The ARM Cortex-A5 and MIPS M14K and M14Kc lines are new architectures that the customers of these vendors will be using to build new chips. Meanwhile, ZiiLabs and VIA Technologies are offering new chips—the ZMS-08 multimedia processor and the Nano 300, respectively—using their own designs.

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.

Lantronix’s XPortPro with its 32-bit processor is built to run Linux and Lantronix’s own Evolution operating system (OS). The Evolution turnkey sysem supports Lantronix’s ManageLinx with VIP Access.

One of the many new features of MontaVista’s Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) Linux 5.1 is support for disk replication within a cluster via open-source Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRDB) software. DRDB uses high-speed network links to provide RAID-like operation in a high-availability (HA) environment.

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.

All compression algorithms utilize two basic functions. The first removes redundant or irrelevant information. Redundancy removal can be lossless or lossy. The second function, bit packing, packs the redundancy remover’s outpt bits together in a lossless manner. Redundancy occurs when a signal stream contains more bits than required to represent the inherent information it carries. For instance, telephone calls could transmit the full 2-kHz bandwidth...

What do you get when you don’t run Energy Micro’s 32-bit Cortex-M3 processor (Fig. 1) at full speed (mode 0)? A very low energy bill. In most instances, this 32-bit microcontroller sips less power than ultra-low-power 8-bit microcontrollers, so why not take advantage of 32-bit performance? Extensive clock gating within the chip design is a major factor in reducing power requirements, but so is...

Comcast’s final move to all-digital transmission in my area means I need a set-top box (STB) for all of my devices. This puts Comcast on par with other HDTV service providers such as Verizon and Dish Networks. Viewers can still get local channels via Comcast cable with a TV or HDTV tuner, but they’re just a fraction of all of the available channels. This doesn’t make much of a difference for viewers with one or two televisions. But I have a few more, ...

Last month, Teijin Fibers unveiled a 2D communication sheet that it says provides simple, secure wireless local-area network (WLAN) connections. According to the company, communications are rapidly migrating from 1D cable to 3D wireless topologies, while it forges development in the 2D domain. With the growing trend toward 3D communications, this 2D approach may seem like a step backward. But Teijin Fibers, which primarily designs and creates unique...

Real robots have capturedthe imagination of young and old engineers, designers, and programmers alike. For example, techies can get their hands dirty with iRobot’s Roomba Create or take part in competitions like FIRST Robotics. Robots also are changing how war is waged and how we protect people on and off the battlefield. And, they’re working with doctors and patients. Though we’re far from the intelligent androids found in science fiction, robot deployment and...

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...