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16 May 2006

News & Analysis | Technical Features | Opinion | Interview
News & Analysis
SigmaTel to challenge with integrated TV ICs
SigmaTel Inc. has entered the TV audio market with a line of high-fidelity, multistandard TV audio processors.

Enea, MontaVista put 'telecom in a box'
Enea Embedded Technology has teamed up with MontaVista Software to offer the Network Application System Platform, a so-called "telecom in a box" solution.

Crypto fits sensor nets, RFID tags
Certicom recently rolled out software and a hardware core to bring its elliptic curve cryptography architecture to constrained environments such as sensor networks and active RFID tags.

Startup moves binaries into FPGAs
Binachip Inc. recently unveiled plans to offer tools that convert embedded-software binary code into FPGA hardware implementations.

Designers target cost of materials
A reference design for LCD TVs leverages the just-released TV520 video reference design and PNX8535 video processor from Royal Philips Electronics to deliver superior picture quality while reducing the BOM.

Broadband satellite eyes cable's space
Inmarsat Global Ltd is leveraging its Inmarsat-4 geostationary satellite to offer a broadband Internet service that competes directly with cable and DSL.


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Running start helps clear 90nm hurdles
Back in 2004, Sandbridge Technologies Inc. couldn't get the performance needed at the 0.13µm process node, but took a risk and became one of the first companies to try the relatively untested 90nm node.

Embedded experts: Fix code bugs or cost lives
People's lives as well as millions of dollars in investments often depend on software engineering, but too many projects fail for lack of good programming discipline and management support.

Handset features still not a wrap
The product-definition uncertainty resurfaces as advanced services like mobile broadcast video and HSDPA leave handset developers pondering what to keep in and what to leave out of a slim-line design.

Oscillator aims MEMS at the mainstream
SiTime Corp. attempts to revolutionize the quartz-crystal industry with a silicon MEMS alternative that's completely compatible with standard CMOS processing.

Liquid silicon promises 'green' devices
Seiko Epson Corp. and JSR Corp. have jointly developed a liquid-silicon material called cyclopentasilane that promises to deliver environment-friendly electronic devices.

Japan extends chip R&D
The Japan Semiconductor Industry Association has launched its Asuka II project, a new five-year effort to build chips in geometries as fine as 32nm.

China IC design industry reaches stability
After several years of rapid development, China's IC design industry has reached a period of stability, according to the China IC Design House Survey by EE Times-China.

Advanced memories still struggle in mobiles
Memory research managers themselves have scaled back their rhetoric in the past, avoiding the term universal memory altogether. Freescale, Intel and Texas Instruments are dealing with memory designs.

Rise of NAND reshapes NOR market
NOR suppliers may need to seek new non-volatile memory technology.

Rethinking embedded flash memory choices
The new requirements of the marketplace—especially in many consumer embedded designs and mobile devices—mean we should rethink our priorities about nonvolatile memory and look for new alternatives.

Tips for maximizing RapidIO
RapidIO is an open, standards-based interconnection technology for midsize and large embedded systems. Travis Scheckel discusses tips for designers working with it for the first time.

Writing good C++ code for embedded applications
Embedded-software technology appears to lag behind new trends. Colin Walls enumerates the dos and don'ts for writing a good C++ code for embedded apps.

Move toward multiple processors on a chip
Putting multiple processors on a chip isn't a new idea. But such chips are gaining momentum both in general-purpose computing applications and in embedded systems.

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Technical Features
A review of PCB-level power delivery system
Improve power delivery system performance by understanding the fundamental issues in design, and doing extensive modeling and simulation of the entire PDS. (PDF file)

HDMI switches add connectivity to digital high-def displays
Touted as the next big thing in the consumer video market, HDMI switches reduce design complexity and total system cost by adding multiple HDMI connectors to a system. (PDF file)

Ethernet switches key in SoftSwitch architecture
Ethernet switches will continue to play a vital role in gateway architectures by reducing the number of system components and providing a reliable, cost-effective transport interface. (PDF file)

Power cycling for low-power DAB receiver
A DAB tuner chip can use the power-cycling strategy to significantly reduce power consumption. (PDF file)

Optimize power solutions for apps processors
A low-dropout regulator is the lowest-cost, smallest-size and lowest-noise power management solution for low-voltage microprocessors. (PDF file)

Debug MCU design with mixed-signal 'scope
Discover how a mixed-signal oscilloscope can be used to turn on and debug embedded designs based on an MCU or DSP. (PDF file)

Equivalency checking for sequential changes
The ability to make and verify sequential changes improves designers' productivity, enabling them to meet strict power, timing and area goals. (PDF file)

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Opinion
Mobility for the couch potato
With mobile TV services just around the corner, electronics engineers must design the handsets and equipment necessary to carry the market forward.

RF test aims at wireless standards
Wireless standards are inundating the market, placing tremendous demands on the test engineer and on the tools necessary to test these new integrated devices.


Interview
Industry trailblazer casts eye on China
As a graduate in chemical engineering in 1960, Wilf Corrigan had three job offers—one in a gunpowder factory in Australia, another in Germany and the third from Transitron in Boston.

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Demystifying Vietnam
What does Vietnam offer that a rising number of top-tier semiconductor companies are setting up and expanding operations there?

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