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January 25, 2010, 01:03 PM
There will be many opportunities for designing new products for the smart grid. Jerry Ramie of ARC Technical Resources analyzes the layers of interaction that must be supported.
April 23, 2007, 12:00 AM
Even after 25 years of electronic design automation (EDA), a very high percentage of the layout for ICs shipped today are still completed by hand!
March 04, 2010, 04:31 PM
Contributing editor, Bob Pease, rants about his new Apple MacBook and Leopard OS. He details the problems he encountered and errors he found in leading books on the subject as he tried to solve those...
By Don Tuite, November 05, 2009
Sponsored FAQ on selecting clock chips for optimum data converter performance
By Don Tuite, July 23, 2009
Chopper-stabilized op amps constantly correct low-frequency errors across the inputs of the amplifier, making them attractive alternatives to conventional op amps in many industrial, medical, energy, and automotive applications.
By Don Tuite, March 24, 2009
What amplifiers are used to drive analog- to-digital converters (ADCs)? Possibilities include single-ended and differential inputs and outputs, plus voltage feedback (VFB) or current feedback (CFB) in the control loop. Specialized amplif
By Louis E. Frenzel, September 25, 2008
Download the full article as a .PDF, sponsored by Analog What is a short-range radio? A short-range radio or short-range device (SRD) is a highly integrated transceiver usually on a single chip that’s used to implement a wide range of
By Louis E. Frenzel, October 19, 2007
What is an RF detector? An RF detector monitors or samples the output of an RF circuit and develops a dc output voltage proportional to the power at that point. What do you do with an RF detector? RF detectors are used primarily to
By Louis E. Frenzel, September 13, 2007
What is WiMAX? WiMAX means Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Also known as 802.16, it is an IEEE broadband wireless standard designed for high-speed wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable TV and DSL or 3G cell-phon
By Roger Allan, October 20, 2005
What are the major types of temperature sensors? There are four major types: thermocouples, thermistors, resistance temperature detectors (RTDs), and IC types. The IC types include sensors with analog and digital outputs. Thermocouples are widely used
By Sam Davis, January 13, 2005
What is behind the move to white LEDs in portable equipment? The trend for color displays in handhelds has produced a parallel move to white LEDs for LCD backlighting. White LEDs provide the desired appearance for backlighting color LCDs. They're a
By Louis E. Frenzel, November 25, 2008
What are some of the challenges facing basestation designers today? The five biggest are the numerous wireless standards that must be accommodated, increased and complex frequency assignments, increased operating efficiency, capital
By Don Tuite, July 24, 2008
Download the full article as a .PDF, sponsored by Analog What are digital potentiometers, and how are they used? Digital potentiometers are integrated circuits that implement a resistive ladder and a digital means of addressing a parti
By Daniel Harris, February 13, 2008
Why do FPGAs consume so much power? Historically, FPGAs have had a more passive “glue logic” role hardly worth mentioning in the overall power budget. But now they have taken over most of the system control, and today’s FPGAs can be a syst
By David Maliniak, January 13, 2005
How do I combine Spice, IBIS, S-parameter, package, and pc-board models? With many board designs incorporating multigigahertz interconnect speeds, vendors often supply encrypted transistor-level Spice models rather than IBIS models. Designers must wo
By William Wong, April 10, 2008
Download the full article as a .PDF, sponsored by Atmel Why should designers offload a microcontroller’s CPU? Performance and power consumption are the typical reasons for adding offload capability to a microcontroller. Traditionally, any
Sponsored FAQ about new, low-Profile POL modules that offer lower profile, greater integration that the old, single-in-line configuration.
By Louis E. Frenzel, August 14, 2008
What is the Automated Test Summit? The Automated Test Summit is an annual virtual industry event for test and design engineers hosted by National Instruments. It includes a virtual trade show floor with exhibits, interactive Q&A, live
By Roger Allan, March 16, 2006
What is LXI? LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI) is the architecture for test systems. It's based on proven, widely used standards such as Ethernet. What are these widely used standards? Ethernet standards include Transmission Control Protocol/