Cover Story
How to Work with SSD
Spread
By 2012, the per-gigabyte price could fall to $0.15 and the rewritable count could reach several hundred.
Part 1: Current Situation
SSDs are threatening to replace HDDs, but are hitting a quality-related hurdle brought about by cost cutting.
NAND flash memory-based SSDs are starting to be installed in various devices.Price reductions brought about by advances in semiconductor technologies are likely to help push SSDs into a wider range of devices.On the other hand, device manufacturers are grappling with the issue of lower quality.
Part 2: Solution
Everything, including controller LSI, OS, and memory, will be mobilized in an effort to improve reliability.
The quality of NAND flash memory continues to decline as the design pitch is reduced and the number of multi-level cells is increased.In order to solve this problem, actions are being taken by all manufacturers involved in SSDs, including OS, controller LSI, cache memory, and NAND flash memory manufacturers.
Special Feature
Convenience Stores Leading the Way in Convenience as well as Energy Conservation
Triggered by a revision of the Act on the Rational Use of Energy, convenience store companies in Japanhave begun taking further steps to reduce power consumption at their stores.These companies have always striven to cut costs, but are now searching for cost-effective energy conservation measures.Thanks to this situation, convenience stores are becoming showcases for testing leading-edge energy conservation technologies.Energy conservation technologies perfected here will spread to other industrial sectors such as distribution and office buildings, and eventually to people's homes.
System of Remuneration for Audio and Video Home Recording Running into Problems in Blu-ray Royalty System
Device Manufacturers and Rights Holders Strongly Disagree on Digital Broadcasting Recording
The implementation of the system for adding a copyright fee to the price of Blu-ray recorders and discs, originally scheduled for April 1, 2009, has been delayed.The Blu-ray royalty policy had been settled upon together with the introduction of the so-called "Dubbing 10" system in July 2008.However, there is no prospect that this policy will be implemented in April 2009, a full 9 months after its announcement.The Cultural Affairs Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan were unable to mediate the disagreement between copyright holders and equipment manufacturers, the same factor that delayed the implementation of Dubbing 10.Postponement of the Blu-ray royalty system indicates that the dispute between the two parties surrounding the System of Remuneration for Audio and Video Home Recording has worsened to a level that can no longer be mediated.
Invited Paper
IEEE Software: Automating Software Testing Using Program Analysis
Microsoft Research (Microsoft Corp.) Patrice Godefroid, Peli de Halleux, Aditya V. Nori, Sriram K. Rajamani, Wolfram Schulte, Nikolai Tillmann,and Microsoft Center for Software Excellence (Microsoft Corp.) Michael Y. Levin
As the importance of software in computer systems and electronic devices has increased, so has the importance of testing in software development.Along the way, the levels of work and expense associated with software testing have also been rising.This paper describes the automatic test generation method and tools being developed by Microsoft Research, the research arm of Microsoft Corporation.
NE Academy
Intensive Analog Seminar: Session 3--Time-Resolved Circuits and TDC (Part 2 of 2)
In the last session, we described the fact that time-resolved analog circuits are gaining attention as a circuit technology for analog ICs, whose power supply voltage has been falling as the design rule in their manufacturing process has shrunk further.We also explained the basic TDC (time to digital converter) circuit and its operating principle.In this session, we will deepen our understanding of time-resolved analog circuits while discussing specific circuit examples that utilize a TDC, such as A-D converters for digital control power supplies and sensor circuits, as well as design-related issues.
Embedding Tutorial: Period II, Session 3--Fundamentals of Object-oriented Programming
Improving Reusability and Ease of Maintenance by Encapsulating Data and Operations
Documentary
How Innovations Happen: Development of Sanyo Electric’s “Xacti” (Part 3)
If we're not going to use this design, there's no point in commercialization
In 2002, Sanyo Electric set out to develop its compact and lightweight digital video camera "Xacti DMX-C1." Since the previous model had not sold well, the development team was in a tough spot, but was able to make progress by taking advantage of a company-wide project being promoted by company executives.The grip-type design painstakingly created by the team, however, was not well received by circuit designers.
Keyword
Si Foundry
Major Semiconductor Manufacturer’s Entry Intensifies Competition
Closeup
Consumer Appliances: SLR HD Video Images Still Far from Usable
Mobile: Policy Now Firm to Allocate 1.5-GHz Band for LTE Introduction in Japan
Cars: Getting Away from “Simple and Inexpensive” in PNDs
World Report
From U.S.A.: Obama’s Nearly 800 Billion Dollars to Overhaul Energy and Medical Industries
The Obama administration, established in January 2009, approved the implementation of an economic measure totaling more than $787.2 billion (equivalent to approximately 80 trillion Japanese yen) with the aim of restoring the weakened U.S. economy. The legislation is referred to as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
NE Reports
- Dissecting Amazon.com’s E-Book “Kindle2”
- NTT Facilities and Fujitsu Component Develop Connector Plug for DC 400V
- Honda and ATR Develop New Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) Technology Enabling Control of a Robot
- KanazawaUniversity Achieves 57% Out-Coupling Efficiency in Organic EL Element
- Industry Reorganization Moves on to Small/Medium-Size Display Industry
