EDN articles from June 2004

EDN archives from June 2004

Tea party.(leading edge)
June 10, 2004... "We need a language that lets us scribble and smudge and smear, not a language where you have to sit with a teacup balanced on your knee and make polite conversation with a strict old aunt of a compiler." --Paul Graham, in Hackers &...

Embedded device server swings both wired and wireless ways.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... IF YOU DON'T KNOW whether you need Ethernet or 802.11b-only connectivity, the WiPort embedded device server from Lantronix may be for you. The module lets you add high-end connectivity to a variety of applications, such as security systems,...

Accept the challenge.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... IF YOU KNOW YOUR WAY around a microcontroller, we have a challenge--and, possibly, a reward--just for you. Together, NEC Electronics America and EDN have launched Cornelius van Drebbel's Mad Design Contest. We challenge you to be as...

Synopsys again tries its hand at FPGA synthesis.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... FPGA DEVICES offer enough speed and size to be viable tools for ASIC prototyping and, in many cases, substitute for ASIC devices for short periods during product introduction. A1 though Synopsys is the undisputed market leader in ASIC...

Dilbert.(leading edge)
June 10, 2004... WE HAVE THE HIGHEST PROFIT MARGIN IN OUR ENTIRE INDUSTRY! APPARENTLY I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Fabric standard supports SAR layer, ethernet networking.(leading edge)(RapidIO Trade Association)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... The RapidIO Trade Association recently released details about its new RapidFabric extensions, which build upon the transport mechanisms of RapidIO to replace proprietary fabrics. A data-streaming logical layer supports SAR (segmentation and...

Math, simulation updates offer new programming tools, faster development.(leading edge)
June 10, 2004... AS IS ITS custom, The MathWorks has announced a new release that encompasses all of its products. Of these, the two best known are Matlab, the flagship mathematical and technical-computing package, and Simulink, the dynamic-system-simulation...

Tool measures impact of software on power use.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... THE EXECUTION SPEED available in chips fabricated with the latest process technologies allows engineers to use software programs instead of dedicated hardware systems to implement many of the functions an application requires. Yet, one of the...

System targets WLAN verification in design and on site.(leading edge)(VeriWave)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... TOOLS FOR VERIFYING the proper operation of wireless LANs have mostly targeted the deployment phase, in which developers assume that the system design is sound, despite the fact that many location- and configuration-specific problems can still...

Dude, where's my system?(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... PARVUS CORP recently announced the OrbiTrak 8R GPS (global-positioning-system) receiver for automotive, marine, and airborne PC/104-embedded-computer systems. Supporting National Marine Electronics Association 0183, Trimble ASCII Interface...

Libraries turn math algorithms into intellectual property.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... MANY COMMUNICATION AND GRAPHICS applications are computation-intensive, yet no one has paid much attention to optimizing the hardware that implements mathematical functions. Traditional implementation methods use a combination of pipelining,...

Hardware accelerator compiles at 50 million RTL gates/hour.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... FUNCTIONAL TEST SUITES or pseudorandom test vectors are still the two most popular forms of design verification, To realize the impressive computational capabilities these techniques require, engineers use compute farms that employ tens or...

32-channel, 40-MHz pulse-pattern-generator board works with seven logic families, stores 4-Gbit patterns.(leading edge)
June 10, 2004... STRATEGIC TEST'S ULTRAFAST UF7221, a 32-channel, 40-MHz pulse-pattern generator, whose output is compatible with ECL, PECL, TTL, LVDS, LVTTL, CMOS, and LVCMOS logic levels, fits onto a full-length PCI card, which costs $5290, For that price,...

Test suite measures protocol compliance.(leading edge)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... As SOC (system-on-chip)-design complexity continues to grow, the verification effort expands rapidly and continues to account for at least half of the development cost of a new product. This problem becomes worse when chip designs incorporate...

Can you C acceleration?(leading edge)
June 10, 2004... THE STRETCH 85000 family of software-configurable processors allows you to create hardware-acceleration blocks and extend the processor-instruction set of an Xtensa-based RISC-processor core based on your application's C/C++ code. User-defined...

Hardware versus software: you decide.(baker's best)(Column)
June 10, 2004... THESE DAYS, EVERYTHING IS FASTER. Highway speed limits are increasing. Radio and television commercials seem shorter. Internet connectivity is speeding up. Heck, coffee shops now have drive-through service. This scenario is all good, but...

Chips 'n' roses.(edn.comment)
June 10, 2004... IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S Romeo and Juliet, Juliet utters the off-quoted line "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." ATI Technologies could stand to brush up on its Shakespeare, because the...

Fast-focus lens technology is all wet.(Sightings: the outlook for new technology)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... PHILIPS RESEARCH has developed a fluid-filled, variable-focus lens that could confer size and cost benefits on applications such as digital cameras, endoscopes, and optical-storage devices. The FluidFocus lens features two nonmixing fluids (a...

Antenna design is truly evolutionary.(Sightings: the outlook for new technology)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... IF THIS ANTENNA seems alien in origin, that's because it was not designed by humans. A computer-based "genetic" engineering program came up with the device, which is destined for a future NASA satellite. Scientists at NASNs Ames Research Center...

Technique reverses Doppler effect.(Sightings: the outlook for new technology)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... YOU'RE FAMILIAR with the Doppler effect, which causes a downward frequency shift for radiation from receding objects (red shift), as well as the reverse situation blue shift). Scientists have known since the 1960s that it's possible to...

Embedding mediacentric technology: with desktop and consumer electronics leading the way, consumers now expect embedded products to deliver similar multimedia performance.(tech trends)
June 10, 2004... THE GENERAL PUBLIC'S fascination with interactive multimedia has changed the way we design some embedded products. In the past, designers built most embedded devices for their function with less concern for the user interface, yet today's...

Programmable-logic directory: EDN's fourth annual programmable-logic directory highlights the architectures available for your next design. Find out what's new, what's obsolete, and what's evolved in PALs, PLDs, FPGAs, and ASIC/FPGA hybrids.(Cover Story)
June 10, 2004... PROGRAMMABLE-LOGIC DEVICES are the fastest growing segment of the logic-device family for two fundamental reasons. Their ever increasing gate count per device gathers up functions that you might otherwise spread over a number of discrete-logic...

Fuzzy logic and neural nets: still viable after all these years? Though no longer headliners, fuzzy logic and neural networks are options in tackling challenging applications.(design feature)
June 10, 2004... DESPITE CONSIDERABLE marketing hype a few years ago, fuzzy logic and neural networks failed to develop traction as selling points as far as consumers were concerned. Yet, both still have their place in your engineering tool kit. The two...

Handling memory fragmentation: fragmentation can be a sticky problem. How memory allocation occurs determines whether, when, and how memory fragmentation becomes an issue.(design feature)
June 10, 2004... ULTIMATELY, MEMORY FRAGMENTATION leads to out-of-memory conditions, even when plenty of free memory may still in fact exist in the system. Given enough time, a system that constantly generates memory fragmentation, regardless of how little,...

Testing and modeling yields a better cable assembly: with the advent of XAUI, InfiniBand, PCI Xpress, Serial ATA, and Gigabit Ethernet, testing procedures for cable assemblies are becoming more complex.(design feature)
June 10, 2004... CABLE AND CONNECTOR ASSEMBLIES are becoming critical pieces of system design at gigabit speeds in XAUI (extended attachment-unit interface), InfiniBand, PCI Xpress, Serial ATA, and Gigabit Ethernet. With increased signal speeds, new...

An autoranging true RMS converter--design note 339.(Design Notes)
June 10, 2004... Introduction The LTC[R]1966 is a true RMS-to-DC converter that uses a [DELTA][SIGMA]computational technique to make it dramatically simpler to use, significantly more accurate, lower in power consumption and more flexible than conventional...

Circuit provides ISFET-sensor bias.(design ideas)(ion-sensitive field-effect transistors)
June 10, 2004... ISFETs (ion-sensitive field-effect transistors) are useful for measuring the acidity of fluids. Accurate measurements require that the ISFET's bias conditions ([I.sub.D] and [V.sub.DS]) be held constant while the gate is exposed to the fluid...

Microprocessor supervisor and regulator form in-range voltage monitor.(design ideas)(threshold voltage)
June 10, 2004... LOW-COST MICROPROCESSOR supervisors reset controllers when power-supply voltages fall below given levels. As added protection, you can also reset the microcontroller when the power supply is too high by combining a low-cost shunt-voltage...

White-LED driver provides 64-step logarithmic dimming.(design ideas)
June 10, 2004... THE CIRCUIT of Figure 1 is designed for portable-power applications that require white LEDs with adjustable, logarithmic dimming levels. The circuit drives as many as four white LEDs from a 3.3V source and adjusts the total LED current from 1...

Switcher improves overvoltage-protection circuit.(design ideas)
June 10, 2004... OVERVOLTAGE-protection circuits often protect electronic devices from power-supply transients, such as a rise from plugging in batteries or an external power adapter. Although these devices traditionally find use as hysteretic switching...

Precision peak detector uses no precision components.(design ideas)
June 10, 2004... WHEN YOU NEED a precision peak detector, you would usually implement it with one or several op amps and a few other associated components. This technique usually works well unless your design requires operation higher than a few kilohertz. In...

Motion showcase.(components showcase)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... IndustryPack motion controller * Supplies five independent SSI channels that can operate in standard controller or listen only mode * Operates with a programmable clock rate of 1 to 15 [micro]sec and programmable data-word length of 1...

Test and measurement.(components showcase)(Brief Article)
June 10, 2004... LCR meter * Measures 11 impedance parameters with a basic accuracy of 0.2% * Offers test frequencies of 100 Hz, 120 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz * Model 1715, $1295 QuadTech Inc, 1-800-253-1230, www.quadtech.com Compact test fixture...

Dog-eat-blog world.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... "Here he is working all night on something read by five second cousins and a dog, and I'm willing to pay him." --Barbara Quint, editor of online magazine Searcher, of a blogging-addicted writer who misses deadlines as a result, in The New...

Smallest computer fits portable designs.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Strategic Test Corp)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... MEASURING JUST 1.25x2.3x0.26 in., the Triton-XXS from Strategic Test Corp is a complete PXA255 computer targeting low-power, portable, embedded designs. The XXS includes a 400-MHz PXA255 CPU, 64 Mbytes of low-power SD-RAM, 32 Mbytes of flash, a...

Watching high-speed ADCs? Don't blink.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... HOT ON THE HEELS OF EDN's most recent high-speed ADC survey, Datel has announced the ADS953, an 18-bit, 1M-sample/sec converter for high-end instrumentation, imaging, and communications systems (see "High-speed ADCs: preventing front-end...

$50 data-acquisition units connect to PCs via USB.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... DATAQ INSTRUMENTS has sold tens of thousands of its rock-bottom-priced, palm-sized (2.6 x 2.6 x 1.1-in.), eight-analog-input data-acquisition units. At the company's Web site, $25 still gets you the original RS-232C-connected DI-148R, which has...

Dilbert.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... OUR STRATEGY IS TO GROW REVENUE FROM NEW PRODUCTS. HOW OBVIOUS DOES AN IDEA NEED TO BE BEFORE WE'LL STOP CALLING IT A STRATEGY? AND WE PLAN TO ELIMINATE WASTE. WE'LL MISS YOU. Edited by Fran Granville

Pick a card, any card ... and read it.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(SMSC)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... The proliferation of flash-media cards means that designing a reader for multiple formats can be a challenge. SMSC intends to change that situation with its USB2224 and USB2223 flash-media-card controllers, which interface between the USB host...

Graphics advancements span PCs to cell phones.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... NVIDIA'S TRAVAILS OF THE PAST two years are a reminder of the lesson of Aesop's classic fable The Tortoise and the Hare. Nvidia attempted to outleap its primary competitor, ATI Technologies (www.ati.com), to 0.13-micron technology with the...

Behavioral-synthesis product uses SystemC models.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... SYSTEM DESIGNERS, especially those dealing with communication systems, use Matlab and Simulink or SystemC to specify algorithms to implement in hardware. However, the SystemC approach entails reimplementation of the design in Verilog or VHDL to...

Enhanced WiFi chips integrate USB, enable new applications.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... THE NEW ATHEROS AR5005UG and AR5005UX chip sets integrate a USB 2.0 interface for high-performance WLAN (wireless-LAN) applications beyond desktop applications, such as digital-video recorders, high-quality videoconferencing cameras,...

Gear motor is small does it all.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Nidec Copal USA Corp)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... Software or ICs cannot solve every design problem; you sometimes need a motor to move something, such as paper in a printer feed. One such device, the LB16-120-BB miniature brushless-dc gear motor from Nidec Copal USA, includes an integral...

8-GHz RF-signal/spectrum analyzer offers open Windows XP interface, streams data to Matlab.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... FOLLOWING THE LEAD of digital-oscilloscope manufacturers, RF-instrument makers are introducing products that contain PC hardware. Many of the specifications of one such unit, Anritsu's Signature RF-signal analyzer, compete with those of...

EDA tool links to Simulink.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Synplicity )
June 24, 2004... ACCELCHIP (www.accelchip.com) and Catalytic Inc (www.catalyticinc.com) were the first two EDA companies to use The MathWorks' Matlab and Simulink models and designs as input to their products. Mentor Graphics (www.mentor.com) followed by...

Core stresses performance and power.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)
June 24, 2004... TENSILICAS XTENSA LX processor core drives down power consumption and increases computational and throughout performance. The Xtensa LX core incorporates fine-grained clock gating for every functional element, including user-defined extensions....

240A controller drives robotic vehicles.(Leading edge: what's hot in the design community)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... ROBOTEQ'S RECENTLY INTRODUCED dual-channel dc-motor controller directly drives as much as 120A on each channel at as much as 40V. The AX2850 targets designers of mobile robotic vehicles, including automatic guided vehicles, underwater...

Data coding for low noise.(signal integrity)
June 24, 2004... DIFFERENTIAL-I/O CONFIGURATIONS can substantially reduce power and ground noise internal to an IC (references 1 and 2). The resulting circuits require fewer power and ground pins than might otherwise be necessary. Unfortunately, differential...

Anatomy of a precision-voltage reference.(analog angle)
June 24, 2004... VOLTAGE REFERENCES ARE CRITICAL COMPONENTS in any system because they determine system accuracy. They determine the accuracy of ADCs, DACs, and feedback systems. For example, in a correctly designed linear-feedback system, multiplying the...

Regulating time.(on the verge)
June 24, 2004... I wouldn't normally advocate increased regulatory control on emerging technologies. In contrast, I deplore the fact that the FCC and other agencies have hampered deployment of such things as digital TV. But the UWB (ultrawideband) technology...

Driving out complexity with abstraction tools: embedded development tools continue to incorporate higher levels of abstraction to balance the increase in design complexity.(tech trends)
June 24, 2004... COMPLEXITY IS RELATIVE. It can prevent you from solving a problem if you can't characterize and understand the problem within a specific context. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to differentiate your product offerings. Furthermore,...

Sound bytes: if it weren't for audio converters, some of our favorite products would just be spinning their wheels.(Cover Story)
June 24, 2004... SINCE HARVEY FLETCHER AND WA MUNSON in 1933 defined the first broadly adopted characterization of human hearing, research has refined our collective understanding of the auditory response (references 1 through 4). The accepted range of useful...

High input voltage monolithic switcher provides continuous 5V from a 4V to 60V input using a single inductor.(Automotive & industrial applications: high performance analog solutions from Linear Technology)(Automotive Converter)(Advertisement)
June 24, 2004... Electronic systems must perform under very stringent power requirements in automotive systems. These include load-dump, cold crank, very low power consumption at light loads and low-noise operation. Additionally, footprints must be very compact...

Dual high efficiency white LED drivers with integrated schottkys drive up to 20 LEDs from a 3mm x 3mm DFN.(Automotive & industrial applications: high performance analog solutions from Linear Technology)(Advertisement)
June 24, 2004... The LT3466 is a dual, full function, step-up DC/DC converter specifically designed to drive up to 20 white LEDs from a wide input voltage range. Its high efficiency, current mode and fixed frequency operation ensure uniform LED brightness, low...

Low supply currents for "always-on" systems.(Automotive & industrial applications: high performance analog solutions from Linear Technology)(Advertisement)
June 24, 2004... With the adoption of new navigation, security and always-on power systems in automobiles, there is an ever-increasing demand on the battery even when the ignition is turned off. Collectively, several hundreds of milliamps of supply current...

Complex--in every sense: bandwidth is like land--there's only so much of it. That's why the analog modulation of yester-year just can't do the job in the 21st century.(design feature)
June 24, 2004... AT A GLANCE * Complex digital modulation on RF signals is not simple to understand, generate, or analyze. * DSP-intensive OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is part of several communication standards--most notably the...

DC/DC converter drives Lumileds white LEDs from a variety of power sources--design note 340.(Design Notes)
June 24, 2004... Introduction LEDs are usually driven with a constant DC current source in order to maintain constant luminosity. However, most DC/DC converters are designed to deliver a constant voltage by comparing a feedback voltage to an internal...

Right-sizing an Internet connection: connecting an embedded system to a network brings benefits but adds cost and complexity. Fortunately, the technology is available to make the connection the right size.(design feature)
June 24, 2004... PCs ARE USEFUL TOOLS, but only when they be came able to connect in a network did they initiate a revolution in business and personal productivity. A legion of new applications and new market opportunities arose from this ability to exchange...

Circuit produces variable numbers of burst pulses.(design ideas)
June 24, 2004... THE ADD-ON CIRCUIT in Figure 1 can produce one to 15 burst pulses with the same number of spaces between the bursts at a pulse width (frequency) that an external square wave generator at the input sets. The add-on circuit produces a variable...

Method provides fast, glitch-free isolation of [I.sup.2]C and SMBus signals.(design ideas)
June 24, 2004... [I.sup.2]C IS A POPULAR SERIAL protocol for power controllers, ADCs and DACs, EEPROMs, and other devices. In certain data-acquisition and power-control situations, you must isolate the [I.sup.2]C master from one or more slave de vices for...

Simulate input-offset current for current mirrors.(design ideas)
June 24, 2004... SIMULATING THE OUTPUT-offset current of a current mirror is straightforward. You simply have to apply an input current, measure the output current, and calculate the difference. This output-offset current, however, is not equal to the...

Designing high-current chokes is easy.(design ideas)
June 24, 2004... SOMEWHAT UNUSUALLY, this Design Idea deals with a formula rather than a circuit. You might think that all the basic formulas of magnetic phenomena were discovered more than a century ago. In fact, they probably were, but, at the time, some were...

High-intensity, surface-mount LEDs.(Optoelectronics)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Single-LED devices produce output levels to 24 cd with viewing angles of 10, 30, or 100[degrees] * Built-in heat management allows operation with forward currents as high as 120 mA with no additional heat-sinking or cooling *...

6.4-in. display module.(Optoelectronics)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * 800-nit VGA module employs four CCFLs and index-matching film lamination to the front surface of the display polarizer * Displays graphics and text on a 640x3x480-dot panel with 262,144 colors * ENH064V1-800, from $475 (100) ...

Tricolor LEDs.(Optoelectronics)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Deliver luminous intensity to 220 mcd at a forward current of 20 mA, depending on color * Come in red-green blue and amber-green-blue versions housed in 0.7-mm-high, surface-mount packages * 1312CE series, from $1.26 (100) ...

Bicolor-LED alternatives.(Optoelectronics)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Serve as drop-in replacements for Elma 1201 series single color LEDs * Surface-mount packages include front-supporting solder tag or additional fixing pin for more secure mounting * SMD Bi-Color, less than $1 (OEM) Elma...

Long-life LED lamp.(Optoelectronics)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Comprises 39 LEDs arranged in a grid-array pat tern, producing 54 cd (white) to more than 100 cd (red/yellow/green/blue) * Incorporates a multioptic lens that rotates 90[degrees] to allow both floodlighting and spotlighting *...

GPS front-end receiver.(Integrated Circuits)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Double-conversion RF-to-IF I-Q frequency translator works with W-CDMA, GMS, and PDC systems * Combines a low noise amp, a VCO, a PLL, an IF AGC amplifier, IF filtering, I-Q demodulators, I-Q IF amps, and a 4-bit ADC in a 44-pin QFN...

Stereo-audio amplifiers.(Integrated Circuits)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Deliver 60W (LM4780), 35W (LM4781), and 25W (LM4782) of continuous aver age output power per channel * Provide less than 0.5% THD+N from 20 Hz to 20 kHz * LM4780, $3.25; LM4781, $3.25; and LM4782, $2.75 (1000) National...

Linear power-amp modules.(Integrated Circuits)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Target 3V IS-95/CDMA2000 1X handheld digital-cellular equipment and spread-spectrum systems * Produce 28 dBm of output power from a 3x3x0.9-mm lead-frame module package * RF3163, RF3164, and RF3165, $1.65 (10,000) RF Micro Devices...

RS-232 transceiver.(Integrated Circuits)(Brief Article)
June 24, 2004... * Integrates five drivers and three receivers in a 28-pin TSSOP or SSOP * Operates from a single 2.35 to 5.5V supply at data rates of 250 Mbps * SP3282EB, $2.30 (1000) Sipex Corp, 1-978-667-8700, www.sipex.com