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16 January 2008
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News & Analysis
It took several years of intense development efforts but it was all worth it as Shanghai now gasconades the most complete IC industrial chain in China with wafer foundries; IC design houses; assembly and test companies; and device and material firms.
The landscape is shifting in the emerging market for solid-state storage drives that could threaten the power-hungry HDDs.
Taiwan's display, communications and CE industries delivered many surprises. With global TV digitalization approaching, the future looks bright for the entire display industry.
The PCI Special Interest Group is making progress on a basket of feature extensions to its latest 2.0 specification, all of which should be available by June at the latest.
Gartner Inc. forecasts that the semiconductor market will grow less than 5 percent over the 2006 to 2011 period, but what's more troubling is the news that the traditional difficulties of the memory-chip sector are likely to flare up into a major crisis during the period.
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There is a push to develop methods that will significantly increase the effectiveness of monitoring security and surveillance video. Video content analysis (VCA), also known as video analytics, electronically recognizes the significant features within a series of frames and allows systems to issue alerts when specific types of events occur, speeding real-time security response.
By using the right mix of complementary processors and by intelligently partitioning the processing load, one can create a video processing solution that is both versatile and scalable across any channel density and algorithmic complexity.
In applications where there is a closed feedback loop, latency is the most crucial aspect of the system, as it determines whether the system will be stable or not. Keeping the latency of a video codec as minimal as possible is the proper approach for such systems. In many such applications, latency measured in sub-10ms is crucial.
The PC and TV are converging. Between these extremes sits the STB. Powerful commercial motivations have already caused the PC and STB communities to make bold moves to claim this territory and be part of a three-way fight.
Generality and efficiency are complex, multifaceted concepts. It's easy to focus on one particular weakness of a given approach. But in the end what matters is the actual performance, efficiency and flexibility that a chip delivers for a specific application.
There are a number of factors that need to be considered when incorporating a small color LCD into a design to achieve the right balance of cost, performance and battery lifetime in a handheld product.
PLDs have evolved into one of the industry's most valuable design platforms. Today's PLDs continue to be at the heart of infrastructure systems and are now in the mainstream of digital consumer system design.
Today, MEMS chips, combined with the smart software that uses them, are being designed into cellphones at a pace reminiscent of camera-phone adoption, enabling a new breed of consumer-pleasing electronic devices.
The high-speed ADC is the bridge between the analog and digital hardware, and many times it is placed in the responsibility of an all-digital or all-analog hardware designer. When that happens, the programmability has easier acceptance with the digital hardware designer, but it can save the day for an analog hardware designer who failed to set up the digital timing or signal integrity properly.
The analog approach to peak detection is now largely unknown, but it is often better than the mostly digital approach.
Technical Features
The number of MCUs built into new vehicles grows annually, as electronic content of cars, trucks and SUVs increases. According to Akio Nezu of Fujitsu Microelectronics America, an emerging requirement is for information and entertainment systems that can be implemented in automotive networks using MCUs that support the Intelligent Transportation Systems Data Bus-1394 (IDB-1394) specification. (PDF file)
Linear Technology's Bruce Haug says that POL regulation can add performance to STB designs by being more efficient than traditional multi-output off-line custom flyback power supplies. It allows a higher output power without needing extra PFC circuitry and enables a quicker time to market by using an off-the-shelf regulatory approved single output power supply with highly efficient POL downstream regulators. (PDF file)
Portable electronic devices use internal batteries that need to be charged from an external power supply, most usually an AC/DC wall adapter. Li-Ion battery technology has decreased the total weight of portable devices. However, a bad charge sequence can induce Li+ temperature increase, thermal runaway and burst, and endanger people's lives. Overvoltage protection devices can ensure that these bad effects do not occur. (PDF file)
This article by Chris Allsup of Synopsys examines the relationship between dynamic power consumption and test to determine why managing power is more critical today than ever before. Then, it explores two distinct DFT methodologies that take advantage of recent advances in ATPG technology to automate the generation of low-power manufacturing tests. (PDF file)
With the proper test solution, comprising hardware, software and accessories, HDMI tests can now be run reliably and conveniently. In this discussion, high-speed electrical sink and source tests were used as an example. The recommended solution for these tests consists of a TMDS signal generator, a high-bandwidth real-time oscilloscope and test automation software. (PDF file)
Opinion
Industry organizations are waking up to the need to conserve power and have rolled initiatives such as the 80 PLUS program. China, which has an eco-labeling rule for hazardous substances à la EU's RoHS that affects select electronic equipment, still has nothing comprehensive for power consumption.
Says Paul Vincent of Cirque: Being an engineer at heart, I find that most other careers provide only portions of what I love about engineering. The truth is, I would probably find most other careers too limited in variety and challenge.
Interview
Paul Grimme, senior vice president and general manager transportation & standards group at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. reveals that Freescale helps automakers simplify overall electronics architectures in the vehicle.
Vital Signs
Databeans Inc. estimates that the safety systems segment in automotive electronics is set to have an average annual growth rate of 9 percent, three times the growth rate of new vehicle production.
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