[Product Innovation] InfiniBand Switch Node Delivers Eight 4X Ports
InfiniBand is on its way to becoming a mainstream switch fabric. The key to implementing InfiniBand is its switch nodes, the individual nodes that make up the warp and woof of the interconnection fabric. The good news is that Red Switch is fielding...
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Ray Weiss
[Editorial] Let's Engineer Terrorism Out Of The Skies
Last month's plane hijackings and horrible carnage and destruction in New York City and Washington, D.C., drove home both the blessings and curses of improving technology. To the victims and their families and friends we can only offer our prayers...
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Dave Bursky
[Letters] Letters
The Undervalued Profession I decided to go into engineering to do something that I really liked—to learn what made things work and how to create things myself ["Engineering Expertise: Leveraging Global...
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Various
[40 Years Ago] Flying-Spot Scanners Speed Inputs
Character-recognition machines, based on high-resolution flying-spot scanners and sophisticated logic circuitry, promise variable-type-face, high-speed data input directly from machine-printed documents. Techniques used in the Apple...
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Steve Scrupski
[40 Years Ago] Magnetic Computer Uses Multiaperture Cores
An airborne, guidance-type computer that would use magnetic circuitry for logic as well as for memory is being built by Sperry Gyroscope Co., Great Neck, N.Y. Basic clock rate of the system is to be 600 kc sine wave, which is said to make possible...
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Steve Scrupski
[Forefront] Broadband Modem Chip Set Brings 1 Gbit/s To Cable
Cable TV modems are already the most common high-speed Internet access method for consumers and small businesses. Rates of several Mbits/s are common on existing cable systems, easily beating conventional modems and most DSL lines. But stand by for...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Forefront] DSP Core Optimized For Physical-Layer Processing
To meet the high-speed broadband signal-processing requirements of emerging 3G wireless basestations, 3DSP has developed an advanced DSP core, the SP-20. Optimized for physical-layer signal processing, the UniPHY processor combines an accelerated...
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Ashok Bindra
[Forefront] Program Enables SoC Verification Collaboration Among Vendors
A new partner program will integrate best-in-class system-on-a-chip (SoC) verification tools from 10 vendors. Aimed at reducing the time-to-market crunch caused by the verification cycle, Axis Systems' FastLink program will give customers a fast and...
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David Maliniak
[Forefront] Java Virtual Machine Doubles Speed
Java continues to gain on C and C++ in performance, as evidenced by the latest development from NewMonics of Lisle, Ill. The company's Perc 3.2 Java virtual machine and compiler effectively double the performance of its prior version, suiting it for...
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William Wong
[Forefront] Emulation Tops Beta 2 Release Of Windows CE RTOS
Talisker, Microsoft's codename for the upcoming Windows CE real-time operating-system (RTOS) release, sports dozens of new features. This beta 2 release includes an emulation mode for ARM, MIPS, SHx, and x86 processors, allowing application...
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William Wong
[Forefront] Electromechanical Actuator Reaches New Heights—Literally
A tiny part is destined to have a big effect on the space program. NASA's Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Ala., is preparing an electromechanical actuator that's going to save time and money in designing and maintaining second-generation...
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Richard Gawel
[Forefront] Embedded Linux Gains High-Availability Framework
Linux is well known for high-availability clustering, which conjures up an image of racks of server clusters. Embedded Linux installations also often require a tighter integration with hot-swap hardware, including hot-swappable processor boards...
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William Wong
[Forefront] TI Gets Real
Texas Instruments Inc. and RealNetworks Inc. have broadened their strategic alliance. Together, the companies will offer an integrated streaming audio and video solution for programmable DSP-based video infrastructure equipment and broadband video...
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Lisa Eccles
[Forefront] DSP Brings Felxibility To Wireless Infrastructure
To bring a new level of flexibility to 3G wireless infrastructure equipment while cutting system costs, Analog Devices has unwrapped a derivative of its TigerSharc DSP architecture. The ADSP-TS101S provides both the processing and I/O throughput...
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Ashok Bindra
[Forefront] Code-Synthesis Tool Targets Multiple Languages
Mixing programming languages like Java and C++ is common with embedded systems. But sharing interfaces and objects between environments or systems can wreak havoc on project productivity, maintenance, and manageability. Cleanscape's SourceMill...
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William Wong
[Forefront] Linux Developer Suite Delivers Broad System Support
Embedded open-source developers have more choice with the Red Hat Embedded Linux Developer Suite. This suite supports MIPS, SuperH, x86, PowerPC, and ARM/StrongARM/XScale processor architectures using the latest 2.4 Linux kernel. The suite...
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William Wong
[Forefront] Free GUI Motion-Control Software Expedites Designs
Designers who use Performance Motion Devices' Developer's Kit (DK) for motion-control designs now have a new tool from the company to expedite their work. Known as Pro-Motion, this Windows GUI software uses dialog boxes and point-and-click features...
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Roger Allan
[Forefront] Perform FPGA Board Field Upgrades Via The Internet
The idea of field upgrades of reprogramming FPGAs is a key attraction to designers. Unfortunately, field-upgrade meth-odology has been pretty much left to the engineer. Xilinx's Pave 1.0 Framework changes that. It enables designers to reprogram...
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Ray Weiss
[Forefront] Micropower Op Amp Squeezes Into SOT-23
The MCP606 2.5-V micropower op amp offers an offset voltage of less than 250 µV. This device also comes in the tiny SOT-23 package. The op amp features a low supply current of 25 µA maximum. While single-supply operation ranges...
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Lisa Eccles
