August 23, 2004 Magazine Archive

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ISSUE DATE: AUGUST 23, 2004

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Military electronics, Microcontrollers, Distributing power to DSPs, Build a low-frequency tachometer

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

August 23, 2004 - In This Issue

[Engineering Feature]
Chips In Space: On-The-Fly Intelligence
Conventional wisdom has it that the consumer market will drive the next stage of growth in electronics. But designers should also be aware of investments in the military command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and... — Don Tuite

[Technology Report]
Divide And Conquer: On-Chip Hardware Adjuncts Accelerate MCUs
Matching microcontrollers to most applications is a relatively simple feat. The task becomes more onerous, though, when high performance meets low-power requirements. Portables, remote monitoring systems, and even low-cost motor controls fall into... — William Wong

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Low-Level Measurement Gets High-Level Treatment
Low-level measurements in research, metrology, nanotechnology, superconductivity, and other low-voltage and low-resistance applications require a special breed of test equipment. Keithley Instruments accepts this challenge with three new instruments... — Roger Allan

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Thrifty ICs Tame Multichannel-Audio I/O
A series of codecs and class-D drivers provides a gaggle of inputs and outputs for car and home audio systems without resorting to fistfuls of ADCs and DSPs. New home and auto audio systems handle a host of input and output channels. Home... — Don Tuite

[Design View / Design Solution]
Control High-Frequency Effects When Distributing Power To DSPs
High-speed DSP system designs are becoming increasingly complex due to the DSP's clock speed and potential issues related to signal integrity, power distribution, noise, and electromagnetic radiation. For these reasons, designers need to... — Thanh Tran

[Ideas For Design]
Tachometer Measures Very Low Frequencies
The circuit shown in the figure is a three-digit tachometer that lets you measure low-frequency events recurring at intervals of 0.235 to 15 seconds--that is, from 4 to 255 rpm. Thus, it's suitable for... — Ricardo Jimenez , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Circuit Measures Microvolts In The Presence Of Volts
Sometimes, it's necessary to make microvolt measurements in the presence of volts. For example, the need arose to measure the thermoelectric potentials in an RTD circuit in which the 10 V applied to self-heat the RTD made measuring such tiny... — William H. Morong

[Editorial]
Biometrics On Passports: Best Bet For Tight Security
The 9/11 Commission Report offers myriad recommendations on how we can tighten homeland security, but the finding that offers the greatest impact is one being addressed by electronic designers--at least those of you working on biometric... — Mark David

[POV: Point Of View]
10-Gbit Ethernet Is Ready, Along With Its Customers
The past year has seen great progress in the development of 10-Gbit Ethernet technology and its infrastructure, creating improvements that strongly support its wider adoption in growing segments of the computing market. Blade servers, networked... — Keith Horn

[Pease Porridge]
Bob's Mailbox
Hello Bob: I recently saw a question in Nuts & Volts magazine asking why the three-pin linear regulator package pinouts differ between the positive and negative regulators. The answer was that it prevented the input... — Bob Pease

[TechView: The Industry]
R&D Lab Spinoff Provides Industry-Wide Access To Tools, Processes
The Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) is now open for business. An independent subsidiary of Sematech's R&D wafer fab and associated analytical laboratories, it began operation last month. This Sematech spinoff will offer a wide... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: The Industry]
European Strategy For Nanoelectronics
Pasquale Pistorio, president and chief executive of STMicroelectronics, will chair the Technology Platform group of a new European initiative called ENIAC (European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council). European companies in micro and... — Paul Whytock

[TechView: The Industry]
Security Solution
ARM and Texas Instruments will collaborate on a security solution that will include ARM TrustZone technology. The collaboration is part of TI's overall strategy to address growing security concerns among service providers, consumers, and wireless... — Paul Whytock

[TechView: The Industry]
COTS Cat
Primagraphics, a supplier of radar video and graphics display systems, has released the Bobcat commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), single-slot 6U VME dual-channel video/graphics overlay generator. With its pair of independent channels, incoming video... — Paul Whytock

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Sophisticated Reference Designs Illuminate The Art Of Power Engineering
Power-supply design is an art with too few practitioners. Two recent reference designs illustrate this point. One relates to power factor correction (PFC), which limits conducted noise. Switched supplies draw input power in short,... — Don Tuite

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Lithium Battery-Charger IC Integrates FETs To Drive 2 A For Fast Charging
Consumers not only want long battery life, they also want to charge their batteries in next to no time. So, here is a synchronous, switch-mode battery-charger IC to fill the bill. The bq24100 from Texas Instruments includes power FETs... — Don Tuite

[TechView: Analog & Power]
IP Rations Dynamic And Static Power In Generic 130-nm ASICs
An intellectual-property (IP) platform reduces dynamic and static (leakage) power in mobile chips built on generic 130-nm process technologies. From Virtual Silicon Technology, the Mobilize platform adds an nMOS sleep device to each... — Don Tuite

[TechView: Communications]
ADSL Modem/VoIP Gateway Chip Brings Internet Phones To The Masses
Though it's taken longer than we all thought, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is finally here. Cable-TV companies are offering it, and even some regular phone carriers are promoting it as a service over their DSL lines. Its quality is on par... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
Multirate VCSEL Transceiver Targets Access Networks
Both Sonet/SDH and Ethernet play a major role in the short to medium metro-access networks that extend to 50 km. Picolight has come up with a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) transceiver to address this burgeoning market. The 1310-nm,... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
EDR Standard Infuses Speed, Lowers Power In Bluetooth Chips
Some thought Bluetooth would never arrive, much less be successful. But the industry has quietly plugged away over the past couple of years and made it a big success. Already, 150 million more Bluetooth chips have been shipped this year than in all... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
Plastic Antennas May Clobber Copper, Aluminum Cousins In Portables
"Low Cost Antennas Using Conductive Plastics or Conductive Composites," a U.S. patent document from Integral Technologies, describes how a special resin can be used to create "Plastennas" for cell phones, radios, and other portable communications... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Embedded]
Novel Processor Modules Add Options To Designer's Plate
Two different compact module-based product families recently added new members to their lineups. The first, Kontron's DIMM-PC/Lite, utilizes a 68- by 40-mm small-outline dual-inline memory-module (SO DIMM) form factor. It's built around... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Dual-Platform Linux Toolkit Quickens Development/Test Pace
The Linux Pro ADK (Application Development Kit) from Monta Vista Software supports a generic x86 environment and the developer's choice of platform, such as PowerPC, ARM, SH, or MIPS. The ADK combines support for both platforms with Monta Vista's... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Development Kit Supports 8051 Flash MCU With On-Chip PLD
The use of development kits can minimize startup time. The DK3300 development kit includes the MCU, USB JTAG debugger, and Raisonance Rkit Development Suite plus an evaluation version of Keil's µVision2 integrated development environment. The... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
PC/104 Developer Platform Combines PCI And ISA Cards
PC/104 boards deliver a range of interfaces while supporting the PCI and ISA bus. The PC104+DEV open-frame development platform from Parvis Corp. allows access to the PC/104 boards, plus the PC ISA and PCI boards. This is handy for development and... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Tools Tackle New Processors
Linux and Windows CE spread out to more processors with new tool releases, as Microsoft's Windows CE now supports MIPS Technologies' 550-MHz MIPS32 24K family of cores. The cores target connected and small-footprint devices, including... — William Wong

[TechView: Components & Test]
Connectivity Software Suite Harnesses LANs To Accelerate Testing
The connection of instruments and application programs of all types is the driving force behind a new suite of I/O and toolkit software for communications over local-area networks (LANs) like Ethernet. As the originator of the GPIB (IEEE 488), Agilent... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Mini Inductive Sensors Target Embedded Apps On The Squeeze
Embedded applications often require small sensors to fit in tight areas, such as those found in metal-stamping industries. A novel series of 3-mm diameter sensors gives designers another option in this arena. The Bi-1EH03 line of Picoprox miniature... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Ultra-Stable Microwave Coax Cables Match Up With Multiple Cutoffs
The SLA series microwave coaxial cables from Semflex are specifically matched to the maximum frequency ranges of N, SMA, 2.29-mm, 1.85-mm, and other popular connectors. These double-shielded cables build on the company's LA290 cables. Different... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Learn ABCs Of JTAG Boundary-Scan Testing With Software Bundle
Boundry-scan testing (IEEE1149.1/JTAG) is a novel procedure for some test engineers and technicians. But ScanWorks Interconnect Development Station version 3.4 from Asset Intertech should ease their transition to developing and deploying Joint Test... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
70-GHz Modular Sampling Scope Measures 200-fs System Jitter
The TDS8200 modular sampling oscilloscope and 82A04 phase-reference module from Tektronix enable system jitter measurements of 200 fs rms. According to the company, these devices represent performance benchmarks for testing high-speed serial data... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Digital]
Memory-Card Reader Takes On An Assortment Of Formats
The wide variety of memory-card types and their infiltration into digital cameras, PDAs, cell phones, MP3 players, and so on require host systems to be as flexible as possible. The USB2223 and USB2224 memory-card reader chips from SMSC provide that... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Immersion-Lithography Tool Dives Toward 70- To 45-nm Features
Thanks to a joint effort, an immersion lithography tool with an ultra-high numerical aperture (NA = 1.3) and 193-nm wavelength is on the horizon. Exitech's MS-193i microexposure device will help speed the development of critical infrastructure for... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Technology Center Opens Doors To All Silicon-Driven Developers
The Silicon Valley Technology Center (SVTC) gives startup and established companies the opportunity to develop and characterize their silicon-based technologies cost-effectively, accelerating time-to-revenue. Customers of Cypress Semiconductor's... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: EDA]
Tool Lends Concurrency To FPGA/PC-Board Design Process
With many more faster and denser FPGAs finding their way onto pc boards, it's about time for FPGA and pc-board tools to begin to talk. If there's any hope of dealing with the complexities of pin assignments within the compressed timeframes of today's... — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Startup Aims To Automate RTL Closure Process
Rising design complexity causes innumerable headaches in achieving functional design closure. Startup firm Blue Pearl Software plans to address design closure at RTL using a combination of design-rule checks. Its ultimate goal is to cut down on... — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Roundup
RTL can now be executed in a SystemC simulator, thanks to Carbon Design Systems' integration of its DesignPlayer engine into CoWare's ConvergenSC SystemC simulator. Joint customers of Carbon Design and CoWare now can use a SystemC simulator with the... — David Maliniak

[TechScope]
Beam Me Over, Scotty
Though we're a long way from jaunting to other planets, it's no longer simply pure science fiction. Researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria in collaboration with Daniel F. James of Los Alamos National Laboratory recently demonstrated... — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Vigilant Computer Agents Protect The Homeland
Each day, Oak Ridge National Laboratory dispatches thousands of agents on a search for threats to national security. While these agents maintain 24/7 vigilance, they aren't elite government operatives. They're software programs that scan the Internet,... — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Duke Purchases iPods For Incoming Frosh Class
Awaiting Duke University freshmen this fall is an added surprise, as each will receive an iPod. While they're known best as portable music players, these pocket-sized digital devices download text material in addition to audio. The Duke iPods will... — Richard Gawel

[I Design]
Joel M. Libove
My career began when I founded Dual Systems Corp. with my PhD research advisor at U.C. Berkeley, Jay Singer. I was fortunate to lead a great team there that developed the first commercially successful MC68000/Unix "supermicro" and the first disk... — Joel M. Libove

[Design FAQs]
Power: LDO Voltage Regulators
Sponsored by: NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
What's an LDO? The low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulator offers a much smaller minimum required voltage (the dropout voltage) between its input and output voltage levels than other types of regulators. The LDO's... — Sam Davis

[Quick Facts]
Make Logic Synthesis Work For You
Sponsored by: CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS
Think Global RTL coding style and how you drive today's synthesis tools affect your results. Take advantage of global RTL optimizations by synthesizing big blocks in top-down fashion instead of attempting to... — David Maliniak

[Ahead Of The Curve]
DSP performs magic in scopes, but don’t ignore the tradeoffs
An expert viewpoint brought to Electronic Design by Agilent Technologies, Inc. When I set up a measurement and look at my scope, the first thing that comes to my mind isn't that the display... — Paul G. Schreier

[New Products]

• Digital ICs/DSP: Stacked Network FCRAM Doubles Available Buffer Storage — Dave Bursky

• Digital ICs/DSP: Programmable Clock Generators Offer In-System Configuration — Dave Bursky

• Digital ICs/DSP: Color LCD Drivers Earmarked For Mobile Handheld Systems — Dave Bursky

• Digital ICs/DSP: Southbridge Chip Set Merges PCI Express And Gigabit Ethernet MAC — Dave Bursky

• Digital ICs/DSP: CPU Cores In Hard IP Form Occupy Less Than 4 mm2 — Dave Bursky

• Digital ICs/DSP: 64-Bit MIPS-Compatible CPU Clocks At Up To 666 MHz — Dave Bursky

• Packaging & Materials: BGA Sockets/Adapters Come In Three Grid Sizes — Roger Allan

• Packaging & Materials: Economical Equipment Boxes Mount Easily With External Flanges — Dave Bursky

• Packaging & Materials: Fiber-Optic Backlit Panels reach 30-ft-L Brightness — Roger Allan

• Packaging & Materials: NEMA 4X 20°F Cabinet Coolers Resist Heat And Corrosion — Roger Allan

• Packaging & Materials: Easy-Grab Fuseblock Cover Is Assembly- And Service-Efficient — Roger Allan

• Packaging & Materials: "Don't Trip!" Could Be The Motto Of Bright Safety Cable Sleeving — Roger Allan

• Components: 1.6-in. Diagonal Color OLEDs Now Mass-Produced — Roger Allan

• Components: Small-Size Piezo Alarms Give Off Big-Blast Sounds — Roger Allan

• Components: Radial-Lead Capacitors Withstand Up To 60 kV — Roger Allan

• Components: Colorful Circuit Breakers Diminish Vehicular Downtimes — Roger Allan

• Components: 1-kV/60-A IGBT Designed For Rugged Industrial Heating — Roger Allan

• Components: Large LCD Wireless Monitors Provide Full XGA Resolution — Roger Allan

• Components: LVDS Squelches Noise In Pair Of Oscillators — Roger Allan

• Embedded: Passive Cooling Handles 400-MHz Celeron PC/104-Plus SBC — William Wong

• Embedded: Video Adapter Displays JPEGs — William Wong

• Embedded: MIPS-Based MCU Manages Motor Control — William Wong

• Embedded: Blade Cuts Down On Comm Infrastructure Complexity — William Wong

• Component Specifier: Motors/Motion Controls — Richard Gawel

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