ED_Electronic Design Update_: Hydrogen Cars Break Into The American Market
Electronic Design UPDATE e-Newsletter | June 18, 2008
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scope |
Hydrogen Cars Break Into The American Market
By Richard Gawel, Managing Editor
Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, Honda’s FCX Clarity began rolling off the assembly line this week in Tochigi, Japan. The company also announced a Southern California dealership network as well as its first customers, who will get their cars next month.
Last week’s 45th Design Automation Conference (DAC) in Anaheim was my twelfth consecutive DAC, and it was surely the most interesting and different I’ve experienced in journalistic terms. Yeah, that was me traipsing around the show floor with my colleague Damian Mendez in tow, toting a great big video camera. It was my first experience in documenting DAC in video, and I would term it a success.
In a sort of American Idol for the mobile technology world, the GSM Association held its American leg of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition in Atlanta on June 3-4. This was a cool event bringing together top innovators in the mobile market space, and I enjoyed the chance to see so many new technologies on one stage.
Infineon and Auto Electronics invite you to participate in the “REV UP FUEL EFFICIENCYâ€쳌 design contest. Take “the green challengeâ€쳌 and design a solution using Infineon products that enables or improves energy efficiency for automotive applications. You could win a grand prize of $10,000, a second prize of $5000 or a third prize of $2000. The three winners will get an all-expenses-paid trip to the Infineon and Auto Electronics Contest Award Ceremony at Convergence 2008. In addition, your winning design will be featured at the Infineon booth during the show. Submit your entry by August 15.
Your Ideas For Design Can Win $500 Send us your Ideas for Design and we'll pay you $150 for every Idea for Design that we publish. In addition, the year's top design as selected by our readers will earn an additional $500, with two runners-up each receiving $250. You can submit your Ideas for Design via e-mail to: dbs@penton.com or, mail your material to:
Ideas for Design Electronic Design 45 Eisenhower Dr., Suite 550 Paramus, NJ 07652
Click here for our guidelines on Ideas for Design...
IFD of the week |
Simple Circuit Uses FET To Protect Car's Video Driver From Overvoltage
By Marvin Lee, Ron Koo Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
In a typical automotive video application, the video digital-to-analog converter (DAC)—from a rear camera or DVD player, for example—is followed by a low-pass reconstruction filter and an amplifier that transmits a video signal to the LCD. This amplifier, and all such similar automotive circuits, must be protected from direct connection to the car’s battery voltage.
WORLD'S SMALLEST LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR OFFERS LOW CURRENT Micro Crystal has combined its smallest 32,768Hz timing crystal with a complete CMOS oscillator circuit into a ceramic SMD package measuring only 3.2 mm x 1.5 mm x 1.0mm. Its high stability and very low current consumption are ideal for today's high-performance portable equipment. Fully RoHS Compliant and 100% lead-free. Wide operating voltage, from 5.5V down to 1.2V. Maximum current consumption is just 0.5µA at 3V…up to 10 times lower than comparable products and 10,000 times lower than typical AT-based oscillators. Click here for more info.
focus on embedded hardware |
SWIR Sensor Will Run Cool On Little Power
In partnership, Nextreme Thermal Solutions and Princeton Lightwave are developing a short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) focal plane sensor using extremely efficient thermoelectric cooling. Based on Nextreme’s thermal bump technology and Princeton's indium-gallium-arsenide (InGaA) focal plane arrays, the sensor promises to dramatically reduce power consumption and weight while improving overall performance.
The Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control (STARMAC) is a multi-vehicle testbed used to demonstrate new concepts in multi-agent control on a real-world platform. In order to make such a testbed easy to use, the Stanford team focused on a small, light, low-cost design, which presented numerous opportunities for innovative work. STARMAC consists of up to eight quadrotor vehicles that autonomously track a given waypoint trajectory. On-board components include: Robostix for inner loop control from Gumstix, a Stargate single-board computer (SBC) from Crossbow (based on the Intel Xscale PXA255 microprocessor) with a Netgear MA701 Compact Flash Wi-Fi card, PC104 for high-level planning and automation, a Superstar II Differential GPS receiver from Novatel (outputs 10-Hz carrier phase measurement data), a 3DM-GX1 Inertial Measurement Unit from MicroStrain, a Sonic Rangefinder from Acroname, and caps, resistors, and voltage regulators from Digikey.
news from the editors |
Nanotubes Sniff Out Deadly Gases
MIT chemical engineers used carbon nanotubes to build an ultra-sensitive electronic detector for deadly gases such as the nerve agent sarin, mustard gas, ammonia, and VX nerve agents. The technology shows potential for environmental or security applications. For example, it can be designed into a low-cost, low-energy device that’s carried in a pocket or deployed inside a building to monitor hazardous chemicals.
Freescale Semiconductor and several venture capital firms have launched EverSpin Technologies, an independent company focused on magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) products. MRAM uses magnetic materials combined with conventional silicon circuitry to deliver the speed of SRAM with the nonvolatility of flash memory in a single, high-endurance device.
Universities, Industry Team In Microelectronics Manufacturing R&D
It’s getting harder for U.S.-based industries to maintain competitiveness in business segments that have been moving offshore. But a collaboration between two universities and a maker of electronic interconnects has resulted in a pioneering microelectronics manufacturing research and development center.
Webinar: Supercharging Products with Embedded RFID June 26 @ 2 pm ET Sponsored by SkyeTek
They may still look the same on the outside, but embedded RFID readers and software can transform products from the inside, offering manufacturers, OEMs, and product designers new opportunities for competitive advantage through increased efficiency, accuracy and product differentiation. With an seemingly unending list of products, RFID is a key technique to adding new functionality, increasing reliability and enhancing the user experience. At this webinar and interactive Q&A
session learn the difference between RFID and existing barcode and contact technologies; and how embedded RFID has new applications in disposable authentication, smart shelves and cabinets, contactless payments, tracking, inventory and stock, and customizable configurations. Also catch up on unique technical and business considerations for embedded RFID and companies that are already implanting the technology.
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