Industry Spotlight News Growth for GPS Mouser reports “all-time record months for Q4 2013”
According to analysis from Frost & Sullivan, the global market for location-based appli- cations is poised for rapid growth, as the mass adoption of global positioning system (GPS)-enabled smartphones is encouraging developers to introduce numerous advanced applications. The report finds that indoor connectivity, augmented reality, big data and wearable devices are the key technology trends likely to fuel the uptake of location-based applica- tions. Location-based technology and data can then be combined to facilitate the development of smart spaces in every city and community. “Location-based application developers have so far focused on the development of out- door applications due to the adoption of GPS positioning in smartphones,” noted Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Tech- nologies Research Analyst Shuba Ramkumar. “However, as individuals spend more time indoors, there is a need to roll out indoor location-based applications that capitalise on various functionalities such as mapping, navigation and geo-fencing.” The report highlights that augmented reality technology could also be used to make location-based applications more interactive. Adding that, the widening ecosystem of wearable devices such as Google Glass and Samsung Galaxy Gear infuses technology into the daily lives of individuals, widening the scope of context-aware applications. The report also identifies that there are several challenges restricting the growth of the location-based applications market, exploring issues such as connectivity. Frost & Sullivan
www.frost & Sullivan
For component distributor, Mouser Electronics, 2013 has been a “good year” as it claims to have “outstripped” the general distribu- tion market in Europe. The distrib- utor advises it expects to achieve year-on-year revenue growth figures of above 30 percent. It adds that so far Q4 -2013 is proving to be its best quarter and claims it is enjoying its best ever European quarter performance and September, October and November were all-time record months. The company advises it has been “aggressively” focusing on growth plans positioning itself
for further significant European growth in 2014.
European Marketing Director, Graham Maggs said: “Here in Europe we are well ahead of our revenue targets and have grown our customer base by over 30 per- cent with new business coming from every industry sector. Maggs
continues: “Semico -
nductors now represent over 40 percent of our sales, and, impor- tantly, we have seen an 11 percent increase in the sales of parts that were introduced by the manufac- turer in the last 12 months (NPI sales). These facts lead to the
conclusion that we are now accepted as the design-fulfillment distributor of choice and go–to place for Newest Components.” In order to service this increased business, the distribu- tor plans to expand its resources at its European headquarters in Munich with the addition of more people who will concen- trate on delivering focused tech- nical content. Maggs advises: “We must deliver the right infor- mation for design engineers, pro- viding solutions-based material.” Mouser Electronics
www.mouser.com
Microchip releases 32-bit MCUs for embedded devices This
Microchip has unveiled its new 24-member PIC32MZ Embedded Connectivity (EC) family of 32- bit MCUs. These devices are claimed to offer performance characteristics of 330DMIPS and 3.28 CoreMarks/MHz, in addition to dual-panel, live- update Flash (up to 2MB). The devices also
feature a large RAM (512KB) and connectivity New monolithic active cell balancer
often not the case and generally gets worse as the batteries age. The company advises, passive energy balancing offers no improved run-time as it dissi- pates the added energy of the higher capacity batteries to match the lowest one.
A new monolithic flyback DC/DC converter designed to actively balance high voltage stacks of batteries has been released by Linear Technology Corporation. Battery stacks are commonly found in electric and hybrid vehicles as well as fail-safe power supplies and energy storage systems. Because these batteries are stacked in series, the lowest capacity battery will limit the entire battery stack’s run-time. Ideally, the batteries would be perfectly matched, but this is
In response the company claims, its LT8584 offers high efficiency active balancing, which redistributes the charge from the stronger cells (higher voltage) to charge the weaker cells during discharge.
This is said to enable the weaker cells to continue to supply the load, extracting some 96 per- cent of the entire stack capacity where passive balancing usually extracts approximately 80 percent. Linear Technology Corporation
www.linear.com
Electronics DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014
peripherals - including a 10/100 Ethernet MAC, Hi-Speed USB MAC/PHY (claimed as a first for PIC MCUs) and dual CAN ports. They also integrate code den- sity that is considered to be some 30 percent better than similar devices available, along with a 28Msps ADC that is said to offer good throughput rates for 32-bit MCUs.
A full-featured hardware crypto engine is also included, with a random number generator for high-throughput data encryption/decryption and authentication such as AES, 3DES, SHA, MD5 and HMAC.
is joined by what
is
claimed as “the first” SQI inter- face on a Microchip MCU which is the PIC32’s highest number of serial channels. This family is described as, offer- ing three times the performance and four times the memory over the previous-generation devices, in addition to a high level of advanced peripheral integration. For applications requiring
embedded connectivity, the family includes Hi-Speed USB, Ethernet and CAN, as well as a broad set of wired and wireless protocol stacks. Microchip
www.microchip.com
Optimised ICs for high-line applications .
Power Integrations has added new devices that it advises are optimised for high-line applications, completing the roll-out of its LYTSwitch-4 LED-driver IC family. The company claims, these ICs deliver accurate output current and high efficiency for bulb and tube applications and high- bay lighting. The devices can potentially simplify design and reduce cost while enabling lamps to deliver uniform light output along with good performance in TRIAC-dimmable applications. The ICs feature a combined PFC and CC
single-stage converter topology that is said to result in a power factor greater than 0.95 with efficiencies of over 90 percent. The company highlights that, designs based on the new drivers can easily meet EN61000-3-2C
regulations for total
harmonic distortion (THD); optimised designs are able to deliver less than 10 per- cent THD. Regulation is said to be better
than +/- 5 percent across load and produc- tion spread, which can reduce the need for over-design to meet minimum luminance targets, potentially cutting system cost. The devices’ have a high switching
frequency (132kHz) that can enable smaller, lower-cost magnetics to be used, and frequency jittering can reduce EMI filtering requirements.
The company adds that, designers can evaluate this new family using a new high-line LED lighting reference design that it has co-developed with Cree. The company advises its DER-396 describes a PAR38 spotlight LED driver design. The new ICs are said to enable small,
longer-lasting lamps in a wide range of applications including consumer bulbs, commercial lighting and T8 tubes, indus- trial, high-bay and exterior lighting. Power Integrations
www.powerint.com
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