April 26, 2004 Magazine Archive

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

Click to view this week's ad screen

ISSUE DATE: APRIL 26, 2004

OPTIONS

Storage-area networks, Backplanes and buses, Multiprocessor DSP chip, Socketing systems

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

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

April 26, 2004 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
SANs—Sharing Storage To Infinity And Beyond
Just as you can never be too rich or too thin, you can never have too much storage capacity on your computer. At one time, a 5- or 10-Mbyte hard drive on a PC was a big deal. Today, 30- to 60-Gbyte drives are common on even the low-end PCs, with that... — Louis E. Frenzel

[Technology Report]
Piecing It Together: The Old And The New In Backplanes And Buses
The winds of new technology are shifting the sands of the bus and board landscape, and the pattern is clearly serial. Parallel bus and backplane technologies like PCI, CompactPCI, and VME64 are far from extinct, but serial bus solutions are affecting... — William Wong

[Leapfrog: Industry First]
Programmable Engine Runs H.264 Baseline In Full-Duplex Mode
Ever since the first microprocessors surfaced, programmable processors have strived to replace dedicated logic to provide a lower-cost, more flexible solution. In signal processing, the same is true. A programmable solution is preferred if it can meet... — Dave Bursky

[Leapfrog: First Look]
Nowhere To Go But Up In SoC HW/SW Codesign
So far, 2004 has seen a parade of new tools emerge to facilitate a true electronic-system-level (ESL) design flow. Meanwhile, some of the existing tools that facilitate ESL design are now undergoing major upgrades. CoWare's ConvergenSC falls into the... — David Maliniak

[Design View / Design Solution]
Get Yourself "Plugged In" To The Latest In Socketing Systems
With the proper sockets, you can anticipate and overcome a number of potentially troublesome and costly design issues early in the development cycle. Electronic designers have long been familiar with using sockets as a fast and efficient... — Jim Murphy

[Ideas For Design]
Power Supply's Output Tracks Negative Input By One-Half
In some fiber-optic communication applications, the transimpedance amplifier needs a negative bias voltage that tracks the negative input rail by one-half for the data signal's common-mode input range. The circuit in ... — Ajmal Godil

[Ideas For Design]
Triple-Output DC-DC Converter Uses Ceramic Capacitors
Even the smallest modern electronics systems now require more than one power-supply voltage. The challenge is producing the required voltages in as little board space as possible. Designers can produce three output voltages using a single controller... — Dongyan Zhou

[Editorial]
Get Me The Unified Device Or Get Me To The Chiropractor
With a backpack and a carry-on bulging with personal electronics, I felt like a true champion of the electronics industry as I headed for the Embedded Systems Conference this month. Then again, considering my sore back, maybe I was more of a... — Mark David

[POV: Point Of View]
External R&D Is Driving New Product Technologies
The economy is rebounding, companies have stopped cutting budgets, and the race is on to develop new product technologies quickly. We all know that getting to market first provides a significant competitive advantage. While optimism abounds, however,... — Kevin Stark

[Pease Porridge]
Bob's Mailbox
Dear Bob: I designed magnetic stripe readers in the eighties and would like to comment on your recent "Bob's Mailbox."* Three tracks are defined on the standard card. Most credit, ATM, and debit cards use track two in the middle of the stripe.... — Bob Pease

[TechView: The Industry]
OLED Displays Spice Up Mobile Phones
With the arrival of newer, slicker display technologies like organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the LCD looks like the newest "old" technology in the fast-moving mobile handset market. Indeed, OLEDs have strong potential in mobile phones. Yet LCD... — Kimberly Allen

[TechView: The Industry]
Subvocal Speech Capture Keeps Things Quiet While Improving Recognition Accuracy
By sensing activity in the nerves in the throat that control speech, the NASA Ames Research Center has begun to computerize human silent reading. Button-sized sensors stuck under the chin and on either side of the Adam's apple could gather... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: The Industry]
Automobile "Electronification" Picks Up Speed
The automobile is in the midst of a historic transition from a primarily mechanical machine to a primarily electronic device. The evidence of this evolution is plain. The North American OEM market for automotive electronic products is expected to... — Lance A. Ealey

[TechView: Analog & Power]
80-Msample/s 14-Bit ADC Takes On 500-MHz Inputs
It's crucial for cellular basestation designers to get the most dynamic performance out of their components. A new option, the LT1750 14-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) from Linear Technology, samples at 80 Msamples/s while accepting input... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Precision MOSFET Arrays Matched To Within 1-mV Offset
When used in precision current mirror or current multiplier applications, the n-channel ALD1121E (dual) and ALD1123E (quad) precision MOSFET arrays can provide a current source from 100 nA to 3 mA and either positive, negative, or zero... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Analog & Power]
Current-Output 14-Bit DAC Squeezes Into Tiny SOT-23
If you need a wide-bandwidth, current-output digital-to-analog converter (DAC) where space is at a premium, try the AD5453. This 14-bit current-output multiplying device comes in a tiny SOT-23 package that measures 2 by 2 mm and has a multiplying... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Communications]
802.11b Wireless Modules Extend Speed, Range For Industrial Apps
Price, complexity, and high power consumption have limited 802.11b's usefulness in monitoring and control applications. Alternative wireless technologies, like Bluetooth, ZigBee, WirelessUSB, and the plain no-protocol 433/915-MHz transceivers, have... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
NetLink Controllers Bring Gigabit Ethernet To The Masses
Almost all PCs and laptops feature a built-in Ethernet port that supports 10/100-Mbit/s connections. But with corporate local-area networks (LANs) moving to 1-Gigabit Ethernet (1GE), a port upgrade is clearly needed. While 1GE is well... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
2.4-GHz SiGe Power Amps Infuse Power Detection
Digital European Cordless Telephones (DECTs) and 802.11b/g wireless local-area network (WLAN) applications can arm themselves with a new line of silicon-germanium (SiGe) power amplifiers. These linear devices from M/A-COM offer three stages of gain... — Louis E. Frenzel

[TechView: Communications]
Digital TV Library Adds Test Benches For Faster Verification
An enhanced digital TV design library promises to help speed the development of products used in a wide range of consumer and commercial DTV applications. Its test benches enable design verification earlier in the design cycle. Developed by... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Embedded]
Microsoft Previews Windows CE 5.0 At Electronica/ESC 2004
Windows CE is getting a development facelift in version 5.0, along with across-the-board improvements in services and device drivers. There's even a new Direct 3D mobile technology interface. No longer using the .Net suffix, Windows CE includes the... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
Smart LCD Simplifies Displays
Simple display needs should not require complex solutions. Amulet Technologies abides by that motto with its line of Smart GUI Modules, now available in VGA (640 by 480) and half-VGA (480 by 320) resolutions. Each unit has its own on-module processor... — William Wong

[TechView: Embedded]
News Clips
Fibre Channel Controller Increases Data Integrity The dual-channel LSIFC929XL controller delivers 2-Gbit/s connectivity for storage-area networks with improved data integrity thanks to a new data-integrity field. Integrity checks then can be... — William Wong

[TechView: Components & Test]
Wafer-Level Chip-Scale Package Favors Small-Form-Factor ASICs
A fully qualified, high-performance, low-power and small-form-factor wafer-level chip-scale package (W-CSP) developed by Oki Semiconductor satisfies a wide range of ASIC design demands. Targeting chip sizes from 2 by 2 mm up to 8 by 8 mm with pin... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
Low-Cost 500-MHz DSOs Feature Bench-Friendly Large Displays
High performance, large display size, and a small form factor—all describe the WaveSurfer line of digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs). Rated for bandwidths up to 500 MHz, these LeCroy devices feature a bright 10.4-in. diagonal display that's... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Components & Test]
RF Vector Signal Generator Module Speeds Product Cycle
The 2.7-GHz PXI-5670 RF vector signal generator module accelerates RF product development from design through manufacturing. This device from National Instruments combines the PXI-5610 2.7-GHz RF upconverter, the PXI-5421 16-bit arbitrary waveform... — Roger Allan

[TechView: Digital]
Graphics Engine Brings On The Action With 16 Pipelines
Gaming and other 3D graphics applications need muscle. As each chip generation boosts performance, systems deliver more lifelike images and provide displays with faster responses for more realistic action. The NV40 graphics processor from... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Cross-Foundry Partnering Ensures Design Portability
The industry's first cross-foundry design enablement program, just inked between Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and IBM Corp., will support leading-edge chip development starting at the 90-nm process node. The program builds on the existing... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: Digital]
Services Supplier Takes On Physical Design Through Manufacturing
Companies opting to develop an ASIC often possess expertise in the architecture and logic-design portions of the project. But unless a team of physical-design experts is hired, the design team would welcome the opportunity to transfer the... — Dave Bursky

[TechView: EDA]
ASIC-Style Synthesis Embarks On FPGA World
With as many as 40% of ASIC and ASSP designers doing FPGA prototyping, Synopsys decided to spin a version of its Design Compiler (DC) synthesis tool for FPGA designers. The new tool, dubbed DC FPGA, aims squarely at designers doing prototype work on... — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Post-Layout IC Analysis Tool Nails Down Nanometer Effects
In the implementation phase of nanometer system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs, gate-level analysis serves the synthesis-driven segments. But at some point, designers must delve into full-chip, transistor-level analysis. Then they can smoke out physical... — David Maliniak

[TechView: EDA]
Chip-Integration Flow Spans Multiple Design Domains
By coupling a new chip-integration flow with the latest release of its Virtuoso chip editing tool, Cadence will enable designers to perform full-scale physical IC integration across multiple design domains. These domains include analog, custom... — David Maliniak

[TechScope]
MPEG-2 Video System Brings History To Life
Technology is keeping the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. alive at the Nashville Public Library. Visitors to the library's Civil Rights Room can use Adtec Digital's Soloist 2 Broadcast MPEG-2 player to watch footage and documentaries covering the... — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Molecular Movement Steps Up DNA Research
The chance to unravel the mysteries shrouding DNA was the seed that sprouted a novel microchip design. Eric Simone, a senior biomedical engineering major at Johns Hopkins University, fabricated and tested a chip that moves and isolates DNA and protein... — Richard Gawel

[TechScope]
Companies Hit The Road For Wireless Safety Systems
Wireless technology promises safer roads throughout America. So say Mark IV Industries, Raytheon, Sirit Inc., and TransCore, which will work together to develop a new generation of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology for the U.S.... — Richard Gawel

[New Products]

• Analog/Power: Front-End And Rectifier Systems Deliver Up To 500 W In 1U Packages — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: 9-kW Hot-Swap Power Supplies Power Wireless RF Amplfiers — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: Uniterruptible Power Supplies Stand Guard Over Servers, IT Gear — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: High-Voltage MOSFETs Serve Switch-Mode Supplies And PFC Tasks — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: Open-Frame Switching Supplies Generate 40 Or 60 W In Tiny Packages — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: Zero-Drift Amplifier For Portables Cuts Power By More Than Half — Lisa Maliniak

• Analog/Power: Hot-Swap Power-Controller IC Can Handle PCI Express — Lisa Maliniak

• Test & Measurement: Digital Temperature/Humidity Logger Preaches Accuracy — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: 14-Bit, Two-Channel Comm Analyzer Card Works At 105 Msamples/s — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Multigigabit/s Analyzers Combine BER Testing, Eye-Diagram Analysis — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Thermometer/Anemometer Works In Hard-To-Reach Locations — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Nanotech Measurement Software Toolkit Is Free For Researchers — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: 300-MHz PC Single/Dual-Frequency Synthesizer Boards Pinch Pennies — Roger Allan

• Test & Measurement: Kelvin Four-Wire Lead Set Handles Low-Resistance Measurements — Roger Allan

• Embedded: CompactPCI Switch Supports Eight StarFabric Links — William Wong

• Embedded: SBC Weds Communications And Industrial I/O — William Wong

• Embedded: Fibre Channel Chip Rips Along At 4 Gbits/s — William Wong

• Embedded: Optical Transceivers Support 4-Gbit/s Fibre Channel — William Wong

• Embedded: Software Analysis Tool Gets Onboard Linux OSs — William Wong

• Embedded: PCI Mezzanine Card Captures Up To 1600-By-1200 Video — William Wong

• Components: Digital Temperature Switch Comes With Dual Input And Triple 8-A Output — Roger Allan

• Components: Electromagnetic Sensor Delivers Reliable Vehicle Detection — Roger Allan

• Components: High-Power, Wide-Resistance-Range SMT Resistor Shrinks To New Level — Roger Allan

• Components: VCXOs Boost Frequency Range Between 120 MHz And 600 MHz — Roger Allan

• Component Specifier: Optoelectronic Components — Lisa Maliniak

PartFinder

GlobalSpec

PART SEARCH :
	Powered by: