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Home :. Table of Contents :. Index :. Nikkei Electronics October 24 2005 Issue


Nikkei Electronics


October 24 2005 Issue

Keyword .  .  .  p. 10

Hybrid Electric Vehicle

What’s New .  .  .  p. 32

  • Affecting Over 100 Million Shipped Units, CCD Defects Rock the Industry
  • All Companies Move in Tandem to 2.5V for Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery End-of-Discharge Voltage
  • High Speed Communications over Power Lines Moves Towards Removing Usage Ban
  • Toshiba Shows a Prototype of a Cell Equipped Board with Inventive Power Supply Lines and Cooling Schemes
  • TOTO Develops Small SOFC with Operating Temperature of +500°C
    As Hitachi Measures Optical Wave Form Precisely, Phase Changes Can Be Continuously Measured

Leading Trends

A Bulletin from CEATEC 2005 .  .  .  p. 53
What will be the next “big thing” that spurs further development in the digital consumer electronics market?  CEATEC JAPAN 2005, held October 4 to 8, 2005, was filled with visitors seeking the answer to this question.

Mobile Devices .  .  .  p. 56
Focus on Fuel Cells and Thin Panels; Innovations in Data Transfer and Ear Phones

Television and Video .  .  .  P. 63
PDPs Offer a Glimpse of the Future; SED to Launch a 55-inch Product to Begin with

Storage .  .  .  P. 67
Next-generation Optical Discs to Become Popular; Launch of Optical Discs for PCs and the Players Approaching

Household Networks .  .  .  P. 70
DLNA Approved Products Appear on Market; Compete for File Transfers

Automobiles .  .  .  P. 72
Series of New Capacitor Components Launched, Including Thermoelectric Materials that Use Heat from Emissions

IEDM Preview: 45nm CMOS, New MRAM and Other Semiconductor Technologies Gather Together  .  .  .  p. 75
IEDM 2005, the international semiconductor technology conference will be held in December 2005 in the U.S.  The seeds of new technologies that will support the next-generation semiconductor industry may sprout from the programs presented at the conference.

Cover Story

“Drive Recorders” Will Record Your Driving .  .  .  p. 101
Drive recorders are beginning to be used, mainly for commercial vehicles.  A drive recorder is a device that records vehicle driving conditions as detected by a camera and other devices.  
As costs drop and reliability increases in the future, use may expand to passenger vehicles, providing a new growth market for electronics manufacturers.


(Part 1)
 Installation of drive recorders in commercial vehicles is expanding because of the potential high value of recording driving conditions.  If drive recorders are installed in the 19 million commercial vehicles operating in Japan, a new market for on-board electronic components will arise.  
If this boom also sparks the passenger car market, the repercussions could be immeasurable.  Drive recorders are initially being combined with lane detection systems that use cameras.  If communications functions are also added, it is possible that cars will develop into moving sensor “probe car systems.”


(Part 2)
Drive recorders continue to evolve with utilization of new high-performance on-board components.  Use of first-generation products that simply combined cameras, video encoding circuits, recording devices, and acceleration sensors is now within the purview of general users, and this shift is now being made to second-generation products, which feature high image quality and are easier to use.  
Next to appear will be third-generation products, the goal for which is installation as a standard feature in all vehicles.  An essential condition for this will be cutting costs and ensuring reliability.  By linking drive recorders with other on-board devices, component costs for the overall systems can be brought down.  
With respect to reliability, it is necessary to increase durability to ensure proper functionality in the event of a major accident.

Interview

Freescale Semiconductor’s Chairman and CEO Michael Mayer: “Independence Gives Us Even Greater Momentum” .  .  .  p. 121

Tech Tale

STAR WARS the Digital Cinema Revolution (Part 6): “Rigs, Yurts, and Tunisian Fish Delivery Trucks” .  .  .  p. 124

Guest Paper

Having No Mechanical Parts and with Mass Production Imminent, Liquid Lenses Show their Capability .  .  .  p. 129
One concern for manufacturers of mobile phones is achieving auto focus and optical zoom functions for the cameras installed in phones.  These functions tend to increase the mounting space that the camera module takes up as it is necessary to mechanically move the position of the lens along the optical axis.  Varioptic of France proposes a solution that does not require the lens to be moved forward and back.  
The company has developed an optical component known as the liquid lens and is gearing up for volume shipments by the end of 2005.  It also seems likely that Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. of South Korea will manufacture liquid lenses using Varioptic’s technology.  
Varioptic claims that by using liquid lenses, manufacturing costs can be cut and power consumption reduced.  Varioptic’s head of development discusses the benefits of liquid lenses, offering an overview of their performance and reliability testing, as well as operating principles.

NETs Buyers’ Guide

FPC Connectors .  .  .  p. 138

FPC connectors with a 0.3mm pin pitch are frequently used in mobile devices.  Connector manufacturers are competing in terms of low profile and small size, and numerous 0.3mm pitch products less than 1mm high have appeared.  Products less than 3mm deep are also appearing on the market.  As electronic components become smaller and thinner, it is desirable that FPC connectors also be made that much smaller.  As a result of becoming thinner and smaller, it has become important to improve shock resistance.  Manufacturers are striving to distinguish themselves from their competitors through a variety of innovations.  
In addition, as components are made compliant with the RoHS Directive, it is necessary to keep in mind compatibility with flexible circuit boards even more than in the past.  
We compare the features of 0.3mm pitch FPC connectors from various manufacturers.

NETs Seminar

Validation Method for Embedded Software (2) .  .  .  p. 143
We continue our explanation of embedded software validation methods.  This time, we examine model-based validation methods such as model analysis and model simulation and source code based development methods.

A Survey of the Skills of 3300 Embedded Software Engineers .  .  .  p. 148
The skills of older engineers are advanced, and their annual income is also higher.  They work in positions with substantial responsibility.  This trend has become clear among embedded software engineers.  
Nikkei BP jointly presents the results of its first embedded software engineer skills survey, conducted from May through July 2005.

Achieving High Efficiency and High Output for White LED’s (1st Half) .  .  .  p. 153
LED applications are expanding from liquid crystal panel backlights to illumination devices and automobile lighting.  The expansion to these new areas requires increases in luminous efficiency as well as higher output.  
We examine differences in luminous efficiency between different luminescent materials and discuss methods of improving such efficiency.

Next 2 Weeks 8 For further information, please contact:
Nikkei Electronics
2-1-1, Hirakawacho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8622, Japan
Vox: +81-3-5210-8141, Fax: +81-3-5210-8510
http://ne.nikkeibp.co.jp/
Keyword: 10
News Ranking 12
What's New: 32
Selected Shorts: 45
Leading Trends: 53
Cover Story: 101
Interview: 121
Tech Tale: 124
Guest Paper: 129
NETs: 138
Calendar: 222
From the Readers: 226
From the Editors: 227

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