Electronic Design UPDATE: November 2, 2005

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Electronic Design UPDATE e-Newsletter
Electronic Design Magazine
Electronic Design ==> www.electronicdesign.com
November 2, 2005
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*************************ADVERTISEMENT**************************

PC-based Oscilloscopes from High Performance to Low Cost

National Instruments offers a variety of digitizers -- or PC-based 
oscilloscopes -- from high performance to low cost. The all-new NI 
PXI-5114 is a dual-channel 250 MS/s, 125 MHz high-speed digitizer for 
low-cost applications. This digitizer features input ranges from 40 mV 
to 40 V, a wide set of triggering options including HDTV video 
triggering, and deep onboard memory up to 256 MB/channel. Click here 
to view interactive product demonstrations of NI digitizers:

http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18307:4787DE 

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Today's Table Of Contents:
1. Industry View
  *Embedded Systems Security Mandates on-MCU Hardware Encryption
2. Focus On Analog
  *PLL-VCO Combo Exhibits Low Phase Noise
3. News From The Editors
  *Power IC Holds Down Handsets' BOMs
  *At 280.6 Tflops, Supercomputer Retains "Fastest" Title
  *3.5-In. Display Ideally Suited For Handhelds
4. Magazine Highlights: October 27, 2005
  *Cover Story: Engineering Feature -- Smart Motion Makes For A 
   Smarter Design
  *Technology Report -- "Sample Wars" And Silicon Technologies 
   Energize ADCs
  *Leapfrog: First Look -- Build A Self-Organizing Control Network
  *Design View/Design Solution -- A Good Methodology Helps Design 
   Teams Check RTL Code

Electronic Design UPDATE edited by Lisa Maliniak, eMedia Editor
mailto:[email protected]

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Free Web Seminar: Reuse RTL With Confidence 

Wednesday, November 2, 2005
2:00 pm EST

Whether you inherit RTL code from a legacy design, an outsource design 
group, or external IP, reuse is a fact of life in modern design. Join 
Electronic Design and Mentor Graphics for this free webcast to learn 
new techniques and tools that can sharply reduce the spin-up tax on 
your inherited code. This is a must-see for all ASIC/FPGA designers 
and engineering project managers.
  
Register today: 
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FA:4787DE

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1. Industry View -- Exclusive to Electronic Design UPDATE
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Embedded Systems Security Mandates on-MCU Hardware Encryption

By Dany Nativel, ARM Technical Marketing Manager, Jacko Wilbrink, ARM 
Marketing Manager, and Tim Morin, North American ARM Business 
Development, Atmel Corp.

Embedded control systems are increasingly connected to complex local 
area networks, such as controller area networks (CAN) with up to 100 
nodes, ZigBee wireless control networks with thousands of interlinked 
nodes, and even Ethernet networks with theoretically limitless nodes. 
These localized embedded networks are, in turn, often connected to 
other networks and to the outside world via corporate intranets, 
extranets, and, most significantly, the Internet. As embedded systems 
become more networked, security requirements become more complex... 

Read the full article at 
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18304:4787DE

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*************************ADVERTISEMENT**************************

Stratix II GX FPGAs: Transceivers With Optimal Signal Integrity

Stratix II GX FPGAs are designed for robust noise immunity and optimum 
jitter performance. Built-in support for many high-speed serial 
protocols plus data rates from 622 Mbps to 6.375 Gbps make Stratix II 
GX FPGAs ideal for high-speed and backplane designs. Learn more.

http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FD:4787DE

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2. Focus On Analog
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***PLL-VCO Combo Exhibits Low Phase Noise
Low phase noise is just one feature of the LMX2531 monolithic 
phase-locked loop (PLL) and voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) IC. 
With a frequency range of 765 MHz to 2790 MHz and a noise floor better 
than -160 dBc/Hz, National Semiconductor's PLL-VCO combo is well 
suited for cellular infrastructure applications as well as 
broad-market applications such as automotive, satellite, and test and 
measurement equipment. The chip's high degree of integration enables 
designers to use fewer parts and create a smaller circuit footprint. 
The LMX2531 incorporates a delta sigma Fractional-N PLL architecture 
specifically designed to meet the stringent requirements of the 3G 
basestation market. Delta sigma architectures offer advantages over 
more conventional Integer-N approaches because they can deliver 
excellent phase noise and spurious performance, and they have 
increased flexibility to implement various channel-spacing schemes. 
The LMX2531 is available now in a 36-pin LLP package and is priced at 
$6.65 each in 1k-unit quantities.
     National Semiconductor ==> http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=1830C:4787DE

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3. News -- From The Editors
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***Power IC Holds Down Handsets' BOMs
Thinner handsets with camera flash, video output, and longer battery 
life are within the scope of a power-management IC from Qualcomm. The 
PM7500 integrates features such as a TV-output amplifier, camera-flash 
support, a full charging system, backlighting, a USB On-the-Go 
transceiver, and stereo far-field speaker amplification. When linked 
with Qualcomm's mobile station modem (MSM) ICs and RF devices, the 
PM7500 is a self-contained power system that optimizes handset power 
consumption. Independently controllable buck regulators are included 
to support the multiple power regimes of the MSM devices. An 
additional 21 programmable regulators support the chipset's numerous 
other functions. Thanks to its wide-ranging functionality, the PM7500 
reduces the number of required external components. Offered in a 
9-mm-by-9-mm package, the PM7500 IC is expected to sample in March of 
2006.
     Qualcomm ==> http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=1830B:4787DE

***At 280.6 Tflops, Supercomputer Retains "Fastest" Title
Celebration was in the air at the the Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory when officials from the Department of Energy and IBM 
completed the world's fastest supercomputer. IBM's Blue Gene/L 
supercomputer broke its own record, retaining its title as the world's 
fastest computer. The Blue Gene/L did an astounding 280.6 teraflops 
(280.6 trillion calculations/s), superceding its June record of 136.8 
teraflops. To put things in perspective, every second Blue Gene can 
perform calculations that a person with a handheld calculator would 
take decades to accomplish. Blue Gene/L was originally created for a 
protein folding study, but together with a 100 teraflops system called 
ASC Purple, Blue Gene is expected to work on safeguarding the U.S. 
stockpile of nuclear weapons. Now, the race is on to reach a petaflop 
(1,000 trillion calculations/s). IBM and its government partners will 
have to compete with Japan, also in a bid to reach that target. The 
Japanese Ministry of Science and Technology plans to build a new 
supercomputer that could perform around 10 petaflops by 2011. Japan's 
Earth Simulator supercomputer, built by NEC, previously held the 
fastest computer crown before being dethroned by Blue Gene.
     Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ==> 
     http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FE:4787DE

***3.5-In. Display Ideally Suited For Handhelds
High brightness, low power consumption, and an integrated touch screen 
make the LQ035Q7DH06 3.5-in. QVGA TFT-LCD ideally suited for use in 
media-rich handheld applications. The LCD module includes a 
high-brightness panel with transflective properties and 262,144 
colors. The LCD features 225 nits of brightness from the six 
high-efficiency white LED backlights and 4% reflectivity, providing 
excellent contrast, color saturation, and readability in a wide range 
of ambient environments. Target applications include mobile products 
with audio/visual capabilities, such as portable media players, 
handheld gaming devices, and portable DVD players. It's also well 
suited for use in PDAs, GPS/navigation devices, and portable patient 
monitoring equipment. The display panel requires an ASIC timing 
control chip, which is supplied by the company. Both the LQ035Q7DH06 
display and the controller chip are RoHS compliant, and will be 
available beginning this month.
     Sharp Microelectronics ==> http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=1830D:4787DE

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*************************ADVERTISEMENT**************************

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http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18305:4787DE

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4. Magazine Highlights
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In case you missed them, here are some of the high points of our most 
recent issue.

October 27, 2005:

* Cover Story: Engineering Feature -- Smart Motion Makes For A Smarter Design
Motor control is more than turning a switch on and off. Today's 
microcontrollers deliver improved performance, efficiency, and 
control.
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18301:4787DE

* Technology Report -- "Sample Wars" And Silicon Technologies Energize ADCs
To "win the socket," some chip vendors turn to virtual silicon samples 
and new process technologies. Others rely on creative design.
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18303:4787DE

* Leapfrog: First Look -- Build A Self-Organizing Control Network
Acting as a sensor-to-network bridge, the PyxOS eyes robust control 
device interconnects.
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FF:4787DE

* Design View/Design Solution -- A Good Methodology Helps Design Teams Check RTL Code
It's critical that team members use the same set of rules to check 
their code against coding standards and best practices-while they're 
writing it! 
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18300:4787DE

For the complete Table of Contents, go to Electronic Design ==>
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18306:4787DE

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Free Web Seminar: TCAD Technology

Tuesday, November 8, 2005
2:00 pm EST

Through the use of TCAD simulation software and services, 
semiconductor companies can reduce product development cost and 
enhance process and device performance even before silicon is 
available. Join Electronic Design EDA Editor David Maliniak for a look 
at Synopsys' Sentaurus TCAD process and device simulation software 
during this live web seminar. If you can't make it, don't worry; we'll 
have an archive live the next day. So register now! 

http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FC:4787DE 

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Free Web Seminar: RoHS/WEEE -- The Manager's Role

Wednesday, November 30, 2005
2:00 pm EST

Electronic waste--much of it toxic--has been piling up for years, and 
even the most conservative recycling industry projections were 
starting to get a little scary. Although promulgated in Europe, RoHS 
and WEEE amount to a de facto global environmental standard for the 
world's electronics industry. Join us as we identify and explore the 
decisions that must be made by industry managers regarding these 
important environmental directives. Register today!

http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=182FB:4787DE

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EiED Online -- RoboNexus and ARM Conferences

Embedded in Electronic Design (EiED) Online is your source for 
technical insight and hands-on reviews. Read Technology Editor Bill 
Wong's latest EiED Online column: RoboNexus and ARM Conferences -- 
Bill takes a trip out west to the ARM Developers Conference and 
Robonexus. Guess what he finds there -- ARMed robots and a new ARM 
architecture.
http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=18302:4787DE

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Vote at Electronic Design ==> http://news.electronicdesign.com/t?ctl=1830A:4787DE

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CONTACTS: Electronic Design UPDATE e-NEWSLETTER
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Editorial: Mark David, Editor-in-Chief
mailto:[email protected]

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