Serving the Electronic Design Community Since 1956
LED Assemblies Offer Custom Brightness Options
February 13, 2009 3:51 am | Product Releases | CommentsPresenting blue, red, and green standard colors, Elma Electronic’s new line of LED assemblies can be customized to include different levels of indicating brightness for each LED within the same unit to meet a specific indicating goal. Customized colors, such as orange, amber, and white, are also available. Most LED designs are
Where Do the LEDs Belong?
February 12, 2009 12:14 pm | by Alfred Poor, Contributing Editor | Articles | CommentsAt CES 2009 in Las Vegas this year, it appeared that every major LCD TV manufacturer had at least one model with an LED backlight. It quickly became apparent that there are some clear advantages to using LEDs as the light source, but a closer look at the way this solid state lighting is implemented raises some interesting questions. First, let’s cover the plus side.
Amplifiers Based on Gallium Arsenide Technology
February 12, 2009 9:35 am | Product Releases | CommentsBased on gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated circuit (IC) technology, five broadband power amplifiers from Teseq are intended for EMC testing environments with non-ideal load conditions. Operating from 0.8 GHz to 3.1 GHz and 2 GHz to 6 GHz, the amplifiers feature power levels ranging from 30 W to 450 W. All units are powered from a switched mode power supply
Pushbutton Switch Has Multiple LED Color Options
February 12, 2009 9:19 am | Product Releases | CommentsThe LP1 series, an illuminated round pushbutton switch from E-Switch, features multiple LED color options of blue, green, red, white, and yellow. Features include: electrical life of 50,000 cycles; operating force of 250 +/- 100 gf; contact rating of 100 mA @ 30 VDC; contact resistance of 50 milliohms; insulation resistance of 100 Megaohms (Min. @ 500 VDC); and dielectric strength
6LoWPAN Goes Where ZigBee Can't
February 12, 2009 8:25 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsMany “standard” and proprietary protocols use the media-access controller (MAC) and the physical circuits (PHY) associated with IEEE 802.15.4 radios. Those protocols use their own arrangements of bits and bytes to transfer information between nodes, but none of them use the Internet Protocol (IP). So they cannot directly communicate with Internet-based devices and Web servers/browsers.
Module Enables PCIe Expansion
February 12, 2009 8:24 am | Product Releases | CommentsConsisting of a PCIe host card, cable, and chassis, Magma’s ExpressBox² (EB2) seamlessly expands the available PCIe slots of desktops, workstations, servers, and laptops. The unit supports communication bandwidth between host and
Take a Top-Down View of Industrial Imaging
February 12, 2009 8:23 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsBefore you think about using an industrial imaging system to solve an inspection problem, you must exactly define the problem or problems you need to solve. To start, John Keating, product marketing manager at Cognex breaks vision tasks into four categories: inspection that detects flaws, gauging that performs a dimensional measurement, identification that reads information, and guidance that directs movement.
Achieving High Efficiency with Power Switches
February 12, 2009 8:18 am | by Gwan-Bon Koo, Senior Engineer, Fairchild Semiconductor | Articles | CommentsIn general, high frequency operation allows the use of small-sized passive components in switch mode power supplies (SMPS), while it causes switching losses to increase in a hard switching mode. To reduce switching losses at high switching frequencies, many soft switching techniques have been developed. Among them, load resonant techniques and zero voltage transition techniques are widely used.
Data Logger Measures Temperature/Relative Humidity
February 12, 2009 7:46 am | Product Releases | CommentsPerforming over the 0%-to-100% RH and -35°C-to-80°C measurement ranges, Measurement Computing's USB-502-LCD standalone data logger measures and stores up to 16,379 relative humidity and 16,379 temperature readings. The LCD window shows measurements and logger status information, and a button enables
Diode Laser Delivers 500 W
February 12, 2009 7:13 am | Product Releases | CommentsAt 976 nm, DILAS’ new fiber-coupled, multi-bar diode laser provides up to 500 W output through a cladding-mode-free QBH 400-µm core diameter fiber with a numerical aperture of <0.2 and WPE of >35%. The device can be packaged in up to 12-bar configurations, and only requires industrial water for cooling. The module demonstrates
Current-Sense Resistors Exhibit Low Resistance
February 12, 2009 6:45 am | Product Releases | CommentsShowing resistance shifts of <0.5% and < 0.25% for short time overloads, Stackpole Electronics’ BR Series bare-metal current-sense resistors exhibit resistance values down to 1 mOhm. The RoHS-compliant devices offer typ. inductance of =1 nH, sizes of 1 W, 3 W, and 5 W, TCR from 100 ppm to 20 ppm, and tolerances of
Mini Transistors Drive Portable Applications
February 12, 2009 5:14 am | Product Releases | CommentsWell-suited for portable battery-powered applications, the CMLT3820G (NPN) and CMLT7820G (PNP) Low VCE(SAT) transistors from Central Semiconductor are provided in an SOT-563 SMT package with a maximum profile of 0.6 mm. The NPN CMLT3820G has a VCE(SAT) of 115 mV at 100 mA, and 280 mV at 1.0 A, while the
Low-Power DDR2 Memory Targets Mobile Applications
February 12, 2009 4:24 am | Product Releases | CommentsIncluding 512-Mb and 1-Gb die to reach 4-Gb solutions, Micron Technology’s low-power DDR2 (LPDDR2) DDR2 memory portfolio performs in traditional handsets, smartphones, and mobile Internet devices (MIDs). The product operates at 1.2 V, which reduces the device’s memory power consumption as much as 50% when compared to LPDDR1, according to the company. The solution delivers data transferring speeds of
Ultrasonic Sensor Addresses Car Reversing Aids
February 12, 2009 4:08 am | Product Releases | CommentsGenerating asymmetrical beam patterns approximately ±80° about the horizontal axis and 40° about the vertical, LPRS’ Pro-Wave US040015 ultrasonic sensor meets the requirements of most car reversing aids. The component has 3
IC Innovators To Be Inducted Into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
February 11, 2009 9:46 am | Product Releases | CommentsLarry Hornbeck holds a series of patents that form the foundation for the digital micromirror device (DMD) — an array of tiny mirrors that create an image by directing pulses of “digital” light through a projection lens and onto a television, presentation, or movie theater screen. Now his work has earned a place in the limelight of the National Inventors Hall of Fame this May. This year, the Hall is recognizing the 50th anniversary of integrated circuit technology by
