Cover Story

Hot 100 Products

| Introduction |

| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |

Hands-On Evaluation

• Workstations go under the microscope
  Should you buy a traditional Unix system or a less pricey NT system? What advantages can multiprocessor systems from either camp bring to the desktop? To find the answers, I filled my garage office with workstations
  (see picture, 45 Kbytes) and started testing.
  — Maury Wright, Technical Editor

Design Feature

• Design guidelines ease selection of EMI-filtered connectors
  Filtered connectors are little-understood but useful components for reducing conducted and radiated interference. Some guidelines can help you specify appropriate types for your application.
  — John Sienicki, Spectrum Control Inc

Leading Edge

• Enhancements fine-tune FIFOs
• Two chips implement complete ADSL modem
• Low-power imperative drives 12-bit A/D converters
• Hefty capacitors target resonant supplies
• Miniature solenoids make batteries happy
• Start-up reveals C-programmable VLIW architecture
• Chip set increases backplane bandwidth
• Low-impedance backplane promises 1000-Mbyte/sec VME

• Radical technique claims to pump 90 Gbps through 100-km fiber
• Fractional-brick converters power data, telecomm systems
• Complex PLD cuts transistor count, die size
• ICs keep RF link simple for wireless control
• 2.4-GHz wireless LAN pushes PC links beyond 10 Mbps
• Modular LAN-switch IC family scales from workgroup to enterprise
• Calendar

Leading Edge Europe

• Integrated package simplifies microwave system tests
• BiCMOS process challenges costs of SiGe and GaAs
• Connect 200-MHz boards with high-performance edge-card system
• 64-bit CompactPCI card powers communications infrastructure

• Build HDLC/USB communications applications around dedicated controllers
• Silicon-germanium builds a cheaper DECT phone than using GaAs
• Check out modem designs for CTR21 pan-European use

Design Ideas

• Oscillator meets three requirements
• Simple circuit provides digital hysteresis
• Generator provides 537 NTSC pattern
• Offline IGBT charges batteries
• MOS transistors form current-mode Schmitt trigger

• Eight-channel data-acquisition system features autocalibration
• µC provides three-key, five-sequence lock function

Products

• New Product Database (registered users only) 

Columnist

• Signal Integrity
  Power-on reset
  —Howard Johnson, PhD

Departments

• Editorial Staff
• Business Staff