Canadian fabless semiconductor agency SPARK Microsystems has introduced a growth equipment constructed round its Low-Vitality Extremely Wideband (LE-UWB) expertise, which it claims can supply presence detection capabilities at a twentyfold energy effectivity acquire over its rivals.
“The demand for presence detection options for individuals, property, and tools is rising quickly. Deployment prices and upkeep associated to battery alternative, together with interference resilience and answer flexibility, have grow to be key differentiators in an more and more aggressive market,” says SPARK Microsystems’ Alberto Prud’homme. “A brand new strategy is required to attain low energy, sturdy and interference-resilient presence detection, leveraging growth efficiencies that get rid of guesswork and pace design cycles. SPARK’s new PDK [Presence Detection Kit] is the right start line to speed up the creation of next-generation, context-aware linked gadgets.”
SPARK Microsystems has launched a brand new positioning equipment (prime), primarily based on the identical LE-UWB tech as its earlier analysis equipment (above). (📷: SPARK Microsystems)
The brand new growth equipment, which is, because the title suggests, constructed round presence detection workloads, makes use of the corporate’s patented LE-UWB expertise — an ultra-low-energy various to conventional ultra-wideband, which the corporate says presents 20 occasions higher energy effectivity. For individuals who have already investigated Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Vitality (BLE) beacons for presence detection, SPARK claims a lesser however still-impressive tenfold effectivity acquire — understanding to a 30µW energy draw at a 4Hz pattern fee, the corporate says.
Regardless of the low energy draw, the corporate’s strategy would not skimp on options: SPARK says its PDK helps uni- and bidirectional communication, ultra-low-power beacon detection with customizable detection zones, and line-of-sight time-of-flight (ToF) proximity and distance calculations.
Extra data is out there on the SPARK Microsystems web site; the corporate has not disclosed pricing, however says the kits are actually out there to order via its gross sales division.
