[Technology Report] Wireless Factory Sensors Get Kinetic
The factory floor is changing radically. Usually powered by batteries, wireless sensors have been available for transmitting data for quite some time. The greater use of wireless communications standards like ZigBee has accelerated these applications. But sensor batteries have limited lifetimes and require frequent replacement, limiting their use. The PMG7 microgenerator module from Perpetuum Ltd. lifts these restrictions. This small, 190-gm module converts the kinetic energy of...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] Battle Droids Roll Into Harm's Way
The men watched helplessly as the robot lifted its mechanical arm, aimed its weapon, and unleashed a stream of white hot metal upon their vulnerable human bodies. But this isn't a scene in a 1950s sci-fi story. It's a possible scenario involving one of the U.S. Army's latest combat systems. Last June, the Army approved Talon SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Direct-action System), defense contractor Foster Miller's gunslinging mobile robot. Designed for armed...
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John Edwards
[Technology Report] $1 Arms And $20 Development Kits
2006 saw a trend of high-value development tools combined with low-cost microcontrollers. It began as a trickle, but now it's a flood of new technologies. And in between all of the announcements, two products really defined the trend—Luminary Micro's Stellaris and Texas Instruments' eZ430-F2013. The Stellaris' new 32-bit Cortex M3 ARM architecture broke a major barrier with pricing around a dollar ( see " 32- Bit ARM MCU Hits One-Dollar Mark" at...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Let Your Car Park Itself
How often have you wondered, "Can my car fit into that parking space?" The answer usually depends upon your ability to estimate the size of the prospective space in relation to the length of the vehicle—as well as your skill at parallel parking. But now, Lexus owners have another option. They can push a button on the navigation screen and let the car park itself. The Lexus LS 460 L's Intuitive Parking Assist/ Advanced Parking Guidance System (APGS) option package not only...
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John H. Day
[Technology Report] Security Tech Saves Lives And Money
Unless you're old-fashioned and hide your money in a cookie jar, you've probably noticed that more and more personal information is being spread across several technologies, including PDAs, phones, credit cards, laptops, and databases on remote servers you've likely never seen. Yet thanks to companies like Microsoft and their endless security issues, we have become a bit more careful with our data. But are we being careful enough? Not according to the U.S. Commerce Department....
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Daniel Harris
[Technology Report] With Wii Remote, Gaming Is Child's Play
When Brian Crecente got the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 last month, the first thing he did (after taking both of the next-generation gaming consoles for a ride, of course) was put the controllers in his toddler's hands. In his YouTube footage of his son's first go with the Wii, gaming fanatic Web site Kotaku editor Crecente has to repeat his question a few times before the tyke responds. But in the end, the young Crecente declares that he prefers the Nintendo Wii Remote...
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Christine Hintze
[Technology Report] Pickin' Powerful Parts For The Top PC
If you found one of these PCs on your desk, your eyes would light up. The quest for more computing power never ends, but 2006 saw some significant steps forward. QUAD CORE MOTHERBOARD Intel's Core Duo 2 Extreme QX6700 processor packs four cores into a 775-landing multichip package (...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Image Sensors Sharpen Focus
Sensors continue to penetrate existing and new markets thanks to technological improvements. In imaging, end users are reaping the benefits of smaller image chips with higher levels of resolution—not to mention lower costs. And CMOS process technology has been a key driver. Toshiba has shrank CMOS image sensors for mobile phones to tinier sizes while maintaining high resolution. Its 3.2-Mpixel ET8EF6-AS and 2-Mpixel ET8EF2-AS silicon-on-a-chip devices are now being...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] Get 16 Radios In One Wi-Fi Access Point
Wi-Fi access points are ubiquitous nowadays. Yet the XS-3900 Wireless LAN Array from Xirrus is unique—and the best in its field. It solves all of the major problems that current access points share, making you wonder if you really need the forthcoming 802.11n MIMO-based (multiple input, multiple output) access points. The XS-3900's special physical design combines 16 IEEE 802.11a/ b/ g radios with high gain multisector directional antennas in a unique circular enclosure...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Smart Pill Goes On A Fantastic Voyage
In science fiction, doctors often shrink themselves to enter the human body and investigate mysterious illnesses. But SmartPill Corp. has a much easier solution in mind for the 3 million Americans who have gastrointestinal (GI) problems severe enough to require hospitalization—34% of which have no known causes. The company simply shrank the tools doctors would use for diagnosis. The system comprises the SmartPill pH.p capsule, a data receiver, a docking station, a SmartPill...
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Roger Allan
[Technology Report] Analog Progresses On And Off The Beaten Path
The analog world saw a host of significant but incremental developments in 2006. Take data converters. Back in January, the delta-sigma architecture was enjoying a renaissance as it was applied at remarkably high input signal frequencies, thanks to new developments in clock stabilization. For example, at last winter's ISSCC, Xignal disclosed the details of a 640-MHz CMOS continuous-time delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a 20-MHz signal bandwidth and a 12-bit...
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Don Tuite
[Technology Report] Location Tech Gives Us The World
It began as a military project, but location technology has changed the way we travel. There's no longer any need to rely on outdated maps or your own sense of direction, since location systems are declining in price and improving in precision. Devices that fit on your dashboard or right in your pocket can keep you from ever getting lost again. GPS, the original system created by the U.S. military, now has some help. The European Union's similar and slightly more accurate Galileo...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] EDA Sees The Very Good, The Good, And The Ugly
Yet another growthless year for the EDA industry has passed. EDA retains its status as the mother of all enabling technologies for the global electronics industry. But like Rodney Dangerfield, it continues to get no respect. The holiday season is upon us, and many millions of highly complex ASICs and systems-on-a-chip will be sold in smartphones, video iPods, computers, cameras, and other consumer electronics. But EDA, without whose tools and design flows those ICs would never...
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David Maliniak
[Technology Report] Roadster Gets 250 Miles Per Charge
Rising fuel prices and the nation's dependency on foreign oil— as well as increasing air pollution—are spurring a quest for alternative power sources. Tesla Motors is offering one solution with its Roadster electric car. Powered by rechargeable lithium-ion ( Li-ion) batteries, this sports car has a range up to 250 miles on one battery charge, depending on driving conditions (...
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Sam Davis
[Technology Report] Wireless Applications Take Over T&M
Test and measurement is an essential part of any engineering discipline. But as the wireless and communications arenas explode, old technologies are finding new applications. In particular, National Instruments' 20th anniversary edition of Lab-VIEW and the Tektronix RSA6100A real-time spectrum analyzer will change the way we test, as well as the way we communicate. LABVIEW 8.20 Back in 1976, none of us had ever heard of the virtual...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Leapfrog: First Look] The Mic-On-A-Chip's Future Sounds Good To The Industry
The votes are in. Electronic Design's readers selected Akustica's AKU2000 microelectro-mechnical-system (MEMS) microphone on a chip as the most significant Leapfrog technology of the year (see "Breaking A New Sound Barrier: It's A Mic-On-A-Chip," April 27, 2006, p. 36, ED Online 12361). This CMOS device breaks new ground in size, cost, and performance parameters. Akustica hasn't rested on this achievement, though. The first-generation AKU2000 features an acoustic...
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Roger Allan
[Editorial] Technology Tackles The Issues In 2006
Welcome to our second annual Best Electronic Design issue, in which we select and honor some of the most innovative designs of the year. The pace of innovation continued at an astonishing rate in 2006, and this issue highlights some of the technologies you readers have chosen as significant to advancing electronic design. It also gives us the opportunity to honor some of the outstanding end-product designs you have produced in the last year. This issue puts 2006's top innovations...
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Mark David
[Pease Porridge] What's All This Best Stuff, Anyhow?
I've been working with precision op amps. Some have good linearity. Some are excellent. Some have high ZOUT. Some have low. Some are bipolar, others are CMOS. The figure shows the basic test I've been using for linearity to exercise the output to 20 V p-p by applying a ±10-V sine or...
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Bob Pease
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