only by
highlighting the obstacles in colour. The VR
glasses alone did not lead to the desired
effect.
However, Secker admits that the virtual
reality glasses used are still too bulky for
a really practical system. “We would need
practical VR or even augmented reality
glasses for this.” The driver could wear the latter permanently
like a normal pair of glasses; only during manoeuvres would the
virtual display levels be activated.
AAA’s research also found that when outside temperatures
heat up to 95°F (or 35ºC) and air-conditioning is used inside the
vehicle, driving range decreases by 17 percent. Additionally, an
electric vehicle with a compromised driving range will require
charging more often, which increases the cost to operate the
vehicle. The study instance, AAA’s
study found that the use of heat
when it’s 20°F outside adds almost
$25 more for every 1,000 miles when
compared to the cost of combined
urban and highway driving at 75°F.
Previous AAA research has found
that interest in electric vehicles
continues to gain momentum with 20
percent of drivers saying they would
likely go green when considering
their next vehicle purchase. There
are some precautions electric vehicle
owners can take during colder and
hotter times of year to help offset
potential reductions in driving range.
AAA recommends drivers to plan ahead. When drivers are
aware of the weather conditions before heading out, they can
plan for more frequent stops for charging as well as identify
the location of charging stations. Make time to “pre-heat” or
cool down the inside of the vehicle while still connected to the
charger. This will reduce the demand on the vehicle’s battery to
regulate cabin temperature at the onset of driving. If possible,
park the vehicle in a garage to help stabilize cabin temperature.
www.eenewseurope.com
 AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

Hall-effect latch is PCB-less

Melexis’ MLX92223 is a PCB-less 2-wire Hall-effect latch with integrated passives
(392Ω resistor and decoupling capacitor), making it compatible with industry-
standard ECUs without the need for any additional external components. The
MLX92223 integrates the addi-
tional passive components nor-
mally needed to interface Hall-effect
latches to ECUs for the accurate
motorised seat position detection.
This level of integration removes the
DC-DC Converters
need for the sensor to be mounted
on a PCB. The magnetic core used Transformers &
by Melexis features advanced offset
cancellation with a programmable temperature coefficient, allowing the MLX92223
to compensate for magnets that may exhibit variation over temperature. The
Inductors
MLX92223 also includes a voltage regulator and current sink configured output.
Melexis
www.melexis.com
DC-DC Converters
2V to 10,000 VDC Outputs
USB 3.1 SmartHub offers Type-C support, 1-300 Watt Modules
• MIL/COTS/Industrial Models
5Gbps data rates in cars • Regulated/Isolated/Adjustable
Microchip’s automotive-qualified USB 3.1 Gen1 SmartHub IC offers up to 10 Programmable Standard Models
• New High Input Voltages to 900VDC
times faster data rates over existing USB 2.0 solutions, reducing indexing times to
• AS9100C Facility/US Manufactured
improve the user experience in vehicles. To support • Military Upgrades and
the rising adoption of USB Type-C in the smartphone Custom Modules
market and enable universal connectivity in vehicles,
the USB7002 SmartHub IC includes interfaces for
USB Type-C connectors. The 5 Gbps SuperSpeed
Transformers
data rates of USB 3.1 ensure higher bandwidth and
maximum functionality, making it well suited for
& Inductors
applications that require gigabit speeds for faster
Surface Mount &
data streaming, data download and in-vehicle communication. The USB7002 also
Thru Hole
• Ultra Miniature Designs
reduces the download time for large videos, which is ideal for vehicles that have • MIL-PRF 27/MIL-PRF 21308
integrated 4K dash cams. The USB7002 enables direct USB Type-C connections • DSCC Approved Manufacturing
through native Configuration Channel (CC) pin interfaces and integrated 2:1 multi- • Audio/Pulse/Power/EMI
plexers that support the reversible connection feature of the USB Type-C connector. Multiplex Models Available
Microchip • For Critical Applications/Pico
www.microchip.com Modules, Over 45 Years’ Experience

For full characteristics of these and the

entire PICO product line, see PICO’s
Edge platform to accelerate autonomous systems Full line catalog at

Wind River’s Helix Virtualization Platform combines the company’s real-time

www.picoelectronics.com

PICO ELECTRONICS, Inc.

operating system (RTOS) and embedded Linux distribution into an edge compute
software platform, allowing other operating systems to run unmodified within the
same framework and providing a software 143 Sparks Ave., Pelham, New York 10803
development environment across the Wind Call Toll Free s800-431-1064
River portfolio. The Helix Platform enables FAX 914-738-8225
legacy software to remain unchanged while E Mail: info@picoelectronics.com
running alongside new applications, hardware,
software, frameworks or cloud services. It
addresses a wide range of critical infrastruc- Pico Representatives
ture development needs, from highly-dynamic environments without certification Germany
ELBV/Electra Bauemente Vertrieb
requirements, to highly-regulated static applications such as in avionics and indus- E mail: info@elbv.de
trial, as well as systems requiring the mixing of safety-certified applications with Phone: 49 089 460205442
Fax: 49 089 460205442
non-certified ones, such as in automotive. The offering comprises VxWorks along
England
with its virtualization technology, integrated with Wind River Linux and Wind River Solid State Supplies—Ginsbury
Simics for system simulation. E-mail: russell.bennett@sssltd.com
Phone: 44 1634 298900
Wind River Fax: 44 1634 290904
www.windriver.com

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 41

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS
Cadence claims 10X boost for automotive
radar/lidar, 30X boost for 5G
Cadence Design Systems has released its highest-performing
DSP IP in the ConnX family, the Tensilica ConnX B20 based on
a deeper processor pipeline architecture.
With an enhanced instruction set archi-
tecture (ISA) and clock-speed increase,
the ConnX B20 DSP processes parts
of the communication processing chain
up to 30X faster and parts of the radar/
lidar processing chain up to 10X faster
compared to the company’s Tensilica
ConnX BBE32EP DSP. Software com-
patible with the rest of the ConnX DSP
family, the ConnX B20 DSP has a 512-bit vector width up to
128 MACs, can load 1024 bits of data each cycle and achieves
1.4GHz or greater frequency in 16nm process technology. This
extends the ConnX family to serve an even broader range of
performance. Customers have a variety of algorithm accelera-
Credit-card sized instrument
to test SDR applications
Red Pitaya has launched a new, uprated version of its STEMlab
credit-card-sized platform that is tailored for HF+50MHz SDR
(Software-Defined Radio) and RF applica-
tions that require DAQ systems with higher
precision. STEMlab 122.88-16 SDR comes
with two 16 bit ADCs, 50 ohm inputs and 14
bit DACs, 50 ohm outputs. It uses the dual
core ARM Cortex A9 offering massively better
performance, the Xilinx Zynq 7020 FPGA for
more real-time processing capabilities plus an
ultra-low phase noise 122.88 MHz clock which
makes new the latest-generation STEMlab
more hardware-compatible with HPSDR. 1-Gbit Ethernet con-
nectivity has been retained, and RF inputs have been improved
in terms of distortion, noise and crosstalk which significantly
improves reception and broadens the choice of antenna. It
retains the original STEMlab form factor so it directly replaces
Three components for quantum computers
integrated on one chip
Quantum computers are expected to to solve certain comput-
ing problems much faster than classical
computers. A quantum approach uses
single photons for the transmission and
processing of information, which is how-
ever complex in the technical realization.
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology and the University of Stuttgart
have for the first time integrated three
essential technical components - single
photon sources, beam splitters and single
photon detectors - on a single compact chip. “One of the chal-
lenges in such an experiment, which was carried out entirely on
one chip, was the proximity of the excitation laser to the detec-
tors on the chip,” explain Ekkehart Schmidt from KIT and Mario
Schwartz from the University of Stuttgart. “The detectors cannot
42 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
MISCELLANEOUS
tion options to reduce cycle counts, including higher precision
with either 32-bit fixed-point operations (including operations
to optimize MAC, FFT and FIR) with native complex support, or
single-/half-precision vector floating-point (VFPU) operations
with half precision at 2X the single-
precision throughput. An extended
VFPU option enables support for
complex floating-point operations
and doubles the real floating-point
operations at the same vector width
typically used in the front end of the
radar processing chain. The commu-
nications option accelerates forward-
error correction (FEC) in lower bit-rate
communication applications seeking software-defined radio
solutions. General availability for both the ConnX B20 is planned
for the second quarter of 2019.
Cadence
www.cadence.com
the current platform. “With this improved performance and af-
fordability we believe that STEMlab 122.88-16 SDR will enable
the Red Pitaya community to build SDR transceivers and other
scientific devices that will be able to compete with high-end,
dedicated instruments, yet retain the flexibility
and simplicity of the Red Pitaya concept,” said
Leon Živec, CEO of Red Pitaya. STEMlab from
Red Pitaya is a test and measurement envi-
ronment that includes a board, an application
marketplace and a source code library. It is
designed as a low-cost alternative to many ex-
pensive measurement and control instruments.
STEMlab can function as an Oscilloscope,
Logic Analyser, Signal Generator, Spectrum
Analyser and more, also performing other tasks like vector
network analysis. Customizable at the FPGA and CPU levels,
STEMlab can process real-world signals.
Red Pitaya
www.redpitaya.com
distinguish which photons come from the laser and which from
the quantum dot. This leads to unwanted detections.” Schmidt
and Schwartz have significantly reduced the influence of the
laser photons by placing reflective
metal layers on the chip. Nanometer-
sized structures - so-called quantum
dots - on a platform made of gallium
arsenide serve as efficient sources of
single photons. Optical logic circuits and
special detectors made of superconduct-
ing nanowires can also be placed on the
same chip. In the experiment carried out
by the Knowledgexhaftists, single pho-
tons emitted by an optically pumped quantum dot were guided
in a photonic waveguide and divided by a beam splitter into two
waveguide arms, each equipped with a detector.
Karlsruhe Institute
www.kit.edu
www.eenewseurope.com
 MISCELLANEOUS

1.6 MP global shutter CMOS sensor

supports 247 fps
The IMX273 1.6 MP global shutter CMOS sensor from Sony
provides enormous sensitivity, low noise levels and a high
dynamic range. With the integration of this sensor into the
uEye LE camera family, IDS now has even more USB 3.1 Gen
1 cameras available to deliver up to 247 fps.
With a wide choice of configurations, the uEye LE models
are particularly well suited for equipment manufacturing and
space-critical applications. The low-cost uEye LE single-board
cameras feature a twist-proof USB Type-C connection and
USB Power Delivery.
The USB 3.1 Gen 1 cameras can be quickly and easily put into
operation thanks to the IDS-typical “Plug and Play” principle
and simple handling via the IDS Software Suite.
The global shutter sensor provides excellent image quality
even in poor lighting conditions or while taking images of fast- IDS Imaging Development Systems
moving objects. www.ids-imaging.com

Light sensor detects 50/60Hz flicker

detect the flickering of any artificial light source operating from
for smart photo capture 50Hz or 60Hz alternating current cycles. This flicker detection
Color (RGB), proximity and flicker detection sensor TCS3707 allows the camera controller to synchronize the shutter with
from ams enables a mobile phone camera to take clean, the On part of the AC cycle. The 2.0x2.5x0.5mm sensor can
unblemished photographs in artificial lighting scenes, without also supply flicker mea-
suffering from banding or other image artefacts generated by surements to the mobile
the invisible phone’s applications pro-
flickering of AC cessor to support flicker
powered light- cancellation firmware at Professional Power
ing. frequencies other than
The TCS3707’s 50/60Hz by using the in-
ultra-high ternal FIFO on the device.
sensitive RGB, The chip also embeds IR
clear, wideband cross-talk rejection and,
channels en- when paired with an IR
able accurate emitter, produces reliable
measurements proximity detection.
of the color and intensity of ambient light across a wide range ams
of lighting conditions. The device’s flicker detection engine can www.ams.com

6cm diameter round display

to 80 degrees allows reading from almost Lighting applications Bega LIGHTS

delivers module 600 cd/m2 any perspective. A built-in display controller

Tianma Europe’s TM033XDHG01 display with a MIPI-DSI interface enables customer- Switch Mode
module has been designed for use in ap- specific configurations with other interfaces. Power Supplies
plications such On request, the
• customized development
as thermometers, display module can
• efficiently
manometers also be equipped
• smart
where analogue with a round PCAP
displays are tradi- controller to support
tionally used. gesture control.
With its high dis- The 8.4cm wide
play brightness octagonal frame
of 600 cd/m2, a simplifies mechani- Halle 7
contrast ratio of cal installation in Stand 505
1:800 and a large the front panel of
colour space of devices. Customized Solutions
Made in Germany
16.7 million co-
lours, the TM033XDHG01 is well suited for Tianma Europe GmbH
outdoor use. The wide viewing angle of up www.tianma.eu www.inpotron.com

www.eenewseurope.com eeNews Europe March 2019 News 43

 DESIGN & PRODUCTS MISCELLANEOUS

H.264 camera delivers clear images

images under low light conditions such as Three-Dimensional
even at 0.002 Lux Noise Reduction (3DNR) and the WDR technology. By bringing
e-con Systems’ Hyperyon is a 2 MP ultra-low light HDR USB out the best low light performance of Sony’s IMX290 sensor in
UVC camera with built-in H.264/MJPEG compression based combination with Socionext ISP, the Hyperyon produces best-
on Sony’s STARVIS series 1/2.8” IMX290 CMOS image sen- in-class images in nearly absolute darkness conditions of 0.002
sor. The camera can work in nearly no-light conditions with a Lux. Hyperyon is also optimized for Near Infrared (NIR) making it
wide dynamic range (WDR), streaming full HD at 30 fps and suitable for NIR imaging. e-con Systems provides sample Win-
60fps over USB. As a Socionext dows application (e-CAMView)
Camera Ecosystem Partner, e- and Linux application (QtCAM)
con Systems has worked closely which uses the standard UVC
with Socionext to develop the protocol to access the camera
Hyperyon camera leveraging the controls.
advanced features of Socionext’s e-con Systems
ISP for capturing high-quality www.e-consystems.com

Twin SerDes devices for simultaneous

STP or coaxial cable with the INAP562R receiver already available.
transmission of video, audio and data This means that one transmitter can control two receivers with
Two new APIX3 SerDes twin transmitters, each with two indepen- completely independent image and data content, which previously
dent transmission channels, are now available from Inova Semi- required two transmitter devices. This results in reduced system
conductors. APIX (Automotive costs and a smaller space requirement on the transmitter-side
Pixel Link) is a multi-channel control unit. The devices support various EMC-friendly operating
SerDes (serializer/deserializer) modes with fixed bandwidths of 1.5; 3 or 6 Gbps in single-lane
technology developed by Inova mode, with a fixed back channel of 187.5 Mbps. The new chips
for high-resolution video applica- of the APIX3 family are designed for popular displays (e.g. 2880
tions in motor vehicles. x 1080 x 24 bit, 60 Hz) in cars. But also, video resolutions up to
The latest APIX3 generation can Ultra High Definition (UHD) and color depths up to 30 bits are
host multiple display connec- possible. The available DSI interfaces also allow the transmission
tions with bandwidths of up to 12 of DSC compressed video data with a future-proof available video
Gbps and supports HD and Ultra HD displays. The latest addi- bandwidth of up to 28.8 Gbps. The chips enable the simultaneous
tions to the APIX3 family are the INAP562TAQ transmitters with transmission of up to eight audio channels. A special feature of the
HDMI 1.4a (with 3D support) and DSI 1.2 video interface and the APIX technology is the media-independent interface (MII, RMII,
INAP564TAQ with two DSI 1.2 video interfaces. Both transmitters RGMII) for 100 Mbit Ethernet according to the IEEE standard.
differ only in terms of the video inputs and are otherwise compat- Inova Semiconductors
ible. Each of these transmitters can provide two APIX3 links via https://inova-semiconductors.de

MCUs simplify application development

with secure cryptographic engine
Renesas Electronics has extended its high integration Renesas
Synergy S5 microcontroller (MCU) series with the introduction of
the entry-level S5D3 MCU
Group. The four new S5D3
MCUs join the mid-range
S5D5 and high-end S5D9
MCU Groups with similar S5
Series features—integrated
120 MHz Arm Cortex-M4
core and advanced secu-
rity—as well as general-pur-
pose features that simplify designing cost sensitive, low power
Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint devices. The entry-level S5D3
MCUs target a broad range of industrial, building automation,
and office equipment, as well as smart metering, and home ap-
pliances employing a capacitive touch human-machine interface
(HMI). The Renesas Synergy Software Package (SSP) supports
the S5D3 MCUs with HAL drivers, application frameworks and
real-time operating system. Embedded system designers can
use either of the Renesas Synergy development environments,
e² studio or IAR Embedded Workbench, to build and custom-
ize their designs. Based on a 40nm process, the S5D3 MCUs
integrate a secure cryptographic engine (SCE7) with key pro-
tection that safeguards the MCU boot code and IoT endpoint
device communication with a root of trust. The SCE7 features
encryption hardware accelerators like RSA, DSA, AES, ECC,
SHA and true random number generator (TRNG) to provide a
secure system connection to the cloud. Each S5D3 MCU offers
superior power consumption of 100 μA/MHz in active mode,
ultra-low 1.3 μA in standby mode, and 900 nA for a VBATT sup-
ply that keeps the integrated real-time clock running, making
these devices ideal for applications that require low power and
high performance. The S5D3 MCUs offer 512 KB flash memory
and a large 256 KB SRAM memory. This unique 2:1 ratio of
embedded flash to SRAM supports intensive communication
stacks utilization for robust IoT connectivity, and the 8 KB data
flash enables more read/write cycles than the competition. Each
S5D3 MCU integrates several analog components including two
12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), a 2-channel 12-bit
digital-to-analog converter (DAC), high-speed 6-channel com-
parator, temperature sensor, and a 6-channel programmable
gain amplifier (PGA).
Renesas Electronics
www.renesas.com

44 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com


eSIM chip targets mobile consumer devices
Infineon Technologies’ latest embedded SIM (eSIM) solution
has been designed specifically for mobile consumer devices.
Embedded SIMs are on the rise as they provide better design
options for device manufacturers and
meet increasing consumer demand for
more flexibility. They allow, for in-
stance, users to switch mobile network
providers on the go and to access a
multitude of customer-centric services
from different carriers. Furthermore,
looking at the security performance,
SIM-based cellular connectivity is
generally more resistant against security breaches than typi-
cal wireless network connections as it provides end-to-end
encryption and secured key exchange. The new chip has a
footprint of just 7.4mm² and eliminates the need for a separate
SIM slot. It enables OEMs simplified logistics and global distri-
bution thanks to a single stock keeping unit. The eSIM will be
available in sample quantities from mid-2019 onwards.
Infineon
www.infineon.com
Module platform speeds up Audio
DSP project development
Analog Devices’ SHARC Audio Module (ADZS-SC589-MINI)
is a hardware/software platform aimed at facilitating efficient
product prototyping, de-
velopment, and production
of a variety of digital audio
products. Combining high-
performance audio signal
processing components with
a comprehensive software
development environment,
the SHARC Audio Mod-
ule is well suited for effects processors, multi-channel audio
systems, MIDI synthesizers, and many other DSP-based
audio projects. Traditional product development efforts usu-
ally require a significant investment in time and effort to select
components, prototype a board, and develop a basic software
structure before developers can even begin to address their
own product needs. The SHARC Audio Module significantly
accelerates this process by providing an audio platform
integrating a wide selection of analog and digital I/O with a
fundamental software package and development environment.
The SHARC Audio Module can be used as a self-contained
system but can also be expanded, allowing for the creation of
custom I/O and control surfaces. The SHARC Audio Module is
built around Analog Devices’ ADSP-SC589 processor featur-
ing two 500MHz SHARC+ DSP cores and an ARM Cortex-A5
core. Connected to the processor is a carefully designed set
of system peripherals, including two 2 Gbit DDR3 memories
and a 512Mbit SPI flash memory, UART (for MIDI & more), a
SigmaDSP ADAU1761 96 kHz, 24-bit audio codec, Gigabit
Ethernet, S/PDIF and 1/8“stereo jacks, USB OTG & HS, an
AD2425W A2B multi-channel audio interface and two 64-pin
expansion connectors.
Analog Devices
www.analog.com
www.eenewseurope.com
MISCELLANEOUS
Secure-element evaluation kit
comes with ready-to-use software
STMicroelectronics’ STSAFE-A100 evaluation pack extends
the richly supportive STM32 Nucleo ecosystem to accelerate
secure-element
integration,
leveraging reus-
able source code
that simplifies the
creation of secure
IoT devices. The
pack comprises
the X-NUCLEO-
STSA100 expansion board, which contains the STSAFE-A100
secure element, and the STSW-STSA100 software pack. The
software includes device drivers, STM32 microcontroller source
code, and STSAFE-A100 source code for use cases includ-
ing brand and ecosystem protection, device enrolment, and
secure Cloud connection. The STSAFE-A100 is a convenient
8-pin device that provides robust, immutable, hardware-based
authentication and secure data-management services to a host
system. Highly resistant to cyber-attacks, it features a secure
OS running on a state-of-the-art, CC EAL5+ -certified secure
microcontroller, advanced symmetric and asymmetric cryptog-
raphy, crypto key management, and built-in protection against
physical and side-channel attacks.
STMicroelectronics
www.st.com
Wireless IoT on a chip slashes power
consumption by 50%
Fabless semiconductor company InnoPhase has released the
Talaria TWO platform, a complete wireless IoT solution integrated
on a single chip.
It contains a full func-
tionality multiprotocol
transceiver, MAC/PHY,
digital power ampli-
fier and an embedded
ARM processor for
lightweight applications.
The Talaria TWO chip
is designed for battery-based IoT applications and is optimized
to be the lowest power Wi-Fi solution in the industry. It has the
potential to create a whole new class of IoT products that can cut
the power cord and be battery-based with a DTIM3 specification
at least half that of leading low-power Wi-Fi solutions. The Talaria
TWO platform uses InnoPhase’s patented PolaRFusion radio ar-
chitecture, which processes radio signals using polar coordinates
rather than traditional IQ coordinates. This digitally-intensive radio
solution dramatically reduces the amount of power required to
transmit, process, and receive wireless information using industry
standard wireless protocols. It achieves this by moving most of
the radio signal processing from power-hungry analog circuits,
found in today’s IQ-architecture wireless solutions, into power and
size efficient digital logic. The product provides maximum flexibili-
ty by actively managing multiprotocol coexistence for 802.11b/g/n
and BLE 5.0 for demanding edge-of-network applications.
InnoPhase
www.innophaseinc.com
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 45

DESIGN & PRODUCTS
Modular robotics for makers
Following its first Kickstarter campaign two years ago with
the six-legged HEXA robot, startup Vincross is now launching
the MIND Kit, a robotics developer kit that’s highly customiz-
able. MIND Kit sports 54
programmable pins and
six USB-C ports, suited for
building experimental IoT
devices and robots. With
its new kit, Vincross aims to
raise robotics accessibility
and ease development. The
kit consists of three funda-
mental hardware modules including the Cerebrum, a central
processing unit enabling complex AI computations including
computer vision AI or Simultaneous Location and Mapping
(SLAM); the Servo Controller, which powers as many as 20 ser-
vos motors simultaneously; and Energon, a battery optimized
to run both servo motors and AI algorithms with an output
rate of 480 watts. The Cerebrum runs on an ARM Cortex-
A53 Quad-Core 1.2GHz processor. Under the hood powering
MIND Kit, is MIND OS 2.0, Vincross’ updated robotics-specific
operating system that can be accessed through a simple SDK,
making it easy for developers to build their MIND Kit robot’s
skills, movements and applications, without requiring deep
robotics development skills. In addition, MIND OS is supported
by the Vincross Forum, a community of robotics developers
sharing the knowledge and skills to support other develop-
ers in their robotic builds. For added functionality, users can
attach additional plug-and-play modular hardware accessories
including Lidar, a 4-axis robotic arm, a rover base (wheeled
module with caterpillar track), a speaker & microphone array,
and mountable sensors. Founded in 2014, Vincross has just
raised $10 Million in Series A+ funding, lead by Lenovo, with
participation from previous investors including GGV and Seek
Dource. This round adds up to the company’s $6 Million Series
A round led by GGV Capital and Zhenfund. A combo kit, com-
prised of Cerebrum, a Servo Controller, and Robot Battery, will
soon be available for $199 on Kickstarter.
Vincross
http://vincross.com
Uninterruptible power supply is board-mount
EKF’s SRU-UPS is a short time power backup solution housed
on a 100x160mm2 Eurocard, suitable e.g. for CompactPCI Se-
rial backplanes or other 19-inch based systems.
Used in addition (in-line) to
a PSU, it can be regarded
as uninterruptible power
supply (UPS). Under nor-
mal conditions the SRU-
UPS bypasses the 12V
power rail and charges the
on-board supercapacitors.
When a power fail situation
occurs, the SRU-UPS sustains regulated 12V/5A on its output
for at least 14s, sufficient for a controlled shutdown without
loss of data.
EKF Elektronik GmbH
www.ekf.com
46 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope
Reader
MISCELLANEOUS O f fer
Customize your haptics!
This month, Nanoport Technology is giving away three Tac-
Hammer Developer Kits, worth 400 Euros each, for eeNews
Europe’s readers to win. The TacHammer Developer Kit was
designed to augment your project with next generation haptic
effects. The kit
contains two new
“Carlton” haptic
actuators - the
world’s first mod-
ularly designed
haptics. Develop-
ers can fine-tune
the sharpness of clicks, jolts and customize operating frequen-
cies, response time, power and efficiency. TacHammer is a
new class of Linear Magnetic Ram (LMR) haptic actuators
based on a balanced magnetic array and impact mechanism
design. It provides high fidelity haptic feedback across a broad
frequency range and is the only haptics actuator on the market
that offers 3-modes of tactile feedback. An open developer
API provides individual control of haptic pulses, taps, clicks,
sharp jolts and even vibrations from the same unit. Included in
the kit are components for adjusting hammer travel distance
and impact materials, as well as mounting clips for prototyp-
ing, Arduino micro and DRV2605 breakout board.
Check the reader offer online at
www.eenewseurope.com
360° edge analytics
Nanotron has deepened its partnership with Internet of Things
(IoT) platform provider ClearBlade to jointly develop the new 360°
Edge Analytics platform solution, converting real-time sensor and
location data into valuable
business insights. Expanding
the two companies’ previously
collaboration, 360° Edge Ana-
lytics is the starting point for
a new range of configurable
analytics tools for the Indus-
trial IoT with all the required
secure software infrastructure in place. By extracting and pro-
cessing real-time data directly at the edge, actionable insights can
be derived with the lowest possible latency. The solution is built
on nanotron’s location-aware IoT sensors, which generate context
information and location mapping. The company’s Edge Anchors
then forward ‘what, where and when’ information from these sen-
sors to nanotron’s configurable Analytics Engine. The open archi-
tecture for any sensor and any radio location technology currently
supports Chirp radio location and communication for low cost
and long range, and ultra-wide band UWB radio technology for
very high precision down to 10cm. The system recognizes inputs
from motion, temperature and gas detection sensors. Nanotron
delivers its Analytics Engine with a set of generic event types such
as area and proximity events and provides end users with the
flexibility to configure their own unique event definitions which are
then automatically recognized and reported by the system.
Nanotron
www.nanotron.com
www.eenewseurope.com

NFC universal device eases EMVCo
3.0 compliance
The STMicroelectronics ST25R3916 NFC universal device
contains innovative features to simplify the design of payment
terminals and ease compli-
ance with new EMVCo 3.0
contactless interoperability
tests for cards, mobiles,
and wearables. The 5x5mm
32-pin QFN chip builds
on features of the preced-
ing ST25R3911B, which
was the first reader offer-
ing Dynamic Power Output (DPO) to keep the field strength
within EMVCo limits and avoid damage to cards and phones
from overpowering in zero distance. The NFC universal device
adds Active Wave Shaping (AWS) that manages the energy
continuously to improve waveform robustness versus antenna
detuning. Together, DPO and AWS help new terminal designs
pass the latest EMVCo 3.0 certification faster, easing the tests
performed with dissimilar-reference Proximity Integrated Circuit
Cards (PICCs) that emulate card, wearable, and mobile devic-
es. The STR25R3916 adds an industry-first Noise-Suppression
Receiver (NSR), offering unmatched sensitivity.
STMicroelectronics
www.st.com
Sub-mW radar chip supports presence
detection up to 15m
At the 2019 International Solid-State Circuits Conference
(ISSCC2019), imec has unveiled a 40nm CMOS-based 1.8mm2
UWB radar chip for
presence detection,
drawing less than
1mW in operation.
Consuming 100
times less power
than other solu-
tions, the tiny chip is
capable of detect-
ing even micro-movements from human respiration, up to a
distance of 15 meters, which makes it suitable for low-cost
battery-powered presence-detection and people counting
applications in offices, hospitals and on industrial sites. The
new 8GHz UWB radar was developed by imec the Nether-
lands (within the framework of Holst Centre, Eindhoven). While
cameras are especially good at 2D images, radar is superior in
detecting movement and distance and is a better fit for pres-
ence detection, people tracking or activity classification when
privacy considerations are key, such as in office spaces, hotel
rooms, or hospitals. Another advantage is the robustness of
radar to suboptimal light conditions. Imec’s new transceiver
is compliant with FCC and ETSI spectral regulations for the
UWB frequency range, limiting the radiation to -41dBm/MHz.
This energy density is well below the noise floor of mainstream
commercial systems, and therefore, this radar can safely be
used for 24/7 people presence detection without health con-
cerns.
Imec
www.imec.be
www.eenewseurope.com
MISCELLANEOUS
CAN (FD)/LIN network interface for PCIe
Vector’s VN1530 is a 6-channel network interface for accessing
CAN and LIN networks over the PCIe interface. The interface
satisfies the growing need for more channels, especially at test
benches, test PCs and in rack use.
Users will benefit from four onboard
channels and two additional piggybacks
which can be used flexibly. This gives
them many different channel combina-
tions for interfacing to CAN (FD), LIN,
K-Line and SENT buses. The VN1530 has
all the functions required for the analysis,
simulation and testing of ECUs, sensors
and gateways. Among other things, these
functions enable comprehensive remaining
bus simulations, precise measurement of communication data,
end-of-line tests and flashing. A transport protocol accelerator
is also available for CAN. Developers can use the VN1530 for
such purposes as running extended LIN stress tests, e.g. LIN
2.1 conformance tests. The VN1530 allows the synchroniza-
tion of multiple devices and different bus systems such as CAN
(FD), LIN, FlexRay, MOST and Ethernet. XL driver libraries also
support proprietary customer applications.
Vector
www.vector.com
LoRa module is built around
Renesas’ Synergy platform
Together with Miromico AG, Renesas Electronics has devel-
oped the compact and low-power FMLR-61-x-RSS3 module
based on LoRa devices and
wireless radio frequency tech-
nology. The new Miromico
module enables customers to
connect easily to LoRaWAN-
based networks that are
mushrooming across Europe.
The 14.2x19.5mm board em-
ploys Renesas’ Synergy plat-
form, giving customers access to microcontrollers (MCUs) and
a large production-grade software package. Engineers can use
the S3A6 MCU on the LoRa-based module to handle various
tasks, while seamlessly streaming data across a LoRaWAN-
based network to the cloud. The LoRaWAN protocol is quickly
becoming the de facto standard to connect the “Things” of
the Internet of Things (IoT) across long distances (up to 50km),
flexibly and securely, while keeping batteries alive for years.
The FMLR-61-x-RSS3 operates from 1.8 to 3.3V, and the mod-
ule’s power consumption ranges from just 1.4uA in sleep mode
to 25.5mA (typical) in TX mode (14dBm). Receiver sensitivity is
-148dBm in LoRa mode SF12 at 10.4 kHz, and the module’s
operating temperature range is -40 to 85°C. The FMLR-61-x-
RSS3 module employs the S3A6 MCU with integrated 48 MHz
Arm Cortex-M4 core, and features 256 KB code flash memory,
8 KB data flash, and 32 KB SRAM, which is enough memory
to allow engineers to add a variety of their own functions. Most
MCU signals are available at the module level to make them
externally accessible.
Miromico AG
www.miromico.com
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 47
 DISTRIBUTION CORNER
RSComponents stocks Diablo16- Automatic direction-finding antenna
and Picaso-based LCD modules pinpoints rogue transmissions
RS Components has introduced the Gen4 Series of integrated Link Microtek is now stocking Narda Safety Test Solutions’ ADFA
TFT LCD modules and related starter packs from embedded 1 automatic direction-finding antenna, allowing the source of
graphics specialist 4D unauthorised or interfering transmissions to be
Systems. Gen4 display located rapidly and accurately, even in urban
modules are designed for areas where signal reflections can make this
ease of integration and use a challenging task. The antenna covers the
by electronics design en- frequency range 200MHz to 2.7GHz and is de-
gineers developing touch signed for use with the company’s SignalShark
screen interfaces, achiev- portable real-time spectrum analyser. There is
ing high functionality with a no need for a laptop computer. By means of
limited space requirement. a strong magnetic mount, the antenna can be
Gen4 Series LCD modules are powered by either a Diablo16 or a attached to the roof of any normal vehicle to enable a series of
Picaso GPU, both manufactured by 4D Systems and incorporat- random bearings to be taken in the suspected area. Each bear-
ing advanced graphics functionality. The displays come in a num- ing cycle achieves a typical accuracy of 1 degree and takes just
ber of sizes from 2.4” (240x320 pixels) up to 7.0” (800x480 pixels). 1.2ms for reliable measurements even for pulsed signals.
RS Components Link Microtek Ltd
https://uk.rs-online.com www.linkmicrotek.com

96Boards platforms harness NXP’s Space-vector-modulation

i.MX 8 processors for machine learning on a 8-bit MCU platform
Arrow Electronics has introduced two out-of-the-box 96Boards Supplied with a complete library of software for implementing
platforms for developers to leverage the multi-application-core space vector modulation, Future Electronics’ SPINnaker is a
performance of NXP’s i.MX 8 motor control daughter board
processors with convenient mez- for low cost SPACE-Vector-
zanine expansion opportunities. Modulation build for the STMi-
For a fast start to machine-learning croelectronics Nucleo-8S208RB
projects such as industrial image kit. It is supplied with an intuitive
recognition and autonomous driv- PC Graphical User Interface
ing, the AI_ML Board is built on the (GUI) to support motor control
i.MX 8QuadXPlus application pro- project development. The SPIN-
cessor, which combines four Arm naker daughterboard is well suited for the rapid prototyping of
Cortex-A35 cores and one Cortex-M4F embedded core with motor control applications based on the use of an 8-bit MCU.
floating-point and DSP extensions. A dedicated GPU featuring The SPINnaker board implements the space vector modulation
four Vec4 shaders with 16 execution units and OpenGL/OpenGL (SVM) method of motor control, a technique which is usually
ES support augments the highly efficient application cores. not suited to 8-bit MCUs.
Arrow Electronics Future Electronics
www.arrow.com www.futureelectronics.com

Low-cost IoT gateway Rutronik and ASUS sign EMEA franchise

targets industrial applications
Farnell element14 has launched the exclusive Avnet SmartEdge
Industrial IoT Gateway; a new low-cost industrial gateway pow-
ered by Raspberry Pi.
The industrial IoT Gateway enables
seamless and secure connectivity to
the cloud through Avnet’s IoT Connect
platform running on Microsoft Azure,
and is suitable for developing industrial
automation applications such as, remote
monitoring, predictive maintenance, process control and automa-
tion. The gateway addresses key requirements for customers
across a wide range of industrial applications – including addi-
tional ports to handle industrial protocols and a trusted computing
module for added security on the hardware.
Premier Farnell
www.premierfarnell.com
Leading Taiwanese motherboard and computer manufacturer
ASUS has entered into a partnership with Rutronik for the EMEA
region. With its professional solutions for workstations and
servers, with an availabil-
ity of up to five years, the
company is targeting the
fast growing market for
high performance solutions
in fields such as medical
image processing, video surveillance, and automation technology
for AOI systems. The agreement is effective immediately. As a
result of this agreement, Rutronik is adding workstation and server
motherboards, barebones systems, and server systems to its
existing portfolio in order to meet customers’ growing demands
for solutions in the field of IIoT and cloud connectivity.
Rutronik
www.rutronik.com

48 News March 2019 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com

 LAST WORD
Comment: GloFo gets warm words,
but for how long?
By Peter Clarke
T
he latest statement from Mubadala, that wholly-owned
subsidiary Globalfoundries is “integral” to its portfolio, will
not put an end to speculation about the eventual fate of
the US headquartered foundry.
One could even argue that the comment is similar to the “full
support” meme that could indicate that the announcement of a
sale – or a joint-venture to dilute Mubadala’s holding – may be
just weeks or months away.
For several weeks there has been
speculation that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign
wealth fund Mubadala Investment Corp.
is ready to end or curtail its decade-long,
multi-billion-dollar investment in semi-
conductor manufacturing. And it is not
the first time the idea has surfaced. There
were reports of an approach from China
and other discussions over the future of
Globalfoundries in 2015. The arguments
in favour of a sell off or break up of Glo-
balfoundries are as strong today as they
were then, and anything short of a flat de-
nial will do little to stem the speculation.
One thing that could delay or hinder a
sale is the complexity of Globalfoundries
own portfolio of fabs and technologies,
and the geopolitics that might prevent a
Chinese bidder from being able to engage as a purchaser.
What Mubadala’s CEO did provide on a visit to Globalfound-
ries’ Woodlands facility in Singapore this week were warm
words that apply to the present but say nothing about the
wealth fund’s intentions for Globalfoundries going forward. One
could even argue those warm words served to enhance the ap-
peal of Globalfoundries to potential buyers or partners.
I remember once being told to watch out when a company
redecorates its headquarters’ entrance lobby because it could
indicate the business is being put up for sale. The paint job
would be the company’s way of seeking to enhance the per-
ceived value of the business for executives that might visit for
negotiations.
I don’t know if paint brushes have been wielded in any of
Globalfoundries’ entrance lobbies but what is clear is that the
last seven or so years have been tough for the foundry. It has
struggled to stay on pace at the leading-edge of semiconductor
manufacturing. Back in 2014 it had to junk a two-year R&D ef-
fort and license a 14nm FinFET process from Samsung. This is
not good for winning customers who would probably rather be
with the primary source of the technology and much of the busi-
ness may have ended up being gate-keepered by Samsung.
More recently Globalfoundries also gave up on 7nm FinFET
R&D. It’s long time anchor customer and the original source of
its manufacturing technology a decade before, Advanced Micro
Devices Inc., had been firing warning shots about splitting
production with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
(TSMC) was able to re-align itself to the world’s largest foundry
quickly once Globalfoundries made its decision.
www.eenewseurope.com
But over the same seven-year period Globalfoundries ap-
pears to have struggled to pick up the necessarily broad swathe
of customers needed to drive demand for a diverse set of
behind the leading-edge process technologies. A diverse set
of manufacturing processes means more R&D, and potentially
smaller individual customer orders and this can only be com-
pensated for by lots of customers.
According to Mubadala’s website Globalfoundries now has
more than 250 customers. But how many
are in high volume and is that enough?
Rival foundry TSMC occupies the en-
vied position of being almost everybody’s
go-to manufacturer. Once upon a time
“nobody got fired for buying IBM” and
now fabless chip companies and startups
appear to favour the usually reliable
TSMC in the same way, unless they just
can’t get TSMC to pick up the phone to
take their order.
Globalfoundries’ struggle also showed
up in attempts to get TSMC investigated
for alleged unfair sales practices in 2017
and 2018. TSMC denied wrong-doing
but some of the numbers that emerged
at that time showed that TSMC’s position
at 28nm and below was very strong and
the competition was finding it hard to compete. The wheels of
justice also grind exceedingly slowly and so any fall-out from
any such investigations may arrive too late to change the com-
mercial landscape for Globalfoundries.
Another indicator is that Globalfoundries’ MEMS foundry
is coming to an end with the sale of the Tampines Fab 3E in
Singapore. This is a classic More-than-Moore manufacturing
business and the medium and long-term outlook is for growth.
Surely this should fit well with the diverse business model Glo-
balfoundries is pursuing; so why the need to sell? One can only
assume that insufficient numbers of customers and orders, and
unsatisfactory margins are the reasons.
Off-loading the Tampines fab may have been done to im-
prove Globalfoundries profitability for its own and for Mubada-
la’s sake. Or it may have been done to make Globalfoundries
accounts look more attractive and increase the likelihood of a
sale.
FDSOI
And then there is the fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI)
manufacturing process with its claimed advantage of being dy-
namically tunable towards performance or towards frugal power
consumption by way of body biasing. This is one area where
Globalfoundries has had some success.
Originally researched by IBM Microelectronics, FDSOI was
picked up and developed by STMicroelectronics at 28nm and
then licensed on to Globalfoundries and Samsung. Samsung
started running 28nm FDSOI for ST and Freescale (now NXP)
eeNews Europe March 2019 News 49
 News EUROPE
LAST WORD
PUBLISHER in 2015. At the same time Globalfound- due to the loss of a major customer. That
André Rousselot ries announced it would introduce the was part of a broader round of lay-offs
+32 27400053 next generation of FDSOI at 22nm. In but clearly the axe fell deeper in Dresden.
andre.rousselot@electronicseurope.net 2017 Samsung announced a roadmap to At the same time the company lost the
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 18nm FDSOI to leapfrog Globalfoundries’ well-regarded Rutger Wijburg who had
Julien Happich 22nm. been general manager there. He moved
+33 169819476 Back in July 2018 Globalfoundries across to a vice president’s role at Infi-
julien.happich@electronicseurope.net said that customers’ revenue using its neon Technologies AG.
22nm manufacturing process (22FDX) My concern for Dresden is that it
EDITORS had surpassed $2 billion. But the process could be left out in the cold while a
Christoph Hammerschmidt was launched in July 2015 and that was purchaser cherry picks Globalfoundries’
+49 8944450209 three years after ST had tipped Glo- manufacturing sites in Albany, New York,
chammerschmidt@electronicseurope.net balfoundries as an FDSOI partner. And Singapore and potentially a joint venture
Peter Clarke that $2 billion was customers’ revenue. fab it has in construction in Chengdu,
+44 776 786 55 93 Globalfoundries’s revenue will have been China.
peter.clarke@electronicseurope.net some fraction of that. Still it represents And then there is other circumstantial
Nick Flaherty real commercial revenue at last after evidence.
+44 7710 236368 many years of development with a Early in February 2019 Mubadala sold
nick.flaherty@electronicseurope.net technology that provides differentiation. nearly 35 million AMD shares although it
Jean-Pierre Joosting Globalfoundries said it had manufactured also plans to convert 75 million warrants
+44 7800548133 50 ICs designed in its 22FDX process into equity which will leave it with about a
jean-pierre.joosting@electronicseurope.net that address applications across automo- 6.9 percent stake in AMD. Mubadala has
Alistair Winning tive, 5G connectivity and the Internet of been a major holder of AMD, since 2007,
+44 7834 770342 Things. before the formation of Globalfoundries,
ally.winning@electronicseurope.net Nonetheless, the conclusion must be but Mubadala has gradually reduced its
CIRCULATION & FINANCE that while FDSOI has started to achieve position over time. And if Mubadala is
Luc Desimpel some traction it is still very much the reducing its position in AMD why would it
luc.desimpel@electronicseurope.net adventurous alternative to mainstream not seek to do so in Globalfoundries?
planar CMOS and FinFET manufactur- My final thought is that Mubadala
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION & ing processes. The high volumes that saying GloFo is “integral to its portfolio”
REPRINTS might boost Globalfoundries have not yet is like a soccer club chairman or chair-
Lydia Gijsegom materialized and it looks like they may woman saying he or she backs the team
lydia.gijsegom@electronicseurope.net come too late. manager 100 percent, or a prime minister
ART MANAGER
And then there is Globalfoundries in saying a colleague has their “full sup-
Jean-Paul Speliers
Dresden. The European arm of Global- port.”
foundries admits that it had to lay off In the cases of football and politics it
ACCOUNTING more than 10 percent of its staff and put often means that a parting of the ways is
Ricardo Pinto Ferreira others on short-time work in June 2018 imminent.
REGIONAL ADVERTISING
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