Turning "things" into voice-operated assistants, digital wallets and health tracker
We live in a world, where technology shapes almost every aspect of our daily life. In 2030, it is predicted that around 50 billion devices will be connected to the IoT, most of which will be owned by private users.
One area that particularly fascinates consumers are “smart things” - devices like smart speakers, mobile devices, home entertainment devices but also wearables – as they increasingly help to make life consistently easier and more convenient. And people are particularly fascinated by the existing but also upcoming new use-cases and the possibilities provided. With the increasing connectivity and digitalization of our everyday lives, consumers' demands on their devices are also rising. It's no longer enough for them to be easy to use and make our daily lives more convenient. They should also be energy-efficient, safe, and best of all, anticipate what we want next.
Great for consumers – but what would that mean for manufacturers?
Many manufacturers have great visions of such smart things, but they are not necessarily experts in the sense-compute-actuate-connect-secure continuum. And in many cases, newcomers to the IoT space have neither the in-house resources nor the budget to invest in dedicated security or connectivity capabilities. The question is, how can they balance the need for speed in development with the equally pressing need for reliable connectivity, contextual awareness, and robust security for example? Here Infineon supports with a wide range of solutions spanningsensors, microcontrollers, actuators, communication modules, andsecurity components. Complemented by development tools, embedded software, evaluation boards & kits, and more, we provide the best developer experience for fast and easy creation of IoT solutions, that make life easier, safer, and greener. This is how we make IoT work.
SENSE: Versatile sensors for high-end performance with easy integration
The XENSIV™ family is the broadest portfolio of sensor types on the market, offering smart-device manufacturers turnkey solutions that enable a fast time-to-market.
XENSIV™ MEMS microphones introduce a new performance class for MEMS microphones. The portfolio of XENSIV™ MEMS microphone-based reference designs and Infineon inside MEMS microphones will propel audio performance to the next level for even the most demanding applications.
The XENSIV™ family comprises digital, barometric absolute pressure sensors that impress with their small size, low power consumption, highest precision, environmental robustness and relative accuracy over a wide temperature range. Explore our Infineon inside pressure sensor partner products to find the ideal solution for your needs.
Health monitoring, gesture control, and presence detection are among the applications for which Infineon’s 60 GHz radar is a versatile solution, while Infineon’s REAL3™ image sensors are the right choice for authentication via face recognition and AR/VR applications. They are based on Infineon ToF (time of flight), which is the most advanced vision-sensing technology in the world today.
Yet smart things also rely on physical interaction between users and devices. Infineon’s CAPSENSE™ solutions bring elegant, reliable, and easy-to-use capacitive-touch sensing functionality to your design. CAPSENSE™ boasts industry-leading low-power operation, with an average current consumption of 22 µA.
COMPUTE: Bridging the gap between high performance and low power
PSoC™ 6 bridges the gap between expensive, power-hungry application processors and low performance microcontrollers (MCUs).
The PSoC™ 6 MCU contains a dual CPU architecture, with both CPUs on a single chip. Beyond the low-power core, the PSoC™ 6 programmable processor line has six power modes for fine-grained power management. Built-in security protects your IoT system.
Matching the PSoC™ 6 family, EXCELON™ – the next-generation Ferroelectric RAM – combines ultra-low-power operation with high-speed interfaces, instant nonvolatility, and unlimited read/write cycle endurance, making it the ideal data-logging memory for portable medical, wearable applications.
We expect our smart things to work anytime, anywhere. At the same time, they should offer maximum safety, reliability, and security. Rely on our broad portfolio of safe, secured, and reliable solutions for embedded systems for embedded systems and check out our NOR Flash products.
ACTUATE: From Qi transmitter to Class D amplifier
Wireless power is becoming increasingly integral for the multifaceted world of smart things. Infineon offers safe and efficient wireless charging solutions for inductive and resonant topologies.
These include customized turnkey system solutions containing software, such as the 15 W Qi table-top transmitter or the 2.5 W resonant multi-device charger with transmitter and receiver solutions.
For great-sounding products, Infineon's MERUS™ multilevel Class D amplifier ICs boast superior energy efficiency and power density. Infineon’s portfolio includes fully integrated single-chip audio solutions alongside discrete audio solutions with highly scalable amplifier driver IC and power MOSFET combinations.
CONNECT: From Bluetooth to 5G - Connectivity on demand
Today’s requirements for mobile-device and wireless applications are increasingly strict due to 4G/5G. Designers therefore need highly integrated RF front-end solutions with lower loss rates, more powerful performance, and greater linearity. Infineon offers a broad product portfolio of high-performance RF front-end components, including antenna tuners, RF switches, LNAs, and LMMs.
To ensure flexible connectivity worldwide, Infineon offers a wide range of high-quality 5G-ready eSIM solutions ranging from eSIM hardware to high-end, ready-to-connect bundles like OPTIGA™ Connect. Combining certified, best-in-class security hardware with a fast, interoperable operating system (OS), OPTIGA™ Connect solutions are optimized for the requirements of the IoT and consumer devices. Pre-integrated connectivity and remote profile provisioning capabilities support fast and easy deployment and management of connected devices the world over.
The WICED Wi-Fi + Bluetooth combos are a small-form-factor solution for IoT designs and integrate IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN and Bluetooth into a single-chip. Many of the Wi-Fi + Bluetooth combos are supported on WICED Wi-Fi and ModusToolboxTM software development kits that provide code examples, tools, and development support.
SECURE: Creating trust in the digital world
One-stop security solutions from Infineon turn a smart thing into a versatile wallet.
SECORA™ Connect is an all-in-one, turnkey solution that turns the respective wearable or IoT device into a powerful and versatile wallet for securely storing, selecting, and using multiple payment cards or transport tickets, for instance. SECORA™ Connect allows designers of smart wearable systems with no security or antenna design experience to seamlessly integrate a very compact solution with ultra-low power consumption for various NFC-based applications.
SECORA™ Blockchain is a fast, easy-to-use Java Card™ solution boasting best-in-class security for blockchain system implementation. By providing a safe “vault” for user credentials, SECORA™ Blockchain can reduce the end user’s commercial risk and helps to increase trust in the blockchain system.
Last, but not least, the OPTIGA™ Trust, OPTIGA™ Authenticate and OPTIGA™ Connect product families offer a full range of security chips to address individual needs in the field of embedded authentication, brand protection, and advanced security applications.
Bring your smart wearable device to the next level
Wearables conquer the market
Today’s hyperconnected consumer wants one thing above all else – convenience! In other words: easy, intuitive ways to tune into the entertaining and useful information they love and need – without switching between different devices or screens. The answer is surprisingly simple: wearables.
Wearables come with innovative features - not only for tracking health and fitness data but also for paying, communicating, getting information and more. These practical everyday helpers are comfortable to wear on the body, and can be used for all manner for purposes, depending on the application.
Wearables solutions
Today’s wearable design engineers face a number of challenges. In addition to an ultra-compact form factor, smart bands and watches must offer ease of use plus intuitive visualization. Other success factors include high-bandwidth connectivity, measurement accuracy, operational longevity, low power consumption, and stability.
With a huge portfolio of excellent RF, sensor, connectivity, power, memory and security solutions including software, you can design innovative wearables of the future - quick and easy.
Small, energy-saving sensors provide a sophisticated way of tracking a person's health, physical activity, and exercise. RF components ensure the best possible location determination, so that the user can be closer to friends and family. Special Microcontrollers bridge the gap between expensive, power-hungry application processors and low performance microcontrollers (MCUs). Wireless charging makes everyday life much easier, and it is almost as if the devices "charge themselves". As wearables collect user data on health and fitness, high-level data security to protect privacy must take top priority: with integrated hardware security solutions, user data on wearables is reliably protected. Thanks to integrated chip solutions, such as SECORA™ Connect, the functionality of wearables can be enhanced by the ability to make secure, hygienic, and easy contactless payments.
We teamed up with the innovative start-up > DEED to integrate our NFC security solution SECORA Connect (and further Infineon products like the PSoC™) into DEED’s get® wristband.
Marking the next leap in the wearable evolution, this novel device combines higher security standards with a unique ID capture method and a revolutionary, screenless interface for an ultra-intuitive user experience.
get® uses the electric signal produced by the human heart (electrocardiogram) for strong, fast and secure authentication of contactless payments. Unique to each person, the electric heartbeat signal opens up new possibilities for biometric identification.
Discover the most common wristband use cases.
Click here to find the right products for wristbands.
Discover the most common smart and sports watch use cases.
Click here to find the right products for smart and sport watches.
Radar-based blood pressure sensor for wearables
The US startup Blumio is currently developing a mobile, non-invasive blood pressure sensor based on Infineon's radar chipset. The new chipset enables continuous and precise measurements without the need for a cable. The new technology has the potential to disrupt the USD 45 billion dollar market for wearable cardiovascular monitoring devices.
Once the design has been successfully completed, a kit combining Infineon's radar and development board and Blumio's software and algorithms will be released to consumer and medical wearable device makers to integrate into their blood pressure monitoring devices.
The rapidly growing need for speed requires optimized memory
HYPERRAM™ is a stand-alone pSRAM based volatile memory that offers you an easy and inexpensive way to add more RAM to your applications. These low-power devices have high performance and low pin-count, making them ideal for applications requiring external RAM for buffering data, audio, images, video or as a scratchpad for math and data-intensive operations. These devices are available from 64 Mbit up to 512 Mbit in density and support JEDEC compliant HyperBus and Octal xSPI interfaces.
Watch the video and learn more about HYPERRAM™ 2.0 Memory Solution HYPERBUS™
Seamless transfer of bank details from cards to wearables
Contactless payments
Paying for an espresso via smartphone, for a ticket via NFC ring or the shopping via smartwatch - contactless payment is convenient and fast, and convenience is king!
Smart things are now also available with functions for making contactless payments – no matter whether the device in question is a fashion accessory, battery-powered smartwatch, or fitness tracker. For this purpose, special electronics modules combine a secure element with a system-in-package NFC antenna, making it easy for device manufacturers to integrate and manage payment applications and ticketing and access solutions.
Payments in Motion - Explore the future of payment
The future of payments will be digital, offering more choice in how we pay, while bringing new risks – and protections – to daily transactions. Innovative cards and card companion devices will continue to make payments increasingly convenient, securer and more attractive, but ultimately digitisation could transform money itself. Here on Payments in Motion, Infineon´s global payment and security experts share their insights on the transformation of how we pay – and explore why this future might be closer than you think.
In this video, we show how easy payment tokenization for wearables and fashion accessories works with NFC smartphones. By using Infineon technology (SECORA™ Pay W SPA 2.1 or SECORA™ Connect S USON8-7), you can easily turn a stylish, wearable key fob, wristband, or necklace into a secured payment device just by tapping a smart-phone
Biometric payment cards: security and convenience in a tiny package
Biometric verification is already the standard for smart phones. Today, innovations in microchip technology are making widespread adoption of fingerprint authentication for contactless payments a reality for cardholders.
Supporting smartphone enrollment with a reference code for generating customer’s smartphone app (iOS and Android).
Infineon’s SECORA™ Pay Bio solution combines Infineon’s Secure Element and the fingerprint sensor from Fingerprints™ Cards AB in a single module, eliminating the need for a wire connection between the card antenna and the semi-conductor. Advances in system-on-chip and system-in-module technology enable the integration of all microchip functions, including power source and fingerprint sensor, into a single module.
Voice-user interfaces that hear better, sound better, and react more intuitively
Smart speakers
Smart speakers combine speakers and voice control via an integrated virtual assistant in a manner that makes intuitive interaction with the user possible: in future, the need for activating these household helpers using a special password will be entirely eliminated, made redundant through voice recognition, radar sensors, or 3D image sensors.
A few years ago, a smart speaker was still a technical novelty in the household. Now they are practically part and parcel of everyday life. The rapid adoption of these devices in our daily lives has led to a constant increase in expectations from the users of these voice-user interfaces. Components such as MEMS microphones and controllers for touchscreens, the innovative use of radar for presence detection, and 3D ToF image sensors for authentication are key to improving the user experience in the intelligent speaker segment and beyond, including home entertainment.
Webinar: Gear up for your Next Gen Designs with Infineon Smart Speaker Solutions
Register now for this webinar and get a basic understanding of smart speakers and its use cases. Gain insights in the smart speaker market, key trends and functional blocks und learn more about Infineon's products and solutions for smart speakers.
Training: Introduction to smart speakers
The smart speaker trends such as smart home control, portability, or data security require best-in-class products. Stay tuned to see what Infineon offers. Watch now!
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