Intel hosted Intelligent Systems Summit (IISS) 2012 at Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) on October 16th & 17th, 2012 for announcing a major industrial technology shift of embedded systems and industrial PC industry. The mainstream innovative solutions Intel brought in this technology forum include retail, transportation systems, healthcare, manufacturing, and tele-communication sectors.Rick Dwyer, Vice President of Sales Marketing Group (SMG) & General Manager of Embedded Sales Group (ESG) at Intel, gave the opening keynote speech for IISS. He highlighted the intelligent connected systems are all around us in every aspect of our daily life. Rick Dwyer simply cited several intuitive examples. For example, the intelligent vehicle system is able to sense the driver and passengers to provide instant traffic information services, and even preventing dangerous accidents. Another example is it can help the supermarket outlets stores to setup a quickly response of changing digital signage contents according to the different gender or age consumer preferences. This will enable users to enjoy a more personalized shopping experience and a better fit to the needs of people through today's smart, connected, secured and well managed embedded systems.This kind of new invented forms of embedded systems (or called "intelligent system"), which targeting to fulfill user's needs, gradually transformed the traditional single-purpose and isolated electronic devices into one always internet connected, running cloud applications to gather information and getting assistance of expert systems made by various of Internet of Things websites. The entire new innovation architecture leads us to a new era of secure and full seamless integration to modern enterprise and telecommunication infrastructure.Besides a greener, more energy-efficient processor chips, Intel technology provides key chipset solutions to integrate intelligent systems and applications, in order to response to the explosive increase of data transactions in the next 10 years. The solid ground for fitting rapid change of internet world will count on four key building blocks, noted by Rick Dwyer. They are secured, managed, connected and interoperated intelligent devices.Internet of Things focus on exploring values of big dataSeveral major industrial research reports, coincidentally forecasted that there will be over 15 billion electronic devices connected to the Internet by 2015, where one-third of devices will be intelligent systems. The network consisted by those smart systems is often referred to as Internet of Things (IoT). It is estimated that the explosive growth of this type of business models is not only on behalf of the immense business opportunities, but also introducing many new lifestyle.In order to simplify and accelerate the process of IoT deployment, Intel announced the intelligent system architecture (called Intel Intelligent Systems Framework). It is the combination of continuous development of interoperability solutions through a consistent and scalable design model, making each device have connected, well managed, as well as secured development environment.Intel Intelligent Systems Framework will help to shorten development time through a series of hardware and software integration. The most important contribution is to build a standardized and opened platform to help system integrators or application developers easily generating the various solutions. With these solutions, the IoT can explore the values from analyzing the massive amount of information gathering for smart devices.In the real world, these applications implement the use of analysis of big data covered from different manufacturing industries. The benefits will help enterprises to improve efficiency and productivity. Even more, it helps to create a variety of services that can generate good profits and provide consumers with new and exciting experience.Another vivid example in the case of modern urban shopping district, chain stores and outlets, the digital signage network will automatically adjust the effective price strategy and promote product contents when the weather report forecasts to have coming rainstorm. These applications will make you turn your life becoming extremely convenient.Over the next 10 years, Intel outlines a blueprint of future intelligent systems in IISS. There will be a more than 15 billion intelligent devices, 35 Trillion Gigabyte the amount of data storage and analysis, as well as a US$ 3 trillion market created.Rick Dwyer, Vice President of Sales Marketing Group (SMG) & General Manager of Embedded Sales Group (ESG), Intel

Linear Technology recently announced the LT3763, a synchronous buck LED driver controller that delivers over 300W of LED power. Its 6V to 60V input voltage range satisfies a wide variety of applications, including automotive, industrial and architectural lighting. Similarly, its output voltage can be set from 0V to 55V, enabling it to drive a wide range of LEDs in a single string.The LT3763 offers both input and output current monitors and limiting, which accurately control both input and output current. Similarly, the LT3763 also offers accurate output voltage regulation as well as input regulation, useful for high impedance sources such as solar panels. Its constant current and constant voltage regulation makes it ideal for applications ranging from driving high brightness LEDs to battery and supercap charging. Additionally, True Color PWM dimming capability offers dimming ranges as wide as 3,000:1 for LED applications. The LT3763 is unique design utilizes four control loops to monitor input current, LED /output current, output and input voltage to deliver optimum performance and reliability.The LT3763 uses two external switching MOSFETs and can deliver from 5W to over 300W of continuous LED power with efficiencies up to 96%. LED current accuracy of +6% ensures constant lighting while + 1.5% output voltage accuracy offers several LED protection features and also enables the converter to operate as a constant voltage/constant current source for charging applications. The LT3763 can utilize either analog or PWM dimming as required by the application. Furthermore, its switching frequency can be programmed between 200kHz and 1MHz or synchronized to an external clock. Additional features include open/short protection, C/10 detection, input and output current monitors, and integrated fault protection.The LT3763EFE is available in a 28-lead thermally enhanced TSSOP package, priced starting at US$4.45 each, in 1,000-piece quantities. An extended temperature version, or I grade, the LT3763IFE, is also available, priced starting at US$4.90 each in 1,000-piece quantities.

Industrial Machine Vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analyzing, and understanding images and high-dimensional data from the real world in order to perform a range of tasks such as: control processes, e.g. an industrial robot; detecting events, e.g. for visual surveillance or people counting; for automatic inspection, e.g. in manufacturing, as well as many other applications. In fact, the development of Machine Vision systems is highly application dependent. There are, however, typical functions which are found in many machine vision systems such as: image acquisition, feature extraction, detection/segmentation, high-level processing, and decision making.Because many functions are unique to the application, flexible system integration is essential as well as fast easy access to a broad-range of industrial hardware products.TEC s.r.l. is a company based in Seregno, near Milan Italy, working in Machine Vision and Industrial Automation mainly in the automotive, packaging , manufacturing, food and pharmaceutical markets. Their core business consists of embedded vision systems, especially for automated production lines, and PC-based vision systems, (typically using an image data acquisition board, a digital or analog camera and a personal computer), which are especially good for applications where high-speed, complexity, versatility and scalability are required.In 2006, while looking for industrial computers and acquisition cards for their Machine Vision systems, they got in touch with Advantech and placed their first order via the eStore for PCI-1761-AE (8-ch Isolated Digital Input PCI Card), shortly followed by further online purchases of PCI cards as well as industrial Panel PCs (PPC and TPC series) and Embedded Automation Computers (UNO series), all fully assembled and tested with memory, storage and operating systems. From then on, they have continued using Advantech products for their user-interfaces and acquisition cards to connect via gigabit Ethernet to PLC's and cameras in their systems.Alberto Bocchero is a co-founder of TEC srl and explained, "We found that it [eStore] was a fast and easy way to directly select our products and configure them according to our specific needs. The clear interface means our choices are quickly confirmed and we have now become a regular eStore customer. From a technical point of view we appreciate the quality of the products, the first-class lead time and the fact that Advantech was one of the first producers to offer software interfaces for 64-bit systems. They also offer an excellent RMA service.The online shop is easy to use and I think that it is a positive step that we found the eStore website to shop and purchase products, systems and solutions. As for our future relationship with Advantech, we have many system integrators currently testing some new systems and by using the eStore service we can be confident that we can deliver our solutions on time and on budget."Purchasing directly from Advantech's eStore means this Machine Vision system integrator can deliver their solutions on time and on budgetAdvantech's iPlanet onlineFinding more case study articles

Your game console talks to Netflix and other sites on the Internet. Your TV, DVR, smart-phone and tablet PC are all capable of accessing the Internet. You may very likely have a smart electric, gas or water meter that is connected to your house and able to talk to your heating and cooling systems. You can buy a refrigerator that can inventory itself and message the grocery store with an order for pickup or delivery. Your tires talk wirelessly to your car's main computer system. Your car accesses the Internet for GPS and other services. In the factory, embedded diagnostics use ubiquitous networking, both wired and wireless, to message maintenance computers and generate work orders. You wear an RFID tag in the plant so that in case of emergency, safety personnel can find you. All of this happens without you pressing one key. All of this is happening now.They call it the "Internet of Things," and it is already changing the future of the way we live andwork. First coined by Kevin Ashton in a 1999 article for RFID Journal, the name has become widely used, but there are many different definitions of what exactly the Internet of Things is, how it operates, and what is included in its scope.Just What IS the Internet of Things?SAP AG, the leading enterprise software manufacturer, defines the Internet of Things as, "a world where physical objects are seamlessly integrated into the information network, and where the physical objects can become active participants in business processes. Services are available to interact with these 'smart objects' over the Internet, query and change their state and any information associated with them, taking into account security and privacy issues."CASAGRAS, an EU Framework 7 project, developed another definition in 2009: "A global network infrastructure, linking physical and virtual objects through the exploitation of data capture and communications capabilities. This infrastructure includes existing and evolving Internet and network developments. It will offer specific object-identification, sensor and connection capability as the basis for the development of independent federated services and applications. These will be characterized by a high degree of autonomous data capture, event transfer, network connectivity and interoperability."All the definitions of the Internet of Things have much in common. First is the ubiquitous nature of connectivity, and, second, the global identification of every object. Third, the ability of each object to send and receive data across the Internet or private network they are connected into. This isn't some science fiction story, or a futurist's speculation. It is happening right now.The figure shows what is happening. It started with a demand for better logistics and supply chain management. The second wave was driven by the need for cost reductions. The third wave was driven by geolocation services. The fourth wave will be driven by telepresence, made possible by miniaturized embedded electronic processors, and the next will be the ability to create mesh networks including tags, sensors, process instruments and final control devices.Bringing the Big Picture Down to EarthEveryone is beginning to see the Internet of Things developing in the commercial and home sectors. The recent Apple TV commercial for the iPAD that intones, "You will still do…" and lists off numbers of normal endeavors, followed by "You'll just do them differently," is a clear indicator of this. The use of iPads and other connected appliances in business meetings is growing exponentially.In automation and control, things are not so clear cut. This is partly because of the very long lifecycle of automation systems (up to at least 30 years) and partly because some processes are highly customized. Enough value can be created using Internet of Things (IoT) concepts, though, that plants are already starting to use the technologies.For example, look at a distillation column. Distillation columns are controlled by temperature. As the hot hydrocarbons rise, they cool to the point where they liquefy and can be drawn off as one or another petroleum product: gasoline, benzene, kerosene, and so forth. The use of inexpensive wireless temperature sensors in large quantities along the length of a distillation column will provide a very large amount of data to the operators that they have never been able to get before—and that can be used for process bottleneck discovery and process optimization. Process optimization data that has never been able to be used before is enabled by the concepts of the Internet of Things.In a discrete manufacturing plant, consider the value of having parts self-identify with RFID tags, and automatically controlled rolling bins and forklifts moving parts and subsystems around automatically without human intervention—and always getting the right part to the right place at the right time. And then consider the further value of having all that information available in easily accessible databases wherever needed.Now consider environmental monitoring. Look at the value inherent in having intelligent air, water and solid waste pollution sensors connected to the manufacturing control system, so that repair and remediation are automatically triggered if values go beyond set points.The IOT roadmapFinding more case study articles

Since the firm's founding in 1995, NTI has remained strong, growing steadily despite a few industry cycles of ups and downs. The firm currently has a solid position in the Hard Disk Drive (HDD)-related software market. This is due to the firm's two core competitive advantages: first is a mastery of software technologies for file management and back-up storage, as well as the capabilities to develop applications on multiple platforms; and the second is the firm's solid reputation due to years of experience and track record in this field.Commenting on this, Bill Yao, President/CEO of NTI, said, "NTI has good professional ethics and commercial reputation. Over the years, NTI has never been involved in any legal disputes regarding intellectual property rights, or experienced any financial problems. These are very important to our business partners." In fact, NTI maintains long-term partnerships with many tier-one IT hardware firms. In addition to the HDD and PC sectors, NTI will introduce software products for smartphone applications in 2013 and plan to enter the smart TV sector in 2014.Using software to realize innovationsLooking at the development trend of the entire IT industry, software firms seem to be edging closer and closer to becoming the core of the supply chain, because compared to hardware, software has the advantages of being flexible, low-cost and highly efficient. Therefore, many innovative ideas can be realized through software. In particular, for NTI's target sector, HDDs are massively-produced commodities that rely on software to create product differentiation.Citing NTI's cooperation with Toshiba as an example, Yao indicated, "Our backup software, NTI Backup Now EZ, is customized for Toshiba and can run only in Toshiba's hard disk drives. This type of bundle, due to the stickiness of backup software, can greatly increase the number of repeat purchases for Toshiba's hard disk drives." NTI also added some specially designed features to this software. For example, when the storage capacity reaches a certain level, the software will remind end users to buy Toshiba HDDs.According to an end-user market survey conducted by Toshiba, 88% of its customers are satisfied with NTI's software and more than 80% of the them note that when buying HDDs, the software embedded is second only to price as the most influential factor when making purchase decisions. This survey shows that the added value created by software to a hardware product is quite significant.NTI's current product portfolio mainly covers two areas. One of them mainly focuses on backup and cloning features, such as NTI Backup Now, cloning software Echo , real-time backup and synchronization software Shadow, and data encryption/ protection software Ninja. In addition, NTI has cloud-based backup software-as-service, NTI Cloud, which is an integration of software and cloud-storage services. The other area that NTI covers is Digital Media software. NTI's main product in this area is Media Maker. Since 2000, Acer has been bundling this software with its branded PC, and up to now, more than 200 million copies have been sold. Furthermore, NTI also provides Mac-version Shadow and Dragon Burn.Making sure powerful functions can be easily enjoyedEmphasizing that NTI's design philosophy is "Power with Simplicity," Yao noted, "We firmly believe that powerful functions are only meaningful when their designs are implemented through a simple and easy-to-use GUI and work flow to allow end users to pick up easily." For instance, NTI's cloning software Echo emphasizes that it can greatly simplify the cloning of HDDs or SSDs, so cloning is no longer something that only geeks know how to do. Echo allows ordinary end users to achieve cloning easily. This software has been recognized and bundled with products from international firms and brands such as Toshiba, PLDS Lite-On, and Verbatim.Also, apart from the current NTI Cloud services, private cloud products and services will be NTI's next major move. Yao noted that compared with public cloud, private cloud allows end users to personally and independently control and manage their cloud storage. Through NTI's software, a local HDD can become a cloud storage device that allows users to share and access from anywhere at any time. In addition, the cloud storage will be controlled solely by the end user without safety and privacy problems that may occur when using public cloud. At the end of this year or beginning of 2013, NTI plans to introduce private cloud products, and develop multiple apps on a single platform for mobile devices and PCs, providing end users a better private cloud user experience.Bill Yao, President/CEO of NTI

The impact of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has not only changed consumers' habits, but also exposed development engineers to serious challenges from diversified hardware platforms and shortened development time. In particular, the launch of Microsoft Windows 8 in late October 2012 will mark an extension beyond x86 platforms to include ARM architecture. To meet the challenges of working under such a complicated development environment, firmware engineers need a set of BIOS tools that can support multiple hardware platforms without disrupting the continuity of the BIOS development experience.US-based American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a founding member of the Unified EFI (UEFI) Forum and a leading player in the global BIOS industry, has long been aware of these challenging market conditions. With this in mind, AMI hosted the "Touch the Future with Aptio V: The Innovative UEFI BIOS" technology forum at the Howard Civil Service International House in Taipei on October 5, sharing information about recent conditions and trends in the market, as well as providing an in-depth review of AMI's newly launched Aptio V UEFI BIOS Firmware. The event also featured a content-rich exhibition area to let participants experience the latest and most powerful development tools from AMI on the latest Windows 8-ready hardware.AMI maintains a large share of the global BIOS market and a long history of innovation since its establishment in 1985, with over 1,100 employees worldwide and branch offices in many countries. AMI entered the Taiwan market in 1986, in recognition of Taiwan's strengths in the IT industry. In addition to its established presence in the BIOS industry, AMI has also made notable achievements in such diverse market sectors as network storage solutions, remote platform management technologies, solutions for mobile devices and system design services. A perfect example of the diversity of AMI's success is the MegaRAID Host Bus Controller (HBA), which AMI turned into the market leader in its class for several consecutive years before selling the product division to LSI Corporation in 2001.AMI President and CEO Subramonian Shankar noted that "AMI has been closely monitoring market changes with the aim of providing complete solutions that the IT industry needs most. The Windows 8-supported UEFI 2.3.1 specifications are a good example of our approach. AMI is not only a founding member of the UEFI Forum, but also ahead of the competition by releasing the Aptio development platform with support these specifications, in order to give our partners an early start on preparations for the enormous business opportunities that are expected to come with the launch of Windows 8."The company's Aptio UEFI Firmware is perfect for cross-platform development, suitable for diverse environments from mobile devices to personal computers and servers. The recently launched, next-generation Aptio V from AMI is able to further reduce developers' learning time thanks to its ease of use, and can effectively shorten new products' time-to-market by incorporating previously developed program modules.Although the UEFI 2.3.1 specification is known for its focus on fast boot time, enhanced security functions and many other excellent features, in reality, user requirements from different market sectors may be completely distinct. For example, embedded devices may require accelerated boot times, while server equipment may require assistance from remote access service mechanisms to ensure security and system availability. In response, AMI has been extremely proactive in enhancing the functionality of its BIOS solutions to meet needs across the market spectrum. Its FastBoot capability is targeted at embedded devices to shorten system boot time to a mere 0.6 seconds, while AMI is currently engaged in the development of Aptio V for the 64-bit ARM platform to help bring a solution based on the ARM platform to the server market."AMI has also recently introduced a unique product called DuOS into the market which allows users to run both Windows and Android operating systems on x86-based hardware," noted Mr. Shankar. "We have observed that some consumers wish to run two operating systems on their tablets and created DuOS to enable Android to run under the Windows 7/8 environment without rebooting." Such innovative solutions not only satisfy the ever-evolving demands of the consumer market, but also allow AMI's partners to introduce unique and eye-catching products to enhance their competitiveness.Continuity of Development Experience Shortens Development TimeSince the birth of the personal computer, BIOS has always handled the tasks of initialization, hardware inspection and booting the operating system. As the IT industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the speed at which new hardware architectures enter the market is so fast that manufacturers and system designers are greatly challenged to quickly learn to use the development tools for these new platforms, as well as deal with an overall lack of qualified firmware engineers. In the face of such harsh conditions, a cross-platform BIOS development tool is the only real solution to the shortage of tool familiarization time and capable development personnel.AMI's Aptio UEFI development environment meets these challenges head-on, as it is easy to use and can significantly shorten the learning period for newly recruited engineers. In addition, its cross-platform support leverages senior engineers' valuable development experience, accelerating product launches for the consumer market.The newly-launched, latest-generation Aptio V inherits the strengths of Aptio 4 and adds several key innovations to improve development workflow, such as integration of the industry's latest EDK II implementation and an enhanced Visual eBIOS (VeB) development interface. Aptio V also enables continuity of previous development experience from non-EDK II projects to speed up the product development process by firmware engineers. Furthermore, the modular architecture and integrated programming library in Aptio V help reduce human errors and costs incurred from future product modifications.AMI's Director of Strategic Marketing, PaiLin Huang explained that "Aptio V represents AMI's latest efforts to satisfy the wide range of challenges that our partners routinely face. Thanks to its cross-platform support, Aptio V can reduce the number of lines in program codes, facilitate better use of personnel resources and shorten development time. It can also contribute to a sizeable reduction in the overall development cost." To further enhance support for its valued partners, AMI is also strengthening its services and providing all of the necessary tools and technology required by OEM and ODM partners in areas such as manufacturing, maintenance and customer support, with the goal of minimizing the challenges that these partners may face during development and production.Because Aptio V is built with the latest EFI Development Kit (EDK II) at its core, AMI's partners are assured of full support for the complete UEFI specifications with Aptio V. Its design is very similar to AMI's previous-generation UEFI Firmware, Aptio 4.6x; as such, key learning acquired with Aptio 4 is easily carried over to the new firmware platform. Another noteworthy point is that Aptio V retains many of the acclaimed features of Aptio 4, such as its diagnostic and debug capabilities, recovery, enhanced SMM service, PCI Bus support and multiple-language support. Retaining these features allows developers to preserve their design methods and extend existing projects to new platforms, such as those based on ARM hardware.In light of the rapid pace of changes in the consumer market, AMI has also added several new features to Aptio V to enhance the efficiency of its application. For example, Aptio V provides a number of import wizard functions that allow firmware engineers to quickly transfer their previous Aptio 4 modules, such as the EDK Package, to the new platform - which means that valuable code can still be used in future projects.Cross-platform Support Helps Clients Seize Windows 8 Business OpportunitiesAMI Vice President of Engineering Department Stefano Righi noted, "Aptio V is definitely the best choice for developing Windows 8-based products. In addition to multiple fast-boot options to choose from, it also supports several security specifications, such as TPM, Secure Boot and Secure Firmware Update, to allow users to launch products that suit market demand in a short period of time." Additionally, Aptio V offers a menu-based graphical user interface for adding or removing features, something that helps junior engineers maintain existing development projects with ease.For example, the Visual eBIOS (VeB) development environment supports multiple operating systems, including Windows and Linux, with cross-platform support for x86, x64 and ARM systems. Not only can VeB reduce the need for coding with complex commands, consistency between Aptio versions and hardware platforms means there is no need to re-learn how to use the tool. Instead, the VeB development environment allows firmware engineers managing different product lines to share their development experience, leading to improved product quality and stability.AMI understands clearly that cross-platform and cross-OS support are of utmost importance to firmware engineers. Mobile devices, which saw shipments of over 100 million units in 2011, are a great example of the need for such broad support. The majority of mobile devices shipped were based on the ARM architecture, in large part thanks its emphasis on power efficiency. But because development for ARM-based devices is significantly different from that for x86-based platforms, firmware engineers were often forced to re-learn the development tools as they moved between platforms. Aptio V solves this problem by enabling engineers to quickly transplant their x86 development experience and related applications onto the ARM architecture without any compatibility issues.Tony Lo, AMI Senior Manager of R&D explained that "Developers can easily transform existing program modules to ARM or Android environments through Aptio V's import tool. For firmware engineers that have been working with Aptio 4, it is truly a convenient and useful solution." In cases where engineers may not be overly familiar with the transform function, AMI also provides in-depth technical support to help enterprises quickly adopt the Aptio V toolset and will even provide assistance with transforming existing code.In short, to respond quickly to the business opportunities that will soon be triggered by Windows 8 and the onset of the mobile generation, AMI's cross-platform Aptio V is not only the most efficient development tool on the market, but also the best choice for enterprises to maintain their hard-earned competitiveness.MegaRAID is a registered trademark of LSI Corporation in the United States and other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.AMI CEO Subramonian Shankar explains how the company has been closely monitoring market changes to provide the IT industry with complete and timely solutions. According to Shankar, with regard to the Windows 8-supported UEFI 2.3.1 specifications, AMI is ahead of the competition by releasing Aptio V with full support for the complete UEFI specifications, giving its partners a head start towards the enormous business opportunities expected to come with the launch of Windows 8.AMI Director of Strategic Marketing Department PaiLin Huang discusses how the company's new Aptio V UEFI Firmware is a complete, multi-platform solution that meets all kinds of development challenges that partners may face.

Linear Technology Corporation recently introduced the LTM4641, a 4.5V to 38V input, 0.6V to 6V output, 10A step-down micron-module regulator with comprehensive electrical and thermal protection for loads such as processors, ASICs and high-end FPGAs.The LTM4641 micron-module regulator monitors input voltage, output voltage and temperature conditions. If any user-adjustable trip thresholds are exceeded, the LTM4641 responds within 500ns in the case of an output over-voltage fault, ceasing operation, and if necessary, activating external switches. One switch disconnects the input supply rail while the other discharges the output capacitors to protect the load.Additionally, when any trip threshold is exceeded, the LTM4641 will issue a logic level fault signal which may be used to initiate an orderly emergency shutdown sequence in the system. The adjustable trip thresholds are accurate to within ±2.7% over the full operating temperature range. As a micron-module regulator, the LTM4641 includes power MOSFETs, DC/DC controller, inductor, compensation and the protection logic circuits in a compact surface mount BGA package. The LTM4641 is designed for point-of-load regulation in robotics and industrial instrumentation, as well as rugged environments such as defense and avionics systems.When any trip threshold is exceeded, the LTM4641's protection circuitry classifies the fault in one of two categories, latching or non-latching. Normal voltage regulation will automatically resume once a non-latching fault such as input under-voltage, bias input under-voltage or input over-voltage has cleared. For latching faults such as an output over-voltage 38V, 10A rugged step-down micron-module regulator with fail safe load protection or a second input over-voltage threshold, the system must cycle the input power or supply a logic level signal to the LTM4641 in order to resume normal operation. An over-temperature fault can be classified by the user as a latching or non-latching fault by setting a logic level pin. The LTM4641 can be configured to autonomously restart after latchoff fault conditions have cleared.The output voltage is user adjustable from 0.6V to 6V with ±1.5% total accuracy over line, load and temperature. Additional features include output current sharing for loads requiring more than 10A, externally adjustable soft start, output over-current protection, switching frequency and output voltage tracking.The LTM4641 is packaged a thermally efficient 15mm x 15mm x 5.01mm RoHS compliant BGA with guaranteed operation over the -40°C to +125°C (E grade and I grade) or -55°C to +125°C (mp grade) internal temperature range. Pricing starts at US$25.95 each for 1,000-piece quantities. The LTM4641 is available for immediate delivery from stock.

Exar, a provider of high performance analog mixed-signal and data management products, has announced the XRP2523, a next-generation single channel switch for USB VBUS power distribution applications. The XRP2523 is compliant with the latest USB 3.0 specification as well as the established USB 2.0 specification. The new specification provides higher power to the downstream peripherals and enables more efficient battery charging over USB.The XRP2523 manages all aspects of the VBUS power distribution; providing a low on-resistance to meet the USB voltage regulation requirement, controlling transients during turn-on and hot plugging events and handling all fault conditions such as over current, short circuit or over temperature. The XRP2523 seamlessly interfaces with any USB controller through an active-high enable logic and channel fault flag.The XRP2523 is available in volume quantities and comes standard in a RoHS compliant, halogen free 5-pin SOT-23 package. The 1,000-unit suggested retail is US$0.69 each. Exar also offers an evaluation board for customers to quickly and easily test the features of the XRP2523.

Mentor Graphics recently announced a new formal-based technologies in the Questa Verification Platform that provide mainstream users with the ability to more easily perform exhaustive formal verification analysis. The new Questa AutoCheck technology delivers fully automated formal checking analysis, while the Questa CoverCheck tool provides 100% code coverage closure. The Questa Verification Platform now also offers expanded clock-domain crossing (CDC) capabilities.Formal verification offers exhaustive functional analysis of all possible design behaviors without the need to specify the test stimulus, enabling verification early in the design cycle, before creation of a simulation testbench. However, in the past, the promise of formal verification was only realized by verification teams with formal analysis experts that had to expend a high amount of effort to achieve results. The Questa platform changes all that by delivering a wide spectrum of formal applications that range from fully automatic formal checking with AutoCheck, a powerful, push-button technology that everyone can easily use, to property checking with custom coded assertions for advanced users. The Questa platform offers a broad arsenal of verification solutions that seamlessly blend simulation and formal-based technologies with common compilation and user interface features as well as the Unified Coverage Database (UCDB).The Questa CoverCheck technology also accelerates the process of code coverage closure. Code coverage closure typically involves many engineering weeks of effort to manually review code coverage holes to determine if they can be safely ignored and if not, to generate hand- crafted simulation tests to cover them. Questa CoverCheck makes it possible for non-expert users to leverage formal methods to complete this process by automatically identifying the set of reachable and unreachable coverage bins. Consequently, it significantly reduces the time required for code coverage sign-off, bringing predictability to the schedule. CoverCheck also ensures higher design quality by preventing bugs from slipping through the verification process due to mistakenly ignored code coverage bins.Concerning AutoCheck, it analyzes RTL designs and automatically synthesizes assertions that are then processed by powerful formal engines to check for correct sequential design behavior. Using AutoCheck, designs are easily verified to be free from common functional errors without the need to write a testbench or assertions. In addition, performance improvements based on breakthrough formal engines and formal model optimizations deliver improved quality of results and a significant decrease in compute resource consumption. This release also delivers Questa Formal Multi-Core, a new capability that enables multi-core and multi- computer distribution of formal jobs, further improving the throughput of formal analysis and optimizing the use of compute farm resources.

iWatt, a provider of digital-centric power management integrated circuits (ICs) has launched two new products that the company says will raise the bar for no-load standby power consumption and efficiency for 12W to 24W power adapter and charger applications. The two new digital pulse width modulation (PWM) controllers (iW1761) and (iW1762) expand iWatt's latest PrimAccurate controller platform, lowering power draw in standby mode to just 10mW at up to 12W output power (iW1761) and 20mW at up to 24W output power (iW1762).The iW1761 and iW1762 controllers offer even lower standby power consumption than iWatt's recently announced iW1699 and iW1760 with their respective 30mW (at 12W) and 50mW (at 40W) standby power consumption. All four devices exceed current energy standards in the markets in which the company competes, including the proposed stringent 2012 US Department of Energy (DOE) regulation requiring under 100mW AC/DC adapter standby power consumption and tighter efficiency requirements.The iW1761 and iW1762 meet the compact size and low power requirements of next-generation compact media tablet power chargers and adapters and the company noted that they also offer significantly greener and smaller solutions for AC/DC power adapters in a wide range of electronic products that remain permanently plugged in to the wall in standby mode, including set top boxes, satellite receivers and home networking equipment.In addition to very low standby power consumption, these new controllers take into account dynamic load response (DLR). Power supplies that achieve low standby power typically do so by entering a standby operating mode. However, when a load is applied, they need to "wake up" quickly to keep the output voltage from dropping too low. Dynamic load response is determined by the speed at which the system wakes up and responds to changes in the power load. The iW1761 and iW1762 offer a mix of low standby power with good DLR, while the recently announced iW1699 and iW1760 give designers options for higher DLR performance.The iW1761 and iW1762 are available in production quantities. They come in a standard, low-cost, 8-lead SOIC package. Pricing is US$0.34 for both parts in 1000-piece quantities.