In November 2020, Analog Devices will renew its long-established presence at the electronica exhibition and conference. Developing the overall theme of ‘Engineering a Sustainable Future’, ADI’s exhibits, demonstrations and conference presentations will showcase technologies that contribute to environmental benefits and improved quality of life, across areas such as mobility, 5G connectivity, machine learning and automation, and digital healthcare.
Analog Devices’ ‘virtual stand’ in the exhibition will be home to a wide range of demonstrations; highlights include technologies for Building Automation, and for simpler, more robust communications in Factory Automation. There will be an example of further progress in MEMS, a field ADI pioneered, in the evolving space of wearable health monitoring devices, and, for the electrified transportation sector, the latest advances in Battery Management Systems (BMS).
Battery Management and E-Drive
Some commentators have suggested that 2020/2021 will come to be seen as the ‘tipping point’ when electric cars take off in terms of consumer acceptance. Range-anxiety and battery life still feature highly in purchasers’ concerns, and precision battery management systems are key to maximising both. This demonstration will show the latest generation of ADI’s BMS capabilities, including wireless connectivity for battery systems, the ability to handle battery stacks of all complexities, and precision sensors specific to the BMS function.
Sensing the indoor environment
Two parallel demonstrations will reveal new capabilities for Building and Factory Automation. ADI’s EagleEye™ is a sensor-to-cloud solution that supports users in optimising energy efficiency, together with worker wellbeing and safety. The demo illustrates how it can merge the insights from numerous precision data sources, generating actions in real time; the vision-sensing, people-counting solution enables building space utilisation and density measurement. Sensing sources such as CO2, light, temperature, humidity and smoke alarms can be integrated into total building automation solutions.
Networking Industry 4.0
Much has been written about Industry 4.0 and the connected factory, yet issues still remain around implementing real-time connectivity, taking Ethernet over long distances in legacy plants and buildings. ADI will demonstrate its ultra-low power 10BASE-T1L physical layer products, in the ADI Chronous™ family of Industrial Ethernet solutions, enabling communication of new insights about process variables and asset health to control systems. The demo will show benefits relating to process optimisation and the increased utilisation of field sensors and actuators, with correspondingly high levels of robustness and reliability.
MEMS Switches at 44GHz
In the realm of the frequency ranges needed for 5G communications, Analog Devices will demonstrate its latest developments in RF MEMS switches. Using micro-fabricated structures – essentially, electromechanical relays constructed in semiconductor fabrication processes – produces switches with extremely low insertion loss, low signal path on-resistance, small size and high linearity, matching the needs of ATE and instrumentation applications as well as communications designs. This demonstration will illustrate, as an example, how to perform a precision DC to 44GHz measurement using a single MEMS switch.
Better Data from Healthcare Wearables
In the field of digital healthcare, the principles of vital signs monitoring (VSM) by wearable devices is established. However, expanding the technique from the episodic to cases that require continuous data collection can still be challenging. ADI will show how it developed its Study Watch platform that makes full use of smart-watch sensing capabilities to provide a richer data set. Acting as both entry point into the VSM hardware arena, and as development platform meeting the need for robust bio-medical evaluation, the demo shows how to ‘monitor the unmonitored’.
A diverse suite of further demonstrations will include looking at ADI’s work in enhancing the in-cabin experience in increasingly autonomous vehicles, long-established ADI specialities such as signal acquisition and data conversion, at contactless current sensing for renewable-energy controls, plus a range of further sensor technologies.
Conference Program
Analog Devices speakers will also make a number of contributions to the on-line conference programme at electronica 2020.
Conference Keynote; Wireless Factories with 5G
At the Wireless Congress, 11 Nov, 11:05 am CET, Joseph Barry, Vice President of ADI’s Wireless Communications Business Unit, will deliver a keynote on how advancements in radio technology are currently driving 5G cellular infrastructure and will ultimately enable the transition to wireless in the industrial setting.
Conference Keynote; Digital Transformation
On 11 Nov, 12:50 pm CET, a keynote presentation at the Embedded Platforms Conference by ADI’s General Manager for Industrial Automation, Brendan O’Dowd, will consider ‘How Companies Today are Maximising Productivity While Minimising Environmental Impact’. Brendan will speak about the need for, and progress in achieving, ever-improving efficiency in our use of energy and resources, by improving our ability to extract useful insights and meaning out of data to make well-informed decisions.
Conference Keynote; Medical Data – from Sensing to Action
Against the background of the Coronavirus pandemic, the need for improved remote health monitoring and care is thrown into sharp relief. At the Medical Conference, 9 Nov, 2pm CET, Stefan Steyerl, ADI’s Senior Sales Director, Central Europe, will present a keynote describing trends in sensing and measurement technologies that enable and empower remote patient monitoring systems of the future.
