MMA7660FC Enhances Portable Electronic Interfaces

Mouser Electronics has released Freescale Semiconductor's MMA7660FC, a three-axis +/-1.5g I2C digital capacitive accelerometer with integrated embedded intelligence and reduced power consumption. The Freescale Semiconductor MMA7660FC features programmable functions such as orientation, tap, and shake detection, as well as a unique auto-wake for extended battery life.

Packaged in a small, low-profile 3 x 3 x 0.9mm DFN, it enhances portable electronic user interfaces for mobile phones, small appliances and gaming. The MMA7660FC uses I2C communication and programmable interrupt functionality to provide direct communication to the main system processor with simplicity and flexibility.

HDMI Active Enhances Viewing And Sound Quality

Chord has introduced the HDMI Active, which enhances picture and sound quality. This product features heavy gauge silver-plated oxygen-free signal conductors. Signal attenuation has been reduced with the use of 26AWG conductors. Overlapped foil shielding around all critical signal paths minimises crosstalk.

Double outer foil and high-density braid combine to minimise the levels of external interference. The exciting aspect of the Chord HDMI Active is the inclusion of a high-frequency filter on all lengths. The filter reduces the intra/inter channel skew between the four pairs of TDMS signals. The HDMI Active cable improved all aspects of the picture in tests using Denon, Arcam, Yamaha and Playstation 3 DVD and Blu-ray players.

When compared with the Chord HDMI Silver plus 1.3, the Chord Active produced a more detailed, dynamic and musically coherent sound. The improvement in performance was such that in tests, participants consistently chose a 15-metre Chord Active HDMI cable over a similarly priced one-metre cable.

Flir Enhances Mid-Range T-Series Cameras

Flir Systems has announced that the latest models of its mid-range T-Series infrared cameras feature five areas of function development. The latest generation Flir T-Series has the ability to image stream, enabling the user, for example, to watch a process at start-up and acquire radiometric data at a reasonable speed.

This enhances the application scope of the camera and new software packages are available to support this functionality. These include Quickplot for simple trending, analysis and reporting work and ResearchIR for comprehensive data analysis. Periodic storage has been rolled out to the Flir T-Series. This allows snapshots to be taken at predetermined intervals, allowing the camera to act as a watchman for a variety of applications.

Thermal and/or visual images can be stored and for ease-of-use a counter is provided as standard. The company said this takes the Flir T-Series into the realms of product test and development. The ability to build a composite image is now available on selected T-Series models as the Panorama feature. Images complete with their radiometric data can be dragged, dropped and aligned in a grid to create a larger image. This opens up opportunities for new applications that can be accommodated without the need to invest in a wide-angle lens.

In additional to various stylus and sketching improvements, the latest T-Series generation can also be equipped with a choice of three new lenses, a 90deg field of view and two macro lenses for basic troubleshooting. These lenses are designed to be used across the entire Flir product programme.