EDN Europe March 2006 Archive

FEATURES:

Co-design
By Michael Santarini, Senior Editor
EDA vendors are helping IC and package designers more effectively work together.

Friend or foe: Battery-authentication ICs separate the good guys from the bad
By Margery Conner, Technical Editor 
All battery packs are not created equal: Unauthorized after-market packs may contain cells that can self-destruct when you charge them at the higher voltages that new lithium-ion technologies demand. Battery- authentication ICs use advanced security methods to weed out counterfeits.

For a few dollars less
By Graham Prophet, Editor
FPGA vendors are lining up to offer dense logic parts at price points of just a few euros, and capable design software suites that are either free or nearly free—time to take a second look at what you might pack into a programmable part?

Accurately judging endurance for solid-state storage
By Gary Drossel, SiliconSystems Inc.
Determining the appropriate solid-state-storage approach for OEM applications can be difficult, especially when suppliers often rely on varying methods to measure the performance of their products. It is no wonder the selection process is daunting.

PULSE:

• SDR architecture quickly adapts RF-vector-signal generator to changing test needs

• Quad DSP engine features switched-fabric data streams

• CANBus, serial networks distribute motion control

• 16-bit processors get a boost

• Power-miserly audio codec brings fidelity and 3-D sound to portables

• Chip enables POE convenience with auxiliary backup

• Capacitive isolation moves on-chip

• FPGAs get tune-up for high-speed protocols

• 2- to 13-GHz DSOs allow bandwidth upgrades

• Scopes simplify searching through long waveform records

• FPGAs for fast serial communications

• Headphone amp swaps modes to cut noise, save power
  

DESIGN IDEAS:

• Programmable analog circuits yield single-chip sinusoidal oscillators

• Enhanced, three-phase VCO features ground-referenced outputs

• Improved current monitor delivers proportional-voltage output
  

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS

• EDA industry needs a reality check, By Michael Santarini, Senior Editor

• Tales From The Cube: Hardware designer on an electric chair

• Bonnie Baker: Frequency-domain analysis helps with delta-sigma

• Initial inertial gestures, By Joshua Israelsohn, Contributing Technical Editor