EDN articles from May 2003

EDN archives from May 2003

Dead cats and WiFi. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).
May 1, 2003... "You can't throw a dead cat without hitting someone with a WiFi solution these days." --Fred Weber, chief technology officer at AMD's cornel products group, on the nature of the high-tech business to pile into every new opportunity in such...

Multiband receiver fits into a PCI slot. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Pentek 7631)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... PENTEK HAS INTRODUCED a 16-channel, multiband digital receiver for radar-pulse-analysis, satellite-communications, and signal-intelligence applications. The Model 7631 comprises a digital-receiver PMC (PCI Mezzanine Card) and a PMC-to-PCI...

Free software customizes application code. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Microchip Technology's Application Maestro)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY has recently introduced the Application Maestro, a software tool that customizes firmware modules for Microchip's PIC16 and PIC18 microcontrollers. Available for free from Microchip's Web site, the Application Maestro...

Book steps back, so you can see close up. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea )(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... MOST OF YOU are familiar with MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and IC processing, but nanotechnology is different. As Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea by Mark Ratner and Daniel Ratner points out, things get weird...

Group delivers Serial RapidIO model. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... THE RAPIDIO TRADE ASSOCIATION has released a Serial RapidIO bus-functional model for use in verifying Serial RapidIO-system interoperability. Motorola (www.motorola. com) developed the software model, which complements the HIP...

Dilbert. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(caption)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I'M PLEASED TO REPORT THAT I NO PROBLEMS THIS WEEK. I ONLY HAD ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND VALUABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES. DID YOU DO ANY WORK? IT DIDN'T SEEM NECESSARY. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... * According to In-Stat/MDR, Intel's mobile-processor speed will reach 2.7 GHz by the end of 2004. * As of January 2005, broadband users represented fully 53.6% of the Canadian online population, compared with just 33.8% of the US online...

Book fails to improve problem solving. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Discussion of the Method: Conducting the Engineer's Approach to Problem Solving )(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... I'm especially interested in how engineers succeed at their challenging tasks of managing trade-offs while facing complex constraints and ways they can improve these efforts, so I had great hope for Discussion of the Method: Conducting the...

Intermediate-bus power distribution ups cost-effectiveness. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... IN A DISTRIBUTED POWER ARCHITECTURE, argues power-supply-manufacturer Lambda, you can achieve considerable cost and efficiency savings by using an intermediate-bus architecture. The company sketches a comparison between two ways of achieving 5,...

iSCSI gets Microsoft support. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that it will next month begin to provide iSCSI support for Windows client and server environments. The iSCSI software driver will be available as a free Web download for Windows 2000 client and server, Windows XP client,...

Quad 10GE AND 10GFC transceivers debut. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(BitBlitz BBTX400)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... BitBlitz has announced the BBTX400, a quad 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Fiber Channel transceiver. It targets multiple-channel CWDM (coarse-wavelength-division-multiplexing), XFP (10-Gigabit small-form-factor-pluggable), and backplane...

UWB antenna goes portable. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... TRDA, a US-based R&D division of Taiyo Yuden, has announced a ceramic chip antenna for UWB (ultra-wideband) applications in the 3.1-to 10.6-GHz frequency band. Miniaturization of the antenna to 10x8x1 mm means that you can fit it into UWB in...

Processor-success plan centers on price. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Oki Semiconductor's ML67Q5200)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2003... IF YOU IGNORE the price tags, comparing the features of Oki Semiconductor's ML67Q5200 with audio-tailored processor alternatives from companies such as Cirrus Logic and Texas Instruments might leave you unimpressed with Oki's offering. After...

Upgrading to Bluetooth AFH. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Even though the revised Bluetooth spec with AFH (adaptive frequency hopping) is not due for many months, many vendors offer Version 1.2 Bluetooth devices. In other words, they offer a proprietary AFH scheme that you will be able to update to...

Formal verification gets an upgrade. (Leading edge: what's hot in the design community).(Real Intent's Verix 4.0)(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2003... Version 4.0 of Real Intent's Verix tool targets the formal-verification market, which has been growing in the last couple of years as more companies adopt the approach to improve or speed verification cycles for complex designs. The new version...

Relevance of physics. (signal integrity).
May 1, 2003... I RECENTLY RETURNED FROM A SEMESTER as a visiting fellow at Oxford University. The trip was a sabbatical assignment in which I would participate in undergraduate tutoring, hobnob with professors, and study. Yes, I still study, as does anyone...

Innovation is often strange. (edn.comment).(Column)
May 1, 2003... IN THIS ISSUE of EDN, you'll see who and what EDN readers voted as winners in our 13th annual Innovation/Innovator of the Year program, based on finalists in our March 6, 2003, issue. These winners, the finalists, and the entire run of entries...

Turning point: Hewlett Packard's new tablet PC may be loaded with features, but it's the not-so-simple rotating hinge that will turn heads. (how it works).(HP's TPC 1000 tablet PC)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2003... THE TABLET PC class of pen-based mobile computers brings an old fable to mind. With the birds and animals poised for a battle, both sides ask the bat to join them. The bat refuses, on the grounds that, as a flying animal, he doesn't really fit...

High voltage, single chip DC/DC regulator optimized for flyback, boost, or forward power converter applications. (Advertisement).
May 1, 2003... Highlights * 1.25 MHz current-mode regulator integrated with 80 V @ 2 A power MOSFET * Single chip family of SIP modules Telecom and industrial applications such as local area networks (LAN), telephone interfaces (SLICs), ISDN,...

Eyeing jitter: shaking out why signals shake. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2003... JITTER HAS BECOME A HOT TOPIC among system designers. Seemingly easy to understand, it provides a quantifiable and--thanks to the now-ubiquitous eye-diagram display--graphical indication of the severity of a host of phenomena that damage data...

Bluetooth interoperability: it's all in the details: Bluetooth faces interoperability issues on several fronts, all of which play a critical role in how quickly Bluetooth penetrate the consumer market. (design feature).
May 1, 2003... WE CERTAINLY HAVEN'T YET REACHED "The Year of Bluetooth," but this fledging technology is quickly growing up. With projected shipments of 100 million chip sets this year, and double that next year, Bluetooth is beginning to bring revenue to the...

Click picks: functionally equivalent but hardly equals, a variety of analog switches offers a range of parametric characteristics. (tech trends).
May 1, 2003... FEW DESIGNERS SPEND time pondering the traits of resistors, capacitors, or other simple passive components. Determine the necessary nominal value, tolerance, and temperature coefficient for each instance in your circuit, and you're pretty much...

Asynchronous circuits: better power by design: asynchronous circuits feature lower overall power consumption and reduce noise and electro-magnetic radiation by more uniformly consuming power. Adopting asynchronous circuit design poses many challenges, but solving these challenges is a compelling reason to do it. (design feature).
May 1, 2003... MANAGING THE POWER CONSUMPTION of ICs is an increasingly difficult challenge, because each new generation of portable device includes expanded features and demands longer battery lives. Very-high-speed semiconductor designs now face power...

New step-down charge pumps are tiny, efficient and very low noise--Design Note 310. (Design Notes: advertisement).(Advertisement)
May 1, 2003... Introduction Inductorless charge pump DC/DC converters are popular in space-constrained applications with 10mA to 500mA load currents. Such converters are available in small packages, operate with very low quiescent current and require...

Supply delivers pin-programmable multiple references. (design ideas).
May 1, 2003... IN THE CIRCUIT of Figure 1, the REF01, I[C.sub.1], is a buried-zener, diode-based, precision 10V reference that features minimal noise and drift over temperature. The circuit provides not only the 10V output of the REF01, but also a 5V Output...

Design an efficient reset circuit. (design ideas).
May 1, 2003... WHEN YOU WORK with microprocessors, you must ensure that when the power-supply voltage fluctuates to the minimum permissible level, [V.sub.L], that the processor's ALU continues to operate normally. Also, when you switch on the power supply,...

One-shot provides frequency discrimination. (design ideas).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... YOU USE A FREQUENCY discrimination to compare one signal frequency with another one. A functional feature, retriggering, of a monostable, one-shot 74xx123 multivibrator can yield frequency discrimination. Figure 1 shows a frequency...

Circuit forms novel floating current source. (design ideas).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... FIGURE 1 SHOWS A POLARIZATION circuit applicable to ISFET (ion-sensitive field-effect-transistor) sensors. ISFETs are solid-state chemical sensors that measure the pH value of a solution in biomedical and environmental applications, for...

Circuit provides Class D motor control. (design ideas).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... CLASS D AUDIO AMPLIFIERS provide a dual benefit for battery-powered portable devices. They enhance battery life, and they produce much less power dissipation than do their linear cousins. Those features make Class D amplifiers ideal candidates...

Timing-signal generator. (Integrated Circuits).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... * Simplifies timing design for SONET/SDH network elements * Provides four synchronized outputs; one is a BITS dock at 1.544 or 2.048 MHz * SCS3015, less than $100 0000) 9co, 1-630-579-0466, www. 9co.com No. 315

Fixed equalizer. (Integrated Circuits).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... * Three-band IC optimizes sound quality in automotive audio systems * Eliminates standing waves, boosts underemphasized and subdues overemphasized frequencies, and moves sound envelope to evenly distribute the audio-system frequency range...

Audio DAC. (Integrated Circuits).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... * Operates over a supply-voltage range of 2.2 to 5.5V * Integrates an LDO regulator; PCM, SPI, and [I.sup.2]C interfaces; audible pop suppression circuitry; and capacitor-less headset connection * DAC 3560C, $1.95 (OEM) Micronas...

Accessories help you get a grip on what you test. (leading edge).(Fluke Corp's SureGrip family )(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... LOW-TECH ISSUES can sometimes make or break high-tech projects. Moreover, companies that make test tools are awakening to the fact that rugged, highly usable accessories, such as probes and alligator clips, simplify users' jobs and help to sell...

Just desserts. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... "Pinning down a spammer is like trying to nail down Jell-O." --Robert Bulmash president of the privacy-rights group Private Citizen, in Wired, April 29, 2003

SOC-design day comes to the Embedded Processor Forum. (leading edge).
May 15, 2003... THE 2003 RENDITION of In-Stat/MDR's EPF (Embedded Processor Forum) is just around the corner and again will feature luminaries from companies such as MIPS Technologies, National Semiconductor, Analog Devices, IBM, Motorola, Infineon, and ARM....

Transceiver plans boost interconnect performance. (leading edge).(RocketPHY family)
May 15, 2003... XILINX'S 2000 ACQUISITION of RocketChips is taking the company's product line in interesting directions. For the first time (unless you count the company's configuration memories), Xilinx is offering chips that don't fit within the...

Dilbert. (leading edge).
May 15, 2003... BOB, WAS WORKING FOR YOU WHEN HE DIED. THE FAMILY WANTS YOU TO SAY SOMETHING AT HIS FUNERAL. I BARELY KNEW HIM. MAYBE I CAN READ SOMETHING FROM HIS LAST PERFORMANCE BOB NEEDS TO WORK ON HIS COMMUNICATION SKILLS... AND ATTENDANCE.

Analog hard macros debut. (leading edge).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Although designers can obtain PLL circuits from analog-synthesis vendors, intellectual-property providers are now also offering products for the analog market. True Circuits Inc offers a line of spread-spectrum and low-bandwidth PLL analog hard...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 81 in April 2005 from 61.4 in March 2005, according to a survey of 5000 households by the Conference Board. * Global handheld-computer sales fell 11% to 2.8 million units in the first quarter of...

PDA foundation purges the partition. (leading edge).
May 15, 2003... ONE KEY DIFFERENCE between MediaQ's and NeoMagic's late-2002 product offerings was that, whereas NeoMagic's MiMagic 5 strived to encompass all PDA-processing tasks, MediaQ's MQ-1188 was content to be a multimedia-tuned companion to a separate...

PC/104 module embeds PC Card technology. (leading edge).(WinSystems PPM-CardBus)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... WINSYSTEMS HAS INTRODUCED the PPM-CardBus, a PC/104-Plus module that supports both CardBus and PCMCIA cards. The module adapts off-the-shelf computing functions, such as requiring 802.11a, b, and g wireless networking; Bluetooth; IEEE-1394...

Royalty-free JVM targets embedded systems. (leading edge).(NewMonics' Perc 4.x Java virtual machine)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... NewMonics has announced a royalty-free licensing model for Perc, its clean-room version of a J2SE-class VM (virtual machine) for embedded systems. The Perc 4.x tool suites feature dynamic garbage collection, which is critical for real-time...

Take the analog high road. (analog angle).
May 15, 2003... OP AMPS AND INSTRUMENTATION AMPS have differential front ends that make them excellent subtracters. Subtraction is important for noise reduction; you subtract any signal appearing on one amplifier input from the other input, thus eliminating...

The power behind battery power: less than you think. (baker's best).
May 15, 2003... IF YOU HAVE A BATTERY-POWERED SYSTEM, chances are that one of your most important performance specifications is power consumption (or lack thereof). You can use many techniques to reduce the power consumption of your processor or controller...

The EDA industry needs more food bowls. (edn.comment).(Column)
May 15, 2003... MOST EDA CONFERENCES I attended in the past two years offered a panel discussion on the relationship between the industry and the financial markets. The underlying question is always the same: How can EDA get respect from Wall Street? The...

Ballistic whiskers kick up storage capacity. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... AS HARD-DISK CAPACITIES increase, the magnetic field generated by each stored bit becomes weaker and harder to detect. Over the years, innovations in read-head technology have met this challenge, driving an astonishing increase in bit density....

Seeing red ... no, green. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... AN ELECTROLUMINESCENT material developed by researchers at Philips and the University of Amsterdam glows either red or green, depending on the direction of current you apply to it. The material is a homogeneous mix of a semiconducting polymer...

Marine invertebrates build advanced microlenses. (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... RESEARCHERS AT LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES' Bell Labs have copied a process observed in brittlestars--marine animals similar to starfish--to develop high-quality, complex-shaped crystals that could eventually find use in optoelectronic devices. A...

Sinking the floating gate? (Sightings: the outlook for new technology).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... RESEARCHERS at Motorola have demonstrated a 4-Mbit memory chip based on silicon nanocrystals. Nanocrystal technology could prove to be a successor to conventional floating-gate-based flash-memory technology, which many believe will not be...

Directional beams refocus sound science: a new sound-reproduction technology uses ultrasonic energy to create audible, highly directional sound beams out of thin air. (how it works).
May 15, 2003... ALTHOUGH THE SETUP WAS SIMPLE, the demonstration was almost unbelievable. A portable CD player fed a small amplifier that in turn drove a special speaker. I stood beside the 7x7 flat speaker, and yet the sound seemed to emanate from the far...

Unlocked embedding open-source software: a growing list of vendors is encouraging the use of open-source software, and embedded system designers are now considering free, open-source software for operating systems, development tools, and applications. (cover story).
May 15, 2003... FOLLOWING THE LEAD of start-ups and low-budget projects, the embedded-system-development community has now adopted the use of open-source software, which has gained a substantial foothold in that area. People have developed scores of...

Analyzing your way to a better system: unresolved problems cause project slips, result in poor quality, and lower engineering productivity. Software-analysis tools strive to help you to avoid, identify, isolate, and fix them. (Software-analysis tools).
May 15, 2003... ASK EMBEDDED-SYSTEM developers what kinds of tools they use to analyze developing systems, and you will get a good idea of where they focus their efforts during design projects. Each set of analysis tools is best brought to bear at a different...

Grasp connector issues for rugged, for rugged, portable, data-collection devices: it's not so easy to choose that deceptively simple connector. (Connectors for rugged applications).
May 15, 2003... RUGGEDIZED APPLICATIONS, such as parcel delivery, warehouse inventory and logistics, oil exploration, and health-care facilities rely on specially designed portable devices for data collection (Figure 1). Although some mobile applications are...

Dual output supply powers FPGAs from 3.3V and 5V inputs design note 311. (Design notes: advertisement).
May 15, 2003... Introduction FPGAs often require multiple power supplies: one for the core voltage (usually 1.8V, but sometimes as low as 1.2V) and at least one more for the I/O circuitry (often 2.5V). The available input supply is either 3.3V or 5V. One...

Small, 915-MHz antenna beats monopole. (design ideas).
May 15, 2003... A 915-MHz data-acquisition project required a small antenna, but the available antennas lacked the necessary characteristics: efficiency, compactness--that is, smaller than a standard 3-in. monopole--with adequate bandwidth, and with...

Digital signal controls sine generator. (design ideas).(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... THE CIRCUIT of Figure 1 produces an accurate, variable-frequency sine wave for use as a general-purpose reference signal. It includes an eighth-order elliptic, switched-capacitor lowpass filter, [IC.sub.3], which uses a 100-kHz square-wave...

Transmitter accurately transfers voltage input. (design ideas).
May 15, 2003... WHEN YOU CONNECT Remote sensors to a central process controller, a simple, robust, and commonly used interface is the 4- to 20-mA loop. The advantages of this current loop include the simplicity of just two twisted wires that share both power...

Absolute-value circuit delivers high bandwidth. (design ideas).
May 15, 2003... Ron Mancini, Texas Instruments, Bushnell, FL MOST ABSOLUTE-VALUE circuits have limited bandwidth and high component count, and they require several matched resistors. The circuit in Figure 1 uses three fewer components than most...

10A dc/dc converters achieve 96% efficiency. (power sources showcase).(Datel's LSN D5 series )(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Nonisolated dc/dc converters in the LSN D5 series accept 5V inputs ([+ or -] 10%) and produce 1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2, 2.5, and 3.3V outputs at 10A. Device efficiency is 89 to 96%. You can configure the devices' 2 x 0.5 x 0.34-in. single-in-line...

Hermetically sealed dc/dc converters boost power density. (power sources showcase).(International Rectifier's AFL120 series)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Housed in 3 x 1.5 x 0.38-in. hermetically sealed packages, 120V-input dc/dc converters in the AFL120 series achieve a maximum power density of 84W/on. (3) and maximum efficiency of 80%. The AFL12005S supplies 16A at 5V, and the AFL1203R3S...

Dual-output dc/dc converters have low profile. (power sources showcase).(C and D Technologies NDT series )(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Useful for height-constrained applications, including rack-mount industrial and telecommunication pc boards, NDT series isolated dc/dc converters have a board-mount height of just 7 mm. The 3W dual-output converters come in 24-pin dual-in-line...

CompactPCI switchers deliver as much as 400W. (power sources showcase).(XPiQ's RTC series )(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... The RTC series of PICMG-compliant hot-swap/redundant CompactPCI switching power supplies comprises quad-output models that furnish 150, 200, and 400W of output power. All models are available with 48V dc input or universal ac input. In addition...

25A open-frame converters produce 25 to 50W. (power sources showcase).(Astrodyne's DH series)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Just 1x2 in., these open-frame dc/dc converters offer as much as 50W of output power at currents to 25A. The DH series gives you a choice of single, dual, or triple outputs of 1.2 to 100V dc. All models accommodate input voltage ranges of 18 to...

Rack-mount VRLA battery system boasts long life. (power sources showcase).(EnerSys PowerSafe DDm)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... Combining an enhanced cell design with an integral racking system, the PowerSafe DDm battery system delivers a service life of as many as 20 years for a variety of applications requiring large-capacity valve-regulated lead-acid batteries....

Switching supplies sport as many as 18 outputs. (power sources showcase).(from Astec Power)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... You can configure the VS series of six-slot switching power supplies with as many as 18 dc outputs ranging from 2 to 48V and a total power output of as much as 2500W. Individual modules have power ratings of 300, 600, 750, 900, 1200, and 1500W...

CompactPCI single-board computer. (Embedded Systems).(Momentum Computer Civet-C)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Serves as an intelligent PMC carrier or system controller * Includes a 466-MHz IBM PowerPC 440GP CPU, 256 Mbytes of DDR SDRAM, 10/100-Mbps Ethernet port, and two PMC slots * Civet-C, from less than $1500 (OEM) Momentum Computer Inc,...

IDE for embedded Linux. (Embedded Systems).(Green Hills Software's MULTI for Linux)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Lets you debug Linux applications, kernels, and device drivers * Works out of the box with existing GNU development tool chains, including those for native Pentium, embedded MIPS, and embedded PowerPC environments * MULTI for Linux,...

Enhanced RTOS. (Embedded Systems).(OSE Systems OSE 4.5)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Now supports MIPS32 and IBM PowerPC 750CX/FX and 440GP processor families * Integrates the OSE Gateway for heterogeneous distributed-systems implementation * OSE V4.5, from $8000 for a 10-developer license OSE Systems Inc,...

Configurable PMC module. (Embedded Systems).(SBS Technologies Palomar 500)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Furnishes a 144-pin SO-DIMM socket that accommodates 64 to 512 Mbytes of SDRAM * Powered by an IBM PowerPC 750CXe processor with adjustable speed for reducing power consumption * Palomar 500, less than $800 with 256 Mbytes of SDRAM...

Benchtop-development chassis. (Embedded Systems).(Tracewell Systems T-Frame)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Eight-slot system includes a CSMB (CompactPCI Serial Mesh Backplane) * Open-frame design allows easy access to test points and in-circuit test devices * T-Frame, from $4795 Tracewell Systems Inc, 1-614-846-6175,...

Wireless CardBus adapter. (Embedded Systems).
May 15, 2003... * 2.4/5-GHz adapter connects a note book computer to any IEEE 802.11 a, 802.11b, or 802.11g wireless network * Operates at maximum distances of 1700 ft at maximum data rates of 54 Mbps in draft mode and 108 Mbps in turbo mode *...

PCI/PCI-X hot-swap interface. (Embedded Systems).(Catalyst Enterprises PCIBX32 and PCIBX64)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Enables hot-swapping of 32- and 64-bit add-in cards in PCI and PCI-X systems * Performs software-based measurements of UUT frequency, voltage, and current * PCIBX32, from $345; PCIBX64, from $475 Catalyst Enterprises Inc,...

PMC I/0 module. (Embedded Systems).(Thales Computers PMC-DAADIO)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Supplies eight 12-bit differential analog input channels, eight 12-bit single-ended analog outputs, and 18 TTL digital I/O lines * Comes in three ruggedization levels for use in harsh environments * PMC-DAADIO, from $995 Thales...

VPN/firewall PCI card. (Embedded Systems).(SnapGear PCI630)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Provides full dynamic stateful firewall and IPsec VPN processing for secure access and communication * Includes a 10/100BaseT Ethernet interface * PCI630, $299 SnapGear Inc, 1-801-282-8492, www. snapgear.com No. 366

Single-slot CPU board. (Embedded Systems).(MEN Micro F7N)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Comes in 3U Eurocard and 6U double Eurocard form factors for CompactPCI and PXI systems * Powered by a 1.26-GHz Pentium III or 1.2-GHz Celeron embedded processor * F7N, from $1695 MEN Micro Inc, 1-972-939-2675, www.menmicro.com ...

ETX single-board computer. (Embedded Systems).(Arista ETX-602)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Offers a choice of low-voltage Pentium III or Celeron processors * Includes four USB ports, keyboard and mouse controllers, a 2-D/3-D video accelerator, and a 10/100BaseT Ethernet controller * ETX-602, from $400 Arista Corp,...

Java game-development kit. (Embedded Systems).(aJile Systems' JAM-ID100K)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Comes with a JAMiD gaming cartridge, adapter boards, cables, J2ME/ CLDC/MIDP Java runtime environment, and tool chain * Brings Sun's MIDP 2.0 Java technology to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance players * JAM-ID100K, $199 aJile Systems...

PMC computer module. (Embedded Systems).(Force Computers PowerPMC-270)(Brief Article)
May 15, 2003... * Comes with one or two PowerPC 750FX processors running at 800 MHz maximum * Provides as much as 2 Gbytes of SDRAM, dual independent Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and 133-MHz PCI-X support * PowerPMC-270, from $1575 Force Computers...

Swamped. (leading edge).
May 29, 2003... "You're so busy fighting the alligators that you forget you're supposed to be draining the swamp." --small-business owner Alan Lethers on the amount of time, money, and energy you can spend on a Web site, in The New York Times, May 6, 2003...

Kit eases you off the grid and onto LEDs. (leading edge).(LEDtronics SLR002)(Brief Article)
May 29, 2003... WITH NEW 12V LEO systems from LEDtronics, you can build a complete, indoor, solar-powered lighting system. The SLR001/002, which differ in power and illumination level, include solar panels; 12-ft-long, 16-gauge cables; 3A, 20-hour batteries;...

Off-the-shelf software provides high availability. (leading edge).
May 29, 2003... FAULT-TOLERANT AND HIGHLY AVAILABLE systems have uptimes of nearly 100% and 99.999%, respectively, and they often require significant reworking of applications and operating-system drivers to implement various levels of application reliability....

Modular data-acquisition system offers possibilities galore. (leading edge).
May 29, 2003... YOKOGAWA'S HIGHLY configurable, modular, and networkable DaqMaster MX100 uses an external PC as a host. Each of the system's desktop- or DIN-rail-mountable units resembles a PLC (programmable-logic controller), but the units complement rather...

Dilbert.
May 29, 2003... CATBERT EVIL H.R. DIRECTOR THE AVERAGE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR YOUR GROUP IS TOO HIGH. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DO YOU WANT ME TO LOWER THEIR RATINGS OR THEIR ACTUAL PERFORMANCE? WHATEVER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THIS...

Leading edge.(Brief Article)
May 29, 2003... * Apple Computer sold more than 1 million songs through its new iTunes Music Store digital-music service in the first week of operation.--The Boston Globe, May 6, 2003 * The total number of cars with onboard navigation systems is estimated...