[Design Application] Give Your Digital System A Power Boost
Engineers designing pc-board power-distribution systems begin by dividing the design into four parts: the power source (battery, converter, or regulator), the pc board, a board decoupling capacitor, and a chip decoupling capacitor. This article...
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Charles P. Capps
[Ideas For Design] Simple, Low-Cost Capacitor Matcher Replaces Expensive Lab
Matching several capacitors, without needing a really precise value, can be accomplished with a "high-tech" laboratory capacitance meter. But this is cumbersome and overkill, and not everyone has one. This simple circuit matches, compares, and even...
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J.B. Guiot
[Ideas For Design] One-Pin Keypad Interface Conserves Battery Power
This idea builds on a previous IFD, "Connect Any Keypad With Any Microcontroller Using Only One Pin" (electronic design, May 1, 1998, p. 126), where a 555 timer connects a keypad switch matrix to a microprocessor. The timer converts a...
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John Pote
[Editorial] Energy-Efficient Design Is Key To A Prosperous Future
The potential of another conflict in the middle east has oil-dependent industries and consumers concerned about the effect it will have on the price of petroleum products, especially gasoline and aircraft fuel. Through the years since the first oil...
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Dave Bursky
[Pease Porridge] What's All This Ripple Rejection Stuff, Anyhow?
As I said a few months ago (Electronic Design, Feb. 4, p. 70), the study of ripple rejection will continue. Some guys asked me, "How can I convert a high-ripple voltage supply to a low-ripple one, or to a very low-ripple one?" I...
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Bob Pease
[Viewpoint] Digital Revolution Delivers Enhanced Audio Playback Systems
A digital revolution is under way in audio. It began with digital mastering, analog-input Class-D amplifiers, and the CD, but the momentum is increasing. Today, partially digital systems are common, although fully digital audio playback systems, with...
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Rusty Allred
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[Embedded in Electronic Design] MCU Mania
I always enjoyed reading A Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. This is a sci-fi story set around 3017 AD. With the help of a faster-than-light drive and the discovery of an alien probe, humans visit an isolated star, the Mote,...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Development Tools
Generate Code Using UML 2.0 Development tools that empower programmers and designers with the ability to meet or beat deadlines, while improving reliability, are definitely worth noting. Telelogic's Tau Generation 2...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Microcontrollers
Microcontrollers run the gamut from tiny 4-bit processors to 64-bit powerhouses. Unfortunately, space limitations don't allow the table to do justice to the extensive product lines that most vendors have, so check out their Web sites. Each family may...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] New Products
8-Bit MCU Toolkit Comes With Full C Compiler The Z8 Encore! line of flash-based microcontrollers adds features like a three-channel DMA to its Z8 architecture. Included is a sizable 4-kbyte SRAM, large for 8-bit...
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William Wong
[Celebrating 50 Years] Flashback
FLASHBACK > 10 YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 12, 1992 The State of California, concerned over its reputation for unhealthy air, has issued a mandate that requires 2% of road vehicles sold starting in 1998 and 10%...
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Staff
[Forefront] MLC NAND Flash Storage Scheme Hides Bad Bits And Blocks
Doubling the storage capacity of a NAND flash memory using multilevel charge (MLC) storage lacks the high data integrity that data and program storage applications need. The X2 storage scheme, developed by M-Systems of Fremont, Calif., and Tokyo's...
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Dave Bursky
[Forefront] Real-Time Oscilloscopes Handle 20 Gsamples/s Per Channel
A new family of 4- and 6-GHz real-time oscilloscopes introduces the first models in the industry to offer four full-bandwidth channels operating at 20 Gsamples/s. Paired with Agilent's InfiniiMax 1130A series active probes at 3.5 to 7 GHz, the...
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Lisa Fakhry
[Forefront] API Lets Developers Target Multiple RTOSs
A real-time operating system (RTOS) generally provides hardware portability. Mapusoft's OSChanger 2.5 provides RTOS portability. OSChanger is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that developers use in applications. The...
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William Wong
[Forefront] Network SoC Adds GNU Development Tools
Continued interest in open-source development tools proves they are no flavor of the month. NetSilicon's NET+OS version 5.0 offers a choice of GNU tools or an upgraded Green Hills Software Multi 2000 Integrated Development Environment, version 3.5....
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William Wong
[Forefront] Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo Packs Two Radios On Two Chips
Implementing the analog and digital functionality of two complete radios on just two chips, Mobilian's TrueRadio chip set delivers the most highly integrated Wi-Fi/Bluetooth reference design available. The set fully complies with the Wi-Fi...
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Lisa Fakhry
[Forefront] MEMS-Based Imaging System Will Restore Sight To The Blind
Researchers at five national labs, two universities, and a private company have joined forces in an effort to enable the blind to see. They hope to use MEMS technology to combat disorders like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa,...
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Richard Gawel
[Forefront] 11,000-Probe Card Tests 300-mm DRAMs In Only Six Touchdowns
Based on FormFactor's scalable MicroSpring interconnect technology, the PH150 probe card enables the testing of 300-mm DRAM wafers in just six touchdowns. The ability to test a wafer in fewer touchdowns both increases wafer throughput and reduces the...
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Lisa Fakhry
[Forefront] Silicon Microtube Technology Improves Fluid Measurements
The development of batch-manufactured resonating silicon microtubes permits more accurate and more efficient measurement of the density and specific gravity of fluids by instruments that are much smaller, lighter, and potentially less expensive than...
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Roger Allan
[Forefront] Logic Architecture Cuts Mask And Silicon Costs
Based on an improved logic architecture, the ASAP (Area, Speed and Power) family of high-speed metal programmable cells and high-density standard cells significantly reduces mask and silicon costs. Members of this family also cut the price and power...
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Lisa Fakhry
