Articles
Brainstorm-Skills
May 27, 2008 6:15 am | CommentsAmerican EE students need exposure to new technologies and design techniques that did not exist 10 to 15 years ago, but are also under fire for not having a solid grasp of basic science and math skills. How do you feel the issue can be addressed to create engineers able to deal with competition and design pressures in the new disruptive engineering environment?
DSP: From Ideas to Implementation
May 19, 2008 5:08 am | CommentsA variety of tools simplifies the trip from abstract DSP models to real signal-processing hardware.
ECN Brainstorm: Near-field Communications
May 16, 2008 8:14 am | CommentsFor line of sight near-field bidirectional wireless communication applications would you rather use IrDA light-based methodologies or RF?
Thermal Concerns in LED Lighting
April 28, 2008 11:40 am | by Steve Bowling, Microchip Technology Inc. | CommentsWhile LEDs offer mainstream lighting applications benefits such as long life, durability and high efficiency, the lifetime of an LED product may be significantly shortened without proper thermal management safeguards in your design.
Kits for Kids 2008
April 28, 2008 10:55 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | CommentsWith summer vacation on the way, keep kids occupied with engineering-like activities and projects.
When Do You Work with a Contract Manufacturer?
April 28, 2008 7:41 am | by Jon Titus | CommentsEngineers at start-up companies and even some larger companies don’t want to go to a contract manufacturer that also builds zillions of complex boards and products for big companies. Instead, these engineers want the daily hand holding associated with building prototypes.
PCB Prototype Success Is In the Cards
April 28, 2008 6:33 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | CommentsFabricators can quickly deliver high-quality PCB prototypes. To ensure success you must play your cards right.
Protecting intellectual property by design
April 25, 2008 9:36 am | by Leon M. Attarian, ECN Editorial Advisory Board, Director of Marketing for PennEngineering | CommentsIndustrial intellectual property (IP) offers a powerful tool to communicate and reinforce expectations associated with product quality, consistency, and performance. In all forms (whether brand names, patents, trademarks, design markings, or others), IP additionally can help point the way to reputable “tried-and-true” product solutions and draw clear distinctions in an increasingly complex global marketplace.
Digital Power Management and the PMBus
April 25, 2008 5:50 am | by Torbjorn Holmberg, Ericsson Power Modules | CommentsAs systems that incorporate low-voltage logic become ever more complex, the power supplies necessary to correctly operate multiple-voltage chips such as DSPs and FPGAs similarly increase in complexity. For example, it’s now commonplace for an FPGA’s core to operate at 1.2 – 1.8V, while its I/O banks run from multiple levels to interface with external logic families. Most often, chips that have core power supplies that are independent from I/O and auxiliary levels require careful power sequencing to ensure they start up and operate correctly.
Low-loss IGBTs Improve Switching In Sub-2.5 kW Inverter Applications
March 26, 2008 12:51 pm | by Vijay Bolloju, International Rectifier | CommentsTraditionally, IGBTs have addressed applications requiring high-voltage and -current ratings and relatively slow switching frequencies. When the switching frequency is low, the inherently low conduction losses resulting from the device’s low VCE(on) (collector-to-emitter saturation voltage), which derive from the IGBT’s minority carrier operation, outweigh the
Talking in turbulent times
March 26, 2008 6:44 am | by Alix Paultre, Editor in chief | CommentsAnyone who has survived the last several years in the electronic industry know what I mean when I say that these are very turbulent times. Disruptive technologies in both the hardware and software arenas combined with the relentless pressure of convergence in functionality, marketplace, and the business itself have made life very interesting for electronic design engineers.
Side Bar: Get a Trusted Security Certificate
March 24, 2008 6:46 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | CommentsJon Titus exlains that you can buy digital certificates to identify your products and provide a public/private key for each.
Brainstorm - Communication Buses
March 20, 2008 10:26 am | CommentsAs electronic networks become more data-intensive and intelligent subsystems increase in number and complexity, bandwidth limits, signal interference, and device compatibility issues become important concerns. What are some ways that an electronic circuit designer can address these challenges?
