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3540 results found, displaying items 161 - 180
Compact Module Taps COM Express Atoms For Mobile Video
Congatec’s latest COM Express module, the conga-CA945, is based on Intel’s 1.6-GHz, two-thread N270 Atom processor and 945GSE Express chip set (see the figure). The module can handle up to a 2-Gbyte DDR2 small-outline dual-inline memory module (SODIMM). It has a Gigabit Ethernet controller, three PCI Express lanes, eight USB 2.0 ports, two SATA ports, and an IDE interface. Furthermore, the...
Try Multithreaded, Multicore Chip For $99
XMOS wants you to try making lots of threads with its $99 XC-1 development system, which is home to a four-core XS1-G processor (see “Multicore And Soft Peripherals Target Multimedia Applications” at www.electronicdesign.com, ED Online 16231). It can handle up to 32 real-time threads and up to 400 Mevents/s. ...
The Internet Comes Home
The Widget Channel, initially presented by Yahoo! and Intel at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco in August, marks a trend to open interfaces that will be on connected TVs around the world. These widgets are small icons and applications that can be presented along the border of the display. The underlying system is essentially a PCstyle platform with a Web browser on top (see the figure)....
Are You Migrating To Massive Multicore Yet?
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Fixed-Point DSP Provides Performance And Connectivity
Analog Devices is targeting low-power, high-performance applications with the BF51x low-end additions to the Blackfin family. Targeted at signal-processing chores for multimedia products, the 400-MHz BF51x devices have a standby power requirement under 1 mW and use 1.8-V I/O. They can deliver 8.5 MMACs/mW. Two SPI, two UARTs, two audio serial ports, and an Ethernet MAC with IEEE-1588 time synchronization support provide connectivity. The Ethernet MAC is...
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...
Parting With Old Electronics Can Be Hazardous To Someone's Health
I just recently emptied out a storage unit I had been renting for many years. As a consequence, my garage took over the job of storing all kinds of different electronic equipment. Part of my original storage plan was to unload the old electronics little by little, mainly through eBay. I tend to think of eBay as this great storage bin in the sky, where you get paid to store an item and can buy the same or similar item back whenever you want, if the need for...
Open-Source Software Is Stealing Your Business
Hey. It got your attention. Actually, I think the opposite is occurring. Open-source software has changed the landscape for embedded software development. Major projects such as Linux, Apache, Firefox, and Eclipse are now utilized in a range of applications and available from a variety of vendors. In most cases you can roll your own as well, but embedded developers have long known that you get what you pay for. For many, the free route is a viable alternative...
Multicore Matters With Mechatronic Models
Whether it's single microcontrollers handling motor control or an automobile assembly line containing multiple robots, you can be sure mechatronics is in the mix. Simulating such complex systems allows developers to build without having the hardware in hand. This is critical when some or all of the hardware doesn’t exist, but becomes even more valuable when considering “what if ” scenarios. However, two major issues continue to crop up: speed and complexity....
Why Is Mechatronics Hard?
Mechanical + electronics = mechatronics. Simple. Yes? Actually, mechatronics covers a lot of ground and means different things to different designers, ranging from basic motor control of a single device (Fig. 1) to all the control systems within today's complex automotive platforms (Fig. 2). At one extreme...
Robots At Play
Robotics is one area where mechatronics is required and simulation is the norm. Often, multiple robots will take part in an event like RoboCup, where you might see Aldebaran Robotics’ Nao, a small humanoid robot. Nao plays for real, but it also shows up in the virtual world of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (MRDS). Unlike most simulation environments, MRDS is specifically designed for robots. Entire robotic soccer games can be played in...
Compact COM Express Packs Core 2 Punch
Kontron’s ETXexpress-PC comes in a compact COM Express format. It houses a 2.26-GHz, 45-nm Intel Core 2 processor in a fanless design and supports up to 8 Gbytes of DDR3 SDRAM (see the figure). The low-voltage 1.86-GHz version uses less than 10 W. Peripheral interfaces include five PCI Express x1 lanes, four SATA ports, an IDE port, eight USB 2.0 ports, and Gigabit Ethernet. Video...
FPGAs Get Behind The Wheel Of In-Cabin Automotive Systems
Programmable logic devices (PLDs) are gaining favor in the automotive in-cabin systems market due to their inherent flexibility and ability to be modified at the point of manufacturing— and ultimately at the point of sale. Targeting automotive systems that include driver assistance, infotainment, and communications, programmable logic is well suited to let designers meet the ever changing tastes and needs of consumers. Automotive production volumes and price...
Will Getting Closer To Flash Be Cheaper? Faster? Better?
Solid-state disk drives are all the rage, with two flavors for embedded solutions: hard-disk form-factor devices and USB devices.There’s also a complement of flash cards, from Compact Flash to Sony’s Memory Stick, but they tend to be single devices. They often require specialized interfaces, and their capacity usually is limited due to physical constraints. Yet a third form factor may offer an opportunity, especially in embedded environments via another...
Get The MOST Out Of Your Automotive Communications
T he clamor for more digital connectivity in vehicles has car designers scrambling to implement systems that efficiently distribute audio, video, and other content. These requirements have led to the design of a future-proof system and networking architecture that can cope with the different development time frames in the consumer and the automotive worlds. While existing implementations focused on audio, Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) now ...
3D Imaging: You've Just Got To See It
We’re used to seeing in 3D. Computer imaging has taken a while to catch up. Several developments are coming together, from multicore processors to high-resolution cameras to fast refresh displays, to make 3D imaging happen. 3D imaging likes parallelism. This opens up opportunities for using graphics processing units (GPUs) that are readily available (see “What Will You Do With 1 TFLOPS Of Double-Precision Power?” at...
Kit Combines RTOS And IDE
Looking to deliver the best of breed, IAR Systems, Micrium, and NXP Semicondcutors have put together their respective integrated development environment (IDE), real-time operating system (RTOS), and microcontroller in a single package. NXP’s industrial reference design (IRD) platform combines NXP’s ARM7-based LPC2468 with Micrium’s popular uC/OS-II RTOS with the IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM C/C++ compiler and debugger. IAR’s tools support C/C++ and MISRA C....
Implement Your DLP Ideas
Texas Instruments’ Discovery 4000 Starter Kit lets developers create applications based on TI’s digital light processing (DLP) system. Kits start at $4999 for a 1024-by-768, 0.55-in. digital micromirror device (DMD). The kit includes a board with the DMD and support FPGA and ASIC chips. Windows drivers are included. A 1080p version is available. The DMD can operate across the light spectrum from IR to UV, suiting it for many different...
Strong Forecasts Bolster Automotive Safety And Control IC Market
The market outlook for automotive safety and control ICs is rosy, according to several market research firms—particularly for sensors and microcontroller units (MCUs). For example, Frost & Sullivan says global revenues for meeting mandated automotive active safety requirements will reach $21.3 billion in 2012, up from $13 billion in 2006, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8%. According to iSuppli Corp., worldwide shipments of...
Semi ICs Drive Auto Safety And Control Innovation
In the never-ending battle to add more end-user value, the focus among automotive component and car manufacturers has turned to improving safety and control for vehicles. Driver assistance, collision prediction and avoidance, lane-departure warning, and electronic stability control (ESC) are just some of the systems getting a lot of attention these days. However, “value” isn’t the only driving force behind these technological pursuits....
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