April 10, 1997

WHAT'S HOT IN THE DESIGN COMMUNITY

Edited By Fran Granville

Wireless show reveals IC and subsystem developments

The recent Wireless Symposium Exhibition in Santa Clara showed that wireless applications are attracting more vendors providing vital pieces of the wireless puzzle and easing design constraints. Much tangible evidence supported the idea that we're seeing "media reversal," with traditionally wired narrowband voice links going wireless and the historically wireless broadband links for broadcast TV going wired.

Although cellular phones get most of the attention because of their inherent visibility and large production volumes, much activity was evident in point-to-point RF links; embedded designs; and short-distance, noncellular, wireless connectivity. Basic components are the building blocks of all systems design, and advances in either in-creased performance or in-creased functional integration are simplifying your design efforts. A few of the items that attracted interest follow.

Anadigics announced the 5.8V AWT919D dual-band power amplifier, which supports both 800-MHz Advanced Mobile Phone Ser-vice/North American Digital Cellular (AMPS/NADC) and 1900-MHz personal-communications-service (PCS) transmitters by putting two 28-dB gain amplifiers into a 28-pin SSOP device. The amplifier targets wireless devices that must be compatible with both standards. In analog mode with Class B operation, gain is 24 dB, and average output power is 28.5 dBm; in digital mode with Class AB operation, the amplifier delivers 31.5-dBm peak envelope power and 25 dB gain. It costs $10 (100,000).

Hewlett-Packard showed a silicon, self-biased transistor, the INA-12063, for 1.5-GHz operation with supplies as low as 1.5V. This SOT-363-sized device shortens design time for low-noise, low-current RF amplifiers and provides more consistent performance than externally biased transistors. It features a 2-dB noise figure and a 16-dB gain at 900 MHz. Price is $0.45 (10,000).

The NEC UPC8116GR, a basic 500-MHz AM/amplitude-shift-keying receiver, is available through California Eastern Laboratories. The receiver comes in a 20-pin SSOP and includes a mixer, a local oscillator, an IF amplifier, a received-signal-strength-indicator stage, and a baseband output. This $1.25 (500,000), 2.7 to 5.5V IC targets keyless-entry, home-security, and remote-control systems.

CDMA (code-division multiple-access) and spread-spectrum design also got a lot of attention. RF Micro Devices showed its RF9957, a 24-lead SSOP IF AGC amplifier and quadrature demodulator for the receiver section of dual-mode CDMA/FM cellular and PCS applications. It provides 100 dB of gain-control range along with IF amplification and in-phase- quadrature demodulation and meets the IS-98 interim standard for CDMA systems. Price is $2.98 (100,000).

Beyond stand-alone ICs, vendors are also providing increasingly popular chip sets to simplify systems design. Motorola introduced a four-IC set for the 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. The set aims at frequency-hopping and direct-synthesis spread-spectrum data systems in wireless LANs and data links. The GaAs set includes the $7.40 (10,000) MRF-IC2405 transconverter with a two-stage power amplifier, a low-noise amplifier, a down-conversion mixer, an antenna-diversity switch, and a transmit/receive switch. It also includes the $3.35 (10,000), MRF-IC2406 active up-conversion mixer to ease matching; the $2.10 (10,000), two-stage MRFIC2407 Class A amplifier to drive the transconverter; and the $6.50 (10,000) two-stage MRF-IC2410 power amplifier.

For embedding the Global Positioning System into navigation, vehicle-location, and tracking systems, GEC Plessey Semiconductors an-nounced the GP2015 RF front end and GP2102 12-channel correlator to work with the ARM RISC processor as well as non-RISC mPs. The devices come with acquisition and tracking software in customizable C source code; a development kit puts the design on a half-sized ISA-bus card suitable for a 486-class-CPU/50-MHz PC. Both ICs cost $30 (10,000).

For low-power, point-to-point links, RF Monolithics now offers "Virtual Wire" engineering development kits using the company's 432.92- and 916.5-MHz transmitter/receiver pairs. Each kit contains transceiver boards with antennas, protocol boards implementing a link-layer protocol, batteries, demonstration software, and a manual. You can in a few minutes establish a data link between the RS-232C ports of two PCs and develop designs for dedicated applications using these 3V boards. Each kit costs $350.

--by Bill Schweber

Anadigics Inc, Warren, NJ. (908) 668-5000, www.anadigics.com.

California Eastern Laboratories, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 988-3500, www.cel.com.

GEC Plessey Semiconductors, Scotts Valley, CA. (408) 438-2900, www.gpsemi.com.

Hewlett-Packard Co, Palo Alto, CA. (800) 537-7715 ext 9910, www.hp.com.

RF Micro Devices, Greensboro, NC. (910) 664-1233, www.rfmd.com.

RF Monolithics, Dallas, TX. (972) 448-3700, www.rfm.com.

Graphical entry tool simplifies HDL design

Add Renoir to the growing list of EDA tools that let you enter your design graphically and then output HDL code. Supporting both VHDL and Verilog, the tool lets you input your design in a variety of mix-and-match graphical representations, including state machine, block diagram, flow chart, and truth table. You can also enter Verilog or VHDL text with a text editor.

Each of Renoir's graphical editors provides a different view of your design. The state-machine editor supports both Mealy and Moore representations, along with hierarchical and concurrent state machines. You use this editor for the control portions of your system. The block-diagram editor gives you a logical diagram of modules, buses, signals, and connections. You can also include HDL text objects as blocks in a block diagram. The flow-chart editor represents data flow using common parameters, such as wait states, decision points, and loops. You can also include decision points with VHDL or Verilog conditional expressions. The truth table lets you specify conditional and sequential logic in a tabular format. Renoir generates fully synthesizable HDL code from your graphical diagrams.

Mentor designed Renoir to integrate with Synopsys' (Mountain View, CA) Design Compiler, Exemplar's (Alameda, CA) Galileo and Leonardo, and Mentor's AutoLogic synthesis tools. You can also use the following simulation tools with Renoir: Mentor's QuickHDL and Seamless CVE, Model Technology's (Beaverton, OR) V-System, and Cadence's (San Jose, CA) Verilog-XL. Mentor is working on HDL-simulation interfaces for Viewlogic's (Marlborough, MA) VCS, Optium, and FusionHDL and for Synopsys' VSS simulators.

You use Renoir on either Windows (NT and 95) or Unix design platforms. The tool package with all graphical editors costs $20,000. Renoir State, a stand-alone state-machine editor, and Renoir Block, a stand-alone block-diagram editor, cost $5000 each. Mentor also packages Renoir with HDL simulators. Renoir Palette for VHDL (with QuickHDL-VHDL) and Renoir Palette for Verilog (with QuickHDL-VLOG) cost $20,000 each. The VHDL/Verilog-simulation combination package costs $54,000. For a free evaluation, download a nonsaving, nongenerating version of Renoir from www.renoir.com.

--by Jim Lipman

Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, OR. (503) 685-7000, fax (503) 685-1202, www.mentorg.com.

BGA test socket eliminates special pc-board layouts

Emulation Technology's BGA socket system solves a problem that has been plaguing designers of pc boards that contain ICs in BGA packages: Debugging a board requires probing the IC pins, but BGA connections are underneath the package. Moreover, you must solder BGAs in place; once mounted, their pins become inaccessible. To probe a circuit node, you must find it someplace else on the board. This situation leads to a costly and time-con-suming extra step in de-signing pc boards that contain BGAs: Designers often create a special version of a target board. They bring the BGA leads on the board to pads for access during debugging. Such special boards are often larger than final versions, and the inductance (L) and capacitance (C) of the extra test-point wiring can interfere with high-speed circuits' operation.

The BGA socket and probing system eliminates such special boards and minimizes the extra L and C. In the probing system, the test equipment connects to points next to the BGA socket, which is taller than a normal BGA package. The external connections can, therefore, lie above the target board and not interfere with the devices on the board near the socket.

To use the socket, you solder a BGA-package emulator instead of the BGA to the target board. The socket, in which you place the device under test, and the test adapter then plug into this emulator. Screws at the corners keep the stacked hardware together. These screws do not project as far as the target board, though. Therefore, retaining the probing system on the target board requires no special layout provisions. Friction between the package emu-lator's single-point sockets and the pins of the pin array--the probing-system element that plugs into the emulator--provides the retention force. Probing-system prices begin at $1800.

--by Dan Strassberg

Emulation Technology Inc, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 982-0660, fax (408) 982-0664, www.emulation.com.

Modeling software predicts embedded-system behavior

By using Simulink 2, a software tool for nonlinear-physical-system modeling from The MathWorks, embedded-system developers can predict the behavior of complex electromechanical embedded systems before hardware exists. The package simulates discrete- and continuous-time systems, including discontinuous systems and systems with algebraic loops. Beta testers in such fields as automotive electronics and avionics report that Simulink greatly speeds algorithm development. Among many new features of this version are new ordinary-differential-equation solvers and intrinsic support for discontinuous, or "state," events. The ability to conditionally execute subsystems lets you model large systems that operate in multiple modes. Simulink, which works with the vendor's Matlab, runs under Windows 95 and NT as well as on Macintosh 68k systems, Power Macintoshes, and Unix workstations. The MathWorks began shipping these versions in February. Prices begin at $1995 for a single-seat microcomputer license.

--by Dan Strassberg

The MathWorks Inc, Natick, MA. (508) 647-7000, fax (508) 647-7001, info@mathworks.com, www.mathworks.com.

A dozen SHARC DSPs swarm VMEbus daughtercard

Designers using Sky Computers' multiprocessor Skychannel architecture can now add SHARCpool daughtercards that integrate 12 Analog Devices SHARC DSPs. The 6U Skybolt II baseboard can host a single SHARCpool, and the 9U Skybolt II can host four SHARC-pools with a total of 48 processors. Meanwhile, the Skychannel architecture ensures a 320-Mbyte/sec datapath between the cluster memory on each SHARCpool and other clusters or baseboards. A single SHARCpool delivers 1.44 Gflops of processing power for FFT-based applications. A fully configured SHARCpool for the 6U Skybolt II costs $23,250 and is available 60 to 90 days ARO.

--by Maury Wright

Sky Computers Inc, Chelmsford, MA. (508) 250-1920.

AMD-K6 MMX hot to go--probably

After many delays, AMD claims that it is ready to ship its AMD-K6 processor. The K6 is an implementation of Nexgen's 686 and includes multimedia-extension (MMX) instructions. The processor supports high-end processor features, including out-of-order execution, speculative execution, data forwarding, and register renaming. A six-stage pipeline houses load, store, integer X, integer Y, MMX, floating-point, and branch-unit superscalar execution units. The K6 uses a decoupled-execution approach, in which the device decodes x86 instructions into an internal RISC86 form. Parallel decoders work with a central operation scheduler to feed the execution units. The scheduler contains a scheduler buffer that can hold as many as 24 RISC86 instructions.

The K6 should deliver excellent branch-prediction capability. AMD predicts a 95% hit rate using the K6's two-level branch-prediction circuitry. The circuitry contains an 8192-entry branch-history table, a branch-target cache, and a return-address stack with 16 entries. The branch-target cache and stack contain the cache lines (the actual instructions) instead of the addresses to avoid a fetch penalty.

Level 1 caches comprise a 32-kbyte, dual-ported, write-back data cache, a 32-kbyte instruction cache, and a predecode cache. The Socket 7-compatible processor comes in a 321-pin CPGA package. Prices of the 233-, 200-, and 166-MHz devices are $469, $349, and $244, respectively.

To better control the future of Socket 7-compatible chip sets, AMD offers the AMD-640 system controller and AMD-645 peripheral-bus controller. The company developed the chip set through a technology-licensing agreement with Via Technologies (Fremont, CA). The chip set supports fast-page-mode, extended-data-out, and synchronous DRAM. It also supports Ultra DMA/33, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, and a Universal Serial Bus controller. The chip set sells for $32.85 (1000).

--by Markus Levy

AMD Inc, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 749-5703, www.amd.com.

PWM switches form core of simple supplies for 6 to 150W needs

Battery operation is unfeasible for some systems, and even many systems that are line-independent need an offline supply for recharging. The TOPSwitch-II family from Power Integrations puts a PWM controller, 700V power MOSFET, and supporting discrete devices into a three-terminal device. This device forms the core of a compact, 80 to 90%-efficient supply for desktop PCs, portable device chargers, and multimedia systems and peripherals.

Family-member capacities span devices from 6W for the TOP-221Y, which costs $0.98 (10,000), to 150W for the TOP227Y, which costs $2.24 (10,000). You can use the TOP227Y to implement buck-, boost-, flyback-, or forward-topology supplies with either primary-side or optoisolator feedback. The switches incorporate autorestart, current limiting, and latching thermal shutdown. The devices that supply as much as 30W come in low-cost, eight-pin, plastic DIPs, which require no heat sinking; all members are also available in three-pin TO-220 packages. Reference designs and detailed application information are also available.

--by Bill Schweber

Power Integrations Inc, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 523-9200, www.powerint.com.

IC builds isolated bridge between telephone line, electronics

You need to provide a variety of coupling, signal detection, and protection functions yet maintain galvanic isolation when building the required data-access arrangement (DAA) between a telephone line and your system. The ITC135P from CP Clare incorporates a Form A solid-state relay comprising optically coupled MOSFETs for use as a 2-mW hook switch, a half-wave bridge rectifier, a Darlington transistor, an optocoupler that functions as a ring or loop-current detector, and transient-protection zener diodes. Applications include data/fax modems, voice circuits, computer-telephony interfaces, PCMCIA modems, and cable modems having a telephone connection.

The FCC Part 68-compatible, 16-pin SOIC saves about 60% of board space compared to conventional implementations of the same functions. Its internal LED requires 5 mA to operate, and the IC can dissipate as much as 1W, accept loads as high as 350V, and conduct continuous loads as high as 120 mA. R_DSON is 15V. With 350V blocking-voltage capability and as much as 3750V-rms I/O isolation, the ITC135P has unidirectional signal coupling; the otherwise-identical ITC137P has bidirectional coupling. The devices cost $4.36 each (10,000).

--by Bill Schweber

CP Clare Corp, Beverly, MA. (508) 524-6700, www.cpclare.com.

Software validates designs against requirements

The Validator development tool from B-Tree Systems helps embedded-system developers ensure they've made the right product in the right way. The tool assists in verifying product requirements during design and development and then validates the finished product against those requirements. The tool can assist in both white- and black-box testing and can work with other development tools.

The Validator comprises a PC-host workstation and three subsystems. The Emerita software subsystem provides real-time control of the target system and collects data on system operation and I/O activity. The Sentri subsystem simulates the operation of missing system elements, such as displays, keypads, and user controls, to allow functional testing before prototypes are ready. It also provides the stimulus to a target system, mimicking the user and environment, for verification tests. The Captura subsystem collects and time-stamps information on events within the target system. Captura uses nonintrusive physical probes of the target CPU and other test points.

Designers can use Validator with other system-design and requirements-capture tools that produce C code and truth tables describing the design's function. Validator also offers an application-programming interface that allows the software to work with standard software-development tools. The system price starts at $45,000

.--by Richard A Quinnell

B-Tree Systems, Minnetonka, MN. (612) 936-7887, fax (612) 936-2187, www.btree.com.

Chip pair lets you juggle multiple network-interface protocols

When you need to support different serial protocols with their different signal voltages and termination requirements, the resulting design can become complicated. The LTC1343 multiprotocol transceiver and its companion LTC1344 cable terminator from Linear Technology let you implement a data-terminal- or data-communications-equipment port for RS-232C (V.28), RS423 (V.10), EIA530, EIA530-A, RS-449, V.35, V.36, and X.21 protocols. The protocol is fully software-selectable and requires no additional components. These 5V ICs meet the NET1 and NET2 protocol and electrical tests.

The 44-pin LTC1343 comprises four drivers and four receivers, along with protocol-selection logic; the 24-pin LTC1344 contains the six software-switchable resistive terminations you need to configure any of eight interfaces in a DB-25 connector. You need no switches, relays, or jumpers to switch among drivers, receivers, and terminations. The chip pair also provides internal echoed-clock and loop-back operation with diagnostic local-loop-back and test-mode operation. The outputs of the LTC1344 do not load the signal lines when power is off. The SSOP chip pair costs $27.95 (1000).

--by Bill Schweber

Linear Technology Corp, Milpitas, CA. (408) 432-1900, www.linear-tech.com.

Software aids data analysis and visualization

Over the past decade, National Instruments has established itself as a force in data acquisition. Now, it appears that the company intends to repeat that performance in a separate but related market segment--software for analyzing and visualizing data and for documenting experimenters' conclusions. About 18 months ago, the company acquired the HiQ data-acquisition software package and has been refining and improving it ever since. The $495 package, which runs under Windows 95 and NT, is now at version 3.0.

HiQ's "notebooks" let you organize all phases of your analysis project. You can create objects that represent data, 2- and 3-D graphs, text, annotations, embedded Active-X objects, and HiQ scripts. Each object has its own properties; the matrix object resembles a spreadsheet. You can compile and run script objects. Within scripts, you can use built-in functions, or you can create functions. Data typing and matrix dimensioning occur automatically. Notebook printouts become illustrated reports that you can distribute.

--by Dan Strassberg

National Instruments, Austin, TX. (800) 258-7022, fax (512) 794-8411, info@natinst.com, www.natinst.com.

I₂O integration kit slashes development time

Symbios Logic has announced an integration kit that allows designers of motherboard or add-in storage interfaces to speed development of products that use industry-standard I₂O technology. I₂O provides designers a software-independent way to offload computationally intensive I/O operations from the host processor to an Intel I960 mP dedicated to the I/O subsystem. The Symbios kit includes the company's SYMplicity I₂O software, a PCI-to-SCSI host adapter, cables, and documentation. You can specify the kit with single- or dual-channel host adapters and with single-ended or differential transceivers. Depending on the host adapter, prices range from $231 to $509.

--by Maury Wright

Symbios Logic, Fort Collins, CO. (970) 223-5100.

CALENDAR

April 14 to 18
PCI Plus Developer's Conference and Expo, Santa Clara, CA, sponsored by EDN, Byte, EE Times, Computer Design, ECN, Electronic Design, Electronic News, and Real Time Computing. Annabooks, San Diego. (619) 673-0870.

Surf the Web; end programmable-logic frustrations

Companies are beefing up their Web sites with robust, up-to-date online documentation; frequently asked questions; and other design resources. Altera is the latest vendor to let you access its database of information from previous technical-support queries. You interface to the Altera Technical Support service (www.altera.com) via an intelligent search engine to which you ask questions or provide keywords. Users can easily search for technical articles, access the Solutions Knowledge-Base, view design examples, and learn about upcoming Altera training opportunities.

If you want quick access to development tools, Cypress Semiconductor now lets you buy (via a secure Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer session) and download $99 Warp 2 design software directly from the company's Web site at www.cypress.com. Cypress accepts MasterCard and Visa and offers you the options of ordering via more traditional phone, fax, or snail mail in case your firewall or proxy server allows no secure transactions, for example. Warp 2 supports the Cypress SPLD, CPLD, and upcoming SRAM FPGA product lines. It includes a VHDL compiler, supports traditional Boolean equation entry, and outputs both VHDL and Verilog timing models for third-party simulation tools. The graphical Nova functional simulator also comes with the package, and, for an additional charge, you can upgrade Warp 2 to add schematic entry and VHDL timing simulation.

For a broader based industry perspective, try Xilinx's SmartSearch utility at www.xilinx.com. SmartSearch indexes more than 50 Web sites full of programmable-logic content, and you can constrain and guide the search via configurable user input. After you construct an effective set of search criteria, SmartSearch Agents automatically notify you via e-mail of subsequent document additions. Another good one-stop-shopping resource is the Programmable Logic Jump Station at pw1.netcom.com/~optmagic.

Internet news group comp.arch.fpga focuses on programmable-logic topics, and application engineers from all the major vendors regularly monitor it. And don't forget the EDN Archives Web site, which gives quick access to several years' worth of articles on programmable logic and other topics. Register here.

--by Brian Dipert

Altera Corp, San Jose, CA. (408) 894-7000, www.altera.com.

Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, CA. (408) 943-2600, www.cypress.com.

Xilinx Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 559-7778, www.xilinx.com.

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