NEC to Highlight Connected Home Technologies at Embedded Systems Conference

NEC Electronics America, today announced it will highlight the breadth and depth of its smart energy and liquid crystal display (LCD) module offerings at Embedded Systems Conference Boston 2009 (booth #701), September 22-23, at the Hynes Convention Center. The demonstrations will rangefrom smart home, solar and smart metering solutions to emerging LCD technologies such as e-paper, and 2D/3D and light emitting diode (LED) backlit LCD modules. These products are designed to provide more efficient power consumption and energy conservation for the home, industrial and home healthcare markets where low power and high performance are key design requirements.

In addition to demonstrations in its booth, the company will deliver a 15-minute presentation, Intelligent LED Light Systems Working with Existing Infrastructures, on Wednesday, September 23, at 11:45 a.m. in the Display Zone in the ESC Theater.

NEC Electronics America will take part in the opening night reception Tuesday evening, September 22, at its booth from 6:00-7:00 pm., and also will host an hourly raffle, starting at 1 p.m. daily, at the booth. (Winners do not need to be present to win.)

SMART HOUSE DEMONSTRATIONS

NEC Electronics America has developed a model of a Smart House of the Future. The structure features transparent walls for easy viewing of the interior and is equipped with "green" features to showcase several different technologies involved in the Smart Grid/Smart Energy concept, including smart solar, smart meters and smart appliances, and the advantages these can offer when used in a cooperative approach for conserving energy.

Smart Solar Panels: Smart solar panels need to switch between charging batteries and distributing electricity to home power lines or to the outside electricity grid. NEC Electronics` V850E/Ix4 microcontroller (MCU) has 32-bit performance at 2.0DMIPS/MHz with a rich set of peripherals such as built-in analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and inverter timers to solve this charge/distribution challenge.
 
Smart Meters: Smart electricity meters are designed to communicate the changing supply and demand of electricity that will allow utility providers as well as consumers to adjust distribution and consumption. This demonstration will showcase a smart electricity meter with NEC Electronics` ZigBee Pro communication module that enables communication of electricity usage between a utility provider and the home. This module supports the Smart Energy Profile - a specific application profile running on top of the ZigBee Pro stack to enable interoperability between different ZigBee Pro nodes in a ZigBee Pro network.

Smart Home: The Smart Home demonstration will show a ZigBee Pro network that enables wireless control of thermostats, climate controls and lights via a portable control panel. These solutions utilize NEC Electronics` All Flash 8-and 16-bit LCD control ASSPs, ZigBee Pro solution and MCUs with different levels of performance. The same network can allow utility providers and consumers to better understand and adjust their electricity usage for more efficient energy consumption.

Efficient Appliance: Refrigerators, air conditioners and similar appliances need to run efficiently by using more effective motors with more efficient motor control drive. NEC Electronics` 78K0R/IE3 MCU is one in a line-up of many motor control MCUs offered by the company that are capable of driving motors efficiently. This demonstration shows the 78K0R/IE3 MCU driving a 15-volt (V), 8000-RPM BLDC motor.

LOW-POWER MICROCONTROLLER DEMONSTRATION

NEC Electronics America offers a broad range of low-power 8- to 32-bit MCUs designed with the stringent low-power requirements of portable applications such as blood glucose meters. This demonstration will showcase the different power modes of operation, featuring the power-efficient, 16-bit 78K0R/KE3-L MCU, measuring the current consumption with a multi-meter.

LED LIGHTING

High-Brightness (HB) LED Demonstration
NEC Electronics America also will demonstrate how to control up to four individual channels of HB LEDs, such as those used in the industrial market, using a DALI controller and a DMX512 controller. The DALI protocol is popular for controlling office white light, while the DMX512 protocol is used in theatrical and entertainment lighting. These controllers send commands to NEC Electronics` 78K0/Ix2 MCU, which in turn, receives the commands, interprets them and drives the HB LEDs accordingly.

Additional information about NEC Electronics` lineup of 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers can be found at http://www.am.necel.com/micro/product/.

DISPLAY MODULE DEMONSTRATIONS
NEC Electronics America`s LCD module offerings from NEC LCD Technologies will highlight a variety of new and enhanced display technologies with LCD modules ranging from 1.9 up to 15.3 inches, featuring:

• Emerging technologies: A 1.9-inch e-paper display and a 3.1-inch 2D/3D LCD module
• LCD modules with long-life LED backlight systems: Six display modules ranging in size from 2.7 to 10.4 inches
• Industrial mobile LCD modules: Ranging in size from 2.7 to 4.3 inches
• High ambient-light LCD modules: Five mobile LCD modules, ranging from 3.5 to 10.4 inches. Two of the modules feature NEC LCD Technologies` proprietarySuper Transmissive(ST) NLT technology that capitalizes on a proprietary optical design while boosting efficiency of the backlight`s light utilization and minimizing surface reflection of ambient light to reproduce vibrant images even in outdoor light. Three of the modules feature Super-Reflective (SR) NLT technology that uses the displays` reflective properties and ambient light as the primary light source, thereby conserving power in battery-operated mobile applications.
• Other display technologies to be featured include:
• Value-integrated TFT (VIT) technology - a broad technology category that integrates various peripheral circuits and diverse functions into an LCD module
• Super-fine TFT (SFT) technology that provides high luminance, wide color gamut, vivid colors, wide viewing angles and reduced color shift for off-angle display viewing
• Adaptive design technology that underlies all display modules showcased by NEC Electronics America

About NEC Electronics America, Inc.
NEC Electronics America, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a leading provider of semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the broadband and communications markets; system solutions for the mobile, PC, automotive and digital consumer markets; and multi-market solutions for a wide range of consumer applications. NEC Electronics America offers local manufacturing in Roseville, California, and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company. In the Americas, NEC Electronics America markets and sells industrial-type active-matrix LCD modules from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in innovative display technologies. More information about the products offered by NEC Electronics America can be found at http://www.am.necel.com.