Weartech-Comms / Bluetooth / Wireless

Smartphones and wearables can be used to authenticate IoT devices, home-automation applications, and secure data storage via Bluetooth Smart technology. STMicroelectronics and ClevX, an IP developer for portable storage and mobile device manufacturers have announced what they believe is the world’s first DataLock-secured encrypted portable storage media with Bluetooth Smart wireless user-authentication.
For the first time, users can interact with secure portable storage (full-disk, XTS-AES 256bit encryption) from smartphones or wearable devices where all user data on the drive is encrypted and can be locked or unlocked using single- or multi-factor authentication. The technology is suited for healthcare, home automation and security, secure-access control systems, and portable data storage.
Luca Difalco, VP of marketing, STMicroelectronics’ Americas region said: “While we’re demonstrating the capability in an easy-to-use hardware-encrypted secure USB-Drive, the elegance and versatility of the solution is provided by an application that we can add to our BlueNRG device to make lock-down security accessible via Bluetooth Smart.”
The two companies have reference designs for secure portable storage media, including flash, hard-disk, and solid-state disk drives. They use ST’s Bluetooth Smart chips (BlueNRG) and low power STM32L0 MCUs and are immediately available for licensing and partnerships, including both ST/ClevX-based hardware and firmware in addition to the related smartphone and wearables apps.
The reference designs are OS-host agnostic. USB drives with the DataLock BT technology operate across all computer platforms and embedded systems while providing various easy-to-use security layers (including a wireless lock/unlock mechanism, phone as an authentication factor, phone + PIN, or phone + PIN + userID/location/time). The reference designs support USB Remote Management, for corporate deployments and remote password resets, drive disabling and erasing, and successful implementation of corporate-wide policies.
Lev Bolotin, Founder/CEO, ClevX, LLC notes: “Using ST and ClevX technologies, the DataLock BT Security solution protects data on a USB. . . Consumers, healthcare workers, mobile professionals, and corporations can improve their productivity and security on-the-go by using their phones to authenticate themselves to their USB drives and change security options, as required.”

TE Connectivity’s USB Type-C receptacle is available from Mouser Electronics.
The mid-mount connector provides data, power, and audio/video connectivity and transmission functions. The receptacle complies with USB Type-C specifications and is small enough for handheld devices yet robust enough for industrial applications, says the company.
It features a reversible mating interface designed to accept a plug in any direction and supports a variety of protocols and, with the use of adapters, is backwards-compatible to HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort and other types of connections from the single USB Type-C port. The connector supports scalable power charging, delivering up to 100W at 20V, and meets USB 3.1 protocols, giving it high throughput speeds up to 10Gbit/s plus backward-compatibility with USB 3.1 Gen 1, Gen 2 and USB 2.0.
It also features enhanced EMI shielding on the receptacle shell to help eliminate unwanted leakage and offers additional connector board retention features compared to the industry standard footprint. The receptacle can be used in factory automation, power chargers, medical devices, automotive infotainment systems, smartphones, tablets and wearable devices.
http://www.mouser.com/new/teconnectors/te-connectivity-usb-type-c/

Two Bluetooth ICs with built-in Flash ROM, one with the option of integrated NFC Tag functionality, have been announced by Toshiba. The TC35676FTG/FSG IC and TC35675XBG have been designed for use in wearable devices, healthcare devices, smart phone accessories, sensors, remote controllers, beacons, and toys.

The connected world was the topic for an informative discussion at Broadcom’s offices in California. Michael Hurlston, executive vice president, worldwide sales told the Eurasia press conference that the company has identified four market segments of ‘true IoT’, namely wearables, medical, home automation and the connected car.
Hurlston shared ABI Research data that predicts 45billion connected devices to be deployed by 2020. Of these, 2.5billion are expected to be in the connected vehicles.
The company’s BroadR-Reach  technology is at the centre of the OPEN Alliance (One-Pair EtherNet) SIG (Special Interest Group) which has reported a “significant increase” in the number of car models adopting its automotive Ethernet standard, based on the technology, with BMW, Jaguar and VW using standardised Ethernet to deploy advanced infotainment and driver assistance features, such as surround-view parking, lane-departure warning and collision avoidance systems.
The Ethernet standard delivers bandwidth of 100Mbit/s/port while “dramatically” reducing connectivity costs and cabling weight, says the Alliance. The automotive-qualified technology integrates specialised, separate systems into a centralised, secure platform, rather than various connectivity solutions in each of the domains of a vehicle. Multiple end points can simultaneously access and communicate information with a single protocol for data transfer, whether for infotainment or for safety features, within the vehicle.
“BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet technology enables automakers to introduce luxury-model safety and infotainment features throughout the fleet, including mid-range and economy class vehicles,” said Dr. Ali Abaye, senior director of Automotive at Broadcom. The technology is incorporated in the company’s own devices, but also in those of automotive chip and modules from Freescale, NXP and Realtek.
There are nearly 300 automotive and technology companies in the SIG, which is a x36 increase in the last four years, according to Natalie A. Wienckowski, strategy lead, Core Hardware Team at General Motors and Chair for the OPEN Alliance SIG. “As the automotive industry accelerates adoption of Ethernet-based networks, the implementation support provided by OPEN is invaluable to its members,” she adds.
The role of standards-based technologies, such as BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet reduces time to market, ensures availability and, says Ian Riches, director, Global Automotive Practice, Strategy Analytics, assures lifecycle, upgradability and interoperability across companies and models. He forecasts: “Now that a secure system backbone is in place, connected car development is kicking into high gear. We’re predicting up to one-half billion Ethernet ports to be deployed in cars by 2020.”