South Africa
• Cabinet has approved the gazetting of renewable energy development zones (REDZs) and power corridors, as well as associated protocols, to facilitate responsible planning and integrated decision making for the development of wind and solar photovoltaic energy projects and strategic transmission line infrastructure across the country. The decision follows two strategic environmental assessments conducted by the CSIR on behalf of the Department of Environmental Affairs.
• Global specialist in energy management and automation, Schneider Electric, has invested 100 000 Euros towards developing 600 electrical and electronic engineering students at University of Johannesburg (UJ) over three years in the field of energy. Focused on establishing a dedicated lab with Schneider Electric equipment at UJ’s Doornfontein Campus, the programme will support current international training methodologies, with equipment donated by Schneider Electric South Africa and intellectual expertise from the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research.
• AC-DC Dynamics has announced the acquisition of the business of Jemic International Trading (previously Televes South Africa) as a going concern. The acquisition adds a comprehensive selection of SMATV reception and distribution equipment, including equipment for coaxial (copper) distribution and fibre optic equipment, to the AC-DC Dynamics product offering. The company will also offer a comprehensive range of related services, include site inspections, network analyses, system design and project management. Luis Dos Santos, who was the founder of Jemic International Trading, will join the AC-DC Dynamics team.
• Vodacom demonstrated mobile broadband speeds above 170 Mbps over an LTE-Advanced (4G+) three-band, carrier aggregated network. The feat was achieved in Llandudno, near Cape Town, using a Samsung Galaxy S7 and carried over wireless spectrum at 1,8 GHz, 2,1 GHz and 900 MHz. Although it described this as a “real-world” demonstration, Vodacom warned that these speeds are not realistically achievable in other geographic areas.
• Instrotech, distributor and manufacturer of a large range of process control instrumentation and specialised systems, has merged TIA Online to form the Instrotech Test & Measurement division. The new entity represents Rycom Instruments (servicing the global utility, telecom, pipeline and underground construction industries); Time Electronics (precision test instruments and high-performance calibration equipment); Scope T&M (for the electromagnetic induction environment of EHV and UHV substations); Shandong Kehui Power Automation (power cable fault monitoring equipment, power distribution automation equipment, railway power automation and switched reluctance motor drive systems); and Seaward (total test solutions enabling compliance with electrical safety legislation including portable appliance testing, installation, medical and machinery testing).
Overseas
Business
• Micron Technology announced results of operations for its second quarter of fiscal 2016, which ended 3 March 2016. Revenues, at $2,93 billion, were 12% lower compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2016 and 30% lower compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was $97 million, or $0,09 per diluted share, compared to net income of $206 million, or $0,19 per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2016.
• u-blox announced its financial results for 2015, reporting consolidated revenue of CHF 338,3 million, a growth of 25,3% as compared to 2014. Markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) reported a growth of 15,3% with expansion in all geographical regions and application areas, especially asset tracking and automation.
Companies
• Littelfuse has successfully completed its acquisition of the circuit protection business of TE Connectivity for $350 million in cash. With a leading position in polymer-based resettable circuit protection devices and a strong global presence in the automotive, battery, industrial, communications and mobile computing markets, the acquired business has operations in California and manufacturing facilities in Japan and China. Littelfuse will continue to produce and sell PolySwitch, 2Pro and PolyZen devices, and other circuit protection products that are part of the acquisition.
• Analog Devices announced the acquisition of SNAP Sensor, a privately held company based in Switzerland that specialises in highly innovative vision sensing technologies. SNAP Sensor’s patented technology ensures accurate image detection in challenging lighting conditions and improves sensing reliability and accuracy in a range of detection, identification and guidance uses. In addition, much of the image management is performed on the sensor, enabling the use of affordable and lower-power processors.
• Microsemi has entered into a definitive agreement to divest a non-strategic component of a board level systems and packaging business to Mercury Systems for $300 million in cash. The deal is expected to close during Microsemi’s third fiscal quarter of 2016, ending July 3.
• Molex has invested in Ossia, maker of Cota wireless power technology which was on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Cota provides a consumer-ready way to charge devices without plugging them in or placing devices on a charging pad. The platform includes a compact tabletop transmitter/charger, mobile phone and IoT receivers as well as a battery that can be wirelessly charged from a distance.
Industry
• The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $26,0 billion for the month of February 2016, a decrease of 3,2% compared to the previous month’s total and 6,2% lower than the February 2015 total of $27,7 billion. Sales into the Americas fell sharply, decreasing 19,3% year-to-year, while year-to-year sales into China increased 3,5%. Sales also decreased across most major semiconductor product categories, with the notable exception of microprocessors, which increased year-to-year by 3,4%.
• Digitimes Research has predicted that the global market for LED lighting will reach an estimated $34,64 billion in 2016, accounting for 31,3% of total lighting market value. LED light bulbs will account for 28,2% of all types of light bulbs (penetration) in 2016 and the penetration will be 32,8% for LED projection lamps and 17,3% for LED light tubes. There will be 693 million LED light tubes shipped globally in 2016, hiking 45,9% on year, while there will be 1,476 billion LED projection lamps shipped, growing 42,6% on year. There will be 10,043 million LED street lamps installed globally in 2016, increasing 13,5% year on year.
• ABI Research forecasts the global biometrics market will reach more than $30 billion by 2021, marking an impressive 118% increase from 2015. Consumer electronics, particularly smartphones, continue to boost the biometrics market, with embedded fingerprint sensors anticipated to reach two billion shipments by 2021 at a 40% compound annual growth rate. Rising tensions and pressing identification issues in both the Middle East and Europe will also cause a major increase in biometric technologies. This will, in turn, motivate the respective governments to push for new legislation and regulations for data management and exchange initiatives.
Technology
• Finnish company IndoorAtlas is enjoying increased adoption of its indoor positioning technology which exploits the properties of geomagnetics, rather than more established Wi-Fi and beacon technologies. By offering a cloud-based platform that avoids the usual infrastructure requirements, it has signed up customers that include Chinese search engine Baidu, Korean commerce service platforms provider SK Planet and Yahoo! Japan. Having been successfully tested at 1450 metres underground in a copper and zinc mine, and capable of providing indoor positioning accuracy down to 1 – 2 metres, IndoorAtlas received the 2015 SPIFFY award from the Telecom Council.
• A group of researchers from the UK has demonstrated the first practical laser that has been grown directly on a silicon substrate. Led by Cardiff University and including researchers from UCL and the University of Sheffield, their 1300 nm wavelength laser has been shown to operate at temperatures of up to 120°C and for up to 100 000 hours. The breakthrough could lead to ultra-fast communication between computer chips and electronic systems and therefore transform a wide variety of sectors, from communications and healthcare to energy generation.
• NXP Semiconductors and Bell Labs, the industrial research division of Nokia, announced they are the first to create and demonstrate a universal access device that can be used to combine wireline and wireless access support. The device is capable of supporting wireline (cable, DSL/copper) and wireless (LTE, 5G) standards with a single modem. In 2015, the companies announced plans for their collaboration in this area, but with their demonstration at Mobile World Congress 2016, achieved their goal one year ahead of schedule.
• Scientists at ETH Zurich and the University of Bologna have open-sourced the full design of one of their microprocessor systems, in a way that maximises the freedom of other developers to use and change the system. Called PULPino, the new processor is designed for battery powered devices with extremely low energy consumption (PULP stands for ‘parallel ultra low power’). These could be for chips for small devices, such as smartwatches, sensors for monitoring physiological functions (which can communicate with a heart rate monitor, for instance) or sensors for the Internet of Things.
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