Some Electronic Design readers may be familiar with EE Product News, or EEPN, which covered products that design engineers might specify for their designs. Each month in print and daily online, plus a weekly email newsletter, the publication presented new products and emerging technologies in every category to help design engineers get their creations off the drawing board, into a prototype, and off to market as fast as humanly possible.
Categories covered in EEPN included semiconductors, components and assemblies, products for design assembly and test, and computer boards, modules, and software. Of course, each section had subcategories and special-product highlights. If you couldn't find the component you were looking for in EEPN, in print or online, it most likely didn't exist yet.
In this section, we'll provide expanded coverage of one of those categories, components and assemblies, which may be the largest area in the electronic OEM market. Essentially, this segment covers any component that isn't a semiconductor, computer board, test instrument, or software.
A short list includes motors and motion control products, passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.), displays and indicators including LEDs and LCDs, cabinets and enclosures plus backplanes, cooling and thermal-control devices, sensors and transducers, switches, relays, solenoids, timing and circuit-protection devices, interconnects, and interfacing components. Once again, each area has a laundry list of subcategories, so there's a lot of ground to cover.
This expanded product coverage is largely in response to the demand for not only new product announcements, but for concise technical information as well. For example, in a recent polling of readers, 79.7% and 78.2% indicated that emergingproduct news and to-the-point product information, respectively, were the most important tools for helping them get their jobs done fast. Let the majority rule.
What can you expect? Initially, we'll heed the survey and provide fresh product announcements coupled with all pertinent tech info similar to how we did it in EEPN. Each issue will focus on several categories of products. In this issue, we pay special attention to four product groups: interconnects, displays and indicators, sensors and transducers, and cooling products. In turn, the next issue will focus on power sources, switches, keypads, relays, solenoids, passive components, and timing devices, plus cabinets, enclosures, and backplanes.You also will be able to view new products on a daily basis at the EEPN Web site, www.eepn.com, which is now integrated with the Electronic Design site. The objective here is to keep you, the design engineer, abreast of any new products that you might implement in your new designs. There seems to be no shortage here, so let the river of information flow.
Of course there's more Engineers and OEMs do not live by new products alone. There are emerging technologies, market trends, and insights to feast upon too. We'll also be calling upon the folks in various component and assembly markets to give you some insight as to what they'll be doing technology-wise in the coming months and years. Hopefully, we'll be able to find out what the next big thing will be.As an example, a recent issue of Projection Monthly forecasts growth and opportunity in large-screen displays and projection, particularly in the realm of 200-lumen to 300-lumen projectors, 4K projectors, light-rejecting screens, and LED and laser-based projection. Other areas include edge blending for multiple projectors, wireless video transmission, projector reliability and color performance, plus digital signage and hospitality, all of which promise to be fruitful areas for several years.
Naturally, we'll also cover relevant trade shows, conferences, and press events in the components space as they come up. These events, as you know, are a virtual platinum mine of information on the here and now and the future of the industry.
And still more to come You know the expression "I got it straight from the horse's mouth"? Not to compare design engineers, OEMs, and technology editors to horses, though we sometimes work as such, one of the best ways to gain knowledge in this business is to speak directly to one's peers. Better yet, have them talk to you via contributed articles.A nice perk related to this tech business is that designers are both quick and willing to share, with no shortage of words, their design tips and tricks. As the components and assemblies section evolves, we will take advantage of this generosity and present design-related articles from the folks in the trenches at companies large and small alike.
We'll find out how they solve those tricky design problems, what products they employ to do so, and most likely more along the way. We're interested in trends pieces and technology overviews of component vendors as well. You can send any correspondence to me at [email protected].