Electronic Design Update: March 19, 2008

Electronic Design UPDATE e-Newsletter |   March 19, 2008 ADVERTISEMENT Performance Motion Devices (PMD) is a world leader in motion control chips, cards, modules, and software. PMD provides high-performance single and multi-axis motion control products for DC brush, brushless DC, microstepping, and pulse & direction motors. We specialize in providing cost-effective, high performance motion systems to OEM customers for a wide variety of industries, including medical device, materials handling, robotics, test and instrumentation, industrial automation, motion control, and textile applications. Click here for more info. scope |Researchers Hack Into Wireless Defibrillator—And Offer Security Solutions By Richard Gawel, Managing Editor
It's a terrifying thought—hackers using wireless technology to access your cardiac defibrillator or pacemaker. Would they steal your medical data? Change your settings? Tell it to kill you? "We hope our research is a wakeup call for the industry," said Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. He is a member of a team of researchers investigating the risks inherent in the greater use of wireless technologies in medical implants. Read the full article...

Our editors have been busy! Come read their commentaries and check out exclusive videos from the Mobile World Congress, APEC, and Embedded World exhibitions and see the technology of tomorrow from major players in the electronics industry. focus on embedded software |

Software Provides One-Box Serial Data Receiver Test Solution

Tailored for use with the AWG7000 arbitrary-waveform generator, the Tektronix SerialXpress software package performs direct synthesis of waveforms for high-speed serial data receiver testing, SATA, SAS, PCI-Express, HDMI, and DisplayPort standards, and any other serial bus technology operating at speeds up to 6 Gbits/s. According to the company, the application provides an easy to use interface that makes the creation and management of high-speed waveforms far more intuitive. Read the full article... industry view |Guide To The Emerging Telecom Standards: Who Does What And Why By Stuart Jamieson
Emerson Network Power
As service providers build out their broadband packet networks to offer enhanced triple-play services, telecom OEMs (TEMs) are working overtime to provide the equipment needed to deploy those services. Read the full article... Engineering TV | Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Robots Major Michael Pottratz discusses EOD robots in use today. TALON EOD robots were the first military robots taken into Afghanistan during action against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in February 2002. They initially accompanied the Special Forces on a classified mission, and they are still there now doing EOD work. Light enough to be deployed by a single person, the rugged iRobot PackBot can lift up to 15 pounds and travel up to 5 miles per hour. With its interchangeable, modular payload capabilities, this robot quickly adapts to a variety of missions for warfighters and first responders.

Click here to watch the video.

ADVERTISEMENT WIRELESS SENSING NETWORKS- A Survey of Design Options
Developing a wireless sensor network can be an awesome challenge or a simple matter of picking the right module, depending on who you ask. Off-the-shelf solutions have certain advantages, but may not be the best overall solution to your problem. Home grown or custom solutions can be designed to overcome specific challenges, so they can be critical for certain projects. Learn more about the technical pros & cons of both options in this live course set for April 30th at 2pm eastern. Register now! news from the editors |

Rad-Tolerant FPGA Gets Ready For Blastoff

The latest part in Actel's RTAX-S family, the RTAX4000S, is a 4 million-gate rad-tolerant FPGA qualified for MIL-STD 883 Class B. It offers minimal power consumption, a small footprint, and light weight. It also provides high reliability, completing 1000 hours of high-temperature operating life (HTOL) testing and 80,000 total hours of testing to date. Read the full article...

900-V MOSFETs Conquer The "Silicon Limit"

One challenge in MOSFET design is the "silicon limit." Every doubling of voltage-blocking capability leads to a five-fold increase in R_DS(on). Yet Infineon beats the silicon limit with the 900-V members of its CoolMOS family. Read the full article...

Embedded Waveform Viewing Improves Signal Integrity Testing Without An Oscilloscope

Buses and backplanes keep getting faster. Ethernet now runs at 10 Gbits/s, and the XAUI interfaces are at 3.125 and 6.25 Gbits/s. Blade server serial buses like PCI Express are moving from 2.5 to 5 Gbits/s. The SAS and SATA interfaces are increasing from 1.5 to 3.0 to 6.0 Gbits/s. Read the full article...

SATA Gen-2 PHY Compliance Test Framework And Software Shortens Test Time By 70%

The latest generation of Serial ATA (SATA), the serial interface for disk drives (Gen-2), now runs at 3 Gbits/s. To meet the compliance requirements known as the Methods of Implementation (MOI) of the SATA-IO working group, a new product has to pass 153 specific tests. Read the full article... quick poll | In his April 10 Technology Report, Contributing Editor Roger Allan will look at the latest in portable video. What development will be most necessary before portable video achieves portable audio's popularity?

• More processing muscle
• Streamlined software and standards
• Better power efficiency
• A wider selection of content
• Other

Click here to take the poll. Remember to scroll down, the poll is at the bottom of the page.

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Catch Up On Exclusive Embedded Technology From Embedded World 2008

Embedded World 2008, Nuremberg's annual electronics fest, is now firmly positioned as the largest event of its kind and with close to 700 exhibiting companies, it's easy to see why.

The technology on display included major semiconductor innovations, software developments and scores of embedded application examples. Electronic Design Europe was there to report on these.

To check out our selection of video interviews with some of the top technologists at Embedded World 2008, CLICK HERE

product picks online | Device Manages Power And Audio PC/104 Analog-Output Module Provides 24 I/O Lines Power Manager Drives Automotive Multimedia Networking Simulation/Schematic Apps Expand Capabilities Tri-Color Tactile Switches Deliver Uniform Brightness engineer's resource | Webinar: Improving The Accuracy Of Eye Pattern Measurements
Presented by LeCroy
April 9 at 2 pm ET This Web seminar, presented by LeCroy business development manager Michael Schnecker, will describe the limitations of eye-pattern testing and some of the more important eye-based measurements. A measurement technique using the normalized q-scale method from jitter analysis and expanded to two dimensions will be described, and its application to mask testing and signal measurements will be demonstrated.

Click here to register

upcoming industry events | IPC Printed Circuits Expo
Las Vegas, Nev.
March 30 - April 3 CTIA Wireless 2008
Las Vegas, Nev.
April 1-3 Embedded System Conference
San Jose, Calif.
Arpil 14-18 ED bookstore |Hacking: The Art of Exploitation By Jon Erickson
Any book that numbers its chapters in hexadecimal can't be that bad. Actually, the book is quite good. It should prove invaluable to any except those already well versed in the art of exploitation. It can be especially useful to C/C++ programmers who want to avoid problems or at least make it harder for someone to attack their application. Read the full article...