Rearview camera processor

Sept. 1, 2007
VIMICRO'S VC0702 is a low-power TV camera processor for automotive rear-view cameras. Vehicle rear-view camera systems are required to work well and be

VIMICRO'S VC0702 is a low-power TV camera processor for automotive rear-view cameras. Vehicle rear-view camera systems are required to work well and be stable throughout exposure to a wide temperature range and in low-light environments. The VC0702 performs well in both these situations. The device supports CMOS and CCD sensor types. The built-in video DAC can generate NTSC or PAL video signals. The unit also features a 10-bit image signal processor that performs multiple functions, including auto bad pixel detection and cancellation, auto flicker detection and cancellation, auto lens shading compensation, configurable brightness, edge-adaptive CFA interpolation and image post-processing to support size from VGA/CIF to NTSC/PAL or bypass.
VI Micro • (650) 966-1882 • www.vimicro.com

TIRE PRESSURE SENSOR

The SM5420 SO-8 packaged pressure sensor from Silicon Microstructures is a miniature absolute pressure sensor for high-volume applications such as consumer tire pressure gauges or automotive tire pressure monitoring. The sensor package has a footprint of 0.16 in. × 0.20 in. and is available in ranges from 15 psi to 100 psi. It comes gelled or un-gelled and is designed to be surface mounted on ceramic or PC board substrates by high-volume OEM manufacturers.

The SM5420 is available in a ported configuration to allow positive positioning of a pressure source over the inlet or in a non-ported configuration to be used for sensing general environmental pressures or with an O-ring seal. The port position has been chosen to minimize the chance of pressure pulses directly impacting the face of the sensor die for added long-term reliability in hostile environments.
Silicon Microstructures • (408) 577-0100 • www.si-micro.com

HIGH-PRECISION OP-AMPS

The TS507 from STMicroelectronics is a high-precision op-amp that benefits customers with an ultralow input offset voltage guaranteed over a wide common-mode voltage range. The device is suited for automotive and industrial applications. A trimming technique adjusts the input offset voltage of the TS507 at 100 µV maximum. This digital method is done after packaging and has the advantage of reducing the device's overall cost by avoiding the use of external components. The TS507 also offers a good precision over the full temperature range through a low input-offset-voltage drift (250 V maximum over the range of 0 °C to 85 °C). In addition to these parameters, the TS507 features good electrical characteristics such as a high open-loop gain (131 dB typical at 5 V) and a high CMRR of 115 dB typical at 5 V. Other major benefits of the TS507 include low noise and an output current up to 120 mA in a short-circuit configuration. Internal ESD protection is also extended to 5 kV.

In production now, part numbers TS507ID-TS507IDT (industrial temperature range) and TS507CD-TS507CDT (commercial temperature range) are available in a SO8 ECOPACK package and cost $0.60 and $0.50, respectively in quantities of 1000 pieces, while part numbers TS507ILT and TS507CLT come in the SOT23-5 ECOPACK package and cost $0.60 and $0.50, respectively.
STMicroelectronics • +41 22 929 29 29 • www.st.com

ACOUSTIC NOISE CANCELLATION TECHNOLOGY

CSR's third-party software enhancement for its BlueCore-multimedia platform uses Aurisound's adaptive focus-beam (AFB) technology, intended for Bluetooth in-car hands-free kits, headsets and mobile phones. Using high directivity to remove all sound except the speaker's voice, Aurisound's technology allows CSR's customers to provide high-quality voice-based applications across a variety of Bluetooth-enabled devices. Aurisound's AFB works independently to the noise source. Through the use of a focused directional beam, AFB enables Bluetooth devices to achieve real-time adaptive response to any acoustic environment, with no distortion. AFB provides improved clarity for better voice quality as well as improved intelligibility for voice recognition. The reduction of ambient noise also improves voice-encoding efficiency over a Bluetooth link. In addition, Aurisound's two-microphone noise-cancellation algorithm uses as few as 10 MIPS and has no restrictions on distance between microphones. Aurisound can provide both single- and dual-microphone technologies that offer echo and noise cancellation for a variety of applications.
CSR • (214)-540-4300
www.csr.com

PC BOARD DESIGN KIT

A design kit from Panasonic and Ansoft is intended for Any Layer Interstitial Via Hole (ALIVH) board for Nexxim, HFSS and Ansoft Designer design tools. The design kit can be used together with Panasonic surface-mount technology (SMT) components, such as varistors and common-mode noise filters. Engineers designing high-performance HDMI signal lines can use this design kit to ensure the signal quality of the digital signal content. The kit is equipped with scalable differential and common-mode elements that can be applied in circuit- and system-level simulations to produce realistic waveforms.

Using ALIVH technology, engineers can design circuit boards that are more compact because via holes can be placed in all layers of the board. These compact board designs allow engineers to add greater circuit functionality due to the increased real estate and to shorten the effective trace length for high-speed signal circuits, resulting in greater performance. Lighter weight is achieved by applying non-woven aramid reinforcement and via holes free of copper plating. ALIVH board applications include package substrates, such as multichip modules (MCMs). The Panasonic ALIVH design kit is available in scalable form, allowing users to modify board stack-ups to maximize the performance of PC boards based on the Panasonic ALIVH technology. The design kit is available from Panasonic's web site.
Panasonic • (201) 348-7000
www.industrial.panasonic.com

TACTILE SWITCHES

BI Technologies' tactile switch offering has been expanded to include a series of devices with a square stem, designated the SWT8 series; and added three additional styles to the sealed product offering designated the SWTW series. The SWT6 series has also been expanded.

The SWTW series of sealed switches has expanded to include the SWTW-S side actuation surface-mount 6.2 mm × 6.2 mm switch; the SWTW-K top actuation through-hole switch in an 8 mm × 8 mm configuration; and the SWTW-R side actuation through-hole switch in an 8 mm × 8 mm configuration. Available configurations for the SWT8 series (6.2 mm × 6.2 mm with a 2.4 mm and 2.8 mm square stem) include: the SWT8-R side actuation through-hole; the SWT8-V top actuation through-hole; the SWT8-M top actuation surface mount. This switch also includes an expanded number of actuation forces ranging from 100 g to 520 g. Square and round caps are available for the 2.4 mm square stem. The caps, with SWT8-C part number designation, are offered in a variety of colors. Typical pricing for these tactile switches is $0.06 to $0.15, depending on quantity.
BI Technologies • (714) 447-2300 • www.bitechnologies.com

REAL-TIME OPERATING SYSTEM FOR MCUS

Express Logic's ThreadX microcontroller edition RTOS, ThreadX/MCU, provides a real-time operating system (RTOS) for the 16-bit PIC24 microcontrollers (MCUs) and dsPIC digital signal controllers (DSCs) from Microchip Technology. Until now, ThreadX has been available only for 32-bit processors and DSPs. Express Logic's ThreadX MCU edition (ThreadX/MCU) supports Microchip's PIC24 MCU and dsPIC DSC families. ThreadX/MCU is a fully upward-compatible, reduced-size, 16-bit edition of the 32-bit ThreadX RTOS. The operating system is available exclusively for Microchip's 16-bit PIC24 MCUs and dsPIC30/33 DSCs.

ThreadX/MCU provides full pre-emptive scheduling, interrupt management, message passing, thread synchronization, resource locking, event management and timer control; and supports up to 10 threads, queues, timers, mutexes, event flag groups, block pools and byte pools. The RTOS is also fully upward compatible with Express Logic's full-featured ThreadX RTOS, and is royalty-free. The operating system requires 1.6 kbytes. Operations execute in only 50 to 150 clock cycles, leaving more CPU cycles for the application. ThreadX/MCU, NetX/MCU, FileX/MCU and PEGX/MCU are available immediately through microchipDIRECT (www.microchipdirect.com) or Express Logic (www.rtos.com), with full production licenses beginning at $5990. Demo licenses are available free of charge.
Microchip Technology • (480) 792-7200 • www.microchip.com

THIN-FILM THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR

Nextreme's TEG is a miniature, thin-film thermoelectric generator that converts heat directly into electricity. Ideal for waste-heat conversion applications, the solid-state device delivers power generation densities greater than 3 W/cm2 in excess of those achieved using bulk materials, and is optimized to provide power in a form factor that can be as much as 20 times thinner than bulk-material alternatives. This enables waste-heat energy-conversion applications, as well as remote-power applications. Manufactured using semiconductor fabrication techniques, the TEG is scalable, cost-effective, and can be used in a broad range of markets and applications, including automotive.

Nextreme's TEG has demonstrated output power levels of >100 mW at a ΔT of 70 K, and >300 mW at a ΔT of 120 K. With modules measuring 3.5 mm × 3.5 mm, this translates into a power density of approximately 1 W/cm2 to 3 W/cm2 for the TEG. Nextreme's TEG devices generate electricity via the Seebeck Effect, where electricity is produced from a temperature differential applied across the device. The temperature difference (ΔT) between the hot (TH) and the cold (TC) sources leads to a difference in the Fermi energy (ΔEF) across the thermoelectric material, yielding a potential difference, which drives a current.
Nextreme • (919) 990-8300 • www.nextreme.com

CMOS VISION SENSOR

Sensata Technologies' ACM100 CMOS camera module and IM103 image sensor offerings will improve the operational safety of a variety of vehicles. The ACM100 camera module is based on the IM103 CMOS image sensor, with the same wide dynamic range (up to 120 dB) enabled by Autobrite technology that can accurately capture visual information in conditions of extreme variations in illumination. The IM103's spectral range is sensitive to visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelengths enabling the camera to capture wavelengths that are unseen by the human eye but present in the night sky.

This capability far exceeds traditional imagers allowing industrial camera systems to function in dramatically changing lighting conditions common in day and night operation. For example, video enabling a motor home or a heavy construction vehicle provides significant operator viewing assistance and results in improved operator performance and a reduced number of accidents and associated downtime. The benefits of the system are especially evident at night when low lighting might make it difficult or impossible to see with the human eye or with conventional imagers.
Sensata Technologies • (508) 236-3800 • www.sensata.com

AUDIO AMP REFERENCE DESIGN

International Rectifier's (IR's) IRAUDAMP4 is a class D audio power amplifier reference design. Compared to typical circuit designs, the new reference design illustrates how designers can reduce PC board space by 50% for class D audio amplifiers for the entire mid-voltage range of mid- and high-power amplifiers for home theater applications, professional amplifiers, musical instruments and car entertainment.

Showcasing the IRS20955 200 V digital audio driver IC and the IRF6645 DirectFET digital audio MOSFETs, the IRAUDAMP4 reference design is a two-channel, 120 W half-bridge design offering 96% efficiency at 120 W, for 4 speakers. The design incorporates critical protection features such as overcurrent protection, overvoltage protection, undervoltage protection, dc protection, and overtemperature protection, in addition to housekeeping functions such as a ± 5 V supply for analog signal processing for the preamplifier and a +12 V supply (VCC) referenced to -B for the class D gate driver stage. The two-channel design is scalable for power and a number of channels, and requires no heatsink under normal operating conditions.

The IRS20955(S) audio driver IC, on which the reference design is based, features a floating PWM input designed specifically for class D audio amplifier applications. Bi-directional current sensing detects overcurrent conditions during positive and negative load currents without any external shunt resistors. A built-in protection control block provides a secure protection sequence against overcurrent conditions, as well as a programmable reset timer. The internal deadtime-generation block enables accurate gate switching and optimum deadtime setting for better audio performance, such as lower THD and lower audio noise floor.

The featured IRF6645 power MOSFETs are part of IR's DirectFET family. The DirectFET packaging technology enhances performance in class D audio amplifier circuits by reducing lead inductance to improve switching performance and reduce EMI noise. The higher thermal efficiency enables 120 W operation into 4Ω loads, eliminating the need for a heatsink. The IRAUDAMP4 reference design is available immediately. Pricing is $550 each.
International Rectifier
(310) 726-8000

www.irf.com

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