Resolver enables flexible motor sensor placement

Melexis has introduced a 5-V variant of its MLX90381 Triaxis pico-resolver for compact motor systems that rely on a 5-V supply. As motors become smaller and mechanical space more constrained, integrating accurate rotor position sensing becomes…

Robotics computer doubles edge AI performance

NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin Nano 2 system-on-module delivers nearly twice the inference performance of its predecessor, the Jetson Orin Nano Super. The performance boost comes from improved Tensor Cores and higher memory bandwidth. Nano 2 also maintains…

SMARC module bridges Arduino prototyping to production

SECO announced early access to hardware samples of its SOM-SMARC-Dragonwing-IQ8 module for industrial edge AI applications. Developed with Arduino and Qualcomm, the SMARC 2.1.1 module enables the transition from Arduino Ventuno Q prototyping…

IC manages sensors without waking the MCU

The nPZ2100 sensor-management and power-saving IC (PSIC) from Nanopower provides autonomous control for battery-constrained sensor systems. Based on the nPZero power-reduction architecture, the device manages sensors and peripherals while keeping…

IP core provides scalable JESD204C connectivity

Achronix now offers a JESD204C IP core for connecting high-speed ADCs and DACs to programmable logic in Speedster7t FPGAs. Each core supports data rates of up to 32 Gbps per lane and up to eight lanes per link, delivering an aggregate serial…

Finger-friendly DPOT pushbuttons do ups, downs, and dittos

Simple circuit saves hard-working fingers from unnecessary wear and tear. Digital potentiometers (DPOTs) with manual up/down increment/decrement interfaces can have real utility as versatile substitutes for traditional electromechanical pots.…

Why a nine-month AI chip tape-out matters

AI-assisted chip design is not new. What is new is seeing an advanced ASIC reach tape-out in roughly nine months. The significance is not that AI can optimize individual design tasks; the industry already knows that. Synopsys and others have…

Enhancing SoC HW/SW co-verification with FPGA-based prototyping

The use of hardware assisted verification (HAV) technologies was once a luxury, “nice to have” technology for IC design. Because of the costs associated with HAV, especially for the “big box” logic emulators, it was mainly leveraged…

Deepfakes

Fakery methods, and their impacts on those who are particularly easily fooled, have advanced dramatically in recent times. My wife and I recently saw the movie Disclosure Day, in which an extra-terrestrial being comes to earth and after much…

Power Tips #156: How to design a high-boost-ratio boost converter

The maximum boost ratio achievable with a single stage, normally cited as 8-to-9, can be much higher if you keep important design considerations in mind. In single-cell battery applications such as personal electronics or power tools, where…

Driving motion: A practical guide to electric linear actuators

Electric linear actuators (ELAs) turn intention into motion—precise, predictable, and quietly powerful. This guide offers elementary notes and practical pointers on their basics and everyday use. Let’s begin with a quick distinction: linear…

Optical scaling turning into an architectural challenge

For decades, semiconductor progress trained us to think about scaling in a particular way. Make the fundamental building block smaller, increase density, improve performance, and integrate more functionality into the same physical space. However,…