There once was a time when system design was completely serial. Entire hardware platforms were designed, prototyped, debugged, and virtually completed before any software development began. Of course, such methodologies corresponded to the days of much broader market windows. The very idea of such a quaint approach is enough to make one snicker. Today, it’s quite different.
A new feature called Read Pacing is now available on Gen 2 PCI Express switches. Read Pacing is a technology that opens up new avenues for enhancing performance in systems with multiple I/O streams. To learn more about Read Pacing from our friends at PLX Technology, please click on the "play" button above. (NOTE: This webcast contains audio, so please hit the mute button on your volume control if you cannot listen to audio at this time.)
New Product Showcase: ADCs From Analog Devices Wayne Talley, Product Marketing for Precision ADCs at Analog Devices, talks about the new AD7626 and AD7625 converters, the newest additions to the PulSAR family of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).
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.
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Looking for the latest design techniques and technology in your market? Check out Electronic Design'sDesign Hotspots. Here you'll find exclusive content from our editors in Embedded, Power, and Analog technologies as well as Green Design and ROHS. We've also compiled Ideas for Design schematics here for your circuit design sweet-tooth. These spots are chock-a-block with information, so don’t delay!
The Challenge: Building a full-authority, FPGA-based engine control system for a high-performance motorcycle engine. The Solution: Using National Instruments' CompactRIO and LabVIEW environment to focus directly on engine control software and I/O board development. Drivven, an automotive control and data-acquisition-solutions provider, needed reliable, high-performance hardware to prototype an engine control system for a 2004 Yamaha YZF-R6 motorcycle. Engine control requires deterministic loop times on the order of milliseconds and precise fuel and spark timing on the order of microseconds. In addition, the target engine revs to 15,500 RPM. At this speed, there is less than 4 ms per crankshaft rotation, and the system must precisely control fuel and spark events in the angle domain to less than 1 degree. For this project, Drivven chose a four-slot NI CompactRIO embedded system because of its flexibility, small size, and rugged form factor. With this system, they could easily add sensors and actuators while quickly and easily visualizing the data. In addition, they could mount the controller in the extremely limited space available in a super-sport motorcycle.
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Cadence Shoots For The Silicon Compiler Dream
It’s a long-held dream in the EDA industry: Into one end of the magic tool goes a high-level design representation of some kind, be it a functional specification a “goldenâ€쳌 reference, or a collection of largely untimed models. Out of the other side comes a fully realized representation of the design at some lower level of abstraction, be it RTL or gate level, which achieves QoR at least equal to that achievable with hand coding in some fraction of the time.
Released in a pilot version, Maplesoft’s MapleSim is a high-performance multi-domain modeling and simulation tool that’s expected to reduce the time taken to bring products to market by using physical modeling techniques.
Users of Cadence’s OrCAD Capture Component Information System (CIS) now have access to the wealth of engineering data offered in the Digi-Key part database. EMA Design Automation, a Cadence partner and reseller, integrated the Digi-Key database into OrCAD Capture CIS by creating the EMA Component Information Portal (CIP). CIP is a web-based solution that can be deployed enterprise-wide, providing access to the Component Information System (CIS) behind OrCAD Capture CIS.
Speedo and Ansys used computer modeling software to develop a new record-breaking swimsuit. What effect will this and other technology have on the upcoming Olympics?
Technology gives too large an advantage to wealthy nations.
Technology levels the playing field for all athletes.
Technology is irrelevant, as the athletes still have to perform.
Technology diminishes the significance of the athletes' performance.
Click here to take the poll. Remember to scroll down. The poll is at the bottom of the screen.
Call it a “vanityâ€쳌 publishing project if you will, but Charles Pfeil’s book, BGA Breakouts & Routing, published by his employer, Mentor Graphics, is more than worth the price of admission. Pfeil, who is the engineering director of Mentor’s System Design Division, is an acknowledged industry expert in the black art of printed-circuit board (PCB) routing, and he brings his expertise to bear on this densely-packed and richly-illustrated volume.
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