http://www.analog-europe.com/en/design-center/full-design-center.html  Robert Keller, Systems and Applications Manager, High-Speed Data Converters, Texas Instruments, questions whether high-speed ADC clock jitter is being over-specified for communication systems. ]]>  LEDs continue to penetrate automotive lighting applications due to their long life and design flexibility. Unlike a traditional light bulb, which is basically a 'heater' and operates at high temperature, a LED requires a sophisticated driver circuit. Its design greatly impacts efficiency and other aspects.]]>  Luca Cacioli, Portable Audio Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments, examines how audio processing algorithms can help improve sound from small speakers in modern smartphones.]]>  Frank Thornton discusses the tools, applications, and security of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).]]>  Matt Romig, Analog Packaging Productization Manager, Texas Instruments examines what is ambient temperature and shows that when carefully defined, it can help to start the conversation on thermal design. ]]>  Automotive SoCs have traditionally been single core, since not much computational work or high end applications were targeted on them. Automotives were simpler, so were the applications and so were the SoCs. As more and more electronics made room in the automotives, the complexity of the SoCs kept on increasing. Now the focus is to have most of the automotive under electronic control.]]>  Tamara Schmitz of Intersil Corp examines the implications of device choice when developing medical equipment such as patient monitors.]]>  Oscar Freitas of Fairchild Semiconductor's USB Products Group, Signal Path Division, focuses on some of the solutions that can be applied to the drawbacks of sharing a single USB port by comparing and contrasting different solutions ranging from a USB hub to a simple analog switch.]]>  Jason Seitz, Staff Applications Engineer, National Semiconductor Corp looks at three basic AFE topologies -- the non-inverting amplifier, the difference amplifier, and the instrumentation amplifier and examines their key attributes and tradeoffs, along with sources of error and non-linearity.]]>  Helmut Theiler, Herbert Lenhard, Horst Gether investigate whether worthwhile power savings are achievable through implementing a newer audio amplifier technology such as Class G or Class H. ]]>  The Filter Wizard, Kendall Castor-Perry, delves into more detail on several filter design and network theory issues by examining a filter topology using a doubly-terminated LC ladder filter.]]>  Tony Zarola, Healthcare Segment Manager, Analog Devices examines the processing techniques used to improve the medical image quality of portable ultrasound devices. ]]>  Dafydd Roche, Audio Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments explains how to get the best from your home audio system while maintaining low power and high-efficiency operation]]>  Eric Persson, Executive Director, Field Applications Engineering, International Rectifier, conyinues to look at some of the common questions relating to high-performance FETs and discusses how to apply them. ]]>  John Ardizzoni, Senior Applications Engineer, Analog Devices, looks at three different PIN-driver circuits that employ op amps or specialty amplifiers.]]>  Jian Wang and Tamara Schmitz, Intersil Corp. explain how to use a Spice op-amp macro-model to simulate current-feedback amplifiers.]]>  Hamed Sanogo, Applications Engineering Manager, Maxim Integrated Products takes a look at the new-generation of innovative hot-swapping solutions.]]>  Colm Slattery, System Applications Engineer of Analog Devices, Inc. outlines how quad 16-Bit voltage/current-output DACs are able to save space, cost, and power in multichannel PLCs.]]>  Fons Janssen, Maxim Integrated Products Inc., Bilthoven, the Netherlands explains how to extend the precision of a panel-meter's circuit range]]>  With shrinking IC geometries and increasing mixed signal content, there is a design bottleneck building in the analog arena. The solution requires a change in design methodology as Paul Double explains. ]]>  The Filter Wizard gets his kicks looking at ways to filter out the drone of the vuvuzela from World Cup broadcasts]]>  Dan Harmon, Consumer & Computing Interface Product Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments examines what is new and better with SuperSpeed USB protocols and power management versus USB 2.0 ]]>  Bill McCulley, Applications Engineer, National Semiconductor, reviews the function of DACs in a variety of applications. ]]>  Dan Sweet, Applications Engineer, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., continues his focus on the challenging nature of the signal, and what must be done to detect and decode it properly.]]>  Reza Moghimi, Applications Engineer, Analog Devices Inc, explains how to balance gain blocks and noise, and perform noise calculations for proper signal conditioning.]]>  Bill McCulley, Applications Engineer, National Semiconductor, outlines the design practices that make your DAC circuit as strong as possible.]]>  Bill McCulley, Applications Engineer, National Semiconductor, examines basic DAC operation, key definitions, together with common DAC topologies.]]>  The Filter Wizard focuses on cool things you can do with a spreadsheet that most circuit simulators cannot.]]>  Dan Sweet, Applications Engineer, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., focuses on the challenging nature of the signal, and what must be done to detect and decode it properly ]]>  There is a disconnect in analog IC design. A separation between system level and implementation level design activities has crept up on us. The analog world seems to have evolved into two realms: equations and spreadsheets on one side; netlists, polygons and Spice on the other. It is like a split between the right brain and the left, leaving us struggling to combine technology with art. ]]>  Thomas Kugelstadt, Texas Instruments, considers the need for signal and ground isolation, and why digital isolation may be the best choice]]>  Pierre Mars, Vice President Applications Engineering, CAP-XX (Australia) Pty Ltd, looks at how wireless sensor networks, combined with energy harvesting, can provide a powerful combination and how by understanding supercapacitors it is possible to help deliver the needed power]]>  Mike Speed, Segment Marketing Director, Fairchild Semiconductor Corp., examines how the class of application determines which MOSFET device parameters are priorities]]>  Ashish Nagar, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., describes a structured approach to adding on-board failure logging (OBFL) to facilitate reproduction of failure on field return boards.]]>  Yuval Hernik, Director Application Engineering, Vishay Intertechnology, examines the key parameters of this vital passive component and how they trade off against each other]]>  Stephen Breit, vice president of engineering, and Joost van Kuijk, vice president marketing and business development, Coventor, Inc., describe the traditional MEMS design flow, discuss requirements for a “structured” and automated design flow, and show an example flow that links a commercial MEMS 3D design environment with a custom IC design and simulation solution.]]>  Jim Davis and Triton Hurd, Cypress Semiconductor Corp. examine the issues and tradeoffs of liquid crystal display selection]]>  John Mossman, Maxim Integrated Products Inc., outlines a case study that looks at the interplay between design goals, up-to-date components, subsystem issues, and regulatory requirements. ]]>  Jim Gillberg, Director of Automotive Development, Fairchild Semiconductor Corp., focuses on the packaging options and tradeoffs available for power devices when used as mixed-signal subsystems ]]>  Pushek Madaan, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., outlines the attributes and tradeoffs of a popular switch-sensing approach]]>  Rasmus Christian Larsen, Training and Support Manager, Energy Micro explains that when designing products for battery-powered operation, it is clearly desirable that battery life should be as long as possible. For a rapidly-growing class of devices, extended operation from a single battery becomes more than just a desirable feature in the specification: it is central to the entire product concept. ]]>  Mohit Arora of Freescale Semiconductor explains that analog-to-digital converters (ADC) are advertised as having “n” bit resolution, which often is misunderstood to mean accuracy. ]]>  Earl Schreyer, Duane Sorlie, and Bill Boldt, Signal Conditioning Products, Fairchild Semiconductor Corp., describe how the input and output coupling and clamping topologies of filter products have evolved to meet new video application requirements ]]>  Manuel Mota, João Risques, Synopsys, explain how integrating analog video interface IP into SoCs can deliver improvements in image quality ]]>  Manuel Mota, João Risques, Synopsys, outline how integrating analog video interface IP into SoCs can deliver improvements in image quality ]]>  Part 2 of an excerpt from the book Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 4th edition, looks at acoustic and psychoacoustic principles applied to the clinical measurement of hearing ability, as well as procedures used in psychoacoustic testing. ]]>  Andrew Siska and Meng He, , Cypress Semiconductor Corp. compare two successful ADC architectures to see which is better and why]]>  Kendall Castor-Perry explains how to use a ladder analysis technique to simulate circuits in a spreadsheet]]>  Erik Maier explores a new class of analog switches in detail and highlights the different optimizations that can be realized in the hardware.]]>  Dr. Paul Darlington, Chief Acoustic Scientist, Phitek Systems Ltd., explains how valid power and energy data can be misinterpreted, intentionally or not, via this example using audio levels ]]>  Dave Ritter and Tamara Schmitz, Intersil Corp., consider the realization of an analog filter in digital domain, using an FPGA]]>  Richard Soden, Agilent Technologies describes an accelerator's particle-beam measurement and control challenge and outlines how engineers met it with leading-edge digitizing systems and associated techniques]]>  Rahul Parsani and Rohan Gandhi of Cypress Semiconductor describe how to build sensor networks using Powerline Communication ]]>  By John Guy, MTS Applications Engineer, National Semiconductor Corp, explains how to resolve the AC and DC drive needs of an eccentric rotating mass and linear resonant actuator circuit. ]]>  In the drive to shrink the profile of LCD TVs Yong Ang explains the merits of resonant power converters are attracting increased attention among TV power supply engineers because they help miniaturize the power transformers and filter capacitors by enabling very high frequency switching of power supply semiconductor devices. ]]>  Kendall Castor-Perry, Principal Architect, Cypress Semiconductor outlines a technique for using an Excel spreadsheet in conjunction with LTSpice ]]>