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ISSUE DATE: JUNE 10, 2002 OPTIONS
RTL analyzer, Protocol compiler, DAC preview, USB specification, Embedded in ED

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June 10, 2002 - In This Issue

[Product Innovation]
Rule Checker Takes RTL Analysis Into The Physical Realm
At one time, the relationship between logic designers and physical implementation specialists was simpler. Front-end designers had long been accustomed to providing their ASIC vendors with a timing-qualified, gate-level netlist that was blessed by...  — David Maliniak

[Product Innovation]
Versatile Compiler Builds Stacks For Any Communication Protocol
Whether implemented in hardware or software, network protocol stacks are complex structures. As such, most are purchased from third parties. But AnyWare, a compiler-based technology from Novilit, now offers an alternative. Using Novilit's...  — William Wong

[Design Application]
USB On-The-Go Specification Adds Muscle To Portable Devices
Over the last few years, the number and variety of portable electronic devices have exploded. Cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, and MP3 players are increasing in capability and in the amount of data they can store and process. These new, improved...  — David Luke

[Ideas For Design]
Cross-Trigger Two Oscilloscopes To Create A Delayed-Sweep Display
Many oscilloscopes lack a delayed-sweep function. Plus, because typical users only occasionally require this function, simpler, more adaptable methods are worthwhile. Cross-triggering two standard oscilloscopes produces both main and delayed-sweep...  — Hubert Houtman

[Ideas For Design]
Cancel Multiplexed DAC's Output Error, And Add A Sign Bit
In some applications, like dataloggers, it's desirable to have many multiplexed analog outputs. As only a single output is active at once, a voltage-output digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and an analog multiplexer can do this. You can use this kind...  — Antonio Barbancho , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Simple Circuit Protects Hot-Swap And Boost Controllers
The conventional boost-converter topology has the potential trap of no short-circuit protection (Fig. 1). Typically, a converter is safeguarded by placing an electronic fuse in front of it. This fuse...  — Samuel Kerem

[Editorial]
Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Competition?
Whether you go into a hardware store, a clothing store, or a consumer electronics store, any single store will offer a variety of similar products. The wide range of choices lets consumers make purchase decisions based on a range of factors, including...  — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Floobydust Stuff, Anyhow? (Part 11)
I said that you'd like Charlie Sporck's new book about Fairchild and the early days of Silicon Valley. Titled Spinoff, it costs about $28. Full info is available at www.national.com/sporck. If you can't justify buying it for yourself,...  — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Productivity Tools For Analog/Mixed-Signal Designs: Ready For Prime Time?
With the explosion in communication and consumer products, analog design is looming large. However, analog designers—and tools to enhance their productivity—are in very short supply. Development of the analog segments of sophisticated...  — Ian Getreu

[Editor's Notebook]
More Options For RF Power-Amplifier Designers
Recent advances in the performance of silicon-based lateral diffused MOS (LDMOS) power transistors have given RF power-amplifier (PA) designers a viable alternative to create competitive solutions for infrastructure equipment in the 900-MHz to 2.5-GHz...  — Ashok Bindra

[Conference Preview]
Embedded Design Challenges Hold Center Stage At 39th DAC
The best technical conferences are planned with an eye on real-life design challenges. With embedded systems foremost in the minds of legions of design engineers, the 39th Design Automation Conference (DAC, June 10-14, New Orleans) takes its cues...  — David Maliniak

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Reducing Complexity
Applications continue to grow in size and sophistication. Spreading applications across multiple processors and network nodes increases complexity due to interprocess communication, but there are ways to simplify this. The trick is to provide...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
News Clips
PowerPC Takes An EnCoreAmpro Computers' EnCore line broadens with its new PowerPC-based EnCore PP1. It packs Motorola's 300-MHz MPC8245 integrated host processor standard EnCore peripherals, including a fast 66-MHz PCI-bus interface, SDRAM,...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Interprocess Communication: Multiprocessor Messaging
Distributed applications without interprocess communication does not exist. On the other hand, a variety of interprocess communication (IPC) mechanisms for operating systems exists to support multiprocessor environments. But most tend to require...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Software Directory: ARC International Precise/MQX
Precise/MQX utilizes MMU support to protect code and data areas, but its task architecture doesn't group tasks into higher-level processes. This keeps the real-time operating system (RTOS) compact, letting it be deployed on low-end platforms. A group...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Software Directory: Arcturus Networks uClinux
Linux needs a memory management unit. But many Linux features, including a majority of the application programming interfaces (APIs), can be attained through uClinux. Available as an open-source project sponsored by Arcturus Networks, Lineo, and...  — William Wong

[Celebrating 50 Years]
The Long And Bumpy Road Of Design And Test
Not so long ago, the world of electronics design involved as much art as science. But that has changed dramatically. Today, there can be no guesswork in the design and test of chips containing hundreds of millions of devices and operating at gigahertz...  — Staff

[Celebrating 50 Years]
From CAD To CAE To EDA, Design Tools Have Wrestled With Complexity
Since its beginnings in the early 1970s, the design automation industry has climbed up the complexity scale in the semiconductor world. The design process has seen a steady progression in its automation along the way, with each step overcoming some...  — David Maliniak

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Instruments Play New Roles On The Benchtop And The Desktop, Too
Like a fine bouillabaisse, instruments are being blended with software, and what's emerging from the caldron is both evolutionary and revolutionary. The evolution is, as we would expect, driven by the continuing upward spiral of frequency and data...  — Stephen Grossman

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Flashback
Flashback > 10 Years Ago JUNE 11, 1992 In the past 28 years, the Design Automation Conference (DAC) has grown from a small design-automation workshop to the premier showcase of new software and...  — Staff

[Forefront]
Accellera Settles On IBM's Sugar For A Formal Property Language
Assertion-based simulation and verification is touted as a way to greatly accelerate detection and elimination of errors in IC designs. After months deliberating, the Accellera Formal Verification Technical Committee has endorsed IBM's Sugar 2.0...  — David Maliniak

[Forefront]
HTML LCD Panel Kit Speeds GUI Design
Drive embedded LCD displays with HTML instead of a graphics library, thanks to Amulet Technologies' Easy GUI Browser chip. The 5.7-in. Easy GUI Starter Kit gets developers going with LCD output in a fraction of the time other techniques...  — William Wong

[Forefront]
Flash Memory Cell Uses "Mirrors" To Double Its Capacity
A novel memory cell architecture dubbed MirrorBit lets flash memory cells hold twice as much data as standard flash cells without compromising performance or data integrity. Developed by Advanced Micro Devices, it places two bits of data in...  — Dave Bursky

[Forefront]
Web-Based Service Delivers The Scoop On PC-Based T&M Development
A "one-stop" Web site helps designers install, manage, and use test and measurement software and connectivity tools. The Agilent Developer Network (ADN) targets engineers who work in PC-based development environments like Microsoft Visual Studio .Net...  — John Novellino

[Forefront]
5-W White LED Outshines Other Lamps
LumiLeds Lighting has expanded its Luxeon series with a 5-W white LED that generates 120 lumens (lm). It occupies the same footprint as LumiLeds' 1-W Luxeon, which generates about 30 lm of white light. Essentially, the 5-W model combines the...  — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Diode Challenges Polymer Devices In High-Speed ESD Protection
The emergence of high-speed data protocols such as USB 2.0 has created the need for ESD protection devices with low capacitance—1 pF or less. Traditional methods of ESD protection like diodes and metal-oxide varistors are unsuitable in these...  — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Alliance Melds Embedded Memory With Timing And Power Analysis
Embedded memory is consuming a larger portion of IC designs lately, resulting in a quandary. Designers must accurately model the performance and power requirements of the memories they design onto their chips, yet they're struggling to keep up with...  — David Maliniak

[Forefront]
Superconducting ADC Promises Direct Conversion Of RF Signals
In an effort to realize a true software-defined radio, Hypres Inc. of Elmsford, N.Y., is developing an ultra-high-performance analog-to-digital converter (ADC) using ultra-high-speed and ultra-low-power superconductor technology. This monolithic...  — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
RF Tuner Targets New Wave Of Cable Modems
Taking RF tuner solutions to the next level, Microtune has un-wrapped a complete RF-IF front end for a new wave of cable modems and digital set-top boxes. Called MicroTuner MT2050, this fifth-generation biCMOS tuner integrates a low-noise amplifier...  — Ashok Bindra

[New Products]

• 1.8- To 2.7-GHz Chip Set Operates From As Little As 1.8 V  — Richard Gawel

• Transmitter And Receiver Handle 64 kbits/s In Noisy Areas  — Richard Gawel

• Small 2.4-GHz Transmitter Broadcasts Video Up To 500 Ft.  — Richard Gawel

• Tiny ADSL Transformers Allow More Ports On CO Circuit Boards  — Richard Gawel

• Toroidal Power Transformers Meet Standard And Special Design Specs  — Richard Gawel

• Surface-Mount Inductor Targets Higher-Speed Switch Applications  — Richard Gawel

• Configuration Memory Chips Offer Industry’s Smallest Footprints  — Dave Bursky

• 3.3-V Supply Option Added To CPLD Family  — Dave Bursky

• 36-Mbit Synchronous SRAMs Come In Flow-Through And Pipeline ZBT Options  — Dave Bursky

• Speedy Serial EEPROMs Supply Data At 1 And 3 MHz  — Dave Bursky

• Ethernet Switch Chips Deliver Eight Or Nine Ports For Voice, Video, Data  — Dave Bursky

• 1- And 10-Gbit Physical Layer Interfaces Conserve Energy With Powerdown Modes  — Dave Bursky

• Intelligent Retiming Chip Provides Four 3.125-Gbit/s Full-Duplex Channels  — Dave Bursky

• Enterprise-Wide Project Manager Focuses Teams On Communication  — David Maliniak

• Design Verification System Debugs Millions Of Gates  — David Maliniak

• Physical Prototyping Tool Is Fast And Accurate  — David Maliniak

• RTL Synthesis For SoCs Optimized For Large Designs  — David Maliniak

• C-To-Hardware Design Suite Quickly Spins Reprogrammable SoCs  — David Maliniak

• Formal Verification Tools Check SoCs Down To Transistor Level  — David Maliniak

• ASIC/SoC Development Platform Performs Emulation And Much More  — David Maliniak





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