Communications

Following the signing of a global distribution agreement with Formerica Optoelectronics, Mouser announces that the former’s product range for data centres, enterprise IT, networking, 5G, IoT and broadcast applications are now available from the distributor. Mouser now stocks the company’s optical transceivers, active optical cables,Fibre Channel protocol products and serial digital interface (SDI) transceivers. The Taiwanese manufacturer’s Fibre Channel optical ...

Radio modules using STMicroelectronics’ STM32WB55 wireless microcontroller are available from Arrow Electronics. The Sharky modules were co-developed with Italian designer, Midatronics. The microcontroller integrates a 2.4GHz RF transceiver supporting Bluetooth 5 (including Bluetooth Low Energy), Thread, and ZigBee stacks. Its dual Arm Cortex-M core architecture enables real-time secure application performance running on the 64MHz Cortex-M4F core, and concurrently managesthe radio ...

Believed to be one of the first devices to support Bluetooth Core 5.1, Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52811 SoC is now available from Rutronik UK The Bluetooth Core 5.1 specification was introduced early this year and adds tracking and location functions. The nRF52811 is a multi-protocol SoC that supports IEEE 802.15.4 for Thread and ZigBee and also Bluetooth Direction Finding and Bluetooth Long Range for direction ...

LoRaWAN technology is low power, inexpensive, reliable and is ready for adoption in smart healthcare, writes Richard Lansdowne.   The medical and healthcare sector is ripe for development using LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology. Critical smart healthcare applications, in particular, can benefit from LoRa, a long range digital wireless data communication technology patented by Cycleo, which was acquired ...

Arrow Electronics, Infineon and Arkessa have joined forces to provide connected devices for the IoT, based on the GSMA’s eSIM specification for secure communications. The agreement sees Infineon’s secured hardware controllers and Arkessa’s secured mobile data services provided by Arrow to OEMs, system integrators and enterprises for secure cellular services. Infineon’s SLM security controllers are based on eSIM and can be coupled ...

MEMS oscillators from SiTime have been added to the range of IoT-targeted frequency control products available from AEL Crystals. The company explains that the IoT brings fresh challenges for frequency control manufacture as it requires products to accommodate multiple protocols, such as Bluetooth,  ZigBee, Z-Wave, 6LoWPAN, CSR Mesh / Bluetooth Low Energy, Sigfox and Thread. Designs are also expected to require lower power consumption ...

Developers and makers can take an existing microcontroller application that does not have wireless connectivity and, using just two GPIO pins, add it without modifying the original firmware, via IoTize‘s TapNLink products for Bluetooth and near field communications (NFC) products. The French start up company has signed a distribution agreement with Digi-Key to resell the wireless connectivity products for microcontroller-based embedded systems as ...

For long data cables, Diodes has introduced aPCIe 4.0 compliant equalising repeater for use between 2.5Gbit/s and 16Gbit/s. Called PI3EQX16904GL, and branded a ReDriver by the firm, the device supports four 100Ω differential current mode logic (CML) data I/Os, providing programmable linear equalisation, output swing, and gain to reduce inter-symbol interference over a variety of physical media. “It is the industry’s ...

Intended to fit inside the end of industrial data cables, Maxim has unveiled a dual IO-Link transceiver that includes a dc-dc converter and surge – claiming it to be both the smallest and most power-efficient available. Called MAX2251, the buck regulator supplies up to 300mA of load current and has an adjustable output from 2.5V to 12V). Switching is a ...

Doherty amplifiers can improve energy efficiency in 5G basestation transmitters, argue Gareth Lloyd and Patrick Agyapong. Doherty amplifiers, especially those with two independently driven inputs, promise significantly better energy efficiency in 5G basestation transmitters and similar applications. Power amplifiers in basestations constitute 30‑60% of the cost and 20‑60% of the energy consumption of the transmitter infrastructure, so optimal design is ...