Electronic Design articles from August 2003

Electronic Design archives from August 2003

Innovative electronics mitigate roadkill risks. (Editorial).(Roadway Animal Detection System )(Editorial)
August 4, 2003... I just finished a cross-country driving marathon, moving the family from Seattle to New Jersey. It was six days of nomadic adventure with my wife, three kids, three cats, and the dog packed into a minivan. Low points included a 24-hour stomach...

What's all this refrigerator stuff, anyhow? (Part 2). (Pease Porridge).
August 4, 2003... A friend of mine was cleaning expired medicines out of his first aid kit. Fine. But when he threw out the salt pills, I got mad. How can salt pills lose potency? I grabbed up all the medicines that had expired just a couple weeks ago and threw...

FPGA designers are heavyweights too. (POV: Point of View).(Editorial)
August 4, 2003... ASIC designers were, at one time, the uncontested heavyweight champions of the electronics design community -- the top of the food chain. Their chips were much larger and difficult to design and verify, and they invested with abandon to solve...

Ready-to-use PCB tools swing for sweet spot. (EDA).(from Mentor Graphics)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The PADS suites PCB design packages from mentor graphics come in three flavors. they provide an upgrade path among themselves as well as upward into the higher-end expedition design tool. In just about any software market, one can construct...

Automated measurement system speeds PCI Express Compliance testing. (Test and Measurement).(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... THE RT-EYE SERIAL DATA COMPLIANCE and analysis software from Tektronix (option RTE for the TDS6000 and TDS/CSA7000 oscilloscopes) and the P7350SMA differential probe can be combined to provide an uncompromised signal probing environment in both...

PoE controllers manage power autonomously. (TechView: Analog & Power).(Linear Technology LTC4258/59)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The LTC4258/59 quad powered Ethernet controllers perform all of the power-management operations required to implement the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (POE) standard in power sourcing equipment (PSE). Unlike some existing PoE controllers,...

Design tool automates PID controller development. (Hot Product).(AnadigmPID)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Development of analog proportional integral derivative (PID) control loops can now be automated thanks to a new EDA tool from Anadigm. With AnadigmPID, users can build an analog PID control loop within one of the company's field-programmable...

8-in. wafers for high-end analog CMOS process cut cost, boost performance. (Breaking News).(Texas instruments HPAO7)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... THE HPAO7 high-performance CMOS semiconductor process from Texas Instruments will foster development of advanced analog chips, including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, op amps, and power amplifiers. Chips built in this...

Directional coupler boosts GSM power amp. (TechView: Communications).(Analog Devices ADL5552 X-PA)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... DESIGNED FOR GSM cell phones of all types, the quad band ADL5552 X-PA power-amplifier chip covers the European 900-MHz, U.S. 850-MHz, European DCS 1800-MHz, and U.S. PCS 1900-MHz bands. It also supports GPRS to level 12. The amplifier...

1394b chips simplify home-networking assembly. (TechView: Communications).(Texas Instruments TSB41BA3 and TSB17BA1)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... lfrenze@attglobal.net Putting together complete home networks for PCs, consumer electronics, and audio/video devices is easier with Texas Instruments' next-generation 1394b interface chips. The TSB41BA3, a three-port bilingual...

All-in-one SP6T switch smoothes GSM cell-phone design. (TechView: Communications).(M/A-COM MASWSS0091)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... THE MASWSS0091 SINGLE-POLE, six-throw (SP6T) gallium-arsenide (GaAs) switch simplifies multiband GSM cell phones. Dual, tri, and quad band GSM phones necessitate a complex mix of transmit-receive (Tx-Rx) switches. With this single-chip SP6T...

Spectrum analyzer handles WLAN modulation analysis. (TechView: Components & Test).(Advantest R3681)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Wireless local-area networks (WLANs) can now take advantage of the Advantest R3681 test tool for analyzing spectrum and broadband modulation. It features an average noise level of -156 dBm/Hz, 26-dBm typical third-order inter-modulation...

Optical-Loss assembly test set targets multifiber optical cables. (TechView: Components & Test).(Fiber Systems International 1300)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... ThE MODEL 1300 OPTICAL-LOSS TEST SET from Fiber Systems International tests and verifies the performance of multi-fiber optic cable assemblies like the TFOCA (Tactical Optic Fiber Connector Assembly), the TFOCA-II, MIL-C-28876 connectors, and...

Compact LabView-based system brings vision to industrial sites. (TechView: Components & Test).(National Instruments NI CVS-1454 Industrial)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Making cameras smarter by extending LabView's power into low-cost, rugged machine-vision applications is the idea behind the NI CVS-1454 Industrial compact vision system from National Instruments. It features three IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) ports...

DSPs attack throughput needs with 600-MHz clocks and eDRAM. (TechView: Digital).(Analog Devices' Tiger-Sharc DSPs)
August 4, 2003... When it comes to executing algorithms in DSP applications, you can never have enough performance. At least that's what designers at Analog Devices must have felt when they collaborated with IBM Microelectronics Corp. to develop the second...

Conference news. (TechView: Digital).
August 4, 2003... If it's August, it's hot--time for the Hot Chips conference (Aug. 17-19) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. And that's followed by the Hot Interconnects conference, Aug. 20-22. Both shows focus on high-performance chip designs...

Network search engine delivers up to 266 million searches per second. (TechView: Digital).(Cypress Semiconductor Ayama 10000)
August 4, 2003... Targeted at multiprotocol packet classification and forwarding, the Ayama 10000 network search engine can perform up to 266 million searches/s. Based on a ternary content-addressable-memory architecture with on-chip storage for up to 512k...

MIPS-laden processors hit the road running: packing high-performance compute engines and plenty of peripheral support features, two new processors meet the increasingly voracious demands of telematics. (Leapfrog: First Look).(Analog Devices' Blackfin DSP and Motorola's MPC5200, a PowerPC-based RISC CPU)
August 4, 2003... Over the past decade, the amount of incabin electronic systems in a car has exploded. Due to cost concerns, many telematics systems have been added like patches in a quilt, each containing a lowcost processoi; memory, communications interface,...

Intellectual property: what's yours is mine: new questions are being raised about the practice of engineers signing pre-assignment IP agreements with their employers. Whose idea or invention is it? (Cover Story: Engineering Feature).(and related article )(Cover Story)
August 4, 2003... JUST ABOUT EVERY EE KNOWS ABOUT JACK KILBY and how he invented the integrated circuit 45 years ago while the rest of his Texas Instruments colleagues were out on vacation. It turned out to be a pretty good idea. Last year, the global IC market...

High performance 3-phase power supply delivers 65A and high efficiency over the entire load range. (Advertisement: Design Notes).(Advertisement)
August 4, 2003... Design Note 312 Introduction CPUs used in notebook computers and other mobile applications now draw more than 30A of current and may draw as much as 65A in the near future. For these heavy loads, high efficiency power supplies are...

Setec Astronomy: too many secrets. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).
August 4, 2003... Sneakers, Chapter 9: Bishop (Robert Redford) and company have their hands on the code-breaking machine from Setec Astronomy. It's a great movie, especially if you are paranoid. In this plot, the government and the mob are both out to get you....

Accelerator cards speed IPsec AES-based VPNs. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(Broadcom IPS200A and IPS500A CryptoNetX Accelerator Adapters )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Large corporate virtual private networks (VPNs) demand high-performance encryption power. The PCI-based IPS200A and IPS500A CryptoNetX Accelerator Adapters work to eliminate security bottlenecks in network infrastructure. The boards' sustained...

Securing low-cost memory. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(Atmel CryptoMemory family)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The CryptoMemory family delivers secure EEPROM with a 1.5-MHz two-wire interface. The family features 1-to 256-kbit memory sizes. It communicates using an authenticated protocol and is implemented via tamper-resistant circuits. The chips come...

IPsec VPN 6U CompactPCI board targets Web servers. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(xes XCalibur1000)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Dual Gigabit Ethernet and PCI-X PMC (PCI mezzanine card) slots blast through encrypted data. One or two IBM 750FX PowerPC processors power the XCalibur1000. Extreme Engineering Solutions' board follows the PICMG 2.16 standard. Encryption...

Scalable boundary-scan controllers suit big flash. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(from JTAG Technologies)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... JTAG Technologies announced three new members of the Data Blaster family named the iT 37X7 series. They're available in PCI and CompactPCI (3U and 6U) forms, supporting unlimited target flash-memory width attest clockspeeds upto 40 MHz. The...

Get the Total View of itanium 2. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(Etnus TotalView 6.0)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The TotalView 6. debugger supports intel's itanium 2. TotalView, developed by Etnus LLC, is a source-level, graphical debugger that provides complete control over threaded and parallel applications written in C, C++, or Fortran. The debugger is...

USB flash media controller expands power headroom. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(Standard Microsystems USB 2.0)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Consuming less than 55 mA, the USB97C223-bus-powered USB 2.0 memory-card controller leaves plenty of power for additional features. The USB 2.0 standard allows a device to draw up to 100 mA from the bus. The controller supports nine flash media...

It's an RJ45 jack; it's a Web server. (Special Editorial Feature: Embedded in Electronic Design).(Digi Connect ME)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Based on a 32-bit NetSilicon N57520 microcontroller, Digi's Connect ME looks like a long Ethernet socket. It handles 10/100BaseT Web connections with 5 GPIO and 921-kbit/s serial-port pins, as well as SNMP, SSL/TLS, and 256-bit AES encryption....

Designers must take care when powering high-speed CMOS. (Design View Power).
August 4, 2003... The frenetic pace of advances made in semiconductor process technologies inevitably increases the speed and density of IC devices. Many of these devices, such as DSP-based communication and digital TV ICs, are being designed into systems that...

Handy circuit gives systems flexible fault protection. (Design Briefs: Innovative Designs From Readers).
August 4, 2003... Many applications must include a capability to automatically disconnect power from an operating circuit. Such applications include thermal shutdown of high-voltage power supplies in radar and X-ray systems, shutdown to limit inrush current...

Increase common-mode range for fully differential amplifiers. (Design Briefs: Innovative Designs From Readers).(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Fully differential amplifiers have grown in popularity because of their low distortion, excellent noise rejection, and the simplicity of interfacing them with differential analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). This application shows how to...

Informative distributors seize the day. (Distribution Survey Results).(Industry Overview)
August 4, 2003... What's it like down in the trenches, dealing with distributors? That's what Electronic Design wanted to know earlier this spring when it blasted out an e-mail survey to you, our readers. Based on your answers, a couple of things are clear....

Rod-shaped acrylic optical guides suit many lighting applications. (Packaging/Interconnects/Materials).(from Lumitex Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * A new line of special optical-grade acrylic plastic rod-shaped light guides comes in a wide range of lengths, from Ito 36 in., and diameters from 0.100 to 1.000 in. Available In machined, extruded, or molded versions to meet a variety of...

Activated epoxy has a better grip than plastic substrates. (Packaging/Interconnects/Materials).(Cotronics Bond-it 750 )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * The Bond-it 750 activated epoxy provides strong adhesion to most plastic surfaces, often producing bonds stronger than plastic substrates with no special surface preparations. it cures at room temperature for 400[degrees]F service and bonds...

Side-stackable BGA socket boosts packaging densities. (Packaging/Interconnects/Materials).(from Aries Electronics Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * The Pin-Ball socket can be soldered side by side directly to the existing footprint of a pc board, greatly Improving packaging densities. According to its manufacturer, it is the first side-stackable BGA socket on the market The surface-mount...

Spread-spectrum oscillator IC emits 20 dB less EMI than crystals. (Analog & Power).(Maxim Integrated Products DS1087L)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * The DS1087L single-chip, 3-V spread-spectrum oscillator produces a dithered square-wave fixed output of 260 kHz to 133 MHz without any user programming. With either a 2% or 4% dithered output, the DS1087L reduces electromagnetic interference...

16-bit SAR ADC achieves 550 ksamples/s in MSOP package. (Analog & Power).(Analog Devices AD7686)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * A 16-bit SAR analog-to-digital converter (ADC) packaged in a 3- by 5-mm MSOP, the AD7686 operates at 550 ksamples/s while providing [+ or -]3-LSB linearity. When operating at full speed, typical power consumption is 20 mW at 2.7 V. Now...

Highly integrated offline power switch shrinks transformers. (Analog & Power).(Fairchild Semiconductor FS6X1220RT)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * The FS6X1220RT is a highly Integrated offline power switch for dc-dc forward or flyback power converters. The chip integrates a fully avalanche rated SenseFET with a current-mode pulse-width modulator that switches at 300 kHz, allowing use of...

BCD process unveils devices that lower die cost and size. (Analog & Power).(PolarFab)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * Two new devices have been qualified on 6-in. wafers for the PBC4 0.5-[mu]m blCMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. The first is a high-power driver. The n-channel medium voltage DMOS large-angle-body (MDL) device features a specific on-resistance...

SC70 boost converter leaves tiny footprint on printed-circuit board. (Analog & Power).(Linear Technology LT3460)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * A step-up switching regulator with a 300-mA switch, the LT3460 is housed in either an SC70 or ThinSOT package. The regulator's 1.3-MHz constant switching frequency combines with the part's integration and small package size to make possible a...

Step-up DC-DC converters boast 50-W/[In..sup.3] power density. (Analog & Power).(Beta Dyne SR2O and SR4O )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * The SR2O and SR4O constant-frequency, current-mode step-up converters deliver 20 and 40 W, respectively, in 1- by 2- by 0.39-ln, shielded packages. Operating from 5-to 17-V inputs, the converters generate a 9, 12, 15, 18, or 24-V output with...

Static timing analyzer pounds out streamlined 5X performance upgrade. (EDA & IP).(Incentia Design Systems TimeCraft)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * With runtimes improved by up to 5X and memory utilization reduced by up to 30% on large designs, the latest version of the TimeCraft static timing analyzer is intended for multimillion-gate designs. The performance gains are the result of...

Ultra-high-density cell library shrinks area, power usage. (EDA & IP).(from Virage Logic Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * Through use of an ultra-high-density standard-cell library added to the ASAP Logic family, designers can achieve up to 30% improvements in logic-block area usage while typically consuming up to 20% less power than conventional architectures....

Enhanced RTL debugger tacks on device support. (EDA & IP).(from Synpilcity's Identify 1.2)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * With the identify RTL debugging tool, FPGA prototyping designers can functionally debug their hardware directly in the RTL source code. Version 1.2 of Identify supports Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGAs, Actel ProASIC and ProASIC Plus FPGAs, and...

Tool for documentation creators handles multiple timing diagrams. (EDA & IP).(SynaptiCAD's DataSheet Pro 9.0)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... * Version 9.0 of DataSheet Pro provides engineers and documentation creators a means of creating and maintaining timing diagrams and component data sheets. Multiple graphical displays enable users to open and edit several timing diagrams at...

Shocking jacket stops attackers. (TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play).(No-Contact Jacket)
August 18, 2003... Women who feel the need for physical protection can put on the No-Contact Jacket. Attackers who grab women wearing this defensive apparel will get hit with 80,000 V of painful, disorienting, yet nonlethal electricity. Wearers activate the...

Portable device joins nuclear-detection arsenal. (TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play).(Ortec's Detective and Detective-EX line)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... With homeland security and weapons of mass destruction in the headlines, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Ortec Products have teamed up to provide some protection and peace of mind. Ortec will incorporate LLNL's RadScout technology in...

Wireless sensors chat together. (TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play).(MachineTalker's MiniTalker technology)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Wireless technology is appearing everywhere, including sensor networks. The MiniTalker technology from MachineTalker Inc. can be used to establish a multinode, wireless, ad hoc mesh network. Each MiniTalker device carries its own sensors for...

Satellite radio arrives: can we turn down the volume?(Editorial)(Editorial)
August 18, 2003... My name is Mark David, and I'm a music-holic. This confession stems from the manic excitement I felt just reading about digital satellite radio in this issue's cover story. Talk about an outrageously sophisticated electronic infrastructure...

Bob's mailbox.(Pease Porridge)(Letter to the Editor)
August 18, 2003... Dear Bob: Just got around to seeing your June 9 column. The apparent shift in perceived pitch you asked about is due to the lack of compensation in the inner ear for changes in environment. While not an expert on ears, here's the way I...

ATCA poised to take over the telecom central office.(Point of View; PCI Computer Manufacturers Group's Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture )
August 18, 2003... Traditionally, the telecom central-office computing market has been served by numerous providers with proprietary solutions. This has a few implications: System development is expensive, the products are inoperable with other vendors products,...

Fast serial link offers low-cost scalability.(Digital; Texas Instruments' VLYNQ interface )
August 18, 2003... As processors, supporting logic, and memory chips get faster, wide parallel buses consume too much power and area, especially in low-cost systems. To help cut chip pin counts and power, many companies have developed single- or multiple-channel...

Chip maker moves to leadfree packaging.(Packaging)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... With the European barton lead In electronics looming, Fairchild Semiconductor has begun moving all of its products to packages with leadfree (Pb-free) finishes. This changeover is expected to be done by June of next year. For customers...

Precise voltage references slash current consumption.(TechView: analog & power; Xicor's X60008 family)
August 18, 2003... By exploiting floating-gate-analog (FGA) technology, two 5.0-V voltage references can achieve high levels of accuracy despite their very low current consumption. Members of Xicor's X60008 family, these SO-8 packaged chips guarantee an absolute...

DC-DC converter powers router under severe conditions.(TechView: analog & power; Datel's MAPC-104 )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... DATEL TEAMED UP WITH CISCO to develop a dc-dc converter to power the Cisco 3200 Mobile Access Router, which enables transmission of data, voice, and video over wireless networks. Compliant with PC/104-plus specifications, the MAPC-104 is a...

Enhanced trench structure yields better MOSFETs.(TechView: analog & power; Vishay Slliconix's WFET )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Power MOSFETs built in Vishay Siliconix's TrenchFET process claim a 60% lower figure of merit (FOM) than existing devices. The WFET power MOSFETs feature [R.sub.(DS)ON] x [Q.sub.gd] FOMs ranging from 135 to 165 at [V.sub.GS] = 4.5 V. These...

Sonet/SDH framer turns into line-card-on-a-chip.(TechView: communications; Infineon Technologies' Tethys family )
August 18, 2003... The Tethys family of Sonet/SDH Multi-Rate Framer ICs collapses the traditional line card into one chip, so it's easier and cheaper than ever to implement next-generation equipment like add/drop multiplexers and digital cross-connect switches....

New player in IEEE 802.16a invigorates fixed wireless.(TechView: communications)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... INTEL'S RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT stating its intent to offer chips to support the IEEE 802.16a standard significantly advances the efforts of the fixed wireless access (FWA) industry. FWA has been around for years, but a lack of standards, high...

6-GHz DSOs up real-time bandwidths to 20 Gsamples/s.(TechView: components & test; LeCroy's 8620A digital storage oscilloscope )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... The four-channel, 6GHz 8620A digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) and the SDA 6020 four-channel, 6-GHz serial data analyzer DSO, both hailing from LeCroy, got a boost in real-time sampling rate to 20 Gsamples/s per channel. The scope's other...

Five-slot backplane meets PICMG 3.0 specifications.(TechView: components & test; Bustronic's AdvancedTCA)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... DESIGNED FOR SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, a five-slot AdvancedTCA backplane developed by Bustronic complies with PICMG 3.0 specifications. Featuring dual star, mesh, or replicated mesh configurations, it incorporates two three-pin headers for cabling to...

Sampling method mainstreams precision logic analysis.(TechView: components & test; Tektronix TLA5000 series )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... THE INNOVATIVE MAGNIVU signal-acquisition and sampling technique is featured In Tektronix's TLA5000 series logic analyzers: models TLA5201, TLA5202, TLA5203, and TLA5204, with 34 to 136 channels. They deliver the same timing acquisition and...

Chip set gives TV sets jpeg-image display ability.(Techview: digital; Micronas' PUC 3030A 32-bit controller and SDA 6001 graphic processor combination)
August 18, 2003... Thanks to a pair of controller chips, television manufacturers can cost-effectively integrate memory-card-based features like digital photo display into TV sets. The PUC 3030A 32-bit controller and SDA 6001 ("M2") graphic processor combination,...

Targeting the next generation.(Hot Product; LSI Logic ZiVA-6 family of media processors )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... TARGETING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DVD players, the ZiVA-6 family of media processors from LSI Logic Corp. can play back superaudio CDs (SACDs). These devices integrate a PCMCIA card interface for wireless connectivity or flash-based storage...

Clock generator keeps the pace for XDR interface.(TechView: digital; Integrated Circuit Systems' ICS9214)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... TO SUPPORT THE RECENTLY RELEASED Yellowstone high-speed memory interface, now renamed the extreme data rate (XDR) interface, designers at Rambus Inc. and Integrated Circuit Systems Inc. jointly created a memory interface clock generator. The...

SCO versus IBM: tip of an old iceberg?(Techview: embedded)
August 18, 2003... It's really a case of contract law. Yet the SCO versus IBM case has raised the ire of many, along with the level of confusion, in an already noisy software market. Just in case you've tried to ignore this mess, IBM has a license from SCO...

Windows devices drivers made easy.(News Clips; Jungo's WinDriver 6.02 )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Jungo's WinDriver 6.02 adds MIPS support for Windows CE.Net and Server 2003. Development versions for PCI and USB along with USB Delphi support is available. Pricing starts at $1999. www.jungo.com

InfiniBand goes on large cluster.(News Clips; Fabric Networks' FabNet 12800 switch)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... With Fabric Networks' 128-port FabNet 12800 InfiniBand switch, InfiniBand will be part of a Xeon-based cluster system running Clusterworx from Linux Networx at Sandia National Labs. System management is provided via FabNet Fabric Manager. The...

Dev kit simplifies SoC solutions.(News Clips; AMD's Alchemy Solutions DBAu1500 )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... It's easier to incorporate AMD's MIPS32-based Au1500 processor into Windows CE.Net designs using the company's Alchemy Solutions DBAu1500 development board. The DBAu1500 handles Au1500 processor speeds from 333 to 500 MHz. Included are...

Eclipse-based IDE TIEs up SoC.(News Clips; Tensilica's Xtensa processor configuration tools with Tensilica Instruction Extension instructions)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Development Start with the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE), and then add in new support for Tensilica's Xtensa processor configuration tools with TIE (Tensilica Instruction Extension) instructions. What results is a complete...

Software shines IrDA light on flashlite.(News Clips; Embednet's IrPro )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... Embednet's IrPro is now available for JK Microsystems' Flashlite 386Ex single-board computer. IrPro supports C and C++ applications that run on the Flashlite DOS operating system. Pricing starts at $6000 for IrPro and $495 for the Flashlite...

Formal verification expands to full systems-on-a-chip.(TechView: EDA; Verplex's Conformal 4.0)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... A crucial step in design flow is to ensure that the gate-level design representation of an ASIC or system-on-a-chip (SoC) matches the RTL description through formal equivalence checking. Traditionally, though, equivalence checkers force...

Earlier this year.(Hot Product; Emulation and Verification Engineering's ZeBu-IP )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... EARLIER THIS YEAR, EVE released its ZeBu (or Zero Bugs) hardware-verification system, chiefly designed for intellectual-property (IP) model providers and hardware designers. Its recent companion, ZeBu-IP, is intended to accelerate the...

Collaborative tool squashes PC-Board design cycle.(TechView: EDA; Mentor Graphics' TeamPCB )(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... All areas of design have seen an incredible rise in complexity, end pc-board design Is no exception, Boards can often be too large or complex for a single person, or even e single team of designers, to effectively handle. With TeamPCB, a...

Pre-layout tool boosts yield for analog circuits: why wait until first silicon to find that you have a yield problem? Here's a tool that uses manufacturing data to address transistor sizing before layout.(Leapfrog: Industry First; ChipMD's DesignMD)
August 18, 2003... Greater amounts of RF and analog/mixed-signal circuitry are wending their way into SoC designs, often producing headaches for designers on a number of levels. First off, analog is just plain hard to do well. It's a time-consuming process...

Satellite radio gets serious: Sirius Satellite Radio delivers 100 channels of CD-quality music, sports, and news to auto and home receivers.(Cover Feature: Success Story)(Cover Story)
August 18, 2003... ALL ELECTRONIC DESIGN ENGINEERS FACE DESIGN CHALLENGES, but few have to face the enormous undertaking that confronted the engineers who decided to build a next-generation satellite system to deliver high-quality digital audio to U.S. vehicles...

Integrated development environments: the ties that bind: changing development tools can often be more difficult than changing target processors, so the benefits must be significant.(Technology report: embedded)
August 18, 2003... Historically, development tools have been tied to a specific operating system. Yet, some vendors have seen success in building products that target multiplatforms. A new phenomenon, a modular open-source project called Eclipse, is now changing...

Rev up designs with resistor-programmable oscillators.(Components)
August 18, 2003... One, zero, one, zero, one, zero... repeat forever. Building a clock should be one of the simplest engineering design challenges. And it is, unless you need It to be small, stable, and tunable. Traditional approaches involve a 555-type timer,...

C program magnifies spectrum when an FFT can't hack it.(Innovative Designs from Readers; Fast Fourier Transform)
August 18, 2003... Many science and engineering applications require an accurate frequency spectrum or Fourier transform of a signal. The Fourier transform of a sequence of samples of a signal is shown in Equation 1. (1) [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT...

Tiny 1-MHz buck-boost converter minimizes components.(Innovative Designs from Readers)
August 18, 2003... It goes without saying that rechargeable battery voltages change with charge status. This presents a problem for circuits that operate somewhere in the mid-battery voltage range. Such applications require a dc-dc converter that can step up or...

Survey finds noise and efficiency top priorities for analog designers.(Analog Survey results)
August 18, 2003... In Electronic Design's Analog Insight survey of design engineers, over a third of the respondents indicated that performance is the number one criterion for choosing "a high-performance IC supplier." Given the specs-oriented nature of analog...

High frequency active antialiasing filters--design note 313.(Design Notes; Linear Technology LT6600-10 filter and differential filters using the LT1819 op amp )
August 18, 2003... Introduction High frequency (1MHz or higher) active lowpass filters are now practical alternatives to passive LC filters mainly due to the availability of very high bandwidth (100MHz or higher) integrated amplifiers. Analog signal...

6.5[micro]A dual comparator and 400mV reference.(Signal Conditioning; Linear Technology LT6700-1/-2/-3 )(Brief Article)(Advertisement)
August 18, 2003... The LT[R]6700-1/-2/-3 are the industry's first general-purpose dual comparators that operate from 1.4V to 18V. Each comparator has one input available externally with the other connected to an internal 400mV reference. The wide supply...

Fixed gain of 2, fully differential input/output amplifier is stable with time and temperature.(Signal Conditioning; LTC 1992-2)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... The LTC[R]1992-2 represents new class of fully different input and output amplifiers with a fixed gain of two. It provides significant performance improvement over discrete op amp solutions for driving differential signals in precision...

Ultralow noise 200kHz to 10MHz filter provides [+ or -] 0.25dB channel matching.(Signal Conditioning; Linear Technology LT1568)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2003... The LT1568 is an ultralow noise (92dB SNR), high frequency filter building block for channel antialiasing or reconstruction applications. It provides a pair of 2nd order filter sections with excellent matching characteristics integrated on a...