Front End I News
Moscow selects NXP’s MIFARE Plus solution for new urban ticketing system
Moscow’s Department of Transport has selected NXP Semiconductor’s MIFARE Plus for the capital’s new “TROIKA” smart card project. The new multi-modal card aims to improve the quality of passenger service and make public transport more attractive to use.
The Moscow transport network serves an urban area with a population of over 20 million people, and supports over 350 million trips per month. The new smart card will help passengers by reducing the time they have to spend at cash desks to buy tickets, one of the biggest problems during Moscow’s rush hour. Travellers will be able to store any type of ticket on the card without fear of expiry, while frequent users can benefit from lower costs when using multiple modes of transport. The contact-less card functions with a flexible tariff system, and allows for the future integration of services such as parking, road-tolling, bike rental and in the longer term, mobile ticketing.
“The TROIKA eWallet project is the next step in the evolution of our automatic fare collection system in Moscow, providing passengers with a multi-functional transport card, combining all types of urban transport, with suburban trains and other services such as parking and bike rental to be added in the near future,” said Maxim Liksutov, chairman of the Moscow Department of Transport. Transport officials believe that customer service will be significantly improved, with 25,000 new topping-up points being introduced across the city to reduce cash
Automotive applications set to drive growth of embedded vision market
New research from IMS suggests that automotive applications such as lane- departure warning and self-parking will be among the major growth drivers this year of the market for embedded vision, an area of technology concerned with enabling machines to “see” and interpret data from computer vision software.
Revenue in 2013 for special-purpose computer vision processors used in under- the-hood automotive applications is forecast to reach $151 million, up from $137 million last year and from $126 million in 2011 and that expansion is set to continue through to 2016 with annual growth rates of between 6 to 9 percent, confirming the solid prospects in store for embedded vision, one of the fastest- growing trends in technology. By 2016, revenue is expected to amount to $187 million.
4 April 2013
Distribution agreement: EasySYNC has been chosen by the Korean connectivity solutions provider Sollae Systems to market and distribute its products - giving it greater traction in key western markets. As a result of the agreement EasySYNC customers will be able to purchase a wide variety of Sollae's high performance, rugged and cost- effective network interconnection offerings through the company’s European and North American sales operations.
Portfolio strengthened: Gateway Electronic Components, an independent franchise distributor, has strengthened its portfolio of capacitor products by extending its range of stocked EPCOS components and investing in increased levels of inventory. The company has broadened its portfolio of general purpose polyester film capacitors with in-depth stocking of the B32520 to B32529 series, and has invested in X and Y class suppression capacitors for EMC filtering as well as polyester and polypropylene dielectric pulse capacitors for DC and AC applications.
desk queues. To ensure improved end-to- end system security, the new readers will contain NXP’s reader ICs and MIFARE SAM AV2 for secure key storage and back-end connection to the central server. NXP is one of only a few companies that can supply a complete identification and transit ticketing solution, from low- end ticketing to high-end secure microcontroller platforms and corresponding reader ICs and SAMs. “Our fast-moving world faces urbanisation and environmental challenges, making the need for flexible and secure travel solutions more important than ever. The backwards
Embedded vision allows machines to understand their environment through visual means, combining high-performance graphics-enhanced applications processors, digital signal processors and even field programmable gate arrays with computer vision software.
compatibility of MIFARE products enables a seamless upgrade to a higher security level without the need to revoke or re- issue existing cards,” said Ulrich Huewels, vice president and general manager, card security business line, NXP Semiconductors. MIFARE Plus is based on open global
standards for both air interface and cryptographic methods and is available in two versions: MIFARE Plus S, the Slim version, for straightforward migration of MIFARE Classic systems; and MIFARE Plus X, the eXpert version, which offers more flexibility to optimise the command flow for speed, privacy, and confidentiality.
of industrial security applications, another powerful growth driver for the field. In factory automation, for instance, applications for this established market can be found in smart vision sensors, machine vision cameras and compact vision systems. As many as 6.1 million units of machine vision hardware could be possible by 2016, up from 3.3 million units in 2011. Two other established markets for embedded vision are in video content analysis systems, where network surveillance hardware could total 38.7 million units by 2016, up from 11.2 million in 2011; and in military aerospace, where processors in military-grade applications are forecast to reach 92 million units by 2016, up from 83.5 million in 2011. Embedded vision is also growing in the developing areas of gesture
In automotive vision systems, one of the established markets for embedded vision, the trend is shifting from multiple small markets for embedded solutions toward a growing market for integrated intelligence. While an older applications model could be found to feature many processors and cameras possessing a variety of individual performance needs and solutions, an integrated vision system boasts of multi- core and high-performance processors, with fewer cameras but more complex and cohesive solutions.
Embedded vision is also used in a variety Components in Electronics
recognition, augmented reality and digital signage. Here the markets are considered to be less than mature but possess significant possibilities that can be realised in the short to medium term of three to six years.
Emerging markets include facial
recognition, such as identification by automated teller machines for financial transactions; transportation, in the form of self-guided vehicles and intelligent infrastructure; and medical, covering patient monitoring and interaction based on vision.
UHF RFID uses a battery-less approach. It will work when the device is un-powered and does not need line of sight. Identification can occur when the finished PCB is fully assembled and when it is packaged in the shipping carton. Apart from board traceability, the identification is available across the whole supply chain and greatly aids anti- counterfeit brand protection initiatives.
Shipments: Mobile phone maker Blackberry says it shipped one million of its new Z10 smartphones in the first three months of 2013. The company has also reported profits of $98m (£65m) for the quarter, after posting a big loss for the same period last year. The Z10 handset is seen as crucial to the future of the company, which has struggled to keep up with new Apple and Android phones.
Resignation: Hewlett-Packard has announced a boardroom shake-up which will see its chairman Raymond Lane step down. Lane is the most prominent casualty of the ‘bungled’ acquisition of software company Autonomy for which HP paid $11bn (£7.2bn). Critics complain not enough due diligence was done before the company was bought. HP claims that Autonomy took steps to inflate its own value, which has been denied by Autonomy's former management.
Denial: The US telecoms group Verizon Communications has denied that it wants to buy or merge with the UK mobile phone operator Vodafone. The announcement came after reports suggesting Verizon could make a joint move for Vodafone with fellow US firm AT&T. While Verizon said it did not "currently have any intention to merge with or make an offer for Vodafone" it was interested in buying out Vodafone's 45% stake in their Verizon Wireless joint venture.
www.cieonline.co.uk
Prototype service: Murata and their RFID partner Beta LAYOUT have launched a prototype trial service for their MAGICSTRAP-based PCB RFID devices. Using Murata's MAGICSTRAP devices, Beta LAYOUT will embed the UHF RFID component for a regular prototype order of up to 50 PCBs without extra charge. This allows electronics equipment manufacturers to investigate the ease with which this PCB identification approach can be implemented.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44