Shedding light on LEDsTESTING LED-BASED LUMINAIRES: HOW CANMANUFACTURERS GET TO GRIPS WITH LEDS VARIABLE COLOUR TEMPERATURES PAGE 12Going with the owSCIENTISTS USE CURRENT FLOW TO PRODUCE SPIN CURRENT IN GRAPHENE PAGE 10Faster measurements using SCPIOPTIMISING RF POWER MEASUREMENT SPEED THROUGH UNDERSTANDING SCPI INSTRUCTIONS PAGE 1827 April - 3 May 2011|No. 2465|ElectronicsWeekly.comElectroncsWeeklyElectronicsWeekly.com27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011 EW | 3the week in electronicsEDITORS CHOICE PRODUCT OF THE WEEKOn-chip security managerBLOG WATCHMicrowave rm eyes export hopesSEMICONDUCTORSSo manufacturing is good, again?Samsung closes gap on IntelSamsung, the No.2 chip-maker, continues to close the gap on Intel, the No.1 chip-maker, by taking 9.2% of the world chip market in 2010 compared to Intels 13.3%, says IHS iSuppli. In 2001, Intels market share at 14.9% was more than three times that of Samsung at 3.9% when Samsung ranked fifth.www.samsung.comAcal sales up 17% in Q4Acal has seen strong sales growth in the past three months, driven by its electronics distribution business. In a trading update for its year ended 31 March 2011 the distributor reported that fourth quarter like-for-like sales increased by 17% year-on-year. We continue to see good trading conditions in the electronics division across Europe, said Nick Jefferies, group chief executive.www.acalplc.co.uk19nm NAND samples in AprilToshiba and SanDisk will sample 19nm NAND flash from the end of this month, and plan to mass produce it in Q3. The first product to be made on the 19nm process is a 64Gbit multi-level cell flash memory.www.toshiba.comDistributor adds scopesRS Components has extended its distribution agreement with Tektronix to cover a wider range of oscilloscopes. The distribution channel is dramatically growing in importance for test system suppliers as they bid to expand their markets with mid and low cost scopes and meters. RS will add to its catalogue the MSO/DPO3000 and MSO/DPO4000B series scopes.uk.rs-online.comCopier chips from WolfsonWolfson has announced a range of analogue front-end digitiser chips for digital copiers and scanners. Part of the firms imaging portfolio, the WM8232, WM8233, WM8234 and WM8235 process and digitise the analogue output signals from CCD sensors or contact image sensors.www.wolfsonmicro.comEuropes smart meter standardsThe telecoms standards body and the European Association of the Electricity Transmission and Distribution Equipment and Services Industry (T&D Europe) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the development of ETSI standards for smart-grid highlighting the importance of standardisation in smart metering.www.etsi.orgApple sues Samsung over GalaxyApple is suing Samsung, claiming that its mobile phone and tablet product lines copy technology from Apples iPad and iPhone devices. In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple alleges Samsungs Galaxy smartphones and tablet design features violate its trademarks and patents.www.apple.com France to make 3D wafersCEA-Leti is moving toward pilot production of 3D semiconductor structures on 300mm wafers at its research centre in Grenoble, France. CEA-Leti has installed fabrication tools supplied by EV Group in its first 300mm cleanroom dedicated to R&D and prototyping for 3D-integration applications. The initial aim will be research and development and prototyping, but the lithography and packaging systems will have the capability for low-volume pilot production on 300mm wafers.www.leti.frApple profits up 95%Apple made a $5.99bn (3.6bn) profit on sales of $24.67bn in Q1, profit was up 95% and sales up 83% on the same quarter last year. We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year, said company CEO, Steve Jobs.www.apple.comNokia profits slump on slow Q1Nokia saw its profit halved in Q1 compared with Q4, and its Q1 revenues fell 18% compared with Q4 revenues. The number of mobile phones sold in the quarter 108.5 million was down 12% on Q4.www.nokia.comOLED driver for Lenovo phoneDialog Semiconductor is supplying its DA8620 passive matrix OLED driver to Lenovo for the S800 colour feature phone. The S800 is the first commercial phone to offer atransparent colour display, said Dialog, using its SmartXtend brand driver technology.www.dialog-semiconductor.comIntel Q1 profits up 29%Boosted by revenues and profits from the McAfee and Infineon wireless division acquisitions, Intel recorded Q1 net profits of $3.2bn (1.9bn), up 29% on Q1 2010. Revenues of $12.8bn were up 25% from Q1 2010. Operating income increased by 21%. Sales of chips for mobile, embedded applications and communications were $1.15bn.www.intel.comnewsElectrolytic capacitor-free power architecture for solar invertersCambridge-based solar inverter firm Enecsys has revealed details of a novel power architecture, which eliminates the need to use electro-lytic capacitors, thereby increasing reliability. The firms designs are intended to be fixed to the back of solar panels, producing 240V 50Hz directly. They are called micro-inverters by the solar industry to distinguish them from larger remote-mounted invert-ers that take power from a string of solar panels. Direct mounting means micro-inverters have to operate at high ambient temperature, and if they contain electrolytic capacitors these will cause the inverter to fail well before the panels predicted 25-year life, said Enecsys. With a patented topology, the firm has eliminated electrolytics and has instead moved to film capacitors, custom-made by Epcos (TDK-EPC), rated at 30,000 hours MTBF. ripple on its input. Another aspect of our intellectual property covers the significant ripple capability of the second stage, added Chisenga. The main energy reservoir capaci-tor is connected to the 600V DC link, ElectronicsWeekly.com 4 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011POWEREnecsyswww.enecsys.comA boost first stage and ripple-tolerant buck second stage allow non-electrolytic DC link capacitors to be usedwhere the high voltage plus the rip-ple tolerance of the second stage mean that only 30F is needed to deliver 240W at the output a value that can be made from film capacitors without resorting to electrolytics. Custom capacitors have been sourced simply to keep the profile of the micro-inverter below 30mm. The third stage is a bridge switch which flips the polarity of every sec-ond cosine pulse to produce a 50Hz sine wave. To remove the need for opto- isolators, which the firm claims is the next most damaging component for MTBF, galvanic safety isolation is provided by a transformer in the first stage where no feedback is required. This stage uses a half-bridge with a transformer which has substantial benefits in terms of efficiency and simplicity, and it allows us to use zero-voltage switching for low losses, said Chisenga. The all-important maximum power point tracking (MPPT) a technique which extracts the most from a solar panel under varying lighting and temperature conditions is provided in the second stage. Usually MPPT would require a measure of voltage and current pass-ing through, but in this case the sig-nificant ripple on the capacitor allows rate-of-change-of-voltage across the capacitor to substitute for the current measurement. Tracking is done on the DC link component. All the other solar inverters we know about track on the load side, said Chisenga. OThe various bits of the topology are known. It is the configuration of the three stages that no one has done before, Enecsys founder and chief architect Dr Lesley Chisenga told Electronics Weekly. The first stage is a boost converter that produces a DC link voltage of up to 600V. This is followed by a second stage, a current output buck converter which is tolerant of up to 120V of Enecsys micro-inverter: the custom Epcos film capacitors are blue

CPLATLlNNOVATLACCLLLPATLvvv.avneI-memec.euCall us aI +44 1844 263600 or sehdah email Io IhameavheI-memec.euEUOPE'5 LEADINGTECHNICAL DI5TIUTO.newsOrganic LEDs move into the big time with launch of overhead panelsManufacturers are keen to prove viability of mass production of OLEDs for lighting large areas, writes Steve BushOver 20% of EU electricity consumption is for lighting but better adoption of OLED systems could cut greenhouse gas emissionsElectronicsWeekly.com 6 | EW 27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011OLED LIGHTINGOled100.euwww.oled100.euEuropes OLED100 research project has demonstrated its largest organic-LED (OLED) lighting panel. OLED tech-nology has been identified as the most attractive alternative to tradi-tional fluorescent lighting panels, due to its potential to be low-cost and power-efficient. The main goals of the pan- European OLED research project are to achieve power efficacy of 100lm/W, a lifetime of 100,000 hours, with lighting panels measuring 100x100cm2 and costing no more than 100/m.This latest OLED panel, which measures 33cmx33cm and with an active area of 828cm, was developed by the project partners and made at Fraunhofer IPMS on an in-line pre-pilot tool. We intended to show that we can up-scale to larger areas in a process that is mass manufacture- compatible, OLED100 project man-ager Stefan Grabowski told Electron-ics Weekly. Lifetime testing is still under way, and predicted lifetime from 1,000cd/m, wearing to 700cd/m, is well be-yond 1,000 hours so far, said Grabowski. Techniques include screen print-ing the metallisation for contacts and bus bars on to the glass substrate. However, not all the processes are quite so factory-ready and at the mo-ment the device has a cavity glass lid to keep oxygen and moisture from the vulnerable OLED and electrode materials. We are working on thin-film encapsulation, which is cheap-er, said Grabowski Efficacy is more than 25lm/W, not enough for lighting, but impressive for an OLED. High efficiency OLEDs are another thread in the project, which will eventually be combined with the large area processing, said Grabowski. According to Grabowski over 20% of all the electric power consumed in the EU is used for lighting. The en-ergy used to supply lighting produces greenhouse gases equal to 70% of the emissions from all the worlds pas-senger cars, he said. Our project will deliver OLED lighting that is at least seven times more efficient than conventional in-candescent lighting. Widespread adoption of OLED lighting could ac-tually result in a decrease in green-house gas emissions, said Grabowski.OLED100.eu is a pan-European re-search project working on the devel-opment of OLED technologies. It re-ceived funding of 12.5m (11m)from the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme to form the technological basis for effi-cient OLED applications for the gen-eral lighting industry in Europe. Philips has recently introduced a commercial OLED lighting panel measurung 70mmx70mm. Called the Lumiblade Plus, the panel has an ef-ficiency of 45lm/W, which improves on the 12lm/W of previous panels. It costs 120. OnewsElectronicsWeekly.com27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011 EW | 7Wireless sensors powered by radioPOWERPowercast, a US-based wire-less power and energy-harvesting company, has in-troduced a wireless sensor system that works within buildings. The significance of this system is that a single RF transmitter can be used to power a number of sensors over distances of 80 feet.It is expected to be used in environmental monitoring in HVAC control and building automation. The company has designed radio receivers embedded inside the sensor nodes which will receive RF energy up to between 60ft and 80ft away from the transmitters broadcasting radio waves at 915MHz. Broadcasted RF energy can reach and power sensors even through walls, above ceilings, and behind objects, said the company.The P2110 Powerharvester receiver converts RF energy to DC with a claimed efficiency of 55%.The Powerharvester receiver provides an intermittent, regulated output that can drive circuits directly without a battery.Receiver sensitivity is 15dBm.Powercasts wirelessly- powered sensors offer the long-term predictability of wired sensors with the deployment flexibility of battery-powered systems, said Harry Ostaffe, vice-president of marketing and business development at Powercast. The firms WSG-101 BAS Gateway can scale up to 100 sensor nodes and 800 sensor points for large-scale deployment. The gateway interfaces to wired BAS networks via industry-standard protocols, including BACnet, Modbus, Metasys, and LonWorks. The sensors and gateway use data links at 2.4GHz using 802.15.4 radios, which users can set to channels that will not interfere with, nor be interfered with by, Wi-Fi networks.Powercast has also teamed with microcontroller supplier Microchip and Texas Instruments to offer a design kit for transmitters and RF-powered sensor nodes.According to Powercast, a wire-lessly-powered sensor system could save users 40-50% over the installed cost of wired sensors and controllers for building automation systems.The fully-installed cost of the Life-time Power Wireless Sensor System, including all hardware (sensors, transmitters and BAS gateway) is es-timated to be around $300 (181) per node for typical, multi-node deploy-ments. A starter kit, with two wire-less temperature and humidity sen-sors, a transmitter and a BAS gateway, is available for $799.The firms chips can be bought from Future, Mouser and Microchip Direct. OPowercastwww.powercastco.comLM3450 LE driver iotegrates power Iactor correctioo aod phase diiog decodiog IorIIicker-Iree, uoiIor diiog.National's LM3150 ohase diuuable LE driver inteurates active oower factor correction and a ohase diuuinu decoder, uakinu it ideal for 10W-100W ohase diuuable LE hxtures. lt acceots universal inout voltaues, features uniuue dvnauic hold circuitrv for excellent diuuinu oerforuance, and an analou adjust oin for differentiated features such as therual foldback, interface to sensors, or diuuer ranue adjust.Z6AIELM3450N 6MFFhL6$IMFLI2FLI1FWMIA$8eturo$ecoodaryLE riverpticaIIsoIatioo8eturoEMI FiIterFWMA6 IoputLE Load66A6I $EN8EFhoIdaatiaaal.cam/IL lotiu(ol Seaicu(Juctu| Cu|uu|otiu(, ZJ11. lotiu(ol Seaicu(Juctu|, , o(J |uwe|wise o|e |eciste|eJ t|oJeao||s. /ll |ic|ts |ese|.eJ.8icoh Areoa, 6oveotryeuroLEIM 2011$ee us at Juoe 8 - 9, ooth LE424high FerIoraoce eIivers FIicker-Free IIIuioatioo.newsElectronicsWeekly.com 8 | EW 27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011Toshibawww.toshiba.comPalm reader can make PCs secure SECURITYMannerisms blogelectronicsweekly.com/mannerismsWill fabs ever be built in Africa?MANNERISMS BLOGMaybe there is a psychologi-cal synergy between chip manufacturing and earth-quakes. Semiconductor design and manufacture is an unpredictable business, while people in seismically active areas live with uncertainty, and Silicon Valley was spawned in an earthquake zone.But it is still a shock to be told that 90% of the worlds pure-play foun-dry capacity is in seismically sensi-tive regions. And that all the fabs in Japan, Taiwan and China are in earth-quake-prone areas.IC Insights, the Arizona analyst, came up with these findings while posing the thought: The March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake might just be the wake-up call that spurs the entire electronics supply chain to create new contingency plans, just in case...If just the Hsinchu fabs went down, says IC Insights, the world-wide electronics systems industry would lose $10bn in sales.This is hairy stuff. Will it change the industrysthinking? Thirty years ago earthquakes were seen as just one of many risks, and by no means a pri-ority. Nowadaysit may just sway a fab-siting decision. After all, labour cost is low compared to capital cost.Africa is, apparently, the least seis-mically active continent, because the edges of the tectonic plate under Afri-ca are the furthest distance away particularly to the West.That points to the Sahara (pic-tured). The Sahara has two other adv-natages: it sits on the worlds largest fossil aquifer and has a lot of sun, so the two prime necessities for fabs water and electricity are abundant.But could the Saharans stump up the billion dollars in grants, loans, tax concessions, hand-outs and variegat-ed graft required to get a chip compa-ny to build a modern fab? OFujitsu claims to have de-signed the smallest contact-free palm-print authentica-tion sensor which can be used for biometric authenticationin PCs.Existing palm print authentication technology requires a persons palm to be held motionless over a device in order to capture an image of the palm.The sensor includes an image-capture system that continuously captures the users palm print at 20 frames per second.The sensor also has the capability of identifying the best image from among those it has captured and au-tomatically verifying it. Fujitsuwwww.fujitsu.comNASA/REX FEATURESThis allows users to perform au-thentication by simply placing their palm lightly over the sensor, rather than holding their hand motionless over the sensor, as before, said Fujitsu.According to the company, com-pared to fingerprints, the distinctive features of palm prints are more nu-merous and create more complex patterns, resulting in a higher volume of data. As a result the systems recognition accuracy results in a false-negatives rate of 0.01% and a false-positives rate of 0.00008%. The sensor is 29.0mm wide, 11.2mm tall, and 29.0mm thick.The design is based on a photo-graphic optical system that is half as thick as previous models. The smaller size is important be-cause it increases the range of devices into which the sensor can be de-signed, according to Fujitsu.Biometric authentication is in-creasingly being used in ID cards and passports to identify individuals based on unique personal character-istics. OPCs may get biometric securityGlasses-free 3D laptop due in July3DToshiba is to launch a glasses-free 3D notebook on the Japanese market in July. Called dynabook Osmio, the notebook will be able to display 3D and 2D content, while at the same time allowing users to simultaneously work and play games.3D images are created using paral-lax, by delivering separate images to the left and right eyes. This produces 3D images if the separate images are properly delivered to each eye. Toshiba has adopted a distinctive face-tracking function and Active Lens to fulfil this requirement.Face-tracking allows the web cam-era integrated into the notebook to track the users face and recognise the position of the eyes.Active Lens, integrated into the LED panel, controls the polarization of light delivered from the panel. These functions secure precise de-livery of separate images to each eye, even when the user moves.The computer uses an image proc-essor derived from the multi-core technology of the Cell processor.An image-processing algorithm called Face3D uses face detection technology to locate faces in 2D images and then applies a human depth template to the image, giving the features more depth and assuring a 3D appearance with graded shading. OIntegrated Excellence as standardWeybridge%msc-ge.comTel. 01932 268990www.msc-ge.com

PCB ASSEMBLYYOu CAN GE! BE!!EP SEPv|CE AND PAY LESS !OOI,V\RXU3&%DVVHPEOHUWRRH[SHQVLYH"$UHWKH\ODWHRQGHOLYHU\",VWKHLUTXDOLW\QRWJRRGHQRXJK"8QGHUSUHVVXUHWRJHW\RXUFRVWVGRZQ"we o(e P|EC|S|N M/Nu|/Cu||NO |D, ne exce( PCB ossemc|e( ono ccx-cu||o scec|o|||s.we cffe( o ncs cf |cw ccs sc|u|cns us|ng cu( mu||c|e c(ccvce ono n|gn vc|ume c(couc|cn ||nes, coe(|ng fc( o nuge vo(|ev cf cco(o s|zes, sv|es ono ecnnc|cg|es, o|| coseo |n ne uK. we'|| g|ve vcu cc ouo||v ono (eo| ccs sov|ngs.Co|| PM| ncw c f|no cu ncw vcu con ge o cee( PCB ossemc|e( - ono cov |ess cc.'.XXXQSFDJTJPONGHDPVL0104 273newsElectronicsWeekly.com27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011 EW | 9DC-DC converter becomes chargerIt drives buck, boost and flyback designsThe chip preferentially providespower to the system load when input power is limitedANALOGUELinear Technology has in-troduced a chip that can transform DC-DC converters into fully-featured battery chargers for any rechargeable battery. The only restrictions on the converter is that it must span the input voltage and battery voltage, and have a pin for external compensation. Dubbed LTC4000, the chip will handle input and output voltages from 3-60V and back-up mediation between the input supply, battery and load. It is capable of driving typical DC-DC converter topologies, includ-ing buck, boost, buck-boost, sepic and flyback, said Linear. It prefer-entially provides power to the system load when input power is limited, and controls external pFETs to pro-vide reverse current protection. A feature that allows the load to be fed the moment external power is ap-plied, even with a flat or dead battery connected, is built in. The power range is from mW to kW. Other features include: +/ 0.2% programmable float voltage; selecta-ble timer or C/X current termination; temperature-qualified charging using a thermistor; automatic re-charge; C/10 trickle charge for deeply dis-charged cells; and bad battery detection. The interface between the LTC4000 and DC-DC converter is through the converters compensa-tion pin. It only requires the DC-DC converter to have a control or exter-nal-compensation pin, usually named VC or ITH, whose voltage level varies in a positive monotonic way with its output. The output vari-able can be either output voltage or output current, said Linear. Because it is connected to the con-verters compensation pin, the chip includes an amplifier that can com-pensate the combined circuit using a discrete resistor and capacitor. Full parameters and equations are provided for those who wish to cal-culate the RC values. And for those who dont, there is a rather neat practical method for itera-tively deriving the correct values first published by the firm in app note AN19 in 1986(Figure 32) involving an oscilloscope, a signal generator, and a 50 resistor.Operational temperature range is 40 to 125C, and the chip comes in a 0.75mm high 28-pin 4x5mm QFN package or a 28-lead SSOP. OWeb link descriptionwww.linear.com/product/LTC4000Slar1 ctl rcr lle crcW1

/re vou supportin users o CT hardware and applications Do vou want to prove vou are worth more than just vour vendor qualications the answer is ves then CT could be what vou are lookin or./s an CT vou will enjov a hue rane o benets, includin:Q reconition o vour expertise and hard workQ loballv established proessional qualicationQ improved career prospects$ipIy subit your 0V to nd out ore: icttechtheiet.orgwww.theiet.or /icttech!le lrsliltlicr c Ercireerirc ar1 !eclrclcc is recislere1 as a Olaril ir Erclar1 & Rales trc ZllJl1) ar1 Sccllar1 trc SOOJ&C9&). !le lrsliltlicr c Ercireerirc ar1 !eclrclcc, Miclael lara1a Nctse, Si\ Nills Ra, Sleerace, SOl ZA\researchUK scientists produce spin current in graphene using current flowUniversity of Manchester scientists have found a way to produce spin cur-rent essentially magnet-ism in graphene using current flow, a discovery which could have impli-cations for graphene spintronics. Manipulating the flow of conven-tional current in graphene is straight-forward. Pronounced field effect: the dependence of the resistivity on applied gate voltage; was already demonstrated in first graphene reports six to seven years ago and triggered enormous research activity in the field, Manchester researcher Dr Leonid Ponomarenko told Electronics Weekly. However, the spin of electrons in graphene is not easily manipulated. In their experiment, the research-ers connected spin and charge by ap-plying a relatively weak magnetic field to graphene and found that this causes a flow of spins in the direction perpendicular to electric current, making a graphene sheet magnetised. And the induced magnetism ex-tended over macroscopic distances from the current path without decay.It is a non-local signal that you would not expect in materials like this, said Ponomarenko. Non-local?Ponomarenko made an analogy.Imagine a swimming pool with one person on each side. If one stirred the water, there would be very little You create a normal current, which makes a spin current, which propagates across all the graphene and makes a normal current else-where, explained Ponomarenko. According to the University, it is be-lieved that coupling between the cur-rent and spin will be direct in future spintronics devices, without using magnetic materials to inject spins as it is done at the moment in hard drive heads for example, and that the teams discovery offers opportunities for re-designing existing spintronics devic-es, and making new ones including spin-based transistors. The holy grail of spintronics is the conversion of electricity into magnet-ism or vice versa, said University of Manchester Professor Andre Geim, one of graphenes discoverers. We offer a mechanism, thanks to unique properties of graphene. I imagine that many venues of spintronics can ben-efit from this finding. www.manchester.ac.ukResearchers connected spin and charge by applying a weak magnetic field to graphene to create a flow of spins.Graphene spintronics gets a boost from University of Manchester scientists, writes Steve Bushchance that the other person would feel the flow, he said. In our graph-ene swimming pool, we use normal current to make spin current in one place, and the spin current propagates across all of the graphene, and makes normal current in another place. In the experiment, voltage differ-ences are found well away from the input current path, so they cannot have been induced by normal current flow, and the implication is that they arrive via spin current. Part ho. A$1109 A$1110 A$1113 A$1112 A$11210haooe|s 8 1G 1G 1G 1G00rreot (mA) 1OO 1OO 5O 1OO 4OL0 Vo|tage (V) 15 15 15 15 8OPwN - - - 12 oit 12 oit0ot 0orrect|oo - - - G oit G oitrror 0etect|oo 9 9 9 9 9|oterIace 8Pl 8Pl 8Pl 8Pl 8PlPackage80lC-1G880P-1GT0Fh(4x4-1G880P-24T0Fh(5x5-28880P-24T0Fh(5x5-28T0Fh(5x5-82 T0Fh(5x5-82A$1121 - PwN L0 dr|ver Ior co|or d|sp|ays|EO ||e(e oe ||c||.0(ea| p|:|u(e uua|||]12o|| Pw|. Oo|| dc| :c((e:||c(Ve(a|||e80V |EO .c||aceS|rp||||ed |a]cu|Ad.a(:ed E|| (edu:||c( |ea|u(eWWW.au|(|ar|:(c]|er.:cr/1121test & measurementPhotometric testing aids luminaire designers as LEDs replace light bulbsRobert Yeo of Pro-Lite walks Steve Bush through the basics of testing LED-based luminaires.There are a lot of companies makin LED light fittings, also known as luminaires. Most of these firms started off using incandescent and fluores-cent light sources, and are having to get used to working with semicon-ductors rather than hot wires and glass. We still see customers who put 10x100 lm LEDs into a luminaire and expect to get 1,000 lm out, said Rob-ert Yeo, technical director of optical test equipment distributor and photo-metric test house Pro-Lite. High temperature, lenses and increased current all reduce the output of LEDs. Colour is also an issue: white LEDs are loosely separated into cool, neu-tral and warm white depending on how much red they have in their spectrum, but luminaire makers have to work in much finer detail than this if they are to produce attractive and consistent products. LED makers test devices as they come off the production line and sep-arate them into multiple (beyond just warm, neutral and cool) colour tem-perature bins that are labelled with the temperature of a hot filament that would produce that shade general-ly between 3,000 and 6,500Kelvin. There are also side bins for those that carry a slight colour tint, and will consequently be a little cheaper. And all these are further separated into intensity bins that tell the cus-tomer how bright the LED will be for a given current at a certain tempera-ture device temperature has a pro-found effect on intensity and a no-ElectronicsWeekly.com 12 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011ing. It is usually really temperature issues. The LEDs are specified at 25C and are being run hotter. Temperature confusion is such an issue that, at last, LED makers are be-ginning to specify their products at a more realistic 75 or 85C. So, the luminaire maker has two questions, according to Yeo. Does the LED or LED module I am buying do what it is specified to do when I use it the way I want to use it?And, what are the photometric specifications of my finished lumi-naire so that I can tell my customers. These are answered by two pieces of test equipment: and integrating sphere and a goniophotometer re-spectively. An integrating sphere is a hollow sphere painted with highly reflective, very matt paint, explained Yeo, add-ing a word of caution for those con-sidering a DIY approach. This is not Dulux vinyl matt, which is only 85% reflective, but 98-99% reflective paint. The luminaire is suspended inside, or can shine in through a hole if like a torch or car headlight it produces a beam . Light bounces around inside, illu-minating the entire internal surface evenly, so the light sensor, which protrudes through another hole into the sphere, gets a reading proportion-al to the total light inside. The only other object inside it the baffle, a small opaque shield that stops light from the luminair directly impinging on the sensor. In a few seconds the detector can tell you colour and brightness, said Yeo. He advocates a real sphere. The thing about a sphere is that it has to be a sphere, not a box or a geo-desic shape, said Yeo. A sphere works by uniformly collecting. I have seen a geodesic design sufferThe second tool, the goniophotom-eter, measures luminous intensity in candelas as a function of angle. Once you have got goniophotom-eter data, it can be put into a standard photometric data file and the end re-sult is what their customers are look-ing for, so they can design an installa-tion, said Yeo. Integrating spheres measure the total luminous flux (in lumens) of LEDs, LED modules and complete luminaires of all sorts. It takes only seconds to measure total light output and colour. This 1m diameter example is from Labsphere. Much smaller versions are available. ticeable effect on colour temperature. The luminaire maker has to use LEDs with matched colour tempera-ture and intensity if its luminairs are to look the sameor be very clever at combining multiple side bins to get the same effect. Although well understood by LED manufacturers, all this LED variabili-ty has caused suspicion among light-ing manufactures who are used to buying 60W bulbs that are all the same. There is a body of opinion that LEDs do not do what they say they do, said Yeo. It is a misunderstand-0123431212sa|es@jtag.co.uk8F CPVOEBSZTDBOwww.[tag.comtestElectronicsWeekly.com 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011 EW | 13The goniophotometer set-up has the luminaire separated from a meas-uring detector in a dark room. The separation distance has to be suffi-cient to allow the luminair to be treat-ed as a point source. This will be 10, 20 or even 25m depending on the size of the luminaire. To extract angular data, either the luminair stepped through a solid angle in small increments, or the sen-sor is moved on a frame. Measured data is then formatted using software from firms including Pro-Lite. The lighting industry recognises two standard formats: .ies or eulum-dat [.ldt format], said Yeo. Their customer can take the file and open it in their lighting design software and it will tell them how many lumi-naires they need to install to get the lighting they want. Goniophotometers need a lot of room, so two years ago Pro-Lite with US firm Radiant Imaging developed a near-field imaging goniophotometer to save space. This instrument was developed after a customer requested a system that didnt quite exist, said Yeo. With radiant, we figured out that an existing piece of Radiant equipment could be used for near-field measure-ment, and between us we developed software to do the processing. The system, which Yeo claimed costs a fraction of the price of a far-fieldgoniophotometer and needs only 2x2m of floor, takes around 1,000 2D pictures of the luminaire from different angles, then uses ray-tracing algorithms to calculate the far-field data. We aim to achieve a match within 1% or so, said Yeo. Customers usu-ally have some far-field figures, and they compare it with our results and say it is the same. And for those that do not want to buy an integrating sphere or gonio-photometer, there are photometric labs, including one at Pro-Lite, that will do the measurements and con-struct formatted photometric files for you. OGoniophotometers measure luminous intensity (in candelas) as a function of angle from a luminaire. The resulting data is compiled into standard photometric data in .ies or .ldt format for lighting designers to feed into their modelling software. Pictured is a near-field imaging goniophotometer from US firm Radiant Imaging, co-designed with UK measurement firm Pro-Lite. 2 x 600 WattsuItra-fIexibIe powerVeasu(ao|] oelle( va|ue1HURLB 1HANDAR INS1RUMLN1SClebe Road, huuliugdou, Caubridgeshire, PE29 70R1eI: 01480 412451e-maiI: infoaimtti.comWeb: www.aimtti.co.uk50Mhz Ceneratorarbitrary/function/puIseesigned, manufactured and supported in the ukJheuew0PX6000aud JC5011,alougwilhlhewholeraugeo JJilesl aud ueasureueul producls, are desigued aud buill iu lhe uK by oue o lhe leadiug uauuaclurers iu Europe.Look al our ull rauge al. aimtti.co.uk79:9FEM;HIKFFB?;IJ;IJC;7IKH;C;DJ;GK?FC;DJ;),4;,011,;%&$%;1"%#&'*.))&(-&&lll#YWbj[ij#Xd#j`#H6A:H#G:CI6AH#H:GK>8:#86A>7G6I>DC4G mobileHow EV-DO Revision B will work for 4G networksThe testing challenges of moving to 4G LTE mobile technologyWhen several architectures develop in parallel interoperability issues must eventually be tackled, writes C Raj KhannaEvolution of mobile networksElectronicsWeekly.com 14 | EW 27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2011Rohde & Schwarzwww.rohde-schwarz.co.ukTwo architectures were con-sidered by the 3GPP stand-ards body to support faster air interface technologies in the next generation mobile phone technology long-term evolution (LTE) and ultra mobile broadband (UMB). The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) also de-veloped its own technology, WiMax, and began commercialising it as a broadband wireless alternative. LTE was the natural choice for op-erators with legacy GSM/high speed packet access (HSPA) networks, but for operators of CDMA or cdma2000 EV-DO networks the decision was more difficult. The choice of LTE (and WiMax) as 4G technology posed a challenge to the CDMA/EV-DO op-erator community. How to operate two separate network systems that, from the ground up, had very little in common?CDMA and EV-DO feature air inter-face technologies, core network ar-chitectures, service and security in-terfaces and testing requirements that are completely different from those of LTE and WiMax. Mechanisms for making these legacy networks inter-operate and converse with 4G tech-nologies were not even defined in the standards specifications.On the device side, the challenges of implementing two different radio access technologies were simpler. It was obvious that it was possible to integrate an LTE radio with existing CDMA and EV-DO radio solutions, even though there were numerous challenges, such as the absence of common device testing procedures.From a network perspective, the challenges of getting the two systems to talk to one another were considera-ble. The messaging that each sys-tem used was different, and until then there had been no mechanism to ensure that a call that had initiated on one network could be successfully handed off to the other. The absence of a hand-off mecha-nism means that a data session would be interrupted. As a result, services such as streaming audio, video and data transfer would suffer from transmission interruptions.To resolve these issues new mecha-nisms are being introduced to share messaging between the two systems so that the air interfaces on the two networks can interoperate and main-tain call and service continuity. Ad-ditions have been made to the speci-fications for radio access, core network and system and service, to make network interoperability and connectivity possible. For example, if a data call that is initiated on an oper-ators LTE network needs to be hand-ed off to its EV-DO network, there are now defined mechanisms to address this scenario. In addition to these extensive new interoperability architectures, new specifications are also being written to develop test plans and require-ments for devices that operate on both networks. This is a complex and daunting technical task, made more difficult by the fact that the testing philosophies of the two communities are considerably different and test specifications are written in different formats. O C Raj Khanna is technology manager at Rohde & Schwarz.EV-DO Revisio B peak data ratestest and measurementMeasuring pulsed waveforms with high-speed A/D convertersTraditional integrating analogue-to-digital converters may offer high accuracy and excellent noise immunity, but the charge-discharge cycles result in long inter-measurement intervals, writes Mark CejerElectronicsWeekly.com 16 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011Keithley Instrumentswww.keithley.co.ukFor the growing array of products that employ pulsed signals, including todays more energy-efficient ICs, switching power supplies and inver-tors, as well as LED modules and subassemblies, it is important to test the discrete components that make up these end products under pulsed conditions.Test instruments with only DC sourcing capabilities can deliver a level of power to a device that causes enough heat dissipation to alter its characteristics. The use of a pulsed stimulus also demands instrumenta-tion capable of faster measurements.Traditional precision source- measure units (SMUs) are based on an integrating analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), which averages the signal over a certain time interval known as the integration time. Figure 1 depicts a simplified dual-slope integrating ADC, which oper-ates by charging a capacitor with the unknown signal, then discharging the capacitor using a reference volt-age. The ratio of the charge and dis-charge times is proportional to the ratio of the unknown signal to the reference signal.Although this ADC technology offers high accuracy and excellent noise immunity, the charge-discharge cycles on the capacitor result in long inter-measurement intervals (at least 50 microseconds), which can significantly slow the measurement process.High-speed precisionIn contrast, high-speed ADCs are capable of sampling signals at burst rates of up to 1MHz. Unlike inte-grating ADCs, these high-speed ADCs use sampling technology similar to an oscilloscope, taking snapshots of the signal over time. They provide higher resolution than an oscilloscope (18 bits versus 8 bits), resulting in more precise transient characterisation in comparable bandwidths.Figure 2 illustrates the difference in results between integrating and high-speed ADCs.Although the high-speed ADC returns more readings, these meas-urements are less accurate and less repeatable than those made using the integrating ADC. For applications that demand higher throughput, the lower accuracy can be tolerated, or if needed, improved by averaging several readings.Typically, integrating ADC meas-urements with integration rates of 0.01PLC or faster can be made with similar accuracy using a high-speed ADC. Newer SMU designs that incor-porate two high-speed ADCs allow voltage and current to be measured simultaneously.With some designs, the combina-tion of high-speed ADCs and an advanced trigger model supports precisely timed measurements on pulsed signals.Characterising the slopeFor some applications, such as ther-mal impedance of power diodes and LEDs, characterising the slope of the measured voltage at the top of the pulse is important. This capability is also useful for characterising pulse amplitude flatness. The high-speed ADCs can digitise the top of the pulse (Figure 3a) when the measurements are made synchronously with the source.Asynchronous triggering is also useful for performing a spot mean measurement at the top of a pulse (Figure 3b).Often, analysis software is used to average sampled data to improve accuracy, but newer SMU designs offer averaging and median filters that can be applied to high-speed ADC readings, making it possible to return spot mean measurements.At times, it is useful to characterise how a pulse is transmitted through a device or system. These applications require that the entire pulse be digi-tised, including the rising and falling edges (Figure 3c). This measurement is possible using the high-speed ADCs to measure asynchronously to the source operation.Pulses are sometimes used to pro-vide power stresses to the device. In these applications, it is useful to record the device state before the stress is applied. This can be done by programming a pulse with a non-zero idle level and triggering the measure-ments before triggering the pulse (Figure 3d). The user can specify how long before the pulse the measure-ments should occur. Timers are used to programme the start of the meas-urement and the beginning and end of the pulse.When using pulse testing to stress a device, the device must also be characterised after the stress is applied. This is typically done by sourcing a pre-defined test voltage or current after the pulse (Figure 3e).The test level is chosen so as not to cause any additional thermal or elec-trical stress to the device. The meas-urement can be made by sourcing a pulse with a non-zero idle level and using the high-speed ADCs to per-form the measurement. The results from the high-speed ADCs indicate how the device recovers from the stress. OThe author is Mark Cejer, director of marketing at Keithley InstrumentsFigure 1: Dual-slope integrating ADCFigure 2: Results from integrating versus sampling (high-speed) ADCsFigure 3:(a) measuring at the top of the pulse;(b)performing a spot mean measurement at the top of the pulse;(c) digitising the entire pulse;(d) triggering measurements to begin before the pulse;(e) triggering measurement to begin after the pulsetest and measurementElectronicsWeekly.com 18 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011Power meters will return a measurement upon receiv-ing a measurement query command such as FETC?, READ? or MEAS?. MEAS? is the simplest command because it is a compound command equivalent to ABORT followed by CONF and READ?.It is the simplest because the power meter auto-configures itself before returning the measurement. READ? is also a compound command, equivalent to ABORT followed by INIT and FETC?. FETC? is not a compound command.In most cases, configuration and initialisation should be done just once before performing measure-ments until it is necessary to recon-figure the power meter. The draw-back of this is that the user has to understand the configuration require-ment and also the test method.Assume a production engineer needs to measure RF power level around -10dBm with a three-digit resolution for five times. At this power level and resolution, the power meter will automatically select an average count of 16 with the MEAS? command.For comparison, we set the average count to 16 when using the FETC? command. To make sure there is no systematic error influencing the result, the program will randomly alternate between MEAS? and FETC? for 10 times. Figure 1 compares the test time taken by the MEAS? and FETC? commands.The FETC? command is faster because initialisation is done only once, while initialisation is done five times using the MEAS? command because of the INIT command in MEAS?. If five complete settled measurements are required, the MEAS? command should be used despite the longer test time.However, if five settled measure-ments with moving averaging are required, the FETC? command may be used for quicker measurements.Buffered mode cuts overheadTypically, if 1,000 measurements are required, we will need to write the meter 1,000 times and read from the meter 1,000 times. The buffered mode will reduce this overhead. This mode is available under FAST mode with TRIG:COUNT set higher than 1.TRIG:COUNT 50 will be the fastest buffered mode since one query will return 50 measurements. Figure 2 shows a comparison of buffered mode and normal query mode.The drawback of buffered mode is that none of the measurements returned are averaged because the FAST mode disables averaging. If the power level of interest falls in the most accurate part of the power sensor dynamic range that doesnt need averaging, buffer mode will be best for acquiring large numbers of power measurements.REAL beats ASCII for speedPower meters can be configured to return power measurement in two for-mats: ASCII and REAL. For the same amount of power measurement data, a smaller number of bytes are trans-ferred from power meters to computer when using the REAL format. To transfer a measurement from power meter to computer, REAL format will need 9 bytes, in which 8 bytes are data and 1 byte is terminator.ASCII format will need 17 bytes, in which 16 bytes are data and 1 byte is terminator. Because of this, the speed difference is significant when obtaining hundreds or thousands of measurements.Continuing from the previous set-tings where it took about 10s to acquire 1,000 readings in buffered mode, we will switch randomly between ASCII format and REAL for-mat for 20 times, each time acquiring 1,000 measurements. Figure 3 shows the speed comparison of using ASCII format and REAL format.Watts faster than dBmInside power meters, everything is calculated in linear Volts or Watts before conversion to other units. To increase speed, measurements should be obtained in Watts. The difference is not noticeable if only one or two measurements are taken because the difference is hidden by software and hardware latencies.To demonstrate the speed differ-ence, the previous program will switch randomly between using dBm and Watts for 20 times, acquiring 1,000 measurements each time.Power meters and the sensor should be zeroed and calibrated prior to use and also when the environ-mental temperature changes. Zero and calibration can take anywhere from less than 15s to more than 40s depending on the model of meter and sensor used. One of the easiest ways is to use the maximum amount of waiting time.Assume a fixed wait period of 40s Faster measurements using SCPIOptimising RF/MW power measurement speed can be achieved through an understanding of Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) used to set the instrument, write Goh Ching Chuan and Karen ChewFigure 1: To complete five measurements with 16 averages each, it takes 5s using MEAS? and 1.2s using FETC? 0800 583 4455 ^^^ZQLSLJ[YVUPJZJV\RWhen you need the best in testwe measure upregardless of the model used. Should the particular model only need 15s, 25s will be wasted. Another way is that if the power meter and sensor require 15s, a 16s wait time can be set. This may seem like a good solu-tion, but there is no guarantee that the zero and calibration procedure time will not increase or decrease as the power meter and power sensor design evolves. Besides, waiting 16s still means 1s is wasted.To solve this problem, we can set the interface to time out in 60s and use the following SCPI commands:CAL:ALL*OPC?This will limit wait time to 60s. If zero and calibration time takes only 15s, *OPC?, an operation complete query command, will return 1 im-mediately after zero and calibration is completed. Power meters and sen-sors are designed to meet many cus-tomer power measurement require-ments. To achieve the fastest speed possible, the user has to understand their test requirement and how to configure the meters and sensors to adapt to different test methods.From experiments of buffered mode to acquire 1,000 measurements above, we see that test time is cut from 10s to 2.5s and then to 0.9s by just changing the format and unit. Besides buffered mode, power meters support features Figure 2: To complete 1,000 measurements, it takes 45s usingnon-buffered mode and 10s using buffered modeFigure 3: To complete 1,000 buffered mode measurements, it takes 10s in ASCII format and 2.5s using REAL formatto enable asynchronous operation so that other tasks may be performed while waiting for power meters to complete pending operations. OThe authors are Goh Ching Chuan, design and development engineer, and Karen Chew, application engineer, at Agilent TechnologiesAgilent Technologieswww.agilent.comtest and measurementElectronicsWeekly.com27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011 EW | 19Affcrdable 0ualitvbv Rclde & SclwartYou oeed re||ab|e h|gh-perIoraoce |ostrueots at reasooab|e pr|ces! we lave varicus rcducts eseciallv desiured fcr vcu. we lave trarsferred cur lrcw-lcw frcr develciru liul-erd test irstrurerts irtc fletible scluticrs tarueted at vcur alicaticrs. 1ust tale a lccl at cur rew webstcre at www.rclde-sclwart.cc.ul/Surf-lr.lt ccrtairs rew ard et-derc test euuirert riced frcr as little as f 1,JJJ. Ycu car brcwse, ccrare, ard ccrfiuure rcducts witl differert cticrs tc reet vcur secific reeds. Et-dercrstraticr euuirert is available witl disccurts cf u tc 4J ercert.RSNC SignaI GeneratorRFSC Spectrum AnaIyzerRNRP USB Power SensorIrof 1Z.000FerIect T&M buod|e Ior a perIect pr|ceLED driversMosfet drivers offer peakoutput currents of 2A and 3A Microchip has expanded its fam-ily of mosfet drivers with the MCP14E6/7/8 and MCP14E9/10/11 low-side drivers.The drivers offer peak output cur-rents of 2A and 3A respectively. They have an operating voltage range of 4.5V-18V and features enable input pins to provide a shutdown capabili-ty for conserving power.They are offered in eight-pin SOIC and eight-pin 6x5mm DFN packages.The MCP14E6/7/8 dual devices are rated for a peak output current of 2A, while the dual MCP14E9/10/11 drivers are rated for a peak output current of 3A.www.microchip.comHigh-efficiency switched mode controller for high-power LEDsInternational Rectifier has the IRS2548D switched mode power supply control IC which is designed for use in high-power LED lighting, including LED street lighting, sta-dium lighting and theatrical lighting. The device combines power factor correction (PFC) and a half-bridge driver. It offers greater than 88% effi-ciency for a 40V/1.3A HBLED load.The intention is to offer a higher ef-ficiency compared with alternative flyback converter designs at power levels above 60W.The IC achieves PWM dimming down to less than 2% light output and offers protection features that in-clude programmable PFC and half-bridge over-current protection, latch immunity and ESD protection. The IRS2548D also includes varia-ble frequency oscillator, fixed inter-nal 1.6us deadtime, internal boot-strap mosfet, internal 15.6V zener clamp diode on Vcc, and micropow-er start-up (250A). www.irf.comLED driver for handhelds boasts fault protection and diagnosticsON Semiconductor has introduced a single-channel LED driver tuned for low-power applications such as port-able handheld medical equipment. The CAT3661, which uses a patented architecture and integrates fault protection and fault diagnostics, is able to drive a single LED backlight with a current of up to 5mA. Soft-start current limiting and short-circuit protection make the device ideal for use in equipment powered by coin cell batteries. Typical applications include low-power backlighting for LCDs and backlighting for a wide range of port-able handheld devices, including medical equipment. Packaged in a 16-lead TQFN pack-age measuring 3x3x0.8mm, the chips quad-mode charge pump supports a range of input voltages from 2V-5.5V and helps achieve peak efficiency levels of up to 92%.A typical quiescent current ofjust 150A across all operating modes at full load and a zero current shutdown help reduce power consumption. www.onsemi.comDC-DC converter delivers three-channel constant current for LEDsLinear Technology has introduced a 60V, 1MHz, step-down DC/DC con-verter designed to operate as a three-channel, constant current LED driver. Each channel of the LT3597 contains a constant current sink LED driver with a dedicated adaptive-output buck converter. This design offers maximum effi-ciency for applications such as RGB displays, which require different out-put voltages for each LED string, said the supplier.From a 48V input, the LT3597 can drive up to three strings of LEDs, each with up to ten 100mA LEDsin series, delivering efficiencies above 90%. Each channel can be independent-ly dimmed with True Color PWM dimming, offering dimming ratios as high as 10,000:1. Operating frequen-cy is programmable between 200kHz and 1MHz. The LT3597 is available in a 5x8mm QFN package.www.linear.com/product/LT35975W offline LED driver featuresflicker-free TRIAC dimmingPower Integrations is offering a reference design for a 5W offline LED driver that includes flicker-free TRIAC dimming and single-stage power factor correction (PFC). Based on the firms LNK457DG LED driver, the reference design provides a single constant-current output of 350mA at a nominal LED string voltage of 15V. The output current can bereduced using a standard AC mains TRIAC dimmer down to 1% (3mA) without instability or flickering of the LED array. The supply is designed to be compatible with both low-cost, leading-edge dimmers and more sophisticated trailing-edge dimmers.It operates over the universal AC input range (85Vac-265Vac, 47Hz-63Hz) and can withstand an input range of 0Vac-300Vac, improving field reliability and lifetime during line sags and swells.Power factor is specified greater than 0.9 and input current total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 10% at 115Vac and less than 15% at 230Vac.The board fits inside a pear-shaped A19 LED replacement lamp with an E26/27 base. RDK-251 con-tains full power supply specifica-tions, schematic, bill of materials, transformer documentation, printed circuitboard layout, and perform-ance data.www.powerint.com/rdkElectronicsWeekly.com 20 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011PRODUCT FOCUSConstant current 16-channel LED drivers offer 25MHz data transferUUJEDPVL GPSBMMZPVSJOTUSVNFOUOFFET^s uK dislribVlors or ^uelek Prograuuable Power we oer 0C power sVpplies aud ^C power soVrces lo beyoud 300 killowalls.productsnix.com nix.com www.tektron www.tektronTektronix scopes expand support for MIPI testingElectronicsWeekly.com 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011 EW | 21Regulated bus converter delivers up to 210W output powerMurata Power Solutions has a regu-lated bus converter that delivers up to 210W output power, with a Vin range of 36-75V.At 225kHz fixed-frequency opera-tion, efficiency is specified at 92.5% at full load, with Vout regulation (1.5%) in a quarter brick open frame package.The fully isolated (2250Vdc) RBC-12/17-D48 is able to accept a range 36Vdc to 75Vdc (48V nominal) input.This is then converted to a 12Vdc/17A output. Overall dimensions are 56.39x36.83x10.67mm.www.murata-ps.comLatticeECP3 Versa development kit for just $99 in limited quantityLattice Semiconductor has intro-duced the LatticeECP3 Versa devel-opment kit at a promotional price of only $99.Lattice is also offering a limited quantity promotion on five IP suites, which are described as building blocks for applications such as high-speed data transfer, Ethernet net-working, high speed memory inter-faces, digital signal processing and video pixel processing.The five IP Suites normally retail for an annual subscription fee of $995 each.A limited number of IP Suites licenses are available for a promo-tional first year subscription of only $99 each.The Versa package includes the LatticeECP3 Versa Evaluation Board, seven demonstration systems, 16 free reference designs and an evaluation license for Lattice Diamond design software for use with the Versa Kit.The demonstration systems, refer-ence designs and Lattice Diamond software are available for free down-load.www.latticesemi.com/ecp3versaSmallest output omnipolar Hall effect switch IC for mobilesDiodes claims to have the smallest dual output omnipolar Hall effect switch IC.Designed for open/close detection in mobile phones and other battery-powered products, the AH1891 oper-ates over the supply voltage range 1.8V to 3.3V. There is also a sleep function, assuring an average current consumption of only 7A.Provided in an 0.8mm x 0.8mm CSP package, the IC is some 13 times smaller than common 3-leaded TSOT packaged alternatives and is significantly smaller than other DFN and SOT553 packaged parts.Being an omnipolar (north and south pole operated) and dual output device the AH1891 provides the de-sign flexibility to suit a variety of low power circuit architectures, said the company.When a magnetic flux density is detected and exceeds the ICs operat-ing point, output 1 is pulled low while output 2 is inverted high, ena-bling different logic systems to be ac-commodated.With operating and release points optimized and stable over the tem-perature range -40C to 85C, the AH1891 is immune to the possibility of early or late switching effects.http://www.diodes.comMotor control evaluation kit for brushless DC motorsTexas Instruments has introduced a complete motor control evaluation kit for spinning brushless DC (BLDC) and permanent magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors.Based on sensorless field-oriented control and trapezoidal commuta-tion, the kit is aimed at the develop-ment of sub-50V and 6.5A brushless motors for driving medical pumps, gates, lifts and small pumpsIndustrial automation and robotics are other likely applications. The DRV8312-C2-KIT evaluation kit includes the DRV8312 motor driv-er, a 32-bit C2000 Piccolo microcon-troller and controlCARD module.Software support includes a graph-ical user interface, full development source code, Code Composer Studio (CCStudio) integrated development environment (IDE) and a three-phase BLDC motor. www.ti.com/motorcontrol-prFo a huue anue of uodenenclosues visit ou website.www.okw.co.ukhANhELEN6L$8E$FLA$II6EN6L$8E$AJvarceJJesicrsfcrL|ectrcricsLquirert!kW EN6L$8E$ LI01189 583858E$kIFEN6L$8E$IF 8AIEEN6L$8E$WALL MNIEN6L$8E$gadget masterElectronicsWeekly.com 22 | EW 27 APRIL-3 MAY 2011Welcome to the monthly page featuring the ElectronicsWeekly.com Gadget Master blog, sponsored by Digi-Key. As well covering the most popular posts and highlighting current competitions, we look at some classic Gadget Master posts from the past.www.electronicsweekly.com/gadget-masterCOMPETITIONE-NEWSLETTERSMOST RECENT POSTS> Daily newsletterStraight to your inbox, no fuss, early afternoon. Short and sweet, the daily e-mail will contain the latest news on the site, the latest product releases, and the most popular content that your peers are reading, keeping you up to date with developments in the electronics industry on a daily basis. Under the My Emails heading, tick the box for: Daily news daily highlights of the latest news from ElectronicsWeekly.com.> Circuits newsletterFeaturing the Gadget Master blog and other circuit-related content, the Circuits e-newsletter is chock full of ideas for design engineers who love circuits and are looking for inspiration for their own projects.electronicsweekly.com/signup> LockCracker robot always finds the combinationWhat combination locks can resist the LockCracker robot? A group of Gadget Masters have ingeniously constructed this device as part of a student project at Olin College of Engineering I take my hat off to them!> Skeletonics builds running exoskeletonA very impressive exoskeleton project from a team of Japanese students. They are called Skeletonics and their prototype is still evolving.> Building a binary benchA strange sort of beauty, or just downright ugly? Its the binary low table from BRC Designs, making the most of recycling old computer components. A table version, almost, of the chip art we featured before.> Video: How a differential gear worksFor those Gadget Masters with a mechanical bent, here is an old video from the 1930s that may be of interest, Around The Corner, courtesy of the Chevrolet Motor Division.> Gameduino spritely takes centre stageWeve often sung the praises of the Arduino see the roundup The many faces of Arduino, for example but this has never involved the subject of gaming.This months most read postsGadget of the Week Acer Aspire Z5761touchscreen PCTime to fish some likely contenders from the swelling ocean of gadget and technology blogs. As always, lets get a few eye-catching-but-rather-frivolous non-contenders out of the wayVideo: The tie tying machineIt would be a brave man who would trust this machine to tie his tie in the morning, but credit to its creator, Seth Goldstein. He describes it as a kinetic sculpture that continually ties and unties a necktie.Homemade brushless motor reed switch motorTake a look at this one, recommends our Technology Editor. Its a motor with a small alarm contact (reed switch). The switch triggers a transistor which in turn fires the coil. The switch is sensing the position of the drum and the four magnets. The motor runs on 6 Volts.Keep your property where you can see itA safe home is a happy one, but many off-the-shelf surveillance cameras are too expensive or simply impractical for home use. Thats why designer Alberto Ricci Bitti created an automated and inexpensive surveillance camera that uses a flash card as recording media.Build your own LED cubeThe project is fully docu-mented in terms of parts and the build process, and Peter provides a number of photos to help navigate construction. There is also a ready to program HEX file with some demo cube animations and the source code.See all these and more at:electronicsweekly.com/gadget-master12345MOST POPULARCLASSIC PROJECTS> GM Classic: Do you want to build your own laser harp?Stephen Hobley has invented one and has shared his workings online. It certainly looks impressive. Hobley says the harp is driven by an Arduino (Boarduino variation) and connected to the impOSCar VSTi software synthesiser, with a TAOS sensor array sitting on the floor in its own stand. The array above the harp is just made up of front surface mirrors for added pzazz. The harp does respond to hand distance from the sensor, but that can sometimes go awry, he writes, so he switched it off for the demo version. Hobley says the Arduino board supported all the key elements required for the harp: SPI interface, to connect to a DAC chip; timer interrupts, to control the signal pattern we must output; hardware interrupt pins, to react to signals coming back in from a sensor; serial output, to transmit the MIDI messages to the synthesiser; easy to program using the WIRING/C++ language; good community support; and inexpensive! You can read the datasheet and see example code, but watch the video first! Please note he does charge $19 to download the full Laser Harp plans and schematics.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/2009/03/build-your-own-laser-harp.html> Win a Samsung Blu-Ray playerTime is running out to win a Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-Ray Player WiFi Ready, courtesy of Digi-Key, which sponsors the Gadget Master blog. Features of the Samsung BD-C5500 include full 1080P high-definition video, Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio, internet content on your TV such as the BBC iPlayer, support for wireless connectivity, and BD live(Profile 2.0) and Bonusview. It would set you back 57 on Amazon (RRP 84.99).As always, well keep the format familiar and straightforward: correctly answer one question for a chance of winning the toolkit. Please note that the competition closes at end of play on Friday 29 April, so you only have a couple of days to enter!electronicsweekly.com/gadget-master-composponsored by Get the latest Gadget Master posts via RSS feed: electronicsweekly.com/rss200 MHz 45 GHz ModelsEdition 04-2011 222000000 MMMHHH 444555 GGGHHH MMM ddd lll Edition 04-2011 EEEdddiiittiii 000444 222000111111NewWaveSurfer MXs-B Series200 MHz 1 GHz Oscilloscopes NewWavePro 7 Zi-A Series1.5 GHz 6 GHz Oscilloscopes NewLabMaster 9 Zi-A Series 20 Channel Oscilloscopeswith up to 45 GHzNew WaveRunner 6 Zi Series400 MHz 4 GHz OscilloscopesUp to 40 GS/s Up to 128 Mpts Rotating 12.1" DisplayOscilloscope OverviewFROM11,200OM OM222220000000000400 MHz 4 GHz Bandwidth 340 GS/s max. Sample Rate 3128 Mpts max. Memory 3 NEW WaveRunner 6 ZiSeriesOscilloscope Selection GuideMay 2011:12-bit Oscilloscopes with 400 MHz and 600 MHz, 2 GS/s, 256 Mptsscopes with00 MHz,sDecodeTriggerMeasure/GraphProtoSyncQuailPHYI2C SPI I2S UART, RS-232 CAN LIN FlexRay ARINC 429 MIL-STD-1553 DigRF 3G MIPI D-PHY/CSI-2/DSI DigRF v4 8b/10b Fibre Channel SATA (1.5 & 3 Gb/s) SAS (1.5 & 3 Gb/s) PCIe (Gen1) USB 2.0 LPDDR2 DDR2 Ethernet EmbeddedAutomotiveMilitary &AvionicsHandset Cellular MobileStorage / PeripheralsInterconnectsUnbelievable PerformanceThe WaveRunner 6 Zi oscilloscope is the most versatile scope in the 400 MHz to 4 GHz class. The performance offered is unmatched, offering deep memory, 40 GS/s sample rate, low noise and fast operation to help get the job done quickly and accurately. The toolset provides every necessity for an engineer to validate a design, debug errors at board bring up, and offer powerful analysis to characterize an embedded system. The front panel and rotating/tilting display provide the optimum viewing and waveform display to provide the most detail. The WaveRunner 6 Zi is the Ultimate Debug Machine.A New Way to Navigate The WavePilot control area provides convenient control of Cursors, Decode, WaveScan, History, LabNotebook, and Spectrum by their respective function buttons on the front panel. The SuperKnob is a joystick-like knob in the center of the WavePilot control area used to easily navigate through tables, zoom and position waveforms, and quickly document and annotate your setups. Rotating DisplayThe 12.1" high resolution WXGA wide screen is designed to provide the best view of any signal type on the display. The widescreen is ideal for a variety of signals where long records are required and zooming or scrolling results in a large block of data. Rotate the screen 90 degrees to optimize the display for viewing digital signals, jitter tracks, eye diagrams, and frequency plots. The screen image will adjust automatically when rotated. Tilt the display up or down in either orientation to minimize reections or glare.Superior Validation, Debug, AnalysisThe WaveRunner 6 Zi denes superiority in a test instrument with a powerful feature set including a wide range of application packages, advanced triggering to isolate events, a user interface developed for quick and easy navigation, a wide range of probing options, lightning-fast performance and silent fans.Excellent Signal Fidelity The WaveRunner 6 Zi oscilloscope family features a pristine signal path that offers unmatched signal delity with low noise. This performance is augmented by a huge offset and timebase delay adjustment toallow easy signal andamplier performance assessment andzooming on vertical and horizontal signal characteristics.Q Check http://www.lecroy.com/Oscilloscope for more informationWaveRunner 604 ZiWaveRunner 606 ZiWaveRunner 610 ZiWaveRunner 620 ZiWaveRunner 625 ZiWaveRunner 640 ZiChannel 4 4 4 4 4 4Bandwidth 400 MHz 600 MHz 1 GHz 2 GHz 2,5 GHz 4 GHzSample Rate per Ch/max.10 GS/s / 20 GS/s10 GS/s / 20 GS/s10 GS/s / 20 GS/s20 GS/s / 40 GS/s20 GS/s / 40 GS/s20 GS/s / 40 GS/sAcquisition and Analysis Memory32 Mpts 128 Mpts32 Mpts 128 Mpts32 Mpts 128 Mpts32 Mpts 128 Mpts32 Mpts 128 Mpts32 Mpts 128 MptsTouchscreen Display 12.1" WXGA 12.1" WXGA 12.1" WXGA 12.1" WXGA 12.1" WXGA 12.1" WXGAOperating System 64-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 7Mixed Signal Options 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel200 MHz 1 GHz Bandwidth 310 GS/s Sample Rate 325 Mpts Memory 31.5 GHz 6 GHz Bandwidth 340 GS/s max. Sample Rate 3256 Mpts max. Memory 3WavePro 715 Zi-AWavePro/SDA 725 Zi-AWavePro/SDA 735 Zi-AWavePro/SDA 740 Zi-AWavePro/SDA 760 Zi-AChannel 4 4 4 4 4Bandwidth 1.5 GHz 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz 4 GHz 6 GHzSample Rateper Ch/max.10 GS/s / 20 GS/s 20 GS/s / 40 GS/s 20 GS/s / 40 GS/s 20 GS/s / 40 GS/s 20 GS/s / 40 GS/sAnalysis Memory 256 Mpts 256 Mpts 256 Mpts 256 Mpts 256 MptsOff-line Data transfer 325 MB/s 325 MB/s 325 MB/s 325 MB/s 325 MB/sInput Coupling 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1Touchscreen Display 15.3" WXGA 15.3" WXGA 15.3" WXGA 15.3" WXGA 15.3" WXGAOperating System 64-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 7Mixed Signal Options 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 Channel 18/36 ChannelWaveSurfer 24MXs-BWaveSurfer 42MXs-BWaveSurfer 44MXs-BWaveSurfer 62MXs-BWaveSurfer 64MXs-BWaveSurfer 104MXs-BChannel 4 2 4 2 4 4Bandwidth 200 MHz 400 MHz 400 MHz 600 MHz 600 MHz 1 GHzSample Rateper Ch/max.2.5 GS/s 5 GS/s 5 GS/s 5 GS/s / 10 GS/s 5 GS/s / 10 GS/s 5 GS/s / 10 GS/sMemory 25 Mpts/Ch 25 Mpts/Ch 25 Mpts/Ch 25 Mpts/Ch 25 Mpts/Ch 25 Mpts/ChDisplay 10.4" Touchscreen 10.4" Touchscreen 10.4" Touchscreen 10.4" Touchscreen 10.4" Touchscreen 10.4" TouchscreenSerial Bus Options I2C, I2S/AudioBus, SPI, LIN, CAN, FlexRay, UART/RS-232, MIL-STD-1553, USB, MIPI, DigRF3G Trigger & Decode OptionsMixed Signal Options MS-250 and MS-500 18 / 36 Digital Channel OptionsNEW WaveSurfer MXs-B SeriesNEW WavePro/SDA 7 Zi-A SeriesThe WaveSurfer was designed with speed and responsiveness in mind, from capturing waveforms and making measure-ments to using FFTs and decoding serial data. With up to 10 GS/s sample rate and 25 Mpts/Ch memory and a very fast processing speed it can handle long memory captures faster than any of the competition. The new Sequence mode enables capturing of very fast pulses in rapid succession with trigger rates of up to 1.25 million waveforms per second. The touch screen interface is the ultimate in ease-of use. With standard Advanced Math and Trigger packages and features like WaveStream fast viewing mode, WaveScan Search and Find and LabNotebook Reporting, you can be condent that every problem can quickly be detected and analyzed. Beyond these great features, the WaveSurfer offers a wide range of serial data tools for I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, LIN, FlexRay, USB, ARINC 429, MIL-1553, MIPI, DigRF3G, and Digital Audio as well as industry leading 18/36 digital channel mixed signal capabilities to quickly troubleshoot embedded system designs.Most Complete Serial Trigger and Decode Solution in its ClassQuickly and easily isolate specic serial data events on your embedded controller for better understanding and faster debug with trigger conditions in binary or hexadecimal formats. The conditional data trigger allows for triggering on a range of values. Advanced software algorithms deconstruct the waveform into binary, hex, or ASCII protocol information, then overlay the decoded data on the waveform. Various sections of the protocol are color-coded to make it easy to understand. The decode operation is fast even with long acquisitions.FROM21,190OM OM OM11111999999000000FROM6,435OM OM OM444444333333555555Combining signal delity with an architecture that maximizes speed in every performance aspect, the new WavePro 7 Zi-A Series presents a totally new oscilloscope experience from 1.5 to 6 GHz bandwidths. Experience 50 1 and 1 M1 inputs for every channel and four inputs into high-speed front end ampliers and analog to digital converters. TheX-Stream II architecture maximizes speed in all aspects10100 times faster analysis processing on maximum record lengths and instantaneous instrument responsiveness. The WavePro 7 Zi-A Series provides superior performance for the debugging, validation, compliance testing, and analysis of electronic designs..Standard Customization & Jitter Analysis PackagesOnly LeCroy completely integrates third party programs into the scopes processing stream by allowing you to create and deploy a new measurement or math algorithm directly into the oscilloscope environment and display the result on the oscilloscope in real-time! Use C/C++, MATLAB, Excel, Jscript (JAVA), and Visual Basic to create your own customized math functions, measurement parameters, or other control algorithms.The Jitter Package includes a complete set of time domain measurements for Clock, Clock-to-data, and Data Stream Analysis. Parameter measurements offers 3 Jitter views: Jitter Histogram, Jitter Trend, JitterTrack, and a Persistence function.PLC_AA_04-2011_ENG_WDWwww.lecroy.com/europe 2011 by LeCroy Corporation. All rights reserved. Specications, prices, availability, and delivery subject to change without notice. Product or brand names are trademarks or requested trademarks of their respective holders.Product Highlights:Q Industry leading performance 45 GHz bandwidth,120 GS/s sample rate, 768 Mpts of analysis memoryQ Exceptional 20 GHz (4 input channels) and 30 GHz (2 input channels) performanceQ Widest bandwidth upgrade range (445 GHz) provides best investment leverageQ Lowest Jitter Noise Floor (125 fsrms) and highly stable over long acquisitionsQ 10100 times faster analysis and better responsiveness than other oscilloscopesQ Superior serial data analysis with SDA II softwaremore capability to decompose and analyze jitterQ Check http://www.lecroy.com/Oscilloscope for more informationWaveMaster 8 Zi-A combines the highest bandwidth (45 GHz) and sample rate (120 GS/s) with superior performance at 20 GHz on all four input channels. A complete bandwidth upgradability throughout the entire product range makes it easy and affordable to stay current with emerging high-speed technologies and standards. The X-Stream II architec-ture maximizes speed in all aspects10100 times faster analysis processing on maximum record lengths, instan-taneous responsiveness, and 20 times faster off-line data transfer. Combined with LeCroys exible and deep analysis toolbox, the WaveMaster 8 Zi-A Series provides superior performance for the debugging, validation, compliance testing, and analysis of electronic designs.SDA 8 Zi provides the fastest and most complete understanding of why serial data fails a compliance test. Whether debugging eye pattern or other compliance test failures, the SDA 8 Zi-A Series rapidly isolates the source of the problem in your design. Advanced jitter decomposition methodologies and tools provide more information about root cause.Tj Analysis, RjBUj Analysis and DDj Analysis is made simple with the deepest toolset for the highest level of insight into your serial data signals. The combination of the SDA 8 Zi-A Serial Data Analyzer, the PeRT3 and the SPARQ provides the most comprehensive solution for serial data compliance testing. These three pieces of equipment enable a full suite of physical layer compliance testing and debugging ability that will guarantee the best signal integrity for your serial data signals.Highest Performance No CompromisesThe LabMaster 9 Zi-A represents the pinnacle for bandwidth (45 GHz), sample rate (120 GS/s), channels (up to 5 ch. at 45 GHz, 10 ch. at 30 GHz, or 20 ch. at 20 GHz) and analysis memory (up to 768 Mpts/Ch). For the most demanding research and development applications, such as next-generation optical transmission development, LabMaster 9 Zi-A is the only solution available.Synchronized Clocking for Highest Time base AccuracyThe LabMaster utilizes a single, distributed 10 GHz clock for all channels to ensure that timing accuracy amongst all channels is identical to that provided within a single, standard oscilloscope package.Server-class Multi-core Processor for Fast Acquisition and AnalysisThe LabMaster 9 Zi-A utilizes a server-class multi-core processor that is 16 times more powerful than what is normally provided for in a single LeCroy high bandwidth oscilloscope. Combined with LeCroys X-Stream II technology that is optimized for multi-core processing, the result is the most impressive acquisition and analysis capability possible.4 GHz 45 GHz Bandwidth 3120 GS/s max. Sample Rate 3768 Mpts max. Memory 3Up tp 20 Channels 3 4 GHz 45 GHz Bandwidth 3 120 GS/s max. Sample Rate 3 768 Mpts max. Memory 3WaveMaster/SDA 8 Zi-A SeriesNEW LabMaster 9 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 804 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 806 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 808 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 813 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 816 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 820 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 825 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 830 Zi-AWaveMaster/SDA 845 Zi-AChannel 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4Bandwidth 4 GHz 6 GHz 8 GHz 13 GHz 16 GHz 20 GHz 25 GHz 30 GHz 45 GHzSample Rate per Ch/max.40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 80 GS/s40 GS/s / 120 GS/sMemory std. 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 Mpts 20 MptsMax. Acquisition and Analysis Memory512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 512 Mpts 768 MptsRise time* 71 ps 47 ps 37 ps 24.5 ps 21.5 ps 16.5 ps 13 ps 11.5 ps 8 psJitter Noise Floor^ 550 fsrms425 fsrms375 fsrms265 fsrms240 fsrms190 fsrms165 fsrms140 fsrms125 fsrmsInput Coupling 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1 50 1 and 1 M1Touchscreen Display 15.3" 15.3"15.3" 15.3"15.3"15.3"15.3"15.3"15.3"Operating System 64-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 764-bit Windows 7* typ., 2080 %, atness 50 1; ^ for acq. length ) 10s, TIE typ.Oscilloscope Selection Guide