Articles – Page 261

What Colour Is Your White Space?

July 19, 2011

In virtually every episode of Star Trek, irascible engineer Scottie would say, “Ye cannae change the laws of physics.” And those same laws dictate that the electromagnetic spectrum is finite. Whilst we try to push against the laws by using higher and higher frequencies for transmission, at greater cost and greater complexity, the reaction of governments, both nationally and internationally, has generally been to license specific frequencies to specific users. The most extreme examples of this were the “3G” auctions around the world, where mobile phone operators initially bid seriously silly money for the rights … Read More → "What Colour Is Your White Space?"

Embedding Vision

Creating Devices That See

by Kevin Morris

July 19, 2011

Remember sitting down at a DEC VT52 terminal? The screen held 24 lines of text, at 80 characters each. The font was built in. VT52 proudly boasted support for all 95 ASCII characters including the desirable but somewhat superfluous lower case letters. Some special graphics characters were available as well, but the terminal did not support graphics per se. There was no mouse, no windows, and text editing was only marginally WYSIWYG – mostly using the “vi” text editor.

Today, it’s hard to think of interacting with a computer, or even a smartphone, without … Read More → "Embedding Vision"

LatticeECP3 FPGA Jamz Music Video

by Amelia Dalton

July 19, 2011

If you enjoyed the original Lattice MachXO2 “pitchman” video in 2010, or the follow-up Power Manager II “pickle” video, check out the latest music video from Lattice featuring the LatticeECP3 FPGA. It’s not surprising that when you mix a great product like the LatticeECP3 with a light-hearted video, the response is going to be win-win for an engineering audience.

… Read More →

Video Sneak Peek: Industry’s First 28-Gbps FPGA

by Amelia Dalton

July 19, 2011

If you are seeking a device that is fast, reliable, and gives you high bandwidth, seek no further. Our 28-nm Stratix^®V FPGAs are just what you need for your high-end designs such as 100G applications. Watch this 5-minute video to get an initial look at our high-performance Stratix V FPGA running at 28 Gbps.

You will:</ … Read More → "Video Sneak Peek: Industry’s First 28-Gbps FPGA"

Multicore Automation

Finding that Happy Medium

by Bryon Moyer

July 18, 2011

I used to be a die-hard manual transmission driver. Even before I drove a car, I had learned how to double-clutch for smooth on-the-go gear changing on our Case tractor (which didn’t have synchronized gears because it wasn’t intended to be shifted on the go). My grandmother insisted on a manual transmission up until she stopped driving in her 80s (or later?): “I vant to do it myself!” (That’s a Swiss-German accent there…)

I finally had to rethink my principles when I got a cell … Read More → "Multicore Automation"

Methods of Estimating Component Temperatures

Part 1

by Kevin Morris

July 14, 2011

It is well known that IC components heat up during operation as they dissipate power while doing their analog and digital magic. But how can the user determine if a component (semiconductor device) is too hot? Many engineers have seen videos on this or may even have personal lab experience with overloaded components which start to smoke or melt. What is not commonly known, however, is that well below this temperature the component function or reliability starts to degrade. How can you be certain that each component in an electronic system is within its safe operating range?

< … Read More →

Parlez-Vous Mali?

ARM’s Other Processor Shows Another Side of the Company

by Jim Turley

July 13, 2011

We’ve been talking a lot about ARM lately, and why not? It’s the company behind the world’s most popular 32-bit processor. ARM-based chips outnumber even Intel’s better-known x86 processors, and by a wide margin.

But do you know about Mali?

You know, Mali. That French-speaking country in northwest Africa. The one just south of Algeria and north of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. It is perhaps fitting that a country encompassing part of the Sahara desert should lend its name to a semiconductor.

In … Read More → "Parlez-Vous Mali?"

One for All

Does a Standards-Based IP Strategy Hurt Competition?

by Kevin Morris

July 12, 2011

In today’s global electronics economy and, more important, global techonomy, successful companies have to make careful decisions where they will differentiate and where they will standardize. Nowhere is this more evident and crucial than in the fabless semiconductor arena. Since fabless companies have (as the name implies) no fab, they logically do not have the ability to differentiate themselves from their competition by superior semiconductor technology.

Of course, you wouldn’t know that if you listen to FPGA companies.

We constantly hear from FPGA vendors that they – and … Read More → "One for All"

Are We Done Yet?

OneSpin Takes on Formal Verification Metrics

by Bryon Moyer

July 11, 2011

“Is this it?”

“Yeah, I think so. Drop it off here.”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘I think so’? If they don’t get the money, we’re dead.”

“I know, I know. But you can’t see any addresses here. It’s all so beat up I don’t really know which house is which.”

“And you had to go without a map. Real smart.”

< … Read More →

Controlling Power During IC Production Test

by Bryon Moyer

July 7, 2011

Many of today’s integrated-circuits (ICs) are designed to operate in low-power modes to accommodate greater analog-digital integration, faster operating frequencies, and battery-powered applications. During semiconductor manufacturing test, the majority of logic is often activated concurrently to facilitate detection of many faults within a small set of patterns to reduce test time. Activating all the logic at once uses more power than these low-power devices were designed to function under, which can cause them to fail or burn out during test.

Read More → "Controlling Power During IC Production Test"