THE DESIGN CYCLE FORTNIGHTLY WWW.NEWELECTRONICS.CO.UK Plus: • RoHS one year on • Virtualisation helps developers mix things up • Multicore devices spawn signal processing changes • Serial communications bring FPGA transceiver boost • Lasers hit the spot • Reference board blends in Special Report: Start Ups and Spin Offs 24 APRIL 2007 12 JUNE 2007 Blast off! For amateurs and professionals alike, rocketry is challenging, inspiring, educational and – above all else – fun!
Transcript
T H E D E S I G N C Y C L E F O R T N I G H T L Y W W W . N E W E L E C T R O N I C S . C O . U K
Plus: • RoHS one year on • Virtualisation helps developers mix things up • Multicore devices spawn signal processing changes • Serial communications bringFPGA transceiver boost • Lasers hit the spot • Reference board blends in
Special Report: Start Ups and Spin Offs
24 APRIL 200712 JUNE 2007
Blast off!For amateurs and professionals
alike, rocketry is challenging, inspiring, educational and –
DIRECTIVES & STANDARDSGetting greenerA year after RoHS came into force, its real impact is only just being felt in some sectors. 23
EMBEDDED SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENTPick and mixHow virtualisation mixes different operatingsystems on a single hardware platform. 27
SIGNAL PROCESSINGSignalling a changeA new algorithmic development approach isneeded for multicore and fpga coprocessors. 31
PROGRAMMABLE PLATFORMSTransceiver take upManufacturers increase transceivers on fpgas to accommodate emerging serial interface standards. 37
OPTOELECTRONICSPoint of interestNew optical filtering techniques are enabling one laser to generate three wavelengths. 41
REFERENCE DESIGNSBlending into the projectIs this new reference board the shape of things to come? 45
START UPS AND SPIN OFFSInvesting in innovationHow fishing in the same ‘Pond’ helps to provide investment for great ideas. 19
PRODUCT NEWSIntra Design 34
I N T R A D E S I G N
I N T E R D E S I G N
S P E C I A L R E P O R T
R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T S Y S T E M D E S I G N
C O N T E N T S1 2 J U N E 2 0 0 7 V O L 4 0 N O 1 1
8 27 37
Is your company producing innovative designs? If so, why notenter the Innovation and DesignExcellence Awards? For more information, go to:www.ideawards.co.uk
COVER STORY Rocketry is enablingboth the amateur andprofessional toexperience engineeringchallenges – to infinityand beyond! 14
REGULARS
CommentPrivate equity has cashto spare for profitableand stable technologycompanies. 5
Acal Technology UK Ltd 0118 902 9702Farnell in One 08701 200200Eltek Semiconductors Ltd 01803 834455Note: Eltek stock only die/wafer products
Linear Technology (UK) Ltd. 01628 477066Arrow Electronics UK Ltd 01279 626777
Franchised Distributors, UK and Ireland
, LTC, LT, LTM, PolyPhase and Burst Mode are registeredtrademarks and μModule is a trademark of Linear TechnologyCorporation. All other trademarks are the property of theirrespective owners.
Compact Power Suppliesfor FPGA-Based Systems
Tiny μModuleTM Power Supplies Fit on Both Sides of PC BoardOur μModule DC/DC point-of-load power supply family is complete with built-in inductor, MOSFETs, bypass capacitors andcompensation circuitry. At only 2.8mm height, these tiny, lightweight (1.7g) point-of-load regulators fit the tightest spaceson top and bottom of your board. Small size and impressive low thermal impedance allow high power conversion from awide range of voltages. Our μModule DC/DC converters simplify the design of your FPGA-based system and are backedby rigorous testing and high product reliability.
Editor Graham Pitcher Associate Editor Mike Richardson US Correspondent Paul Dempsey ([email protected])Contributing Editors David Boothroyd, Louise Joselyn, Vanessa Knivett, Roy Rubenstein Art Editor David Walters Illustrator Phil HolmesSales Director Tricia Bodsworth Business Development Director Lee Nye Circulation Manager Chris Jones ([email protected]) Production Controller Derek Gill Publisher Peter RingRepresented in North America by Huson International Media (www.husonusa.com)West Coast: Matt Lane ([email protected]), 1999 South Bascom Ave, Suite 1000, Campbell CA 95008 Tel: 408 879 6666East Coast: Michael Andrews ([email protected]), 350 5th Avenue, Suite 2719, New York NY 10018 Tel: 212 268 3344Represented in Japan by Shinano International: Kazuhiko Tanaka, Akasaka Kyowa Bldg, 1-6-14 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107-0052 Tel: +81(0)3 3584 6420
ISSN 0047-9624New Electronics, incorporating Electronic Equipment News and Electronics News, is published0 twice monthly by Findlay Publications Ltd, Hawley Mill, Hawley Road, Dartford, Kent, DA2 7TJ Copyright 2007 Findlay Publications. Annual subscription (22 issues) for readers in the UK is £105, overseas is £160, and airmail is £196. Composition by JJays, Unit 4, Baron Ct, Chandlers Way, Temple Farm Ind. Est., Southend on Sea, SS2 5SE. Printed in England by Wyndeham Heron Ltd, Heybridge, CM9 4NW.
How much private equity is there in the world?
Without putting a number to it, the answer is
‘lots’. And the investment firms still have a more
than a bit of loose change, at least judging by
recent activity.
A leading Silicon Valley news source claims that 121 private
equity buyouts have been completed this year already, with a
value of $109.9billion. Last year, 299 deals were struck, worth
$94.8bn.
And there are still quite a few deals bubbling away. There’s
an $8bn acquisition of networking specialist Avaya in process
and Palm has just sold a quarter of its stock in exchange for
$325million – much needed, apparently.
But the big rumour swirling around is whether Cadence
could be the next private equity target. The company has been
subject to acquisition rumours over the recent past, but linking
it with private equity investors is a new twist.
You have the feeling that Cadence will be a big ticket
investment, should it happen. Under Mike Fister, the company
has seen its capitalisation rise to $6.5bn – and the acquisition
rumours boosted that by 6% overnight.
Why the interest in technology, however? The answer is that
the sector is now maturing – if not matured. Early stage investors
are used to the ‘white knuckle’ ride of getting companies off the
ground and the accompanying risk. The private equity investors
who ‘swallowed’ NXP and Freescale, for example, are more
interested in a steady revenue stream, along with the opportunity
for a little ‘asset stripping’. So, while there are profitable and stable
technology companies, there will be interest from private equity.
5New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Private equity companies still have more than enough cash to spare.
Moving on? If you change jobs or your company moves, please [email protected] to continue receiving your free copy of New Electronics.
L SE change?
Leader.qxd 6/6/07 3:55 pm Page 5
F R O N T P A G E N E W SM I C R O C O N T R O L L E R S
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 20076
STMicroelectronics has announced
a new family of 32bit flash micro-
controllers based on the ARM Cortex-
M3 core. According to the company,
the combination of high performance,
low power and low cost will make the
range attractive to existing 8 and 16bit
users looking to upgrade.
Frederic Gaillard, an ST microcon-
troller product marketing engineer, said
the objective of the STM32 range was
to bring new degrees of freedom to
developers by offering good power effi-
ciency, a good peripheral set and high
levels of integration. “But a good micro
starts with a good engine,” he claimed,
“so we chose the Cortex-M3 core
because it offer 1.25Dhrystone
MIPS/MHz.”
ST says the devices in the family run
from a supply between 2 and 3.6V, draw-
ing a maximum of 36mA at 72MHz with
all peripherals clocked. With peripherals
off, power consumption is 22mA and
standby mode draws 2mA.
There will be two lines in the fam-
ily. The Performance range will run at
72MHz, while the Access range will run
at 36MHz. Both feature up to 128k of
flash, but offer different sram capacities.
UK manager Ollie Althorpe
believes the part boasts specifications
that will be attractive to UK designers.
“It’s a world leading device; battery
capable and powerful. It hits where the
UK market needs it to hit and gives our
small and medium sized companies the
ability to tackle new applications – for
instance, the ability to run high speed
displays directly.”
Medical approvalPlexus UK has been accredited to ISO13485, the quality standardfor medical device design.ISO13485 takes a process approach to quality management. AndyAllen, Plexus’ vp Europe said: “The medical device market isfundamental to our business in Europe. The design, developmentand manufacture of devices for this market requires an extremelyhigh process standard and the award of ISO13485 demonstratesour commitment to the regulatory requirements related to thedesign of medical devices.”
32bit micro launch to boost UK design opportunities. Graham Pitcher reports.
First MicroTCA win?Motorola has claimed the industry’s
first MicroTCA design win for com-
munications computing applications.
Under the deal, Hypercom will inte-
grate Motorola’s Centellis 1000 series
communications server into its transac-
tion network products designed for use
in transport point of sale transactions.
“Centellis 1000 series server will
help us accelerate delivery of our high
security network transaction products
to new markets by providing an
advanced and system oriented platform
for next generation POS networking
products,” said Neil Hudd, Hyper-
com’s senior vp for global product
development and marketing.
Back illuminationboostImaging specialist e2v is claiming a
‘dramatic’ improvement in the sensitiv-
ity of devices aimed at medium volume
applications through the use of back
illumination.
The company says it has combined its
sensor expertise with the circuit layer
transfer technology of Soitec subsidiary
Tracit Technologies. “e2v’s sensor
breakthrough is the result of our opti-
mised manufacturing processes and
Tracit’s expertise,” said Jean-Philippe
Lamarcq, Imaging Business Unit Gen-
eral Manager at e2v’s Grenoble site.
“We are proud to be first in the medium
volume professional image sensor mar-
ket to offer this innovative solution.”
High precision, low powerIntersil has launched a range of low
power, high accuracy analogue devices.
According to Simon Prutton, general
manager of the company’s analog and
mixed signal products business: “We
have identified many unsatisfied needs
for products that deliver improved
accuracy over temperature and time.
The first of these parts are launching
under the pinPOINT name.”
The pinPOINT range will include
precision voltage references, op amps,
comparators, instrumentation ampli-
fiers and current sensing amplifiers.
WEEE registration ‘on track’With the 1 July WEEE deadline
approaching, the Environment Agency
believes most major producers, rebran-
ders and importers of household elec-
trical and electronic equipment have
signed up with an approved compli-
ance scheme.
Liz Parkes, the Agency’s Head of
Waste, said: “Initial data ... indicates the
major companies are signed up.” But
some smaller businesses obligated under
the WEEE Regulations still haven’t reg-
istered. “Our advice to these businesses
is to get into a scheme as soon as possi-
ble ... if you leave it too late, you risk get-
ting prosecuted,” she warned.
• For more on Directives and Stan-
dards, see p23
ST targets 8 and 16bit
pg 6.qxd 7/6/07 4:40 pm Page 6
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L eading foundry TSMC has unveiled
its latest steps to reduce uncertainty
over meeting design for manufacture
(DFM) requirements. Its Reference Flow
8.0, aimed at designs up to 45nm and
unveiled at last week’s Design Automa-
tion Conference, now includes an auto-
matic DFM design fix feature.
“We have been in a ‘green-amber-
red’ kind of situation and obviously
designers have wanted more clarity. It’s
important that we are now really offering
that in terms of physical DFM,” said
Tom Quan, deputy director for design
service marketing at TSMC.
At the same time, the foundry has
launched its Active Accuracy Assurance
initiative, which will be based on marry-
ing and intense data mining of its manu-
facturing data with the tools supplied by
partner EDA vendors and in house soft-
ware used by major clients.
Both Reference Flow 8.0 and the
AAA scheme mark a new phase in an
often tense relationship between
TSMC and its clients and eda partners
over the degree of visibility it has
offered into its proprietary manufactur-
ing processes.
“There are still issues over how the
data is interpreted and imported into
tools,” said Rajeev Madhavan, ceo of
TSMC partner Magma Design Automa-
tion. “The good thing is that the question
is now more about the use of the data
rather than what we do and do not have.”
Both Quan and Madhavan said that
further refinements to the DFM compo-
nent of TSMC’s main flow are required
in terms of electrical DFM.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 20078
Manufacturing clarityTSMC moves to end DFM uncertainty. Paul Dempsey reports from DAC in San Diego.
IBM releases SoI kitIBM is to release its silicon on insulator (SoI) technology into thebroader foundry market. A 45nm design kit for SOI asics will bereleased in early 2008, anticipating the first tape outs towards the endof next year and a volume ramp during 2009. SoI has, so far, been confined to high performance microprocessors,but Big Blue will now be aiming at the consumer, aerospace, defence,storage and multimedia markets, said Richard Busch, director for asicproducts and services in IBM’s Global Engineering Solutions division. The CU-45HP custom asic offering will also include the SOI embeddeddram unveiled at ISSCC earlier this year, and be available through allpartners in its Common Platform foundry alliance (also CharteredSemiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung). IBM is also launching its first silicon germanium process incorporatingthrough silicon via technology – where vias can be used the groundplane and which also has potential applications for stacked packages(available this Summer).Latest process additions are rounded out with a low leakage offeringfor handset design (available later this year) and a cost optimised SiGedesign kit (available now).
ESL gets IP boostTwo major IP providers have released
system level (ESL) models of key prod-
ucts addressing obstacles to implement-
ing abstracted methodologies.
Sonics and ARM are now distrib-
uting models for interconnect and on
chip communication IP alongside tra-
ditional RTL versions. Such models
would previously have been created on
a third party basis.
ARM’s C++ model offering within
the AMBA Adaptive Verification IP
package was described as a consequence
of work it had already undertaken. “We
need to create the verfication IP our-
selves to ensure the quality before we
release a product, so it makes sense to
make it more widely available,” said Rob
Kaye, ARM IP portfolio manager.
Rocket menStart up GateRocket unveiled its Rock-
etDrive ‘device native’ verification
modules.
“FPGA vendors make huge tools
investments, but the cap has been in
allowing simulation, rather than emu-
lation. (We’re) allowing the engineer to
do validation and test before going to
production,” said GateRocket presi-
dent and ceo Dave Orecchio.
The company provides Linux PC
modules featuring Altera Stratix 2 or
Xilinx Virtex 4 devices. The verifica-
tion engineer can then place any por-
tion of the fpga design into this drive
and run simulation software from
almost all major vendors.
U S N E W SD A C R E P O R T
Resource nightmare?
The 32nm node is threatening to turn
into a engineering resource nightmare,
according to speakers at DAC last week.
Aart de Geus, chairman and eda of
Synopsys (above), noted: “We are seeing
the early designs in 32nm already.”
However, he also expects a significant lag
to persist between the introduction and
widespread adoption of growing and
upcoming process nodes.
According to De Geus, the gap
between initial significant activity in
65nm and then 45nm had ‘clocked at
exactly 24 months’, but he added the
‘mainstream’ was then lagging behind
these power users by up to four years.
Even heavily resourced companies
see 32nm as another step along a diffi-
culty curve growing exponentially. Kazu
Yamada, vp and general manager of Cus-
tom SoC solutions at NEC Electronics
America, said an internal analysis indi-
cated that a 32nm design undertaken by
a ‘typical’ team of 40 engineers could
take 10 years to complete.
pg 8.qxd 7/6/07 4:39 pm Page 8
Bidirectional current monitors that make sense.In measurement and control, analog is everywhere.
Precision over temperature —guaranteedWith our new AD8210 bidirectional current sense amplifier, you get theindustry’s most integrated, flexible, and accurate current sense monitor.With features like �8 �V/°C maximum offset drift and 20 ppm/°C maximum gain drift guaranteed across the entire –40°C to +125°C temperature range, it represents a milestone in precision current sensemonitoring. The AD8210 improves your ability to meet your error budgetand to control more precisely a wide range of loads in communications,industrial, and medical applications. Two other bidirectional monitors—theAD8205 (gain of 50 V/V) and the AD8206 (gain of 20 V/V)—offer 50 kHzoperation and excellent performance over temperature.
All three amplifiers feature an innovative ratiometric output offset architecture that inherently improves the accuracy of your ADC and yoursystem. With a typical 5 V single-supply, each device can be configured for both bidirectional and unidirectional current sensing. Excellent outputaccuracy is maintained throughout the input voltage range through the use of a proprietary thin film precision network.
For more information on ADI’s current sense amplifiers and monitors,please visit www.analog.com/currentsense-EU
• –2 V to +65 V operating common-mode voltage range• –40°C to +125°C operating temperature range• 120 dB typical CMRR at dc • 10 ppm/°C typical gain drift• Gain of 20• 500 kHz bandwidth• Price: $1.79/1k
analog is everywhere is a trademark of Analog Devices, Inc.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200710
Sensing opportunitiesMotion sensor targets high end devices. Graham Pitcher reports.
N E W SM O T I O N S E N S I N G
Integrating analyser, generatorand RNC simulator, theMS269X series of signalanalysers from Anritsu is said
to meet the speed andfunctionality needs of nextgeneration mobilecommunications test systems.
A need for speed
Camcon eyes globalexpansionCambridge Consultants has made
three senior management changes and
unveiled plans to expand global opera-
tions over the next five years, creating
more than 200 new jobs.
CEO Dr Brian Moon has relo-
cated to the company’s US office,
where he will accelerate expansion in
medtech and wireless communications
consulting.
Meanwhile, Alan Richardson has
been promoted to deputy ceo and will
concentrate efforts on growing the UK
office. Richardson will be succeeded as
cto by Ray Edgson, who retains his role
as ventures director.
PCB and simulationsolution to improvedesign quality
Synopsys and Zuken have announced a
partnership to develop an integrated pcb
design and simulation product. The
solution, which will combine Synopsys’
Saber Simulator and Zuken’s CR-5000
System Designer, will deliver a platform
capable of system level electronic design,
simulation and verification.
“Working with Synopsys to inte-
grate our design and simulation envi-
ronments, we can improve the quality
and reliability of product design. This
partnership can make the Zuken solu-
tion one of the most comprehensive
pcb design environments available,”
said Zuken’s European general man-
ager Gerhard Lipski.
Right by designThe introduction of Simulink Design
Verifier by The MathWorks will allow
developers of embedded systems to
obtain test cases to satisfy industry
standard metrics, whilst uncovering
design errors earlier in the development
process.
“Model Based Design is becoming
a widely used approach for embedded
system development, moving from
R&D and proof of concept projects
into production programs,” said Paul
Barnard, marketing director of design
automation at The MathWorks.
Simulink Design Verifier, which
generates tests and proves design prop-
erties for Simulink and Stateflow mod-
els incorporates the Prover Plug-In from
Prover Technology, which searches pos-
sible execution paths of a model for test
cases and counter examples.
pg 10.qxd 7/6/07 5:14 pm Page 10
Industry defined. Analog Devices designed.In energy metering, analog is everywhere.
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The ideal energy measurement ICs for LCD display meters are here.Our ADE71xx and ADE75xx families represent a technology innovation that offers meter manufacturers and power utilities:
• Intelligent battery control• LCD contrast control with low dc offset• Improved meter reliability• Ultralow battery mode power consumption• Lower BOM cost with greater design simplicity
Analog Devices smartly integrates leading analog and mixed-signal ICs with application-optimized functionality for unequalled design features. We offer a broad portfolio of energy metering solutions,with an integration road map for continued reliability, size, cost, andpower improvements.
With signal processing ICs inside 175 million meters, Analog Devices is the industry’s most trusted IC supplier. To learn more about ourenergy metering ICs, visit our website.
ADE71xx and ADE75xx families:Energy metering core, MCU, flash memory, LCD driver, RTC, and intelligent battery management
Where are you?Location hardware means ZigBee chip knows its position. Graham Pitcher reports.
UK based radar systemsspecialist Navtech Radar haswon a contract for its W800Automatic Surveillance systemfrom BAA. The system will beinstalled at Heathrow, where itwill provide continuous automaticsurveillance of areas within theairport’s perimeter.Navtech W800 is a highfrequency all weather radar,scanning through 360°. Itautomatically controls CCTV
cameras to allow intruders to beidentified and tracked and candetect objects up to 800m awayin all weather conditions.“This is a landmark contract forNavtech,” said managing directorAndrew Rosenthal. “There is noquestion that BAA is our mostprestigious UK customer to date.”The contract has been awardedfollowing a successful four monthtrial of the system at Gatwickairport last year.
BAA signs radar contract
FPGAs get boost
The third generation of non volatile
fpgas from Lattice is said to represent
the first such range produced on a
90nm process.
The XP2 family offers up to 40k
look up tables and adds dedicated dsp
blocks whilst boosting performance by
25% and, according to Lattice, dropping
the price per function by up to 50%.
The parts use Fujitsu’s 90nm
embedded flash technology, providing
such benefits as ‘instant on’. Claiming
that most applications need some form
of dsp, the parts come with up to 12
sysDSP blocks. The programmable
blocks boast pipelined MAC functions,
with up to 36 x 36 capability.
Synplicity acquiresasic prototyperSynplicity has signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Swedish asic
prototyping specialist HARDI Elec-
tronics. According to the company,
the asic prototyping market is one the
fastest growing segments of the eda
industry, and the acquisition makes it
the leader in this part of the asic veri-
fication market.
Gary Meyers, Synplicity’s ceo, said:
“This is a major strategic move for Syn-
plicity. We will be able to immediately
leverage our existing asic verification
products by selling them together with
the HARDI asic prototyping boards.”
N E W ST R A C K I N G C H I P
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200712
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VISIT WWW.HFSS.COM and see how it will work for you.
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Go to www.intersil.com for samples, datasheets and support
S tart the countdown: Five … Race into spacetourism could soon be a reality. Four …Amateur rocketry is fascinating and much
more challenging than it first appears. Three …Hobbyist rocketeers are developing electronics thatparallel those used in the professional world. Two… It’s a great way to introduce children to a rangeof engineering based disciplines. One … Not for-getting the immense fun and enjoyment it pro-vides both adults and children. Blast off!
To really get off the ground however, it’sworth tracing the history of the UK’s rockettechnology which first came to prominence withthe work of William Congreve during the early19th Century. At this point Britain led the worldin rocket technology but fell behind in the 1930swhen liquid propellant technology was developedin Nazi Germany.
“After World War II, Britain developed aseries of rocket engines using hydrogen perox-ide as an oxidiser,” explained British RocketryOral History Programme (BROHP) directorand historian David Wright. “This technology- developed by Walther in Germany - led tothe Gamma engines used by the UK’s BlackArrow rocket for launching the Prosperosatellite.”
Wright claims that British rocket tech-nology went into decline after the decisionto cancel the UK developed Blue Streakand buy missiles for nuclear deterrentinstead. Without the kind of subsidy pro-vided to other countries, the UK strug-gled to support a civilian launcherprogramme and was finally cancelled in1971. However, even then some politi-cians argued that it would be more prof-itable for the UK to develop satellitesrather than rockets. The Astrium facil-ity at Stevenage which used to man-ufacture Blue Streak now producessome of the largest and most expen-sive satellites ever built.
If the UK had been less focused oncold war defence issues it mighthave developed a profitable com-mercial satellite launcher.
But our interest in rocketry didn’t end there andtoday, amateur rocketry provides many interest-ing challenges to anyone with a technical bent.Organisations such as the United KingdomRocketry Association (UKRA) promote and rep-resent high, medium power and model rocketryfor amateur research, educational and recre-
ational purposes. Equally, the Mars AdvancedRocket Society (MARS) is funded throughprivate donations and corporate sponsorshipand strives ‘to put Britain back in space’through the development of
rockets and related technolo-gies. Launching rockets up to32,000ft in America’s Black Rockdesert, MARS is a prime exampleof people getting together and shar-ing knowledge.
Aspiring rocketeers can gainvaluable exposure to the engineer-ing skills of designing and build-ing airframes capable of survivingrocket flight. It helps to enforcethe message that engineering canbe educational and ‘fun’ for adults and childrenalike. Associations such as the East AnglianRocketry Society (EARS) provide opportunityto meet fellow enthusiasts, share informationand have an enjoyable time flying handmadecreations.EARS’ club secretary, Mike Roberts says flyers at
the club come from a variety of backgrounds.“We have folks who discovered Estes modelrockets, look for somewhere to fly them, findour club and get hooked. We meet teachersthat now use rocketry in the classroom to teachscience and engineering, and one has got sointerested that he’s taken his experiences backto college to provide new and challengingprojects for students.”Meanwhile, the formation of the Purley Ama-teur Rocketry Society (PARS) came by pure
chance rather than design. A boy’s modelrocket birthday present for his dad set them on
a course that became a focal point for bring-ing friends together, getting outdoors andhaving fun.
All systems... GO!
14 New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Cover story.qxd 6/6/07 5:11 pm Page 14
C O V E R S T O R YR O C K E T E E R I N G
Under the guidance of the ‘dad’, Howard Smith,his son Oliver and friends Daniel Goldsmith andKes Daood use SpaceCAD to design and buildrockets, and with the PARS motto ‘blast into openskies’, it sure beats the kind of school design tech-nology lessons where the limit of ambition seems tostop at coat hooks and wine racks.
“Boys need inspiration to go forward in tech-nology, and model rockets is one way forward,”stated Smith. “If you consider what they are doingat school in woodwork or metalwork, they’re usu-ally making candlestick holders. Schools could bemore ambitious and I hope that technology teach-ers are motivated to do something more interesting.My aim is to try and get the boys enthused by build-ing things that involve technology. Sometimes youneed to bring them back down to earth by tellingthem that they have to simulate the rocket first toensure stability, but they quickly learn engineeringprinciples.”
Alongside the educational aspect of design tech-nology Smith says the boys alsodevelop a responsible attitudewhen handling rocket motors andwork as a team to conduct therequired safety checks before, dur-ing and after a launch.University of Bristol third yearelectrical and electronic engineer-ing undergraduate, Niall Oswaldfeels that many people are drawnto rocketry by the ‘whoosh-bang’factor. “For most it’s recreational,but involves learning new skills
and obtaining personal achievements - not just indesigning electronics, but in construction andpropulsion.”
Electronics design is one areawhere rocketeers can push theenvelope to the point where itmeets the orbit of professionalrocketry. Onboard electronics caninvolve home built and designedhardware, specialist commercialequipment used for flight com-puters/altimeters to log accelera-tion, air pressure and fire ejectioncharges to recover the rocket; timers to time stagingevents on multistage rockets; gps to record flightprofiles and aid rocket recovery; telemetry systemsto down link data during flight; video systems toeither record onboard or downlink video of theflight; tracking systems to locate lost rockets andexperimental payloads.
Airborne Engineering’s director, James Macfar-lane is intent on ‘boldly going’ where no rocketeerhas gone before. “I’ve prototyped the active stabili-
sation of a rocket by getting it to fly without anyfins and hover by moving the motor around.” Thefirst iteration comprised a homemade gyroscopebuilt from a bicycle dynamo rotor magnet, a pro-pelling pencil and opto sensors to detect its positionand trigger the driving coils. This has successfullyevolved throughout various revisions into a dynam-ically stabilised rocket.
Mike Bessant runs an instrumentation consul-tancy since leaving his post as director of the Intel-ligent Instrumentation Group at Cranfield
University. “I use a rocket pow-ered by a cluster of engines to lifta 200grams instrumentation pay-load which transmits real-timevideo and a number of sensorchannels over a 2.4GHz teleme-try link to a ground station forrecording,” he stated. “The air-borne video is not only very enter-taining, but can be correlatedwith sensor data displayed on a
pc. This instrumentation is a proven tool for postflight analysis.”
For high power rocketry, Oswald uses a ‘G-WizMC’ altimeter/accelerometer to perform deploy-ment of parachute, report peak altitude and log alti-tude/acceleration data. Data logging shows theacceleration experienced by the rocket at lift-off.“It’s quite something to see that a rocket you’ve builtin your garage has pulled 40g or accelerated from0-500mph in just over a second!”
15New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Left: PARS’ Oliver Smith andfriends get ready to ‘blast intoopen skies’.
Centre: Mission control. Onthe launch pad at one of themany rocketry events heldthroughout the UK.
Below: Ready for launch. NiallOswald’s rocket contains selfbuilt electronics, including adatalogger/prototype altimeter,a full functioned altimeter withdeployment control and ageneral purpose timer.
Cover story.qxd 6/6/07 4:06 pm Page 15
Oswald has designed and built three devices: adata logger/prototype altimeter, a fully functionedaltimeter with deployment control and a simplegeneral purpose timer - all based on various mem-bers of the PICAXE microcontroller family. He saysthe ability to reprogram without removing the chipfrom the pcb speeds code development and testing.
“The prototype consisted of a Motorola MPXseries barometric pressure sensor, a signal condi-tioning circuit, a PICAXE-18X microcontrollerand two 256kbit eeproms. The PICAXE providesan a/d and i2c routines for accessing the eeprom, soin essence a working altimeter can be built withminimal components beyond the pressure sensor,PIC and eeprom. I learnt a lot about op amps andfiltering through building this prototype.”
Two main obstacles are robustness and rocketrecovery. Rockets come down under parachutewhich means its descent can drift some distance -especially when it may have been over 10,000fthigh. Often rockets land on arable farms wherecrops can hide its location so any electronic aid tohelp find the rocket is welcome.
Roberts sums up robustness in a nutshell:“There aren’t many hobbies where you can breakMach 1 accelerating from 0 to 100s of miles anhour in fractions of a second pulling 50g or more!If you don’t build robust electronics, you will losecomponents from the pcb. Hybrid motors can havehigh levels of vibration and I have seen commercialswitches shaken to pieces by hybrid flights.”
Amateur and professional parallels Technical parallels exist between amateur and pro-fessional rocketry. Oswald says the fuel propulsionammonium perchlorate com-posite propellant (APCP) is usedin amateur solid rocket motorsand Space Shuttle boosters.
To infinity and beyond, thefuture of rocketry presents chal-lenges for more exploration anddevelopment, and there is scopefor the enthusiastic amateur toinvent a new technology orexploit a new market.
“One of the applications that really excites me isplanetary missions,” said Macfarlane. “This iswhere the cutting edge of electronics meets the finalfrontier of rocket technology. Miniaturisation ofcomponents and systems has made it cheaper andeasier to do amazing science like sending probes toMars or performing comet rendezvous.”
According to Wright, British engineers havenever entirely lost interest in Space flight and a jointventure by BAe and Rolls Royce introduced theHOTOL programme in the 1980s with whatremains one of the most complete designs for anorbital Spaceplane.
“The HOTOL programme ended when theGovernment declined further investment,”explained Reaction Engines’ managing director,Alan Bond.
Bond intends to build a launch vehicle thatcan take off, fly like Concorde, go into orbit,return to earth and the next day do the sameagain. “We’re well on the way to achieving thisaim and if we succeed, people will see it as anembodiment of these aspirations. We named itSkylon (pictured above) after the 1951 Festival ofBritain structure. Skylon was seen as a symbol ofBritain’s technological, political and cultural
aspirations.” His hope is that it will transformspace transportation. “Skylonwill have tremendous scientificand cultural impact, not only onBritain, but the whole world.” Could Bond and his team helpthe UK reach for the stars andlaunch rocket technology intothe next generation of spaceflight?
R O C K E T E E R I N G C O V E R S T O R Y
16 New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Above: Blast off! There aren’tmany hobbies where you canbreak Mach 1 accelerating tohundreds of miles an hour infractions of a second, pulling
50g or more!
Below: Electronics design isone area where rocketeers canpush the envelope to the point
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High risk, but big rewardsAccording to Pond’s Richard Irving:
“The market for dsps is huge – about
$8billion a year and growing. But for
hard tasks, current architectures have run
out of steam. What the dsp market needs
is a powerful engine that allows software
to be written and then modified easily at
a later date.
“The big companies generally can’t
afford to develop and launch a new archi-
tecture: it is too risky and expensive,” he
contended, “and takes away resources
from existing product lines.”
Because of these market pressures,
this problem has been addressed prima-
rily by start ups – companies like
Chameleon, Morphics, BOPS, Equator,
Systolix and Chromatic Research have all
taken up the challenge.
“Pond was naturally sceptical when
picoChip claimed to have solved the
problem, but it did a great job at con-
vincing us that a key hardware innova-
tion made it much easier to write
software,” continued Irving. “We realised
a breakthrough on this scale could build
a very successful company.”
Pond was serious about picoChip
from the beginning. At the time, due
diligence for an early stage investment
normally comprised an hour long phone
call. However, Irving took four key pic-
oChip staff to meet prospective cus-
tomers. These intensive visits, which
included all day meetings with technolo-
gists, were a baptism of fire for Claydon
and Dr Pulley.
This approach was useful, not only to
picoChip, but also to Pond as it helped
to clarify whether it was going to invest.
For picoChip, it meant its strategy and
focus became clear at an early stage.
“This is what Pond is good at,” said
Rupert Baines, picoChip’s vp of market-
ing. “It has the ability and the address
book that can get start ups into places
they would never be able to get alone.”
After completion of due diligence, but
while the lawyers were finishing the paper-
work, a local group of engineers was let go
by a US company. picoChip’s founders
knew them and wanted to hire them – but
the money was not yet available.
“It was frustrating”, Claydon recalled.
“We had 12 experienced engineers we
wanted to employ, but although they
wanted to work with us, many had other
job offers. We discussed this with Pond
and, one Friday evening, two Pond part-
ners came to Bath, looked them in the
eye and assured them of Pond’s commit-
ment.” As a result, all 12 decided to join
and several started work immediately,
19New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Investing in innovation
S P E C I A L R E P O R TS T A R T U P S A N D S P I N O F F S
Start ups fish in the same ‘Pond’.By Graham Pitcher.
Investing in innovation
Spin.qxd 6/6/07 4:01 pm Page 19
trusting they would be paid when the
money came in.
Pond invested in picoChip in 2001,
along with Atlas Ventures, and the com-
pany grew to 35 people by the end of the
year.
Having committed to picoChip, Pond
used its financial and marketing expertise
to ensure the company got off on the right
foot. In that first year, Irving was involved
in operational issues, such as planning for
manufacturing, whilst Baines – a Pond
associate partner at the time – helped with
marketing and strategy.
Whilst this sort of help would not be
unusual in the US, especially in Silicon
Valley, it was unusual in the UK. “It is
getting better,” commented Baines, “but
five years ago, it was difficult to find a
VC working like this. It is unusual for a
UK based VC to have the technical
understanding that you get from Pond.”
In July 2002, Baines moved full time to
picoChip.
Baines believes this is the way forward
for European VCs. “This is the way VCs
operate in the US and it works. The
cliché is that Britain has great technol-
ogy, but fails to commercialise it. For
early stage investing, there is a need for
investors with industry experience, who
can roll up their sleeves to help with the
‘go to market’ strategy and who have a
deep understanding of the environ-
ment.”
Posing a key questionOne key question which Pond helped
picoChip to answer was whether to sell
chips for terminals, like mobile phones,
or for infrastructure, like wireless base
stations. “Together, we chose the latter,”
Irving concluded, “and picoChip is the
only player to focus on infrastructure.
That, combined with an easily pro-
grammed architecture, has made it the
de facto solution for next generation
wireless.”
Today, picoChip has a workforce of
more than 75 people, it has working
technology and blue chip customers,
including Intel, Nortel and Korea Tele-
com. As a result, Pond is less involved in
the day to day operations, although it
still has partners on the board.
“A friend once said there are three
types of VC – hands off, hands on and
hands in – and the art is to strike the
right balance between the three styles,”
continued Baines. “Now picoChip is
more established, there is less input from
Pond, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t
involved and we know it is there to give
as advice whenever we need it.”
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200720
S P E C I A L R E P O R TS T A R T U P S A N D S P I N O F F S
Left:picoChip’s founders Pete Claydon, left,and Doug Pulley, with the company’s LTE basestation development board.
Stewart Graham, pictured above, was work-ing with Renesas in a senior rf marketing posi-tion, but had started thinking about what to donext. “I’d met a number of people in start upsand was impressed with their sparkle,” hesaid. “It inspired me to look into it a bit further.”
One of the first things he did was to get intouch with Pond to present some of his ideas,but they didn’t work out. “But we built our rela-tionship over a couple of years, discussingideas and I got involved with due diligencewith some of their other projects.”
Meanwhile, Air’s cofounder David Tester,had come to Pond with his own ideas. “Pondliked him and saw some potential,” Grahamcontinued, “so they introduced us. We workedtogether for a couple of months, then wentback to Pond with a business plan, which theyagreed and funded.”
Air was founded in May 2006, since whenit has recruited seven people and now hasplans to expand further.
Graham noted that, from a very early stage– almost the Powerpoint stage – Pond recog-nised his and Tester’s marketing and engi-neering expertise. “That’s the part we’re tryingto do,” he noted. “But there’s a lot of other stuffinvolved and we had no idea about this. Pondreally understands the business and supportsus. They fill in a lot of the ‘blanks’ themselvesand get other people involved when they can.”
They had a great idea
Spin.qxd 6/6/07 4:02 pm Page 20
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A s the transition to RoHS com-
pliance gathered pace last year,
a feeling of relief might have
been detected across the electronics
industry. In the UK at least, there is evi-
dence of business as usual – thanks to UK
‘enforcer’ National Weights and Measure
Laboratory, whose ‘softly softly’ approach
coached companies through the compli-
ance process. However, it isn’t possible to
say that most companies are compliant or
that RoHS hasn’t had a dramatic impact.
But the real impact of RoHS is only just
being felt in some sectors.
Initially, companies that sought to
comply with RoHS ahead of the deadline
experienced difficulties sourcing compli-
ant parts. Then, with the deadline loom-
ing, concern was voiced that excess non
compliant stock would lead to expensive
and wasteful write offs. In reality, com-
ponents for the increasingly powerful
consumer segment quickly made the
transition, whilst the supply chain’s
inventory control kept a tight rein on
non compliant stock volumes.
As a result, apprehension has built
about limited supplies of non compliant
inventory, with the greatest effect in areas
where RoHS’ impact was predicted to
have the least impact – in exempt indus-
tries such as aerospace, defence, medical
equipment and telecommunications,
where systems typically have high devel-
opment costs, long availability and
require decades of support.
Over the last decade, the electronics
industry has changed and RoHS has
underlined the extent to which power
has shifted to consumer electronics. The
erosion in the high reliability sector’s
influence may have been exacerbated by
its willingness to adopt COTS products
and thus capitalise on the performance
gains and price of consumer electronics
components, plus by the squeeze of
global competition –
leaving contract manufac-
turers, already working to tight mar-
gins, unable or unwilling to support
compliant and non compliant processes.
Dr Chris Robertson, head of ERA
Technology’s reliability and failure analy-
sis team (www.era.co.uk/rfa) confirms
that RoHS is affecting the high reliability
sector in a number of ways. “Firstly, there
is the supply chain movement – it is not
being driven by that sector.” Market
analysis by Prismark suggested the total
available market for all high reliability
categories represents around 10% of rev-
enue for the component supply base.
Dr Robertson adds: “With some
components rendered obsolete, they are
suffering problems finding replacements
and are considering moves such as
retinning components. Also, many of
their clients are applying pressure to their
supply chains without understanding the
true requirements of RoHS. For exam-
ple, aircraft component manufacturers
are being encouraged to produce RoHS
compliant sub assemblies, despite being
an exempt industry.”
23New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
A year after RoHS came into effect,it’s business as usual for some, but the ripples are building in the high reliability sector. By Vanessa Knivett.
R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N TD I R E C T I V E S & S T A N D A R D S
Getting greener
Deb
utA
rt: J
ürge
n Zi
ewe
Standards.qxd 6/6/07 3:59 pm Page 23
One of ERA’s customers is Smiths,
several of whose commercial customers
have asked suppliers to meet RoHS and
WEEE type requirements, despite some
products falling outside scope. Dr
Robertson comments: “Those specifying
some of these procurement contracts
need to understand why you might be
using something [environmentally harm-
ful] – generally, there is a very good rea-
son and you don’t choose to use
something like cadmium wilfully.”
Re-educationMany within the high reliability industry
believe more education is needed about
the characteristics of high reliability prod-
uct life cycles. The aim is to persuade sup-
pliers to maintain dual supply chains by
offering components in tin lead and lead
free. Needless to say, many suppliers aren’t
too excited about that.
One organisation voicing concern for
the high reliability sector is the Interna-
tional Electronics Manufacturing Initia-
tive (iNEMI), whose ceo Jim McElroy
confirmed: “Many have been surprised
by how quickly things have unfolded.
The high reliability community realised
its exemptions wouldn’t last forever, but
felt that at least it took some of the
immediate pressure off whilst they went
about trying to close the knowledge gaps
related to lead free and other substances
within RoHS’ scope.
“Our job is to make sure the sector is
focused on closing these knowledge gaps
and convincing suppliers, in the interim,
that their continued support is needed.
But the biggest challenge right now is to
address the availability of components –
we can almost forget about exemptions.”
Most components involve a change of
surface finish from tin lead to pure tin.
From an assembly point of view, such
components are backwards compatible
and can be soldered with either tin lead
or pure tin paste, although performance
impairment can result from the growth
of tin whiskers. The high reliability
industry remains concerned about the
risk of rapidly converting to lead free
products prior to fully understanding the
implications on long term reliability.
Of most concern though, is the threat
of not being able to secure SnPb com-
patible bgas. Although more environ-
mentally friendly ball metallurgies are
coming on stream, the consortium is
campaigning to ensure that different part
numbers are used to differentiate them.
Mike Davisson, RoHS technical pro-
gram manager for Agilent Technologies,
commented recently: “The proliferation
of solder ball metal-
lurgies only makes it
more difficult to close
the remaining knowl-
edge gaps for Pb free
conversion of mission
critical applications. Reli-
ability experts are still
working to fully under-
stand the long life per-
formance of SAC 305/405
and have limited data on
some of the alternate ball
formulations. A change in
metallurgy without the
ability to track the change will only make
Pb free conversion more difficult and
could delay the process.”
McElroy says industry is making
headway on closing the knowledge gaps;
adding that iNEMI is working on under-
standing where the remaining knowledge
gaps are and ensuring that R&D activi-
ties are coordinated.
Looking to the future, Gary Nevison,
Directives expert at Farnell, intimates the
true implications of RoHS are yet to be
felt. “The RoHS Directive has been in
force for less than a year and is already
being reviewed by the EC. Any changes
are possible, including adding more sub-
stances to the list or changing the scope.
The closely related WEEE Directive is
also being reviewed and it is likely that
changes will be made in the near future –
and these are unlikely to reduce its scope.”
In its reexamination of RoHS, the EC
is looking at some of the unintended
consequences of RoHS, such as more tin
mining and increased demand for silver.
Nevison says that, as yet, there is little
visibility as to which substances, if any,
will be added to the list. Robertson
agrees, although makes the point that
manufacturers should bear in mind that
Chinese RoHS isn’t restricted to six sub-
stances, but leaves the door open for
more. He also advises manufacturers to
pay attention to the European Chemical
Bureau’s investigations into a number of
substances, including the flame retardant
TPPA, Bisphenol-A, hexabromocyclodo-
decane (HBCDD) and decaBDE (for
more, see http://ecb.jrc.it)
Asked whether there is
evidence of exempt indus-
tries moving towards com-
pliance, Nevison confirmed
that ‘medical seems to be the
most active.’ With category 8
and 9 equipment considered
likely to come within scope, it
seems that lessons are being
learnt about acting early,
although the EC knows that
manufacturers will need time
to comply and the general feel-
ing is that it won’t happen
before 2012.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200724
“The … WEEE Directive is also beingreviewed and it is likely that changeswill be made in the near future.”Gary Nevison, Farnell
R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N TD I R E C T I V E S & S T A N D A R D S
Standards.qxd 6/6/07 4:00 pm Page 24
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nele-jun-12-07-p030 6/7/07 3:17 PM Page 44
T he world of signal processing has
advanced almost beyond recogni-
tion since the first dsps were intro-
duced some 25 years ago. From their early
days, largely in military applications, dsps
now find use in a wide range of markets.
DSP developers have not, in general,
felt the need to push their designs down
the Moore’s Law curve – unlike micro-
processor manufacturers. So clock speeds
are slower and the devices may not be
made on the smallest process technologies
available.
Yet the Laws of Physics are having an
effect. Power consumption and heat gen-
eration requirements, for example, have
prompted a move to multicore devices.
Another development is the use of an fpga
as a coprocessor for the dsp. In the micro-
controller world, companies are adding
‘dsp like’ instructions to create the hybrid
digital signal controller. And ARM is
adding dsp capability to its cores.
So where does this leave signal process-
ing software? Ken Karnofsky, director of
signal processing and communications
marketing for The MathWorks, said a
number of trends have become apparent
recently. “One is to do with applications,
another is to do with the type of device
being used and a third trend is to do with
the development process itself; how engi-
neers are developing signal processing
algorithms.”
As far as applications are concerned,
communications and wireless continue to
drive the use of signal processing technol-
ogy. “But multimedia and video are
becoming more important,” said Karnof-
sky, “both in terms of consumer applica-
tions and other markets.” He gave the
automotive industry as an example.
“Video technology is now being used in
active safety systems, for collision avoid-
ance and security.”
Karnofsky said use of video required
more bandwidth and more storage. “So
embedded engineers developing these
applications may have additional require-
ments and they may not be so familiar
with the algorithms that are needed. For
31New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Multicore architectures and fpgacoprocessors mean new algorithmicdevelopment approaches are needed. By Graham Pitcher.
I N T R A D E S I G NS I G N A L P R O C E S S I N G
Signalling a change
Signal.qxd 5/6/07 9:35 am Page 31
example, how do they distribute the pro-
cessing; is it local or is it central?”
On the architecture front, Karnofsky
believes the move to multicore devices
only represents one dimension. “We’re also
seeing general purpose microcontroller
companies adding dsp like capabilities to
their products, creating this new category
of digital signal controllers. And ARM is
adding more dsp capability to its cores. All
of these developments are trying to address
the same issue; how do you take a general
purpose device and allow it to handle dig-
ital processing loads?”
With a nod towards the need for more
capable tools for multicore design, The
MathWorks and Analog Devices have
recently introduced a tool which inte-
grates MATLAB and Simulink with Ana-
log Devices’ VisualDSP++ integrated
development and debugging software
environment.
Called Link for Analog Devices Visu-
alDSP++, the tool lets engineers verify
embedded code running on VisualDSP++
using MATLAB and to generate Visu-
alDSP++ projects from Simulink models.
According to the companies, the devel-
opment brings model based design capa-
bilities to engineers working with Blackfin,
SHARC and TigerSHARC processors. It
allows the same model to be used for exe-
cutable specification, design with simula-
tion, embedded code generation and code
verification.
“Rapid advances in processor architec-
tures from Analog Devices have delivered
performance and value for embedded sys-
tems,” said Derek Leadbetter, Analog’s
director of DSP tools development. “At
the same time, the complexity of develop-
ing embedded software for these devices
has increased significantly. The release of
Link for Analog Devices VisualDSP++
extends the benefits of Model Based
Design with MATLAB and Simulink to
embedded systems engineers, enabling
them to take advantage of our processors.”
An increasingly popular development is
the use of an fpga as a coprocessing ele-
ment for a dsp. “We’re seeing a lot of these
systems,” Karnofsky observed.
He believes multicore programming
and test is already a challenge. “But what
happens when that second device is a hard-
ware accelerator? How do you design for
this and how do embedded engineers –
who know C – work on this challenge?”
One obvious solution is for companies
such as The MathWorks to develop tools
that address multicore design directly.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about
tools that can deal with multicore parti-
tioning,” Karnofsky continued, “but
there’s nothing that automates the prob-
lem. Today, there are tools that can help
you build system models and perform
manual adjustments. Full automation –
from idea to hardware and software design
– is still some time in the future.”
Karnofsky sees another design trend
emerging. “Traditionally,” he claimed,
“there has been a gap between algorithm
implementation and development. In
many cases, floating point code has been
rewritten for fixed point devices, but a crit-
ical development has been the introduc-
tion of fixed point development tools.” He
sees these tools bringing designers the ben-
efit of working in a higher level environ-
ment. “We’ve been investing a lot in fixed
point upgrades to Matlab and Simulink,”
he continued. “Engineers can run their
code quickly and validate that it works
properly in their system design. They can
switch between floating and fixed point
code to see how the algorithm degrades
system performance. When satisfied, they
can generate code automatically from the
fixed point design.”
Karnofsky feels this development will
find application where fpgas are being used
alongside dsps. “If you have a processor,
then word length is predetermined –
32bit, for example. If you’re working in
hardware, then a degree of freedom is cal-
culation length; you might go from 16bit
to 12bit. If you do, will you meet the over-
all goals? Will the signal be degraded to the
point where it’s not acceptable?”
He sees engineers becoming more
involved with trade offs between what he
sees as correctness and cost. “The problem
is that if you’re trying to do this at a later
stage in the development, you’ve lost the
opportunity for that kind of iteration.”
And this move to multicore hardware
and software platforms needs new ways to
do development, he believes. “There’s
more dimensions to the trade offs that
need to be made, especially in systems
where time cycles are short.”
All of these moves are increasing the
complexity of the development process, so
companies such as The MathWorks are
working on ways of easing the problems.
“Generating code automatically is of ben-
efit to the designer who wants to try some-
thing on an fpga,” Karnofsky contended.
“If you can shorten that process, it’s good.
But it’s not 100% pushbutton.”
Complexity is also increasing as single
processor systems are being embedded in
larger systems. “Designers need to know
how these systems interact,” he continued.
“A security system needs to be able to con-
trol the camera’s motion as well as handle
the video. Where’s the functionality? Is it
one device or two? If so, how do they talk
to each other?”
Karnofsky believes the solution lies at
the modelling level. “We’re generating C
code for embedded processors and dsps
and now we’re doing hdl. That single
model can be be mapped to different
architectures,” he concluded.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200732
“If you can shorten that process, it’sgood. But it’s not 100% pushbutton.”Ken Karnofsky, The MathWorks
I N T R A D E S I G NS I G N A L P R O C E S S I N G
Ramtron has introduced the FM33xproduct family – a range of FRAMEnhanced Processor Companions.Featuring a high speed serial peripheralinterface, the FM33x family combines thebenefits of a non volatile ram with a setof integrated support and peripheralfunctions for processor based designs.Ramtron is launching the FM33x familywith two products: the FM33256 and theFM3316, which are 3V devices with256kbit and 16kbit of framrespectively. This solution replacesdiscrete components and reduces costand board space, supporting commonlyneeded system functions in processorbased systems.Ramtron: visit www.ramtron.com
MICROS
STMicroelectronics has rounded out itsST7 UltraLite family of 8pinmicrocontrollers with the ST7FLITEU0series, said to add more memory andsystem features to the peripheral set ofexisting devices. Available in 8pin so and dip and 0.9mmthick dfn packages, and with temperaturequalification to 125°C, the devices aretargeted at HVAC, home appliance andlighting control.With a 2kbyte flash memory, the partsinclude a trimmable 8MHz RC oscillator,with prescaler ratios down to 500kHz. Other features include an embedded12bit autoreload timer, an 8bit Lite timerwith prescaler, watchdog, real time baseand input capture; and a five channel,10bit a/d converter with 3.5µs overallconversion time.STMicroelectronics: visit www.st.com
P R O D U C T N E W S
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200734
PowerTrace II• 2 GByte of trace memory to record program and data flow
• More than 30 processor architectures supported by the trace port
• Trace port speed up to 500 MBit
• Sophisticated analysis methods to perform comprehensive performance analysis and quality assurance tests
PowerDebug II• A Gigabit ethernet interface guarantees immediate display and rapid analysis of the trace information.
Motherboard targets graphics centric designs
BOARD LEVEL DESIGN
BVM has expanded its embedded boardportfolio with the introduction of the LV-681 Mini-ITX motherboard, aimed atgraphics centric applications such as thinclients, gaming, kiosk and point of sale.
The AMD S1 processor socket iscompatible with AMD Turion 64x2 Dual-Core, AMD Turion 64, and Mobile AMDSempron processors. The board alsoimplements the ATI RS485M chipset with
the ATI Radeon X-300-based 2d/3dgraphics engine. Up to 2Gbyte of DDR2sdram is available via two so-dimm slots;there are eight USB2.0 ports, threeRS232C and one RS232/422/485 serialports. The board also features two10/100/1000 LAN ports and aCompactFlash slot.
Specialist expansion is accommodatedthrough aPCI expansion slot and a miniPCI socket. BVM: visit www.bvm.co.uk
Intra prod.qxd 6/6/07 4:28 pm Page 34
I N T R A D E S I G N
MIXED SIGNAL & ANALOGUE
The LTC2630 is a family of 8, 10 and 12bit d/a converterssupplied in 6pin sc70 packages measuring 2.1 x 2mm – said byLinear Technology to be the smallest such devices with an internalreference. The family offers the choice of an internal 2.5V or 4.096V10ppm/°C full scale reference. The single voltage output convertersachieve 12bit dc performance of ±1LSB(max) integral nonlinearityerror and are said to be ideal for ‘under the hood’ automotiveapplications.The devices draw 160µA at 3V and 180µA at 5V. Communicatingvia a three wire SPI compatible serial interface at clock rates up to50MHz, the output settles for a half scale step in less than 5µs.Operating from a single 2.7V to 5.5V supply, the output can swingto the internal reference voltage or rail to rail to the supply voltage. Linear Technology: visit www.linear.com
EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
The Micro Digital range of USB drivers is now available fromComputer Solutions. The smxUSBH USB host stack, the smxUSBDUSB device stack and the smxUSBO On The Go stack are said tohelp embedded developers by providing easy interfacing betweentheir systems and other USB devices.The smxUSBD device stack is designed for situations in which adeveloper wants the embedded application to plug into a pc and toexchange data with it or be controlled by it.The smxUSBH host stack allows the embedded application to actlike a pc and to control a USB network, whilst the OTG stackprovides a limited host capability as well as a USB peripheral.Host stack support is available for interface chips that conform to theEHCI, OHCI and UHCI specification.Computer Solutions: visit www.computer-solutions.co.uk
For more information and pricing visitni.com/compactdaq/new
Platform = board + software Whilst hardware is a major element, soft-
ware development now requires much
greater resources. ChameleonARM is a
typical example – representing several
years of development work and embedded
networking know how. By contrast, the
hardware was developed in eight weeks.
For this reason, EBV provides compre-
hensive software support in the
ChameleonARM delivery package. This
software supports all the platform’s inter-
faces, so developers can concentrate on their
application software from the start.
ChameleonARM comes with an
embedded web server, including a TCP/IP
stack, as well as Ethernet and USB drivers
and various network protocols.
45New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007
Can this reference board take anyshape you want it to? By Rudy Van Parijs.
S Y S T E M D E S I G NR E F E R E N C E D E S I G N S
Refer.qxd 5/6/07 9:40 am Page 45
As LPC23xx microcontrollers are based
on the ARM architecture, a wide range of
software is already available (often in
house) and can continue to be used.
Alongside the LPC23xx microcon-
troller, the board contains switching reg-
ulators to facilitate power over Ethernet,
USB or mains power. The microcon-
troller features an Ethernet PHY and
transceiver components for CAN and
UART interfaces.
The range of interfaces available is the
highlight of the LPC23xx product family.
On the ChameleonARM board, these
interfaces link
to the
usual standard plug
connectors. As this controller has already
been almost fully integrated by NXP, the
board does not contain any further inter-
face controllers.
Two 120pin plug connectors run par-
allel to each other, allowing EBV add on
boards to be connected directly.
ChameleonARM also contains an inter-
face to an SD card, which acts as mass
memory storage.
Although EBV is targeting industrial
control and process automation, other
potential applications include medical
equipment, office and network applica-
tions and the wide ranging field of home
automation.
This is borne out by the following
examples:
● Embedded web server
An optimised embedded web server,
including TCP/IP stack and Ethernet driv-
ers, has been ported to an LPC 2378
microcontroller. As the board can be pow-
ered via the Ethernet connection, only one
cable is required.
● Industrial network
Actuators, sensors, regulators, controllers,
gateways and operating elements can be
developed around a ChameleonARM
board and interconnected. The diversity of
LPC23xx microcontrollers means one
hardware/software base can be used for
various different applications. As a result,
this network can be implemented quickly
and inexpensively whilst ensuring full Eth-
ernet compatibility.
● USB Ethernet bridge
A highlight of ChameleonARM is its abil-
ity to work in two network segments
simultaneously. The board facilitates data
exchange between these segments so a
device connected to Ethernet via TCP/IP
can communicate with an remote network
device interface specification (RNDIS)
service connected via USB. With this type
of bridge, developers can implement
router, switch or gateway functions.
● USB and LAN
ChameleonARM allows the user to con-
nect to a pc or another USB host. This
means any devices can be connected to the
pc via USB, avoiding the need for special
interface cards.
● From CAN to Ethernet
ChameleonARM allows CAN based net-
works to be connected to an Ethernet
based LAN. This means the control com-
puter does not have to be located in the
vicinity of the CAN network. As this
removes all restrictions on the length of
CAN networks, this opens up new oppor-
tunities for developers.
● LON controller
LON transceiver add on boards, con-
trollers and gateways to Ethernet, CAN,
USB and Pyxos can be created without
the need of a Neuron chip. As the LON
protocol stack is available from EBV,
what was a complex application can be
implemented relatively easily and
quickly.
The complete solutionEBV designed ChameleonARM to offer
development engineers optimum support.
For the design itself, EBV drew on the sup-
port of some of its development partners.
For example, Fraunhofer IMS was in
charge of hardware development and
ARM subsidiary Keil controlled software
development. The demo software is based
on software forging solutions from Seven-
stax and Thesycon.
By taking this approach, EBV is pro-
viding its customers with access to state of
the art technologies which they can either
implement off the shelf or adapt to their
requirements. This reduces costs and
development work for EBV’s customers, as
well as reducing time to market.
In addition to the board and docu-
mentation, EBV supplies RS232, USB
and Ethernet cables, a power supply and a
preconfigured SD card.
Author profile:Rudy Van Parijs is VP Technical Develop-
ment for EBV Electronik.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200746
Figure 1: Chameleon Arm Block diagram
power supply EBV board connectors
ethernet
poUSB 4·5VpoE 48Vdc plug
5V
3·3V
USB
RS232
ISP
CAN
reset
serial flash/eeprom crystal plus battery SD card interface
SPI
I2C
JTAG
A/D, D/A I/O
GPIO
LEDs
LPC2378ARM7
S Y S T E M D E S I G NR E F E R E N C E D E S I G N S
Support and prize draw
For more information and to enter a
draw for a ChameleonARM board, go
to www.ebv.com/chameleonarm.
Refer.qxd 5/6/07 10:11 am Page 46
“We were delighted to be named as a finalist in the 2006 Innovation& Design Excellence Awards. It was an excellent opportunity to gainnational recognition, as well as celebrating the expertise and hardwork of our team. Being named amongst the industry’s leadingcompanies is a great honour in itself.”Paul Marsh, managing director, GSPK Design
To request an entry form, contact:
Maggie Bridge, Awards Co-ordinator, Cranfield School of Management, Bedford, MK43 0AL Email: [email protected] Tel: 01234 754498 Fax: 01234 751806www.ideawards.co.uk
The 2007 Innovation & Design Excellence Awards(iDEAs) reward creativity, innovation and excellence inengineering design. They celebrate the critical roleplayed by engineering design teams. These can be anin-house team or external design house.
What’s more, the awards provide a key benchmark ofyour performance against the best in the field.
If you think your design team can compete with thebest, this is your chance to prove it. This year’scategories are: ■ Design Collaboration■ B2B Product■ Consumer Product■ Green Innovation■ Small Company■ Design Cycle Reduction, and■ The prestigious Innovation & Design Excellence
of the Year Award.
It all starts with an entry form (details below), in whichyou describe how you apply innovation in design. If thislooks good, an iDEA judging team will visit you for a dayand make a rigorous assessment.
Many companies see this visit – and
subsequent feedback – as the most
compelling reason to enter.
The highlight of the programme is the prestigiousAwards Luncheon, where more than 500 guests willgather at the Park Lane Hilton in London in September.
Entry to the awards is free, but entry forms must becompleted by 20 June 2007.
You can only gain from entering the 2007 Innovation & DesignExcellence Awards
Motor ControlMitsubishi, a leading manufacturer of Power Modules, offers avariety of products like IGBT Module, Intelligent Power Module(IPM), DIP-CIB and DIP-IPM for a wide range of Industrial MotorControl applications. Covering a drive range from 0.4 kW toseveral 100 kW, the RoHS compliant modules with the latest
chip and production technologies ensure the best efficiencyand the highest reliability. The easy to use features, compactsize and mechanical compatibility with previous generationsmake the offered products more attractive on the market.
Please visit us at the PCIM 2007, Hall 12, Stand 421
T here was a time when postgraduatestudy was viewed as a ‘way in’ to anacademic or industrial research post.
Those who embarked upon a Masters straightafter their first degree risked giving theimpression of being more interested inacademia. Taking time out mid career topursue postgraduate qualifications was veryunusual. However, times have changed andappropriate postgraduate study can now be acareer enhancing experience.
Today, some 10% of electronicengineering graduates take higher degrees.Postgraduate study at Masters level allowsstudents to specialise in a particular field andto gain extra skills, whilst a PhD, MRes, MPhilor EngD are appropriate further qualificationsfor those pursuing academic careers.
Because the average first degree inelectrical and electronic engineering tends tointroduce students to a broad range of topics,postgraduate study is now regarded as anatural means of gaining specific expertise.
There is also the question of CharteredEngineer status. Michelle Richmond, director ofqualifications at the Institute of Engineering andTechnology (IET) explains: “There are manyroutes to chartership, including a BSc andBEng Hons. A new standard for professionalengineers called the UK Standard for
Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) was launched in December 2003 toraise the standard for Chartered Engineerstatus to Masters level.” The action was taken,recounts Richmond, in response to a ‘cohort ofengineers coming through the system, whoseeducation finished at BEng level’. As a result,Masters courses have again become a popularmeans of demonstrating a commitment toprofessional development and a key tenant toobtaining Chartership.
One word of warning – the Institution hasan approved list of postgraduate courses and
began assessing MScs in 2004. If an MSc isto count towards Chartership, then you shouldfollow an approved course and there are morethan 40 of these on offer in the UK.
Jane Black, senior accreditationcoordinator at the IET, is one of thoseresponsible for approving courses. It is aninvolved exercise, she says, that includesformal visits to the institution to look at thewhole student experience, a detailedinvestigation of course content, plusconsideration of ongoing research within adepartment through peer assessment. Blacksays that an important criteria is that learningoutcomes are mapped to UK-SPEC.
According to Richmond, the IET is keen topromote postgraduate study in the workplace.Similarly, universities are keen to attractemployed students and many part time Mastersschemes are now available. For employedstudents, the challenge is finding the right MScwhich runs at a suitable time. Universities havebecome increasingly accommodating – someprovide evening tuition. Meanwhile, thenumber of distance learning courses is on theincrease. Whilst no distance learning coursesare currently approved by the IET, Blacksuggests this will change.
Black feels employer support for stafffollowing postgraduate study is, at best,
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 2007 49
A D V A N C E I N T H E P R O F E S S I O NP O S T G R A D U A T E E D U C A T I O N
Mastering your futureA postgraduate degree isn’t just for
those headed for academia.
By Vanessa Knivett.
Careers.qxd 6/6/07 4:32 pm Page 49
‘patchy’. “During my universityvisits, I’ve talked to many part time students.Some employers are incredibly supportive andwill offer day release and even pay for thecourse. Others allow employees to attendcourses if time is made up, whilst others are notvery supportive.”
Employer support tends to depend uponthe relevance of your chosen course to your jobspecification. If you are interested in using apostgraduate course to manoeuvre into adifferent area of expertise, then other sources
of finance and support are worthinvestigating.
The Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council(EPSRC) is an important source offunding for postgraduate studiesin engineering. Although itdoesn’t give money to studentsdirectly, it does fund universities
through Doctoral Training Accounts andCollaborative Training Accounts – the latterdesigned to support training with strongconnections to industry.
Meanwhile, the IET has amalgamated thevarious scholarships, awards and prizes that
previously belonged to the IIE and IEE intothree programmes, entitled Achievement,Ambition and Innovation. The AmbitionAwards, launched this year, seek to recognise,support and encourage those either studying,or at the start of their careers, within the fieldsof engineering and technology. These mayprove a useful source of either whole or partpostgraduate course funding.
New E lec t ron ics www.newelec t ron ics . co .uk 12 June 200750
A D V A N C E I N T H E P R O F E S S I O NP O S T G R A D U A T E E D U C A T I O N
What are theoptions?There are many postgraduate courses in electronic engineer-ing available in the UK. Typically, a full time MSc programmeruns for 12 months, combining compulsory and optionaltaught units, as well as a project carried out independently bythe student. Part time courses usually run for two years, withthe taught section organised into intensive weeks of study orone day of classes per week.
Postgraduate courses can be found at www.findamas-ters.com. Going to www.learndirect-advice.co.uk maybe useful for sources of funding. It is also worth investigatingthe Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (www.ktponline.org.uk) for funding opportunities.
Meanwhile, the following are some of the courses nowavailable.
Where?: University of LeicesterWhat?: MSc, a Postgraduate Diploma or Certificatein Advanced Electrical and Electronic Engineering.Target student?: Engineers who wish to follow a career inthe design and implementation of electrical and electronic sys-tems within the wider engineering environment. Half theintake tends to be new first degree graduates, whilst the otherhalf tends to have spent a few years in industry.What’s covered?: Modules available include digital com-munications, biomedical engineering and electrical power. Links with industry: An industrial consultative committeeand the Engineering Institutions all advise on course content. Next intake:? 1 October 2007Programme director: Paul Lefley ([email protected])
Where?: University of the West of EnglandWhat?: MSc Advanced Technologies in ElectronicsTarget student?: The course has been designed predomi-nantly to expand upon knowledge gained in an electrical/elec-tronic biased first degree. However, mature students who wishto update and expand their knowledge are encouraged to par-ticipate and a part time mode is offered.What’s covered?: There is a large embedded computing,VLSI, hardware/software codesign, mobile telecoms, andmodern AI implemented in engineering systems content forBritish and European candidates. Links with industry: The MSc is closely related to theresearch strengths of the teaching staff, which in turn, areoften related to industrial research contracts.Next intake? September 2007Programme director: Dr Tony Pipe ([email protected])
Where?: The University of BoltonWhat?: Full or part time MSc, Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma in AdvancedElectronics DesignTarget student?: First class or upper second honours grad-uates in electronics or related subjects. Industrial experiencein electronics design plus an HND may be sufficient.What’s covered?: Taught modules include microelectronictechnologies and applications, engineering design, projectmanagement, signal integrity and emc, dsp, microcontrollersand system design using fpgas.Links with industry: The electronics team at Bolton is veryinvolved in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with local com-panies, and with the UK’s Electronics Knowledge Transfer Net-work launches in December 2006.Next intake?: September 2007Programme director: Linda Holland
Where?: The University of SouthamptonWhat?: Full time MSc in Microelectronic SystemsDesign (other MScs include System on a Chip, Nano-electronics, Microsystems Technology and Radio Fre-quency Communications Systems) Target student?: First degree graduates with either anupper second-class honours degree or higher in an appropri-ate related discipline.What’s covered?: This MSc programme offers a wide choiceof modules based on digital integrated circuit design and ana-logue integrated circuit design. It examines aspects of systemintegration and aspects of discrete device properties. There isalso a group project on VLSI design and optional modules onnanotechnology, microsystems technology and radio fre-quency transceiver design.Links with industry: The MSc degrees have been designedaround areas of expertise for which there is great demandfrom industry. Much of the tuition is from academics who areworld-leaders in their field.Next intake?: October 2007Programme director: Dr Darren Bagnall([email protected])
Where?: Institute for System Level IntegrationWhat?: MSc in System Level IntegrationTarget student?: Undergraduates considering a career pathin analogue design, as well as practicing analogue design engi-neers.What’s covered?: The MSc is designed to provide an under-standing of the process of system level design, the use of IPblocks and the architecture of modern electronic systems. Thecourse also provides a thorough grounding in business issues. Links with industry: The course has been designed withsubstantial input from industry.Next intake?: 2007
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ogra
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iSLI
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A - Z R e c r u i t m e n t A g e n c i e s
Electronic Test Rig Engineer Location: Midlands, South, South West, Wales Salary: Negotiable
Renishaw plc was founded in 1973, a UK company and is regarded as a world leader inthe design and manufacture of precision metrology equipment and systems. We employover 2000 people in more than 30 locations to supply and support our customers on aworld wide basis.
Within our manufacturing services division we have a vacancy for a Test Rig Engineer.Working closely with other engineers the successful candidate will specify and designthe electronics component for new test rigs; provide support for existing rigs based inUK/Ireland and the groups subsidiaries; re engineer new rigs and oversee thedevelopment of new rigs and assist in their build test and installation for eventualhandover to production; provide design support to other groups in the company asrequired.
Applicants must have a relevant Degree/HND in Electronic Engineering with at least 2years in design or test development. They should also possess some experience of someor all of the following: Design with PIC controllers, PCB design using Protel or CadstarPCB rapid prototyping, Labview software.
No agencies please.
Business Analyst Programmer/Programmer Location: Midlands, South, South West, Wales Salary: Negotiable
Renishaw plc was founded in 1973, a UK company and is regarded as a world leader inthe design and manufacture of precision metrology equipment and systems. We employover 2000 people in more than 30 locations to supply and support our customers on aworld wide basis.
A vacancy for an Business Analyst/Programmer has arisen within the Business SystemsDepartment to cater for the expansion in the use of commercial IT systems throughout theRenishaw Group. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work in a dynamicdepartment of a growing and innovative company that is a world leader in Manufacturingand Engineering. The position involves working with staff in subsidiary companies anddepartments across the Renishaw Group, supporting and enhancing existing commercialprocesses and IT systems, as well as supporting the development of markets in newgeographic and business areas. The successful candidate will be expected to analysebusiness needs, propose practical innovative solutions and see those solutions through tostable implementations, working both within a team and, where appropriate, individually.
Candidates will need to demonstrate strong skills and a minimum of 18 months’experience in some of the following areas; implementing and supporting an ERP package(Sage Line 500 or Infor SyteLine, preferably), systems analysis, C#/.NET, Visual Basic, SQLServer and Crystal Reports.
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T: 0800 929 114E: [email protected] www.kinetic-selection.co.ukEstablished in 1983, Kinetic Search & Selection exists to meet thepermanent recruitment demands of both businesses and candidatesbased in the Engineering, Manufacturing and Technical industries.
Digital Power for a Changing WorldAdaptable, High-Density, Multi-Functional POL Controller
The new UCD9240 Fusion Digital Power™ point-of-load (POL) controller from Texas Instruments gives designers faster time to market without sacrifi cing features or performance. This fl exible and adaptable multi-rail controller provides high power density, dynamic power supply, load-optimized phase management and confi gurable sequencing.
