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ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2000 OPTIONS
Integrated signal conditioner, Network vector analyzers, High density FPGAs, BIST, Optimizing code


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September 18, 2000 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
High-Density FPGAs Take On System ASIC Features And Performance Levels
Since their introduction, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have evolved from a prototyping tool to full-fledged commodity components. As chip complexities increased, however, the performance of complex logic functions formed with...  — Dave Bursky

[Technology Report]
Built-In-Self-Test Gains Ground As ATE Time And Cost Soar
Chip suppliers and automatic test equipment (ATE) manufacturers face a growing crisis that's likely to have a profound effect on designs: the time and cost of testing is dramatically rising to nearly uneconomical levels. A result could be...  — Bill Arnold

[Product Innovation]
Network Vector Analyzers Set New Performance Standards
When Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP 8753 in 1986, RF designers finally had an automatic network vector analyzer to call their own. The 8753 followed its higher-frequency counterpart, the HP 8510, which was introduced in 1983. The 8510 combined...  — Roger Allan

[Design Application]
Optimizing Code, The SHARC Versus The Minnow (Part I): The Minnow's View
This article is the first of a two-part series. Part II is scheduled to appear in the Oct. 16 issue.—ED Not long after arriving at a new job, most developers begin hoping that their new employers will switch them from the...  — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
Choose A PLD With An Embedded Processor To Enhance Flexibility
Higher performance, shorter time-to-market, and lower manufacturing costs are all improvements that can be expected thanks to the integration of microprocessors and programmable logic devices (PLDs). On that bumpy road to ever-higher integration,...  — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
At 480 Mbits/s, Signal Integrity Becomes An Issue In USB 2.0 Designs
USB 2.0 features a more complex and demanding specification than USB 1.0. Therefore, it has implications in packaging, board layout, and chassis grounding that go beyond the considerations for USB 1.0 designs. Additionally, USB 2.0 host, device, and...  — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Multiplex Large RTD Sensor Arrays For Lower Parts Count
Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) are among the most versatile and accurate of the commonly used temperature sensors. However, the typical RTD’s temperature response consists of resistance variations on the order of only tenths of...  — W. Stephen Woodward

[Ideas For Design]
Dual Watchdog Timers Improve Embedded Performance
This idea describes a new concept that utilizes two watchdog timers instead of the typical single watchdog timer found in most embedded systems. One watchdog is the typical hardware type, which handles recovery from absolute firmware failure. The...  — Shyam Sunder Tiwari

[Ideas For Design]
Compact Algorithm Filters 16 Digital I/O Signals In Emebbed Systems
This idea presents a piece of firmware that has proven to be both compact and extremely useful in several field applications involving embedded controllers. The concept originated when one of our embedded-system customers had problems in...  — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Sync RS-232 Data To An MSK Modem
Minimum shift keying (MSK) is a popular modulation method for computer data transmission. When compared to commonly used FSK modulation, MSK offers a narrower frequency bandwidth and improved phase performance. Since MSK modulation is a...  — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Optical-Fiber Link Switches Multiple RS-232 Ports
A recent application required a switch that would allow multiple RS-232 serial data links to share a single physical link. This switch was necessary to reduce the cabling between the instruments on the focal plane of our upcoming 2-m optical...  — Dhananjay V. Gadre

[Ideas For Design]
1-GHz Sampling Oscilloscope Front End Is Easily Modified
This sequential-sampling oscilloscope plug-in module can significantly increase the display bandwidth of an ordinary 10-MHz oscilloscope for repetitive signals (Fig. 1). Using the 5k potentiometer and...  — Hubert Houtman

[Editorial]
PC Evolution Challenges Our Design Creativity
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the fall Intel Developers Forum, San Jose, Calif. Better known as IDF, a few might call it a self-love fest. Still, I found many exciting new ideas and products that will probably have a significant impact...  — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
Bob's Mailbox
Hi Bob: Read your article "What's All This Compensation Stuff, Anyhow? (Part III)" (electronic design, July 10, p. 147). Very interesting. The U.K. is introducing 150,000 "fast track" visas for foreign IT workers (largely drawn from...  — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Flash Memory Helps Application Service Providers Succeed
The expansion of the Internet has given rise to Application Service Providers (ASPs), turning the somewhat anonymous thin-client market into a highly competitive and thriving industry. ASPs give customers access to applications, storage, and other...  — Contributing Author

[Editor's Notebook]
Great Ideas Get Lost In The Sea Of Incomplete Documentation
Incomplete documentation is the bane of any project. Yet in this age of word processors, automatic documentation generators, and CD-ROMs, getting the details down in humanly readable form is no better than it was twenty years ago. And, the cost of...  — William Wong

[The Design Factory]
Building Mutual Trust Is Critical In Interdependent Relationships
Ogg, the Cro-Magnon design engineer at the Bison Valley Ax Works, was contacted by an executive recruiter representing the competing Happy Valley Ax Works. One thing led to another, and before long he found himself at breakfast with Urg the Slick,...  — Don Reinertsen

[Letters]
Letters
Where Networks Are And Will Be In reply to your July 10 article regarding MP3 files and slow networks ["If Music Cravings Topple Networks, What Will Video Do?" p. 60], the ban on software file-sharing...  — Various

[40 Years Ago]
Commercial Use of Space Bringing New Problems
Potential uses of space have catapulted to public attention in recent weeks, sparked by Projects Echo and Courier and a controversy over the re-allocation of spectrum for possible space requirements. The push toward public use of space opens new...  — Steve Scrupski

[40 Years Ago]
Maintainability Keys Computer Design
Maintenance ease took a leading part in the design of a digital fire-control computer for use in nuclear submarines, built by Librascope Div., General Precision, Inc., Glendale, Calif. Critical equipment in nuclear subs must be designed so...  — Steve Scrupski

[Forefront]
Switch-Fabric Architecture Buffers Asynchronous And Isochronous Information Independently
While the bus was the interface of the 1990s, the switch-fabric architecture may become the interface of the new decade. StarGen Inc. of Marlborough, Mass., certainly hopes so. Over the past year and a half, it has been engaged in "heads down"...  — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Low Power, Contactless Security Devices Grab Power From The Air
Radio waves power a new crop of low-power, contactless security products from Atmel Corp., San Jose, Calif. With an operational range exceeding 10 cm, these chips convert basestation-transmitted radio waves into electrical power that embedded chips...  — William Wong

[Forefront]
Frame-Rate Technique Delivers Flicker-Free Motion-Picture Performance
Researchers at Texas Instruments have de-veloped a digital light-processing (DLP) technique that enables entirely flicker-free cinema. Gregory Hewlett and Gregory Pettitt presented the details at July's Microdisplay 2000 Conference in Boulder,...  — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Intel Development Center In China
Intel is opening a development center in its Beijing headquarters to help Chinese OEMs accelerate the design of networking and telecommunications solutions. "We want to make sure there will be good local support for the equipment manufacturers...  — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
DNA Motor Drives Nanotechnology Toward The Post-CMOS Era
A self-assembling DNA motor developed by researchers from Bell Labs, Murray Hill, N.J., and the University of Oxford in the U.K. may provide the basis for building microprocessors when Moore's Law runs out of steam. Constructed from three strands of...  — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
From The Labs
• As part of an effort to verify the viability of small-scale geothermal power plants, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will award $13 million in R&D funds to five energy companies: Milgro Newcastle Inc., ORMAT...  — Staff

[Forefront]
Company Wire
• GELcore LLC, a joint venture between General Electric Company and EMCORE Corp., will acquire LED signal manufacturer Ecolux Inc. Ecolux produces LED traffic-control signal modules. The acquisition supports GELcore's work as a...  — Staff

[Forefront]
Scalable DSP Core Brings Compilability To Lower-Cost Applications
Taking advantage of a scalable strategy, the StarCore technology center has prepared a single-data-path ALU substantiation of its SC100 DSP architecture. Made on a 0.18-µm CMOS process, the SC110 offers a scaled-down number of function units,...  — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
Interconnect Technology Targets Multi-Element Integration, High Speed
An advanced thin-film interconnect technology will allow the integration of multiple die and passive components on a single substrate. It's being developed by semiconductor vendor Atmel Corp. of San Jose, CA and CS2, a semiconductor packaging and...  — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
$10 DSP Hits 600 MFLOPS With Plans To Reach 3 GFLOPS In Future Devices
To make high-performance, 32-bit floating-point DSPs affordable for cost-sensitive applications, Texas Instruments has released a low-cost derivative of its C67x DSP core. Code-compatible with all other members of the TMS320C6000 DSP platform, the...  — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
Development Environment Provides Internet-Ready Measurements
Engineers can use the LabVIEW 6i development environment to take advantage of the Internet in their design processes. Its Player browser plug-in, measurement intelligence, and other features are crafted to increase productivity and enhance...  — Richard Gawel

[Forefront]
Three-Chip Set Offers Designers A Complete DDR DIMM Solution
A three-chip set has been introduced as a support solution for the 184-pin, PC200/PC266, 72-bit-wide registered double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM memory module. A full interface solution for this DDR dual in-line memory module (DIMM), the chip set helps...  — Stephen Grossman

[Forefront]
Reference Board Handles Eight Gigabit Ethernet Port Designs
The industry's first reference board with eight 1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet ports is now available from Allayer Communications Inc. The AL1023DM-8 provides a board-level solution for the design of multiport Gigabit Ethernet LAN systems. It's...  — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
Low-Power Laser Drivers Feature Multiple Channels For DVD, CD, And Other Applications
Designed for rewritable DVD and CD, copiers, laser printers, and fax machines, the T0800 and T0810 laser-diode drivers consume less than 2 mA from a single 5-V supply. The T0800's current-controlled output-current source has five input channels,...  — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
Multiprocessor DSP Development Platform Ports To Any DSP
The Atlas universal digital computer line offers developers an incrementally upgradable DSP software development platform. Developed by Eonic Systems mv., the series allows applications to be easily ported to any DSP. Members of this...  — William Wong

[Forefront]
Low-Voltage Timekeeping IC Integrates Many Functions
With its DS1672 timekeeping chip, Dallas Semiconductor has crafted a low-voltage clock that also performs power monitoring, backup power switching, and optional trickle charging. This IC is available in three versions for operation at 2.0, 3.0, or...  — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Floating-Point SHARC DSP Races For The Masses
In an effort to maintain the SHARC momentum, Analog Devices Inc. has unwrapped the newest member of its 32-bit floating-point family, the ADSP-21161N. Code-compatible with other family members, the ADSP-21161N delivers 600 MFLOPS at 100...  — Ashok Bindra

[Product Report]
Integrated Analog Signal-Conditioning IC Handles Harsh Environments
Amplifying and conditioning distorted sensor signals in noisy and harsh environments has never been easy. This is especially so in automotive systems where semiconductor chips and associated components are subjected to extreme temperature...  — Ashok Bindra

[Careers]
Weighing The Pros And Cons Of Vendor-Specific Certifications
There was a time when professional engineering certification meant something. Every state in the United States has long had education and experience requirements for being licensed as a professional engineer, or PE. Holders of that license were...  — Peter Varhol

[New Products]

• Analog  — Staff

• Embedded Systems  — Staff

• Motors/Motion Controls  — Staff

• Passive Components  — Staff

• Power  — Staff

• Test And Measurement  — Staff





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