[Engineering Feature] To Be Almost Human Or Not To Be, That Is The Question
Soon, robots will be able to help the elderly and disabled answer the door, prepare a meal, take their medicine, and even get from a bed to a wheelchair (Fig. 1). As the number of retirees in the U.S., Japan, and other parts of the world continues to rise at an alarming...
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Daniel Harris
[Technology Report] Identity Heft: RFID Muscles Into Consumer Market
All that hype surrounding radio-frequency identification (RFID), particularly those predictions for gargantuan growth in the retail supply chain, seems to have simmered down. Though it's bounced around for more than 20 years and has the support of industry consortium EPCglobal, Electronic Product Code (EPC) RFID tagging still waits to become the next big thing. While implementation of the EPCglobal Gen 2 standard for supply-chain tagging has rolled out much more slowly than many...
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Mark David
[Leapfrog: First Look] Razor-Thin Package Sharpens Image-Sensing Applications
Get out the microscope, because packaging for image sensors and other optical devices has reached a new level of "thin." Thanks to its Shellcase razor-thin (RT), wafer-level, chip-scale packaging (WLCSP) process, Tessera Technologies has produced a package that's a mere 0.5 mm thick. Low-profile camera modules for mobile phones, digital cameras, computers, automotive electronics, security, and optical imaging applications will benefit (...
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Roger Allan
[Design View / Design Solution] Driving The Backlight: CCFLs Or LEDs?
The typical LCD backlight can be one or more cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) or an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The quality of the backlight image depends heavily on the backlight driver. This article discusses the considerations one can make for CCFLs and LEDs, as well as how to power both kinds of backlight...
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Bob Arnold
, et al.
[Ideas For Design] Charge Pump Extends Current-Sense Amplifier's Input Range Down To 0 V
In addition to the traditional lead-acid battery, modern electric/hybrid cars often include a large capacitor (40 F or more) as a backup power source. Located under the rear seat, this capacitor ensures an extra 10 to 15 minutes of driving time that allows you to reach the next charging station or gas station. Lead-acid batteries discharge down to only 8 V or so, but a capacitor can discharge all the way down to 0 V. This capability requires a current-sense amplifier that can...
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Arpit Mehta
, et al.
[Ideas For Design] Delay Circuitry Controls Supply-Voltage Startup Sequence
For some ICs, supply voltages should be applied in a particular sequence. One example is the subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC), which, depending on the application, may require several negative and/or positive voltages. The larger voltages are generally used to ring the phone, and the lower voltages power the phone while it's off-hook. As an example, consider a design that requires output voltages of 51 V, +60 V, and 27 V, all at load currents of several hundred...
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John Betten
[POV: Point Of View] Get Ready For A NAND Flash Flood In Consumer Electronics
NAND flash has soared as the prices for its components plummet. As a result of tremendous investment, fierce competition, and technological advances, NAND flash components have driven capacities into the gigabyte range as prices currently range in the tens of dollars. As a result, a wide array of applications has emerged, with more expected in the future. The NAND flash market is inextricably linked to the consumer electronics market because NAND flash memory enables cheap storage in...
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Joseph Unsworth
[Editorial] Implantable RFID May Be Easy, But That Doesn't Mean It's Ethical
While researching this issue's Technology Report on RFID, I recalled the first article I'd written about "chipping" humans with RFID tags back in 1996. Implantable RFID chips for pets were making news back then, and it seemed inevitable to consider chips for kids as well. My article called for a discussion of the ethics of tagging people, and what a firestorm it started! I don't think I've ever received so many letters to the editor. Of course, I fully recognized the Big...
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Mark David
[Pease Porridge] Bob's Mailbox
Hello Mr. Pease: I've read somewhere that it can be a problem for the op amp to lose one of the supplies or use the wrong startup sequence. (You are correct. A startup sequence can cause great trouble on the positive and negative rails. /rap) Is it always a particular rail? Can you shed some light on the cause of this? Does it apply for bipolar and CMOS families? • David Smith • Pease:...
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Bob Pease
[TechView: The Industry] Volt Charges Up The Crowd In Detroit
Imagine filling up your gas tank once— and then ignoring it for the next 640 miles. Or if you drive less than 40 miles a day, imagine never filling it up again. That's the promise of the Chevy Volt, GM's latest concept car, unveiled at last month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit (...
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Richard Gawel
[TechView: Analog & Power] No Ultracaps In Electric Cars Yet, But Maybe There Should Be
One highlight of the January auto shows was General Motors' Chevy Volt, a hybrid concept vehicle targeting a 40-mile all-electric range using lithium-ion batteries and a small generator driven by a gasoline engine. It was interesting to note that ultracapacitors did not figure in the design. (The Tesla Motors Roadster doesn't use ultracaps either.) Ever since many-Farad ultracaps became available several years ago, they've been touted as a complement to batteries...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] ICs Simplify High-Side Current Measurements
Designers making in-circuit current measurements can avoid ground-reference problems by putting the sense resistor on the supply side of the load. However, high-side measurement components must deal with high common-mode voltages. To make high-side differential measurements across a sense resistor, the HV7801 and HV7802 high-side current monitors from Supertex offer an 8- to 450-V input voltage range. They also provide 700-ns rise and fall times. In the HV7802, IOUT...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] Step-Down Converter Provides Differential Sensing
Here's a synchronous, current-mode, step-down dc-dc controller with differential output voltage sensing. Using a pair of VSENSE inputs like this enables high-accuracy regulation in high-current applications. Linear Technology's LTC3823 can either sense the voltage drop across the synchronous power MOSFET, or where control of maximum output current is important, it can be used with a sense resistor in series with the source of the lower MOSFET. It has a 4.5- to 30-V...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Digital] ASIC-Like FPGA Methodology Saves Up To $9,925,000 In NRE Costs
Not all companies have $10 million in their back pockets for the non-recurring expenses (NRE) today's ASIC design starts require. Fortunately, that kind of cash isn't necessary anymore, thanks to Lattice Semiconductor's latest line of FPGAs. In fact, the company's FreedomChip methodology offers an affordable path to high volume with a 30% to 75% price reduction path (...
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Daniel Harris
[TechView: Digital] Demo Platform Compares FPGA/CPLD Power
If you've ever wondered which FPGA/CPLD vendor offers the best performance at the lowest power, consider QuickLogic's Power Comparison Resource Package. Along with a corresponding Web site, it includes a video, comparison demo platform, and white paper that help designers compare the power usage and performance of leading FPGAs and CPLDs to choose the best part based on design constraints and requirements. Written by a third-party consultant, the white paper provides the...
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Daniel Harris
[TechView: EDA] Common Power Format Comes To Fruition In Tool Suite
As in any industry, standards in design automation can be of tremendous benefit to designers—and that's especially so in the realm of design data. The efforts to create a common format for power-related data, initially spearheaded by Cadence and other EDA, IP, and semiconductor vendors, is now under the aegis of the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2). The initiative's goal is to provide a mechanism through which a power architecture can be defined early in...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: Wireless] Advanced 802.11 Chip Sets Push Wi-Fi Into The Video Home
Millions of homes already have wireless networks that generally do a superior job delivering broadband connections to PCs and laptops. But those networks may need to be replaced or at least upgraded when consumers begin to adopt new Internet Protocol video and attempt to distribute video throughout the home from any source. The main contender is the forthcoming upgrade to the versatile 802.11 wireless local-area network (WLAN) standard. The IEEE Standards Task Group is...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Component View] 1-By-16 PLED Drops In To Replace LCD Units
The OSD1601-D is a one-line by 16-character polymetric LED (PLED) display module from OSD Displays. The module's high-contrast yellow-green characters measure 4.51 by 8.6 mm, creating a display active area of 84.31 by 8.6 mm. The display's total overall mechanical dimension is 122 by 33 by 8.9 mm deep. Compared to negative-mode LCD modules, the OSD1601-D saves significant power. The typical current consumption with 25% pixel use and a full screen of characters at 40 nits is...
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John Novellino
[Basics Of Design] Accurately Measure Nanoampere And Picoampere Currents
Measuring current is always a nuisance because you have to break the circuit to put the measuring device in series with the circuit. That problem never goes away. Still, any high-end digital multimeter can accurately measure currents down into the microampere and high-nanoampere range. But the process gets tricky as the current levels fall into the low-nanoampere and picoampere ranges. At these levels, noise becomes a real problem. Also, the internal impedances of the measuring...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Engineering Essentials] Networking Inside The Box
Connecting peripheral devices seems to be a rite of passage for designers. In many instances, serial networks provide sufficient performance for the job while minimizing connections between devices. This can be particularly important when the distance between devices is greater than a few centimeters. Numerous choices are available. (To see a table of popular alternatives, see "...
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William Wong
