May 1, 2000 Magazine Archive

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ISSUE DATE: MAY 1, 2000

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Router-on-a-chip, ADSL modem, PCI-to-Fibre-Channel controller, Optimized RISC blocks, Hot-swap cards

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

May 1, 2000 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
Optimized Processor Blocks Eliminate The Gamble With RISC For SoC Designs
The ability to implement a system-on-a-chip has kept getting easier year after year. Those chips often house at least one CPU, and in many cases, a companion digital-signal processor. Until recently, though, the CPUs and DSP blocks that designers... — Dave Bursky

[Technology Report]
Hot-Swap Hardware And Software Hurdles Continue To Fall
After years of design-engineer frustration, hot-swap and live-insertion technologies are gradually evolving from expensive, special-purpose solutions to mainstream design alternatives. Thanks to standardization efforts from board vendors on both the... — Peter Varhol

[Product Innovation]
Router-On-A-Chip Manages Network Traffic With Wire-Speed QoS
Stuffing 16-Gbit Ethernet ports into a single IC is no mean feat. But doing this created the CXE-16, a so-called router or switch on a chip. Even more impressive, the IC is fabricated in 0.25-µm CMOS technology. According to SwitchCore, the... — Joseph Desposito

[Product Innovation]
Host-Based ADSL Modem Halves Power And Cost
The demand for inexpensive high-speed Internet access anytime and anywhere is accelerating, putting the onus upon notebook and laptop manufacturers to respond in kind. Service ubiquity and low costs have made V.90 modems, either as PC Cards or as... — Patrick Mannion

[Product Innovation]
PCI-To-Fibre-Channel Controller IC Boasts Dual 2-Gbaud Links
The system performance of workstations, servers, and storage-area networks should be greatly enhanced with a new PCI-to-Fibre-Channel protocol controller. Dubbed the Symbios SYMFC929, this dual-channel controller works with both 32- and 64-bit PCI... — Joseph Desposito

[Design Application]
Consider All The Factors When Selecting The Proper Inductive Proximity Sensor
When an application calls for detecting a metallic target that falls within an inch of the sensing surface, inductive proximity sensors are apt for the task. First introduced in the early 1960s, these durable components have proven their mettle in... — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
Maintaining Signal Integrity Enhances ADC Circuit Performance
The digital revolution has created a growing need for analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The world's analog information must change into digital form for processing. At the same time, advances in IC processing technology and monolithic ADC design... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
An Out-Of-This-World Timebase
Few examples of instrumentation are as commonplace and taken-for-granted as the ordinary time-of-day analog wall clock. Whether regarded as tool or tyrant, the humble round clock is probably the oldest example of an automatic computer—it... — W. Stephen Woodward

[Ideas For Design]
Dual Current-Limiting Switch For USB Applications
The number of hot-plug applications has increased dramatically due to its benefits of system down-time reduction and portability. The consequence of implementing hot-plug capability is that inrush or surge currents are produced when any uncharged... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
LAN/WAN Ethernet Overcurrent And Overvoltage Protection
Local-area networks (LANs) are short-distance data communication links typically within a single building or single campus environment. A LAN doesn't use common carrier circuits (i.e., the public switched telephone net work, or PSTN). By contrast a... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Low-Power Wide-Supply-Range Clock
Many times, 32-kHz oscillators are used to generate a system clock or an auxiliary sleep clock in low-power instruments and microcontrollers. The typical implementation employs a CMOS inverter (74HC04 or CD4049UB type) biased as a linear amplifier... — Contributing Author

[Editorial]
Technology Haves And Have-Nots: Can We Share?
All of the recent press about the digital divide between the people that have access to the Internet and those that do not made me feel both lucky and responsible. I'm fortunate because I can afford to provide my family with several Internet-ready... — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Compensation Stuff, Anyhow? (Part II)
When you read the following joke, you'll understand why this column should have been subtitled: Outlandish expectations or what? This old joke came over the web. My friend Nathan posted one copy on a bulletin board and brought another over to me:... — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Next-Generation EDA: Putting It All Together
The goal of electronic design automation (EDA) has always been to improve design productivity. But with the next generation of tools on its way, EDA will have to change the methods it uses to achieve that goal. This industry has come a... — Contributing Author

[Editor's Notebook]
In A World Of Many Options, There's A Case For DSLine
Well, I finally did it. I abandoned my soul-deadening commute from Long Island to New Jersey. But after only a few weeks of telecommuting bliss, I was getting increasingly frustrated, to the extent that I'd have to periodically leave my office to... — Patrick Mannion

[The Design Factory]
Try To Understand The Difference Between Good And Bad Failures
In an earlier column I discussed Attribution Theory, which emphasizes the importance of the meaning that people attach to events. Their perspective can influence behavior more greatly than the objective reality of the incident itself. A nice example... — Don Reinertsen

[Letters]
Letters
An Author Replies... I have some more to add to my article ["Shed Some Pounds With This AC/DC Transformerless Power Supply," Nov. 22, 1999, p. 109] in response to comments published in the April 17 issue.... — Various

[40 Years Ago]
EIA Condemns FCC Plans To Pick TV Receiving Channels
The Electronics Industries Association has condemned as "arbitrary" and "unconstitutional" proposed legislation that would permit the Federal Communications Commission to specify what receiving channels are to be built into TV sets at the factory.... — Steve Scrupski

[40 Years Ago]
Digital Test Equipment: Flip-Flop And Clock
This digital test equipment consists of a type 202 flip-flop and type 403 clock. The static flip-flop has built-in output amplifiers, an indicator, a source for counting carry pulses, a complement input, and two transistor gates. Delay is 60... — Steve Scrupski

[Forefront]
Electroluminescent Display Triples Brightness To 150 Candelas/m²
By applying an inorganic electroluminescent technology to the fabrication of full-color flat-panel emissive displays, researchers at iFire Technology Inc., Toronto, Canada, have been able to achieve a brightness of 150 candelas/m2. This... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Communications Standard Drives Development Of Vehicle Networks
Adding remote-control features to an auto design can afford drivers and passengers greater comfort and convenience. Unfortunately, the electronics associated with these accessories can be expensive, often limiting them to luxury models. As remote... — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Quantum Mirage Hints At Possible Atomic-Scale Communication
Nanotechnology has the potential to make even seemingly impossible technological feats a reality. Advances in this field of ultra-small devices, circuits, and machines do not come easy, though. Researchers working at the small sizes that... — Cheryl Ajluni

[Forefront]
Company Wire
• NumeriTech and other lithography equipment providers have formed the Stepper Alliance Program. Its main goal is the maximization of compatibility between advanced photolithography tools and NumeriTech's dual-exposure... — Staff

[Forefront]
From The Labs
• Assistant professor Kurt Paterson of Michigan Technology University has received a National Science Foundation grant to develop innovative teaching techniques using advanced technology. The grant, which has a value of over $200,000,... — Staff

[Forefront]
DSP Development Environment Simplifies Windows-Based Data-Converter Configuration
Over the last few years, leading-edge data converters have drastically grown in complexity. Configuring them isn't a simple hardware task anymore. Digital techniques have become more pervasive. So has on-board memory for calibration and correction.... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
IC Transceivers Raise CompactPCI Slot Count And Clock Rate
Fairchild Semiconductor has boosted the performance of the popular CompactPCI backplane by expanding it from eight to 21 slots. This increase is based on work at EnSigna Labs, which is part of Fairchild's Interface and Logic Group in South Portland,... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Switched-Fabric Interconnect Architecture Strives To Meet Increased Bandwidth Demands
A new switched-fabric interconnect architecture called RapidIO promises to meet the networking industry's need for higher reliability, greater bandwidth, and faster bus speeds. Announced at the Embedded Systems Conference Spring 2000, RapidIO is a... — Joseph Desposito

[Forefront]
Antifuse Technology Dips To 0.22 μm
Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., has devised a 0.22-µm antifuse field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. It claims to offer a 20% reduction in die size, along with substantially less power dissipation. Also, it has a 10% higher... — Cheryl Ajluni

[Forefront]
Broadband Tuner Available In ICs And In Fully Configured RF Modules
Four distinct versions of a single-chip broadband tuner are capable of covering 48 to 860 MHz. Each is optimized for one of four specific requirements—set-top boxes, cable-modems, PC/TV convergence applications, and digital TVs. Their... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Display Controller Complies With The DVI Specification
The CH7009 Digital Video Interface (DVI) display controller serves as an interface between a digital graphics controller and either a transition-minimized differential-signaling (TMDS) link output or a TV. According to its manufacturer, it's the... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
LCD Module Has SXGA Resolution
An 18.1-in. high-resolution color LCD module is now available for graphic design, desktop publishing, and medical applications. With its unusually wide, 170° maximum viewing angle (top/down and left/right), it's equivalent to a 20-in.CRT... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
System Solution Increases Data Transmission Rates In Phones
A pair of single-chip ICs has been developed to produce higher data rates for data and Internet phones. E-Gold+ is designed for baseband logic, while SMARTi+ is geared for radio-frequency (RF) transceivers. Used together, they're capable of data... — Denise Culhane

[Real-World Engineering]
How To Improve Our Universities: Or, The Tale Of Two Frauds
The United States has better graduate education than anywhere in the world, especially in science and engineering. But our undergraduates are the victims of two frauds. One fraud is engineering professors' delegation of teaching to... — Lawrence J. Kamm

[New Products]

• Communications — Staff

• Embedded Systems — Staff

• Packaging — Staff

• Passive Components — Staff

• Power — Staff

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