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ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 1, 2003 OPTIONS
Picking the right manufacturing partner, PC-based test instruments, POL dc-dc converter, Intel Developer Forum, Embedded in ED

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September 1, 2003 - In This Issue

[Engineering Feature]
Picking The Right Manufacturing Partner
With everyone in the industry doing more with less, i.e., cutting costs, finding the ideal manufacturing and design partner has become one of the biggest challenges for OEMs. Price/performance curves, time-to-market, and design cycles are...  — Ron Schneiderman

[Technology Report]
PC-Based Instruments Reshape The Test Landscape
Thanks to advances in microprocessor computing power, a bumper crop of test and measurement (T&M) hardware and software products that use the PC as the host computer is at the ready for engineers. Not to be outdone, manufacturers of traditional...  — Roger Allan

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Power Converter Stands Out From The POL Crowd
Point-of-load (POL) dc-dc converters are commonly offered in single inline packages (SIPs), which are valued for their ability to save board space and enhance cooling. Unfortunately in some applications, these SIPs may be the only through-hole...  — David G. Morrison

[Leapfrog: First Look]
USB On Board: Flash Memory Leads The Way
A Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface is the norm for mid- to high-end microcontrollers and embedded systems, yet it doesn't have to be used just for external devices. It equally suits internal devices, but a more robust, board-level connector has...  — William Wong

[Design View / Design Solution]
Multiport Memories Soup Up Wireless Baseband Processing
With wireless transmission standards evolving from 2G to 2.5G to 3G and beyond, each wireless infrastructure network subsystem is under pressure to handle increasing performance and bandwidth requirements. At the same time...  — Rajiv Nema , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Simple Temperature Indicator Uses RISC-Based MCU
A very simple temperature indicator can be built around an 8-bit RISC microcontroller (see the figure). Data from a temperature sensor is processed by the MCU and used to display the temperature. The...  — Harinder Dhingra , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Measure Nanoseconds With A PIC Microcontroller
Nanosecond interval timers are a critical component in products as diverse as time-domain reflectometers (TDRs), collision-avoidance systems, radar altimeters, and nuclear instrumentation. This simple circuit, which runs off a single 5-V supply,...  — Richard Michta , et al.

[Editorial]
If You Build It, Will They Come (And Buy It)?
Forget what other barometers you may have seen regarding a return to happy days in the electronics marketplace. With last month's announcement of nearly 150 new products on the same day, one company, Hewlett-Packard, is working to boost the economy...  — Mark David

[POV: Point Of View]
Programmable Analog Technology Is Catching On
Programmable analog technology is beginning to get traction among systems designers in various industrial, medical, and communications applications. Like the digital FPGA, programmable analog can be used to implement a wide range of functions. In...  — Suhel Dhanani

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Spicey Stuff, Anyhow? (Part III)
Recently, an engineer sent me his analysis of my current limiter, in "What's All This Current Limiter Stuff, Anyhow?" (Electronic Design, Sept. 5, 2000, p. 187), using a power MOSFET. He studied it and decided he did not like my...  — Bob Pease

[TechView: The Industry]
Intel Developer Forum Spotlights PC Design Info
Designers of personal-computer systems can expect a smorgasbord of technical information and product overviews that will satisfy the most information-hungry engineer at the Intel Developer Conference. Scheduled for Sept. 16-18 at the San...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: The Industry]
New Benchmarks Evaluate Network Processing Components
The Network Processor Forum (NPF) has released two new benchmarking implementation agreements (IAs) to help line-card and networking equipment manufacturers test, evaluate, and compare different network processors and related components. The IAs...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Advanced Features, Low Cost Come To Electronic Energy Metering
Existing electronic solutions for metering energy should gain a measure of flexibility thanks to two novel power-meter ICs. Essentially analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with integrated energy-measurement functions, Cirrus Logic's CS5461 and...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Buck Regulator Generates Bias Power In Space-Saving CSP
The LM5007 80-V buck bias regulator comes in a 4- by 4-mm LLP chip-scale package (CSP). As a result, the chip can replace more expensive and less efficient transformer-coupled flyback regulators, which are frequently used to convert a high-voltage...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Joint Venture Targets Variable-Speed Motor Control
IR-SA Integrated Technologies, a collaboration between International Rectifier (IR) and Sanyo Semiconductor, will design, develop, and market variable-speed motor-drive power modules. These products will target appliances and industrial applications...  — David G. Morrison

[TechView: Communications]
2.5G Cell Phones Gain An EDGE With Chip Set
Most modern cell phones use the GSM or CDMA standard. CDMA phones using the cdma2000 1xRTT standard can accommodate data at rates up to 300 kbits/s. Even higher rates are possible with the 3xRTT version. GSM phones can handle data if they use the...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
First Wireless LAN Security Processors Should Trigger Enterprise Growth
A novel line of wireless security chips could jumpstart the stagnating wireless local-area network (WLAN) enterprise and aggregation points markets. Cavium's NITROX Wireless family of chips is designed for network switching systems targeting...  — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Components & Test]
Penny-A-Secnd SoC DFT Tester Saves Time
At $399,000, the 93000 SoC (system-on-a-chip) DFT (design for test) series promises users a one-cent-per-second cost of test. As such, this version of the Agilent Technologies 93000 SoC platform would become the most cost-effective SoC DFT solution...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
High-Performance DSOs Turned Into Integrated Workstations
The sigma series Digital-Storage-Oscilloscope (DSO) portable workstations include an integrated, full-featured Windows PC that offers acquisition, analysis, and connectivity. The PC takes advantage of Sigma's extensive range of real-time measurement...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Test/Burn-In socket Takes On 13-mm² Devices Up To 1 GHz
Able to accommodate any device package up to 13 mm2, a new test/burn-in socket targets devices with a 0.5-mm pitch or larger used in applications up to 1 GHz. It's ideal for test-and-burn and burn-in applications of chip-scale-package,...  — Roger Allan

[TechView: Digital]
Dual-Port RAM Delivers 18 Mbits And 72-Bit Wide Ports
A true dual-port RAM with dual 72-bit wide data ports, the FLEx72 (CY18S72V) from Cypress Semiconductor claims the highest storage capacity and widest datapath of any off-the-shelf dual-port memory. On the chip is a total of 18 Mbits of storage...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Pre-Fabricated ASIC Platforms Eye High-Performance Systems
Two predesigned ASIC platform slices, the RapidChip Xtreme and RapidChip Integrator, are now members of LSI Logic's ASIC platform family. The Xtreme platform is optimized for high-performance, high-bandwidth applications such as...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Breaking News: RASER High-Speed Serial Interface
Taking aim at the popular PCI Express serial interface, designers at Rambus Inc. optimized a version of the company's RASER high-speed serial interface to fully comply with PCI Express specifications. Samples of a four-lane PCI Express...  — Dave Bursky

[TechView: EDA]
PCB/IC Package Design Tool Eyes Up Gigabit Interfaces
In one integrated environment, designers can now implement gigabit serial interfaces in high-speed printed-circuit-board (PCB) systems. Version 15.0 of Cadence's packaging design environment includes enhancements that span the entire design flow,...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Upgrade Gives FPGA Design Environment 60% Boost
With more ASIC developers moving to large complex FPGAs, FPGA design flows must include ASIC-like features like floorplanning and optimized synthesis. Of course, FPGA designers require software tools tailored to specific architectures, and users of...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Update: Wire Harness Design
Wire harness design can become easier by integrating Altair Engineering's HarnessLink design tools and Ansoft's Simplorer simulator. HarnessLink brings to the table sophisticated data management, while Simplorer offers a fast and efficient analysis...  — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
EDA Update: SpyGlass Predictive Analysis Software
A web delivery model makes sense for Atrenta and its SpyGlass predictive analysis software. Atrenta has had early success providing SpyGlass on an as-needed basis to customers of strategic partners such as Agere Systems. ASIC vendors get a private...  — David Maliniak

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
News Clips
600-MHz Via Eden CPU Power JRex-VE. The 3.5-in. single-board computer has a 133-MHz front-side bus supporting up to 512 Mbytes of SDRAM. The VIA TwisterT chip set incorporates an S3 Savage 4 graphic engine. The PC...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Debug Java Anywhere
Write once, debug/test everywhere is a variant on Java's write once, run anywhere claim, and it defines the Java Platform Debugger Architecture (JPDA). The JPDA is a client/server system built from three application programming interfaces...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
It's All Perspective
I had an excellent time at Georgia Tech (yes, I'm a Ramblin' Wreck) and Rutgers. Going to college is great because of the wide variety of courses you have to take in addition to the electives of your choice. The trend to teach and use current...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
PC/104 Goes XScale
PC/104 is no longer just for x86 processors. The Viper dispels the myth of PC/104 being just for x86 processors. It's based on a 400-MHz Intel PXA255 XScale processor. The board consumes only 1.4 W and only 200 mW in standby mode. The board has...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Digital I/O At A Distance
Short-haul (10 m) digital and analog connections can be facilitated with the RN1100 RabbitNet Digital I/O card. A 1-Mbit/s, three-wire, CAT 5 link connects the RN1100 to a RabbitNet master, such as a Z-World single-board computer or operator...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
8051 Snatches 24-Bit ADC
A low-noise (75 nV) 24-bit delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and quad 16-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) takes MCU analog to a new level. The MSC1210 family suits applications that demand high-precision analog. The 30-MHz 8051 core...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Squeezing 16-Bit MCUs
It's not easy being a 16-bit MCU vendor these days, but things are not as bad as some want you to believe. Choosing the right microcontroller for an application still places 16-bit solutions at the forefront, and there is no shortage of products. In...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Consumer Linux Gets Graphics
MontaVista released a collection of Linux Consumer Electronics Edition (CEE) versions, including Qt/Embedded for CEE, Qtopia for CEE with smartphone and PDA framework, and MontaVista Graphics for CEE for X Windows. CEE also is integrated with IBM's...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
DSP Kits Don't Go For Much Kaboodle
You don't have to spend a bundle to get started with the TMS320C64x fixed-point and TMS320C67x floating-point DSPs. The C6416 DSK board has 16 Mbytes of SDRAM and a 600-MHz fixed-point DSP. The C6713 DSK includes 8 Mbytes of SDRAM and an emulation...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
App Cuts Embedded GUI Design Time
The microCommander v1.3 supports JK Microsystems' LogicFlex-EPX (www.jkmicro.com) industrialized control system. Developed by Intec Automation, the microCommander drag-and-drop interface enables fast creation of a front end for the EPX's...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Updated Tool Tackles MCU/FPGA Combo
QuickWorks v9.5 provides a comprehensive environment for HDL-based designs that extend the new MIPS-based QuickMIPS ESP (Embedded Standard Product) line of MCUs and Eclipse II FPGAs. It's available as a free download....  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
16-Bit MCU Runs Tiny Linux
SnapGear released a version of the open-source uClinux operating system for Renesas Technology's H8 300S microcontroller. The release works with the EDOSK-2674 development board, which has 4 Mbytes of flash and 8 Mbytes of RAM, 1x10 Mbit/s Ethernet,...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Embedded Linux Server For Devices
The Axis 83 Device Server, which contains 6-Mbyte flash and 16-Mbyte SDRAM, is a natural for storing and logging application data. Dual Ethernet ports handle firewall applications. An RS-485 port, two RS-232 ports, and a USB 1.1 host port can...  — William Wong

[Embedded in Electronic Design]
Mini Package Comes Loaded
The credit-card-sized Fingertip3 squeezes in Intel's 400-MHz PXA 255 XScale processor, which consumes as little as 350 mW. It supports up to 64 Mbytes of SDRAM and 32 Mbytes of flash. InHand Electronics' Fingertip3 has a Secure Digital slot, compact...  — William Wong

[TechScope]
Solar Cars Speed To The Finish Line
The Indy 500 may be fun, but it's got nothing on the American Solar Challenge. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, this clean and energy-efficient event challenges teams of college students to design, build, and race solar-powered...  — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
RF Chip Broadcasts ID And Hope
People with chronic medical conditionS no longer have to depend on identification in wallets or on bracelets. They can take advantage of the VeriChip from Applied Digital Solutions instead. This 12- by 2.1-mm RFID device can be implanted in the...  — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
RTOS Takes Command Of Unmanned Aircraft
Unmanned aircraft, like the military models that proved so effective during the recent war in Iraq, don't need a hotshot pilot to be successful. But they do need a cutting-edge operating system. Fortunately, BAE Systems has one ready to go....  — Richard Gawel

[I Design]
Gary Bergstrom
I've been doing design work for nearly thirty years, and I still enjoy the fresh challenges that every new day brings. I do analog circuit design and digital design (as it relates to putting micros into things), and I write software—not a...  — Gary Bergstrom

[New Products]

• LEDs With High Brightness Levels Suit Automotive/Industrial Uses  — Roger Allan

• Versatile PC Adapter Interconnects USB To I²C Buses  — Roger Allan

• Right-Angle 3-mm PC-Board LEDs Provide Affordable Performance  — Roger Allan

• Shuttle Flow Switch Visually Indicates Flow/No-Flow  — Roger Allan

• Low-Profile SMT LED Lamps Provide Full-Color Capability  — Roger Allan

• A Bright Idea: One LED-Based Lamp Can Replace 50 To 100 White LEDs  — Roger Allan

• Structured ASICs Now Pack Up To 2 Million Programmable Gates  — Dave Bursky

• Workstation-Class Motherboard Chip Set Has Four RDRAM Ports  — Dave Bursky

• Crosspoint Switch Supplies 34 3.125-Gbit/s Ports  — Dave Bursky

• Radiation-Hardened DSP Performs 24-Bit Operations At 75 MHz  — Dave Bursky

• FRAM-Based 4-kbit Nonvolatile Memory Delivers Serial Data  — Dave Bursky

• In-System PLDs Come Loaded With 1024 Logic Cells, 512 kbits Of RAM  — Dave Bursky





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