All posts tagged: electronics design company

LX Design House has been awarded Best in Design at the Electronic News 2012 Future Awards for the QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System

The winners of the Electronic News 2012 Future Awards were announced at ElectroneX on 12 September 2012. LX Design House was awarded Best in Design for their design of the QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System, which is being developed for Elite Fireworks. LX is an electronics design house based in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park.

This is the third time that LX Group has won a major award at the Electronic News Future Awards. In 2010, LX Group was awarded winner in the Digital Home category with YellowBird ALERT, an emergency alert system and in 2009 was awarded overall winner for Best Project with the WMD3000, a device that monitors a user’s gym workout and provides feedback wirelessly.

The Electronics News Future Awards recognises and rewards electronic vision, design and development in the Australian electronics design industry.

“We’re truly humbled to receive this prestigious award. It means a lot to both our team members and our clients to have our design and engineering quality benchmarked against others and to come out with such affirmation of what we are striving towards at LX. In addition to this, we are all particularly excited for our client, Elite Fireworks, as this comes at a perfect time leading up to preparation to launch” said Simon Blyth, Director and Founder of LX Group upon receiving the award.

The QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System is the first firing system in Australia to use ZigBee wireless mesh networking technology and can fire manually, semi-automatically or automatically, either hardwired or wirelessly. Communication between the devices is secure with encrypted data transmitted with at a frequency of 2.4 GHz DSSS and with RF transmission strategies. In addition to allowing control signals to be repeated across multiple wireless firing units, signals can be rerouted the next available firing unit instead of relying on one main transmitter. Some of the safety and continuity features include:

• an intelligent automatic show recovery function that can detect a system error and restart the controllers within three tenths of a second – and then continue, in sync with the show, and the soundtrack;

• enabling firing units to work independently from the master unit, each firing unit holding local copies of the firing instructions – eliminating firing delay and improving the reliability of the show;

• constant heartbeat monitoring and synchronisation – the wireless units remain in constant contact with the firing unit – and will reestablish communications links if this is lost, firing the next due cue, in sync with the show, and the soundtrack; and

• a dead-man switch that must be held in by the operator for a show to continue.

–End–

Contact:

LX Group, Neala Fraser, Operations Manager, Tel: (02) 9209 4133 Email: neala.f@lx-group.com.au

More Information:

About LX Group, visit www.lx-group.com.au

About Electronic News 2012 Future Awards, visit http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/news/winners-of-the-2012-future-awards

About QuickFire Pyrotechnics Firing System, visit http://www.quick-fire.com.au/
Published by LX Group for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

LX Design House has been recognised for its business innovation, passion and entrepreneurial prowess by being named in the Smart50 list for the SmartCompany Awards 2012.

Criteria to making it on the Smart50 list includes average annual growth over the past three financial years, positive business culture, sustainability and future business vision.

LX Group is a multi-award-winning Australian electronics design house specialising in wireless and low-power electronics designs. LX’s motto, “we take your concept and make it a reality”, reflects their passion for innovative electronic product development.

The SmartCompany Smart50 awards recognize and celebrate Australia’s fastest-growing SMEs in 2011-2012 and the entrepreneurs who are changing the Australian business landscape. The awards are based on average annual revenue growth over the past three financial years.The top prize, number one on the Smart50, is awarded to the business with the highest growth over that period.

The winner of the 2012 SmartCompany Smart 50 Awards will be announced at the Victorian Investment Centre, Melbourne on Wednesday, 12 September 2012.

What is Bluetooth 4.0?
The fourth version of the popular Bluetooth technology is first seen on the iPhone 4S. If you asked any user, most of them would be happy with Bluetooth 2.0. Meanwhile, Bluetooth 3.0 applications are very hard to find. If this is the case, why do we need a Bluetooth 4.0?

The Bluetooth wireless standard is a brainchild of Ericsson and was first released in 1994. Since then, it has found its way on mobile devices mostly for use in wireless headsets and headphones. It is also the most common way to send files between phones in short distances. Although not all phones support all available Bluetooth profiles, exchanging data between any phone brands was made easy because of it.

Previous Bluetooth Versions
Versions 1.1 and 1.2 provided the device discovery system that most Bluetooth device users are familiar with. This allowed gadgets to be paired by entering a default or defined password. Version 2.0, released in 2004, increased the data transfer speed from 721 kb/s to 2.1 Mb/s by employing the Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) function. Three years after 2.0, version 2.1 was released that featured simple methods for pairing devices. It is also the version that allows other ways in pairing devices, most notable of which was Near Field Communication (NFC).

The third version of Bluetooth added the ability to use Wi-Fi as another means for transferring data. Bluetooth establishes the connection then routes the data over Wi-Fi, making the transfer faster. It was supposed to add Ultra Wide Band (UWB) support but was discontinued for unknown reasons. Only a few phones supported Bluetooth 3.0 whose features were not really needed during that time.

Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Low Energy
In 2010 Bluetooth 4.0 was introduced. This version increased the range at which data can be sent, from 10m to 100m. But maybe the most significant change that BT 4.0 brought was Bluetooth Low Energy – the technology that brought a Nokia feature to Apple’s iPhone and Mac products.

Actually, Bluetooth Low Energy is not the first low-power radio system to come out. Before it were Z-Wave and Zigbee whose applications are completely similar to what BT 4.0 offers, such as home automation and appliance control.

Bluetooth Low Energy was originally named Wibree by Nokia when it was introduced in 2001. The proponents of the technology made it clear that it can be used to send data intermittently for a long time, consuming power in the range of 0.01 to 0.5W. This and the quick connection set-up times allow BT LE devices to run on a small battery lasting for months.

Bluetooth Applications
One of the first devices to use Bluetooth 4.0 was a wireless heart-rate monitor. The technology allows a device to use a computer or a phone to connect to its associated web service easily. For instance, the device could send your heart-rate to a website for further studies. Another application includes a smart electricity meter that requests your computer to establish a connection to the power provider’s website.

Bluetooth 4.0’s low power consumption allows it to be installed inside watches. A Bluetooth 4.0-powered watch is useful in many situations. For example, your watch can act as a key to open your phone. This will prevent anyone from opening your phone because the phone will know that it is not you.

Bluetooth SIG, the organization that oversees the Bluetooth standard, expects most of the phones that will ship in 2012 to include this technology. The lower power consumption and decreasing cost of silicon will make BT 4.0 come for free, just like how the old Bluetooth functionality was built into Wi-Fi chips. The SIG also sees BT 4.0 to be used in other areas, including remote controls for home entertainment, temperature monitoring and control, proximity sensing and much more.

The Future of Bluetooth?- Final Thoughts
Although BT 4.0 holds a lot of promise, its rise could be thwarted by similar technologies. Set-top boxer makers are already including both Z-Wave and Zigbee which make their kit a hub for home automation and control systems. Some energy companies are using smart metering with Zigbee modules inside, and mobile phones are using ANT+ for their health and fitness sensors.

But if plenty of new phones will include Bluetooth 4.0, this would give critical mass for other devices to follow suit. Whether you will be using it to monitor your blood glucose soon will depend on the race between Bluetooth SIG and its competitors in publishing profiles for device makers.

LX is an award-winning electronics design company based in Sydney, Australia. LX services include full turnkey design, electronics, hardware, software and firmware design. LX specialises in embedded systems and wireless technologies design.www.lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

LX has been named one of Australia’s ‘Coolest’ businesses in Anthill Magazine’s Sixth Annual Cool Company Awards and won the AusIndustry Innovation Award.

LX Design House is working on a system that uses a electroencephagraphic headset to “read” brain impulses and translate them to actions or movements by an electronic device, such as a television or a robot. Read more:

http://anthillonline.com/meet-lx-design-house-anthill-2011-cool-company-award-winner-innovation-categories/

The Cool Company Awards is a national program that was developed in 2006 to recognise Australian companies that are doing things differently to bring about positive change.

Over 700 aspiring ‘cool companies’ were nominated for the 2011 awards, making ‘The Cools’ one of Australia’s largest business awards programs.

“The Cool Company Awards are extremely egalitarian,” said James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine. “Previous winners have included two-person start-ups, not-for-profit social enterprises, large private companies and publicly-listed corporations.”

“Judging takes into account far more than mere business variables, such as revenue and wealth. The criteria are geared to consider other qualities, from the disruptive nature of the product or service to the culture of the organisation.”

“Applicants either nominated themselves or were nominated by peers, work colleagues, family, friends and other ‘admirers’. A field of hundreds was examined (and cross-examined) before our judges were able to isolate three Finalists for each of our seven categories.”

What are Cool Company Awards?

The Cool Company Awards was launched in 2006 as a way for Anthill Magazine to publicly acknowledge and celebrate Australian organisations that are doing things differently to bring about positive change. In its sixth year, the awards attracted nominations from over 700 organisations, making it among the largest business award programs in Australia.

What is Anthill Magazine?

AnthillOnline.com is a digital business magazine that celebrates creativity, inspiration and commercial ingenuity, providing a fresh, exciting and practical perspective on Australian business in a global world. It is among the Top 50 Business & Finance websites in Australia, as ranked by Nielsen Online Ratings, and is home to the Cool Company Awards, the 30under30 and the Smart 100. It’s where ideas and business meet.

For further information:

Debra Drury, Marketing Coordinator, debra.d@lx-group.com.au

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

As the cost of energy production rises and the availability of fossil fuels decreases, the need, demand and benefits of sustainable sources of energy increases. The two most widely used and available forms of sustainable energy are wind and solar. The race is on to improve collection methods in order to make these technologies as efficient as possible. In the case of solar power collection, attempts to increase the efficiency of solar cells have led to the development of hybrid solar collectors. There are two types of hybrid solar collectors, each of which increases the efficiency of the solar collectors, though they accomplish the increased efficiency in different ways.

The first type of hybrid solar collectors works by increasing the amount of solar energy that is directly converted into electricity. The cells of the collectors are made out of two different materials. One material receives the sun’s energy, which causes electron excitation, and the material begins to give off, or donate, electrical particles. For this reason, it is often called the donor material. The particles it donates are transferred to the second material, called the acceptor. The second material acts to diffuse or disassociate the charged particles and distribute them through the system in the form of usable electricity. The interaction of the two materials together results in a larger amount of solar energy being converted into electricity than would occur with only a single material.

There are several combinations of materials used in the donor/acceptor pair, as well as several designs for both how the transfers occur and how the disassociation of the particles takes place. Popular designs are the nanoparticle/polymer composite design, carbon nanotube design, dye-sensitized design and the inorganic nanostructure/small molecule design.

The second type of hybrid solar collector uses a different technique to increase efficiency. Rather than attempting to increase efficiency by increasing the amount of electricity the system can produce, it instead makes use of both the conversion of energy to electricity and the collection of heat produced in the process. One popular version of this type of hybrid solar collector is manufactured by Solimpeks Corporation in Turkey.

The Solimpeks Volthik hybrid solar collectors use tubes to circulate water through the panels. The water absorbs heat produced by the interaction of the sunlight with the collector materials. The water is then circulated and stored in tanks, which can be used for hot water or heating in the structures. An added benefit is, as the water circulates through the system collecting the excess heat, the collection materials are cooled, which greatly increases their efficiency.

The most optimally efficient hybrid solar collector system incorporates both of these techniques. However, increased costs and installation difficulty associated with the tubing and other components required for the Solimpeks type of hybrid solar collector may mean that the simpler dual material collectors are more practical in some situations. As the systems become more efficient and manufacturing costs drop, the hybrid systems will be more frequently installed during new construction, which in turn will further lower the costs associated with hybrid solar collector.

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

LX Group is an innovative contract electronics design company based in Sydney and Canberra, specialising in the design of embedded systems and wireless technologies. They are pleased to announce a strategic partnership with HETECH, a leading electronics manufacturer in Brisbane. The partnership couples LX Group’s high quality design LX Group Services with HETECH’s extensive local and overseas high volume manufacturing capabilities, providing a complete turn-key solution for the customer.

http://www.prlog.org/10802088-lx-innovations-announces-strategic-partnership-with-australian-manufacturer-hetech.html

HETECH has almost 20 years industry experience and has recently created a new division called TechHome which specialises in remote controlled technology for home automation. Both Mark Steiner (HETECH’s Managing Director) and Simon Blyth (Director of LX Group) are looking forward to the perfect match of resources and capabilities between the two companies.

LX Group has continued to grow substantially during 2008. They opened a design office in Canberra at the start of the year, headed up by senior design engineer Keith Bates. LX has worked with customers such as ResMed, and has recently invested in a spin-off company, VenueMedia. Their head office is located in the Australian Technology Park, Sydney.

LX Group is an electronics design company specialising in the design of embedded systems and wireless technologies, particularly in the RF (Radio Frequency) sector. Simon Blyth, Director at LX Group said that the two companies have almost perfectly matching resources and capabilities. HETECH looks forward to a rewarding partnership with LX Group.

Published by LX Pty Ltd for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Innovations.

LX Group is a contract electronics design company, specialising in the design of embedded systems and wireless technologies. Simon Blyth, a participant in the 2004 NSW Enterprise Workshop leads the company.

http://www.prlog.org/10802084-making-innovation-business-success.html

Simon entered the Workshop to improve his understanding of business. Commenting on his Workshop experience Simon said, “The Workshop provided a practical and start-up focussed program that taught us the nuts and bolts of business in real life as opposed to just the theory.”Simon added, “The lectures, advisory board sessions and mentoring challenged our thinking at all levels and helped to develop a strong business foundation. It was also very exciting and encouraging to meet and work alongside other likeminded entrepreneurs.”LX Group has evolved significantly. Simon and his team have been recognised nationally and globally for their innovative designs, business strategy and research. Awards include the Institute for Engineering and Technology competition (IET), National Shell Science Awards and the Premier’s Award for Excellence. Commenting on his team, he said, “Members of the LX team are passionate and innovative when it comes to turning revolutionary ideas into commercial products”

Published by LX Group for itself and the LX Group of companies, including LX Design House, LX Solutions and LX Consulting, LX Group.