AVX Adds Board-To-Board Connectors For LED Sector

AVX Corporation has expanded its wire-to-board connector product offering to include board-to-board connectors specifically designed for the light-emitting-diode (LED) industry. Designated the 9159 Series, the cost-effective connectors provide design flexibility by offering both card-edge (one-piece) and plug-and-socket (two-piece) interconnect options.

The connectors have a small footprint, making them suitable for applications where multiple printed circuit boards (PCBs) need to be plugged together, such as LED lighting strips. The double-ended card-edge version provides a direct connection to both ends of a standard PCB with tin-plated pads in two, three, four and five positions. These 2.0mm pitch connectors support 3A current and 250V ratings. The connectors are 5.0mm high and come in both black and white options.

The two-piece connector version is surface mounted on one side of the PCB, which allows the LEDs to be placed on the other side to maintain consistent spacing. These 3.0mm-pitch and 3.0mm-high connectors measure 5.50mm in width when mated together, thus maximising board space for other components. Tooled in two, three, four, five and six positions, these connectors are also available in black and white options.

The new 9159 Series connectors reliably terminate PCBs. The 9159 Series is tested to industrial levels of shock, vibration and temperature cycling per IEC specifications to assure that it can withstand harsh environments. The connectors are suitable for use in LED lighting strips for sports-arena signs, display cases, lighting cabinets, fluorescent tube replacement and architectural lights used for building feature enhancement or internal feature lighting. The connectors are also suitable for rugged industrial and automotive applications. Both versions of the 9159 Series connectors are rated at 3A and have operating temperature ranges of -55C to +125C. The connectors are supplied in tape and reel packing and are RoHS compliant.

Linear Receiver Subsystem Reduces Board Space

Linear Technology has introduced the LTM9003 wideband RF-to-digital receiver subsystem. The system includes a high-performance 12-bit, 250Msps analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), a bandpass filter, intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier and a high linearity RF downconverting mixer. The integrated Umodule receiver reduces board space and development time for wireless basestations implementing PA linearization with digital predistortion (DPD). The LTM9003 harnesses years of signal chain design experience and offers it in an 11.25mm x 15mm Umodule package.

DPD addresses the most significant source of power consumption in a basestation: the PA. Powerful digital algorithms correct nonlinearity in the power amplifier, allowing it to operate at a higher average power level without generating excessive distortion. A single 20W PA without DPD may run at less than 10 per cent efficiency, meaning greater than 200W of power consumption. Due to the number of power amplifiers in a basestation, the savings are significant to the operating expense (OPEX) of the service provider.

Digitising the fifth or even seventh order harmonics requires a very wide bandwidth, low noise receiver with an exceptionally flat passband. The LTM9003 includes a 125MHz bandpass filter that exhibits less than 0.5dB passband ripple across the entire band. The noise floor of the receiver chain from the RF input to the LVDS digital output is just -147.3dBm/Hz, which is well below that of the PA. Since DPD is a feedback loop, the receiver (also called a transmit observation path receiver) benefits from low latency; a faster loop leads to better efficiency in the PA and therefore even lower power consumption.

The ADC in the LTM9003 has just five clock cycles of latency and the absolute delay through the filter is just 2.7ns. The LTM9003 is packaged in a space-saving LGA package, utilising a multi-layer substrate that shields sensitive analogue lines from the digital traces to minimise digital feedback. Supply and reference bypass capacitance is placed inside the Umodule, tightly coupled to the die, providing a space, cost and performance advantage over traditional packaging. With no external capacitance required, the LTM9003 consumes approximately one-fourth the space of discrete implementations.

Hamamatsu To Exhibit CCD Board-Level Cameras

Hamamatsu will be introducing the C10990 series of OEM CCD board-level cameras at the Photonex 2009 Exhibition. The cameras feature high sensitivity and high resolution and include the latest 1.3 million pixel 2/3in progressive scan interline front illuminated CCD, circuitry and lens mount all on one board.

Also on show will be the latest range of semiconductor detectors featuring photon detection capability, the S10362-33 series multi-pixel photon counters (MPPC). This device uses a Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode structure for ultra-low-level light detection, and the active area has been increased from 1mm2 to 9mm2.

Other products include the C10988MA, an ultra-compact spectrometer built using MOEMS technology. The C10988MA is a device measuring 27.6mm x 13mm x 16.8mm, which was developed for use in portable and hand-held devices, where a standard mini spectrometer would be too large and consume too much power.

Comtech AHA Releases GZIP Data Compression Board

Comtech AHA Corporation has unveiled its latest high-speed GZIP data compression board, which supports data throughput of more than 10Gbit/s for high GZIP compression. The AHA367-PCIe allows network transmission and network storage appliance customers to reduce the amount of data that is transferred through or stored within their systems. Along with reducing latency, bandwidth and storage requirements, it also eases the loading of precious resources inside these appliances by offloading the data compression task from the core central processing units (CPUs).

The system is based on the company's AHA3610 design: a GZIP compression and decompression integrated circuit (IC), which offers up to 2.5Gbit/s throughput via hardware, while also saving power over GZIP software compression. The architecture of the AHA367-PCIe card facilitates migration for current customers of the existing AHA363-PCIe card with little or no changes to the existing software drivers required.

Based on the open-standard GZIP data compression algorithm, the AHA367-PCIe card supports the full-duplex streaming of more than 10.0Gbit/s uncompressed data using an industry-standard X8-lane PCI-Express (PCIe) interface. The system achieves GZIP compression ratios at an average of 3:1. Comtech AHA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corporation, which develops technology for the communications, networking and data-storage markets.

Axiomtek Releases 3.5in Intel Atom Embedded Board

Axiomtek has launched a powerful 3.5in (8.9cm) Intel Atom embedded board, expanding its Atom embedded solution. The SBC84832 embedded SBC uses the Intel Atom N270 processor combined with the Intel 945GSE chipset and ICH7M Southbridge, which offers optimised power and a robust performance per watt for cost-effective embedded solutions. The onboard 1.60GHz Intel Atom N270 processor is claimed to provide good performance with low power consumption and fanless operation. The Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset comes with the Generation 3.5 Intel Integrated Graphics Engine and the Intel GMA 950, which provides enhanced graphics support over the previous-generation graphics and memory controller hubs.

Moreover, the SBC84832 supports CRT (2,048 x 1,536) and LVDS LCD (1,600 x 1,200) dual-view displays and delivers flexible high-bandwidth expansion capability with one PCI Express mini card for custom system configurations. The small-footprint embedded board provides a solution for digital signage, kiosks, point of sale (POS), thin clients, digital security and industrial control. One DDR2 SODIMM on board implements up to 2Gb of system memory. The SBC84832 platform comes with advanced connectivity and expansion interfaces, including two powered COM ports (RS-232), six high-speed USB 2.0 ports, dual-gigabit local-area-network (LAN) ports, one Compactflash Type-II socket, a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, AC'97 Codec audio, two SATA-150 ports and digital input/output (I/O).

Two highly integrated Realtek RTL8111B 10/100/1000 Ethernet controllers feature remote wake-up functions to increase cost efficiency in network maintenance and management. A watchdog timer is included to keep the system running smoothly. Joseph Chou, product manager of the company's Embedded Computing business unit, said: 'Axiomtek has expanded its range of single-board computers with the launch of several new embedded boards based on the energy-efficient Intel Atom processors. 'Axiomtek's SBC84832 is a small-footprint single-board computer that is configured with the Intel Atom N270 processor at 1.60GHz, FSB 533MHz and the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset with the ICH7M,' he added. The SBC84832 is RoHS compliant and is available now.

New Board Simplifies Soldering Of Propeller Chip

Schmartboard has released a development board for the Parallax Propeller chip. The Propeller chip makes it easy to rapidly develop embedded applications. Its eight processors (cogs) can operate simultaneously, either independently or co-operatively, sharing common resources through a central hub.

The developer has full control over how and when each cog is employed. There is no compiler-driven or operating-system driven splitting of tasks among multiple cogs.

A shared system-clock keeps each cog on the same time reference, allowing for true deterministic timing and synchronisation. The new Propeller board will give the user the ability to hand-solder the components onto the board. Schmartboard's 'EZ' technology simplifies the soldering of the Propeller, allowing anyone to do it.

Board-To-Board Connectors Have Small Footprint

AVX has expanded its wire-to-board connector product offering to include board-to-board connectors specifically designed for the LED lighting industry. Designated the 9159 series, the cost-effective connectors provide design flexibility by providing both card edge (one-piece) and plug-and-socket (two-piece) interconnect options. The connectors feature a small footprint, making them ideal for applications where multiple printed circuit boards (PCBs) need to be plugged together, such as LED lighting strips.

The double-ended card edge version provides a simple and direct connection to both ends of a standard PCB with tin-plated pads in two, three, four and five positions. These 2.0mm pitch connectors support 3A current and 250V ratings. The connectors are 5.0mm high and come in both black and white options. The two-piece connector version is surface mounted on one side of the PCB, which allows the LEDs to be placed on the other side to maintain consistent spacing.

These 3.0mm pitch and 3.0mm high connectors are only 5.50mm wide when mated together, maximising board space for other components. Tooled in two, three, four and five position, these connectors are also available in black and white options. The 9159 series connectors provide simple and reliable termination of PCBs. They are tested to industrial levels of shock, vibration and temperature cycling per IEC specifications to assure they can withstand harsh environments.

The connectors are ideal for use in LED lighting strips for sports arena signs, display cases, lighted cabinets, fluorescent tube replacement and architectural lights used for building feature enhancement or internal feature lighting. The connectors are also suited for rugged industrial and automotive applications. Both versions of the 9159 series connectors are rated in current at 3A and have operating temperature ranges of -55C to +125C. The connectors are supplied in tape and reel packing and are RoHS-compliant.