Bill is a staff editor for Electronic Design focusing on embedded,
software, and systems. He is also the editor for the Embedded in Electronic Design department and the weekly hands-on column, EiED Online. He prefers press releases via email and images should be at least 300dpi. Links to product photos is prefered. Email address: bwong@penton.com Web site: http://www.elecdesign.com/Departments/DepartmentID/67/67.html
2147 results found for William Wong, displaying items 1 - 20
November 5, 2009[Leapfrog: First Look] Hard Drive Delivers SATA-III 6-Gbit/s Transfer Rate
Peripheral transfer rate is the typical bottleneck for many applications, especially as processors split into multiple cores. SATA-III’s 6-Gbit/s transfer rate provides significantly more bandwidth, assuming the hard drives and motherboards can keep up. Seagate’s 2-Tbyte ST32000641AS Barracuda XT hard drive delivers on the peripheral side. This is enough space for up to 45 hours of 1080i HD DVCPRO-encoded video (see the...
November 5, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Tracing The Almost Perfect Program
Those of you who write perfect programs the first time around may leave the room. Now for the rest of us, what debug tools do you use? The crude but effective printf (for C and C++) is probably at the top of everyone’s list. Variations include watch variables in debuggers and control panels for graphical environments like National Instruments’ LabVIEW, but the idea is the same—see what the program is doing and then figure out what’s going...
November 5, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] DSF Targets Complex Debugging Chores
The open-source Eclipse project has turned into one of the primary software development platforms for Web services, embedded systems, and other applications. Embedded developers typically take advantage of the Java-based Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) using the C/ C++ Development Tool (CDT). Embedded tool vendors quickly adopted the CDT because it enabled incorporation of the GNU toolchain as well as proprietary toolchains including...
November 5, 2009[Lab Bench] Rambus And SPMT Offer A Memory Of Things To Come
Memory is more than double data rate (DDR), as any embedded designer will attest. Memory technology is also one of the arenas where there is an ongoing conflict between standards and innovation. Volume keeps memory costs down, but it also means standards need to exist so parts are interchangeable. Plenty of memory technologies are out now, with more on the drawing board. Two new possibilities, multithreaded DDR RAM from Rambus and serial port memory from the...
November 5, 2009[Engineering Essentials] Motor-Control Resources
A good general view of field-oriented control (FOC) can be found in Texas Instruments’ 1998 white paper, “Field Orientated Control of 3-Phase AC Motors”, which can be downloaded for free. For a more recent treatment, though its references go back at least as far as 1980, readers can check out “A Seamless Whole Speed Range Control of Interior PM Synchronous Machine without Position Transducer” by Filka, Balazovic, and...
November 5, 2009[Engineering Essentials] A Multi-Level Approach Makes Understanding Motor Control Easier
Regardless of their primary field, sooner or later, most designers have to deal with motor controls. Broadly speaking, there are two methods to incorporating these components in your design. First, designers can start with one of the many choices of microcontrollers that are available and then address the challenges of making the control do what they want. Or second, designers can start at the other end and examine the interaction between motors and...
October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Combo Handles Touch And Proximity Tasks
Silicon Labs is making capacitive touch and promixity tasks easier to implement with its QuickSense portfolio. This includes the Si1120 infrared sensor and the C8051Fxx/C8051F8xx 8-bit microcontrollers.
October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Time To Move To Windows?
Embedded developers looking to jump over Microsoft Windows Vista are in luck. Based on the Windows 7 kernel, Windows Embedded Standard 2011 will supersede Windows XP Embedded, currently known as Windows Embedded Standard 2009.
October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Transceivers Boast More Automotive Interfaces
SMSC has expanded its TrueAuto offering with the USB83340 USB 2.0 transceiver with high-performance ESD protection and overvoltage protection up to 30 V. The LAN8930 10/100 three-port managed Ethernet switch has a pair of ports with PHYs and one MII interface.
October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Get Linux In An RJ-45 Module
Lantronix’s XPortPro with its 32-bit processor is built to run Linux and Lantronix’s own Evolution operating system (OS). The Evolution turnkey sysem supports Lantronix’s ManageLinx with VIP Access.
October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] High-Availability Carrier-Grade Linux Does DRDB
One of the many new features of MontaVista’s Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) Linux 5.1 is support for disk replication within a cluster via open-source Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRDB) software. DRDB uses high-speed network links to provide RAID-like operation in a high-availability (HA) environment.
October 22, 2009[Lab Bench] Developers Can Expect To See Everyware Everywhere
Building a system from the ground up including all the software can be rewarding, but it’s a timeconsuming process that’s prone to errors. That’s why developers utilize off-the-shelf processor boards, operating systems, and run-time systems. Systems that aren’t built with a significant amount of off-theshelf hardware and software are rare. On the software side, C remains the dominant programming language of choice, with C++ bringing up the rear. C++ has...
October 22, 2009[Technology Report] Playing The Board Game: Stack' em, Pack 'em, And Rack 'em
Stacking architectures such as PC/104 and computer-on-module (COM) rule when it comes to customizing compact, rugged systems. With standardization, boards from one vendor can plug into another, providing a host of options. As a result, developers can seize processing power from vendors with single-board computers (SBCs) and I/O boards from another vendor. The typical stacking system, such as PC/104, paves the way for simple expansion and offers ruggedization...
October 22, 2009[Leapfrog: First Look] STT Technology Puts A New Spin On MRAM
MRAM’s full potential has been one of the electronics industry’s holy grails—until now. Maybe. Its promise includes nonvolatility, fast read and write times, and unlimited endurance. Power requirements and density have been limitations in the past, though current MRAM technology has succeeded in a number of niche applications. MRAM is complementary with technologies it may replace, including SRAM, DRAM, and flash memory. Crocus...
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] A Plethora Of Board Form Factors Gives Designers A Range Of Options
Designing a new system from scratch? You can probably find a board form factor that can speed delivery time with expansion and enhancement options that a custom solution would lack. Board-level products are commonly used in a range of embedded systems, including rugged applications such as avionics and military (“Military And Avionics Applications Demand Rugged...
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] VoIP BlackFin DIMM—Enough Said
Arcturus Networks’ uCBF54x system is a somewhat large small-outline dual-inline memory module (SODIMM) based on a 533- MHz Analog Devices ADSP-BF548 BlackFin processor. Able to handle up to six voice channels, the processor targets Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications. The matching kit includes a host board plus the open-source uClinux and Arcturus Voice and Management Middleware, which includes a complete session initiation protocol...
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Low-Power ZigBee Modules Reach 4 km
Jennic’s JN5148 wireless microcontroller modules bring low-power operation with a large available memory footprint for embedded applications running on the 32-bit MIPS processor. A 128-kbyte ROM includes the ZigBee stack. An optional uFI connector and power amplifier can extend 802.15.4 connections up to 4 km. All of the modules operate from –40°C to 85°C. JENNIC ...
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Homeplug AV Module Does 200 Mbits/s Over Powerlines
Bell Fuse has delivered its Powerline Communications (PLC) transceiver modules based on Intellon’s INT 6400. It’s designed to deliver data, voice, and video over powerlines at speeds up to 200 Mbits/s based on the HomePlug AV standard. The session initiation protocol (SIP) module supports 1024/256/64/16/8QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), and remote office/branch office (ROBO) modulation...
October 8, 2009[Lab Bench] Robot Athletes Have A Kick At Robocup 2009
Held this summer in Graz, Austria, Robocup 2009 hosted an array of robots, from Aldebaran’s Standard Platform Nao to the custom-built Middle Size Robot League, where Team T’n’T took first place with its BlackFin-based robot. Multiple robots hit the field in a variety of soccer team competitions. For example, the Middle Size Robot League uses a 70-cm ball and a field that’s 18 by 12 m. The teams have five autonomous robots. One is usually the...
Bill is a staff editor for Electronic Design focusing on embedded,
software, and systems. He is also the editor for the Embedded in Electronic Design department and the weekly hands-on column, EiED Online. He prefers press releases via email and images should be at least 300dpi. Links to product photos is prefered.
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