EDN articles from December 2003

EDN archives from December 2003

And thou beside me ... with thy wallet.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thousands of other consumers items: Sooner or later, inflation will hit all of them. In one funny little corner of the economic universe, however, that law doesn't apply. It's consumer technology, where...

Fan card boosts embedded reliability.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... A NEW PC/104 MULTIFUNCTION module from Parvus provides embedded systems with temperature-controlled, forced-air cooling along with environmental monitoring of humidity and pressure conditions. The ThermoCool Environmental Fan Card II includes...

Synthesizable cores target low power.(leading edge)(Starcore SC1200 AND SC1400 )(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... THE SC1200 AND SC1400 DSP cores are the first members of Starcore's synthesizable SC1000-family of 16-bit DSP cores. The SC1200 core is a two-MAC (multiple-accumulate), four-issue VLES (variable-length-execution-set) architecture that targets...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
December 11, 2003... * Global semiconductor sales increased to $14.4 billion in September 2003 from $12.3 billion in September 2002, the Semiconductor Industry Association said in a statement on its Web Site. The growth marked the seventh consecutive monthly gain....

Upgrade backplanes to 10 Gbps with 0% coding overhead.(leading edge)(Accelerant Networks AN6420)
December 11, 2003... TRANSFERRING PAYLOADS as fast as 10 Gbps per differential pair with 0% coding overhead, the AN6420 quad high-speed backplane SERDES (serializer/deserializer) transceiver from Accelerant Networks operates at 6.25 to 10 Gbps using PAM4...

Dilbert.
December 11, 2003... I CAN EITHER SAVE YOUR LIFE OR THE CONSULTANT'S LIFE, BUT ONE OF YOU WILL DIE. GIVE US A MINUTE TO DISCUSS IT. HE RECOMMENDS THAT YOU KILL ME. * Global semiconductor sales increased to $14.4 billion in September 2003 from $12.3...

System processor paces DVD-player cost reduction, feature-augmentation trends.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... DVD-PLAYER PRICES HAVE TUMBLED to less-than-$50 retail levels, and full-featured units with progressive-scan video outputs and compatibility with both DVD-Audio and SACD (Super Audio CD), high-resolution audio formats recently broke through the...

RF transceiver tackles 2.4-GHz ISM band.(leading edge)(Chipcon CC2400)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... The latest RF entry from Chipcom AS extends its family of RF transceivers past the 1-GHz line in the ether into the 2.4-GHz unlicensed ISM (industrial, scientific, and medical) band. The CC2400 IC meets European, Japanese, and US regulations...

Yes, we do have bananas.(leading edge)(from Cal Test Electronics)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... Banana jacks, that is. Hard to believe, but, even in this day of supersmall connectors and RF interconnections, basic test, medical, and industrial applications still use the venerable banana-style jack and mating-plug pair. Safety banana...

IP supports High-Speed USB host controllers.(leading edge)(ARC International USB-HS SPH and ARC USB-HS MPH)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... ARC HAS ANNOUNCED two USB-host-controller IP (intellectual-property) offerings, the USB-HS SPH (single-port-host) and the USB-HS MPH (multiport-host) cores. The SPH core's latency-based architecture sports the lowest gate count for a...

MOSFETs push figure of merit to 60% below existing value.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... A SET OF FOUR MOSFETs from Vishay Siliconix pushes the traditional figure of merit--on-resistance time and gate-drain capacitance--to new lows. The lower on-resistance translates to improved efficiency and less heat in a smaller package; the...

Book provides practical tips on high-speed pc-board design.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... WHEN DEVELOPING DESIGNS, engineers often face problems they have not previously encountered. Unless you know someone who has successfully solved the problem, you must research the literature for a theoretical hint to the solution or find a...

Hybrid controllers extend performance and integration.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... THE NEW 56F8300 SERIES hybrid controllers from Motorola extend the performance and integration options for 16-bit automotive and industrial applications. The company based the six new devices on the 56800/ 56800E hybrid core. They integrate a...

SHARC swims toward deeper, more fertile waters.(leading edge)
December 11, 2003... ANALOG DEVICES' 32-BIT floating-point DSPs have achieved notable success in high-end consumer- and professional-audio applications, as a perusal of the plethora of SHARC logos on ads in publications such as Electronic Musician, Mix, Recording,...

Essential system margin.(signal integrity)
December 11, 2003... EVERY SUCCESSFUL serial-link project begins with a link budget. The first line in your link budget is the transmitted signal amplitude. The budget then reduces this amplitude to account for the attenuation of the channel, which you usually...

Curtailed control.(edn.comment)
December 11, 2003... PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BEEN an important creative outlet to me for more than 30 years, ever since I first picked up a Kodak Instamatic 126 camera. Beginning in the early 1980s, I started using Pentax equipment, and, over the past two decades, I've...

The perils of input capacitance.(analog angle)
December 11, 2003... IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BUILD AN OP AMP without including some input capacitance, and the op amp's pc board adds even more (Figure 1). All of the capacitors except for the feedback capacitor, [C.sub.F], are stray capacitances, and they influence...

The racer's edge: components of your future car race in five continents.(how it works)
December 11, 2003... FORMULA ONE, OR F1, as most people call it, is the most technologically advanced form of car racing in the world. Although not as popular in the United States as other types, such as NASCAR and IRL, for example, Formula One is second only to...

100 hot products of 2003.
December 11, 2003... THE BEST 100 PRODUCTS OF 2003 encompass a range of architectures and technologies and a plethora of categories--from analog ICs to multimedia to test-and-measurement tools. All are innovative, but, of the thousands that manufacturers anoounce...

Silicon sensors harness thermal management: from automotive climate control to preserving the processors in your workstation, guaging temperature is far by the most common physical measurement. Today's digital-output IC's and contactless infrared sensors enable applications with ease of use that challenges traditional analogue techniques.(design feature)
December 11, 2003... OF ALL THE PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS that electronic systems make, temperature is by far the most common. The applications are universal and grow continually, because virtually all classes of today's designs require thermal monitoring or...

Keep 'em in the dark.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... When you need light to work but don't want to disturb your neighbor on a plane or disrupt a dimly lit presentation, Iogear's USB Flex Light can brighten up your computer keyboard or documents with four or eight power-efficient LED lights. The...

Add an extra "D".(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Take your photographs one step beyond with the Photo3-D 303 kit, which comes with everything needed to take and share 3-D photos. The attachment mounts to any digital (or 35-mm or SLR) camera using the tripod screw hole on the bottom of the...

Picture this.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... The Kodak EasyShare DX6340 camera, powered by a Texas Instruments DSP, weighs a scant 9.5 ounces and measures 4.3 x 1.5 x 2.5 in., so it's easy to take it wherever you go. The 3.1M-pixel camera contains a 4 X optical-zoom glass lens with...

Not just for NASCAR.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Think your car has what it takes to take on Indy? Passport G-Timer vehicle-performance computers offer an affordable, fun, and easy way for racing enthusiasts to measure vehicle performance. With just the push of a button, the timers measure...

Affordable scanning.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Epson's Perfection 3200 Photo flatbed scanner comes with a built-in transparency adapter for use with negatives and slides and, as the name implies, scans at a maximum optical (that is, noninterpolated) resolution of 3200 pixels per in. It...

Home movies get glam.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Sonic's MyDVD 5 DVD-creation software can turn your video and sound files into Hollywood-worthy DVDs and VideoCDs that you can play back on a set-top DVD player, VideoCD player, or PC. The $49.99 kit offers CD and DVD burning; automatic...

No more excuses.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... If boredom is your excuse for neglecting to exercise, the iNetTV machines might get you moving. This series of upright and semirecumbent bicycles and elliptical trainers are cable-ready, so you can watch your favorite TV show while you work...

Optical nirvana?(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... If you've been waiting for DVD-player manufacturers to come up with a low-cost "hybrid" player that robustly supports both the DVD-Audio and SACD formats, look no further than the Pioneer DV-563A. For less than $200, you get a lot of player....

Weather thou goest.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... The Kestrel 4000's manufacturer calls it the Swiss Army Knife of weather gadgets--an apt analogy when you realize just how much this device can monitor. The handheld pocket weather meter measures barometric pressure, altitude, density altitude,...

Watch your phone.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... No need to rush home to watch late-breaking news or to tune into a hot music video. Turn on your cell phone instead. MobiTV and Sprint offer real-time news, sports, and music TV channels to PCS Vision subscribers. Developed and operated by...

What's in a name?(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... At 5.0 x 3.7 x 2.3 in. and 1.1 lbs (without battery or lens), the oddly named *ist D is the smallest and lightest DSLR (digital single-lens-reflex) camera on the market. It takes stunning pictures stored on CompactFlash Type 1 and II cards in...

Music to your fingertips.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... The MusicPad Pro eliminates the musician's most annoying task: flipping sheet-music pages. Scan and import your music library in the tablet or import digital music files directly, then access scores on a 12.l-in. backlit TFT LCD display. You...

All-in-one.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Good news for Treo 600 fans: The device is currently available with plans from Sprint and Cingular Wireless; vendor Handspring plans to soon announce service from AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile. The device combines a phone, a VGA-quality digital...

Never too rich or too thin.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... The Scribbler SC2000 Series of laptop/tablet PCs offers high power and a long battery life in a sleek package that you can adapt to tablet or laptop configurations. A 1.2-GHz Intel Centrino handles the processing power, and vendor Electrovaya's...

For SOHO or home.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... In a matter of minutes, you and 15 of your closest relatives or business associates can begin sharing an Internet connection, printers, scanners, files, and games--all for $89. The Dell TrueMobile 2300 wireless broadband router for Windows XP...

To go, please.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... In the true spirit of convergence, the FlashTrax handles multiple chores. First, the 40- and 80-Gbyte FlashTrax handheld portable media devices store and display as many as 20,000 JPEG images on a 3.5-in. LCD or on a TV. They can handle some...

Speed demon.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Announced in the nick of time to make this Tech Toy section is the GC82, the first PC Edge card to be available in North America. According to Sony Ericsson and AT&T Wireless, it provides the fastest wireless speeds possible. Mobile...

Have your cake and TiVo, too.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... What football fanatic wouldn't want this? A 120-Gbyte hard drive in the SIR-S4120R--a DirecTV DVR with TiVo recorder--makes it possible for fans to catch their favorite teams while letting the rest of their families record what they're...

Suck it up.(tech toys)
December 11, 2003... Remember when it was politically incorrect to give a vacuum cleaner as a gift? That was BR--Before Roomba. The dirt-sucking robot has received a ton of accolades, and you'll probably want a Roomba just to figure out how it works. Before taking...

Exploring memory-interface options: high-speed-memory designers can achieve superior signal integrity and higher system performance by using low-voltage, point-to-point interfaces in a terminated-transmission-line environment.(design feature)
December 11, 2003... IN MANY OF TODAY'S high-performance applications, system memories are the bottlenecks that limit system performance. In the 100- to 225-MHz range, the SRAM I/O-interface options for single-ended signals are HSTL (high-speed transceiver logic)...

Video compression's quantum leap: H.264 delivers twice-as-good compression and enhanced quality.(design feature)
December 11, 2003... AS VIDEO GOES DIGITAL, content producers, distributors, and users are all demanding ever-higher quality and ever-larger display screens--in other words, more megapixels per second. Consider a typical TV-broadcast video stream characterized by...

Video signal distribution using low supply voltage amplifiers: Design Note 327.(Design Notes)
December 11, 2003... Introduction Video designs are often pressed to operate on the lowest possible rail voltages--a simple result of the trend towards lower voltage logic and the advantages of sharing supply potentials wherever possible. Video designs are...

Rechargeable flashlight obsoletes lantern battery.(design ideas)
December 11, 2003... THIS DESIGN IDEA describes a high-intensity, rechargeable flashlight system that you can build from a 6V lantern-type flashlight. The rechargeable battery comprises four 2V, 2.5-Ahr (ampere-hour) SEA (sealed lead-acid) cells, similar in size to...

Single cell flashes white LED.(design ideas)
December 11, 2003... MANY PORTABLE appliances and other products that must operate from a single cell are restricted to working at very low voltages, It is thus difficult to drive white LEDs that typically have a forward voltage of 3 to 5V. The ability to flash the...

Hot-swap controller handles dual polarity.
December 11, 2003... SOME APPLICATIONS REQUIRE a hot-swap controller, a circuit-breaker function, or both for dual-polarity, dc-input power-supply rails. In some hot-swap cases, the requirement is based only on inrush-current considerations. Control of the inrush...

Temperature monitor measures three thermal zones.
December 11, 2003... YOU CAN USE an ADT7461 single-channel temperature monitor; an ADG708 low-voltage, low-leakage CMOS 8-to-1 multiplexer; and three standard 2N3906 pnp transistors to measure the temperature of three separate remote thermal zones (Figure 1)....

Efficient quarter-brick bus converters produce 300W.(power sources showcase)
December 11, 2003... Efficient quarter-brick bus converters produce 300W. ALQ25B5O series dc/dc converters supply intermediate bus applications with 300W of power and achieve 96% efficiency. Housed in open-frame quarter-brick packages, the devices accommodate an...

Sine-wave inverter delivers 230V ac at 5 kVA.(power sources showcase)
December 11, 2003... Sine-wave inverter delivers 230V ac at 5 kVA. Boasting 90% efficiency and a power density of 4.8 VA/[in.sup.3], the INV5000-230 sine-wave inverter produces 230V ac at 22A (5 kVA) in a rack-mount 2U package. Both 50-and 60-Hz models are...

Triple-output converter satisfies low-voltage requirements.(power sources showcase)
December 11, 2003... Triple-output converter satisfies low-voltage requirements. The DGVF + high-reliability dc/dc converter provides a 3.3V main output to meet the low-voltage requirements of newer aircraft, weapon, and other military and aerospace system...

18-Mbit synchronous SRAMs.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Offer 24 options, including standard and no-wait-state versions in 1Mx18-, 512kx 36-, and 256k x 72-bit configurations * Operate at clock speeds of greater than 250 MHz * 18-Mbit synchronous SRAM, $25 (10,000) Integrated Silicon...

Serial ATA host controller.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * 64-bit, 133-MHz PCI-X to four-port SATA controller operates at 1.5 Gbps per port * Provides optional support for 3-Gbps signaling (-2 version) * SiI 3124-1, $22; SiI-3124-2, $28 (10,000) Silicon Image Inc, 1-408-616-4000,...

512-Mbit NOR flash device.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Employs 130-nm second-generation MirrorBit technology for reduced memory die size * Provides a familiar, easy-to-use memory-mapped interface * Spansion S29GL512N, $27.50 (10,000) Advanced Micro Devices Inc, 1-800-538-8450,...

128-Mbit NOR flash memory.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Delivers a maximum access time of 60 nsec * Comes in 56-pin TSOPs and 72-pin FBGA packages * LH28F128BF, $24 (100) Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, 1-360-834-2500, www. sharpsma.com

512-Mbit DDR400 SDRAM.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * 200-MHz device (EDD5108ADTA) is organized as 64M words by 8 bits in TSOPs * Incorporated in 1-Gbyte PC3200 unbuffered DIMMs with or without ECC * EDD5108ADTA, $62; EBD11UD8ADFB, $1000; EBD11ED8ADFB, $1124 (samples) Elpida...

QDRII SRAM.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Stores 36 Mbits in X8-, X9-, X18-, and X36-bit configurations * Operates at as much as 250 MHz (two-word burst versions) and as much as 333 MHz (four-word burst versions) * HM66AQBxxx, $184 to $210 (samples) Renesas Technology...

333-MHz RAM.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Comes in a x36-bit configuration to meet network demands for wider I/O * Offers cycle times of 3.0, 3.3, and 4.0 nsec * TC59LM836MB FCRAM II, $45 (samples) Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc, 1-949-455-2000, www.chips....

Audio decoder.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Integrates high-speed USB, on-chip power management, and battery-recharge capabilities * Enables MP3 playback on USB storage devices * STMP35XX, from $14 (10,000) SigmaTel Inc, 1-512-381-3700, www. sigmatel.com

Single-channel voice codec.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Serves as a leadfree drop-in replacement for the Motorola MC145480 and MC14LC5480 * 5V device provides fully differential output * W681512, less than $1.15 (25,000) Winbond Electronics Corp, 1-408-943-6666, www.winbond-usa.com

Quad independent-channel SERDES.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Allows simultaneous operation of SMPTE and DVB-ASI video protocols * Offers operating speeds of 0.2 to 1.5 Gbps, bypassable 8B/10B encoding, and redundant outputs * CYV15G0403DXB, $60 (1000) Cypress Semiconductor Corp,...

1-Gbyte DDR400 registered DIMM kit.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Comprises two 512-Mbyte 184-pin modules for use on motherboards based on AMD Athlon 64 FX processors * Each DIMM operates at 400 MHz from a 2.6V supply * KRX3200K2/1G, $450 Kingston Technology Company, 1-877-546-4786, www....

Automotive FPGAs.(Integrated Circuits)
December 11, 2003... * Qualified to operate at ambient temperatures of -40 to +125 [degrees] C and junction temperatures of as much as 150 [degrees] C * Furnish as many as 72,000 typical gates or 36,000 ASIC gates * MX series, from $2.50; SX-A series, from...

Linux-development environment.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Aids the creation of embedded Linux OS devices * Configures Metrowerks downloadable Linux board-support packages targeting ARM, ColdFire, MIPS, PowerPC, and SH architectures * Platform Creation Suite V3.0, $6240 Metrowerks Inc,...

Graphics PMC module.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Leverages an ATI M9 graphics processor operating at 250 MHz * Provides two independent outputs, both of which support noninterlaced analog RGB, LVDS digital, and DVI digital interfaces * PMC-706, from $3600 DY 4 Systems Inc,...

CompactPCI FPGA board.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * 6U board implements as many as 32 million gates of FPGA resource in one slot * Accommodates four Heron modules for adding FPGA, DSP, and I/0 resources * HECPC19 carrier board, $4080 Traquair Data Systems Inc, 1-607-266-6000,...

Fault-tolerant file system.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Works as a stand-alone file system or in parallel with other file systems * Resource kits are available for Windows CE, VxWorks, Nucleus, and Datalight ROM-DOS * Reliance, $12,000 Datalight, 1-425-951-8086, www.datalight.com

Wall-mount node computer.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Intended for factory automation, facility monitoring machine automation, and environmental monitoring * Comes with a 300-MHz CPU, Ethernet controller, VGA controller, and four serial ports * Microbox-5824, from $400 Arista Corp,...

PC/104 CPU boards.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Six X86-compatible processor cards range in speed from 40 to 300 MHz * Interfaces include Ethernet, IDE, floppy drive, USB, serial, LCD/CRT, sound, and PS/2 keyboard/mouse * SpacePC series, $200 to $500 (100) Parvus Corp,...

PICMG 2.17 switch-fabric card.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Supports as many as eight node cards within a CompactPCI chassis * Delivers a per-port bandwidth of 5 Gbps and an aggregate bandwidth of 40 Gbps * CP-SFX8, from $2000 Aurora Technologies Inc, 1-508-588-6110, www.auroratech.com

Tiny V.92 modem board.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * 1 x 1 x 0.3-in. card operates from -40 to + 85 [degrees] C * Delivers data rates of 56 kbps downstream and 48 kbps upstream * V.92HM-T-W-NE, from $69 Radicom Research Inc, 1-408-383-9006, www.radi.com

PC/104 CPU module.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Extends the life of headless 486 processor-based systems * Incorporates a 133-MHz processor, 16 Mbytes of soldered SDRAM, 1 Mbyte of flash memory, two serial ports, and an IDE interface * CoreModule 410, less than $300 in moderate...

VMEbus graphics accelerator.(Embedded Systems)
December 11, 2003... * Provides Sun XVR-500 compatibility, 3-D geometry acceleration, hardware-based texture mapping, and 24-bit 2-D support * Targets military command-and-control, geotechnical, and simulation applications * TGA3D+, $3500 Themis...

A low blow.(leading edge)
December 25, 2003... "You want to know what Michael Dell's thinking? It's two words: low cost. He wants to destroy the consumer-electronics business. That's where he's going next." --George F Colony, chairman of Forrester Research, on Dell Computer's entry...

Knobs have both inner and outer glow.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
December 25, 2003... ALTHOUGH MANY CONSUMER products use soft-touch pushbutton controls for cost, size, and aesthetics, many applications still require a more substantive and tangible control knob, as a pair of recent introductions demonstrates. Selco Products has...

Component database adds life-cycle forecasting, BOM management.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
December 25, 2003... PARTMINER HAS RELEASED two new additions to the CAPS (Computer Aided Product Selection) electronic-component-database product line, CAPS Forecast adds risk and obsolescence analysis on semiconductor devices that vendors have not flagged as at...

Dedicated processor manages 128 pseudo-wires.(leading edge)
December 25, 2003... ZARLINK SEMICONDUCTOR has announced the ZL50130, a single-chip Ethernet pseudo-wire processor for data services based on the industry's newest IP (Internet Protocol)/Ethernet draft standard from the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). The...

Dilbert.(leading edge)(Cartoon)
December 25, 2003... YOU CAN SURVIVE THE NEXT ROUND OF LAYOFFS BY SACRIFICING A CO-WORKER. YOU MUST MAKE YOUR BOSS BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE IS A WORSE EMPLOYEE THAN YOU. TED, LET ME EXPLAIN REVENUE: ITS LIKE YOUR EMBEZZLEMENT, BUT IT'S DIRECTED AT CUSTOMERS....

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
December 25, 2003... BizRate.com, a comparison-shopping site that also tracks sales at 2000 e-commerce sites, reported that sales increased 30% on Thanksgiving Day, 2003, to $197 million with $151 million on the holiday a year ago.

Host-side controllers boost SATA speed, capabilities.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
December 25, 2003... VERSION 2 OF THE SERIAL ATA physical-layer specification, SATA II, is under development, and, just as recently occurred with the draft variant of 802.11g, silicon implementations are preceding its finalization. Marvell's four- and eight-port...

Clock-management devices target multiple frequencies.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
December 25, 2003... To ADDRESS THE INCREASING FREQUENCIES tot MIPS-processor-based embedded designs, PMC-Sierra offers the 1-GHz RM9000 family of clock-management devices. The clock-management devices include flexible clock generators and low-skew buffers....

A century of flight, decades of electronics.(Aerospace In The 21st Century)
December 25, 2003... WITH THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of the Wright brothers' flight front and center, we're witnessing widespread interest in the pioneering aviators. Discussing the fete a while back, several of four staff members began talking about the role of...

A flyer in a can: WASPs--a new breed of unmanned aerial vehicles--meet today's combat goals with convenient packaging and electronic propulsion.(how it works)(Wide Area Surveillance Projectile)(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
December 25, 2003... THE WASP (Wide Area Surveillance Projectile) is a folded UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that a standard, 155-mm artillery round, the M-483A, deploys as cargo (Reference 1). A unique load-mitigation approach protects the WASP from extreme gunfire...

Electronics now boarding: electronics may be late to the aerospace party, but it's ready to become the life of it--from navigation to flight control.(Special section: aerospace in the century)(Cover Story)
December 25, 2003... FOR THOSE OF US in the electronics industry, it's not news that electronics invades a predominantly mechanical device and quickly runs rampant. Just look at how many microprocessors are in today's cars. But electronics have been slow to pervade...

Fly with the Internet, at your seat: airplane pioneer Boeing extends its aviation legacy with the Connexion network, which brings broadband-internet access directly to your passenger seat.(Special section: aerospace in the 21st century)(Cover Story)
December 25, 2003... PICTURE THIS SCENE: You're crammed into a midrow seat on an airplane flying at 30,000 feet, en route to Europe or Asia eight or more hours hence. On your right is a screaming child who's already spilled food and crayons all over your lap. The...

See me, hear me, touch me, feel me: aircraft navigation and guidance may give you a sense of where you are, but sensors give you a sense of who and how you are, and flexible, controllable skins let you adapt to the environment.(Special section: aerospace in the 21st century)(Antenna array)(Cover Story)
December 25, 2003... THE FIRST AIRPLANES had no skin, just wings covered with fabric. Soon, designers enclosed the fuselage, first to cut down on wind resistance and, eventually, to hold passengers in the now-familiar aluminum tube. But aircraft were still...