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ELECTRONICSTALK
The Independent Weekly Product Information Guide
for Electronics Design, Development and Manufacturing Engineers
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ISSN 1475-2913 - Free subscription
Last week's delivered circulation: over 26,000
Published every Tuesday from the UK.
Issue 169: 15 June 2004
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16969 product announcements and technical articles
on our web site, all fully searchable at
http://www.electronicstalk.com/ - take a look!
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In this issue:
* Editor's Message
* Our Top Ten new Products Selection
[1] Low-power radio systems shrink to single chips
[2] IP-based flow accelerates SoC design
[3] WLAN and Bluetooth shrink to one package each
[4] Novel approach to embedded nonvolatile memory
[5] Microcontroller takes charge of Bluetooth audio
[6] New Bluetooth chips enhance datarates
[7] Digital I/O family delivers industrial features
[8] Ultrawideband chipsets ramp up towards 1Gbit/s
[9] Power plug brings big cables onboard
[10] Easy interfacing for compact debugger
* New Technical Articles and Case Studies
* Other featured product news
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Laurence Marchini, Editor, writes:
A couple of weeks ago - following President Putin's announcement that the Russian Federation would adhere to its responsibilities under the Kyoto Protocol - I suggested that the Prime Minister of Australia and President of the USA might benefit from a visit to the cinema to view the new blockbuster "The day after tomorrow".
And while earlier today John Howard confirmed that he would not be adding Australia's name to that particular "coalition of the willing", he did reveal an interesting range of measures aimed at reducing his country's reliance on fossil fuels. Among them were heavy subsidies for domestic solar cell installations capable of feeding surplus energy into the Australian supply network and an AU $500 million fund to drive at least $1.5 billion investment in new technologies for greenhouse gas reduction.
The Australian Government's critics may well criticise the measures, as a political posture designed to stymie its opposition's own "green credentials "green" credentials. But technology companies in the South Pacific will be rubbing their hands at the new funds available for both research and implementation.
Meanwhile, back in the Northern Hemisphere, the collective output from DAC in California and WiCon in the Netherlands have meant a bumper week for Electronicstalk, with WiCon in particular providing news of significant advances in several wireless technologies. Details are below.
I hope you find this issue of our weekly newsletter useful. In addition to the new products, news and ideas featured here, there are hundreds more on our website and dozens more being added daily, so do take a look if you can.
Alternatively, the full stories behind all the summaries and headlines in this newsletter can be retrieved by email alone: see details below.
In the meantime, if you have any suggestions as to how we might make the site or the newsletter better, email me directly.
Best wishes
Laurence Marchini, Editor
mailto:ne[-email removed-]nicstalk.com
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THIS WEEK'S INDUSTRY NEWS
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To read more, use the web links. Or get the full stories emailed back to you: just send a blank email to the address shown. It's a free service. Try it! It works!
INTERSIL ACQUIRES BITBLITZ COMMUNICATIONS
Intersil has acquired a substantial portion of the assets of BitBlitz Communications of Milpitas, California.
Intersil, 11 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/ina/ina303.html
or send a blank email to mailto:ina3[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
NATIONAL HITS RECORD MARGIN IN Q4
National Semiconductor has reported a GAAP profit of $126.4 million, or 32 cents per share, on revenues of $571.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, which ended on 30th May 2004.
National Semiconductor, 15 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/nat/nat280.html
or send a blank email to mailto:nat2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ACQUISITION EXPANDS TRANSFORMER AND CHOKE RANGES
REO has acquired Nieke, the specialist German developer and manufacturer of high power transformers and chokes.
REO (UK), 14 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/reo/reo120.html
or send a blank email to mailto:reo1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ACQUISITION BOOSTS WIRELESS EXPERTISE
Abacus Group has acquired Telecom Design Communications (TDC), a specialist distribution business based in Basingstoke, with sales in the last financial year of GBP 4 million.
Abacus Group, 15 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/aba/aba149.html
or send a blank email to mailto:aba1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
MENTOR ZEROES IN ON ACQUISITION
Mentor Graphics has entered into an agreement to acquire 0-In Design Automation, the industry-leading provider of assertion-based and formal verification solutions.
Mentor Graphics UK, 11 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/men/men304.html
or send a blank email to mailto:men3[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ACQUISITION MARRIES PLM WITH EDA
MatrixOne has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Synchronicity Software for approximately $18 million in stock and cash.
MatrixOne, 11 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/mix/mix100.html
or send a blank email to mailto:mix1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
R AND D SPENDING SET FOR RECORD HIGH
R and D spending in the semiconductor industry is set to reach a record high in 2004, according to Future Horizons, Europe's leading electronics analyst.
Future Horizons, 9 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/feh/feh104.html
or send a blank email to mailto:feh1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
GROWING REVENUES FOR FINISAR
Finisar Corp has reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended 30th April 2004.
Finisar Corp, 14 June 2004
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/fni/fni121.html
or send a blank email to mailto:fni1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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OUR TOP TEN NEW PRODUCTS SELECTION
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[1] LOW-POWER RADIO SYSTEMS SHRINK TO SINGLE CHIPS
(Analog Devices, 9 June 2004)
Three new RF ICs each offer complete low-power radio system solutions on a single chip, simplifying the design and reducing bill of material costs for customers. The new transceiver ICs and transmitter IC complement Analog Devices' existing family of ISM (industrial, scientific, and medical) band transmitters (ADF7010, ADF7011) for low-rate wireless connectivity applications. The ADF7012 is a (VHF/UHF) transmitter IC with 50MHz to 1GHz frequency operation allowing multiple frequency plans to be implemented for transmit applications such as RF remote controls, remote keyless entry and wireless sensor applications. The ADF7020 and ADF7025 are ISM band transceiver ICs, which operate at bands from 433 to 928MHz.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/anc/anc239.html
or send a blank email to mailto:anc2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[2] IP-BASED FLOW ACCELERATES SOC DESIGN
(Synopsys, 9 June 2004)
CoreAssembler is a new tool that has already been used by NEC Electronics and National Semiconductor to implement an intellectual property (IP) based flow, which dramatically reduces design time, risk and cost of their advanced SoC platforms and ICs. These two companies, and others have used coreAssembler to efficiently create configurable, reusable platforms, which they and their customers have then used with coreAssembler to automatically configure and assemble IP-based SoCs into volume production.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/syn/syn242.html
or send a blank email to mailto:syn2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[3] WLAN AND BLUETOOTH SHRINK TO ONE PACKAGE EACH
(Philips Semiconductors, 9 June 2004)
New 802.11b low-power WLAN and Bluetooth semiconductor "system-in-package" (SiP) solutions from Philips are specifically designed to operate at the same time in small form-factor systems such as smart phones, PDAs and other portable devices. Both WLAN and Bluetooth technologies are popular wireless connections for voice and data communications. The two technologies use the same frequency spectrum, which must be shared effectively for both technologies to be used at the same time. Philips has developed specialised hardware and software that is embedded in its WLAN and Bluetooth SiPs to meet this challenge.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/phi/phi265.html
or send a blank email to mailto:phi2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[4] NOVEL APPROACH TO EMBEDDED NONVOLATILE MEMORY
(Cavendish Kinetics, 9 June 2004)
Cavendish Kinetics, a company born out of Cambridge University, has developed a major new technology claimed to offer the lowest power and entry-cost embedded nonvolatile memory in the industry. The company's Nanomech technology is capable of simple incorporation into standard CMOS and other processes and will offer semiconductor companies and foundries a lower power, higher speed alternative to embedded fuse, Flash and EEPROM.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/cve/cve100.html
or send a blank email to mailto:cve1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[5] MICROCONTROLLER TAKES CHARGE OF BLUETOOTH AUDIO
(Xemics, 15 June 2004)
A novel programmable microcontroller with embedded Bluetooth control aims to simplify the development of any Bluetooth application. The XE1431 is designed to provide ultra-low-power easy-to-use solutions for Bluetooth audio and data applications. The core of the XE1431 is the Xemics Bluetooth controller that is combined with a programmable 8bit microcontroller with several standard peripherals like GPIOs, a high speed UART, an audio codec and a power management unit.
Request a free brochure by post:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/xem/136/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/xem/xem136.html
or send a blank email to mailto:xem1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[6] NEW BLUETOOTH CHIPS ENHANCE DATARATES
(Cambridge Silicon Radio, 10 June 2004)
CSR has launched a fourth generation of its Bluetooth silicon, designed for enhanced datarate (EDR) Bluetooth, launched this week by the Bluetooth SIG at WiCon World in Amsterdam. CSR's BlueCore4 will deliver datarates which are three-times faster than current v1.2 Bluetooth devices, as well as lower power consumption for Bluetooth mobile phones or headsets. BlueCore4 is sampling now with major OEM customers. Bluetooth EDR offers maximum data transfer rates of 2.1Mbit/s, compared with the current 721Kbit/s for v1.2 standard rate.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/cam/cam170.html
or send a blank email to mailto:cam1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[7] DIGITAL I/O FAMILY DELIVERS INDUSTRIAL FEATURES
(National Instruments, 14 June 2004)
Six new low-cost, optically isolated digital I/O devices deliver a high-reliability industrial feature set for applications in discrete, batch and process automation. Each device offers industrial features such as watchdog timers, optical isolation, 24V logic levels, programmable power-up states, programmable input filters, change detection and industrial certifications.
Request a free brochure by post:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/naa/152/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/naa/naa152.html
or send a blank email to mailto:naa1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[8] ULTRAWIDEBAND CHIPSETS RAMP UP TOWARDS 1GBIT/S
(Freescale Semiconductor, 9 June 2004)
Freescale Semiconductor has detailed its current and next-generation UWB product family roadmap at the Wireless Connectivity (WiCon) World Expo in Amsterdam. Over the next year, Freescale plans to deliver three advanced UWB product families, including the industry's first 1Gbit/s UWB solution, to address the wide variety of performance and functionality required by numerous UWB applications. Adding to the existing XtremeSpectrum chipset, which achieves over 110Mbit/s, Freescale revealed that its planned UWB product families will be engineered to deliver 220Mbit/s, 480Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s data transfer rates.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/mot/mot187.html
or send a blank email to mailto:mot1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[9] POWER PLUG BRINGS BIG CABLES ONBOARD
(Phoenix Contact, 9 June 2004)
The new Power Combicon PC 16 plug connector from Phoenix Contact, with a current capacity of 76A at 600V (UL), means 16mm2 cables can now be connected to the PCB easily and economically. The integrated steel upper spring maintains a secure contact, even when significant fluctuations in load and temperature occur, and the silver-plated metals provide a constant surface quality during use.
Request a free brochure by post:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/pni/129/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/pni/pni129.html
or send a blank email to mailto:pni1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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[10] EASY INTERFACING FOR COMPACT DEBUGGER
(Macraigor Systems, 11 June 2004)
The usbSprite is billed as the first full-speed mini Universal Serial Bus (USB) device for JTAG (IEEE1149.1) or BDM (background debug mode). usbSprite provides embedded systems developers with the smallest, most cost-sensitive, yet high-performance interface available for target OCD. The usbSprite applications programming interface is fully compatible with industry-leading software debuggers, including the Gnu tools suite (GCC, GAS and GDB).
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/mra/mra101.html
or send a blank email to mailto:mra1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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New Technical Articles and Case Studies
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DSP POWERS NOVEL TELEPHONY SOLUTION
(Texas Instruments, 14 June 2004)
Consumers will now be able to use landline handsets to make calls over their cellular phones with a new device from Xcelis Communications.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/tex/tex641.html
or send a blank email to mailto:tex6[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
PLATFORM ACCELERATES ECHELON DEVELOPMENT
(Wind River Systems, 11 June 2004)
Echelon Corp has selected Wind River Platform for Industrial Devices as the device software foundation for its i.LON 100 Internet server.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/wia/wia208.html
or send a blank email to mailto:wia2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
HIGH-TECH CABLES SAVE SATELLITE PAYLOAD
(In2Connect, 11 June 2004)
Lightweight signal cables made with Tefzel and DuPont Aracon metal-clad fibres deliver high-value weight savings and high-fidelity signal transmission in space satellites.
Free brochure on Calmont Tefzel/Aracon cables:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/ion/108/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/ion/ion108.html
or send a blank email to mailto:ion1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
MONITORS CHECK UP ON AUSSIE TV QUALITY
(Pixelmetrix Corp, 10 June 2004)
Telstra is using the DVStation to provide distributed multipoint, real-time signal and content integrity monitoring for its DVB-C network delivering Foxtel's digital cable television to Australia.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/pix/pix109.html
or send a blank email to mailto:pix1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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Other featured product news
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GSM/GPRS TRANSCEIVER CUTS BOARD AREA IN HALF
(Silicon Laboratories, 9 June 2004)
The Aero II GSM/GPRS transceiver is billed as the industry's smallest, highest performance RF transceiver for cellular handsets.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/snl/snl105.html
or send a blank email to mailto:snl1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
FRAM DROPS IN TO REPLACE SERIAL EEPROMS
(Ramtron International, 11 June 2004)
The FM25L256 is a 256Kbit 3V nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) with a serial peripheral interface (SPI).
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/ram/ram115.html
or send a blank email to mailto:ram1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ONE-TIME PROGRAMMABLE MCUS UPGRADE TO FLASH
(Microchip Technology, 14 June 2004)
Five new PIC 8bit Flash microcontrollers are updates to Microchip's most popular baseline one-time programmable (OTP) microcontrollers.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/ari/ari167.html
or send a blank email to mailto:ari1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
MULTICHIP PACKAGE HOUSES COMPLETE MOTOR DRIVE
(Toshiba Electronics Europe, 14 June 2004)
A compact, single-device solution provides high-efficiency, low-noise driving of three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motors with ratings to 400V.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/tos/tos232.html
or send a blank email to mailto:tos2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
SPEAKERPHONE CHIP BOOSTS VOIP SOUND QUALITY
(Acoustic Technologies, 14 June 2004)
The ATH3003 is a VoIP full-duplex speakerphone integrated circuit for improved sound quality in VoIP applications.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/aou/aou105.html
or send a blank email to mailto:aou1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
CHARGE PUMPS BOOST WHITE LED DRIVE EFFICIENCY
(Advanced Analogic Technologies, 15 June 2004)
A new generation of high efficiency charge pumps has been developed for white LED applications.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/aog/aog100.html
or send a blank email to mailto:aog1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ETHERNET MAPPER DOUBLES PORT DENSITY
(Galazar Networks, 15 June 2004)
The MDX250T is a highly integrated multichannel Ethernet mapper for Ethernet over Sonet/SDH applications.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/gal/gal100.html
or send a blank email to mailto:gal1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
CATALOGUE BRINGS EMC SOLUTIONS UP TO DATE
(Wurth Elektronik UK, 15 June 2004)
Wurth Elektronik will soon be releasing its new 2004/2005 catalogue.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/wur/wur101.html
or send a blank email to mailto:wur1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
SPEEDY FLEXIBLE ROUTE TO HANDSET MMI DESIGN
(Digital Airways, 15 June 2004)
Digital Airways has produced a new version of its Kaleido MMI (man machine interface) technology for mobile handsets.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/dit/dit100.html
or send a blank email to mailto:dit1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
PLATFORM SIMPLIFIES AUDIO SOC DEVELOPMENT
(MIPS Technologies, 15 June 2004)
Whether in mobile MP3 players, DVD-recordable devices or plasma TVs, servicing the expanding market for consumer audio playback devices just got easier thanks to MIPS Technologies.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/mip/mip226.html
or send a blank email to mailto:mip2[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
COMPACT RAIL-MOUNTED HOUSING FITS MORE IN
(Phoenix Contact, 14 June 2004)
ME MAX housings from Phoenix Contact are said to mark a new standard in rail-mounting electronic housings with their compact size still providing the maximum space for custom electronics.
Free brochure on ME MAX:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/pni/130/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/pni/pni130.html
or send a blank email to mailto:pni1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
ENCLOSURES KEEP PCS SAFE FROM INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES
(Rittal, 15 June 2004)
Rittal's stand-alone TS 8 PC enclosures protect internal components against moisture, dirt and high temperatures, which can quickly cause a computer malfunction.
Free brochure on TS 8 PC enclosures:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/rit/171/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/rit/rit171.html
or send a blank email to mailto:rit1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
SCA2 PLUGS COME IN MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS
(Circuit Assembly, 10 June 2004)
Circuit Assembly has a new range of SCA2 plugs compliant with the Single Connector Attachment-2 hard drive interface developed for SCSI and FC-AL systems.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/cui/cui109.html
or send a blank email to mailto:cui1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
POWER ARRAY PROVIDES BACKUP REDUNDANCY
(American Power Conversion, 15 June 2004)
American Power Conversion has enhanced its award-winning Symmetra Power Array scalable and redundant uninterruptible power supply.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/ame/ame112.html
or send a blank email to mailto:ame1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
PCI CARD HOSTS MPEG4 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT
(Adlink Technology, 10 June 2004)
The PCI-MP4S is a video compression development kit that combines excellent real-time image acquisition with an advanced MPEG4 software video compression algorithm.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/adl/adl135.html
or send a blank email to mailto:adl1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
TWO-CHANNEL DIGITISER CLAIMS A SPEEDY FIRST
(Strategic Test, 11 June 2004)
The UltraFast UX4540 is billed as the industry's first 3U PXI card with two high-speed 16bit vertical resolution digitiser channels.
Free brochure on UltraFast UX4540:
http://www.electronicstalk.com/rdx/da/sra/121/0
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/sra/sra121.html
or send a blank email to mailto:sra1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
MODULE BRINGS GPIB CONTROL VIA USB
(Measurement Computing Corp, 14 June 2004)
A new USB-GPIB controller module converts any PC with a USB interface into a full-function, IEEE488.2 bus controller.
* Read more: http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/mur/mur101.html
or send a blank email to mailto:mur1[-email removed-]lectronicstalk.com
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Have you seen our other newsletters?
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We also publish other professional technical newsletters like this once a week. All are free, so take a look:
Buildingtalk - for the building and construction industry
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Processingtalk - for process engineers
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Subcontractingtalk - for the subcontract manufacturing industry
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