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Design News

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 27 August 2008

PHELPS, NY– Z-AXIS recently won a contract to design an electronic controller board for Qualitrol Corporation. The PCB will be used in Qualitrol’s monitoring systems for the electrical utilities industry, specifically in instruments that monitor electrical apparatus in power distribution substations. Z-AXIS’ design for the microprocessor-based programmable controller will be more compact, energy-efficient and cost less than the existing designs.

“Z-AXIS impressed us with their flexibility to work on fast-track projects, their knowledge of electronic system design and their reputation for creating high-reliability industrial products,” says Bob Taylor, senior mechanical engineer at Qualitrol.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 22 August 2008

WILSONVILLE, OR– Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics Corporation, will be the keynote speaker at several upcoming EDA Tech Forum events in Taiwan, Korea, China, Japan and California. In his address, “A Demographic Driven Design Evolution,” he will be discussing trends in global demographics and how they are affecting the electronics landscape, as well as the evolution occurring in electronic design as a result of these global changes.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 20 August 2008

WILSONVILLE, OR– Mentor Graphics reported second-quarter revenue of $182.4 million, with a GAAP loss of $.19 per share, and a non-GAAP loss of $.02 per share.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 20 August 2008

NAPA, CA—Accellera announced that its Board of Directors and Technical Committee members approved a new version of the Verilog-Analog Mixed-Signal (AMS) standard, Verilog-AMS 2.3. The new Verilog-AMS standard unifies the Verilog-AMS 2.2 specification with the IEEE Std. 1364 and the Verilog hardware description language (HDL) standard.

Verilog-AMS 2.3 allows EDA software tool developers to implement EDA tools without ambiguities in the language interpretation. This version encompasses analog and mixed-signal extensions to IEEE Std. 1364 used in digital circuit design and verification.

The AMS standard is a result of the efforts of the Technical Committee members. To participate in the Accellera AMS Technical Committee efforts, please visit www.accellera.org/activities/verilog-ams/.

YAVNE, ISRAEL- Despite the slump in the global economy and the weak U.S. dollar, Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. experienced an increase in profits for 2008.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Agilent Technologies Inc. has released an integrated design flow solution that includes full 3D EM simulation for RF module design. According to the company, EMDS-for-ADS can help the designer accurately predict the 3D EM interactions of embedded passive components in RF modules.

“The 3D EM simulator allows our RF module designers to replace standalone tools such as HFSS,” said Bob Wong, R&D engineer with Agilent’s Component Test (Network Analyzer) Division. “As a result, we’ve more than doubled our design efficiency because we can interactively co-simulate the circuit and physical 3D effects without leaving the ADS design flow.”

The most common applications for EMDS-for-ADS are RF modules based on LTCC (low temperature co-fired ceramics) and laminates with embedded passive structures. EMDS-for-ADS uses planar RF layout macros to automatically draw RF components such as spiral inductors and meander lines, reducing design time.