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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB Wireless Audio Innovation Takes Center Stage at AES Europe 2024
AES events cast a spotlight on the many ways our audio technologies have evolved in recent years. Legacy wireless platforms, Bluetooth chief among them, have served us well in the past and will continue to excel in some applications going forward. High-quality audio isn’t one of them.
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SPARK Reference Platforms Help ODMs Like Primax Get Customers to Market Quickly with High-Performance UWB
ODMs are essential for speeding the design, development and production cycles for market brands of all sizes. Much of the value provided by ODMs comes from their ability to anticipate macro technology trends. This proactive approach accelerates customers’ time to market with the latest and greatest electronic devices.
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Designing with SPARK UWB for Enhanced Gaming, XR and Entertainment Experiences
In consumer device markets – particularly for apps like gaming, AR/VR (XR) and audio/multimedia – we hear a lot of talk about delivering improved “experiences.” Improved gaming experiences and music and entertainment experiences, for example. Is this just marketing hype? These products need to upgrade our enjoyment in order to justify the expense.
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SPARK and the Canadian Semiconductor Opportunity: A Global Endeavor with Local Roots
Gathering together key industry and government decision-makers from Canada and the US, Canada’s Semiconductor Summit helped establish priorities and define opportunities to enhance the competitiveness of Canada’s semiconductor sector in the context of tectonic shifts reshaping the global economy. The CSC acknowledges some important new realities.
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SPARK UWB Makes History in Industry’s First UWB Powered Consumer Audio Devices
We congratulate Sonus Faber for their technical achievement and vision. They have broken a major barrier in premium-quality, wireless audio delivery, and they’ve made history in the process. SPARK is proud to play a part in the Duetto design, enabling the high-performance, low latency wireless link between the two Duetto speakers.
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SPARK UWB Video Demonstrations: Visualize the Bandwidth, Latency, Positioning and Power Benefits
We’re delighted to share a library of video demonstrations showcasing SPARK UWB technology for a wide range of industrial and consumer applications. Beginning with an Introduction to SPARK UWB technology, this video series helps visualize the myriad advantages delivered with SPARK connectivity: High data rates, ultra-low latency and precise positioning/ranging.
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Are 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth Wireless Mice Interfering with Your Game Play?
It’s not exactly a well-kept secret that gamers have had to contend with persistent interference issues when it comes to wireless mice, headsets, etc. Among the longstanding gripes that SPARK UWB has arrived to solve: The frustrating congestion and signal interference that continues to haunt narrowband Bluetooth and proprietary 2.4 GHz implementations.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Apple’s Vison Pro Headsets and The Future of Spatial Computing
All eyes were on Apple for the recent launch of its much-anticipated Vision Pro headset. As with previous Apple device introductions (iPod, iPhone, iPad – all were historic in their own right), the new Vision Pro is an engineering marvel in multiple dimensions. The impossibly sophisticated technology that’s been carefully integrated within the Apple Vision Pro is seriously impressive. Its capabilities – too numerous to detail here – are a testament to Apple’s innovation in, what it calls, spatial computing.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Wireless Gaming Mice Have a New Performance Standard: Latency
While polling rate will remain an important differentiator among mice, when it comes to wireless gaming mice, expect to hear pro gamers and product reviewers alike talking more and more about latency going forward. The new breed of wireless esports mice should also be assessed for their latency, because ultra-fast polling rates may provide little advantage if the performance gains are squandered in latency.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: With UWB, Wireless Gaming Mice Are Finally Levelling the Playing Field with Wired Mice in Esports
Since the dawn of esports, wired mice were considered indispensable for serious gamers seeking the utmost in performance, but times have changed – technology has changed – and wireless mice are coming to market soon that will completely close the performance gap between wired and wireless once and for all.
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SPARK Microsystems' latest funding round to support commercialisation of devices and sensors
SPARK Microsystems, the Montreal-based fabless semiconductor company specialising in next-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communications, has closed a new round of funding.
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SPARK Microsystems Raises $34 Million to Meet Chip Demand Amid Supply Crunch
BetaKit discusses Montréal-based fabless semiconductor company Spark Microsystems $34 million CAD Series B financing as the broader chip industry continues to grapple with a supply crunch and demand fluctuations.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: With AR/VR Tech Heating Up, Experts Ask: How Will Users Control Their AR Smart Glasses and Wearables?
The news media has been buzzing about augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology on the heels of some impressive product unveilings. With AR/VR tech gaining early commercial momentum, technology leaders large and small are innovating and investing in AR/VR to speed the arrival of truly breakthrough XR and metaverse technologies. SPARK Microsystems discusses the state of AR and VR smart glasses and headsets in this blog.
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Holiday Shopping with a “UWB Engineer”: The Saga Continues
As the smoke clears on the 2022 holiday season, our frazzled and notoriously shopping-impaired protagonist takes a much-needed breather and surveys what months of carefully considered holiday shopping has wrought. The results? Quite frankly the results could have been better. Here’s what transpired.
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SPARK Microsystems and UBITO Leverages UWB Technology by developing Wireless, Battery-less IoT Sensors
SPARK Microsystems and UBITO have partnered to develop a range of UWB-based wireless sensing and IoT solutions. This partnership will allow UBITO to leverage SPARK Microsystems’ UWB technology for wireless, battery-less sensor applications in multiple industries, including smart home, industrial automation, and condition monitoring.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: For Wireless Gaming Mice, UWB Achieves New Performance Benchmarks on the Path to Seamlessly Interactive AR/VR
In order to architect the AR/VR connected devices of tomorrow, we must first solve the connectivity needs of wireless devices today. And for traditional gaming and audio apps, it’s clearer than ever that collectively we’re reaching the outer limits of what’s possible with legacy short-range connectivity platforms. The time for UWB is right now.
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Wireless Audio, Installation Audio, and Multiroom Improvements in audioXpress December 2022
In an audioXpress contributed article, SPARK Microsystems addresses the advantages of using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to achieve high-quality wireless audio streaming and how UWB radios can be deployed effectively as a high speed and low latency data communication method, exceeding the performance of traditional narrowband devices and enabling uncompressed hi-res audio streams at 24-bit/96kHz with millisecond latency and very low power consumption.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Good Citizenship Among Great Protocols - Planning for Future Interoperability Between UWB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
For applications like wireless gaming and audio, positioning/location awareness, and mobile AR/VR in the metaverse, it’s crucial that we work together to ensure UWB’s seamless coexistence among complementary short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
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SPARK Microsystems Shows Way-Forward for Wireless Audio Over UWB
audioXpress covers the details of the joint SPARK Microsystems and UWB Alliance coexistence testing and aggregation capabilities of UWB technology in environments where other UWB or other wireless protocols and radio devices are in use.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Getting Started Quickly with SPARK UWB for IoT Sensors: Introducing SPARK’s New Wireless Sensor Kit
At the upcoming Sensors Converge event, SPARK will be on hand to highlight the many advantages that UWB delivers for sensor applications compared to legacy short-range wireless platforms like Bluetooth. For Smart Factory and Smart Home apps, among others, wireless sensors are proving increasingly advantageous.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB’s Sustainability Advantages: IoT Sensors with “No Wires, No Batteries”
Just as short-range wireless technology paved the way for deploying sensors without wires, UWB holds the promise for a future of sensors deployed without batteries. Power-sipping technology like UWB sets the stage for a future of battery-less IoT sensor devices that leverage energy harvesting technologies to derive their own power.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB Puts the Mobility in the Metaverse
SPARK UWB is the short-range wireless connectivity platform best optimized for metaverse enabling devices like AR glasses, gloves and other peripherals, providing the robust, high-quality data comms necessary for enabling seamless metaverse immersion on the fly – with the power efficiency to ensure long usage times between device charges.
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With $7.1M in SDTC Funds, SPARK Microsystems Aims to Make Wireless Tech More Energy Efficient
Spark Microsystems has secured $7.1 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to accelerate the development and commercialization of its wireless UWB transceivers.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB in the Multisensory Metaverse, Part III: Touch and Haptics
Immersion in the metaverse would be fundamentally incomplete absent our ability to touch objects, environments and other avatars, gathering the tactile information we rely on to fuse our full perception and complete the sensory loop. This SPARK Microsystems post focuses on touch and haptics in the metaverse.
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Designing with UWB: Short-Range Wireless Apps Reimagined with Performance Far Beyond Bluetooth
With 10x faster data throughput, 60x less latency, and 40x better energy efficiency, UWB prompts a fresh look at design considerations from payload sizing to testing/certification and antenna design.
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What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth and UWB for High-Speed Data and Multimedia?
For nearly 20 years, Bluetooth has dominated as the short-range technology for wirelessly connected devices. But UWB’s latency and power-efficiency advantages position it as a compelling alternative with faster, freer dataflow and low power consumption.
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#159 – Introduction to MRAM with Joe O’Hare from Everspin
Storage Unpacked hosts dig deeper into storage media and look at magneto-resistive RAM, commonly known as MRAM in this conversation with Joe O’Hare, Director of Distribution and Product Marketing at Everspin Technologies.
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Everspin with Partner Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions Developed Toggle MRAM for Space Applications
Everspin Technologies, Inc.‘s partner Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions (CAES) presented a technical case study describing the versatility and performance of their jointly developed Toggle MRAM for space applications.
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Everspin Releases Design Guide for using 1 Gb STT-MRAM with Xilinx DDR4 FPGA Controller
Xilinx, Inc., the leader in adaptive and intelligent computing, has been supporting Everspin’s STT-MRAM for two generations and enables the 1 Gb STT-MRAM solution using its DDR4 controller in the Xilinx Vivado development environment.
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The 3 biggest storage trends of the next decade
I've been watching storage for some 40 years. And each decade has seen accelerating change, and none more so than the the past 10 years. That trend will continue. Here's the biggest trends I expect to affect all who use storage, whether they know it or not.
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3 emerging memory technologies that will change how you handle data
A couple of years back, IDC predicted that by 2025 the average person will interact with connected devices 4,800 times per day. Information pouring in from those sensors will fuel machine learning, language processing, and artificial intelligence, all requiring fast storage and more compute horsepower. The next generation of memory technologies will address gaps in today’s storage hierarchy, delivering data where it’s needed for real-time processing. MRAM shows promise at the edge.
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When Persistence is a Virtue, MRAM is an Alternative to DRAM and SRAM
Magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) is one of those technologies that is often talked about as having the potential to change the computer memory landscape. But in actuality, MRAM has been commercially available since 2006 and is already displacing static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), and flash NAND in number of applications inside and outside the datacenter.
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Could 3D Printing Disrupt the Electronics Industry?
More companies and universities are integrating 3D printing with their electronic design. The non-traditional process was well-received as it moved from the aerospace to automotive to medical industries. Electronics could be next on the list to benefit from 3D printing, according to Ernst and Young. Today, many people say we will never 3D-print phones and other complex, multi-material products. However, with so many companies pushing to develop a magical all-encompassing printer, will we see electronics being manufactured with 3D printing?
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3D Printing Spotlight On: Hila Elimelech, Vice President of Materials, Nano Dimension
Israel-based Nano Dimension is seeking to change the way things are made, with their flagship DragonFly 2020 3D printer catching attention from many quarters for its ability to 3D print electronics including printed circuit boards (PCBs).
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PHYTEC enjoys reduction in time and cost with Nano Dimension DragonFly 2020 3D printer
In November 2016, Nano Dimension Technologies delivered a beta DragonFly 2020 to its third customer: PHYTEC, a German microprocessor solutions provider. The deal came about as PHYTEC tackled an increasing demand for prototypes from its customer base. PHYTEC needed a solution which could reduce development time, while maintaining the quality of its products and service. It decided to take on Nano Dimension’s flagship 3D printing technology, and today is publishing the results.
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Phison Brings Everspin’s 1Gb STT-MRAM To Next-Gen SSD Controllers
The technology that never goes mainstream even after 30 years of advancement is advancing even farther into the enterprise market, thanks to a partnership that pairs Everspin's latest 1Gb ICs with Phison’s next-gen SSD controller.
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Lights-out digital manufacturing delivers first 3D printed electronics
Additive electronics provider Nano Dimension Ltd. has unveiled its new DragonFly Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing (LDM) printing technology, which the company presents as the industry’s only comprehensive additive manufacturing platform for round-the-clock 3D printing of electronic circuitry. The initial deployment took place at the Munich premises of sensor and defense electronics provider Hensoldt.
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Nano Dimension introduced low-volume, continuous additive manufacturing system for electronics production
Additively manufacturing functional circuits round-the-clock with little or no operator intervention is possible with the new DragonFly LDM precision additive manufacturing system from Nano Dimension. This 3D printer will build electronic components such as multilayer Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), antennas, sensors and so on, round-the-clock, enabling Nano Dimension to shift from developing prototyping printers to systems that handle one-off prototypes as well as low-volume manufacturing of printed electronics.
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INTERVIEW: Nano Dimension CEO Amit Dror on the launch of the 24 hour DragonFly LDM 3D printer
Designed for 24 hour electronics production, the DragonFly LDM (standing for Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing) is a new 3D printer and DragonFly Pro upgrade from Israeli 3D printed electronics company Nano Dimension. Hinted at in a corporate update earlier this month, the machine was launched today through the company’s global sales channel and requires minimal operator intervention, representing a significant advance for 3D printed electronics.
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Everspin Begins Production of 1 Gb STT-MRAM
Everspin recently announced they have begun pilot production of their 1Gb STT-MRAM (Spin-transfer Torque Magnetoresistive RAM) nonvolatile memory, after shipping the first pre-production samples in December. The new MRAM parts are fabbed on a GlobalFoundries 28nm process and are a significant advance in density and capacity compared to their current 40nm 256Mb parts. Production will be ramping up through the second half of this year.
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Cross-Organizational Data Sharing in the Auto Supply Chain Reduces Defects
For years, semiconductor manufacturers have leveraged manufacturing data throughout their globally-dispersed supply chains to improve quality and reduce return material authorizations (RMAs). Automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers are now working to meet the similar challenge of reducing defective parts per million (DPPM) and beyond in vehicle production. The ability to share and connect data backwards and forwards throughout the supply chain is now seen as a key capability to address this challenge. How can sharing data throughout the automotive supply chain reduce DPPM?
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Move ICs from defects per million to defects per billion
Defective Parts Per Million (DPPM) is one of the key metrics used to measure quality in many semiconductor segments. With electronics becoming more and more a part of everyday life (wearable electronics and semi-autonomous vehicles), there's increasing pressure to improve quality across all semiconductor market segments. For mission-critical segments such as automotive and medical, market forces are driving improvements in quality into the Defective Parts Per Billion (DPPB) range.
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Real-time adaptive test algorithm can safely reduce wafer testing time and cost
The testing of the semiconductor dies produced by a wafer fabrication plant involves a long series of operations requiring meticulous care. The time spent performing these tests markedly affects both a plant’s production throughput and production costs.