Dreamstime_simongreig_17639917 and ATEK Access Technologies
ATEK Access Technologies released the Mini-Bar series, the latest addition to its Datakey family of rugged, portable memory tokens and mating receptacles. It provides embedded-systems designers with a robust memory key that can be used both as a credential for access control or to store and transfer data. Targeting small, handheld applications, the Mini-Bar portable memory system reduces the receptacle footprint while maintaining a robust memory token size that's easily handled.
Mini-Bar memory tokens and receptacles are miniaturized versions of the Datakey Bar series of products, but are more than 60% smaller than the equivalent Bar receptacle models. Offered in two versions, the 0.64- × 0.58- × 0.53-in. (16.3 × 14.7 × 13.6 mm) MBRHN model has an 8-pin header connector and the 0.64- × 0.58- × 0.36-in. (16.3 × 14.7 × 9.1 mm) MBRFN model offers an interface board with an FFC/FPC connector. Both come with or without an adhesive gasket and achieve an IP67 seal when properly mounted.
Four memory token models are available, all using serial EEPROM, with memory capacity options that include 16 or 256 kb with either an SPI or I2C serial interface. In 2025, additional Mini-Bar memory tokens will be introduced featuring Microchip’s CryptoAuthentication secure memory ICs.
An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.
