[Promotion-technology] Fw: INSIDER Special Edition - Embedded Technology

Wed Jun 10 16:43:43 UTC 2009

Hello Colleagues:

     Since we have been discussing touch screens and Kindle, I thought the following newsletter would be of interest. See the second and third articles. The complete newsletter is appended.

Regards,

Robert

----- Original Message ----- 
From: NASA Tech Briefs 
To: rjaquiss at EARTHLINK.NET 
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 9:53 AM
Subject: INSIDER Special Edition - Embedded Technology

            Embedded Technology Newsletter . 06/10/09  

                  In this edition, sponsored by National Instruments and Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
                    a.. Innovation Could Simplify Lab-On-A-Chip Devices

                    b.. E-Reader Display Technology Could Rival Print Media

                    c.. New on the Market: Capacitive Touch Screens, Circuit Board Shields, Memory Kit, ECX Single Board Computer

--------------------------------------------------------------

                  LAB-ON-A-CHIP

                        Purdue graduate students Han-Sheng Chuang and Ahmed Amin use a microscope and other equipment to watch the performance of a prototype lab on a chip . (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock) 
                  Researchers at Purdue University have designed a lab on a chip capable of being programmed to perform a variety of jobs, taking an important step toward more widespread use of the miniature analytical tools used to measure everything from blood glucose to viruses, and bacteria to genes. Lab-on-a-chip technology currently is being used for various applications in medicine and research. The systems are used for measuring specific types of cells and molecules in a patient's blood, monitoring microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi in the environment and separating biological molecules for laboratory analyses. The chips, however, which are roughly palm-size or smaller, are difficult to design and manufacture.

                        Purdue researchers have designed and built this prototype lab on a chip capable of being programmed to perform a variety of jobs. (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock) 
                  "With conventional technology, you have to design the individual layout of the chip, fabricate it, test it and then redesign it when testing uncovers problems," said Steven T. Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue. "You are talking about a lot of time, effort and expense that could be dramatically reduced by having a multipurpose programmable chip." Purdue's research team has developed both the hardware and software to create a more versatile chip capable of being programmed for any number of tasks. 

                  The new chip is made out of a rubber-like polymer, called polydimethylsiloxane, instead of the rigid glass or silicon wafers often used. The flexible material is needed because pumps used to direct the flow of fluid operate with moving diaphragms. Most other chips have the polymer layer sandwiched between two glass layers. The Purdue-designed chip is able to mix, store, heat, and sense what the sample is made of, whereas previous programmable chips have been limited to mixing and storing samples. The programmable chips are likely to be commercially available within five years, said Ahmed Amin, a student in Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who developed the programming language and "architecture," or interface between the hardware and software. Purdue has applied for a provisional patent on the technology.

                  Click here for the full story.

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                  BOOT UP AND READ

                        The pixel structure is able to reveal or hide the pigments with high contrast and video speed. The reservoir (center circle) holds the pigment until it is ready to be displayed by application of voltage. (Gamma Dynamics LLC Photo) 
                  If you've been thinking about getting an e-reader but you're not sure you like reading a dim screen, an international collaboration of the University of Cincinnati, Sun Chemical, Polymer Vision, and Gamma Dynamics may be able to solve your problem. Their team of researchers has just announced Electrofluidic Display Technology (EFD), the first technology to electrically switch the appearance of pigments in a manner that provides visual brilliance equal to conventional printed media.

                  This new entry into the race for full-color electronic paper can potentially provide better than 85 percent "white-state reflectance," a performance level required for consumers to accept reflective display applications such as e- books, cell phones and signage.

                        Jason Heikenfeld watches doctoral student Linlin Hou work with the pigments. (Photo by Dottie Stover) 
                  According to developer Jason Heikenfeld, assistant professor of electrical engineering in the University of Cincinati's College of Engineering, "The ultimate reflective display would simply place the best colorants used by the printing industry directly beneath the front viewing substrate of a display. In our EFD pixels, we are able to hide or reveal colored pigment in a manner that is optically superior to the techniques used in electrowetting, electrophoretic and electrochromic displays." 

                  Because the optically active layer can be less than 15 microns thick, project partners at Polymer Vision see strong potential for rollable displays. The product offerings could be extremely diverse, including electronic windows and tunable color casings on portable electronics. 

                  Click here for the full story.  

                  PRODUCT BRIEFS
                          Ocular's (Dallas, TX) Crystal TouchT line of projected capacitive touch screens now include the industry's first large-size screens, bringing easy-to-use interfaces to next-generation netbooks, mobile Internet devices (MID) and other emerging types of devices. Unlike resistive touch screens, which feature a thin layer of flexible film that can be easily scratched by fingernails or clouded by chemicals in the environment, Ocular's all-glass Crystal Touch projected capacitive touch screens are extremely durable and offer crystal clear clarity. Until now, the largest projected capacitive touch screens were only available in small form factors, limiting the technology's application to a few smartphones and handheld media players. Crystal Touch screens are available in several standard TFT sizes, including 3.5-in., 4.3-in., 5.7-in., 7-in., 10.1-in., as well as customized sizes determined by application requirements.
                        Click here to learn more.  
                          One of the most effective ways to control board-level interference is to isolate the radiating component with a circuit board shield. A growing problem with modern microelectronics is the available height within the electronic enclosure to mount a shield. Leader Tech's (Tampa, FL) new Low Profile Slot-LokT circuit board shields offer the perfect solution for applications with stringent height requirements of less than .225-in. This demand-driven, 2-piece design offers all of the flexibility and benefits of the company's Slot-LokT product line with a very compact profile. The shields are manufactured from RoHS compliant materials and exhibit exceptional solder characteristics, corrosion resistance and shielding effectiveness. 
                        Click here to learn more.  
                          The 6GB Dominator GT 2000MHz CAS 8 from Corsair® (Fremont, CA) has passed Intel's XMP-Ready certification for Core i7 Extreme Edition processors, making it the fastest memory kit to gain Intel's stamp of approval. The 6GB Dominator GT 2000MHz CAS 8 (TR3X6G2000C8GTF) is qualified and guaranteed to run at a frequency of 2000MHz with tight timings of 8-8-8-24 at a voltage of 1.65V. The platform used for the Intel qualification was an Asus P6T Deluxe. All Corsair Dominator GT modules are built using the patent-pending DHX+ (Dual-path Heat eXchange) heatsink, which uniquely cools both the front and back of the memory ICs, and the printed circuit board. 
                        Click here to learn more.  
                          ITOX (East Brunswick, NJ) has announced a new ECX single board computer (SBC) ML936-B16 based on the low-power 1.6GHz Intel® AtomT processor Z530P and the Intel System Controller Hub (SCH) US15WP. The Embedded Compact Extended (ECX) form-factor is an Intel open standard with board dimensions of 105 mm x 146 mm (4.13" x 5.75"). Featuring Intel Hyper-Threading, Intel Virtualization and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technologies, the ML936-B16 is ideal for thermally constrained fanless embedded applications. The feature-rich ML936-B16 ECX SBC utilizes one 200-pin SODIMM socket for up to 1GB DDR2 400/533 MHz system memory, and includes one PCI Express Gigabit LAN controller, four USB 2.0 ports, two serial COM ports, one PS/2 port and one IDE Ultra ATA/100 interface, one Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 header, and 24-bit stereo audio. An integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500 within the Intel® SCH US15WP provides a DVI graphics port and an LVDS display interface supporting 18-bit and 24-bit panels. 
                        Click here to learn more.  

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