Electronicstalk

The week's top stories from Electronicstalk

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Top Products featured this issue

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[1]  LOW-POWER TRANSCEIVER IS A FIRST IN MEDICAL RF

(Zarlink Semiconductor, 06 Jun 2005)

Zarlink Semiconductor has introduced the world's first transceiver chip designed exclusively for wireless communication systems that link implanted medical devices and basestations. The ZL70100 ultra low-power transceiver chip fully meets the MICS standard defined by the FCC and ETSI. No other commercially available chip designed for implanted communication systems matches the datarate, ultra-ow-power performance and high level of integration delivered by the ZL70100 transceiver. Zarlink's ultra-low-power RF technology allows high-speed 500Kbit/s data transmission over a typical 2m range. In comparison, previous implanted communication systems relied on magnetic coupling between coils in an in-body device and a basestation. This approach operated up to a 100mm range, with data transmission rates of a few tens of kilobits per second. Advances in ultra-low-power radio expertise and global adoption of the MICS 402-405MHz frequency band for implanted communications opens the door for advanced telemedicine applications that extend patient health monitoring beyond the traditional clinical setting. Physicians can use MICS technology to remotely monitor patient health without requiring regular hospital visits. For example, an ultra-low-power RF transceiver in a pacemaker can wirelessly send patient health and device performance data to a bedside basestation in the home. Data are then forwarded over the telephone or Internet to a physician's office, and if a problem is detected the patient goes to the hospital where the high-speed two-way RF link can be used to easily monitor and adjust device performance. During surgery, a physician can use the higher datarates and longer communication range afforded by MICS technology to program the performance of an implanted device outside of the sterile surgical environment. "Zarlink's MICS transceiver provides several orders of magnitude increase in data transmission rate and communication range compared with previous technologies, offering an ultra-low-power consumption and highly integrated radio telemetry solution", said Steve Swift, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Ultra Low-Power Communications, Zarlink Semiconductor. "Our MICS radio platform ensures implanted medical device manufacturers can design systems that meet strict global standards". "The higher datarate and extended communication range of our radio transceiver enables advanced in-body communication systems, such as implanted blood glucose sensors controlling insulin intake for diabetes patients, networked stimulators restoring lost limb function or pacemakers using the high-speed wireless link to signal emergency response during a cardiac event". As most implanted medical devices do not require constant communication, and instead transmit data on a scheduled or as-required basis, the average "sleep" current is a key design factor. The ZL70100 radio transceiver contains an innovative ultra-low-power wake-up system with an average current demand of just 200nA. The ZL70100 supports industry-leading transmission rates of 800Kbit/s for raw data and 500Kbit/s for usable data, while consuming less than 5mA while active. With the ability to aggressively duty-cycle the radio transceiver, the ZL70100 allows implanted devices to quickly transmit large amounts of patient health and device performance data with minimum impact on the battery life of the implanted device. The highly integrated ZL70100 chip requires just two external components, excluding antenna matching, allowing manufacturers to use circuit substrate space savings to increase battery size and support advanced functionality while also lowering BoM costs. The industrial-grade ZL70100 transceiver chip for basestations is the first device in a product platform designed specifically to meet the performance, power and size requirements of implanted communication systems. Qualification of the same transceiver chip for implantable applications is currently underway, and this device will be available later this year. The ZL70100 transceiver chip is available now in a 48-pin QFN (quad flat no-lead) package and as bare die. The device is fully supported by an evaluation board and reference design.

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[2]  SYSTEM DESIGN TOOL GETS TO GRIPS WITH PROTOCOLS

(Bellum, 07 Jun 2005)

Newcomer Bellum Software has released its first product, a visual tool for high-end design and protocol mapping for electronic system designs (ESD), such as large ASICs and full custom chips. The new tool, Protocollum, offers the ability to create a high level architectural model that facilitates comprehension of architectural behaviour by providing graphical visualisation and allowing user interaction. "What we have really set out to do with Protocollum is to offer a tool that allows system architects, designers, functional block implementers and test and validation engineers a way to communicate and simulate with the same design intent and high level descriptions", stated Reed Christensen, founder and President of Bellum. "The software is really intended to be a workbench for the engineer, providing a basic foundation on which any custom design can be created". Bellum's Protocollum product enables an engineer to quickly specify, implement and validate communication protocols. It allows the engineer to capture and edit the rules which define the protocol behaviour. These rules become an executable model which can then be run in a visual environment for design testing. Alternative approaches today consist mainly of interpreting English language specifications provided in printed documentation, leaving a tremendous amount of room for error. Creating a protocol model with Protocollum can be done in a fraction of the time required previously. Using a graphical layout similar to a message sequence chart, an engineer can create relationships and connections for objects which come from well-defined classes such as Msg, Event, Rule etc. Most of the message modelling is done through intuitive point-and-click operations. The addition of state variables and state operations is done on a per-rule basis, in clearly defined object areas using the Tcl scripting language. The end result is an object-oriented model that was easily created, is organised and runs in a graphical environment. "Protocollum gives system designers, test and validation groups the ability to visually simulate the passing of messages, including some time information, to get a head start on developing test strategies before the use of HDLs has even begun", commented Bob Hunter, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Bellum. "As the functional blocks are later developed in a HDL, questions about how the original architect intended the design to function can be bounced off the original visual description and simulation, rather than having to refer to a written spec, which by then is probably outdated". Protocollum is available now in the USA, and the company plans to distribute overseas in the near future. Pricing starts at $995.00 for a single, one-year licence. Protocollum is available on Linux X86 platforms.

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[3]  POWER DETECTORS SHRINK FOR HANDSET DUTIES

(Analog Devices, 06 Jun 2005)

Analog Devices has released what it reckons are the industry's smallest power measurement ICs for cellular handsets. Adding to its extensive portfolio of RF ICs, ADI has developed new power detector and power controller ICs that offer high accuracy and temperature stability in tiny, 0.6mm-thick packages. Analog Devices' power detectors and controllers use precision circuit design to accurately measure and control transmitter output signals independent of temperature variations, helping to reduce power consumption and making them essential components in cellular handsets. The ADL5500 RMS power detector is optimised for CDMA, CDMA2000 (including 1xEV-DO), TD-SCDMA and W-CDMA cellular handsets, as well as for terminal devices for 802.16, WiMAX, and emerging wireless systems with high-crest-factor waveforms. The ADL5500 is up to five times more accurate, offers up to 10x better temperature stability and, with its ultra-small, 1 x 1mm package, reduces the board space requirement by more than one-half compared with competing products. The AD8311 power controller is designed for GSM/GPRS cellular handsets. Housed in a tiny 1 x 1.5mm package, it is the industry's smallest power controller, delivering twice the accuracy and temperature stability, while occupying one-third less board space than competitive solutions. "Accurate power measurement and control are critical to lowering power consumption, improving system performance and ensuring regulatory compliance for wireless applications", said Jay Cormier, Product Line Director, Linear Products, Analog Devices. "For cellular handsets packed with increasing numbers of power-demanding features, the AD8311 and ADL5500 offer high accuracy and the smallest sise to help maintain competitive form factors and keep current drain to a minimum". The ADL5500 is the newest member of ADI's TruPwr family of detectors, which are optimised to measure complex waveforms at RF frequencies and deliver an accurately scaled DC voltage that is the true RMS equivalent of the input waveform. In addition to the supersmall package, the ADL5500 further reduces board area with on-chip integration of an AC coupling capacitor, a 50ohm matching resistor, and a filter capacitor. The device's high level of accuracy (+/-0.25dB linear response up to 2.5GHz) and excellent temperature stability (0.1dB variation over the -40 to +85C range) eases the design and manufacture of cellular handsets by reducing the calibration burden. The ADL5500 requires a single supply between 2.7 and 5.5V and consumes only 3.3mW at 3V. The ability to measure 100MHz to 6GHz signals with varying crest factors makes the ADL5500 ideal for CDMA, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA and W-CDMA cellular handsets, as well as emerging broadband wireless standards, such as 802.16. The AD8311 is a logarithmic power controller that provides precise control of RF power amplifiers operating in the frequency range of 100MHz to 2.5GHz and over a typical 45dB dynamic range. The high sensitivity of the AD8311 allows measurement at low power levels, thus reducing the amount of power being coupled to the detector. The device also offers low power consumption of only 8.5mA from a 2.7 to 5.5V supply. The small size, high accuracy, excellent temperature stability over the range of -40 to +85C, and wide dynamic range make the AD8311 well suited for GSM/GPRS cellular handsets and other applications that require transmit power control. The ADL5500 is sampling now, with production quantities scheduled for July 2005, and is priced at US $0.90 per unit in 10,000-piece quantities. The AD8311 is available now and is priced at $1.20 per unit in 10,000-piece quantities.

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[4]  SPEEDY ANALYSERS HANDLE LATEST FAST SERIAL BUSES

(Tektronix, 03 Jun 2005)

Tektronix has released two new logic analysers - the TLA7012 portable mainframe and TLA7016 benchtop mainframe. The mainframes are compatible with all TLA modules and provide throughput that is at least three times faster than previous mainframe models enabling faster data analysis and more rapid zooming, searching, filtering and scrolling. Both use Windows XP Professional and the latest Intel Pentium processors to provide analysis speed that is twice as fast as the nearest competitor. High speed serial buses, especially multilane serial buses including second generation PCI Express and SATA III as well as double datarate (DDR II) memories, place new requirements on designers for accurately sampling at high speed and at the correct time. The increasingly sophisticated requirements necessitate flexibility, high performance, and ease of use. The new logic analysers from Tektronix provide the modularity, throughput, high speed analysis, and ease of use to match engineering needs. "Customers today are dealing with much larger data sets than they were only a few years ago and these will continue to increase in the future", said David Bennett, Vice President, Logic Analyser Product Line, Tektronix. "The new logic analysers provide much faster data throughput, larger displays, major usability improvements, backwards-compatibility with all existing logic analyser modules, and a compelling migration path for customers using competing products". "The result is access to the most modern, modular and capable logic analysers in the industry and investment protection for Tektronix logic analyser customers". The new TLA7012 is a portable mainframe that can contain two modules allowing up to 272 channels of logic analysis capability, has an integrated 2GHz Pentium M processor, and features the largest integrated display available on a portable logic analyser, a high-resolution 15in active TFT display. Short-cut keys on the front-panel provide instant access to commonly used menus and an optional touch screen allows access to all TLA functionality making it suitable for very space-constrained or rack-mounted environments. The new TLA7016 benchtop mainframe is able to support up to six modules, up from five modules in previous models. This allows designers of the latest technology, such as FB-DIMM, to use a single TLA7016 mainframe rather than the multiple mainframes required by other logic analyser vendors. The TLA7016 uses a customer-supplied PC or an optional 3GHz Pentium 4 controller. The TLA7012 and TLA7016 also share a new generation of application software, TLA Application Software version 5.0. The new software provides a number of new capabilities including industry-first drag-and-drop triggering and automated measurements for logic analysers, and a dramatically improved user interface. Customers can install V5.0 of the TLA Application Software on Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 computers which then can be used to connect to and control any TLA7012 or TLA7016 on their network. A fast GbE LAN interface speeds the transfer of large data sets. Both new units also take advantage of improved backplane interface to increase data throughput by 300% over previous models. Customers can use mainframes individually, or combine portable and benchtop mainframes together for analysing and debugging more complex system problems. A simplified expansion mechanism provides communications and control between the analysers. Removable 3.5in hard drives on both the TLA7012 and the optional TLA7PC1 controller for the TLA7016 make these instruments ideal for security conscious customers. Customers using Tektronix TLA704, TLA711, TLA714 and TLA715 may be eligible for a trade-up credit towards purchase of the new TLA7012 or TLA7016. In addition to the compelling attributes of the TLA7012 and TLA7016, customers using logic analyser products from competitors may find credits for trade-up an extra reason to change to Tektronix. As well as the trade-up programmes, a field-installable upgrade kit is available for purchase that converts existing TLA721 and TLA7XM into TLA7016 mainframes giving existing customers access to the latest logic analyser technology while leveraging their existing investment.

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[5]  ANALOGUE CIRCUIT SIMULATOR IS FREE TO DOWNLOAD

(Texas Instruments, 06 Jun 2005)

Tina-TI is a powerful, easy-to-use circuit simulation program for designing, simulating and analysing analogue electronic circuits. The free, Windows-based software program is available for download from the TI website. Installed within the program is TI's extensive library of macromodels for precision and high-speed amplifiers. Example circuits for each macromodel show simulation results and serve as an excellent starting point for more complex designs. Tina-TI, a special complimentary version of Tina Pro prepared by DesignSoft exclusively for TI, offers extensive analysis options. The program is fully functional and can simulate two IC macromodels. Full-featured versions of Tina Pro that provide extended analysis options and unlimited circuit size are available from DesignSoft starting at $360. Links on the TI website offer selected discounts. Based on a Spice simulation engine, Tina-TI features an intuitive schematic entry and capture screen. Components are chosen from convenient toolbars, allowing easy circuit entry and modification. Analysis options include DC, AC, transient, Fourier and noise. Virtual instruments such as a function generator, multimeter, oscilloscope, x-y recorder and signal analyser provide an alternative to standard analysis with the familiar appearance and function of common laboratory instruments. Simulation results appear in separate windows with versatile scaling, formatting and annotation capabilities. Schematics and simulation results can easily be pasted into presentations and e-mails.

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[6]  POWER CONNECTORS HANDLE UP TO 32A

(Phoenix Contact, 03 Jun 2005)

Phoenix Contact's new Power Combicon PC 5 plug connector system, based on the PC 4 system, has a compact pitch of 7.62mm, a nominal voltage of 600V (UL approved) with a permitted current of 32A. An integrated steel upper spring provides additional contact reliability, especially during extreme changes in power or temperature. The system has been designed for 2- to 12-pin layouts. The screw connection, for flexible conductors up to 6mm2, uses the tension sleeve principle. A screw flange for securing the connection between the plug component and the base housing is supplied with the plug connector. The plug's shield contact provides a high-quality connection to the shielding screen to prevent electrical interference. The screw integrated in the connector flange ensures that the shroud is securely connected to the metal front. If the housing or front plate is made of a nonconducting material, shielding can be connected directly to the PCB.

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[7]  VIRTEX-II PRO AND POWERPC COME TOGETHER ONBOARD

(Vmetro-Transtech, 07 Jun 2005)

New from Vmetro, the 3CPF1 is a revolutionary signal processing engine that combines the capabilities of a Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA (XC2VP70), a Freescale PowerPC CPU (7447A) and multichannel communications - in a rugged 3U form-factor board. Key benefits include increased data processing throughput and reduced cost by the use of fewer processor cards. The 3CPF1 targets demanding applications that require complex signal processing closely coupled to high bandwidth data I/O in an environment where space is at a premium. Typical applications include electro-optics (EO), signal intelligence (SigInt) and electronic warfare (EW). Merging a PowerPC CPU and an FPGA in a single product combines the benefits of two worlds; a sophisticated, easy to use processor with the highest levels of throughput and performance. Using FPGAs for signal processing tasks can lead to significant increases in speed. For example, an FFT can be calculated 10 to 20 times faster on an FPGA than on a PowerPC CPU. The FPGA's performance capability is further increased by six independent banks of memory, four banks of 2M x 18bit QDR-II SRAM and two banks of 64Mbyte DDR SDRAM. This provides for flexible, efficient data buffers and increases the resources available to the application. The PowerPC 7447A processor node is tightly integrated with the FPGA via a Marvell MV64360 bridge. The bridge also provides a path to 512Mbyte of SDRAM, Flash memory as well as gigabit Ethernet channels and serial I/O to form a powerful and complete PowerPC based subsystem. Offboard data I/O bottlenecks are eliminated through the use of eight 3.125Gbit/s RocketIO serial channels, a high-bandwidth backplane connector, and parallel I/O - all directly coupled to the FPGA. This provides multichannel point-to-point datalinks for interfaces which could include PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, Aurora or gigabit Ethernet through the use of suitable IP cores. The parallel I/O data port, with appropriate signal conditioning, can be used to link to a variety of interfaces such as digital cameras and LVDS ports. The 3CPF1 has an offboard 32bit/66MHz PCIbus and supports both system slot and peripheral modes. Mechanically, the 3CPF1 has a form-factor similar to 3U CompactPCI, but uses a different connector scheme that provides higher density and higher bandwidth I/O. Vmetro offers an adapter to evaluate the 3CPF1 on a standard 3U CompactPCI backplane as well as the 3CPF1-BP1 backplane allowing a mix of 3CPF1 and 3U CompactPCI boards. The 3CPF1 is supported by the VxWorks RTOS, while Linux support is in development. Gedae support will also be provided to offer a heterogeneous software development environment, which uses a block-diagram based programming paradigm. The 3CPF1 supports BIT (built-in test) for robust reliable operation. The 3CPF1 has been designed for use in both commercial air-cooled and rugged conduction-cooled environments and is based on the same architecture as the Vmetro Phoenix VPF1 VXS card featuring dual PowerPC CPUs and dual FPGA processors. The 3CPF1 is available immediately, starting at $19,800.

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[8]  VME SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER HITS BUDGET PRICE POINT

(Actis Computer, 06 Jun 2005)

With the introduction of its new VSBC-6847 VME single board computer at Embedded World 2005, Actis Computer reckons it is setting a new standard for quality and performance at a price of only Eur 1000 (100-up). With a third generation low dissipation PowerQUICC II running at 400MHz and consuming only 1.5W, this new VME board will be the perfect replacement solution for all older VME boards designed around 68k and PowerPC 603/604 processors now in end of life from Motorola Computer Group. The VSBC-6847 includes all the most popular features such as SODIMM 64bit SDRAM up to 512Mbyte, onboard 16Mbyte Flash, 1Mbyte SRAM, and a CompactFlash socket for rugged on board storage. If more storage is needed, an optional dual Serial-ATA controller will give access to large volume storage drives. For communication, the VSBC-6847 includes two Fast Ethernet ports, two HDLC ports with ESD protected software programmable RS232, RS422 and RS485 interfaces, one USB port and one RS232 console port. Additional functions are available through the two PMC extension slots for 32bit PMCs, and eight general purpose TTL I/Os. A nonvolatile 256Kbit EEPROM is available for user parameters. The board is compatible with the VME specification Rev C and requires only a 5V power supply, using less than 1.5A current (typical power dissipation is only 6W excluding PMCs and CompactFlash). The VSBC-6847 supports a complete VME-32 interface for master and slave accesses with bus arbiter, interrupt handler and DMA controller functions. For software support the board is shipped with ECMON monitor and BSPs are available for Linux and VxWorks from Ecrin Systems. The VSBC-6847 VME SBC is available now from Actis Computer in small quantities at an MSRP of Eur 1200 (one-off) and will be available in volume for Eur 960 (250-up).

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[9]  LEAD-FREE SBC LEADS GREEN REVOLUTION

(Adlink Technology, 01 Jun 2005)

Adlink Technology has launched its green product policy with the release of its first "green" single board computer, the NuPRO-851, this week at Computex 2005 in Taipei. In line with the new policy, the company's CompactPCI cPCI-6841 and cPCI-6842 SBCs, as well as the computer-on-module ETX-IM333 and ETXexpress-IA533 will become green products in August 2005 when component supplies are ready. The PCI-3488 high-performance IEEE488 GPIB interface card will also adopt a lead free process in the third quarter of this year. Adlink President, Jim Liu, states: "Adlink will continue to survey the market for appropriate substitute materials or make the necessary design changes to attain this goal". "Meeting RoHS requirements represents a significant commitment from Adlink to our customers in Europe, as well as the global community, because the quality of the environment affects all of us". "Adlink continues to work proactively with its industry peers and suppliers to clarify standards and identify technologies and processes that reduce the use of hazardous substances such as tin/lead solders". "When all of the materials in a specific product are lead-free, we will announce it as a green product", says Liu. Adlink implemented its green product policy in May 2004 to align the purchasing and use of green products meeting requirements of international environment protection statutes. Adlink is very active in implementing this policy, and is working hard to encourage suppliers to support these changes. The green product concept has been built into its new product development system to ensure protection of the environment and continued business success.

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[10]  AUDIO CODEC HAS A SPLIT PERSONALITY

(Wolfson Microelectronics, 01 Jun 2005)

Wolfson Microelectronics has launched a new stereo audio codec with the ability to operate the ADC and DAC at different sample rates simultaneously, making it ideal for use in DVD-RW, LCD TV, and similar consumer electronics applications, where the end user requires to simultaneously play and record DVD or television content. This feature of the Wolfson WM8591 codec allows a single small codec chip to be used in place of two separate ADC and DAC devices, offering designers the potential to save component cost, external component count and PCB area over existing solutions. The WM8591 also includes an analogue programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The PGA can be used to adjust the sensitivity of analogue inputs ensuring that recording levels are consistent, and also used as a limiter to avoid analogue input overload distortion. The WM8591 is a single-ended input, two-wire control version of the WM8590 with an impressive DAC signal-noise ratio (SNR) of 110dB combined with a 102dB ADC. Unlike many conventional solutions, which require multiple control systems, this single two-wire interface offers access to all features including volume control and mute and de-emphasis facilities, significantly reducing design time. The single-ended inputs to the ADC and differential outputs from the DAC further support designers in achieving high performance with reduced system complexity. Like the WM8590, the new WM8591 is based on a 24bit sigma-delta ADC with programmable input gain and limiter control. analogue gain can be adjusted from +24 to -21dB in 0.5dB steps, and digital gain can be programmed from -21.5dB to -103dB, also in 0.5dB steps. Output word lengths from 16 to 32bit are supported, along with sampling rates from 32 to 96kHz. The device's audio data interface supports IsqdS, left-justified, right-justified and DSP formats. The DAC supports sampling rates from 32 to 192kHz, which can be programmed independently of the ADC sample rate. The Wolfson WM8591 is available to sample now and will be available in volume in Q4 2005.

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