Exploring Two Distinct Focus Areas in Embedded System Design at EW2023

At the recently concluded Embedded World 2023 in Nuremberg, Germany, sustainability was highlighted as a key industry observation. The organizers pointed out that embedded systems are core elements of many efficient and sustainable applications. Embedded systems themselves must also be sustainable throughout their entire lifecycle—from design and manufacturing to operation and upgradability, refurbishment, and decommissioning.

The other focal topic is “trustworthy”—more and more embedded systems are being used in mission-critical applications, such as medical technology, mobility, and industrial automation. The industry is responding to these challenges with adaptive, autonomous, and intelligent systems that can safely and reliably perform critical tasks. Many questions must be answered, ranging from design responsibility to formal verification methods and ethical issues.

Focusing on smart power and smart sensing technologies, onsemi undoubtedly has a deeper and more profound understanding and practice of embedded systems in these two key areas. At this exhibition, onsemi showcased innovative achievements in several key application areas, particularly how its image vision sensors, iToF depth sensors, and EliteSiC silicon carbide technology, along with a vertically integrated supply chain, contribute to significant advancements in various application fields, perfectly illustrating the exhibition’s focus on the two distinct concerns of trustworthy and sustainable embedded system design.

Humans often envision a future that includes robots, and at onsemi’s booth, attendees’ eyes were equally drawn to this autonomous mobile robot.

This lucky big turntable demonstrates onsemi’s innovative dual-inductor rotary position sensor NCS32100 providing high precision at high speeds.

At this exhibition, onsemi’s flagship industrial image sensor XGS45000 can automatically magnify the most useful areas of a scene using smart ROI technology when inspecting LCDs.

Onsemi showcased new products at this exhibition: the 8-megapixel image sensor AR0822-4K, which features innovative 4K/8-megapixel resolution, utilizes embedded high dynamic range (eHDR) technology to deliver high-quality imaging under challenging lighting conditions, with a dynamic range of up to 120 dB.

Autonomous driving is our pursuit of future vehicles. With the development of ADAS and automation system technologies, modern vehicles have achieved semi-automation. However, how mainstream vision-based autonomous vehicles accurately identify road objects under constantly changing lighting conditions is a significant safety issue, which perhaps onsemi can help solve.

Humans can perceive image depth using two eyes and the brain, which seems instinctive. However, for machines, while depth data can be extracted using two image sensors, distance measurement is limited and affected by ambient light. Onsemi demonstrated how to create valuable depth maps using image sensors.

Onsemi can provide various image sensors for 3D detection applications to obtain more accurate image information, continuously enhancing sensor output rates to meet application demands, and enriching image sensor resolutions to meet different needs.

At this exhibition, onsemi demonstrated how the secure RSL15 Bluetooth Low Energy Wireless Microcontroller utilizes angle of arrival (AoA) technology combined with asset tags and active locators for asset tracking and positioning in a simulated environment.

The RSL15 and Murata Type 2EG make Bluetooth firmware updates very simple, with RSL15 being the RF module and Murata Type 2EG providing a system-level package that includes antenna, filtering, and certified RF designs. Additionally, there is a complete solution for positioning and direction finding, co-developed by onsemi, Unikie, and CoreHW, where onsemi’s RSL15 provides low-power connectivity, Unikie provides positioning algorithms, and CoreHW provides antenna arrays.

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The RSL15 is the industry’s first low-power Bluetooth SoC with smart sensing capabilities, supporting features provided by the Bluetooth 5.2 specification, including longer range, higher data throughput, and positioning through angle of arrival and departure, designed for interconnected smart devices in industrial applications, utilizing an Arm Cortex®-M33 processor supporting TrustZone® lifecycle management and various encryption algorithms provided by CryptoCell™-312 to offer a higher level of system security and data processing capabilities while maintaining ultra-low power consumption to address the growing demand for data security in Internet of Things industrial applications. Smart industry applications include electronic tags, power tools, shopping cart trackers, data loggers, helmets, food tracking sensors, etc.

Can you imagine achieving multiplayer gaming communication speeds in an industrial environment? The multi-site 10BASE-T1S gaming machine at the other end of the booth is one of the answers. Four sites can network for gaming through 10BASE-T1S multi-splitting segments, while another site can monitor network traffic. The wiring, demonstrating the capabilities of onsemi’s NCN26010 10BASE-T1S transceiver, exceeds standard requirements.

As one of the leading suppliers of power devices globally, onsemi showcased its robust end-to-end silicon carbide supply chain, from bulk SiC crystal growth to top-tier integrated modules, discrete packaging solutions, and applications, as well as various types of power solutions. Onsemi’s EliteSiC solutions have been widely used in industrial automation, electric vehicles, energy infrastructure, and many other application areas.

Live demonstration of the 25kW DC fast charging solution based on NXH006P120MNF2, 1200V SiC integrated power module, capable of supporting 400V or 800V electric vehicle charging. The ultra-low RDS(ON) and very low parasitic inductance significantly reduce conduction and switching losses. Relying on a powerful universal controller board processor, the system can provide up to 1000kW of power at output voltages ranging from 25V to 200V, charging 400V or 800V electric vehicle batteries with an ultra-high efficiency of 96%.

The SiC market is booming, and we have reason to believe that SiC is the key to unlocking the future of automobiles and industry.

Feel free to leave a comment below, sharing which onsemi products or technologies you are more interested in, or which technological breakthroughs you hope to see from onsemi in the future!