High Quality Oscilloscopes, Arbitrary/Function Generators, Accessories Now Available for Test and Measurement Needs
Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it has inked a distribution agreement with Tektronix, a leading worldwide provider of test, measurement, and monitoring instrumentation.
Mouser’s Tektronix portfolio includes high quality oscilloscopes, arbitrary/function generators, and other essentials for engineers’ design benches.
“Adding Tektronix to our line card allows us to expand our offerings to include another world renowned and trusted brand,” said Barry McConnell, Mouser Vice President of Product Marketing. “Tektronix’s advanced test and measurement technologies are incorporated into their products for design, debug, compliance test, education, training, manufacturing test, and quality control applications. Design engineers turn to Tektronix for their proven, reliable products and we are pleased to stock them for same-day shipping.”
» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.
Nu Horizons Electronics opens new Distribution Centre to support expansion in Europe
Nu Horizons Electronics has opened a new distribution centre in Coventry, UK, which is more than six times the size of its previous facility. The distribution centre will provide the additional stocking capability needed to support the expansion of the global distributor throughout Europe. Nu Horizons Electronics Corp is one of the top five, publicly quoted, distributors of semiconductors throughout the world.
The new distribution centre was formally commissioned in August and will fulfil orders from all of Nu Horizons’ Eastern European offices. The distributor has recently opened two bases in Eastern Europe to cover Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, in addition to its offices in Coventry, UK and Munich, Germany. Orders from the Nordic region will continue to ship from the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary C-88 AS, based in Hørsholm, Denmark.
“Recent phases of our expansion in Europe have placed continued demands on our local logistics network,” comments Dave Aberg, Operations Manager EMEA, Nu Horizons. “This new, larger facility in Coventry has more than six times the capacity of the former, is temperature and humidity controlled and contains double the number of available picking stations. In addition, Nu Horizons has expanded its logistics staff to meet the growing demand. The new distribution centre complements our other regional logistics centres in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mexico and will ensure that the further expansion of Nu Horizons’ business in Europe remains well-supported.”
» Contact details for Nu Horizons Electronics Limited
ZIC2410 combines ZigBee®-compliant RF Transceiver with 8051-based 8-bit microcontroller for IEEE 802.15.4 applications
Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is stocking the ZIC2410 RF Transceiver System-on-Chip (SoC) from California Eastern Laboratories (CEL), a proven provider of RF, optoelectronic and mixed signal semiconductor solutions.
“We are pleased to be stocking this new product for Mouser’s existing IEEE 802.15.4 solutions,” commented Mike Scott, Mouser’s Vice President of Active Products. “Quickly providing the newest products to the engineering community is what customers have come to expect from Mouser.”
The ZIC2410 Transceiver IC is a fully-integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) for ZigBee / IEEE 802.15.4 applications. It combines a powerful, ZigBee-compliant RF transceiver with an industry-workhorse, 8051-based 8-bit microcontroller. The ZIC2410 provides +8dBM output power and a best-in-class link budget of 106dB. It also offers -98dBm receiver sensitivity to ensure immunity to interference from other 2.4GHz transmissions. The MCU includes an onboard a-law/µ-law voice CODEC with ADPCM support and an I2S/PCM interface with two 128-byte FIFOs.
To compliment the ZIC2410 IC, Mouser is stocking the ZIC2410-EDK-1 ZigBee Transceiver 2.4 GHz IC Eval Kit that features a wireless frequency of 2400MHz to 2483MHz, a data rate of 250Kbps, 24 I/Os, and four timers.
These low cost solutions help simplify radio designs, shrink their size, lower power consumption, and reduce overall system cost. The ZIC2410 transceiver is ideal for remote sensing, AMR/AMI, home and building automation, and security networks. With some of the lowest transmit, receive and standby power consumption figures available, it’s an excellent choice for applications in which battery life is critical.
The ZIC2410 transceiver IC is part of a broad family of CEL ZigBee products, including integrated radio modules and discrete power amplifiers, LNAs, and RFIC switches for ZigBee range extension.
» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.
Fully expanded light tower range is versatile for a wide range of applications
Available from specialist distributor Switchtec, Sirena’s expanded TWS range of light towers provide visual indication of the status of a wide variety of process machines, vehicles, lifts and other factory and industrial equipments.
The basic principal of any light tower is to provide a quick visual indication, warning or notification. Most light towers are pre assembled and have to be ordered in the required colour sequence, voltage and illumination type and are manufactured as a complete Item.
Sirena’s TWS family provides flexibility to customers, stockists and distributors by the use of a modular system. The customer simply orders the colours they need, output type (flashing or continuous), the required bulb voltage, then by use of Sirena’s simple assembly mechanism, stack the colour modules in the order required.
This expanded TWS range from Sirena builds on the success of the original TWS that was known for its ease of assembly and flexibility. However its 70mm diameter was often too large for customer’s requirements. Smaller diameter lights towers were available from other manufacturers, but lacked the TWS’s stackable flexibility. So Sirena developed the Mini, Baby, Micro and Nano TWS to address this demand. That’s a total of five ranges with the following diameters: 18, 25, 36, 48 and 70mm.
Showing versatility, all the TWS family are available with the following colour lenses: blue, amber, red, green, yellow and clear (white). All the TWS family are protected to IP65 as standard and carry the CE mark. The TWS (70mm diameter version) also has the combined approval of CUL.
The TWS range uses a variety of bulbs to suit the needs of the end user. Filament bulbs offer a low cost solution, LED bulbs are a simple and competitive LED solution, Xenon bulbs provide a very bright visual notification (flashing only), and integrated LED is the best all round visual output. The Mini TWS, Baby TWS, Micro TWS, and Nano TWS use integrated LEDs only, as due to their compact size, bulbs would be difficult to change and install. The integrated LED is not a bulb, but a cluster of LEDs mounted inside the TWS module. All Sirena LEDs are guaranteed up to 100,000 hours.
Available for all but the Nano TWS is an alarm module that adds the additional audible notification to the light tower. Also available for the TWS and the Mini TWS is a range of mounting brackets, angled wall brackets and extension poles.
TWS light towers are available in 12-48VDC and 24-240VAC supply voltages. The Mini is available in 24VAC/DC, 110VAC and 240VAC. The Baby, Micro, and Nano TWS are available in 24VAC/DC.
The TWS is known for its easy installation and Sirena wanted to ensure that this feature was passed on to the new smaller TWS models. They used the same locking ring assembly mechanism on the Mini TWS as they do on the TWS, which delivers a quick and easy assembly and provides an IP65 rating the beacons. However for the Baby, Micro and Nano, their size limited the use of a locking ring so Sirena developed a unique latching mechanism, which still enables a quick and easy assembly, but enables the Baby, Micro and Nano TWS to retain an IP65 rating.
The complete range of Sirena TWS light towers is available ex stock from Switchtec.
» Contact Details for Switchtec Ltd
Electronic Components Distributor, Alpha Micro Announces Distribution Agreement with Sierra Wireless
Alpha Micro Components, a leading international distributor of electronic components today announced a new distributor agreement with Sierra Wireless. This agreement marks Alpha Micro’s advance into the 3G embedded wide area wireless market and enables the distributor to complement and expand its existing portfolio, by offering customers the chance to embed mobile broadband connectivity into its products. Alpha Micro’s customers need to access increasingly larger sized files and data, coming in the form of surveillance photographs, video streaming and data logs. 3G technology facilitates this access and allows users to transmit such volumes of data due to its faster data transmission and higher bandwidth connectivity, which in time will be essential for machine-to-machine (M2M) markets.
Founded in 1993, Sierra Wireless specialises in mobile broadband connectivity and has been selected by Alpha Micro as part of a strategic plan for the distributor to move into the next generation of Internet connectivity. Christos Papakyriacou, Managing Director, Alpha Micro Components comments; “Sierra Wireless was instrumental in developing some of the first wireless data devices and remains committed to developing new, innovative products and software for emerging network technologies. Our partnering with Sierra Wireless will not only assist our move into the 3G market, but will also complement our existing portfolio of electronic components, by offering our M2M and consumer customers a more comprehensive range of wireless solutions.”
“As one of the leading electronics components distributors in the U.K., Alpha Micro fits perfectly into the Sierra Wireless distribution network,” said Jim Lahey, vice president, EMEA for Sierra Wireless. “Alpha Micro’s expertise in M2M devices will help us better support our OEM customers in the U.K., and we’re pleased to be able to expand our support for this important market.”
» Contact details for Alpha Micro
Tyco Electronics PolyZen Devices Now Stocked by Digi-Key
Digi- Key Corporation announced today that it has expanded its line of Tyco Electronics Raychem Circuit Protection Products to include the PolyZen family of polymer-protected Zener diodes.
PolyZen devices are polymer-enhanced precision Zener diode micro-assemblies that help protect sensitive electronics from damage caused by inductive voltage spikes, voltage transients, incorrect power supplies and reverse bias. The PolyZen micro-assembly incorporates a stable Zener diode for precise voltage clamping and a resistively non-linear, polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PPTC) layer that responds to either diode heating or overcurrent events transitioning from a low to high resistance state. These devices help provide resettable protection against damage from multi-watt fault events and require only 0.7W power dissipation. In the event of sustained high-power conditions, the PPTC element of the device “trips” to limit current and generate voltage drop. This functionality helps protect the Zener and the follow-on electronics, effectively increasing the diode’s power handling capacity. Applications include portable media players, global positioning systems, hard disk drive 5V and 12V bus protection, automotive peripheral input power protection, DC power port protection, and industrial handheld POS.
“With single component placement and minimal heat sink requirements, the PolyZen devices will help our customers reduce their design costs,” said Mark Larson, Digi-Key president and COO. “Providing engineers with products that save them time and ultimately money is important, and to that end, I am very pleased to see the addition of the PolyZen devices to our product line.”
» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation
Connector specialist increases floor space three-fold with move to new premises in Southampton
PEI-Genesis, the franchised distributor specialising in connector assembly services, has successfully completed its relocation from Basingstoke to new premises adjacent to Southampton Airport in Eastleigh.
Providing a total floor space of 65,000 ft2, the new premises are more than three times larger than the company’s previous building and will accommodate the increased assembly and stocking capacity needed as the business continues its rapid expansion throughout Europe.
David Jones, European General Manager for PEI-Genesis, is delighted with the move: “We have made a substantial investment in refitting the building and believe we have created the finest connector assembly facility in Europe. As well as enabling us to offer additional product lines and new value-added services, it will allow us to accelerate our plans to open new offices across Europe.”
PEI-Genesis is renowned for its 48-hour connector assembly service, and it achieves this by holding a massive inventory of connector piece-parts, coupled with the development of proprietary machines to automate the connector assembly process.
The new premises provide over eight times the stocking capacity of the previous building, and the company has taken the opportunity to double its assembly capability in terms of equipment and machines.
All but a handful of the company’s personnel have relocated from Basingstoke to Southampton, and PEI-Genesis expects staffing levels to increase by about 20% within the next
12 months.
» Contact details for PEI-Genesis
VG95234 connectors now available with 48-hour assembly service
VG95234 multi-pin circular connectors manufactured by ITT Interconnect Solutions (Cannon and VEAM) are now available from franchised assembling distributor PEI-Genesis with its market-leading 48-hour assembly service.
Designed in accordance with the VG95234 specification, the connectors use the dimensions and contact arrangements laid down in MIL-C-5015, but instead of being threaded they are provided with a reverse bayonet coupling mechanism, which offers exceptional vibration-protected sealing against fluids, as well as easy connection/disconnection.
Capable of withstanding the most severe conditions, the VG95234 connectors feature aluminium-alloy shells with an olive drab finish, high-quality polychloroprene insulators and silver-plated copper contacts with maximum current ratings from 8A to 245A.
These rugged waterproof connectors are particularly suitable for industrial, transportation and military applications and are available in a wide variety of shell styles, sizes and contact arrangements. Operating temperature range is specified as -55 to 125degC, and the connectors are rated for a minimum of 500 mating cycles.
» Contact details for PEI-Genesis
Picking up the pulse for high performance testing
Specialist instrumentation distributor, Aspen Electronics has just announced the availability of two top of the range pulse generators from Tabor Electronics. Offering super high-performance, in a compact unit, the new Pulse Master Series models PM8571 and PM8572 are combined pulse/waveform generators aimed at all general purpose test applications in various sectors of the electronics industry, including automotive, defence, communications, telecoms, datacoms, medical and aviation.
A key feature of these single and dual channel pulse/ pattern generators, is that they can be configured to emulate a wide range of current and obsolete pulse and function generators. Tabor has made it extremely easy to upgrade existing test bench and automatic test set-ups, with these ‘drop-in’ replacements. Old, difficult to maintain instruments from HP, Agilent, Fluke, Tektronix, Tabor, Wavetek and LeCroy can be upgraded, ensuring continued application compatibility.
Test engineers can take full advantage of these 50MHz single (PM8571) or dual (PM8572) channel pulse/pattern generators, offering a complete range of standard, arbitrary and sequenced waveforms.
Technical specifications include 100MHz function generator, 16bit arbitrary waveform/sequence generator running at 300Msamples/s, up to 4M waveform memory, 10ps pulse resolution with 4ns transition time (3ns typical), 32Vpp into open circuit with programmable output impedance, 16bit digital pattern generator, internal PWM modulation and external width control.
In operation, run modes include: continuous, trigger, burst, gated, re-trigger with trigger and system delay control. Conveniently housed in a compact, rack mountable, 2U 1/2 rack-sized box, the instruments feature an easy to read 3.8in colour display, and Ethernet, USB and GPIB interfaces.
» Contact details for Aspen Electronics
edXact appoints distributor in Israel
Backend verification specialist edXact SA today announced that he has signed an agreement with New ARTech Technologies Ltd, (Herzelia, Israel) to distribute Edxact’s software solutions in Israel. Starting on September 1, 2008, ARTech will provide support to existing IDM customers as well as working to expand Edxact’s customer base.
New ARTech Technologies Ltd was founded in 2003 by Rony Amir to represent companies providing technologies to the SoC, ASIC and FPGA design community with advanced tools for high level design, verification and synthesis.
EdXact provides solutions that help to manage huge parasitic data files and to accelerate the overall backend physical verification cycle. JIVARO tools apply user-controllable model order reduction techniques upon user’s parasitic data files obtained from major layout extraction tools. COMANCHE is a tool that enables quick parasitic analysis, without the need to run extensive simulations.
“Israel is an important region for edXact with an increasing number of design starts for RF, analog and mixed-signals devices” commented Mathias Silvant, edXact President. “With its deep knowledge of a demanding designers communauty, ARTech is a key partner in keeping pace with the growing adoption of our Jivaro® technology.”
“Edxact provides an exciting addition to our portfolio” stated Roni Amir, general manager, New ARTech Technologies. “In today’s nanometer designs, customers need EDA tool that can help them to remove the backend verification bottleneck and EdXact’s unique Jivaro® based tools are the ideal boosters of all existing simulation and analysis tools.”
» Contact Details for Edxact
