Core Labs Launches Next-Generation Infrared and Ambient Light Sensors

Silicon Laboratories, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-performance analog and mixed-signal ICs, today announced the launch of next-generation infrared (IR) and ambient light sensors for human-machine interface (HI) applications. The latest member of the Silicon Labs QuickSenseHI portfolio, the Si114x family, is the industry's highest sensitivity, energy-efficient, and farthest proximity sensor. In a tiny 2mm x 2mm package, the Si114x sensor can be used in mobile phones, e-readers, netbooks, tablet PCs, personal media players, toys, office equipment, industrial controls, security systems, point-of-sale Terminals, and many other devices to achieve advanced Proximity sensing and non-contact interface.

The detection distance and sensitivity of the proximity sensor are determined by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system; the higher the SNR, the greater the distance. A variety of variables affect the system's SNR, including ambient noise/light compensation, photodiode sensitivity, filtering, and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architectures. Although competing solutions may overcome one or both of these factors, the Si114x architecture in the patent application overcomes all these variables, thereby minimizing noise and maximizing performance. The joint architecture optimization of the Si114x series achieves a very high system SNR, which enables the Si114x proximity sensor to achieve the industry's farthest sensing range, highest sensitivity, and fastest data acquisition speed.

The Si114x family's industry-leading sensitivity allows developers to place infrared sensors behind a translucent product cover. The complete IR sensor architecture also works in daylight. It includes an ambient light sensor that senses light levels up to 128 kilolux. In addition, the advanced architecture of the Si114x family enables proximity-sensing measurements in 25μs, reducing the turn-on time of extremely power-hungry infrared LEDs, resulting in the industry's lowest system power consumption—20 times lower than other solutions .

The Si114x series includes an optional maximum of three infrared LED lamp drivers. Developers are free to implement one-dimensional HI systems that detect distances greater than 50cm or multidimensional systems with gesture sensing capability up to 15cm. The Si1142 and Si1143 devices have two and three IR LED drivers, respectively, enabling advanced motion and gesture sensing. With two integrated LED drivers, the Si1142 supports Z-axis and X-axis motion sensing for non-contact slide bar interfaces. The Si1143 supports three LED drivers and enables innovative three-dimensional motion sensing in multidimensional non-contact control.

Coupled with the intelligent controls provided by Silicon Labs capacitive touch-sensing microcontrollers (such as the F700, F800, or F99x MCUs), the Si114x sensors can be used for a variety of motion and gesture detection, as well as target range calibration applications. The sensing mode of the Si114x device provides useful information to the MCU to determine the background light type, such as daylight, fluorescent light, or incandescent light. This information is useful in many applications to improve IR proximity sensing, optimize infrared sensing power consumption, enhance the background brightness adjustment of display devices, and control other devices in the system.

"The new Si114x family is the most advanced single-chip proximity sensing solution that offers unmatched sensitivity, sensing distance and power in a very small package," said Mark Thompson, vice president and general manager of embedded mixed-signal product lines at Silicon Labs. , "As the only semiconductor supplier that can provide both proximity sensors and touch-sensing MCUs, we offer developers a single-source solution that simplifies the next generation of human-machine interface design."

QuickSense Studio and Development Board Support

Like all other QuickSense product members, QuickSense Studio also supports the Si114x family of products. QuickSense Studio is an intuitive, easy-to-use software design environment that helps developers write, debug, and analyze proximity, ambient light, and capacitive touch-sensing applications. QuickSense Studio simplifies the configuration of infrared proximity and ambient light sensors through an API library. The graphical runtime environment provides the ability to generate C language code for proximity and motion detection, gesture detection, and background light recognition.

Complete evaluation and development kits, including the Si1142 based contactless slider evaluation board IRSLIDER2EK and Si1140DK development kit for Si1143 3-LED evaluation,

Silicon Labs offers an online light sensor power consumption assessment tool that helps developers evaluate power consumption in proximity and ambient light sensing applications.