2008 Editorial Calendar
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| Issue | Cover Story | Design-Application Story | Product Roundup |
| JUNE 12 | EDA Topic: RF Intellectual Property Author: Ron Wilson Reusable Silicon Intellectual Property (IP) has become the fundamental building block of System-on-Chip (SoC) design, making hugely complex chips possible. But the SoCs for wireless mobile devices increasingly must integrate one or more radio blocks in order to achieve their goals. Can the concept of reusable IP apply to CMOS RF circuitry, and if so, what will be the challenges? |
Analog Topic: Analog switches Author: Paul Rako The silicon-based analog switch started with JFETs and progressed to dielectrically isolated MOSFETS. Modern parts use CMOS processes. A modern cell phone may have 12 switches inside. This article will describe the development of the analog switch and explain the differences between types. Applications examples will be provided with caveats about potential problems. |
Motion |
| JUNE 26 | Power Management Topic: Parasitic power drain Author: Margery Conner Cars, MP3 players, cell phones – almost any consumer device can fall prey to parasitic drain, where mostly-asleep background functions, each drawing a small amount of power, add up over time, and can run down even a car battery in the course of a few weeks if the car is left, say, unused in an airport parking lot. Technical editor Margery Conner focuses on new cars to look at what the major culprits are in parasitic power drain, and how designers can avoid them in their next battery-powered consumer device. |
Systems Topic: The incredible shrinking system Author: Warren Webb Continued pressure to reduce the size of industrial, medical, consumer and other space-critical applications has sparked a new wave of embedded computing platforms with extremely small form factors. In spite of their compact size, these miniature computing elements deliver substantial processing performance and I/O features in both proprietary and standards-based configurations. Technical editor Warren Webb will cover the latest standards, off-the-shelf modules, and compatible operating software available to the embedded designer. |
Opto/Display |
| JULY 10 | Processors Topic: Processing for more autonomous systems: more horsepower or more data? Author: Robert Cravotta As systems interact with the real world in more complex ways, designers have to explore approaches for interpreting the world more accurately so these systems can make better decisions. On opposite ends of the spectrum, applying increasingly levels of computational complexity to limited available data as well as correlating data from multiple sensor types (sensor fusion), are two approaches to enable these systems to make better decisions. EDN Technical Editor Robert Cravotta explores the state of the art of these approaches, and those approaches in between these extremes, that are enabling systems to become more autonomous or provide better assistance to domain experts. |
Communications Topic: Bridging to the DisplayPort standard Author: Contributed article This paper investigates the interface problems that arise when using the DisplayPort I/O standard, and explores some hardware solutions. |
Passives |
| JULY 24 | Analog Test & Measurement Topic: Magnetic field measurements Author: Paul Rako Being able to sense the presence and intensity of magnetic fields are important to both EMI specialists and people concerned with health effects of magnetic field exposure. In addition the measurement of the B field is critical in the development of magnetic components including inductors, transformers and motors. This article describes the history and state of the art in magnetic fields measurement. |
EDA Topic: HDL design challenges and philosophies in the real world Author: Contributed article To people who haven't taped out real designs, it may seem that HDL code is either correct or it's not. But in real-world ASIC implementation, as experienced designers are well aware, philosophical principles and coding practices can make a huge difference in the quality of the results. This article offers some hard-won tips based on experience. |
Discrete Semi |
| AUG 7 | Consumer-Electronics
Design Topic: The politics and technology of white spaces Author: Brian Dipert A multi-company partnership known as the White Spaces Coalition is focusing its attention on the portions of the highly attractive VHF and UHF frequency bands that will remain open after the NTSC-to-ATSC commercial TV broadcast transition. They point out that in any particular broadcast region, only a small percentage of the total spectrum is occupied by television transmissions, and that even when adjacent channels are in use, unused space between them exists that will become even more clearly defined. Coalition members advocate free use of this unused- and between-channel spectrum by equipment explicitly designed to detect and avoid frequencies already in use by other transmitters--a challenge that existing 'white spaces' users such as wireless microphone manufacturers are skeptical can be met. Other doubters, who are seemingly motivated as much by a desire to preserve their existing business models as by the wish to preserve spectrum purity, include cellular service providers, who want to auction 'white spaces' spectrum on a region-by-region basis, defeating backers' low-cost aspirations. Senior Technical Editor Brian Dipert outlines and analyzes the claims, aspirations, pros and cons of the various perspectives on this contentious issue, along with exploring technical details of the White Spaces Coalitions' 'good neighbor' proposals. |
Systems Topic: Embedding open-source software Author: Warren Webb Open source software has become a staple in the embedded systems industry and must at least be considered on each new project. With the potential cost savings on operating software, development tools, and recurring royalties, designers and managers alike have become open source fans. Technical editor Warren Webb will investigate the free downloads, tools, and commercial enhancements available to simplify your next open source project. |
Cooling/Enclosures |
| AUG 21 | IC Design Topic: ESL design: hard truths and realities Author: Ron Wilson For years gurus have looked to electronic system level (ESL) design to save us from the growing complexity of SoC chips. But like GaAs, ESL seems to have remained the technology of the future. Talking with design teams, we will look at the current state of ESL tools in the design and verification flows: their clear successes, their question-marks, and their failures. And we will identify the challenges tool designers face in breaking through from point tools to a full ESL-based design flow. |
Power T&M Topic: Testing and characterizing lithium-ion batteries Author: Margery Conner Lithium ion batteries are an indispensable part of portable electronics, and verifying that they perform properly in a system is an important part of system design verification and test. Power systems technical editor Margery Conner takes a look at lithium ion battery characteristics, how to test them, and what test equipment is available. |
Switches/Relays |
| SEPT 4 | EDA | Processors | Power Sources |
| SEPT 18 | Communications/Network | Analog | Sensors/Transducers |
| OCT 2 | Consumer-Electronics Design | Systems | Amps/Osc/Mixers |
| OCT 16 | EDA | Power | Discrete Semi |
| OCT 30 | Processors | ICs | Opto/Display |
| NOV 13 | Communications/Network | Consumer | Connectors |
| NOV 27 | Applied System Design | Power | Power Sources |
| DEC 5 | Analog Design | EDA | Passives |
| DEC 15 | Hot technology #1 | Hot technology #2 | Circuit Protection |
