[Engineering Feature] Do Your Homework When Outsourcing Design Services
There was a time when you developed your product from scratch. You designed the packaging and circuits, developed the board using off-the-shelf components, and programmed it in-house—and you were still competitive. Today, whether you're building a board for a cordless phone or an embedded controller for a packaging machine, design complexities and short product lifecycles are probably taxing your engineering department beyond its capabilities. If you've...
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Wayne Labs
[Leapfrog: First Look] Hark The Arrival Of Advanced Switching
Enter the critical component for Advanced Switching Interconnect (ASI): The Merlin switch chip forms the centerpiece for StarGen's AXSys family. ASI is based on the PCI Express hardware standard, so the technology will be familiar to designers who already work with PCI Express. PCI Express and AS differ above the physical and link layers. While PCI Express is designed with a single host in mind, ASI assumes a logically connected collection of equal hosts, hence the need for the...
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William Wong
[Leapfrog: First Look] ZigBee-In-A-Chip: A New Wireless Era
Single-chip solutions have been the holy grail of ZigBee developers. Well, that grail has arrived. Ember's EM250 combines a 16-bit microcontroller (MCU) with the company's 2.4-GHz ZigBee transceiver into a single, low-power chip that fits in a 7- by 7-mm package (see the figure). The single-chip solution shrinks the footprint and bill of materials. ZigBee targets a range of control and data-acquisition environments. ZigBee networks are designed for...
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William Wong
[Design View / Design Solution] Whose Linux Is It, Anyway?
One of the most difficult decisions that embedded developers face after choosing their microprocessor hardware involves selecting the GNU/Linux distribution. The scariest thing about getting started with Linux is the sheer volume of information available to the developer. It's especially daunting to wade through the millions of articles, Web pages, and news groups dedicated to Linux while facing hours of frustrating research. Also, not all Linux distributions are created equal. In some...
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Mike McCullough
[Ideas For Design] Multivoltage Supervisor Shuts Down Supply And Monitors Faults
Reliable system operation often depends on the quality of the power supplied. Supply voltages that are too low can cause faulty operation as the microcontroller, FPGA, or ASIC begin to send bad data to memories or peripheral devices. Too high a voltage can damage a device permanently. In addition to providing protection in the event of a voltage fluctuation, users may want to identify the source of the failure. The application must use a voltage regulator plus a pair of FETs...
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Carlos Martinez
[Ideas For Design] Programmable Analog Current Source Uses Switched Capacitors
Switched-capacitor blocks are easily configured to be integrators. When configured as an integrator, a switch-capacitor block can function as an op amp. Closed-loop stability is achieved by parametrizing the capacitor values and sample frequency, which allow for precise gain-bandwidth control. Adding an external pass transistor and current-setting resistor enables easy construction of a programmable current source. Figure 1 shows...
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Dave Van Ess
[Ideas For Design] Serialize Your HD44780 Liquid Crystal Display
Most LCD character displays connect to the outside world via a controller IC, such as the HD44780 (Hitachi) or equivalent. However, that interface has serious drawbacks. It uses a large number of the microcontroller's general-purpose I/O (GPIO) pins, and it can't provide digital contrast or backlight intensity control. The circuit in the figure reduces the required number of GPIOs from 11 to two while also supplying digital control of the LCD's contrast and backlight...
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Donald Schelle
[Ideas For Design] Sense Small Inductance Changes Over A Wide Range
Small inductance changes on the order of 0.01% can easily be sensed over a wide range with a simple circuit connected to a serial port (see the figure). Using a classic Colpitts oscillator interfaced to an eight-pin Atmel ATtiny12-8 microprocessor, the period of multiple oscillator cycles—which is proportional to the inductance—can be sensed. Applications include metallic proximity sensing and seismic detection....
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Hans Krobath
[POV: Point Of View] Challenges Grow, But It's All In A Day's Work
The relentless pace of change in electronics design means an increasing number of challenges for product designers, along with shorter development cycles and tighter budgets. One involves a general trend in the electronics industry away from parallel bus-based interconnections, such as PCI and EIDE, toward high-speed serial interconnects, like Ethernet as a backplane fabric, PCI Express, SATA, RapidIO, InfiniBand, and Star Fabric. These fabrics offer better fault resilience and high...
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Simon Pack
[Editorial] Cutting-Edge DSP Designs Give New Life To Old Markets
Designs incorporating DSPs are among the hottest areas you readers are working on today. There are so many new DSP applications that it comes as no surprise that Forward Concepts research shows DSPs growing faster than any other semiconductor category, with sales reaching a 27% cumulative annual growth rate during this decade. A recent technology workshop put on by one DSP market leader, Texas Instruments, showcased some innovative applications driving that market growth. A...
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Mark David
[Pease Porridge] What's All This Doctoring Stuff, Anyhow?
Usually, I write my own columns. But recently I received a letter that was just too good to include in a "Bob's Mailbox." So I decided to make it the latest installment in my series on self-doctoring. Thank you, Mr. Kraus, for taking the time to share your hard-earned insights with our readers. /rap Dear Bob: I had carpal tunnel, bipolar, migraines, body aches, leg cramps, and crippling prostatitis. My doctor tried to prescribe (respectively)...
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Bob Pease
[TechView: The Industry] DoD Ready To Close Military Technology Centers
The Pentagon has recommended closing 33 U.S. military installations and realigning 29 others, including a number of military R&D centers. While the Pentagon says the base closings are necessary to "increase efficiency through consolidation," the closings would put thousands of mostly civilian engineering jobs at stake. Political and business leaders are concerned about the economic impact of the base closings proposed in their areas. Also, military commanders and...
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Ron Schneiderman
[TechView: Analog & Power] Gigabit Ethernet PoE Midspans Manage Four Data Pairs
The proportion of Ethernet switches shipping with Gigabit ports should reach 25% this year and pass 50% in 2007, according to industry analysts IDC. Seizing the opportunity, PowerDsine offers the industry's first Power over Gigabit Ethernet midspan, the 24-port 6024G. It's the initial device in a line of midspan power products for Gigabit Ethernet. PowerDsine believes a desire to merge workers' PCs with feature-loaded Internet Protocol phones is driving new 1000BaseT...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] ICs Tackle Industrial Apps With Advanced Trench Technology
The first three products based on Analog Devices' 36-V iPolar trench-isolation process technology are now available. The iPolar process replaces the diffusion layers of traditional bipolar processes with trench isolation, improving performance and shrinking die size. The rail-to-rail AD8675 precision amplifier has a voltage noise density less than 3nV/(check)Hz. It uses 30% less power, has 75% lower input bias current, and exhibits 65% less drift over temperature. And,...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Communications] Ethernet Router Offers Carrier-Class Features
Many designers still see Ethernet as an enterprise local-area network (LAN). But as it gets faster and new features are added, it's becoming the next medium for implementing forthcoming Internet Protocol (IP) applications like video. Broadcom's StrataXGS 600 series brings scalable, carrier-class performance and features to companies designing equipment for the metro edge and carrier access. This complete IP router on a chip implements carrier access equipment like cable...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Digital] One-Time Programmable Memory Delivers Smallest, Lowest-Cost Chip
By stacking layers of storage on top of each other, Matrix Semiconductor has developed a family of one-time programmable (OTP) memories that deliver the industry's smallest and lowest-cost chips. The largest member in the Trinity family, a 1-Gbit device, measures just 31 mm2 and costs about 20% to 50% less than comparable-density flash memories. This OTP memory family is based on the company's next-generation stacked-layer polysilicon-transistor memory cells...
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Dave Bursky
[TechView: Digital] Network Processors And Software Trim System Development Time And Cost
The TrueAdvantage portfolio from Agere Systems includes two network processor chips for wireline and wireless service providers. The portfolio also includes robust software development tools, integrated hardware development systems, proven reference designs, and turnkey application software packages. With the Advanced Payload Plus 300 (APP300) network processor and the Link Layer Processor (LLP), designers can rapidly implement high-performance, lower-cost converged access...
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Dave Bursky
[TechView: Test] Analyzer Aims At Fast Serial Data Applications
Serial data rates are getting faster all the time, with speeds running to 6.25 Gbits/s (XAUI X2) and beyond. So, designers need tools to accurately look at and analyze these very fast signals. LeCroy's four-channel SDA 11000 DSO-based serial data analyzer targets these applications with a bandwidth to 11 GHz, sample rates to 40 Gsamples/s, and a memory as big as 100 Mpoints/channel. The SDA 11000 comes standard with a full complement of jitter and eye-pattern analysis...
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John Novellino
[TechView: Test] 10-Bit Digitizers Boast 3-GHz Bandwidths, Sampling To 8 Gsamples/s
A family of PXI/CompactPCI-compliant digitizers from Acqiris USA offers a choice of front-end mezzanine cards delivering up to 3-GHz input bandwidth or switchable high-impedance input coupling. The 6U modules provide 10-bit sampling at up to 8 Gsamples/s on one channel. The DC282 performs synchronous four-channel sampling at up to 2 Gsamples/s or interleaved dual- or single-channel sampling at up to 4 and 8 Gsamples/s, respectively. The dual-input DC252 digitizes at 4 Gsamples/s on two...
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John Novellino
[TechView: EDA] Goodbye Wireload Models, Hello Timing Correlation
Since its inception in the late 1980s, RTL synthesis has seen a parade of innovations intended to match the pace of silicon integration. Now Synopsys, which launched RTL synthesis with Design Compiler, has upgraded its flagship tool to eliminate wireload models and provide much tighter correlation between synthesis results and post-layout results. Design Compiler 2005 addresses the issues of correlation between synthesis and implementation through what Synopsys calls...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] PC-Board Design Suite Nudges Competition Aside
With the Ultiboard 8 pcb layout tool and Ultiroute 8 pcb router, Electronics Workbench completes its Series 8 Design Suite. The suite can take a pc-board design from initial concept through final layout. Integration between the layout tool and router has been enhanced so users can nudge components even after they've been connected to copper. This is accomplished by automatically rubber-banding the existing traces through real-time calls to the autorouting...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] EDA Roundup
Support for ethernet, USB, and serial ATA verification is now offered in Denali's PureSpec line of verification intellectual property. PureSpec-Ethernet has all you need to verify the compliance and compatibility of Ethernet designs, while PureSpec-USB does the same for USB interfaces. In PureSpec-Ethernet, a configurable bus-functional model (BFM) completely models the IEEE 802.3 specification. Likewise, PureSpec-USB includes a BFM that models the USB 2.0 and On-The-Go specs. Both also...
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David Maliniak
[Embedded in Electronic Design] PCI: Taking The Express Or Local
PCI Express is the latest technology to capture the hearts and minds of designers, but there are advantages and perils to any choice. "PCI Express Design: A Lesson In Techno-Shock" (ED Online 10174) addresses some of the issues that board designers will have to tackle with PCI Express. It's definitely more complex than regular PCI or even PCI-X. But for many applications, it's worth the trouble. Luckily, PCI Express bridge and switch chips are out in force, and plenty of...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Frame Grabber Rides On PCI Express
Video applications take bandwidth. Enter PCI Express, which has what it takes to handle the PC_EYE/ASYNC frame grabber from American Eltec. It can manage four independent (nonsynchronized) monochrome camera signals in an industrial setting. The board utilizes two FPGAs. One handles the x1 lane PCI Express interface, and the other handles the video sequencers and sync generators. The 8-bit channels can operate up to 25 MHz. The board supports Windows, Linux, VxWorks, and...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] RTOS Supports MCU With Trio Of PCI Express Links
AMCC's PowerPC 440SPe can get a leg up on development when using Express Logic's Threadx real-time operating system (RTOS). The 166-MHz PowerPC 440SPe has three PCI Express links: one x8 upstream interface and two x4 downstream interfaces. It also has a PCI-X 2.0 interface. The internal 128-bit CoreConnect bus has a bandwidth of 10.4 Gbits/s that suits high-performance storage-area-network (SAN) controllers. The Threadx RTOS small memory footprint leaves plenty of headroom for...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] PCI Express Chip Set Ups Bandwidth
AMD's dual-core Opteron needs a hot chip set like Via Technologies' VIA K8 series to take advantage of the processor's higher performance. The VIA K8T890 North Bridge uses VIA Hyper8 technology that supports the 16-bit/1-GHz HyperTransport links. Also, it provides AMD's processor with a combined bandwidth of 10 Gbits/s with 20 PCI Express lanes of connectivity to at least five devices. It can be used in combination with the VIA VT8237 South Bridge, which adds peripheral interfaces such...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] ARM MCUs Gain Compact RTOS And Protocol Stacks
ARM processors are the quarry of CMX's latest operating-system and protocol-stack versions, including CMX-RTX and CMX-Tiny+ operating systems. Protocol stacks like CMX-Micronet and CMX TCP/IP can fit into as little as 3.5 kbytes of flash. The latter includes an HTTP server, FTP, TFTP, and Telnet and BOOTP servers. The stacks support a range of interfaces, including serial and Ethernet connections. The CMX-FFS (flash file system), CMX-FFS-NAND, and CMX-FFS-FAT provide nonvolatile memory...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Dev Kit Throws It In The CAN
Softec Micro's SK-S12XDP512-A kit boasts a Freescale MC9S12XDP512 microcontroller. The 25-MHz HCS12X MCU features the XGate parallel processing interface and an MXCAN module. There are five controller-area-network (CAN) connectors and transceivers plus two FlexRay connectors. It also has serial LIN support along with six LIN connectors and transceivers. The board is connected to a PC via USB 2.0, where the CodeWarrior Development Studio Special Edition provides debugging and development...
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William Wong
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Power Blade Packs A Pentium Pair
Continuous Computing's LINUXblade PM2118 features a pair of 1.8-GHz Pentium M processors and complies with PICMG 2.16. It uses the same rear transition board as the single Pentium M processor LINUXblade PM1118. The LINUXblade PM2118 costs $3999. www.trillium.com...
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William Wong
[TechScope] Wireless System Brings Captioning To Public Venues
Despite the 28 million Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, many public venues lack captioning. But a system from the Georgia Tech Research Institute and Peacock Communications uses wireless technology to provide captioning to an entire audience. The system uses the COMMplements software and the 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless protocol, which already is in place in many facilities. Venues would broadcast text captions to receivers with displays. The audience would then read...
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Richard Gawel
