Archive

Outlook 2012: The light fantastic 01/10/2011

Optoelectronics – the partnership of technology and light – is an area of great innovation and exciting development. Helped by the rapid evolution of ...

Outlook 2012: Brighter outlook for solar cells 01/10/2011

Research into solar cells has succeeded in improving the efficiency of the process of converting photons into electrical energy. Laboratory cells ...

Outlook 2012: Securing embedded devices 01/10/2011

Rapid growth in the intelligence and interconnected nature of embedded devices is accompanied by an increase in security threats. Attacks are ...

Are small companies missing out on the benefits of a patent? 27/09/2011

Patents – and IP in general – are big business. One way or another, patents make money for their owners; whether that's from the products they enable ...

European project takes another step towards completely ... 27/09/2011

The need to reduce road accidents and the number of people who die as a result of them has been at the forefront of automotive design for many years. ...

EMC testing more stringent as cars feature more electronics 27/09/2011

Since its introduction into UK law at the beginning of 1996, the EMC Directive has blended into the background of electronic design. While a few ...

European Standard set to improve energy performance of ... 27/09/2011

Increasing demand for electrical energy has motivated the drive to reduce energy consumption, as suggested by the European Climate Change Programme. ...

Concurrency checkers can improve multicore process ... 27/09/2011

To take advantage of performance improvements provided by multicore processors, it is essential to have a good command of concurrency. Yet most ...

Optoelectronics sustaining innovation in the telecoms market 27/09/2011

Even if you have nothing to do with the telecoms industry, it is hard not to see just how rapidly and dramatically things are changing. Just a few ...

Test equipment eases hunt for noise sources in wireless ... 27/09/2011

When integrating a radio chip or module into a typical embedded system, designers often face the frustrating task of tracking down and eliminating ...

Electronics - the best legal ergogenic aid for performance ... 26/09/2011

Many top sportspeople live by the motto 'Be the best you can be'". In today's ultra competitive sporting world, reaching that peak, maintaining it ...

Rare earth elements vital to electronics industry 13/09/2011

What do ics, lasers, optical fibres, capacitors, displays and headphones have in common? Answer: they are all electronic products that depend on one ...

High performance computing comes to the military embedded ... 13/09/2011

When military customers discuss new embedded radar, communications intelligence (comint), signal intelligence (sigint) and situational awareness ...

EDA enters a brave new world 13/09/2011

There is a school of thought that believes hardware/software codesign is tomorrow's technology – and always will be. But is that really the case?

GPUs set to enter the mainstream 13/09/2011

Until recently, demand for more processor performance has been met by faster clocking, more bit width and ever smaller fabrication nodes. The ...

Cutting cables: Demand for wireless links is on the increase 13/09/2011

Cables are, in almost every application, yesterday's technology; if it isn't wireless, it's almost not worth considering. If you've decided that ...

Design flow developments enable more capable signal ... 13/09/2011

Continuity in the design flow is becoming critical if engineers are to meet tighter budget and time constraints when developing next generation ...

Issues and solutions for variation aware custom IC design 30/08/2011

In today's highly competitive semiconductor industry, profitability hinges largely on advantageous design performance, high yield and rapid time to ...

Facebook's new data centre is home to numerous innovations 09/08/2011

It is reasonable to assume that anyone reading this article has dealings, in some way, with a data centre. Whether it's through the use of social ...

Nanoporous materials bring high energy and high power ... 09/08/2011

Energy storage has been a focus of much research over the years as developers look to pack more power into a given volume. But increasing the energy ...

The perils involved when pushing direct conversion to the ... 09/08/2011

Direct conversion, or zero IF, receivers are popular in applications where the need to reduce power consumption, reduce costs and extend battery life ...

Real time operating system architectures are important for ... 09/08/2011

Medical device manufacturers understand the importance of the operating system (OS) and, contrary to common practice for embedded systems design, ...

60GHz band emerges as a complement to wifi 09/08/2011

The emergence of smartphones and tablet computers alongside digital cameras, tvs and laptops means most interactions will soon be between devices, ...

Frequency control product manufacturers face increasing ... 09/08/2011

Choosing the right timing solution to fit a specific application is a critical part of the design process. Engineers need to determine system ...

Skills initiatives tackle the declining interest in ... 26/07/2011

The need to develop vocational skills has come into sharp focus over the last few years after a long period during which the traditional ...