Design Features: April 28, 1994

Cover Story
Distributed power takes center stage	Distributed power has become a strategic architecture, if not a total solution, for digital systems. In particular, systems that need flexibility in either supply voltages or power levels benefit from distributed power, which also suits large digital systems. — Charles H. Small, Senior Technical Editor
Design Features The hottest new technologies and the latest design techniques to help you work efficiently and effectively.
Mainstream applications require optimized assembly language for fast DSPs	DSPs are fast, but you have to optimize your code to take advantage of their speed. —John P. Sweeney, AT&T Microelectronics
A transaction approach to error handling	You can apply the transaction-based recovery concept used in databases to any application. Doing so helps provide more reusable and maintainable programs. —Bruce A Rafnel, Hewlett-Packard Co
Designing with hysteretic current-mode control	Hysteretic current-mode control has many advantages over constant-frequency control, including stability, inherent load-current limiting in a buck topology, and an instantaneous response to load-current changes. —Gedaly Levin and Kieran O'Malley, Cherry Semiconductor Corp
EDA tools help fine-tune system design	By performing design iterations in software, EDA tools for wireless designs help you zero in on the right system design. —Doug Conner, Technical Editor
Network vendors agonize over fieldbus standard	The process-control industry is teasing out a global standard for a digital-communications bus from an assortment of proprietary and national standards. Frustrated by the slow progress, however, vendors and users are looking for bus systems they can adopt today. —Brian Kerridge, Technical Editor