Electronic Design articles from November 2003

Electronic Design archives from November 2003

IPv6 races across the Atlantic.(TechScope: electronic technology at work and at play)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... The Internet is getting faster than ever. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have set a new Internet2 land speed record using IPv6, the next-generation Internet...

Backpack connects EMS personnel in hazardous situations.(TechScope: electronic technology at work and at play)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... Emergency personnel are going high-tech. Network Anatomy's Commander Series of integrated communications devices will keep rescue workers connected in even the most severe conditions. The Commander Pack is worn like a backpack, while the...

EE Unemployment rises in the third quarter.(TechScope: electronic technology at work and at play)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... The high tech downturn isn't over yet, and it may have taken a step backward, based on the latest employment figures from IEEE-USA. According to the organization, unemployment among EEs rose from 6.4% in the second quarter to 6.7% in the third,...

Brain-machine interface poses electronics challenge.(Editorial)
November 10, 2003... Did you see the recent news from Duke University researchers who taught rhesus monkeys to move a robotic arm using only signals from their brains ? While I'm an animal lover and have to think hard about these sorts of experiments, I commend...

What's all this three-level grader stuff, anyhow?(Pease Porridge)
November 10, 2003... About 40 years ago, when I was at Philbrick, I worked a lot on operational-amplifier (we NEVER said op-amp) applications. Every once in a while, a customer would ask about a "zero-crossing detector," or more simply, just a "crossing detector."...

SFI will challenge, reward computer designers.(POV: point of view)
November 10, 2003... While switch-fabric interconnect (SFI) technology is common in communications applications, its recent migration to the computing environment is gaining a lot of attention. The design considerations in this more challenging arena are...

MEMS gaining acceptance despite technical challenges.(The industry: conference wrapup: COMS 2003)
November 10, 2003... MEMS technology has made significant strides in commercialization. Yet it still faces tough technical hurdles, notably packaging and testing, in reaching the mainstream. That was the message conveyed at the 8th International Conference on the...

From spintronics to electronic skin: The future is here at IEDM.(Conference Preview: IEDM)
November 10, 2003... Electronic skin that gives robots the sense of touch... blazingly fast new transistor structures... circuits on transparent plastic films... microscopic machines combined with electronics. These and many other topics will be discussed at the...

Converters roll out for intermediate bus designs.(TechView: analog & power)
November 10, 2003... Recently introduced dc-dc bus converters present further evidence that interest in intermediate voltage bus architectures is growing. These latest entries convert a nominal 48-V input (with restricted voltage variation) to an unregulated but...

Second-source license hopes to spur adoption of new power architecture.(TechView: analog & power)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... In a non-exclusive agreement, power-supply vendor Vicor has licensed Celestica to manufacture and sell Vicor's V * I Chip product family. The ball-grid-array-style V * I Chips are building blocks for Vicor's factorized power architecture (FPA)....

Interleaved PWM controllers facilitate brick building.(TechView: analog & power)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... Two single-chip interleaved pulse-width-modulation (PWM) controllers from Texas Instruments simplify the design of isolated offline power supplies and dc-dc converters ("bricks") with 50 to 100 A of output. The UCC28220 and UCC28221 peak...

Quad Ethernet transceiver targets SOHO, enterprise applications.(TechView: communications)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... SOHO and enterprise designers have a new weapon in their arsenal. The National Semiconductor DP83864 four-port GigPHYTER quad Ethernet physical-layer (PHY) transceiver specifically targets multiport small-office/home-office (SOHO) switches,...

UWB development continues without standard consensus.(TechView: communications)
November 10, 2003... The IEEE's 802.15.3a working group met again in Singapore the week of September 15 to arrive at a final standard for ultra-wideband (UWB) personal-area networks (PANs). Most members support the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)...

WLAN chip set hits new lows in size and power consumption.(TechView: communications)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... Less is more, and Philips Semiconductors' new wireless local-area-network (WLAN) chip set proves it. It offers not only the lowest standby power of 3 mW but also the smallest form factor and the highest integration of any Wi-Fi chip set...

Standards-based test automation kit shortens setup/coding time.(TechView: components & test)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... As companies trim their engineering staffs, engineers are burdened with connecting, verifying, and checking test setups. Such tasks, which can often take weeks, are "low-value" jobs and often relegated to non-engineering staff. As a result,...

National instruments spotlights new HW/SW.(TechView: components & test)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... Hardware and software for the rapid prototyping and testing of mixed-signal devices and systems are the lastest offerings from National Instruments. HARDWARE * Based on a new common architecture that synchronizes timing among different...

Advanced hardware/software team up for high-resolution/wide-band TDR.(TechView: components & test)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... High-resolution, wide-bandwidth time-domain reflectometry (TDR) signal analysis often requires high-pricetag vector signal analyzers. But that cost problem should become a nonfactor thanks to Picosecond Pulse Lab's (PSPL's) fast-rise-time TDR...

Organic inks promise printable electronic circuits.(TechView: Digital)
November 10, 2003... Imagine being able to place a sheet of plastic in an ink jet-like printer, and using an organic ink, printing the transistor-based circuits you need. Although seemingly a bit far-fetched, this capability is actually emerging from the research...

According to the company, Intel's enhanced Xeon processor.(Breaking News)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... > ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY, INTEL'S ENHANCED XEON PROCESSOR for dual-processor servers and workstations delivers the highest performance and operates at the fastest clock speed to date, The CPU also offers drop-in compatibility with previous...

First samples of the second-generation reduced-latency dram.(Breaking News)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... > FIRST SAMPLES OF THE SECOND-GENERATION REDUCED LATENCY DRAM are being released by Micron Technology inc. These 288-Mbit devices operate at 400 MHz and use double-data-rate signaling for data transfers. The RLDRAM II chips also offer fast...

Digital music chip plays MP3, WMA, and ACC audio files.(Digital)(austriamicrosystems AS3520 )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... By implementing an extended software stack, austriamicrosystems' AS3520 music decoder IC becomes a self-contained digital audio player that's small enough to fit in a mobile phone. It requires just one-third the component count of any...

Rosetta design language on road to standardization.(TechView: EDA)
November 10, 2003... Designers who've been awaiting the next quantum jump in hardware abstraction should take heart: The Rosetta system-level design language is being readied for entrance into the standardization stream. According to Perry Alexander of the...

EDA support for the advanced switching interconnect standard is coming from Synopsys.(EDA Update)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... > EDA SUPPORT FOR THE ADVANCED SWITCHING INTERCONNECT STANDARD is coming from Synopsys, which will participate in the Advanced Switching Interconnect Special Interest Group (ASI-SIG). The Advanced Switching technology is a scalable switched...

TNI-Valiosys and TransEDA have merged.(EDA Update)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... > TNI-VALIOSYS AND TRANSEDA HAVE MERGED to create a ready-to-use structured verification environment. TNI-Valiosys has acquired TransEDA, and although the companies will continue to operate and support their respective product lines, those...

IC package design tool tied to field solver.(TechView: EDA)(Cadence Design Systems' Advanced Packaging Engineer and Optimal's product form APE-3D)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... By melding an existing IC package design and signal-Integrity analysis tool with a 3D field solver, designers now have a means for early exploration, implementation, and validation of IC package designs. Cadence's Advanced Packaging Engineer...

What's hot at Comdex: consumer products from desktops to home-projection systems take over the Las Vegas showcase.(Conference preview: Comdex)
November 10, 2003... It's another show of refinements as novel technologies are combined to create products for the consumer. At Comdex, change is in the air for desktops with the announcement that VIA and Maxtor will enable Serial ATA/RAID integration with AMD's...

RTL-based models speed pre-silicon software checks: with a compiler that spins secure models of "golden" RTL and a tool that runs them at speeds simulators can't even dream of, pre-silicon software validation has become reality.(Leapfrog: first look)(Carbon Design Systems' Speed-Compiler and DesignPlayer)
November 10, 2003... All too often, the success of a design project hinges on hitting a market window. And a key to hitting a market window is the delicate dance that goes on between the software and hardware design teams. How does the software team validate its...

Switch chip fuels third-generation InfiniBand: low cost, a small footprint, and blazing speed keep InfiniBand ahead of the pack.(Leapfrog: first look: putting new technology in perspective)(Mellanox Technologies InfiniScale III MT47396)
November 10, 2003... It's quite a feat: The tiny InfiniScale III MT47396 switch chip can support eight 30-Gbit/s 12x InfiniBand ports. On top of that, it can be configured as two dozen full-duplex, nonblocking, 10-Gbiffs 4x InfiniBand ports. That's less than $40...

The PC: the ultimate tool for today's designers: sophisticated software for analysis, design, test, and measurement have garnered respect for one PC as a versatile engineering tool.(Engineering Feature)(application development software such as National Instruments LabView 7.0 Express and Data Translation's DT Meaure Fpondry)
November 10, 2003... Personal computers have resided on engineers' desktops for decades. But they weren't always the powerful, multifaceted tools that they are today. Once used solely for data processing, e-mail, and other mundane tasks, powerful hardware and...

The right form factor means everything.(Embedded In Electronic Design)
November 10, 2003... I have a bunch of M-System's USB-based DiskOnKey flash-memory devices. They're great for moving stuff between systems when a network isn't handy. I even have a 1-Gbyte version, in which I installed Linux, but it's tough finding a machine with a...

From backplane to chip.(Embedded In Electronic Design)(Sonics SiliconBackplane III )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... Moving a design from board to chip Is easier with a multithreaded nonblocking interconnect. That's exactly the on-chip interconnect approach taken by Sonics. Its SiliconBackplane III is designed to work with any core that utilizes the Open Core...

HyperTransport streams comm packets.(Embedded In Electronic Design)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... The HyperTransport 1.2 Specification welcomes a feature called DirectPacket. This enhancement adds four new capabilities to the HyperTransport technology, including native packet handling, robust error retry protocols, peer-to-peer routing, and...

Singleboard computer series: embedded in electronic design.(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... CoreModule 600 Ampro Computers Inc. PC/104-Plus SBC www.empro.com Price: $500 Processor: 400-MHz Celeron Memory: 256 Mbytes max Rash: CompactFlash slot Cooling: conduction...

Leading-edge diagnostic tools help ramp up SoC production.(Design View Test)
November 10, 2003... There's a direct relationship between the quickest route to volume IC production and profitability. That said, today's SoC designs demand more elaborate testing and application of more types of tests. Thus, two key factors in ramping up to...

Expand your I/O with the [I.sup.2]C bus.(Design briefs: innovative designs from readers)
November 10, 2003... In system applications where various input signals are monitored or several output signals are controlled, these lines are sometimes connected directly to the microprocessor pins. Such monitoring and controlling is done in software. However,...

Hot-swap controller makes adjustable circuit breaker.(Design briefs: innovative designs from readers)
November 10, 2003... Medium- and high-voltage systems that range from 9 to 72 V often require one or more of the following circuit capabilities: hot-swap control, circuit-breaker fault protection, and inrush current limiting. With out R4, the circuit shown in the...

Matched-impedance connector module targets 0.5 To 3.2 Gbits/s.(Packaging/Interconnects)(Fujitsu Components America's Fujitsu FCN-261Z00x)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The FCN-261Z00x matched-impedance loop-back connector module is designed for testing systems operating at 500 Mbits/s to 3.2 Gbits/s per channel. Representing an expansion of the high-speed microGiGaCNTM differential connector series, it uses...

Test socket with RF center probe eliminates package-lead damage.(Packaging/Interconnects)(from Aries Electronics Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * A high-requency center-probe test socket features a floating guide plate with a built-in hand stop to protect probes during test and eliminate damage to the package leads. Well suited for automated handler testing in 1- to 10-GHz...

Classic 6U backplanes designed for VME64X applications.(Packaging/Interconnects)(Bustronic VME64X )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The Classic 6U VME64X series of backplanes, which complement the company's existing 7U VME64X line, features power taps for 3.3, 5, [+ or -]12 V, and GND above and below the slots. This enables the backplane to remain in a 6U height for...

18-Mbit dual-port RAMs offer synchronous or asynchronous ports.(Digital ICs/DSP)(from Integrated Device Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * Available with either an asynchronous or synchronous interface, the industry's first 18-Mbit dual-port RAMs come in a 512-kword by 36-bit configuration. The availability of both interfaces allows designers to select the one better suited for...

Chip set ups the ante for DVD drives, allowing 8 reads, writes.(Digital ICs/DSP)( Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * A novel chip set for rewritable DVD drives supports an 8x recording speed in DVD-R and DVD+R formats. The set comprises the [micro]PD63630, a DVD signal processor with ATAPI interface, and the [micro]PC3330, an analog signal processor that...

Low-power x86 CPU packs crypto engine and dual RNGs.(Digital ICs/DSP)(VIA Technologies Eden-N )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * Based on a streamlined Nehemiah core, the Eden-N x86-compatible CPU adds advanced on-chip security to the existing Padlock feature already available on previous Nehemiah cores. On-chip are an advanced cryptography engine and two...

Budget-priced high-speed DSP delivers 2000 MMACs At 500 MHz.(Digital ICs/DSP)(Texas Instruments TMS320C6412)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The TMS320C6412 DSP, available in 500- and 600-MHz speed grades, promises to reduce overall system costs and provide an affordable high-performance solution. The processor packs a rich set of peripherals: an Ethernet media access controller,...

Wireless web server serves up serial, analog, and digital I/O.(Embedded)(DPac Technologies Airborne)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The Airborne compact (38 by 27 by 12 mm) module sports an 802.11b interface and a complete Web server with remote management capabilities. Its application processor supports analog and digital inputs, A serial port handles [I.sup.2]C and...

Complete system created for carrier-grade applications.(Embedded)(Force Computers EndurX CO 21KX systems)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * EndurX CO 21KX systems are fully integrated with dual redundant Pentium M processor nodes, GigE switches, EndurX HA middleware, HA platform management, and SNMP remote management. They come in a 12U/19-slot, PICMG 2.16 CompactPCI...

Arm MCU can handle mixed signals.(Embedded)(Aeoflex microcontrollers)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The AXO7CXxxx line of flash based, mixed-signal microcontrollers (MCUs) is built around the ARM7TDM1 core. The MCUs possess a 10 bit, five-channel analog-to-digital converter, 4 kbytes of SRAM, flexible I/0 options (up to 55 bits), six 16-bit...

Integrated LIN slave makes MCU.(Embedded)(Motorola 68HC908QL4 )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The 4-kbyte, flash-based 68HC908QL4 microcontroller (MCU) incorporates a hard ware-based local interconnect network (LIN) slave interface that reduces system overhead by 80% compared to UART implementations. It also reduces the LIN device...

Low-cost codecs spin surroundsound for receiver apps.(Embedded)(Cirrus Logic CS42406)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The CS42406 surroundsound codec is designed for audio/video and DVD receiver applications. It features the company's patented Popguard technology along with two analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and six 24 bit digital-to-analog converter...

USB programmers target HCS12 MCUs.(Embedded)(SofTec Microsystemsi nDART-HCS12 )(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The USB-based inDART-HCS12 series of in-circuit debuggers/programmers supports Motorola's HCS12 microcontroller (MCU). Its BDM (background debug mode) interface is integrated with Metrowerks' CodeWarrior HC(S)12 integrated development...

Analog PMC module supports multicard synchronization.(Embedded )(Echotek CTR-GC314-PMC)(Brief Article)
November 10, 2003... * The ECTR-GC314-PMC supports up to 12 narrow-band channels that can be combined into one 40-MHz complex or two 70-MHz wideband channels. It supports coherency across boards. The board uses two 14-bit digital-to-analog 400-Msample/s converters....

Collegiate invention assists in the delivery room.(TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play)(electromyographic instrument developed by Johns Hopkins University undergrads)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... DELIVERING A BABY is one of the most delicate procedures a doctor can perform, requiring the doctor to use a precise amount of force to bring the baby into the world. Measuring that force has been difficult, until now. A team of undergraduates...

Pocket scanner reads full pages in four seconds.(TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play)(Planon Systems Solutions DocuPen)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... Most pen-size scanners sacrifice speed for size, often reading one word at a time. But the DocuPen's reader is 8 in. wide, so it can scan an entire page--including graphics--in just four to eight seconds. Also, its 2 Mbytes of flash memory can...

Robot platform enables PC functionality.(TechScope: electronics technology at work and at play)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... Robot Platform Enables PC Functionality Robot designers now have a new tool at their disposal. The Roboteq PC-Bot demonstrator platform includes the company's AX2550 dc motor controller, which simplifies projects by connecting with various...

EEs must find a niche to survive in global design chain.(Editorial)
November 24, 2003... How is it that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product sizzled with 7.2% growth in Q3 while EE employment fizzled, falling from 386,000 to 349,000 jobs? The unemployment rate for EEs. climbed from 6.4% in Q2 to 6.7% in Q3, according to IEEE figures. To...

Pros and cons reaction to October 27 editorial about hydrogen fuel cells.(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Dear Editor: All the excitement over hydrogen fuel cells is really neat, but think about this: A terrorist wants to blow up a major building. He pulls his manure-laden pickup truck over to the nearest fuel-cell pit-stop and presto, he has...

Response to October 27 design solution on grounding mixed-signal circuits properly.(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Dear Editor: A good article but perhaps a bit empirical on the antenna theory. For example, the author states: "Radiation is, therefore, a function of the loop area outlined by the current path. It doesn't matter whether one or both of...

Comments about the October 20 special edition--your issue.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Dear Editor: I would hardly call this a general interest subject for electrical/ electronics (E/E) engineers, because so few of us ever get ahead--except being shown to the door. My advice to any EE just starting out is this: Never be an...

October 13 engineering feature on continuing education hits home.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Dear Editor: I enjoyed Lou Frenzel's feature "To Step Up Your Career, You've Got To Keep Learning." He's absolutely correct about having clear learning objectives. Right now, there are so many free or low-cost tools available to help. For...

September 29 editorial about high-tech bathrooms was not all wet.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Dear Editor: I remember hearing of the high-tech Japanese bathrooms being provided in executive suites a number of years back. (Perhaps it was in one of your articles.) I seem to vaguely remember one of the problems that developed was getting...

Bob's mailbox.(Pease Porridge)(Letter to the Editor)
November 24, 2003... Hi Bob: Re: "What's All This Spicey Stuff, Anyhow? (Part 3)." * What can I say? Hallelujah! Balm to my soul! (Amen!/rap) To explain: I work for a large power semiconductor manufacturer. Here we are pretty much split into two camps--the...

CMOS will replace exotic processes in cellular ICs.(POV: point of view)
November 24, 2003... Cellular handsets comprise the largest consumer market in the world. It's even larger than markets for some of the most common electronic devices, such as wristwatches and televisions. Service providers, handset makers, and software and IC...

OEMs and designers must make most of niches in upturn.(Communications)(Industry Overview)
November 24, 2003... The electronics industry in 2003 has been like a V6 engine running on only five cylinders, with the PC, wireless communications, consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial markets all recovering and returning to growth while the...

Fuel cells promise to power future battlefield weapons.(Power; ABI Research's report)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... Fuel cells could replace the batteries and diesel generators the American military now uses to power its battlefield equipment, according to "Military Fuel Cell Markets: Market Potential in a New Era of Military Applications," a study from...

Chips aid battery backup in industrial applications.(Analog & Power; Linear Technology's LTC4064 and AMI Semiconductor's AMIS-70020 )(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A standalone linear battery charger crafted by Linear Technology prolongs the life of one-cell lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in backup applications (see the figure). [FIGURE OMITTED] The LTC4064 mainly targets industrial systems...

Open standard aims to simplify power management in handhelds.(Breaking News; PowerWise Interface )(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... PowerWise Interface (PWI) technology, developed jointly by National Semiconductor and ARM, is getting a push as an open standard for system power management. The technology aims to ease deployment of advanced power-management designs in...

High-voltage solar cell sparks new uses for photovoltaics.(Analog & Power; Clare's CPC1810)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... EXPLOITING THE PROPERTIES of its silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor technology, Clare has developed a solar cell that produces a floating source voltage up to 7.5 V. With this capability, the CPC1810 can serve new applications where...

Power technology roadmap hits the streets.(Analog & Power)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE POWER SOURCES MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION (PSMA), the Power Technology Roadmap projects trends in power-supply technology and end-user power requirements over the next five years. The nearly 400-page report synthesizes...

Wideband radio chip attuned to all major wireless interfaces.(Communications; TelASIC Communications' BaseFlex )
November 24, 2003... Wireless basestations continue to grow in size and complexity as they support new technologies and services in addition to the older air interfaces still in use. While analog cell phones will be officially phased out in a few years, most...

Fast ethernet switches find homes in SOHO.(Communications; Marvell Semiconductor's Link Street 88E6080 and 88E6083)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... THE LINK STREET FAST ETHERNET QoS (quality-of service) switches are designed for networking products that address the small-office home-office (SOHO) market. These include standalone switches, media converters, Internet-protocol phones,...

Product suite facilitates PCI express test.(Components & Test; Agilent Technologies)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held in September in San Jose, Agilent Technologies showed off a range of test and measurement capabilities. The E2941a Soft-touch mid-bus probe, an industry-first item, increases protocol test coverage...

Shelf-management module for AdvancedTCA, CompactPCI increases reliability.(Measurement News; Elma Electronic's IPM Sentry)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... BY INCORPORATING MODULARITY, the 3U by 160-mm IPM (intelligent platform module) Sentry carrier cards for AdvancedTCA and CompactPCI systems help ensure five-nines reliability. The IPM Sentry will be integrated in Elma Electronic's standard...

Strain-gage signal conditioner optimized for bridge sensors.(Hot Product; Highland Technology's V385)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... The V385 eight-channel VME strain-gage signal conditioner adds individual remote-sensed excitation supplies to each channel, increasing its precision over the previous model V385 single-excitation supply. Its new firmware makes it more...

7-GHz DPO/communications analyzer addresses serial data buses.(Components & Test; Tektronix TDS7704B digital phosphor oscilloscope )(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... The real-time TDS7704B digital phosphor oscilloscope (DPO) and its 7-GHz bandwidth, along with the CSA7404B communications signal analyzer, raise the performance bar for measuring and analyzing high-speed 1-Mbit/s to 3.125-Gbit/s serial data...

Center-probe test socket handles devices up to 13 mm.(Components & Test)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A center-probe test socket for devices up to 13 mm wide, with pitches of 0.50 mm and higher, operates from I to 10 GHz. Designed for CSP, MicroBGA, MLF, QFN, DSP, LGA, DRAM, and flash packages, it features a signal path during test of only 0.77...

Thick-film chip resistors span 0.1 to 1000 G[Ohm].(Components & Test; International Manufacturing Services )(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... Designers are always hunting for a high-value resistor chip for instrumentation and calibration applications, high-voltage regulation, power switching, RF/microwave circuits, and power supplies. The IMS thick-film single-sided chip resistor...

FPGAs deliver programmable solution for SPI 4.2 systems.(Digital; Lattice Semiconductor's ORSPI4 )
November 24, 2003... By combining aspects of ASIC and FPGA approaches on the same chip, Lattice Semiconductor's ORSPI4 offers a high-speed programmable solution. It packs two system packet interface (SPI) 4.2 cores, an embedded quad-data-rate static memory...

Noise-cancellation scheme boosts backplane data rates.(Digital; National Semiconductor's Nx600 chips )(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A SCHEME TO CANCEL NOISE in gigabit-speed backplanes enables designers to keep the hardware infrastructure. All that's required is an upgrade to some of the circuits on the cards that plug into the backplanes. Similar in principle to the...

Digital media processor cuts costs and design cycles.(Digital; Intel's MXP5800 and MXP5400)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A high-performance programmable media processor optimized for document image processing comes as the result of a joint development project between Intel Corp. and Xerox Corp. The MXP5800 and MXP5400 digital media processors, which will be...

Custom SoC strategy shaves off up to one year of development time.(EDA)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... One of the most vexing elements of SoC development cycles is hardware/software co-development, which often starts too late and with the project on the line. Toshiba's SoCMosaic custom-chip co-development strategy reduces software-development...

Support for Actel's Proasic plus FPGAs.(EDA Update)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... SUPPORT FOR ACTEL'S PROASIC PLUS FPGAs is now available in Magma Design Automation's Palace physical synthesis tool. In benchmarks, the tool averaged 20% better performance with a peak performance gain of more than 85%. Visit www.magma-da. com...

A functional 90-nm X architecture test chip.(EDA Update)(from Toshiba)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A FUNCTIONAL 90-nm X ARCHITECTURE TEST CHIP has emerged from Toshiba's fab. Compared to a Manhattan version of the same design, the five-metal-layer test chip requires 14% less total wire length and 27% fewer vias. The chip is fully functional...

Tools address mixed-signal physical design.(Digital)(Pulsic's Lyric Physical Design Framework 4.0)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... MOST OF TODAY'S ANALOG AND MIXED-SIGNAL DESIGNS are placed and routed by hand, a task that can take weeks or months for leading-edge processes. The latest version of Pulsic's Lyric Physical Design Framework for analog/mixed-signal physical...

Give customers what they want by building on the past.(Embedded)
November 24, 2003... You may have the greatest idea since sliced bread, but if the customer wants omelets, then it's time to break some eggs. That's when someone comes up with the idea for egg sandwiches. Take M-Systems' new SmartCap subsidiary. The company...

MIPS masters multithreading migration of multiple threads.(News Clips)(Brief Article)
November 24, 2003... A new multithreading architecture called MIPS MT ASE (multithreading architecture extensions) comes by way of MIPS Technologies. It provides coarse-grain and fine-grain multithreading support on a single processor. Its lightweight thread design...