Electronic Design articles from May 2008

Electronic Design archives from May 2008

Are you screaming for help with prototypes?(Editorial)
May 8, 2008... At last month's Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, I met with Duane Benson, the Web marketing manager for Screaming Circuits. The company assembles prototypes in as little as 24 hours for one or more boards. You simply send it a package...

SUMIT brings big improvements in small packages.(the lab bench)
May 8, 2008... Designing a small-form-factor system with interfaces like USB or SPI is relatively simple with a microcontroller and a custom board. But things get a little more interesting when you're going between boards or starting with modules. ...

Using delta-sigma can be as easy as ADC.(analog/mixed-signal design)
May 8, 2008... As an application engineer, I spend a lot of time convincing customers that a delta-sigma modulating analog-to-digital converter (ADC), or DSM, would be the best choice for their particular application. Then they come up with all sorts of...

Embedded algorithms enable low-cost cell-phone zooming.(techview)
May 8, 2008... Digital cameras, by themselves and in cell phones, represent one of the hottest segments of the consumer market. To compete, designers need to lower their costs while improving performance. Tessera Israel achieves these goals as well as better...

Higher-[V.sub.BR] MOSFETs open new design opportunities.(techview)
May 8, 2008... Several MOSFETs with higher breakdown voltages have hit the market. Some are rated for 40, 60, and 80 V, which is 10 V higher than existing devices in their respective classes, with significantly lower conduction losses. Others are rated for...

The "ferros" would be proud of this new NVM.(techview )(Nonvolatile Memory)
May 8, 2008... In ancient Egypt, the Horus of Gold represented a form of a pharaoh's name most typically thought to mean "superior to his foes" and associated with eternity. These qualities would be highly desirable in any nonvolatile memory (NVM) product....

Try-before-you-buy IP distribution program segues into implementation.(techview)
May 8, 2008... As FPGAs become an increasingly popular implementation platform, their complexity rises accordingly, thanks largely to the proliferation of processor and peripheral IP. A study done by Synplicity last fall found that one-third of all designs...

Would you believe ... ? machine vision gets smarter: more powerful cameras and greater video-analysis capabilities push intelligent video beyond traditional industrial uses to surveillance, consumer, automotive, and other applications.(feature)(Cover story)
May 8, 2008... Intelligent video's expanding presence in all sorts of applications is driven by several factors: the shift from analog to digital sensing; improved wired and wireless networking; and more sophisticated software. The latest systems push beyond...

Optimal Opto: a marriage of optics and semis: integrated silicon photodetectors and other compound semiconductors serve a range of applications while yielding record-performance results that make for a bright future.(technology report)
May 8, 2008... For many years, engineers successfully integrated optics and electronics by using a standard silicon CMOS process for small-bandwidth structures like photodetectors. Advances in performance and integration densities continue to energize this...

Standard serial backplanes dominate new designs: standard board form factors typically support parallel and serial interfaces. But as their availability grows, they're gently nudging out the older standards.(engineering essentials)
May 8, 2008... It's likely that your current designs have you pushing the proverbial envelope. If so, then high-speed serial interfaces are the way to go. Their overall bandwidth beats their parallel counterparts. Also, the newer technologies offer plenty of...

Will virtualization save the day?(embedded in ed)
May 8, 2008... Will virtualization save multicore? Will it be the answer to a really secure system? It might. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Designed to run on a single core, virtual-machine hypervisors give developers multiple virtual cores. Developers...

Virtualization moves onto custom microcontroller.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... Developers using Atmel's line of microcontrollers based on its ARM-based CAP architecture (see "Chip Twists ARM With Custom Logic" at www.electronicdesign.com, ED Online 15982) can now take advantage of Trango's Hypervisor virtualization...

Microcontroller combines LCD, touchscreen support.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... Freescale's Controller Continuum received another bump with the addition of the ColdFire MCF5227x LCD family of chips, based on the V2 core. A V3 version is available with a compatible but different peripheral complement, so the pinout isn't...

Vector floating-point unit speeds ARM9.(NEWS)(Brief article)
May 8, 2008... NXP's 90-nm, 208-MHz LPC32x0 is based on ARM's ARM926EJ-S core plus a vector floating-point (VFP) coprocessor. The chip has 256 kbytes of SRAM plus 32-kbyte instruction and data caches. It can handle off-chip SDR and DDR RAM, NAND flash, and an...

Multicore VMM tames Windows.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... TenAsys' new eVM hypervisor allows a range of operating systems including real-time operating systems to coexist with Windows on multicore processors. It takes advantage of the Intel VT virtualization hardware found in Intel chips such as the...

VMM targets handsets.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... VirtualLogix's VLX for Mobile Handsets targets high-performance cell phones based on the ARM11. The platform can handle real-time operating-system (RTOS) clients as well as OSs such as Linux. The Eclipse-based VLX Developer supports the...

Hypervisor gets secure.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... Green Hills Software's Padded Cell Secure Hypervisor technology now delivers EAL6+ Common Criteria Security compliance. The technology runs atop Green Hills Software's Integrity real-time operating-system separation kernel. The environment...

Secure MCU drives network applications.(NEWS)
May 8, 2008... Applied Micro Circuits' 500-MHz PowerPC 440EPr incorporates floating-point support and a Turbo Security Engine to manage secure, high-performance network applications. It also can handle protocols like IPsec, STRP, and SSL. The 440EPr has dual...

"Intelligent" NiCd charger avoids battery damage from high currents.(ideas for design)
May 8, 2008... Care must be exercised when you try to "quickly" charge a nickel-cadmium (NiCd) cell or battery pack at a current density that approaches or exceeds one-third of its capacity (C/3). As the battery becomes fully charged, the high charging...

Designing for high speed in current-to-voltage conversion: as new communications systems reduce the number of RF up-conversions, design of the digital-to-analog stage becomes more challenging. Here's a look at how to choose and use a DAC and its current-to-voltage-converting op amp to move between the digital and analog domains in next-generation systems.(design solution)
May 8, 2008... Communications channels used to be a challenging exercise in pure analog design. Today, modulation occurs in the digital domain in many systems. But the transmitted signal is analog, so there's always a conversion. For any communications...

What's all this one-transistor op-amp stuff, anyhow?(pease porridge)
May 8, 2008... One day, back about 1966, I was going up the elevator at 285 Columbus Avenue in Boston to look at some production problems on Philbrick's fifth floor. And who was in the elevator, but George Philbrick's friend Jim Pastoriza. [ILLUSTRATION...

Speaking of components, here's an LED story.(editorial)
May 22, 2008... The question seemed innocent enough. What type of bulbs do I need for those lanterns? The lanterns in question were a set of five solar-powered models that my wife Lorraine purchased at Costco about a year ago for $89. This wasn't her first...

Know your limitations before designing your next robot.(the lab bench)
May 22, 2008... Nuance was the name of the game at last month's Robo-Business show in Pittsburgh. This year, the aisles were populated not just by people and remote-control robots but also by a few autonomous robots--and some of these robots weren't research...

Improve the QoS in your Ethernet control systems.(point of view)
May 22, 2008... The use of Ethernet in industrial control applications is growing at an estimated 50% compound annual growth rate. Leading companies such as Cisco, Rockwell Automation, and Schneider Electric are promoting the use of standard IEEE 802.3...

Sensor detects light and proximity for unique mobile applications.(techview)
May 22, 2008... Suppose you were designing a digital camera, and you wanted to extend its battery life by turning off its big power-hungry display screen whenever its users have their eye up to the optical viewfinder. Or suppose you were designing a notebook...

Laser shines A 250 trillion-watt light.(techview)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... Los Alamos National Laboratory's TRIDENT comprises three high-energy laser beams that can be delivered into two independent target experimental areas. At its peak, it packs 250 trillion watts in just 500 femtoseconds and is 1 billion-trillion...

Online poll how do you use operating-system virtualization?(techview)
May 22, 2008... In applications for security 0% In applications for legacy support 25% In applications for system management 8% On a host for development tools 33% Not using virtualization at all 33% Note: Table made...

Dive into new markets with platform FPGA.(techview)
May 22, 2008... The "F" in FPGA could easily stand for flexible, rather than field. In fact, the flexibility that today's FPGAs provide is far more important than the ability to program a device while in the field, at least for most designers. And since Xilinx...

DDR2 memory serves up an ace.(techview)
May 22, 2008... In the interest of all things "green" and with server energy consumption ever increasing, there is a great desire to lower power consumption where possible, especially as energy costs continue to soar. Noting these trends, Samsung...

TSMC announces first 40-nm process.(techview)
May 22, 2008... Earlier this spring, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) revealed its 40-nm semiconductor process technology. Its portfolio includes embedded DRAM, mixed-signal, RF, and multi-project wafer (MPW) prototyping. The process improves...

Autonomous robots roll at Robobusiness 2008.(techview)
May 22, 2008... Held last month in Pittsburgh, this year's Robobusiness show was about the same size as last year's when it came to vendors on the floor, though the traffic seemed to be higher. The types of tire-kickers are changing, and so are the people and...

Software-defined transceiver chip handles any band and protocol.(techview)
May 22, 2008... Imagine handsets that can work on any network, in any country, and on any frequency with the prevailing protocol and with seamless handoffs. Such devices do exist, but they aren't cheap. The implementation of multimode and multiband wireless...

Design FAQs: Variable gain amplifiers: frequently asked questions.(Interview)
May 22, 2008... What are VGAs? Variable gain amplifiers (VGAs) are signal-conditioning amplifiers with electronically settable voltage gain. There are analog VGAs and digital VGAs, or DVGAs. An analog voltage controls the gain in both, which differ in how...

Top 101 components showcase industry innovation: editors and readers combine to select and rank the best products of the past year.(feature)(Cover story)
May 22, 2008... Every week over the past five years, EEPN's Products of the Week e-newsletter has been sent to over 70,000 subscribers. Covering notable products and technologies in the semiconductor, components and assemblies, computer board/module, and...

45th DAC takes the SoC methodology plunge: come to Anaheim this June to get up to speed on the latest in ESL, physical design, analysis technologies, and verification, with a slant toward hands-on tutorials.(technology report)(Conference notes)
May 22, 2008... At the inaugural Design Automation Conference in 1964, then known as the SHARE Design Automation Workshop, the fledgling design-automation industry batted around some of the fundamentals of its mission to engineers. Papers carried titles such...

Temperature sensors are hot ... in circuit design: thermocouple, RTD, thermistor, and IC temperature sensors are vital to the performance of every electronic circuit. Before you start your next design, learn more about how they work and where they will be most effective.(engineering essentials)
May 22, 2008... As IC device dimensions shrink and heat management and dissipation become tougher-than-ever challenges, one simply cannot overestimate the importance of sensing IC temperature. In particular, temperature sensing has become ubiquitous, playing...

High performance sockets & adapters.(Catalog Literature Review)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... Includes GHz bandwidth sockets for BGA and QFN, only slightly larger than IC with integral heatsink for medium power and optional heatsinking to over 100 watts. Up to 500k insertions. Adapters for prototype, test, and more. Quick turn volume...

Battery holders.(Catalog Literature Review)
May 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Melexis creates global buzz for new IC.(Catalog Literature Review)
May 22, 2008... The MLX90283 provides a one-chip solution for driving single-coil brushless DC vibration motors. The device integrates Hall sensor, dynamic offset cancellation, control logic and full bridge output driver technologies. Targeting vibration motor...

IR introduces integrated and protected Class D audio chipset for small, high performance amplifiers.(Product Alert)
May 22, 2008... The new IRS2092 integrated audio driver IC with protected PWM switching and IR's full complement of digital audio MOSFETs. The chipset targets medium power, high performance Class D audio amplifiers from 50W to 500W in home theatre, home...

Build a real-time Flash GUI for embedded network devices: Flash is the obvious choice over HTML when it comes to real-time control and monitoring of Web pages that have rapidly changing dynamic content or animation.(design solution)
May 22, 2008... A critical concern for any embedded device is the user interface. Embedded network devices hold a tremendous advantage for creating an intuitive user interface by using a Web browser. Traditionally, this has been accomplished by using an...

New way to use Kirchhoff's current law simplifies circuit analysis.(ideas for design)
May 22, 2008... The well-known Kirchhoff's current law is often used in linear circuit analysis. It's also called Kirchhoff's first law, Kirchhoff 's point rule, Kirchhoff 's junction rule, and Kirchhoff 's first rule. The law says that at any point in an...

Use PWM to maintain motor speed and phase while eliminating loop filter.(ideas for design)(Pulse Width Modulation)
May 22, 2008... In designing a simple spectroscopy setup, we needed to synchronize the speed of a small, inexpensive dc motor precisely to 6000 rpm (100 Hz). Our first idea was to take a phase-frequency detector type of phase-locked loop (PLL), the CMOS 4046,...

Simple circuit uses FET to protect car's video driver from overvoltage.(ideas for design)
May 22, 2008... In a typical automotive video application, the video digital-to-analog converter (DAC)--from a rear camera or DVD player, for example--is followed by a low-pass reconstruction filter and an amplifier that transmits a video signal to the LCD....

Tiny sensor detects dangerous gases quickly and efficiently.(in electronic design)
May 22, 2008... Under the leadership of Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a team of engineers is developing a very small gas sensor that they predict will...

Design for electromagnetic compliance in Ethernet systems.(in electronic design)
May 22, 2008... With many appliances transitioning to Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the Ethernet interface finds itself in these products for the first time. This makes electromagnetic compliance (EMC) a challenge. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ethernet's...

Measuring large flows with small sensors improves accuracy.(in electronic design)
May 22, 2008... Flow sensors are critical components in a variety of medical applications, from monitoring the output of gas delivery systems to ensure accurate flow rates to monitoring a patient's breathing. Ventilators, anesthesia delivery, oxygen...

RJ-45 connectors and boots simplify twisted-pair terminations.(INTERCONNECTS)
May 22, 2008... Bomar Interconnect Products now offers A shielded version of its category 6 EZ-RJ45 (part #300668SEZ) connector plus A snag-less boot (part #CBX600EZ). The EZ series includes connectors rated for CAT5, CAT5e, And CAT6 and promises to simplify...

Connection blocks thwart thermal extremes.(INTERCONNECTS)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... The main insulating body of the CHTB series connection blocks consists of porcelain (DIN 40685) that specifies a working temperature range up to 1000[degrees]C. cable inserts, manufactured in nickel-plated brass, have a working temperature up...

D-sub hoods mind the budget.(INTERCONNECTS)
May 22, 2008... Offered as economical components, FCI USA's traditional D-sub shielded hoods suit indoor signal or power applications requiring robustness and high EMI/RFI performance. Their simpler design results in a lighter connector, allowing for faster...

Cable test kit addresses Wi-Fi and broadband installations.(INTERCONNECTS)
May 22, 2008... Easing the difficulties associated with field-testing Wi-Fi and broadband RF/data cables, the RFA-4028-WIFI kit includes A unidapt RF cable tester (RFA-4018-20) with 30 universal adapters, including male and female MMCX, N, and reverse-polarity...

Board connectors up the density ante.(INTERCONNECTS)
May 22, 2008... Heeding increasing demands for higher signal density in small system slot pitches, the Z-PACK Slim UHD series board-to-board connectors outfit 15-mm system slot pitch applications and above. The connectors provide either 55 pins/[cm.sup.2] or...

Mini pushbuttons add options and cap styles.(SWITCHES)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... The LP series miniature pushbutton switches are now available with a range of cap styles and options, including latching and momentary switch styles. Extended options include round, square, rectangle, and low profile. Some styles offer concave...

Thumbwheel and pushbutton provide easy control.(SWITCHES)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... The Model 151DT01 thumbwheel control features a larger design to give users a better tactile feel as well as easier control. It teams with a micro-pushbutton, the Model 145MA Hall effect device with linear analog output, for integration into...

Nonincendive keyboards bask in hazardous environments.(SWITCHES)
May 22, 2008... Ikey's line of nonincendive and intrinsically safe keyboards meets the specifications and requirements to properly function in potentially volatile locations. Their parts and wiring are incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal...

Proximity sensors with optical switch reside in SMT package.(SENSORS)
May 22, 2008... Integrating an optical touch switch in their compact, surface-mount (SMT) packages, the SFH7740 and SFH7741 proximity sensors use distance measurements to detect a mobile device's operating status without physical contact to the sensor itself....

Transducer handles high-pressure apps.(SENSORS)
May 22, 2008... Poised for heavy-duty environments like hydraulic controls, HVAC systems, engine controls, industrial processes, off-highway equipment, compressors, and pumps, the 3100 series pressure transducers exhibit a footprint of less than 1 inch in...

Temperature sensors expand size and configuration options.(SENSORS)
May 22, 2008... Red Lion's line of thermocouples and RTD temperature sensors expands with more than 50 components in various sizes and configurations. The sensors easily combine with temperature meters and controllers. A complete line of accessories is on...

Precision linear positioning stages mind the budget.(ENCLOSURES)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... The Slipstream Series I linear stages are low-cost components that are ready to run off the shelf. They feature a 0.2-mm/300-mm accuracy with a 0.1-mm repeatability. Available in travel lengths up to 6 m, the stages employ T-slots on three...

New robust TO-247 family of MOSFETs.(direct connection)
May 22, 2008... IR expands its portfolio of 60V, 75V and 100V MOSFETs in robust TO-247 package, one of the most rugged power package types on the market today, for switch mode power supplies (SMPS), uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and industrial...

Keithley's Switching Handbook: A Guide to Signal Switching in Automated Test Systems.(direct connection)
May 22, 2008... The 6th edition of Keithley's Switching Handbook: A Guide to Signal Switching in Automated Test Systems addresses switching functions, components, specifications and circuit models, system design issues, switching considerations by signal type,...

Caplugs offers nylon fasteners for any application.(direct connection)
May 22, 2008... (Buffalo, N.Y.) - Caplugs offers a wide range of nylon fasteners, including machine screws, jam nuts, and locking nuts for fastening, assembly, and finishing operations. Constructed of durable, high-quality nylon, these fasteners are available...

SupIRBuck[TM] integrated DC-DC regulators.(direct connection)(Brief article)
May 22, 2008... The SupIRBuck point-of-load (POL) voltage regulators for high density, high performance data center applications, integrate IR's high performance synchronous buck control ICs and benchmark HEXFET[R] trench technology MOSFETs in a compact 5mm by...

Mailbag.(pease porridge)(Letter to the editor)
May 22, 2008... HI BOB, [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Any big trips to exotic spots planed this year? We're headed for Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island for a change of pace. HI (I may go to Scotland in September./rap) My question: Do you have some...