The guys and gals at
Energy Micro, who cheerfully describe themselves as
"The energy friendly microcontroller and radio company," will showcase a number of customer applications for their EFM32 Gecko families of ARM-based microcontrollers (MCUs) at
Embedded World 2013. These will demonstrate how energy efficient devices greatly extend battery life in real-world products.
On show will be products spanning various industry sectors for such diverse uses as dive watches, avalanche monitors, home automation controls, and utility meters. Velux, a company well-known for its roof windows and blinds, has selected the EFM32 Giant Gecko microcontroller for the touch screen interface in its award winning 'Velux Integra' series of electric window remote controls. PIEPS GmbH, a long-established Austrian company that is a leader in life-saving avalanche transceivers, has designed the EFM32 Cortex-M3 MCU into its top-of-the-range handheld avalanche monitor, the 'PIEPS VECTOR', for use by mountaineers and rescue services. Miitors, a developer of leading edge IP for water meter manufacturers, has created a new standard in smart meter designs using ultrasonic sensors and offering WMBus and NFC communication. With support from Energy Micro, Miitors has been able to achieve an ultra-low energy design that provides extreme long-life operation.
Low power applications like these utilize the EFM32's low-energy sensor interface (LESENSE) and peripheral reflex system (PRS) to provide autonomous monitoring of sensor inputs while the MCU remains in a sub-microamp Deep Sleep mode. In this way, the EFM32 Gecko devices enable customer designs to achieve the performance they need for responsive wake-on-touch control, routine data collection or wireless communication, in products where minimizing energy consumption and preserving battery life is vital.
