November 6, 2000 Magazine Archive

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ISSUE DATE: NOVEMBER 6, 2000

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Programmable SoC, Comm analyzer, Vector modulator, Simulation tools, Security ICs

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November 6, 2000 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
Simulation Tools Speed Design Debug And Verification
Shorter time-to-market cycles and the increasing densities of both programmable logic devices (PLDs) and system-on-a-chip (SoC) ICs have made design simulation an essential part of the development cycle. The growing practice of designing hardware at... — Peter Varhol

[Technology Report]
Security ICs Are Targeting Consumer Applications
The need for secure data communications to protect commercial and personal data on PCs and networks has given rise to a spate of security IC developments. Security is becoming increasingly important and represents significant commercial value. In... — Alfred Vollmer

[Product Innovation]
Programmable SoC Delivers A New Level Of System Flexibility
System-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions have primarily been digitally intensive, comprised of a microcontroller/DSP core, memory, logic, interfaces, and other similar functions on the same die. In terms of flexibility and reconfigurability, these... — Ashok Bindra

[Product Innovation]
60-GHz Communications Analyzer Delivers Integrated Test For 40-Gbit Systems
Achieving a 60-GHz bandwidth in a sampling oscilloscope would be an impressive achievement on its own. Lowering the noise floor to −80 dBm over the same bandwidth would also be a notable feat for a dedicated communications analyzer. The... — David G. Morrison

[Product Innovation]
Instrument Upgrades Any Analog Signal Source To Generate Digital Signals
Testing, particularly production testing, is one of the biggest costs in IC manufacturing. Therefore, IC designers welcome anything that comes along to simplify testing and reduce its costs. That's precisely the job of an innovative vector modulator... — Lisa Maliniak

[Design Application]
Integrating COTS Components Into Open Rugged Computer Systems
Rapidly evolving processors, memory devices, and other commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) component technologies provide rugged military computers with state-of-the-art performance. Most COTS components, however, cannot meet the stringent environmental... — Contributing Author

[Design Application]
Knowing The Signal Classes Greatly Simplifies Spectrum Analysis
Spectrum analysis consists of a wide variety of applications and measurements. Each involves a different set of procedure and measurement sequences. For example, what users must do to determine the occupied spectrum width for a digitally modulated... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
DAC/μP-Supervisor Combination Improves Analog I/O Reliability
Industrial controllers, programmable- logic controllers (PLCs), and data-acquisition systems often use 0- to 5-V, 0- to 10-V, ±5-V, ±10-V, and 4-to- 20-mA current loops to transmit the values of analog control signals. For safety reasons,... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
A ΔV_BE-Based Cold-Junction Compensator For Thermocouples
The familiar thermocouple (TC) is probably the oldest species of electronic temperature sensor extant. TCs consist merely of two dissimilar conductors joined at the temperature measuring point. They’re simple to fabricate and look (at first glance)... — W. Stephen Woodward

[Ideas For Design]
Single-Chip FM Transmitter Extends Home Entertainment Systems
This simple FM transmitter links your home-entertainment system to a portable radio that can be carried around the house and into the backyard (see the figure). Using this device, music playing on the CD... — Contributing Author

[Ideas For Design]
Low-Dropout Current Regulator Improves LED Driver Efficiency
With the proliferation of batterypowered designs, efficient power management becomes crucial in maximizing battery life. Although light-emitting diodes (LEDs) consume a large portion of the battery current in many applications, they’re necessary and... — Contributing Author

[Editorial]
Energy Conservation: Do We Have The Resolve To Do It?
The latest wave of oil-price increases probably has everyone concerned, except perhaps the executives at the oil refineries and the rulers of the oil-producing countries. In the current robust economic climate, the increasing oil/gas costs may seem... — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Fuzzy Logic Stuff, Anyhow? (Part IV)
Recently, one of my far-flung friends sent me a magazine article, along with his puzzled comment: "Can Fuzzy Logic REALLY do THIS—and nobody else can do it?" I read the story. It explained that in Europe, there was a requirement for a speed... — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Going Fabless Is A Tough Decision For Mid-Size Firms With Captive Fabs
If you're starting a new semiconductor company, the issue of building a semiconductor fab facility never comes up. You use one or more of the many excellent worldwide foundries to manufacture your chips. But what do you do if your 20-year-old... — Contributing Author

[Editor's Notebook]
Portable Power May Soon Mean More Than Batteries
Battery and power-component manufacturers recently got together at Power2000 to discuss some of the latest developments in battery and battery-charging technology. A number of presentations also examined how emerging portable and wireless... — David G. Morrison

[The Design Factory]
It's Usually Better To Do The Hard Things First...But Not Always
Shortly after Ogg, the Cro-Magnon design engineer, joined the Bison Valley Ax Works, he was told to plan his first project. So he made a list of the project tasks, and he realized that there were many possible sequences that he could use. Because he... — Don Reinertsen

[Letters]
Letters
Interpreting A Difficult Equation I read the article "Pay Attention To The Clock And Output Bus To Improve High-Speed ADC Design" [June 26, p. 137]. My division studies and produces payloads for satellites in... — Various

[40 Years Ago]
Fairchild's First Silicon Integrated Digital Circuits
Silicon integrated digital circuits packaged in 8-lead transistor cans are being sampled by Fairchild Semiconductor Corp., Mountain View, Calif. The techniques used by Fairchild for these Micrologic building blocks are similar to those applied on... — Steve Scrupski

[40 Years Ago]
Satellite TV Relay Planned Within Year
Experimental intercontinental television transmission via an active satellite repeater is planned within a year by AT&T. This satellite, to be orbited at a 2200-mile altitude, will mark the first commercial venture into space. AT&T is... — Steve Scrupski

[Forefront]
5-GHz Chip Sets Use OFDM To Break Wireless Ethernet LAN Speed Barrier
Two fabless semiconductor companies, Atheros Communications Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Radiata of Sydney, Australia, have announced chip sets to implement complete wireless Ethernet LAN interfaces with previously unattained data rates. Both sets... — Louis E. Frenzel

[Forefront]
Fully Digital PWM Controller Streamlines Class-D Audio Amps
Leveraging digital pulse-width modulation (PWM) technology obtained by acquiring AudioLogic last year, Cirrus Logic has crafted a fully digital PWM controller for audio power amplification. Designed to overcome the limitations of traditional class-D... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
Silicon-Nanowire Simulations Provide Clues To Performance Of Future Devices
A recent study of large-scale simulations of silicon nanowires has yielded information concerning the future performance of nano-meter-scale devices in Electronic Design. The results of this study, jointly conducted by the Georgia Institute of... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Industry Leaders Form Initiative To Speed Up Adoption Of Connectivity Standards
Leading companies from industries spanning telephony, computer hardware, and Internet connectivity have formed a broad initiative to increase and simplify wireless Internet access. Backed by Intel Corp., the Mobile Data Initiative Next Generation... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Company Wire
• IC maker Analog Devices and Minebea Co. of Japan, a manufacturer of motors and machinery products, will work together to develop resolver systems for the automotive market. Their goal is to produce reliable high-performance... — Staff

[Forefront]
Superconducting Material Increases Electrical Capacity Up To Six Times
Scientists at Germany's University of Augsburg have dramatically increased the electrical capacity of a promising superconducting material. Its most recent configuration transmits up to six times more current than its earlier counterparts. While the... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Computer Program Simulates Evolution In Robotic Population
Researchers at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., have successfully programmed a computer to simulate the evolutionary process in a population of simple robots. The computer tested each successive generation of primitive robots to distinguish... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
From The Labs
• Gadolinium-silicon-germanium (GdSiGe) alloys, materials that experience dramatic temperature changes in response to changing magnetic fields, may one day be used to build sensors and energy-conversion devices. Researchers at... — Staff

[Forefront]
Model-Based Approach Simplifies Embedded Application Design
Model-based design for embedded applications has been made easier with MATLAB 6, the latest version of The MathWorks' modeling tool. This release improves all related components, including Simulink 4, Stateflow 4, Real-Time Workshop 4, Stateflow... — William Wong

[Forefront]
Programmable Digital Upconverter Accommodates Four Cellular Channels
Expanding its CommLink line of digital radio circuits, Intersil has unveiled a model that simultaneously accommodates multiple channels. The CommLink ISL5217 quad programmable upconverter targets the cellular basestation's transmit section. Its... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
Updated 8-Bit Processor Drives System-On-A-Chip Web Server
The Z80, almost as legendary as the x86, has evolved into the eZ80 Webserver SoC (eZ80190) from ZiLOG Inc. No longer memory-limited, the eZ80's 16-bit registers have grown into 24-bit registers that provide a linear 16-Mbyte address space without a... — William Wong

[Forefront]
Mouse Broadens Use Of Senses In Computing
The iFeel MouseMan, a mouse that "feels," is Logitech's newest innovation. A motor inside this mouse conveys a sense of texture to the hand guiding it. While this technology sprang from the video-game arena, Logitech believes it will have a... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Resettable Fuse Pair Promises High Voltage And Low Resistance
Two resettable fuses have joined the miniSMD line of PolySwitch polymetric positive temperature-coefficient de-vices. According to their manufacturer, Raychem Circuit Protection, the miniSMDM075/24 provides the industry's highest voltage rating... — Richard Gawel

[Forefront]
Single-Chip Modulators Target VHF/UHF TV Applications
Designers seeking low-voltage and VHF/UHF booster/splitter functions now have a more elegant solution. Two modulator ICs from Motorola, the MC44BC373DTB and MC44BC374DTB, integrate the antenna, booster/splitter, and traditional VHF/UHF multichannel... — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
Expandable Memory Extends PDA's A/V Capabilities
The Sony CLIÉ handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) combines standard personal organizer functions with enhanced digital imaging features. Providing 8 Mbytes of internal memory, the CLIÉ (Communication, Link, Information, and... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Notebook Series Offers Extra-Light Computing And Connectivity
The ThinkPad X series of ultraportable notebook computers has an extra-light and extra-thin design targeted to highly mobile users. These IBM notebooks are about 1 in. thick and boast a starting travel weight of 3.1 lbs. Their design also includes a... — Lisa Eccles

[Forefront]
Image-Sensing Chip Boasts Eight Times The Resolution Of Digital Cameras
The creation of an image-sensing chip capable of capturing digital images with a resolution of 4096 by 4096 pixels has been announced by Foveon Inc. This level of resolution is twice that of 35-mm film and eight times that of average consumer... — Lisa Eccles

[Real-World Engineering]
Energy Independence—Without Pollution&mdashLies At Our Fingertips
Energy sources and the storage of that energy present basic problems to our civilization. Carbon-based fuels cause global warming by releasing CO2 and other pollutants. Nuclear power is safe, clean, and unlimited. But it produces... — Lawrence J. Kamm

[Heads Up]
Several Kinds Of 3D Systems Are Gaining Momentum
There's no doubt that in the near future, 3D systems will hit many different venues. Less clear is which type will dominate. There's also much confusion about what's meant by 3D. For example, some think rendered 2D images can qualify as 3D. On the... — Chris Chinnock

[New Products]

• Analog — Staff

• Lamps And Indicators — Staff

• Motors/Motion Control — Staff

• Packaging And Enclosures — Staff

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