Hot Topic:
Military/defense

EDN

• Man pleads guilty, faces jail time and fines in counterfeit IC case
  
  Author: By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News | Date: Nov 25, 2009
  ...certain grade. As alleged in the indictment, on March 3, June 26, and July 14, the defendants entered into contracts with the Navy and other government agencies for the sales of ICs. The indictment alleges that on 22 separate occasions the...
• NASA Finds "Buckets" of Water on the Moon
  
  Author: Steve Leibson | Date: Nov 13, 2009
  Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by
• Boeing postpones test flights again: How’s your tapeout looking?
  
  Author: By Ron Wilson, Executive Editor | Date: Nov 12, 2009
  Boeing's recent issues offer a cautionary tale for any chip-design team engaged in a complex project.
• Team hardens SiGe circuits
  
  Author: By Ron Wilson, Executive Editor | Date: Nov 12, 2009
  Manufacturers once aimed certain process technologies at radiation-hardened designs. CMOS, for example, started out that way, when RCA (www.rca.com) developed its silicon-on-sapphire process. However, the overwhelming success of bulk-silicon CMOS processes has driven most of the alternatives into
• “Not I,” said the rat: the tale of the Little Red Hen-gineer
  
  Author: By Steve Lubs, Department of Defense | Date: Nov 12, 2009
  Tales From The Cube: It sometimes pays to shut off all the extra noise—um, information—and handle things your own way.
• 1G-sample/sec, 12-bit ADC works in base stations and instrumentation
  
  Author: By Paul Rako, Technical Editor | Date: Nov 10, 2009
  ...stations and instrumentation By Paul Rako, Technical Editor -- EDN, 11/10/2009 Targeting applications in wireless-communications, defense, and test-and-measurement equipment, Texas Instruments recently announced the 12-bit...
• Gecko's ARM MCU Gives Battery Drain a Knock-Out Punch
  
  Author: Jon Titus | Date: Oct 29, 2009
  ...designers another option for battery-powered circuits used in utility meters, home and building automation, and alarm systems. Military-equipment manufacturers might look at the EFM32G for low-power expendable or one-shot applications such as...
• 3.3V mixer downconverts RF with good linearity
  
  Author: By Paul Rako, Technical Editor | Date: Oct 28, 2009
  ...systems. You can also use it for backhaul-wireless service between base stations and public-safety, and military-communications systems. The LTC5541 operates at a -40 to +85°C junction temperature; comes in a 5×5-mm, 20-pin QFN...
• NASA Perfects Lunar-Crashing Technology for Only $79 Million
  
  Author: Steve Leibson | Date: Oct 9, 2009
  Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by
• Boeing postpones test flights again: how's your tape-out looking?
  
  Author: (author unknown) | Date: Oct 7, 2009
  EDN Executive Editor Ron Wilson explores how IC design teams really work: the struggle for power efficiency and performance, wrestling with semiconductor processes and design methodologies, the challenges of global design teams. How do we somehow herd architecture, IP, design and verification into
• Onboard FPGAs enable high-performance ADC modules to analyze data at unprecedented speeds
  
  Author: By Dan Strassberg, Contributing Technical Editor | Date: Sep 22, 2009
  ...programmable FPGAs. Although much of Acqiris’ work focuses on meeting the data-acquisition needs of defense-and-aerospace- system manufacturers, the new products will also find application in such areas as medical imaging, scientific...
• RF switching options: The right fit might come with a loss
  
  Author: By Rick Nelson, Editor-in-Chief | Date: Sep 17, 2009
  Manufacturers are offering SOI and MEMS alternatives to PIN-diode, GaAs, and electromechanical switches for a variety of RF applications, but you need to understand RF-switch specs before you commit to a new technology.
• Robot exoskeletons
  
  Author: Paul Rako | Date: Sep 11, 2009
  ...company name of Cyberdyne. Is not that from some science fiction moves where robots take over the world? Anyway, military applications notwithstanding, the real benefit to these exoskeletons may be in helping handicapped people achieve independence...
• Thermal design guidelines for solid-state lighting applications using LEDs
  
  Author: By Henry F. and Peter A. Villaume, Villaume Associates | Date: Sep 11, 2009
  ...temperature of the LED chip. Do not, therefore, set the allowed maximum ambient temperature higher than necessary. Military applications typically have ambient temperatures like 55°C (131°F) to 70°C (158°F). A specified limit of 50°C...
• Hubble to Earth: I’m Baaaaack!
  
  Author: Steve Leibson | Date: Sep 9, 2009
  Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by
• Ground Control to Chandrayaan: Your Circuit’s Dead, There’s Something Wrong
  
  Author: Steve Leibson | Date: Aug 30, 2009
  Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by
• What are robots?
  
  Author: Rick Nelson, Chief Editor | Date: Aug 25, 2009
  Rick Nelson, editor in chief of Test & Measurement World and EDN, comments on test, globalization, measurement, machine vision, economics, nanotechnology, the engineering profession, and topics of general interest.
• NASA gives us crop imaging analysis, 180 GHz amplifiers and an energy drink. No, really.
  
  Author: Paul Rako | Date: Aug 20, 2009
  Technical Editor Paul Rako looks at analog technology in power supplies, interface, the signal path, and life in general.
• Bob Dible on high-tech farming
  
  Author: Paul Rako | Date: Aug 12, 2009
  ...controllers regulating chemicals or seed monitors that are also doing their own thing. It reminds you of the old military systems before the 1553 bus kicked in. Sometimes I am sitting next to a pile of wiring that is rolled up on the floor connecting...
• Hubble Wakes up Long Enough to Snap Gash in Jupiter
  
  Author: Steve Leibson | Date: Jul 24, 2009
  Leibson's Law: It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community. This blog is about the disruptive technologies that either have or will win over electronic engineers, some that won't, and why. Please feel free to link to these blog entries! Written by