Analogue / Linear / Mixed Signal ICs

Diodes has announced the BCR430UW6 linear LED driver with dropout voltage of 115mV and constant current regulation between 5mA and 100mA. This combination makes the BCR430UW6 suitable for applications that require multiple LEDs to operate together, such as signage illumination and architectural lighting for commercial and retail installations. The “ultra-low” dropout voltage and operating current of 285μA provide a greater ...

ProLabs of Cirencester has unveiled a plug-and-play optical fibre transceiver that can add DWDM to existing network infrastructure. Called Clarity Auto-Tuneable DWDM Transceiver, it plugged into the host device and passive mux, and is compatible with any OEM switch platform that supports SFP+ transceivers including switch platforms that do not natively support tuneable transceivers. The transceivers auto-discover and self-tune to individual ...

Texas Instruments is aiming at beam-forming microphones with four-channel ADC that can connect to four analogue microphones or eight digital microphones, or a combination of the two. “Smart home systems face challenges with far-field audio capture,” according to TI. “In today’s systems, a limited number of microphones and restricted signal processing capability make it difficult to capture and understand voice ...

Rohm is aiming at sensor applications in automotive systems such as ECUs and power-trains with a range of noise-tolerant comparators. “Advancements in computerisation and increase of densely packed electric devices have increased the amount of noise in electric vehicles and cars equipped with driver assistance systems,” according to the firm. “However, evaluation of noise performance of individual boards and systems, and ...

Amazon has qualified the VocalFusion 2-microphone development kit from XMOS for use with Alexa voice services in smart TVs and set-top boxes. “Amazon is seen by many as the leader in the world of voice, and our engineering expertise will be helping to transform the way consumers interact with everyday devices like TVs,” claimed XMOS CEO Mark Lippett. The kit is ...

Texas Instruments has announced a low-dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator, with what it claims it “industry’s lowest quiescent current of sub-25nA. The regulator features low Iq control at light loads even in dropout conditions”. Called TPS7A02, it can accept inputs across 1.5 – 6.0V and is available with fixed outputs between 0.8 and 5.0V (50mV steps) – at up to 200mA. ...

Thingy:91 is a cellular and GNSS IoT prototyping platform with world-wide coverage across 700MHz to 2200MHz, created by Nordic Semiconductor and Fractus Antennas. Based on Nordic’s nRF9160 SiP multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT system-in-package with GPS, the battery-powered Thingy:91 comes with a roaming SIM card, 16 sensors and a nRF52840 for short-range wireless communication with Bluetooth 5, Thread, Zigbee and ANT. The SIM is a Nano ...

Silicon Labs is aiming at switching industrial loads with a family of quad 24V 700mA isolated 145mΩ switches for resistive or inductive loads – solenoids, relays or lamps, for example, in programmable logic controllers (PLCs). “The switches are capable of providing up to 0.5A of IEC61131-2 compliant continuous current in a quad channel configuration,” said the firm. “Each switch has ...

Texas Instruments has introduced a reset chip for voltage rails between 1.5V and 10V, that can work on 24V rails with additional resistors (see below). Called the TPS3840 family, supply current is typically 300nA, and is 700nA max over temperature. Threshold voltage is fixed, and versions are available from 1.6 to 4.9V in 0.1V steps – accuracy is 1% typ (1.5% max). ...

Power Integrations is aiming at larger home appliances needing to meet IEC60335 with an X-capacitor discharger that can empty 6µF in under a second. X-capacitors are part of the EMC input filter of power supplies (see diagram right), that are essentially connected directly to the appliance’s mains plug and, uncontrolled, are left with up to the peak ac voltage (~340V) ...