Design Features: February 3, 1994

Cover Story
EMC components administer first aid	Discovering late in the day that your product fails to comply with EMC regulations implies a tough redesign. A host of passive parts, applied simply and superficially, could be your salvation. -- Brian Kerridge, Technical Editor
Design Features The hottest new technologies and the latest design techniques to help you work efficiently and effectively.
Step-up/step-down converters power small portable systems	Using four alkaline AA cells to power a product has many advantages. Simplicity of the regulated supply, however, isn't necessarily one of them. Even so, you have several choices of regulator topology—each with strengths and weaknesses. --Bruce D Moore, Maxim Integrated Products
Pick the right package for your next ASIC design	The quest for higher integration levels in ASICs and competitive pressures to reduce system manufacturing costs has driven IC manufacturers to improve package capabilities and develop new methods. This article should help you evaluate the many choices available to find the best match of design performance and system costs. --David P Pivin, ASIC Division, Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector
PCI local bus gathers momentum	Both the PCI local bus and the VL bus let high-speed peripherals bypass a PC's slow expansion bus. But PCI is gaining favor among designers, and a crop of new PCI components is starting to simplify local-bus design. --Gary Legg, Senior Technical Editor
Digital HDTV system links computers with telecommunications	After almost seven years of proposals, testing, and FCC advisory-committee meetings, a US standard for HDTV could be in its final testing phase by the end of this year. Some early technical decisions define the minimum system requirements. --Anne Watson Swager, Technical Editor