[Engineering Feature] Wi-Fi's Five Pronged Attack Alters The Wireless Landscape
Since the first short-range wireless networking technologies arrived in the late 1990s, one standard has climbed to the top. Wi-Fi, also known by the IEEE standard designation 802.11, maintains its domination over the world of computing and electronics in general. Yes, Bluetooth has it beat in terms of total deployment and chips sold, thanks to its incorporation into a few jillion cell phones. But with over 120 million chip sets shipped in 2005 and over 90% of...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] SIC Of Figuring Out The Best ASIC Solution?
Ever go to a restaurant, sit down to a complex menu, and just wish you had a few choices instead of dozens? If you've recently attempted to decide the optimal ASIC solution to best fit your design constraints, you may have felt similarly overwhelmed with choices. In fact, "configurable ASICs" have several aliases: structured platform metal/mask programmable/configurable via configurable. Structured...
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Daniel Harris
[Leapfrog: First Look] One Smart Serial RapidIO Switch
Integrated Device Technology (IDT) takes a novel approach, or rather an intelligent approach, to Serial RapidIO (sRIO) switching. The company's 70K2000BR preprocessing switch (PPS) chip combines an sRIO switch with on-chip processing optimized for datastream manipulation. The PPS typically will be used in stream processing applications such as 3G wireless basestations, where data must be manipulated and distributed for further processing—often using a DSP...
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William Wong
[Design View / Design Solution] Will Your 802.11n Products Have Next-Generation Performance?
The forthcoming IEEE 802.11n standard will specify next-generation Wi-Fi products with performance that greatly exceeds current solutions. One of the key technologies used in 802.11n is multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. MIMO has the potential to boost throughput beyond that of traditional wired Ethernet connections, significantly increase the range of Wi-Fi devices, and dramatically improve quality of service (QoS). The advances in the draft 802.11n ...
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Jeff Abramowitz
[Ideas For Design] µC-Based Technique Yields Configurable Timing Signals
Many electronics applications require various processes to be monitored and controlled, generally under microcontroller supervision. The proper timing to, say, turn a motor on or off, or to open or close a valve, is critical for an efficient control system. Here's a simple and low-cost method to obtain five independent voltageadjustable clock signals that offer a timing resolution of better than 0.1%. This accuracy holds over a very wide range of time—from 0.5...
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Juana Fernandez
, et al.
[Ideas For Design] Generate ±30 V Using A Transceiver IC
For applications requiring only a few milliamps of supply current, an RS-232 transceiver IC (MAX202) and a few external components can generate bipolar supply rails up to ±30 V. Such capability is useful ±15-V op-amp circuits that supply (for example) meter drive, LCD bias, and gasdetector bias. In the application for which it was designed, the internal charge pump of this IC generates ±10 V to drive an RS-232 line. ...
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Nick Allen-Rowlandson
, et al.
[Editorial] Kurzweil's Vision For Aiding The Blind Offers Engineering Inspiration
One of the keys to success as an inventor, says Ray Kurzweil, is figuring out how to time your inventions— not only with societal trends but also with emerging technologies that can make your vision a reality. Just look at his latest creation, the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind portable text-to-speech reader. Market demand was a given, as long as the reader's price and function were right. In this case, the timing included the prescience to couple...
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Mark David
[POV: Point Of View] IP Cores, FPGAs To Launch 10-Mbit/s Flight Control Systems
Amultidrop version of SAE AS5652—the 10-Mbit/s version of MIL-STD-1553—will soon appear in more nextgeneration avionics applications. Typical applications for MIL-STD-1553, a proven 1-Mbit/s bus technology, include navigation systems, communications systems, and weapons systems. Areas unknown to MIL-STD-1553, such as low-level flight control, now have a perfect fit with the multidrop version of SAE AS5652. Low-level flight controls generally include...
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Bill Schuh
[Pease Porridge] Bob's Mailbox
Hey Bob: This motorcycle road-racing engineer can tell you that the whole nitrogen-fill thing is usually a load of you know what (see "Bob's Mailbox," March 16, p. 20). The first thing they do when demounting/mounting your tire is to spray the entire bead area with copious amounts of soapy water. Repeatedly. So all the dry nitrogen in the world isn't going to amount to a hill of beans when the environment inside the tire is quite moist. To make it worth anything you'd need...
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Bob Pease
[TechView: The Industry] Flexible Semiconductor Stretches A Designer's Imagination
Think of it as silicon Silly Putty. University of Wisconsin at Madison researchers have demonstrated a way to release, strain, and move thin membranes of semiconductors from a conventional flat substrate to a new contoured surface. The discovery promises to lead to semiconductors and circuits that are designed to run faster, accommodate the increasingly constrained form factors of next-generation mobile devices, and allow the development of new types of flexible electronic...
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John Edwards
[TechView: The Industry] Student-Built Hybrids Rise To The Challenge X
Consumers want fuel efficiency as well as utility in their cars. That's why the U.S. Department of Energy has teamed with General Motors to sponsor Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility. This three-year contest asks university teams to enhance a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox's fuel efficiency by 50% while decreasing tailpipe emissions—and maintaining performance. Seventeen teams answered the call. During the first year of the contest, they focused on...
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Richard Gawel
[TechView: Analog & Power] Backlight LEDs Promise A Bright Future At SID Conference
The most power-hungry component in the average laptop is the cold-cathode fluorescent (CCFL) backlight for the display. I had heard that CCFLs were on their way out, though, and that their exemption from the European Union's Restrictions on Hazardous Substances was subject to regular review. But I'd also heard that their demise was a few years away, since LED diffusers just weren't ready for prime time yet. Stopping by some of the smaller booths at the recent...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Embedded] Two Cores, Too Cool
Intel doesn't take competition lightly, and low power consumption and high performance are at the top of its checklist. Its 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5100 family reduces power consumption by 40% compared to earlier dual-core Xeons, with a 135% performance increase. Targeting embedded applications like communication and storage, it's available for applications with extended lifecycles (five to seven years). The processor chip uses the Intel Core microarchitecture,...
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William Wong
[TechView: Embedded] 32-Bit DSCs Sport High-Res PWM
The TMS320F28015 and F28016 60-MHz, 32-bit digital signal controllers (DSCs) from Texas Instruments incorporate three 16-bit, high-resolution pulse-width modulation (HRPWM) channels in addition to eight conventional channels. The HRPWM's 150-ps resolution provides 16 bits of accuracy in a 100-kHz control loop and 12 bits at 1.5 MHz. The chips use a mixed 16/32-bit instruction set for improved code density. The DSCs have up to 64 kbytes for flash and 12...
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William Wong
[TechView: Embedded] New Products
4U Rugged Rack Server Sports A Pair Of Cool Dual-Core Xeons The Procelerant RMS420-5000XI rack-mount server from Radisys takes advantage of a pair of Intel's latest 2.33-GHz 5140 Xeon processors. It's ideal for 3D and 4D graphic applications. The motherboard has an x16 PCI Express slot for highperformance video as well as x8 and x4 PCI Express slots and two 133-MHz PCI-X slots. It also features a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports and...
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William Wong
[TechView: Digital] Host-Based Storage Technology Offers Customizable Security
According to the U.S. Commerce department, IP theft costs U.S. businesses about $250 billion each year. Many stories in the news have described stolen storage devices like hard-disk drives containing sensitive data. These devices are rarely recovered, and the data is put to malicious use. And they've been stolen from the military, government research facilities, and large corporations. If you're not careful, your IP or sensitive data could be next. To address these issues,...
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Daniel Harris
[TechView: Digital] Digital Design Tip: FPGA Escape Planning
Whether you implement FPGA designs individually or as part of a team, planning your escape routes early can save you from multiple downstream iterations and a possibly unroutable printed-circuit board. To avoid these issues, work with the system designer or layout engineer early to determine component placement so you can best decide the appropriate region or bank and lock pin assignments early. Once you have determined the best escape direction, don't let the FPGA ...
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Daniel Harris
[TechView: Digital] Pondering: Androids At Home
This issue's question comes from Hiroshi Ishiguro, an android science professor in the Department of Adaptive Machine Systems at Osaka University: How do people in the United States feel about having in their own home a very lifelike android that can assist the elderly and help with household chores? For details, see "Will Androids Become A Part Of Our Everyday Lives? Japanese Scientists Are Betting On It" at ...
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Daniel Harris
[TechView: EDA] A Window Into Printed Silicon Brings Design And Manufacturing Closer
Since 2003, Aprio has strived to link the disciplines of design and manufacturing. With the launch of a new application called Halo-Quest, Aprio has moved closer to a unified approach that brings foundry data into the design world. It also feeds design data forward into manufacturing. Halo-Quest is designed to be incorporated into other tools. It delivers what Aprio has termed the "DFM View" of designs, which is, in essence, an accurate physical representation of...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] Space-Based, Full-Chip Router Takes On Mixed-Signal And Custom-Digital Designs
Traditional shape-based and gridded routers are having trouble with today's subnanometer system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. And when it comes to mixed-signal or custom digital SoCs, the problems are even worse, thanks to the increased complexities, high yield requirements, and sophisticated design objectives with respect to power, signal integrity, and timing. Cadence's Precision Router is an attempt to address these issues through a 3D, space-based modeling...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: Wireless] Single-Chip Radio Lets WiMAX Devices Switch Bandwidth On The Fly
Also known as 802.16-2004, WiMAX probably is the only wireless standard that allows for bandwidth changes to better match up with the available spectrum and the desired speed partitioning for different services. A 1.5-MHz bandwidth may be enough for a basic low-speed service, but higher rates may take 5 MHz or even more. The trick is to make a radio with adjustable bandwidth. AsicAhead's AA1001 RF IC makes such radios a reality. It's designed for applications in WiMAX...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Wireless] Second-Generation Wireless USB Hub Doubles Previous Performance
It's getting easier every day to build wireless USB ports thanks to Ultra-Wideband (UWB) products like Wisair's hub. This second-generation device offers full Certified Wireless USB operation for consumer, PC, and mobile applications. This four-port hub also works with Wisair's Host Wire Adapter (HWA) dongle. The reference design should be particularly attractive to OEM and ODM developers seeking to offer WiMedia-based Certified Wireless USB products. The...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Component View] Oscillators Control Frequency With MEMS Resonator
In the EMO series of oscillators from Ecliptek, an internal microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator primarily controls the CMOS output frequency. By using its proprietary MEMS resonator design and resourceful programming methods, the EMO series oscillators can be shipped to designers in as little as two days for samples and two weeks for high-volume production orders. At the heart of the oscillator design is a vibrating MEMS mechanical resonator, which...
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Lisa Maliniak
[Basics Of Design] ASIC Design Choices And IDM Supply Options
A SIC design isn't for the faint of heart. Success requires expertise, and the challenges increase with the movement to submicron designs. Yet with the complexities of ASIC design, customers will often leave performance on the table. Partnering with an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) that understands the process can let customers focus their resources where they can add the most value, the design itself. The IDM can manage the other areas of the process, speeding time-to-market...
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William Wong
