April 3, 2000 Magazine Archive

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ISSUE DATE: APRIL 3, 2000

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CDMA baseband processor, Board-level connectors, Bootstrap PROM, DSL modems

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April 3, 2000 - In This Issue

[Technology Report]
On-Chip Processors Turn Monolithic ADCs Into Data-Acquisition Systems
The last few years have seen dramatic improvements in the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) world, changing the landscape of this data-conversion chip beyond recognition. With the migration toward CMOS processes, the number of functions being... — Ashok Bindra

[Technology Report]
Board-Level Connectors Chase Faster Performance For High-Speed Designs
With signal speeds on the rise in a wide range of applications, maintaining signal integrity (SI) and minimizing the effects of EMI have become growing challenges in countless board-level designs. Clock rates of several hundred megahertz have become... — David G. Morrison

[Product Innovation]
One-Chip Baseband Processor Lifts CDMA To Integration Nirvana
As CDMA technology continues to wind its own way through the cellular diaspora, it is as susceptible to the pressures of increased integration as any of its counterparts. The reasons are myriad, but they mostly revolve around the almost universal... — Patrick Mannion

[Design Application]
Consider A Microcontroller When You Need A Compact Bootstrap PROM
I used to think that 8- and 16-bit microprocessor chips were pretty intelligent, but that was before I started using single-chip microcontrollers. These devices, with their on-chip EPROM, really are smart. They power up already knowing what to... — Tom Napier

[Design Application]
Use G.Lite DSL Modems For Broadband Residential Applications
Digital-subscriber-line modems are spearheading the race for high-connect speeds in the residential marketplace. There, modern web pages and e-commerce are creating a demand for greater bandwidth. Growing interest has given rise to a number of... — Paul Astrakhan , et al.

[Ideas For Design]
Two Inverters Create A Versatile SR Flip-Flop With No NAND/NOR Gates
Classical SR flip-flops require two NAND gates for active-low inputs or two NOR gates for active-high inputs. The circuit shown uses only two inverters connected in a latch configuration via resistors R1 and R2 (... — Fulvio Pompili

[Ideas For Design]
Low-Cost Function Generator
This low-cost function generator, based on the Maxim MAX038 high-frequency waveform generator, produces sine, triangle, and square waves from under 1 Hz to over 20 MHz (see the figure). The... — Ken Levine

[Ideas For Design]
Internal Oven Provides Voltage Reference Less Than 1-ppm/°C Drift
When precision voltage-reference requirements demand less than 1-ppm/°C temperature drift, the designer can choose to use expensive components (off-the-shelf modules) or build a custom oven enclosure. This second choice is common among... — Clayton B. Grantham

[Ideas For Design]
Multiplying Digital Synthesizer
Many applications, such as Doppler radar receivers, EW systems, etc., require coherent frequency synthesis. Direct digital synthesis, an important technology of frequency synthesis, is popular due to its excellent frequency accuracy and agility,... — Miron Waisbein

[Ideas For Design]
Build A Digital Temp Monitor
This Idea for Design was originally published Dec. 2, 1993. The AD590 proportional-to-absolute-temperature (PTAT) device combined with an autoranging digital multimeter (DMM), such as Fluke's Model 77, can make a stable digital... — Jim Hulsebus

[Editorial]
What's The Rush? Do We Dare Take Time To Talk?
It seems these days that nothing ever gets done fast enough. Just a decade ago, typical design cycles for complex chips or systems were often two to three years or more. Over this past decade, though, those cycles have shrunk tremendously, with... — Dave Bursky

[Pease Porridge]
What's All This Perpetual Motion Stuff, Anyhow?
Once upon a time, the greatest minds in Europe were trying to meet the challenge of turning lead into gold. Lead is heavy and cheap. Gold is heavy and quite valuable. Surely it can't be THAT hard to transmute lead into gold, can it? So the greatest... — Bob Pease

[Viewpoint]
Programmable Logic Stands As SLI's Next Platform Choice
In this generation of logic design, programmable logic is geared to become the favored platform for system-level integration (SLI). System-on-a-programmable-chip (SoPC) will then be the vehicle for system-on-a-chip (SoC) applications. These... — Rodney Smith

[Editor's Notebook]
In Beaverton, There's A Renewed Focus On Test And Measurement
As spring turned to summer last year, Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Ore., quietly announced a break-up. It had decided to create two independent companies: one for its color printing and imaging division and the other—which would keep the... — Joseph Desposito

[The Design Factory]
Testing The System Early Isn't Always A Good Idea
All engineers know that finding defects late in the design process is expensive. It's not unusual for the cost of making design changes to rise by three orders of magnitude between the first and last 10% of the design process . Some late... — Don Reinertsen

[40 Years Ago]
Four Univac 1105 Computers Will Help Count Population
Four Remington Rand Univac 1105 computers will be used in tabulating the data for the 1960 U.S. census. The machines replace Univac I, used in the 1950 census. The 1105 is a large-scale, random-access computer with a magnetic drum storage. Its... — Steve Scrupski

[40 Years Ago]
Solid Circuit Vs. Micro Component Assembly
While examples of all three approaches to microminiaturization, solid circuits, micromodules and microcomponents soldered together were on display at the IRE Show, the first and last engendered especially strong feeling. Texas Instruments... — Steve Scrupski

[Forefront]
From The Labs
• Karl Suss America Inc. has agreed with Motorola Labs to offer a proprietary mask projection technology (MPT) to its worldwide client base. The patent-pending contact-printing technology will, according to the company,... — Staff

[Forefront]
Company Wire
• IBM and Intentia, a provider of enterprise applications, have announced plans to develop and host application services. Intentia's current e-business solution, the enterprise application system Movex, will be extended to... — Staff

[Forefront]
High-Availability CompactPCI Systems Let Telecom Systems Run Nonstop
Designers need high-availability systems capability for applications that can't stop when components fail. To achieve this, researchers have combined a new family of CompactPCI cards with extensions to the CompactPCI bus interface that support... — Dave Bursky

[Forefront]
Motorola To Support Intel's CNR Card Definition
Motorola has announced plans to support Intel's new Communication Networking Riser (CNR) card definition for desktop PC platforms. This means Motorola's software communication solutions now can be integrated onto motherboards based on the new CNR... — Patrick Mannion

[Forefront]
Diamond Micromachines Could Be A Designer's Best Friend
Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., have created what are believed to be the world's first diamond micromachines. These devices are etched from a surface of amorphous diamond, the hardest material in the world after... — Roger Allan

[Forefront]
E-Beam Projection Prevails In Nanometer Lithography
As chip makers approach sub-100-nm design rules, they're actively exploring alternatives to optical lithography to meet the challenges of printing ultra-small images on future ICs. One of these new techniques, electron-beam projection technology,... — Ashok Bindra

[Forefront]
Carbon Foam Whips Up Greater Power Density For Supercapacitors
Applications that require pulsed power pose a challenge when they use a battery as their power source. Delivering energy in short, high-current pulses is harder than supplying the same amount of energy over longer intervals. Battery size needs to be... — David G. Morrison

[Forefront]
Standard Takes Aim At Game Playing Over The Internet
Game players have progressed beyond the confines of a single PC and now use the Internet as a medium to play action and strategy games. But the Internet's unpredictability leaves gamers longing for improved real-time interaction. As a result of an... — Dave Bursky

[Forefront]
Chip Set And Software Combine To Take VoIP To The Masses
The transition from switched to packet networks continues at a rapid rate, leaving providers clamoring for high-performance, highly functional, low-cost voice-over-IP (VoIP) solutions.Recent figures from research company Dataquest tell the story.... — Patrick Mannion

[Forefront]
Embedded Modules Aim At Latest Communications-Ready Devices
Two new embedded communications modules are designed for use in new-generation communications-ready devices. The ModemModule MT5634SMI is a full-featured V.90 modem for 56-kbit/s PCM communications, while the MT3334SMI is the V.34 model for... — Richard Gawel

[Forefront]
Switcher, Router Cut Costs In Gigabit Ethernet Switch Design
The AL1022 and AL3000 chip set lets designers of gigabit Ethernet layer 3/4 switches reduce both chip count and cost. The AL1022 is a two-port gigabit Ethernet switch chip, while the AL3000 is a layer 3/4 routing engine that also offers network... — Joseph Desposito

[Forefront]
High-Speed Products Target IEEE 1394 Firewire Applications
Three new devices—a PCI card for desktops, a PCMCIA CardBus card, and a 20-Gbyte external drive—have been designed for the emerging high-speed IEEE 1394 Firewire interface. As part of Evergreen Technologies' fireLINE family of Firewire... — Roger Allan

[Real-World Engineering]
Questions Of Ethics, Morality, And Fairness Get Complicated
I don't care if you lie, cheat, steal, or play fair. It's up to you and you wouldn't take my advice anyway. But I can spell out some of the ideas involved and hope they help clarify your decision making. Ethics is giving up benefits to... — Lawrence J. Kamm

[Heads Up]
Microdisplay Industry Close To Igniting
The fledgling microdisplay industry got a big boost last month from a declaration by display heavyweight Philips Flat Display Systems. The company, based in San Jose, Calif., announced its plans to produce liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) displays... — Chris Chinnock

[New Products]

• Classifier CAM Accelerates Searching And Filtering — Richard Gawel

• Digital Audio Combo Brings Home-Theater Possibilities To Life — Richard Gawel

• PSDs Automate Design Of Flash-Memory Subsystems — Richard Gawel

• Smart-Card Reader Chip Lowers Reader-System Cost — Richard Gawel

• Linux-Based I/O Server Targets Real-Time Data Streams — Richard Gawel

• Module Increases PC/104 Solid-State Disk Storage — Richard Gawel

• Remote Update Software Designed For Windows CE Devices — Richard Gawel

• Digital Video Model Advances Multimedia Solutions — Richard Gawel

• Narrow-Pitch Connector Has 1.0-mm Terminal Pitch — Richard Gawel

• Adapter Permits High-Density Ball-Grid-Array Prototyping — Richard Gawel

• Sensor Technology Only Requires Calibration Once Every Five Years — Richard Gawel

• CCD Image Sensor Boasts 2084- by 2084-Pixel Resolution — Richard Gawel