Electronics Weekly articles from August 2005

Electronics Weekly archives from August 2005

Amino CEO to add licensing role for IPTV manufacture.
August 3, 2005... Bob Giddy, chief executive of IPTV set-top box firm Amino, says he expects the firm to move to a mixed licensing and manufacturing business model. The firm's embedded software has already been licensed to Philips for use in an MPEG chip. "At...

CSR to bundle Ubinetics software with Bluetooth and WiFi stack after buy-out.
August 3, 2005... Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) is planning to offer its Bluetooth and WiFi stack bundled together with Ubinetics' multimode stack following its $48m acquisition of the software specialist last week. "This is far from the demise of Ubinetics,"...

Revenues dip in chip league.
August 3, 2005... The revenues of the top ten semiconductor companies collectively dipped two per cent in Q2 on Q1, according to IC Insights. Individual gainers were Freescale Semiconductor which moved two slots up to the number 9 position and Toshiba which also...

Highest linearity 3G SiGe mixer.
August 3, 2005... This is the highest linearity, up and down-converting 815MHz to 1GHz SiGe mixer for 2.5G and 3G basestations, claims its maker Maxim. The device delivers 36dBm of IIP3, 27dBm of IP1dB, 7dB of noise figure, and a conversion loss of only 7dB....

Processor scales mobile 3D video.
August 3, 2005... Mobile video is a target application for Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX scaleable graphics accelerator cores. Intended for use as a 2D and 3D graphics engine in handheld devices, PowerVR SGX is available for licensing in three scaled...

Chip firms see mixed blessings.
August 3, 2005... Chip manufacturers Infineon Technologies and STMicroelectronics continue to grapple with challenging market conditions. STMicroelectronics was upbeat about sales growth in the second quarter, which was up on Q1 driven by wireless and automotive...

Heading here.
August 3, 2005... Wolfson Microelectronics' shares gained over 13 per cent following the firm's interim results. Strong growth, helped by the popularity of the iPod, pushed the shares along. Pace Micro Technology saw its shares rise 30.7 per cent on its recent...

ARC to break even ?by end of the year.
August 3, 2005... ARC International could break even by the end of this year if analysts' expectations are met. "The market expectation is that we will reach break-even by the end of this year, or early next year," said Monica Johnson, chief finacial officer of...

Zetex to focus on application specific as Chinese pressure drives down sales.
August 3, 2005... Delays, reductions in customers' volume requirements and a drop in sales have pushed Zetex' interim pre-tax profit to [pounds sterling]900,000 from [pounds sterling]3m in the same period a year previously. The firm's chief operating officer...

Single material emits white light in Taiwan.
August 3, 2005... What is being claimed as the world's first single-material white phosphor has been made by researchers in Taiwan. Currently white LEDs are made using RGB phosphors and a UV LED, or a blue LED and a yellow phosphor. However, by heating compounds...

32 million users for VoIP systems.
August 3, 2005... Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems will be used by 32 million corporate employees in Western Europe by 2010, according to the latest report from Analysys. The firm predicts that 1.6 million of these will have discarded their...

Ofcom to auction GSM/DECT guard bands used by the MoD.
August 3, 2005... The GSM/DECT guard bands are to be auctioned by communications watchdog Ofcom. The regulator is proposing that the 1781.7-1785MHz band paired with 1876.7-1880MHz should be "technology and application neutral" but "low power". The spectrum is no...

Asynchronous design limited by lack of tools and expertise.
August 3, 2005... A lack of suitable design tools and the dominance of a design culture favouring synchronous design are the factors limiting the broader use of asynchronous, or clockless, technology in chips. Asynchronous designs dispense with the global clock,...

TV to mobiles gets go ahead.
August 3, 2005... The standard for mobile DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting), which will allow TV to be broadcast to mobile phones, has been approved by European standards body ETSI. The technology uses DAB digital radio as a transport medium. "ETSI's...

MEDEA now 'too vague'.
August 3, 2005... MEDEA+, the pan-European R&D organisation, needs to be re-thought and re-invigorated, it was said at the IFS2005 conference in London last week. "MEDEA is losing its edge," said Malcolm Penn, CEO of analyst Future Horizons, "it needs to be...

Qinetiq in TEK link up to push FPGAs in US.
August 3, 2005... Qinetiq's Real Time Embedded Systems Group has teamed with TEK Microsystems to address the US defence and aerospace markets. The Malvern-based business develops FPGA boards and cores which will be used and marketed in the US firm's system level...

Design companies must be pro-active to forge collaborations with manufacturers.
August 3, 2005... By Aki Fujimura The demands made on chip design today call not only for new approaches to manufacturing but also for unprecedented levels of cooperation and information sharing throughout the semiconductor-industry supply chain. Challenges such...

Sunny spells forecast for semiconductors with strong unit demand in 2006 driving growth.
August 3, 2005... Industry consensus is that happy days are here again for the semiconductor industry, with only the remaining question: how happy? "In Q2 2006 we'll ring the bell for the start of the 11th semiconductor cycle," said Jean-Philippe Dauvin, chief...

Miniature PC standard hastens development.
August 3, 2005... A small form factor embedded computer board specification has been defined to reduce product development times using an open standard. The PCI Industry Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) has defined the COM (computer on module) Express...

Touch screen technology decides which key is right.
August 3, 2005... Hal Philipp, CEO of Southampton-based capacitive touch switch chip firm Quantum Research, has demonstrated touch panel adjacent key suppression, for which his firm has just received a patent. "The technique was developed for keyboards using...

Top end audio 3G multimedia show the way for chip firm.
August 3, 2005... Mobile phones are set to become the biggest market for Wolfson Microelectronics as the next generation of 3G multimedia phones demands high quality audio capability for MP3 , gaming and TV programmes. "Our largest application currently...

Board demonstrates personal area network bio-sensor interface chip.
August 3, 2005... UK-based Bio-Nano Sensium Technologies has developed a board-level demonstrator for Sensium, its forthcoming chip for wireless medical personal area networks. The firm is a joint-venture between Oxfordshire's Toumaz Technology and Advance...

Heading here.
August 3, 2005... Bangalore-based Encore Software is using a helical antenna design by Sarantel in a handheld terminal with GPS for the Indian Army. It is the first large scale military application for the UK firm's GeoHelix GPS antenna.

Chip firm wins VC deal for UK design centre.
August 3, 2005... Chip-cooling firm iCurie is to set up a design centre in the UK following a $17m VC deal brokered by the UK Government's Global Entrepreneurs Programme [GEP]. "All $17m will go to the design centre," said Eric van der Kleig of GEP, part of UK...

Researchers sniff out gas leaks using laser-generated imaging technology.
August 3, 2005... The University of Glasgow has developed a technique to make clouds of leaking gas visible. "We are using a laser scanner to build up an image of the gas, then that image is superimposed on a visual image from a camera," project leader Professor...

Heading here.
August 3, 2005... Sue Brown has been appointed by contract manufacturer Tenkay Electronics as marketing manager. She was previously part of the firm's sales team at the Sussex-based firm. Jimmy Tan has been recruited by Aeroflex as the firm's test and...

Government rejects call for awareness campaign.
August 3, 2005... The Government has rejected a call by the Science and Technology Committee (STC) for an advertising campaign to raise awareness of scientific careers, but has said it will look into the "best way to increase the number of undergraduates in...

Heading here.
August 3, 2005... Rich Ford, product manager in DT Electronics' power division celebrates the Coventry-based distributor's first award for design-in of power products from US supply maker N2 Power.

Engineers want a simple life.
August 3, 2005... est equipment makers need to look at what is happening in Southeast Asia as both a wake up call and opportunity. In the US and Western Europe it is not unusual to work with engineers who have decades of manufacturing experience and who...

Analysers track 2.5GHz wireless systems.
August 3, 2005... he number of wireless communications systems operating in the 2.5GHz frequency band has prompted spectrum analyser suppliers to address their product offerings in the mid-range for price and performance. Market leader Agilent Technologies has...

Tackling 10Gbit Ethernet.
August 3, 2005... thernet is one of the most widely used communications standards today. And with the introduction of 10Gbit Ethernet its use is being extended still further. The earliest versions of Ethernet appeared in the 1970s and since then it has undergone...

What will WEEE and RoHS Directives mean to you?
August 3, 2005... Electronics Yorkshire will be holding a WEEE and RoHS -- what do the impending EU Directives mean for you?' course at the University of Hull on September 27. The course will review the issues and give updates on the latest developments as well...

The benefits of apprenticeships.
August 3, 2005... Apprenticeships really are a favourite of the Government at the moment. With the ongoing struggle to improve education and ultimately the skills of the UK population to enable us to compete with places such as India and China, it is one area...

University adds courses to support Midlands industry.
August 3, 2005... The University of Central England's Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) has increased its range of postgraduate degree courses with the addition of business orientated qualifications. The four part-time programmes being introduced this autumn...

Principles of radio comms explained.
August 3, 2005... A Wireless Information Systems' five day course is being offered by the University of York's electronics department next month. The course, on 19-23 September, will look at the main principles of modern wireless comms networks of all varieties....

All-plastic RFID tags get 50MHz diode boost.
August 3, 2005... Belgian research organisation IMEC has produced 50MHz polymer rectifier diodes, jumping another hurdle on the way to all-plastic RFID tags. "Some people doubted this was possible," researcher Soeren Steudel told EW. RFID needs fast rectifiers...

3G handset is all-software.
August 3, 2005... A 3G handset in which all the baseband and multimedia functions are performed in software has been announced by US firm Sandbridge Technologies. The all-software approach means network operators can maintain their networks via over-the-air...

Microchip adds Crypto RF to PIC.
August 3, 2005... Microchip has added a 3-channel, low frequency transponder analogue front end and an integrated KEELOQ cryptographic peripheral to its PIC microcontroller for security and automotive passive keyless entry systems. The PIC16F639...

Low loss microwave switch IC beats current models on size and power.
August 3, 2005... Cambridge-based Plextek has designed a low loss microwave switch chip that it claims is smaller and handles more power than current commercially-available microwave switch ICs. "We have avoided the use of series devices, they incur a high...

Modular inverter/converter ?assemblies for up to 900kW.
August 3, 2005... Power component maker Semikron has introduced modular inverter/converter assemblies for applications up to 900kW. They come in compact or high-power configurations to offer ratings from 320 to 1,550A. Called Semikubes', they comprise one, two...

Japan to build 10Pflop computer.
August 3, 2005... Japan aims to build a 10Pflop computer, reports the Japan Times. Money is not yet allocated, but the ministry involved is looking for research funds in the year from next April. Japan's Earth Simulator was the fastest computer in the world...

85 lumen white LED joins high power range.
August 3, 2005... Cree has announced 3W versions of its 7090 XLamp high power LEDs, including a white with an average luminous flux of 85 lumens. "Cree continues to advance brightness levels and reduce dollars per lumen for high power LEDs," claimed general...

Nottingham researchers look into GaN alternative for high performance HBTs.
August 3, 2005... An investigation into the possible use of an alternative crystal structure of the wide bandgap semiconductor gallium nitride for high voltage heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) is to begin at the University of Nottingham. Because GaN has...

Marconi takeover will hit R&D role, claims analyst.
August 17, 2005... The acquisition of Marconi by a larger player, such as Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technologies, could spell the end for the company's product development, according to Michael Philpott, senior analyst at Ovum. "I don't think it will be the...

Qualcomm buys OFDM firm.
August 17, 2005... Qualcomm has agreed to pay $600m to acquire Flarion Technologies, the US inventor of Flash-OFDM mobile broadband technology and a developer of OFDMA technology. "With this acquisition, Qualcomm will be in a stronger position to support advanced...

BT: WiFi VoIP will not spell end for operators.
August 17, 2005... BT claims voice over internet protocol (VoIP) over WiFi will not fall outside established charging structures, while in the US it is being heralded as an alternative to 3G telephony and the death knell for fixed line operators. "People have...

Heading here.
August 17, 2005... IBM has developed a text and command input method for handheld mobile devices. The company maintains that mobile devices currently lack efficient methods of text input and command/function selection. Called Shark, the shorthand method allows a...

Distributor buys up board business.
August 17, 2005... Solid State Supplies has added an embedded computer board business to its distribution activities with the acquisition of Wordsworth Technology. Kent-based Wordsworth has been a long term target for Solid State, which is expanding its core...

Heading here.
August 17, 2005... Marconi's shares gained following reports it has been in talks with Huawei Technologies about the possible sale of the firm. Marconi released a statement confirming it was in talks but did not say with which company. Reports suggest a price tag...

Anritsu acquires Danish test firm.
August 17, 2005... Japanese test firm Anritsu is to acquire Copenhagen-based NetTest, which specialises in network monitoring systems and communications test equipment. Anritsu said there were "synergies in the technologies acquired" and the geographic presence...

Outsourced manufacture and design remodels supply chain.
August 17, 2005... The global electronics supply chain is undergoing a fundamental transformation due to OEMs' continued outsourcing to electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers and original design manufacturers (ODMs), according to Jeffrey Wu at analyst...

UK hopes to solve skills shortage with electronics manufacturing scholarships.
August 17, 2005... Electronics manufacturers in the North West are being offered educational scholarships to help combat the shortage of skills within the industry. The local Manufacturing Institute is offering the region's manufacturing SMEs scholarship funding...

Qinetiq sees no favourites in 'Tower of Excellence'.
August 17, 2005... Qinetiq has described the first contracts to be awarded under the Government's Tower of Excellence scheme as "amicable" and with "no suggestion of favouritism". The award was made recently for a [pounds sterling]2m programme to develop missile...

Isle of Man advances wireless strategy to add mobile capability for 999 calls.
August 17, 2005... The Isle of Man is moving into the second phase of its communications plan with the use of mesh and fixed wireless broadband technology to add mobile data capability to complement its emergency services' Tetra radio network. "The Government...

Cash boost for powerline comms firm.
August 17, 2005... By Melanie Reynolds US powerline communications IC specialist Intellon has received a cash boost from Motorola Ventures, the investment arm of Motorola, in its latest investment round. The money will be used to fund Intellon's growth and...

Group forms patent pool for RFID IP.
August 17, 2005... A group of 20 RFID vendors has announced the formation of a "patent pool" consortium which is intended to simplify and streamline users' access to RFID intellectual property. Analyst Erik Michielsen at ABI Research said: "Companies need to...

US distributor: Environmental directives are 'big headache'.
August 17, 2005... European environmental regulations are the most significant challenges facing the electronics industry as other countries follow suit, according to the head of a major US distribution company. "This is the biggest headache the industry has ever...

China advances up pure-play league as silicon foundries see big growth.
August 17, 2005... Silicon foundries are expected to continue to grow robustly for the rest of the decade with Chinese foundries, led by SMIC, Grace and He Jian, expected to pick up 20 per cent of the pure-play foundry market worth $7.5bn, according to a report...

Wireless Ethernet ?start-up goes global.
August 17, 2005... Devon-based Orthogon Systems has sold its 5.8GHz non-line-of-sight (NLoS) wireless Ethernet bridges into 39 countries, the latest addition being Peru. Orthogon emerged in 2003 from start-up PipingHot Networks, when that firm was halted by...

Heading here.
August 17, 2005... PCBs based on low-cost optical waveguides could be with us within two years, following the completion of a project at Heriot Watt University. The high-speed optoelectronic memory systems (HOLMS) project had the ambitious aim of developing the...

Toshiba focuses R&D budget on chip process development.
August 17, 2005... Electronic devices remain at the core of the Toshiba group and developing the most advanced process technology is the primary focus of its R&D and capex budget for the next three years, according to president Atsutoshi Nishida. "We plan to...

Atmel commits to Europe as 0.13[micro]m process is installed at Tyneside plant.
August 17, 2005... Atmel's North Tyneside wafer fab will be the first of the firm's stable to install its upcoming 0.13[micro]m non-volatile memory process. Installation of the process is "well on the way" according to a spokesman. It demonstrates a commitment to...

Heading here.
August 17, 2005... Fifth-ranked STM had the best performance among the top-five with a 15.2 per cent rise in revenue.

NAND flash memory outstrips NOR sales.
August 17, 2005... NAND flash memory continued to outsell NOR flash in Q2 after overtaking it for the first time in Q1, according to analyst iSuppli. The overall flash market grew to $4.1bn in Q2 2005, up 4 per cent from $3.9bn in Q1. Top five suppliers were...

TSMC announces NROM fab deal.
August 17, 2005... TSMC will phase Spansion's 110nm NROM-based process technologies, dubbed Mirrorbit, into its production lines exclusively for Spansion's products. The target production date at TSMC is Q2 2006. A foundry deal for Spansion is expected to be spun...

BiCMOS SiGe performance doubles and threatens GaAs.
August 17, 2005... IBM claims to have doubled the peak performance of silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technology with a 130nm foundry process. This could threaten the widespread use of higher cost gallium arsenide (GaAs) technology at microwave frequencies. IBM...

Blu-ray serious about protection.
August 17, 2005... First details have been announced of the content protection system to be used by Blu-ray, the Sony and Philips-led next generation storage disc technology. The Blu-ray Disc Association said three features - advanced access content system...

Survey shows UK apathetic towards UMA technology.
August 17, 2005... Italy, Spain and Sweden are the countries most keen to adopt unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology, with France showing some enthusiasm and the UK and Germany being least interested. According to an independent survey of the six countries...

Heading here.
August 17, 2005... Sep 5: Silicon chip training seminar, London. www.futurehorizons.com Sep 5-7: MEMS summer school in Montpellier, France. www.patent-dfmm.org Sep 7: IEE seminar on netted sensors, London www.iee.org/events/Netted_Sensors.cfm Sep 12-16: Modern...

Industry welcomes DTI move to postpone WEEE implementation.
August 17, 2005... The Government's decision to push back the date for implementing the WEEE Directive for a second time has been widely welcomed by UK industry and trade bodies. The delay will see the collection and recycling of waste electronic and electrical...

Poles fly high-tech flag.
August 17, 2005... lobal economics dictate the shape of global business, pushing industries up and down value chains according to factors such as labour costs, production capacities and tax regimes. As volume electronics manufacturing has vanished from the UK it...

Ethernet's first port of call.
August 17, 2005... f you believe the analysts then in two years time 200 million of the Ethernet ports shipped will be destined for power-over-Ethernet (PoE) applications. Not surprisingly, we are seeing a rash of PoE-specific controller chips and power...

Variable speed drives bathed in green light.
August 17, 2005... rom home appliances to industrial control applications, environmental concerns mean that OEMs are looking to variable speed motor drives to maximise product efficiency. And with the arrival of initiatives such as Energy Star in the US and the...

Quantum cascade laser is gas and liquid sensor.
August 17, 2005... Georgia Institute of Technology has demonstrated a prototype quantum cascade laser-based handheld chemical sensor. The laser acts as a mid-infra-red source for both gas and liquid-phase versions of the sensor, which use spectrometry at...

Technology stops bridges burning.
August 17, 2005... Following arson attacks, technology is helping protect Iowa's century-old bridges of Madison County, made famous in the Clint Eastwood film. IR+UV flame flicker detectors are to be combined with IR cameras and fibre-optic temperature sensors....

NEC details organic radical battery.
August 17, 2005... NEC has finally revealed performance details for its organic radical battery (ORB), first suggested in 2001. Last year the firm said a cell based on the technology could be fully recharged in less than a minute. The film-packaged, 55 x 43 x 4mm...

ARC upgrades 700 processor core to 533MHz.
August 17, 2005... London-based ARC International has announced a performance upgrade to its ARC 700 core family. "The 700 was originally a 450MHz 0.13[micro]m design," Derek Myers v-p sales and marketing at ARC told EW. "It has moved up to 533MHz, so our...

Comms device helps paralysed.
August 17, 2005... The University of Florida is working on a communications device for completely paralysed people. "Our goal is to restore communication functions," said researcher Emanuel Donchin. Users are able to type' on a 6x6 character virtual keyboard by...

Loudspeaker firm studies effect of capacitors.
August 17, 2005... Ever wondered what it is about capacitors that make loudspeakers sound the way they do? A Wrexham company intends to find out. "The aim is that, if someone comes to us and says the capacitor is too transparent', we would know enough to change...

Chip company unveils high definition video encoding processor.
August 17, 2005... The architecture offers higher compression rates than MPEG-2. Santa Clara-based Telairity Semiconductor has announced processor architecture for high definition (HD) video encoding. "Harnessing multiple independent vector/scalar cores, the...

Is analogue IC design in the UK heading for a crisis?
August 17, 2005... By Dr Peter Wilson The development of silicon-based semiconductor technology is heading towards increasingly smaller components: transistors are being scaled down to have nanometre dimensions. As an example, Intel is currently developing its...

Amino success with IPTV box.
August 31, 2005... Amino has secured a design success with the combination of its software stack for IPTV set-top boxes with the Philips Nexperia processor being ported to the STB810 semiconductors reference platform. The Cambridge-based firm's software allows...

UK firm aims Mobitex devices at US wireless market.
August 31, 2005... UK company Mobile Expertise is planning to target the US market for its narrowband wireless Mobitex devices following the firm's official launch at the Mobitex Association conference in New York this week. "We think there is a great future and...

Chip analyst advises semiconductor bosses to ditch cash hoard strategy.
August 31, 2005... Semiconductor companies are generating large amounts of cash but prefer to hoard it, or buy back their own shares rather than spend it on new product development or on dividends. "We think it's time for semiconductor companies to stop asking...