RF Components for Radar: Overview and Trends

Starvoy Technolgies represents Knowles Precision Devices across Canada – the below recently appeared on Knowles’ blog. For further information on the below – reach out to your account manager, or sales@starvoy.com 

Radar systems are designed to detect and identify an object’s location. They use short bursts of energy to transmit radio frequency (RF) and microwave signals and gather information from the echoed signal returned by the object.  

Here, we’ll introduce radar, including its key functional units and technological evolution. 

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New from Coilcraft – XGL3014

Coilcraft’s new ultra-low profile XGL3014 Series offers the lowest DC losses and extremely low AC losses for a wide range of DC-DC converters. This exceptional characteristic makes them an optimal choice for a variety of applications where space is limited and efficient power management is critical, including different non-isolated converter topologies, point-of-load (POL), IoT devices, and many other applications.

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Knowles: Resonant Wireless Power Transfer in Implantable Medical Devices

Starvoy Technolgies represents Knowles Precision Devices across Canada – the below recently appeared on Knowles’ blog. For further information on the below – reach out to your account manager, or sales@starvoy.com 

With the rising prevalence of cardiovascular, orthopedic, and other chronic conditions, and an increase in the number of patients needing care, the demand for implantable medical devices continues to increase. 

 

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Knowles: Power Divider Basics

Starvoy Technolgies represents Knowles Precision Devices across Canada – the below recently appeared on Knowles’ blog. For further information on the below – reach out to your account manager, or sales@starvoy.com 

Radio frequency (RF) power dividers are designed to split an incoming signal into multiple outputs such that there’s a portion of the original signal’s power in each output. Given their critical function, power dividers play a particularly important role in antenna systems, telecommunications, and signal processing.

 

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Coherent: Datacom innovation in the AI Era

How Coherent is powering innovation in artificial intelligence and machine learning for next-generation datacenters. Blog post from Coherent.

In the world of transceivers, change is the only constant — and we are in the early days of a step- change thanks to advances in artificial intelligence. Finisar (now Coherent) was a pioneer in pluggable transceivers so much so that the name Finisar became almost synonymous with transceivers.

From telecom networks to enterprise datacenters to web 2.0 hyperscalers, much has changed over the past two decades because of evolutionary and revolutionary changes in the key market drivers.
Today, we’re seeing another major market transition, namely the dramatic growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). These applications will define the next chapter in the optical transceiver story – a chapter we are already writing here at Coherent.

 It’s an important story because transceivers are a critical if invisible part of the modern world we live in.  Whether we realize it or not, most of us use the fiber optic network and transceivers on a daily basis.

 

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New from Coilcraft – XGL1010

Coilcraft’s new XGL1010 molded power inductors offer their lowest DCR losses and extremely low power losses for a wide range of DC-DC converters.  Additional performance benefits include a wider range of inductance values and improved Irms current ratings.

  • Industry’s lowest DCR and low power losses
  • Wide inductance range up to 56 µH
  • High current handling with soft saturation characteristics
  • AEC-Q200 Grade 1 (–40°C to +125°C) with a 165°C max part temperature  
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How The Shift to SiC-Based Semiconductors in Military Power Supplies Affects Capacitor Selection

Blog post from Knowles Precision Devices. Starvoy represents Knowles Precision Devices across Canada, for further information on their range of highly engineered Capacitors and Microwave to Millimeter Wave components for use in critical applications in military, medical, electric vehicle, and 5G market segments.

To protect people and critical equipment, military-grade electronic devices must be designed to function reliably while operating in incredibly harsh environments. Therefore, instead of continuing to use traditional silicon semiconductors, in recent years, electronic device designers have started to use wide band-gap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) to develop the semiconductors required for military device power supplies. In general, WBG materials can operate at much higher voltages, have better thermal characteristics, and can perform switching at much higher frequencies. Therefore, SiC-based semiconductors provide superior performance compared to silicon, including higher power efficiency, higher switching frequency, and higher temperature resistance as shown in Figure 1.

As the shift to using SiC-based semiconductors continues, other board-level components, such as capacitors, must change as well. For example, as systems operate at higher frequencies, the capacitance needed decreases, leading to many instances where film capacitors can be replaced by ceramic capacitors.

Figure 1. A comparison of traditional silicon semiconductor material to WBG materials such as SiC and GaN. Source.

Why You Need to Use Ceramic Capacitors with Your SiC Semiconductors

In general, ceramic capacitors are small and lightweight, making ceramic capacitors an ideal option for military applications where space and weight are at a premium. When using SiC semiconductors specifically, since the switching speeds are quite fast, high-frequency noise and voltage spikes will occur. Ceramic capacitors are needed to filter out this noise. And for high-frequency power supplies applications, ceramic capacitors are a preferred option because these components have a high self-resonant frequency, low equivalent series resistance (ESR), and high thermal stability.

Knowles Precision Devices: Your Military-Grade Ceramic Capacitor Experts

As a manufacturer of specialty ceramic capacitors, Knowles provide a variety of high-performance, high-reliability capacitors that are well-suited for military applications. At a basic level, they build all of their catalog and custom passive components to MIL-STD-883, a standard that “establishes uniform methods, controls, and procedures for testing microelectronic devices suitable for use within military and aerospace electronic systems.” We also hold the internationally recognized qualification for surface mount ceramic capacitors tested in accordance with the requirements of IECQ-CECC QC32100 as well as a variety of other quality certificates and approvals. For their high-reliability capacitors, they go above and beyond these quality standards and ensure components are burned-in at elevated voltage and temperature levels and are 100 percent electrically inspected to conform to strict performance criteria

Please contact the Starvoy team for further information, or to discuss your requirements.

 

ams OSRAM: Helping robots sense their world

For further information on the below, or other ams OSRAM products please reach out to the team.

Smart robots play an increasingly important role in industrial automation as well as in our homes. Smart robotics spans traditional robot arms in production lines (e.g. automotive manufacturers) to mobile robots used in logistics, so-called AGVs (automated guided vehicles), AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) in warehouses, or a robotic vacuum cleaner. ams OSRAM’s miniaturized sensing and illumination solutions. The better the robot understands and interacts with its dynamic environment, the more successful this technology becomes. Beside their unique portfolio of sensors, LEDs and lasers, ams OSRAM pursues a dedicated innovation roadmap regarding future technologies like smart-surface solutions and differentiating algorithms to advance robot capabilities.

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Resonant Capacitors: Your Key to Building Stable and Reliable Wireless EV Charging Technology

Blog post from Knowles Precision Devices. Starvoy represents Knowles across Canada, for further information please reach out to our sales team.

As electric vehicle (EV) adoption for both consumer and commercial purposes rapidly grows, so does the need for a more widespread, and faster, charging infrastructure. While we’ve seen vast improvements in charging technology in the last few years, as additional regulations on combustion vehicles are implemented and reliance on EVs increases, further EV charging innovations are needed. Currently, wireless charging is the newest EV charging technology evolving.

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