[Engineering Feature] USB Flexes Its Industrial Strength
As PCs proliferate, their technologies become more affordable for a growing range of industrial applications. Programmable automation controllers, for example, are basically ruggedized PCs. Meanwhile, Ethernet has transformed from an office/home network to an industrial network that’s rapidly becoming the norm in factories. USB is also extending its industrial presence. Dataacquisition systems use it for easy connections and expansion. Robots employ USB for...
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Terry Costlow
[Technology Report] Wireless-Enabled Systems Challenge Analog/Mixed-Signal Flows
FFrom its inception, the holy grail for the design automation industry has been in the analog realm. Digital logic, with its relatively straightforward structures and topologies, has long been the chief beneficiary of the EDA industry’s efforts. Yet compared to the digital domain, automation of analog and mixed-signal design remains lacking. There are some obvious factors at work. Chief among them is the painstakingly hands-on, custom nature of analog design work. ...
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David Maliniak
[Leapfrog: First Look] Supercool, Superconducting Digital Switches Extend DDR's Reach
Software-defined radio (SDR) replaces traditional radio circuitry like mixers, filters, and demodulators with software that runs on a DSP or with FPGAs. The secret to its success is its ability to sample the radio signal quickly enough so the DSP can do its job. However, the upper sampling speed of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) has inhibited its capabilities. Modern chips can easily sample in the hundreds of megahertz and lower gigahertz ranges, but...
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William Wong
[Design View / Design Solution] Using High-Speed Latched Comparators For Simultaneous Instant Frequency Measurement
Measuring key characteristics of high-speed pulses such as frequency, amplitude, and pulse width for simultaneous pulses that overlap in time has long been an issue in design. To solve that problem, engineers developed and refined the monobit receiver. The system includes RF signal shaping and filtering functions, a latched comparator (which is a single-bit analog-to-digital converter, or ADC), a demultiplexer to interface the high-speed digital...
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Mike Groden
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[Ideas For Design] Capacitor-Powered Electronics Is At The Core Of Green Design
The concept of using supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors, supercaps, etc.), and replacing the batteries in portable micropower applications,1 is gaining momentum. In fact, it has become one of the more noticeable technical trends of recent time. Supercapacitors, such as the BOOSTCAP ultracapacitors from Maxwell Technologies or DYNACAP from ...
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Alexander Bell
[Ideas For Design] New Math Technique Increases Temperature Accuracy Over 20,000%
Thermistors are extremely nonlinear devices. Because of the limitations of the mathematical model used, the devices’ ultimate accuracy is hardly ever fully realized due to the extra computational burden required to calculate the temperature from an accurate resistance reading. Fortunately, a minor modification to any thermistor equation will provide a worthwhile improvement in overall accuracy. This article shows how an improved mathematical model...
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Elio Mazzocca
[Ideas For Design] Sensor Signal Converter Outputs Both NPN And PNP Signals
Matching a sensor interface with a programmable logic converter or controller hardware that can accept only one type of input—npn or pnp—can be difficult. The last-stage modification circuit described here solves this problem. Designers can use it to convert an npn input to a pnp type or incorporate it in the last stage of the sensor design to generate both npn and pnp outputs. The npn and pnp transistors used in the circuit should be highcurrent- gain (hfe >...
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Shyam Sunder Tiwari
[Editorial] Thin Is In At The Embedded Systems Conference, At Least For Energy Cells
Whenever I’m at a conference, I’m frequently asked for my opinion about the “best of show.” Since I know this question is coming, I try to be prepared with a really great product or technology. At the recent Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, I thought the best of show was the Thinergy micro energy cell (MEC) from Infinite Power Solutions. At least one engineer I spoke with...
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Joseph Desposito
[Pease Porridge] Bob's Mailbox
BOB, I’ve got 35 years as an electronics design engineer doing microprocessors, hardware, and quite a bit of analog. In the late 1970s, I was involved with two different slewrate- limited applications. One was control of the throttle and pitch of the props on patrol boats. The bridge could signal full ahead, and this condition would cause engine stalls. So, a slew-rate control was needed to bring the engine to full power and adjust the prop...
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Bob Pease
[TechView: Communications] Fast ZigBee/802.15.4 Radio Offers Voice Capability
Several ZigBee and 802.15.4 transceiver modules are available for wireless sensor and mesh networks, but the MeshConnect ZICM2410P0 from California Eastern Laboratories (CEL) is unique (see the figure). Designed for the usual cable replacement, wireless point-to-point, multipoint-to-point, and mesh sensor applications, it is additionally useful in HVAC monitoring and control, lighting, remote...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Communications] VCSEL Driver And Limiting Amp IC Match 10GE, 8G Fibre Channel Apps
When designing multisource agreement (MSA) optical transceiver modules such as SFP and SFP+, you need a superior compact laser driver and a photo diode amplifier to provide the performance expected in 10-Gbit/s applications. Maxim Integrated Products’ MAX3798 gets the job done (see the figure). Expected uses include 1/2/4/8-Gbit/s Fibre Channel and 10G Ethernet (10GE) including 10GBaseSR,...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Engineering Essentials] Mechatronics Means Motors
Simple electric motors turn when you apply power. They have been used this way since their inception. Yet today, a microcontroller may be sitting between the motor and the switch, and motors can be found everywhere from white goods to hybrid vehicles. Electric motors are key to almost all robotic work as well, with a couple hydraulic motors included for good measure. Most electric motors utilize magnetics for motive power. But at the low end of the spectrum, it...
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William Wong
[Electronic Design Products] University Researchers Roll Out First Flexible Display With Touchscreen
Partnering with E Ink Corp. and DuPont Teijin Films, researchers at Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center (FDC) have created what they are dubbing the world’s first active-matrix display on a flexible substrate with a touchscreen (Fig. 1). Also heralded as a revolutionary breakthrough, the glass-free display is reportedly the first of its kind to enable real-time user input. ...
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Mat Dirjish
[Electronic Design Products] Test Your High-Power LED IQ
Loosely defined as LEDs with at least a 1-W capacity, high-power LEDs are a hot technology that’s very much in the market spotlight. Since their emergence, they have found themselves in a diverse range of applications, and their many performance benefits have caught the attention of leading trade and consumer publications worldwide. High-power LEDs represent a significant advance in lighting technologies and offer unparalleled user benefits in terms...
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Brian Coates
[Lab Bench] Volunteers Wanted For A Fair Affair And Robots Everywhere
Student science and engineering competitions come to a boil in the spring. School programs often feed into regional events like the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair in Lawrenceville, N.J., which I help run (see the figure). In turn, our winners will compete in the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Reno, Nev., run by the Society for Science and the...
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William Wong
[Analog/Mixed-Signal Design] Using Delta-Sigma Can Be As Easy As ADC (Part 5)
My last column showed how a single-stage delta-sigma modulator (DSM) produces an output that is a sum of the low pass-filtered input signal and the high pass-filtered quantization noise (see “Part 4,” Jan. 29, p. 18; ED Online 20485). The primary difference between a filter and a DSM is that a filter feeds back its output while the DSM feeds back its quantized output. If ...
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Dave Van Ess
