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You’re likely familiar with the concept of “sunsetting,” where a connectivity standard or application is scheduled to be phased out, such that users who depend on it are often simply “out of luck.” It’s frustrating, as it can render an established working system that is doing its job properly either partially or totally useless. The industry generally rationalizes sunsetting as an inevitable consequence of the progress and new standards not only superseding old ones but making them obsolete.

Sunsetting can leave unintended or unknowing victims, but it goes far beyond just loss of connectivity, and I am speaking from recent experience. My 2019 ICE Subaru Outback wouldn’t start despite its fairly new battery; it was totally dead as if the battery was missing. I jumped the battery and recharged it by running the car for about 30 minutes, but it was dead again the next morning. I assumed it was either a defective charging system or a low- or medium-resistance short circuit somewhere.

(As an added punch to the gut, with the battery dead, there was no way to electronically unlock the doors or get to the internal hood release, so it seemed it would have to be towed. Fortunately, the electronic key fob has a tiny “secret” metal key that can be used in its old-fashioned, back-up mechanical door lock just for such situations.)

I jump-started it again and drove directly to the dealer, who verified the battery and charging system were good. Then the service technician pulled a technical rabbit out of his hat—apparently, this problem was no surprise to the service team.

The vampire (drain) did it—but not the usual way

The reason for the battery being drained is subtle but totally avoidable. It was an aggravated case of parasitic battery drain (often called “vampire drain” or “standby power”; I prefer the former) where the many small functions in the car still drain a few milliamps each as their keep-alive current. The aggregate vampire power drawn by the many functions in the car, even when the car is purportedly “off,” can kill the battery.

Subaru used 3G connectivity to link the car to their basic Starlink Safety and Security emergency system, a free feature even if you don’t pay for its many add-on subscription functions (I don’t). However, 3G cellular service is being phased out or “sunsetted” in industry parlance. Despite this sunsetting, the car’s 3G transponder, formally called a Telematics Data Communication Module (TDCM or DCM), just kept trying, thus killing the battery.

The dealer was apologetic and replaced the 3G unit at no cost with a 4G-compatible unit that they conveniently had in stock. I suspect they were prepared for this occurrence all along and were hoping to keep it quiet. There have been some class-action suits and settlements on this issue, but the filing deadline had passed, so I was out of luck on that.

An open-market replacement DCM unit is available for around $500. While the dealer pays less, it’s still not cheap, and swapping them is complicated and time-consuming. It takes at least an hour for physical access, setup, software initialization, and check-out—if you know what you are doing. There are many caveats in the 12-page instruction DCM section for removal and replacement of the module (Figure 1) as well as in the companion 14-page guide for the alternative Data Communication Module (DCM) Bypass Box (Figure 2), which details some tricky wire-harness “fixing.”
Figure 1 The offending unit is behind the console (dashboard) and takes some time to remove and then replace. Source: Subaru via NHTSA

Figure 2 There are also some cable and connector issues of which the service technician must be aware and use care. Source: Subaru via NHTSA

While automakers impose strict limits on the associated standby drain current for each function, it still adds up and can kill the battery of a car parked and unused for anywhere from a few days to a month. The period depends on the magnitude of the drain and the battery’s condition. I strongly suspect that the 3G link transponder uses far more power than any of the other functions, so it’s a more worrisome vampire.

Sunsetting + vampire drain = trouble

What’s the problem here? Although 3G was being sunsetted, that was not the real problem; discontinuing a standard is inevitable at some point. Further, there could also be many other reasons for not being able to connect, even if 3G was still available, such as being parked in a concrete garage. After all, both short- and long-term link problems should be expected.

No, the problem is a short-sighted design that allowed a secondary, non-core function over which you have little or no control (here, the viability of the link) to become a priority and single-handedly drain power and deplete the battery. Keep in mind that the car is perfectly safe to use without this connectivity feature being available.

There’s no message to the car’s owner that something is wrong; it just keeps chugging away, attempting to fulfill its mission, regardless of the fact that it depletes the car’s battery. It has a mission objective and nothing will stop it from trying to complete it, somewhat like the relentless title character in the classic 1984 film The Terminator.

A properly vetted design would include a path that says if connectivity is lost for any reason, keep trying for a while and then go to a much lower checking rate, and perhaps eventually stop.

This embedded design problem is not just an issue for cars. What if the 3G or other link was part of a hard-to-reach, long-term data-collection system that was periodically reporting, but also had internal memory to store the data? Or perhaps it was part of a closed-loop measurement and control that could function autonomously, regardless of reporting functionality?

Continuously trying to connect despite the cost in power is a case of the connectivity tail not only wagging the core-function dog but also beating it to death. It is not a case of an application going bad due to forced “upgrades” leading to incompatibilities (you probably have your own list of such stories). Instead, it’s a design oversight of allowing a secondary, non-core function to take over the power budget (in some cases, also the CPU), thus disabling all the functionality.

Have you ever been involved with a design where a non-critical function was inadvertently allowed to demand and get excessive system resources? Have you ever been involved with a debug challenge or product-design review where this unpleasant fact had initially been overlooked, but was caught in time?

Whatever happens, I will keep checking to see how long 4G is available in my area. The various industry “experts” say 10 to 15 years, but these experts are often wrong! Will 4G connectivity sunset before my car does? Abd if it does, will the car’s module keep trying to connect and, once again, kill the battery? That remains to be seen!

Bill Schweber is an EE who has written three textbooks, hundreds of technical articles, opinion columns, and product features.

Related Content

• Powering the autonomous car
• The beneficial ripple effect of new automotive power devices
• Vampire Drain: The Bane of Today’s Cars
• Being Honest About Your Power Source
• Battery Self-Discharge is Real — But One Case Has Me Mystified

References

• Wexler Boley & Elgersma LLP, Subaru 3G Battery Drain Lawsuit
• JND Legal Administration. Subaru Battery Settlement
• Legacy GT, Subaru Battery Drain due to shutdown of 3G net
• Subaru/NHTSA, Telematics DCM Replacement
• Subaru/NHTSA, Data Communication Module (DCM) Bypass Box
• Subaru Outback.org, That annoying battery drain problem on the Outback and other models
• Subaru Outback.org, Dead Battery: Telematics Data Communications Module (DCM) Warranty Extension 8yr/100k miles
• EV Guide, What Is Vampire Drain?

The post Did connectivity sunsetting kill your embedded-system battery? appeared first on EDN.

The EPC91118 reference design from EPC integrates power, sensing, and control on a compact circular PCB for humanoid robot joints and UAVs. Driven by the EPC23104 GaN-based power stage, the three-phase BLDC inverter delivers up to 10 A RMS steady-state output and 15 A RMS pulsed.

Complementing the GaN power stage are all the key functions for a complete motor drive inverter, including a microcontroller, rotor shaft magnetic encoder, regulated auxiliary rails, voltage and current sensing, and protection features. Housekeeping supplies are derived from the inverter’s main input, with a 5-V rail powering the GaN stage and a 3.3-V rail supplying the controller, sensors, and RS-485 interface. All these functions fit on a 32-mm diameter board, expanding to 55 mm including an external frame for mechanical integration.

The inverter’s small size allows integration directly into humanoid joint motors. GaN’s high switching frequency allows the use of compact MLCCs in place of bulkier electrolytic capacitors, helping reduce overall size while enhancing reliability. With a footprint reportedly 66% smaller than comparable silicon MOSFET designs, the EPC91118 enables a space-saving motor drive architecture.

EPC91118 reference design boards are priced at $394.02 each. The EPC23104 eGaN power stage IC costs $2.69 each in 3000-unit reels. Both are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key.

EPC91118 product page

Efficient Power Conversion

The post Evaluation board powers small robotics and drones appeared first on EDN.

TDK SensEI’s edgeRX Vision system, powered by advanced AI, accurately detects defects in components as small as 1.0×0.5 mm in real time. Operating at speeds up to 2000 parts per minute, it reduces false positives and enhances efficiency in high-throughput manufacturing.

AI-driven vision systems now offer real-time processing, improved label efficiency, and multi-modal interaction through integration with language models. With transformer-based models like DINOv2 and SAM enabling versatile vision tasks without retraining, edge-based solutions are more scalable and cost-effective than ever—making this a timely entry point for edgeRX Vision in high-volume manufacturing.

edgeRX Vision integrates with the company’s edgeRX sensors and industrial machine health monitoring platform. By enhancing existing hardware infrastructure, it helps minimize unnecessary machine stoppages. Together, the system offers manufacturers a smart, integrated approach to demanding production challenges.

Request a demonstration of the edgeRX Vision defect detection system via the product page link below.

edgeRX Vision product page

TDK SenseEI 

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Analog Devices and Antmicro have released AutoML for Embedded, a tool that simplifies AI deployment on edge devices. Part of Antmicro’s hardware-agnostic, open-source Kenning framework, it automates model selection and optimization for resource-constrained systems. The tool helps users deploy models more easily without deep expertise in AI or embedded development.

AutoML for Embedded is a Visual Studio Code plugin designed to integrate seamlessly into existing development workflows. It works with CodeFusion Studio and supports direct deployment to ADI’s MAX78002 AI accelerator MCU and MAX32690 ultra-low power MCU. The tool also enables rapid prototyping and testing through Renode-based simulation and Zephyr RTOS workflows. Its support for general-purpose, open-source tools allows flexible model optimization without locking developers into a specific platform.

With step-by-step tutorials, reproducible pipelines, and example datasets, users can move from raw data to edge AI deployment quickly without needing data science expertise. AutoML for Embedded is available now on the Visual Studio Code Marketplace and GitHub. Additional resources are available on the ADI developer portal.

AutoML for Embedded product page 

Analog Devices

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SK keyfoundry, in collaboration with Siemens EDA Korea, has introduced a 130-nm automotive process design kit (PDK) compatible with Calibre PERC software. The process node supports both schematic and layout verification, including interconnect reliability checks. With this PDK, fabless companies in Korea and abroad can optimize automotive power semiconductor designs while performing detailed reliability verification.

According to Siemens, while the 130-nm process has been a reliable choice for analog and power semiconductor designs, growing design complexity has made it harder to meet performance targets. The new PDK from SK keyfoundry enables designers to use Siemens’ Calibre PERC with the foundry’s process technology, supporting layout-level verification that accounts for manufacturing constraints.

SK keyfoundry aims to deepen collaboration with Siemens through optimized design solutions, enhanced manufacturing reliability, and a stronger foundry market position.

To learn more about Siemen’s Calibre PERC reliability verification software, click here.

Siemens Digital Industries Software 

SK keyfoundry 

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Nexperia’s 1200-V, 20-A SiC Schottky diodes contribute to high-efficiency power conversion in AI server infrastructure and solar inverters. The PSC20120J comes in a D2PAK Real-2-Pin (TO-263-2) surface-mount package, while the PSC20120L uses a TO-247 Real-2-Pin (TO-247-2) through-hole package. Both thermally stable plastic packages ensure reliable operation up to +175°C.

These Schottky diodes offer temperature-independent capacitive switching and virtually zero reverse recovery, resulting in a low figure of merit (QC×VF). Their switching performance remains consistent across varying current levels and switching speeds.

Built on a merged PiN Schottky (MPS) structure, the diodes also provide strong surge current handling, as shown by their high peak forward current (IFSM). This robustness reduces the need for external protection circuitry, helping engineers simplify designs, improve efficiency, and shrink system size in high-voltage, harsh-environment applications.

Use the product page links below to view datasheets and check availability for the PSC20120J and PSC20120L SiC Schottky diodes.

PSC20120J product page 

PSC20120L product page

Nexperia

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Silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of San Jose, CA, USA — which is pioneering co-packaged optics (CPO) for large-scale AI workloads — has expanded its leadership team with Vivek Khanzodé joining it as VP of engineering. To support its efforts in high-volume manufacturing and CPO adoption, the firm has also opened a new office in Taiwan and doubled the size of its San Jose headquarters, bolstering its aim to transform AI connectivity with optical interconnects...

Intelligent power and sensing technology firm onsemi of Scottsdale, AZ, USA plans to invest $8m with Stony Brook University to establish a wide-bandgap research center to advance innovation in power semiconductors and foster the next generation of skilled professionals in the field...

Driven by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the electrification of everything demanding higher levels of power efficiency and reliability, Microchip Technology Inc of Chandler, AZ, USA has announced a new partnership agreement for its mSiC products and technology to be used in the designs of global power and energy management firm Delta Electronics Inc. The synergies between the firms aim to accelerate the development of innovative silicon carbide (SiC) solutions, energy-saving products and systems...

AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — which makes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) substrates and raw materials — says that Ms Christine Russell, a member of the board of directors, passed away on 11 July...

🤝📚 НАЗК пропонує чотири нові вакансії: антикорполітика, просвіта, дизайн та роз’яснювальна робота kpi пт, 07/18/2025 - 13:35

Nuvoton will emphasize cloud computing applications at OCP APAC 2025. Nuvoton will showcase cloud computing silicon solutions for M-PESTI, eBMC nu.RoT, Multi-nodes controller, and computing/server ASIC/MCU. The OCP APAC Summit 2025 will take place from August 5-6, 2025, in Taipei, Taiwan.

MCU TF5103Y: M-PESTI target MCU based on DC-MHS

The TF5103Y is a Cortex-Arm M0 32-bit microcontroller that can run the M-PESTI target solution. The small package QFN32 4x4mm is easy to design in the limited layout space of a sideband card, especially in M-SDNO or 1U module systems for rack systems. The M-PESTI target solution on TF5103Y passed the Intel server lab and is already in mass production. And this solution can be compatible with Altera and Lattice systems.

eBMC NCT6694B: nu.RoT builds a security core for your system

ASRock, in collaboration with Nuvoton, has unveiled the world’s first lightweight server motherboard powered by the Nuvoton eBMC (NCT6694B) chip, designed to build a secure and trusted system core. The board includes many functions, such as enabling remote management, system monitoring, and BIOS updates. Tailored for cloud and edge applications, it delivers a high-efficiency and stable security framework. With the u.RoT architecture reinforces a robust trust chain from system boot to runtime, making security the default.

Multi-nodes: Powerful management framework based on BMC-SMC Integration

Considering that the server system architecture is becoming increasingly complex, we now face some problems that require discussion for Multi-Node Scalability to resolve them. For example, the number of cores in Host CPUs is growing, which means platforms are moving from dual/quad sockets (shared memory) to multi-node solutions. Furthermore, OCP partners are looking forward to the Multi-node management on following DC-SCM3.0.

With Nuvoton’s BMC and SMC solution, the USB tunnels over MCTP are ready for UART/SOL, MMBI/ VW, Telemetry, etc.

MCU M2354: RoT on Microcontroller

NuMicro M2354 is a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller featuring TrustZone technology. Supporting compact WLCSP49 package, it is ideal for resource-constrained devices that cannot accommodate a full TPM. M2354 integrates Secure Boot with DICE architecture in Mask ROM and is in mass production, delivering a lightweight, deployable Root of Trust for modular server and IoT systems.

The post Nuvoton Technology Presents M-PESTI target MCU based on OCP DC-MHS, eBMC nu.RoT, RoT on Microcontroller, and Multi-nodes based on BNC-SCM applications appeared first on ELE Times.

Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are a major challenge in everyday medical practice, as they often cannot be treated with antibiotics. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there are 400,000–600,000 hospital-acquired infections in Germany annually, and 10,000–20,000 people die from them. Alternative treatments are therefore needed...

Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are a major challenge in everyday medical practice, as they often cannot be treated with antibiotics. According to the Robert Koch Institute, there are 400,000–600,000 hospital-acquired infections in Germany annually, and 10,000–20,000 people die from them. Alternative treatments are therefore needed...

Quinas Technology Ltd (which was spun off from Lancaster University in early 2023) has been named by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as winner in the ICT Start-Up category of the 2025 WIPO Global Awards. Quinas is one of just ten companies worldwide to receive this honour and the first ever winner from the UK...

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany has developed solar cells based on III-V semiconductors that can achieve an efficiency of over 40% indoors (Kliitzke et al, Applied Physics Letters 127, 023301)...

КПІ ім. Ігоря Сікорського співпрацюватиме з FANUC Ukraine LLC kpi чт, 07/17/2025 - 16:20

As presented at the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors (ICNS-15) in Malmö, Sweden (6–11 July) in a paper by Kouei Kubota et al, Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd — through joint research with the research group led by assistant professor Takuya Maeda of the University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering — has discovered the scattering mechanism of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a heterojunction formed from scandium aluminium nitride (ScAlN) and gallium nitride (GaN). ScAlN/GaN is a strong candidate to be the barrier layer in next-generation high-frequency GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs)...