EE Times Taiwan and EE Times Asia

TAIPEI, Dec. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustainability and energy-efficient design trends are driving countries and industries worldwide toward energy savings and carbon reduction strategies.

From a mobility standpoint, the focus has shifted to electric vehicles (EVs), which are seen to play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions.

The development of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and the automation in industrial facilities, on the other hand, are driving the demand for increased computing. More large-scale data centers are being built to enhance computing power, which in turn jacks up the demand for electricity.

Amid these developments, power-related components must likewise provide increased performance in smaller and smaller packages to help systems achieve energy efficiency. To enable this requires higher power densities. In line with these, more and more semiconductor manufacturers have been focusing on wide-band gap components, such as gallium nitride (GaN), not only to meet the various needs of high-voltage systems but also achieve unprecedented power density requirements.

Leading this development is Texas Instruments (TI), which has been investing in the research and development of GaN for over a decade now. Additionally, TI has developed devices targeted at safety compliance systems and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) solutions. To strengthen its presence in high-voltage and automotive applications in Asia, TI has been continuously enhancing its power device technology and optimizing product features in these application fields.

Award-winning products

TI's efforts in the high-voltage and automotive markets in Taiwan and Southeast Asia have been recognized by the region's engineering community as the company wins in four product award categories at this year's EE Awards Asia.

Now on its second year, EE Awards Asia celebrates the innovation, creativity, and contributions of Asia's engineering community that have made a difference in the way we work, live, and communicate over the past year. Organized by AspenCore, the publisher of EE Times Asia, EE Times Taiwan, EE Times India, EDN Asia, and EDN Taiwan, this year's EE Awards Asia attracted more than 400 applications from 137 companies around the world, competing for 22 awards.

TI won five awards: Best MCU/ Driver IC for its Sitara AM243x MCUs in Taiwan; Best IP/ Processor of the Year for its Jacinto 7 processor platform in Asia; and Best RF & Wireless IC of the Year for its CC2662R-Q1 Wireless MCU, for both the Taiwan and Asia categories. Additionally, TI won a company award as Featured Vehicle Electronics Solution Supplier.

The CC2662R-Q1 is a wireless battery management system that supports wireless software communication protocols, has strong anti-interference capability and high interoperability, and complies with ASIL D functional safety specifications—all of which making it easy for designers to achieve system-level design and safety.

Meanwhile, as the engineering community embraces Industry 4.0, high-tech equipment is becoming more and more intelligent, enabling functions such as real-time industrial communications, functional safety, predictive maintenance, and cloud connections in control systems. Supporting these features are TI's Sitara AM243x MCUs, which are designed for the processing requirements of Industry 4.0 applications. Integrating heterogeneous processors (MCY+MPU), Sitara MCUs can greatly improve performance and support multiple communication protocols in Industry 4.0 applications, saving costs and accelerating circuit development.

Finally, TI's new Jacinto 7 processor series features chip-integrated functional safety features that allow design engineers to easily achieve safety certification and end-product goals. The Jacinto 7 processor has various security features that help reduce the system bill of materials (BOM) and lessen the performance burden on each core. On top of it, the software SDK can provide safety-related drivers and diagnostic databases, which will help design engineers reduce engineering development efforts by simplifying safety architecture and software functions.

Helping the industry achieve sustainable goals

Energy-efficient innovation continues to be the long-term goal of manufacturers in Asia and the entire industry. And in increasingly high-voltage applications, reliable and high-power-density power solutions should remain the focus.

Moving forward, TI will continue to develop more highly integrated solutions and GaN components that meet the power needs in personal consumer electronics, industrial, and datacenter server applications, to provide engineers and designers with more efficient choices that will help take such industries toward their energy savings and reduced emissions goals.

Source: EE Times/EDN Asia Taiwan編輯部