THE DESIGN CYCLE FORTNIGHTLY W W W. N E W E L E C T R O N I C S . C O .

U K

12 DECEMBER 2006

Make it yourself!
After the home office, how about the home factory?
A research project at Bath University
is helping to bring the idea of self replicating
machines closer to reality.

I N C L U D E S W I R E L E S S C O M M U N I C A T I O N S S P E C I A L F E A T U R E

Special Report: Plus: • Digital technology boosts audio performance • Analogue outdoes digital
• M2M meets the need to talk • Networks get more personal • Wireless technology
Applications Special means cable is on the run • ATCA brings change of focus to comms industry
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 12 DECEMBER 2006 VOL 39 NO 22 CONTENTS

Photograpy: Donald Maclellan

COVER STORY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM DESIGN

After the home office,
how about the home DIGITAL TECHNIQUES BACKPLANES & BOARDS
factory? Researchers Sounds good! The ATCA effect
are working towards Digital design know how helps target ATCA is bringing changes in end user
making self replicating digital tv deficiencies. 26 markets and suppliers alike. 47
machines a reality. 14

REGULARS
INTRA DESIGN SPECIAL REPORT
SIGNAL PROCESSING APPLICATIONS SPECIAL
Comment
Analogue outdoes digital Closer to the birds
Smoothing the bumps
Signal processing the analogue way has Power modules enable an electrically
of semiconductor
unmatched virtues, including low power. 29 powered glider to get airborne. 19
market swings. 5

DSPs enable diagnostics

News
Micron invests $10m in
INTER DESIGN Fixed and floating point dsps enable a
its UK design centre. 6 new breed of medical diagnostic devices. 20
German researcher WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
creates ultra thin chip SPECIAL FEATURE Life saver!
process. 8 The need to talk How an rf chipset has allowed the development
Powerline silicon plugs The M2M market is starting to boom. But if of a sophisticated avalanche rescue device. 23
into the market. 10 only people could agree what M2M is. 33
Asian distributors may Who’s there?
be looking at Europe. 12 Let’s get personal A compact radar sensor allows the user to
It’s taken a while, but personal area networking find out how many people are in a room
ADVANCE IN THE is finding a range of applications. 37 and where they are. 24
PROFESSION
Davinder Lotay has ‘set Cable on the run
sail’ and is in control of Industry is going wireless, but how are the PRODUCT NEWS
his destiny. 53 various techniques being used? 40 Inter Design 44
System Design 50
Appointments 54

10 19 29 40

BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN 91NEL0615152.pgs 07.12.2006 15:29

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identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other product or service names
are the property of their respective holders. Altera products are protected under numerous U.S. and foreign patents and pending applications, mask work rights, and copyrights.
 SEMICONDUCTOR MARKET COMMENT

Smoothing the bumps

Are the violent swings in the semiconductor market a thing of the past?

T
he semiconductor industry is performing in a manner
that, you would expect, might justify the odd
celebration or two. Figures from the Semiconductor
Industry Association (SIA) show sales are at record
levels for the fourth month in a row. Its latest report claims sales
in October 2006 reached $21.9billion, some 9% up on the same
month in 2005. Times are good. In fact, the SIA is bullish
enough to predict that semiconductor sales will reach $321bn in
2009; not bad, when you consider that this year’s sales are
expected to be $250bn. Graham Pitcher, Editor gpitcher@findlay.co.uk
Demand in Europe is growing more quickly than anywhere
else, underlining its resurgence. Sales grew by 3.4% on a month
to month basis and by 11.2% on a three month rolling average.
And yet the alarm bells are ringing, if only very quietly. Even meaning orders for production equipment are slowing.
while it is predicting strong growth for the industry, the SIA is The cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry is
pointing out, ever so politely, that global economic conditions legendary and balancing supply and demand has, seemingly,
could impact the market. “There are signs of slower overall been impossible. Reckless investments and knee jerk contractions
economic growth and a slowing economy could impact sales of have not helped. But as the industry becomes more mature,
semiconductors,” said SIA president George Scalise. Another those violent swings are likely to be replaced with more gentle
pointer comes from SEMI, the equipment manufacturers ‘adjustments’. Crashes, such as that in 2001, are hopefully a
association. It says the book to bill ratio has dipped below 1, thing of the past.

Editor Graham Pitcher US Correspondent Paul Dempsey (newelectronics.usa@cox.net)

Contributing Editors David Boothroyd, Louise Joselyn, Vanessa Knivett, Roy Rubenstein Art Editor David Walters Illustrator Phil Holmes
Sales Director Tricia Bodsworth Business Development Director Lee Nye Circulation Manager Chris Jones (circulation@findlay.co.uk)
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N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6 5
 IMAGING EXPANSION FRONT PAGE NEWS

Imaging investment
$10m expansion plan at UK imaging design centre. Graham Pitcher reports.

M icron Europe is planning a

$10million expansion of its
Bracknell based Imaging Design Cen-
tre, which is tasked to develop the com-
pany’s foundation IP. These building
blocks are used in image sensors manu-
factured in the US and Italy.
The investment will result in more
design engineers and increased labora-
tory facilities, design tools and informa-
tion systems infrastructure. “The talent
pool in the UK and Europe is impres-
sive,” said Dr David Burrows, director of
the Imaging Centre, “and we are already
recruiting engineers with experience in
systems design, cad, software IP devel-
opment, analogue, mixed signal and dig-
ital ic design, layout and verification.”
Mark Durcan, Micron’s coo, pic-
tured, added: “Our Bracknell facility is
a major asset in creating high quality
sensors aimed at fast growing markets
in security, automotive, medical, note-
book computer and digital camera
applications.”
The company is currently building
image sensors using 1.75um pixels.
Amongst these is the first 8Mpixel
image sensor in a 1/2.5in optical for-
mat. However, it is also working
towards 1.4µm pixels, for higher qual-
ity images from space constrained
devices such as camera phones.

Media processor WiMAX chipset

for handhelds
As part of its corporate desire to address
non desktop, non workstation applica-
tions, 3DLABS has announced the
DMS-02. Aimed at handheld devices,
the media processor is capable of
H.264 video playback in 720p high
definition format.
“Our engineering teams were asked
to deliver a breakthrough in handheld
media processing and the DMS-02
shows we have achieved just that,” said
Hock Leow, 3DLABS’ president. “The
ability to play back a full 720p resolu-
tion H.264 video on your hdtv from a
portable device consuming less than
1W is an incredible achievement.”
The DMS-02, manufactured on a
130nm process by an undisclosed part-
ner, incorporates 24 floating point
processing elements – arranged in
three clusters of eight – dual ARM
926EJ cores running at 200MHz,
multilevel caches and three bidirec-
tional video stream ports.
Nick Murphy, vp technology, said
the coarse granularity of the architecture
gave a good trade off between power and
cost. “Although the DMS-02 has three
media processor clusters, you can have
as many clusters as you want.”
Each processing element can also do
ram accesses, a feature which the com-
pany says is ‘essential’ for 3d graphics.
Meanwhile, parent Creative Tech-
nologies is to spin 3DLABs off into a
separate entity. “Creative has approved
the spin off and it’s the best way for-
ward,” Leow believed.
Bridging the gaps demo’d in Hong Kong
In a parallel to the development of North and South bridges in the Intel has completed the design of its first
pc world, Cypress has unveiled the West Bridge – a move aimed at mobile WiMAX baseband chip, pairing
helping embedded systems builders to keep pace with interface it with a previously announced multi-
standards. band WiMAX/WiFi radio to create the
Devices in the West Bridge family will act as companion chips to WiMAX Connection 2300 chipset.
embedded cpus, off loading data intensive operations and reducing This chipset was demonstrated last
power consumption along the way. week at the 3G World Congress in
At the heart of the family is proprietary technology. SLIM – the Hong Kong by executive vice president
Simultaneous Link to Independent Media – manages multiple Sean Maloney. “WiMAX Connection
dedicated paths between peripherals, memory and processor to 2300 will help speed the deployment of
support maximum data throughput. SLIM also supports data mobile WiMAX and accelerate the
transfer between peripherals without the host processor being availability of a new wave of ‘personal
involved. broadband’ laptops,” he claimed.
The first member of the family, called Antioch, is intended to The baseband chip features multi-
provide a direct path from High Speed USB 2.0 interfaces to mass ple input/multiple output (MIMO)
storage devices in mobile handsets . functionality to enhance signal quality
and data throughput and the chipset
brings Intel a step closer to an inte-
grated wireless SoC. This, it claims, will
Cores for celebration! added four Diamond Standard VDO help drive WiMAX adoption by max-
processor engines to its portfolio. The imising useable space in mobile devices.
Tensilica has unveiled the seventh gen- video subsystems are programmable to
eration of its Xtensa configurable support most popular video codecs,
processors in the shape of the LX2 and including H.264 Main Profile, VC-1 Class D for flat screens
Xtensa 7 cores. Both feature architec- Main Profile and Mpeg4 Advanced
tural enhancements which reduce Simple Profile. Roddy noted: “It’s an Cirrus Logic has unveiled the CS4525,
power consumption by up to 30%. opportune time to develop a core that a single chip Class D amplifier for flat
Steve Roddy, vp of marketing, said chip manufacturers can integrate.” panel digital tvs.
the developments were ‘all about Based on a 24bit multibit Delta
power’. “The cores are aimed at devices Sigma architecture, the CS4525 fea-
where ultra low power consumption is tures a dynamic range of 100dB and a
important. We’ve learned what the patent pending thermal warning and
market needs. fold back technology, which scales back
Amongst the upgrades are: enhanced output levels automatically if internal
configuration choices, reduced execution chip temperatures produce excessive
speculation; and an optional wider heat.
instruction fetch buffer. • For more on the CS4525, see the arti-
Meanwhile, the company has cle on p26 of this issue.

6 N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
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©2006 Analog Devices, Inc. Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective owners.
 ULTRATHIN CHIPS
Cracking idea
German research centre outlines ultrathin chip process. Paul Dempsey reports.
T he Institute for Microelectronics
Stuttgart (IMS CHIPS) proposed a
new approach to ultrathin chip assem-
bly and fabrication at this week’s Inter-
national Electron Devices meeting in
San Francisco. It hopes the work will
spur greater interest in low cost alterna-
tives to complex SoC design, such as
system in package.
The Pick, Crack & Place (PC&P)*
technique avoids risks to yield posed by
process steps such as wafer grinding.
Manufacturing
technique set
to cut led costs
Matsushita and the Nagoya Institute of
Technology have unveiled a low cost
manufacturing technique for blue/
white gallium nitride based leds.
GaN led manufacture has, until
now, required the use of expensive sili-
con carbide or sapphire substrates. Pre-
vious attempts to use silicon substrates
have yielded poor quality photonic crys-
tals and the substrates themselves have
absorbed much of the diodes’ output.
Matsushita’s approach* patterns
photonic crystals directly on silicon
substrates and a 70% leap in perfor-
mance is claimed. The process begins
with the formation of two dimensional
periodic arrays of patterned grooves,
with pitch from 0.8µm to 1.6µm, on a
seed substrate. This is followed by
metal organic chemical vapour deposi-
tion of GaN for epitaxial growth.
InGaN multiple quantum well
active layers are then grown and, after
a highly reflective p-type electrode has
formed on the surface, the wafer is
bonded onto a thermally conductive
silicon substrate using tin-silver solder.
Finally, the seed substrate is chem-
ically etched away and a Ti/Pt/Au elec-
trode for an n-type ohmic contact is
formed.
* Highly Efficient GaN based LEDs with
Photonic Crystals Replicated from Pat-
terned Si Substrates. Proc. IEDM 2006.
8 N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
US NEWS
SiGe process matches
III-V potential
Intel said at IEDM that a silicon ger-
manium rf SoC it has manufactured on
a 65nm cmos process matches the per-
formance potential of III-V materials.
The architecture, based on Intel’s
high performance logic process dis-
closed at IEDM last year, features uni-
axial strain, a gate length of 29nm and
Chip thickness is defined in preprocess-
ing by forming buried cavities beneath
wafer surfaces within the chip areas.
wafer flat alignment is used. Subsequent
steps are common to both options.
During cmos stages, trenches are
a 210nm pitch.
For nmos transistors, the device
had a cutoff frequency of 360GHz and
The next steps involve annealing at etched to free the chips, leaving anchor maximum oscillation of 420GHz. For
1100°C for 30min and epitaxial film points at corners or sides. The anchors pmos transistors, the cutoff was
deposition at 1100°C in silicon keep the chips attached to the substrate 238GHz and maximum oscillation was
hydrochloride at 760Torr. during final wafer handling, but allow 295GHz.
IMS CHIPS has two ways of follow- devices to be cracked off and transferred “To make the process suitable for rf
ing this recipe. After using the first, direct with conventional pick and place tools. SoC applications, 1.8V thick gate tran-
photolithographic alignment can be * A Seamless Ultra Thin Chip sistors, precision poly resistors, varac-
used, notwithstanding difficulties in pho- Fabrication and Assembly Process. Proc. tors and inductors were added to the
toresist spin on. For the second, global IEDM 2006 baseline process,” said Intel’s paper*.
For the varactors, Intel settled on
‘nmos in nwell’ technology as offering
the highest quality and highest ratio of
maximum to minimum capacitance.
Its engineers also noted that a differen-
tial varactor layout delivered an 80%
improvement in its quality measure-
ment over the single ended alternative.
* A 65nm CMOS SOC Technology
Featuring Strained Silicon Transistors for
RF Applications. Proc. IEDM 2006.
The walls come
down on nanotubes
Manufacturing problems have held
back the commercialisation of carbon
nanotubes in electronics applications.
But a team from the University of Cal-
ifornia at Berkeley and Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory has
described a technique capable of fabri-
cating nanotubes with progressively
Pump up the quality less and less defects.
It starts by applying a preselected
voltage to a multi walled (typically four
Meet the radio that is literally programmed according to your make walled) nanotube. This step causes the
and model of car. JVC’s KD-S100 incorporates a new dsp technique outer two walls to break away. The
that aims to replicate the sound that booms out over a studio’s thinner nanotube is then bombarded
speakers – even in a Ford Focus. by a high powered electron beam,
Freescale’s dsps are given car specific Digital Power Station software which pushes out carbon atoms, creates
developed by veteran sound engineer Tony Bongiovi (second cousin vacancies and introduces other defects.
to a certain Jon). Using this software, the radio can be programmed However, subsequent heating of the
specifically for each car model, with more than 120 points of nanotube with a predetermined cur-
adjustment. According to Bongiovi, the software is so precise that a rent ‘repairs’ many of these.
hatchback Ford Focus has a different tuning to a regular model. The process can be repeated, each
Now on sale in the US, this ‘toy’ will set you back by up to $1000 time resulting in narrower and more
and should reach Europe early in 2007. ‘perfect’ material and the UCB-LBNL
team has produced tubes of less than
1nm in diameter in this way.
 POWERLINE NETWORKING
Plugging in
Powerline silicon debut. Graham Pitcher reports.
S iConnect has launched the
PLT050, its first digital powerline
transceiver chip, and claims interest has
already been expressed by cable and
satellite equipment manufacturers.
Designed to support adsl speeds,
the PLT050 can handle throughputs of
14Mbit/s. The chip will handle stan-
dard definition tv in ‘triple play’ appli-
cations, home theatre and
uncompressed audio distribution as
well as VoIP and pc networking.
Robert Stead, vp of marketing,
Marvell unveils
XScale devices
Following its acquisition of Intel’s
communications and application
processor business, Marvell has
brought the third generation of the
XScale architecture to market.
Three members of the PXA3xx
family have been unveiled – the 300,
310 and 320. The first processor in the
family to ship in volume will be the
1.2GHz Marvell PXA320, which is
scalable to 806MHz. Meanwhile, the
PXA300 and 310 are scalable to
624MHz. The 300 is optimised for
handheld devices, whilst the 310 sup-
ports 30frame/s H.264 playback at vga
resolution.
10
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
noted: “It’s built to go on the end of an
adsl link to do basic communications
around the home.”
The microcontroller based PLT050
embeds SiConnect’s POEM technology
to deliver digital modem, baseband sig-
nal and control processing functions.
When used in conjunction with a
bidirectional analogue/digital interface
ic, a simple coupler circuit, an industry chip requires minimal external compo- based on the PLT050 will appear in Q2
standard PHY (Ethernet, USB or serial) nents to create a complete powerline of 2007. “More than likely, these will
and a 512kbit eeprom for system transceiver solution. be straightforward Ethernet adaptors,”
firmware and configuration upload, the Stead is confident that products he added.
Spin off raises €12m
Satellite tv breakthrough Fabless display manufacturer Liquavista,
which span off from Philips Research
Zetex is claiming a technical breakthrough in the development of a earlier this year, has raised €12million
4:2 IF switch aimed at satellite tv applications. from a consortium including Amadeus,
The ZXHF5000 boasts 30dB of channel isolation at frequencies of GIMV and New Venture Partners.
up to 2GHz. In addition, says the company, by adding 19dB of Liquavista has developed an elec-
gain, the part avoids the 7dB insertion loss found in passive switch trowetting technology for mobile device
solutions. This combination of high isolation and positive gain has, display screens. Electrowetting addresses
until now, proven too difficult to overcome. two main problems with lcds: poor read-
Geoff Stokes, senior development engineer, said the main difficulty was ability in bright lighting; and high power
in achieving isolation with integrated gain. “It’s affected by your choice consumption.
of package and pin layout. With 20dB of gain and 30dB of crosstalk Amadeus director Hermann
isolation, you need at least 50dB and that’s a design challenge.” Hauser said: “The next big thing in dis-
Richard Robinson, Zetex’ DBS marketing manager, noted the chip play technology has to address poor vis-
was replacing four discrete parts – a switch, two cable driver amps ibility and power consumption.
and a threshold detector. Liquavista’s technology solves these
problems while maintaining video rate
performance.”
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
 NXP– the new company
born out of Philips
Semiconductors
With all the energy of a new beginning,
fuelled by 50 years of wisdom, NXP
Semi-conductors is ready to answer
all your questions – especially the
impossible ones.
Driven by the open mind and the
curiosity of a newborn, NXP is already
leading the world of vibrant media
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invested in research, a heritage of
25,000 patents and numerous state-
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demanding semiconductor sectors.
So, to discover how you can change
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go to www.what-if-you-could.com.

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 DISTRIBUTION
Attracting attention
Watch out for Asian interest in Europe, says afdec. Graham Pitcher reports.
U K and European distributors
should beware of Asia, according
to Adam Fletcher, chairman of distribu-
tion body afdec. Presenting afdec’s latest
forecast for the sector, Fletcher claimed
a challenge for the future would be what
Asian distributors want to do in Europe.
He said: “In the last five to seven
years, demand in Asia has grown. But as
China begins to slow, Asian distributors
Getting the can
QinetiQ is working with Crown
Holdings to adapt its Omni-ID
Pak rfid technology so that rfid
tags can be integrated in metal
packaging.
Less than 1mm thick, the Omni-
ID structure collects and focuses
rf energy and enables efficient
coupling to the chip. The can
would serve as the antenna,
simplifying production of the rfid
tag and further reducing costs.
12
will be forced to improve their global
footprint. That will bring some acquisi-
tion activity that we haven’t thought
about before.”
Aubrey Dunford, afdec’s market
analyst, added: “If Asian distributors do
show interest in Europe, it’s more likely
they’ll start in Germany. The UK isn’t
likely to be the number one priority.”
However, he added that a ‘plc style’ dis-
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
NEWS
tributor with interests in Europe could
be a relatively easy target.
Meanwhile, afdec expects to see the
market available to distribution compa-
nies (dtam) to grow over the next cou-
ple of years as manufacturers continue
to move away from direct sales. In
2007, the dtam is predicted to reach
£1.137billion, around 30% of the total
market for electronic components.
Europe needs to
‘control its destiny’
Addressing the organisation’s recent
forum, MEDEA+ chairman Arthur van
der Poel said Europe’s electronics indus-
try needed to ‘get its act together’ if it
was to remain in control of its destiny.
“European R&D in nanoelectron-
ics today is at world class level,” he said,
“but if Europe wants to be in control
of its own destiny, then Europe has to
continue to fight for high quality R&D
on European soil.” van der Poel
believes Europe’s nanoelectronics
industry is ready to face this challenge.
With the MEDEA+ programme
ending in 2008, preparations for a suc-
cessor are said to be well on track, with
a white paper outlining the future due
to be published in the middle of next
year. The new programme, he added,
will have the double tasks of securing
high quality R&D capabilities and
infrastructures in Europe as well as pro-
viding technologies and solutions to
address society needs affordably.
van der Poel highlighted the break-
throughs made by the programme in the
last few years. Since its establishment in
2001, some 18,000 person years have
been invested in 75 projects, of which 44
have ended successfully. These include
work in: automotive electronics, wireless
communications, smart cards, extreme
UV lithography, and 65 and 90nm
process technology. The latter project,
van der Poel noted, has given the indus-
try ‘impetus and enthusiasm to collabo-
rate on 45nm technology.
 Bright ideas
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BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN 91NEL0615109.pgs 04.12.2006 12:09

Replication revolutionary
A
Which came first; the decade or so ago, the concept of the home
office was revolutionary, but the web and
chicken or the egg? How broadband have made it a perfectly ordi-
nary lifestyle. But what about a home factory: a
self replicating machines production line in your sitting room capable of
manufacturing lots of different products, virtually
for free? Surely that is a pipedream?
are becoming reality. Not if Adrian Bowyer’s plans come to fruition.
The senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at
By David Boothroyd. Bath University’s Centre for Biomimetics is lead-
ing a project called RepRap – the Replicating
Rapid Prototyper.
The extraordinary idea underlying RepRap is
self replication. A rapid prototyper can build
many different objects. So why not make one that
can build a copy of itself? If you can do that once,
you can do it again and again. Result: the cost falls
to virtually nothing – just the raw materials – and
RepRap machines become available to millions.
If it works, it will be the best application yet
of one of the most beguiling ideas in the whole of
technology: self replicating machines.
The idea of a machine that can copy itself goes
back way before the days of electronic comput-
14 N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
ing, at least to the 1870s, when it featured in
Samuel Butler’s novel Erewhon.
One of the first practical steps towards self repli-
cating machines took place in the 1950s, with an
extraordinary project initiated by scientist Lionel
Penrose and his son Roger – then a schoolboy, lat-
terly, one of the UK’s most brilliant scientists. They
built a system of wooden cut outs, in several
shapes, which could fit together into compound
parts. Placed in a tray and shaken, they would
assemble into specific patterns, which would also
repeat over ‘generations’. Effectively, they had built
a mechanical self reproducing system.
But the man regarded as the most brilliant fig-
ure in the entire field of self reproducing
machines – and, arguably, in the whole of com-
puting – is John von Neumann. Whilst he did
most of his research in 1940s, it wasn’t published
until after his death in 1966 in his book ‘Theory
of Self Reproducing Automata’.
In it, he describes a Universal Constructor; a
self replicating machine in a cellular automaton
environment (like that in John Conway’s game of
Life). Essentially, von Neumann demonstrated the
 SELF REPLICATING MACHINES
fundamental logical required for self reproduc-
tion. His constructor has 29 possible states, allow-
ing signals to be sent and logical operations to be
carried out. A ‘tape’ of cells encodes the sequence
of actions to be performed by the machine. Using
a writing head, the machine can generate (by
printing) a new pattern of cells, allowing it to
make a complete copy of itself – and the tape.
Von Neumann knew simpler forms of self
reproduction were possible, such as crystals copy-
ing themselves. But he was looking for a deeper
form of self reproduction that might be closer to
true biology – or ‘open ended’ evolution – which
could enable biological levels of complexity to
emerge. His genius was to realise that open ended
evolution needed both a constructor and, distinct
from it, its own description, which must be
copied separately. This was remarkable, because it
came before Crick and Watson’s discovery of how
nature does it using DNA. Open ended evolution
emerges because errors in copying the description
– mutations – generate variations which can then
evolve via natural selection.
After von Neumann, much of the research
into self reproducing machines was done in cel-
lular automata – software based models in which
self reproduction took place and Conway’s Life is
the most famous of these.
Donald MacLellan
“These bypass many of the problems of phys-
ical reality because you’re dealing with what is
basically a mathematical model inside a com-
puter,” Bowyer says.
More recently, researchers like Matt Moses at
the University of New Mexico and Hod Lipson
from Cornell University, have made progress
towards real, physical self replicating machines.
Moses’ system consisted of Lego like bricks made
of polyurethane resin which were used to make a
three axis manipulator. This was subsequently
shown to be capable of assembling a duplicate of
itself. However, the machine cannot fabricate its
own plastic components and must be controlled by
an external entity. To be fully self replicating,
admits Moses, the device would have to control its
own actions autonomously and possess the instruc-
DreamWorks
tions necessary for carrying out its duplication.
Lipson, meanwhile, made a tower of cubes
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
COVER STORY
attached to each other by magnets, which can be
energised or not. Called ‘molecubes’, they can
rotate and manipulate other cubes in their sur-
roundings, and by doing that produce a copy of the
original tower. The results have been intriguing.
Bowyer calls this kind of work ‘pure self repro-
ducing machines’, because the aim is to create sys-
Courtesy of Bath University
tems that can make exact copies of themselves
with no human intervention, apart from initial
provision of raw materials. He is not so interested
in that approach because it fails to distinguish
between the inherent abilities and drawbacks of
human beings and machines. Main picture:
People, he says, find it very difficult to carve a Adrian Bowyer: “I want to
block of plastic to an accuracy of 0.1mm, which produce machines that do
is easy for a computer. Putting carved pieces what they’re good at, whilst
together – particularly if they can only fit one way we help by doing what we’re
– is easy for us, much harder for a machine. good at. What that means is
“I want to produce machines that do what making a machine that can
they’re good at, whilst we help by doing what make all its parts. Then a
we’re good at. What that means is making a person can put them together.”
machine that can make all its parts. Then a per-
son can put them together.”
Clearly, making machines that do nothing but
copy themselves would be pointless. So the aim is
to create machines with a self reproducing capacity,
but which can also make all sorts of other devices,
from coat hooks to cat flaps – almost anything is
possible within the size limitations of the systems
under development, currently a 300mm cube.
Courtesy of Bath University
The other key element of his strategy is to give Above: Future developments
away the RepRap for free – the whole system’s could include using the
electronic design, software, everything needed to RepRap to make moulds and,
build it, will be available from the web. The logic from them, produce anything
of this is that if you create a system that can copy that is mouldable, with
itself and anyone can have one, you have the materials like epoxy, concrete,
potential for an exponential increase in the num- plaster of Paris or ceramics.
bers of such systems being produced and a simi-
lar fall in cost, of both the self reproducing
machines and the objects they can make.
It may sound absurdly generous, but the eco-
nomics are driven by logic – once a system can
copy itself (with a bit of help) it costs very little,
other than the raw materials to produce unlimited
numbers of it, which makes its monetary value
approach zero.
“It is potentially extremely wealth creating but
15
 SELF REPLICATING MACHINES
Above: Although aimed
initially at plastic parts,
second generation machines
will be able to produce
electrical circuitry. And future
machines may be able to
reproduce semiconductors.
Right: In September, a RepRap
machine, developed in Vienna
by Vik Olliver, succeeded in
producing the first part for itself
(circled in red).
Below: John Conway’s
Game of Life is one of the
most famous examples of
cellular automata – software
based models that support self
reproduction.
16
Courtesy of Bath University
itself is worth nothing,”
Bowyer says. However, there
is also a moral dimension, in
that he did not want such a
system to be under the con-
trol of any individual, com-
pany, or government. “If you
have a powerful technology, a good way to make
bad things happen is for only some people to have
access to it.”
One requirement being asked of anyone build-
ing a RepRap is that they make two machines for
other people.
The team has set itself a deadline for distrib-
uting the first machines by 2008, but Bowyer is
quietly confident they can beat this. He is not in
complete control of the project – different teams
of people are working on prototypes worldwide,
some of whom he has never met. Most recently,
in September, a RepRap machine developed in
Vienna by Vik Olliver, succeeded in producing
the first part for itself (see http://staff.bath.
ac.uk/ensab/replicator/).
First generation machines will produce only
plastic products, but the team is already planning
a second generation device that will handle low
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
COVER STORY
melting point alloys, enabling RepRap systems to
deal with electrical conductors and hence produce
a combined electrical and mechanical object.
“These second stage machines will have a depo-
sition head in them that works directly on the alloy,
so you will be able to produce electrical circuitry.
And people are already working to develop inkjet
printers that can print semiconductors on plastic
sheets. Once RepRap machines are established,
there is nothing to stop them creating a semicon-
ductor print head.”
But even with plastic only out-
put, Bowyer believes the
potential is huge. “I cite plas-
tic coat hooks as an example of
what could be produced. It
sounds completely trivial, but
an economist has told me the
worldwide market for them is
much larger than for massive
objects like gas turbines.”
Clearly, it will require a
change in mind set for us to think about making
our own small plastic objects. But if it takes off
and RepRap machines cost almost nothing – and
the crucial requirement for that is their capacity
for self reproducing – it could happen. People
will then simply download designs for objects
from the web or create new ones themselves
using free 3d modelling software, ‘print’ them
out and the home factory is born.
The self replication concept can apply not
only to the RepRap machines, but also to the raw
materials. In future, Bowyer is hoping to be able
to use a polymer called polylactic acid, which can
be made by fermentation from starch using pota-
toes or maize.
“If you have a few tens of square metres of
ground, you can have a supply of raw material that
copies itself. And of course, the RepRap can also
make a fermenter. Also the plastic is fully
biodegradable, so it can go on a compost heap, and
the result is you have immediately a local recycling
route. That makes it extremely benign ecologically.”
Further developments could include using the
RepRap to make moulds, and from them produce
anything that is mouldable, with materials like
epoxy, concrete, plaster of Paris or ceramics.
For some observers, there are two Holy Grails
of future technology and they both involve self
replication: physical machines of some kind that
can copy themselves; and software programs that
can learn and create better versions of themselves.
Why are these so significant? Because once you
reach these points, there will be an exponential
increase in what is achieved – and we can sit back
and watch.
Cleaner design is good design.
Save money, resources and the environment.
For free practical advice on how to save money go to www.envirowise.gov.uk/cleanerdesign

Cleaner design concepts enable manufacturers to use less material, minimise packaging,
reduce energy use and eliminate pollution and waste.

Think clean. Design cleaner.

STAMP OUT WASTE
 APPLICATIONS SPECIAL
Vicor modules enable a novel glider
using battery powered electrical
propulsion to take to the air!
By Vanessa Knivett.
Closer to the birds
G
liding is the closest we come to
free flight. But to enjoy this
freedom, gliders need to gain
height in order to reach a thermal. This
requires a winch or a tow.
Auxiliary propulsion systems make it
possible to get gliders off the ground
unaided. A conventional solution uses
combustion motors, but their perform-
ance decreases with altitude, so they must
be oversized and this imposes weight,
heat and noise burdens.
German glider company Lange
Flugzeugbau, which wanted to add an
electric engine for self powered takeoff
and climb, has used Vicor modules in the
Antares 20E, the first glider to receive the
European Aviation Safety Agency’s type
certification for an electrical propulsion
system.
By integrating the battery charging
circuitry inside the plane, Lange has pro-
duced a self reliant electrically powered
glider that can make long distance flights
and be recharged at any airfield. The need
for good aerodynamic performance, how-
ever, imposes strict weight limits, partic-
ularly on batteries and charging circuitry.
One of the challenges was the integra-
tion of the battery charging subsystem.
This had to be self reliant in order to
enable long distance flights. The motor
has a nominal power of 42kW and oper-
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
SPECIAL REPORT
ates from a 288V supply. The battery sys-
tem has to provide enough power for five
minutes of operation, which translates
into a battery capacity of 11kWh.
The glider uses Li-ion batteries which
require tightly controlled operating con-
ditions to deliver a consistent, reliable
output. To offer maximum capacity, the
cells must be operated between 20 and
40°C, so temperature sensing and cell
heating had to be implemented. The
charging process involves: voltage moni-
toring and selective discharging until all
cells have the same voltage; heating until
the desired operating temperature is
reached; and battery array charging until
the total voltage reaches 288V.
Since weight has a direct impact on
performance, all components had to be
optimised. Commercially available charg-
ers were too heavy, so a charging subsys-
tem had to be developed. This essentially
consists of a mains front end and a high
voltage, high power dc/dc converter with
programmable output voltage. Space and
weight limitations meant the circuits had
to offer high efficiency, as a major factor
was whether heat sinks would be needed.
Vicor was the only manufacturer that
could deliver modules that were suffi-
ciently lightweight, yet met the efficiency,
controllability and volume specifications.
The charging subsystem is divided
into two sections: the auto ranging mains
front end; and the power section, with
the dc/dc converters.
During a charging cycle, the power
section generates substantial heat. The
motor control circuitry generates sub-
stantial heat during powered flight, but
since motor and charging electronics are
not used at the same time, they can share
the same heat sink, reducing weight.
The battery array consists of 72 Li-ion
cells connected in series. The batteries
operate from 2.7 to 4V, so the circuitry
has to deliver a charge voltage ranging
from 194 to 288V – determined using a
cell voltage measurement performed at
regular intervals by the charge controller.
The charge controller derives a trim
voltage from this measurement and
delivers it to the dc/dc converters so
charge voltage is updated in relation to
battery status. The controller also limits
the trim voltage so the converters cannot
deliver more than 290V, protecting
against overcharging. As it is only used
on the ground, no redundancy is needed.
The efficiency and lightweight design
of Vicor’s modules means the charging
unit weighs 6kg, including cabling, free-
ing more weight for valuable payload.
The unit consumes approximately
1.7kW and requires nine hours to fully
recharge the glider’s batteries.
19
 APPLICATIONS SPECIAL
DSPs enable diagnostics
A
leading designer of medical diag-
nostic systems has used Texas
Instruments’ digital signal pro-
cessing technology to create a line of next
generation diagnostic products, including
ultrasounds, magnetic resonance imagers
(MRIs) and electrocardiograms (ECGs).
Esaote’s new medical devices feature
state of the art functionality and mobil-
ity at prices that are likely to bring these
tools to a wider range of patients and
healthcare workers.
Using TI’s fixed and floating point
dsps, Esaote has been able to build its
platforms around devices that act as sig-
nal processors and as controllers for the
board functions. The TMS320C5x,
TMS320C67x and TMS320C64x dsp
20
SPECIAL REPORT
Fixed and floating point dsps
enable a new breed of mri,
ultrasound and ecg equipment.
By Vanessa Knivett.
families were used and TI tools, such as
Code Composer Studio IDE, emulators
and simulators, eased the design process.
“TI offers a broad, compatible prod-
uct portfolio that enabled us to develop
several very different devices using a vari-
ety of dsps, but with the same tools and
development environment,” said Marco
Brusacà, Ultrasound R&D manager at
Esaote. “This was fundamental to our
success because it permitted us to lever-
age industry best performance, power
consumption and price where needed,
whilst simplifying the development
cycle, allowing us to focus on the new
applications and features that truly dif-
ferentiate our product lines.”
Esaote’s MyLab XVision series of high
tech ultrasound systems is based on digi-
tal platforms powered by TI dsps. The
XVision products provide high resolution
and feature sophisticated technologies,
including the XStrain advanced cardiac
technique for myocardial function evalu-
ation, the Virtual Navigator tracking sys-
tem for interventional imaging and the
4D advanced technology for detailed
obstetric and general purpose evaluations.
The modular systems are compact to
ensure portability and include such inno-
vative features as tilting lcd monitors.
Diagnostic performance and maneuver-
ability allow them to be used in a wide
range of hospital applications and they
are also suited for mobile services.
G-scan, Esaote’s open and tilting MRI
system for musculoskeletal applications,
is a diagnostic tool that is easy to use and
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
features a low breakeven point. This is
said to make MRI affordable for those
medical facilities with a reduced MRI
case load.
Suitable for any clinical environment,
G-scan represents a new way of looking at
extremity MRI, providing new opportu-
nities to a larger range of patients who can
benefit from a wider availability to MRI.
Imaging of the spine in a natural,
weight bearing standing position is now
possible with the G-scan.
Esaote’s new cost effective ECG prod-
uct line can function as standalone units
or as part of larger, high performance
networks that allow cardiologists to inte-
grate and manage data from multiple
diagnostic applications.
The new ECGs can be connected to
other units or linked to a pc to expand
archiving and processing functions and to
provide maximum connectivity. They can
be also be linked with low cost pc print-
ers and communication modules, allow-
ing them to compete in cost sensitive
applications, such as low cost 12 channel
electrocardiography and telemedicine.
“Esaote is tapping into the perform-
ance, power and price points of our
fixed- and floating point dsps to create
cutting edge medical diagnostic equip-
ment that is available to everyone,” said
Cyril Clocher, DSP Catalog business
development manager EMEA at Texas
Instruments. “We look forward to work-
ing with them in the future as they fur-
ther push the boundaries of healthcare
information systems.”
In addition to dsps, Esaote’s products
leverage TI’s analogue signal chain and
power management technology. For
example, the OPA364 precision 1.8V
operational amplifier and the ADS8320
low power 16bit a/d converter are opti-
mised for low voltage, battery operated
systems.
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 APPLICATIONS SPECIAL
A
valanches are a constant danger
to skiers and when they happen,
it’s important that rescuers get
to those affected as quickly as possible.
The primary objective of an avalanche
rescue mission is to get to the right spot
easily and quickly, because the chances of
survival diminish after 15 to 20 minutes.
In order to meet such demanding
requirements, rescuers need a device they
can rely upon to operate easily, read
clearly and understand unambiguously.
Swiss electronics manufacturer
Ascom has just developed such a device ;
the PULSE Barryvox. The product uses
Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF905 multi-
band transceiver as part of the system
used to transmit the vital signs data of a
buried person to the searching device.
The nRF905 transmits on either the
European 868 or US 915MHz Indus-
trial, Scientific and Medical bands. The
Barryvox device uses a patent pending
dual band antenna that allows the wire-
less link to operate on both frequency
bands with optimum impedance match-
ing for the strongest possible signal
response.
“We selected Nordic’s nRF905
because the chip is very compact and
needs only few additional components,”
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
SPECIAL REPORT
Life saver!
explains Andreas Ehrensperger, dsp appli-
cations engineer at Ascom. “This was in
line with the objective to make the 210g,
personal organiser sized device the small-
est and lightest avalanche transceiver to
use both analogue (acoustic signal) and
digital technology on the market.
“The nRF905 operates at a low volt-
age and has low power consumption,
making it well suited to battery applica-
tions,” continues Ehrensperger.
“Nordic’s products offer excellent
cost/performance and are reliable. We
have used many Nordic chips over the
years and have been impressed by their
field reliability. And as a multiband
device, the nRF905 can operate on both
frequencies we intend to use – 868MHz
in Europe and 915MHz in the US.”
Each member of a ski, snowboard or
climbing party carries a Barryvox device
that transmits a continuous signal. If an
avalanche buries one or more members,
other members of the group switch their
transceivers from transmit to receive
mode so their unit scans for rescue bea-
con signals from the devices carried by
users buried under the snow.
The receiving unit can detect multi-
ple signals on the 457kHz frequency,
together with a vital signs signal trans-
RF chipset aids avalanche rescue.
By Graham Pitcher.
mitted by the Nordic nRF905 on either
the 868 kHz (in Europe) or 915 kHz (in
the US) bands. This allows rescuers to
prioritise their efforts to reach those vic-
tims that are still alive in the vital first 15
to 20 minutes after an avalanche.
The PULSE Barryvox is the first bea-
con that can detect and transmit vital
signs. It has an lcd that shows distance
and direction (360°), leading rescuers
quickly to buried survivors. An overview
of all detected signals including their
vital status is given. An analogue mode
with an amplified acoustic speaker is
built in. The challenge to date has been
that most devices require some expertise
– not to mention a cool head – to oper-
ate effectively.
Extensive use of dsp technology and
specially optimised algorithms that pre-
cisely separate signals and accurately
associate them with each unique source,
search speed and reliability in multiple
burial situations is significantly
enhanced.
The detection and transmission of
vital data is made using a very sensitive
motion sensor and W-Link (Wireless
Link), allowing effective pre-excavation
triage (prioritized rescue) thus increasing
the chances of survival.
23
 APPLICATIONS SPECIAL
A
compact ‘through the wall’
radar sensing device from
Cambridge Consultants allows
security and emergency service personnel
to evaluate the position and movement
of people in rooms and buildings.
Prism 200, which is the size of a brief-
case and can be carried and used with one
hand, features three advances that make
through wall radar technology a practical
proposition: a battery powered portable
radar device; smart radar signal process-
ing that senses human movement and
position – even in environments with
many reflecting surfaces; and meaningful
data presentation in forms to suit the user,
including plan, elevation or 3d views.
“To commercialise this technology,
we’ve talked to the spectrum of potential
Who’s there?
users and spent more than a year
refining the hardware and creat-
ing a man machine interface
that provides critical intelli-
gence in an intuitive form”,
says Alan Wiltshire, product
manager. “The result is a
‘switch on and go’ unit that
can deliver high level loca-
tion information that helps
tip the balance in favour of
security operatives in a
broad range of dangerous or
time critical situations.”
Prism is an ‘impulse
radar’, which operates by
transmitting a very short
pulse and then listening for
echoes from objects that the
pulse bounces off. The sys-
tem operates at 100Hz using
ultra wide band principles,
in the 2GHz region of the
spectrum.
An array of antennas
allows the system to measure
24
SPECIAL REPORT
Compact radar sensing device allows
the position and movement of
people in rooms and buildings to be
determined. By Graham Pitcher.
the angle of arrival of echo signal returns
accurately, yielding information that
provides both horizontal and vertical
data so that 3d positions can be deter-
mined. UWB technology is also said to
make the system good at resolving the
distance of objects.
Fast digital signal processing is per-
formed on the echo results to distinguish
between objects which are static, such as
furniture, and objects that move. The
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
system achieves this by maintaining a
memory of background signals and
observing changes above and beyond
that database.
Prism 200 will monitor several sub-
jects and track movement, even in diffi-
cult environments such as offices, with
their angular surfaces and metal objects
which can act like a ‘hall of mirrors’ to a
normal radar. Cambridge Consultants’
advanced signal processing software is
designed to distinguish moving people
from these reflections, distilling vital
information that can help observers to
determine the real situation inside a
building, and what is the best position
and time for a tactical entry.
The position of each subject is clearly
indicated on the screen and people can be
tracked as they move, to build informa-
tion on behaviour and room layout. Users
can choose to see this information in plan,
side elevation or 3d views, or all three
simultaneously. When using the 3d view,
the user’s viewpoint can also be rotated.
The radar antennas inside are arranged
in such a way that prism 200 has a wide
field of view: 120° horizontally and 90°
vertically. The radar also has four user
selectable ranges of up to 20m.
prism 200 can be held against a wall
or mounted on a tripod in a ‘stand
off’ position. The radar uses ultraw-
ide band (UWB) radar pulses that
pass easily through standard
building materials including
bricks, blocks, concrete, tim-
ber, plaster and tiles. The radi-
ated power is very low and the
unit is inherently safe to use.
The ergonomics of the fin-
ished radar unit have been a
key focus of the development
process. The packaged sys-
tem, which measures 210 x
300 x 450mm and weighs
5.4 kg, includes a lithium-
ion battery pack that pro-
vides power for more than
three hours of continuous
use. It can be used almost instantly:
the embedded system displays
results within two seconds of the
device being powered up.
 T Digital design know how helps
he fact that it’s a ‘wiggly world’ out
there means data converters are an
essential part of any system that
wants to process information in the dig-
ital domain. And there are many systems
that take advantage of technology such as
digital signal processing to improve their
performance.
However, once that processing has
taken place, there’s often the need to
return data to the ‘real’ world. And that
requires digital to analogue conversion.
This technique is found in a number of
applications, but one of the most
demanding is, surprisingly, audio.
Jason Rhode is vice president and
general manager of Cirrus Logic’s mixed
signal and audio division. He said:
“Audio, in general, means frequency.
You can use general purpose or indus-
trial devices, but you really need to use
specialist parts when it comes to audio.”
Sounds good!
There’s a number of reasons for this, he
notes. One of them is the number of
standards which need to be supported.
“We have to support sampling rates all
the way from 32kHz to 192kHz and
that’s non continuous.” But there’s one
other reason why special parts need to be
used in the audio world. “Fussy cus-
tomers,” Rhode explained.
One of Cirrus’ latest offerings for the
audio sector is the CS4350 which the
company says is ‘a complete stereo audio
converter noteworthy for its superior
audio quality and ease of design’.
The CS4350 features an on chip
phase locked loop (pll) based master
clock that supports 24bit resolution and
sampling rates of up to 192kHz. It also
has a dynamic range of 108dB.
By integrating the pll in the CS4350,
Cirrus has taken away the need for
26
audio people have
got into ‘specman-
consumer electronics manufacturers ship’. There are
applications where
target digital tv deficiencies. performance is
By Graham Pitcher. important, but
more often, what a
manufacturer is
most worried
designers to route an external master about is the cus-
clock across their pcb. Instead, they can tomer, who will
lock on to the incoming left right clock select a product
signal (LRCK), rather than the video based on specs.”
clock or other high speed clock sources. He believes that manufacturers have
This reduces interference and clock jitter been pushing on such parameters as
sensitivity. In stand alone mode, the mas- dynamic range and distortion in the last
ter clock runs at 256 times the LRCK fre- few years ‘largely due to perception’.
quency when the CS4350 is running in “From a distortion point of view,” he
single and doublespeed mode. When in continued, “there’s not a speaker that’s
quad speed mode, the master clock is better than 80dB of total harmonic dis-
128 times LRCK. tortion, but people are now insist-
The device operates in single speed ing upon distortion figures of
mode at sample rates from 30 to 54kHz,
in double speed mode from 60 to
108kHz and in quad speed mode from
120 to 216kHz.
Rhode said: “This on chip pll is good
for emi and means the customer doesn’t
need a high speed master clock elsewhere
in the system.”
Rhode noted another benefit of the
master pll. “A lot of systems today
stream audio over usb. This uses a
master clock of 12 or 24MHz and
those frequencies don’t relate to
audio sampling rates; 48kHz is not
an even multiple, so you have to
generate this.”
Rhode points out another
interesting development
within the audio world.
“Somewhere along the
way, the consumer
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
 DIGITAL TECHNIQUES
more than
100dB. That’s
good for us,
because we’re
a high per-
formance sup-
plier and we
typically target
higher end sys-
tems.”
The device is
based on the
delta-sigma architecture. “It’s a switched
current design,” Rhode noted. “It’s sur-
prising that a system that can achieve
100dB thd is based on a delta-sigma
architecture.”
One reason why Cirrus has been able
to achieve this figure is the availability of
better design tools. “Simulation is an
example,” Rhode noted. “These
tools can tell you if you have a
problem, but there can be digital
interference and there’s no simula-
tion package that does that.
Whilst there has been a huge leap
in the capability of the tools, they
don’t capture everything.”
And that means per-
formance comes down to
design expertise. “What
lets you hit 105dB instead
of 90dB is having smart
people who keep
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e o n . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
working until they get there,” Rhode
claimed.
“The thing that separates good design
engineers and great ones,” he continued,
“is faith. “They ask ‘what do you want
the spec to be?’ and they get it done.”
Another example of faith, in Rhode’s
opinion, is the CS4525 Class D ampli-
fier. “The faith here is the ability to put
more than 90dB into a switching stage.
That’s hard and you have to think a lot
about sync and similar issues.”
The CS4525 is aimed squarely at the
rapidly expanding flat panel digital tv
market. But, said Rhode, digital tvs
don’t always have the best sound. So he
sees a great opportunity for product dif-
ferentiation by small and large manu-
facturers alike.
Allowing this differentiation, the
CS4525 integrates a stereo a/d converter,
a sample rate converter, digital audio
processor and a complete 30W Class D
“Somewhere along the way, the consumer audio people have got into
‘specmanship’. There are applications where performance is important,
but, more often, a manufacturer is most worried about the customer.”
amplifier, including the controller and
power stage. The device also supports
incoming analogue and digital audio sig-
nals, and its power stage is efficient
enough to remove the need for a heat
sink in system designs.
Component size is an important fac-
tor in the flat screen tv world. Whilst
the devices have a large area, they invari-
ably are thin. And, with the electronics
located behind the flat panel, mounting
height is becoming a differentiator. “But
thermal performance is even more
important,” said Rhode, “and the 4525
is the first part where we’ve done a lot of
finite element analysis. If you’re deliver-
ing 30W at 85% efficiency, that’s a lot
of power.”
The part also takes advantage of pulse
width modulation technology. “But
when you start talking about digital
pwm,” Rhode observed, “it’s all about
discrete time steps, so there’s a transition
that results related to the input signal
frequency.”
Rhode says this is addressed using
delta-sigma modulation. “We take a low
frequency (48kHz, 24bit) audio input
and run it through a digital delta-sigma
modulator. This produces a 4 or 5bit
Jason Rhode, Cirrus Logic
word at a higher sample rate, say
384kHz. We can then ‘turn’ this word on
its side and use each word to generate the
pulse width. That needs some heavy duty
mathematics within the algorithm.”
The CS4525 also features a patent
pending thermal warning and fold back
technology, developed to cope with dif-
ferent compression levels amongst audio
sources. When the volume gets turned
up too high and the chip starts running
hot, this technique scales back output
levels automatically. This is said to be
particularly important for flat panel tvs,
which generate significant amounts of
heat within slim form factors.
“With digital tv,” Rhode concluded,
“the focus is absolutely on video and peo-
ple are very tolerant of audio quality.
We’re looking to change that.”
27
28 N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
 SIGNAL PROCESSING
Analogue
outdoes digital
Signal processing the analogue way. By Roy Rubenstein.
D
igital may get much of the
attention but, for certain signal
processing tasks, analogue has
virtues that are unmatched. Speed, com-
pact layouts and extreme low power can
all be achieved on an analogue design
implemented in a deep sub micron
process.
“We designed an analogue 90° audio
phase shifter – a Hilbert Transformer,”
says Professor Peter Saul, partner and
cofounder of Saul Research. “Just after
that, an article appeared describing a dsp
version. The [dsp] spec was marginally
better, but the power consumption was
1000 times greater.”
Saul Research is a family firm that
happens to be a fabless design house. Its
services range from feasibility studies to
delivered prototype analogue signal pro-
cessing (asp) ics. “Most of our customers
come along with a question as to
whether their chip can be made at all, or
economically,” says Saul. “We start with
the customer’s idea, then turn it into a
prototype.”
ASP refers to complex circuits where
the signal passes through several ana-
logue stages. Just as with dsp, the signal
is transformed or characterised. For asp,
signal filtering is common while other
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
INTRA DESIGN
tasks include complex manipulations
such as phase shifting as well as log and
antilog conversions.
Applications using asp tend to be low
power, low noise. “We do lots of circuits
for radio – handhelds and radio links
between equipment,” says Prof Saul.
Sensors are another; for example, cir-
cuits that measure capacitance changes
due to MEMS movement. “Such appli-
cations are for battery powered, portable
equipment put in the field and left for
months.”
Fab choices
For a company undertaking an asp ic
design, choice of foundry is a key deci-
sion. Even getting fab access can be an
issue if the design run involves prototype
numbers only. Another issue is selecting
the right process, given the wide choice.
Europe has three main cmos
foundries: austriamicrosystems; X-Fab;
and AMIS. There are also specialist firms
such as Zarlink offering a bipolar
process, and IHP for silicon germanium.
Saul Research has designed products
using several foundries. “As a small busi-
ness, we have to have access to a
foundry’s design data without being able
to promise a very large order,” he says.
This can be an issue with foundries
wanting to see 100 or more wafer starts
a year – equivalent to 300,000 analogue
chips,
A way around the problem is multi
project wafers (MPW), where compa-
nies split the cost of a production run –
and the resulting volumes – by placing
their designs on one wafer. Saul Research
has used MPW provider Europractice
extensively. “It has been an enormous
help. I think we are its biggest UK indus-
trial user when measured by numbers of
designs placed, and about third overall,”
says Prof Saul. “We also use more varied
processes than anyone else.”
Foundries offer cmos processes with
feature sizes ranging from 0.7µm to
90nm. For digital, smaller mostly means
better, but for analogue, voltage head-
room becomes an issue with process
shrink.
The rule of thumb regarding the safe
limit is 10V per micron of minimum
process dimension. “A 0.35µm process is
good for 3.5V, usually translated as
3.3V, while 0.18µm is only good for a
1.8V supply,” says Prof Saul. Whilst
logic circuits can operate close to the
voltage rails, analogue circuits need
enough voltage to operate a differential
29
 SIGNAL PROCESSING
Although Saul Research’s analogue 90°
audio phase shifter has slightly less
performance than a digital equivalent, its
power consumption is 1000 times less.
pair or current tail. “That means the
voltage swing is around 1.4V [for a
0.18µm process] – not much for some
applications,” he says.
Circuits can be designed using a
smaller voltage swing, but performance
is compromised. “We are designing
3.3V devices in the 0.35µm regions of a
0.18µm process,” says Prof Saul. “This
gives us 3.3V supply, 0.18µm process
compatibility and, surprisingly, better all
round performance than we would get
with either.”
The designer’s preferred approach
also affects process choice. Prof Saul
Figure 1: A d/a converter bit
Y address
M3 M4
M2
M1
X address
30
INTRA DESIGN
favours analogue designs that use resis-
tors and capacitors. “We have put down
many hundreds of megohms on some
chips; single resistors of 200Mohm are
no problem on the right processes and
have been highly reproducible.”
The alternative approach avoids pas-
sives, using FETs instead. This allows
designers to embrace leading edge
process dimensions. “At least one or two
process generations ahead of us,” says
Prof Saul. But the approach brings
design risks. One is supply voltage rejec-
tion – greater power supply ripple can
appear at the circuit’s output; another is
component value variation. “All FET
designs really only make sense for the in
house design groups,” he says.
Nano converter
Prof Saul cites the company’s recent 8bit
d/a converter design for QinetiQ to
illustrate asp design issues. “The idea
was to use well known digital cells, yet
its output is clearly analogue,” he says.
The converter was a proof of concept
design to show that a 0.35µm process
could deliver extremely low power con-
sumption and a sub mV bit size. The
design involved adding an analogue
switch to the converter’s resistor chain.
“It just needed some transmission gates
– similar to 4x inverters – and resistors
to be added to the digital components,”
says Prof Saul.
Another aspect was ensuring the
resistor output
chain voltage
M5
M8 R1
M7
M6
resistor carry
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
resistors matched well, such that value
errors averaged out overall. Once the cell
was crafted, 256 were laid out to form
the 8bit design,
The result is a small area, 100mV d/a
converter – equating to 0.4mV per bit –
with a standby current of 100nA. “No
one thought a 1mV per bit d/a converter
was possible,” says Prof Saul. The con-
verter, which has a tiny power consump-
tion, gives a dc output without taking
current. Given the 2.5V reference volt-
age, that equates to 250nW.
As for Saul’s Hilbert Transformer cir-
cuit, it is a purer asp example. The cir-
cuit was developed for a single sideband
generator and receiver circuit. One
application is for direct conversion of an
rf signal. Another use is for a medical
design. “The company had a medical
device and wanted to develop a hand-
held version, hence the requirement for
low power,” says Prof Saul. The chip
takes 120µA at 3.3V.
Prof Saul believes the use of digital
cells as analogue building blocks will be
an area that designers will increasingly
explore. “An inverter makes a fine broad-
band, high gain amplifier if the dc con-
ditions are right – and that might take
only one resistor,” he says.
Similarly, rf switches can be formed
from minimally changed logic gates. For
example, a 4x gate can give good enough
performance for some applications,
while using very small chip area, and
rapid layout. “Layout time is always an
issue with analogue; there are few stan-
dard circuit blocks available,” he says.
A further analogue cmos design issue
is interfaces. “With the right process,
50V or more is possible, or currents of
say 0.5A,” says Prof Saul. These need
careful design to stay within the foundry
design rules, but it can be done.
Meanwhile, asp opportunities will
continue to be the centre of low voltage
designs as cmos processes shrink, he says.
This will include signal conditioning,
such as low noise amplifiers and filtering
in the analogue domain, as well as deci-
sion circuitry. “We are talking low noise,
low power designs,” Prof Saul concludes,
“down to the nanoamps.”
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 WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT INTER DESIGN

The M2M market is starting to

boom, say market researchers.
If only people could agree on what
M2M is. By Nick Flaherty.

M
2M varies, depending who
you talk to, from connecting
up machines with a simple
Bluetooth wireless link in an electronic
point of sale (EPOS) or industrial system,
to linking equipment across the wide area
with GSM, GPRS or EDGE datalinks, to
3G links carrying video for cctv.
Are these really M2M? “If I have a cam-
era linked to a cctv system that monitors
the cameras and decides what it is going to
display, that’s M2M,” said Doug Gill-
mour, sales and marketing director of lead-
ing airtime supplier for M2M systems
Mobius Networks.
The M2M market is growing through
simple applications such as utility meters,
but also through more complex systems,
such as tracking the locations of trucks in
a fleet. “More than 300million utility
meters and 250m vehicles, plus more than
50m other devices could, potentially, be
connected to mobile networks in a not too
distant future,” says the latest report from
Swedish market researchers Berg Insight.
“The largest deployments already involve
up to half a million devices.”
for latency as much as possible and send

The need to talk

The market growth is coming from the
fact that more companies now understand
what is needed, but is challenged by sup-
pliers who put systems together ad hoc
without understanding the issues, particu-
larly scalability and security, says Gillmour.
“A lot of people are making money out of
selling M2M as a concept,” he said.
“There’s a huge amount of ‘smoke and
mirrors’ and unnecessary complications.”
It is important the parts used are also
optimised for M2M systems. “With
M2M, there are different requirements for
industrial applications with technologies
such as Bluetooth, such as latency and
synchronisation,” said Markus Roemer,
applications engineer at National Semi-
conductor. “There are synchronisation
issues in collecting data from different
sensors. Real time is not that important,
but the time stamp or synchronised trans-
mission is. We try to optimise our devices
data out as fast as possible.”
Liverpool based Brainboxes has been
moving in this direction for a while with a
range of products that use Bluetooth as a
cable replacement technology.
“The biggest advantage is having
machines able to communicate via the
internet,” said Stephen Evans, managing
director. “If you are a large company with
lots of machines out on site, you can aggre-
gate the information for fault finding and
maintenance. At the moment, we are con-
necting either to the service engineer or
connecting back to a wider network with
RS232 and RS485 links via Bluetooth. If
you look at the GPRS or CDMA modems,
they often have a serial connection on
them, so an engineer can connect.”

N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6 33
 WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT
M2M supplier Comtech has put
together a complete end to end system
with the connection software and database
that can be easily modified for different
applications. “We have doubled our M2M
business in the last 12 months,” said Barry
Lowe, managing director. “It has become
much more of a business model sell than a
technical sell. We have to help people
prove the business model quickly at mini-
mum cost and help them with selling the
“The biggest advantage is having
machines able to communicate
via the internet.”
Stephen Evans, Brainboxes
idea internally – they need a system they
can see and touch.”
It has combined its µWEAVE database
software with the GPRS modules that go
into the equipment. Now, it is link-
ing the database to the customer
applications. “Data and alarms are
handled out of the database, with
automated notification and web
based reporting tools, but now we
are delivering the data to applica-
tions, bridging the data across the
embedded systems and IT for back
office systems,” said Steve White-
head, technical director. “It has got
34
INTER DESIGN
to the stage where we are not managing the
machine on its own, but combining it with
the procedures such as the supply chain
and invoicing systems.”
Comtech has recently rolled out 2500
systems for Camelot for the National Lot-
tery, and is working with lotteries in other
countries, as well as wirelessly linked and
controlled video posters for promoting the
new Nintendo Wii games console.
The airtime connection requirements
for M2M are also quite different. “Three
years ago, we went to Vodafone to buy air-
time, and they didn’t have a route to mar-
ket for their data products,” said Gillmour.
“We quickly found the dynamics of air-
time are quite different from hardware, so
we spun off Mobius Networks as a Voda-
fone preferred distributor and service
provider. The bulk of our customers are
EPOS and transport.”
Mobius supplies fixed, private IP, rather
than the dynamically assigned, public IP
addresses that come from the operators
with an ordinary PCMCIA modem and
SIM card. “The beauty is it becomes part
of the LAN over a virtual private network
– Vodafone won’t give you that service,” he
said. All the IP addresses go through the
Mobius access point, which also
allows con-
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
solidated billing across all SIM cards on
one account, rather than having unused
airtime on each card. The access point is
running at around 6% capacity and the
company is already planning to upgrade
the link to Vodafone in February.
Higher bandwidth 3G technology is
also starting to appear in M2M links.
“Over the next year, we will see a lot more
dual GPRS and 3G applications,” said
Gillmour. “It’s not brilliant, and it’s expen-
sive compared to GPRS, but it’s good
enough for quite a lot of applications.
What we have not had is a viable
3G/GPRS embedded engine – we have
PCMCIA cards, but that’s just not the
same as an embedded engine.”
“It’s not going to change the market for
GPRS, as there are lots of applications that
are small amounts of data,” said White-
head. “We are starting to see video for cctv
and video posters where you need that
kind of bandwidth. But 3G coverage is
limited to the cities and you need the sys-
tems to work the same way across the
country.”
Security is important, says Gillmour. “I
know of one guy who put together a sys-
tem using public IP addresses and he was
shut down by a hacker just to see what
would happen.” Mobius works with hard-
ware sister company Spectre and with the
payment bureaux and banks through
another sister company Secure Etail. “That
provides a loose alliance that does save the
customer time,” he said. “The key thing is
the difference between something that
works on the bench and producing some-
thing that works in the tens and hundreds
of thousands of units.”
There are issues of scalability. “The
voice operator’s view is if a SIM doesn’t
work, they send a new one out the next
day, and that’s good service. But if a fleet
of 100 trucks has a failure rate of 5%, that’s
five trucks off the road.”
But is M2M even the right expression?
“M2M is nonsense because no one makes
M2M kit,” says Gillmour. “I think M2M
provides a cover for people ... to create a
sense of fear, uncertainty and doubt
among customers. There’s a lot of kit out
there that hasn’t been used in a high vol-
ume roll out.”

 






 


     


   


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High power density 550 kHz, 1.6 MHz, or 3 MHz frequency

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VIN VOUT
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IN SW
Microcontroller,
Lower power FPGA,
P-FET ASIC,
On
Memory,
Off EN CPLD,
Digital logic
FB
PGND
Internal compensation
simplifies design

Ultra-low 30 nA Cycle-by-cycle current limit

standby current for short circuit protection




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 WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT INTER DESIGN

“T
he strategy from the start was
to supply personal area net-
working (PAN) and I was
convinced there would be tens of wireless
devices in every home.” CSR has been
leading the way with its single chip Blue-
tooth device and James Collier, chief
It’s taken a while, but
technology officer and company founder, personal area networking
is seeing his dream in 1998 coming true.
PAN technology is expanding from the is finding a wide range
almost ubiquitous Bluetooth link in a bil-
lion mobile phones, to a low cost, low
of applications.
power version called WiBree, to low By Nick Flaherty.
power, network oriented Zigbee technol-
ogy, to contact based, short range Near
Field Communication (NFC) and to var-
ious versions of high speed ultrawideband
(UWB) that will provide wireless USB
links and the next generation of Bluetooth.
PAN is defined by the peer to peer
connections and so rules out the 802.11
standard wireless local area networking,
but there is an explosion in the different
technologies coming though.
WiBree is a low power version of
Bluetooth that aims to do for PAN what
Zigbee has done for control and home
automation – provide a low power, low
cost wireless link.

Let’s get personal

“WiBree is basically Bluetooth that’s
been optimised in the radio for power
saving; the protocol is Bluetooth like, but
much smaller and less secure. It’s really
product oriented Zigbee and will go in
remote controls and toys,” said Eric Jan-
son, CSR’s senior vice president of sales
and applications engineering. But the
value is that it will integrate easily into
existing Bluetooth chips.
“Bluetooth in particular is the first
high volume wireless PAN technology,”
said Scott Biband, vice president and gen-
eral manager of the wireless PAN group
at Broadcom. “But I think WiBree is a
good move – you need something that is
lower power and can run off coin cells for
sensors. There’s not a lot of overlap with
Bluetooth.” Samples are expected in the
second half of next year, with production
in the first quarter of 2008 from CSR,
and in Q2 from Broadcom.
High speed UWB is emerging from
three angles – as wireless USB to con-
nect peripherals to the pc through the
WiMedia specification; as the next gen-
eration of Bluetooth (sometimes called
Bluetooth 3); and to link equipment
together in the living room.
“UWB with WiMedia has been
designed for cable replacement applica-
tions, and the first is certified Wireless
USB (WUSB) with dongles and hubs.
Then we will see the pc ecosystem deploy
the technology into digital cameras,
external hard drives, personal media
players (PMP) and these kinds of
devices,” said Eric Rosser, vice president
of sales and marketing at UWB startup
Staccato Communications. “But we are
also seeing interest in the handsets to
connect to a pc and those other periph-
erals, as well as the set top box connect-
ing to a personal media player to
download video content. “In the short
term, you will see these connections by
USB but at the end of 2007, it will be
Bluetooth over UWB.”

N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6 37
 WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT
“WiBree is … really product
oriented Zigbee and will go in
remote controls and toys.”
Eric Janson, CSR
The value is low power – the protocol
is the most power efficient per bit, even
though the system runs at 3.8GHz or at
6GHz. Transferring a 1Gbyte file can
take just a few seconds, using less total
power, compared to 20minutes for a
Bluetooth transfer.
“We are going to do UWB Bluetooth
in cmos, initially in the sub 5GHz band,
because that’s where the mobile terminals
will connect,” said Janson. “We are con-
vinced we can do it without interfering
with mobile phones.”
38
INTER DESIGN
Broadcom is aiming at the 6GHz
band, sampling a two chip set in the mid-
dle of 2007 and moving to a single chip
in volume in 2009. “This gives the
opportunity to create an open standard
around the world,” said Biband.
But the set up issues for WUSB are
vital and are potentially holding back the
market, as there is still a mode where you
use a cable to connect peripherals the
first time they are used.
“We learnt a lot from Bluetooth and
WiFi, where you can include the security.
But people won’t always turn it on,” said
Rosser. “WUSB is a standard for pairing
and it’s always encrypted. It has an out of
band key exchange, either by plugging in
a cable or by numeric key comparison,
where you put in a number [on one ter-
minal] and if the two numbers match,
that generates the key. And the keys can
be permanent, temporary or one time.”
“Setup is the issue with every single
wireless technology,” said Janson. “Radio
is, by its nature, promiscuous and will
run wild if you let it and the [WUSB]
standard is not ready for what is required
by the market.”
NFC aims to make all these things
simpler to use. Instead of having to
search for a device to pair with and set up
the link, the connection can be formed
by touching a phone onto a printer or pc
and then Bluetooth or UWB can take
over to transfer the data.
NXP Semiconductor sees this as the
next step for its MiFare contactless smart-
card technology, already used in systems
around the world, adding peer to peer
capability and host and slave capability so
that a phone can also be a smart tag reader.
“Hold two phones together, or put
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
your phone to your laptop, and they use
NFC to exchange configuration data,
then Bluetooth takes over,” said
Francesco Prato, business development
manager at NXP. But the lack of a stan-
dard is holding this back.
“Right now. the plan is for NFC to
roll out commercially in Q1 2008 at the
latest,” he said. “It depends on the mar-
ket and the [mobile phone and ticket sys-
tem] operators, as we are talking about
integrating this with the SIM card and
flash in the phone. We can’t get com-
mercial deployment before there is an
interface standard to the SIM and there
is an ETSI standards group working on
that. We expect it will come to market
quicker in the US with CDMA as that
does not use a SIM card.”
NXP is already integrating the NFC
technology with its own in house Blue-
tooth development. “We have our own
combo chip, but Bluetooth is not neces-
sarily number one in the market,” he said.
All of this is happening now. “We
should see certified WUSB products in
January in the US and Japan and we
expect Korea and Europe to make a deci-
sion in December, so they should be avail-
able in January,” said Rosser. “Bluetooth 3
will be in the 6 to 8GHz band, so we hope
to have a dual band, single die with mul-
tiple protocols and automatic setting.”
There are also moves to implement
60GHz technologies for links between
high definition set top boxes and screens,
promoted by the WirelessHD (WiHD)
alliance. But this is being done with
UWB at 6GHz, says Bruce Watkins,
chief operating officer of Pulse-Link.
Will all these technologies cause con-
fusion in the market? Most people don’t
think so – it’s about different technologies
for different application areas. “Frankly,
in the next decade, there will be no ‘win-
ner’,” said Janson. “But there will be more
combination chips – Bluetooth and
UWB, Bluetooth and WiBree, Bluetooth
and NFC, Zigbee and something else.”
“Consumers don’t care what UWB,
WiHD, WiMedia, 802.15.3c or what-
ever else comes along means – until one
becomes ubiquitous,” Watkins con-
cluded.
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 Industry is going wireless. But how are the various technologies being used? By Antony Adshead.
C
able is on the retreat. In almost
every data application, one form
of wireless networking or another
is supplanting copper and fibre, whether
in the last few metres with personal area
networks or in the ‘last mile’ with WiMax.
The key technology areas – mobile
phone networks, wireless lan and short
range, low bandwidth methods of trans-
mission such as Zigbee – are becoming
pervasive. So, what levels of adoption are
they achieving and what are their chief
uses in industry?
Mobile ’phone based remote moni-
toring and control benefits from wide
areas of coverage and bandwidth ranging
40
from a few kbit/s on GSM networks to a
few Mbit/s with 3G. In many applica-
tions, sheer bandwidth is not necessary
and effective monitoring and control
networks have been built which capi-
talise on mobile networks’ ability to
cover wide areas of the countryside.
British Waterways, for example, has
used Vodafone’s GPRS network to mon-
itor flow rates, pumps and water levels on
2000 miles of rivers and canals. Where
previously staff had to manually check
often remote locations, data is now
polled in seconds using sensors con-
nected to modems which transmit to the
organisation’s SCADA centres where key
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
details are shown on a geographical
information system.
Elsewhere, industrial and medical
gases supplier Cryoservice has connected
30 of its delivery and engineering staff to
back end applications using O2’s GPRS
network and XDA II PDAs supplied by
Handheld PCs. This allows real time
tracking of deliveries and work assign-
ments, proof of delivery and stock control
via flyingSpark field services software
which is also linked to satnav on the PDA.
Neil Grimshaw, CryoService’s finan-
cial controller, says: “By automating
many of the tasks the engineers previ-
ously had to do manually, such as
 WIRELESS SUPPLEMENT
timesheet recording and reporting back
to head office, the solution has created a
20% to 30% time saving.”
Wireless lan technologies come into
their own when the requirement is for
less range, but more bandwidth. And the
technology has seen high rates of adop-
tion in warehouse applications.
Angelo Lamme, EMEA wireless prod-
uct manager for Symbol, points out the
benefits of WiFi to industrial users.
“Wireless networking can be, and is being,
used in any industry where mobility is
essential to the business,” he says. “Spe-
cific industries are suited to the use of
wireless. For example, it is much easier to
realise the benefits of wireless networking
if you operate in the transportation and
logistics, manufacturing, or retail sectors,
where WiFi can be used to trace goods and
maintain control over inventory with a
very clear return on investment. These
sectors have seen the largest increase in
uptake of wireless lan technology.”
One user of WiFi in the warehouse is
Shrewsbury based pressing manufacturer
Stadco, where voice activated warehous-
ing systems are used for a Jaguar contract.
Instead of keyboard or barcode driven
systems, it uses Voiteq voice control sys-
DebutArt: Barry Downard
tems in which a wireless control proces-
sor is worn on a waist belt, connected to
headphone and microphone. Instruc-
tions generated by manufacturing and
warehousing software direct the operator
and ask for a response, for example,
telling the operator to go to location X to
collect a stillage, then prompting a
response to confirm that action.
Group systems manager David Lloyd
said the system produced near perfect
accuracy and slashed operator working
times. “It is amazingly accurate,” he says.
“It takes 15 to 20 minutes to train opera-
tors in the system and it is then 99.9%
accurate. In any stock control system, the
keyword is accuracy. The only way this
can fail is if the operator puts in the wrong
information, but even then everything is
recorded so there is an audit trail.”
Building on WiFi is Wimax, or IEEE
802.16. At the early stages of adoption, it
offers the potential to replace copper in the
last mile and to support up to 75Mbit/s
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e o n . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
INTER DESIGN
over tens of miles. In a few cases, entire
cities have achieved WiMax coverage.
Another new kid on the wireless block
is Zigbee. Based on the IEEE 802.15.4
standard, access to the specifications is
controlled by the Zigbee Alliance. The key
benefits are cheapness, simplicity and long
battery life when compared with similar
personal area network technologies, such
as Bluetooth. Transmission range is up to
75m, bandwidth is up to 250kbit/s and
nodes can be arranged in star, peer to peer
or mesh topologies. The ability for Zigbee
units to form mesh networks is seen as a
key advantage, because that configuration
can reroute should one node go down.
Expectations for Zig-
bee are high. Market
research company Har-
bor Research says that,
by 2008, there will
100million wireless sen-
sors in use, up from about 200,000 today.
The worldwide market for wireless sensor
networks, it says, will grow from $100m
in 2005 to more than $1billion by 2009.
Although expectations are high, we
are still at the early stages of adoption,
says Tony Lucido, VP of marketing with
fabless semiconductor company Jennic,
which develops Zigbee microcontrollers.
“Last year was the year of technical
evaluation; this is the year of product
development,” he says. “Zigbee’s primary
advantage is that it is standards based and
ideally suited to low data rate and long
battery life. Bluetooth, for example, has
a battery life of 100hr, whilst Zigbee has
battery life of one or two years. Installa-
tion costs are quite low compared to
wired technologies where you are dealing
with many units.”
Zigbee is particularly suited to building
automation and to control and monitor-
ing applications in industrial, medical and
residential environments. A lot of atten-
tion is being placed on development of
Zigbee based wireless light switches, blind
and window shade controls, thermostats,
home security devices, consumer electron-
ics remote controls and medical sensors.
Although it’s early days, there are
some industrial Zigbee implementations.
In Turkey, for example, a Hugo Boss tex-
tiles plant has automated its stock con-
trol and production monitoring using
RC2200 Zigbee modules from Norwe-
gian Radiocrafts. Zigbee modules –
which have a form factor of 16.5 x
35.6mm – are attached to batches of
clothing and fixed nodes at sewing and
pressing machines register their presence
at that stage of production. Management
can track order status and productivity,
whilst operators can receive instructions
instantly. Plans are afoot
to capture maintenance
and quality data for dis-
play on large panels in
production areas.
In general, though,
Zigbee has yet to gain
traction in the main-
stream, says John Cor-
bett, sales director with
systems supplier Ember.
“It has been gaining ground in the past
year or two, but we are still in the early
adoption phase. Many people are still sit-
ting on the fence to see how things go.”
Lucido thinks many will be getting
off the fence soon. “In one or two years,
we’ll see a plethora of Zigbee compliant
products coming to market and be sur-
prised by the range – from domestic con-
trol of heating, lights and burglar alarms
to industrial locations with 1000 nodes
using the same underlying technology,”
he says.
41
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 WIRELESS PRODUCT NEWS

ZigBee application kit

RF & MICROWAVE
The ZigBee/802.15.4 application kit from Rabbit Semiconductor
interfaces a RabbitCore module with MaxStream XBee wireless
ZigBee modules. By adding ZigBee technology to an Ethernet
enabled Rabbit embedded control device, designers can create a
low cost, robust wireless infrastructure that allows them to monitor
remote devices, exchange data between devices, and control I/O
from a secured pc on the internet.
The is a reference application that comes with the hardware and
software needed to implement a ZigBee wireless control network in
various topologies. The simple configuration software allows users
to set up a network, discover nodes and establish communications
between similar ZigBee devices.
The RabbitCore module acts as the network coordinator to
monitor and manage two other battery powered XBee equipped
nodes. This allows users to access and control a ZigBee/802.15.4
network from anywhere in the world.
Rabbit Semiconductor: visit www.rabbit.com

RF & MICROWAVE
Alpha Micro Components has launched the iTegno 3898i PCMCIA
GPRS modem to meet growing demand for flexible internet
connectivity.
The iTegno 3898i, a multifunctional PCMCIA modem, offers SMS,
voice calls, wireless internet, email and fax and is designed to
provide dependable wireless data access solutions without the need
for a ‘hotspot’.
The quad band device provides real time access to information at a
maximum speed of 85.6kbit/s using GPRS technology. Because users
only pay for the volume of data sent and received, this can translate
into lower costs for longer connection.
Alpha Micro: visit www.alphamicro.net

Omron has launched a mass producable polymer UWB antenna,

aimed at high data rate wireless transmission applications, including
wireless home internet, streaming hdtv video and cable replacement.

44 N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
 INTER DESIGN

The omnidirectional UWB antenna is said to display 0dBi gain,

flatness within 3dB, and a VSWR ‘significantly less’ than 3.0 from 3.1
to 4.9GHz.
Key benefits of Wi-PlaDs antennas include flexibility, allowing
antennas to be produced in a variety of shapes, enabling compact
and individual product designs. They also offer improved omni
directional gain.
Wi-PlaDs antennas are available in two forms: the S1 is targetted at
‘wall powered’ applications, such as consumer tv receivers, whilst
portable and other applications, where space is the primary driver,
are served by the N1.
Omron: visit www.omroncomponents.co.uk

The AD9352 and AD9353 from Analog Devices are fully integrated,
direct conversion transceivers for WiMAX wireless networks. Offering
a complete rf and mixed signal system on a chip, the dual band
AD9352 operates from 2.3 to 2.7GHz and 4.9 to 5.9GHz, whilst
the single band AD9353 operates from 3.3 to 3.8GHz.
Integrated are 12bit, 160Msample/s a/d and d/a converters, along
with smart system features such as self calibration, automatic gain
control, transmit power control, and automatic frequency control.
The devices offer a noise figure of 3.5dB, along with adjacent
channel and alternate channel rejection capability 8dB greater than
the 802.16 standard requires. A highly linear transmit path brings
spectral purity and an error vector magnitude of -37dB at 0dBm
output power.
Analog Devices: visit www.analog.com

The Narrow Band Evaluation Kit

from Radiometrix can be used to
evaluate all products in the
company’s portfolio of narrow
band multichannel and single
frequency modules.
Radio modules can be assessed
for their suitability in terms of
many attributes, including
operating range, functionality,
reliability, and robustness in a
multiuser environment with
several other modules set up on
different channels.
The kit can help engineers to
identify noise and interference
sources, as well as helping to
ascertain what type of antenna
should be used. It consists of a
controller board and carrier
boards for separately available
modules.
Radiometrix: visit
www.radiometrix.com

The MLX71121 rf receiver ic from Melexis can address the

European 863 to 870MHz SRD bands or the North American ISM
bands at 902 to 928MHz. It can also cover the 315 and 433MHz
bands.
The device has a dual rf input, which allows users to set up an
antenna diversity system previously found only in high end wireless
systems. This can improve the reliability of the rf communications link
by selecting the rf input which provides the best signal quality.
The MLX71121 operates from a 2.1 to 5.5V supply, with a typical
current consumption of 9.6mA. Receiver input sensitivity is as low as
-114dBm for ASK and -104dBm for FSK signals, respectively.
Melexis: visit www.melexis.com
 BACKPLANES & BOARDS SYSTEM DESIGN

A
number of sectors, but the
communications sector in par-
ticular, have undergone a radi-
cal change in the way they develop
systems. No longer do companies in
these industries create ‘perfect fit’ solu-
tions – essentially using almost unique
components to build products which
have only one application.
Today, these industries are adopting a
platform based approach, where the ‘per-
fect fit’ of the past is replaced by com-
mercially available products. Not only
does this affect the system builders, it
also has a big effect on those companies
who used to design boards ‘to order’.
One such company is Radisys, which
ATCA is bringing changes in end
user markets and suppliers alike.
By Graham Pitcher.
communications networking, worth
$200million in Echieson’s view. “We do
boards that go into telecoms equipment
and most of our R&D today is going into
ATCA.” ATCA, the Advanced Telecom-
munications Architecture, has an ‘allure’,
Echieson noted. “It allows companies to
get a platform from another company
who will keep it up to date. They don’t
have to worry; all they need to do is to
net as short sighted. “Staying with giga-
bit Ethernet switching architectures for
the next year or so represents a short term
choice. The best long term solution is
10Gbit Ethernet.”
And Radisys is looking to meet that
need now. “We determined the market
needed a 10Gbit Ethernet switch,
started developing it and it’s now in tri-
als with customers. It’s part of our focus
of delivering application ready inte-
grated platforms.”
Radisys sees ATCA getting good mar-
ket acceptance. “We’re seeing momen-
tum build,” he said. “All Tier 1 telecom
equipment manufacturers (TEMs) bar
one have active ATCA projects and
deployment. Tier 2 and 3 companies are
‘all over it’ because it gives them time to

The ATCA effect

market and time to money advantages.”
ATCA is also bringing a change in
outlook amongst those Tier 1 companies.
“Most of the Tier 1s have been doing sys-
tem integration themselves. Now, some
are taking platforms from third party
vendors and starting to outsource their

started out in the design to order busi- sync road maps.”

ness some 19 years ago. “We were good
at designing and delivering at high qual-
ity,” said Todd Echieson, the company’s
vp of communications networking prod-
uct management. “The issue here is that
it’s not a scalable business; what you
make is only good for one customer.”
Moving with the market, Radisys has
made what Echieson calls a ‘strategic
shift’ to producing standard solutions.
“We’re moving away from good business
to get better leverage from our R&D.
We’re designing products that can be
used by multiple customers.” Echieson
admitted the move was a ‘big shift’.
“We’re moving from being custom
driven to being market driven. We’re
now saying ‘we think the market needs
this’ and being there with that idea.”
Nevertheless, Radisys will continue
retain an interest in the ‘perfect fit’ mar-
ket, albeit in ‘customisation’, rather than
turnkey developments. It also has a more
than passing interest in the embedded
world through its commercial division.
The largest part of Radisys’ business is
In fact, Echieson says
Radisys is looking to bring ‘as com-
plete a platform to customers as
possible’. “Our advantage is that,
because of our flexibility, we can say
that customers have a choice and
can find solutions that meet their
needs. It’s standards based customi-
sation, but how can we build that
in? The answer is ATCA.”
At the core of ATCA is the
switching fabric, making it possible
to mix such technologies as Giga-
bit Ethernet, 10Gigabit Ether-
net, Fiber Channel and PCI-
Express. ATCA defines the base
fabric as Gigabit Ethernet, with
other fabrics for the backplane.
This allows the right fabric to
be selected for the application.
But Echieson sees Gigabit Ether-
The Promentum ATCA-3000, aimed
at storage intensive applications,
features a 147Gbyte SCSI disk.

N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6 47
 BACKPLANES & BOARDS
“Once, our engineers were hardware
guys. Today, one third are
software, one third are hardware and
one third systems engineers.”
Todd Echieson, Radisys
integration. If they can get high quality
delivery, they’ll get more comfortable
with outsourcing.”
Alongside accessing multiple
sources, Tier 1 companies
have the opportunity to
rationalise their portfolio.
“TEMs who had five or
six platforms and single use
boards can move to an
ATCA platform and use
that across multiple appli-
cations. This means they
have fewer single use boards
and none are single cus-
tomer boards,” Echieson
explained, “because
Radisys, for example, is sell-
ing to other customers.”
Radisys has defined the
48
SYSTEM DESIGN
markets it wants to address in two ways,
says Echieson. “We’ve looked at the mar-
ket from the top down and from the bot-
tom up.” The top down view determined
where ATCA volume would be and
Radisys believes there are four sectors:
switching; network processing; security;
and platform integration. “Then, from the
bottom up, we determined what those sec-
tors need; what are the building blocks?”
But it’s not just the market that’s
changing; there’s change within Radisys.
“Once, all our engineers were hardware
guys,” Echieson said. “Today, one third
are software, one third are hardware and
the other third are systems engineers. It’s a
big change in how we develop products.”
But he reminds you that ATCA was
designed ‘from the ground up’ as a tele-
com platform. “The problem there is
that can bring overheads that other appli-
cations don’t need. The solution in those
cases may well be micro TCA (µTCA).”
And COM Express is another contender.
“Our 10Gbit switch has a COM
Express site,” Echieson continued,
“which allows the user to put a control
processor on the switch and to upgrade
when you need to. You may not want to
change the switch, but you might want
to take advantage of COM Express to
access the latest processor.”
Echieson believes there is a lot of con-
fusion between µTCA and ATCA Mez-
zanine Cards, or AMC. “AMCs provide
another level of granularity to ATCA,” he
claimed, “while µTCA will end up being
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
Above: The ATCA-7010 is a 10Gbit/s
single slot ATCA module which is compli-
ant with PICMG 3.0 and PICMG 3.x stan-
dards. The module includes dual Intel
IXP28xx network processors.
Below: The 12U high Promentum ATCA-
6000 can accommodate three shelves and
act as host to a range of ATCA modules.
more niche.” Neither does Echieson
believe µTCA will be as ‘off the shelf ’ as
ATCA. “People will mould it to their
needs,” he contended.
Radisys has been active in the defini-
tion of µTCA and Echieson points out
the standard was only completed in July.
“So none of the µTCA solutions out
there are conforming to the standard.”
But although Radisys has a number of
AMC projects in development, it’s also
going to be looking at µTCA next year,
but these will be vertical, rather than
broad based, he said.
So, whilst mosr opportunities for
ATCA will be found in telecoms, other
applications are emerging. “There are big
opportunities in the military and aero-
space sectors,” Echieson claimed, with
suppliers specialising in producing a set of
modules. “This inter market segment will
play a significant role in increasing the sys-
tem and module volumes, especially over
time and will bring with it even larger
economy of scale,” he concluded. “For
ATCA, the future is now!”
 PRODUCT NEWS
Signal source reduces test costs
TEST & MEASUREMENT
The N9310A rf signal generator from
Agilent is said to reduce the cost of test
significantly.
Covering frequencies from 9kHz to
3GHz and full range of modulation
types, the device has an external IQ
source. User friendly features include a
multiplelanguage display, 6.5in tft colour
display and USB connectivity.
Meanwhile, its compact size allows easy
installation and maintenance.
The N9310A expands Agilent’s range
of rf signal sources to a broader
consumer base. It can be used in high
volume consumer electronic
BACKPLANES & BOARDS
An ADLINK single board computer from
Acal combines Intel’s Pentium M/Celeron
M processor with DDR2 technology and
gigabit connectivity.
The cPCI-3915 is available in single or
dual slot cPCI form factors, both offering
50
SYSTEM DESIGN
manufacturing, low cost R&D, service
installation and maintenance. Students
will be able to focus on RF circuit
experimentation and exercises, as the
N9310A offers sufficient performance for
many basic research projects.
Agilent: visit www.agilent.com
an sodimm slot for up to 1Gbyte of DDR2
400/533MHz memory. On board the
cPCI-3915 are dual gigabit Ethernet ports
that use the high bandwidth PCI Express
bus to provide efficient remote
management and reliable network
connectivity vital for today’s rigorous
applications.
The cPCI-3915 also features multiple
storage interfaces for a 2.5in Serial ATA
or IDE hard disk drive and a
CompactFlash card slot for OS installation
and data keeping. An optional rear
transition module provides high resolution
and dual channel support for multiple
display interfaces. The cPCI-3915 also
features three USB 2.0 ports and two
front panel DB-9 serial ports.
Acal Microsystems: visit
www.acalmicrosystems.co.uk
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
FREQUENCY
MANAGEMENT
Analog Devices has unveiled what it
believes to be the first clock ic to combine
low phase noise clock generation with 14
channel clock distribution at jitter levels of
less than 1ps.
The AD9516 series integrates an integer-N
synthesiser, two reference inputs, a voltage
controlled oscillator, programmable
dividers, adjustable delay lines and 14
clock drivers. This level of integration
replaces several discrete components and
reduces board space and bill of materials
costs for clocking by more than 50%.
There are five versions, each supporting a
specific frequency range. At the high end,
the AD9516-0 includes a vco that tunes
from 2.6 to 2.95GHz. Other parts cover
lower frequencies, down to the AD9516-4’s
range of 1.5 to 1.9GHz. Any member of
the AD9516 family may be used with an
external VCO up to 2.4 GHz.
Analog Devices: visit
www.analog.com
The TG-5011BA from Epson uses a new
package structure to offer the smallest
2016 TCXO, covering frequencies from 13
to 52MHz. The package has a 36%
smaller surface area and 43% less volume
than the earlier 2520 (2.5 x 2mm) models.
Meanwhile, the SG-150C is a 2016
SPXO which uses improved ic properties
to achieve a precision of ±20 x 10-6 with
a temperature range of -40 to 85°C.
Epson Toyocom will use the new 2016
package as a common platform for ultra
compact products aimed at markets
driven by space constraints.
Epson Electronics:
visit www.epson-electronics.de
Capture
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How to get overvoltage under control

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© 2006 Tyco Electronics Corporation
 ENGINEER PROFILE
Seeing the light
D
avinder Lotay’s office wall has a
quote from Mark Twain: “Twenty
years from now, you’ll be more
disappointed by the things you didn’t do than
the ones you did do. So throw off the bow
lines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch
the trade winds in your sails, explore, dream
and discover.” It sums up the philosophy of
the electronics graduate who left the safe
harbour of a large company to head up his
own company and discover fulfilment.
Lotay is director of Chester based
Altimex, a niche provider of optoelectronic
components and solutions for electronic
control systems and fibre optics data
connectivity. Answering an advertisement for
a managing director in 2003, he and a
business partner bought the company. Lotay
took over day to day management and set
about making his mark. “It needed a lot in
terms of updating production processes and
products, but I love challenges,” he says.
Altimex doubled its turnover in the first year
under Lotay and he hasn’t looked back.
N e w E l e c t r o n i c s w w w. n e w e l e c t r o n i c s . c o . u k 1 2 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6
ADVANCE IN THE PROFESSION
Davinder Lotay’s motivation is seeing
something finished and a happy
customer. By Elaine Essery.
Fibre optics has been Lotay’s passion
since the late 1980s. He was a ‘guinea pig’
on a new Engineering – Optoelectronics
HND at Sheffield Polytechnic, transferred to
a similar degree course at Newcastle and
went on to complete a Masters at Hatfield,
turning down the offer of a PhD in favour of
industry. His position today is far removed
from his earlier career in the R&D
departments of organisations such as BICC
Cables and Corning. Then, he worked at the
cutting edge of technology – ‘playing around
with lasers like a child with new toys’. Whilst
at Corning, he completed an MBA; ‘one of
my best experiences’.
Eighteen months of self employment
followed, before that passion for
optoelectronics led Lotay to join a large
connectivity solutions company in north Wales
as technical director. In charge of product
development, manufacturing and quality, the
role gave him exposure to a manufacturing
environment. Then Altimex – and a whole new
way of working – beckoned. “Going from a
large company, with a car and the rest of the
benefits, to a little office which didn’t even
have a carpet is a big risk,” Lotay says. “You
need to have a vision of what you want to
achieve and how you’re going to get there,
but the rewards are huge.”
Flexibility and adaptability are part of the
recipe – Lotay handles purchasing, sales,
technical development, manufacturing and HR.
He employs four people and has a network of
outworkers. Running a company also takes
leadership, which, Lotay explains, is different
from managing an R&D team. Gone is the
safety net of delegation; ‘when it’s your
company, you have to stay and get the job
done and you’re stuck if staff don’t turn up’.
Altimex specialises in small batch
production and bespoke products for a
diverse customer base. Responding quickly to
individual needs is something Lotay finds
stimulating. “Quick response is not possible in
large organisations, where the technical
people are removed from the customer and
the information flow between them and the
commercial guys is slow. I can talk to a
customer, capture the design concept and
meet expectations.” Whilst a phone call can
alter the course of a planned day, reacting
promptly to customer demands is hugely
satisfying. “Money doesn’t motivate me, it’s
the fulfilment and joy of seeing something
finished, working and a customer happy.”
Lotay has no ambition to move into large
scale manufacture, but is considering taking
over another micro organisation. Always up
for a challenge, he is open to ideas. Returning
to Mark Twain, he comments: “People always
fear things are difficult, but they’re not. You
have to be positive and never look back and
wish you’d done things differently.”
53
 Powered by
appointments

Electronic and Engineering Design vacancies

Consultancies in this sector AWE can offer you a

challenging career where the
Tel: 020 8992 8647
Email: cv@beechwoodrecruit.com opportunities are up to you!
www.beechwoodrecruit.com Location: South East
Areas of work at AWE include:
Tel: 01462 442727
Engineering - Chemical, Mechanical, Civil, Production, Structural, Systems,
Email: jobs@ctr.uk.com Electronic, Manufacturing, Electrical.
www.ctr.uk.com Science - Physics, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Materials Science,
Mathematics, Safety, Radiological Protection
Tel: 0870 3516622
At AWE we offer an environment that needs and encourages the best and has in
Email: Bernieg@colbernlimited.co.uk place everything you need to develop a career path tailored precisely to your skills
www.colbernlimited.co.uk and experience.Fewer organisations are more research led than AWE. In every area
relating to modern nuclear weaponry, our activities are challenging frontiers and
Tel: 0161 428 3568 breaking through established barriers.
Email: recruitment@debelder.co.uk The Atomic Weapons Establishment, based at Aldermaston and Burghfield in
www.debelder.co.uk Berkshire, develops solutions to the complex problems presented by maintaining
nuclear warheads in service.We employ staff with the highest scientific and
Tel: 020 8600 1600 technological skills. We are committed to stretching technology to the limits in
www.epcglobal.co.uk order to address the issues involved in our field - exploring the frontiers of
technology and challenging conventional thinking to deliver innovative solutions and
world class results.
Tel: 01895443181 AWE is always interested in recruiting experienced
Email: staff@gregorys.co.uk engineers, scientists, business professionals and
support staff.
www.gsatechnical.co.uk

Tel: 01296 330930

Email: info@morganrem.com Contact: To find out more and apply online, visit www.awe.co.uk.
www.morganrem.com Alternatively, you can call us on 0118 982 9009 for an application form.

Tel: 01902 311 313

Email: careers@netrec.co.uk
www.netrec.co.uk
Tel: 01943 467766
Email: apply@networxrecruitment.com
www.networxrecruitment.com
Tel: 0121 632 5555
Email: t.priestman@progressive.co.uk
www.progressive.co.uk
Tel: 0118 958 3004
Email: contact@teambuilder.co.uk
www.teambuilder.co.uk
Tel: 0115 9483633
Email: kate.jennings@tech-search.co.uk
www.tech-search.co.uk
Tel: 01234 436 136
Email: post@vrl.co.uk
www.vrl.co.uk
Electronic Hardware Design
Engineer
Location: South East Benefits: £40,000 p.a. Pension + Healthcare
Our client is a world leader in combustion management & control systems for
industrial boiler/burner applications with a reputation for quality and innovation.
They have been established over 30 years won awards for export and hold seven
worldwide patents on products designed and manufactured in house.
Due to ongoing product development and expansion they now require a Hardware
Engineer.
A structured mind and a keen eye for detail are considered an essential aspect for
this position.
The R&D Department is responsible for the development and future innovation of my
client's systems and there are excellent prospects to Senior positions.
Benefits include contributory private pension scheme and private health are
available.
If you are interested please call Leigh Kelleher on 020 8810 7541 or email him your
CV/details.

Tel: 01275 544568

Email: vpconsulting@blueyonder.co.uk

Tel: 01392 332 842

Email: response@webrecruit.co.uk Contact: Mr Leigh Kelleher
www.webrecruit.co.uk Tel: 0208 810 7541
Email: leigh@g2technologies.co.uk
Web: www.g2technologies.co.uk
Jimfinder in partnership with New Electronics for the latest Electronic and Engineering Design vacancies

appointments
Electronic and Engineering Design vacancies

Design Verification Manager RF Engineer

Location: UK Benefits: c£40,000-£50,000 Company pension.
A large south coast based Aerospace company requires a Design Verification (DV)
Manager to manage design verification activities on a range of products.
The DV Manager will be responsible for such activities for all products within the
company portfolio of electro-mechanical Airborne Systems.
An appropriate degree in mechanical, aeronautical, electrical or electronics
engineering is required, however an HNC or HND may be accepted with suitable
experience. It is expected that candidates will have at least five years experience in
a similar position within the defence or aerospace industry. The role will be based
in Dorset but will also include supporting work at other sites in the UK and abroad.
For further information please send CV.
Location: East Anglia, South East Salary: Negotiable
Application Deadline: 15/12/2006
Due to continued growth within the Cambridge office, my client, a leader in new
generation wireless technologies is seeking an RF Engineer to develop RF circuits.
Highly competent in your field you will design transmitter circuits up to 6GHz and be
skilled in 2D and 3D RF modelling. You will be responsible for the PCB layout of
designs and have practical experience of microwave test equipment and
measurement techniques.
You will ideally have a good science degree or equivalent (Electronic Engineering,
Physics or Mathematics) with Microwave design content.
To be considered for this wonderful new opportunity forward your CV today with
details of your current salary and salary requirements.
Abatec Staff Consultants are acting as an employment agency on behalf of the
client.

Contact: Jamie Cummings Contact: Kaya Evans

Tel: 0845 200 4972 Tel: 01934 635025
Email: jcummings@kdconsultants.com Email: kaya.evans@abatec.co.uk
Web: www.kdconsultants.com Web: www.abatec.co.uk/

Contract - Electronics RF Design Engineer

Engineer Location: South Salary: Negotiable
Application Deadline: 14/12/2006 Reference: Jim01
Location: South West Salary: Negotiable
Wood & Douglas is an internationally recognised design and manufacturer of radio
Application Deadline: 15/12/2006 Reference: 112638
communication hardware for data, voice & video applications. Frequencies up to
A Principal Electronics Engineer is urgently required for my client based near Bristol 10GHz with volume products centred on the 100MHz to 1000MHz spectrum.
to work on Civil and Military aerospace projects.
RF Design Engineer required to design and develop new RF products.
You will have a minimum of 5 years aerospace/defence experience with experience
Experience and knowledge is essential in the following areas:- Narrowband FM
in design and development of brushless DC motor controllers and analogue
techniques, synthesiser design, transmitter circuitry to power levels below 10mW,
electronic equipment working to EMC standards you may also have motor and servo
modulation techniques such as FSK, MSK, GMSK, 4LFSK, Low noise VCO design.
control experience which is desirable but not essential.
A very hands on role you will provide the conceptual and detailed design input in the
field of analogue electronic engineering and motor control power engineering.
Rate will be negotiable depending on experience.
Please forward your CV today to register an interest and apply for the role.
Abatec Staff Consultants are acting as an employment agency on behalf of the
client.

Contact: Kaya Evans Contact: Trish Lovelcok

Tel: 01934 635025 Tel: 0118 9811444
Email: kaya.evans@abatec.co.uk Email: jobs@woodanddouglas.co.uk
Web: www.abatec.co.uk/ Web: www.woodanddouglas.co.uk
 Ultimate Precision.
Low Power. Small Size.
Amplifiers Use TI’s New 36V Bipolar SiGe Process
Device Input VN VOS GBW IQ VS Package
OPA211 Bipolar 1nV/ Hz 100µV 80MHz 3.6mA ±18V MSOP-8
OPA827 JFET 4.5nV/ Hz 250µV 18MHz 4.5mA ±18V MSOP-8

The new OPA211 and OPA827 precision amplifiers from Texas Instruments offer lower power, smaller package size
and lower noise, enabling breakthrough performance in test and measurement, instrumentation, imaging, medical,
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High Performance. Analog. Texas Instruments.

Ampli
OPA2
fier
11
For datasheets and samples, visit
Ampli
OPA8
fier
27
www.ti.com/opa211-e

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