EDN back issues from August 2008:
The eyes of the electronic world are watching.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Bonnie Baker Silicon photo sensors have been in electronic circuits since the inception of the era of silicon electronics. More than likely, scientists quickly discovered the photo-sensing characteristics of silicon in the lab, as they worked from the daylight hours into the ...
White spaces: ready for development permits or off-limits?
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Brian Dipert, Senior Technical Editor Is wireless spectrum scarce or abundant? Two coalitions' fresh perspectives on a long-standing issue have produced promising early results, but old-guard opponents are raising implementation roadblocks. The "tragedy of the ...
Free software encircles embedded design.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Warren Webb, Technical Editor Open-source software has become a staple in the embedded-system industry as designers struggle with escalating software complexity on limited budgets. With potentially huge savings on operating software, development tools, recurring ...
Simple toggle circuits illustrate low power-MOSFET leakage.
Aug 07, 2008 ... Tom Bruhns, Mukilteo, WA Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville The novelty circuit in Figure 1 illustrates the extremely low gate-leakage current typical of modern power MOSFETs. You can find parts that, in a moderately dry environment, will hold their state for ...
Circuit adds functions to a monostable multivibrator.
Aug 07, 2008; ... PM Ishtiaq, S Mufti, MA Darzi, and GN Shah, Nuclear Research Laboratory, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Kashmir, India Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Gate generation is often an inevitable step in digital-signal processing. Invariably, the gate generation ...
Piezoelectric driver finds buzzer's resonant frequency.
Aug 07, 2008; ... Mehmet Efe Ozbek, PhD, Atilim University, Incek, Ankara, Turkey Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Piezoelectric buzzers find wide use as audible-signal generators because of their low power consumption and clear, penetrating sound. An external driver or a ...
Low-cost digital DAC provides digital three-phase-waveform synthesis.
Aug 07, 2008; ... SA González, Universidad de Mar de Plata, Argentina, and R García-Gil, J Castello, and JM Espí,Universidad de Valencia, Spain Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Many applications involve the digital synthesis of three-phase sinusoidal ...
Semicon West boosts solar power.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson, editor-in-chief Will synergies between the solar and the semiconductor industries help boost the use of solar power in North America? That scenario would seem to be a distinct possibility based on the turnout last month at Intersolar North America ...
Revisiting electronic ink.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Robert Cravotta, Technical Editor Electronic ink has changed in the seven years since we last took a look at it. When EDN looked at electronic ink seven years ago, there were two visible commercial approaches to delivering display information. E Ink's ...
High-voltage, low-noise dc/dc converters.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Jim Williams, Linear Technology Corp You can make a 1-kV dc/dc converter with only 100 [micro]v of noise. Photomultipliers, avalanche photodiodes, ultrasonic transducers, condenser microphones, radiation detectors, and similar devices require high-voltage, ...
USB-powered battery charger goes faster, cooler, safer.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Margery Conner The ubiquitous USB port is becoming an international power-source standard for consumer electronics because it eliminates concerns over differences in regional wall plugs, voltages, and frequencies. Targeting that market, Texas Instruments recently introduced ...
Miniature photocoupler features high-speed isolated switching.(Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH)(Brief article)
Aug 07, 2008; ... by Graham Prophet Toshiba Electronics Europe has launched the TLP117 miniature photocoupler for applications requiring a combination of isolation, high-speed data transfer, and low-power operation. The photocoupler integrates a high-speed gallium-aluminum-arsenide infrared LED ...
Battery-operated, 6.2-GHz real-time spectrum analyzer incorporates DPX technology, GPS, and mapping.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Dan Strassberg Tektronix describes its latest real-time spectrum analyzer, the $22,900, rechargeable-battery-operated, 10-kHz to 6.2-GHz SA2600, as a handheld instrument. King Kong might call it that, but few humans would. The company rejected characterizing the product as ...
10-Gbps links span 30m in copper.(Phyworks)(Brief article)
Aug 07, 2008; ... by Graham Prophet According to fabless-telecom-chip-maker Phyworks, more than 80% of high-speed-data-center interconnections span less than 30m, and optical links over those distances have a heavy overhead in cost, space, and power. The company has taken the equalization and CDR ...
Embedded computer offers multicore performance.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Warren Webb Targeting embedded-system applications, such as industrial automation, multimedia kiosks, gaming, and medical devices, Ampro Computers recently announced the ReadyBoard 830 single-board computer, which the company based on the EPIC ...
ASML boosts immersion-lithography performance.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Ann Steffora Mutschler Targeting 38-nm-memory and 32-nm-logic-semiconductor high-volume manufacturing, lithography giant ASML Holding NV recently introduced its Twinscan XT:1950i lithography system. The device uses a 1.35-numerical-aperture lens, which the company claims ...
Digital isolators reach 2 Mbps, pack in as many as four channels.(NVE Corp. introduces optocouplers)(Brief article)
Aug 07, 2008; ... by Margery Conner Using optocouplers is a common, inexpensive method of signal isolation, but your application may be unable to tolerate optocouplers' tendency to degrade with age and temperature. Targeting that problem, NVE has introduced the IsoLoop IL500 series of nonoptical ...
FPGA start-up aims at ASIC market.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Graham Prophet FPGA newcomer SiliconBlue is targeting the market for ASIC replacement for portable, battery-powered devices. The iCE product is a conventional FPGA architecture--a look-up-table structure. Exploiting the features of the low-power variants of today's 65-nm CMOS ...
Broadband low-noise amplifier provides mobile-TV reception from VHF to L band.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Graham Prophet Infineon Technologieshas released the BGA728L7 broadband low-noise amplifier for portable- and mobile-TV applications. The BGA728L7 covers the VHF (very-high-frequency) III, UHF (ultrahigh-frequency), and L bands. It offers high- and low-gain modes. In ...
15 steps to starting your own electronic-kit business.
Aug 07, 2008; ... by Margery Conner After Limor Fried received her master's degree in computer science and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004, she started her own business designing and selling electronic kits, targeting customers who want to explore ...
Dumping the noise.
Aug 07, 2008 ... By Jim Christensen, Kris Design Services I recently completed designing an ultrasonic receiver that accepted signals in the 100- to 200-kHz band, downconverted the signal to an audio band, digitized it, and sent it to a remote computer. The computer provided an audio output and ...
Electronic-system-level design: Is there fire beneath the smoke?
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Ron Wilson, Executive Editor After years of overclaiming and underperforming, ESL design has a role in many design flows. But has anyone noticed? It was a shimmering promise on the horizon: As SOCs (systems on chips) became more complex, we would simply move from ...
Lithium-ion technology targets portable power.(lithium-ion cells are used in making of consumer electronics)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Margery Conner, Technical Editor Work closely with your lithium-ion-cell manufacturer and battery-pack-design house to develop safety and performance features for your system's battery pack. A typical laptop-computer battery pack can contain more than 50 Whr of ...
Astable multivibrator lights LED from a single cell.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Luca Bruno, ITIS Hensemberger, Monza, Lissone, Italy Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Lighting LEDs from a single 1.5V cell poses a problem because their forward voltages are higher than the cell's. The simplest way to light the LED is to use a step-up dc/dc ...
IC provides versatile toggle functions.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Louis Vlemincq, Belgacom, Evere, Belgium Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville The circuit in Figure 1 offers not only as many as six channels in a single IC package, but also a high level of additional flexibility. The configuration of Output 1 is a ...
Instrumentation amp has low offset, drift, and low-frequency noise.(Analog Devices B.V. introduces power amplifiers)(Brief article)
Aug 21, 2008; ... Marián A tofka, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Analog Devices' (www.analog.com ) digitally gain-programmable AD8231 instrumentation amplifier exhibits zero offset. It has programmable voltage ...
Four DIPs provide as many as 80 sequential-LED outputs.(Brief article)
Aug 21, 2008; ... Greg Carkner, Cobourg, ON, Canada Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville A previous Design Idea makes clever use of the ability of the 4017 CMOS counters to accept either positive or negative edge-clock signals, even though it leaves two LEDs on at once (Reference 1 ...
Program an op-amp gain block with a limited-adjustability, monolithic, solid-state resistor.
Aug 21, 2008 ... W Stephen Woodward, Chapel Hill, NC Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Solid-state replacements for traditional electromechanical trimmer potentiometers are increasingly available in a variety of technologies from a variety of vendors. These replacements have ...
Hang up and drive; hang up and walk.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson, Editor-in-Chief The cell-phone market is potentially huge. Sanjay K Jha, then chief operating officer of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technology, said in a June 11 Design Automation Conference keynote address that 2 billion people are wireless ...
All about surface-mount ferrites.
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Lee Hill Simple, two-terminal SMT (surface-mount-technology)-ferrite-bead components perform crucial functions in many systems. For example, one might suppress electromagnetic emissions from a power wire. Another might provide isolation between a digital circuit and a ...
On-chip test capabilities solve the analog-test problem for high-speed serial interfaces.
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Navraj Nandra, Synopsys Inc Including analog-test hardware in an SOC provides visibility into the performance of on-chip serial links, helping to ensure signal integrity and reduce the cost of manufacturing test. A small amount of on-chip analog-test hardware ...
IP selection and power supplies.
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Pallab Chatterjee, contributing technical editor With the 'greening' of electronics and IC systems, power-supply strategies are critical portions of the IP (intellectual-property)-selection process. There are two major competing power-analysis standards in the EDA world: the ...
Lithium-ion capacitor combines more than 100,000 charge cycles, low self-discharge rate.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Margery Conner Lithium-ion batteries are the current darlings of the automotive world because of their potential for finally making electric vehicles practical. They are not without their drawbacks, however, including their relatively limited cycle life. This problem affects ...
FPGA IP completes wireless-backhaul method.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Graham Prophet Wintegra's third-generation UFE3 (universal-front-end-3) IP (intellectual-property) core for high-channel-density, wireless-backhaul designs provides an upgrade path for designers migrating voice-centric cellular systems to high-capacity data-plus-voice-capable ...
Keithley debuts software upgrade and switch/multimeter options.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson Keithley Instruments at Semicon West (www.semiconwest.org ), which took place in San Francisco last month, introduced Version 7.1 of the KTEI (Keithley Test Environment Interactive) for the company's Model 4200-SCS semiconductor-characterization system. The ...
16-bit, 10M-sample/sec ADC uses SAR architecture.(Analog Devices B.V.)(Brief article)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Paul Rako Analog Devices' new AD7626 ADC provides 16-bit samples at a 10-MHz rate while using 130 mW. The part targets use in digital-X-ray machines, MRI (magnetic-resonance-imaging) systems, and ATE (automatic-test equipment), as well as general data-acquisition, sonar, and ...
Multiarchitecture-DSP road map refines power-efficiency-versus-performance balance.(Texas Instruments Inc. introduces power controllers)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Robert Cravotta Texas Instruments' multiarchitecture-processor plans expand a low-power-design emphasis beyond the fixed-point C550x series of processors and applies it to the high-performance C640x family, the floating-point C674x family, and the high-integration OMAP (Open ...
Photonics researchers decelerate light to accelerate data.(University of Southern California recieves funding for the research)(Brief article)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Matthew Miller A research team at the USC (University of Southern California) Viterbi School of Engineering has received $4.3 million in DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) funding to develop continuously tunable optical delays, which could accomplish tasks such ...
Technology gives windows a solar edge.(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)(Brief article)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by Matthew Miller Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a technology that transforms a pane of glass into a solar concentrator that can gather light over its entire surface and conduct that light to solar cells along its edges. Employing dyes ...
Kerf-free wafering technology reduces polysilicon for photovoltaics.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Ann Steffora Mutschler To substantially reduce the amount of polysilicon within the ingot-to-wafer manufacturing steps and eliminate some of the costly consumables in today's wafer manufacturing, Silicon Genesis has produced solar substrates for photovoltaic applications ...
Organic-distributor growth remains steady in unsteady times.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree In the electronics-distribution industry, merger-and-acquisition activity over the past 20 years has sometimes been as bustling as Grand Central Station during rush hour. A key player in that industry, Digi-Key Corp (www.digikey.com ) has managed a ...
Consumer telematics shifts to in-car connectivity.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree Despite high gas prices and the fact that the automotive industry has hit the skids on the economic downturn in the United States, the consumer-telematics industry continues to see healthy levels of innovation, according to ABI Research ...
IPC Brussels meeting reveals ROHS-revisions concerns.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree If you worry about the possible changes to the ROHS (restriction-of-hazardous-substances) directive, you are not alone. Industry leaders from across the electronics supply chain came together at an IPC (www.ipc.org ) workshop in Brussels this summer to ...
It's an electromagnetic-mechanical world.(Viewpoint essay)
Aug 21, 2008; ... by David R Bryce, Dataram Corp In the late 1980s, I was working on a currency counter that included an option to detect counterfeit currency. The counter's mechanism consisted of shaft-mounted rollers that transported the bills, one by one, through the machine. A dc motor drove ...