Back in early October, I headed to Leuven, Belgium, to attend the IMEC Technology Forum. IMEC specializes in nanotechnology research in information and communication technologies (ICT), healthcare, and energy. The presentations ran the gamut of research at the facility, but the most impressive concerned the communication between cells and electronics at the nano scale.

Silicon Labs is making capacitive touch and promixity tasks easier to implement with its QuickSense portfolio. This includes the Si1120 infrared sensor and the C8051Fxx/C8051F8xx 8-bit microcontrollers.

Freescale and STMicroelectronics have joined forces to deliver a dual-core Power processor designed for the automotive market. Both vendors will deliver the same pin-compatible chips, providing customers with a second source.

Embedded developers looking to jump over Microsoft Windows Vista are in luck. Based on the Windows 7 kernel, Windows Embedded Standard 2011 will supersede Windows XP Embedded, currently known as Windows Embedded Standard 2009.

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.

Peripheral transfer rate is the typical bottleneck for many applications, especially as processors split into multiple cores. SATA-III’s 6-Gbit/s transfer rate provides significantly more bandwidth, assuming the hard drives and motherboards can keep up. Seagate’s 2-Tbyte ST32000641AS Barracuda XT hard drive delivers on the peripheral side. This is enough space for up to 45 hours of 1080i HD DVCPRO-encoded video (see the...

The open-source Eclipse project has turned into one of the primary software development platforms for Web services, embedded systems, and other applications. Embedded developers typically take advantage of the Java-based Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) using the C/ C++ Development Tool (CDT). Embedded tool vendors quickly adopted the CDT because it enabled incorporation of the GNU toolchain as well as proprietary toolchains including...

Memory is more than double data rate (DDR), as any embedded designer will attest. Memory technology is also one of the arenas where there is an ongoing conflict between standards and innovation. Volume keeps memory costs down, but it also means standards need to exist so parts are interchangeable. Plenty of memory technologies are out now, with more on the drawing board. Two new possibilities, multithreaded DDR RAM from Rambus and serial port memory from the...

Building a system from the ground up including all the software can be rewarding, but it’s a timeconsuming process that’s prone to errors. That’s why developers utilize off-the-shelf processor boards, operating systems, and run-time systems. Systems that aren’t built with a significant amount of off-theshelf hardware and software are rare. On the software side, C remains the dominant programming language of choice, with C++ bringing up the rear. C++ has...

Stacking architectures such as PC/104 and computer-on-module (COM) rule when it comes to customizing compact, rugged systems. With standardization, boards from one vendor can plug into another, providing a host of options. As a result, developers can seize processing power from vendors with single-board computers (SBCs) and I/O boards from another vendor. The typical stacking system, such as PC/104, paves the way for simple expansion and offers ruggedization...

With my new role as Group Editorial Director, I’m going to miss doing my column in each issue of Electronic Design. So here I am joining the “blogosphere.”

From its introduction in 1995, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) quickly gained widespread acceptance for connecting peripherals to personal computers. More recently, its ease of use, expandability, high bandwidth, and low cost have suited it quite well for data transfer in embedded consumer electronic and mobile devices. Thus, product developers are increasingly being asked to design and implement a wide range of USB I/O devices. This idea describes a technique for...

I use this display circuit to expose students to the concepts and characteristics of scanning displays. Basically, a message is delivered to the CPU (a Microchip PIC16F76) over an RS-232 interface. The message is displayed on a vertical array of eight LEDs, which are spun by a dc motor. As they spin and take on new positions, the LEDs are updated with new lines of bit patterns, producing the display. In this way, the software allows the eight LEDs to emulate an 8-by-80...

At one time, reference designs were simply helpful guides to the finer details of designing a part into a board. Those days are long gone. The complexity of today’s devices, in addition to the fast pace of many markets, has forced some reference designs to evolve beyond educational tools into manufacturing documentation for fully defined end products (Fig. 1). This dual role leaves...

DIGITALLY CONTROLLED POTENTIOMETERS (DCPS) find uses in a wide variety of systems for setting bias currents, variable reference voltages, and calibration settings. In industrial control and automation applications, high accuracy is a must. DCPs with 1024 taps are available, but for a few dollars instead of tens of cents. A dual, 32-tap, 50-k DCP is available for 40 cents. Can we use both of the DCPs in the package and reach similar performance to the 1024...

HERE’S A C/C++ PROGRAM that converts decimal numbers ranging from 0 to 99,999 to binary and binary coded decimal (BCD) formats. Using a simple algorithm in conjunction with pointer arithmetic and bitwise shifting increases the conversion speed without introducing excessive memory overhead and programming complexity. When decimal numbers are within the range of 0 to 9, their binary and BCD representations are identical, requiring only four bits...