Electronic Design articles from March 2002

Electronic Design archives from March 2002

Just being new doesn't make it better technology. (Editorial).
March 4, 2002... DAVID BURSKY From time to time, readers chide me for using a picture in this column of me with a pen and paper in hand. These readers claim that because pen and paper represent old technology they must be passe. I take exception to that...

Reader polls.
March 4, 2002... Movie Poll Results: Not surprisingly, it's brains over brawn for EEs. We prefer the challenge of sci-fi flicks to the gross extreme of horror stories and the sweetness of romances. And just like regular folks, we enjoy a good laugh, as our...

10 years ago. (Flashback).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MARCH 5, 1992 A GALLIUM-ARSENIDE-BASED TRANSISTOR structure possessing a maximum cutoff or transition frequency ([f.sub.t]) of more than 118 GHz is close to fruition. The research, done by the laboratories of GEC-Marconi Materials...

25 years ago. (Flashback).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MARCH 1,1977 IS A DMM WITH 4-1/2 DIGITS INHERENTLY MORE ACCURATE than one with 3-1/2 digits? Contrary to popular opinion, the answer is "Yes"--at least for meters with sensing accuracies in the order of 0.1% of the reading, or better. ...

40 years ago. (Flashback).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MARCH 1, 1962 PRODUCED BY VACUUM DEPOSITION OF NiFe ALLOY ONTO A HEATed glass substrate, these ferromagnetic thin-film plates make up high-density memory planes. The substrates used in the BIP-1001 have a density of about 150 bits/in. (2)...

Nanoscale printed-circuit board targets interconnects. (News on Technology, R&D Products, and Business).
March 4, 2002... Hewlett-Packard may have the key to wiring nanoscale circuits without using high-resolution lithography. U.S. patent 6,314,019, which covers molecular wire crossbar interconnects, is one of a group of patents recently awarded to Philip Keukes,...

Silicon bipolar amp matches GaAs RF performance. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).
March 4, 2002... A recently developed high-performance bipolar RF power amplifier for mobile phone handsets retains silicon's cost, reliability, and flexibility advantages while offering gallium-arsenide (CaAs) performance for the 900-MHz to 1.9-GHz frequency...

Open-source IDE supports C/C++. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The open-source integrated development environment (IDE) from the Eclipse Project now supports C and C++ development. The Eclipse Workbench IDE, written in Java, initially supported Java development. The C/C++ plug-in is the first major...

Tiny chain has big future in MEMS applications. (News on Technology, R&D Products, and Business).
March 4, 2002... It looks a lot like a bicyde chain, except each link could comfortably rest on top of a human hair. Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., has fabricated a microchain with a 50-[micro]m distance between link centers (see the...

SoC IP error protection passes Sparc test. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).
March 4, 2002... A technology for embedding error-protection intellectual property (IP) within systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) without significantly degrading performance has proved itself. Santa Clara-based iRoC Technologies Corp. has shown that its error-protection...

Real-Time Java Spec gets Reference platform. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... TimeSys has completed the Reference Implementation of the Real Time Specification for Java (RTSJ). Accepted under the Java Community Process (JCP), it's downloadable for free from TimeSys' Web site. The implementation provides the Java virtual...

DSO combines long memory with fast waveform analysis. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The Model 8500 WaveMaster digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) features a 5-GHz bandwidth and 10-Gsample/s digitizing rate on each of four channels (20 Gsamples/s on two channels). Standard memory is 500 kpoints/channel. But beyond its...

Synthesis environment targets deep-submicron SoCs. (News on Tehnology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... A complete logic synthesis and timing environment is available to designers of deep-submicron SoCs in the form of Incentia Design Systems' DesignCraft. Incorporating the company's TimeCraft timing engine, it offers logic, datapath, test, and...

Predictive-analysis tool sniffs out gate-level problems in RTL code. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Thanks to a fast, built-in synthesis engine, Atrenta's SpyGlass 3.0 predictive-analysis tool detects very complex structural problems in register transfer level (RTL) code that would otherwise only show up at gate level. Its new GUI correlates...

Digital servoamp revs up small-motor performance. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Copley Controls' Accelus digital servoamplifier uses field-oriented control to enable motors to deliver higher torque, speed, and efficiency for a given drive current. While some motor manufacturers have previously offered this control...

Dual-role IP core meets full-speed USB 2.0. (News on Technology, R&D, Products, and Business).
March 4, 2002... The industry's first dual-role USB 2.0 controller macrocell is now available from Mentor Graphics. It complies with both the current USB 2.0 standard for full-speed functions and the new On-The-Go supplement for point-to-point communication....

Power-supply ICs go multiphase to take on 100-A loads: to power today's generation of multigigahertz CPUs, monolithic dc-dc converters are tapping quad-and higher-phase PWM controllers. (Power).
March 4, 2002... After a bumpy start, monolithic multiphase pulse-width-modulate (PWM) controllers have made significant strides in cost and performance. They're being rapidly accepted in fast-responding dc-dc converters that power new-generation multigigahertz...

Synthesis edging into analog EDA tool flows. (Analog Synthesis).
March 4, 2002... It's well known that analog designers live in a full-custom world. But with the analog content in SoCs and ASICs growing, they need the productivity boost that only true analog synthesis can provide. Without the development of standard-cell...

"UML Lite" offers simple yet powerful tool set for even complex designs: Embedded systems usually need only a UML core subset, consisting of use cases, classes and objects, and statecharts. (Software).
March 4, 2002... In recent years, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been successfully used to develop many embedded applications, including avionics, automotive, medical, industrial automation, and telecommunications. Its success is due to its simple...

How long until we see the prototype? (Special Editorial Feature).
March 4, 2002... I like hands-on evaluations because they provide a better idea about how well developers can make use of a tool. My background in hardware and software development lets me check out major features and see how hard it is to get a real...

High-availability COTS hardware. (Hot Product).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The Rave 25k is a complete hardware and software platform for five- and six-nine availability targeted at high-availability (HA) embedded markets, such as communications and e-commerce. It scales to 14 single-board computers in a compact 9U by...

NET+Works. (Operating-System Series).
March 4, 2002... NetSilicon was one of the first companies to deliver an off-the-shelf, system-on-a-chip (SoC) with a bundled operating system and tools. Called the NET+ARM, the SoC targets embedded network applications. It's based on the 32-bit ARM7...

ZFx86. (Operating-System Series).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The PC x86 architecture is a popular base for SoC products like ZF Micro Devices' ZFx86 family. This family provides a PC-compatible platform, easing cross development. But setting up an RTOS isn't easy, especially when taking advantage of the...

QuickMIPS. (Operating-System Series).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Packing a MIPS processor into an off-the-shelf, system-on-a-chip (SoC) was only half the battle with Quick Logic's QuickMIPS family. Delivering a complete set of operating system (OS) and tools was the other half. The SoC comes in a number of...

StrongARM. (Operating-System Series).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Intel's StrongARM and new XScale processor architectures are supported by a number of third-party companies like Accelent Systems. While Intel provides basic development support with its GNUPro, Accelent Systems' Integrated Development Platform...

KDevelop in new Linux. (News Clips).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The Hard Hat Penguin remains, but the new name for Monta Vista's latest product is Monta Vista Linux 2.1. This latest version incorporates a host of new features and new platforms. The KDevelop IDE is standard. The RTOS is based on the...

SoC meets DVD. (News Clips).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... STMicroelectronics combines analog preprocessing, DSP, microcontroller, and memory in the L6315 SoC for complete DVD support. It's designed to work with STMicroelectronics' STi55xx back-end decoders. The L6315 is available now for $10.

SBC takes the heat. (News Clips).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The PPM-TX family from WinSystems is a PC/104-Plus single-board computer (SBC) that operates over a -40[degrees]C to 85[degrees]C range and is targeted at industrial environments. The $625 PPM-520 includes 166-MHz Pentium MMX, four serial COM...

Jini lives. (News Clips).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Sun's Jini Technology Starter Kit version 1.2 puts new life into Jini. It now supports multiple services in one virtual machine, reducing overhead. The implementation is now multithreaded for better performance and higher reliability.

Private USB storage. (News Clips).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... M-Systems USB-based DiskOnKey isn't only getting larger at 128 Mbytes, but also more secure. The new KeySafe software works with the on-board processor to split the flash memory into normal and password-protected storage. Unfortunately, KeySafe...

High-Q bandpass filter is well suited to current-mode signal processing. (Innovative Designs from Readers).
March 4, 2002... Analog signal processing has conventionally been viewed as a voltage-dominated form of design. But voltage-mode processing can restrict the system's dynamic range. There is also a limitation on the input range of signals for linear operation....

Interface 20-bit sigma-delta ADCs through a PC's parallel port. (Innovative Designs from Readers).
March 4, 2002... In most sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (ADC) applications, the serial data transfer occurs through a serial port. A microcontroller configures the serial port as required-- setting the baud rate and stop/start bits, initializing the...

Read temperature with one digital output and one digital input. (Innovate Designs from Readers).
March 4, 2002... Before the MAX6629/30/31/32 series of temperature sensors were available, all digital-output temperature sensors were [I.sup.2]C (alternatively called SMBus) sensors that had to be written to for addressing, before they were read. Prior SPI...

What's all this drilling stuff, anyhow? (Pease Porridge).
March 4, 2002... I had planned on drilling holes in some small strips of wood--pilot holes for brads. But I couldn't find my best small drills. I was annoyed with myself. Then I realized that I didn't have go out and buy a drill bit of exactly the right size. I...

1U high UPS generates 1100 VA of backup power. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... A 1.75-in. (1U) high UPS, the Pulsar Evolution, delivers up to 1100 VA of sinewave output. Also available in 500- and 800-VA ratings, the supply includes smart battery management that warns in advance when the hot-swappable batteries need...

Multi-output hot-swap 1U supply delivers 600 W. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The TPS600 five-output power supply delivers 600 W at 50[degrees]C or 420 W at 70[degrees]C in a 10.5- by 6- by 1.75-in, package. Offered with a hot-swap option for use in standard card or power back-planes, it can be controlled and monitored...

Power Over LAN technology targets Ethernet switches. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... An embedded IEEE-802.3af-compliant Power Over LAN technology is easily integrated into 24-and 48-port Ethernet switches. It's offered in two single inline package (SIP) sets: the four-component PD-IM-7124 for 24 ports and the seven-component...

Eighth-brick dc-dc converter challenges quarter bricks. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The SQ48 dc-dc converters deliver 15 A or 50W in an eighth-brick package with no heatsink. Current rating is maintained with little or no derating at elevated temperatures and with low airflow. Though the eighth brick is 40% smaller than the...

Full-featured PWM controller IC powers sub-1-V buses. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The SP6123 synchronous buck PWM controller uses dual NFETs to generate a programmable output as low as 0.8 V for an output current up to 10 A. Operating at a fixed frequency of 500 kHz, the controller achieves efficiencies as high as 95% while...

Boost dc-dc converter switches at 4.5 MHz. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... A 1.5-A stepup dc-dc converter, the LT1310, operates at switching frequencies as high as 4.5 MHz, enabling its use with tiny external passives. An on-chip PLL allows precise control of the switching frequency to limit switching noise, and the...

Switching controller steps down 4.5- to 35-V input with high efficiency. (Power).(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The LM3485 hysteretic PFET buck controller steps down a 4.5- to 35-V input to an adjustable value as low as 1.242 V for loads up to 400 mA. Operating at frequencies up to and above 1 MHZ, the controller achieves 93% efficiency, while requiring...

Power op amps dissipate up to 125 W. (Power).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The PA38 and PA39 high-voltage MOSFET power op amps are constructed with surface-mount components on a thermally conductive but electrically isolated substrate. The substrate allows the op amps to dissipate up to 125W or 10 A of continuous...

Generator offers programmable noise, CW waveforms for comm testing. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The DNG7500 Digital Noise Generator creates programmable, user-specified pseudonoise and CW signal spectrums for emulation of real-world noise and interference in the testing of communications equipment. The instrument's arbitrary waveform...

1.2-GHz processor turbocharges real-time PXI controller. (Test & Measurement).(from National Instruments)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The RT Series PXI embedded controllers let designers create fast real-time systems able to execute control loops at 40 kHz, The NI 8176 RT uses a 1-2-GHz processor. It runs LabView Real-Time control applications up to 300% faster than other...

Improved JTAG package boosts coverage while cutting development time. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Version 3.2 of the ScanWorks boundary-scan (IEEE 1149.1/JTAG) test and in-system programming environment includes next-generation interconnect tools that improve test coverage and speed up the test-development process. These tools enhance...

PC/104-compliant module incorporates analog and digital I/O functions. (Test & Measurement).(Scidyne ADIO-104)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The ADIO-104 blends the most requested analog and digital I/O functions in a single PC/104-compliant module, It's designed to satisfy mainstream and cost-sensitive applications. The 16 single-ended 12-bit analog inputs are independently...

Hardware debug probe streamlines host/target communications. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The Green Hills Probe is a fast and intelligent hardware debug probe for Motorola's StarCore-based MSC810x DSPs and StarCore-based SoC embedded systems. Together with the company's Multi 2000 source-level debugger and integrated development...

Test product speeds boundary-scan design-for-test. (Test & Measurement).(JTAG Visualizer )(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The JTAG Visualizer test product enables engineers to visualize, understand, and assess testing and programming applications on circuit boards and systems. It lets users worldwide perform boundary-scan design-for-test and production repair...

High-density IC test clips cover a variety of pin counts. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The DeltaProbe line of high-density test clips solves the complex problem of using test clips for quad flat pack (QFP), thin small-outline package (TSOP), small-outline IC (SO), and other fine-pitch IC packages. The line covers several pin...

1-GHz four-channel DSO samples up to 2 Gsamples/s. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The LT584 Waverunner-2 digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) features four channels and a 1-GHz bandwidth with a 2-Gsample/s sampling rate. The instrument offers 250 kpoints of acquisition memory per channel. When using only two inputs, the...

DTF and ATPG enhancements, improve compiler performance. (Test & Measurement).(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... A series of design-for-test (DFT) and automatic pattern generation (ATPG) products leverage advanced test modeling for dramatic capacity and performance gains in Synopsys' DFT Compiler. The TetraMAX ATPG delay test option's comprehensive...

Test tool speeds and optimizes production repair tasks. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... Using jTAG Visualizer lets engineers visualize, understand, and assess testing and programming applications on circuit boards and systems. It allows users worldwide to perform boundary-scan design-for-test and production repair tasks much more...

Embedded test IP products enhance SoC designs. (Test & Measurement).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... An improved family of embedded test IP products delivers significant benefits to designers of systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) and other complex ICs. These products improve testing efficiency, speed, and accuracy. New capabilities include advanced...

PIC microcontroller eases RF design. (Embedded Systems).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The rfPIC family of microcontrollers significantly eases the RF design process while reducing component count and hoard space. The rfPIC12C509AG is an 18-pin PICmicro micro-controller that features an integrated 315/433MHz transmitter. The...

16-channel PMC module features two 14-bit 80-MHz ADCs. (Embedded Systems).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The Model 7131 is a 16-channel narrowband digital receiver PCI mezzanine card (PMC) module with two 14-bit 80-MHz analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and four quad digital receivers. It also couples FPGA technology with these channelized...

PC-104 10/100 Ethernet module extends temperature range. (Embedded Systems).(WinSystems)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... An extended-temperature version of the PC-104-Plus 10/100 Ethernet module is now available. The device operates from -20[degrees]C to 85[degees]C. The EPM-NET-100 PC-104-Plus expansion board combines a dual-speed Ethernet interface...

Web Development Kit offers seamless integration. (Embedded Systems).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The DeviceMate Development Kit provides a comprehensive and low-cost solution for designers who want to quickly Web-enable new or existing devices and systems. This kit offers a seamless integration of powerful hardware and software. It lets...

6U CompactPCI module supports up to three 10/100-Mbit Ethernet. (Embedded Systems).
March 4, 2002... The cPCI-6780 is a 6u high CompactPCt plug-in card that supports up to three 10/100-Mbit Ethernet ports. It comes standard with either a Pentium III or Celeron processor featuring up to 1.3-GHz speeds running on a combined Front Side Bus (FSB)...

Processor combines scalable DSP with RISC control code. (Electronic Design Automation).(Siroyan OneDSP)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... The high-performance OneDSP scalable processor architecture is designed specifically to provide the processing power next-generation applications require. It's the first processor to combine scalable, high-performance DSP with general-purpose...

Hierarchical design planner drives physical design solution. (Electronic Design Automation).(IC Wizard 2.2)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... IC Wizard version 2.2 is the hierarchical design planner that drives the company's system-driven physical design solution. It provides the full spectrum of capabilities needed to restructure and optimize physical hierarchy, as well as a...

Enhanced software delivers supply chain decision support. (Electronic Design Automation).(PortNavigator 2.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... PortNavigator 2.0 is an advanced software product that enhances its maker's supply chain decision support and integration technology solution. It delivers supply chain decision support directly into the EDA capture environment. It provides an...

Device modeling tools aim at 0.13-[micro]m processes. (Electronic Design Automation).(Celestry Design Technologies BSIMPro+ and Celestry Design Technologies REPro)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... A device modeling product, BSIMPro+, and a new version of RFPro for RF device modeling improve the accuracy of device models for very deep-submicron (0.13 [micro]m and below) silicon processes, especially for wireless and networking...

Next-generation pc-board router adds topological board analysis. (Electronic Design Automation).
March 4, 2002... Situs, a next-generation pc-board routing tool, adds a topological board-analysis stage to the autorouting process. With Situs, the pc board is initially modeled by the spatial relationships of each object relative to another, without reference...

SoC Verification Environment allows configurable HDL checks. (Electronic Design Automation).(Verification Navigator 2002.1)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... A new version of the Verification Navigator Integrated Design Verification Environment features significant enhancements to the VN-Check Configurable HDL Checker, the VN-Cover Coverage Analysis solution, and the VN-Control Application-Specific...

SoC design tool performs routing, physical optimization. (Electronic Design Automation).(NanoRoute-SI)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 4, 2002... NanoRoute-SI is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design tool that concurrently performs timing-driven, noise-prevention routing, RC extraction, timing and noise analysis, buffer insertion, gate sizing, and logic restructuring as well as incremental...

Will electronic ID secure our identity or destroy privacy? (Editorial).
March 18, 2002... Last month's RSA Conference held in San Jose, Calif., on electronic security covered many topics, spanning personal identification, electronic signatures, hack prevention, cryptography, and more. But the most controversy swirled around the...

Reader Polls. (Celebrating 50 Years of Technology).(Editorial)
March 18, 2002... READER POLLS TV Poll Results: We EEs are definitely not Average Joes. Unlike the vast American public, we strongly prefer documentary and nature shows. Along with the challenge of viewing such brain candy, we like to see some action,...

Flashback>10 years ago. (Celebrating 50 Years of Technology).(Editorial)
March 18, 2002... MARCH 19, 1992 Wireless Networks for Data-Communications systems continue to establish themselves as alternative solutions to problems posed by hardwired networks. Twisted-pair, coaxial, and fiberoptic cabling within a building environment...

Flashback>25 years ago. (Celebrating 50 Years of Technology).(Editorial)
March 18, 2002... MARCH 15, 1977 Power reductions as large as 80%, density boosts of 2 to 1, and speed improvements by factors of three signalled advances in NMOS memory design at last month's Solid-State Circuits Conference. The size of a new static...

Flashback>40 years ago. (Celebrating 50 Years of Technology).(Editorial)
March 18, 2002... MARCH 15, 1962 Encouraging progress in development of solid-state microwave power sources was reported at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Varactor frequency multipliers, despite many design and component problems, are...

Flaming FUD. (Editor's Notebook).(Editorial)
March 18, 2002... Amazingly, marketing departments often turn to fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) as a tool to hype a really good product. I can see the benefit of this approach for a product that's not great. Companies hope to distract the buyer. But this...

Serial Interconnect standard expands RapidIO. (Forefront).
March 18, 2002... Suited to DSP farms and backplanes, the RapidIO Trade Association's new specification defines a high-performance, low-pin-count switch-fabric serial interconnect. The Serial RapidIO specification adds a new physical layer to existing...

Bus synthesis enhances SoC design system. (Forefront).(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... One of the trickier aspects of system-on-a-chip (SoC) design is coming up with the bus structure for the circuit. Figuring out the best possible combination of bus masters, slaves, nodes, and layers is an arduous task that can make or break an...

Advanced 90-nm process packs 400 million transistors on-chip. (Forefront).
March 18, 2002... With over 400 million transistors on a single chip, Texas Instruments' next-generation 90-nm (0.09[micro]m) CMOS process will enable TI to pack DSP, microcontroller, memory, logic, analog and RF functions on one CMOS die, with moderate power...

FCC approves ultra-wideband wireless.
March 18, 2002... Paving the way for a number of public safety, business, and consumer applications, the U.S.Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized the marketing and operation of a limited range of products based on ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless...

Software Platform Allows MEMS VOA development. (Forefront).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... A new software platform by Coventor Inc. of Cary, N.C., simplifies the development of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) variable optical attenuators (VOAs) and attenuator arrays. Designed for dense-wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM)...

ASIC-EDA alliance lifts OLA specification. (Forefront).
March 18, 2002... The Open Library Architecture (OLA), an application programming interface specification collaboratively developed at the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), has gained a boost through an alliance between Si2's ASIC Council and a group of...

Low-jitter clock-recovery modules target 10-Gbit/s systems. (Product Features).(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... The M840 multirate dock-recovery (CR) module series from Micro Networks Corp. specifically targets long-haul, ultra-long-haul, and optical test systems in the OC-192 and 10-Cbit Ethernet systems. Its phase-locked architecture and...

Charting app integrates with MathCad and Excel. (Product Features).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... Number crunching is often necessary to justify a project or system design. Presenting that information is often most effective in a graphical context. MathSoft's Axum 7 makes the job easier, especially when coupled with math processing...

SystemC simulator completes a full suite of system-level tools. (Product Features).(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... The concept at system architectural definition at a level of abstraction higher than RTL is a good one. Such methodologies become much more feasible as tools roll out in support. To that end, Synopsys is launching a SystemC simulator to...

Adaptive linear amp cuts line driver's dissipation. (Product Features).(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... Thanks to an adaptive linear-power (ALP) amplifier architecture, Ana log Devices' single-supply ADSL line driver slashes power dissipation and dramatically improves efficiency over competing solutions. The AD8393 is the first...

.NET gains graphical programming environment. (Product Features).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... Microsoft .NET's common language runtime (CLR) gets the support of another language courtesy of Softwire Technology's Softwire for Visual Studio .NET. This visual programming environment is an enhanced version of Softwire for Visual Basic....

Reflective optical sensors set size benchmark. (Product Features).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 18, 2002... Design spaces are getting smaller and smaller. Elekon Industries has answered this challenge with the ERT-3280 series of reflective optical sensors, the smallest such sensors available. Models in the series measure just 2,7 by 3.2 by 1.4...

Extending formal verification methodologies beyond the gate level. (View Point).
March 18, 2002... KUANG-CHIEN (K.C.) CHAN In recent years, formal verification has become the verification methodology of choice for many designers and verification engineers. It's now in the mainstream marketplace, as it's easy to use, integrates easily...