IoT narrows the divide between humans and machines

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a future world where all types of electronic devices link to each other via the Internet. Today, it’s estimated that there are nearly 10 billion devices in the world connected to the Internet, a figure expected to triple to nearly 30 billion by 2020.

According to industry analysts at Gartner, as machines become “smarter” and begin automating more human tasks, people will need to trust the machines, while also maintaining a feeling of safety. As such, the technologies that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) will be tasked with providing increased visibility into how machines are operating and the environmental situation they are operating in.

“For example, IBM’s Watson provides ‘confidence’ scores for the answers it provides to humans while Baxter shows a confused facial expression on its screen when it does not know what to do,” Gartner analysts explained in a recent company post. “MIT has also been working on Kismet, a robot that senses social cues from visual and auditory sensors, and responds with facial expressions that demonstrate understanding. These types of technology are very important in allowing humans and machines to work together.”

In addition, the analysts noted that machines and systems can only benefit from a better understanding of human context, humans and human emotion.

“This understanding leads to simple context-aware interactions, such as displaying an operational report for the location closest to the user; to better understanding customers, such as gauging consumer sentiment for a new product line by analyzing Facebook postings; to complex dialoguing with customers, such as virtual assistants using natural language question and answering to interact on customer inquiries,” the analysts continued.

“The technologies that represent these capabilities include bioacoustic sensing, smart dust, quantified self, brain computer interface, affective computing, biochips, 3D scanners, natural-language question and answering (NLQA), content analytics, mobile health monitoring gesture control, activity streams, biometric authentication methods, location intelligence and speech recognition.”

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel is right at the heart of The Internet of Things, with our technology helping to fuel machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and the industrial Internet.

Interested in reading about the specifics of how Atmel is working to rapidly evolve the Internet of Things? Be sure to check out our wireless solutions, MCU portfolio and our role in building an advanced world of touch for the IoT.

A closer look at Atmel’s SAM4N Xplained Pro Eval Kit

Earlier this summer, Atmel expanded its ARM Cortex-M4 Flash lineup with the entry-point SAM4N series. The new microcontrollers (MCUs) – which feature a 100MHz operating frequency – boast up to 1MB of Flash memory, multiple serial communication peripherals and analog capability.

The SAM4N is built around a low power sipping design, achieving real-world consumption levels down to 170µA/MHz in active mode; down to 20µA in sleep mode with full RAM retention & wake-up time down to 10µs; and down to 1µA in backup mode with the RTC running.

Key hardware specs include fast serial communication with 7 UARTs, four SPIs and three I2Cs; 12-bit ADC, 10-bit DAC, integrated voltage reference, multiple timers and PWM. On the software side, there is full IDE support for Atmel Studio 6, IAR and Keil.

Atmel also offers a SAM4N Xplained Pro Eval Kit, a hardware platform that allows engineers to more easily evaluate the Atmel ATSAM4N16C microcontroller. Supported by the Atmel Studio integrated development platform, the kit provides easy access to various Atmel SAM4N features, explaining how to integrate the device in a customer design. Like other Atmel Xplained Pro evaluation kits, the SAM4N Xplained Pro is capable of significantly expanding its original functionality by linking to additional Xplained Pro extension kits.

Aside from the ATSAM4N16 microcontroller, key specs include:

• One reset button
• One yellow user LED
• One user pushbutton (wake-up, bootloader entry or general purpose)
• 32.768kHz crystal
• 12MHz crystal
• 3 Xplained Pro extension headers
• 3 SPARE signal connector
• Embedded debugger
• Auto-ID for board identification in Atmel Studio 6.1
• One yellow status LED
• One green board power LED
• Symbolic debug of complex data types including scope information
• Programming
• Data Gateway Interface: USART, TWI and 4 GPIOs
• Virtual COM port (CDC)
• USB powered
• Supported with application examples in Atmel Software Framework

Atmel’s SAM4N Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit can be purchased here.

Hot August Nights Fever? Atmel Automotive Infographic

People love their cars. It’s one of those near universal facts. Whether they live in big cities or small rural hamlets, drive a mini or a hummer, there is just something about the sexy vroom vroom of an engine that excites people on a primal level.

Perhaps it’s the destructive force in us that is drawn to what is basically a controlled explosion on wheels. Perhaps it’s something to do with an automobile’s sleek and contoured chassis – or the human need for speed.

Or maybe, it’s because there is a certain zen to be found in tinkering with an engine. Of souping up and optimizing an already lean, mean machine, and making it purr. Somewhere in all of us is an engineer who simply wants to solve puzzles – and what greater puzzle to solve than the many moving parts to be found under the hood?

We at Atmel are especially passionate about the automotive space, having been one of the first semiconductor companies to enter the market, embracing both the productive and the creative passion from the get-go.

Telefunken (the pre- predecessor of Atmel Automotive) was founded as early as 1903, while the Heilbronn fab in Germany, acquired by Atmel in the 1980’s, was founded way back in 1960.

Atmel’s first success in automotive was (rather fittingly) the electronic ignition IC which, in 1979/1980, was installed in every Volkswagen car.

Another early milestone along Atmel’s automotive roadmap was, ironically, braking. A start-to-stop scenario, so to speak.

The market for connected vehicles is expected to grow to a whopping $53 billion by 2018, with consumers demanding more and more connectivity each year.

A study by Deloitte in 2011 determined that 46% of people between the ages of 18-24 cited connectivity as being “extremely important” to them when it came to cars, with 37% wanting to stay as connected as possible while in their vehicles. A resounding 65% identified remote vehicle control as an important feature in their next automotive purchase; while 77% favored remote diagnostics minimizing dealer visits. And let’s face it, who can blame them?

A 2013 study by Cisco went even further, positing that Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications could enable cars to detect each other’s presence and location, helping avoid accidents, lower road costs and decrease carbon emissions. The report also found that intelligent cars would lead to 7.5% less time wasted in traffic congestion and 4% lower costs for vehicle fuel.

With over 1 billion passenger cars careening through the world’s streets already, increased digitization can’t come fast enough!

Today, Atmel supplies all 10 of the top 10 tier 1 automotive electronic suppliers in the world, not only with microcontrollers (MCUs), but with touch sensor technology too. Indeed, Atmel’s latest touch innovation, the bendable, flexible, printed wonder that is Xsense, has now been fully qualified and is ready to ramp, meaning sexy curved glass dashboards are closer than you’d imagine… Not bad for a feature originally developed as a piece of wood attached to the front of a horse drawn carriage to prevent mud from splattering the driver!

Atmel is also renowned for being a leading car access supplier, meaning we make the chips that enable cool remote keyless entry (RKE) systems with immobilizers, to reduce the risk of anyone stealing your steel beauty away from you. In fact, Atmel has already delivered over 250 Million ICs for this specific application, so that’s a whole lot of key fobs! Speaking of key fobs, here’s a fun fact; holding a remote car key to your head doubles its range because the human skull acts as an amplifier.

Moving from cool keyfobs to total hotness, it’s also worth noting that Atmel sells some of the highest temperature resistant parts in the market, some of which can handle heat of up to 200°C.

Last, but certainly not least, Atmel boasts the world’s largest portfolio of Local Interconnect Network (LIN) devices, for communication between components in vehicles. The firm’s devices have OEM approvals from all major car manufacturers worldwide, which is certainly something to be proud of.

So next time you find yourself on that long and winding road, kicking into high gear and hugging those curves, spare a thought for the components, because when it comes to cars, the devil really is in the details.

A closer look at Atmel’s Xplained kits

Earlier this summer, Bits & Pieces took readers on a brief virtual tour of Atmel’s Xplained Pro kits. Today, we want to familiarize our readers with Atmel’s Xplained evaluation kits for our extensive lineup of 8- and 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs).

“Essentially, Atmel’s Xplained lineup consists of a series of low-cost MCU boards to help devs evaluate and demonstrate product features and capabilities for different Atmel microcontroller families,” an Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces. “In addition, a rich selection of example projects and code drivers are provided in Atmel Studio, while code functionality is easily added by pulling in additional drivers and libraries from the Atmel Software Framework.

The Atmel Xplained series also includes a range of add-on boards that can be stacked on top of the MCU boards to create platforms for specific application development. This means a wide range of add-on boards is available, including inertial pressure and temperature sensors, ZigBee RF and Cryptographic authentication.

However, it should be noted that due to difference in features such as pin count or memory size, some add-on boards may not work with all MCU boards, so be sure to look at the the table below which summarizes recommended combinations.

On the X/MEGA side, Xplained kits include the XMEGA-E5 (ATxmega32E5) , XMEGA-C3 (ATxmega384C3), XMEGA-A3BU (ATxmega256A3BU), MEGA-1284P (ATmega1284), XMEGA-A1 (ATxmega128A1) and the XMEGA-B1 (ATxmega128B1 and LCD controller).

Additional Xplained kits include the UC3-A3 (AT32UC3A3256), the SAM4S (SAM4S ARM Cortex-M4), CryptoAuthentication add-on (ATSHA204) , UC3-L0 (picoPower AT32UC3L064), Temperature Sensor Xplained (add-on) and the Sensors Xplained (add-on).

Atmel brightens LED ballasts

Earlier this month, Bits & Pieces discussed how Atmel MCUs (microcontrollers) can be used to light up fluorescent ballasts, producing warm and inviting light without flickering or humming. Today, we want to talk about the role Atmel MCUs have to play in brightening LED ballasts.

The unique, low-power, non-flickering, directional output capabilities of LEDs make them perfect for indoor lighting under counters and in hallways and staircases, with concentrated arrays typically used for room lighting. Rugged and damage-resistant, LEDs are also a cost-effective solution for outdoor applications such as garden walkways and decorative features.

So what advantages do Atmel MCUs offer engineers designing LED ballast solutions? Well, on example is Atmel’s AVR AT90PWM microcontroller. The AT90PWM supports the DALI standard, which is used to network multiple ballasts to a centralized system for tighter light level control and significant energy savings.

In addition, Atmel solutions allow developers to build fluorescent lighting solutions based on, for example, a full-featured single-chip AVR especially designed for wireless applications, or a general microcontroller (MCU) with a range of standard-compliant transceiver options.

In addition, Atmel helps accelerate time-to-market for lighting engineers by providing development packages with evaluation and debug tools, as well as ballast demo kits with complete, updatable C code to implement advanced control and protection algorithms in a microprocessor’s memory.

“To sum it up, LED ballasts must provide LEDs with a constant source of current,” and Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces. “And that is why built-in hardware modulator, a high current LED driver and interrupt options makes Atmel’s AT90PWM microcontroller well suited for LED applications.”

Want to learn more about Atmel’s extensive portfolio of MCUs that can be used for LED ballasts? Be sure to check out this link here.

Atmel MCUs for fire and security

Atmel’s versatile MCUs power a number of fire and security applications – allowing vendors to design advanced systems that effectively safeguard people, property and business resources.

“Atmel offers a wide range of ARM-based AT91SAM and AVR 32-bit microcontrollers for such applications,” an Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces. “More specifically, the SAM3 family and AVR UC3 families support entry-level systems, while advanced controllers with Ethernet connectivity are based on the SAM9 and AVR UC3 families.”

Backup mode and diverse connectivity options include an embedded soft modem, Wi-Fi extension board, Ethernet and RS485 connectivity, with Atmel CryptoAuthentication enabling node authentication and secure communication. Top-level security can be provided by AVR XMEGA hardware AES/DES crypto module and AES/DES bootloaders for megaAVR, tinyAVR and AVR XMEGA.

“It should also be noted that low-power 8-bit microcontrollers minimizes power consumption, with Atmel’s ATmega128RFA1 single-chip, allowing devs to design ZigBee smoke and motion detectors with extremely low power consumption,” the engineering rep continued. “Plus, Atmel’s XMEGA analog delivers optimal performance with 12-bit ADC resolution up to 2Msps with internal gain stage (up to X64), while optimizing BOM by removing its external gain stage.”

So let’s look at some specific example of how Atmel MCUs can be used to power a wide range of fire and security devices:

• Control Panels – The primary point of contact for home and building automation consumers. Atmel’s portfolio supports a wide range of designs, meeting simple or complex needs.
• Detectors – Known as the eyes and ears of fire and security solutions. Our low-power solutions are capable of supporting motion detectors, smoke detectors, sounders and glass break detectors based on the Atmel tinyAVR, megaAVR, AVR XMEGA and MCU Wireless (single-chip microcontroller +RF) families.
• PIR (Camera) Detector – Atmel’s AVR picoPower technology significantly improves detector battery life, delivering the reliability that Passive Infrared (PIR) camera-based detectors require.

“Flexible connectivity is key for home gateway and control panel applications. That is why Atmel’s microcontrollers (MCUs) help vendors achieve a rapid time-to-market by providing validated connectivity via Ethernet, USB, soft modem (PSTN), Wireless LAN and RS-485 interfaces with backup mode,” the engineering rep added. “In the event the main power supply cut off, the control panel can automatically switch to battery operating mode to maintain connectivity.”

Interested in learning more? Additional information about Atmel’s extensive fire and security portfolio can be found here.

Accessing your vehicle with Atmel

The automotive industry has certainly come a long way since Henry Ford’s Model T first rolled off the assembly line in 1908. To be sure, car (access) keys have radically evolved from the simple, unassuming steel key of yore to acting as the human interface to a vehicle.

Photographed at the Bay State Antique Automobile Club’s July 10, 2005 show at the Endicott Estate in Dedham, MA by Sfoskett

Similarly, Atmel’s automotive portfolio has also rapidly evolved since 1997 when we introduced our very first dedicated car access transmitter.

Indeed, Atmel now offers a wide range of car access devices that are ideal for developing complete system solutions with the highest levels of security and convenience, supporting remote keyless entry, immobilizer, passive entry/go or combi key applications.

“Remember, providing a high level of security is a must for car access applications, something which is also required by insurance companies worldwide,” an Atmel automotive engineering rep told Bits & Pieces.

“And that is why Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) systems combined with immobilizers are standard in nearly all cars today, while passive Entry/Go (PEG) applications offer the ultimate convenience for car users and are well-established in current luxury vehicles.”

Unsurprisingly, such features are increasingly making their way into medium-class cars. To meet these demands, developers require cost-efficient electronic system solutions that support a high level of integration.

As such, Atmel offers a comprehensive line of ICs (RF, LF, Atmel AVR microcontrollers) to create complete car access and remote start systems, along with dedicated RF transmitters, receivers and transceivers, as well as microcontrollers.

In addition, Atmel enables a uni-directional RF link for the keyless entry function to open or lock the doors. The immobilizer system is built with a bi-directional LF link operating with the AUT64 crypto algorithm.

And last, but certainly not least, Atmel supports a bi-directional RF link for the RKE function as well as for the extremely secure duplex RF link in a Passive Entry Go system. The lF link is used for the wake- up channel in a PEG system and the immobilizer function to start the RF communication.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s expansive automotive portfolio? Be sure to check out some of our related blog posts from earlier this week, including “A closer look at Atmel’s vehicle portfolio,” “Atmel expands MaXTouch auto lineup,” and “LIN networking for the automotive masses.”

A closer look at Atmel’s LED drivers

Yesterday, we talked about Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs) being used to produce warm and inviting light without flickering or humming (fluorescent ballast). Today, we’re going to be taking a closer look at Atmel’s family of general illumination LED drivers which are designed to facilitate intelligent system control for multiple LED parallel arrays.

Atmel’s general illumination LED drivers are ideal for a number of applications, including street lighting, tunnel lights, parking garage lights, fluorescent tube replacements, solar/off-grid lighting, mood and architectural lighting, as well as other general lighting applications.

“With an adaptive power scheme and correlated color temperature (CCT) compensation circuitry, engineers will be well equipped to meet their requirements for power-efficient, high-performance lighting products,” an Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces.

“Lighting OEMs can use white, RGB and white with red LEDs to achieve the desired white gamut and color control, while Atmel LED drivers are capable of setting an LED current to the desired peak and white point. Devices such as Atmel’s MSL2100 can also be used to individually program each string current to its targeted peak.”

Dimming is achieved by PWM or decreasing the LED constant current. Depending on the desired lighting requirements, one to 16 LED strings are employed in solid-state lighting (SSL) applications. Plus, external NFETs enables an application to sink from 350mA to 1A per string, all while supporting high-voltage LED supplies such as 260VDC.

“Atmel’s Adaptive Power Scaling technology results in significant power savings by automatically adjusting the LED supply to the lowest voltage to maintain regulation across all LED strings,” the engineering rep added.

“Atmel LED drivers offer two or three efficiency optimizers for each color power supply. These optimizers minimize power use while maintaining LED current accuracy, allowing up to 16 interconnected devices to automatically negotiate the optimum power supply voltages.”

Lastly, Atmel’s newest LED drivers feature correlated color temperature (CCT) compensation circuitry, making it easier for engineers to precisely maintain a desired CCT over an entire LED lamp temperature range.

Interested in learning more? A detailed list of Atmel’s LED drivers is available here.

Embedding touch tech in MCU firmware

Atmel’s comprehensive QTouch Library makes it simple for developers to embed capacitive-touch button, slider and wheel functionality into general-purpose AT91SAM and AVR microcontroller (MCU) applications.

To be sure, Atmel’s royalty-free QTouch Library offers several library files for each device, while supporting various numbers of touch channels – thereby enabling both flexibility and efficiency in touch apps. And by selecting the library file supporting the exact number of channels needed, devs can achieve a more compact and efficient code using less RAM.

Simply put, Atmel’s QTouch Library can be used to develop single-chip solutions for many control applications, or to reduce chip count in more complex applications. Meanwhile, the library offers devs the latitude to implement buttons sliders and wheels in a variety of combinations on a single interface.

There is also broad controller support for Atmel MCUs: AT91SAM, tinyAVR, megaAVR, XMEGA, UC3A and UC3B. Up to 64 sense channels are supported for maximum interface sensitivity ( 256-level sliders and wheels require only three channels), while the QTouch Library supports three patented capacitive touch acquisition methods: QTouch, QTouchADC and QMatrix.

In addition, Atmel Adjacent Key Suppression (AKS) technology enables unambiguous detection of button touches for maximum precision, with full debouncing reports for touch buttons helping to ensure single, clean contacts. And last, but certainly not least, a common API across all library versions simplifies development.

Interested in learning more? Additional information about Atmel’s QTouch library can be found here.

Cooking with Atmel MCUs

Did you know that some scientists believe the advent of cooking played an important role in human evolution? Indeed, most anthropologists theorize that cooking fires first developed around 250,000 years ago, with the rise of agriculture, commerce and transportation between civilizations in different regions offering cooks many new ingredients.

Clearly, we’ve come a long way since the days when humans roasted meat on a spit over an open fire without any utensils, appliances or kitchens to be seen. Today, however, cooking appliances such as stoves, microwave ovens and conventional ovens typically require a combination of temperature and mass sensors, programmable timers and sophisticated motor control for relevant components. A number of current-gen units include remote controls, as well as rich, responsive touch control interfaces which are key for ease of use.

Now we’ve discussed quite a number of use cases for Atmel MCUs over the past few days, including automotive, lighting, telecare and even washing machines. So it shouldn’t come as much surprise to readers of Bits & Pieces that Atmel also offers a lineup of touch solutions and customizable microcontrollers which are ideal to power a wide range of cooking appliances.

Indeed, AVR microcontrollers are available in 105°C versions, as well as models up to 150°C, which are perfect for high temperature cooking requirements. Plus, Atmel offers a wide range of 8- and 32-bit microcontrollers dedicated to motor control – providing support for BLDC motors, AC motors and switched reluctance motors.

AVR 32-bit microcontrollers also feature a multi-layer databus and DMA controller that make them a perfect fit for HMI applications where high bandwidth is required. Meanwhile, robust touch sensor technology, coupled with Atmel’s QTouch library, allows designers to add capacitive touch buttons, sliders and wheels – without additional cost.

In addition, native 5 volts support is available on the Atmel megaAVR and Atmel tinyAVR microcontrollers (MCUs), with high integration solutions, such as motor control and HMI touch in a single-chip, helping to reduce BOM. ZigBee PRO compatibility enables standards-compliant connectivity and smart metering, with node authentication capability supports smart meter infrastructure connections.

And last, but certainly not least, Atmel’s QMatrix technology offers a robust method to implement buttons and sliders in capacitive touch-technology, while built-in support for water rejection makes the QTouch solutions ideal for demanding environments.

Interested in learning more? Additional information about Atmel MCUs targeting various cooking appliances can be found here.