Electronic Design UPDATE: June 29, 2005

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Electronic Design UPDATE e-Newsletter
Electronic Design Magazine
PlanetEE ==> www.planetee.com
June 29, 2005
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Today's Table Of Contents:
1. Editor's View
  *Watch Out For Wireless Aircraft
2. Focus On ASICs
  *Platform Accelerates High-Speed PCI Express Development
3. News From The Editors
  *NASA Probe Crashes Comet's Fourth Of July Party
  *IC Inventor Jack Kilby Dies At 81
  *High-Power Square LEDs Can Replace Neon
4. Magazine Highlights: June 23, 2005
  *Cover Story: Engineering Feature -- Wanted: Roboticist
  *Technology Report: Audio Codecs -- The Entertainment-DSP 
   Connection
  *Leapfrog: Industry First -- Power-Integrity Flow Cuts Out The 
   Guesswork
  *Design View/Design Solution -- SoC Designers: Learn The What, 
   Why, And How Of Transactions
5. Electronic Design Helpline
  *Human Body Detection System

Electronic Design UPDATE edited by Lisa Maliniak, eMedia Editor
mailto:[email protected]
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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 
recently added Chapter 2 discusses interfacing video amps to 
digital-to-analog converters.

http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D534:1001CD

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1. Editor's View -- Exclusive to Electronic Design UPDATE
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Watch Out For Wireless Aircraft

By Ron Schneiderman, Professional/Careers Editor

You're climbing out of Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport 
after a rare on-time takeoff and about to reach your cruising 
altitude of 35,000 feet when you notice something strange out your 
window. You see another aircraft about a half-mile off your left 
wing that just keeps climbing. In fact, it's passing you.
   Could it be a UFO? More likely, it's a UAV.
   That would make it part of a little talked about NASA-led program 
that has been kicking around for the past few years. But HALE 
ROA, as the project is called, is still very much in play. There 
could be lots of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying around 
the U.S. over the next few years as NASA, the FAA, the Pentagon, 
and several aerospace firms try to determine if it's safe for 
these small, stealthy, and highly manueverable aircraft to buzz 
around in commercial airspace...
   Read the complete story at 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D530:1001CD

To comment on this Editor's View, go to Reader Comments at the foot 
of the Web page:
Electronic Design UPDATE ==>
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52E:1001CD

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2. Focus On ASICs
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***Platform Accelerates High-Speed PCI Express Development
A PCI Express development platform from GDA Technologies Inc. 
efficiently leverages the configurable logic and resources available 
on LSI Logic's RapidChip platform ASICs. It will enable RapidChip 
technology customers to easily integrate their design functionality 
with GDA PCI Express intellectual-property (IP) cores and LSI 
Logic's industry-compliant high-speed serializer-deserializers and 
embedded standard processors. The development platform can leverage 
the multiple PCI Express end-point controller cores from GDA, any of 
which can be selected at run-time. That will enable developers to 
test their application logic working in conjunction with the PCI 
Express cores and other IP integrated on the RapidChip platforms. 
They can then compare the performance of the RapidChip solution over 
other ASIC alternatives to implement multigigabit, serial-interface 
designs with faster time-to-market and lower nonrecurring 
engineering costs than with a full custom ASIC.
     GDA Technologies Inc. ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D53A:1001CD

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3. News -- From The Editors
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***NASA Probe Crashes Comet's Fourth Of July Party
This weekend's biggest fireworks will take place 83 million miles 
away. NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will launch a probe at comet 
Tempel 1 on July 3. At approximately 1:52 a.m. EDT on the Fourth of 
July, the 39-in. wide probe will hit the comet, which is about half 
the size of Manhattan, at 23,000 miles/hour. The inevitable crater 
could range in size from a large house to a football stadium two to 
14 stories deep. The impact will eject ice and dust, revealing the 
material beneath the surface. The Deep Impact spacecraft, about 310 
miles away from the collision, will have 13 minutes to take images 
and spectra of the event before it's enveloped in debris. 
Observations will resume once the spacecraft clears the debris zone, 
giving researchers a view of the comet's core...
     Read the complete story at 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D528:1001CD

***IC Inventor Jack Kilby Dies At 81
Jack Kilby, inventor of the monolithic integrated circuit, passed 
away on June 20 at the age of 81. Electronic Design formally honored 
this pioneer in 2002 by inducting him into our Engineering Hall of 
Fame. In the summer of 1958, Mr. Kilby conceived and built the first 
electronic circuit in which all of the components, both active and 
passive, were fabricated in a single piece of semiconductor material 
half the size of a paper clip. He worked at Dallas-based Texas 
Instruments at the time. This first simple microchip changed the 
course of the electronics industry, and the world, by laying the 
conceptual and technical foundation for the entire field of modern 
microelectronics...
     Read the complete story at 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52C:1001CD

***High-Power Square LEDs Can Replace Neon
A series of high-current, high-flux square LEDs can be used in 
arrays or mounted in housings for a variety of uses, including 
replacing traditional neon. Applications for the OVF series LEDs 
from Optek Technology include scoreboards and large-area electronic 
billboards, traffic signals and highway signage, and exterior 
automotive lighting. They are available in white, blue, green, 
amber, red/orange, and red. The LEDs are housed in 7.6-mm square, 
four-pin, through-hole packages with water clear lenses that provide 
viewing angles from 40 to 120 degrees. All the parts are rated for 
operation between -40 deg. C and +100 deg. C and are compatible with 
lead-free soldering processes. Pricing starts at $0.21 each in 
quantities of 10,000 units. Lead time is stock to eight weeks.
     Optek Technology ==> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D539:1001CD

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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.

June 23, 2005:

* Cover Story: Engineering Feature -- Wanted: Roboticist
Frameworks and COTS hardware make it easier to create robots for 
practical applications.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52D:1001CD

* Technology Report: Audio Codecs -- The Entertainment-DSP 
Connection
Standard compression algorithms and proprietary post-processing code 
challenge DSP chipmakers to deliver more MIPS at fewer watts.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52B:1001CD

* Leapfrog: Industry First -- Power-Integrity Flow Cuts Out The 
Guesswork
Thanks to a healthy dose of physical awareness, a power-integrity 
implementation and optimization tool attacks many facets 
concurrently. 
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52F:1001CD

* Design View/Design Solution -- SoC Designers: Learn The What, Why, 
And How Of Transactions
Transaction-level modeling lets you record transactions in the 
multitude of everyday design languages.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D529:1001CD

For the complete Table of Contents, go to Electronic Design ==>
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D531:1001CD

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5. Electronic Design Helpline
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Electronic Design reader Colin Hartley asks:

"I am looking for a method of detecting a human body up to 50 feet 
away, and then I would like to determine his/her approximate x-y 
location within the detection area/zone. I thought of using two 
passive sensors, mounting them on two stepped motors, and scanning 
the area, but I can't seem to find narrow-beam sensors. Is there 
another method or product I can use to achieve the end result?"

Do you have any solutions to this design problem? Please e-mail your 
ideas to Lisa Maliniak mailto:[email protected] for posting on 
the Electronic Design Web site.

***Readers seeking help with design problems are encouraged to 
e-mail us at mailto:[email protected] for posting in future 
editions of the ED Update newsletter.

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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, "Debugging Is Job One." According to 
recent surveys, most programmers place debugging at the top of their 
list. So what has changed in the last 20 years?
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D52A:1001CD

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TAKE A POLL!

What is your personal outlook for design projects in the next 
quarter?

-- Concerned about slowdown/layoffs
-- Fewer projects, but still feel secure in my position
-- Good, stable workflow continues
-- Increased number of projects
-- Lots coming down the pike, maybe more than I can handle

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

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THOUGHT YOU'D MISSED THEM? DON'T WORRY, THEY'RE ARCHIVED
Electronic Design's webcasts are available online:

DAC Showcast: Take a look at the latest and greatest EDA tools 
introduced at the Design Automation Conference
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D535:1001CD

Next-Generation In-House PCB Prototyping: Produce your own PCB 
prototypes without the use of hazardous chemicals.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D532:1001CD

High-Frequency Signals: Technology for capturing high-frequency 
signals with real-time and sampling oscilloscopes.
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=D537:1001CD

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Need To Go Green? We Can Help!

The European Union, as well as Japan and China, is 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 second 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=D538:1001CD

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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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