August 17, 1998

Cover Story

• Automotive power semis rev up to replace mechanical devices
  Solid-state switches and ICs are meeting cost and performance goals in winning the race against traditional electromechanical devices.
  — Bill Travis, Senior Technical Editor

Design Features

• In-car computing gets personal
  Having conquered the office and home, PCs are invading your other daily environment, the car. PC and chip vendors want to enrich the driving experience by integrating open-architecture computing into automotive electronics.
  — Stephen Kempainen, Technical Editor

• CAN protocol eases automotive-electronics networking
  Without networking, connecting the electronic modules in a modern automobile results in bulky, complex, and difficult-to-install wiring harnesses. Using a serial bus, such as the CAN, simplifies wiring, reduces the number of data sensors, and implements extra functions at no additional cost.
  — NS Manju Nath, Technical Editor
  
  
• Checks and questions to head off disaster in IEEE 1149.1 boundary-scan board test
  IEEE 1149.1 is supposed to make your product testable. But if ICs that promise to implement the standard fail to do so or if the IC vendor supplies inaccurate BSDL files, you may find your project and your job in jeopardy. Here are some steps that can help you head off disaster.
  — Kenneth P Parker, Hewlett-Packard Co
  
  
• Spice model makes it easy to design with PWM amplifiers
  High-efficiency PWM amplifiers are displacing linear designs in many applications. You can design a constant-current or a constant-voltage PWM amplifier with the aid of a simple yet versatile Spice model.
  — Yu Jen Wong, Apex Microtechnology Corp

Leading Edge

• Physical-layer IC adds fiber to your interface diet
• ADC macrocells provide real-world port for VLSI devices
• Duplexer highlights passives' role in wireless-phone design
• Spectrum analyzer captures low-duty-cycle phenomena
• Off-the-shelf security creates virtual private networks
• SONET/SDH devices integrate laser drivers
• ROMs give you that "synching" feeling
• Power optocoupler is missing link for isolated real-world I/O

• Aperture-grill-based, 19-in. monitor bursts $800 barrier
• Digital video-interface chip set scales from VGA to SXGA
• High-voltage op amps play in not glamorous—but critical—roles
• 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet controller targets servers and workstations
• Low-end UHF range further succumbs to system-on-a-chip receivers
• Multiprotocol WAN transceiver IC pumps data from one supply
• Low-resolution quad DACs give you a handle on electronic trims
• Calendar

Design Ideas

• Don't let slow circuits slow down the system
• Java applet computes standard values
• Attenuators nullify temperature deviations

• CAD technique helps tweak capacitor values
• Crystal oscillator overcomes typical drawbacks
• Replace an external gate with a resistor

Columnist

• High-temperature testing exposes failure modes
  — Ron Mancini

Products

• New Product Database (registered users only) 

Departments

• ednmag.comment
  • Returning the favor—Michael Markowitz, Worldwide Editorial Director
  • Don't let technology get in the way of basic design—Bill Schweber, Technical Editor
  • Editorial Taoism—Brian Dipert, Technical Editor
• Editorial Staff
• Business Staff