Blogs
By Paul Errico, Analog Devices, Inc. Semiconductor research and development in the late 20th century was driven by the computing and communications applications such as, PCs, handsets and consumer applications, such as video games and high-definition televisions.Now, in the 21st century, it is increasingly influenced by the demand for integrated circuits (ICs) that make possible the next...
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By Peter Percosan, Texas Instruments The evolution of the cable industry to DOCSIS 3.0 technology is in full swing. Quite naturally, the much higher line speeds of DOCSIS 3.0 have grabbed the headlines, but there are other persuasive characteristics of this technology which, from a business and economic perspective, strengthen the argument for an early rather than later deployment of the...
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By Gernot Heiser, Open Kernel Labs Kerckhoffs' principle, formulated by a 19th century Dutch mathematician, is the accepted basis for strong security.It was originally formulated for crypto algorithms, where it stated that an encryption system must not depend on the security of the algorithms, only the keys.
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By Peter Percosan, Texas Instruments The evolution of the cable industry to DOCSIS 3.0 technology is in full swing. Quite naturally, the much higher line speeds of DOCSIS 3.0 have grabbed the headlines, but there are other persuasive characteristics of this technology which, from a business and economic perspective, strengthen the argument for an early rather than later deployment of the...
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by Miguel Rodriguez, PLX Technology The concept of direct-memory access (DMA) isn’t new; for years now, processors and chipset makers have been implementing DMA as part of their efforts to increase system performance.
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By Alan Ball, ON Semiconductor Computer boards and peripherals interface with the internal power sources of a computer. There is a need for local protection circuitry whenever a device is interfaced to a power source with multiple loads.
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By Tom Flanagan, Texas Instruments For communications equipment manufacturers, selecting the right technology can make it easier to reach the growing small and medium-sized business (SMB)...
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By Luigi Ternullo, Virage Logic Corp. Currently the market is seeing that an increase in bandwidth requirements is driving the adoption of DDR3 DRAMs. DRAM devices are now considered to be a commodity with prices being driven by consumer supply and demand, typically by the PC market. There are a number of factors that can affect the cost associated with DRAM components, including performance...
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By Robert A. Burckle, WinSystems, Inc. How many times have you heard an electronics company proudly proclaim that they are “legacy-free” with their new product or architecture? In some cases this is a necessity which will improve price/performance and/or reduce its impact on the environment, while at other times it is devastating for a customer who continues to need product...
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By Michael Gibbons, Point Grey Research Inc. While there isn¹t a single digital interface that works best for all vision applications, there is one that continues to lead the pack as the technology of choice for most industrial machine vision applications‹and it¹s not GigE Vision.
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By Tony Armstrong, Linear Technology Corporation The Chinese automotive electronics annual growth rate has been greater than 40% since 2005, and will most likely continue at this rate through the end of this decade. There are three main reasons for this continued growth: China is one of the fastest developing markets for automotive electronics content, it produces quick and innovative...
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By Bruce Swanson, Mentor Graphics With full apologies to Shakespeare, “To yield, or not to yield” almost became the title for this blog article. Fortunately, he didn’t have to turn over in his grave because I believe the real question is “Which is the best way to Yield?” since everyone wants a good yield.
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By Joanne De Peralta, BiTMICRO Networks, Inc. IDC has concluded in its report released in June 2008 that the deployment of Solid State Drives (SSDs) in enterprise computing will pick up by 2010. It has forecasted that enterprise-computing applications will account for most of the SSD revenue by 2011, up from 12% in 2007.
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By Peter Percosan, Texas Instruments Over the last 25 years, digital electronic technology has transformed one segment of society after another. It started with PCs, continued with the advent of wireless communication devices and the Internet and recently has taken hold with Internet connected consumer electronics and media playing devices. Along the way and behind the scenes the network...
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By Alex Lloyd, Axiom Microdevices, Inc. Irvine, Calif. Conventional wisdom has it that increasing levels of integration bring benefits in terms of reduced cost, size and increased reliability.
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by Steve Weinger, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. Solid state drives (SSDs) are popping up everywhere. Dell, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba are just some of the notebook PC OEMs who are now offering SSDs. A growing number of IT managers around the globe as well have been looking at the SSD option for notebooks in corporate networks.
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By Joep van Eijden, NXP Semiconductors It is always fascinating to watch a High Definition TV demonstration. Modern HDTV panels are capable of displaying vibrant image quality and the latest...
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By David Bourner, Micrel Corp. Until quite recently, I taught a senior undergraduate projects course in computer engineering. One of the paragons of the course involved students discovering and using engineering standards to help successfully tackle a two-semester long design project. After three years of study in the computer engineering program, my students had the basis to “pick...
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By Tony Armstrong, Linear Technology Corp. The popularization of the concept of “Green Environment Protection” has been in the news a great deal during recent months. As a result, many power management IC suppliers have made a lot of progress in improving power efficiency.
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By Bruce Swanson, Mentor Graphics As integrated-circuit device geometries get smaller, the blah, blah, blah … How many times have you read a conference paper or article that started out this way? I know I’m guilty of writing some of them. The blahs usually explain how much harder it is to do this, that, or the other thing.
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by Steve Moore, PLX Technology The I/O interconnect world is on the move again; after a successful migration from PCI to PCI Express (PCIe), we’re now moving to PCIe Gen 2.
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By George Hall, Summit Microelectronics, Inc. Makers of semiconductors have often operated in a self-governing, self-regulating manner when it came to key design goal parameters which affect system and overall efficiencies; including the power consumed by the IC itself.
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by Steve Moore, PLX Technology The I/O interconnect world is on the move again; after a successful migration from PCI to PCI Express (PCIe), we’re now moving to PCIe Gen 2.
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By Richard Mourn, Quantum Parametrics LLC The 1394 (FireWire) audio-video standard has long been popular in computer and consumer electronics applications. I’ve worked on IEEE-1394 since 1992, and almost all of that time was spent focused on consumer electronics products such as camcorders, PC hosts, HDD/DVD systems, digital television, and set top boxes. Now, 1394 is moving into...
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