TDK Announces T3902 Lowest-Power PDM MEMS Microphone

TDK Corporation introduced the InvenSense T3902, which the company touts as the world’s lowest power Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) microphone for consumer devices. The new T3902 offers a high SNR of 64.5 dB, and high Acoustic Overload Point (AOP) of 120 dB in a very small package, optimized for mobile devices, wearables, headsets, TV remotes and more, supporting far-field communications, enabling clear audio capture in loud conditions, and ideal for voice recognition.

STMicroelectronics announced its new series of STM32G0 microcontrollers (MCUs) targeted at powering the simplest of connected devices, offering lower power consumption and large memory density in low-pin-count packages, with enhancements to peripherals, plus support for USB Type-C and Power Delivery. The robust new Arm Cortex-M0+ series also features a simplified power connection, superior EMS protection, and class-leading hardware-based security.

Advancements in the architecture of PIC and AVR 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) have optimized the devices for implementing closed-loop control, enabling systems to offload the Central Processing Unit (CPU) to manage more tasks and save power. To help designers maximize performance and efficiency in these systems, Microchip Technology introduced the new PIC18 Q10 and ATtiny1607 families, featuring multiple intelligent Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) that simplify development and enable quick response time to system events.

UK analyst group Rethink Technology Research has published a five year forecast on Voice Control of TV entertainment through remote controls entitled “Voice Control of the TV - Decision time for TV operators”. Rethink calculates that some 142.9 million homes (from 21.3 million today) will install well integrated voice technology from an operator by 2022. The forecast is by units shipped from 2017 – 2022.