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Power ICs Tolerate Radiation
March 26, 2009 10:51 am | Product Releases | CommentsA family of high-reliability power management ICs from Texas Instruments target applications exposed to long-term radiation and extreme temperatures, such as downhole drilling, x-ray imaging, satellite systems and high-altitude avionics.
Voltage Suppressors Exhibit Max Leakage Current of 2µA
March 26, 2009 7:36 am | Product Releases | CommentsFeaturing non-linear, bi-directional voltage-current characteristics, a Zinc Oxide-based varistor series of voltage suppressors from AVX exhibits a leakage current of 2µA maximum. The UltraGuard Series comes in discrete chips available in 0402, 0603, and 0805 sizes; 2-element packages in 0405 and 0508 sizes; and 4-element 0612 packages
LCD Needs No Video Controller
March 26, 2009 7:13 am | Product Releases | CommentsWith built-in controllers and LED backlights, LXD Small TFT Displays don't require an external video controller. Sizes range from 2.0” to 4.3”. Each display is designed with a touch panel option. The interconnect is a flex circuit to a Molex series connector 51296 (bottom mount) or 54104 (top mount). Intended applications include aerospace
Backplane Supports ATCA Applications
March 26, 2009 7:02 am | Product Releases | CommentsCompact enough to fit within a 5U horizontal ATCA enclosure, Elma Bustronic’s 6-slot AdvancedTCA Backplane in a Mesh topology also allows a Dual Star topology implementation.
MCU Family Offers 1.65 MIPS/MHz Performance
March 26, 2009 6:10 am | 3M Electronics Solutions Division | Product Releases | CommentsIntended for applications that must run large-scale programs rapidly while achieving high performance levels, the RX family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCU) deliver a processing performance of 1.65 MIPS/MHz while consuming 0.03mA/MHz CPU core current.
Neutron tracks revive hopes for cold fusion
March 26, 2009 5:36 am | Product Releases | CommentsTwenty years to the day that two electrochemists ignited controversy by announcing signs of cold fusion at an infamous press conference in Utah, a separate team has made a similar claim in the same US state. But this time, the evidence is being taken more seriously.
GaN based Power Devices Make Possible A New Paradigm in Power Conversion
March 25, 2009 8:30 am | by Michael A. Briere, Executive Scientific Consultant, ACOO Enterprises LLC, under contract to International Rectifier Corp. | Articles | CommentsFrom planar HEXFETs to TrenchFETs and superjunction FETs, silicon power MOSFETs have continued to evolve for the last 30 years to satisfactorily serve numerous markets. In fact, during that period, there have been some two orders of magnitude improvement in performance. However, this silicon power device is rapidly approaching maturity
Design Talk: Digital & Analog
March 25, 2009 7:16 am | Articles | CommentsTypically, industries use standards to improve product quality and enable component sharing across projects. In practice, such standards achieve wide acceptance since the synergistic effects provide significant benefits to the user community. The hardware and software industry is full of such standards, but there is an exception: the deeply embedded microcontroller market
No Disks Needed for Startup's Streamed Video Games
March 25, 2009 7:10 am | Product Releases | CommentsA startup founded by technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman says it has developed a technology to deliver video games on demand, an idea that threatens to eventually take consoles out of the equation. OnLive Inc., Perlman's Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, planned to unveil its technology Tuesday night at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Dual-Core System-On-Module Operates at up to 2.26 GHz
March 25, 2009 6:48 am | Product Releases | CommentsAddressing a variety of harsh, mobile and mission-critical environments, the ESMexpress XM2 from MEN Micro is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 processor with a clock frequency of up to 2.26 GHz.
Emitter Used for Near-to-far Infrared Applications
March 25, 2009 6:45 am | Product Releases | CommentsThe PIRELC, a high-output emitter from Cal Sensors can be used as a steady state or pulsed source of blackbody radiation for near-to-far infrared applications. The solid state emitter offers output of 4x10-2 watts/cm2 at 1 inch from filament. The emitter is intended for applications including industrial and medical gas analysis, process control
Power Distribution System Allows 83 Disconnects
March 25, 2009 6:38 am | Product Releases | CommentsWith multiple connections per phase, the Altech Power Distribution (APD) System allows up to 83 disconnects per meter. The APD system houses two conductors in plastic insulation suitable for voltages up to 600 VAC. Conductors with current ratings of 25 A, 63 A, or 80 A are available
Google's top execs keep $1 salaries amid turmoil
March 25, 2009 5:39 am | Product Releases | CommentsGoogle Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin maintained their traditional salaries of $1 last year even as the value of their combined stakes in the Internet search leader plunged by nearly $26 billion.
Feinstein Blocking Solar Development in Mojave
March 25, 2009 5:04 am | Product Releases | CommentsCalifornia's Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.
Sensor Zone: April 2009
March 24, 2009 1:25 pm | by Chris Warner, Executive Editor | Articles | CommentsFor the last half-century, sensors based on the Hall effect have provided a low-cost, solid-state option for sensing any object that incorporates a magnetic field. Hall effect sensors are based on the discovery by Dr. Edwin H. Hall in 1879. He found that a thin conductive material, placed in a magnetic field, formed a difference in potential (voltage) at the opposite edges that was
