Industry News Highlights Smart Cities

SoftBank Corp. and Swiss-based u-blox AG have announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in GNSS 1 augmentation services for global markets. SoftBank provides the “ichimill” GNSS augmentation service in Japan, its subsidiary ALES operates a business that generates and delivers positioning correction data, and u-blox is a leading global provider of positioning services for the automotive, industrial and consumer markets. u-blox also provides electronic components for wireless communications and the “PointPerfect” GNSS augmentation service in Europe, the USA and other countries and regions. Through this business collaboration, SoftBank, ALES and u-blox will construct GNSS augmentation infrastructure for Japan, Europe and the USA, develop GNSS receivers and devices, and expand service areas.

Renesas Electronics Corporation today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Celeno Communications, the leading provider of smart, innovative Wi-Fi solutions, under which Renesas will acquire Celeno in an all cash transaction valuing Celeno at approximately US$315 million (approximately 35.9 billion yen at an exchange rate of 114 yen to the dollar), assuming the payment of certain milestone payments as set forth in the definitive agreement. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. The acquisition significantly enhances Renesas’ connectivity portfolio with the addition of Celeno’s industry leading Wi-Fi technologies and software expertise.

Infineon Technologies has announced the company has collaborated with Picovoice to jointly develop an end-to-end voice platform that brings voice AI to edge devices. This collaboration enables smart voice solutions in ultra-low power IoT devices using Infineon’s PSoC™ 6 microcontrollers (MCUs). This gives designers an alternative approach to evaluating and deploying wake-phase and intent recognition on the company’s PSoC 6 products. The joint effort opens up new possibilities with on-device AI-enabled voice technology for the smart home and wearable applications using energy efficient PSoC 6 MCUs with comprehensive IoT connectivity support.

As part of its Power Focus campaign, Digi-Key Electronics  is collaborating with Power Integrations, a leading innovator in semiconductor technologies for high-voltage power conversion, to offer Power Integrations’ InnoSwitch™3 IC family with PowiGaN™ technology.