CONTENTS February 2008
 
Cover Story 
Traffic management: a growing nightmare for SOC designers
By Ron Wilson, Executive Editor, EDN
Connecting the blocks on SOCs is becoming a primary problem in advanced-chip design.
 
Design Feature 
Homeland security: monitoring and manipulating remote residences
By Brian Dipert, Senior Technical Editor, EDN
Interested in controlling a computer down the street or halfway around the world? How about switching an appliance's power, dimming the lights, or adjusting ambient temperature, along with attaining some audio-visual feedback on a property's status? It's all possible, albeit not without glitches.
Handheld oscilloscopes offer varied features
By Martin Rowe, Senior Technical Editor, Test & Measurement World
Our hands-on evaluation of four models shows a wide array of performance, features, and price.
 
Special Report 
HardCopy: The shortcut to ASICs
by Oh Sung-Chan, Senior Field Application Engineer, Altera, Korea
 
Pulse 
NI intros PXI Express system timing controller
Highly integrated RF front-end module for 802.11n Wi-Fi products
Audio codecs with digital microphone support for portable consumer devices
High-current gate driver offers top system reliability, 50% space savings
Qualcomm intros first single-chip 45nm multi-mode solutions for smartphones
Altera and Synopsys collaborate to make Nios II Processor core available for ASIC designs
Nanotechnology milestone for quadrupling terabyte hard drive
High performance DSP development platform
Infineon enters motorcycle engine control applications with MCU family
Next-gen single-chip automotive navigation processor with embedded GPS
Test transmitter for broadcast production offers price advantage
“World’s first” WCDMA commercial femto cell
Intersil’s tiny single transmitter offers top internal ESD protection
Atmel and ASTRI to collaborate for SoC based on Atmel’s AT91CAP customizable MCU
Ramtron qualifies 4-kilobit F-RAM memory device to +125C for powertrain apps
 
EDN Asia.Comment 
Intel, AMD war shifts from price to design front
by Kirtimaya Varma
 
Interview 
“The only way to be really competitive is to be innovative.”
by Stephen Las Marias, Group Editor, Online
 
Design Ideas 
Use a TL431 shunt regulator to limit high ac input voltage
By Todor Arsenov, STMicroelectronics, Prague, Czech Republic
Autozeroed amplifier with halved noise needs few components
By Marián Štofka, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia
Routines directly measure microcontroller-bus clock
By Kerry Erendson, Bulova Technologies
 
New Products 
C Synthesis accelerated libraries for high-performance DSP hardware in FPGA
Optimal powers up thermal analysis in TSMC Reference Flow 8.0
TestKompress Xpress for manufacturing test requirements for 65 and 45nm ICs
Expanded design-for-test capabilities with Talus ATPG and Talus ATPG-X
Multiple First-Pass Verification Successes with VMM Methodology
Robust physical verification and DFM solution for 65nm
Multimode simulation platform upgrades all simulators for custom design
PCB-tool upgrade includes constraint-driven-design feature
Programmable multiple output power supplies meet medical/ITE apps
Pure sine inverter with battery charger and UPS
4-Port ultra PoE Midspan reaches full power of 60W per port
20W CEC-compliant adapter with interchangeable plugs
Compact desktop AC/DC power supplies
160W, 3” x 5” AC/DC power supply with ATX output
100W medical switcher in 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.20” package
Fast-switching microwave signal generator with 100μsec switching speed from 10MHz to 20GHz
802.11n certification test suite
Simulator speeds up development time, doubles as product demo tool
Pickering intros 60-760 HF Maxtrix
Four channel 100 Ms/s oscilloscope card
8 channel 25MS/s 12-bit oscilloscope / digitizer card
13GHz test solution for next-gen serial data standards
All-in-one solution accelerates network analysis from 75 to 110GHz
2.4 and Sub-1GHz RF SOC solutions for low-power wireless apps
Advanced MMICs with broad bandwidth support for T&M
45V, 16-channel buck mode LED driver
High-current Flash LED drivers for high-end cellphones
Free Linux BSP for AT91SAM9 MCUs
Secure nonvolatile SRAM controller with RTC, tamper detection
Broadband MMIC amplifier products
Microchip adds 12-bit ADC to USB, LCD and 8-bit PIC MCU families
Rail-to-rail and current feedback operational amplifiers
Siliconix P-channel TrenchFET power MOSFETs offer low on-resistance
Low-power series voltage reference family in tiny SC70-3 package
This family of low-power (5uA), series voltage references feature high accuracy (+/-0.15% max.) and low temperature drift (30ppm/C max.) in a SC70-3 package – 40% smaller than a SOT23. The combination
Wide input 15W DC/DC converter in a 2x1” package
Precision amplifiers with high bandwidth-to-power ratios for portable apps
600V high-voltage ICs integrate host of protection features
Accurate programmable delay line achieves ±3ns INL
 
India Supplement 
Demand for customized, extensible embedded products is growing
by Razak Mohammed Ali, Product Marketing Manager, Altera
Indian firms soar in embedded software
by Chitra Giridhar, EDN Asia, Bangalore Correspondent
India ramps up in embedded design
By Denice Cabel
India is home to the largest design centers in the world
By Ganesh Guruswamy, Director & Country Manager, Freescale Semiconductor India Pte Ltd
Next milestone: Delivering full system design
By Srini Rajam, Chairman and CEO, Ittiam Systems Pte Ltd
India covers the entire embedded design spectrum
By Suganya Sankaran, Senior Product Marketing Engineer, Microchip Technology India
Tackling embedded challenges in communications
By Vilas Bhade, Senior Architect, Semiconductor Business Unit, Sasken
Gaining ground in off-shore R&D
By Mohanakrishnan G., General Manager, Semiconductor Business Unit, Wipro Technologies
Bridging a critical link in the global electronics design chain
By Hong Swee Lim, Senior Product Marketing Manager, DSP, Xilinx Asia-Pacific
 
Prying Eyes 
Perusing a universal remote
By Robert Cravotta, Technical Editor
KNOWLEDGE CENTER
Panasonic Key Devices Guide 2008 :
 
Fairchild Semiconductor :
 
Texas Instruments: DaVinci™ Technology
 
Texas Instruments: Safe Bet Series
 
 
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