Articles – Page 555

Using CPLDs to Replace or Augment Microcontrollers

December 11, 2007

Using CPLDs to Replace or Augment Microcontrollers

With the advent of low-power CPLDs, electronic product designers now have new options for implementing many of the functions traditionally performed by microcontrollers. This article discusses several ways design scenarios that are advantageous to use a CPLD instead of a microcontroller, and when it makes sense to use a CPLD as a companion to a microcontroller.

Introduction

Tell a group of portable electronics designers that there is a low-power digital device that … Read More → "Using CPLDs to Replace or Augment Microcontrollers"

Zeroing in on Power

Altera Announces Max IIZ

by Kevin Morris

December 11, 2007

Pushing programmable logic into portables is a power play. Portable devices put power consumption at a premium, and silicon vendors looking for a socket have to answer for each and every coulomb consumed by their chips. Of course, they’re also interested in absolute minimal cost and board real estate, so getting a programmable device into your portable is unlikely at best.

Now, Altera’s somewhat uncategorizable Max II family is adding a super-stingy “zero power” (meaning “not very much power”) Max IIZ version to the lineup. Altera … Read More → "Zeroing in on Power"

Billions and Billions

Actel Drives LCD Displays

by Kevin Morris

December 11, 2007

Riddle: What numbers 3.8 billion in 2007 and is expected to grow to 4.5 billion by 2011? The population of China? Nope, that’s only up to 1.3 billion – we’re looking for triple that. World population is about 6.6 billion, so that’s not it.

Hint: It’s an electronic component. Ooooh, why didn’t we say so in the first place? OK, well, we might be close to that many transistors on a chip? Nope, these components are much bigger than transistors, and 3.8 B to 4.5 B … Read More → "Billions and Billions"

Legacy of Languages

Culture in Code

by Kevin Morris

December 4, 2007

Using VHDL or Verilog to design FPGAs is just plain wrong.

Talk with any expert in languages, in logic synthesis, in hardware architecture. If you get past the “but that’s how we do it” layer of defenses, you’ll pretty quickly uncover a vast ocean of oddity that will make you wonder just why anyone ever considered the idea of doing FPGA design with HDLs, let alone how HDL-based design became the de-facto standard.

First, taking VHDL as an example: most of the things you can write in VHDL … Read More → "Legacy of Languages"

Mobile Lockdown

Securing the Wireless World

by Kevin Morris

December 4, 2007

In 1979, I was pretty sure I could unplug a phone in the top floor of a 7-story building, throw it out the window, go down and pick it up from the sidewalk, carry it into a different building, plug it in, and get it to work properly on the first try. I’d pick up the receiver, hear a dial-tone, punch (or dial) in the number of my buddy across town, and we’d be connected and talking. I’d never conceive of the need to call customer support for a problem with my … Read More → "Mobile Lockdown"

Altium Goes 3D

Board Design Can Be Fun

by Kevin Morris

November 27, 2007

He holds the joystick with a light, experienced grip – his eyes fixed on the screen. His hands are steady as his viewpoint skims through a rotating object resembling a cityscape with strange buildings and vast networks of roads interconnecting them. He then dives below the surface, moving through the layers of the virtual world, flying past cylinders that look like giant elevator shafts bridging the levels. He slows as he comes to the area he’s interested in.

There, he spots a problem. A buried via is dangerously near a … Read More → "Altium Goes 3D"

Modeling for High Quality GUIs: Cracking the GUI Host-to-Target Challenge

by Kevin Morris

November 27, 2007

Introduction

An easy-to-use, intuitive GUI drives the sale of many popular products like in-dashboard navigation, infotainment systems and telecommunications products. The rich graphics found on popular GUI applications shows how important good software is, but more importantly reveals a critical weakness when developing a high quality GUI: meeting the host-to-target challenge.

Traditionally, building a high quality GUI is a laborious task where mistakes can be easily made because developers have to work on the host and the target to create the GUI and put it on the RTOS. What’s needed is … Read More → "Modeling for High Quality GUIs: Cracking the GUI Host-to-Target Challenge"

Altium Goes 3D

Board Design Can Be Fun

by Kevin Morris

November 27, 2007

There, he spots a problem. A buried via is dangerously near a … Read More → "Altium Goes 3D"

Embedded in Birmingham

by Dick Selwood

November 20, 2007

One of the interesting things about visiting trade shows is looking at the other shows that are co-located in the exhibition complex. For many chip designers, a highlight in their show-going was when the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas shared the conference centre with the adult entertainment industry conference.

This year the immediate neighbours of the UK’s Embedded System Show (ESS) at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre were exhibitions for both bookmakers and dentists. And many exhibitors at both these shows, or indeed virtually every other exhibition booked into the NEC this year, … Read More → "Embedded in Birmingham"

Physical Synthesis Flows for FPGA Designs

by Kevin Morris

November 20, 2007

Introduction:

Most FPGA designs today rely on an HDL based description of their design. HDL synthesis is probably the single most important software flow step when it comes to defining the performance of a design. Synthesis links the conceptual description of the logic functions needed for the design to their actual physical architecture elements in the underlying device. This step cannot be underestimated. Synthesis is performed prior to chip placement as an entirely separate step, hence these technology dependent optimizations are computed without knowledge of actual chip … Read More → "Physical Synthesis Flows for FPGA Designs"