Electronic Design UPDATE: July 20, 2005

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Electronic Design UPDATE e-Newsletter
Electronic Design Magazine
PlanetEE ==> www.planetee.com
July 20, 2005
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Today's Table Of Contents:
1. News Focus
  *LCD Limits Visible Access To On-Screen Information
2. News From The Editors
  *1-W LED Module Shines In Many Applications
  *Web Site Shares Predictive Maintenance Resources
  *ARM-Based SoC Family Maximizes Design Reuse
3. TechView Scope
  *Heaters, Cameras, And Sensors Ensure Discovery's Safe Return To 
Flight
4. Upcoming Industry Events
  *LinuxWorld Conference and Expo
  *2005 Digital Power Forum
  *Intl Conference on Commercialising Technology
5. Book Review
  *"Practical FPGA Programming In C"

Electronic Design UPDATE edited by Lisa Maliniak, eMedia Editor

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2005 Engineering Hall of Fame

The members of Electronic Design's Engineering Hall of Fame are 
those men and women whose accomplishments have shaped the 
electronics industry and, by extension, our world. It's time to vote 
for the 2005 slate of inductees. Give us a few minutes of your time 
to browse through our list of nominees and tell us who you think 
should be honored this year. Your vote counts!

Go to http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC1:1001CD

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1. News Focus
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LCD Limits Visible Access To On-Screen Information

A new LCD can alternate between a wide viewing angle and narrow 
viewing angle by means of an electrical on/off switch. Users can 
view e-mail and other private information in public on portable 
devices such as mobile phones and notebook PCs, yet people nearby 
can't see what's on the LCD screen. In normal wide-viewing-angle 
mode, the display operates with the same viewing angle as an 
ordinary LCD.
   The Switchable Viewing Angle LCD, developed by Sharp Corp. and 
Sharp Laboratories of Europe Ltd., uses proprietary technology to 
turn a wide viewing angle into a narrow viewing angle. A 
switching liquid crystal material is overlaid on top of a 
thin-film-transistor LCD. The birefringence of these liquid 
crystal molecules is used to control the direction of the light 
coming from the backlight. In other words, the light shines when 
viewed from directly in front of the display, but the switching 
liquid crystal material prevents the light from shining to the 
left or right.
   This display is well suited for applications such as notebook PCs 
used for travel where users don't want the information on the 
display screen to be visible to seatmates. In ATM terminals, the 
narrow-viewing-angle mode could be used while users enter a PIN,
then switch to wide-viewing-angle mode to display advertising
when the ATM is not in use.
   Sharp will begin mass production of the display this month.
   Sharp Corp. ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC8:1001CD

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2. News -- From The Editors
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***1-W LED Module Shines In Many Applications
Capable of up to a 60-lm output, a full-spectrum 1-W LED module from 
BivarOpto serves a wide range of general illumination and specialty 
lighting applications requiring a bright, reliable light source. The 
single-chip LK series LED module employs the latest Cree XLamp 
technology and exhibits excellent thermal management 
characteristics. It offers up to 130% more color gamut for greater 
color saturation. The entire module measures 20.3 mm in a hexagon 
pattern, and it's lead-free for compliance with WEEE and RoHS 
directives. Operating temperature ranges from -30 deg.C to 100 
deg.C. The unit is available with a two-pin header-based connector 
assembly for simple snap-in installation. Prices start at $4.00 each 
in production quantities, and it's available from stock. 
     BivarOpto ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECCA:1001CD

***Web Site Shares Predictive-Maintenance Resources
A new Web site from Fluke Corp. offers tools and educational 
material on predictive maintenance (PdM) and preventive maintenance 
for a wide range of environments. Visitors can access business, 
technical, and application information on Fluke test-and-measurement 
products specifically designed for PdM applications, such as logging 
multimeters and software. The site offers return-on-investment 
calculators to help analyze the costs and benefits of deploying 
various preventive and predictive maintenance technologies, 
application notes on implementing proactive time-saving and 
money-saving maintenance techniques, and access to the latest news 
and customer stories in Fluke's "Plant News" magazine. Site visitors 
who complete a survey about the new site and PdM applications will 
be entered in a drawing for a Fluke 189 data-logging multimeter.
     Fluke Corp. ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC7:1001CD

***ARM-Based SoC Family Maximizes Design Reuse
Designers can maximize reuse of existing hardware and software 
blocks with a new system-on-a-chip (SoC) IC family from 
STMicroelectronics that's based on industry-standard ARM cores. The 
configurable ICs address a variety of applications, including 
digital engines for printers, scanners, and other embedded control 
applications. Using the company's Structured Processor Enhanced 
Architecture (SPEAr), the device integrates an ARM core with a full 
set of intellectual-property blocks and a configurable logic block. 
These features enable customization of critical functions in less 
time and for less cost than a full-custom design approach requires, 
but with a similar level of flexibility and performance. The first 
member in the SoC family includes an ARM946ES running at 192 MHz, 
three USB 2.0 ports, a 16-channel 8-bit analog-to-digital converter, 
and much more. Samples of this first member of the family are 
already available, with pricing in the range of $13 each in volume 
quantities. Full evaluation boards will ship in September.
     STMicroelectronics ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC9:1001CD

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3. TechView Scope 
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Heaters, Cameras, And Sensors Ensure Discovery's Safe Return To 
Flight

Last Friday, NASA brought STS-114's countdown to a halt after a 
liquid hydrogen low-level fuel sensor inside the Space Shuttle 
Discovery's external tank failed during a routine pre-launch check. 
A dozen teams with hundreds of engineers around the country are 
working on the issue. Once it is resolved, the mission can commence 
and a new era in safer spaceflight will begin.
   STS-114, also known as Return to Flight, will be the first 
shuttle mission since the Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry 
two-and-a-half years ago. The path to recovery since then has 
been long, involving complex...

Read the complete story at 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECBD:1001CD

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Portable Power 2005

Explore power management and power sources issues in wireless 
communications and mobile computing September 18-21 in San Francisco 
at the leading conference for power delivery to portable 
technologies. Learn about battery safety, fuel cell technology, user 
interfaces and more from Motorola, Sanyo, Intel, Broadcom, Texas 
Instruments, Flextronics, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and 
other leaders. 

Register by August 17th and save $400! Priority code EDM05.

http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC4:1001CD

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Submit Photos And Get Paid! 

Grab some photos showing the "guts and glory" of you (and your team) 
at work. We need them for our "Day in the Life of an Electronic 
Designer" photo essay, which will appear in Electronic Design's Oct. 
20 special issue. There's a $500 Grand Prize for best photo series 
and $250 prize for best photo, and we pay $50 if we use any of your 
photos in the issue. Please include the names and titles of all 
photo subjects, as well as company name and the type of 
work-in-process illustrated by the photo. Digital photos should be 
in .tif or .jpg formats and must have resolution of at least 300 
dpi. Deadline for submission is Sept. 15.

E-mail digital photos to Rich Gawel at mailto:[email protected]

Mail hard-copy photos to:
 
Roger Engelke
Electronic Design
Special Issues Editor
45 Eisenhower Dr., 5th Floor
Paramus, NJ 07652 

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4. Upcoming Industry Events
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August 8-11, LinuxWorld Conference and Expo
San Francisco, Calif.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC6:1001CD

September 12-14, 2005 Digital Power Forum (DPF)
Wakefield, Mass.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC2:1001CD

September 14-15, IEE International Conference on Commercialising 
Technology and Innovation
London, U.K.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC3:1001CD

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5. Book Review
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"Practical FPGA Programming In C"
By David Pellerin and Scott Thibault

The ubiquitous field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is finding use 
as a software accelerator in many applications, including the 
communications, image processing, biomedical, and scientific 
computing fields. FPGAs are essentially used to implement software 
algorithms directly in hardware, producing orders-of-magnitude speed 
improvements over general-purpose processors. This book introduces 
C-based parallel programming techniques for creating these 
applications, verifying them, and moving them into FPGA hardware...

Read the full book review at 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECBE:1001CD

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Embedded in Electronic Design (EiED) Online is your source for 
technical insight and hands-on reviews. Read one of Bill Wong's 
latest EiED Online columns, "Wireless in Orlando," as Freescale's 
Technology Forum unwraps wireless wonders.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECBC:1001CD

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TAKE A POLL!

In the near term, which approach will most designers exploit to 
extend battery life in portable devices?

-- Further refinements in lithium-ion battery technology
-- Direct methanol fuel cells
-- PMBus point-of-load power management
-- Higher dc-dc converter efficiency
-- None of the above

Vote at Electronic Design ==> http://www.elecdesign.com

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Designing With Video Signals

Dealing with digital video signals in the analog world can be 
tricky. Arm yourself with knowledge and download our eBook, 
"Analog/Mixed-Signal Components For 21st Century Video," by 
Analog/Power Editor Don Tuite. Chapter 1 covers the basics, and 
Chapter 2 discusses interfacing video amps to digital-to-analog 
converters. The recently added Chapter 3 looks at video multiplexing 
and driving unshielded twisted pairs.

http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECBF:1001CD

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Need To Go Green? We Can Help!

The European Union, as well as Japan and China, are about to 
restrict the use of environmentally hazardous materials in 
electronic components and systems through the Restrictions on 
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. Electronic Design's RoHS 
Reference Center has the information you need to make the shift to 
green designs. The third chapter of our eBook, "Electronic Design's 
Guide To New International Environmental Laws," is now available for 
download. And don't miss our comprehensive list of industry and 
government Web sites and contacts. 

http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=ECC5:1001CD

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CONTACTS: Electronic Design UPDATE e-NEWSLETTER
==================================

Editorial: Mark David, Editor-in-Chief
mailto:[email protected]

Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities: Bill Baumann, Publisher:
mailto:[email protected]
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