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Welcome to the October 2005 Issue of the Electronix Express Newsletter
STORIES
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Today, though smaller, America Online is not merely alive but defiantly healthy - especially when it needs to be, having recently taken a terrifying but necessary strategic step: making virtually all of its content available free at AOL.com, no subscription required. Why AOL was so reluctant to remove the ticket booth at the front gate is understandable. Subscribers to its dial-up service pay monthly, a recurring revenue stream that is a beautiful thing to behold on an income statement. Switching more of its business to an advertising-based model means gaining higher margins but having to look forward to less of the regularity of subscriber fees. AOL will also have to scrabble with the other big portals for ad dollars. The company put it off for 10-plus years, even when its membership rolls began to shrink as customers switched to the broadband services of others. But when wishful thinking failed to reverse the trend, it was forced to take the plunge. Given this history, it is natural to assume that AOL's late start and lack of familiarity with the terrain will doom its attempt to compete. But don't assume it. The most likely outcome is success.
NCAR, which works closely with the government's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has designed a highly sophisticated GPS dropsonde. The squadron's job is to fly airplanes directly into hurricanes, and drop GPS dropsondes attached to parachutes above the hurricane. During the free fall, the sondes take measurements relative to the behavior of the hurricane every half-second. The data is transmitted to the aircraft where it is recorded for later analysis. The GPS dropsondes provide high-resolution vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity, and winds. This data is then used to predict hurricane intensity, severity and direction changes. By dropping small sensors contained in the GPS sonde into hurricanes, scientists can better understand the structure and dynamics of hurricanes. The sondes are also employed to observe and measure other equally challenging atmospheric phenomena such as severe thunderstorms and winter storm systems. Accurate prediction of hurricane path and intensity can avoid human casualties and help save billions in damages.
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AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR - Educational Pricing Available |
A report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) will state that increasing numbers of British people are suffering from the syndrome. While the total figure is not known, thousands are believed to be affected to some extent. The report, by the agency's radiation protection division, is expected to say that GPs do not know how to treat sufferers and that more research is needed to find cures. It will give a full list of the symptoms, which can include dizziness, irregular heartbeat and loss of memory. British campaigners believe electrical devices in the home and the workplace, as well as mobile phones emitting microwave radiation, have created an environmental trigger for the syndrome.
The HPA has now reviewed all scientific literature on electrosensitivity and concluded that it is a real syndrome. The condition had previously been dismissed as psychological.
Texas Instruments , a world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age, presents a special segment on the upcoming restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) and its pending implications for the electronics industry. With the European Parliament's RoHS going into effect July 1, 2006, the directive mandates that all electronic devices used in electrical and electronic equipment be certifiably free of lead and other elements. With manufacturing, logistics, inventory and backward compatibility issues at stake and time running out, many electronics manufacturers are rushing to engineer alternatives to existing components.
The FPGA High Performance Computing Alliance (FHPCA) was launched on May 25 in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the announcement of a plan to design and build a 64-node FPGA-based supercomputer, capable of achieving processing speeds in excess of 1 teraflop. The alliance said that the planned FPGA supercomputer, to be owned and operated by the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) at the University of Edinburgh, would be built from commercially available modules from members. The two-year project has a budget of £3.6 million provided by the Alliance members and Scottish Enterprise who are to contribute £1.345 million. The Alliance intends to select three out of a number of candidate applications and port them to the supercomputer to demonstrate the system's power and flexibility. It is expected that these applications will be selected in June 2005.
Wolfram also says that by leveraging the development of CalcCenter 3 on the established Mathematica, it reduced development costs and thereby more attractively priced the easy-to-use package than if it had been built from the ground up. Mathematica CalcCenter 3 carries a list price of $595 in the United States and Canada. The academic list price is $195, and a student version costs $99.95.
Sony's attempts to corner the digital music market from front to back--from the recording studio to the hardware player--have often been misguided, to say the least. This week, the Japanese multinational came out with the latest product it hopes will slay the wildly popular iPod. Then, just days later, it announces that it is cutting 10,000 jobs--less than two years after slashing 20,000 positions.
At the same time, it is locked in mortal combat with Microsoft on the gaming front and practically everyone else in the digital TV business. Given its stretched resources, precarious financial situation and the hyper-competitive music player market, does Sony have any realistic chance of catching up to the iPod?
While the appeal is obvious, plug-in hybrids really have some immense drawbacks. The major issue is battery life. Rechargeable batteries tend to die much faster if they are constantly discharged until empty. Factory hybrid systems will use the conventional engine to charge the battery before it discharges too much, but plug-in hybrids are specifically intended to run longer on battery power, and will thus result in higher rates of battery failure. When automakers experimented with pure electric vehicles, the batteries were intended to be replaced every few years. But to be cost-practical, batteries in hybrids are intended to last for the life of the vehicle. Replacements are very expensive, and automakers would not want to pay for this cost as part of a warranty. The firm noted that while it would probably void the warranty, owners have been known to modify their hybrid vehicles to run longer solely on electric power and to charge their batteries from electric mains. If they recharge frequently enough, it is possible to use the gasoline engine in the vehicle only rarely, literally allowing for hundred of miles per gallon.
There will be something of a market for plug-ins on the commercial side, particularly in Europe and Asia where there is already more interest in pure electric vehicles. A spokes person indicated eventually we could see the technology offered on a passenger vehicle, though not any time soon.
In many cases, the fatal scenario is simple: Skid. Trip. Roll. Crash. Within seconds, the deadly chain of events is irreversible, and another life is lost on the highways. Now, however, that situation may be changing. After more than a decade of experience with ESC (electronic-stability-control) systems, automotive researchers are comprehending the value of this little-used technology. With ESC, the gruesome chain of events that can lead to loss of life could be averted.
An ESC system's primary components include a lateral accelerometer, gyroscopic yaw-rate sensor, and steering-angle sensor, as well as an electronics module and wiring harness. The system works by measuring yaw and lateral acceleration, then comparing that to the driver's desired path, as indicated by the steering-angle sensor. If a microcontroller determines that the difference between the desired path and actual path is too great, the system activates one or more of the wheel brakes by means of the ABS (antilock-braking system).
ESC also uses the sensor data to derive a rough estimate of the coefficient of friction (μ) on the driving surface. Knowing μ, as well as the vehicle's performance characteristics, helps ESC determine how much intervention is necessary and when the time has come for action. A current issue with ESC systems is making them affordable. By employing silicon instead of quartz, Analog Devices engineers believe they can bring down sensor costs from their current levels of $20 to $30 apiece, to less than $10.
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