Articles – Page 247

Not Your Father’s JTAG

December 7, 2011

Before we start – a little word association test. What is the first thing that comes into your mind when I say JTAG? If you think of boundary scan and board testing – you are a hardware engineer. If you think of debugging, in circuit emulation, and programming flash memory – you are probably a software engineer. But if you think of both at the same time, you are probably an embedded engineering super-hero running a dual-core mind. (And if you are saying J-What, read on for an introduction to some of the trends in debugging and testing … Read More → "Not Your Father’s JTAG"

Bumping Up Battery Life

QuickLogic Introduces Arcticlink III VX

by Kevin Morris

December 6, 2011

In the world of mobile devices, power is king. Sure, cost is important as well. Engineering teams will drive themselves silly trying to shave pennies off the BOM of a new mobile phone, but even cost often takes a back seat to power. Reduced power consumption translates, of course, to increased battery life. Increased battery life can translate into a smaller, cheaper battery (thus reducing cost as well) or into increased customer satisfaction – leading to more sales and… well, you get the idea.

When we want to cut down power consumption in our mobile device, we … Read More → "Bumping Up Battery Life"

Two Conversations at Once

octoScope Reduces the Cost of MIMO Testing

by Bryon Moyer

December 5, 2011

Two can be a really useful number. In fact, if the goal is minimal plurality, then two is optimal.

I mean, just think about it. The aesthetics of bilateral symmetry aside, many of our bodily sensors work in pairs. Two eyes give us stereoscopic vision. Two ears let us triangulate the sources of sounds. Two nostrils… well, maybe that’s simply redundancy for when one of them is afflicted by the obstruction of a cold.

But with the other two, our brain is able to take the input from two more or less … Read More → "Two Conversations at Once"

A New Angle on Old-School Writing

Atmel is Lining Up to Own Styli

by Bryon Moyer

December 1, 2011

Left-handers have been handed a disadvantage when it comes to Western scripts.

For right-handed people, you get to see not only what you’re writing, but also what you’ve already written, since your writing hand hovers over the blank portion of paper that you haven’t written on yet.

Not so for the left-handed. Their writing hand covers the portion they’ve just written, making visible only the mark being written at that very second. I’m assuming that’s why left-handed writers often position their hand in … Read More → "A New Angle on Old-School Writing"

Achieving Lowest System Cost with Midrange 28 nm FPGAs

by Amelia Dalton

November 30, 2011

Increased capability does not have to increase your cost. Arria V FPGAs provide the highest bandwidth and the most hard IP at the lowest price. In addition, by designing with Arria V FPGAs, you can save system costs, operating costs, and manufacturing costs.

Author: Martin Won, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Product Marketing, Altera Corporation

… Read More →

And Tomorrow, the World

ISO 26262 and the Future of the Automotive Business

by Dick Selwood

November 30, 2011

There is a new international standard, and the world of automotive electronics must now change irreversibly. ISO 26262 was published a couple of weeks ago, and this means there is now a standard that covers “Road Vehicles – Functional Safety.” To quote from the standard:

ISO 26262 is the adaptation of IEC 61508 to comply with needs specific to the application sector of E/E [Electrical/Electronic] systems within road vehicles. This adaptation applies to all activities during the safety lifecycle of safety-related systems comprised of electrical, electronic, and software elements that provide safety-related functions.

ISO 26262 … Read More → "And Tomorrow, the World"

A Review of BCDlite

by Amelia Dalton

November 30, 2011

GLOBALFOUNDRIES offers BCDlite™ foundry technology optimized for applications such as power management devices, audio amplifiers, displays and LED driver integrated circuits (ICs).

Related Chalk Talk Webcast: IP and Process Solutions for Energy-efficient PMICs

… Read More →

Using External Memory Interfaces to Achieve Efficient High-Speed Memory Solutions

by Jim Turley

November 29, 2011

Because a fast and robust memory interface is crucial for many designers, Altera provides the fastest, most efficient, and lowest latency memory controllers, which allow designers to work with today’s higher speed memories quickly and easily. Designing with Arria V FPGAs not only helps to make designs successful but also ensures that implementation is fast and easy.

Author: Trung Tran, Staff Product Marketing Manager, High-Density Products, Altera Corporation

… Read More →

Lattice Leaps Ahead

Launches New ECP4 Mid-Range FPGA

by Kevin Morris

November 29, 2011

One might think that a launch of a new 65nm FPGA family these days would be an anachronism. After all, haven’t we been flooded for over a year with news about super-high-density 28nm and even 22nm FPGA families with logic cell counts into the millions? We’ve all been trained by Mr. Moore for over four decades to believe in the mantra that Moore is more, and therefore the next process node is always better than the last one in terms of cost, performance, and power consumption.

Why, then, is Lattice coming … Read More → "Lattice Leaps Ahead"

Necessary and Sufficient?

A Closer Look at Cell-Aware Modeling

by Bryon Moyer

November 28, 2011

Chip testing is always a delicate balance between testing enough and not testing too much. In reality, you want to find the “necessary and sufficient” set of tests for best quality at the lowest test cost. That’s a tough thing to get right.

Throw on top of that goal the fact that SoCs and other modern digital chips require automation to generate test vectors. Even if you find that perfect test balance, if you can’t figure out how to craft an algorithm to implement that balance automatically, it becomes an academic … Read More → "Necessary and Sufficient?"