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IoT Emerges and Impacts Power Designs

January 05, 2016 by Power Pulse1595211359

The Internet of things (IoT) and the related Industrial Internet of things (IIoT) are emerging and impacting the design of power systems for a variety of applications from motor controllers to large-scale wind farms, to milliWatt energy harvesting devices. In addition, man-machine interface and data communications will be important in these systems. As will security of the communications. New standards are being developed and new market/product areas are appearing. The following PowerPulse articles highlight several of these emerging trends in the IoT and IIoT and how they are impacting the power electronics industry:

IoT Software Interface for Power-related Data

Alizem announced the release of its new software interface for Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications connecting Alizem embedded control software products to Initial State's platform, a recognized leader and innovator in IoT technology. This interface is meant to help electrical equipment manufacturers to design better products faster by enabling them to easily and quickly pipe out critical power-related data from the operation and health state of their product without having to invest in complex and expensive data monitoring equipment. more

MCU Family Drives Motor Control into the IoT Era

Freescale Semiconductor's new Kinetis KV5x MCU family is harnessing the full performance potential of the ARM Cortex-M7 core to enable far-reaching design enhancements in the expansive and rapidly evolving digital motor control market. Electric motors remain the number one source of electricity consumption globally. With the vast majority of deployed motors commonly based on outdated, inefficient technologies, the migration toward digital-based control systems with secure networking capabilities presents a significant opportunity for both energy conservation and end-product feature innovation. more

Digital Wind Farm Uses IIoT to Maximize Performance

GE announced the launch of its Digital Wind Farm, a dynamic, connected and adaptable wind energy ecosystem that pairs world-class turbines with the digital infrastructure for the wind industry. The technology boosts a wind farm's energy production by up to 20 percent and could help generate up to an estimated $50 billion of value for the wind industry. The Digital Wind Farm uses interconnected digital technology often referred to as the Industrial Internet (IIoT) to address a long-standing need for greater flexibility in renewable power. The technology will help integrate renewable power into the existing power grid more effectively. more

RTI and Alencon team on Power Systems Communications

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) announced its communications software will be incorporated into Alencon Systems' next-generation energy systems. The RTI Connext® Platform allows unprecedented connectivity, scalability and reliability, enabling Alencon to provide more advanced power conversion architecture. more

Energy Harvesting PMICs for Wireless Sensors

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced a new family of energy harvesting power management integrated circuits (PMICs) that enable tiny, solar-powered wireless sensors for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The new devices are the world's lowest-power, single-chip energy harvesting PMICs, and can be used with solar cells as small as 1 cm. The new PMIC devices are fully integrated, making them well-suited for batteryless wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) that monitor physical and environmental conditions for smart homes, commercial buildings, factories, infrastructure and agriculture. more

Industrial Internet Consortium Announces Smart Grid Testbed

The Industrial Internet Consortium has announced its first energy-focused testbed: the Communication and Control Testbed for Microgrid Applications. Industrial Internet Consortium member organizations Real-Time Innovations (RTI), National Instruments, and Cisco, are collaborating on the project, working with power utilities CPS Energy and Southern California Edison. Additional industry collaborators include Duke Energy and the power industry organization, the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). more

PsiKick Raises $16.5M Series B Round to Power a Batteryless IoT

PsiKick today announced a $16.5 millon Series B financing, led by Osage University Partners and joined by existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the University of Michigan Investment in New Technologies Fund (MINTS), as well as individual angels. This brings total funding raised by the Internet of things (IoT) company to over $22 million. PsiKick is developing an entirely integrated self-powering wireless sensing solution that uses 1/1,000th the power of equivalent commercial products serves as the cornerstone for the next computing revolution. more

Crypto Chip for Secure Control Systems

Atmel Corporation launched its next-generation CryptoAuthentication™ product. Atmel's ATECC508A is the first device to integrate ECDH (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman) security protocol—an ultra-secure method to provide key agreement for encryption/decryption, along with ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) sign-verify authentication—for the Internet of Things (IoT) market including home automation, industrial networking, accessory and consumable authentication, medical, mobile and more. more

IXYS acquires RadioPulse SoC for the IoT

IXYS Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire RadioPulse. Based in Seoul, Korea, the fabless semiconductor company develops, manufactures and sells innovative wireless network technology solutions based on the ZigBee protocol (which combines MCUs and RF). RadioPulse's energy-friendly solutions are designed to enable a broad range of power-sensitive applications in the industrial, medical, consumer, smart grid and Internet of Things (IoT) markets. RadioPulse offers a complementary product portfolio to IXYS' MCU product lines, which include those of Zilog, Inc. more