Archive

Efficient GPGPU programming with OpenCL 24/05/2012

Today's graphics processors are highly programmable, massively parallel compute engines. In this role, they are commonly called general purpose ...

Intelligent debug tools becoming a commercial necessity 22/05/2012

When developers start a new microprocessor based project, they are faced with a critical choice – which debug solution should they use? This article ...

Hardware processing blocks give highest video performance ... 10/04/2012

When digital signal processors first appeared commercially in the early 1980s, they took the electronics world by storm, eventually enabling the ...

Driving the workhorse: The best amplifier to use with SAR ... 27/03/2012

Applications engineers are often asked which amplifier is the best driver for a specific analogue to digital (a/d) converter.

New Electronics Roundtable: Industry looks to support ... 27/03/2012

While power supply design is becoming increasingly important, knowledge is leaving the industry. How are suppliers responding?

Would you be better off using a modular oscilloscope? Some ... 13/03/2012

Many mid range oscilloscopes are essentially Windows pcs configured specifically for use in test and measurement. Embedding a pc within an ...

Offloading tasks from the microcontroller can improve power ... 14/02/2012

The single biggest concern among microcontroller users used to be system cost, but energy consumption has steadily become a bigger issue.

Breeding success: Embedded World 2012 preview 14/02/2012

This year's embedded world exhibition and conference takes place in Nuremberg from 28 February to 1 March. The tenth running of the event is set to ...

Mixed signal asics meet cost and performance targets 24/01/2012

Custom analogue/mixed signal asics are economical at comparatively low volumes, with affordable non recoverable engineering (NRE) costs, meaning a ...

EV battery management essential for desired lifetime and ... 22/11/2011

For hybrid (HEV) and full electric vehicles (EVs), Li-Ion batteries offer the best trade off of power, energy density, efficiency and environmental ...

General purpose oscilloscope helps with low speed serial ... 22/11/2011

Using an oscilloscope to analyse and debug a low speed serial link is standard fare and today's general purpose digital oscilloscopes contain a ...

Altera embeds ARM processors to create ‘distinct class of ... 08/11/2011

Towards the end of 2010, Altera announced what it called its Embedded Initiative, the aim of which was to speed the take up of programmable logic ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The 10 best ways to make your device drivers unreliable 30/08/2011

Device drivers, the foundation of many embedded systems, are expected to be robust and stable while also delivering high performance.

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 ...

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, ...

The best route to avoiding counterfeit electronics 11/07/2011

It's been discussed and analysed for years, yet there does not seem to be an end in sight for the trade in counterfeit electronics.

Digital technology helps guitarists achieve pure analogue ... 29/06/2011

Producing a pure, organic and natural sound from an electric guitar has long been considered the Holy Grail for musicians. Traditionally, guitarists ...

New Electronics Roundtable: More support needed as analogue ... 14/06/2011

There is a perception that analogue design is getting harder; alongside the usual time to market issues, the devices with which designers work are ...

Turning off the shelf components into application specific ... 14/06/2011

By definition, off the shelf modular instruments are designed to be general purpose, programmable and flexible enough to handle a variety of input ...

Will AMD's Fusion architecture meet the needs of ETX and ... 14/06/2011

The discontinuation last year by Intel of the Pentium M and Celeron M processors and the 855/852 chipsets raised doubts about the future of the ETX ...