Fifth-generation wireless technology (5G) is attracting a lot of public attention. These industrial communication standards are under developing and preparing to launch for the public services from 2020. Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan governments set several 5G action plans aiming to gain the leadership in the deployment of 5G networks. There are some substantial investments in new infrastructure and testing results show the possibility to provide 5G services earlier in some cities.The business opportunity for 5G is massively related to Internet of Things (IoT), an evolution that will take the internet applications into new territories including self-driving vehicles, robotics, biomedical medicine, automated factories, smart cities and the development of massive sensor networks in various public services. It will speed up the velocity to change our daily life and gain benefits from offering convenience in the modern cities.In the other hand, it has the critical importance of electromagnetic (EM) field interactions in human body recently. The new developed type of medicine to use specific frequencies modulate cellular function to restore or maintain health been recognized. The development of biomedical electronics and advanced medical solutions will be the next big steps for Taiwan technology industries.Nearly all of these wireless technologies put radio frequency energy right on the human body, increasing exposure to radio waves among us. The interaction between human and electromagnetic fields have been highly considered by research institutes and technology industries. Auden Techno Corp and IEEE EMC Taipei Chapter join together to host the event named "Next generation smart life with Bio-electromagnetics and advanced telecommunication technology forum" at Evergreen International Convention Center of Chang Yung-Fa Charity Foundation on July 6th 2017, featuring a variety of technology sessions and various afternoon sessions with three major tracks. This is also the second consecutive year that both organizations to host this event together.The morning sessions with keynote speeches covering several main themes of IoT education program, Electromagnetic measurement system for 5G millimeter wave frequency bands, Bioelectronic medicine for seizure treatments and 5G massive MIMO design and verification.Auden Techno Corp, founded 1981, provides long time R&D services to help customers to build and manufacture antenna systems to fit the requirements of mobile communications, automotive electronics, smart home and industrial applications. For providing better service to the customers with complete front-end design, pre-development testing and product authentication, Auden invests several compliance testing laboratories cross Taiwan straits including the first SAR (specific absorption rate) testing Lab in Taiwan. By actively leveraging the testing lab efforts and RF technology core strength, Auden tries to help Taiwan ICT industry to shorten the gap to develop bioelectronics medical devices aiming the professional medical solutions especially the business opportunities of FDA regulated Class 3 medical devices.NTU advanced IoT education programs cultivate young talentsThe keynote speech of Professor Ruey-Beei Wu is focus on the education programs for cultivating the young talents aiming IoT and cloud solutions. Professor Wu served as the President of the Institute for Information Industry (III), Taiwan government funded software technology research and development institutes. He is very familiar with Taiwan ICT industries. His presentation starts from the technology trends and current stage of IoT development. While market research revealing smart services as a key success factor of IoT innovation, he highlights the importance of cultivating cross-domain experience for Taiwan young talents. And it is the sure pursuit for the universities to enable industrial collaboration and offer training programs for the innovative talents.As changing application landscape makes it vital for the IoT services to continuously evolve and pursue greater achievements through innovation and education. According to the research reports, the big five IoT applications are manufacturing, healthcare, retail, energy and transportation. Wu points the smart manufacturing services will have the best opportunity in Taiwan. He started to design IoT education programs in the Department of Electrical Engineering of National Taiwan University (NTU) since 2016. This cornerstone program includes the 42-hour classes for introducing of IoT industry and the last 12 hours for term report and corporative project demonstration. In the program, there is one 12-hour session called hands-on design involving different creative IoT ideas and design implementation. The students use open source software and some simple hardware development kits to build a working system such as car parking automatic billing service. Those creative ideas mostly come up with their own experiences in everyday life. The final term report session is even more excitements for the students to compete and learn by demonstrating the design implementation. Through this program, students could learn IoT software programming, web interface and technology to access sensors making them become to be a creator or innovator in IoT, not just a simply consumer, Wu highlighted.In 2017, the new courses with development of IoT capstone programs, Professor Wu kicks off on special project program to let students to choose the various topics with more fun in developing new system concepts and information infrastructures. These advanced IoT education programs have been widely recognized and try to set cooperative plans to integrate with high school summer camps or experimental programs. It starts from small ideas of everyday living environment and gains the experience to show students for developing the specific services to solve the specific problems. These programs will also help the next emerging technology development like artificial intelligence or immersive reality.Upbeat SAR testing systems for 5G frequency bandsThe 5G mobile device RF exposure and equipment authorization requirements under 6 GHz frequency bands have under developed in FCC and IEEE. Especially the standards to provide additional guidance for SAR measurements that addresses devices operating in the sub-6 GHz range and how RF exposure compliance should be reported and the availability of testing systems are all urged to kow by industries and technology community. The chipset makers, system design houses are introducing different implementation to try to take lead in the industry. The standards, regulated compliance, testing instrument are the key to verify the design they have.Professor Niels Kuster founded IT IS Foundation and Schmid & Partner Engineering AG(SPEAG). Both organizations have developed instrumentation, methods, and procedures for international standards to ensure that SAR measurement standards are implemented for evaluating compliance of wireless products with electromagnetic exposure guidelines.Auden cooperated with SPEAG for 20 years and represented in Taiwan and China market to introduce SPEAG series testing instruments or systems including cSAR3D, EM Phantom, DAK, TDS and Sim4Life systems.The keynote speech of Professor Kuster gets participants' attentions on the topic named "Novel Electromagnetic System for Demonstration of Compliance of 5G Millimeter Wave Near-Field Sources with Safety Guidelines". His presentation is trying to demonstrate the results for audiences to show recent development of electromagnetic systems for measuring SAR and power density in millimeter wave (MM wave) environments.Professor Kuster highlights the status of current SPEAG systems measure SAR to 10GHz. Using the existing design of E-field probe and maintaining the same Phantom surface is in the SPEAG systems. But the calibration system needs to be redesigned for fitting the new requirements. The draft proposal sent to FCC and had early discussion. It will have a draft to be released in October 2017.The SAR testing systems with frequency bands between 10 to 110 Ghz have started to design and evaluate in SPEAG. The calibration systems and E-field probes will have brand new concept to implement. And the simulation algorithm and testing optimization is also addressed and good results in the beginning stage. The schedule to release the draft will be the end of 2017.There are several cool topics in the forum to get attentions. Professor Jyh-Yih Hsu, National Chung-Hsing University - Department of Applied Economics, talks the topic of exploring business models in the development of IoT and big data analytics. His speech provides the unique angle of Taiwan manufacturing service providers strengthening in the semi-automation management scope and establishment of production know-how in various sectors. He observes the unique position of Taiwan manufacturing with the capability of flexible and adaptive manufacturing process to win the orders from international brands.In the MIMO antenna design session, Mr. Kin-Lu Wong, Professor of NSYSU Antenna Lab, presented the testing results of various antenna design for mobile devices in the sub-6 GHz spectrum bands. His presentation shows ways to more efficiently access the radio spectrum over the design with 4 or even 8 to 12 antennas in the new smartphone models or other mobile devices.The motivation behind his study is the exponential growth in wireless applications. The effective bandwidth will need to reach at least 2 Gbps for improving the user's experience in the 5G era. The momentum in designing, testing and implementing these various kinds of systems will be continuing to take bold steps within the coming years. Although the standards still under associating with different organizations, it might not be that far away because some companies are talking they will have 5G systems up and running by 2020. We will follow these trends and continue to see the new things to change our everyday life in the future.Afternoon session hosting three parallel tracks to provide further viewpointsThere are three parallel tracks and total 18 discussed topics to choose from participants in the afternoon sessions. In the 5G communication track, Professor Cheng-Nan Chiu, Communications Engineering Department of Yuan Ze University, as a moderator to introduce speakers to give speech covering topics of 5G technology roadmaps, measurement methods, antenna applications from LTE-M to NB (Narrow Band) IOT & LPWAN Technology. Professor Niels Kuster also gives another presentation named "Combined HPC-enabled computational platform with an advanced scanning system for evaluating performance and EMC in the near- and far-field of 5G Millimeter Wave Transmitters.In the Biomedical Application and Electromagnetic track, the moderator JianJang Huang, professor of Communications Engineering Department, Yuan Ze University, invites speakers from Taiwan National Health Research Institutes to address topics of Application and Safety test of Electrical Stimulator, Aesthetic Medicine and Phased array dipole antenna for cancer treatment modality. Dr. Erdem Ofli, Product Head (IT'IS Foundation and ZMT) also give his speech of "Simulation Platform and Validated Hardware Solutions for Active Implant MRI Safety Assessment According to ISO/TS10974".The IoT and application track, hosted by Professor Ding-Bing Lin, invites speakers from ITRI, Institute for Information Industry and UL. The topics include IoT in mass transportation systems, THREAD and IoT development, big data analytics and platform. The participants have the chance to get to know the trends of IoT and digitalization development of different industries.With the share the viewpoints of invited talented speakers and professors, this forum is trying to provide the technology development of 5G, Bio medical and electromagnetic. And the hottest topic of IoT development to help Taiwan technology industries and research institutes to explore the further opportunities of Taiwan.Prof. Dr. Ding-Bing Lin, the Chairman of IEEE Taipei Chapter EMC SocietyDr. Yu-Bin Chang, the Chairman of Auden Techno. Corp.Auden bridging electromagnetic development and IoT solutions

Clientron Corp., a world leading provider of POS systems, announced it will be displaying its full range of POS product innovations to comply with multi-payment solutions and various POS peripherals at RetailNOW 2017, the largest annual gathering of the POS Ecosystem, from grocery and hospitality to retail and other specialties, which will take place on Aug. 7-8.During this show, Clientron will present the innovative Duo650, which is distinguished from common POS by featuring two upright touch displays bonded back-to-back to enhance the experience of interaction between consumers and clerks. The touch control function on the customer display also enables customers to perform some operations such as seat selection at movie theaters or airport check-in counters. Furthermore, stores can use the displays for advertisements to boost their return.Another focus of the show will be Clientron's all new multi-functional Bello series featuring high integration with 12" / 15" / 15.6" touch screen options, supporting dual customer displays as well as a built-in NFC smart card reader with EMV L1/ L2 for user experience enhancement. Bello just won the"Taiwan Excellence Award 2017" this year for its innovation and the best quality design, which makes it stand out from numerous products as the best choice for POS applications.In addition, Clientron will showcase its butterfly light-weight POS terminal Wing650 with a flexible dual-hinge stand; the mainstream Ares650 and the high performance Ares756 powered by the Intel Skylake Core i3/i5/i7 quad-core processors with an advanced ultra-slim system design. Moreover, we will be exhibiting the most economical POS terminal PT3200, which is equipped with an Intel power efficient quad-core processor to offer a fanless system with a long life span that carries an affordable price tag. Also at this event, a variety of extended POS peripherals will be exhibited."Seizing the booming opportunity for multi-payment solutions, Clientron delivers flexible integrated POS systems and customer-centric design services that support retailers to meet the ever-changing demands of their customers and improve overall business operation," said Kelly Wu, President & CEO of Clientron Corp.To know more about Clientron's design, manufacturing capabilities and services, please visit Clientron at booth #740, Paris Las Vegas. Clientron website: www.clientron.comClientron to show its all new POS terminals at RetailNOW 2017

Gorilla Technology, a global provider of video intelligence and IoT technology, today announced the launch of a range of cloud-based solutions within a single platform enabling restauranteurs to easily manage store operations. With Gorilla's technology, the restaurant business can improve in-store communication, efficiencies and customer satisfaction through real-time data analytics extracted from smart signage, staff management systems, and video surveillance feeds.At the RLPSA Conference, Gorilla will be demonstrating its latest developments and implementations to the restaurant business:- Smart RetailSeamlessly manage in-store analytics extracted from video feeds, advertising content to deliver personalized experiences with analysis of customer behavior, feedback collection, traffic and people flow in queuing area.- Attendance Management and Mobile LearningCentralized management system to effectively track and enable physical and remote clock-ins/out hours with two-factor authentication and accurately identify authorized staff in a secure environment. Deliver training remotely using mobile learning solution to keep staff informed and up-to-date on company announcements or news.- Smart SurveillanceGroundbreaking real-time analytics technology for asset protection to monitor, track, analyze, perform watch lists for VIPs or unwelcome guests, intrusion detection in restricted areas, and alert staff to guard against loss and shrinkage."Gorilla offers all-in-one solution of in-store analytics, staff management, and video surveillance to help restaurant owners manage every aspect of their business with less manual effort, which allows them to focus on increasing profitability and catering to guests,"said Dr. Spincer Koh, CEO, Gorilla Technology.Visit Gorilla Technology at the Annual RLSPA Conference at the M Resort, Booth#100 in Las Vegas from July 31 to Aug 01 to learn more about the restaurant management solution.About Gorilla TechnologyGorilla Technology, a privately held company established in 2000, is a global leader in video intelligence and IoT technology. It develops a wide range of video-centric and content management applications including smart retail, smart school, smart enterprise, smart surveillance, and broadcast media. With VeMo technology, Gorilla applies its machine learning and deep learning algorithms, enabling automation of digital streams processing and comprehensive video analytics to create value-added services for expanding business opportunities.Gorilla's video intelligence solution transforms the restaurant business with innovative technology.

According to WHO statistics, air pollution causes an alarming mortality rate of two million premature deaths a year around the world. Gaseous pollutants and particulate pollutants are the main sources of air pollution. Gaseous pollutants generally include volatile chemical contaminants or malodorous substances that could lead to cancer. Particulate pollutants are atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and those that are 2.5 microns in diameter and less are especially harmful as they can penetrate into alveoli and through vascular walls into people's blood circulatory system, jeopardizing the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems.An observation of Google Trends shows the number of searches for air purifiers in Taiwan has grown a whopping 270% in the period from 2015 to 2017, an indication that people in Taiwan are placing increasing importance on air quality. In light of this, CHD Tech, founded in 2005, is leveraging its extensive experiences in building semiconductor clean rooms accumulated over the years to craft air quality management solutions in the hope of effectively eliminating invisible health hazards including chemical contaminants (e.g. formaldehyde) and PM.Optimal air filtering performance is achieved along with meticulous spatial designNicholas Su, executive assistant to general manager, CHD Tech, indicated clean room project budgets generally start from tens of millions of NT dollars and could run up to NT$100 million. Business owners usually retain 10% of the amount as final payment after CHD Tech's project passes closing inspections including stringent acceptance checks on leakage, cleanness, and other criteria. The technological know-hows in building clean rooms are similar to those for making non-industrial air purifiers so CHD Tech uses the same foundry-grade supplies to craft total air quality solutions that rise above conventional home appliances. Not just selling air purifiers or ventilation systems, CHD Tech also carefully designs the details such as equipment installation and return air path and uses professional instruments to conduct on-site checks and provide customers complete air quality inspection reports.CHD Tech's air solutions mainly comprise AP-550 air purifier and AW-450 fresh air system, respectively handling critical internal and external circulation, said Su.AP-550 is designed with a HEPA filter that spreads out to 16.9 meters in length, equivalent to the height of a six-story building, and an 8.8 square meter area, five times that of a common air purifier on the market. More importantly, AP-550 achieves airtight seal and continuous filtration with its aluminum frame, double-sided airtight design, and mesh screen, compared to conventional products that generally use paper frames without airtight design and therefore deliver less-than-optimal filtration effects due to leakage.In addition to the HEPA filter, AP-550 comes with two extra filters??an activated carbon filter and a pre-filter. In particular, the activated carbon filter weighing 1.7 kg absorbs odorous substances with granular activated carbon and formaldehyde with aluminum oxide and zeolite, significantly removing harmful chemicals. On the other hand, most products available on the market only have a small amount of activated carbon powder on non-woven fabric and therefore can hardly generate comparable filtering effects due to the minimum number of absorption pores. It should also be noted that AP-550 is designed with laminar air flow, different from the turbulent air flow of conventional models, so with its air outlet positioned at the height of 123cm, it can ensure clean air in the layer where people breathe. Furthermore, by separating the air paths of the upper air outlet and the lower air intake, AP-550 enables optimal interior circulation so users can enjoy a clean and healthy surrounding whether standing, sitting or lying down.AW-450, drawn from the concept of a clean room make-up air unit (MAU), purifies outdoor air using industry-leading air washer technology to first filter out water-soluble chemical contaminants and then eliminating non-water-soluble pollutants such as PM with a HEPA filter and sends clean air to the indoor environment. One may be curious about whether a ventilation system functions the same as a heat exchanger in theory. A heat exchanger maintains a stable temperature through heat transfer without filtering out bacteria or PM and thus is quite different from a ventilation system, explained Su.Ventilation systems with laminar air flow and air washer achieve powerful filtration of pollutantsPutting the combination of AW-450 and AP-550 to use will deliver the double benefits of cleansed outdoor air and repurified indoor air, eliminating over 90% of PM and over 80% of chemical contaminants in the air.Su further pointed out CHD Tech also provides accessory units such as the SAR900 fan filter unit available with different duct configurations to help with indoor air purification or outdoor air cleansing. CHD Tech is also introducing the AP-204 PM air purifier suitable for a 23 square meter indoor space (calculated based on the rate of 4 air changes per hour), priced at a little more than NT$10,000, to meet the air purification needs of small areas. Despite its compact size compared to AP-550, AP-204 also comes with a HEPA filter enabling over 90% PM removal and a far superior CP ratio compared to other air purifiers on the market.CHD Tech is accumulating use cases of its air solutions. One example is the use of CHD Tech's AP-550 air purifier in the laboratory of the Department of Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering, National Taiwan University. Experiments in the lab generate a significant amount of ceramic dust over time which contains harmful substances potentially causing cancer, such as lead. This prompted the institution to search for industry or clean room class air purifiers in the hope of effectively reducing PM10/2.5/1.0 particles. Upon careful evaluations, CHD Tech's AP-550 was selected.According to measurements obtained using an Aerocet 831 aerosol mass monitor, the concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in the lab were respectively 126?gg/m3 and 147?gg/m3 before the use of AP-550, at least two times higher than the legal limit (35?gg/m3). After putting AP-550 to use, Aerocet 831 readings taken at the air outlet showed zero PM2.5 and PM10 concentration, an amazing 100% removal rate.A second success story happened at the Taoyuan Shulin Elementary School. Neighboring petrochemical factories in the Guanyin Industrial Park on three sides, the school has long been situated in an environment full of industrial air pollution. Caring for the health of the students and teachers, CHD Tech decided to donate several units of AW-450 and AP-550 to the school to help cope with the different requirements of outdoor ventilation and indoor circulation. On-site measurements at the school using a HAL-HPC300 handheld particle counter and an aeroQUAL Series 200 formaldehyde gas monitor showed an indoor formaldehyde concentration of 0.42ppm, 4.25 times higher than the legal limit (0.08ppm), indicating a dire need for improvement. With the AW-450 and AP-550 units in operation, formaldehyde concentration dropped to 0.02ppm, a removal rate of 95.24%.One more application scenario of AP-550 was in a soap factory of a biotechnology company, where the soap scraping operation causes dust to rise in the air, resulting in a constantly high PM2.5 concentration. A measurement taken by CHD Tech at the site indicated a concentration level of 93?gg/m3. The factory then introduced AP-550 and thereby successfully reduced PM2.5 concentration by over 91% to 8?gg/m3, an experience that others can draw from.CHD Tech now mainly relies on its sales team along with word-of-mouth marketing to promote its air quality management business and plans to incorporate online marketing in the future to strengthen its expansion, commented Su. Target markets will include hospitals, clinics, postpartum care centers, chemistry labs or pharmaceutical labs where concentrations of PM or harmful chemicals are generally higher and therefore there is a greater need for air purification.AP-550 air purifierAP-550 air purifier

Implementation of cloud infrastructure is occurring at a phenomenal rate, outpacing Moore's Law. Annual growth is believed to be 30x and as much 100x in some cases. In order to keep up, cloud data centers are having to scale out massively, with hundreds, or even thousands of servers becoming a common sight.At this scale, networking becomes a serious challenge. More and more switches are required, thereby increasing capital costs, as well as management complexity. To tackle the rising expense issues, network disaggregation has become an increasingly popular approach. By separating the switch hardware from the software that runs on it, vendor lock-in is reduced or even eliminated. OEM hardware could be used with software developed in-house, or from third party vendors, so that cost savings can be realized.Though network disaggregation has tackled the immediate problem of hefty capital expenditures, it must be recognized that operating expenditures are still high. The number of managed switches basically stays the same. To reduce operating costs, the issue of network complexity has to also be tackled.Network DisaggregationAlmost every application we use today, whether at home or in the work environment, connects to the cloud in some way. Our email providers, mobile apps, company websites, virtualized desktops and servers, all run on servers in the cloud.For these cloud service providers, this incredible growth has been both a blessing and a challenge. As demand increases, Moore's law has struggled to keep up. Scaling data centers today involves scaling out – buying more compute and storage capacity, and subsequently investing in the networking to connect it all. The cost and complexity of managing everything can quickly add up.Until recently, networking hardware and software had often been tied together. Buying a switch, router or firewall from one vendor would require you to run their software on it as well. Larger cloud service providers saw an opportunity. These players often had no shortage of skilled software engineers. At the massive scales they ran at, they found that buying commodity networking hardware and then running their own software on it would save them a great deal in terms of Capex.This disaggregation of the software from the hardware may have been financially attractive, however it did nothing to address the complexity of the network infrastructure. There was still a great deal of room to optimize further.802.1BRToday's cloud data centers rely on a layered architecture, often in a fat-tree or leaf-spine structural arrangement. Rows of racks, each with top-of-rack (ToR) switches, are then connected to upstream switches on the network spine. The ToR switches are, in fact, performing simple aggregation of network traffic. Using relatively complex, energy consuming switches for this task results in a significant capital expense, as well as management costs and no shortage of headaches.Through the port extension approach, outlined within the IEEE 802.1BR standard, the aim has been to streamline this architecture. By replacing ToR switches with port extenders, port connectivity is extended directly from the rack to the upstream. Management is consolidated to the fewer number of switches which are located at the upper layer network spine, eliminating the dozens or possibly hundreds of switches at the rack level.The reduction in switch management complexity of the port extender approach has been widely recognized, and various network switches on the market now comply with the 802.1BR standard. However, not all the benefits of this standard have actually been realized.The Next Step in Network DisaggregationThough many of the port extenders on the market today fulfill 802.1BR functionality, they do so using legacy components. Instead of being optimized for 802.1BR itself, they rely on traditional switches. This, as a consequence impacts upon the potential cost and power benefits that the new architecture offers.Designed from the ground up for 802.1BR, Marvell's Passive Intelligent Port Extender (PIPE) offering is specifically optimized for this architecture. PIPE is interoperable with 802.1BR compliant upstream bridge switches from all the industry's leading OEMs. It enables fan-less, cost efficient port extenders to be deployed, which thereby provide upfront savings as well as ongoing operational savings for cloud data centers. Power consumption is lowered and switch management complexity is reduced by an order of magnitudeThe first wave in network disaggregation was separating switch software from the hardware that it ran on. 802.1BR's port extender architecture is bringing about the second wave, where ports are decoupled from the switches which manage them. The modular approach to networking discussed here will result in lower costs, reduced energy consumption and greatly simplified network management.

Torex Semiconductor has enhanced the XD6121/XD6122/XD6123/XD6124 series of voltage detectors for in-vehicle applications. Featuring a watchdog function based on a CMOS process, these detectors achieve high accuracy and a low quiescent current.The XD6121/XD6122/XD6123/XD6124 series newly launched by Torex outputs a signal with a delay time set by an internal delay circuit with no need for external components. The output type is L level on detection (VDFL).In order to maintain device stability (redundancy) in in-vehicle applications, a single IC is often used instead of an internal microcontroller with a watchdog function or voltage detection function. With this product, there is no need for external components to set the delay time, and this provides a significant advantage for customers in terms of lowering the quiescent current and space savings. In addition, the product complies with AEC-Q100 (Grade 3), according to Torex.A watchdog ON/OFF function is incorporated, and the watchdog function can be turned OFF while maintaining the voltage detection function by setting the EN/ENB pin to L or H level. This contributes to further lowering of the quiescent current when the function is stopped.The EN/ENB pin is internally pulled up to VIN or pulled down to VSS, and can be used in the OPEN state while the watchdog function is used. This helps the customer design redundancy.The detected voltage can be set to 1.6V, 2.2V, 2.3V, 2.4V, 2.9V, 3.0V, 3.1V, 4.4V, 4.5V, or 4.6V by laser trimming. Six types are selectable from 50ms to 1.6s for the watchdog timeout time. Five types are selectable from 3.13ms to 400ms for the release delay time. The product is housed in the versatile SOT-25 package.About Torex Semiconductor Ltd.Torex Semiconductor is a provider of CMOS power management ICs targeted toward battery powered and energy efficient applications. Torex specializes in CMOS analog technology, with LDO voltage regulators, voltage detectors and DC/DC converters making up our core product offering. Torex website: http://www.torexsemi.com/XD6121/XD6122/XD6123/XD6124 Series, SOT-25 (2.8 x 2.9 x h1.3mm)

Although wireless charging has gathered much attention in the market in recent years, it has not yet been adopted on a large scale owing to issues such as convenience, costs, safety, and so forth. As opposed to the traditional coil-based wireless charging technology, collaborating with Energous, Dialog Semiconductor shall be providing consumers with unparalleled experience through its distinctive RF-based wireless charging technology. In addition, with wearables and IoT devices as target markets, Dialog attempts to open up much more ample business opportunities for wireless charging applications."As a leading provider of power technology, Dialog has been closely paying attention to the momentum of wireless charging market. However, the reason Dialog did not rashly devote itself while coil-based wireless charging technology was on the rise is that we did not consider this technology as a practical solution to wireless charging," Mark Hopgood, Director of Strategic Marketing at Dialog stated."For consumers, wireless charging is expected to be capable of charging all sorts of electronic devices easily and flexibly, but in reality, existing wireless charging requires the device to be precisely placed on the chargers, and it imposes restrictions. Hence, in the past few years, although it has been a great hype in the market, as it could not completely fulfill users' expectations for wireless charging, it had not been considered successful," he stressed.Strategic collaboration with EnergousTwo years ago, Dialog found Energous, a start-up whose RF-based wireless charging technology once again triggered Dialog's interest in this market. However, since RF-based technology of any kind calls for approval of regulatory authority to ensure safety and anti-interference, Dialog had remained its conservative stance before Energous's technology received permission.It was not until last summer had Energous announced a secured permission of FCC and become the first RF-based wireless charging technology that was approved by FCC, marking a significant milestone for its commercial application. Consequently, Dialog swiftly made a public announcement about its investment in and strategic collaboration with Energous, becoming the global exclusive supplier of Energous' WattUp wireless charging chips.Hopgood states that Energous is a three-year-old startup, so for it to enter the consumer market, it demands sufficient resources to cope with large-scale production, technical services, reliability requirement, and so forth. By cooperating with Dialog, we shall assist them in chip testing, quality assurance, and on top of our close manufacturing relationship with TSMC, through which Energous gains access to more competitive production costs, supply chain synergies is demonstrated, creating a win-win situation.Moreover, Dialog can make use of its leading Bluetooth Low Energy, power management, and AC/DC power conversion chips to complement with Energous's solution, enabling a comprehensive solution with cost-effectiveness and high scalability to target at a wide range of products, such as IoT devices, wearables, hearing aids, headphones, smartphones, and automobiles.Unparalleled RF-based wireless charging technologyAs Hopgood explains, different from the existing coil-based inductive or resonant wireless charging, the biggest breakthrough of WattUp technology lies within its RF-based wireless charging technology, which receives radio from transmitters and converts it to power, exempting the traditional coil design that takes up extra space. In addition, with the flexibility and compact size advantages of antenna designs, they allow wireless charging for small devices, such as hearing aids or IoT sensors, as well as greater freedom of orientation, which ensures effortless charging at any angle.Such uncoupled wireless charging creates a whole new experience of using electronic devices whilst charging, with Dialog claiming it as the beginning of an unprecedented era of wireless charging 2.0.However, Hopgood also indicates that compared to the existing inductive (A4WP standard) and resonant (Qi standard) wireless charging, these three technologies each has its strength in terms of cost, scalability, power, efficiency, size, distance, and so forth, and therefore shall continue to coexist in the market. What makes WattUp stand out in the market is that it can provide the same flexibility of A4WP standard, but the with same low-cost advantage of Qi. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for low power wearables and IoT devices. Moreover, WattUp is only capable of supplying 10 watts at maximum, so it is a completely different application from companies providing vehicles or public areas with high power wireless charging, such as WiTricity.Based on Energous's product roadmap, WattUp has three different versions, near field, mid field and far field, whose charging distances are 5mm (contact type), 90cm, and 450cm respectively. Furthermore, depending on the distance, it provides different power specifications from several watts, hundreds of mW, to tens of mW respectively.Therefore, according to to different charging distances and power, WattUp offers different wireless charging scenarios. For a near-field application, it is the most typical case of placing devices, such as phones, on a transmitter to allow for contact-type wireless charging, fully charging the phone. Nonetheless, its difference between the existing Qi standard is that WattUp doesn't require specific orientations, enabling random placing as well as improved flexibility.As for a mid-field application, transmitters can be installed in PC to charge peripherals, such as keyboard and mouse, simultaneously. In this context, since the power supply is limited to only hundreds of mW, trickle mode is made capable of charging smartphones, maintaining phone battery power. The advantage is that phones can be used while its battery being kept easily, so manufactures can adopt batteries of a smaller capacity when designing phones, making phones thinner than ever.Finally, in the case of a far-field application, due to the charging distance being 450 cm, IoT node devices, including smart homes and IoT sensors, can be charged remotely. It satisfies the need of IoT sensors for sustaining battery life for a longer number of years, offering a much more effective solution.In response to the concerns over safety and interference for wireless charging technology expressed by the industry, Hopgood states that since WattUp operates around ISM band 5.8GHz, there is no interference with the existing WiFi or any other wireless communication technologies. Regarding mid-field and far-field versions, a beam-forming technology shall be incorporated to create a 3D energy pocket around the device as Bluetooth signal confirms the whereabouts of the charging device, continuing charging as the device moves. Besides, subject to the requirement of FCC, WattUp is constrained to immediately lower its power by 50% once the distance exceeds 1 meter to ensure safety.He draws attention to the underlying fact that being granted FCC permission suggests consumers need not to worry about safety and interference issues. Following the permission given to near-field technology, Dialog had officially launched a relevant chip and evaluation board solution. Mid- and far-field solutions shall progressively make official launches Q3 this year and next year, then fostering an unparalleled wireless charging application. Meanwhile, Hopgood suggests that products which adopt the near-field solution are to be expected as of the end of this year.Mark Hopgood, Director of Strategic Marketing at Dialog

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, announced its PolarFire field programmable gate array (FPGA) engineering samples (ES) are available for ordering. The PolarFire FPGA family provides the lowest power, cost-optimized mid-range devices spanning from 100K logic elements (LEs) to 500K LEs. Its PolarFire Evaluation Kit, already shipping to key customers, is also available for ordering from the company and its distribution channels.In addition, Microsemi's Libero SoC PolarFire Design Suite has been updated with version 1.1 Service Pack 1 enabling design starts for the broad customer base, together with key quick start demonstration designs for rapid evaluation and prototyping.Microsemi's PolarFire FPGA ES devices, which feature 12.7G transceivers and offer up to 50 percent lower power than competing mid-range FPGAs, have shipped to early access program (EAP) customers since February and are now available for all customers. The FPGA product family is ideal for a wide range of applications within wireline access networks and cellular infrastructure, defense and commercial aviation markets, as well as industry 4.0 which includes the industrial automation and Internet of Things (IoT) markets."After successfully shipping initial ES devices and hardware kits in February to our early access and select tier-one customers for system integration and advanced evaluation, we are pleased to reach another key milestone in the PolarFire family rollout by making ES and a high-performance evaluation platform available to our broader customer base," said Shakeel Peera, senior director of SoC product marketing, at Microsemi. "The release of the evaluation kit allows customers to port complex designs and test out advanced features - including 12 Gbps package protocols, high-speed DDR3/4 memory interfaces and general purpose input/outputs (IOs), as well as complex signal and waveform processing, all in the industry's lowest power, cost-optimized midrange FPGA."Multiple demo reference designs are available now with full design files for Libero SoC PolarFire targeting the PolarFire Evaluation Kit, including JESD204B Interface, PCI Express (PCIe) Endpoint, 10GBASE-R Ethernet Loopback, DSP FIR Filter and Multi-Rate Transceiver Demo, with additional reference designs planned over the coming months.Microsemi's PolarFire Evaluation Kit is a comprehensive platform for evaluating the company's recently introduced PolarFire FPGAs and is well-suited for high-speed transceiver evaluation, 10Gb Ethernet, IEEE 1588, JESD204B, Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and CPRI. The solution is also ideal for a wide variety of end markets and applications, including communications (high-speed transceiver evaluation, full-duplex 12.7 Gbps SerDes channel testing, SyncE and 1588 applications, and dual Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 solutions), industrial (PCIe edge testing, and SyncE and 1588 applications), and aerospace and defense (encryption and root-of-trust, secure wireless communications applications, aircraft networking, and actuation and control). The kit features a high-pin-count FPGA mezzanine card (FMC), numerous surface mount assemblies (SMAs), PCIe, dual Gigabit Ethernet RJ45, small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules, DDR4 and USB.Offering additional design support for customers, Microsemi's Libero SoC PolarFire Design Suite provides high productivity with its comprehensive, easy to learn, easy to adopt development tools for designing with Microsemi's PolarFire FPGAs. The suite includes a complete design flow with Synopsys SynplifyPro synthesis and Mentor Graphics ModelSim mixed-language simulation with best-in-class constraints management, as well as Microsemi's differentiated FPGA debugging suite, SmartDebug. The SmartDebug tool enables hardware debugging using the in-built dedicated signal probe and offers advantages including live on-chip debugging, eliminating extra FPGA resources, reduced FPGA design debug cycles and enabling read-write capability to LEs and memory blocks. The release of v1.1 SP1 includes faster run time, DDR3 support, and support for advanced 10 Gbps transceiver based protocols, as well as IBIS Algorithmic Modeling Interface (AMI) models for advanced simulation of signal integrity.Key features of the kit include:- 300K LE PolarFire FPGA in an FCG1152 package (MPF300TS-1FCG1152I)- HPC FMC connector- 1x SFP+ cage- IEEE1588 phase-locked loop (PLL)- SMA connectors for testing of full-duplex 12.7Gbps SerDes channel- 4GB DDR4 x32 and 2GB DDR3 x16- PCI Express (x4) edge connector- 2 x RJ45 for 10/100/1000 Ethernet using serial gigabit media-independent interface (SGMII) on general purpose input/output (GPIO)- Dual 10/100/1,000 BASE-T PHY (VSC8575) for SyncE and 1588 application- Power management unit for 1 or 1.05 volt (V) PolarFire FPGA core voltage- USB to universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface- Embedded programming and debugging using serial peripheral interface (SPI) and Joint Test Action Group (JTAG)- On-board power monitoring- 2 x 1Gb SPI flash memoryAvailabilityPolarFire 300K LE FPGA devices are available for ES ordering now with standard lead times. PolarFire Evaluation Kit MPF300-EVAL-KIT-ES is available for ordering and shipping now. Libero SoC PolarFire v1.1 SP1 software is available for immediate download. For more information, visit www.microsemi.com/polarfire or email sales.support@microsemi.com.About PolarFire FPGAsMicrosemi's new cost-optimized PolarFire FPGAs deliver the industry's lowest power at mid-range densities with exceptional security and reliability. The product family features 12.7 Gbps transceivers and offer up to 50 percent lower power than competing FPGAs. Densities span from 100K to 500K LEs and are ideal for a wide range of applications within wireline access networks and cellular infrastructure, defense and commercial aviation markets, as well as industry 4.0 which includes the industrial automation and internet of things (IoT) markets.PolarFire FPGAs' transceivers can support multiple serial protocols, making the products ideal for communications applications with 10Gbps Ethernet, CPRI, JESD204B, Interlaken and PCIe. In addition, the ability to implement serial gigabit Ethernet (SGMII) on GPIO enables numerous 1Gbps Ethernet links to be supported. PolarFire FPGAs also contain the most hardened security IP to protect customer designs, data and supply chain. The non-volatile PolarFire product family consumes 10 times less static power than competitive devices and features an even lower standby power referred to as Flash*Freeze. For more information, visit www.microsemi.com/polarfire.About MicrosemiMicrosemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.

Electronic systems account for an increasing share of automotive parts and therefore software plays a growingly important role in car safety and performance. To ensure the quality of software development, Automotive SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination) jointly developed by German automakers, dubbed A-SPICE, has gradually become a common standard followed by automobile manufacturers worldwide.Kevin Huang, Greater China Functional Safety Product Manager, TUV NORD, commented the newly published draft version of the automotive industry's widely-used standard IATF 16949 required suppliers to provide capability assessment reports based on A-SPICE when they develop software. Although the requirement is not included in the final official version, this is still an indication that the automotive industry regards software quality requirement a must and it is only a matter of time before such requirement is officially added to standards.Furthermore, the automotive industry is gradually turning to A-SPICE in place of the CMMI assessment model, which has been in use by the software industry for a long time. For example, a well-known CMMI level 3 certified auto parts supplier was recently required by its customers to rebuild its development process following the A-SPICE standard."The said two instances resulted in an increasing number of inquiries by Taiwan-based vendors regarding A-SPICE since 2016. TUV NORD already has experiences in helping Taiwan-based businesses build up A-SPICE compliant projects, including semiconductor makers and ODM companies," indicated Huang. "When automakers approach suppliers in Taiwan, they will definitely require suppliers to improve their processes as a prerequisite for entrance into the supply chain. This is the direction where the whole automotive industry is headed. Vendors hoping for a share of the automotive electronics market with a high technological barrier must be willing to devote resources to build up a competitive edge. We are seeing quite a number of Taiwan-based vendors aggressively expanding into this field."TUV NORD collaborates with German consulting firm Method Park to provide training and implementation services in regard to the A-SPICE standard for the Taiwan market. Sunil Kumar, Director Asia, Expert Consultant, Method Park Consulting GmbH and a Principal A-SPICE Assessor and Instructor, he also represents Japan, China, India and Korea in intacs, pointed out almost all of German automakers are using A-SPICE to assess supplier capability in software development since the standard was first established by German automakers in 2005. Industries in Japan, China, Korea and the U.S. are also attaching growing importance to A-SPICE, making it a worldwide standard.Similar to CMMI, A-SPICE assesses capability and defines five capability levels??L1 to L5. Currently automotive manufacturers' requirements on individual projects mainly focus on L2 (managed process) and L3 (established process). What distinguishes A-SPICE from CMMI is that A-SPICE imposes meticulous requirements on software/system, System requirements, system architecture design, software requirements, software architecture, detailed design, coding, five different level of testing, integrity, certification, and even the processes of project management, configuration management and quality assurance. The CMMI model, on the other hand, focuses more on defining high-level engineering processes.Kumar indicated CMMI has more room for self-interpretation so automakers tend to opt for A-SPICE with stringent requirements on process details. In addition, intacs, the organization in charge of A-SPICE management, specifically divides its operations into three independent units respectively overseeing standard setting, training and assessment for the purpose of ensuring impartial certification results. A-SPICE now has set standards for 32 processes, 11 of which are related to engineering and the remaining include management, supporting and other processes.Different customers have different requirements on the processes. For example, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi demand that their suppliers comply with the standard for 16 processes (HIS Scope) while Volvo, Ford and Jaguar mandate compliance for 21 processes (HIS Extending). Automakers can have more flexibility in how to evaluate supplier capability based on their project requirements. Moreover, as automotive electronic systems comprise more than software, the standard also offer plug in concept to incorporate requirements on hardware and mechanical engineering development processes in the future to further guarantee quality.TUV NORD and Method Park provide complete A-SPICE services including training, difference analysis, consultation and support for process implementation, pre-assessment and final assessment. Huang commented with the automotive industry's rapid development, the ISO 26262 functional safety standard is also another important criterion in addition to A-SPICE for vendors that want to expand into the automotive electronics market. As a more practical and efficient approach, vendors should start with implementing A-SPICE compliant processes and proceed to ISO 26262 on the A-SPICE basis, suggested Huang.Huang emphasized one major advantage of TUV NORD is its hands-on experiences gained from serving customers around the globe. In particular, TUV NORD is well aware of the different requirements by different automakers and therefore is capable of providing the type of integrated certification services that vendors need to expedite their penetration into the automotive electronics market.Sunil Kumar, Director Asia, Expert Consultant, Method Park (left) and Kevin Huang, Greater China Functional Safety Product Manager, TUV NORD (right)

Kilopass Technology Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor logic embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) intellectual property (IP), today announced that Cista Design Inc., a leading developer of advanced digital imaging solutions for mobile handsets, consumer electronics and surveillance camera markets; has licensed Kilopass XPM one-time programmable (OTP), anti-fuse, NVM memory IP.Cista Design will include the Kilopass IP in a new CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) being fabbed on the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) independently developed 130nm back-side illumination (BSI) technology platform. Kilopass OTP IP will store trimming data for the analog and mixed signal circuits in addition to pixel mapping data for the new Cista Design CIS chip.Wilson Du, CEO and President of Cista System Corp. stated, "We needed a reliable intellectual property vendor of OTP NVM for the SMIC 130nm BIS process node. The low leakage SMIC process uses three aluminum metal layers for reduced cost and supports pixel sizes down to 1.4-micron for implementing our 8MP resolution CIS. We chose Kilopass because of its availability on the SMIC process and their reputation as a vendor with a breadth of offerings on the major foundries worldwide."We are thrilled that Cista Design chose our OTP NVM for their CMOS image sensor," said Charlie Cheng, president and CEO of Kilopass Technology. "The CIS market is both high volume and experiencing dramatic growth thanks to the multiple cameras being built into mobile phones and especially in automobiles. Our OTP NVM is well suited for chips targeting these markets, where each chip coming off the assembly line is programmed at test time with parameters that need to be written once and never changed."Find out more at www.cistadesign.comAbout SMICSemiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"; NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China. SMIC provides integrated circuit (IC) foundry and technology services at 0.35-micron to 28-nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-fab and a second majority owned 300mm fab under development for advance nodes in Beijing; and 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen. SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.smics.com.About KilopassKilopass Technology, Inc., a leading supplier of embedded NVM intellectual property using standard logic CMOS processes to deliver one-time programmable (OTP) and few-time programmable (FTP) memory. With more than 60 patents granted or pending and more than 3,000,000 wafers shipped from a dozen foundries and Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs), Kilopass has 170 customers in applications ranging from storage of firmware and security codes to calibration data and other application-critical information. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit www.kilopass.com or email info@kilopass.com.Follow Kilopass on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kilopass_.