STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, will be exhibiting at TECHNO-FRONTIER 2013. At the ST Booth 1D-201, you can witness various demonstrations and see the development boards that focus on the power solutions that promote an effective use of resources, and the sensing solutions that improve user experiences, increase customer benefits, and contribute to the realization of a new lifestyle for people.
Sensing our surroundings and the environmental information in our homes so that the info can improve our lives is capturing the technology spotlight. Next-generation homes with sensing and intelligence will help us detect temperature, humidity, gas, smoke, and will make us safer, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient. At the ST Booth at Techno-Frontier, we will showcase environmental MEMS, including pressure sensors and temperature-humidity sensors, which can monitor such environment information.
The high-precision and low-power-consumption pressure sensors from ST are ideal for portable equipment, and are accurate enough to detect the exact step of a staircase where the equipment is present. By combining the pressure sensor with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver that determines horizontal location (latitude and longitude), ST’s sensors enable three-dimensional positioning and location-based services, which are expected to grow rapidly. Also, temperature and humidity sensors can be used in household electric appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, or homes, factories, and buildings, contributing to the buildings’ conversion to smart homes and buildings.
MEMS microphones are growing quickly because they do so much to improve sound quality. These microphones are superior to electret condenser microphones in size, robustness, and power consumption, and used in combinations of several microphones display excellent active noise-cancellation performance. A demonstration at the ST Booth will show sensors monitoring external environmental sounds and cancelling noise through an audio engine with MEMS microphones that feature small size and excellent sensitivity matching and frequency response.
The audio engine makes the most of the excellent performance of ST’s MEMS microphones to eliminate unnecessary environmental noise through its high performance and digitally configurable feedback and feed-forward active noise-cancellation process. They offer a natural and comfortable listening feeling as if not wearing headphones. Also, by monitoring and controlling the environment of both ears, the demo will show better speech quality without any indistinctness.
Wireless charging technology that transmits electric power without power cables is spreading quickly. This technology significantly improves user convenience and contributes to saving resources. Demonstrations at the ST Booth will show a solution for the power-transmitting side in wireless power charger (WPC) using STLUX385A, the world’s first programmable digital power-supply controller.
STLUX385A is a combination of an ST microprocessor core having excellent cost/performance and a unique set of peripherals that together comply with the various wireless charging standards. Before STLUX, the power-supply circuit of the wireless charging pad had to be configured using several discrete components and, to comply with the various standards and specifications, manufacturers had to change the circuit configuration for each. STLUX385A simplifies control and adaptability, implementing the first WPC platform that enables several standards, several architectures allowing full customization, and high portability in one of the fastest growing markets.
AC adapters and switched mode power supplies (SMPS) are widely used to power electronic devices such as PCs, gaming machines, and consumer equipment. With increases in energy costs, to limit the impact on global warming, and the possibility of new regulations related to power attenuation in AC adapters, manufacturers are working to improve energy efficiency of their power supplies.
In conventional power-supply systems, improving energy efficiency under different loads can be optimized using the digitally controllable STLUX385A. At the ST Booth, you can see changes in the waveforms and performance under several loading conditions through adjustments and changes in various programs and parameters of STLUX385A via a PC.
Furthermore, the Company will showcase its touchscreen controller IC, which enables touch sensing on portable devices, its sub-1 GHz wireless transceiver IC SPIRIT1, which can be used in sensor nodes, and an SoC for the control of high-performance motors that integrates all required digital control and analog measurement functions together with power-electronics circuits.
