Incorporate flexible configurations into card and system designs with mezzanine connectors from Amphenol TCS. The XCede® Stacker enables parallel board-to-board designs up to 20 Gbps with the highest levels of reliability. The XCede Stacker provides the density and mechanical robustness needed to address increasing I/O counts. Its modular construction and different guidance options allow length to be optimized for each application. Several heights are available, ideal for scaling stackable systems based on 1U increments.
Cars Tap Wireless, Memory Technologies For Improved Safety
By Gaurav K. Agrawal, Spansion
The automobile has come a long way since its inception in the 1700s. From steam-powered carriages to today’s “mobile hubsâ€쳌 with GPS, movie screens, voice-activated phone capabilities, and self-parking features, the auto industry continues its rapid path of evolution.
Innovations Grab The Spotlight At The 2008 Sensors Expo & Conference
By Roger Allan, Contributing Editor
Held June 9-11 in Rosemont, Ill., this year’s Sensors Expo & Conference offered a rich technical program and a floor of fascinating exhibits. Nearly 200 exhibitors participated, introducing the latest wireless controllers, thermometers, glucose monitors, automotive subsystems, industrial automation systems, oil pressure gauges, smoke alarms, manufacturing materials, and other technologies.
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.
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 you can 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 |
Maintain Power-Conversion Efficiency While Saving PCB Space
By Peter Khairolomour, Applications Engineer Analog Devices Inc.
Designers of portable electronics such as cell phones, portable media players, and GPS devices are always pushing to squeeze every ounce of battery life out of the application. In particular, in the realm of power conversion, engineers aspire to ensure that every coulomb that leaves the battery finds its way to a point-of-load (POL) without being lost or dissipated as heat.
Debuting as the first 0.25-in., 3-Mpixel sensor with a mobile display digital interface (MDDI), the OV3647 employs proprietary, 1.75-micron OmniPixel3 technology. It also provides a standard parallel interface, which can act as an input for a secondary camera so it can share the MDDI interface while also functioning as an MDDI hub.
Data Rate Cable Assemblies for High Speed Systems Samtec's high speed cable systems provide flexible solutions for a variety of high speed applications. Samtec Data Rate cable systems utilize high speed connectors, miniature ribbonized coax and twinax cables, and transitional PCBs to achieve high performance cable assemblies.
High speed cable assemblies should be considered when the application requires low crosstalk, low EMI emission and susceptibility, higher frequency and less loss, or lower voltage drop.
Samtec's Data Rate Cable Group (dr@samtec.com) is available to field questions and make recommendations on assembly design and performance.
Correct-By-Construction Layout Generation And Modification
By Arya Raychaudhuri, Senior Staff Design Engineer Fastrack Design
Physical design verification software typically identifies faults in physical layouts by finding design-rule-check (DRC) violations and layout-versus-schematic (LVS) mismatches after layout is complete. So-called "correct-by-construction" layout generation is a method for generating and modifying polygonal features during the layout construction process so that the layout satisfies both design-rule constraints and connectivity requirements.
The Berkeley Aerobot (BEAR) project is a collective, interdisciplinary research effort at UC Berkeley that encompasses the disciplines of hybrid systems theory, navigation, control, computer vision, communication, and multi-agent coordination. These researchers currently operate six fully instrumented helicopters, in addition to many fixed-wing and rotary-wing vehicles under development, equipped with GPS/INS, camera, and other sensors on board, which they have been using to validate their control systems design algorithms for UAVs. In addition, they conduct pursuit-evasion games between the four ground-based robots and UAVs.
Bluetooth, Low-Power Bluetooth, GPS, And FM Radios Fit On One Chip
Cambridge Silicon Radio has sold more than 1 billion Bluetooth chips, and that number is only going to get bigger. Now, the company’s BlueCore 7 represents a breakthrough in wireless integration, as its four separate radios provide increased functionality for cell phones without requiring extra space or power consumption.
Some high-end desktop PCs offer optional TV tuners, but they haven’t been practical for laptops until now. Laptops and other portable devices equipped with the FlexiTV chip set from Mirics Semiconductor can receive over-the-air TV broadcasts. And with the set’s very low bill of materials (BOM) cost, you can expect more TV receivers in laptops, portable media players, and even cell phones.
Programmable Wireless Baseband Chip Handles Any OFDM Standard
Virtually all modern wireless standards have adopted orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as their modulation and access method. Wi-Fi 802.11a/g/n uses it. So do the mobile and fixed versions of WiMAX 802.16 and the Korean WiBro standard. The fourth-generation cell-phone standard known as Long Term Evolution (LTE) relies on OFDM. The XG-PHS cell-phone standard in Japan and China take advantage of it as well.
Layout-Dependent Modeling Boosts CMOS Gate Density
A layout-dependent circuit-design model from Toshiba helps boost gate density and improve cost performance in next-generation 45-nm CMOS technology. More specifically, a 45-nm CMOS gate density can be 2.6-times higher than that of 65-nm CMOS technology.
Design an energy-saving solution for automotive applications
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 $5,000 or a third prize of $2,000.
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, 2008.
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