| In Search of 500 MHz for Wireless Broadband |
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 On June 28, 2010 President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum that directed the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), to collaborate with the FCC to produce a ten-year plan and timetable for making available 500 megahertz of Federal and non-Federal spectrum suitable for wireless broadband use, while taking into account the need to ensure there is no loss of existing critical government capabilities and the need for appropriate enforcement mechanisms and authorities. More
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| Dual-use Barbie: Is she really a tool of the devil? |
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There's a ton of technology behind Barbie Video Girl. If you had told me in 1959, when the doll first appeared, that it would be possible to insert a video camera in Barbie's, er, pendant along with a microphone, a videotape unit, a TV display and user controls set into her back, and batteries to power all of this into this tiny doll, I would know you were spouting science fiction. (Who would believe that a AAA alkaline battery would fit into each of Barbie's slender thighs!) More |
| Replacing Mechanical Buttons with Capacitive Touch |
 Capacitive touch sensing differs from resistive touch sensing in that it relies on the conductive properties of the human finger rather than pressure on the touch surface. One major difference is that a capacitive touch sensor will not work with a stylus made of non-conductive material, such as plastic, nor will it work if the user is wearing non-conductive gloves without a high sensitivity. In contrast, both plastic styluses and gloved fingers can work fine with resistive touch sensors. More |
| Semiconductor Groups Form 3D IC Standards Efforts to Save Moore's Law |
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In an unprecedented display of urgency at a critical juncture in the history of the semiconductor industry, several of the largest organizations representing semiconductor design and manufacturing have announced initiatives to create industry standards defining 3D integrated circuits (3D IC) a technology that could solve key challenges to the continuation of Moore's Law. More |
| Training Courses |
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 Fundamentals of Solar: Grid Connected
Photovoltaic (PV) solar technology is at the heart of the multi-billion dollar clean/green/renewable energy industry, powering everything from road signs to entire cities. This course covers the fundamentals of grid-connected PV systems, with the aim of providing engineers with a good overview of the technologies, topologies and electronics that make up such systems.
Fundamentals of Microcontrollers
EE Times Fundamentals course provides an introduction to microcontrollers (MCUs) including usage and selection of the devices. The course also includes a video explaining showing how to get started with an mbed evaluation kit. |
| Product News |
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TOPLED Compact LEDs for LCD Backlighting
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has introduced the new TOPLED Compact 5630 LED, an innovative addition to the world of LED lighting. The ultra-white version of the new TOPLED LED has an efficiency of 76 lm/W at an operating current of 120 mA. Color space coverage is up to 100% sRGB, depending on the color filters used in the display.
New TI Multi-DC/DC Color LED Kit
Providing all of the open source hardware and software needed to jumpstart LED lighting design, Texas Instruments Incorporated today announced its new TMS320C2000 real-time microcontroller (MCU) Multi-DC/DC Color LED Kit. The new kit includes separate DC/DC power stages to control two RGB and two white LED strings or up to eight white LED strings.
MathWorks Data Acquisition Toolbox Now Supports CompactDAQ Hardware
MathWorks has announced the R2010b release of Data Acquisition Toolbox, which now enables engineers and scientists to use National Instruments CompactDAQ data acquisition hardware directly from MATLAB.
Actel/Microsemi Unveils 65-nm Embedded Flash Platform
Featuring a new, expandable 4-input LUT architecture, the company's low power, intelligent mixed signal and system critical series of SOCs will converge on state-of-the-art 65nm embedded flash process. |
| Industry News |
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Mentor Acquires CodeSourcery
With Mentor's Nucleus RTOS powering over two billion mobile handsets, Mentor is hardly a Johnny Come Lately to the embedded market. Now in addition to their proprietary RTOS they can also offer Linux, Android and leading open-source tools for developing embedded systems. |
