[Technology Report] High-Availability RTOSs Deliver Five-Nines Reliability
New real-time operating-system (RTOS) enhancements make 99.999% availability and real-time application requirements achievable. Applications like transaction processing, process control, communi- cations switching, and air-traffic control are just a...
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William Wong
[Product Innovation] Wideband Op Amp Unshackles Gain From Bandwidth
Current-feedback (CFB) op amps have earned their reputation in many applications that need bandwidth, without compromising other noise and high-speed characteristics. They have served these needs adequately since the mid '80s, especially where dual...
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Ashok Bindra
[Ideas For Design] Sub-μA Oscillator Extends Battery Life
For battery-powered devices, one of the major design challenges is the reduction of power consumption in all functional blocks. An oscillator, a common functional block in many designs, can easily consume anywhere from a few microamps to a...
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Contributing Author
[Editorial] Let's Stay In Synch With The Real World
As a member of the high-tech community in Silicon Valley, I'm constantly pressured to get the latest version of a new software package, or to purchase the latest appliance because it has abilities that the previous model lacks. The temptation to...
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Dave Bursky
[Pease Porridge] Bob's Mailbox
Dear Bob: I just read your article on knots with great interest (Electronic Design, March 5, p. 142). As an outdoorsman (hunter, fisher, hiker, climber), I'm very interested in knots as well. One knot in particular...
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Bob Pease
[40 Years Ago] Packaging Is A Problem In R&D, Too
The packaging approaches of advanced-systems development laboratories are worth examining. During the coming turmoil and transition, these laboratories must solve the following problems if they are to justify the large sums invested in...
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Steve Scrupski
[40 Years Ago] Fluid-Sphere Gyro Has High Sensitivity
A radical departure from conventional gyro design has resulted in a device that can detect motion too minute to be measured. The miniature gyro's unique sensing ability makes it especially suitable for stabilizing space platforms carrying...
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Steve Scrupski
[Forefront] 3GIO Named Successor To PCI/PCI-X
Parallel buses are giving way to high-speed serial/pseudoserial buses, especially in I/Os and system interconnects. Buses like PCI and PCI-X, the universal PC I/O and embedded system buses, will transition to a serial bus, the 3GIO (...
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Ray Weiss
[Forefront] Design Methodology Eases Migration To PLDs
To make programmable logic devices (PLDs) attractive for DSP applications, Altera Corp. has developed a new approach to DSP design. With it, the San Jose company hopes to familiarize DSP engineers with programmable logic and its accompanying design...
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Ashok Bindra
[Forefront] Web Community Targets High-Speed PC-Board Designers
A new online community provides a forum for pc-board engineers and designers to learn more about—and collaborate on—high-speed design issues. Launched by Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, Calif., the community can be found at...
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David Maliniak
[Forefront] CPUs Target Low-Power, High-Performance Apps
Targeted at next-generation information appliances and other applications, National Semiconductor's GX2 family of highly integrated processors builds on x86 software compatibility and features included in the company's first-generation Geode family....
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Dave Bursky
[Forefront] Program 16-Bit Microcontroller With Embedded C++
Developers using Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA's M16C microcontroller can now use Embedded C++ (EC++), courtesy of Tasking's M16C Software Development Toolset V2.1. The compiler in the toolset can follow the MISRA C guidelines to prevent...
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William Wong
