Modulated Google logo honors Hertz
By Rick Nelson, Executive Editor on February 22, 2012
Today is Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's 155th birthday. Google is honoring him with a doodle, which has prompted the mainstream press to recount Hertz's work. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, notes that his work "is crucial to television, radio, and Wi-Fi. The Washington Post, under the headline...
BlackBerry means business, and that's the problem
Whatever happened to the BlackBerry? The once-dominant smart mobile device seems headed for oblivion. While researching my recent feature on mobile apps for engineers, I...
Building robots—and teaching them social skills
Will robots create jobs or kill them? Although robots may be able to take over some jobs now performed by people, the overall expectation is that the robotics industry will create one million new jobs over the next five years, according to
Elevating the test function
Organizations are elevating test engineering and identifying it as a strategic asset that can help organizations gain a competitive edge over the competition. That's one of five trends that National Instruments has identified in its recently released 2012 Automated Test Outlook. In an effort to optimize test organizations, NI reports,...
NCSU researchers get on-chip GPUs and CPUs to cooperate
Manufacturers are moving to consolidate more and more functions on a single chip. As Dr. Elan Spillinger, vice president for hardware and technology at the Microsoft Interactive Business Entertainment Unit, said at a DesignCon keynote address January 31, designs used to...
Beyond smart dust to smart paint
Smart dust is a concept that's been around for a while now and is being commercialized by companies such as Dust Networks, recently acquired by Linear Technology Inc. Now, researchers at the University of Strathclyde are developing...
February edition now online
The February edition of EE-Evaluation Engineering is now online. In this month's special report, Tom Lecklider takes a look at the progression of modular MIL/aero test systems as equipment builders bring state-of-the-art performance to MIL/aero test applications...
Smart manufacturing and the need to scale
Manufacturing—or more specifically, smart manufacturing—will be one of three drivers of a significant technological transformation that in the coming years will have the impact that electrification, telephony, and the advent of the automobile age had a century ago. That's according to Mark P. Mills, a physicist and founder of...
From GUI to natural user interface
Hardware at Microsoft has a 30-year history, with the company working with a manufacturing supply chain to deliver in high volumes the products Microsoft designs. And you can apply to your own projects some of the lessons Microsoft hardware engineers have learned. That's according to Dr. Elan Spillinger, vice president for hardware and...
Agilent outlines mobile opportunities in the cloud
Santa Clara, CA. The nature of design and test is changing rapidly because of the increasing dominance of mobile devices and cloud computing. That was my takeaway from a press conference presented by Agilent Technologies this morning at DesignCon. Ross Nelson, general...
This is Your Internet on Roller Skates
I have commented recently on the future of paper in the age of eBooks, smart phones, and tablets, and in my editorial in the February paper edition (yes, you can read it electronically
DesignCon to address 2.5-D and 3-D devices
Our February 2012 features are online, and they include my article on 2.5-D and 3-D devices.
Accelerating the study of potential automotive electronics failures
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is ill-equipped to detect problems with automotive electronics, according to a report released by the National Research Council last week. The 157-page report is titled "TRB Special Report 308: The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration." To...
Mark Your Calendars
Several events of note are taking place over the next month and might be worth checking out, including DesignCon in Santa Clara, MD&M and related shows in Anaheim, and a series of online presentations from Agilent Technologies. DesignCon 2012, which I...
E-books continue assault on paper
I've been commenting on the promising future for paper in the age of e-books and tablets. But e-book proponents are continuing their assault on more traditional ways of delivering information.
The younger set has confidence in paper
Perhaps you have seen the fascinating and adorable video of a toddler who thinks a print magazine is a broken iPad. She pokes and swipes at it with no results—no hyperlinking, no zooming, no nothing. Notes the parent who...
Will iOS and Android face Windows competition?
'Tis the season for predictions for 2012, and if one from a key industry pundit comes true, it may have a bearing on the availability of test apps for engineers. The prediction comes from Dylan Tweney, executive editor of VenturBeat, who prognosticates about potential top technology products for 2012 in an interview with Jon Erlichman on Bloomberg...
MEMS May Hold Key to Internet of Things
My last post commented on "The Internet of Things" becoming a topic of general interest thanks to recent coverage in publications like the New York Times. Of course, you also have the opportunity to drill down for more detailed information on the...
The Mainstream Press Notices the Internet of Things
The Internet as an electronics industry tool is getting some attention with the publication of the article "The Internet Gets Physical" in the Sunday New York Times. In the article, writer Steve Lohr explains to his readers,...
Telebriefing details Chinese general-purpose test-equipment market
Agilent Technologies is the market share leader for general-purpose test equipment in China, followed by Tektronix, Rohde & Schwarz, Fluke, and Anritsu, according to Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Wei Wei, speaking during a December 8 telebriefing, in which I participated. Other players in the market include LeCroy, National...
Communication test is key market for general-purpose instruments in China
"The growth of the general purpose test equipment market heavily depends on the developments occurring in the various end-user segments," says Wei Wei, Research Analyst, Measurement & Instrumentation, Frost & Sullivan. In China, he adds, "the constant evolution of the wireless communications industry is a key market driver."
On...
China offers general-purpose instrument opportunities
As in other regions, the trend toward rapid growth in modular instruments, especially PXI, is occurring in China as Chinese customers look for flexibility and automation. Among standalone instruments, growth potential in China presents itself in high-end applications in which performance specs, including bandwidth, frequency range, and accuracy,...
MSR and multimeasurement needs pose wireless test challenges
As cellular systems transition from 2G to 3G to 4G, and as WLAN systems undergo similar rapid evolution, wireless products must incorporate multistandard radios (MSRs), and designers find themselves needing to simultaneously make multiple measurements. In a recent conference call, Liz Ruetsch, applications marketing and planning manager in...
High-tech health care—beware the nocebo effect
Researchers are making progress in developing portable and wearable electronics that can constantly monitor consumers' health and provide feedback. Recently, for example, Imec and Holst Centre announced a body patch that integrates an ultralow-power electrocardiogram...
HTML5 could challenge app store model
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the work-in-progress HTML5 today, stating that a year and a half following Steve Jobs endorsement of it, "…HTML5 is rapidly taking over the Web." HTML5, theoretically, should let users of mobile devices, for example, access a Website's audio, video, motion, and 3-D capabilities and play...
EUV key technology for IC production, inspection
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is shaping up to be a key technology for the production of next-generation chips and for performing the inspection functions necessary to ensure the quality of those chips. October saw significant innovations on both production and inspection functions in the EUV space, with the U.S. Department of Energy’s...
Manufacturing looks up, but skills shortage adds complication
In good news for the manufacturing sector, the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) market is projected to grow 14.8% globally and 10.2% percent in North America this year, according to a study released by IPC —...
Virtex-7 uses 2.5-D technology to deliver 6.8 billion transistors
Xilinx Inc. has announced first shipments of its Virtex-7 2000T FPGA, which incorporates 6.8 billion transistors to provide customers access to 2 million logic cells. Xilinx says that's equivalent to 20 million ASIC gates. The new devices can serve as ASIC replacements and in ASIC prototyping and emulation applications. A Virtex-7 2000T FPGA...
Qualcomm leverages OptimalTest software for IC test
The semiconductor industry increasingly depends on a diversified supply chain with organizations dispersed worldwide. While such a supply chain lets each organization focus on its core competency—design, fabrication, packaging, test, test-system and software development, tester-interface-hardware development, and so on—the diversity of...
Test vendors address LTE certification
Manufacturers of LTE handsets and other user equipment are getting support from test-equipment vendors as they pursue certification in accordance with criteria set by the Global Certification Forum and the
Measuring multiple domains
The term "domain" is cropping up a lot lately—notably, often with regard to the Tektronix MDO4000 multi-domain oscilloscope, which offers a frequency-domain channel along with traditional time-domain channels. Senior Technical Editor Tom Lecklider comments on the MDO4000 and other instruments in "
Teradyne Completes Acquisition of LitePoint
Teradyne Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of LitePoint Corp., a provider of wireless test solutions for makers of modules and consumer electronic products including smart phones, tablets, and PCs. “LitePoint adds a powerful new growth engine to Teradyne’s portfolio of market leading test solutions," said Mike...
Morning highlights chips, clouds, motion, and vision
RF and microwave test topics have been in the news this week, driven in part by European Microwave Week, where Agilent and More >>
Morning Highlights October 12
Agilent Technologies Inc. is in the news again this morning, having announced at European Microwave Week that it has extended its PNA-X Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer (NVNA) to 67 GHz. Also in the news, Rigol Technologies Inc. introduced...
NI targets power-amplifier test with PXI
PXI has had a good run in the second half of 2011 so far. At Semicon West in July, Aeroflex, Geotest, and National Instruments all presented low-cost PXI-based systems (with Aeroflex adding AXIe as well) for semiconductor test applications. I posted earlier about More >>
Morning highlights October 11
Agilent Technologies Inc. has a flurry of announcements this morning, addressing the design and verification of 60-GHz devices, hand-held spectrum analysis, MAC and physical-layer interaction, and frequency-converter measurements. First, the company announced what it calls "the first complete and...
Platform can revolutionize medical device design
Typical point-of-care instruments today can remind you of IBM mainframes of the 1970s, said Charles G. Sodini, the LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, at his DesignMed keynote address Wednesday September 28. He hopes...
Test represents an energy tax
Test represents an energy tax we can no longer afford to pay, said Bill Dally, Bell Professor of Engineering at Stanford University and chief scientist at NVIDIA. He made the remarks while delivering a keynote speech last week at the International Test Conference in Anaheim. During the address,...
PXI gets boost at Autotestcon
PXI is showing strong potential, based on the prevalence of PXI instruments on display at Autotestcon last week. Agilent Technologies, Geotest, National Instruments, Pickering Interfaces, Teradyne, and ZTEC Instruments were among the companies highlighting PXI products. Brand new products released at Autotestcon come from Agilent, for ...
Frost predicts growth for metrology software
It's my first day at Evaluation Engineering, and I'll be heading off to Autotestcon soon. Meanwhile I'll be posting here as I get set up on the EE production systems. (This item was originally posted September 13 at http://rickeditor.blogspot.com/.) Highlighting the news today, Frost...
From T&MW to EE
Hello, and welcome. You may have encountered me at my "Taking the Measure" blog at Test & Measurement World, where I am serving as editorial director through tomorrow, September 12. But after more than 13 years at Test & Measurement World, I have decided to move on,...