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2012 Editorial Calendar
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| Issue | Cover Story | Design Feature | Product Roundup |
| MAY 24 | SOC Topic: The pervasive power problem Author: Brian Bailey, contributing technical editor Power consumption is affected by every stage in the design flow, from software architecture to device physics. While each team can optimize its power consumption, no one group can create a low-power design. Conversely, any one group can destroy it. This situation is creating a new need for cooperation and cross-discipline tooling. While we are seeing tools emerge at the RT level for estimation and optimization, this is just one piece of the puzzle, and much more is needed. Multiple power domains, variable voltage, and frequency require new approaches to system design and verification, which in turn require better estimation techniques and tools that can enable software engineers to see the impact of their algorithm, architecture, and implementation choices. But power does not stop on the chip; it is affected by interconnect topologies, as well as board and system design. Power is pervasive. This article will look at the state of the industry in many of these areas and what is being done to tackle the problem. | Communications Topic: SuperSpeed USB 3.0 in mobile devices Contributors: EDN’s Design Network Members As mobile handhelds quickly become an essential part of our lives, the number of applications that a device is expected to support has also grown rapidly. In smartphones and tablets, although one of the most basic usage models is to support multimedia content consumption, improving the user experience has proven to be one of the most challenging tasks. Watching a movie on a TV screen through a mobile device is still in the early stages, with each vendor coming up with unique and proprietary approaches. The storage capacity of mobile devices is doubling every year to keep up with increasing content demand, yet data-transfer rates remain frustratingly low. This article explores the benefits of a 5-Gbps USB 3.0 connector on a mobile handheld device and compares it with what is currently being implemented in these architectures. It discusses key topics, including side loading and improved battery charging, while providing insight into competing connectivity standards and how USB 3.0 compares against them. | Sensors/ Transducers |
| JUNE 7 | Analog Topic: Back to the future Author: Steve Taranovich, senior technical editor William Shakespeare said, “What’s past is prologue.” So we look to the rich past of analog that gave us the strong foundation for where we are today. And we begin the story of where we are going in the future. This article will tap some of the most innovative minds of the early days of the integrated circuit. It will examine the birth of significant analog architectures such as the delta-sigma ADC, the digital-audio DAC, the current-feedback op amp, the instrumentation amplifier, the high-speed ADC, and, in the power realm, the pulse-width-modulator controller. Various engineers involved in these developments will be interviewed, as well as some of the “fathers” of these technologies. Bob Mammano, Michael Steffes, Tim Kalthoff, Mike Koen, and more will take us back to the beginning and comment on where we are today, highlighting some of the most innovative new products of the 21st century that evolved out of these initial ideas. | Medical Topic: Digital-output options for high-speed analog-to-digital converters Contributors: EDN’s Design Network Members Large medical systems, such as MRI units, are using more and higher-speed channels in their analog front ends; designers much choose among CMOS, LVDS, and CML outputs. We'll look at the key characteristics of these outputs, as well as performance trade-offs and layout requirements. | Power Sources |
| JUNE 21 | Test & Measurement Topic: Powering wireless sensor networks Author: Dan Strassberg, contributing technical editor For many electrical engineers who work in system design, WSNs (wireless sensor networks) are a very big deal. Although WSNs have been around in significant numbers for perhaps a decade, their structure continues to evolve, causing almost daily growth in the number and diversity of technologies in which WSN designers must become adept. For a long time, WSNs have relied upon batteries to power sensors deployed throughout large process and manufacturing facilities. At first, the deployment of wireless sensors in relatively inaccessible locations in these facilities was regarded as a great boon. Gone was the need to route signal wiring through areas that were difficult to reach and often presented hazards not only to the installers but also to the signal cables themselves. Then it became obvious that the labor involved in replacing sensor batteries could become a major ongoing cost in keeping WSNs on the air. This situation gave rise to the use of energy harvesting—powering wireless sensors by converting, storing, and using small amounts of energy from such ambient sources as light, heat, and vibration. However, it appears that somewhere in this scenario, many system designers, who perhaps had become fascinated by the so-called green revolution, lost sight of the objective. Although it’s nice to be able to minimize the amount of energy supplied to the network to power it, the objective should be to eliminate both batteries and remote power wiring in order to minimize maintenance and its associated costs. Once you recognize the real objective, the idea of supplying energy to the sensors via RF and/or power-line-frequency ac fields starts to appear very promising. | Analog Topic: TI’s capacitive-touch BoosterPack—the analog view Author: Steve Taranovich, senior technical editor The BoosterPack concept gives designers the power of a DSP being controlled by a microcontroller, which allows them to add audio and other real-time features to their system without DSP programming experience. Although the heart of the series is digital, EDN Senior Technical Editor Steve Taranovich will delve into the analog-design aspects of this unique combination. This article will explain the rationale behind the capacitive-touch design methodology chosen and the power-management design choices for the system. Taranovich will explain actual design techniques that will aid circuit designers in their development ideas springing from this new demo concept. | Memory |
| JULY 12 | Security Topic: The future of connected-device security Author: Dave Kleidermacher, Green Hills Software The electronics world is seeing rapid growth in sophistication, driven by M2M intelligence, multimedia capability, Internet connectivity, and high-value financial transactions. These capabilities imply juicy attack vectors (the network) as well as a more attractive target for hackers, generating new security requirements that electronics designers must learn and embrace. This article discusses the most important emerging security requirements, and practical implementation guidance, for developers. Topics include secure software and systems design, data-–at-–rest (disk) and data–-in-transit (network) protection, and the latest in cryptography/key management best practices. | Automotive Topic: Advanced power electronics solutions for emerging micro-hybrid applications Authors: Masashi Sekine and Jifeng Qin, Automotive Product Business Unit, International Rectifier Among approximately 80 million cars produced worldwide in 2011, the ICE (internal-combustion engine) remains the predominant technology for vehicle propulsion. Change is happening, however. On one hand, gas prices have been high, which puts more of a burden on every driver. On the other hand, legislation that governs emission standards is becoming increasingly stringent in every country. In Europe, the CO2 emissions generated by vehicles are subject to a voluntary agreement between the EU and car manufacturers, but the legislation has been pushed out. Moreover, the Euro 6 standard will require a substantial reduction in nitrogen-oxide emissions. All of these factors make the challenges facing the automotive industry much greater, but the bottom line for car manufacturers remains catering to the standards. | Tools |
| JULY 26 | Consumer Editor: Rich Pell | Power Editor: Margery Conner | Passives |
| AUG 9 | Automotive Editor: Rick DeMeis | ICs Editor: Brian Bailey | RF/ Wireless |
| AUG 23 | Power Editor: Margery Conner | Embedded Editor: Steve Taranovich | Cooling/ Enclosures |
| SEPT 6 | Embedded Editor: Steve Taranovich | Test & Measurement Editor: Martin Rowe | Processors |
| SEPT 20 | Consumer Editor: Rich Pell | Consumer Editor: Rich Pell | Power Sources |
| OCT 4 | Microprocessors Editor: Robert Cravotta | Communications Editor: Carolyn Mathas | Sensors/ Transducers |
| OCT 18 | Analog Editor: Steve Taranovich | LEDs Editor: Margery Conner | Amps/Osc/ Mixers |
| NOV 1 | Communications Editor: Patrick Mannion | Automotive Editor: Rick DeMeis | Discrete Semi |
| NOV 15 | Energy Editor: Margery Conner | Analog Editor: Steve Taranovich | Opto/Display |
| DEC 3 | Signal Integrity Editor: Martin Rowe | Consumer Editor: Rich Pell | Connectors |
| DEC 14 | Hot technology #1 | Hot technology #2 | Hot 100 Products |
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