April 23, 2007

 

 

News      p. 7

 

Nissan Motor and NEC Group Form a New Battery Company

 

Japanese Engineers From a New Fast Serial Interface LSI Company in Silicon Valley

 

TSMC Is in the Vanguard of 45nm LSI Mass Production

 

NEC Prototypes a Carbon Nanotube Coated Transistor with an On/Off Current Ratio of 10⁷

 

 

NE Interview

 

A Person in Charge of Chinese Version of RoHS Directive, Huang Jianzhong: “I Am Impressed with the Attitude of Japanese Electronics Manufacturers”            p. 38

 

 

Keyword

 

PND (Personal Navigation Device)    p. 43

 

 

Key Person

 

Taiwan International Patent & Law Office, Group Leader, Kuo Zongyeu: “Japanese IP Is Going to Waste”       p. 45

 

 

Cover Story

 

Design for Testability Improves Software Quality         p. 47

 

Embedded software has finally hit the 10-million line mark.  Are there really too few software engineers?  Why do software bugs persist?  Focusing on the frontline of testing―the last line of defense for quality.

 

The Age of the 10-Million Line Software         p. 50

From strength in numbers to an expert elite—testing techniques say goodbye to brute force

 

FAQs      p. 60

 

Simple software testing questions that hardware engineers can follow

 

Case Studies        p. 62

 

Grass roots-led testing improvements get going in the embedded field too

 

Basics of Testing p. 68

 

List of testing techniques used by specialists

 

Explanation of Technology              p. 70

 

Testing at the design stage—toward assertion-based design

 

 

Special Feature

 

The Second Generation of Lead-Free Solder Creates Waves       p. 83

 

At the end of February 2007, JEITA announced that it is to recommend two lead-free solder components as standard components for the forthcoming business period.  These are billed as the “second generation” to replace the Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu recommended by JEITA up till now.  However, this poses headaches for appliance manufacturers.  Some industry players have even commented negatively on the JEITA announcement.  It looks like it will take some time for appliance manufacturers to fall into line.

 

Medical and Health Care Will Evolve Wireless              p. 91

 

In the field of medical treatment and healthcare, moves are emerging to make active use of wireless communication technology.  In the field of medical treatment, there are now serious initiatives under way to use wireless technology for instance to exchange information with devices implanted in the body.  As for healthcare, interest has been shown in applications which allow effortless wireless data collection of information from inside the body obtained via micro-sensors attached to the patient.  The data thus collected can be used in a range of services; for instance it can be sent to centers at distant locations for analysis through broadband circuits and mobile phone networks.  The take-off of treatments for metabolic syndromes and other individually tailored health management services is also driving the development of wireless communication technology.  Medical treatment and healthcare businesses are aiming to use wireless communication to develop more sophisticated services and to enhance the user-friendliness of devices.

 

CTIA Wireless 2007: Japanese Manufacturers Are Late to the Competition             p. 99

 

A prominent feature at the CTIA Wireless 2007 trade exhibition for wireless communication technology was displays of data communication systems with transmission speeds of several tens of M bits/second and above, designed for use with very high-speed portable devices.  One of the most impressive was the mobile WiMAX which is all set for practical application in the United States.  Although there were some relevant exhibits by Japanese manufacturers, it was clear that they have a number of issues to tackle.

 

HDMI 1.3 Transmitter/Receiver LSIs: 100mW Transmitter LSIs Appear     p. 105

 

The HDMI interface capable of transmitting image and sound through a single cable is already an indispensable feature on audio-visual appliances.  Numerous transmitter/receiver LSIs supporting the latest specification HDMI 1.3, which was released in June 2006, are now available.  From HDTV televisions to camcorders, HDMI 1.3 compatibility looks set to proceed apace.

 

 

Guest Paper

 

Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population          p. 111

 

In February 2007, at the 5th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies, an academic conference on memory devices, Google Inc. presented a paper on HDD malfunction entitled Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population.  It was based on data obtained from more than 100,000 HDDs used in the world’s largest server system, which is run by Google.  The statistical processing of these data revealed unprecedented new insights, including findings that overturn accepted wisdoms in the industry.  One of these findings was that “very little correlation between failure rates and either elevated temperature or activity levels.”  This article offers a summary of the paper.

 

 

Documentary

 

Why Did the Multi-Company Cooperative Fab Become a Debacle? (Part 2)             p. 117

 

 

Academy

 

Tutorials of Embedded System (Part 8): Real Time OS (Part 2)   p. 146

 

 

NE Tutorial

 

Understanding Color Space (Part 2): Camera Color Space and White Point            p. 154

 

 

Polar modulation is a technology through which signals are amplitude-modulated while the power amplifier is saturated.  As there is no need for a high-linearity power amp, the method can be counted on to lower power consumption.  This installment explains the calculation of amplitude and phase control data in polar modulation and the circuit configuration of commercially available chips.

 

Parts for Reducing Energy Consumption in Wireless Circuits: Polar Modulation Technology (Part 2)              p. 159

 

The color display capacity of products such as flat panel TVs is improving and it is now possible to reproduce colors that appear in the natural world more how they really look.  From shooting/recording and transmission to playback/display, creation of environments that offer a richer color space is intensifying.  This article offers an explanation of aspects including camera color spaces and white balance.

 

An Intellectual Property Course (Part 2): In Order to Make Sure that Inventions Are Protected            p. 165

 

In this tutorial, we explain the intellectual property basics for engineers by solving problems at the level of an intellectual property exam (level 2) run by a private sector organization.  In the second tutorial, we look at the protection of patent through establishment of rights.  So that engineers can strategically establish patent rights, they need to make full disclosure of technology information to intellectual property department staff and lawyers.

 

 

World Report

 

Korea: Competition for TV Broadcasting to Mobile Phones Heats Up       p. 175