Supervisory ICs
empower batteries to take charge The
care and feeding of rechargeable
batteries require that you look at
battery chemistry, user application
patterns, and protection against failure
modes. Supervisory ICs address these
challenges, but you still need to
consider how to partition responsibility
among the battery, supervisory
components, and the system
microprocessor. --Bill Schweber,
Technical Editor
DECT ICs’
bandwidth defeats noise,
extends cordless-phone capabilities If mention of cordless
telephones brings to mind clumsy,
low-quality devices that fade out a
couple of rooms away from their
terminals, prepare for a design
revolution. DECT technology banishes poor
cordless performance, promising a raft of
new applications and related telecomm
services. —David Marsh,
Contributing Technical Editor
Design Features
Stay off the hot
seat when choosing temperature sensors Many
people are well-versed in contact
temperature sensors. But that doesn't get
you off the hook when you need to use
one. Then you have to be an
expert. It pays to know what your options
are and where to turn for information. --Dan Strassberg, Senior Technical
Editor
New IC packages
really pack in the leads High-density
ICs need high-lead-count packages to
successfully interface with the rest of
your system. But beware: Centipedelike
chip packages can cause design problems.
Knowing the features--and drawbacks--of
these packages can help you design your
high-lead-count chips and
high-performance boards. --Jim Lipman, Technical Editor
Rate-monotonic
analysis keeps real-time systems on
schedule In
the design of real-time systems, time
is critical. Rate-monotonic analysis can
predict whether a system will meet its
timing and throughput requirements, and
interactive design tools make it easy to
tailor the analysis to your system. --Robert Oshana, Texas Instruments
Systems Group
Fine-tune
embedded-system caches using trace
analysis Trace
analysis helps you to optimize code and
cache configurations. You can also use
lists of memory addresses, or traces, to
develop 3-D locality surfaces that
provide further insight into a system's
performance. --Ed Rocha, VLSI Technology
Don't interrupt
your computer: It could be saving your
life Ideally,
you want to create a program that can
concentrate on the task for which it was
intended without interruptions from the
outside world. However, when an external
situation meriting action does arise,
then the computer's response should be
fast and furious. --Clive "Max" Maxfield,
Intergraph Computer Systems
Making the jump
to HDL-based programmable-logic design Migrating
to an HDL-based design approach requires
an up-front investment of money and time
to learn necessary tools and techniques.
The reward, however, is easier and faster
completion of PLD- and FPGA-based
projects. --Doug Conner, Actel Corp
