ON Semiconductor exhibited pivotal technologies at IoT World 2017

ON Semiconductor demonstrated a variety of technological advances in relation to Internet of Things (IoT) implementation at IoT World 2017.

Those who visited the event could see the AR0237 RGB-IR CMOS image sensor and AR0238 RGB-IR CMOS image sensor. These have the ability to capture daytime color and nighttime near infra-red (nIR) image data on the same sensor without the cost and complexities (like refocusing and maintenance) that can result from having a mechanical IR-cut filter mounted onto the imaging assembly.

Thanks to their Color Filter Array (CFA) arrangement, where the 4×4 kernel employed replaces some red and blue pixels with nIR-sensitive pixels and rearranges the spatial density of the remaining pixels, these high dynamic range devices can deal with the most challenging of lighting conditions.

With 2.1Mp resolution and supporting 60fps video operation, they are highly suited to home security and automated monitoring applications where there is a large variation in the ambient light levels over time.

From a connectivity perspective, ON Semiconductor showcased the recently announced RSL10 multi-protocol Bluetooth 5 certified radio System-On-Chip (SoC).

Offering the industry’s lowest power consumption in peak receiving and deep sleep mode, the RSL10 is optimized for use in IoT edge-node devices, as well as connected health and wellness applications. This highly flexible, ultra-low-power radio SoC supports a voltage supply range between 1.1 and 3.6V, and supports 1.2 and 1.5V batteries without requiring an external DC/DC converter.

Built around sophisticated dual-core architecture, the RSL10 offers a programmable ARM Cortex-M3 processor for clocking speeds up to 48MHz, and the capacity to support 2.4GHz proprietary and custom protocol stacks. An embedded Digital Signal Processor (DSP) also enables support for signal processing intensive applications, including wireless audio codecs.

Having already made a major impact in the global electronic engineering community, the company’s IoT Development Kit (IDK), presents a configurable platform upon which there is broad scope for building compelling and highly effective IoT system designs. The foundation is a baseboard, which again features an ARM Cortex-M3 processor. A wide selection of different daughter cards can then be attached to this baseboard to provide wireless/wireline connectivity (SIGFOX, ZigBee, BLE, CAN, Ethernet and WiFi), as well as actuator (LED and motor driving) and sensor (moisture, ambient light, PIR and heart rate) functions.

Cloud connectivity is supported by protocols (MQTT, REST). This is all accompanied by a powerful Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that features a C++ compiler, code editor, debugger and numerous application-related libraries delivering smart cloud-based applications out of the box.

Also on display was ON Semiconductor’s award-winning battery-free wireless sensors. These utilize UHF RFID technology to provide cost-effective and compact moisture/proximity or temperature/ proximity sensing mechanisms which can be deployed wherever you want to monitor conditions.

Furthermore, having already secured SIGFOX certification in several geographies (including North America and Europe), the company has now been certified to RCZ3 (AX-SFJK RF transceiver SoC) for the Japanese and Korean markets, as well as RCZ4 (AX-SFAZ RF transceiver SoC) in relation to use in Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. As a result, ON Semiconductor now has a global reach when it comes to supporting this key IoT-centric wireless communications protocol.

“With tens of billions of connected nodes expected to go into operation in the next few years, the huge potential of IoT is evident. However, supporting the variations and nuances of multiple industry segments and delivering comprehensive, ready-to-use solutions that are power, size and cost efficient is imperative,” stated Wiren Perera, who spearheads IoT at ON Semiconductor. “By utilizing our recognized expertise in power, sensing and connectivity, we can serve this burgeoning market in a way that no other IC vendor will be able to do.”