AT CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Flex (NASDAQ: FLEX), a global supply chain and manufacturing company, in collaboration with QuickLogic Corporation and Infineon Technologies AG, has announced the availability of the FLEXino Sensor Fusion Development Kit, brought forward to enable rapid prototyping and a corresponding 12mm x 12mm System-in-Package (SiP) for high volume production of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
To help reduce time to market and scale production, the companies say the development kit and SiP enable a wide range of new and existing sensor fusion IoT products requiring audio, pressure and motion sensing, Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities.
“The FLEXino Sensor Fusion Development Kit and SiP are designed to help bring a variety of next-generation and existing IoT devices to market faster,” said Dave Gonsiorowski, vice president, Innovation Services & Solutions at Flex, who added, “A significant challenge with IoT design today is the availability of flexible integrated development kits that easily transition to high-volume manufacturing. We are proud to have collaborated with QuickLogic and Infineon and provide a solution that enables customers across several industries to design products at unprecedented speeds.”
The development kit contains an ESP32 controller board with Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity and a sensor fusion daughter board, created in collaboration with QuickLogic and Infineon. The daughter board integrates QuickLogic’s EOS S3 SoC platform with Infineon’s DPS310 digital barometric pressure sensor and IM69D130 digital MEMS microphone in addition to a 6-axis IMU and a 64Mb SPI flash.
“The collaboration is another step by Infineon to make the products we use every day smarter using our advanced sensor and sensor fusion software technologies,” said Philipp Von Schierstaedt, vice president and general manager, Radio Frequency and Sensors at Infineon Technologies. “The development kit combined with Infineon’s digital sensors and microphones delivers seamless, effortless interactions between people and the next generation of IoT devices across multiple industries.”
The SiP is a drop-in sensor fusion solution for IoT devices with constrained form factors. The System-in-Package offers a single integrated form factor (12 x 12mm) version of the sensor fusion daughter board that has been miniaturized at scale through Flex proprietary packaging processes. The self-contained subsystem frees the selected host processor from always-on sensor fusion workloads. The Flex proprietary SiP form factor can be customized for different sensor fusion applications and easily integrates into new or existing products.
“Flex and QuickLogic worked closely together to integrate our EOS S3 SoC ultra-low power voice and sensor processing platform with their FLEXino Sensor Fusion Development Kit and SiP,” said Brian Faith, chief executive officer of QuickLogic. “The development kit includes a sensor fusion daughter board featuring the EOS S3 SoC, and the SiP version miniaturizes the same functionality into a single package that can be used for volume production. By working with Flex and Infineon, we are able to deliver sensor fusion customers a complete and seamless development path.”
As stated by the companies, flexible throughout the design process and compatible with the Adafruit Feather ecosystem, the new development kit is optimized for quick prototyping, and is applicable across many industries due to its small, accessible form factor that integrates best-in-class sensors commonly used in a variety of industrial and consumer markets. The hardware configuration addresses several use cases, as the sensor fusion algorithm is software configurable.
The FLEXino Sensor Fusion Development Kit is available now, and the System-in-Package is scheduled to be available the first quarter of 2020. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, attendees interested in seeing a demonstration of the FLEXino Sensor Fusion Development Kit can make an appointment to visit QuickLogic's suite, located in the Venetian Tower Suite 31:220, by contacting [email protected], or visit Infineon's booth in the Venetian Toscana Ballrooms 3706 and 3707.
