EDN Asia articles from January 2007

EDN Asia archives from January 2007

On choosing IPs.(ednasiacomment)(internet protocol)
January 1, 2007... How comfortable are designers with using IPs? For one thing, the time to market products has become so small that they have little choice but to use IPs rather than build an entire system in-house. I think it may not be an exaggeration to say...

Lumenera camera with DaVinci technology delivers higher quality surveillance.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... Lumenera Corporation has introduced a series of cameras that leverage Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) DaVinci technology to deliver advanced image processing, video analytics, and a variety of compression techniques. The Li family of...

8-channel constant current LED drivers with diagnostics function.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... The AS1109 is a 8-channel constant current LED driver with advanced error diagnostics for open and shorted LEDs. It uses the serial data input/output lines for error information read-back so that no additional PCB tracks are needed for LED...

1.6V high precision op amps consume <1[micro]A.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... Linear Technology Corporation's family of ultra low power op amps comes in a tiny footprint. The LT6003 (single), LT6004 (dual) and LT6005 (quad) amplifiers draw less than 1uA and operate from 1.6 to 16V. With input offset voltage of 500uV(max)...

Quartet of T&M instruments for integration into customized software solutions.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... Reliable network coverage is a key requirement for the successful implementation of new technologies and applications. To support network operators in meeting this requirement, Rohde & Schwarz developed the radio network analyzers R&S TSML-x in...

Automotive instrumentation cluster MCU with on-chip TFT display drive.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... Freescale Semiconductor has introduced a 16-bit microcontroller (MCU) designed for the next wave in automotive instrumentation clusters. The MC9S12XHZ-512 MCU is said to be the industry's first instrumentation cluster MCU featuring an...

National Instruments enhances DeviceNet driver for control applications.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... National Instruments' NIDNET 1.5 driver software for plug-in NI DeviceNet interfaces introduces two significant utilities, the DeviceNet Configurator, and the DeviceNet Analyzer. These tools provide DeviceNet users with the functionality they...

Feature-rich handheld digital multimeters and oscilloscopes.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
January 1, 2007... Built to ease electronic troubleshooting and validation, the high-performance, portable U1250A series handheld digital multimeter from Agilent Technologies enables engineers and technicians to complete their day-to-day tasks without being...

Fast arbitrary waveform generators.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The AWG7000 series of arbitrary waveform Generators (AWG) from Tektronix meets the test needs for high-speed serial data buses and wideband digital RF devices. With 5.8GHz bandwidth, 10-bit resolution, and sample rates up to 20GS/s, the AWG7000...

CPRI SerDes with 800ps fiber delay-calibration accuracy.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... National Semiconductor's new CPRI (common public radio interface) SerDes is said to be the world's first to guarantee [+ or -]800ps delay calibration measurement accuracy, and exceed all CPRI interface signal voltage and jitter requirements. In...

India's CDAC develops digital hearing aid.(GLOBAL DESIGNER)
January 1, 2007... The hardware-design group at India's government-funded CDAC (Center for Development of Advanced Computing), in Thiruvananthapuram has developed a low-cost DPHA (digital programmable hearing aid) that a user wears on his body. The DPHA-1 device...

Preprocessing switch speeds data in DSP clusters.(GLOBAL DESIGNER)
January 1, 2007... A new preprocessing switch from IDT incorporates the ability to perform preprocessing in the switch path, leading to an increase of as much as 20% in system efficiency. The switch has 40 bidirectional and configurable SRIO (Serial RapidIO)...

PC-centric architecture speeds HD-DVD to market.(prying eyes)
January 1, 2007... 2.5GHz Pentium 4 and Astandard Intel (www.intel.com) core logic mean that Toshiba's HD-A1 HDDVD player could essentially function as a PC. In fact, the system employs the Linux operating system. The standardized design may have reduced time to...

PCI Express CONTENDS for communications role: scalable performance and low cost are making PCI Express attractive for communications-device designs, challenging proprietary-bus structures for next-generation design wins.(Cover story)
January 1, 2007... Replacing PCI as a peripheral bus in general-purpose computers, PCIe (PCI Express) is now seeking a role in communications. It offers the raw performance for communications and has significant cost advantages over today's popular proprietary...

Mobile makeover: hijack a smart phone interface for embedded-systems control: with the right communications link and readily available development tools, you can transform an off-the-shelf smart phone into a low-cost, mobile user interface for your next embedded-system project.(design feature)
January 1, 2007... AS smart-phone sales soar, designers have their eyes on the built-in programmable graphics, growing processing power, and communications options to replace or augment one of the most challenging and expensive embedded-systems components: the...

High-speed bus for PC management emerges: analog Devices and Intel have collaborated on a new high-speed bus. The simple serial transport bus provides PC-system management.(design feature)
January 1, 2007... Analog Devices has teamed with Intel to develop a new serial bus that efficiently communicates computer-system heat dissipation and voltage-management and control information to safeguard the performance and reliability of high-performance...

"We target every sector that requires electronic T&M products".(Interview)
January 1, 2007... Michael Vohrer, CEO of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, recently met with EDN Asia to discuss the market trends in broadcasting and communications test systems. Excerpts: How did business shape up last year? A With an annual turnover of...

Embedded code integrity: state machines could be the key.(special report)
January 1, 2007... with an estimated 60% of development time being spent on design, test and debugging, there is obviously a need for a reliable means of producing accurate code and verifying that it performs exactly to the specification of the application. State...

High-impedance buffer amplifier's input includes ESD protection.(design ideas)
January 1, 2007... Certain measurement applications, such as for pH (acidity) and biopotentials, require a high-impedance buffer amplifier. Although several semiconductor manufacturers offer amplifier ICs featuring low bias and offset-input currents, attaching a...

Solenoid-protection circuit limits duty cycle.(design ideas)
January 1, 2007... Several safety-critical solenoids in a laser-measurement system on an automotive-assembly line required protection from internal overheating during normal operation. After a 60sec activation, the solenoids required 180sec to cool before their...

Electronic circuit replaces mechanical push-push switch.(design ideas)
January 1, 2007... Mechanical push-pushbutton switches (also known as alternate-action or push-on/push-off switches) can be bulky and expensive. As an alternative, an electronic version uses a cheaper, NO (normally open), momentary-on switch (Figure 1). A...

GUI-configurable power controllers for POL systems.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... Here are four fusion power products that enable point-of-load (POD digital power management in telecom and data-centric applications: Single-phase UCD9111, and dual-phase UCD9112 controllers implement digital pulse width modulators (PWM) with...

Real-time clocks compensate for drift over time, temperature.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The ISL1218 and ISL1220 are micropower real-time clock/calendar devices with on-chip timing and crystal compensation that deliver accurate timekeeping with very low power dissipation. The devices allow designers to adjust integrated analog and...

RFIC amplifiers for cellular, DBS, and CATV networks.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The ADA-4789 is a cost-efficient, high linearity silicon bipolar Darlington amplifier in a low thermal resistant SOT-89 package for use up to 2.5GHz. Its unconditional stability and broad bandwidth performance make it ideal for IF (intermediate...

Low-voltage MOSFETs offer efficiency in automotive designs.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The portfolio of the AEC-Q101-qualified 30 and 40V MOSFETs has been expanded to include 11 more devices. These low-voltage PowerTrench MOSFETs optimize efficiency, performance, and board space in automotive applications such as power steering...

Synchronous dc/dc converter delivers up to 300mA/Ch from 3x2mm DFN.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The LTC3547 is a dual channel, high efficiency, 2.25-MHz, synchronous buck regulator that delivers up to 300mA of continuous output current per channel from a 3 x 2mm DFN package. Using a constant frequency current mode architecture, the device...

8- and 16-Mbit code-storage serial Flash in SO8N package.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The M25P80 and M25P16 are 8-(1Mx8) and 16-Mbit (2Mx8) serial Flash memories, with advanced write-protection mechanisms, which are accessed by an SPI-compatible bus operating at up to 50MHz, to enable program code to be loaded rapidly into the...

Automotive buck converters with low-IQ LDO mode operate from 4 to 40V input.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The MAX5096/MAX5097 are easy-to-use, 40V input, dual mode buck converters with user-selectable low-dropout (LDO) mode. At a high-output load, the converters reduce power dissipation by operating as high-efficiency, pulse-width modulated (PWM)...

8-bit microcontrollers with integrated Ethernet peripheral optimized for embedded apps.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The PIC18F97J60 family is optimized for embedded applications, and has an on-chip medium access controller (MAC) and physical layer device (PHY). Integrating a 10BASE-T Ethernet controller onto a 10MIPS PIC18 microcontroller with up to...

Post amplifier with high-gain TTL loss-of-signal detection.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The SY88343DL is a 3.2Gbps CML limiting post amplifier with high-gain TTL loss-of-signal detection. This IC is designed for use in fiber-optic receivers. Applications include APON, BPON, EPON, GEPON, and GPON; Gigabit Ethernet; IX and 2X Fibre...

Small, serial digital interface reclocker for broadcast video.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... This multi-rate video reclocker supports both standard-definition and high-definition (SD/HD) serial digital interface (SDI) data transmission. The LMH0056 SDI reclocker is said to be the industry's smallest and lowest power multi-rate...

26W PoE controller for IP surveillance cameras, phones.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... This 26W Power over Ethernet (POE) controller allows Ethernet-powered devices, such as IP surveillance cameras, WiMAX access points, and conference IP phones, to use twice as much power from a standard Ethernet cable without the need of an ac...

Marine AIS chips.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
January 1, 2007... The CMX7032 and CMX7042 Its are highly integrated baseband signaling processors that fulfill the requirements of all marine automatic identification system (AIS) transponders, AIS Rx-only units, and AtoN (aids to navigation) systems. They have...

Scalable 16-bit data acquisition board.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)
January 1, 2007... The DAP 5016a/527 is a scalable 16-bit data acquisition board that comes with an onboard processor. It includes a 233MHz Pentium CPU and acquires 16-bit data at 500k samples/sec. Optional software lets you create a synchronized network of...

Virtex-5 LX50 PCI development board.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)
January 1, 2007... The DEV-FPGA05D is a Xilinx Virtex-5 XC5VLX50 platform FPGA-based, short PCI card with high-speed digital I/O and PCI-X interface to the host computer. Aimed at application development, the board is supplied with a complete software development...

8 channel 3MS/s 16-bit A/D digitizer cards for pcs.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)
January 1, 2007... 12 digitizer cards in the UF2-4600 series, using multiple 16-bit ADCs for true simultaneous sampling, are available with maximum sampling rates from 200kS/s to 3MS/s and 2, 4 or 8 channel configurations, enabling the user to select the most...

Digital receiver board eliminates FPGA development tasks.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)
January 1, 2007... The latest member of GateFlow installed-core products, Model 6821-422 is based on Model 6821 215MHz A/D converter VME with dual Virtex-II Pro FPGAs. It includes a factory-installed wideband digital down-converter (DDC) IP core, which is a...

A turnkey RS-232/RS-485 solution for OEM's.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The SBC485 is a low cost single board computer that provides OEMs with a turnkey RS-232 and RS-485 interface and controller solution. It is also designed for end-user applications. Support for the large array of peripherals makes the SBC485...

Miniature motherboard with advanced audio/video capabilities.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)
January 1, 2007... Expanding on the Procelerant Endura family, the TP945GM Mini-ITXexpress motherboard features an Intel Core Duo processor providing performance enhancements, and a reduction in power consumptions over previous generations. Mobile Intel 945GM...

Touchscreen computers use no moving parts.(BOARDS, CARDS & MODULES)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Able to function over 0 [degrees] to 50 [degrees celsius] without fans or other moving parts, the SeaPAC flat-panel touch-screen computer family uses a low-power 1GHz Celeron M processor. Features include a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet, two serial...

1 to 10 width options for high-quality lightpipes.(DISPLAYS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... This line of 90 Series Lightpipes offers a wide range of styles of lightpipes. Various combinations of single, dual, vertical, and horizontal configurations are available. Lightpipes that "blend" the colors of different colored LEDs are...

Xenon filled lamps burn brighter for longer.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... This range of Xenon filled wedge based lamps are designed for use in a variety of automotive, gaming machinery, aviation, signalization, and architectural applications. Currently available in three models: 1503X (14V 3.4W rating, T10 size,...

Electroluminescent drivers reduce noise.(DISPLAYS)(Supertex Inc.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The HV843 and HV845 high brightness, low noise electro luminescent lamp drivers are designed for dual display cellular phones, portable instrumentation, and other handheld devices. The ICs feature independent input control for lamp selection...

Blue smart dot-matrix LED displays for communications.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... The HCMS2919 and HCMS-2976 smart displays with blue characters in a thin rectangular 8-character package are driven by on-board low-power complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) ICs, and can be directly interfaced with a microprocessor. These...

High-temperature light guides are RoHS compliant.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... This range of high temperature tolerant light guides with integrated LEDs is suitable for soldering profiles conforming to IPC/JEDEC J-STD-G20, DIN 45802, and DIN EN60068-2-58. The M-Pipe Technology pipes can withstand 260[degree]C for 40...

Wafer-level technology for optical component integration.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... SHELLCASE CF is a wafer-level technology platform that protects components from contamination from the initial processing stage, and is compatible with conventional chip-onboard (COB) assembly processes. It can provide up to a 40% improvement...

LED flashlight operates without batteries.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... The Emerge 'N See Light is a crank-charge flashlight that operates anywhere without batteries. The flashlight uses three ultra-bright LEDs that provide a wide, strong beam of white light and never need to be replaced. Thirty seconds of cranking...

Surface emitting lasers for low power applications.(DISPLAYS)
January 1, 2007... The OPV330 series of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) devices use lower drive currents to achieve infrared LED power output levels and offer high thermal stability. The 850nm VCSEL devices have maximum forward peak current of 20mA...

DAPstudio pc-based measurement software.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
January 1, 2007... The DAPstudio 2.5 is the latest release of the DAP Measurement Studio application. It displays live data in several formats, including bar graph, line graph, and waterfall. Each format has an optional 3D view making it easy to see different...

SJ50 Series 3 slashes inspection time by 50%, increases system resolution.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
January 1, 2007... The SJ50 Series 3 automated optical inspection system (AOI) expands on the existing SJ50 product line, providing top optical performance. It improves ease of use, throughput, component location and supportability, as well as enables...

Controller features bar-code/ OCR-reader technology.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
January 1, 2007... The multichannel, microprocessor Synergy Controller features the addition of a bar-code/OCR (optical-character-recognition)-reading feature. The environmental chamber controller's new macro capability receives the digital data from a part's...

Upgrade for debugging tool improves USB performance.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
January 1, 2007... Updating the J-Scan boundary-scan debugging and programming tool, Version 2.1 allows circuit designers to facilitate early test development, shortening the development cycle and prototyping process. Version 2.1 communicates to the target...

Device testing without bus isolation relays.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
January 1, 2007... The ISL55141/2/3 family of window comparators enables semiconductor device testing with ATE (automatic test equipment) in large voltage swing applications without the need for bus isolation relays, saving set-up time and cost. These comparators...

Upgrade for multimeter features a function generator.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)(Signametrics Corp.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Featuring a function generator that can source pulses and sine waves 20V p-p, the SMX2064 DMM (digital multimeter)/LCR (inductance/capacitance/ resistance) meter generates pulses in a burst of as many as 60,000 pulses or a continuous signal...

CompactPCI instrument chassis with 500W ac power supply.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)(Adlink Technology)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The PXIS-2670 is a 19" 3U PXI chassis providing 13 PXI peripheral slots and one system slot with one PXI-to-PXI bridge. It is compliant with PXI and CompactPCI specifications, and supports both PXI and CompactPCI modules. The internal 10MHz...

Using the ADS8361 with the MSP430 USI port.(Analog Applications Journal: BRIEF)
January 1, 2007... Introduction The ADS8361 is a dual, 16-bit, 500-kSPS, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with four fully differential input channels grouped into two pairs for high-speed, simultaneous signal acquisition. Inputs to the sample-and-hold...