EEWeb Pulse - Volume 115 by EEWeb Magazines

Glenn Smith

Mouser: Global Distribution with a

President & CEO of Mouser Electronics

Customer Focus

Op-Amps for Satellite Systems

Modern Challenges in Robotics

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CONTENTS

Featured Products This weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest products from EEWeb.

Op-Amp Design Concerns for Satellite Systems Why selecting the right op-amp is crucial in high intensity applications such as orbiting satellites.

Modern Challenges in Robotics

A look at the variety of forms, shapes, and sizes of robots and some of the challenges ahead for future robot development.

Glenn Smith

MOUSER ELECTRONICS The president and CEO of Mouser talks about his 40+ years at the company and how the business has dramatically changed over the years.

MCU Wars: Episode 3

In this episode, Ritesh Tyagi and Chris Anderson compare two 32-bit microcontrollers from Renesas and ST. Which one reigns supreme?

RTZ

Return to Zero Comic

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M2M Development Platform for CDMA Microchip Technology released DM320017, a new Verizon Wireless Certified Machineto-Machine (M2M) Development Platform for CDMA. The full-featured platform (developed by Twisthink, LLC, a Microchip Authorized Design Partner) enables custom embedded firmware application development on the PIC32, 32-bit microcontroller, with local-area and remote cellular connectivity. The platform is pre-certified on the Verizon Wireless network, with two-way communication capability...Read More

Next-Generation Thin Wafer IGBT Infineonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TRENCHSTOP5 IGBTs are the next generation of thin wafer IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) that feature significantly lower conduction and switching losses compared to currently leading solutions. There is no other IGBT on the market that can match the performance of the TRENCHSTOP5. These are designed for applications where switching >10kHz. The wafer thickness has been reduced by >25%, which enables a dramatic improvement in both switching and conduction losses, while providing a breakthrough voltage of 650V...Read More

LIN Transceiver for SAE J2602 Standard The MLX80020BB device is a physical layer device for a single wire data link capable of operating in applications using baud rates of 10.4kBd. MLX80020BB is compatible to SAE J2602 specifications used by GM and Ford. Because of the very low power consumption of the MLX80020 in the sleep mode, it is suitable for ECU applications with hard standby current requirements. The implemented high resistive termination in sleep mode as well as the driving capability of the INH pin allows a comfortable handling of LIN short circuits to GND...Read More

300VAC Subminiature Time-Lag TE5 Fuse The 369 series in its compact TE5 package provide an ideal alternative over glass cartridge fuses in electronic ballast application, especially where PCB board space is limited. The 369 series radial leaded fuses are rated at 300VAC as compared to existing competition in the market which are rated at 250VAC. In addition, it can either be directly soldered or used in conjunction with plug-in holder. And its Tape and Ammo-packaging are ideal for high volume production...Read More

CTCSS Codec with Voice Signal Circuit The AK2345 is an IC which supports CTCSS (Continuous Tone Controlled Squelch System), compatible with TIA/EIA-603 standard. A single CTCSS may be selected from among 50 different frequencies within a range of from 67 to 254.1 Hz. By sending that CTCSS simultaneously with the voice signal during transmission , and by setting the audio circuit so that it operates only when a CTCSS of that frequency is detected, it is possible to have multiple communication on the same radio frequency...Read More

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FEATURED PRODUCTS Microstepping DMOS Driver with Translator The A3979 is a complete microstepping motor driver with built-in translator, designed as a pin-compatible replacement for the successful A3977, with enhanced microstepping (1/16 step) precision. It is designed to operate bipolar stepper motors in full-, half-, quarter-, and sixteenth-step modes, with an output drive capacity of up to 35 V and ±2.5 A. The A3979 includes a fixed off-time current regulator that has the ability to operate in Slow, Fast, or Mixed decay modes. This current-decay control scheme results in reduced audible motor noise, increased step accuracy, and reduced power dissipation...Read More

3A 1ch Buck Converter Output 3.0A and below High Efficiency Rate Step-down Switching Regulator Power MOSFET Internal Type BD9876EFJ mainly used as secondary side Power supply, for example from fixed Power supply of 12V, 24V etc, Step-down Output of 1.2V/1.8V/3.3V/5V, etc, can be produced. This IC has external Coil/Capacitor downsizing through 300kHz Frequency operation, inside Nch-FET SW for 45V “withstandpressure” commutation and also, high speed load response through Current Mode Control is a simple external setting phase compensation system, through a wide range external constant, a compact...Read more

Low-Power Mobile Stereo Codec CS42L73 is a highly integrated, low-power smart audio codec that serves as a mobile audio distribution network incorporating two stereo digital/analog converters (DACs) and a stereo ADC with ground centered headphone, line and speaker amplifiers for smartphone and portable applications. Three asynchronous bidirectional serial ports with integrated asynchronous sample rate converters (ASRCs) that accept a wide range of incoming audio sample rates can be used to feed the integrated digital mixing engine, which is the heart of the CS42L73...Read More

Compact DC Panel Mount Voltmeter Murata announced the compact DMR20-10-DCM “nanoMeter” self-powered autoranging DC voltmeter designed for mounting in an industry-standard “oiltight” 30 and 30.5 mm / 1.2 inch round panel cutout. Occupying minimal space, the round voltmeter has a 7.6mm / 0.3 inch four-digit LED display and is self-powered. The connection to the +6 to +75 VDC supply to be monitored is all that is required for full operation. There is no additional components or separate power supply is required for the DMR20, making it extremely easy to add into virtually any equipment using a DC supply or batteries...Read More

Power-Efficient Cortex-A9 Processor Cortex-A9 is available as either synthesizable or hard-macro implementations. ARM Physical IP is available to support a synthesizable flow optimized for lowest power or highest performance, as well as a choice of hard-macros reducing risk and shortening time-to-market to a minimum. Enhanced ARM Graphics IP like Mali-624 as well as ARM System IP such as CoreLink NIC-400/301 network interconnect and CoreLink DMC-342 dynamic memory controller allow a rapid system design...Read More

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Extremely Rugged LDMOS RF Transistor The BLF188XR is capable of providing an outstanding 1600 W of peak output power and can operate as high as 60 V, and still pass extreme ruggedness testing. Other key features include stronger integrated ESD protection allowing the BLF188XR to be used in a Class C mode of operation, and several enhancements that make the XR device easy to design in and tune in multiple applications. Another interesting feature of the BLF188XR is its excellent linearity, making it a very interesting candidate for high-power linear applications...Read More

High-Speed USB Peripheral Controller The R8A66593 is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Peripheral Controller that is compliant with USB Specification Revision 2.0 for Hi-Speed and Full-Speed transfer. This controller has a built-in USB transceiver and is compatible with all the transfer types defined in USB Specification Revision 2.0. The internal buffer memory is 8.5K, and a maximum ten pipes can be used for transferring data. For Pipe1 to Pipe9, any endpoint address can be assigned matching user system. Separate bus or multiplex bus can be selected for the CPU connection...Read More

125MBd SFP Pluggable LC Transceiver Introducing HFBR-57E5APZT, Avago Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Multimode Small Form-Factor Pluggable Transceivers with LC connector and DMI for ATM, FDDI, Fast Ethernet and SONET OC-3/SDH STM-1. The device is a Small Form-Factor Pluggable LC transceiver that gives the system designer a product to implement FDDI/Fast Ethernet network with DMI and SONET OC-3 (SDH STM-1) physical layers for ATM and other services. The transmitter contains a 1310 nm InGaAsP LED. The LED is packaged in the optical subassembly of the transmitter...Read More

Digitally Controlled Variable Gain Amps The LMH6521 device contains two high performance, digitally controlled variable gain amplifiers (DVGA). Both channels of LMH6521 have an independent, digitally controlled attenuator followed by a high linearity, differential output amplifier. Each block has been optimized for low distortion and maximum system design flexibility. Each channel has a high speed power down mode. The internal digitally controlled attenuator provides precise 0.5dB gain steps over a 31.5dB range...Read More

Headphone Amplifier with External Gain The MAX9820 Windows Vista-compliant stereo headphone amplifier is designed for portable equipment where board space is at a premium. It features Maximâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DirectDrive architecture to produce a ground-referenced output from a single supply, eliminating the large output-coupling capacitors required by conventional singlesupply headphone amplifiers. The MAX9820 features an undervoltage lockout that prevents over discharging of the battery during brownout conditions...Read More

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FEATURED PRODUCTS MCU for Motor Control Applications Zilog’s Z16FMC Series of products is optimized for motor control applications. The Z16FMC is a 16-bit microcontroller with a ZNEO CPU and is the most powerful member of Zilog’s Motor Control Family of MCUs. Zilog’s Z16FMC Series is powered by the ZNEO CPU, which meets the continuing demand for faster and more code-efficient microcontrollers. The ZNEO CPU simultaneously accesses 16 bits of internal Flash memory to improve the processor throughput. A sector protection scheme allows flexible protection of user code...Read More

Super-High-Speed A to D Converter The Fujitsu super-high-speed CMOS ADC provides the enabling technology for upcoming telecommunication applications such as 100G Ethernet and OTU-4 transport systems using coherent receivers. The ADC uses Fujitsu’s revolutionary CHArge-mode Interleaved Sampler technology (CHAIS), which allows the implementation of extremely fast, high-resolution ADCs in CMOS process technology. Major benefits of the CHAIS ADC are low power consumption and the capability of integrating tens of millions of gates onto the same die...Read More

Low Voltage ORing FET Controller ISL6146 represents a family of OR-ing MOSFET controllers capable of OR-ing voltages from 1V to 18V. Together with suitably sized N-channel power MOSFETs, ISL6146 increases power distribution efficiency when replacing a power OR-ing diode in high current applications. It provides gate drive voltage for the MOSFET with a fully integrated charge pump. ISL6146 allows users to adjust with external resistor the VOUT– VIN trip point which adjusts the control sensitivity to system power supply noise. An open drain FAULT pin will indicate if a conditional or FET fault occurred...Read More

High Performance Off-Line Switcher TNY256 extends the power range of the TinySwitch family of energy efficient, low power off-line switchers. TinySwitch devices use a breakthrough design to provide the lowest cost, high efficiency, off-line switching solution for low power applications. They integrate a 700 V power MOSFET, oscillator, high voltage switched current source, current limit and thermal shutdown circuitry into a single, monolithic device. The devices start-up and operate on power derived from the drain voltage, eliminating the need for a transformer bias winding and associated circuitry...Read More

Timing Chipset for BTS Radio Cards The IDT 8V19N4xx chipset is a flexible JESD204B-compliant radio frequency phaselocked loop (RF PLL) and clock synthesizer, designed to meet both the high frequency and low phase noise requirements for 2G, 3G and 4G LTE wireless infrastructure. Leveraging IDT’s proven FemtoClock NG technology, the low phase noise characteristics enable the system’s analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters (ADCs / DACs) to function with high precision and very low distortion levels. This results in improved signal integrity on transmission and enhanced signal sensitivity on reception, increasing data throughput via lower bit error rates (BER)...Read More

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Op Amp Design Concerns

for Sa

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TECH ARTICLE

atellite Systems By Kiran Bernard and Joshua Broline, Intersil Tech Ever since the advent of integrated circuits, operational amplifiers have been an integral part of many system level designs. In the satellite systems industry, a given system can include hundreds of these op-amp circuits. So it is in the interest of the designer to find an op-amp that can encompass all applications in order to maintain cost effectiveness.

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Figure 1: Bandwidth vs. Supply for the ISL70444SEH (Gain=3)

Figure 2: Bandwidth vs. Supply for Competitor 1 (Gain=3)

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esigning for satellite systems proves to be difficult because of the especially harsh environment they operate within. These environments are characterized by extreme cyclical temperature fluctuations and exposure to solar wind, energized particles that are otherwise shielded by the earth’s magnetic field on the ground. Sources of error for satellite systems include the traditional problems such as restrictive input or output voltage limits and maximum slew rates that are too low. There are also the challenges of bandwidth that often is too low. And there are the application specific challenges from space environments likes slow Single Event Transient (SET) response and susceptibility to parameter shifts during Total Ionizing Dose (TID) exposure. Before a designer can even think of what is required to design for space, it’s important to consider the traditional challenges of op amps. Rail-to-rail operation on operational amplifiers play an important role in signal chain processing as it affects the maximum voltage swing that the system is bounded to work in. It plays an even bigger role when supply voltages get lower as the maximum input and output limits become a larger percentage of the supply, thus proving to be more restrictive. Operational amplifiers that are rail-to-rail can provide greater flexibility and the ability to maximize the dynamic range of the upstream and downstream devices. For example, rail to rail operation on the input allows for current sense applications that are either high side or low side, whereas the rail-torail output provides a more optimal signal-tonoise ratio as the saturation limits of the device are closer to the rails. As an example, let’s refer to the ISL70444SEH. It is one of Intersil’s rail-to-rail operational amps designed on the PR40 process. It can achieve 85mV of the rail with a ±2.5V supply.

TECH ARTICLE Also important is bandwidth. An op amp’s bandwidth is key because it determines the maximum frequency that the device can handle before the gain starts rolling off. As the gain increases, the bandwidth decreases, so as most applications tend to use op amps in a gained configuration, having a large unity gain bandwidth is beneficial. This allows the op amp to gain up small signal voltages at much higher frequencies without much effort. In Figure 1 and Figure 2 we have a comparison between the ISL70444SEH and similar device from Competitor 1 where we vary the supply voltage and see how steady the bandwidth is. However having a high small signal bandwidth is not always enough. If the application requires the need to track large signal voltages, that is where op amps traditionally run into their power bandwidth limits. Most modern op amps have a high open loop gain which is traced back to the high transconductance of the first input stage. In this sense, a small differential voltage is enough to send the input stage into saturation thereby producing a fairly constant output current beyond a certain differential voltage. The difference in the inputs of the op amp throws the feedback loop out of balance and thus the output moves to correct the error, but as the input stage is saturated the output voltage changes at a linear rate; this is the op amp’s maximum native slew rate. Slew rates that are too low can result in nonlinear effects in operational amplifiers, so in order to reduce the error when tracking fast and large signals, it’s important to stay under the power bandwidth of the amplifier. The only way to get around this hurdle is to add supporting circuitry to the input that can provide additional current past the saturated output current of the input stage. The term for such circuitry is called slew enhancement. The addition of the slew enhancement increases the power bandwidth significantly and allows for a much broader range of applications. Here, in Figure 1, we have a comparison between the ISL70444SEH and Competitor 1. Competitor 1’s part has slew enhancement circuitry but it is well past its power bandwidth and hence cannot keep up with the 1MHz input. When it comes to designing parts for space environments, it’s critical to design the device for predictable post-radiation performance,

Figure 3: Slew rate enhancement of ISL70444SEH vs. Slew Rate Enhanced Competitor 1. Input signal is in green (2Vpp @ 1MHz), ISL70444SEH Output is in Yellow, Competitor 1 is in Pink. Time Scale: 500ns/div.

Figure 4: ISL70444SEH offset voltage shift as a function of high dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) irradiation compared to Competitor 2 and 3.

Figure 5: ISL70444SEH IBIAS current shift as a function of high dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) irradiation compared to Competitor 2 and 3. Visit: eeweb.com

PULSE resulting in greatly improved radiation hardness. However, of course, there are tradeoffs. Designing a radiation-hardened device from the ground up takes time and money. As the need to get the product out the door as soon as possible is strong, some system level designers will up-screen commercial devices and use them in their satellite designs. This approach has definite time-to-market and cost benefits, but usually results in a part that has to be compensated on a system level over its lifetime. A device specifically designed to handle radiation will generally be a lot easier to design into a system. Figure 6: ISL70444SEH IOS current shift as a function of high dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) irradiation compared to Competitor 2 and 3.

The first step to building a robust part radiation environments starts on the process level. Metaphorically speaking, one has to make sure the foundation is sound and stable before building on it. One solution to the challenge is Intersilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proprietary PR40 process, in which ICs are fabricated using Bonded SiliconOn-Insulator (BSOI) substrates. The process features deep trench isolation that provide devices with lower parasitics that exhibit very predictable performance characteristics and immunity to Single Event Latch-up (SEL).

Two Aspects of Radiation

Figure 7: ISL70444SEH ISUPPLY as a function of high dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) irradiation compared to Competitor 2 and 3.

Figure 8: ISL70444SEH open loop gain as a function of high dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) irradiation compared to Competitor 2 and 3.

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There are two important aspects of radiation that designers and system developers need to be aware of as they proceed. They are Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and Single Event Effects (SEE). Both of these are challenges are faced in space applications, so it is important to understand both of them in order to design around them. TID is essentially generated from trapped protons, electrons and secondary Bremsstrahlung photons, which produce electromagnetic radiation when a charged particle is deflected by another. In bipolar devices, the damage due to radiation affects mainly the emitter-base depletion region and the neutral base. The charged particles generate electron-hole pairs in the oxide layer, and since electrons have a higher mobility compared to holes, a fraction of the holes are trapped at the Si/SiO2 interface, thereby inducing surface potential. This trapped charge near the Si/SiO2 interface causes an increase in surface recombination velocity which thereby results in increased base currents due to the decreased minority carrier lifetime near the oxide interface. External to the device, what we notice is a drop in beta, due to the increase in base current.

TECH ARTICLE Single Event Effects (SEE) are also considered a form of ionizing radiation however the difference is TID is total accumulated trapped charge over time and therefore a long-term failure mechanism, whereas SEE is trapped charge at an moment in time, which is a instantaneous failure mechanism. With respect to op amps, Single Event Burnout (SEB), Single Event Latch-up (SEL) and Single Event Transients (SET) are the most critical phenomena to consider. SEB is a destructive failure due to a high current state caused by an ion strike. SEL is a non-destructive failure where there is latch-up induced by an ion strike which can be reset with a power cycle. SETs are transients induced by ion strikes that affect the output signal of the op amp. Let’s look at TID first and compare the performance of a device fabricated on Intersil’s PR40 SOI process and with other equivalent up-screened devices. The example device from PR40 will be the ISL70444SEH. In the following figures, we have the shift of various key parameters across TID. The ISL70444SEH is in red, while Competitor 3 is in green and Competitor 2 is in blue. Data from Competitor 3 was only up to 100krad, while Competitor 2 was up to 200krad, the ISL70444SEH is a 300krad (High Dose Rate: 50-300rad/s) part, but data was taken up to 450krad.

Figure 9: Single Event Transient duration histograms. Vs = ±15V, Gain = 10.

From Figure 1 through Figure 5, it can be noted that the ISL70444SEH, a PR40 op amp, has excellent TID tolerance compared to Competitors 2 and 3; there is minimal parametric shift to total dose levels as high as 450krad(Si). Looking at SEB and SEL, the part was able to withstand ±21V without any indication of burnout or latch-up at an LET of 86.4 MeV•cm2/ mg while the recovery from SETs are all within 5µs at an LET of 86.4 MeV•cm2/mg.

Figure 10: Single Event Transient duration histograms. Vs = ±1.35V, Gain = 10.

Board level designer working with products for space environments have to traditional challenges of operational amplifiers such as restrictive input or output voltage limits, maximum slew rates that are too low, and the specific challenges, including Single Event Transient (SET) response and susceptibility to parameter shifts. The best solution: use devices that are built on a solid process that is designed to handle the harsh conditions of space. ■ Figure 11: SET Cross Section vs. LET

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PULSE The variety of forms, shapes, and sizes of robots worldwide today is staggering yet exciting. So, it comes as no surprise that the term “robot” has more definitions than one can possibly count, especially thanks to modern advances in technology. What then follows is a surprising amount of discussion over what qualities a robot—what essentially is labeled a physical embodiment of an intelligent system—are most important for a robot to have. Should it be autonomous? Portable? Must it be able to interact meaningfully with humans? While debates will continue on the importance of these skills when designing robotic systems, one thing seems overlooked: The analysis of what constitutes an intelligent system and what components, above all, require improvement.

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TECH ARTICLE

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rom large robots manufactured to perform tasks too perilous for a human counterpart to complete to smaller intelligent systems embedded into our physical mobile devices, one simply cannot avoid encountering one in a given day. Furthermore, the expansion of literature on robotics allows enthusiasts and hobbyists alike to follow trends in robotic development around the world, and provides the foundational knowledge and easy-tofollow instructions that allow readers to create such general-purpose robots, albeit on a smaller scale, for their own use. These ever-evolving intelligent agents – whether or not physically embodied – are fascinating to understand in the context of many fields of study and in a wide variety of functions. The unfortunate reality is that, despite the impressive advancements in modern robotics, there is still much progress to be made in this field. Though limitations in artificial intelligence are a major cause of this struggle to advance autonomy, hardware and mechanical components play equally vital roles. The field of robotics, by its very nature, relies heavily on hardware to allow a robot to gather information about its constantly-changing environment. However, the sensors required for advanced communication and interaction

“ No matter how advanced a robot may be in terms of its physical components, it is only as clever as the software built into it to make sense of the data it receives.”

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with humans simply does not necessarily exist yet to a reliable enough point that it can be deployed onto a mobile agent. For example, cost is one limitation of this. Though the quality of sensors, like microphones and cameras, continue to improve with newer advances in technology, these sensors may not be ideal for implementation on a robot. They may not be suited for the environmental conditions that a certain robot would be placed in – think search-and-rescue situations, underwater deployment, and other atypical uses of robots. The trade-off of sensor placement versus risk of collision is another consideration that makes installation of more modern hardware sensors more difficult than one may imagine, especially without sufficient experience to know of this obstacle. This is, of course, not to say that advancements in artificial intelligence are not a major metric in determining the robustness of a robot. No matter how advanced a robot may be in terms of its physical components, it is only as clever as the software built into it to make sense of the data it receives. A sophisticated camera may be able to determine that a person is holding a baseball bat, but whether a person is using it to hit a baseball or to hit a piece of equipment may not be clear to the software. And, with ever-changing environments, making sense of the individual people and objects in an image is difficult enough, let alone deciphering how said objects are interacting with one another and what their relations may be. To make this effort more challenging, some of the most impressive, modernized robots can perform amazing tasks yet are limited by their mechanical necessities. For example, Boston Dynamics created the PETMAN robot to simulate how a soldier stresses protective apparel under conditions conducive to the conditions to which he or she is subjected. As a result, it can squat, bend, balance, and perform various calisthenics like that of a human. However, despite these impressive feats, PETMAN’s actuators rely on industrial-

TECH ARTICLE

strength pumps and gasoline engines – thus making it impractical for deployment for mobile use. Furthermore, Willow Garage’s PR2 robot is designed for personal use and has a sophisticated range of movements at its disposal. However, it cannot move at speeds needed for it to be practical in many situations; it can fold your napkin or fetch you water, but it may take longer than you would be willing to wait. Freedom from constraints of space and latency continue to be ongoing efforts in the world of robotics in order to allow greater portability and utility of intelligent agents. But, what more engineers are discovering as advances in processing power continue to occur (true to Moore’s Law) is that actuators and motors have to play catch-up to their computer-based counterparts. However, the laws of motion are not the same as the laws of information; we cannot extrapolate downsizing in information to downsizing in the scalability of physics. Creating smaller processors can solve the problem of desire to relay the same amount of information in an increasingly smaller space, but a robot arm that’s half the size of another arm cannot carry the same amount of force. Mechanics aside, though, it is evident that enough challenges in complexity of hardware and software have become major determinants in whether or not robotics can advance as a field. In fact, parallels between our own human brain and the limitations of our body are fascinating extensions of this line of thinking – and are a great analogy to understanding this context of robotics and its challenges. Interestingly, when people hear the term “robot”, many go so far as to assume that the robot has a certain degree of autonomy, expressiveness, and attentiveness to the people who interact with it – and, as a result, expectations for how these intelligent agents can behave and what tasks they can perform have increased. Hollywood science-fiction

Willow Garage’s PR2 Robot films have unquestionably caused some of this increase in expectation among consumers, but scientists know that significant progress in portability, autonomy, intelligence, safety, speed, and utility remains yet to be achieved. Though films may inspire the design of robots and their advancements, robotics may have some time before it can catch up to modern expectations of what is expected of them. That is, if modern expectations don’t take off before this can happen. However, if more than just artificial intelligence is considered – including hardware and mechanical components – in design, this reality may arrive sooner than expected. ■

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Mouser: Helping Engineers

Move Forwar

Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics

ouser Electronics is a leading global distributor of semiconductor and electronic components. The company's humble beginnings as a physical component catalog are a distant memory as the company has grown exponentially to its massive warehouse in Mansfield, Texas that houses its 504,000+ components. Back in 2000, Mouser was acquired by TTI, one of the world's largest distributors of IP&E products, and significantly helped grow their customer base. The company's CEO, Glenn Smith, has been with the company for over 40 years. In that time, he's done just about every job there isâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;everything from purchasing to technical support, IT to marketing, logistics to serving as Chief Executive Officer. In those 40 years, Smith has seen a significant amount of changes in both the industry and the company. We spoke with Smith about the ways in which the company has evolved, the impact the Internet has had on the industry, and how Mouser focuses on the most important part of the business: the customer.

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INTERVIEW

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“ We want to be everywhere the customer needs our help. If we’re not helping the customer, then we’re not doing our job.” What was the company like when you started and how has it changed over the years? It’s really been a progression of changes over the years—it’s almost like not being at the same company. When I started working at Mouser, there were only 12 employees compared to the 1,200 employees we have today. Our business also has drastically changed as we worked to understand our customers better and realized the needs of design engineers. We have just focused our business more on meeting those needs.

The headquarters used to be in a different location, didn’t they? Yes. The company was started in San Diego, and we moved the headquarters to Texas in 1985. There were quite a few reasons for moving. At the time, as you can imagine, back in 1985, some of the logistics weren’t quite as good as they are today. Being in San Diego, we were being very centric to Southern California, in terms of our customer reach, and we felt that being in the center of the country would expand that customer base. As far as the transition, we moved our entire headquarters here, which consisted of 12 people, and as the general manager at the time, I had the role of convincing these 12 people that Texas was just as good as San Diego. You can imagine the difficulty of selling that given how great the weather is in San Diego. It was challenging, but we made it work. At the time, Mansfield was just a town of around 7,000 people, and now it’s a town of 75,000.

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How did the TTI acquisition come about? We were acquired in 2000 by TTI, which really helped solidify us and helped us build a better strategy and let us focus more on design engineers. TTI, being the world’s largest distributor of IP&E products, helped us focus our attention on the design engineer and not become distracted by other areas. It also allowed us to understand the importance of introducing new products to the customer. That was something we felt was a role we could fill, and I think we’ve done pretty well doing that. When we were acquired by TTI, it was clear that there were “best practices” that we could adopt, and we’ve done that. We also developed a strategy that wasn’t necessarily the same as TTI’s and in fact, as different as it was, it worked out better for us. I think we were pretty successful. If we weren’t part of TTI, I don’t think we would have had that focus on having a different strategy. Being able to be a part of Berkshire Hathaway has also made it clear that we’re not going to be challenged with having to figure out who runs the overall financial strategy—we understand our role.

How has the Internet changed the way Mouser conducts business? The Internet has had a big effect on almost everybody. In our case, we started the company as a catalog and sent out newsletters to school teachers, which is how the business started. We were providing ideas for projects in the classroom, and then we went to a catalog. The Internet has made the

INTERVIEW catalog irrelevant to some customers, but on the other hand, we have just as many who still want a physical catalog. It’s essentially given us a different channel to reach customers, and we’ve had to learn new skills and do some things that nobody else was doing to drive the business and reach the customer. It’s made it easier for the customer and made things more transparent, but it hasn’t changed our philosophy of the business.

It’s probably helped you reach an international customer base, right? That’s true. It certainly makes it easier to do international commerce, given that it’s the World Wide Web. It’s made it a little more challenging to our suppliers that still have very regional thinking. The web has just opened the availability of inventory to every customer in the world. In our case, we still have to have people — it’s not just a web-based business. We’ve got 20 locations where we have people doing technical support and customer service. There are plenty of customers that have questions that can’t be answered on the web and need personal attention. Then again, there are plenty of customers that are self-sufficient — you’ve got both — and the web has made it easier to serve those who want that do-it-yourself shopping experience.

You mentioned that you have offices across the globe. Could you talk about Mouser’s global presence? Our locations are everywhere from Singapore to Stockholm. We want to be everywhere where the customer needs our help. If we’re not helping the customer, then we’re not doing our job. We get more and more customers asking for us to be close by so we can support them in their language, so we try and respond to that.

In places like China or other large growing markets, are you able to completely service them through the warehouse in Texas, or do you need a warehouse somewhere in Asia? We haven’t needed to have a warehouse in Asia. Part of the challenge is that we stock a very large amount of parts. When you walk into our warehouse, there is an update sign that shows how many parts we have in stock. The last time I was there it was 504,000 different

part numbers. I think the problem would be - how could we have 504,000 different part numbers in stock in China and every other place in the world? If we are supporting a few customers or some big customers on logistics, we could have a warehouse there, but if you’re trying to support an engineer globally with a brand new product that was recently launched, could you have it everywhere and efficiently get it out? I don’t know, but right now, this seems to be the most efficient model. We can get it anywhere in the world in two to three days max.

What are some of the steps you took to make Mouser the trusted name that it is? We feel like we are there to support the design engineer and his or her prototype as they move on through the design process. We’re not supporting them if we are not reliable, if we don’t have the right processes in place, and the right products on the shelf.

“When you walk into our warehouse, there is an update sign that shows how many parts we have in stock. The last time I was there it was 504,000 different part numbers.” We certainly started with ISO9000, but now we’re aerospace-certified, and we have all the processes that make sure that the product the customer receives is the right quality. We spend a lot of time working on what the lifecycle of a product is—we don’t want an engineer to design in an obsolete part. We want to be the first to tell the engineers that this part is not recommended for this particular design. I think by doing that and focusing on making sure that it’s a good design and whether we can support it all the way through, then that makes you the trusted distributor. Visit: eeweb.com

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“ We currently have seven times the amount of customers we did than in 2001.”

circuit available to our suppliers, we have the customer base there—we have the engineers; we have people that have gone out of their way to subscribe and ask us to send them releases of our supplier’s products based on what they’re interested in. If they’re a wireless engineer, then they tell us that they want to know about new technologies in wireless. That’s something that suppliers can’t really do themselves—they just aren’t exposed enough to everything else on the board.

What can we expect to see from Mouser over the next few years? It seems that during the recent economic recession, Mouser had record growth in sales. How were you able to achieve that given the tough economic climate? Our growth has really come from just about every area. We found that even in the big downturn of the tech bubble back in 2001 that our sales were stunted a bit, but we didn’t see a giant downturn. This time, we’ve seen the same sort of thing. One of things we looked at was new customers. We were finding more new customers than ever before back in 2001, and now the number is seven times that. I think that if you have the right product and you have what engineers need, you’re in a good position. There’s never a recession when it comes to design—there’s a recession in production. Engineers are always trying to move forward. Some of them might not have the money to move forward, but they’re still thinking, and there are still customers out there.

Could you talk about the role Mouser plays in enabling suppliers to reach your customer base? Suppliers often have good products, and sometimes our challenge is identifying who the right customers are for the product. If you are a connector manufacturer, for example, you may not know who is designing a new wireless device because they are not working on a connector right now; they are working on the other parts of the circuit board. We can see ahead of where the supplier would by looking at what the customer activity is. When it comes time to get more parts of the

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I think the electronics business has recently become not much more than adding components and new capabilities on top of a new platform. I think our business is very similar—we’re going to keep adding things and doing things that customers have asked for, trying to make it easier for them to design their products. I think anything that would help the engineer do that, you’re going to see us continuing to move towards with that in the future. It’s not so much a revolution of what we’re doing, but we’re going to keep evolving towards helping that engineer on the circuit board.

What is it like to work at Mouser? I would describe Mouser as a collaborative company. We have a lot of people with a lot of different backgrounds and nationalities that really are working together to achieve the same thing. You never hear anyone at Mouser say that it isn’t their job, or that they can’t help with something. We have people that go out of their way to help each other do their jobs. We don’t have those kinds of silos that other companies have, which helps us get things done more quickly. It’s been a win-win situation. ■

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Get the Datasheet and Order Samples http://www.intersil.com

Radiation Hardened Ultra Low Noise, Precision Voltage Reference ISL71090SEH12

Features

The ISL71090SEH12 is an ultra low noise, high DC accuracy precision voltage reference with a wide input voltage range from 4V to 30V. The ISL71090SEH12 uses the Intersil Advanced Bipolar technology to achieve sub 2µVP-P noise at 0.1Hz with an accuracy over temperature and radiation of 0.15%.

• Reference output voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25V ±0.05% • Accuracy over temperature and radiation . . . . . . . . . .±0.15% • Output voltage noise . . . . . . . . . . 1µVP-P Typ (0.1Hz to 10Hz) • Supply current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930µA (Typ) • Tempco (box method) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10ppm/°C Max

The ISL71090SEH12 offers a 1.25V output voltage with 10ppm/°C temperature coefficient and also provides excellent line and load regulation. The device is offered in an 8 Ld Flatpack package.

• Output current capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20mA

The ISL71090SEH12 is ideal for high-end instrumentation, data acquisition and applications requiring high DC precision where low noise performance is critical.

• Operating temperature range. . . . . . . . . . . .-55°C to +125°C

Applications • RH voltage regulators precision outputs

• Line regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8ppm/V • Load regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35ppm/mA • Radiation environment - High dose rate (50-300rad(Si)/s) . . . . . . . . . . . 100krad(Si) - Low dose rate (0.01rad(Si)/s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100krad(Si)* - SET/SEL/SEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86MeV•cm2/mg *Product capability established by initial characterization. The “EH ” version is acceptance tested on a wafer by wafer basis to 50krad(Si) at low dose rate

• Precision voltage sources for data acquisition system for space applications • Strain and pressure gauge for space applications

• Electrically screened to SMD 5962-13211

Related Literature • AN1847, “ISL71090SEHXX Evaluation Board User ’s Guide ” • AN1863, “SEE Testing of the ISL71090SEH12 ” • AN1864, “Radiation Report of the ISL71090SEH12 ”

ISL71090SEH12

VIN 0.1µF

3 4

DNC

VIN

DNC

COMP

VOUT

GND

TRIM

8 7 6 5

VREF

1.2530

C REFIN VDD VEE

VDD

D12

VEE BIPOFF

NOTE: Select C to minimize settling time.

DACOUT

1.1k

UNIT1

1.2515

UNIT2

1.2510

UNIT4

1.2505 -40

-20

100

120

TEMPERATURE (°C)

HS-565BRH

FIGURE 1. ISL71090SEH12 TYPICAL APPLICATION DIAGRAM

August 8, 2013 FN8452.1

UNIT5

1.2520

1.2500 -60

GND

UNIT3

1.2525

1µF VOUT (V)

FIGURE 2. VOUT vs TEMPERATURE

Intersil (and design) is a trademark owned by Intersil Americas LLC. Copyright Intersil Americas LLC 2013. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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Episode 3:

32-Bit Microcontr Comparison 26

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