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Low-Power Wireless

October was a big month in the wireless world. The FCC's recent decision to open the white spaces freed up by TV's going all digital to unlicensed public access reflected considerable confidence that such devices could detect and not interfere with other users.

 

The key to dynamic spectrum adaption is cognitive radio. The Wireless Innovation Forum announced the approval of a specification, "Description of Cognitive Radio Ontology," which will go a long way toward creating a standard that will help CR achieve its promise.


Meanwhile M&A activity in the wireless space has been hyperactive of late. Will Strauss provides an update if not a scorecard in his latest post, M&A Season in Full Swing.


Finally, TI rolled out is new PandaBoard, a Low-cost, open OMAP 4 processor-based mobile software development platform based on two ARM Cortex-A9 processors running at 1 GHz each. I want one, but Digi-Key tells me they're on backorder. [Expletive deleted]


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"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things."
--Peter Drucker


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--Abraham Lincoln

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Low-Power Design

In October we spent a lot of time looking at low-power design from the EDA perspective, which is where it all begins. We continued serializing key chapters from two new EDA books, Mentor Graphics' High-Level Synthesis Blue Book and Cadence's A Practical Guide to Adopting the Universal Verification Methodology--two welcome contributions to our knowledge base in these key design areas.

 

We also attended Cadence's annual CDN Live event in San Jose. This is definitely a re-energized Cadence, with new leadership and a good rap. With everyone seemingly on an acquisiton binge, this next year in EDA should prove to be quite interesting.

 

On green energy note, I just finished a course for my friends at EE Times and Texas Instruments on Fundamentals of Solar: Grid Connected. If you'd like a detailed introduction to the technologies, topologies and electronics involved, please check out.

John Donovan
John DonovanCadence Advocates Application-Driven Design
At last week's CDN Live event, the Cadence team detailed their vision for the future of the EDA industry: not point tools for engineers but standards-based, end-user oriented application-driven design. There has to be a better way to grow the industry, and everyone is looking for it. Is EDA360 the way forward or just more of the same? More...
Steve Leibson
Steve LeibsonLow-Power Lowdown from LSI's Ruggero Castagnetti
"Power is a concern, a headache." That's how Distinguished Engineer Ruggero Castagnetti chose to start his presentation on "What's Cool in Low Power Design" at LSI Corp's recent 2010 Conference and Technology Showcase. However, the issue isn't really "low power" Castagnetti quickly stated, the issue is really "power-efficient" design because one designer's "low power" isn't particularly low at all to another. More...
Robert Cravotta
Robert CravottaReplacing Mechanical Buttons with Capacitive Touch
Capacitive touch solutions are used in touchscreens applications, such as on touch smartphones, as well as for replacing mechanical buttons in end equipment. The techniques to sensing a touch are similar, but the materials that each design uses may be different. Capacitive touch surfaces rely on a layer of charge-storing material, such as ITO (indium tin oxide), copper, or printed ink, coated on or sandwiched between insulators, such as glass. More...
SDR 10: Wireless Innovation Conference & Exhibition
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Fundamentals of High Level Synthesis--Part 3
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Nested loops and the effects of pipelining nested loops is often one of the most misunderstood concepts of high-level C++ synthesis. Understanding the resulting hardware behavior from synthesizing non-pipelined and pipelined nested loops allows designers to more easily meet performance and area requirements. The simple accumulator that has been used in previous examples can be extended to illustrate the effects of nested loops.

More...
A Practical Guide to Adopting the Universal Verification Methodology--Part 3
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Over two decades ago, designers shifted from gate-level to RTL design. This shift was driven by the development of standard Verilog and VHDL RTL coding styles, as well as the availability of RTL synthesis and implementation tools. A major benefit of moving to RTL was that it enabled designers to focus more on the intended cycle level behavior designs and design correctness at this level, and much less on gate-level considerations.

More...
M&A Season in Full Swing
 
ARM adThe semiconductor market is up some 35% this year and a number of chip companies are sitting on piles of cash as they look for more meaningful (and dependable) direction from Washington and Wall Street.  So, rather than commit to hiring lots of people for the jobs that have either disappeared or have gone overseas, they are committing their resources to mergers and acquisitions (M&As). After all, many companies view such actions as simply another investment in R&D.  Since the stock market is not yet friendly to high-tech IPOs, many emerging chip houses (who have developed products, but don't yet have profitable shipment volumes) see M&A as the current alternative. More...
New Standards for Cognitive Radio
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The Wireless Innovation Forum  announced the approval of a specification, "Description of Cognitive Radio Ontology," as well as new projects that support Software Communications Architecture (SCA). New projects include an SCA Next project on Asynchronous Messaging, the creation of a Test and Certification Guide, and a project on Security Requirements and Profile Case Studies. The Cognitive Radio Ontology is an important part of the Modeling Language for Mobility (MLM) project undertaken by the MLM Working Group of Wireless Innovation Forum (WINNF). More...

The Signal Is Clear for Whitespace
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Cambridge Consultants has highlighted three applications ripe for innovation and market growth due to the newly freed whitespace spectrum: rural broadband provisioning; municipal wireless networks; and in-home media distribution. The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released the final rules for whitespace radio devices, freeing up unlicensed bands to the public. Those highly desirable "super Wi-Fi" whitespace connections can travel through walls and transmit at a distance ten times today's Wi-Fi signals. Experts suggest the rest of the world will not be far behind in legalizing unlicensed use of those unused TV channels freed up by the digital switchover, creating the potential for a $100B market. More...

That's a brief look at what we have to offer--and we're adding more every day. Please check back with us regularly to get the latest news, tips and techniques for implementing green/low-power/RF designs.

Sincerely,
John Donovan
Editor/Publisher, Low-Power Design & Low-Power Wireless