Taking a Look at Cygnal's C8051F000
by Fred Eady

In the Florida room, Fred finds himself in his usual predicament. He has new stuff he's not quite sure what to do with, but he's dying to find out. And, it doesn't take him long to delve in and figure out the ins and outs of the C8051F000 and take us through the details. His prognosis: positive.

February 2002

Part 2: The Benefits of Using Excel
by Aubrey Kagan

Last month, Aubrey took us through the basics of using Excel in the design process. In this second part of his series, we'll see how we can benefit from using the program for working out worst-case scenarios, checking formulas, and getting a complete analysis of the circuit. And that's just the beginning.

February 2002

Designing Hardware with Software
by James Antonakos

This month, James looks at designing a digital circuit using software, namely VHDL. You'll see the benefit of using a simulated model in designing. And, with his detailed look into the program, you'll have no problem applying what you've learned.

February 2002

by George Martin

Do you ever find yourself between a rock and a hard place? How about between two hard and fast system requirements? This month, George finds himself with a system that needs to operate as fast as possible, and with as smooth an upgrade to the hardware and software as possible. Sounds sticky, but as always, he makes his way out of it with only a few adjustments along the way.

February 2002

Silicon Update Online
by Tom Cantrell

With the start of a new year, we all invariable resolve to try new things, at the same time trying to remove some of the old clutter from our lives. This month, Tom discusses one of his favorite topics, networking. He takes us through the good and bad of it, showing us that less cables (i.e., going wireless) doesn't necessarily mean less clutter.

February 2002

Test Your EQ presents some basic engineering problems for you to test your engineering quotient.

Problem 1—What is the "chip" rate (spreading code bit rate) of the Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) signal of a GPS satellite? What about the Precision (P) signal?

Problem 2—The high volumetric efficiency (capacitance ý voltage rating / case size) of tantalum capacitors is great for producing compact products, but this can lead directly to another problem. What is it? (Hint: think ESR)

The rest of this month's questions

Each month Circuit Cellar's Resource Links provide helpful links and information on a variety of featured topics.

Digital Signal Processing
by Brant Schroeder

Win4Lin
by Brant Schroeder

Open Frame Isolated DC/DC Converters

Fanless PC/104 cpu module

High-current analog-output board

No Programming temperature monitoring

Small Bore Submersible Pressure Transducer

Single-chip text-to-speech solution

New Product submissions may be sent to John Gorsky
4 Park St. Vernon, CT 06066

United We Stand
by Steve Ciarcia

Every once in a while I like to use this editorial space to discuss what's going on at Circuit Cellar and what I'm planning. Circuit Cellar is but a small blip on the tech publishing world's radar but I think we have a greater voice than our diminutive stature might indicate. Over the years we've gained a reputation for technical excellence that has become hard to ignore. We've survived and prospered in a climate where other magazines have perished or merged. I credit a lot of our success to a de facto state of affairs. The technical trade magazines are the closest we have to what I'd call competition. By design or default, they traditionally approach business from the top down. By that, I mean they exist financially and obtain their advertising contracts by dealing directly with the public relations and marketing people within large corporations. I'm not inferring that there's anything wrong with that approach. On the contrary, when business is good, it's efficient one-stop shopping. A couple of power lunches and the deal is done. I'm certainly not a person who avoids schmoozing and heaven forbid I should pass up a good lunch, but our business approach has been what I call bottom-up rather than top-down. Certainly before we became recognized by the large semiconductor companies, their PR departments would answer "Circuit Cellular?" As a result, our dealings have concentrated primarily on the staff engineers and engineering managers who know what Circuit Cellar is all about. Well below the power lunch decision-makers, these people also became our authors and readers and evolved into the strong internal support we enjoy today. Back then, the advertising contracts we got weren't the result of exhaustive negotiations or packaged deals with the marcom department, they were the predictable consequence of Circuit Cellar editorial. Publishing an article from inside their own ranks not only helped management discover its own engineering resource, it absolutely demonstrated ours. Today it is considerably less of a rat race and I haven't heard "Circuit Cellular" in years. Now that Circuit Cellar is middle-aged, we get to enjoy our well-earned stature. A lot of it has to do with the fact that many of our readers have advanced, too. Young staff engineers and middle managers who have been with us through the years are now in controlling positions. They know us, and they know our credibility. When marcom people mention our name in meetings these days, there's almost always someone there to reply with the scoop. Developing with a bottom-up approach to life has imparted a certain amount of humility, however. I'd be the first to tell you that Circuit Cellar's editorial success isn't a result of my personal sweat each month. It comes from the sharp editorial team that edits the technical chronicles of an equally sharp group of hands-on authors. Similarly, our commercial success has nothing to do with power lunches either. It's because we have a message you like to read and together all of you constitute one of the highest powered audiences available. It's hard for advertisers to pass up that kind of audience. I suppose my first reaction should be simply to accept the applause and run with it. Because we are one of the few magazines that actually grew last year despite the technical sector's meltdown, it is obvious that we have staying power. It should be a golden opportunity to take advantage of timing. Raise the rates and the best show in town simply gets a little more expensive! Last year was difficult for many companies. There were large layoffs, contracts were canceled, and marketing budgets were slashed. Circuit Cellar was fortunate to avoid most of the turmoil because our advertisers stuck with us. On one hand I can say we deserved it, yet on the other hand, I also know how traumatic an economic downturn can be to a business. We're now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and businesses are starting to recover. It's the next step along the path to recovery that concerns me. Undoubtedly justified by expenses, trade-publication response to the recovery is to make up last year's shortfall by raising advertising rates up to a whopping 18% (source: SRDS). Unfortunately, the companies most hurt during this recession, and the ones we depend upon most for our technological future, are the ones called upon to face this added obstacle to their recovery. In light of recent world events, I view this particular round of economic recovery as more important than others. If it is not America's moral integrity that directs the world it has to be our overwhelming economic strength. I could certainly justify higher rates because we have increased costs too, but getting America back on track has to be a higher priority right now. For that reason, Circuit Cellar is not raising advertising or subscription rates during 2002. We'll bite the bullet and stay the course to help you recover faster, too. Call the reason anything you want but I think one line in American psyche defines it best, "United we stand. Divided we fall."

February 2002

Take advantage of more than 12 years of engineering editorial experience with Circuit Cellar's print magazine! Full of unique, application-oriented articles.

Come see what's in this month's publication!

January 2002

CIRCUIT CELLARý Online, (ISSN 1527-8131) and Circuit Cellar are published monthly by Circuit Cellar Incorporated, 4 Park Street, Vernon, CT 06066 (860) 875-2751.

Entire contents copyright ý 2002 by Circuit Cellar Incorporated and ChipCenter, Inc. All rights reserved. Circuit Cellar and Circuit Cellar INK are the registered trademarks of Circuit Cellar Inc. Reproduction of this publication in whole or in part without written consent from Circuit Cellar Inc. is prohibited. Disclaimer