September 5, 2000 Magazine Archive

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ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2000

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A/V controller IC, Clock-and-data-recovery chip, VoIP signal processor, A/MS design, Automotive sensors

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

September 5, 2000 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
Automated Analog/Mixed-Signal Design Flows Draw Closer To Reality
Development of an automated analog/mixed-signal (A/MS) design flow has been the focus of much attention over the past few years. Primarily, this focus has centered on five main areas: A/MS... — Cheryl Ajluni

[Technology Report]
Sensors Measure Up To Emerging Automotive Safety Standards
Currently, many of the advancements being made in automotive electronics depend directly on the development of advanced sensors and sensor systems. Sensor technology is vital to the development of... — David G. Morrison

[Product Innovation]
Controller IC Is Gateway To Multiple, Secure A/V Sources
The TL8xx family of set-top box/personal video recorder (STB/PVR) controller ICs consist of single-chip, multiple-transport, descrambler/controller devices. Due to their array of on-board... — Stephen Grossman

[Product Innovation]
Sonet/SDH Clock-And-Data-Recovery IC Sets Small-Size And Low-Power Milestones
The increasing popularity of the Internet has fueled an explosive demand for wide-area networks. To accommodate this expansion, equipment providers must constantly increase the port densities of... — Roger Allan

[Product Innovation]
Signal Processor Simplifies Today's Voice-Over-IP Systems
The ability to place voice information on data networks allows many companies to streamline their telephony and data networks, combining them into a single network based on Internet Protocol (IP).... — Dave Bursky

[Design Application]
Molded Interconnect Devices Reshape Electromechanical Design
Molded interconnect devices (MIDs) are revolutionizing traditional mechanical and electrical designs in many applications, especially those in the automotive and telecommunication industries.... — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
Eliminate Signal Noise With Discrete Wavelet Transformation
The wavelet transform is a mathematical tool that's becoming quite useful for analyzing many types of signals. It has been proven especially useful in data compression, as well as in adaptive... — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
Smart Solid-State Fuse Helps Designers Cure Boost-Converter Ailments
The majority of non-synchronous, inductor-based boost converters exhibit a dc-current path between power source and load (Fig. 1). They're the... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Detect Fan Failure With A Single Transistor
In low-cost systems where inexpensive fans are used with no fan control, fan-failure detection is particularly useful. Fans running full-time use up their operating life more quickly than those... — Jerry Steele

[Ideas For Design]
Monitor Your PC's CPU Core Temperature
This circuit can be used to determine the core temperature of your PC’s CPU and display it on a monitor (Fig. 1). Installing such a circuit can help to ensure that your system’s cooling is... — Matt Smith

[Ideas For Design]
Programmable Low-Pass Filter Design Using A Digital Pot And FilterLab
A common requirement in dataacquisition system signal paths is a low-pass filter. This kind of filter is most often used to eliminate aliasing errors as the signal passes through the... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Digital/Analog Hybrid Circuit Calculates Battery Life Expectancy
The convenience and reliability of portable electronic devices depend on efficient management of batteries and their limitations. One universal, not to mention irritating, limitation of all... — W. Stephen Woodward

[Ideas For Design]
Extend RMS-To-DC Converter's Range
This Idea For Design was originally published July 12, 1990. Comparator hysteresis can extend the dynamic range of ac signal measurement by autoranging an rms-to-dc converter. A... — Contributing Author

[Editorial]
WelcomeTo PlanetEE
In the last issue, I promised we'd soon be introducing some major improvements in the way we deliver information to Electronic Designers. Here's Tom Halligan, Penton Electronics Group Web... — Tom Halligan

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Perfect 10 Stuff, Anyhow?
No, these words aren't from Bob Pease. In fact, he won't even know about this until he opens his own copy of the magazine. Electronic Design is "borrowing" this column to recognize... — Bob Milne

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Current Limiter Stuff, Anyhow?
The other day I was studying a current limiter using a basic current regulator, which used an old LM317LZ (Fig. 1). I did the design on this... — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
DFT—Almost 30, And Still Looking For Mainstream Adoption
Design for testability (DFT) is a very important topic for test-engineering professionals. If DFT isn't incorporated into new designs, these professionals find their jobs much more challenging... — Contributing Author

[Editor's Notebook]
Chipscale Universe Expands to Discrete Semiconductors
If you thought that SOTs and MSOPs were the ultimate in tiny packaging for discrete semiconductors, think again. After evicting a variety of digital and analog ICs from their plastic,... — David G. Morrison

[The Design Factory]
Perfect Alignment Might Not Be The Perfect Solution
Many managers want greater alignment between different members of their organization. They want everyone aligned behind the one best strategy. Although such alignment is superior to chaos, it... — Don Reinertsen

[Letters]
Letters
Real World Demands Beyond Basics In response to "How to Improve Our Universities: Or, The Tale Of Two Frauds" [May 1, p. 154], I agree that U.S.... — Various

[40 Years Ago]
Firms Seek Ultrareliability For Minuteman Missile Program
Significant achievements in electronic components reliability have already been recorded as a result of a new program launched late last year for the Minuteman missile system. This program,... — Steve Scrupski

[40 Years Ago]
Editorial: Bionics—A New Discipline Emerges
For Electronic Designers of the future, the phenomena behind the pigeon that homes, the bat that navigates by echolation, and the frog that jumps according to light patterns will be as important... — Steve Scrupski

[Forefront]
Electrically Powered Organic Laser May Offer Substantially Lower Costs
Researchers at Bell Labs, Murray Hill, N.J., have demonstrated the first electrically powered organic laser using a semiconductor called tetracene. Optically excited lasing and amplified... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
MPEG-4 Testing Begins As Efforts To Enhance Coding Move Forward
A number of companies and organizations are beginning to conduct tests on the MPEG-4 transport medium. So far, their work bodes well for this platform. This standard will play an... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
From The Labs
Designers who need military-grade semiconductors for devices that operate over wide temperature excursions face some bleak procurement prospects. These products represent just 0.25% of... — Staff

[Forefront]
Polymer Eases Quasicrystal Processing And Resists Wear
Innovative composites research is unlocking the key to easily processing quasicrystals. Typically aluminum-rich alloys of specific compositions, quasicrystals possess an unusual combination of... — Cheryl Ajluni

[Forefront]
Sharp Programming Language May Challenge Java In Embedded Systems
The new programming language on the block is C# (pronounced C sharp) from Microsoft. C# was developed partially in response to Java's popularity. It also was created because C and C++ programmers... — William Wong

[Forefront]
European Standard Seeks To Simplify Home Automation While Trimming Costs
When it comes to home appliances, independent home-automation network nodes—including their own power supply and appliance interfaces—shouldn't cost more than $10. In the appliance... — Alfred Vollmer

[Forefront]
Company Wire
Cetia Inc. and Matrix Corp. are merging to form a single company, which will be known as Cetia. This new firm will develop leading-edge commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) VMEbus and... — Staff

[Forefront]
MOSFET Package Packs More Die, Less On-Resistance
A power-MOSFET package developed by Intersil Corp. of Irvine, Calif., boosts device efficiency by lowering package resistance and making room for larger die. Known as the MicroFET, this... — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Lab Develops Cheaper And Greener Electrolyte For Li-Ion Batteries
Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., have received a patent for an electrolyte that can be used in rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. These batteries are... — Richard Gawel

[Forefront]
CMOS Logic Family Delivers Shortest I/O Delays, Wide Interface Options
Offering a wide selection of devices with interfaces compatible with AVC, LVCMOS, ALVC, and ALVCH is International Microcircuit's latest quartet of logic families. Featuring transceivers, buffers,... — Dave Bursky

[Forefront]
Designers Can Wire Together Programs In Visual Basic
With SoftWIRE 2.0, a graphical programming system from ComputerBoards, novice and expert programmers alike can create sophisticated Visual Basic applications by wiring together SoftWIRE... — William Wong

[Forefront]
Tiny Multiplexers, Dual CMOS Bus Switches Consume Virtually No Board Space
The NC7SZ157P6 is a high-performance, 2-to-1, noninverting multiplexer. Unusually small, this device is housed in a six-lead (SC70-6) surface-mount package with a footprint of 2.1 by 2.0 mm. This... — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
RealTime Linux Gains Real-Time Networking Support
The recent release of RTnet brings real-time networking to Linux. Supporting standard IP networks, this development is a modification to the current Linux networking subsystems. Capable... — William Wong

[Forefront]
Digitally Controlled Potentiometer Controls And Monitors Laser Diode's Bias Current
Combining its nonvolatile memory technology with analog and mixed-signal functions, Xicor Inc. has created a new line of digitally controlled potentiometers (DCPs). This series offers major... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
ASIC Process Options Deliver Low Power Or High Performance
In a move to 0.13-µm design rules, Texas Instruments is offering two versions of an enhanced CMOS ASIC process. One is optimized for high performance, and the other targets applications with... — Dave Bursky

[Forefront]
Embedded OS Improves Win32 Compatibility
Designers familiar with Microsoft's Developer Studio will feel at home with Phar Lap's version 10 of the TNT Embedded Tool Suite (ETS), Realtime Edition. ETS adds full Win32 serial I/O support on... — William Wong

[Real-World Engineering]
Artificial People: Are They A Fantasy, Or An Ambition
People have wanted to make artificial people for as long as recorded history. In ancient Egypt, priests stood in a hollow statue of a god and bellowed out the god's will. When clockwork mechanisms... — Lawrence J. Kamm

[Heads Up]
ASIFs Enable New Projection Systems
What's an ASIF, you ask? According to Jonathan Waldern, CEO at DigiLens, Sunnyvale, Calif., an ASIF is an application-specific integrated filter. Based on holographic technology, the device can... — Chris Chinnock

[New Products]

• Digital ICs — Staff

• Embedded Systems — Staff

• Interconnects — Staff

• Packaging — Staff

• Sensors — Staff

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