Electronic Design articles from August 2006

Electronic Design archives from August 2006

"Sound Off".(Letter to the editor)
August 3, 2006... "In my consulting business I have discovered that the majority of the 'marketeers' are just glorified salesmen. These morons will make engineering teams jump through unnecessary hoops because of their incompetence and laziness. After all, if...

Poll: express yourself through our new poll.
August 3, 2006... Despite the dangers of foam debris NASA A launch a shuttle mission an July 1 to test fuel tank improvements and inspection and repair techniques, as well as to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Has NASA made a made a wise...

Mid-range micro kits.(Microcontrollers)(Brief article)
August 3, 2006... The 8- and 32-bit MCU markets have been touting their ability to handle every embedded computing chore from low-power applications to high-performance embedded computing. Although this flag waving often comes at the expense of the 16-bit...

There are alternatives to ZigBee.(WHAT'S UP?)(Brief article)
August 3, 2006... With lots of ZigBee chips, modules, and kits available, it's pretty easy to set up a system for whatever your needs may be. But you know what? As good as ZigBee is, it's overkill for many applications. So while ZigBee is very capable and...

Your efficient power designs have tremendous global impact.(Editorial)(Editorial)
August 3, 2006... Summertime, and the livin' is... pricey. This issue's cover story on energy-efficiency standards seems well timed. I'm in a state of shock over the seasonal rates, pushing my monthly electric bill to more than $400. I'm thinking fondly of my...

What's all this penny stuff, anyhow?(low cost for emails used by companies)(Column)
August 3, 2006... A friend wrote to me to complain about a new proposal to lock out individual Internet users. It seems like the issue is costs versus access. Big companies would be able to send and receive e-mails faster and cheaper than individuals. If this...

Don't worry about the bugs--these tools know what you meant.
August 3, 2006... Debugging your software doesn't have to be such a chore. Led by computer science professor Yuanyuan Zhou, a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a tool suite that takes a new approach to the job....

ULCHs need single-chip solutions to succeed.(ultra-low-cost handsets)(Brief article)
August 3, 2006... For years, mobile-phone makers have been adding features to their products to expand their appeal. Yet with hopes for wireless subscriber growth now pinned on developing nations with large populations of low-income consumers, mobile-phone...

Digital power regulators strive for simplicity.
August 3, 2006... The 25-A ZL2005 digital-control point-of-load (POL) converter now has a baby brother. Zilker Laboratories' 3-A ZL2105 seamlessly interfaces with the ZL2005, but it also integrates its own power MOSFETs ([R.sub.DS(ON)] = 120 m[ohm]) and boost...

Packet switching chips set mark for density, efficiency, and flexibility.(Tech VIEW: COMMUNICATIONS)
August 3, 2006... Four factors are key in designing new networking boxes: power consumption, density, cost, and scalability. Reducing power consumption means using a minimum number of efficient integrated links and reducing the number of off-chip interfaces. For...

High-speed USB chip targets mobile phones.(universal serial bus)(Brief article)
August 3, 2006... Do you ever get the feeling you could produce a video quicker than the time it takes to download one to your mobile phone? With Cypress Semiconductor's latest MoBL-USB chip, you can just say no to snail-paced downloads and greet up to 480...

Digital design tip: avoid clusters of high-frequency outputs.(Brief article)
August 3, 2006... One of the many issues FPGA and ASIC designers must now consider before system integration is simultaneous switching output noise (SSO or SSN). Generated by too many closely spaced outputs switching simultaneously, SSN can cause a system or IC...

The 800-lb gorilla enters the DFM room.(Tech VIEW: EDA)
August 3, 2006... Bringing manufacturing awareness into the design loop is the only true form of what has been termed "design for manufacturing," or DFM. Synopsys's latest thrusts into the DFM arena declare the EDA giant's intention to bring statistical analysis...

System-in-package IC design gets lift from tools and methodology kit.(Tech VIEW: EDA)
August 3, 2006... System-in-package devices (SiPs) are seeing more use in wireless, networking, and consumer applications such as cell phones, Bluetooth modules, wireless local-area networking (WLAN) modules, and network packet switching. SiPs, which used to be...

Unique nullmeter/nanovoltmeter improves calibration precision.(Tech VIEW: TEST & MEASUREMENT)
August 3, 2006... Let's say you're performing a critical calibration or measurement in a bridge configuration. You have your choice of a high-resolution digital multimeter and an analog nullmeter with nanovolt resolution and its mirrored zero-center meter. Which...

Pure Java platform powers smart phone: the Jasper S20 puts a strictly JSR 209-compatible Java platform to the test.(Product/service evaluation)
August 3, 2006... Java continues to dominate as the development platform for smart phones. Now SavaJe Technologies takes it to the extreme by delivering an exclusively Java platform. The SavaJe Mobile Platform exposes multitasking Java virtual machine (JVM) and...

Microcontrollers commit to FRAM: Ramtron's split memory is the first step toward a full-fledged FRAM platform.(PUTTING NEW TECHNOLOGY IN PERSPECTIVE)
August 3, 2006... Memory options have their good and not-so-good qualities. Flash is nonvolatile, but updates are very slow. On the other hand, SRAM is fast but volatile. Now those tradeoffs may be a thing of the past with ferroelectric random-access memory,...

Multiple standards confound power-supply designers: the melange of energy-efficiency standards used to be good for a "green" label. But how much difference really exists between them?(ENGINEERING FEATURE: ENERGY-EFFICIENCY REGS)
August 3, 2006... What's a poor power-supply designer to do? The U.S. alone has four standards for energy efficiency: Energy Star, Executive Order 13221 (1-W Standby), 80 Plus, and the regulations of the California Energy Commission. Europe grapples with at...

Control a high-power load with a low-power microcontroller.(Design BRIEFS: INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FROM READERS)
August 3, 2006... Many microcontrollers feature a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) output that can be low-pass filtered to produce a variable dc voltage. Without additional circuitry, however, this technique is limited to controlling very low-power loads. The...

Enhance synchronous-rectification control in flyback converters.
August 3, 2006... The transition from diodes to synchronous-rectification (SR) MOSFETs in the secondary circuits of flyback converters increases with each new generation of MOSFETs, improving performance at little or no cost penalty. SR MOSFETs can be more...

C-cell ultracapacitors replace batteries for industrial apps.(Component VIEW)
August 3, 2006... The BoostCap energy- and power-type C-cell ultracapacitor cells and multicell packs provide "life-of-the-system" alternatives to batteries for a host of industrial and transportation uses. Maxwell Technologies' 2.5-V cells are the same size as...

A new series of high-voltage, thick-film flat-chip resistors from KOA Speer Electronics offers maximum working voltages as high as 500 V.
August 3, 2006... A new series of high-voltage, thick-film flat-chip resistors from KOA Speer Electronics offers maximum working voltages as high as 500 V. The HV73 chip sizes and voltages include 1J/350 V, 2A/400 V, and 2B/500 V. Metal-glaze thick film produces...

Rated for operation at 200[degrees]C, IRC's PFC-HT tantalum-nitride chip resistors use the company's proprietary TaNFilm self-passivating resistive element technology.(NEWS IN BRIEF: RESISTORS)
August 3, 2006... Rated for operation at 200[degrees]C, IRC's PFC-HT tantalum-nitride chip resistors use the company's proprietary TaNFilm self-passivating resistive element technology. They feature a wraparound non-leaching termination style with either...

Stackpole Electronics has expanded the ohmic value range and TCRs for its popular RN series of metal film resistors.
August 3, 2006... Stackpole Electronics has expanded the ohmic value range and TCRs for its popular RN series of metal film resistors. For most TCR and tolerance combinations, Stackpole's ohmic value range has been extended from 1[OMEGA] to 2.2 M[OMEGA]....

Averaging improves regulation of second power-supply output.(IFD POWERFUL IDEAS FOR DESIGN)
August 3, 2006... A switching power supply's main output usually will have a load regulation of better than 0.1%. However, what if it doesn't need regulation that tight on the main output, but instead needs better regulation on a second output? The averaging...

Programmable DC/DC to 1000Vdc.
August 3, 2006... The "M" Family of converters are enclosed in either 1"x2"x0.4" or 2"x2"x0.5" metal cases. They are capable of producing a fully programmable output up to 1000Vdc and are available in both 5 Watt and 10 Watt packages. The on-board 5Vdc...

POWIR+ chipset reference designs expand myPOWER online design.
August 3, 2006... The first series of POWIR+ chipsets, available in power levels of six, 12 and 18 amps, brings together the IR3637SPbF and IR3637ASPbF application-tuned PWM control ICs and their companion HEXFET[R] MOSFETs for single-phase synchronous buck...

ISI Lead Free Interposers for DDR2 BGAs.
August 3, 2006... ISI Lead Free Interposers allow OEMs to use standard eutectic (leaded) SMT assembly processes, even when BGAs are only available in lead-free packaging. DDR2 memory chips are one common application, although ISI supplies interposers for a...

Molded plastic boxes protect instrumentation.
August 3, 2006... BUD NBB Series molded plastic boxes can be used to mount instrumentation, telecom equipment and data acquisition equipment. Internal mounting bosses can be used to mount PC boards. Doors on NBB Series boxes have plastic hinges and plastic snap...

Delta Electronics introduces the F48SA, a 700W full brick DC/DC converter.
August 3, 2006... Delta Electronics introduces the F48SA, a 700W single output, full brick DC/DC converter into the Delphi Series of Board Mounted DC/DC power converters. The F48SA280, a 48V input, single 28V output, isolated DC/DC converter delivers up to 700W...

iSCSI: the disruptive force.(Internet Small Computer Systems Interface )
August 3, 2006... Storage-area networks (SANs) based on the Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) represent the next leap in capabilities companies will use to support growth in information storage and management requirements. Now, iSCSI is ready to...

One small step for an engineer, one giant leap for engineering.(Editorial)
August 17, 2006... Engineers often say they don't get the same respect they did back in NASA's golden era, when the whole world cheered Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. So it's refreshing to attend an event that spotlights the engineer and the universal impact...

Bob's mailbox.(Pease PORRIDGE)
August 17, 2006... Hi Bob: It's funny you used that circuit to demonstrate "Error Budget," as we recently went through this exercise with the exact same circuit as Figure 1 (see "What's All This Error Budget Stuff, Anyhow?" June 8, p. 18). Too bad it was only...

Choose the right partner for your ASIC life cycle.(application specific integrated circuits)(Viewpoint essay)
August 17, 2006... According to Gartner Inc., the semiconductor industry achieved record revenue in 2005, and consumer ASICs (14% growth) and wireless ASICs (9% growth) played a significant role. But as the ASIC market continues to grow, ASIC designers face a...

Roadster charges up the electric car.(Tech VIEW)
August 17, 2006... Electric cars aren't a joke anymore. Tesla Motors will make you forget all about their boxy styling, sluggish acceleration, and limited range with its sleek, environmentally friendly Roadster (Fig. 1). Founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc...

Hot air + flywheel = a bridge supply with longer endurance.(Tech VIEW: ANALOG & POWER)
August 17, 2006... Bridge power is an interesting niche in the power-supply world because of the way it continually turns to outside-the-box technology. Bridge supplies are a subset of uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) for data centers and telecommunications...

Design FAQs: hot-swapping and digital power monitoring.(Editorial)
August 17, 2006... FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What is hot-swapping? During hot-swapping, a module can be plugged into or unplugged from a live supply bus without affecting the overall system operation. The idea probably comes from telephone line cards,...

Address-data multiplexed NOR flash targets mobile phones.(Tech VIEW: DIGITAL)
August 17, 2006... The mobile-phone market totals a billion new handsets each year, so any chip that can cut system cost deserves attention. With this in mind, STMicroelectronics' AD MUX I/O family of NOR flash memory multiplexes address and data on the same pins...

Integrated DFM methodology takes aim at 65-nm designs.(design for manufacturing)
August 17, 2006... You can pick your poison when it comes to implementation flows. Chips can be taped out with flows from any of the three major vendors that offer them (Cadence, Magma, and Synopsys). But it's increasingly clear that at 65 nm and below, an...

Tool sorts out the relationship between SoC leakage current and temperature.(Tech VIEW: EDA)
August 17, 2006... For designs at 90 nm and below, leakage-current management has become a key design challenge. To accurately analyze chip leakage, designers must consider the temperature variation of the chip based on transistor switching current. Apache's...

More Cortex-M3 Microcontrollers.(Tech VIEW: EMBEDDED)
August 17, 2006... Prices for 32-bit microcontrollers continue to drop as Luminary Micro releases a new crop of 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3-based chips under $6. The 25/50-MHz Stellaris chips incorporate a 100-mA, 2.5-V low-dropout voltage regulator, brownout...

Development kit for new 32-Bit MCU targets multimedia, POS, and SOHO applications.(NEW PRODUCTS)
August 17, 2006... Developers looking to get their hands on Atmel's newest AVR32 micro-controller can do so for only $499. The STK1000 has an AT32AP7000 with 32 kbytes of on-chip SRAM and 16 kbytes of instruction and data caches on a carrier boad. The main board...

SPARC applications run faster on Xeon via virtualization technology.(NEW PRODUCTS)
August 17, 2006... Transitive's QuickTransit for Solaris/SPARC-to-Linux/Xeon is one of a series of virtualization products that let applications run on different target hardware. This approach can be used for hardware and application migration. In this case,...

Cheap chip makes ULCHs even more affordable.(Tech VIEW: WIRELESS)(ultra-low-cost handsets )
August 17, 2006... What's the fastest growing segment of the cell-phone industry? It isn't multimedia smart phones. In fact, it's the opposite--ultra-low-cost handsets (ULCHs). Silicon Laboratories says that 71% of all new worldwide subscribers from 2006 to...

Single-Chip TV tuner cover all major analog and digital TV standards.(Tech VIEW: WIRELESS)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... One of the last consumer electronic bands and includes the IF automatic gain DAB, ISDB-T, and ATSC. Single-Chip TV Tuner Covers All Major Analog And Digital TV Standards One of the last consumer electronic circuits to yield to integration was...

LabVIEW 20th anniversary edition: emphasizes communications test: National Instruments celebrates 20 years of continuous improvement in its flagship LabVIEW graphical programming software.(Editorial)
August 17, 2006... After two decades, LabView still ranks among the most well-known, influential, and widely used engineering software. First announced by National Instruments in the April 17, 1986 issue of Electronic Design (Fig. 1), the company now unveils...

Hot chips 18 serves up another summer scorcher: pack your bags, since you've got 33 reasons to attend this year's show.(ENGINEERING FEATURE: HOT CHIPS)
August 17, 2006... A buffet of presentations covering video processing, processors and parallel processing, memory technologies, communications, and novel silicon applications is sure to keep just about every attendee's plate full at this year's Hot Chips show....

DSCs--the right size for the right task: digital signal controllers thrive in growing niches where fast data manipulation is essential.(digital signal controllers)
August 17, 2006... What do streaming audio, motor control, and power conversion have in common? Digital signal controllers (DSCs) to solve the problem. These DSP wolves in microcontroller clothing combine the integer number-crunching of a DSP with the peripherals...

A little intelligence goes a long way in power-supply design.(Design BRIEFS: INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FROM READERS)
August 17, 2006... Switch-mode power supplies (SMPSs) traditionally are implemented using a basic analog control loop. But recent advances in digital signal controllers (DSCs) enable designs that begin to make fully digital control schemes practical and...

Drive and control electronics enhance the brushless motor's advantages: with the appropriate driver IC and microcontroller, designers can exploit the brushless motor's declining price, smaller size, lighter weight, and minimal maintenance.(Design SOLUTION POWER)
August 17, 2006... As recently as two years ago, brushless motors were significantly more expensive than brush motors. However, advances in design and materials have triggered dramatic price drops in brushless motors. Today, the cost differential between these...

"Sound off".
August 17, 2006... "I don't think the 'uncanny valley' is limited to androids. I recall watching the movie The Polar Express. The near reality of the characters gave me a headache, whereas a cartoon I would find undisturbing. I think the mechanisms of perception...

Poll: express yourself through our new poll.
August 17, 2006... Has robotics technology lived up to its potential? Not yet, prospective applications for robots are virtually limitless 63% They have some additional usefulness we haven't yet tapped into ...

Robot business.(EIED ONLINE)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... This year's RoboBusiness conference took place on Pittsburgh's waterfront across from Three Rivers Stadium. Robotics is a business of niches that are starting to mature and grow into larger markets. Embedded/Systems/Software Editor William Wong...

Podcast: Interview With Ray Kurzweil.(Interview)
August 17, 2006... Inventor Ray Kurzweil talks with Electronic Design Editor-In-Chief Mark David about the Kurzweil/National Federation of the Blind portable text-to-speech reader. In discussing the engineering challenges of integrating a digital camera and a PDA...