EDN articles from February 2002

EDN archives from February 2002

LEDs let you rack 'em, stack 'em, or glare 'em. (leading edge).
February 7, 2002... If we could talk to the vegetables... "Microsoft has a new version, which according to everybody is the most reliable Windows ever. To me, this is like saying that asparagus is the `most articulate vegetable ever.'" --Syndicated...

Microsoft nets another OS. (leading edge).(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... FOLLOWING A FLURRY OF UPDATED PRODUCT offerings for the desktop and embedded platforms, Microsoft has launched yet another operating system for small, portable devices. Windows CE.NET, the successor to Windows CE 3.0, offers developers a...

Digital servoamp drives motors. (leading edge).
February 7, 2002... THE ACCELUS servoamplifier drive from Copley Controls gives you the conceptual virtues of all-digital drive, while acknowledging that managing a brushless servomotor still means moving a machine in the real analog world. The 6x3.1x0.84-in....

Dilbert. (leading edge).
February 7, 2002... I'M TRYING TO FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN HELP ME WITH A PAYROLL PROBLEM. YOU'RE CLOSE. I'M THE GUY WHO FORWARDS YOUR CALL TO THE WRONG PERSON. I'D LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR. I'LL FORWARD YOUR CALL.

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Only 3% of more than 2000 adults in a recent survey by Harris Interactive said they bothered carefully read Web sites' privacy notices, and nearly 64% said they did not read notices at all or only glanced at them. * The estimated number...

Software provides VoIP-header compression. (leading edge).
February 7, 2002... VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications tend to send voice data in small packets to minimize delay, resulting in packets in which the header is a significant part of the total packet size. Many fields in the header hold constant or...

Wireless transceiver enables point-to-point links. (leading edge).(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... SOME DESIGNS DON'T NEED the flexibility and corresponding cost and complexity of a wireless network and instead require just a basic Point-A-to-Point-B half-duplex link. The CC1000 from Chipcon AS provides one such link, operating in the 300-...

Get speech recognition for a dime.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... The Speaker-Dependent speech-recognition software from Sensory provides a voice-activation engine that can fit into a footprint as small as 25 kbytes. You can optionally add more advanced features, such as speaker independence, speaker...

Group touts Ethernet in the First Mile.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... A new organization, the EFMA (Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance) supports the EFM standard, which the IEEE 802.3ah Task Force is developing. The EFMA will also contribute technical resources "to facilitate convergence and consensus of...

Physical-layer chips cover long distances at high speeds. (leading edge).(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... MYSTICOM'S 10/100-GBIT Ethernet MY1001 physical-layer chip operates on 140m of cable within standard bit-error rates. The device has a power consumption of 1.8W; wake-on-LAN and energy-detect-power-down modes; and a power-optimizer function,...

Chip gives you hotter Java without the extra heat. (leading edge).
February 7, 2002... NAZOMI COMMUNICATIONS' JA108 Java-accelerator chip can accelerate software-interpreted Java code by 15 to 60 times, and it conserves battery life in a design. You insert the JA108 between the processor and the SRAM/flash. The chip looks and...

Calendar.
February 7, 2002... FEB 20 TO 21 Semiconductor Venture Fair, San Francisco, features 75 growth companies in networking/communications, storage, building blocks, and edge devices. The fair brings together private equity investors, executives of leading...

Graphics evolution "foursees" increasingly rich images. (leading edge).(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... NVIDIA'S HIGH-END GEFORCE4 consumer-graphics accelerator includes two vertex-shader processors; its predecessor, the GeForce3 had only one (see "Graphics goes soft," EDN, March 15, 2001, pg 26). The chip's 0.15-micron process, 63 million...

Mysterious ground. (signal integrity).
February 7, 2002... IMAGINE THAT YOU HAVE a self-contained, battery-powered, 3.3V CMOS oscillator. This oscillator floats magically in space, touching nothing. The external case is plastic. No grounds are exposed. It has one output terminal. If you connect...

Facing the reality of exponential growth. (ednmag.comment).
February 7, 2002... AN INTERESTING ARTICLE in Business Week covers the recent overbuilding of stores and malls (Reference 1). The article references fairly reliable industry numbers that show that the US retail industry added floor space at a rate that is roughly...

Satellite video brings the world home: the talking head worldwide video system needs only a small earth terminal and the Inmarsat satellite link to bring Afghanistan's--and the rest of the world's--news to your TV screen. (how it works).(7E Communications' Talking Head)
February 7, 2002... WE CAN RECEIVE HIGH-QUALITY video feeds from almost anywhere in the Western world. So, it's easy to assume that such links are standard and ordinary. For much of the world, however, this situation is not the case. The news-reporting path to...

Flight-data recorders: how to update the technology: in between the desire to spend as little as possible and the allure of leading-edge technology, you can find a sensible approach to airline safety. (how it works).
February 7, 2002... I RECEIVED AN UNUSUALLY high number of e-mail messages from engineers in response to my Oct 25, 2001 "How It Works" article on CVRs (cockpit voice recorders) and FDRs (flight-data recorders). The common theme was dismay about the seemingly...

Gaming as serious business: snicker about playing games at work, but the low cost, appropriate features, and availability of gameboy resources might change your mind about using it as a nongaming, handheld terminal. (hands-on project).
February 7, 2002... IT STARTED WITH A "NO THANK YOU." I had asked for the technical specification for the Nintendo Gameboy game-link interface so that I could explore connecting it to USB and to an 802.11b wireless access station. This hands-on project looked...

MEMS flex their tiny muscles: for an industry that has so energetically pursued the creation of products with no moving parts, populating circuit boards, ICs, or both, with microminiature devices that depend on moving parts might seem to be a retrograde step. But if MEMS fulfills its promise, you may soon be taking that step. (design feature).
February 7, 2002... MICROMACHINING AND MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) are far from new. The concepts have been around in various forms since the early days of IC fabrication. In some areas, micromachined devices have already achieved widespread use; the...

Pervasive computing: a computer in every pot: the success of the Web, wireless connectivity, and the commoditization of computing are creating a world in which you can buy a movie ticket at a soft-drink machine or your house can remind you where you left your keys. (tech trends).
February 7, 2002... UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING. Anytime, anywhere computing. Whatever you call it, pervasive computing has different definitions depending on whom you talk to. For some, pervasive computing may be a single wearable computer that helps you locate your...

Put in-system programming on the fast track with the right board-level design: in theory, you need only about 45 seconds to program a complex flash-ram device via the IEEE 1149.1 port on your application circuit board, but your mileage may vary--a lot. As a board-level designer, you hold the keys to success with in-system programming. Here's what you need to know to achieve the technique's full potential for speed. (design feature).
February 7, 2002... LIMITED ACCESS to pc-board traces on multilayer boards and the growing popularity of leadless packages, such as BGAs, are increasing the use of boundary-scan techniques for test because they do not rely on physical access to chip leads or test...

Transient thermal analysis takes one-tenth the time: using a simplified h-model rather than running a full CFD analysis significantly reduces computation effort with no loss in accuracy. (design feature).
February 7, 2002... FOR TRANSIENT-THERMAL-ANALYSIS PROBLEMS, running a full CFD (computational-fluid-dynamics) analysis to solve for mass, momentum, and energy equations using finite volume requires a lengthy computation time and can use a tremendous amount of...

Motor-control scheme yields four positions with two outputs. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... FIGURE 1 SHOWS how to position a mechanical device into four discrete positions but with only two free outputs and one free input from the control system. The position depends on a set of cams and four corresponding limit switches. The 24V-dc...

Single switch controls digital potentiometer. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... THE CONTROL of electronic potentiometers in most today's applications comes from controller-generated signals. However, a significant number of applications exist that require adjustments using manual, front-panel controls. The circuit in...

Versatile power-supply load uses light bulbs. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... IMPROVISING LOADS for bench-testing and designing power supplies is often a frustrating and sometimes hazardous experience. When you push large power resistors to their limit, they tend to burn benches and melt solder connections. Many...

Two-transistor circuit replaces IC. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... LINEAR TECHNOLOGY'S recently introduced LTC4300 chip buffers [I.sup.2]C clock and data lines to and from a hot-swappable card. This task is difficult because the IC must work bidirectionally, meaning that you can simultaneously and actively...

Digital current source is nonvolatile. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... DIGITALLY programmable current sources that feature automatic trimming and retain the setting despite power-down cycles are useful in applications such as RF- and laser-communications drivers. The circuit in Figure 1, for example, is...

Closing the loop deepens notches. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... NOTCH FILTERS remove a single unwanted frequency from an input signal. They are also a vital component of pulse-shaping networks, such as time-averaging filters. You can tune a state-variable filter over a wide range by changing the time...

Hints and kinks for USB decoding. (design ideas).
February 7, 2002... THE USB is a serial data-transmission system that uses cables to connect peripheral equipment to PCs. All new computers have two or more USB receptacles, and the predictions are that they will replace most of the legacy receptacles on older...

Proximity sensors are magnetically activated. (Sensors & Transducers).(Coto Technology CT10)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... Proximity sensors are magnetically activated. Molded sensors in the CT10 series employ an spst reed switch that an electromagnet, a permanent magnet, or a combination of both can magnetically actuate. The switch has normally open contacts, a...

Thermistor probes meet low-end appliance needs. (Sensors & Transducers).(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... Thermistor probes meet low-end appliance needs. These economical NTC thermistor probes for air-conditioning and refrigeration appliances come in three package types: plastic-capped, metal-capped, and injection-molded. The injection molded...

Photoelectric sensors have adjustable sensing field. (Sensors & Transducers).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... Photoelectric sensors have adjustable sensing field. With the World-Beam QS18 series of photoelectric sensors, you can set a precise sensing cutoff point to eliminate background interference. A five-turn adjustment screw allows you to set or...

Sensor allows single-touch fingerprint authentication. (Sensors & Transducers).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... Sensor allows single-touch fingerprint authentication. Useful for embedded mobile computing and physical-access systems, the MBF110 biometric sensor employs a 300 x 300-pixel sensor array that produces clear fingerprint images at a resolution...

Integrated circuits: 64-Mbit flash IC.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Delivers 11-nsec burst access and 55-nsec asynchronous read access * Provides one 1.8V read, program, and erase operation * Am29BDS643, $19.50 (10,000) Advanced Micro Devices Inc, 1-408-732-2400, www.amd.com At...

Integrated circuits: set-top-box decoder.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Allows concurrent demultiplexing of three transport streams, multiple descrambling modes, and multiple conditional access * Includes an IDE/ATA interface for connecting to external storage devices, such as hard-disk, DVD-ROM, or DVD-RAM...

Integrated circuits: FPGAs.(Xilinx Spartan IIE field programmable logic arrays)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Furnish 50,000 to 300,000 system gates and advanced LVDS capabilities * Supported by the Xilinx 4.1i integrated software environment * Spartan-IIE, $6.95 to $17.95 (more than 250,000) Xilinx Inc, 1-408-559-7778, www.xilinx.com...

Integrated circuits: home-networking chip set.(Cogency Semiconductor Piranha)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Comprises the CS1100 HomePlug 1.0-compliant MAC/PHY chip and the AD9875 HomePlug mixed-signal front-end chip * Evaluation kit includes two boards, Windows drivers, and software-support tools * Piranha two-chip set, $23 (25,000);...

Integrated circuits: crosspoint switches.(Mindspeed Technologies)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * 144 x 144 switches operate at 3.2 Gbps/channel, with each channel operating independently at any rate from 0 to 3.2 Gbps * Offer input equalization (M21150/M21155) and integrated clock-and-data recovery (M21155 only) * M21150, $1500;...

Integrated circuits: TDMA advanced PHY head-end chips.(Broadcom BCM3034, Broadcom BCM3138)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * BCM3034 downstream modulator more than doubles the speed at which information is sent to subscribers of high-speed Internet, telephony, and video services * BCM3138 dual burst receiver triples upstream line speed from end-user to the...

Integrated circuits: environmental monitoring and control ICs include automatic fan-control capability.(Standard Microsystems EMC6D100, Standard Microsystems EMC6101)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... Environmental monitoring and control ICs include automatic fan-control capability. The EMC6D100 and EMC6101 monitor external voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. The devices cover power-supply voltages of 1.5, 1.8, 2.5, 3.3, 5, and 12V and...

Integrated circuits: 36-Mbit SRAMs.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Come in quad-data-rate (QDRII), double-data-rate (DDRII), and no-turnaround (NtRAM) configurations * Offer maximum clock speeds of 250 MHz * 36-Mbit QDRII, $110; DDRII, $120; and NtRAM, $100 (samples) Samsung Semiconductor Inc,...

Integrated circuits: mobile media chips.(Hitachi Semiconductor HB28D032BP2, HB28E016BP2)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Combine AND-type flash memory and controller in a package that is less than 15% the size of a standard multimedia card * Offer storage capacities of 16 Mbytes (HB28E016BP2) and 32 Mbytes (HB28D032BP2) * HB28E016BP2, $20; HB28D032BP2,...

Integrated circuits: fan-failure predictor.(Microchip Technology's TC670)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Detects critical fan speed of two- and three-wire fans * Uses a single resistor divider for setting the rpm alarm level * TC670, 96 cents (1000) Microchip Technology Inc, 1-480-792-7966, www.micro chip.com At www.ednmag.com,...

Integrated circuits: overvoltage controller.(Linear Technology LTC1696)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Operates over a supply range of 2.7 to 27V * Senses two output voltages each of 0.8 to 24V * Drives either an external SCR crowbar or back-to-back n-channel MOSFET to disconnect the input voltage from the power supply * LTC1696,...

Integrated circuits: mixed-signal front-end IC.(Analog Devices AD9877)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * For set-top boxes and cable modems * Integrates a 232-MHz quadrature digital transmitter and a 12-bit direct-IF ADC in the receive path * AD9877, $4.53 (100,000) Analog Devices Inc, 1-800-262-5643, www.analog.com At...

Integrated circuits: EL lamp drivers.(Micrel Semiconductor MIC4826, MIC4827)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Convert a 1.8 to 5.5V dc input to a high-voltage AC signal * Generate a peak-to-peak ac output of 160V (MIC4826) and 180V (MIC4827) * MIC4826, $1.18; MIC4827, $1.28 (1000) Micrel Semiconductor Inc, 1-408-944-0800, www.micrel.com...

Integrated circuits: CMOS single-gate logic family.(STMicroelectronics VHC, VHCT)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Comprises 27 high-speed functions operating from supply voltages of 2 to 5.5V * Now available in SOT-323-5L/6L packages * VHC/VHCT series, 12 cents (1000) STMicroelectronics Inc, 1-781-861-2650, www.st.com At www.ednmag.com,...

Integrated circuits: single-chip cable modem.(Conexant Systems CX24943)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Complies with DOCSIS and Euro-DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 standards * Employs a dual-processing engine to deliver 29,000 packets/sec, regardless of packet size * CX24943, $26.50 (10,000) Conexant Systems Inc, 1-949-483-4600,...

Integrated circuits: LED display driver.(Allegro MicroSystems A6277)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Accepts 8-bit serial input * Provides as much as 150 mA of constant current, selectable with one external resistor allowing 50% or 100% current * A6277, from $1.47 (1000) Allegro MicroSystems Inc, 1-508-853-5000,...

Integrated circuits: micropower op amps.(Texas Instruments OPA348)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Provide 1-MHz bandwidth at 45-[micro] A supply current * Operate from a 2.1 to 5.5V supply * OPA348 series, from 49 cents (1000) Texas Instruments Inc, Semiconductor Group, 1-800-477-8924, www.ti.com At www.ednmag.com, click...

Embedded systems: DSP-based acquisition subsystem.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Employs eight 80-MHz ADSP-21160 SHARC DSPs delivering 3840 MFLOPS from a single 6U CompactPCI slot * Provides as many as four 12-bit, 80-MHz ADC channels and 2048 Mbytes of SDRAM * IS-6UHH-DR, $8995 with two ADC channels (OEM) ...

Embedded systems: mobile application software-development kit.(Extended Systems' XTNDConnect Mobile Objects SDK)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Creates dynamic, real-time applications with offline store and forward capabilities * Uses a distributed-object-based framework to extend corporate LAN-based applications to mobile devices * XTNDConnect Mobile Objects SDK,...

Embedded systems: Quad PowerPC VMEbus board.(Thales Computers V4G4b)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Powered by four G4 PowerPC processors sharing as much as 512 Mbytes of SDRAM * Provides two PCI/PMC slots with an IBM CPC710 crossbar to accelerate signal-processing algorithms * V4G4b, from $15,738 Thales Computers Corp,...

Embedded systems: socket 478 ATX motherboard.(Soyo Computer SY-P4S Dragon Ultra)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Furnishes an SiS645/961 chip set supporting a 400-MHz front-side bus and as much as 3 Gbytes of DDR SDRAM * Includes RAID and 10/100-Mbps Ethernet controllers, an AGP Pro slot, and six PCI slots * SY-P4S Dragon Ultra, $189 Soyo...

Embedded systems: gigabit Ethernet switch.(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2002... * Complies with PICMG 2.16 Compact-PCI packet-switching backplane specifications * Provides eight Gigabit Ethernet ports and wire-speed Layer 2/Layer 3 switching * CPC5400, from $4995 Performance Technologies Inc, 1-716-256-0200,...

Embedded systems: image-recognition board.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Integrates a color CMOS sensor module and a network of 156 neurons for pattern learning and recognition * Includes a 150,000-gate FPGA * NeuroSight, $795 General Vision Inc, 1-707-765-6150, www.general-vision.com At...

Microprocessors: client-side telephony DSP.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Includes 14 embedded telephony algorithms to reduce start-up costs by eliminating up-front fees and royalties * Algorithms are eXpressDSP-compliant, and you can use them in either fixed-function or open-programmable mode *...

Microprocessors: dual-role USB controller core.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Complies with both the USB 2.0 standard for full-speed functions and the On-The-Go supplement * Supports both host and peripheral functions in point-to-point data transfers * Inventra MUSBFDRC synthesizable soft IP core, contact...

Microprocessors: DVD recorder system processor.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Employs dual 32-bit SPARC RISC CPUs with DSP coprocessing engines, plus a 2-D graphics engine * Integrates digital audio and video encoding/decoding, display processing, and storage and IEEE-1394 interfaces * DMN-8600, $30 (high...

Microprocessors: DSP-based VoP platform.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * VoP hardware/software design is based on the TeakLite programmable DSP core * Handles as many as eight full-duplex, echo-cancelled VoP channels * VoPKey, contact vendor for price DSP Group Inc, 1-408-986-4300, www.dspg.com ...

Microprocessors: 32-bit smart-card core.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Integrates Jazelle technology to allow direct execution of Java Card byte codes * Available with or without a cryptographic accelerator * SC200/SC210, contact vendor for licensing ARM Inc, 1-408-579-2200, www.arm.com At...

Microprocessors: Vectorizing C compiler.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Creates virtual reconfigurable ASICs using C source code * Virtual ASIC is fully reconfigurable and can run in multiple, parallel instances on Pact's XPP IP core * XPP-VC compiler and XPP IP core, contact vendor for price Pact...

Microprocessors: MIPS processor.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * Comes in 500- and 600-MHz speed grades * Employs an implementation of the MIPS64 instruction-set architecture * SR71000, $120 to $150 for a 600-MHz version, depending on options (OEM) SandCraft Inc, 1-408-490-3200,...

Microprocessors: CPU IP core.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 7, 2002... * 32-bit synthesizeable core offers virtual memory capabilities * Provides separate 16- or 32-entry instruction and data MMU * pT-110Mx, contact vendor for licensing picoTurbo Inc, 1-408-586-8801, www.picoturbo.com At...

Designers do drugs. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
February 21, 2002... "On paper, it looks like its designers took too many puffs on the hashish bong. The iMac even looks slightly like a bong." --Hiawatha Bray on Apple's new iMac, in The Boston Globe, Jan 10, 2002

Big LED screens get the drive they crave. (leading edge).
February 21, 2002... THE PROLIFERATION OF LARGE, outdoor LED displays is opening opportunities for ICs targeting this application (see "Blue LEDs, digital TV bring daylight-bright signs to masses," EDN, April 13, 2000, pg 56). Micrel's MIC5400 digitally...

Five-core magnetic module provides Ethernet match. (leading edge).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... EVEN FAST DIGITAL SIGNALS need venerable transformers for isolation, impedance matching, and common-mode signal attenuation. The H0026 magnetic module from Pulse Engineering packs a quintet of cores into a small, surface-mountable package, with...

Interconnect Software Consortium debuts. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
February 21, 2002... The Open Group recently announced the formation of the Interconnect Software Consortium to develop and promote specifications that will facilitate deployment of fast-interconnect technologies by providing software compatibility across a range...

Memory advancements yield high reliability, better performance. (leading edge).(MOSYS' 1T-SRAM)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... MOSYS' 1T-SRAM, a DRAM derivative, now comes in an ultrahigh-reliability variant (see "Standards setters spar for SRAM supremacy," this issue, pg 53). DRAM has higher cell capacitance and smaller cells than SRAM. Assuming that all other...

Dilbert. (Leading edge).
February 21, 2002... YOUR PERSONAL USE OF THE INTERNET IS LIKE STEALING FROM THE COMPANY! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] YOU WORK IN HUMAN RESOURCES; THAT'S LIKE STEALING FROM THE COMPANY, TOO. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MAYBE WE SHOULD FORM A GANG. ...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
February 21, 2002... * According to International Data Corp, only about 15% of year's computer monitors were LCDs. But that number is expected to hit 23% this year and 41% by 2005. * According to data from Forrester Research Inc, 36% of affluent shoppers made...

Novel architecture improves rms-to-dc conversion. (leading edge).(Linear Technology's LTC1966)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... MEASURING the peak-to-peak amplitude of a waveform is a relatively straightforward task. Assessing the rms amplitude, however, is not--except in some fairly narrowly defined cases of simple, well-characterized waveforms. For signals that stray...

Technology advances prove resistance is not futile. (leading edge).(Vishay VFC1506 )(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... PASSIVE DEVICES MAY LACK the glamour of multimillion-transistor ICs, but you usually can't complete a design without them. With the Vishay VFC1506 flip-chip resistor, you get ultraprecise values and less-than-0.5-ppm/[degrees]C temperature...

Relay proves that not only ICs are shrinking. (leading edge).(Aromat AGK)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... Some applications, such as telephony, industrial designs, and measurement systems, still need an electromechanical relay, but the size of these devices dwarfs similar functions in an IC. The AGK family of relays from Aromat strives to change...

Graphical tool handles SOC IP. (leading edge).
February 21, 2002... IN RECENT MONTHS, attention in the system-level-design sector of EDA has been focused on language-based solutions, and graphical tools have been receiving less attention. A previous generation of tools that were, arguably, system-level design...

10-GBPS network processor supports a variety of protocols. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
February 21, 2002... Terago, a new player in the network-processing market, has introduced the 10-Gbps proNP 5010 network processor. The proNP 5010 performs multiservice classification, provisioning, and forwarding functions, supporting ATM, FAST, Point to Point...

Motorola uses EEMBC to prove performance. (leading edge).(Motorola MPC7455)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... MOTOROLA recently announced the availability of the 1-GHz MPC7455 PowerPC processor. This announcement represents the company's manufacturing capability in its silicon-on-insulator process and its first public disclosure of certified...

Calendar. (leading edge).
February 21, 2002... MARCH 4 TO 7 Comdex 2002, Chicago, tackles issues concerning wireless business strategies, devices, and applications. The educational program includes tutorials on networking and communication, security, and business management. In...

Connector and cable family handles latest high-speed serial links. (leading edge).(Molex High Speed Serial Data Connector 2 )(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 21, 2002... The Molex High Speed Serial Data Connector 2 family may provide the physical link you need for fast serial protocols, such as Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, or Gigabit Ethernet. It includes a board-mount receptacle, an adapter receptacle, and a...

Examining switch-debounce circuits. (analog angle).
February 21, 2002... WHEN A SWITCH CLOSES, the contacts do not close instantly and finally. The contacts close, then bounce open, and this cycle repeats for a period, depending on the switch-manufacturing technology. The length of the bounce cycle is the "bounce...

Do you test your tests? (ednmag.comment).
February 21, 2002... FLOYD TOOLE'S KEYNOTE SPEECH at last November's AES (Audio Engineering Society) Convention discussed speakers and listening rooms, but his points were valid for any engineering discipline. Toole, a respected expert in the audio industry and...

Virtual programmers build embedded code: with shrinking software-development schedules and a growing shortage of skilled programmers, embedded-system designers are adopting automatic-code-generation tools to stay ahead of their competition. (Cover Story).
February 21, 2002... OUR DAILY EFFORTS TO EXPAND the confines of technology have made embedded-system programmers an overworked bunch. They must keep up with the enormous increases in complexity due to evolving technology and new customer demands while facing the...

System-level design merits a closer look: the complexity of today's designs requires system-level design, but EDA-tools development is lagging behind the needs of semiconductor and system companies. EDA tools must support system-level design. (design feature).
February 21, 2002... THE DIFFICULTY OF GENERATING A DESIGN from a set of requirements increases as products become more complex. Translating a set of specifications written in a spoken language into a computer-parsable format presents a number of problems. ...

Standards setters spar for SRAM supremacy: two contending next-generation SRAM architectures target OC-192 networks and other high-performance applications. Which alternative best addresses your needs, and are there other memories you should also consider? (tech trends).
February 21, 2002... WHEN EDN LAST DEVOTED a multipage article to SRAMs, DDR (double-data-rate) memories were nothing more than forecasted placeholders on marketers' future-product road maps (Reference 1). More than three years later, promises have indeed turned...