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Converter Evaluation and Design

Converter Evaluation and Design

List of common converters and calculations of switch stresses/utilization are presented in this article. Converter design with the aid of computer spreadsheet is also shown here. A short list of converters is provided based on the basic topologies and circuit manipulations of the converters discussed on other technical articles.


Basic Inductor Design

Basic Inductor Design

Inductor design characteristics are defined in terms of various parameters. Inductor winding is made of a conductor material which may be a single round wire or a unique multi-stranded conductor known as Litz wire. Litz wire has the main advantage of reduced skin effect. Inductor design characteristics are defined in terms of various parameters which are discussed in this technical article.


ARM’s New Chip Design Extends Battery Life of IoT Devices

ARM’s New Chip Design Extends Battery Life of IoT Devices

ARM is trying to resolve the thorny problem of battery life in Internet of Things devices with a new chip design that will significantly reduce the power consumed by processors, sensors and wireless chips. The company has overhauled the way it designs low-power Cortex-M chips that go into IoT devices such as health monitors, smart home devices and sensors. The restructured design could almost double battery life, ARM executives said at Computex in Taipei on Monday.


News Jun 01, 2015 by Tim Youngblood
Latest Automotive Video Decoder Supports Next-Generation SoCs

Latest Automotive Video Decoder Supports Next-Generation SoCs

Intersil announced the TW9992 analog video decoder, which features an integrated MIPI-CSI2 output interface that provides compatibility with the newest SoC processors. The decoder's MIPI-CSI2 interface simplifies design by making it easier to interface with SoCs, while also lowering the system's EMI profile.


News Jun 01, 2015 by Tim Youngblood
Cypress’ Bluetooth Smart Remote Control and Touch Mouse Reference Design Kits

Cypress’ Bluetooth Smart Remote Control and Touch Mouse Reference Design Kits

Cypress announced the availability of two reference design kits (RDKs) based on its PRoC™ BLE Programmable Radio-on-Chip solution for Bluetooth Smart applications. The new CY5672 PRoC BLE Remote Control RDK and CY5682 PRoC BLE Touch Mouse RDK provide feature-rich, production-ready implementations with prolonged battery life.


News Jun 01, 2015 by Tim Youngblood
AC-Equivalent Circuit Modelling

AC-Equivalent Circuit Modelling

The basic converters complete equivalent circuits can be studied here which include the basic AC modeling approach and the results for several converters. A simple circuit diagram is used for high-frequency converters. We will construct the non-linear model and convert it into a linear circuit that describes the small-signal performance of a circuit.


Intel to Acquire Altera for $17 Billion

Intel to Acquire Altera for $17 Billion

The acquisition will couple Intel’s leading-edge products and manufacturing process with Altera’s leading field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. The combination is expected to enable new classes of products that meet customer needs in the data center and Internet of Things (IoT) market segments. Intel plans to offer Altera’s FPGA products with Intel Xeon® processors as highly customized, integrated products. The companies also expect to enhance Altera’s products through design and manufacturing improvements resulting from Intel’s integrated device manufacturing model.


News Jun 01, 2015 by Tim Youngblood
Industry’s First NFC Sensor Transponder

Industry’s First NFC Sensor Transponder

Texas Instruments (TI) released today the industry’s first Near Field Communication (NFC) sensor transponder family. The RF430RL25xH system-on-chip (SoC) device is equipped with a fully programmable low power microcontroller (MCU), non-volatile FRAM, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and supports an ISO 15693-compliant NFC interface as well as Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and Inter Integrated Circuit (I2C). The high frequency13.56-MHz sensor transponder can operate on full passive (battery-less) or semi-active modes for optimal battery life in portable and wireless sensing applications.


News Apr 06, 2015 by Tim Youngblood