CUSTOmERPROfIlE

18 eTech - ISSUE 6 eTech - ISSUE 6 19

What is your latest product?MediKey Mk2 Infection control keyboard

What diff erentiates your products?High level of water ingress protection, rugged enclosure and multipoint gesture touchpad.

What new technologies does your product employ?Anti-Microbial silver ion additive is included in the plastic and rubber covers. Brand new ‘widescreen’ format touchpad.

how did you equip yourselves with knowledge of this new technology?We have a dedicated team of electronics engineers who routinely investigate new technologies to keep well informed on new innovations.

Give an example of the impact one of your products has on, or the benefi ts it provides to, the end user.Sold predominantly to the healthcare industry our Medi-Key keyboard takes on board years of research gained through sales into the medical sector. As a HMI (Human Machine Interface) solution it incorporates a touchpad and full size keyboard but with the crucial advantage of being able to be ‘deep cleaned’ (submerged in soapy water), essential to help prevent cross contamination between different users and spread of contagious diseases.

how do you learn about new technologies?We regularly monitor trade press, websites and have a network of industry contacts who offer advice and keep us updated on new technologies.

how do you gain new skills?Seminars and webcasts offer good opportunities for training on specifi c activities (mostly relating to software), but also the everyday activity of ‘design’ uncovers new challenges which push us all to explore all avenues of reference media to solve a problem.

What RS service do you fi nd most useful in your job and why?The fast delivery of goods is essential. When you discover you need something specifi c to complete a prototype you can most often fi nd it in RS online and have it the next day.

What technology do you foresee having the biggest impact on your next product?There is always evolution within our designs, sourcing of electronic and mechanical components and having access to a wide selection to choose from in one place is very important. For example new switches which have better functionality or a smaller form factor than previously help to give our designers the freedom to explore new options.

What is the biggest threat to your business?Many sales are into funded organisations. There is always the worry that budget cuts will affect our customers’ spending power.

Where do you see your industry in 5 years?The medical industry on the whole tends to be fairly constant. It is in the most part an industry (alongside military) which weathers recessions well and has good opportunities to grow as technology becomes less expensive or more mature over time.

Key factsCompany Name Bytec Group

Year established 2007

Location Redhill. Surrey

Number of employees 30

Key market Medical and rugged keyboards, Displays and HMI

Website www.bytecmedical.co.uk

Interviewee name James Barr

Interviewee position Senior Product Designer

Quickuestions

These are benefi ts not only for IP

telephones, but also for security cameras with pan/ tilt/ zoom functions,

embedded computers, Ethernet switches, thin clients and even LCD

displays. Such diversity also brought the need for standardisation.

IEEE 802.3af-2003The original IEEE 802.3af-2003 standard defi ned the implementation of sending power as well as data over Ethernet cabling. Category 5 cables contain four twisted pairs, but only two are used for data transfer in either 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX. This leaves two pairs available to carry DC current. Power is delivered to the end device (PD) either by PoE enabled Ethernet switches (endspans) or by injection from a midspan power supply.

IEEE 802.3at Updated in 2009, IEEE 802.3at uses phantom power techniques to allow powered pairs to also carry data. This extends its use to 1000BASE-T, which uses all four cable pairs for Gigabit/s data. In real-life applications, PoE Plus or PoE+ is able to deliver 25.5W at 44V and up to 350mA down a standard Category 5 Cable using two twisted pairs. [Midspan manufacturers such as Phihong have extended this capability by delivering power through unused data pairs as well as the network cables in use.]

PoE support from RSRS stocks many components to support PoE designs including ICs from Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, Linear Technology and STM Electronics. In addition, our range includes off-the-shelf solutions such as powered device (PD) interfaces from Murata, PoE enabled microcontrollers from Olimex and Phihong’s range of midspan injectors and splitters.

To learn more about PoE see the Design Tips section in this issue on Pages (28,29 and 30) for an Elektor reference design.

Get more online...Simply go to rswww.com and search for “PoE”.

POWER OVER EThERNET SImPlIfyING ThE EQUaTION

RJ-45 Input(Data Only)

RJ-45 Output(Data & Power)

Pin Symbol Description Symbol Description

1 RX+ Data Receive(+) RX+ Data Receive(+)

2 RX- Data Receive(-) RX- Data Receive(-)

3 TX+ Data Transmit(+) TX+ Data Transmit(+)

4 NC No Connection +Vdc DC power(+)

5 NC No Connection +Vdc DC power(+)

6 TX- Data Transmit(-) TX- Data Transmit(-)

7 NC No Connection -Vdc DC power(-)

8 NC No Connection -Vdc DC power(-)

figure 1. Example confi guration with an original data-only versus a PoE solution

Power over Ethernet started out as a proprietary

technology developed by network equipment

vendors such as Cisco, to deliver power to VoIP (Voice

over Internet Protocol) phones without using

separate power supplies. Other manufacturers soon

realised the advantages of sending DC power over

the network: especially, cheaper cabling and higher

data rates than alternative USb and aC powerline

technologies.

figure 2. Typical PoE powered access point: the access point’s PSU needs are supplied via the Ethernet cable using the PoE splitter seen on the side of the Ethernet wall socket