ST Microelectronics showcase their products at CEATEC JAPAN 2008
ST Microelectronics will introduce and showcase their latest products, technologies and next-generation solutions for applications across a wide variety of markets, including home appliances, automotive, industrial, computer, healthcare and wireless, at CEATEC JAPAN 2008. ST Microelectronics will demonstrate a wide range of their products and system development boards, in addition to ST-enabled end-user products.
Booth highlights at CEATEC JAPAN 2008 include:
ST Microelectronics will showcase their latest research and development in fuel cells targeted to meet the demand for new battery technologies that are being driven by next-generation mobile applications offering advanced multifunctional capabilities. STMicroelectronics, in cooperation with their partners, are developing ultra-small hydrogen-based fuel cells that deliver high power density (mW/cm2). On the booth, ST Microelectronics will demonstrate the charging of a battery in an end application with the prototype system, which integrates an FCCU (Fuel Cell Core Unit) and an EMU (Energy Management Unit).
ST Microelectronics will also demonstrate a TV remote controller that uses a gyroscope sensor to detect angle displacement of the TV remote, allowing it to operate TV screen menus. Gyro sensors are used for a wide range of applications, such as digital cameras, game machines, robots and in automotive. Precise measurements of an angle displacement are achieved by combining the moving element of the device, which is equipped with the capacitance interface for driving and detection, with a dedicated signal-processing IC, and applying the principle of the coriolis force.
For accelerometers, ST Microelectronics will demonstrate a 3-axis digital accelerometer, mounted in a 3x3mm package. The accelerometer has a resolution of 12 bits that has been improved from the 8 bits of conventional accelerometers and achieves detection with accuracy. The device also includes a sleep mode, as a new function that contributes to a reduction in power consumption of the entire system. ST Microelectronics will also show the FC30 functional MEMS sensor, which enables positional detection in six directions, as well as a pressure sensor with compact and thin-film structure, manufactured using ST’s VenSense process.
ST Microelectronics will show their bio-MEMS solutions based on the advanced microfluidics technology that can be applied in the medical, pharmaceutical and biological fields. On the booth, for the first time in Japan, ST Microelectronics will display VereFlu, the fast detection kit for influenza, jointly developed by ST Microelectronics and Veredus Laboratories and commercialised in March 2008. VereFlu integrates, the two powerful molecular biological applications, ST Microelectronics In-Check laboratory-on-chip platform and Veredus bio-application into a fingertip-sized laboratory-on-chip.
In digital TV (DTV), ST Microelectronics will demonstrate a DTV solution that integrates a decoder IC and a video processing IC to project actual video images on a display. ST Microelectronics have combined their products with those of Genesis Microchip that ST acquired in February 2008. ST Microelectronics will introduce the high-grade DTV solution that integrates the H.264 decoder IC STi7101 and Douglas (FL106xx), which includes a high-definition video processing function based on the Faroudja DCDi/MCTi technologies, as well as the low-price DTV solution that integrates the SD MPEG2 decoder IC and the low-price video processing controller.
ST Microelectronics will also show an AV receiver (AVR) solution that conforms to various audio and video I/O standards and has selectable multiple inputs, as well as the integrated STi7109 single-chip video decoder, which adopts advanced technology for HD low-bit-rate broadcasting supporting the H.264/AVC, MPEG-2 and VC-1 advanced video decoding standards.
ST Microelectronics will also exhibit and demonstrate a DisplayPort interface IC, which is the new digital display interface targeting the HD digital market. DisplayPort is the open unified standard established by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) for substituting DVI and LDVS. Due to connectivity to multiple displays, it can construct a multi-display environment more easily than ever before. It can also transmit video and audio signals using HDCP.
ST Microelectronics will also demonstrate the one-chip LED backlight drivers, LED7706 / LED7707/PM6600, which are effective for applications of large and medium-sized displays, such as digital TVs, PCs and panels used in factory automation. These three products supply a current of 30 or 85mA to each row of up to 60 white LEDs (10 in series to 6 in parallel). To reduce the number of parts, they contain MOSFETs and minimize the filter components by the step-up switching operation at a maximum of 1MHz.
ST Microelectronics will introduce the ECO House system that conceptually realises the low-carbon society and contributes to the prevention of global warming. The concept of the ECO House is to accomplish the reduction of whole-house power consumption through the IC and software settings, as well as reduction of power consumption of the entire house through monitoring and control of power consumption through a home network. ST Microelectronics will also demonstrate how the ST products build the ECO House system into an actual house.
ST Microelectronics will exhibit hardware-based touch sensor technology for the sensing functions of consumer devices. The sensor needs no microcontroller. It is an optimum sensor for touch-key applications, such as digital cameras, televisions, PCs and portable devices. The demonstration shows how the device detects a change in capacitance caused by the touch of a finger, displaying the resulting change on the screen.
In automotive, ST Microelectronics will introduce the automotive 32-bit microcontroller SPC56 family, which was based on the Power Architecture and 90-nm embedded flash memory technology. The MCU family is an achievement of the joint development programme between ST and Freescale Semiconductor. The SPC56 family is optimised for individual applications, such as power train, body, safety and dashboard and works on a common platform. ST Microelectronics will also demonstrate single-chip motor control of car dashboard gauges and the LCD panel display to indicate various kinds of information.
ST Microelectronics will also introduce the second generation system-on-chip EYeQ2 that was jointly developed with Mobileye, targeting the visual driver assistance field. It realizes the functions for improving safety on roads, such as lane departure warning, adaptive headlight control, traffic sign recognition, and collision avoidance and forward collision warning by using a combination of radar and camera. In addition, ST will demonstrate the application processor Cartesio equipped with GPS functionality for personal navigation devices (PNDs), for which demands have been rapidly growing in recent years, as well as navigation and telematics. Cartesio has been used in products from Garmin, a leading PND manufacturer.
ST Microelectronics will highlight the STM32, which is the high-performance and low-power-consumption, ARM Cortex-M3 based 32-bit microcontroller. The booth will host demonstrations of new debugging functions; SWD (serial wire debug) and SWV (serial wire viewer). By using these functions, developers can realise high-performance debugging, such as real-time traces, while reducing the number of pins used for debugging. This dramatically improves the degrees of freedom of pin configuration. ST Microelectronics will also demonstrate the C3 configurator that reduces the software development time through easy configuration of various inputs and outputs of STM32 and the compact ITRON-compliant RTOS C3/Compact with a minimum code size of only 2.4 Kbyte.
In July 2008, ST Microelectronics and NXP established a wireless ICs, ST-NXP Wireless, by merging the respective wireless-related businesses of both companies. ST-NXP Wireless will demonstrate the Bluetooth + WiFi coexistence solution that combines the STLC2500D Bluetooth IC, which offers an ultra-low leakage current and high performance analogue, with the STLC4560 WiFi solution, which offers ultra-low power consumption. ST-NXP Wireless will also demonstrate a frame doubler function IC that makes adjustments such as frame interpolation, scaling, edge reinforcement and backlight-intensity adjustment, for portable device displays. Most conventional frame doubler functions are performed by software, but the chip implements the frame doubler function in hardware, requiring no software development, thereby reducing the time and cost of development.
6-Oct-2008