EDN articles from March 2003

EDN archives from March 2003

A big flop. (leading edge).(disappearance of floppy disks)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... "I can't remember the last time I used one, but when we stopped using them more than two years ago, I had an epiphany of sorts, a sense of loss because they'd been around so many years." --Attorney Neil Aresty on the decline of floppy disks...

Software facilitates sharing of engineering calculations. (leading edge).(MathCad Enterprise)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... MATHCAD ENTERPRISE PROVIDES a framework for engineers to create, share, and reuse calculations. The software offers new features for organizing engineering calculations and methods; it also provides improved support for sharing procedures and...

Processor offers enhanced interface performance. (leading edge).(ChipWrights' CW4511 visual-signal processor)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... ChipWrights' CW4511 visual-signal processor is the second processor in the ViSP family that integrates a RISC processor with a scalable array of DSP single-instruction, multiple-data vector-processing units. It adds and introduces enhancements...

Designers get more formal-verification help. (leading edge).(0-In Design Automation's ABV 2.0)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... IN MOST DESIGNS, functional verification requires more than half of the total project re sources, yet more than half of the designs still contain at least one error after first silicon. The cost of correcting these errors is increasing...

Dilbert. (leading edge).(caption)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... CATBERT: EVIL HR DIRECTOR CONTRACTORS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BREATHE COMPANY AIR, CARL. THIS AIR IS FOR EMPLOYEES ONLY. YOU NEED TO SUPPLY YOUR OWN AIR. DOES ANYONE UNDERSTAND CARL? HEY! HE'S USING OUR LIGHT! [ILLUSTRATION...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... According to the Census Bureau, the average cell-phone call in the United States in 2001 lasted 2.74 minutes, and the average monthly bill ran $47.37. A study at the University of California-Berkeley has determined that the volume of...

Look out, Las Vegas: LEDs are coming after your neons! (leading edge).(Lumex's Light Stix LEDs)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Offering alternatives to neon and incandescent signage-light sources, Light Stix LEDs from the Sunbrite Group of Lumex feature brightness, easy installation, long life, and low power. A typical Light Stix uses 36 LED chips, yielding a total...

Device server masquerades as RJ-45 connector. (leading edge).(Lantronix's DSTni-XPort device server )(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... THE LANTRONIX DSTni-XPort device server provides high-speed, asynchronous-to-network-interface hardware and software in a package that is similar in form factor and appearance to the common RJ-45 connector. The server, which integrates...

Rockin' logic analyzer employs FPGA foundation. (leading edge).(RockyLogic's Ant8)(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
March 6, 2003... WHAT IF I TOLD YOU that a small United Kingdom company had just introduced an eight-channel, 100- to 500-MHz-sampling-rate, 3072-sample logic analyzer? If I give you only these specifications, you might be unimpressed: Such a piece of test...

EDN mini hands-on: speedy wireless service boosts optimism. (leading edge).
March 6, 2003... JUDGING FROM THE AMOUNT OF FEEDBACK I received in response to my recent cell-phone article, many of you are equally frustrated with the underwhelming capabilities of today's cellular data and voice networks (see "All-in-one cell phones: not a...

Tool shows the power of integration. (leading edge).(Neolinear's NeoCell)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... THE NUMBER OF SOC (system-on-chip) designs containing analog blocks is increasing, and design-automation tools for analog designs have until recently received little attention. As a result, the analog portion of a design is often a bottleneck...

FET fest continues unfettered. (leading edge).(STMicroelectronics, International Rectifier MOSFETs)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... PROCESSORS AND SOCs (systems on chips) may get the media glory, but MOSFETs are doing daily duty as low-resistance power-handling switches, and a few recent announcements tell the tale. From STMicroelectronics, you can get a range of...

Soft-core processor gets an upgrade. (leading edge).(Altera's Nios 3.0 embedded processor)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... VERSION 3.0 OF ALTERA'S Nios soft-core embedded processor sports enhancements for an SDRAM controller with integrated caches; pipelined data transactions across the Avalon switch fabric; and a new, JTAG-based, on-chip, real-time debugging...

Cores extend a standard instruction-set architecture. (leading edge).(MIPS Computer Systems' Pro Series 4Ke, M4K, 4KSd)
March 6, 2003... MIPS Technologies is now offering the Pro Series family of synthesizable cores supporting accelerated, application-specific instructions with in the MIPS instruction set, These cores add MIPS CorExtend capability to their soft-core offerings...

Software adds timing-analysis features. (leading edge).(Synplicity's Synplify Pro 7.2)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... SYNPLICITY HAS INTRODUCED VERSIONS 7.2 of its Synplify Pro FPGA synthesis software with the addition of MultiPoint technology and timing-analysis capabilities. The number of third-party intellectual-property blocks is increasing, and...

Skin hot. (signal integrity).
March 6, 2003... I'VE JUST RETURNED FROM A FOUR-MONTH STINT as a visiting fellow of Oxford University. Oxford is a beautiful city--well worth the visit if you have a chance. The weather there is mild--not too hot or too cold--and moderately humid. It's a good...

Innovation as our way of life. (edn.comment).(Editorial)
March 6, 2003... IN THIS ISSUE, you'll see the finalists in the EDN Innovation and Innovator of the Year awards program, divided into more than a dozen categories. Innovation is like so many virtues--so easy to talk about, but so hard to achieve consistently or...

Extrapolating the future. (edn.comment).(Editorial)
March 6, 2003... ENGINEERS DEAL WITH DATA as a routine part of their work. Without data, most projects would either lose their reason for being or veer toward wishful thinking. But engineers, either deliberately or inadvertently, can easily misuse or misapply...

Optical fiber carries power to burn. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Optical fibers based on photonic-bandgap technology use highly reflective materials to confine and conduct light through their hollow cores, achieving higher efficiency than traditional glass fibers and generating hype about an impending...

Probe gets under the skin without the ouch. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(University of California at Irvine's Beckman Laser Institute )(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... A PROTOTYPE PROBE developed at the University of California at Irvine's Beckman Laser Institute (http://laser.bli.uci.edu) uses a photoacoustic technique to painlessly assess subsurface skin defects. The device directs a 5-nsec pulse of...

Eat your heart out, energizer bunny. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(atomic battery)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... A team at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) has developed an atomic battery that could provide power to remote sensors or medical implants for decades. In the prototype device, a 60-[micro]m-thick strip of copper is cantilevered above a thin film...

Process stamps out molecular memory. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... CIRCUITS BASED ON molecular switches represent one hope for extending the reign of Moore's Law beyond the limits of silicon lithography. Researchers at Hewlett-Packard recently unveiled a 64-bit molecular-memory device that occupies a mere 1...

Jam that ringing cell phone? With most of the adult population carrying cell phones, efforts to restrict their use for safety reasons or just common courtesy have fallen on both sides of the law. (how it works).
March 6, 2003... CELL-PHONE USE has grown astronomically over the past decade. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association estimates that there are more than 135 million cell-phone subscribers in the United States alone; other estimates have placed...

Forge ahead? Targeting a preproduction processor for your application design may mean forging your own tools because you need them sooner than they will be available. (hands-on project).
March 6, 2003... I HAVE SEEN MANY PRESENTATIONS in which a vendor claims that its platform is ideal for handheld-application development that includes audio and video capabilities. During questioning, the conversation explores the vendor's development tools and...

2002 innovator finalists.
March 6, 2003... BADIH EL-KAREH DIGITAL PROCESSORS ARE true wonders, but there's little for those processors to do in real systems if the interface to the analog world can't deliver data at ever-faster rates. And, although advancements in digital chips can...

Cut the cord: embedded modules ease wireless woes: off-the-shelf wireless modules can transform a static, fixed-feature embedded product into an upgradeable device with real-time access to remote information and internet services. (tech trends).
March 6, 2003... MANY PORTABLE embedded products in the Internet age require a wireless network for access to up-to-date business information, yet developing a radio-frequency link from scratch is a formidable design challenge. To ease the development burden,...

Bias-voltage and current-sense circuits make avalanche photodiodes work: feeding and reading an avalanche photodiode takes a high degree of circuit sophistication. (design feature).
March 6, 2003... APDs (AVALANCHE photodiodes) or APDs, are common components in laser-based fiber-optic systems for converting optical data into electrical form. The bias voltage and current measurement requirements constitute a significant design challenge,...

Receiver equalization increases link distance without adding EMI: receiver equalization uses a tailored amplifier-transfer function to compensate for transmission-media loss and phase shift at high frequencies. You can characterize the equalizers performance with the transmission media using external phase modulation of input data at frequencies higher than the deserializer's clock-recovery-loop bandwidth. (design feature).
March 6, 2003... RECEIVER EQUALIZATION and transmitter pre-emphasis in a SERDES (serializer/deserializer) can increase link distances in backplane and line-card applications. Receiver equalization has many advantages, such as lower EMI and easier adaptive...

HDI-buildup technology and microvias: no longer a mystery: you've been hearing for years that HDI technology will revolutionize the pc-board industry. Now, it's finally happening. (design feature).(high-density-interconnect)
March 6, 2003... CONSUMERS' ESCALATING demand for more features in their small and mobile electronics products, such as PDAs and cell phones, is driving a need for smaller feature sizes, process geometries, and pc boards. For engineers dealing with these...

Key-reading circuit saves I/O pins. (design ideas).
March 6, 2003... Gustavo Santaolalla, Digital Precision Systems, Buenos Aires, Argentina. SOME MICROCONTROLLER applications usually use too many I/O pins to read keys or onboard switches; in many cases, few pins remain available for other uses. Some...

Synchronous buck circuit produces negative voltage. (design ideas).
March 6, 2003... MANY ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS require both positive and negative voltages to operate properly. Generating an efficient, low-voltage positive output from a higher voltage input typically entails the use of a synchronous buck regulator. But when...

Rotary encoder mates with digital potentiometer. (design ideas).
March 6, 2003... IN DEVELOPING ELECTRONIC systems, designers look for products or ideas that may benefit from the better performance, smaller size, lower cost, and improved reliability that an IC can offer. Toward that end, the digital potentiometer emerged as...

Amplifiers perform precision divide-by-2 circuit. (design ideas).
March 6, 2003... THE CLASSIC IMPLEMENTATION of a voltage-hal[V.sub.IN]g circuit uses two equal-value resistors. Using 1% resistors provides a divider output with 2% accuracy. For most applications, this performance is cost-effective and more than adequate....

Dual monolithic buck regulator provides two 1.4a outputs with 2-phase switching to reduce EMI--Design Note 305. (Design Notes: Advertisement).(Advertisement)
March 6, 2003... Introduction Advanced electronic systems that use a single voltage supply are a thing of the past. Today's electronic systems require several regulated voltages; even relatively simple subsystems need a minimum of two supplies....

Open-frame switchers occupy 2x4-in. footprint. (powersources showcase).(XPiQ)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Nine models with single outputs make up both the ACS40 and ACS60 series of 40 and 60W ac/dc switching power supplies. The devices operate to 70[degrees]C with derating and come in an industry-standard package that measures just 2x4x1.2 in....

Nonisolated SIP converters are thermally efficient. (powersources showcase).(SMART Modular Technologies' 202DV, 202DH electric converters)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Housed in a compact 1.6x0.66x0.206-in. SIP form factor, the DV (vertical-mount) and DH (horizontal-mount) series of nonisolated dc/dc converters provide full output current when operating at temperatures as high as 85[degrees]C. What's more,...

Converter produces low operating voltages for ASICs and DSPs. (powersources showcase).(C&D Technologies' WPA60)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Useful for distributed power architectures in high-end telecommunication systems, the WPA60 dc/dc converter delivers two independently regulated 1.8 and 3.3V outputs with full regulation down to zero load. Power can be traded between the...

Converter meets dual-voltage requirements of DDR SDRAM. (powersources showcase).(Artesyn Technologies' DDR12 )(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... The DDR12 is a nonisolated point-of-load converter that generates both the logic supply voltage and termination voltage for DDR SDRAM, providing 25A at 2.5V ([V.sub.DDQ]) and 8A at 1.25V ([V.sub.TT]). Conversion efficiency is typically 85% at...

DC/DC converters accommodate 4:1 input-voltage range. (powersources showcase).(Datel UHE Q)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... Q models in the UHE series of 25 and 30W dc/dc converters cover input-voltage ranges of 9 to 36V and 18 to 75V for use in mobile IP routers, wireless base stations, and multicontinent instrumentation. Enclosed in rugged, encapsulated plastic...

Ultraminiature dc/dc converters furnish high isolation. (powersources showcase).(MicroPower Direct's E200I)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... These tiny 2W converters boast input-to-output isolation of 3000V dc in a miniature 0.46x 0.24x0.40-in. SIP. The 18 models in the E200I series accept inputs of 5, 12, 24, and 48V, offering single outputs of 3.3, 5, 9, 12, and 15V. Each model...

Two-tube inverters permit LCD dimming. (powersources showcase).(Endicott Research Group's 8mAD )(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... You can use the 8mAD series of dc/ac inverters for powering 10.4- and 12.1-in. LCDs that are backlit by a pair of CCFLs. The inverters have onboard connectors and can be easily dimmed to less than 5% duty cycle using an external analog control...

Surround-sound audio codec. (Integrated Circuits).(Wolfson Microelectronics' WM8772)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Integrates a stereo ADC with a sampling rate reaching 96 kHz and a six-channel DAC with a sampling rate reaching 192 kHz * ADC and DAC can run independently at different sample rates * WM8772, $6 (1000) Wolfson Microelectronics...

Boost regulator. (Integrated Circuits).(Sipex's SP6648)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Delivers a maximum output current of 400 mA with a quiescent current of 12 [micro]A * Provides a 3.3V fixed output or 2.5 to 5V adjustable output * SP6648, 99 cents (100,000) Sipex Corp, 1-978-667-8700, www.sipex. com No. 342

Multiple signal translator. (Integrated Circuits).(On Semiconductor's NB100LVEP91)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Translates LVPECL, LVTTL, LVCMOS, HSTL, CML, or LVDS to NECL at speeds greater than 2 GHz * Keeps jitter to less than 0.5 psec (typical), output-to-output skew to 20 psec, and propagation delay to less than 650 psec * NB100LVEP91,...

1:4 clock fan-out buffers. (Integrated Circuits).(Micrel Semiconductor's SY89831, SY89832, SY89833, SY89834)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * LVPECL and LVDS buffers with internal termination accept ac- or dc-coupled differential inputs * Provide throughput of more than 2 GHz, jitter of less than 1 psec p-p, and skew of less than 20 psec * SY89831, SY89832, SY89833, and...

Dual-channel voice-over-broadband SLIC. (Integrated Circuits).(Legerity's VoiceChip 9502)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Includes on-chip ringing and integrated switching regulator * Employs a universal interface that enables easy integration with DSP-based network processors and codecs * VoiceChip 9502, $5 (100,000) Legerity Inc, 1-512-228-4500,...

Universal line interface units. (Integrated Circuits).(Integrated Device Technology's 82V2081, 82V2082, 82V2084, 82V2088)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Single, dual, quad, and octal devices accommodate long- and short-haul TI, El, and J1 connections * Provide software impedance matching and error counters on each channel * 82V2081, $7.94; 82V2082, $13.36; 82V2084, $21.95; and...

Soft modem front end. (Integrated Circuits).(TDK Semiconductor's 73M1901)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Packs a 16-bit codec and fully differential hybrid circuit in a 32-pin TQFP * Handles low-speed (V.22bis) and high-speed transmission to 56 kbps (V.92) * 73M1901, less than $3 (1000) TDK Semiconductor Corp, 1-714-508-8800,...

Single-channel voice codec. (Integrated Circuits).(Winbond Electronics' W6811)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Employs a 5V analog interface to maintain its long-distance line-card drive capabilities while allowing design migration to 3V digital logic * Consumes 200 nA typical in standby and power-down modes * W6811, $1.27 (10,000) ...

Linear power amplifiers. (Integrated Circuits).(RF Micro Devices' RF6100)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * 4x4-mm modules for cellular/AMPS, US PCS, and Korean PCS handsets * Offer 3.0 and 2.85V operation with output power of 28 or 29 dBm * RF6100 series, $2.50 (samples) RF Micro Devices Inc, 1-336-664-1233, www.rfmd.com No. 349

Gigabit Ethernet transceiver. (Integrated Circuits).(Mysticom's MY1104)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Furnishes four serializer/deserializer channels with speeds of 1.0 to 1.25 Gbps * Consumes 0.6W and optionally operates over -40 to +85[degrees]C * MY1104, $33.75 (1000) Mysticom Inc, 1-650-210-8080, www. mysticom.com No. 350

EBX-sized computer board. (Embedded Systems).(WinSystems' EBC-BX)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Delivers 700-MHz Pentium III processing over -40 to +60[degrees]C * Includes video and Ethernet controllers, solid-state disk support, four serial ports, and 48 bidirectional digital I/O lines * EBC-BX, $1095 WinSystems Inc,...

Hot-swappable CompactPCI single-board computer. (Embedded Systems).(General Micro Systems' C165)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Comes with a Pentium or Celeron processor, as much as 1 Gbyte of SO-DIMM RAM, a 2.5-in. hard drive, and an AGP video subsystem * Provides four USB ports, two Ethernet ports, and one PMC expansion site * C165, $995 with an 850-MHz...

DSP PCI board. (Embedded Systems).(Dalanco Spry's BVR-32)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Employs a 60-MHz TMS320C32 DSP, a 12-bit ADC, a 12-bit DAC, and a Xilinx Virtex FPGA * Comes with an assembler, a debugger, Windows device drivers, FPGA and DSP utilities, and data-acquisition and signal-display programs * Model...

Ethernet-to-serial device servers. (Embedded Systems).(Sealevel Systems' SeaLink)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Available in eight-, four-, two-, and one-port versions * Each port is individually configurable through software for RS-232, RS-422, or RS-485 operation * SeaLink series, from $299 Sealevel Systems Inc, 1-864-843-4343,...

Industrial system platform. (Embedded Systems).(American Eltec's CyBox_9)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Stainless-steel enclosure houses a BAB 911 computer employing an IBM PowerPC 750CX * Provides a passive PCI/ISA backplane with four available PCI slots * CyBox_9, $1500 American Eltec Inc, 1-702-878-4085, www.americaneltec.com...

Panel PC. (Embedded Systems).(Arista's ARP 1715)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Equipped with a 15-in. TFT LCD with touchscreen, a 2.5-in. hard drive, as much as 512 Mbytes of memory, and slim CD-ROM and floppy drives * Provides a 10/100BaseT Ethernet controller for network access * ARP, 1715, from $1500 Arista...

Slim VME64X backplane. (Embedded Systems).(Bustronic's 101V64XM02)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * 7U-high two-slot unit measures just 1.56 in. wide * Outfitted with stiffeners to help prevent bowing * Model 101V64XM02, $393 Bustronic Corp, 1-510-4907388, www.bustronic.com No. 358

Tiny low-power computer module. (Embedded Systems).(Persistor Instruments' CF2)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * 2.5x2.0x0.7-in. board targets remote or portable equipment for data logging and control * Runs under PicoDOS with a configurable command shell for managing files and directories on removable CompactFlash cards * CF2, $295 (OEM) ...

DSP audio-development platform. (Embedded Systems).(Soundart's Chameleon)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Enables the development, prototyping, and debugging of DSP audio algorithms * Comes in a 1U rack enclosure with audio I/O, display, encoder, and headphone output * Chameleon, approximately $795 Soundart, +34-93-419-5269,...

DC motor controller/driver. (Embedded Systems).(Roboteq's AX2500)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2003... * Dual-channel unit directly drives as much as 120A on each channel at as much as 40V * Accepts commands from either a standard remote-control radio or serial port interface * AX2500, $485 Roboteq Inc, 1-602-549-7535,...

So long, CD; hello, Kazaa. (leading edge).
March 20, 2003... "Five years from now, you'll see virtually no CD stores... Demand is shifting, and anyone who thinks it isn't going to happen hasn't paid attention to history." --Mike Dreese, founder of Newbury Comics, the Northeast's largest music...

1.5-GHz ADC fits high-bandwidth VME applications. (leading edge).(Echotek VME 64X)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... TARGETING SIGNAL INTELLIGENCE, laser ranging, and other high-bandwidth applications, Echotek's new 6U, single-slot VME 64X board features one or two channels of high-speed, 8-bit analog-to-digital conversion along with programmable gate arrays...

Switch RTOSs with no application-code changes. (leading edge).(ARC International MQX)
March 20, 2003... MQX is ARC's royalty-free real-time operating system for its series of ARCTangent configurable-processor cores and for other popular architectures, including ARM. If you are using MQX, OS Changer lets you reuse legacy code written for other...

PCI Express shifts into gear. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... Several companies have recently announced product support for PCI Express. Nurlogic (www.nurlogic.com) is developing OpalLink, a 0.13-micron PCI Express "hard"-IP (intellectual-property) core operating at 2.5 Gbps/lane with a power consumption...

Low-noise amplifier tops 1.5-GHz gain bandwidth. (leading edge).(National Semiconductor LMH6624)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR'S VIP-10 complementary-bipolar trench-isolated silicon-on-insulator process produces high-speed circuits that demand comparatively modest supply currents. The LMH6624 wideband amplifier adds ultralow noise to the product...

Dilbert.
March 20, 2003... YOU'VE GOT TO IMPLEMENT A SIX SIGMA PROGRAM OR ELSE YOU'RE DOOMED. AREN'T YOU THE SAME CONSULTANT WHO SOLD US THE WORTHLESS TQM PROGRAM A FEW YEARS AGO? I ASSURE YOU THAT THIS PROGRAM HAS A TOTALLY, TOTALLY DIFFERENT NAME. WHEN...

RGB sensor IC provides serial output. (leading edge).(Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions TCS230 )(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... For color light-to-digital conversion, the TCS230 CMOS device from Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions provides 10- to 12-bit resolution per color channel. The sensor targets medical diagnostic products, color-calibration units, and...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... * Sony's music group lost $152 million during the first six months of its current fiscal year, EMI has cut 1800 positions worldwide, and the Warner Music Group reduced its staff by 1000 over the past two years.--The Boston Sunday Globe, Feb 25,...

Graphics flurry may leave you blurry. (leading edge).(new Nvidia products)
March 20, 2003... LAST FALL, Nvidia assured me that the bulk of its 0.13-micron-manufacturing woes were over and that I should expect a blizzard of GeForce FX proliferations in the coming months (see "Graphics tit for tat turns topsy-turvy," EDN, Dec 12, 2002,...

Database structure targets nanometer-scale chip design. (leading edge).(Synopsys Galaxy)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... FOLLOWING THE ACQUISITION of Avanti, Synopsys has announced the Galaxy platform for advanced system-on-chip designs, which combines tools from the Synopsys offering, such as Design Compiler and PrimeTime, with back-end tools from the Avanti...

Single-use fuse still has role to play. (leading edge).(Tyco Electronics FT600 from Raychem Circuit Protection Unit)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... Despite the availability of more complex circuit-protection devices, a basic single-use fuse is sometimes what an application or an industry standard requires. The FT600 series of fuses from the Raychem unit of Tyco Electronics is well-suited...

Software, silicon acceleration brew a stronger Java. (leading edge).(Reqwireless EmailViewer and WebViewer )
March 20, 2003... ALTHOUGH I RECENTLY DECIDED that an advanced cell phone couldn't replace my computer, I'm still experimenting to see if I can disprove my past conclusions (see "All-in-one cell phones: not a one-for-all panacea" EDN, Oct 31, 2002, pg 67). The...

Accelerator makes cell phones snappy. (leading edge).(MediaQ's MQ2100)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... JUDGING FROM the JPEG encoder built into the MediaQ MQ2100, the company buys into market-analyst predictions that lots of folks will soon replace their cell phones with units containing built-in digital still cameras and videocameras. The chip...

Thermal-interface material changes phase to smooth heat flow. (leading edge).( Bergquist Hi-Flow 225UF )(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... Bergquist's new compliant material ensures low thermal impedance between hot ICs and their heat sinks and avoids messy "bleeding" of the adhesive. The Hi-Flow 225UF comprises a 3-mil (0.076-mm)-thick adhesive phase-change material with a 1-mil...

Integrate dual-role USB with 16-bit processing. (leading edge).(Cypress EZ-Host CY-7C67300 and EZ-OTG CY7C67200)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2003... CYPRESS' EZ-Host CY-7C67300 and EZ-OTG CY7C67200 are dual-role USB devices that comply with the USB 2.0 specification, support both full- and low-speed traffic, and are fully compatible with the USB-OTG (On-the-Go) Supplement. The 16-bit RISC...

Timing analyzer is always a critic. (leading edge).
March 20, 2003... MOST DESIGN TEAMS CURRENTLY rely on static-timing analysis to ensure timing closure for their designs. Yet, many of the effects that impact signal propagation are dynamic or result from dynamic behavior. To ensure that a circuit works,...

Do your layout with digital and analog in mind. (baker's best).
March 20, 2003... YOU CAN IMPLEMENT an ideal layout with your embedded-system design by using four or more layers. You use these layers to properly implement the separation of digital and analog planes as well as to keep the traces With switching signals away...

Two op amps can ruin the stew. (analog angle).
March 20, 2003... OP-AMP CIRCUITS HAVE A FEEDBACK LOOP, but sometimes it is advantageous to improve closed-loop performance by including another amplifier within the op amp's feedback loop. For example, a limited selection of...

Who's in the debate? (edn.comment).(Column)
March 20, 2003... WHILE PREPARING THIS issue's cover story, RF Unlocked, pg 42, I learned about many more applications for intermachine communication than I could possibly describe in a single article. Among the product-development efforts that captured my...

Pass me that DNA snippet, please: nanotechnology is nice, but you need nanotools, as well. Optical tweezers let you manipulate microscopic objects, and you can even build one yourself. (how it works).(and related article)
March 20, 2003... THESE DAYS, YOU can read about nanotechnology everywhere--from scientific journals to mainstream newspapers and magazines. Materials built from molecular-sized building blocks, manipulation of DNA strands, MEMS (microelectromechanical systems),...

RF unlocked: low-power radios provide big advances in a growing number of short-hop-communication applications. .(Buyers Guide)(Cover Story)
March 20, 2003... DIVIDE mechanized communication into two types--one in which people originate or use the payload messages directly and one in which the payload both originates and terminates with an object. Technologies for the direct method include everything...

Adjusting the A/D voltage reference to provide gain.
March 20, 2003... The purpose of providing gain in the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is to boost the signal and thereby improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Even in ADCs that have internal programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs), some noise also gets...

Get smart: smart cards pass the global test. (design feature).(Industry Overview)
March 20, 2003... SKEPTICS TYPICALLY regarded smart-card technology as an essentially French phenomenon that somehow grew into a global business. But, more than two decades later, with smart-card uses now ranging from e-commerce to the fight against terrorism,...