Serving the Electronic Design Community Since 1956
Celebrating the year’s best products
December 5, 2008 8:32 am | by Chris Warner, Executive Editor | Articles | CommentsAll around, 2008 has been a very trying year. Each day seemed to bring a new round of bad news, whether it was the real estate bubble bursting, stock markets plummeting, or the “big three” automakers petitioning congress for a bailout similar to the one given to some of the nation’s largest banks. In the electronics industry, lackluster consumer confidence, fueled by the global economic crisis...
Light-to-Digital Converter Performs Light/Proximity Sensing
December 5, 2008 8:32 am | Product Releases | CommentsIncorporating an IR SSLD and an I²C/SMBus interface, Intersil’s ISL29015 ambient and infrared light-to-digital converter executes ambient light and infrared sensing. The 2-mm × 2.100-mm 6-lead ODFN-packaged component uses an internal 16-bit ADC with adjustable conversion time from 25 ìs to 100 ms and flicker noise rejection of 50 Hz and 60 Hz. For
Seven-Segment Displays Operate in Consumer-Industrial Apps
December 5, 2008 7:12 am | Product Releases | CommentsPossessing character heights of 0.28” (7 mm), 0.39” (10 mm) and 0.56” (14.22 mm), Avago Technologies’ HDSM-28xx, HDSM-29xx, HDSM-43xx, HDSM-44xx, HDSM-53xx, and HDSM-54xx single- and dual-digit 7-segment displays perform in home appliances, exercise equipment, TV set-top boxes, measurement equipment, and warning indicators. The SMT devices are built on a PCB substrate with metal tabs or end caps that can
Wireless and PXI Express DAQ Modules Serve Sound and Vibration Apps
December 5, 2008 6:16 am | Product Releases | CommentsCompatible with the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite, a collection of analysis and signal processing tools, a wireless data acquisition module and two PXI Express modules from National Instruments offer improved performance over previous devices of this type.
Controller Supports Synchronous and Non-synchronous Designs
December 5, 2008 6:03 am | Product Releases | CommentsSupporting both synchronous and non-synchronous designs, a single output, step-down controller from Advanced Analogic Technologies is capable of providing power conversion for lower-cost 12-V adapters. Offering both high and low-side pins, the controller supports a 6-V to 24-V input range
Motherboards Based on 45-nm Quad-core Processor
December 5, 2008 5:56 am | Product Releases | CommentsBased on the 45-nm Intel Core 2 Quad processor, the Kontron KTG41/ATX ATX basic motherboard and the Kontron KTG41/ATXU Micro-ATX basic motherboard offer 3 years long-term availability. The processor's specs include a 3.0 GHz, 12-MB L2 cache and an FSB of up to 1,333 MHz
Contact Inserts Attach Wires Without Tools
December 5, 2008 5:46 am | Product Releases | CommentsMade for the Heavycon Series plug connectors, Phoenix Contact’s Series B push-in contact inserts can connect flexible wires with ferrules or rigid wires without tools. To key the contact, the user inserts plastic pins into the contact coding slot without removing the fastening screws. The product come in 6, 10, 16, and 24 positions for 500-V/16-A with
Switching Power Supplies Deliver High Power Density
December 5, 2008 4:54 am | Product Releases | CommentsSupplying up to 365 W, Digital Power’s HD365 Series AC/DC switching power supplies present a power density of 18 W/in.³. The 3” × 5” devices offer output voltages of 5 V, 12 V, 24 V, and 48 V; universal AC input from 85 V to 264 V, standby voltage of 5 V, and isolated 12-V auxiliary outputs. The open-frame switchers exhibit active power factor
Industry Focus: When Electronics Go Green, Everybody Wins
December 4, 2008 11:45 am | by Jeff Ittel, senior vice president of semiconductors, Avnet Electronics Marketing | Articles | CommentsFor members of the electronics supply chain, going “green” is not just a short-term marketing scheme rife with buzzwords but short on substance. Granted, the tech sector has jumped on its share of bandwagons, but this movement is different. It’s not just about pioneering technologies, building a positive public image, padding the bottom line or even “doing the right thing.” It’s all of the above. When state-of-the-art electronic products are energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, and cost effective, everyone wins.
Op Amps Exhibit Low Input Noise
December 4, 2008 11:05 am | Product Releases | CommentsIncluded in the WEBENCH Sensor Designer Tool, National Semiconductor’s LMP2021 (single) and LMP2022 (dual) zero-drift operational amplifiers present an input voltage noise of 11 nV/sqrt Hz at a gain of 1,000 V/V. The components use EMI suppression filters, demonstrate an EMI rejection ratio (EMIRR) of 79 dB, support 24-bit data acquisition systems, and optimally drive the ADC161S626 16-bit ADCs. The products offer input offset
Reference Platform Incorporates Linux and Windows
December 4, 2008 10:13 am | Product Releases | CommentsDesigned for the Freescale i.MX27 processor, Strategic Test’s Development Kit-5 hardware reference platform integrates Linux 2.6 and Microsoft Embedded Windows CE 5.0 and 6.0. The core of the kit is the TX27 SODIMM module, which contains the i.MX27, 64-MB mobile DDR-SDRAM (with a 128-MB option), 128-MB NAND Flash
Industrial LCD Module Lasts 50K Hours
December 4, 2008 9:08 am | Product Releases | CommentsUsing LED backlighting technology, Sharp Microelectronics’ LQ150X1LG82 15” industrial LCD module endures for up to 50,000 hours over a temperature range from 0°C to 60°C. The transmissive XGA landscape-mode panel offers a response time of 8 ms, a contrast ratio of 550:1, 3H hard coating, horizontal viewing angles of 120°, and vertical viewing
RS-232-to-USB Converters Exhibit Fast Transfer Rate
December 4, 2008 8:09 am | Product Releases | CommentsComing with driver software, Omega Engineering’s OM-CONV-USB Series RS-232-to-USB interface converters demonstrate a data transfer rate of >1 Mbps. The product is powered from the USB cable with no external power required, and works by installing the driver software into the PC and connecting the converter into the USB port. The device is
SMT Aluminum Capacitors Handle High Temperatures
December 4, 2008 7:32 am | Product Releases | CommentsUsing a features a non-solid, self-healing electrolyte as well as a heat-resistant pad and molded baseplate, the ECL series of polarized aluminum electrolytic capacitors from Vishay Intertechnology can operate at temperatures as high as 105°C. Available in capacitance values from 10 µF to 1500 µF over a voltage range from 6.3 V to 100 V, the capacitors’ features include an impedance Z down to 90 mO at 100 kHz and a ripple current of 670 mA (at
MMIC Chip Accepts Parallel Data Input
December 4, 2008 7:07 am | Product Releases | CommentsFeaturing parallel data input and compensated on-chip gate bias, an 8.5 to 11-GHz gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) core chip from Mimix Asia delivers 21 dB of RX gain. The transmit amplifier also has a typical Small-signal gain of 19 dB. Mimix performs on-wafer RF, DC, and output power testing on the XZ1002-BD
