Electronics Weekly articles from September 2003

Electronics Weekly archives from September 2003

Nano firm offers online tuition.
September 3, 2003... Euspen (European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology) is offering a range of courses to engineers covering micro and nano technology via its virtual institution, VisionOnline. The courses aim to provide a broad knowledge...

Scientific learning is better for your health.
September 3, 2003... University students who take science and engineering subjects are likely to live longer than those who choose to study the arts or law, according to research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Researchers at the...

Chelton growth continues with antennas buy.
September 3, 2003... Thales has sold its Thales Antennas operation to RF, microwave and antenna firm Chelton, a member of the aerospace engineering group Cobham. The business will now trade under its previous name of Racal Antennas. The acquisition of...

Ceramic actuator to focus on mobile phone cameras.
September 3, 2003... Harry Yeates Cambridge technology developer 1Limited has used its Helimorph ceramic actuator to add autofocus functions to a mobile phone camera. It hopes to put the mechanism into phones for release during the first half of next year. ...

Nature-copying nanomaterials could improve battery storage.
September 3, 2003... cal storage, said the team. "We have already demonstrated superior photocatalytic properties and new chemical sensor devices with our new materials," said Jun Liu, from the department of Chemical Synthesis & Nanomaterials at Sandia. ...

Passports go secure with digital faces.
September 3, 2003... A digitised image is the most likely form of biometric identification to be used in UK passports from 2005, said the Government. Adding biometrics to passports has been mandated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. ...

Metagence ports Linux to Meta DSP.
September 3, 2003... Digital signal processor developer Metagence, a division of Imagination Technologies, has ported the Linux operating system to its multi-threaded Meta DSP. "Porting Linux to Meta was an excellent way to ensure the effectiveness of the processor...

Altera and Alcahest develop IP for RSA.
September 3, 2003... Programmable logic maker Altera has teamed up with UK firm Alcahest to offer an intellectual property (IP) core for RSA encryption. The design is suitable for Internet protocol security (IPsec) and secure socket layer (SSL) systems, said...

Broadband access roll out hits Marconi's opto sales.
September 3, 2003... Alex Mayhew-Smith Spending on optical networks continues to decline, according to Marconi, as customers invest in broadband access roll out. The company saw a 37 per cent decline in sales in its optical networks division in the first...

The secret to success lies in cooperation.
September 3, 2003... Where once the battle lines between competitors were clearly drawn, more firms are now finding it necessary to join forces, writes DAVID MANNERS From the buccaneering days of the semiconductor industry when customers were grateful to pay...

IMAPS driving to double membership in two years.
September 3, 2003... Alex Mayhew-Smith The UK branch of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) is making a new drive for membership along with a refocused annual conference. Steve Muckett, chairman of IMAPS in the UK, said...

Unusual properties discovered in zinc sulphide particles could lead to new sensors and devices.
September 3, 2003... Zinc sulphide particles have unusual properties on the nanoscale, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The effects could hinder nanomachine development, but could also lead to new sensors and devices, said the...

Intel software lets users fine-tune PCs.
September 3, 2003... Richard Ball Intel has developed software allowing PC enthusiasts to fine tune the performance of their machines, perhaps even allowing overclocking of the processor. Called the Desktop Control Centre, the Windows tool gives users...

US scientists show chemical-based ICs.
September 3, 2003... Circuits that use reactions between chemicals moving in microscopic channels to control the flow of an electric current have been demonstrated by researchers in the US. Circuit designs that exhibit diode and FET-like behaviour, and the OR...

Essex Uni and Philips to run RF course for SMEs.
September 3, 2003... The University of Essex and Philips have combined to run a course for SMEs on circuit design for RF systems. Held in Cambridge on September 15, the course is entitled RF Design for SMEs including EMC, antennas and a review of commercially...

STMicroelectronics aims to add to number of strategic alliances.
September 3, 2003... David Manners STMicroelectronics is planning to extend the number of strategic alliances it has with customers beyond the current 12 companies. "We plan to expand the number of strategic partners we have," said Aldo Romano, corporate...

Joint venture pushes TD-SCDMA in China.
September 3, 2003... Melanie Reynolds Momentum is gathering behind TD-SCDMA, the Chinese 3G mobile standard, with the announcement of a lab and the separate formation of a $100m joint venture in Beijing, both dedicated to the technology. Siemens Mobile and...

Wood & Douglas plans for sales boost.
September 3, 2003... UK radio specialist Wood & Douglas is expecting to increase its sales in the security market with the first shipment of its dVMo digital video link to US customers. The dVMo (digital video for moving objects) can be used in city...

Motorola and 3 jointly launch video phone.
September 3, 2003... Motorola and 3G mobile operator 3 have launched a jointly developed phone to take advantage of the video capabilities offered by 3G technology. The A920 has a full-colour widescreen touch display and combines video and still camera, PDA,...

Demand for FPGA comms technology on the increase.
September 3, 2003... Harry Yeates RF Engines, the Isle of Wight-based digital signal processing specialist, is seeing an upturn in demand for its FPGA-based technology for communications applications. "We've noticed in the last three months or so there's...

UK fabless firm lines up major players for digital audio chips.
September 3, 2003... Richard Ball Digital audio chip designer Global Silicon says it is poised to take a major share of the consumer market, as it prepares a second generation chip and links with major firms. "We're on our second project, and expect to...

Antenna firm sets up Asia Pacific office.
September 3, 2003... Richard Ball UK antenna designer Sarantel has set up a Singapore subsidiary following a series of design wins in China and the Asia/Pacific region. The Wellingborough-based firm said it will work with local designers and will license...

NXT licensees package flat panel speakers for automotive applications.
September 3, 2003... Flat panel speaker technology developed by Cambridge firm NXT is being packaged for automotive applications by two of the firm's licensees, Philips Sound and Solutions Johnson Controls, and will appear in cars from 2007. NXT, which has...

Opto company to begin transceiver production.
September 3, 2003... Melanie Reynolds UK company Afonics Fibreoptics is planning to set up a company in the US and move from being an optics company to being able to produce transceivers as well. "Today we run an optics company and we're looking to move...

Recovery in sight as DRAM prices enjoy 'upward trend'.
September 3, 2003... David Manners The chip industry's yardstick product, DRAM, is leading the semiconductor pricing recovery. According to Xavier Maillard, analyst at DRAM price trackers ICIS-LOR, the price of the standard 256Mbit DDR device is at the...

Motorola pulls out of Symbian stakeholding in move to Java.
September 3, 2003... Motorola UK is pulling out of its stakeholding in software licensing company Symbian and selling all its shares to Nokia and Psion. The firm said it would concentrate efforts on Java rather than the Symbian operating system (OS), but...

EEMS project identifies study areas.
September 3, 2003... The Government's Foresight Directorate has identified four topics for further study in its Exploiting the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EEMS) project. "We have now completed the scoping stage of this project, which included a brain-storming...

CEM aims to double turnover.
September 3, 2003... Gloucestershire-based contract electronic manufacturer Proqual aims to double its turnover in three years following a management change-over. Up to 50 jobs could be created at the firm. "We currently have [pounds sterling]2.4m worth of...

RF shielding firm to set up China factory.
September 3, 2003... Richard Wilson RF shielding specialist Warth plans to set up a manufacturing facility in China to support its growing business from the mobile sector in the Asia Pacific region. The West Sussex-based manufacturer has had a facility in...

Asian govts in alternative PC operating system talks.
September 3, 2003... Growing numbers of viruses affecting Windows has led the governments of Japan, China and Korea to discuss developing an alternative PC operating system. The strategy will be to take an open-source OS, e.g. Linux, and improve it. The...

Axeon customers persuade backers of further [pounds sterling]1.8m funding.
September 3, 2003... David Manners Axeon's customers have persuaded the company's backers that its products are essential to their future plans and need to be supported by a further injection of funding amounting to [pounds sterling]1.8m. The firm is also...

Channel 4 seeks out engineering families.
September 3, 2003... Families with an aptitude for engineering are being sought for a TV programme due to be broadcast on Channel 4 in October. The programme will pit two families against each other every week to design and construct an object from household...

SoC heralds the use of mystery technology.
September 10, 2003... Schema technology can solve the industry-wide IP packaging, integration and re-use issues facing EDA, says ROGER HOWARTH Although practically unheard of in the electronics industry, schema technology looks set to have a substantial impact...

'Made in the UK'.
September 10, 2003... Undertaking design work at home yields benefits which far outweigh the hidden costs of going abroad, says BARRY GILLIBRAND It has always been our experience that design and manufacture is more reliable when made within the recognised...

Designed in Europe.
September 10, 2003... Component distributors are quietly confident that the predicted exodus of design firms from Europe to lower cost regions will not happen because local design activity will always need to be close to the market, writes RICHARD WILSON Talk...

Timing right for UK design tool maker.
September 10, 2003... Richard Ball Bournemouth design tool developer MOHC has released its first commercial software, a timing diagram editor called TimingTool. "TimingTool has been around for about two and a half years. There's a free version on the...

Current density doubled to 35A/in2 for high side Fet controller package.
September 10, 2003... Richard Ball International Rectifier has upgraded its DirectFET packages for high side Fet controllers in synchronous buck converters and the associated control Fet. "What we've done is double the current density again," said Carl...

Piezoelectric work pushes transducers.
September 10, 2003... University of Arkansas researchers have modelled a potential piezoelectric material and found properties that could improve existing transducers. Ferroelectric PZT (lead zirconate titanate) superlattice with different titanium compositions were...

US research grant puts fast wired and wireless grid into university.
September 10, 2003... the connected future will be visible at The Computer Science and Engineering building under construction at the University of California, San Diego. The building is to get a fast wired and wireless grid (FWGrid), computer and...

Diamond chips sparkle after breakthroughs in n-doping.
September 10, 2003... Steve Bush Two recent developments have bought diamond semiconductor devices closer to reality. Diamond has an extremely high thermal conductivity, can withstand high electric fields, and can be made into a semiconductor - ideal for...

MTL sees rising revenues from open systems deals.
September 10, 2003... Alex Mayhew-Smith MTL Instruments says it is making increasing revenues through its MTL Open Systems Technologies (MOST) business and has further deals in the pipeline. In August the firm saw its biggest ever deal from the subsidiary,...

1,100 Apple power Macs will build supercomputer.
September 10, 2003... Following rumours, Virginia Tech in the US has confirmed it is building a supercomputer from 1,100 of Apple's new dual-processor 2GHz G5 Power Macs. "Virginia Tech's idea was to develop a supercomputer of national prominence based upon a...

Scottish fund council signs up partners.
September 10, 2003... Scottish Enterprise has signed up 14 private sector partners to its [pounds sterling]20m Scottish Co-Investment Fund. This will add [pounds sterling]20m to the fund, said Scottish Enterprise. The fund is targeted at new and growing...

Motorola will use Microsoft OS in handset.
September 10, 2003... Melanie Reynolds Motorola is expected to announce that it will use Microsoft's Smartphone operating system (OS) on a mobile phone to be supplied to network operator Orange. The move is seen as significant for Microsoft which is trying...

Consumer gains give Xilinx 50 per cent of programmable logic supply market.
September 10, 2003... David Manners Xilinx is now supplying over half of the programmable logic market after second quarter figures show it had revenues of $313m, more than the rest of the programmable logic suppliers put together. "We've been gaining three...

Worldwide mobile sales on the up, says analyst.
September 10, 2003... Worldwide mobile phone sales grew for the second consecutive quarter reaching 114.9 million units in the second quarter of 2003, according to analyst company Gartner. This was a 12 per cent increase compared with the same quarter in 2002...

Norwich PCB firm is match for Far East manufacturing.
September 10, 2003... Steve Bush Another UK PCB company is claiming to be able to match Far Eastern prices. "The price of raw materials has continued to drop, following the glut of supply in the 1980s, to the extent that companies such as One Way can now...

Best training is in-house, claims Govt.
September 10, 2003... Melanie Reynolds Engineering employers which train their own staff and training organisations with very close links with industry have the highest success rates for training, according to a Government report. The national report on...

EEF report sees growing optimism as exports rise.
September 10, 2003... Tom Elliott Export orders in the UK's electronics manufacturing sector have increased by 7 to 12 per cent from last quarter, according to the Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF) and a Scottish engineering report. Optimism in the...

Coherent laser plant opened in Scotland.
September 10, 2003... Lord Sainsbury, UK Minister for Science and Innovation, opened Coherent Scotland's laser manufacturing facility last week. The US-owned solid state laser maker chose the West of Scotland Science Park as its European base. "Coherent...

Nallatech wins six figure deal with BAE.
September 10, 2003... Scottish programmable logic specialist Nallatech has won a six figure contract from BAE Systems to develop reconfigurable hardware and fast prototyping systems. The contract is part of BAE's work on the [pounds sterling]15m Defence...

'Invest in people and tools' warn bosses of design firms.
September 10, 2003... Executives working in the design community have warned that firms need to invest in people and design tools if they are not to lose out to companies in lower cost regions in China and eastern Europe. "Our experience is that in the long term...

Borrowed stock technology halves SRAM memory area.
September 10, 2003... Steve Bush Renesas Technology has announced SRAM cells which halve memory chip area by borrowing stacked capacitor technology from DRAM. "We thought how to reduce chip size, and came back to some of our roots as a DRAM manufacturer,"...

1,000 patents filed for organic semiconductors.
September 10, 2003... Over 1,000 patents worldwide were filed on organic semiconductors last year and new firms in the sector have won over $132m in funding. "The basic components are now accessible, and have reached a performance level that is deemed 'good...

Wolfson to go public next month in London.
September 10, 2003... David Manners Wolfson Microelectronics, the Edinburgh-based mixed signal fabless semiconductor company, is to go public next month on the London Stock Exchange. Speculation has put a [pounds sterling]400m price tag on the company for...

Circatex hits back in fight to make its grant illegal.
September 10, 2003... David Manners Circatex has hit back at critics within the UK PCB industry which are trying to put together a [pounds sterling]20,000 fighting fund to get the [pounds sterling]3.75m regional selective assistance grant made to Circatex...

Cadence takes stake in CoWare.
September 10, 2003... Cadence has taken an equity stake in CoWare as the firms launch an alliance to improve tools for system-on-chip designers. As part of the deal, CoWare has taken control of Cadence's Signal Processing Worksystem (SPW) group. The firms...

Embedded consortium to update its microprocessor benchmarks.
September 10, 2003... Steve Bush The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) is up-dating its 1998 networking and consumer benchmarks. Its networking benchmark now includes larger data sets which cannot be swallowed whole by the on-chip level 1...

Electronics Design Awards: Get your tables before it's too late.
September 10, 2003... There are just two weeks to go to book your place at the European Electronics Design Awards gala dinner and dance. This major industry awards and social event, which will take place on September 24 at the Le Meridien Grosvenor House Hotel,...

A new role for the distributor.
September 10, 2003... by John Sandy Recent opinions concerning the fate of electronics design activity in Europe are contradictory. Some reports suggest that R&D will follow manufacture, inevitably, to the Far East, whilst the view from other quarters is that...

Keeping track of global design-ins.
September 10, 2003... Tracking design-ins which move from Europe to the other side of the world when projects translate into lucrative production volumes has been focusing the minds of distributors for some time. "The prevalence of the EMS (electronic...

The lead-free directive and the distributor.
September 17, 2003... GARY NEVISON discusses how the 2006 lead-free directive will impact the components distribution industry and its customers Will 50,000 or 100,000 or 200,000 products be affected by what is now lovingly known as the lead-free directive? The...

Don't be sunk offshore.
September 17, 2003... Flexibility and speed of delivery are shortcomings that can hit offshore design and manufacturing, says MIKE WOOD The move to locate both design and manufacturing functions offshore, much like the movement in the software development field,...

A complex future.
September 17, 2003... Aldo Romano has run the telecoms, peripherals and automotive division of STMicroelectronics for 22 years and has seen a steady move toward interdependency between firms. He spoke to DAVID MANNERS Rising complexity is the challenge of...

Microbe fuels advance in conversion of sugars to electricity with highest efficiency known.
September 17, 2003... SUGARS CAN BE converted to electricity with an efficiency higher than previously known, claims the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The key is a recently discovered microbe, in a fuel cell which currently just makes enough electricity to...

Carbon nanotubes perfect for narrowband photon emitters.
September 17, 2003... Carbon nanotubes are ideal narrowband photon emitters, claim researchers at the US University of Rochester. "The emission bandwidth is as narrow as you can get at room temperature," said optics professor Lukas Novotny. The team used a...

Risc-DSP combo debuts from Fens.
September 17, 2003... CAMBRIDGE Consultants (CCL) is offering a combination of its XAP2 Risc processor and the APE2 digital signal coprocessor. The merged cores are aimed at low power radios, perhaps assembling and transmitting packet data, or for pre-processing of...

Cadence ups simulation speed in tool.
September 17, 2003... CADENCE HAS announced a major update of Virtuoso, its custom chip design toolset, with faster simulation, and better links into the firm's databases. Virtuoso is aimed at designers of analogue, RF, memory and custom high speed digital chips....

Tensilica revs up Xtensa processor with audio engine.
September 17, 2003... Tensilica has unveiled an audio accelerator for its Xtensa processor including software for ten audio encoders and decoders. The 24-bit audio engine plugs into the Xtensa processor through the firm's instruction extension system. Standards...

Researchers strain to break records at US conference.
September 17, 2003... THE 2003 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), the major showcase for semiconductor devices and processes, will be held in Washington DC in December. "This year the accepted papers show progress according to Moore's Law...

ST holes silicon-based fuel cells.
September 17, 2003... Steve Bush

Sharp to expand in Europe as LCD TV demand booms.
September 17, 2003... Alex Mayhew-Smith Sharp Electronics says it is seeing massive growth for LCD TVs which will require a second European production facility in the future. Paul Calnan, chief operating officer of Sharp in the UK, said the transformation...

Cypress to incorporate customer core in PSoC.
September 17, 2003... Cypress Microsystems has extended the capabilities of its programmable system-on-chip (PSoC) line and is talking to a customer about incorporating the customer's microcontroller core within the PSoC. Cypress' PSoC has 12 analogue blocks...

UK firms are brains behind 'innovative' DAB testing broadcast.
September 17, 2003... Two UK firms are providing the technology for the world's first five-channel surround sound broadcasts in a six month pilot scheme in London. RadioScape and Imagination Technologies are both providing receiver equipment for the trial,...

Verification firm launches software for SoC designers.
September 17, 2003... Verification tool firm Verisity has introduced software to help system-on-chip (SoC) developers with multiple interfaces in their designs. System verification methodology (sVM) "helps to simplify adoption of new technology, and hide...

SpiraTech advances commercial releases.
September 17, 2003... SpiraTech will next week announce new management appointments as the firm moves towards commercial release of its design tools. The Manchester-based company is developing tools for electronic system level (ESL) design and verification. The...

Iceberg technology takes control of camera mobiles.
September 17, 2003... UK software developer Iceberg Systems has unveiled technology to control the use of camera-equipped mobile phones. The Cheltenham-based firm's Safe Haven product is installed on mobiles and is activated when in range of a radio signal. This...

Altera publishes roadmap of future product releases.
September 17, 2003... Richard Ball

US neuroscientists discover brain navigation mechanism.
September 17, 2003... Buried electrodes have allowed US neuroscientists to discover how three types of brain cells interact to help people navigate the world. Volunteers, with electrodes in their brains for other medical reasons, played a video game where they...

Programmable logic shake-up looks possible, say suppliers.
September 17, 2003... Changes in the programmable logic market will see a new pecking order emerge, according to the CEOs of the third and fourth largest firms in the sector, Lattice Semiconductor and Actel. "The last boom was driven by telecoms fibre...

BAE predicts steady growth in US as firm seeks mergers.
September 17, 2003... Alex Mayhew-Smith

Cambridge Silicon Radio keeps mum over stock exchange flotation reports.
September 17, 2003... Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), the wireless chip specialist backed by Herman Hauser's Amadeus fund, is reported to be looking at floating on the stock exchange in a move which could value the company at [pounds sterling]200m. Asked if an...

QinetiQ develops GPS receiver.
September 17, 2003... QinetiQ is developing low signal strength GPS receiver modules. "For the first time robust positioning solutions will be available within buildings, in urban canyons and under dense foliage," said the research organisation. The...

UK software creates 'human' characters.
September 17, 2003... Oxford-based company NaturalMotion has created a virtual stunt double. Its Endorphin software creates characters that not only have human-like joint movement and body segment masses, but operating 'muscles' and a brain of sorts. "We...