“So why do you think you’re right for this job?
“Well, it’s pretty much exactly what I’ve done for the last 10 years. We were almost done with something just like what you’re about to develop when the economy tanked and the project got canceled.”
“Hmmm… OK, which defrumpitation algorithm did you use?”
“Well, we started with the FTL-25 open-source algorithm…”
“OK, good, that’ … Read More → "From Conductor to Semi"
[Editor’s note: Atrenta’s Ron Craig and Magma’s Bob Smith got together to provide two viewpoints on what is going to be most important for timing closure in 2011. What follow are their thoughts.]
What is timing closure in the 2011 SoC design environment?
Ron Craig, Senior Marketing Manager, Atrenta Inc.
Backend timing closure is an incredibly inefficient process, fraught with uncertainty. In an ideal world, an engineer would need to run a single pass through the synthesis to GDSII … Read More → "Timing Closure in 2011"
Combined with enhanced DSP blocks, the logic structure of Altera’s Stratix® series and Arria® series FPGAs offer a flexible way to implement the key elements of the Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signal-processing path in any region. With their innovative logic structure, enhanced dedicated DSP blocks, and the revolutionary memory blocks, Stratix series and Arria series FPGAs are perfect for cable head-end system designers who want flexibility and speedy time to market. In addition to these advanced features, Altera also provides … Read More → "Versatile Digital QAM Modulator"
Utrecht, Netherlands 3 January 2011 GreenPeak Technologies, a leading fabless semiconductor company, today announced the launch of three new chips, allowing the development of robust and low cost ZigBee RF4CE remote control applications for TVs and set-top boxes, addressing an overall one billion unit annual market.
The three devices all have full RF4CE functionality with ZRC embedded, targeting specific product applications:
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, January 3, 2011 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the world’s first graphics card designed specifically for the embedded market with the VIA eH1, a DX10.1 compliant, multi-display card that thrusts any system with a PCI Express slot into a new realm of graphics and video capability.
The VIA eH1 comes with a three year product longevity guarantee and is the most power-efficient discrete graphics and video solution on the market today. The VIA eH1 AIB features an advanced DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 3.1, OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible 64 … Read More → "VIA Launches VIA eH1, Embedded Industry’s First Dedicated Graphics Card"
PHOENIX— January 3, 2011 — Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, a business region of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), along with MathWorks, Texas Instruments (TI) and Xilinx is offering a new series of SpeedWay Design Workshops™ focusing on designing Read More → "Avnet Electronic Marketing, MathWorks, Texas Instruments and Xilinx Deliver Workshops on Co-Processing Design Solutions"
In engineering school, we are taught that our discipline is about solving problems. We learn proven, methodical approaches to problem solving, and we work to gain the experience and expertise we need to look at a set of requirements and create a solution that most efficiently and elegantly satisfies those requirements.
Our profession is part art and part science.
As engineers, we do not follow the scientific method, but we reap rich bounty from its application. As a painter applies pigments of known color to canvas – creating something that transcends the materials … Read More → "The Counting of the Beans"
Integration is part of our business. We take small components and combine them into bigger components. Our skill and talent as engineers determine how much value we’ve added in the process. With any luck, we’ve created something our customers will pay us for, plus a little extra to invest in R&D.
But what happens when our suppliers have already done the integration for us? A “system on a chip” leaves little room for improvement. That’s by design; the chip manufacturer wants to make your life easier, but … Read More → "The Bisquick Dilemma"
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 14, 2010–Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) announced today it has acquired Avalon Microelectronics Inc., an industry leader in flexible Optical Transport Network (OTN) IP, for use in its FPGA and ASIC products. With the acquisition of Avalon, Altera expands its portfolio of customizable IP solutions for OTN applications, supporting data rates at 1.2G, 2.5G and 10G, as well as 40G and 100G.
“As FPGAs increasingly replace ASICs and ASSPs in the heart of … Read More → "Altera Acquires Avalon Microelectronics, Extending Its Communication System IP for FPGA and ASIC Product Portfolio"
CHATSWORTH, CA – December 23, 2010 — Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC), a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls and a leading designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX, OpenVPX™ and CompactPCI products for the rugged deployed aerospace and defense market, has announced that it has enhanced the MFC700 OpenVPX high-density memory card with significantly increased available on-board memory. CWCEC is also pleased to announce that it has completed the rugged qualification of the conduction cooled variant of the MFC700. The rugged 6U VPX MFC700 card now provides Serial RapidIO (SRIO) host interfaces with up to 32 … Read More → "Curtiss-Wright Controls Enhances VPX Memory Card to Support Large HPEC Systems"
