[Engineering Feature] The WiMAX Wait Is Over
Things tend to occur in threes. Add broadband access methods to the list, with WiMAX—the wireless broadband metropolitan networking technology—now bursting onto the scene. Competing with cable and DSL, WiMAX (Wireless interoperability for Microwave Access) passed through its early development and standardssetting phases and is emerging from the product design stage into the real world of applications. Some pre-WiMAX and WiMAX-like systems are out there now, but look...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Technology Report] Wireless Mesh Expands The Boundaries Of Networking
Most computers are on a network nowadays. Consumer electrical, electronics, and communications products are next. Industrial sensors and controls, machine tools, and other devices in process control and manufacturing are under way. And don't forget about machine-to-machine (M2M), which will let any machine talk to any other machine via several layers of networking. One day, everything will be networked. That day may be closer than we think thanks to wireless mesh networking. With...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Leapfrog: First Look] Camera Sensors Capture The Cell-Phone Landscape
Go ahead. Try and find a new cell phone without a built-in camera. It's not going to be easy. In fact, with these phones offering resolutions of 1 to as many as 5 Mpixels, they're replacing digital cameras in many applications. All of this has been made possible through novel schemes in imaging chips that improve image capture in low-light conditions. They also provide enhanced image processing, which is critical due to the typical cell phone's limited compute power. The key...
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Dave Bursky
[Design View / Design Solution] Take A Peek Inside Today's Spectrum Analyzers
Like most modern radio communications devices, wireless local-area networks (WLANs), RFID tags, and 3G cellular systems rely on complex modulations that require specialized signal-analysis capabilities. Consequently, testing today's complex RF signals has become increasingly challenging. The test and measurement industry has responded with a bewildering array of swept spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers, and real-time spectrum analyzers. RF spectrum analyzers have been...
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Bob Hiebert
[Ideas For Design] Wide-Range Pulse-Width Modulator Uses 555 Timer
Simply adding a diode and potentiometer to a 555 timer operating in the asynchronous mode yields a pulsewidth modulator (PWM) with a duty factor adjustable from 1% to 99% (Fig. 1). Applications would include speed control of electric motors where the switching drive can be power efficient. The output of this circuit could drive a MOSFET to control the current through the motor, resulting in smooth control of the motor speed at...
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Henry Santana
[Ideas For Design] Servo Circuit Controls Sine-Wave Amplitude
The figure shows a schematic for an oscillator amplitude-control servo system. The circuit creates a closed-loop system that supplies a fixed and adjustable peak-to-peak amplitude ac signal centered around 0 V. A 1-kHz sine wave, labeled AC_INPUT, is ac-coupled to an AD633 multiplier chip. Then the AC_INPUT is multiplied by the SERVO signal. The multiplier's output is a scaled version of the AC_INPUT. This 1-V sine output signal is fed into a peak detector, and the peak of the...
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Darren O'Connor
[Ideas For Design] Economical Circuit Captures Light Pulses
For those needing a method to capture a light pulse and even color, the circuit in the figure may offer a solution—without investing hundreds of dollars. Although typically employed as a display, an LED can be used in reverse to capture light and emit a small voltage. With a bright white light, some LEDs can output over 1.0 V. Depending on the color, the LED can be used to discriminate against other colors. A green LED will produce a voltage output with a green light source,...
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Mike Fech
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[POV: Point Of View] Design On Demand: Market Drives Wireless Multimedia
Wireless carriers are upgrading to 3G, highspeed wireless networks to offer content that drives service value and average revenue per user. Handset manufacturers want to address these market needs with advanced, poweroptimized devices at attractive price points. Manufacturers and carriers turned to wireless chip-set providers to develop sophisticated multimedia-enabled capabilities that will leverage the data delivery capabilities of 3G networks. Chip-set providers have...
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Herbert Vanhove
[Editorial] Invisibly Bombarded In The Wireless Revolution
Or like the stories of surprised dental patients picking up AM radio signals on their metal fillings, imagine a hapless human who would somehow involuntarily detect all these myriad signals. He'd quickly need sedation to combat the instant sensory overload! Then there's the research regarding the potential health hazards of all these electromagnetic fields. One study sponsored by the Dutch government showed that exposure to 3G transmissions can cause headaches and nausea. But it...
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Mark David
[Pease Porridge] What's All This Wireless Stuff, Anyhow?
If somebody invents a wonderful new system with electromagnetic radiation and digital coding, it must be good. "Radio" is obsolete. "Wireless" is wonderful. Just this morning, I heard Disney head Michael Eisner say that before 1948, there were only three major movie studios, and no television, for entertainment. He seemed to have no inkling that there were several large (and lively) radio networks broadcasting music, news, drama, and entertainment all around this country (and...
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Bob Pease
[TechView: The Industry] Wireless Everywhere!
Wireless is only one of the many electronics topics we cover in Electronic Design. Yet it's one of the hottest technologies today. In fact, it can be found across all of the individual EE fields. In this special issue, we'll look at how wireless affects everything from analog design to embedded systems. Our Engineering Feature examines WiMAX, the broadband wireless solution. Our Technology Report then looks at wireless mesh networks. While both technologies have been in the...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: The Industry] Microgenerator Harvests Kinetic Energy For Wireless Devices
Wireless devices depend on batteries—at least for now. Soon, they will be able to draw power from their own kinetic energy. Perpetuum Ltd. and Innos have teamed up to develop a siliconembedded self-powered wireless device that feeds off of the vibrations in the environment to produce usable energy. Smaller than a matchbox, Perpetuum's electromecanical system comprises an arrangement of magnets on a vibrating beam. These magnets move past a coil, generating up to 4 mW....
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Richard Gawel
[TechView: The Industry] Bluetooth System Saves Stroke Victims
Seconds count when strokes occur. Delays in treatment can lead to significant brain damage. Alistair McEwan, a doctor with University College London, has received a grant from Action Medical Research to alleviate those delays by developing a wireless diagnosis system for first aid crews. Thanks to new clot-busting drugs, some paients treated within three hours of an attack can proceed to a full recovery. But bleeding can cause strokes as well. Doctors need to be sure of the cause...
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Richard Gawel
[TechView: The Industry] Don't Write Off The PDA Market Yet
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the PDA are exaggerations. Market research company Gartner Inc. says that worldwide PDA shipments totaled 3.6 million units in the second quarter of 2005. That's a 31.5% increase from the same period last year. The market also is on pace to reach 15 million units by the end of 2005, surpassing 2001's record 13.2 million total. Conventional wisdom says today's cell phones make PDAs superfluous. But according to Todd Kort, principal...
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Richard Gawel
[TechView: Analog & Power] Transmit-Path DACs For Portables Shrink Power Demand While Adding Features
The AD970x series of transmitpath digital-to-analog converters (DACs) for portables maintains compatibility with prior generations of Analog Devices' TxDAC series while reducing power dissipation and adding an on-chip voltage reference and RSET and RLOAD resistors. Clocking up to 175 Msamples/s, the series includes the 14-bit AD9707, the 12-bit AD9706, the 10-bit AD9705, and the 8-bit AD9704. Thin-scaled small-outline package (TSSOP) versions are pin-compatible with the previous...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Analog & Power] Low-Noise LDO Regulator Provides Whisper-Quiet Voltage For RF Signal Chains
LOW-NOISE AMPLIFIERS, VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED OSCILLATORS, and other RF chips can take advantage of National Semiconductor's LP5900. This 100-mA, lowdropout (80 mV) linear regulator offers a 6.5-µV rms noise spec and a 75-dB power-supply rejection ratio. Its patentpending architecture achieves this performance without a bypass capacitor. All it needs is a 0.47-µF ceramic on the input and a 0.47- to 10-µF ceramic on the output. Standard output voltages are 1.5, 1.8, 2.0,...
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Don Tuite
[TechView: Embedded] Linux Goes Real-Time All By Itself
Real-time Linux is critical to the mobile handset and telecommunications markets. Over the past five years, the standard Linux kernel has made significant gains in delivering better real-time performance (see the figure)-. At the turn of the century, average interrupt latency was on the order of 1 ms. Now, it's approaching 100 µs. MontaVista's changes enhance stock versions of Linux, compared to the subkernel approach used...
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William Wong
[TechView: Embedded] Multitasking Java Virtual Machine Runs Mobile Handsets
MORE HANDSET DESIGNERS ARE CHOOSING JAVA because of its portability, security, and ability to optimize resource utilization. Esmertec's µ@PoC Push-To-Talk over Cellular Client for 2.5G and 3G mobile devices is just one aspect of this adoption. The client brings walkie-talkie-style communication to mobile devices. It complies with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) PoC specification. (OMA strives to deliver open technical specifications designed to support mobile operators,...
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William Wong
[TechView: Embedded] Wireless Products
Module Simplifies ZigBee Support The ZigRay Wireless Data Transceiver module from Tecnova is a small-footprint pc board that incroporates a Freescale MC9S08GT60 microcontroller with an MC13192/3 ZigBee transciever. The module is available with or without a ZigBee protocol stack. The wireless data rate is 250 kbits/s, and the microcontroller interface is 19.2 kbits/s serial. Eight data lines and four 10-bit analog-to-digital converter connections from the...
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William Wong
[TechView: Digital] Advanced SiGe Process Shrinks Features, Boosts Performance
The 8HP silicon-germanium (SiGe) process doubles its predecessor's performance. This IBM development utilizes 130-nm design rules to achieve a top transistor cutoff frequency (fT) of 200 GHz. Designers can use this performance to implement 24-GHz radar for blindside detection and 77-GHz radar systems for automobile collision warning or advanced cruise control. It also could deliver 60-GHz Wi-Fi chips for next-generation wireless local-area networks (LANs) and backbone networks,...
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Dave Bursky
[TechView: Digital] Satellite TV Tuner Simplifies Digital TV Receiver Design
Combine the ZL10039 single-chip satellite tuner with the ZL10313 satellite demodulator chip, and you get an integrated and cost-effective front-end solution for free-to-air (FTA) satellite digital TV receivers and set-top boxes. Developed by Zarlink Semiconductor, the ZL10039 direct-conversion tuner chip includes a high-performance low-noise amplifier (LNA), eliminating the need for additional RF circuitry. The chip also can handle 1 to 45 Msymbols/s for digital video broadcast...
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Dave Bursky
[TechView: Digital] Single-Chip RF Tuner Captures Terrestrial Digital Video Signals
The RF4000 single-chip television tuner targets digital-video broadcast terrestrial (DVB-T) applications. Developed by RF Magic, it enables terrestrial receivers throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia to achieve small physical sizes and deliver top-notch performance. Based on RF Magic's proprietary AdaptiveTune technology, the chip was developed specifically for digital terrestrial television applications that comply with the international DVB-T standard. Adaptive-Tune lets...
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Dave Bursky
[TechView: EDA] COT Design Kit Gets Fabless Houses Into 90-nm SOI
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) promises greater speed and lower power consumption than bulk CMOS processes. But it has been unavailable to the fabless semiconductor world—until now. Thanks to a customer-owned-tooling (COT) SOI design kit from SOISIC, SOI technology proven on Freescale Semiconductor's 90-nm SOI process is now available to the mainstream market. The kit consists of multi-Vt standardcell libraries, memory compilers, and standard I/Os for manufacturing on the...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] Simulation Engine Adds SystemC Modeling
WITH USE OF SYSTEMC ON THE RISE, designers need simulators that can handle microarchitecturelevel exploration as well as full-system macroarchitecture modeling. Mirabilis Design's VisualSim Architect simulator has been enhanced with the coupling of SystemC v2.1 to its core engine. The simulator addresses SystemC limitations in former releases. It accelerates construction and analysis of transaction-level models (TLMs) by a factor of three. Also, it enables software design...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: EDA] EDA Roundup
A NEW OPEN VERIFICATION LIBRARY STANDARD has been approved by Accellera's Board of Directors. The Accellera OVL Verilog/SystemVerilog Assertion technical committee also has approved the standard, Open Verification Library (OVL) 1.0. The OVL standard results in better HDL designs, thanks to pre-defined checkers written in either Verilog or SystemVerilog that enable designers to immediately take advantage of assertion-based verification. The library includes 31 assertion checkers for both...
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David Maliniak
[TechView: Wireless] Silicon-On-Sapphire CMOS RF ICs Change Wireless System Design
Companies have been fabricating silicon on an insulating substrate for years. This approach lets IC designers make high-frequency, high-performance CMOS that can be used in fast processors or in RF and microwave circuits. The problem, though, is creating a process that can be implemented cost-effectively. Some semiconductor vendors have succeeded with silicon-on-insulator. But the performance gains haven't matched what's achievable with silicon-on-sapphire. Peregrine...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Wireless] ZigBee-Ready Radios House RS-232 And USB Interfaces
Pull the XBee radios out of the box and they're ready to go as ZigBee transceivers for short-range applications with low data rates. Developed by MaxStream, they conform to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and use Freescale's MC1319x chip set. Available with USB or RS-232 interfaces, these devices operate in the 2.4-GHz band at up to 250 kbits/s. They use 16 channels of direct-sequence spread spectrum, and over 65,000 network addresses are available. Also, they can be used anywhere a...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Wireless] First Pre-Production MBOA UWB Chip Hits The Streets
Due to the conflicting views of numerous vendors, the IEEE hasn't yet established a single, formal Ultra-Wideband (UWB) standard. Even so, companies that support the proposed orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) solution are moving ahead with pre-production of silicon. The merger of the WiMedia Alliance and Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), along with the FCC's waiver to permit approval of the OFDM UWB solution, has given most silicon vendors the green light to produce...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[TechView: Wireless] RF Power Transistor Trims Broadcast-TV Transmitter Costs
High-power broadcast-TV transmitter design should become easier with the MRF6P3300H enhancement-mode MOSFET. Designed for use in TV transmitters of 1, 5, and 10 kW, it can dissipate up to 300 W. It's the next generation of Freescale Semiconductor's high-voltage, laterally diffused metal-oxide semiconductor MOS technology (LDMOS). The n-channel device can be used in the 470- to 860-MHz range as a push-pull class AB power amplifier. It can be operated from a 32-V supply. Also, it...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Design FAQs] Coupling Video Amplifiers Sponsored by: INTERSIL
What’s the difference between ac coupling and dc coupling in video and high-speed amps? Using capacitors on inputs and outputs, ac coupling simplifies circuit design by removing dc voltages on the transmission line and isolating ground connections between the transmit and receive systems. On the other hand, the presence of those capacitors compromises signal quality. Some systems can accommodate those compromises, while others cannot. Eliminating...
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Don Tuite
[Design FAQs] Inductive-Boost DC-DC Converters Sponsored by: NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
What is an inductive-boost dc-dc converter? Closing the switch causes current to build up through the inductor, as shown in the simplified inductive-boost dc-dc converter circuit (Fig. 1). Opening the switch forces current through the diode to the output capacitor. Multiple switching cycles build the output capacitor voltage due to charge it stores from the inductor current. This results in an output...
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Sam Davis
[Quick Facts] Bridging Solutions Expand Wireless Apps Sponsored by: QUICKLOGIC
Most wireless chip sets, such as those for 802.11 Wi-Fi applications, feature a PCI bus for ease of connectivity to the external processor. The PCI bus is targeted simply because of the high volume of available PCs that will potentially adopt a wireless interface. Yet this type of bus greatly limits the use of the wireless chip sets in other applications, particularly those in portable devices. Even though some wireless chip sets support miniPCI and Cardbus, this rules out the use of a whole...
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Louis E. Frenzel
