A few simple techniques can boost the efficiency of modern PoE designs. Charlie Ice • Silicon Labs The latest Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology delivers enough power to meet the needs of today’s WiFi6 routers, IoT gateways, and 5G small cells. PoE now delivers up to 71 W of power over standard Ethernet cables. At […]
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Bluetooth direction finding brings a new dimension to indoor asset tracking
By Mikko Savolainen, Senior Manager, Industrial and Commercial IoT Products, Silicon Labs Since opening the Global Positioning System (GPS) for civilian use in the 1980s, GPS technology has become a mainstream and de facto solution for outdoor positioning and asset tracking, finding its way first from commercial airplanes to smartphones and smartwatches to match-box-sized GPS […]
Power-management ICs cut active and sleep current by up to 50%
Silicon Labs announces a new line of energy-friendly power management ICs (PMICs) serving as dedicated companion chips for EFR32 wireless devices and EFM32 microcontrollers (MCUs). The EFP01 PMIC family provides a flexible, system-level power management solution enhancing the energy efficiency of battery-powered applications including IoT sensors, asset tags, smart meters, home and building automation, security, and health and wellness products. These […]
Power control ICs handle 90-W PoE connections
Silicon Labs has introduced a comprehensive Power over Ethernet (PoE) portfolio that reduces the cost and complexity of adding 90 W PoE to power sourcing equipment (PSE) and powered devices (PD). The new 90 W PoE portfolio complies with the IEEE 802.3bt standard, which more than doubles standard PoE power and expands the capabilities of wireless access […]
Isolation technology helping solar power connect to grid
by Rudye McGlothlin, Silicon Laboratories Although solar cells were invented some 60 years ago, solar technology is just now becoming a mainstay energy source for utility operators as they move to offload fossil fuels and incorporate more renewable energy sources. Despite a slowdown in 2018 after a reduction in solar feed-in tariffs in several countries, […]
Isolated smart switches excel at handling resistive/inductive industrial loads
Silicon Labs has introduced a family of compact, robust isolated smart switches designed to drive any load, even in the harshest industrial environments. The new Si834x isolated switches are ideal for driving resistive and inductive loads such as solenoids, relays and lamps used in industrial control systems including programmable logic controllers (PLCs), I/O modules, relay drivers […]
Understanding the electromagnetics of real capacitors
by Asem Elshimi, Design Engineer, IoT Wireless Solutions, Silicon Labs Confession: For the longest time, up to my senior year in electrical engineering school, I thought you could find a capacitor on its own. I had such a boundless imagination to think that you could find a circuit element that is purely capacitive in behavior […]
Simplifying product returns through device security
by Oivind Loe, Chief Technology Officer, Sipsby.com, and Josh Norem, Staff Systems Design Engineer, Silicon Labs Product returns for Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be challenging. On the one hand, connected the device should be locked down as much as possible when going out to the field. On the other hand, when a device […]
PCI Express Gen 5 clocks and buffers lead in performance and power
Silicon Labs has introduced a comprehensive portfolio of timing solutions that provide best-in-class jitter performance to meet the latest generation PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 specification with significant design margin. The Si5332 any-frequency clock family generates PCIe Gen 5 reference clocks with jitter performance of 140 fs RMS, optimizing PCIe SerDes performance while meeting the Gen […]
Isolated ICs ensure precise current/voltage measurements
Silicon Labs has introduced a family of isolated analog amplifiers, voltage sensors and delta-sigma modulator (DSM) devices designed to provide accurate current and voltage measurement with very low drift across temperature. Based on Silicon Labs’ robust, third-generation isolation technology, the new Si89xx family provides flexible voltage, current, output and package options to help developers reduce […]
