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3540 results found, displaying items 321 - 340
32-Bit MCU Blends Together Old And New
Microchip needed to move into the 32-bit space, which was encroaching on its 8- and 16- bit market. But the company didnâ??t follow the line of ARM adopters. Instead, it looked at the silicon landscape and chose MIPS Technologiesâ?? M4K core to herald its entry into this competitive space (Fig. 1). It has lots of company, too. Almost all of ARMâ??s licensees are adopting its Cortex-M3 with standard parts for...
Multicore Processors Revolutionize Real-Time Embedded Systems
The proliferation of multicore processors has done more than provide a boost in processing power to server applications. Multicore chips also pose the opportunity to revolutionize how embedded systems are constructed. Developers now can host real-time operating systems (RTOSs) and general-purpose operating systems (GPOSs) on separate cores of a single multicore processor to create systems that once required multiple hardware platforms. The benefit is a reduction in ...
R&D At NRL And DARPA
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are challenging the performance limitations stated in Moore’s Law by pursuing research on semiconductor devices that rely on electron spin rather than electron charge. Traditionally, semiconductor devices used charge flow through device junctions and size scaling to achieve higher speeds and frequencies in devices. But, as the size of semiconductor devices shrinks to atomic proportions, new device design approaches are needed...
Military Tech—Still The Spearhead Of Innovation
Military electronics rely on the latest technologies to gain that allimportant edge, often with life or death in the balance. Their components and circuits must withstand the temperature extremes of the desert, the salt spray of the ocean, and the highacceleration forces of fighter jets. Whether it’s in favor of their roughand- tumble origins or despite them, these technologies often significantly influence those found in commercial and...
Imaging, Telemedicine Help Physicians Save Lives
The days of the simple country doctor are over. Physicians have an arsenal of high-tech tools at their disposal, diagnosing ailments long before they become dangerous—even from miles away. MAPPING THE BODY Thanks to improvements in processing, medical imaging saw some significant advances this year. For example, students at the University of Calgary developed the most complete 4D (3D over time) model of a human...
New Transistors, Less Power Mark 2007
Digital technology saw some significant leaps this year as companies responded to the limits of Moore’s Law and the need for better power conservation. NEW TRANSISTORS For more than 40 years, “traditional” transistors have been built using a combination of polysilicon- gate electrodes and silicon-dioxide (SiO2) dielectric insulators because of the materials’ manufacturability and ability to deliver...
Components Converge For HDTV Everywhere
Consumer products are driving the success of the electronics industry. We’re seeing prices fall as production ramps up. Also, HDTV has pushed the demand for set-top boxes, satellite receivers, and HD video players. HDTV GOES 1080P Progressive scan, or 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), is the top end of the HDTV standard. Now, it’s finally showing up in a wider range of displays as well as in content...
Best Computer Of The Year
Most systems created this year are based on Intel’s quad-core Xeon, and Intel’s S5000XVN motherboard is one of the popular target platforms (Fig. 1). This ATX motherboard can handle a pair of 3.0-GHz, 65-nm X5365 Xeon processors. It also will be able to handle the newer 45-nm X5482 when it becomes available. The latest Xeon processors, including the higher-end 7000 series for servers, will likely dominate in 2008. But for now, we’ll...
More Cores, Performance Define This Year's Best
High-performance computing saw a major jump in performance this year with the appearance of dual quad-core platforms. This technology provides an ideal format for parallel processing and virtual-machine support. This year’s top-of-the-line system is based on Intel’s Xeon 3-GHz, 64-bit X5365 quad-core processor. A pair can be found on Intel’s S5000XVN motherboard (Fig. 1). The Xeon employs...
Tech Year In Review
JANUARY 30 The transistor gets its most thorough makeover in nearly 40 years. Intel and IBM change the composition of the gate stack, which researchers say is necessary for the perpetuation of Moore’s Law. The new high-k plus metal-gate (HK+MG) design swaps silicon-dioxide insulation, which has become rather leaky at only five atoms thick, and a silicon gate for a “high-k” dielectric insulator and a metal gate. The...
Check Out 2007’s Best As You Get Ready For 2008
Welcome to our Best Electronic Design issue, and what a year it was. A blockbuster consumer product came on the scene in January and took the world by storm when it was released in June. Thatâ??s the Apple iPhone, of course. And it went far beyond the hype to become a great example of innovation in consumer electronics engineeringâ??and then some. Who can forget teenager George Hotz, who gained international attention by hacking the iPhone?...
Multicore Technology Pushes Virtualization
It’s been a wild and frantic year for designers of embedded devices. A wide range of products has boosted performance, cut costs, and reduced power requirements by impressive amounts. On top of that, many new releases deliver matching reference designs or low-cost development kits, enabling developers to quickly check out the latest offerings. KITS IN HAND Take DLP Design’s DLP-FPGA platform, which doubles as a...
Compact Tracing With 32-Bit Microcontrollers
What debugging feature is more likely to be found in higher-end 32-bit microcontrollers? Microcontrollers with advanced debugging capabilities typically augment the standard JTAG interface with trace facilities. Trace information can be captured on-chip or off-chip. What is the difference between on-chip and off-chip trace? On-chip trace uses a RAM array located on the chip to store the trace data. It...
Signal Integrity Gets The Plug & Play Treatment
It’s hard to beat plug & play as a hot buzzword over the past few years. Often, the term conjures up images of Microsoft Windows. Now, Altera is getting into the mix with Plug & Play Signal Integrity. The company’s hot-swappable FPGA device uses low-power linear adaptive equalization technology—Altera’s Adaptive Dispersion Compensation Engine (ADCE). Plug & Play Signal Integrity gives system architects hot-socketable Stratix II GX...
A Conversation With Judge J. Barton Phelps: Reliving The Landmark AMD v. Intel Case
Intel and AMD: The Early Years Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore, formerly of Fairchild Semiconductor, founded Intel in 1968. Jerry Sanders and other former Fairchild employees founded AMD in 1969. Despite their former association, the founders of the companies had a tumultuous and even hostile relationship through 1986. That’s when IBM said it would only agree to use Intel’s iAPX family of microprocessors (X86) if Intel presented a second source. Not...
IP Experts: Put The Brakes On Patent Reform
Issues like the presidential campaign, healthcare, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may dominate the headlines. But Congress also has been working on the Patent Reform Act of 2007, with the House of Representatives passing HR 1908 and the Senate introducing S 1145. (For a table detailing the legislation, go to www.electronicdesign.com, Drill Deeper 17457.) Despite the law’s lack of publicity, the...
Secure That Microcontroller
These days, security is being built into embedded applications at all levels, including the hardware. However, the wide range of encryption applications, standards, and protocols makes it difficult at best to create a universal platform. The tables on common encryption standards (Table 1) and common encrypted protocols (Table 2) give just a clue of the options available. Hardware...
Patent Litigation Has Doubled And Will Double Again Over The Next Decade
Patent litigation in the semiconductor industry has been on a steady incline since 1997, as federal district court filings have slowly doubled. A decade ago, 47 suits were filed. Halfway through 2007, 53 were filed, with 109 total for 2006. Over 900 suits have been filed in all since 1997. Almost 50% of these suits were filed in the Ninth Circuit, primarily in courts located in California. The Patent Local Rules in the Northern District of California and the...
Companies Revamp Read-Heads For Multi-Terabyte Storage
Hard-disk-drive (HDD) manufacturers are hard at work on ways to pack multiple terabytes (Tbytes) of storage onto a single device. At October’s Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference in Tokyo, two key players in the HDD market detailed their latest work in expanding storage capacity. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (GST) revamped its readheads to make possible a 4-Tbyte drive, while Western Digital shaped current read-head technologies to deliver 3-Tbyte...
Printed-Electronics Technology Flexes Its Muscle
The growing field of printed electronics combines liquid functional materials with state-of-the-art printing equipment to create semiconductor components and electronic circuits. The resulting devices are functionally similar to their traditional silicon-based counterparts. However, they're also less expensive and have a number of unique features that open the door to a wide range of new electronic applications, from tiny "smart labels" to full-body-sized...
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