Click to view this week's ad screen

ISSUE DATE: NOVEMBER 24, 2003 OPTIONS
Distributed design teams, Programmable amp, Monolithic IC op amps, Optical communications

• Get a FREE Subscription
• Renew Subscription
• Reprints/Licensing
• Advertiser Index
• Submit Article Ideas

 

Browse Archived Articles By: Issue | Author | Department | Topic

November 24, 2003 - In This Issue


Communications Techview: Network Processing Forum Unveils Four New SIAs
More and more network equipment designers are selecting programmable network processors or network processor units (NPUs) for new designs of routers, switches, and other high-speed networking equipment. One of the key factors supporting the...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[Engineering Feature]
Distributed Design Teams: Survival Of The Best Connected
If you haven't already worked on a design project with engineers based halfway around the world, it's only a matter of time. Driven by the relentless march of Moore's Law and the need to reduce cost to complete large chip-development...  — Ron Schneiderman

[Technology Report]
Monolithic IC Op Amps Keep Pace With Design Needs
Ever since Robert Widlar designed the µA702 in 1963, the first monolithic op-amp IC from Fairchild Semiconductor (followed by the venerable µA709 in 1965), IC op amps have largely kept pace with design demands and sophisticated...  — Roger Allan

[Technology Report]
Optical Communications Battling Back From Adversity
The entire market for fiber-optic cable, components, and chips peaked in 2000 and is now trying to correct itself. Over the past three years, the general economic downturn saw the decline of telecommunications carriers, hammering the market for...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[Leapfrog: First Look]
ExpressCard: Changing The Face Of Computing
It's small. It's removable. It uses standard interfaces. And, it's going to change the way people work with computers. It's ExpressCard, the latest standard from the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)....  — William Wong

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Chip Sets Hurdle QoS Issues To Deliver Wireless Video
Standard 802.11b networks can only handle one standard video data stream. Yet attempts to replace them with the higher-speed 802.11a wireless connections, which can manage multiple standard video streams or two HDTV streams, have hit roadblocks....  — Dave Bursky

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Programmable Amp Merges Precision And Flexibility For Sensor Correction
In any given batch of pressure or strain-bridge sensors, sensitivity (gain) and offset voltage may vary widely. These sensor-to-sensor variations, often as large as the sensor's full-scale output, represent errors that must be corrected before the...  — David G. Morrison

[Design View / Design Solution]
When Should Your Design Use A Wall Adapter For AC Input Power?
Wall adapters get the nod when production volumes are low or getting the product out quickly is key. But they're not a wise choice for high-volume products...  — John Betten , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Handy Oscilloscope Accessory Produces Multichannel Display
In circuit development and testing, it's often necessary to display more channels than today's oscilloscopes provide. One simple solution is to trigger several oscilloscopes in parallel. However, a single scope is more compact and allows more...  — Hubert Houtman

[Ideas For Design]
Simple Scheme Lowers Harmonic Distortion Of Transformers
Figure 1a illustrates a typical transformer having a primary to secondary turns ratio of 1:N and a primary inductance of LP. In the real world, however, transformers aren't ideal, and they can...  — Arthur Williams

[Editorial]
EEs Must Find A Niche To Survive In Global Design Chain
How is it that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product sizzled with 7.2% growth in Q3 while EE employment fizzled, falling from 386,000 to 349,000 jobs? The unemployment rate for EEs climbed from 6.4% in Q2 to 6.7% in Q3, according to IEEE figures. To me,...  — Mark David

[POV: Point Of View]
CMOS Will Replace Exotic Processes In Cellular ICs
Cellular handsets comprise the largest consumer market in the world. It's even larger than markets for some of the most common electronic devices, such as wristwatches and televisions. Service providers, handset makers, and software and IC suppliers...  — Ed Healy

[Pease Porridge]
Bob's Mailbox
Hi Bob: Re: "What's All This Spicey Stuff, Anyhow? (Part 3)."* What can I say? Hallelujah! Balm to my soul! (Amen! /rap) To explain: I work for a large power semiconductor manufacturer. Here we are pretty much split into two...  — Bob Pease

[Beyond Technology]
Potential Spectrum Loss, BPL In Ham's Way
People like to talk, which may account for why ham—or amateur—radio is as big as ever, despite the extraordinary success of the Internet. At last count, there were more than 682,000 amateur radio operators in the U.S. and more than 2.5...  — Ron Schneiderman

[TechView: The Industry]
OEMs And Designers Must Make Most Of Niches In Upturn
The electronics industry in 2003 has been like a V6 engine running on only five cylinders, with the PC, wireless communications, consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial markets all recovering and returning to growth while the...  — Steve Rago

[TechView: The Industry]
Fuel Cells Promise To Power Future Battlefield Weapons
Fuel cells could replace the batteries and diesel generators the American military now uses to power its battlefield equipment, according to "Military Fuel Cell Markets: Market Potential in a New Era of Military Applications," a study from...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
High-Voltage Solar Cell Sparks New Uses For Photovoltaics
Exploiting the properties of its silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor technology, Clare has developed a solar cell that produces a floating source voltage up to 7.5 V. With this capability, the CPC1810 can serve new applications where standard...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Chips Aid Battery Backup In Industrial Applications
A standalone linear battery charger crafted by Linear Technology prolongs the life of one-cell lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in backup applications (see the figure). The LTC4064...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Open Standard Aims To Simplify Power Management In Handhelds
PowerWise Interface (PWI) technology, developed jointly by National Semiconductor and ARM, is getting a push as an open standard for system power management. The technology aims to ease deployment of advanced power-management designs in handheld...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Power Technology Roadmap Hits The Streets
Now available from the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA), the Power Technology Roadmap projects trends in power-supply technology and end-user power requirements over the next five years. The nearly 400-page report synthesizes...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Communications]
Wideband Radio Chip Attuned To All Major Wireless Interfaces
Wireless basestations continue to grow in size and complexity as they support new technologies and services in addition to the older air interfaces still in use. While analog cell phones will be officially phased out in a few years, most carriers...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
Fast Ethernet Switches Find Homes In SOHO
The link street fast ethernet QoS (quality-of-service) switches are designed for networking products that address the small-office home-office (SOHO) market. These include standalone switches, media converters, Internet-protocol phones, firewall...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Embedded]
Give Customers What They Want By Building On The Past
You may have the greatest idea since sliced bread, but if the customer wants omelets, then it's time to break some eggs. That's when someone comes up with the idea for egg sandwiches. Take M-Systems' new SmartCap subsidiary. The company...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Carrier Grade Linux Tackles IPMI On AdvancedTCA
Monta Vista's Carrier Grade Linux version 3.1 adds a host of additions and enhancements, including support for AdvancedTCA's Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). Monta Vista supports the OpenIPMI interface as well. The 2.4.20-based...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
MIPS Masters Multithreading Migration Of Multiple Threads
A new multithreading architecture called MIPS MT ASE (multithreading architecture extensions) comes by way of MIPS Technologies. It provides coarse-grain and fine-grain multithreading support on a single processor. Its lightweight thread design also...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Microcontroller Makes Quick Work Of Network Security Chores
The MPC8555 PowerQUICC III with integrated security is designed for VPN routers and integrated access devices. The dual-processor chip is based on an e500 core and a RISC-based Communications Processor Module (CPM). The security engine handles DES,...  — William Wong

[TechView: Components & Test]
Product Suite Facilitates PCI Express Test
At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held in September in San Jose, Agilent Technologies showed off a range of test and measurement capabilities. The E2941a Soft-touch mid-bus probe, an industry-first item, increases protocol test coverage...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Strain-Gage Signal Conditioner Optimized For Bridge Sensors
The V385 eight-channel VME strain-gage signal conditioner adds individual remote-sensed excitation supplies to each channel, increasing its precision over the previous model V385 single-excitation supply. Its new firmware makes it more applicable to...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Shelf-Management Module For AdvancedTCA, CompactPCI Increases Reliability
By incorporating modularity, the 3U by 160-mm IPM (intelligent platform module) Sentry carrier cards for AdvancedTCA and CompactPCI systems help ensure five-nines reliability. The IPM Sentry will be integrated in Elma Electronic's standard chassis...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
7-GHz DPO/Communications Analyzer Addresses Serial Data Buses
The real-time TDS7704B digital phosphor oscilloscope (DPO) and its 7-GHz bandwidth, along with the CSA7404B communications signal analyzer, raise the performance bar for measuring and analyzing high-speed 1-Mbit/s to 3.125-Gbit/s serial data buses....  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Center-Probe Test Socket Handles Devices Up To 13 mm
A center-probe test socket for devices up to 13 mm wide, with pitches of 0.50 mm and higher, operates from 1 to 10 GHz. Designed for CSP, MicroBGA, MLF, QFN, DSP, LGA, DRAM, and flash packages, it features a signal path during test of only 0.77 in....  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Thick-Film Chip Resistors Span 0.1 To 1000 Gohms
Designers are always hunting for a high-value resistor chip for instrumentation and calibration applications, high-voltage regulation, power switching, RF/microwave circuits, and power supplies. The IMS thick-film single-sided chip resistor line...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Digital]
FPGAs Deliver Programmable Solution For SPI 4.2 Systems
By combining aspects of ASIC and FPGA approaches on the same chip, Lattice Semiconductor's ORSPI4 offers a high-speed programmable solution. It packs two system packet interface (SPI) 4.2 cores, an embedded quad-data-rate static memory controller...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Digital Media Processor Cuts Costs And Design Cycles
A high-performance programmable media processor optimized for document image processing comes as the result of a joint development project between Intel Corp. and Xerox Corp. The MXP5800 and MXP5400 digital media processors, which will be available...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Noise-Cancellation Scheme Boosts Backplane Data Rates
A scheme to cancel noise in gigabit-speed backplanes enables designers to keep the hardware infrastructure. All that's required is an upgrade to some of the circuits on the cards that plug into the backplanes. Similar in principle to the...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: EDA]
Custom SoC Strategy Shaves Off Up To One Year Of Development Time
One of the most vexing elements of SoC development cycles is hardware/software co-development, which often starts too late and with the project on the line. Toshiba's SoCMosaic custom-chip co-development strategy reduces software-development time by...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Tools Address Mixed-Signal Physical Design
Most of today's analog and mixed-signal designs are placed and routed by hand, a task that can take weeks or months for leading-edge processes. The latest version of Pulsic's Lyric Physical Design Framework for analog/mixed-signal physical design...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Update: Physical Synthesis Tool
Support for Actel's Proasic Plus FPGAs is now available in Magma Design Automation's Palace physical synthesis tool. In benchmarks, the tool averaged 20% better performance with a peak performance gain of more than 85%. Visit...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Update: 90-nm X Architecture Test Chip
A functional 90-nm X Architecture test chip has emerged from Toshiba's fab. Compared to a Manhattan version of the same design, the five-metal-layer test chip requires 14% less total wire length and 27% fewer vias. The chip is fully functional at...  — David Maliniak

[TechScope]
Collegiate Invention Assists In The Delivery Room
Delivering a baby is one of the most delicate procedures a doctor can perform, requiring the doctor to use a precise amount of force to bring the baby into the world. Measuring that force has been difficult, until now. A team of undergraduates from...  — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Pocket Scanner Reads Full Pages In Four Seconds
Most pen-size scanners sacrifice speed for size, often reading one word at a time. But the DocuPen's reader is 8 in. wide, so it can scan an entire page—including graphics—in just four to eight seconds. Also, its 2 Mbytes of flash memory...  — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Robot Platform Enables PC Functionality
Robot designers now have a new tool at their disposal. The Roboteq PC-Bot demonstrator platform includes the company's AX2550 dc motor controller, which simplifies projects by connecting with various motors on mobile robotics applications. It also...  — Richard Gawel

[Letters]
Fuel Cells And High-Tech Bathrooms Spur Feedback
PROS AND CONS REACTION TO OCTOBER 27 EDITORIAL ABOUT HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS Dear Editor: All the excitement over hydrogen fuel cells is really neat, but think about this: A terrorist wants to blow...  — Various

[New Products]

• Test & Measurement: Precision Cable Suits Premium T&M Applications  — Roger Allan

• Analog & Power: Dual 4-milliohm Switch IC Controls And Diagnoses Two Loads  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: Dual 14-Bit, 2-MHz ADCs Operate Independently  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: Optoelectronic Sensors Take Surface-Mount Plunge  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: Synchronous Boost Converter Features 5-A Switching Current  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: Power MOSFETs Do The Job In 48-V Communications Systems  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: High-Temperature Batteries Serve Tire-Safety System Needs  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: 120-W, U-Channel Power Supply Requires No Airflow  — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog & Power: PFC Converter Modules Sport Embedded Functionality  — Lisa Maliniak

• Components: Compact Solid-State Relay Rated At 10-A, 270-V DC  — Roger Allan

• Components: Thin-Film Wire-Bond Resistor Chips Handle High Power Levels  — Roger Allan

• Components: Selectable USB Relay Features Four Optoisolated Inputs  — Roger Allan

• Components: LCD Monitor Assembly Comes In Space-Saving 17-in. Rack  — Roger Allan

• Components: Tiny Submicro Automotive Relay Can Manage 30 A  — Roger Allan

• Components: Improved-Stability VCXO Oscillators Cover Industrial Temperature Range  — Roger Allan

• Components: 56-Channel Module Links Up To 896 Thermocouples To Mainframe  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Portable In-Circuit Tester Measures Capacitor ESR And DCR  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: 12-Bit CompactPCI Digitizer Cards Sample Up To 200 Msamples/s  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Spectrum Analyzer Options Extend Performance To 325 GHz  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Optional Software/Flash Memory Blend Oscilloscopes With PCs  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Low-Cost Data-Acquistion Board Doesn't Skimp On Performance  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Fused-Probe Kit Protects Any Digital Multimeter  — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Modular EMC Test System Brings High Degree Of Flexibility  — Roger Allan





PartFinder

Find real-time pricing, stock status, same-day/next-day shipping options and more. Brought to you by Digi-Key. Go to PartFinder.    
GlobalSpec

PART SEARCH :
Powered by: GlobalSpec - The Engineering Search Engine
Sponsored Links
Electronic Design Europe Electronic Design China EEPN Power Electronics Auto Electronics Microwaves & RF
Mobile Dev & Design Schematics Find Power Products Military Electronics EE Events Related Resources



Planet EE Network | Contact Us | Editorial Calendar | Media Kit | Submit Articles | Headlines | Site Feedback | Subscribe
Advanced Search | Help | Site Map | E-mail Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Penton Media, Inc., All rights reserved. Privacy