Infineon's new NFC tag side controller integrates sensing and energy capture capabilities

     The built-in energy capture capability of sensor controllers based on near field communication (NFC) technology is crucial to the development of passive smart devices. This feature not only makes it easier to design smart devices for iot, so that they can be used in a wide range of applications, but also makes the devices work more accurately and efficiently. Infineon Technologies' latest NGC1081 will further expand its portfolio of NFC tag side controllers.

     This new single-chip IC solution enables Internet of Things industry customers to develop lower cost and smaller smart edge computing/sensing devices, ultimately maximizing benefits for end users and manufacturers. Smart devices based on the NGC1081 design can be controlled and powered by a mobile phone, making them suitable not only for medical patches and disposable point-of-care inspectors, but also for a wider range of applications such as data loggers, smart thermostats and sensor inlays.

     The controller on the label side supports dual power functions, allowing it to operate in passive (battery-free) or battery-powered mode based on energy acquisition. When operating in battery mode, the system can be connected to an external power supply of 3 to 3.3V to become an independent sensor node. In passive mode, the entire sensor system including the IC and its connected sensors can obtain electricity by collecting energy from the NFC field of the mobile phone. The dual power supply capability, coupled with its own current isolated sensing interface, not only offers unlimited possibilities for creating more battery-free, maintenance-free innovative sensing applications, but also for those power applications that require current isolation in order to meet safety requirements.

     The NGC1081 incorporates a low-power ARM® Cortex®-M0 microcontroller and other key components, including an ISO14443 type-A compliant NFC front-end device and an H-bridge-based motor drive with current drive capability up to 250mA. In addition, the NGC1081 incorporates a sensing unit based on a 12-bit SAR ADC with four analog input ports and a 10-bit DAC analog output port. The NGC1081 sensor unit also contains a 12V converter and a built-in temperature sensor that provides accuracy of ±0.3 ° C at 0 ° C to 45 ° C and ±0.4 ° C at -20 ° C to 0 ° C and 45 ° C to 85 ° C.

     The NGC1081 is a highly integrated single chip solution that enables customers to not only achieve smaller product designs, but also reduce BOM costs for the entire system. In addition, with its unique IC design architecture and professional design of supporting hardware/software, customers can design more autonomous software functions. NGC1081's ease of configuration and versatility make it the best solution to easily adapt to the specific requirements of a variety of applications and systems.

     In addition, the NGC1081-based system is designed to seamlessly link data to the mobile phone, which greatly facilitates the adoption of the solution for products based on the access cloud business model. This seamless feature with mobile phones is made possible by a streamlined and extensible mailbox access concept that ensures data integrity and security during data access. In addition, application-specific instructions and information transmitted through the open protocol interface can further extend the protocol layer.