PCI Express contends for communications role By Richard A Quinnell, Contributing Technical Editor
Scalable performance and low cost are making PCI Express attractive for communications-device designs, challenging proprietary-bus structures for next-generation design wins.
Design Features
ASIC-design managers face global challenges By Michael Santarini, Senior Editor
With resources and new business stretched across the globe, design managers are employing a range of methods to get designs done on time.
Formal techniques solidify power-grid verification By Ersin Beyret , Sequence Design Inc
Formal grid verification provides an early checkpoint in the design flow, during which a user can sign off on the structural integrity of the power grid before proceeding to voltage-drop and electromigration analysis.
Quiet-node current sensing tames noise problems By Claude Abraham, Bendix Commercial Systems
Where you locate the current-sense resistor in your dc/dc converter can have a profound effect on the device's performance.
Maintaining channel compliance in high-speed backplanes By Bogdan Gavril, Elma Bustronic
The advent of switched-fabric options has geometrically increased data rates. As speeds increase across the backplane, it becomes more challenging to maintain high signal quality. Therefore, the role of design engineering for backplanes is evolving.
DLNA and HANA: two visions of consumer multimedia networking By Matthew Miller, Executive Editor, Online
Consumers want painless networking and interoperability of multimedia devices. Here, two standards groups paint sometimes-conflicting pictures of how to achieve that goal—and how far such sharing should extend.
