Richard Quinnell is a contributing editor with Electronic Design. Email address: RichQuinnell@att.net
11 results found for Richard Quinnell, displaying items 1 - 11
July 23, 2009[Engineering Feature] Smarter Video Analysis Techniques Mine More Data
Several evolving technologies have combined to create new opportunities for video to serve as an information resource. Advances in image compression and broadband wireless communications along with falling costs for imaging sensors have made the installation of video cameras easier and cheaper for a widening range of locations. Now, users are looking for systems that can help them use these image streams effectively, by generating alerts and extracting ...
July 13, 2009
[Engineering Feature] Bringing Privacy To Security
A world filled with cameras watching streets, stores, buildings, and hallways brings to mind two diverging images. One is of an ability to catch crime or detect emergencies as they happen, increasing security and safety.
April 9, 2009[Engineering Feature] Energy Scavenging Offers Endless Power Possibilities
The universe is full of energy, and efforts to harvest that ambient energy are as old as the windmill and sailing ships. The convergence of three exponentially improving technologies, however, is creating striking new opportunities for ambient energy harvesting that can power applications unthinkable only a few years ago. The key to unlocking these opportunities is effectively managing minuscule amounts of power. Talk about extracting energy from the...
February 12, 2009[Engineering Essentials] Step Up To DDR3 Memory
With its 2007 release of the DDR3 SDRAM standard, JEDEC promised dramatic performance improvements at reduced power. The key to gaining those benefits lies in a complex physical-layer (PHY) interface that incorporates automatic calibration of both timing and impedances. By understanding the main features of the DDR3 interface, designers will be well positioned to make good use of the interface designâ??s intellectual property (IP) thatâ??s now...
January 15, 2009[Technology Report] Up-And-Comers Threaten Flash Memory’s Supremacy
As the decade closes, the major battleground in memory technology lies squarely with nonvolatile (NV) devices. Even as flash—the king of NV memory—continues adapting to increase its utility, challengers based on magnetic and anti-fuse technologies are rising to wrest away a growing number of applications. At the same time, market forces are eroding the profitability needed to fund further flash technology developments. Despite its limitations, flash is the dominant ...
January 15, 2009[Technology Report] ASICs Stumble At 45 nm
The steady progress of ASIC design in embracing each new semiconductor process node has stalled at 45 nm, and it may take some time to jump through that hoop. Growing design challenges, rising costs, and shrinking benefits face users of the latest processes, with relief far from sight. So instead of designs moving in a wave toward new generations, the adoption curve is flattening out. Therefore, many process nodes remain viable even though they’re many generations...
December 1, 2008[Technology Report] Top FPGAs Excel While Best Chips Simplify Design
For design flexibility, FPGAs are unsurpassed. But they have typically suffered performance or power penalties to achieve that distinction. Now, those penalties exist no more. This year’s best FPGAs can take a leading role in highvolume and high-performance designs. The structures that typical FPGAs use to provide their configurability add overhead to their internal design. To achieve functional density and performance levels comparable to those...
November 7, 2008[Engineering Feature] The Processor Wars
Just when you thought all was quiet on the personal computer (PC) front, with entrenched competitors grimly holding onto their market share, a new battle has broken out. Due to the rise of the mobile Internet device (MID), traditional computer processors face new competition from the camps of cell-phone and set-top box vendors. The result is a confusing call to arms as processor vendors recruit developers to occupy territory in what is still a nebulous...
October 2, 2008[Ideas For Design] Reference Designs Play A Dual Role
At one time, reference designs were simply helpful guides to the finer details of designing a part into a board. Those days are long gone. The complexity of today’s devices, in addition to the fast pace of many markets, has forced some reference designs to evolve beyond educational tools into manufacturing documentation for fully defined end products (Fig. 1). This dual role leaves...
September 25, 2008[Technology Report] Digital Video Processing IP
Along with the many digital video processing chips available to designers, intellectual- property (IP) options are available for those who need to design their own chips to meet highly customized requirements. These options include RTL cores for system-on-a-chip (SoC) design as well as soft IP for FPGA-based development. IP providers typically offer substantial software support, too. Hardware video-codec IP is available from companies such as On2 Technologies....
September 25, 2008[Technology Report] Lights, Camera, Process!
After a decade of development and standardization efforts, digital video is now poised to take over broadcast television. With this transition, some digital video processor ICs are moving toward commodity status while others embrace innovation and diversification. The result of this shift is a growing range of product offerings as well as an open door to a host of new video applications. General-purpose DSPs from companies like Analog Devices and Texas...
