º  Elmos Semiconductor has developed a chip that can drive up to five DC motors. The E910.71 chip has a ripple detection function which enables sensorless detection of the position of DC motor-driven actuators by evaluating the current drawn. The chip, containing six half-bridges, can drive three DC motors simultaneously, or five sequentially.

º  The CiA (CAN in Automation) organisation has released a CANopen device profile that will make it easy to integrate RFID reader/writers into automation networks. The CiA 445 profile will make compliant RFID readers from different suppliers interchangeable with minimal reconfiguration.

º  AMI Semiconductor has announced a pair of single-chip stepper motor drivers that will allow engineers to eliminate the need for switches, Hall sensors, and other components in a variety of applications. The chips can drive two-phase stepper motors with currents up to 1.6A, and offer micro-stepping down to 1/32 steps.

º  Allegro Microsystems has announced a high output (35V, ±2A) microstepper driver chip for PWM control of bipolar stepper motors in various modes from 16th- to full-step. Built-in translator circuitry allows a pulse at the step input to advance the motor by one microstep, without needing phase sequence tables or complex programming.