[Engineering Feature] Wanted: Roboticist
Don't look now, but robots are more than an academic curiosity. They're mowing the lawn, vacuuming the room, acting as hall monitors, and standing in harm's way. They've helped build cars for decades. Their senses and cognitive skills continue to improve. Yet engineers, programmers, and designers are still the folks who turn a jumble of circuits, servos, and source code into a functioning robot. Many of the tools and techniques will be familiar to embedded designers,...
—
William Wong
[Technology Report] Audio Codecs—The Entertainment-DSP Connection
There are audio codec ICs that comprise an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) around some processing hardware, but they are the tip of the proverbial iceberg. These days, most engineers think of audio codecs in terms of compression and decompression algorithms that run on DSP platforms. In the range of audio frequencies, "voice" codecs suit digital telephony, while "audio" codecs (as the term is generally understood) fit entertainment audio....
—
Don Tuite
[Leapfrog: First Look] Power-Integrity Flow Cuts Out the Guesswork
In many ways, power-integrity closure can be viewed along the same lines as timing closure or signal-integrity (SI) closure. Getting to the point where you're satisfied that your system-on-a-chip (SoC) design meets power requirements can be just as messy as it can with timing or SI. Not only that, but power, timing, and SI are mutually dependent—so much so that repairs to one of the three can cause problems with the others. With the release of the CoolPower tool, Sequence...
—
David Maliniak
[Design View / Design Solution] SoC Designers: Learn The What, Why, And How Of Transactions
System-on-a-chip (SoC) platforms are heterogeneous entities. They typically contain at least one processing element, such as a microprocessor or DSP, along with peripherals, random logic, embedded memory, communication infrastructure, and external interface components like sensors and actuators. These diverse design platforms are moving the design focus and tradeoff analysis toward communication aspects. Because the functional units in the SoC often communicate through several...
—
Bassam Tabbara
[Ideas For Design] Handy Circuit Converts RS-232 To An 8-Bit Discrete Output
This simple serial RS-232-to-discrete-output application and driver, based on Texas Instruments' 74LV8153, requires only a minimum of parts. The single-wire, RS-232 bit-compatible 74LV8153 supports an internal clock, auto-baud function, and output registers. Graphic control written in Visual Basic (VB) gives this implementation a Windows-based feel. The circuit is intended as a resource for bench-switch or power-supply controls. Referring to the schematic in ...
—
William Grill
[Ideas For Design] Wide Input-Voltage SEPIC Drives High-Power White LEDs
Recently, white LEDs have made sizable performance gains by squeezing extreme luminous density into ultra-compact packages. The latest white LEDs hold numerous advantages over more conventional lighting, including improved spectral characteristics, shorter response time, greater luminescence, greater durability, longer life, and decreased size. The Lumileds Luxeon V, for instance, boasts up to 50 times the flux, and at least 20 times the luminous density, of a standard...
—
Keith Szolusha
[Editorial] Spying Has Come A Long Way Since Deep Throat's Heyday
With the revelation earlier this month that one-time FBI official Mark Felt was the "Deep Throat" source to Washington Post reporters during the Watergate investigation, I got to thinking about the electronic designers who work behind locked doors developing the tools for spying, surveillance, and wiretapping. Watergate history is this month's hot topic, and electronics—that is, bugging devices—played a key role in the story. According to Washington Post...
—
Mark David
[POV: Point Of View] Trends Tip The Scales In Favor Of SiP Versus SoC
The pro and con arguments regarding SoCs versus SiPs are familiar. This discussion is becoming increasingly germane as the electronics industry struggles to meet cost and time-to-market demands for highly miniaturized and complex electronics. In the last decade, numerous trends emerged that greatly impacted the way we design electronics. Not only are products highly advanced in terms of their feature set and form, but many have a shelf life of under a year. Add to...
—
David Tuckerman
[Pease Porridge] Bob's Mailbox
Hi Bob: Does anyone breadboard circuits anymore? In the good old days, just a few years ago, you used to draw circuit diagrams in your articles that looked like something a college professor would put up on a white board. We design engineers would all run out to the lab and try it out in a couple of hours. I always seemed to get more out of actually trying out my more complex circuits than from simulating them. However, today a lot of the newer, exciting ICs come...
—
Bob Pease
[TechView: The Industry] Digital AM Joins FM In Receiver
Digital audio broadcast (DAB) receivers are growing in popularity around the world, enabling listeners to enjoy digital fidelity along with a host of add-on data features. This technology may get another boost from digital long-wave (LW), medium-wave (MW), and short-wave (SW) broadcasts using the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard. RadioScape's RS500 module makes such receivers possible and affordable. With the recently approved DRM standard and the RS500, OEMs can...
—
Dave Bursky
[TechView: The Industry] Everybody Loves NED, But They'll Have To Wait
Motorola's newly unveiled NanoEmissive Display (NED) technology apparently has it all—high brightness, wide viewing angle, excellent color, and fast speed—wrapped up in a thin package that's scalable to large screen sizes. NED incorporates all the best qualities a flat-panel display can have, and it even uses nanotechnology! So what's not to like? NED will require some effort before it actually gets to market. It's a type of field emission display (FED) that initially...
—
Kimberly Allen
[TechView: Analog & Power] Zero-Threshold FET Devices Run Unbiased, Consume Microwatts
What can designers do with a small-signal FET device that doesn't require input-signal biasing? In other words, what can they do with a device in which the gate-source threshold voltage is zero, rather than around 0.7 V? (Zero is the typical value at IDS = 1 mA, VDS = 0.1 V. The guaranteed maximum and minimum threshold values are ±10 mV in the "A" version of the devices and ±20 mV in the standard version.) The ALD110800 and ALD110900 from Advanced Linear...
—
Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] Free Prototyping Tools Cover Signal Chain And Power Design
Enhancing its Web-based tools that help engineers design with its products, National Semiconductor has stitched together its power and analog Webench tools into a more or less seamless design environment. The existing Webench switching converter tool now interfaces with a trio of tools that start by matching analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and signal-conditioning amplifiers and go on to complete the signal path with multi-order anti-aliasing filters. The signal path...
—
Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] CCFL Controllers Slash BOMs
The eight-channel DS3988 and four-channel DS3984 cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) controllers use a new push-pull architecture that reduces total bill-of-materials (BOM) cost by 20%. Developed by Maxim, this nonresonant architecture halves the number of components required by alternative designs. Each channel on these controllers can drive a single CCFL using only seven low-cost external components. In turn, each channel can be employed to drive multiple lamps. The...
—
Don Tuite
[TechView: Embedded] Try Budding Engineers For Testing Embedded Applications
While winging my way last month to Phoenix for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, I pondered a pair of dilemmas. One is finding ways to employ emerging science and engineering talent before these students receive their degrees. The other is finding good test subjects to put the latest embedded design through its paces. The solution might be to pair these together. It takes an inquisitive mind to test systems. It's also very helpful if this type of...
—
William Wong
[TechView: Embedded] 16-Bit MCU Handles DSP Chores
The 56F8000 targets a range of motor control and system control applications. Developed by Freescale, this chip keeps monetary and power costs low while delivering advanced peripheral control. The pulse-width modulators (PWMs) operate at three times the clock frequency. Each pair can generate differential switch frequencies. The application has cycle-by-cycle control over the PWMs, which also have multiple programmable fault ports and can operate while the CPU is sleeping....
—
William Wong
[TechView: EDA] IDE Lays SystemC Designs Bare For Easier Debugging
Sometimes design abstraction is a help, and sometimes it's a hindrance. Verification of system-on-a-chip designs with SystemC has a demonstrated ability to significantly speed up simulation runs. However, analysis and debugging at abstraction levels higher than cycle-accurate have proved difficult and time-consuming. Summit Design's Vista 1.1, an integrated development environment (IDE) for SystemC-based analysis and debug, is equipped with a transaction-level modeling...
—
David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] Engine Determines ICs' Economic Feasibility
Estimating the economic viability of an IC design early in the design cycle is a challenge. As an aid, Giga Scale IC's comprehensive IC economic-analysis engine lets designers transform a high-level design specification into a complete IC budgetary quotation. The economic analysis engine is now available as an upgrade to the company's InCyte chip-estimation tool. Designers can download a free, time-unlimited version of InCyte at ChipEstimate.com. Building on...
—
David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] Simulator Adds Assertion IP And Native SystemVerilog Support
The latest release of the VCS verification environment sports new capabilities that help users find more bugs more quickly, with up to a fivefold increase in verification speed (see the figure). Key new features include a new assertion IP library and native testbench support for SystemVerilog. The VCS assertion IP library contains a set of checkers that can be used with VCS or with Synopsys' Magellan formal-analysis tool. The...
—
David Maliniak
[TechView: Wireless] Platform Expedites Wi-Fi Product Engineering
Silicon vendors have made it extremely easy to build wireless products like access points, gateways, routers, and radio modems. But they effectively leave the software efforts to designers. Some semiconductor companies supply drivers and other small support routines. Still, designers mostly are on their own in creating software for their wireless products. Devicescape Software offers an appealing alternative. Its universal wireless development platform (version 2.0)...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
[Design FAQs] Designing High-Voltage Input Power Converters Sponsored by: NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
How do you define "high-voltage" input for power converter ICs? For most power-management subsystem ICs, "high-voltage" input is 30 up to 100 V. The 100-V maximum input rating ensures reliable and safe operation of 48-V bus telecommunication power converters, 42-V automotive systems, and other industrial systems that operate at similar voltages. The normal voltage range is lower than 100 V. However, parasitic inductances and peak noise transients can cause voltage spikes...
—
Sam Davis
[Quick Facts] WiMAX For The Masses Sponsored by: FUJITSU
The Technical Standards The finalization of the broadband wireless standard, IEEE 802.16-2004, means brand-new silicon from several vendors. Also, a powerful industry consortium called the WiMAX Forum means we're about to see how good broadband wireless really can be. IEEE 802.16 covers broadband wireless development in the 2- to 66-GHz range. The most recent version, 802.16-2004, defines a robust point-to-point or point-to-multipoint system in the...
—
Louis E. Frenzel
