Fibocom, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer of IoT modules that ease the configuration of remote devices for communication, has joined the IoT M2M Council (IMC), the world's largest trade association serving the IoT sector. Fibocom offers modules with a range of communications modes for product makers looking to embed devices with communications, including 5G, LTE, LP-WAN, and satellite. For its part, the IMC's rank-and-file membership is comprised of 25,000 qualified product makers and enterprise users that deploy IoT solutions on every continent. "We intend to build awareness that deploying IoT devices is now more seamless than ever before, and we look at the IMC as an excellent platform to do that," says Dan Schieler, SVP of the Overseas IoT Sales Department at Fibocom, who will represent the company on the IMC Bord of Governors, "We also look forward to collaborating with other IMC Board companies that provide IoT solutions to explore opportunities in this growing technology sector." Fibocom has recently introduced a range of new products that support 5G for high bandwidth and low latency, CBRS for private networks, and automotive V2X communications. This should fit well with IMC's membership, which covers 27 different vertical markets of application, including many using high-end solutions like automotive, manufacturing, and healthcare services. Roughly 35% of IMC members are in North America, 25% in Europe, and 25% in Asia. "We look to the IMC help us expand our footprint, both in terms of geography and vertical markets," says Schieler. "Fibocom's emphasis on cutting-edge technology is welcomed at the IMC, and we look forward to gaining insight from their perspective," says Kim Bybjerg, IMC Chairman and VP, Head of Continental Europe at Tata Communications, "We are also pleased to add to our IMC Board representation in China, which of course is one the world's most important IoT markets."Fibocom has joined the IMC to further accelerate digital transformation with IoT, helping to promote seamless IoT solutions across the industry.

Displays are the last mile for communication between human and machine. In recent years, a wave of smart digitization has taken global industries by storm, as companies in the vehicle, retail, manufacturing, and medical industries have implemented all types of equipment to meet demands in their respective fields. However, specifications of displays used in existing terminal sectors may not match backend computing equipment.The mismatch may cause users to spend more time to obtain information. In severe cases, it may even lead to misinformation and undermine system agility, causing performance to fall below expectations. To solve this, ADLINK has recently proposed the concept of "Edge Visualization" and offered a series of solutions to help system integrators, solution architects, and developers from different sectors build optimized visualization platforms.Antony Wu, Senior Director of the Industrial Display & Systems Business Center at ADLINK, explained, "Edge Visualization integrates two main architectures: edge computing and visualization to build a smart digital system that is effective and can meet users' demands."He further pointed out that edge computing is a new architecture derived from the recent wave of Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology. This architecture gives computing ability to edge equipment, lowering bandwidth requirements and system latency, increasing overall system performance, and therefore avoiding slow system responsiveness associated with centralized computing architectures.While possessing sufficient computing capabilities, edge equipment must also have data visualization functions to help users accurately grasp computing results and optimize management performance.By observing current industry developments, it is clear that edge computing and display technologies are mature. Mr. Wu stated that while the integration of displays and computing equipment looks simple, smart applications are still very fragmented and requirements for visualization and computing capabilities differ by industry. Furthermore, arbitrary combinations of these two major technologies without in-depth expertise may prove unsatisfactory for end users.Taking the healthcare industry as an example, Mr. Wu mentioned that in the era of smart healthcare, hospitals have deployed many types of equipment with displays that present vastly different content based on different application scenarios.For instance, payment kiosks mostly display healthcare items and prices. Self-registration kiosks are operated by users, so they contain fewer multimedia contents; however, they must provide agile and durable touch-screen operations. Medical imaging systems such as X-ray or CT scans put a high premium on image quality which is key to providing doctors with accurate information. For this reason, users of such systems may require maximized display dimensions, resolution, and color saturation.Due to the varying display requirements of equipment, excessively high or low specifications will result in misspent equipment costs or wasted computing equipment performance, leading to poor system benefits.However, integrating displays and edge computing equipment is no simple task. Mr. Wu pointed out that both displays and computing equipment need extremely specific expertise and without dedicated teams working in tandem to gain an in-depth understanding of terminal application scenarios, massive time and costs will be squandered in testing for displays and computing equipment to complement each other.The strategic alliance between ADLINK and AU Optronics allows both parties to work very closely in technical aspects. ADLINK has a solid technical foundation in the fields of edge computing and AI through many years of developing industrial computers. On the other hand, AU Optronics is a world-renowned panel manufacturer that has transformed into a visualization solution provider in recent years, with an excellent grasp of the requirements in various fields for vertical applications. By complementing each other's capabilities, both companies can assist system integrators, solution architects, and developers in building the most suitable edge visualization platforms.Mr. Wu said that ADLINK has had several successful cases in edge visualization solutions, he most representative being a recent project to design voting machines in the U.S. and logistics equipment in Germany.The voting machine, commissioned by a U.S. client, must meet extremely high reliability and security requirements, and must enable identity verification and network connectivity, so that any incident that may occur during voting can be immediately reported to poll workers or handled by law enforcement agencies.As for the logistics equipment in Germany, the solution was applied to refrigerated warehouses, allowing managers to instantly grasp the temperature, humidity, and pressure of refrigerated warehouses through a control panel. This facilitated the immediate handling of temperature loss or gas leak issues during storage or transport.Mr. Wu pointed out that edge visualization solutions have a broad range of applications with initial applications in four major fields: smart transportation, smart healthcare, smart enterprise, and smart manufacturing. ADLINK hopes to combine its professional edge computing technology with AU Optronics' technical advantages in displays to help system integrators, solution architects, and developers build platforms with advanced computing performance and excellent visualization capabilities that satisfy the demands of specific users in the field of smart digitalization.

Suzhou-based professional thermal module maker, Jieqiao Electronics Technology, announces it has reached a formal technology license agreement with NeoGene Tech to adopt MagicWick-Inside Technology Platform for designing and fabricating ultra-thin vapor chamber products. By adopting such novel technology, Jieqiao is able to build Print Wick Structuring (PWS) production line in their Kunshan plant for making a series of ultra-thin vapor chamber devices with thickness ranging from 0.3max to 0.2max.NeoGene Tech, a vapor chamber technology platform and materials provider in Guangzhou, China has been devoted to revolutionizing the way of designing and fabricating ultra-thin vapor chambers devices for 5G mobile computing applications for years. NeoGene Tech's MagicWick-Inside Technology Platform along with PWS approach categorizes the ultra-thin vapor chamber technology into three levels. The technology license program will be enabling Jieqiao to produce high-quality ultra-thin vapor chamber products by the technology from Level 1 to Level 3."Although the thickness of current ultra-thin vapor chamber at above 0.3max can be made by traditional copper mesh wick structuring technology, PWS technology has an obvious advantage to make the VC devices at higher performance and higher production yield rate. Furthermore, most smartphone brands are pursuing thinner (<0.25max) and bigger (>5000mm2) vapor chamber devices technology for fitting new thermal management needs in their new product models. The traditional copper mesh approach will be encountering more difficult issues once the device thickness is lower than 0.25max, not to mention the device area is bigger than 5000mm2. The space for wick structure and vapor channel is too narrowed to deploy in production. As a result, the PWS approach is the best solution for vapor chamber makers to overcome such problem and it is also a very economical way for mass production," according to Jeffrey Chen, CEO of NeoGene Tech."Thanks to MagicWick-Inside Platform and PWS approach, it empowers Jieqiao to quickly move into mass production in high performance and high-end vapor chamber devices market. Our flow channel design capability and PWS production line for MagicWick-Inside VC will be ready for mass production in Q2, 2022. By adopting Level-1 to Level-3 technologies, the high-performance vapor chamber with thickness at over 0.3mm or the vapor chamber at under 0.25max and size at over 5000mm2 can be delivered to market accordingly. The production of MagicWick-Inside VC with a large area and a thickness of only 0.22max will be our strength," said Ricky Liu, Chairman and CEO of Jieqiao."Jieqiao is the first local thermal module company in China adopting PWS solution for ultra-thin vapor chamber fabrication. We are more than happy to have Jiequao adopt MagicWick-Inside Platform and PWS approach. So far in great China territory, we already have Taiwan-based and China local-based vapor chamber makers licensed our patented technology. The PWS approach has also been adopted in vapor chamber production lines. We are seeing that more and more vapor chamber makers will join and be benefited from this platform and technology soon. NeoGene Tech's mission is to continuously work with 5G smartphone brands to promote and refine the design and fabrication of ultra-thin vapor chamber devices in thermal management technology," said Jeffrey Chen, CEO of NeoGene Tech.Jieqiao reaches MagicWick-Inside Platform license agreement with NeoGene Tech

Ahead of an expected surge in demand for high-energy computing, FSP Group, one of the leading global power supply manufacturers, has launched the FSP2400-20FM, the latest version of its high-wattage redundant power supply.The FSP2400-20FM is the third generation of FSP's flagship product based on CRPS industry standards. Going from 550 watts in previous models, the latest iteration pushes this even further, with 2,400 watts of power on tap — all within the same small frame of its predecessors. It retains the same compact size of previous models despite a much larger capacity. This saves customers time and money since installing newer and physically bigger power supplies usually involves high material and utility costs.Smart Energy Management for a Smarter, Greener FutureIts smart features match the FSP2400-20FM's added capacity in a small frame. It is critical to sensitive industries thanks to its Power Management Bus (PMBus) protocol, which is used to regulate power and manage components within systems and is implemented by industry leaders. This allows the FSP2400-20FM to communicate with various computer components from other manufacturers seamlessly and efficiently. PMBus also enables features such as automatically increasing and decreasing power depending on energy demand.This automation prevents system failure and data loss in specific scenarios in facilities such as data centers, which might require a short burst of peak power beyond capacity to keep several dozens or hundreds of hard drives running.It also has other features such as the in-system firmware update function and Smart On function, making the main power module turn off or on for best system efficiency.Powering the "Edge" of TechnologyThe high capacity of FSP2400-20FM is also suited to the expected dramatic increase in power requirements in high-power computing industries and sub-industries over the next few years. This comes as sectors such as AI deep-learning, edge computing, and newer sub-industries, including cryptocurrency mining, all require powerful and energy-hungry graphics cards, which in turn would require high-capacity power supplies like the FSP2400-20FM.FSP2400-20FM belongs to a complete family of CRPS products for companies of any scale, suitable for use in world-class data centers, workstations, or other automation applications. With its compact size, smart features and protocols, the next-generation compact PSU is bound to become another consumer favourite in FSPs line-up of products.The FSP2400-20FM is the third generation of FSP's flagship product based on the CRPS industry standards.

The LEC-RB5 SMARC is a high-performance module, built with the Qualcomm® QRB5165 processor, allowing on-device AI and 5G connectivity capabilities for consumer, enterprise, and industrial robots. It features a high-performance NPU, an Octa-Core (8x ARM Cortex-A77) CPU, low power consumption, and support for up to six cameras. The Qualcomm QRB5165 processor, customized for robotics applications, is designed for running complex AI, deep learning workloads, and on-device edge inference efficiently while using low power.ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, released the LEC-RB5 SMARC module –its first SMARC AI-on-Module based on a Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. processor. The Qualcomm QRB5165 processor is designed for robotics and drone applications; it integrates several IoT technologies in a single solution. The LEC-RB5 SMARC module provides on-device artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, support for up to 6 cameras, and low power consumption. It is capable of powering robots and drones in consumer, enterprise, defense, industrial, and logistics sectors."This high-performing SMARC module is a good option for the next generation of high-compute, low-power robots and drones," said Henri Parmentier, Senior Product Manager, ADLINK. "It empowers customers to do everything they need for complex AI and deep learning workloads at the edge without relying on the cloud.""Qualcomm Technologies' portfolio of leading robotics and drones solutions is driving next-generation use cases, including autonomous deliveries, mission-critical use cases, commercial and enterprise drone applications, and more. The Qualcomm QRB5165 solution supports the development of next generation high-compute, AI-enabled, low-power robots and drones for the consumer, enterprise, defense, industrial and professional service sectors that can be connected by 5G. The ADLINK LEC-RB5 SMARC module will support the proliferation of 5G in robotics and intelligent systems," said Dev Singh, Senior Director, Business Development and General Manager of Robotics, Drones and Intelligent Machines, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.For robotics and autonomous robot solution providers, the LEC-RB5 SMARC module provides the capability to build powerful robots for use in harsh industrial conditions and in temperatures that range from -30° to +85°C. The LEC-RB5 SMARC module features:*Qualcomm Kryo 585 CPU (eight ARM Cortex-A77 cores)*Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator (HTA) running up to 15 trillion operations per second (TOPS)*Support for six cameras: MIPI CSI cameras CSI0 (2 lanes) and CSI1 (4 lanes)*Low power consumption: <12W*82 x 50 mm compact form factorThe LEC-RB5 is part of ADLINK's portfolio of SMARC form factors that support both ARM and x86 designs. ADLINK has worked closely with Qualcomm to design a smart, powerful solution for next-generation IoT applications. The module provides enhancements for computer vision (CV) applications with reduced latencies for real- time image processing decisions, freeing up capacity for other critical AI applications while delivering mobile-optimized CV experiences. Hardware acceleration for advanced CV applications with on-device AI capable of running complex AI and deep learning workloads at low power makes the LEC-RB5 SMARC module advantageous for a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications.Visit ADLINK Technology to learn more about the LEC-RB5 SMARC module and development kit.ADLINK releases its first SMARC module based on Qualcomm QRB5165, which enables high-performance robots and drones at low powerPhoto: Company

As people are becoming more conscious of their physical and mental health, sports technology has also risen to the forefront of technological innovation. As a result, Coretronic Corporation established uCare Medical Electronics, a dedicated subsidiary, in June 2017 to seize market opportunities by helping customers achieve a healthy lifestyle through innovative IoT technology, products, and services.uCare Medical Electronics General Manager Tony Tung-Hung Lu said that the company focuses mainly on the healthcare and sports markets. For the health market, the company targets rehabilitation needs of hospitals or nursing units and provides solutions or systematic services using sports medicine to treat patients undergoing stroke, cardiac, and sarcopenia rehabilitation. For the sports market, the company leverages the technical background in optical, mechanical, electrical, and thermal technology, and software of Coretronic, its parent company, to help commercial gyms improve fitness outcomes through the integrated application of sensors, gamification software, gym management systems, and even AI.For example, both traditional and digital aerobic and strength training equipment can be outfitted with uCare's sensors to detect and track people's speed, stride rate, and stride length on treadmills or speed, distance, and cadence on fitness bikes. As for strength training equipment, uCare sensors can track the type of exercise, set weight, actual repetitions as well as the acceleration and force used during each exercise.It is worth noting that data like these can be of immense value for each member of the fitness ecosystem. For example, gym owners can check the collected data to track the usage rate of each piece of equipment and plan maintenance accordingly. Trainers can use the same set of data to analyze which clients may need personal trainer services. In addition, users can reference the data as a detailed record of their exercise status to understand the progress and effectiveness of their fitness routines.Gamified Sensors: Creating Safe, Fun, and Effective SolutionsDr. Lu concluded by saying that, roughly speaking, uCare's products can be divided into three categories, all of which are delivered via B2B sales channels to their final locations. The first category of products targets hospitals, which includes cardiac training and testing, sarcopenia preventative care and training, and other sport rehabilitation services. The second category targets gyms. While the focus was initially on high-end gyms, more recently the company has shifted its focus to community gyms and schools. And lastly, home products, which uCare delivers by working with content service providers to integrate sensor models, games, or apps into pre-existing services to make them safe, effective, and fun.For hospital products, uCare usually starts by assisting with vital sign assessments of patients, so that doctors can make exercise prescriptions accordingly. These prescriptions can then be fed into a uCare-developed system to be converted into computer-readable instructions for gym equipment, allowing patients to safely reach their prescribed fitness intensity.For gym products, the company's solutions mainly use force or flow sensors to detect user movement and extract information that can be used in various applications such as gamified interfaces. A good example of this would be uCare's rowing machine which was selected by the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs to be one of the categories in this year's (2021) ITSPORT event.Home products are a new business opportunity that has rapidly emerged during the pandemic. Because user immersion is important for home users, uCare emphasized user experience in the design of home sports products. For example, users can integrate uCare sensors into exercise bikes or treadmills of different brands and then compete with friends remotely through a gamified software in a smart device, such as tablets."We use sensors as a means to collect data and analyze it to develop various types of sports games," said Dr. Lu. In other words, any sports equipment can be armed with uCare sensors to work with uCare-developed gamified software. uCare also works directly with equipment manufacturers to integrate solutions into fitness machines, so that users can interact with built-in gamified software when using the machine. This has the advantage of supporting two-way resistance, making interactions with the game's virtual world feel even more immersive. In addition, uCare's gaming cloud application service supports sports social application functions to help users connect with friends to exercise and communicate with each other. For fitness equipment manufacturers, such social platforms can also be used to facilitate maintenance, management, and participation in the community, and serve as a preliminary implementation of digital sports applications for the metaverse going forward.In a nutshell, uCare's biggest advantage lies in its vertically integrated solutions, from signal sensors to applications. Users need only install uCare hardware to gain access to the full catalog of uCare software. Furthermore, uCare medical and fitness applications place safety, effectiveness, and fun at the forefront, distinguishing the company from its competitors.uCare Medical Electronics Invests in Sensor Technology to Develop Smart Healthcare and Sports ApplicationsPhoto: Company

ADLINK EGX-MXM-A1000, EGX-MXM-A2000 and EGX-MXM-A4500 are the first modules to use NVIDIA's embedded GPUs based on NVIDIA Ampere architecture. ADLINK embedded MXM graphics modules offers high performance GPU acceleration in the compact, power-efficient MXM form factor, bringing edge computing and embedded AI to numerous vertical markets in healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and more. Rugged design built for severe temperature extremes, shock and vibration, and corrosion in harsh conditions.ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, today introduced the industry's first embedded MXM graphics modules based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, built for accelerated computing and AI workloads at the edge. The new embedded graphics modules deliver real-time ray tracing, AI-accelerated graphics and energy-efficient AI inference acceleration in the compact mobile PCI express (MXM) form factor. These modules enhance responsiveness, precision and reliability for mission-critical, time-sensitive applications in healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, gaming and other sectors."Computing and AI workloads are shifting from the cloud to the edge to shorten response time, enhance security and lower communication costs. With more and more data being processed at the edge, the performance requirements are getting higher while the power budget remains nearly unchanged. The NVIDIA Ampere architecture delivers a major boost in performance and power efficiency, which enables general computation, image processing and reconstruction, and AI inference at the edge to advance to the next level," said Zane Tsai, director of platform product center, ADLINK."The NVIDIA Ampere architecture delivers breakthrough performance and features, combining the latest generation RT Cores, Tensor Cores, CUDA Cores, PCIe Gen 4, and NVIDIA video codecs," said Scott Fitzpatrick, vice president of product marketing at NVIDIA. "As rendering and simulation become ubiquitous across industries, NVIDIA's latest embedded solutions offer up to 2x rendering performance, 2x FP32 throughput, as well as hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding for significant increases in both graphics and compute workloads."Based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, ADLINK's embedded MXM GPU modules offer up to 5,120 CUDA Cores, 160 Tensor Cores, and 40 RT Cores with support for PCIe Gen 4 and up to 16GB GDDR6 memory at up to 115 watts of TGP. These modules can satisfy compute-intensive, graphics-demanding, memory-hungry applications. They are one-fifth the size of full-height, full-length PCI Express graphics cards, and are hardened to operate under severe temperature extremes, shock and vibration, and corrosion resistance for use in size, weight and power-constrained edge environments. These embedded graphics modules offer longevity support for five years. Developers, solution architects and system integrators can innovate new solutions with confidence that the supply is steady through a product life cycle.Applications of the embedded MXM graphics modules include:Healthcare: Accelerated image reconstruction for mobile X-ray, ultrasound, and endoscopic systemsTransportation: Real-time object detection on railways or airport runways to enhance transport safety Retail and Logistics: Navigation and route planning for autonomous drones and mobile robots (AMRs) to assist with last-mile delivery Aerospace and Defense: Time-sensitive and mission-critical command, control, communications, computers (C4) applications; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications Gaming: Immersive and stunning visuals experience for multi-display gaming machinesFor more information, visit the product page here.ADLINK launches first embedded MXM graphics modules based on NVIDIA Ampere architecture for edge computing and AIPhoto: Company

2021 has been an exciting year for the telecommunications industry: the buzz driven by 5G technology, the early rollouts of high-speed Wi-Fi 6E, the stunning rise of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, and the revolution brought about by O-RAN white-box small cell installations are among some of the most exciting innovations of the year. To take advantage of these upcoming trends, LitePoint decided to hold the "Smart Manufacturing, Quality Manufacturing, Way to Victory" Innovation and Testing Technology Forum in Taipei and Hsinchu on November 9 and 11, 2021, respectively. As a major technology forum held at the end of 2021, a wide range of industry applications and testing solutions were presented at the event to showcase the brand competence of various wireless communication product vendors, as well as accelerate their production and time to market (TTM) to help them seize business opportunities.Seizing Business Opportunities with the Latest Wireless Communication TechnologiesElvin Ren, LitePoint's General Manager of Sales in Taiwan, India and South East Asia, began the forum by describing LitePoint's development strategy for various wireless testing solutions including 5G and Wi-Fi. To meet the testing challenges and seize the business opportunities brought by large-scale manufacturing of 5G products in 2021, LitePoint's strategy is to help the electronics supply chain accomplish effective mass production through multi-DUT testing, millimeter wave testing, and production line testing with automated test equipment (ATE).Adonis Lee, LitePoint's Sales Director, discussed how the recent trends of remote work and the metaverse have caused a dramatic increase in the demand for wireless transmission technologies and data bandwidth required for large-scale two-way communications. The trend has created new requirements and markets for various wireless products in the new spectrum used by 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and UWB, giving rise to previously unseen applications. LitePoint is constantly keeping track of the advancement of different wireless technologies to quickly integrate upstream chip vendors' capabilities and provide faster, simpler, and more cost-effective testing solutions, as to help customers seize the best windows of opportunity for profit.Latest Developments in the Wi-Fi 7 EraEugene Chow, Senior Director of Broadcom's Engineering Technology Department in Asia, started by sharing the latest developments of Wi-Fi 7—a new technology that will debut in the market in 2022-2024, officially known as the IEEE 802.11be standard for wireless networks but more commonly called Extremely High Throughput (EHT). This technology is distinguished by its ultra-high bandwidth. It features a maximum transmission rate of 46.1Gbps delivered through 320MHz bandwidth, using 4096 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and 16x16 multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology, as well as offering support for multi-link operation (MLO) and multi-RU modes, and compatibility with the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands. Due to cost considerations, Eugene predicted that the main products in the market will use 4x4 MIMO architectures with a transmission rate capped at 11Gbps. Draft 1.0 of IEEE 802.11be was already released back in May 2021, so the official standard is expected to be completed in 2024. Therefore, compatibility testing will likely start around December 2023.Eugene's presentation focused on several key features of the network protocol, starting with the development of the MLO specs. He explained that Wi-Fi 7 is currently being developed with augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and metaverse applications in mind by leveraging the newly-released 6GHz spectrum. Despite its many advantages, Wi-Fi 7 demands a great leap forward in terms of the quality of service and latency (QoS/Latency), with each device needing to support at least 1Gbps transmission rate. MLO was created specifically to meet these demands.Eugene's second topic was the use of automated frequency coordination (AFC) to solve spectrum congestion. This works by consulting a spectrum allocation database to find an appropriate spectrum for the geographical area the devices are located in. Since one of the selling points of Wi-Fi 7 is the incorporation of a 320MHz bandwidth, it is likely to focus on the newly-released 6GHz band due to existing sub 5GHz bands being so heavily occupied. However, the allowed spectrum in the 6GHz band is quite limited, so the low power indoor (LPI) context poses many challenges. To overcome these, access point (AP) devices can use AFC to find an appropriate unoccupied spectrum in the 6GHz band to connect to Wi-Fi 7 indoors. AFC requires the GPS location of each AP device to function, so the new chipsets will need built-in GPS support. Eugene said that the relevant protocols and mechanisms will gradually be ironed out by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the technology matures and chip vendors continue to give active feedback on IEEE 802.11be. He concluded that the future development of the IEEE 802.11be product line will offer a lot of opportunities to tap into.LitePoint Demonstrates Mass-Production-Ready, High-Efficiency Wi-Fi 6E Testing SolutionsYoung Huang, Factory Applications Engineer at LitePoint, took the stage next. His talk focused on the challenges of Wi-Fi 6E engineering and mass manufacturing testing, as well as testing preparations going into Wi-Fi 7. The use of the 6GHz spectrum is currently the focus of the market, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further driven the adoption of larger bandwidths. Based on the current Wi-Fi 6 product segmentation, it is estimated that the global Wi-Fi 6E product penetration will grow to an impressive 30% by the end of 2021.As a result, the market is seeing intense competition in the struggle for dominance in the Wi-Fi 6E chipset segment. Because the 6GHz spectrum will continue to be used in the future Wi-Fi 7 protocol, the Wi-Fi 7 specs in draft 1.0 already include utilization of 4096 QAM and 320MHz bandwidth. Given the multiple overlapping 320MHz channels in the 6GHz spectrum, MLO functions like preamble puncturing can provide Wi-Fi 6 and future Wi-Fi 7 devices with more flexibility in the selection of bands and channels.Furthermore, in Wi-Fi 7, MLO enables simultaneous use of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands through the combination of different 160MHz channels. For example, although an AP device may only register one media access control address (MAC address), the connection may actually be taking place through either the 5GHz or the 6GHz bands in the port physical layer (PHY layer), depending on which is more stable or faster at that time. Alternatively, bands in both spectrums may also be combined to increase total throughput. Functions like this are designed to solve wireless congestion in public areas caused by a larger number of simultaneous Wi-Fi connections.The current Wi-Fi 6E already includes BW20/40/80/160 bandwidth options, bridging the likes of UNII-6 and UNII-8 bands, or Channel 119 of BW80 and Channel 111 of BW160. Countries have also set different power categories for the 6GHz spectrum, such as Standard Power, Low Power Indoor, or Very Low Power. Devices providing Wi-Fi connectivity, such as AP devices and routers, need to strike an optimal match between each source component to truly deliver excellent performance in the 6GHz spectrum, a goal with its fair share of challenges. For instance, the 6GHz spectrum covers the incredibly wide 1200Mhz band and components will likely have different performances in different frequencies. Another example would be accurate control of the power spectrum to achieve interference mitigation from coexisting bands within the 6GHz spectrum. All of these need to be supported by reliable testing solutions.LitePoint's IQxel series solutions, including IQxel-MW 6G, IQxel-MW 7G, and IQxel-MX, are designed to test BW160 and BW320 specs for Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and the future Wi-Fi 7. Among them, IQxel-MX is a solution that supports all stages from engineering verification to mass production, IQxel-M2X deals with design validation and testing (DVT), IQxel-M8X is for Mobile (STA) mass production testing, and IQxel-M16X is aimed at AP mass production testing. These solutions utilize precise power control capabilities to complete complex testing and are indispensable for testing Wi-Fi 6E devices in the industry.UWB Precision Distance Measurement Helps NXP Target the Vehicle, Mobile and IoT MarketsThe afternoon session was headed by Allen Lee, Senior Engineer at NXP, focusing on solutions and applications of UWB technology. UWB uses time-of-flight (ToF) to determine distance with below 10 cm accuracy, making it highly suited for various security applications such as facial recognition, location-based services (LBS), and device-to-device mutual identification. With the latest trend of security-focused mobile phone applications and smart city applications—such as electric vehicle charging poles, traffic light duration control, crowd flow control, and many other emergent applications—still on the rise, UWB will come to permeate every aspect of life in the future.Allen said that NXP's UWB semiconductor solution is based on the Trimension product line, which provides security applications for vehicles and mobile devices. For instance, one can use a UWB key to open car doors when one's both hands are occupied. The company's solution also targets other smart home applications such as smart access keys, which are already utilized by international franchise hotels in Taiwan. In the U.S., UWB has also been integrated in distance warning applications in response to COVID-19.NXP makes it a point to incorporate Bluetooth and near field communications (NFC) technology as backups to UWB, a design choice crucial for battery-powered devices. UWB's precision and security advantages can also be used to detect object distances within or outside of vehicles to trigger corresponding in-vehicle smart applications for an enhanced user experience. In terms of security, NXP's solutions have also acquired complete China Compulsory Certificate (CCC) marks.LitePoint IQgig-UWB Precision Positioning Solution Perfect for UWB Mass Production TestingChris Chao, LitePoint's Manager of the Greater China Application Engineers, took the stage next. He started by commenting on the rapid growth of the UWB market, speaking of how UWB applications have been some of the few to prosper amidst the global economic impact caused by COVID-19. The technology has become a favorite among clients, with the number of UWB projects between Taiwan and China reaching a record high over the past six months in 2021, nearly matching the flourishing Wi-Fi market.The success of UWB can largely be attributed to the popularity of 3D positioning. UWB can achieve accurate 3D positioning with below 10 cm accuracy using only four sensors. The FiRa Consortium has also proposed three main uses for UWB: hands-free access control services, location-based services (LBS), and inter-device interactive services. UWB's precision positioning functionality and data transfer capability have triggered a surge of versatile applications in the market.There are three major requirements for UWB testing. First is regulatory testing, which means that the power spectral density needs to be in line with government regulations, such as FCC Part 15 compliance. Second is interoperability testing, that checks whether the software can interact with other software components and systems. The third is performance testing. LitePoint's IQgig-UWB tester is built to meet customer demands, featuring IEEE 802.15.4z specs certification with a complete suite of calibration utilities that cover the 5 to 19 GHz spectrum used by UWB. The tester uses the IQfact+™ ATE mass production assistance software and built-in standard testing functions, which can generate graphical data analysis of testing results through IQramp, making it the best solution for automated UWB measurements. The IQgig-UWB tester has been certified by the FiRa Consortium for PHY layer conformance testing, qualifying it as a standard tester for internationally accredited laboratories.5G Testing Solution Demonstrates Seamless Integration from Engineering Design to Multi-DUT Mass Production TestingAlex Hsieh, LitePoint's Director of Cellular Application Engineering in Asia, was the next speaker. His presentation focused on dissecting 5G development trends, explaining that LitePoint first entered the 5G testing solution market in 2017 and generated high revenues from the smartphone-centric 5G market. With the global 5G userbase estimated to grow to 3.5 billion users by 2026, the increasing variety of smart applications available is projected to cause the 5G market to grow to 4.7 times the size of the smartphone market. It is also worth noting that while Internet service providers (ISPs) from the U.S. and China are leading the globe in standalone (SA) 5G, a total of 12 ISPs from around the globe are also planning to adopt SA 5G architecture, setting the scene for even broader application scenarios.LitePoint's testing solutions cover everything from the initial chip design validation, chip mass production, and communication module testing, to the development, manufacturing, and mass production of the entire product system; all of the testing can be conducted under a single platform. LitePoint offers three main testers: the IQxstream-5G for the sub-6GHz spectrum, IQgig-IF for the 5-19GHz mid-band spectrum, and IQgig-5G for the 23-45GHz high-band spectrum. These solutions cover testing for the complete 5G spectrum, from FR1 to FR2, and use the IQfact5G (chip development testing) and IQfactATM (module development testing) software as ATE aids to simplify the setup of parameters and validate the characteristics of the test object, achieving cost-efficient and time-expedient testing for mass production.Real-World Testing Solutions Achieved Through Signaling Testing to Ensure 5G Product QualityMarcus Chen, LitePoint's Factory Applications Engineer, followed up with a presentation on IQcell-5G, a signaling testing solution that checks actual data exchange and transmission in usage scenarios after establishing a network connection. This solution is often used in end-of-line (EOL) testing, user experience validation, and communication product compliance validation to assess connection quality, antenna sensitivity performance, and data transmission performance, as well as for quality assurance (QA) stress testing. The IQcell-5G platform supports FR1-spectrum NSA and SA network testing as well as FR2 NSA networks. As for the corresponding ATE software, it uses IQfact-S as both a test aid and a built-in testing program.5G Small Cell and O-RAN Testing Systems Unveiled Amidst Booming Growth in the 5G Application MarketThe last speaker was Middle Wen, LitePoint's Product Manager, who finished the forum with a presentation titled "The Next Key Deployment in 5G Networks: Small Cell and O-RAN Radio Units". According to him, this is an emerging area with extensive prospective development opportunities for Taiwan's network and server supply chain.Middle explained that 5G technology has revolutionized telecom room layouts from the 4G era. ISPs are now embracing open-source systems for both efficiency and cost. Industry alliances like the O-RAN Alliance, Telecom Infra Project (TIP), and Small Cell Forum (SCF) have stepped up to set open standards and lead the radio unit revolution using small cell and O-RAN technology.Elvin Ren, LitePoint's General Manager of Sales in Taiwan, India and South East Asia

It has been many years since the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a reality, and system architectures have undergone many adjustments to meet the latest challenges. Because of these, the idea of edge computing was born. As the computing power of edge devices increases, the overall performance of systems has also improved. However, high computing power naturally increases power consumption. In addition, as the number of network devices gets larger, their locations more dispersed, and their deployment environments more varied, supplying power to devices has become increasingly challenging. As a power supply veteran, FSP foresaw new power supply demands and launched myriad products to meet the edge computing needs of customers. In recent years, the company has joined hands with partners of the 5G Ecosystem Alliance to create the most suitable solutions for different sectors.In its early days, IoT primarily operated using a centralized computing architecture, wherein an upper cloud platform was in charge of centrally computing the data returned from all the edge devices. This approach not only overburdened the upper cloud platform with heavy computing demands, but the greatly increased bandwidth requirements and signal travel time caused an increase in system latency, resulting in poor performance. To solve this problem, edge computing was introduced. With an edge computing architecture, edge devices and the cloud platform are both assigned important roles. Since the edge device has a certain degree of computing power, it is able to immediately respond and give feedback to user needs, while the cloud platform only needs to receive the filtered and processed data from the edge device then store that data for long-term analysis. This approach is able to enhance the overall system performance and efficiency. Many fields have already adopted an edge computing architecture. One notable example would be facial recognition devices, which are now commonly used in access control systems. Other fields, including transportation, manufacturing, retail, medical, gaming, and many others have also found ways to apply this architecture.While edge computing can significantly improve system performance, it also poses a challenge to the power supply design of end devices. FSP pointed out that under a centralized computing architecture, edge devices only need to acquire and transmit data; in addition, the relatively simple functions of the devices have kept power supply designs simple. Now in the edge computing era, however, existing general-purpose power supplies are increasingly unable to meet market demands. First, the hardware and software functions of edge devices under the edge computing architecture are very different due to the multiple purposes they serve. Second, as the number of connected devices continues to increase and the environments they are located in are more diverse, managing the devices has also become extremely difficult. Finally, edge devices are usually small in size, which makes it exceedingly challenging to satisfy the efficiency and heat dissipation standards for their power supplies. Thankfully, FSP's product layout can solve all these problems.In order to meet the needs of edge computing, FSP has developed three product strategies: small-volume PSUs with variable power density, high efficiency, and manageability. In terms of small-volume PSUs with variable power density, FSP has a complete product line from which equipment manufacturers can easily select power supplies that best meet their size and power density needs. In terms of high efficiency, FSP also works closely with partners to draw from their expertise and FSP's own design capabilities to provide solutions that can effectively dissipate heat in high-intensity operations to enhance system stability. As for manageability, FSP products support a wide range of mainstream industrial protocols in the market to facilitate the management of distributed edge devices.FSP further pointed out that the company not only engages in equipment manufacturing, but is also actively developing its own FSP-branded products. This proximity to market demands means that FSP's products can meet client demands both in terms of specifications and price. Additionally, the company's leading position in the market has been cemented by the breadth and depth of its product layout. This allows edge device equipment manufacturers to quickly create an edge-computing architecture solution that meets customers' needs by using FSP's one-stop-shop service. In addition to its own technical capabilities and product layout, FSP has actively engaged in cross-field collaborations. In recent years, the company has joined hands with partners of the 5G Ecosystem Alliance, including JPC, Chenbro, and ADLINK to integrate their products into solutions. According to FSP, the alliance members are all similarly positioned in each of their respective markets, which is why their combined efforts can create an even more impressive synergy. As for its future plans, FSP will continue to invest in R&D, expand its product line, and deepen collaboration with the 5G Ecosystem Alliance members to provide power supplies that excel in both performance and stability.While edge computing can significantly improve system performance, it also poses a challenge to the power supply design of end devices

JPC Connectivity is well known for its connectors and cables. However, as early as 2000, JPC stepped into manufacturing peripherals like mice and speakers, and then even expanded its product lines to the areas such as wireless charging. Today, JPC Connectivity is solid on the development of consumer IoT products.Four key techniques support JPC's success in maintaining a stable development of its IoT business for many years. They are wireless interfaces, energy management, sensors, and user experience (UX).Mastering 4 major niches and strengthening the design capabilitiesThe wireless interface is always the most critical part of an IoT product. This is why JPC continuously invests considerable huge resources into the development of wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, infrared, Bluetooth, LoRa, and NB-IoT. As for energy management, JPC also keeps a clear focus on improving the charging with high energy efficiency when JPC was developing its first wireless charging stations for smartphones and tablets back in 2007 and 2008.Even though the market of sensor modules is dominated by the major chip vendors, JPC still keeps the design capability on integrating the wireless parts with sensor components for flexible designs to meet different customization requests. Based on JPC's experience by working with major consumer electronic brands, JPC is highly capable of deriving a thorough understanding of product usage scenarios and creating the optimal user experience which matches best the user needs.An impressive product portfolio may support the evidence of JPC's success. For example, JPC worked with a major smartphone manufacturer to make the Qi charging docks and phone cases. JPC also manufactured the AC adapters for Russian telecommunication companies, designed the charging docks for name-brand tablets, and produced universal AC/DC adapters for laptops.JPC was also the first company to be certified by the Windows Media Center. As one of the pioneers in developing Infrared remote controllers, JPC develops products from its proprietary protocols to its modern Bluetooth frameworks. It built a wireless presentation remote controller, which was a multi-function pioneer in the remote market.From the early days of the 21st Century, JPC has acted mainly as a manufacturer of OEM and ODM products after it steps into the IoT industry.Innovative technologies enable local smart control sustained when the WAN is offline.JPC has great experience collaborating with major e-commerce platforms. Not only was JPC one of the first companies to make a bar code scanner that is equipped with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but it was also manufacturing OEM smart buttons and IR blasters to improve the shopping experiences for end customers by creating a convenient smart home way.Currently, wireless modules, sensor modules, and 2-in-1 wireless accelerometers are the main products of JPC. JPC specializes in making customized proof of concept (POC) prototypes with those modules to help customers to accelerate product development or even to combine them with other products to form complete smart terminal devices.Recently, JPC also entered the market of consumer devices, such as smart plugs and sensor hubs, which can be used as fundamentals to meet more advanced needs such as the replacement cycle tracking for water filters or the water level detection of fish tank/bathtub.In addition, the sensor hubs are the pride of JPC, as they adopt a patented "Sensor Cube" technology, which allows for five different sensors to be controlled through one single control board unlike traditional one-to-one sensor control IC chips.Overall, JPC has a clear R&D focus on sensors as its IoT strategy, which includes both sensors and module products. In the future, JPC aims the vertical integration with smart edge gateways, cloud technology, user interface, and more comprehensive environmental monitoring solutions to move consumer applications onto industrial applications such as smart factories.The common environmental detection solutions in the industry nowadays rely on the instructions delegated from the cloud. The disadvantage to this approach is that once the device loses WAN connection, the user loses its ability to control peripheral devices, which does not meet the public's expectations of smart control. To overcome this, JPC combines network gateways, AI, and edge computation technology to fulfill meaningful smart control, so the users can keep the control capabilities and applications of smart home or smart factory functions locally the WAN connection is off.In conclusion, JPC demonstrates its capabilities from design to manufacturing from extensive experience. It plans to leverage its resources to maximize its developing capability and flexibility to build tailored IoT solutions for its customers.JPC Connectivity continuously enhances the capability on developing IoT products with its solid expertise and experiencePhoto: Company