Accurately Detect Clear, Red, Green, Blue and Infrared Light with Industry’s Smallest IO-Link Ambient Light Sensor

San Jose, CA—February 24, 2014—Using the Santa Cruz (MAXREFDES23#) ambient light sensor (ALS) from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM), factories can quickly configure and monitor multiple red, green, blue (RGB) and infrared (IR) ambient light sensors with the high accuracy required in industrial applications.

To stay competitive and maintain high quality, modern factories must be agile, maximizing “uptime” while reducing costs. The Santa Cruz ALS solution enables connected factories. This reference system provides a wide, dynamic range of clear, RGB, and IR light, and temperature data. Santa Cruz is tuned to the response of the human eye for accurate system function relative to visible light. In addition, it is unsurpassed for light sensitivity and low latency. The integrated IO-Link® software and device stack automatically configure the sensor without additional programming, saving valuable time and resources. Additionally, Santa Cruz fits on a tiny 6.5mm x 25mm printed circuit board (PCB), making it the industry’s smallest ALS system.

Key Advantages

Small size: Industry’s smallest ambient light sensing system.
High integration: Integrates six highly accurate clear light, RGB and IR sensors; a temperature sensor; an economical and ultra-low-power microcontroller; dual integrated 3.3V and 5V linear regulators; programmable flash memory; and IO-Link software.
High sensitivity: Sensitive over a range of 57,542 lux to 0.001 lux, at low power.
Ease of configuration: IO-Link enabled, which allows simple identification and connection to existing industrial systems.

Commentary

“The Santa Cruz system is a result of Maxim’s successful partnership with Renesas Electronics Europe and TMG Technologie und Engineering,” said David Andeen, Reference Design Manager at Maxim Integrated. “The Renesas® RL78 ultra-low-power microcontroller and TMG’s IO-Link software provide the ideal complement to Maxim’s accurate light sensor and IO-Link modem. The combination of these products with our IO-Link modem creates a platform for a variety of IO-Link sensor solutions.”
“The industrial sensors market is trending toward higher accuracy and chip-level integration and miniaturization,” said Dr. Rajender Thusu, Lead Sensors and Instruments Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “The Santa Cruz reference design furthers these trends to enable the factory of the future.”

Availability and Pricing

The Santa Cruz system is available on a 6.5mm x 25mm printed circuit board with M12 connector for immediate IO-Link connectivity.
Pricing starts at $99 (FOB USA).
For information on other reference designs, please visit Maxim’s Reference Design Center.

Hi-res images for the Santa Cruz reference design and the Santa Cruz schematic are available.

About Maxim Integrated

At Maxim Integrated, our designs make the world more integrated. And with analog integration, the possibilities are endless. In Fiscal 2013, we reported revenues of $2.4 billion.

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