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The article evaluates various electronics products including the GEN2 Series of 1,200 V SiC Schottky diodes from Littelfuse, IPM Integrates PFC and 3-Phase Inverter, and Linear Smart Stage, M3-LS-3.4-15.

The article reports that industry groups and standards are considering the use of multilevel signals as the demand for bit error ratio testers (BERTs) is growing. BERTs are electronic systems used to detect the BER over any communication link. A BERT consists of a test pattern generator and a receiver to test that pattern.

The article discusses the five trends that dominate the electronic design automation (EDA) space in the electronics industry. Trends include the Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) is an Accellera standard that define how to develop a reusable testbench elements for simulation, the move toward toward electronic-system level (ESL) design and verification, and the designs of the multiprocessor system-on-chip (SoC).

The article focuses on the survey conducted by the "Global Purchasing" journal on the top 50 electronics distributors in North America. It states that Avnet Inc. takes the top position of the survey with sales of $26.7 billion in 2013. It notes that Arrow Electronics Inc. is ranked in the second position with $21.4 billion in sales. It mentions Digi-Key Corp. at the seventh position reported double-digit sales increase. INSET: THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND OUR SURVEY.

The article discusses Tektronix Inc.'s 100/400-Gbit/s optical test solutions for fiber-optical components and products. For short-haul applications such as data centers, disk arrays, private local-area networks (LANs), and metro networks, Ethernet 802.3 standards are used. The Tektronix LE320 provides a flexible nine-tap filter configuration that enables BERTs and oscilloscopes to measure specific signal conditions.

The article focuses on issues regarding the use of tin whiskers in the electronics manufacturing industry. It highlights serious problems caused by using tin whiskers, which are microscopic conductive fibers emanating from pure tin surfaces. The important role of tin whiskers in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) industry is mentioned.

The article provides information regarding the benefits of adopting direct-conversion transmitters in terms of performance improvements and flexibility. The direct-conversion transmitters, compared to superheterodyne transmitters, offer several benefits such as space and cost reductions as well as eliminates the need for the transmitter's intermediate-frequency stage. The application of digital correction with commercially available digital components is mentioned.

The article discusses the benefits of dynamic microcontroller reconfiguration when designing electronic systems. A diagram depicting the dynamic reconfiguration of analog resources into a continuous time programmable analog block is presented. According to the author, dynamic microcontroller reconfiguration allows 100 percent utilization of available hardware resources resulting to smaller footprint and lower system cost.

The article presents the author views on the different approaches of the phase noise measurements. The author states that phase noise is a measure that shows the frequency stability of an electronic signal. the author further discusses the long-term frequency stability and short-term frequency stability, single-sideband (SSB) phase noise and phase-noise measurement techniques

The article presents information on the issues related to the power-source manufacturing industry and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It is said that power supplies are required for every electronic equipment in homes, offices and design labs. However, it is not easy for power-source OEMs and designers to create these supplies. They need to meet stringent energy efficiency mandates and ever-changing requirements.

The article presents information on the use of OpenVPX standard in developing military-grade modules for military electronic systems. The OpenVPX was developed in 2009 for allowing single-board computers (SBCs), input/output modules and other commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic subsystem modules to work together. It helps in obtaining interoperability among all compliant systems and subsystems for military systems.

The article offers information on electronic systems which help to make car crashes avoidable. It states that the adaptive speed control systems reduces vehicle's speed below the set value to match speed a vehicle ahead, while overtaking a slower vehicle. It mentions that gyroscopes are used for measuring angular rate, which is how quickly an object turns. It highlights that pulsed systems calculate time of flight (TOF) of short light pulses to measure distance to the car ahead.

The article reports that the electronic system-level (ESL) design flows and methodologies have started getting solidified. It states that designers can write transaction-level models (TLMs) on system hardwares for early verification efforts. According to the senior director of product marketing at Cadence Design Systems Inc., Frank Schirrmeister, trends are emerging in architectural exploration, development of hardware blocks, software development and system integration.

The article offers techniques for detecting faults between a sensor and an amplifier. It suggests measuring the voltage at the input pin of the instrumention amplifier, and injecting a current and measuring the resulting voltage at the input pin of the amplifier. It indicates that a routine can be written in the firmware that runs through the fault setups to detect any possible faults, and then compares the output of the LMP8358 to a table and indicates whether the system is ready to use.

The article reports on the use of thermal predictions within electronic systems to compare the thermal performance of the design and judge thermal compliance. It notes that a design change to improve thermal performance often negatively impact another aspect of the design. With this, it complicates the design of power distribution, electrical timing, and signal integrity.

The article focuses on the electronic systems used to test military applications in the U.S. The author explores the utilization radio frequency (RF) capture and feedback in addressing the interoperability issues between various communications and jamming systems. He also discusses the effort of working towards the right approach in addressing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which can be detonated using commonly available wireless devices such as remote controllers for toys.

The article offers information on the availability of various mobile displays including touchscreens and flexible devices. Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch LLC, notes the possibility of touchscreens to undergo strong growth in large-size applications such as all-in-one personal computers (PCs) and mini-note/slate PCs. The essentiality of flexible displays to easily fit within compact and large designs is mentioned.

The article focuses on the capability of the Open VPX standard to made VPX board utilization easier by offering standard backplane and system configurations. It notes submissions of competing proposals made by electronic firms to the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) Standard Organization that are of relation to the VPX standard including Themis, PCI-Systems and Curtiss Wright Controls Embedded Computing. The essentiality of the standards to mirror the VPX backplane is cited.

The article reports on the development of microelectromechanical-system (MEMS). It cites that manufacturers are using hardware and software advances to deliver the key advantages of MEMS technology such as low cost and small size to existing as well as new markets. It also mentions that MEMS manufacturers such as VTI Technologies Inc., STMicroelectronics NV and Bosch Sensortec, are pushing MEMS technology's chip-size limits by making sensors smaller and energy efficient.

The article offers information on the new silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies which will replace vacuum-tube. The new technology will give solutions for producing the high power levels needed at high frequencies in electronic warfare (EW) and other military aerospace systems. It also notes that the transistors can match the power levels of vacuum-tube devices depending on the frequency range and the amount of devices required to attain a given power level.

The article offers information on several types of limiters with excessive power levels used in eliminating the unnecessary signals. It states that in radar systems, limiters function with other circuits to perform various functions which include polarization-nonselective reflectors and polarization-selective radiating elements. Moreover, the diode receiver is the basic limiter used in many radar receiver, which can be analyzed as an active and passive device.

The article discusses the new design to improve the energy efficiency of design engineers' electronic systems in the U.S. It states that the Energy Efficient Digital Networks (EEDN) group suggests to change the present electricity standards in the country to have a better power control in consumer electronic devices. An overview on the Energy Star program established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for energy-efficient computers is also presented.

The article discusses the advantages of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) 3.0 specification in the interfaces technology. An overview of the history architecture of USB 3.0 technology is presented which aims to provide ease of use, flexibility, and much higher data rate as well as power management capabilities. It also presents the benefits of USB charging and SuperSpeed raw data rate of UBS 3.0 compared to 2.0 as well as to other interfaces.

The article discusses the function of the electronic system level (ESL) power analysis and optimization at the electronic system level (ESL). It mentions the use of virtual platform (VP) as a common approach of power analysis and optimization in the system-on-a-chip (SoC ) architecture. It also provides information on the preparation for synthesis and the use of Pipeline Architecture Composers' Library (PAClib).

The article offers information on several aspects related to digital signal processors (DSPs). It is reported that, with the shift from standalone processor to multicore and system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs, there has been a change in the form of DSPs, which are deeply embedded in electronic equipment. It is reported that, the increasing use of high-definition video has increased the demand of DSPs multimedia device uses a DSP to handle image processing and compression.

The article focuses on several issues in analog/mixed-signal design, particularly in the wireless realm. It notes that the emergence of wireless-enabled systems pelt analog designs with issues about the lack of automation on wireless systems. Moreover, Tom Costas, senior product marketing manager of Cadence, suggests that the electronic industry should move up in abstraction for analog/mixed-signal work.

The article provides information on system design of the DDR3 memory. It is stated that DDR3 means higher performance, lower power, and simpler board design, but at the cost of interface complexity. It is noted that the DDR3 memory promised performance at reduced power. It is implied that the key to obtaining such benefits is understanding its complex physical-layer (PHY) interface that combines automatic calibration of both timing and impedances. Several diagrams showing the system design and features of the DDR3 are presented in the article. Data strobe signals are also mentioned in the article to add details.

The article reports on the development of energy-harvesting synergism. It cites that energy harvesting provides great challenges and rewards for electronic engineers to use their skills more effectively. It provides technical background information on energy-harvesting from companies that presented papers during the NanoPower Forum conducted by Darnell Group Inc. held in June 2008 in Costa Mesa, California. The article also provides concepts related to energy harvesting synergies like wireless mesh networks, sensor batteries, and supercapacitors.

The article discusses the theoretical means for budgeting system timing and the empirical methods for creating and asserting timing margin through features of advanced programmable clocks. It focuses on the use of programmable clocks in reducing system cost and optimizing performance. It notes that a digital electronic system needs a periodic signal or clock to start input data acquisition, data processing steps and output data transmission. It also highlights that the input and output data can be represented by analog or digital signals depending on the portions being interfaced.

The article focuses on the continuing evolution and development of a higher-performance electronic systems in the U.S. Semiconductor industry enhances their transistor density continuously to increase performance of the microprocessor unites (MPUs) in which contributed to a growing microprocessor chip power dissipation and power density. It cites that most of high-performance MPUs use an array flip-chip interconnect method to connect the circuit to an organic or ceramic package substrate. It discovers that heatsink and thermal interface material that can lower the entire thermal resistance and the microprocessor performs at a reliable temperature.

The article focuses on the importance of bootstrapped filter in minimizing the 1/f noise coming from the voltage reference. The measurement and control applications that detects the 1/f noise problem is mentioned, which include calibration sources, high end digital voltmeters, and the generation of ultra-precision magnetic fields. It notes that these applications, will filter out the inherent noise above 1/f or sometimes well below it, by the long time constants derived from the acquisition time or from the measurement integration time. Moreover, it could also filtered out from the slow time response of the magnets. The circuit showing the components of a bootstrapped filter is also presented.

The article evaluates several electronic connectors including the RJ-11 and RJ-45 connectors from Bel Fuse Inc., 280 series to 285 series power cage clamp DIN-rail mount terminal blocks from Wago Corp. and MX150 cable-sealed, one-by-two connection system of Molex Inc.

The article offers information on how verification methodologies for system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices are changing to adapt with the sheer size of modern designs. The most typical approach used by engineers is the directed tests to address process technologies that have moved down the curve toward the deep-submicron nodes. However, SoCs have become so complex that even the designers themselves do not have the time or comprehensive insight required to write enough tests to cover all of the functionality.

The article discusses the technological developments which are essential in homeland security and being employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T). In tunnel vision technology, two devices are being considered for fielding are pulse Doppler radar and frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW). DHS S&T also paid attention to its cyber security capabilities by improving its ability to model the effects of cyber attacks. Another new development is a pprtable electronic nose that can sense and identify chemical vapors byautomated odor recognition. Lastly, DHS S&T has also focused on developing unmanned aircraft for gathering intelligence and bombing missions in Iraq.

The article focuses on the advantages of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) in building systems-on-a-chip (SoC). It states that FPGAs employ a collection of standard peripherals around a standard processor core and designing an FPGA SoC with standard component peripherals is simple. Meanwhile, several FPGA development environments use their own integrated development environment (IDE) with a separate IDE for developing a computer software. In connection, the article also mentions various products that use the FPGA technology from different companies including Xilinx MicroBlaze Starter Kit from Avnet Inc. and Core Amba bus controller (ABC) from Actel Corp.

The article focuses on how low-priced, superior imaging and computational hardware are contributing vision to the advancement of automotive safety, as developed algorithms and applications for image identification and investigation. In the comtemporary, visual sensation systems will be mandatory by law just the same with seatbelts and airbags. The article presents how hardware such as NEC's IMAPCAR processor might carry out this transition. Moreover, the IMAPCAR's system software is designed specifically for video-feedback applications in the automotive industry, providing a new meaning to the perspective of another generations. The author believes that the transition of automobiles with stationary computers to enhance driver/passenger safety opens a legal and standardization.

The article explores on the fundamental circuit constructions and operation of amplifiers. It notes on the function and purpose of an amplifier that reshape signals from sources to ultrasound probes used to increase amplitude of signal, along with its latest configuration to suffice the evolution in technology. Moreover, it presents on the class alphabet of amplifier's classification, starting with class A where the active device is biased to operate in its linear conduction region, in class B amplifiers consists of two devices during its input cycles and in class C, a single device is biased during a small portion of input cycle.

The article focuses on the high speed serial interfaces which are introduced first by PCI Express (PCIe) in the U.S. It notes that External PCI Express (ePCIE) is finding homes in a host of applications, from box-to-box links to external peripheral. It states that the establishments of parallel bus standards have remained the mainstay. However, serial alternatives exist with the same form factors. It further notes that developers of high speed serial interfaces are up to a challenge. Executive director of the RApidIO Trade Association, Tom Cox, states that the members are quite comfortable with the performance of the RapidIO Specifications.

The article focuses on the importance of digital signal controllers (DSC) with power-supply designs in digital power conversion. It is an easy and cost-effective way of converting that will help digital power frees designers in making a reliable and accurate power supplies with increased power density. This will also allow them to introduce and design power supplies that can be easily customized through firmware. The DSC with power-supply-friendly on-chip peripherals can be started through considering the topology, the operating mode and the control methodology of the design.

The article offers advice to electronic engineers in designing multicore electronic systems, as well as insights on the future of multicore solutions. Kevin Kisell, principal architect at MIPS, advised engineers to start multiprocessing by determining the applications that can be decomposed into a number of tasks or threads. While experts at Intel, Vivace Semiconductor Inc. and other electronic companies suggest different approaches in designing multicore systems, which include of homogeneous cores, heterogeneous cores, asymmetric multiprocessing virtualization and symmetric multiprocessing. Meanwhile, industry experts believe that system engineers need to improve their design approach to develop a more dynamic multicore processor by considering the architecture/software mix.

The article discusses how faster serial-data links push test and measurement technology to its limits in the battle against skew, noise, and jitter as it looks into the challenge of designing equipment with highspeed serial interfaces. The author points out that skew, jitter, distortion, and other effects chew up a greater portion of the timing budget, making triggering more difficult and sensitive as bit times decrease. Moreover, he emphasizes that jitter and noise have a direct effect on high-speed signals, as well as believes that designers should be able to spot the difference between a good eye diagram, a reduced-bandwidth eye diagram, and the effects of noise. A chart is presented depicting several high-speed serial interfaces.

The article offers information on various algorithms in Internet protocol (IP) form that ensure the security of programmed and stored data in a computer system. These algorithms are provided to prevent viruses, financial fraud, computer theft and network intrusion cost. Among these include the Advanced Encryption Standard which is based on the Rijindael algorithm, the Data Encryption Standards which is formerly called the FIPS standards and the Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with elliptic algebraic curves. In addition, other options to secure data with the use of ciphers and the implementation of an IP block are included.

The article offers guidelines and solutions to problems encountered with the use of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) in any sort of complex system with high speed and multiple protocols. First on the guidelines will be for the assigning of signals to input-output pin. Another will be for the most advance FPGAs and on understanding the basics of signal integrity. It is stated that dealing with frequency signals brings a torrent of analog issues into the digital world. Other rules for handling differential signals and in FPGA design are discoursed.

The article offers steps on how to set up a power-management subsystem design. Designing power-management subsystems has been much more complicated than it was five years ago. Designers must cope with integrated circuits that operate below 1 volt, may consume over 100 amperes, and employ gigahertz clock rates. A system viewpoint is necessary to set the stage for a power-management subsystem design. A switching regulator converts direct current input to a switched voltage controlling a power semiconductor switch, whose output is rectified and filtered to produce a direct current output.

The article examines the innovative approaches to electric meter making. Metering used to be the exclusive domain of electrical engineers, today, it is wide open to chip, board and system designers, as well as software writers. The reluctance-motor electrical-meter movement is getting displaced by chips that are cheaper, more accurate, can separate the active and reactive components of power and provide gateways to remote reading. Submetering, once mainly the province of apartment buildings, has become important to large manufacturing companies.

The article provides information about electronic-system-level (ESL) system-on-a-chip architecture. Emulex Corp.'s ESL methodology centers around building SystemC hardware models and using them to explore and refine the algorithms meant for storage-area network traffic management technology. For most ESL adapters, the technology addresses the challenges posed by the growing design complexity. The author highlights telecommunication companies that adopt this technology and describes its impact on the telecommunication industry.

The article presents information on the increasing infotainment features in cars. The increasing electronic contents include from GPS satellite navigation to entertainment, roadside assistance, real-time traffic updates and stolen-car tracking. According to an estimate, the electronic contents of a car will constitute 40% of the price by 2010, that is 23% higher than that was in 2004. Each infotainment feature in a car needs more CPUs and processor boards to manage real-time audio and video signals. In this scenario, electronic engineers are required to develop systems to handle and manage these infotainment features. New chips and products are rapidly entering the market to handle the situation such chips that can handle audio compression, encoding and decoding. INSETS: PUTTING THE PC IN CHARGE;MOST: A COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT EFFORT.

The article discusses the latest disaster-monitoring systems to be employed in the U.S. The need for innovation was highlighted after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. To prevent another catastrophic event, issues like communication interoperability and new weather forecasting gadgets are being considered. It is said that the most promising solution to the interoperability problem is software-defined radio (SDR). SDR could be of help by updating and changing modulation schemes, protocol standards and frequency bands. Additionally, multiple Doppler weather radars and Refractivity Experiment For H2O Research and Collaborative Operational Technology Transfer projects are likewise thought to be of help.

The article discusses the value of a design flow for system-on-a-chip (SoCS) to achieve a more efficient power consumption. One means of conserving power in an SoCS is to design with several power domains. Some domains can be kept running at a lower supply voltage. Also, the power of a domain can be switched off when it is not being used. Other power-management techniques are hierarchical clock gating, low-power clock-tree synthesis, leakage optimization methods, and global concurrent optimization of timing, area and power.

Information about several topics discussed during the 43rd Design Automation conference held in Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, on July 24 to 28, 2006 is presented. It was emphasized that the future for the electronic design automation industry lies in multimedia equipment, entertainment, and gaming systems. The role of electronic system-level tools and methodologies in design complexity was highlighted. Mentor Graphics' Catapult C synthesis tool and Forte Design Systems' Cynthesizer product were highlighted. INSET: ABSTRACTION = FREEDOM.