Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being deployed in factories enabling smart factories, or in some cases, even smarter factories. To ensure optimal performance with AI, instant and reliable communications between the management system and edge products in noisy factory environments are critical for immediate response and operations. The wireless solutions being deployed to help maximize communications are Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E operating at 6 GHz. The solutions are also proving to be a boon for related AI-enabled applications, including fleet management for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), vision-based teleoperations, and proactive safety use cases.

AI MCU vendors have mostly been putting themselves into two camps when it comes to the ecosystem. On one side, the vendor is providing everything themselves. In the other camp, the vendor is relying on partners and the community at large to provide the ecosystem. I recently spoke to Steve Tateosian, SVP of Industrial MCUs, IoT, Wireless, and Compute Business at Infineon, as the company just announced a bunch of AI MCUs and I wanted to find out which camp he was residing in. Find out on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Embedded Computing Design’s Road to embedded world will highlight a host of embedded suppliers who will be showcasing their latest products and technologies at embedded world, April 9th to 11th in Nuremberg, Germany. embedded world is the largest global gathering of its kind. Check back regularly to see where the Road to embedded world takes us.

The Embedded Computing Design editorial staff is pleased to present this year’s embedded world Best-in-Show nominees in the Microcontrollers, Microprocessors, & IP category:

Consumer security cameras are growing in popularity when it comes to smart home devices, whether they’re attached to porches, eaves, or as part of a doorbell.

Munich, Germany. Infineon Technologies released its Solid-State Isolators (iSSI) featuring drivers leveraging coreless transformer technology for faster and more efficient switching along with circuit protection functionalities that outperform those of optical-based Solid State Relays (SSR). The iSSI enables the driving of Infineon’s OptiMOS and CoolMOS, resulting in a 70 percent reduction in power dissipation compared to general solid-state relays using SCR (silicon-controlled rectifier) and Triac switches.

Have you ever heard of an isolator without a power supply? I hadn’t either, until now, sort of. That’s not exactly what Infineon is launching, but it’s close enough that I needed to have a conversation with Daniel Callen, Infineon’s Sr. Manager in the Power IC Group to understand exactly what the company is launching.

If your application is in solid-state relays, industrial automation (PLCs), or commercial HVAC controllers, this is a conversation you should hear. Check out this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.