Cover Story
Hammering Out a Thermal Design
Consumer electronics are being plagued by heat problems more than ever before. The tireless pursuit of smaller products with more sophisticated functions only exacerbates heat generation in a device while the amount of heat radiated from a diminishing surface area keeps falling. The limitations in heat dissipation have been drawing nearer. Now is the time for electrical, mechanical and creative designers to join together in “thermal design,” taking into consideration heat from the design stage.
Transformation
Battle against heat intensifying
Methods and focus are changing
The Approach
Predicting inputs and outputs of heat
Establishing heat dissipation channels
Fresh Tactics
Add-ons are no longer acceptable
All components must contribute to heat release
Special Feature
Functional Glass Optical Element Realized by Imprinting
Optical elements made of glass are employed in audio-visual equipment such as digital cameras, optical disk drives and projectors because of their resistance to heat and light as well as their high refractive index.Many such elements perform processes for realizing special functions.Development of technology employing imprint lithography to create microstructures on glass is progressing as a way to cut manufacturing costs of audio-visual equipment and optical devices.Commercial application of imprint lithography for fabricating microstructures only several microns in size is already underway.If it was possible to mass-produce periodic structures smaller than one micron, in other words smaller even than the wavelength of light, the scope of applications would dramatically expand.
Special Feature
Relaxed GPLv3 May Affect Embedded Development
Gratuitous provision of software patents, disclosure of methods for embedding software in devices, and prohibition of application to digital rights management (DRM) technology—version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL), the open source software license used by the Linux operating system and other software, has been released.Several aspects, including the matter of how to address patents, will have an effect upon embedded device manufacturers.The extremes of the original draft have been diluted, but there are still points that need be noted.While the Linux kernel is not expected to change over to the new license, more than 200 software applications have already made the switch.
Special Feature
Can Japan-Made Software Business Make a Leap in the World?
Aplix Corporation has grown rapidly through the deployment of Java operating environments for mobile phones.Now the company expects to book \7.6 billion in extraordinary losses for the year ending December 2007, about the level of annual sales.What happened to this leader in Japan’s mobile phone software industry, a title it shares with Access Co, Ltd.? This disappointment gives us a glimpse of how difficult it is for Japanese players in the software business to compete globally.
Special Feature
Embedded Java Virtual Machine: Aiming to Expand into Devices Other than Cell Phones
Java was developed as a program operating environment for embedded systems.Effort is going into resolving problems relating to performance and real time capability.Java has established itself as a cell phone program operating environment and is starting to expand into other fields, including Blu-ray Discs.
Documentary
The Chip that Popularized CMOS (Part 2):
The Technology Sprung Out of a Playful Spirit
Keyword
Internet Protocol Version 4 Address
Key Person
DCM Co-Founder & General Partner, Katsujin David Chao: Make a Challenge into the Global Market
NE Interview
Texas Instruments Inc., Senior Vice President，Chief Technology Officer, Hans Stork: From the “Technology to Make” to the “Technology to Use”
Tutorial
Introduction to Mobile Power Electronics (Part 7): The Control Technology of Motors
Motors for mobile equipment need to be able to endure harsh environments and respond as the operator demands. When designing the control systems, attention must be paid to disturbance suppression characteristics, command response characteristics and robustness. This installment explains methods for designing such control systems for motors.
Tutorial
MIMO—From the Basics to Measurement (Part 2): How MIMO Is Used in Different Standards
Application of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology to new wireless broadband communication systems has commenced, but there are a number of methods. MIMO technology is employed differently according to the type of system. The methods also affect signal processing algorithm and upper layer protocol implementation in both transmitter and receiver in various ways.
World Report
From Russia: Consumer Electronics Plants Are Concentrating in “Enclaves”
News
- With a “USB 3.0” Vision Emerging, Some Gigabit/Sec Is Put in Perspective
- The Three Companies Bump into Discord over Cooperative Development of 32nm LSI
- Sharp to Build a New Plant for the 10th-Generation LCDs
- Toyota Starts Demonstration Tests of its Plug-in Hybrids
- Sony Hastens to Reinforce CMOS for its Image Sensor Business
- RHOM Makes a Decision over Power Semiconductor
