Archive : 28 January 2015 год

The universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford and Warwick, along with University College London, will lead the Alan Turing Institute, which will be based at the British Library in London. The Institute is intended to position the UK as a leader in the analysis and application of big data and algorithm research.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, said: "Alan Turing's genius played a pivotal role in cracking the codes that helped us win the Second World War. It is therefore only right that our country's top universities are chosen to lead this new institute named in his honour.

"The Alan Turing Institute will attract the best data scientists and mathematicians from the UK and across the globe to break new boundaries in how we use big data in a fast moving, competitive world."

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is providing £42million to the Institute over the next five years. Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC's chief executive, added: "The Institute will use the power of mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyse Big Data in many ways, including the ability to improve online security. Big Data is going to play a central role in how we run our industries, businesses and services. Economies that invest in research are more likely to be strong and resilient; the Alan Turing Institute will help us be both."

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

FPGA vendor Lattice Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Silicon Image for $600million. Darin Billerbeck, Lattice's president and chief executive officer said the move was a transformative event for both companies. "For the first time in the semiconductor industry, a single company will combine the design flexibility and time to market benefits of FPGAs, with the highly integrated, function and cost optimisation benefits of ASSP solutions."

Silicon Image's semiconductor and IP products include wireless and wired technologies that deliver connectivity across a range of devices and the company has been involved in the development of HDMI, DVI, MHL and WirelessHD standards. It recently relaunched its SiBEAM subsidiary to focus on millimetre wave technologies for wireless communication.

Camillo Martino, Silicon Image's CEO, added: "Importantly, Lattice shares our commitment to building upon Silicon Image's rich history of standards creation and the development of new wired and wireless connectivity innovations."

Billerbeck noted: "Our respective technical capabilities, product portfolios and visions for the future are complementary. Lattice is fully committed to building upon the foundation established by Silicon Image in helping establish industry standards, investing in new technologies and driving them to market."

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

A new class of low saturation voltage IGBTs specifically optimised for switching frequencies ranging from 50Hz to 20kHz has been announced by Infineon. Applications for the devices are said to include inverters for photovoltaic and welding systems.

The L5 family is based on the company's TRENCHSTOP 5 thin wafer technology, with the intrinsically low conduction losses further reduced by optimisation of the carrier profile.

With a typical VCE(sat) value at 25°C of 1.05V, the parts are said to increase efficiency by 0.1% in an NPC 1 topology or by up to 0.3% in an NPC 2 topology when replacing predecessor TRENCHSTOP IGBTs.

TRENCHSTOP 5 technology is said to reduce total switching losses to as little as 1.6mJ at 25°C, contributing to higher efficiency, improved reliability and smaller dimensions.

The L5 IGBT family is being released in the industry standard TO-247 3pin package. But, for applications requiring extended efficiency enhancement, Infineon can also supply the L5 in the TO-247 4pin Kelvin-Emitter package. This is said to provide a further 20% reduction in switching losses.

The L5 family is available as a single IGBT in 30A and 75A variants and packaged with the company's ultrafast Rapid 1 and Rapid 2 silicon diodes. The TO-247 4pin Kelvin-Emitter package will be available in a 75A format.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk