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ISSUE DATE: JUNE 21, 2004 OPTIONS
Success Story: The iDrive, Next-generation prototyping platform, PCI Express, Interface FPGAs to high-speed DRAMs

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June 21, 2004 - In This Issue

[Success Story]
Can BMW's iDrive Pass Its Road Test Now?
BMW's 2001 introduction of iDrive, its pioneering driver information/entertainment system, was arguably the biggest corporate disaster since Coca-Cola Co. decided to tinker with the formula for its eponymous beverage. To say that the...  — John H. Day

[Technology Report]
PCI Express: Hardware Designed With Compatibility In Mind
PCI took over the desktop and has muscled its way into embedded systems. The serial PCI Express will eventually replace its parallel cousin in almost every avenue. Initially, bridge chips will provide access to a PCI Express switch fabric, but the lay...  — William Wong

[Leapfrog: Industry First]
Platform Straddles Prototyping And Emulation
Launched some two years ago, Emulation and Verification Engineering's (EVE) debut product—the ZeBu-ZV prototyping system—was touted as a "personal emulator." It remains popular as a prototyping platform, offering the best features of...  — David Maliniak

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Trimming Gets Ultra-Precise With MEMS-Based Passive Resistors
Resistor trimming is the most common method of optimizing sensor circuit performance for both discrete and monolithic IC sensors. It helps compensate for component tolerances, manufacturing variations, and the effects of temperature and aging....  — Roger Allan

[Design View / Design Solution]
Interfacing FPGAs To High-Speed DRAMs Puts Designers To The Test
FPGAs are finding greater use as core components in systems for networking, communications, storage, and high-performance computing applications requiring complex data processing. So, it is now mandatory that FPGA vendors support...  — Lalitha Oruganti

[Ideas For Design]
Instrumentation Amplifier Simplifies Audio Distortion Tests
A critical measure for all audio components is distortion, typically specified as total harmonic distortion (THD) or total harmonic distortion + noise (THD+N). THD is defined as: ...  — Jerry Riddick

[Ideas For Design]
Protect Digital Temperature Sensor In Noisy Environments
Using digital temperature-sensing methods in a noisy environment is difficult, if not downright impossible. Noise is easily coupled into the temperature-sensing circuit and can result in a large temperature error. In fact, a very noisy environment can...  — Susan Pratt

[Editorial]
iDrive Is Not For Everybody, But Then, It Doesn't Have To Be
BMW's tagline may be "the ultimate driving machine," but after test-driving a new 760Li, I'd have to call it the ultimate electronics machine! I don't think it's possible that there's a car with more semiconductor content or electronically controlled...  — Mark David

[POV: Point Of View]
When DSP Is Not Enough, And Time Is Too Short For Gates
High-performance and feature-rich signal-processing functions are becoming more common in devices across all market segments as companies seek to further differentiate their products. Convergence within consumer products has seen digital cameras...  — Matthew Byatt

[Pease Porridge]
Bob's Mailbox
Dear Bob: I enjoyed (well, as much as experiences of the sort would let me) a few months ago when you were discussing the convenience of modern credit-card billing shenanigans*—relating to my own protection and my typical spending...  — Bob Pease

[Pease Porridge]
Components: Thin Sensing Paper Measures Heat Distribution On Contact Surfaces
The Thermex temperature-indicating sensor paper nondestructively reveals temperature distribution between any two heated contacting surfaces. Available in thin sheets, it instantly and permanently turns varying heat intensities between light blue to...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: The Industry]
When Sales Gets Offshored, Designers May End Up Adrift
There's good news and bad news for system designers in North America and Europe. Despite the overwhelming trend toward offshoring electronic-equipment production, many of their jobs are expected to remain in their home regions. But many component...  — Jonathan Cassell

[TechView: The Industry]
Mixed-Signal Process Delivers EEPROMs To Analog ICs
A process collaboration deal between AMI Semiconductor and Intersil Inc. has yielded a mixed-signal process that incorporates electrically erasable memory with no extra process steps. The process can be used in systems with voltages as high as 20 V....  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: The Industry]
ICs: A Good Year In 2003, A Better One In 2004
Total IC shipments should grow by nearly 18% this year, with revenue growth slightly exceeding 20%. This follows a very successful 2003, when shipments grew by 14.9% and revenue increased by 16.1%, thanks to the first increase in average selling price...  — John Novellino

[TechView: Analog & Power]
PoE Modules And Controller Chips Comply With IEEE 802.3af Standard
Coupled with an external power-over-Ethernet (PoE) isolation transformer, the PTB48540 module from Texas Instruments delivers up to 10 W at 3.3, 5, or 12 V. This plug-in power module fully complies with IEEE 802.3af, suiting IP phone consoles,...  — Don Tuite

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Hybrid 18-Bit ADC Runs At 1 Msample/s
With so many new monolithic data converters announced every month, it's easy to forget that hybrids still dominate certain markets. For instance, Datel's ADS-953 subranging 18-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) achieves a 1-Msample/s rate. But that...  — Don Tuite

[TechView: Analog & Power]
POL Converters Shrug Off 300-A/µs Load Changes
A series of 15-A point-of-load (POL) dc-dc converters developed by Artesyn accommodates 300-A/µs step load changes. Measurements on the 1.2-V output TyphoonT SMT15F module demonstrate less than 43-mV sag in output voltage in the face of 5-A...  — Don Tuite

[TechView: Communications]
SERDES With Adaptive DSP Brings 6.25 GHz To PC-Board Backplanes
More speed and longer product life—that's what equipment vendors look for when upgrading switch and router products, optical cross connects, Fibre Channel storage-area network and network-attached storage systems, and high-end servers....  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
10GE Adapter Uncorks Data-Center Bottlenecks
Finally, 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) is taking off. Yet it's finding more homes in metro networks, local-area-network (LAN) backbones, and data centers than in long-haul fiber networks. As more PCs and laptops get standard 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports, the...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
RF Power Detector Boosts Power Monitoring, Control In Wireless Infrastructure
Most of today's sophisticated wireless technologies require some form of precise power monitoring or control for proper operation. RF power detection with a diode still works fine at the lower frequencies, but the microwave region craves more advanced...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Embedded]
Updated Modeling Tools Wrangle With Larger Projects
Matlab 7 and Simulink 6 represent major upgrades to the Mathworks' flagship model-based design products. Matlab 7's compiler supports the full Matlab language. It also can generate standalone applications and COM objects for integration with other...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Advanced Tool Suite Adds RTOS
QNX Momentics 6.3 Professional Edition pushes the envelope on development tools. It supports the latest QNX Neutrino 6.3 real-time operating system (RTOS), which has its own collection of new and improved features. The tool suite utilizes...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Microcontroller Delivers Secure Ethernet
Recognizing the need for more secure network devices, Freescale Semiconductor combined hardware security with Ethernet support. Its latest PowerQUICC III, the MPC8541E communications processor, incorporates on-chip encryption hardware supporting DES,...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
RTOS And Linux Combine Communication Forces
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And that's what Enea and Metrowerks have done. Their collaboration merges the OSE Nucleus and OSEck real-time operating system (RTOS) with Metrowerks Linux and the CodeWarrior Development Studio. The...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
AdvancedTCA Platform Hastens RapidIO Telecom Development
RapidIO is carving a niche in telecom and military environments. For instance, Mercury Computer Systems and Tundra Semiconductor have teamed up to create the Ensemble serial RapidIO Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA) development...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Secure Apps Key For CPU
The C5J low-power x86 processor core incorporates NX execution protection. IBM will manufacture the C5J "Esther" processor, developed by Via Technologies, using 90-nm technology. With the NX support, operating systems like Windows XP with Service Pack...  — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
RTOS Ropes In New MCUs
The Coldfire MCF548X and MCF547X processor families from freescale get a reliability boost from integrity. The Integrity real-time operating system (RTOS) from Green Hills Software is known for its hard real-time support and high-reliability features....  — William Wong

[TechView: Components & Test]
Signal Analyzer Packs The Power For Advanced RF/Microwave Design
The design and manufacture of advanced RF and microwave communications systems, including wireless local-area networks (WLANs) and 3G/4G cell phones, require as much power and sophistication as engineers can achieve. To help in the quest, the MS2781A...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Software Suite Takes An EDA Approach To MEMS Design
New modeling and analysis capabilities included in the CoventorWare 2004 suite of MEMS design and simulation tools go beyond isolated MEMS device design. Created by Coventor Inc., the tools can help IC and package designers as well as process...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Serial Data-Analysis Option Tuns Data Into 8B/10B Code
A novel serial-data-analyzer (SDA) package developed by Agilent Technologies for its Infiniium 54850 series oscilloscopes translates data into two-digit 8B/10B coding. The coding is used for high-speed serial data transmissions over buses like PCI...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Digital]
DSP IP Draws Less Than 0.1 mW/MHz
Designed from the ground up, the CoolFlux DSP core requires less than 0.1 mW/MHz when implemented with 130-nm design rules and powered by a 1.2-V supply. An alternate implementation on a 180-nm process consumes less than 0.2 mW/MHz when powered by a...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Disk Controller/Read-Channel Family Handles The Gamut Of Power Requirements For Today's Portables
Circuits with performance tailored to meet almost every storage market segment—that's the driving force behind Agere's latest additions to its TrueStore family of disk-drive read channels and hard-disk controllers. Designers now have more...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: EDA]
Functional Analyzer Scopes Out SoC Defects In RTL
Expanding predictive analysis technology into the functional space, the Periscope functional analysis tool helps engineers quickly determine whether their RTL design descriptions are functionally correct. Also, the tool helps repair problem areas...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Design Platform Orbits At A Higher Plane Thanks To Upgrades
Across-the-board boosts in runtime, capacity, and quality of results (QoR) are the aim of a major upgrade to Synopsys' Galaxy design platform. Galaxy 2004's improvements reach every stage of the design flow, like RTL synthesis, design planning, power...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Roundup
A systemverilog implementation working group will drive the phased implementation and multivendor interoperability of SystemVerilog's design and assertion constructs. EDA vendors in the newly formed group include Cadence Design Systems, Magma Design...  — David Maliniak

[TechScope]
Researchers Test Brain Implant For Quadriplegics
Quadriplegics may be celebrating their own independence day in the not-too-distant future. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently cleared a pilot study of the BrainGate Neural Interface System. Developed by Cyberkinetics Inc., this technology...  — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Wi-Fi Tracks Down Lost Kids At Amusement Parks
Summer is here, and it's time to plan a vacation. But taking the kids to one of those big, crowded amusement parks can be a scary proposition. What if they wander away? How will you find them, short of alerting park security and paging the crowd? A...  — Richard Gawel

[I Design]
Scott Fullam
Hardware hacking doesn't get nearly as much publicity as computer hacking. Due to the large number of well-publicized computer-related crimes, the term "hacking" has obtained a negative connotation. I'd like to change the reputation of hacking,...  — Scott Fullam

[Basics Of Design]
Main Memory Subsystem Design
Sponsored by: RAMBUS INC.
In the computer systems market, the motherboard chip sets make it a snap to implement the main memory subsystem because the chip set includes the memory controller and interface circuitry for the memory modules. The multitude of chip set options...  — Bernard Cole

[Design FAQs]
Power: Pulse-Width Modulation
Sponsored by: NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
Why PWM? Switch-mode converters employ a power semiconductor switch (usually a MOSFET) to drive a magnetic element (transformer or inductor) whose rectified output produces a dc voltage. Efficiencies exceeding 90% are...  — Sam Davis

[Ahead Of The Curve]
The Hosted Instrument: Finally A No-Compromise Approach
An expert viewpoint brought to Electronic Design by Agilent Technologies, Inc. For a number of years we’ve been able to send basic commands to instruments from a computer and retrieve data....  — Paul G. Schreier

[New Products]

• Component Specifier: Filters/Oscillators  — Richard Gawel

• Components: Thin 18-in. LCD Flat-Panel Display Has A 0.67-in. Thick Bezel  — Roger Allan

• Components: Wideband VCO For Wireless Apps Cuts Down The Noise  — Roger Allan

• Components: Surface-Mountable Bi-Color LEDs Help Chip Away At Cost  — Roger Allan

• Components: Dense Optical Couplers Offer 10-ns Response  — Roger Allan

• Components: LED Stacks Replace Incandescent Bulbs For 360° Visual Indication  — Roger Allan

• Components: Standard 5.2-in. LCD Backlights In White  — Roger Allan

• Embedded: Mix Of DSPs, FPGAs, And A PMC Slot For Video, Radio Processing  — William Wong

• Embedded: Rugged, Dual-Processor PMC Supports Gigabit Ethernet  — William Wong

• Embedded: Low-Power SBC Has A Hankering For Network Applications  — William Wong

• Embedded: ARM MCUs Sport Analog And USB  — William Wong

• Embedded: RDBMS Adds Schema Migration  — William Wong

• Embedded: PMC Delivers Dual Images  — William Wong

• Embedded: H8S Gains Additional RTOS Support  — William Wong





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