Measuring CPU performance in real-time embedded-control applications has always been a widely debated and subjective topic. The market is composed of 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontroller and digital signal controller products with a wide variety of device pin counts, memory sizes and types and integrated system support and peripheral functions.

This article describes how a channel emulator can be used to characterise the performance of a MIMO receiver. The testing was done in stages of increasing complexity, namely, testing under AWGN conditions, MIMO testing with known static channels and, finally, testing with channels chosen to represent ‘real world’ behaviour.

Siemens is hard at work on technologies for integrating electric cars into the public power grid. The development of methods to rapidly recharge cars is just one of the company's contributions to Denmark's Edison project, which is the first to plug a pool of vehicles into the grid.

It can be inconvenient to replace batteries in electronic devices that need to work for a long period of time, either in biomedical monitoring systems worn by a patient or in monitors for machinery or industrial installations in remote or inaccessible situations.
 

Material scientists at the Nano/Bio Interface Centre of the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated the transduction of optical radiation to electrical current in a molecular circuit.

Prototype contact lenses that can be used as biosensors have been developed by Babak Parviz at the University of Washington, in the US. The prototype can be used to display body chemistry or as a heads up display (HUD).

For the mobile market, some PCB assemblies have been converted to flex circuit assemblies, in part because flex circuit assemblies can be twisted or bent to application needs.

M2M or machine to machine refers to data communications between machines. To a large degree, the term has started to be used more to describe the communications between machines over a wireless link - in other words, wireless telemetry.

The prevailing DC power supply architecture in most modern systems is the SMPS because of its ability to efficiently handle changing input voltages and loads. It minimises the use of lossy components such as resistors and linear-mode transistors, and emphasises components that are (ideally) lossless.

The global market for connectors used in consumer applications is expected to top $2.8 billion by 2013. A key segment of the consumer market is the household appliance, or whitegoods, industry.

NanoMarkets, a US-based analyst firm, has issued a report that predicts a US$1.9 billion market opportunity for carbon-based inks, pastes and coatings for electronics applications.

‘Baseload’ solar power, once a distant dream, is now claimed to be a reality. While solar electricity was once limited to when the sun was shining, solar thermal energy can now operate 24 hours a day, even at night, with an ingenious and cheap storage method using molten salt.

The wind power and electric vehicle markets today require power modules with high power density, high reliability and mechanical, thermal and electrical ruggedness. These requirements are best met by solder-free pressure contact technology. In a next step, wire bonds will be replaced by a flex foil to overcome today’s limitations on power cycling fatigue.

Monash University researchers are at the forefront of efforts to develop a new generation of solar cells that are lighter, cheaper and able to be embedded in future roofing materials.

In RF testing, an essential attribute of every RF signal generator is the maximum output power it can supply to a device under test (DUT) while maintaining spectral purity and level accuracy. The ability to deliver a pure, accurate signal at +25 dBm or greater not only ensures improved measurement accuracy but also enables testing of extreme or unusual operating conditions.