Dialog Semiconductor’s senior director Mark Hopgood (pictured) was showing the fruits of his company’s recent acquisition of Creative Chips with the launch of an industrial IoT connectivity product at last week’s Embedded World in Nuremberg.
 
“Industrial IoT is new for us,” he said. “We were excited at how mixed signal semiconductors were going into industrial but thought it would be arrogant of us to think we could grow organically into this area. So last year we went the acquisition route and bought Creative Chips. They have 20 years of experience in the industrial field.”
 
UK-based Dialog announced the latest member of its IO-Link product family at the show. The CCE4503 IO-Link IC expands the company’s reach into the industrial IoT market and connects the smallest and most price-sensitive IO-Link device sensors and actuators.
 
This is the first IO-Link IC to be launched by Dialog following its acquisition of Creative Chips in November 2019 and complements the company’s family of IO-Link device and master ICs.
 
IO-Link is a global standard for serial bidirectional point-to-point communications (IEC 61131-9) for an industrial automation network. It provides robust communications for the last meters between sensors, actuators and any Fieldbus within a network.
 
The CCE4503 is a robust and easy-to-use device-side IO-Link-compliant transceiver that combines IO-Link standard communications with protection circuitry and low power dissipation within a DFN10 3 by 3mm package. This makes it possible to add IO-Link connectivity to the space-constricted industrial sensor and actuator devices.
 
The design has also been optimised for cost, enabling a greater number of IO-Link devices to benefit from the IO-Link connectivity that provides deeper data access to the cloud.
 
“Industrial sensors and actuators are integrating more functionality in smaller form factors with greater demands for cloud connectivity,” said Lutz Porombka (pictured below), vice president of Dialog. “The CCE4503 and its optimised feature set is the result of customer-driven demand for a smaller, more cost-efficient IO-Link solution that enables the next generation of Industry 4.0 devices.”

Dialog also announced that it is to acquire Adesto Technologies, a provider of custom ICs and embedded systems for the industrial IoT market.
 
Adesto accelerates Dialog’s expansion into the growing IIoT market that enables smart buildings and industrial automation (Industry 4.0), seamlessly driving cloud connectivity. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Adesto has approximately 270 employees and a portfolio of industrial products for smart building automation that complements Dialog’s manufacturing automation products. Adesto’s products are sold across the industrial, consumer, medical and communications markets.