September 30, 2002 Magazine Archive

Technologies
- Analog
- Communications
- Components
- Digital ICs
- EDA
- Embedded
- Power
- Test
Design Hotspots
- Analog
- Embedded
- Power
- Green Design
Resources
Shows
- ESC 2009
- Embedded World 2009
- APEC
- CES
- electronica
- NI Week
- MTT-S
- DAC
- MD&M
- PCIM
Magazine
eBooks & Whitepapers
Jobs
More...
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
- Webcasts
- Job Zone
- Newsletters
- Blogs
- Hall of Fame
- RSS
- Subscribe

Click to view this week's ad screen

ISSUE DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2002

OPTIONS

DFT focused tester, PC-board design tools, Mixed-processor software, "Killer apps"

• Get a FREE Subscription
• Renew Subscription
• Reprints/Licensing
• Advertiser Index
• Submit Article Ideas

Browse Archived Articles By: Issue | Author | Department | Topic

September 30, 2002 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
PC-Board Design Tools Step Up To Gigabit Challenges
Depending on the type of product you're involved with, pc boards represent a range of design challenges. Generally speaking, you'd like to produce your board for as little money as possible, making sure that it's testable and manufacturable without... — David Maliniak

[Technology Report]
Tools Matter In Mixed-Processor Software Development
Mixed-processor systems are growing more common as standard system-on-a-chip (SoC) architectures, like the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP, become available. OMAP combines a conventional ARM processor with a TI DSP. Unfortunately, programming a... — William Wong

[Product Innovation]
SoC Test System Speeds Design Verification, Cuts Test Cost
As System-On-A-Chip complexity increases, testing the millions of gates that get integrated on the chip has become an ever more challenging and more expensive task. On-chip test support logic and built-in self-test (BIST) circuits have been developed... — Dave Bursky

[Design Application]
It's Time To Implement Embedded Networking And Internetworking
Embedded networking and Internetworking implementations are without a doubt on the rise. However, anecdotal evidence from engineers, gathered at trade shows and seminars, indicates that the embedded industry is still in the exploration stage.... — Olaf Pfeiffer , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Counte Resets LRS Generator
A linear-recursive-sequence (LRS) generator produces binary sequences using a shift register and feedback through an exclusive-OR gate. The sequence length equals 2N1, where N represents the number of registers. The generator cycles... — Robert Schell

[Ideas For Design]
State-Variable Oscillator Suits Ratiometric Capacitive Sensors
Often, it's necessary for a sensor system to compute the ratio of two capacitors. Doing so re-duces the transducer's sensitivity to dielectric errors from such factors as temperature. Furthermore, dual sensors are typically used to double the... — Jim Lepkowski

[Ideas For Design]
Current-Feedback Op Amps Save Power In Photodiode Apps
Current-feedback amplifiers offer high bandwidth with minimal power-supply current draw. However, they're rarely used as transimpedance amplifiers in photodiode applications due to the high current noise of their inverting inputs. The ... — Glen Brisebois

[Editorial]
True Worldwide Communications Need Hands-On Virtual Reality
The world continues to shrink as companies expand their operations to span multiple continents. Today, a company can have corporate headquarters in one country, research and development in one or more others, manufacturing in another country or two,... — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Doctoring Stuff, Anyhow? (Part 1)
You may be the best doctor for you. Or, you may be the worst doctor for you. I can't tell you, but maybe I can help you figure it out. After all, even the best M.D. has to get a lot of facts filtered through you. So you're definitely part of the... — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Choosing The Wrong Circuit Breaker Is A Waste Of Money—Or Worse
It's only a circuit breaker. How hard could it be? A surprising number of engineers specify the wrong type of circuit breaker to protect their equipment. Engineers frequently overprotect or underprotect designs, resulting in increased costs or... — Bill Stewart

[Editor's Notebook]
Shrinking Geometries Bring The Vanishing, Ideal Transistor
The latest Spice transistor models contain provisions for modeling the complex junction characteristics. They can even extend the simulations to include RF performance. In many ways, the CMOS transistor is moving toward the performance of an ideal... — Tets Maniwa

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Flashback
Flashback > 10 Years Ago OCTOBER 1, 1992 The diversity of programmable-logic architectures gives designers a wide range of choices to optimize a system's performance. But that same diversity can become... — Staff

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Four Killer Apps Stand Out From The Rest Of the Pack
No matter how wonderful it may be, technology by itself is not enough to succeed. Even groundbreaking technology needs a good application to be a winner. We engineers, who are the creators of technology, like to believe the technology is... — Staff

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Wireless Communications: The Lure Of Wireless Is Irresistible
Connectivity. Staying in touch. That's what it's all about, and it's addictive. Today, the cell-phone business is a giant, driven by the security-blanket need to always have a phone available, coupled with that instant gratification from contacting... — Louis E. Frenzel

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Industrial Automation: Improved Networking Will Be The Key
Three developments, each advancing separately, will join in the next few years to significantly improve industrial electronics: radio-frequency identification (RF ID) tags, an improved man-machine interface, and better ties between a plant's front... — Roger Allan

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Consumer Electronics: Fun And Convenience Will Rule The Day At Home
Smarter home appliances, sharper and clearer high-definition TVs (HDTVs), and advanced entertainment devices—personal video recorders, MP3 players, digital cameras, VCRs, DVDs, and CDs—will pervade the home in the not-too-distant future, as... — Roger Allan

[Celebrating 50 Years]
Medical Electronics: Technology Advances Will Revolutionize Healthcare
There's a revolution in medical care that will make an inexorable impact on our lives. Whether one is being treated in a doctor's office, a medical laboratory, a hospital, or an emergency room, the coalescing medical advances are nothing short of... — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
Twist-Pin Concept Increases Miniature Connector Reliability
Taking a 30-year-old connector contact concept one step further, Tyco Electronics' high-reliability microminiature connectors exceed certain Mil standards, suiting them for aerospace, defense, medical-equipment, and various instrumentation... — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
Module Cleans Power-Supply Output, Improves Transient Response
The switching noise generated by dc-dc converters is unacceptable in applications like medical imaging, sonar, and automated test equipment (ATE). Passive filters can be employed to clean up the converters' outputs, but these filters have limitations.... — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Embedded C Standard Approaches
Work on embedded extensions to C have been ongoing for years, but the ISO 18037 proposal (http://std.dkuug.dk) is now up for a vote. Acceptance is expected in 2003. ISO 18037 incorporates embedded C and DSP-C extensions that have been... — William Wong

[Forefront]
JIT Speeds Simulation
Many embedded systems can be designed and implemented without writing a line of C code using model-oriented development tools. One of these tools, Release 13 of the Mathworks' namesake product family, now includes MatLab 6.5 and Simulink 5.0.... — William Wong

[Forefront]
Front-To-Back Tool Flow Squares Off With Analog/Mixed-Signal IC Challenges
Through tweaks to existing tools and development of new ones, Mentor Graphics has put together a new release of its front-to-back set of design tools for analog/mixed-signal (AMS) ICs. The flow addresses design entry, simulation, layout, verification,... — David Maliniak

[Forefront]
Signal Generators And Network Analyzers Extend Into Microwave Range
The E8267C vector signal generator is the industry's first microwave signal generator to deliver vector modulation up to 20 GHz in a single, integrated instrument. A companion instrument, the E8361A vector network analyzer, extends the coverage of the... — Lisa Fakhry

[Forefront]
High-Output Precision Temperature Sensor Delivers High Noise Immunity
The MAX6612 precision analog output temperature sensor features a large change in output voltage with temperature change—19.53 mV/°C—for greater noise immunity than conventional temperature sensors. More importantly, this high delta... — Tets Maniwa

[Forefront]
Of Special Note...
Web Server. The eZ80 Webserver-i microcontroller from Zilog adds an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) compatible infrared encoder/decoder ideal for low-power, local communication. The device's TCP/IP stack works with... — Staff

[Forefront]
Button-Sized Wafers Sniff Out Nuclear Bombs
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill., have developed a small, portable detector for finding nuclear devices and materials. This technology could play a vital role in preventing rogue states and terrorist groups from building... — Richard Gawel

[Forefront]
The SOC-it System Controller
The SOC-it system controller from MIPS Technologies uses a pair of switches to provide a MIPS processor and simultaneous access to system resources. The switches simplify system-on-a-chip design while handling twice the traffic of a comparable bus... — William Wong

[New Products]

• 30-MHz Programmable Oscillator Marches To Users' Beat — Lisa Fakhry

• Temperature-Controlled VCXO Raises Frequency Bar To 160 MHz — Lisa Fakhry

• Surface-Mount Oscillators Tackle Wideband Networking — Lisa Fakhry

• SOT-23 Oscillator Runs Gamut From 1 kHz to 20 MHz — Lisa Fakhry

• Clock Oscillators And VCXOs Reject Common-Mode Noise — Lisa Fakhry

• Surface-Mount Chip Inductors Sport Stable Characteristics — Lisa Fakhry

• Miniature Chip Inductors Slash Size, Boost Frequencies — Lisa Fakhry

• Small, Light Toroidal Cores Shrink Power Transformers — Lisa Fakhry

• LCD Panel Maximizes Active Area For Handheld Displays — Lisa Fakhry

• Brilliant Blue LED Panel Meters Are Viewable From Afar — Lisa Fakhry

• LCD Touchscreen Panels Endure Despite Abuse — Lisa Fakhry

• Surface-Mount LED Indicators Throw Larger Devices’ Light — Lisa Fakhry

• Thin Surface-Mount LED Serves Backlighting Needs — Lisa Fakhry

• 19-in. Rack-Mount Units Handle Power Distribution — Lisa Fakhry

• 1000-W Symmetrical Power Supply Squashes AC Power Line Noise — Lisa Fakhry

• Two-Step Battery Charger Fuels Gel Cells And SLAs — Lisa Fakhry

• High-Voltage MOSFET Drivers Target Portable Power Applications — Lisa Fakhry

• Dual 20-V MOSFETs In BGAs Protect Li-Ion Battery Packs — Lisa Fakhry

• 150- And 200-V MOSFETs Boost Converter Efficiency — Lisa Fakhry

• N-Channel Power MOSFETs Raise Speed, Cut On-Resistance — Lisa Fakhry

• PC-MIP Mezzanine Card Eases Design With Nonvolatile FRAM — Lisa Fakhry

• Quad-PowerPC VME Board Backs Embedded DSPs — Lisa Fakhry

• 64-Bit CompactPCI Board Works As StarFabric Bridge — Lisa Fakhry

• SBC Carries Real-Time Clock With Nonvolatile SRAM — Lisa Fakhry

• SBC Heightens 3D Graphics Performance — Lisa Fakhry

• Network Processor Blade Boosts Gigabit/s IP Processing — Lisa Fakhry

• 28-Pin Flash Microcontroller Integrates Five-Channel ADC — Lisa Fakhry

• 2U And 4U CompactPCI Enclosures Encompass Hot-Swap Supplies — Lisa Fakhry

• Angular Position Sensor Is Less Than 8 mm Thick — Lisa Fakhry

• Reflective Object Sensor Integrates AlGaAs Infrared Emitter — Lisa Fakhry

• Vibration Sensor Delivers Consistent Characteristics — Lisa Fakhry

• Linear Sensor Arrays Scan A6-Size Documents — Lisa Fakhry

PartFinder

GlobalSpec

PART SEARCH :
	Powered by: