[Technology Report] Handheld Multimedia ICs Hold The Key To Energy-Efficient Video
Energy efficiency is a key design consideration in a National Semiconductor line of ICs intended for batterypowered phone and video systems. Minimizing power consumption is the common thread in these circuits, which convert digital data into real-world video playback subsystems (see the figure). This involves efficient power sources plus digital techniques that minimize power dissipation using analog, digital,...
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Sam Davis
[Technology Report] New Transistors, Less Power Mark 2007
Digital technology saw some significant leaps this year as companies responded to the limits of Moore’s Law and the need for better power conservation. NEW TRANSISTORS For more than 40 years, “traditional” transistors have been built using a combination of polysilicon- gate electrodes and silicon-dioxide (SiO2) dielectric insulators because of the materials’ manufacturability and ability to deliver...
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Daniel Harris
[Technology Report] FPGA Designers See Some Of EDA's Best Work In 2007
With so many designers making FPGAs their implementation vehicle of choice these days, it’s inevitable that some of EDA’s brightest minds would turn their attention to tools and methodologies targeted at getting the most out of these ever-more-capable devices. One of the more interesting launches was from GateRocket, a startup that has seen FPGAs rise in size and complexity to ASIC-like levels. With that evolution comes a host of...
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David Maliniak
[Technology Report] Components Converge For HDTV Everywhere
Consumer products are driving the success of the electronics industry. We’re seeing prices fall as production ramps up. Also, HDTV has pushed the demand for set-top boxes, satellite receivers, and HD video players. HDTV GOES 1080P Progressive scan, or 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), is the top end of the HDTV standard. Now, it’s finally showing up in a wider range of displays as well as in content...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] More Cores, Performance Define This Year's Best
High-performance computing saw a major jump in performance this year with the appearance of dual quad-core platforms. This technology provides an ideal format for parallel processing and virtual-machine support. This year’s top-of-the-line system is based on Intel’s Xeon 3-GHz, 64-bit X5365 quad-core processor. A pair can be found on Intel’s S5000XVN motherboard (Fig. 1). The Xeon employs...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Drivers Get An Assist In The Not-So-Blind Spot
From alertness-assistance to traffic-sign recognition, activesafety systems are revolutionizing the world of automotive electronicsâ??redefining the driver/car interface and promising a vastly safer driving experience. For 2007, we recognize Hellaâ??s lanechange warning system as the Best Automotive Design. Itâ??s the first such system available in North America, featured in the 2007 Audi Q7. The Lane Change Assistant provides some ESP for those ...
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Mark David
[Technology Report] Imaging, Telemedicine Help Physicians Save Lives
The days of the simple country doctor are over. Physicians have an arsenal of high-tech tools at their disposal, diagnosing ailments long before they become dangerous—even from miles away. MAPPING THE BODY Thanks to improvements in processing, medical imaging saw some significant advances this year. For example, students at the University of Calgary developed the most complete 4D (3D over time) model of a human...
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Daniel Harris
[Technology Report] Scopes Bring Simplicity To Embedded Design Debug
two or four channels. Subsequently, you can search, pan, and zoom the waveforms for closer inspection. It lets you identify glitches faster and examine the details of any signal by scrolling through the captured records. This works on the digital channels as well. Also, thereâ??s the ability to display bus data as well as trigger and search on specific data values. You can create up to four parallel buses. Then, by specifying which channels are the...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Displays And Capacitors Leap Forward
There were some rich developments in components in 2007, particularly in innovative display technologies. Novaled, Immersion, and Clairvoyante all reported key advances. And necessary though taken for granted, capacitors also saw a noteworthy development, thanks to Electronic Concepts. INNOVATION ON DISPLAY Novaled has extended the life of white organic LEDs (OLEDs), addressing a primary concern surrounding their use. As a...
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Mat Dirjish
[Technology Report] Coax For Cable Forms A Super Home Network
There’s a growing need to transport video and audio around the home between HDTV sets, DVD players, PVRs, and even PCs. Now, a technology sponsored by the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) ensures the quality of service (QoS) required for tripleplay delivery of voice, video, and data via the coax wiring that runs throughout most homes. USING F-CONNECTORS MoCA’s proprietary design uses coax cabling that’s...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Stellar MEMS Sensors Gear Up For Industrial Applications
Finding innovative products designed for industrial applications wasn’t difficult this year. Still, two MEMS-based devices were a cut above the rest–the ADIS16209 dualmode inclinometer from Analog Devices and the D6F-P gas flow sensor from Omron Electronic Components. KNOWING THE ANGLES Also known as a tilt sensor, the inclinometer is a highly integrated, programmable, dualaxis device that makes...
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Joseph Desposito
[Technology Report] Tech Year In Review
JANUARY 30 The transistor gets its most thorough makeover in nearly 40 years. Intel and IBM change the composition of the gate stack, which researchers say is necessary for the perpetuation of Moore’s Law. The new high-k plus metal-gate (HK+MG) design swaps silicon-dioxide insulation, which has become rather leaky at only five atoms thick, and a silicon gate for a “high-k” dielectric insulator and a metal gate. The...
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John Arkontaky
, et al.
[Technology Report] Check Out 2007’s Best As You Get Ready For 2008
Welcome to our Best Electronic Design issue, and what a year it was. A blockbuster consumer product came on the scene in January and took the world by storm when it was released in June. Thatâ??s the Apple iPhone, of course. And it went far beyond the hype to become a great example of innovation in consumer electronics engineeringâ??and then some. Who can forget teenager George Hotz, who gained international attention by hacking the iPhone?...
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Joseph Desposito
[Technology Report] Multicore Technology Pushes Virtualization
It’s been a wild and frantic year for designers of embedded devices. A wide range of products has boosted performance, cut costs, and reduced power requirements by impressive amounts. On top of that, many new releases deliver matching reference designs or low-cost development kits, enabling developers to quickly check out the latest offerings. KITS IN HAND Take DLP Design’s DLP-FPGA platform, which doubles as a...
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William Wong
[Technology Report] Military Tech—Still The Spearhead Of Innovation
Military electronics rely on the latest technologies to gain that allimportant edge, often with life or death in the balance. Their components and circuits must withstand the temperature extremes of the desert, the salt spray of the ocean, and the highacceleration forces of fighter jets. Whether it’s in favor of their roughand- tumble origins or despite them, these technologies often significantly influence those found in commercial and...
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Staff
[Technology Report] iPhone Sets The Standard Across All Categories
Apple’s iPhone was more than the best cell phone of 2007. It also was the best consumer technology— perhaps the best overall innovation—of the year. MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS The iPhone is a mediocre GSM/EDGE phone, just like millions of others. But its physical presence and fabulous user interface design make it unique (Fig....
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Picking The "Best" ADC Presents A Conundrum
The thing about selecting the â??bestâ?? in mixed-signal chips lies in answering a key questionâ??best for what? Designers can calculate the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) figure of merit (FOM), based on power consumption, effective number of bits (ENOB), and sampling frequency. But interpreting an expression for pJ/conversion doesnâ??t really say anything about an ADCâ??s appropriateness for an actual application. THE...
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Don Tuite
[Leapfrog: First Look] Power LEDs Promise Brighter, More Cost-Effective Lighting
The votes are in, and readers have selected Cree’s XR-E series power LEDs as the most significant Leapfrog technology story of the year (see “White Power LED Lights The Way With A 160-Lumen Output,” Nov. 16, 2006, p. 39). And Cree has come a long way in improving the XR-E series since that story broke. Improvements in the die, packaging, and materials have led to the company’s Cool series. These lights are “a more efficient version of the...
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Roger Allan
[Pease Porridge] What's All This "Best Trick Circuit" Stuff, Anyhow?
Once upon a time, op amps didn’t swing very close to the positive or negative rails. Even a couple volts away from the rails—that was okay in the old days of transistor-ized op amps. Hey, that was a lot better than with vacuum-tube op amps that wouldn’t swing within 200 V of the rail. Some op amps could do a little better, but customers never asked us for better 35 years ago. The LM324 can swing pretty close to ground (–VS) if you have a...
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Bob Pease
