Expert columnists cover analog, signal integrity, and chip design

In this issue of EDN, we’re adding a new columnist to our stable of outside experts that bring you first-hand accounts of issues in the analog, chip-design, and signal-integrity areas. We welcome Pallab Chatterjee, who will be writing a column, “Tapeout,” on chip-design and, occasionally, embedded-system-design issues. This issue also offers an appropriate opportunity to reintroduce you to our other expert columnists and tell you about some upcoming short instructional videos in signal integrity.

Pullab Chatterjee Joshua Israelsohn Bonnie Baker Howard Johnson

Chatterjee’s first column, “The wheel goes ’round again,” looks at how the chip-design industry is running through yet another evolutionary succession of similar steps in moving down to 65-nm and finer process geometries and to the world of SOCs (systems on chips). I believe that you will find Chatterjee an engaging addition to EDN. He has unimpeachable technical credentials with more than 20 years in the chip-design industry. He has for years operated his own consulting company and worked as a troubleshooter on chip designs at a who’s who list of companies—both chip manufacturers and ASIC developers. He has hands-on experience with tools from all of the major EDA vendors. So, please enjoy “Tapeout,” send me your thoughts on it, and send Chatterjee any topics that you’d like to see him cover in the future. In addition to Chatterjee, our established-columnist roster includes Joshua Israelsohn, who covers the analog area in “Analog Domain”; Bonnie Baker, who covers analog and some system-design issues in “Baker’s Best”; and Howard Johnson, PhD, who delivers his expertise in his “Signal Integrity” column. Israelsohn spent a number of years as a full-time EDN editor between his current position with International Rectifier and his previous work designing analog chips at Analog Devices. Baker currently works in the data-converter group at Texas Instruments and also spent several years at Microchip. Baker also relatively recently published the book A Baker’s Dozen: Real Analog Solutions for Digital Designers. Meanwhile, Johnson operates Signal Consulting. He presents both public seminars and private programs on signal integrity to engineers around the world. He has written a number of books, and he offers DVDs of what he calls Dr Johnson’s SiLab (Signal Integrity Lab). We’ve asked Johnson to share some useful tidbits from SiLab with you on our Web site. I hope that you will take the opportunity to tell me what you think of the short videos. By the time you read this editorial, the first five-minute presentation should be live.

I’d also like to invite comments on all of our expert columnists. Each would love to hear from you about ideas for columns. I’d also like to hear about how we are doing with columns and about what other areas of the engineering world you think might warrant a columnist.Contact me at mgwright@edn.com.