Preview: electronica 2014

This year's event, which takes place in Munich from 11 to 14 November, will see some 2700 exhibitors presenting their products and services and more than 70,000 visitors are expected to attend. Key themes for this year's electronica are automotive, embedded systems, medical electronics and lighting, as well as security and energy efficiency. "We are planning various events and activities, in which we will look forward to the next 50 years," said Anke Odouli, exhibition director. "Electronics is an essential part of our lives and, in November, electronica exhibitors will be showing what will drive our society forward." Here's a flavour of what visitors can expect to see at electronica. Committed to wellness Maxim Integrated says it will be demonstrating its commitment to the wearables market, previewing its Wellness Platform. This suite of hardware and software, including the WASP/MAX32600 microcontroller, allows designers to optimise device performance while meeting stringent time to market requirements. The MAX32600 is a Cortex-M3 based MCU with high precision analogue performance. An integrated Trust Protection Unit provides public key authentication, data encryption and tamper detection. An onboard analogue front end includes high current LED drivers and enables measurements such as heart rate or galvanic skin response. www.maximintegrated.com Stand A4-266 Smallest, lightest cable Alpha Wire will be displaying the ProTekt range of cables and the EcoGen line of wire and cable, as well as launching EcoCable Mini. This 300V cable is the company's smallest and lightest offering; up to 32% smaller and 44% lighter than standard 300V PVC cable. EcoCable Mini features recyclable mPPE jacketing and insulation with superior dielectric properties, a temperature operating range of -40 to 80°C, five shielding options and more than 250 multiconductor and multipair constructions. Custom and composite configurations are also available. www.alphawire.com Stand B4-378 Storage solutions Swissbit will show its new X-60 series, with firmware and hardware upgrades supporting data rates of up 490Mbyte/s. Looking to meet the requirements industrial, automotive and telecommunications applications, the X-60 series is available with capacities ranging from 15 to 480Gbyte and in a range of form factors. Also on show is the PS-100u series, aimed at highly integrated storage based security. www.swissbit.com Stand A6-319 Latest developments ROHM Semiconductor will present recent developments from its R&D centres, as well as developments with partners. ROHM currently offers 1200V/120A and 1200V/180A SiC modules. New half bridge modules and a 1200V/300A type expand this portfolio. The AEC-Q100 qualified synchronous buck converter family will be seen, as well as a range of low power devices intended for use in wearable devices. www.rohm.com/eu Stand A6-330 Touchscreen possibilities Zytronic will be demonstrating the possibilities of touchscreen technology. The leading developer of projected capacitive touch sensor technology for ultra large format displays, will also focus on curved screens. The centrepiece of the stand will be a proof of concept kiosk incorporating a concave 40in multitouch screen with a waist height 19in 'qwerty' touchscreen keyboard. Zytronic is also demonstrating the latest addition to its MPCT multitouch projected capacitive product portfolio. www.zytronic.co.uk Stand A3-139 Five themes on show Adopting the theme of 'Go Anywhere with Analog', Analog Devices will highlight five technologies: • Energy-efficient systems and solutions • Connectivity for communications infrastructure, industrial instrumentation, automotive and aerospace and defence applications • Solutions for multiple safety, security and reliability standards • integrated diagnostics and functional safety, and • an always connected, data driven world www.analog.com Stand A4-159 Relays for range of applications Pickering Electronics will be showing its range of reed relays for a range of applications. Included in the display will be the 117 Series of single in line devices, for ATE switching matrices or multiplexers, Series 113 SIL changeover reed relays; magnetically screened parts needing a board area of 4 x 13mm, and high voltage reed relays. www.pickeringrelay.com Stand A1-530 High power density solutions Visitors to Vicor's stand will be able to learn more about the company's solutions for applications requiring high power density, high efficiency, and improved design flexibility. New products set to be exhibited include front end power conversion components and point of load power conversion products in Converter housed in Package and System in Package form factors. Engineers will also learn more about PowerBench, Vicor's online design tool suite. www.vicr.com Stand A5-237 Innovation on display Murata's stand will take the theme of 'shaping the world through innovation', with demonstrations and new products based on concepts suitable for automotive, consumer, healthcare, industrial, security and energy applications. Demonstrations will include components for power conditioning, RFID for supply chain logistics, modules for IoT devices and MEMS sensors for automotive and medical applications. In addition, Murata will be showing new power and MEMS sensing products, metal alloy power inductors and short range radio components and RF modules. www.murata.com Stand B5-107 A smarter world NXP will present high performance mixed signal solutions that enable 'Secure Connections for a Smarter World', as well as the technologies that will be needed to create new innovations within automotive, identification and mobile technologies. Key demonstrations include: Cabrio Car, an automotive showcase of future of the connected car, including use cases such as RFID number plates and e-driver licenses. Meanwhile, NFC reader solutions will show visitors what's next in secure mobile payments and how the approach can be used in consumer products for the smarter home. www.nxp.com Stand A4-524 'Groundbreaker' to be unveiled FTDI Chip says it will be introducing a 'groundbreaking' semiconductor product at electronica. Whereas many of the company's recent product releases have focused on its MCU and EVE offerings, this latest product will be within the USB connectivity arena. www.ftdichip.com Stand A5-261 Munich wide IoT network In a joint project with Semtech and Microchip, Future Electronics will deploy an ISM band IoT network using LoRa technology. This is set to provide wireless connectivity across most of the Munich area using only a few gateways. Up to 1000 free and fully functional wireless sensor nodes, each with its own unique code, will be available to engineers visiting the stand. These demonstration boards will allow designers to integrate them with a sensor circuit and connect automatically to the nearest available gateway in the temporary network. www.futureelectronics.com Stand A4.259 Capacitors and more The Knowles stand will show products from DLI, Novacap, Syfer Technology and Voltronics. Syfer will show the PSL series of MLCCs, suitable for power supplies, DC/DC converters, LED lighting and other demanding applications. The first of several lower cost ranges to be released, features include capacitances from 220pF to 1µF, temperature ranges of up to 125°C, lead free solders and fully compliance with the RoHS and WEEE Directives. Meanwhile, visitors will also see DLI's recently released EW series of gain equalizers. Offering DC to 18GHz performance with varying slopes, the parts come in a 0302 case. www.knowles.com Stand B6-336