According to Microchip, its mTouch solution will provide engineers with a free and easy method for incorporating a touch-sensing user interface to applications that utilise PIC microcontrollers.

The software is available for free download from the Microchip Touch Sensing Design Centre Web site at www.microchip.com/mtouch. It provides full access to the source code. As a result, designers can modify the algorithms and easily integrate them with their own application in a single microcontroller.

Touch sensing requires no mechanical movement, and makes possible a completely sealed and modern-looking design. Ultimately, it’s able to offer multiple advantages in aesthetics, maintenance, cost, and cleanliness for a plethora of applications.

Receivers brandish high-level protection
The ISL328xE series of single RS-485/RS-422 receivers comes with IEC61000-level ESD protection (±16.5kV air gap and ±9kV contact) and features an ultra-low supply current requirement in small SOT- 23 and TDFN packages.

The receivers provide 1/8 unit load input resistance (allowing up to 256 devices on the bus) and fail-safe (open, short, and terminated but undriven), along with enhanced electrostatic- discharge protection on the Rx input pins. All receivers operate from a supply range of 3.0 to 5.5V and at data rates that reach up to 20Mb/s. Quiescent supply current (ICC) runs 500μA maximum.

In addition, an enable pin (for the ISL3281E, ISL3282E, and ISL3283E) can be put into a low-power shutdown mode (ICC = 20μA max) whenever the receiver is disabled, further reducing power consumption.

The ISL3281E has an active high enable, while the ISL3282E and ISL3283E feature an active low enable for design flexibility. The ISL3282E and the ISL3284E integrate on-board level translators on the enable input and Rx output pins. With such integration, the design of mixed-voltage systems becomes much more simplified. The logic supply pin (VL) can be connected to a lower voltage processor supply to level-shift the input and output voltages to values compatible with the processor supply. Consequently, this will help eliminate the need for external level translators.

Two performance outputs in one
Two high-performance outputs come with Micrel’s MIC2225, a dual-channel power-management IC. The chip is targeted at applications in which an additional set of voltages is needed to support an applications processor or co-processor.

Integrating a 2MHz synchronous buck regulator with an independent, 300mA LDO offers portable electronics designers greater flexibility for space-constrained applications, such as smart phones and GPS.

The combination of the 600mA dc-dc converter plus a 300mA linear regulator permits the use of small value inductors and capacitors that reduce board space, support continuous load currents up to 600mA, and achieve more than 90% efficiency, says the company.

The MIC2225 employs a cap design that allows for stable operation with small ceramic output capacitors and a small inductor. This reduces required board space and external component cost.

Fixed output voltages options are available down to 1V on the dc-dc converter and 0.8V on the LDO. The PWM architecture also offers fast transient response, high efficiency, and low output ripple. )

Test generator gets the job done fast
The GS820 multichannel source/measure unit, developed by Yokogawa, is a programmable dc voltage and current generator that features testing speeds with a typical measurement time of 1ms. It’s capable of accurate (0.02%) voltage and current generation. The unit also has the same USB storage function as the company’s single-channel GS610 source/measure unit.

With the GS820, designers will be able to simultaneously generate and measure two different types of signal. Since up to four units can be connected to one master unit, it’s possible to expand the input/output capacity to a maximum of 10 channels. As a result, the GS820 can simultaneously measure many functions of multiterminal and multifunctional semiconductor devices.

Support expands for OCTEON processors
Green Hills Software’s product suite now supports Cavium Networks’ OCTEON Multi-core MIPS64 processor family. This support includes the MULTI integrated development environment, TimeMachine tool suite, Green Hills compilers, DoubleCheck static analysis tools, μ-velOSity royalty-free real-time operating system, and Green Hills Probe.

Green Hills products’ help network equipment providers reduce their cost of software development and shorten the time-to-market for their networking, security, control plane, wireless, storage, and broadband gateway applications, based on OCTEON processors.