October 21, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Transceivers Boast More Automotive Interfaces
SMSC has expanded its TrueAuto offering with the USB83340 USB 2.0 transceiver with high-performance ESD protection and overvoltage protection up to 30 V. The LAN8930 10/100 three-port managed Ethernet switch has a pair of ports with PHYs and one MII interface.
—
William Wong
October 20, 2009
[TechView: Communications] Low-Power Short-Range Radio IC Simplifies Product Wireless
Adding wireless capability has never been easier with RFM’s TRC105 transceiver, which covers from 300 to 510 MHz. It enables two-way wireless communications in a wide range of applications, including automated meter reading (AMR), medical, home and industrial automation, security systems, two-way remote keyless entry (RKE), automobile immobilizers, asset tracking systems, sports and recreation equipment, low-power two-way telemetry systems, wireless toys, and controlled entry/access.
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 13, 2009
[TechView: Communications] SoC Integrates DSL, Wi-Fi, And Cordless Phone Functionality
Integrating more circuits onto smaller pieces of silicon real estate, the system-on-a-chip (SoC) is becoming the new norm in semiconductor devices. Broadcom’s BCM6362 is riding that wave, with an ADSL2+ modem, an 802.11n wireless local-area network (WLAN) transceiver, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) cordless telephone circuit, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in a single 65-nm device.
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 13, 2009
[TechView: Communications] Fast Crosspoint Switches Implement Migration To 10-Gbit Networking
If you’re designing core/metro routers, blade servers, network storage equipment, broadcast video routers, and other gear with physical-layer switches, you now can have a fast crosspoint switch to do the job. Vitesse Semiconductor’s VSC3314-11 and VSC3316 can switch, transmit, and recover high-speed signals over lossy PCBs, backplanes, and cable.
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 13, 2009
[TechView: Communications] Clock Generator Beats All Jitter Specs For Broadcast Video Apps
The highly integrated Si5324 clock IC from Silicon Laboratories is optimized for professional broadcast video applications. It replaces traditional multi-component video PLL solutions with a single clock IC while providing 80% less jitter than competing solutions. It's ideal for video capture, conversion, editing, display, and distribution equipment that must be synchronized within video studios.
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 8, 2009[Technology Report] All Hail OFDM
Virtually all major new wireless technologies, including WiMAX and LTE, are based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), which has emerged as the wireless spectral efficiency leader. As long as you have the spectrum, you can get more bits per hertz than almost any other technology. It also has an inherent way to implement an access scheme for multiple users. On top of that, it’s a great fit with multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO),...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 8, 2009[Technology Report] The 4G Wireless Showdown: LTE Versus WiMAX
The development of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX has become, well, long term. Both technologies use advanced methods like orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) (see “All Hail OFDM”). They’re also fully IP-based (Internet Protocol), offering high-speed data capability to deliver fast Internet access and advanced...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] VoIP BlackFin DIMM—Enough Said
Arcturus Networks’ uCBF54x system is a somewhat large small-outline dual-inline memory module (SODIMM) based on a 533- MHz Analog Devices ADSP-BF548 BlackFin processor. Able to handle up to six voice channels, the processor targets Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications. The matching kit includes a host board plus the open-source uClinux and Arcturus Voice and Management Middleware, which includes a complete session initiation protocol...
—
William Wong
October 8, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Low-Power ZigBee Modules Reach 4 km
Jennic’s JN5148 wireless microcontroller modules bring low-power operation with a large available memory footprint for embedded applications running on the 32-bit MIPS processor. A 128-kbyte ROM includes the ZigBee stack. An optional uFI connector and power amplifier can extend 802.15.4 connections up to 4 km. All of the modules operate from –40°C to 85°C. JENNIC ...
—
William Wong
October 8, 2009[Engineering Feature] Automotive Networks Strive To Satisfy Safety And Bandwidth Needs
A quiet revolution is sweeping through automotive in-vehicle, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicleto- infrastructure communications and networking. Companies as well as standards organizations continue to successfully tackle major design challenges, such as the adoption of hardware and software approaches to meet demanding bandwidth, fault-tolerance, determinism, and reliability requirements. In fact, there’s marked improvement among a number of communications and control...
—
Roger Allan
October 8, 2009[Engineering Essentials] Wireless In The Works
If you blink, you’ll probably miss the latest announcement of a wireless standard under development. Short-range wireless standards in the works include the latest version of Wi-Fi, an ISA standard called ISA 100a, and a smart-grid version of 802.11.4. The 802.11 working group, known as Very High Throughput (VHT), is looking at ways to extend the data rate to 1 Gbit/s and beyond using the popular Wi-Fi standard and protocol. It’s examining the 60-GHz band as an option, plus...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 8, 2009[Engineering Essentials] Don't Be Intimidated By Low-Power RF System Design
Adding wireless connectivity to any product has never been easy. However, even when a wireless solution doesn’t seem to make sense, the potential exists. The cost is reasonable, and you add unexpected value and flexibility to the product. But what if you aren’t a wireless engineer? Don’t worry, because in many cases, the wireless chip and module companies have made such connectivity a snap. SELECTING A TECHNOLOGY The...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 8, 2009[TechView: Analog & Power] Powerline Carrier Modem Chip Facilitates Design Beyond Remote-Reading Meters
On Semiconductor’s AMIS- 49587 powerline carrier (PLC) modem does more than remotely read smart electric automatic meters. It invites a closer look at street lighting control, smart power plugs, building automation, and other applications that are part of the Smart Grid, which is a potentially disruptive technology that may offer new opportunities for design engineers (see “...
—
Don Tuite
October 8, 2009[TechView: Communications] Man-Wearable Radio Implements Movable Tactical Mesh Network
Engineers in industrial environments probably have felt the need to connect some serial port device of interest to their Ethernet local-area network (LAN). Industrial devices still widely use RS-232 serial interfaces because of their robust nature. But making them accessible via your regular Ethernet LAN is tricky at best—at least, it used to be. The B&B Electronics Vlinx ESP211-232 mini serial server solves this problem (...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
October 1, 2009
[POV: Point Of View] Chip Makers Target LTE
With backing from nearly all of the leading cellular-service providers in the world, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is clearly the 4G technology of choice for mobile data. Both Verizon and NTT plan to initiate LTE service late this year, with other major carriers following over the next few years.
—
Linley Gwennap
prev. page
[1]
