117,304 research outputs found
Design, testing and prototyping of a software programmable I2C/SPI IP on AMBA bus
No full textWhile power consumption and area occupation are always critical constrains in System-on-Chip design, at the same time high communication flexibility is required, due to proliferation of communication protocols. In this work a novel architecture for an I2C/SPI interface for APB AMBA bus is presented, showing how it is possible to merge flexibility and reduced area occupation. Large part of this work is centered on the testing and FPGA prototyping of this IP. CMOS synthesis results on 0.18 μm standard cell library are also presented
FPGA-based Low-cost Automatic Test Equipment for Digital Integrated Circuits
No full textDigital circuits complexity and density are increasing while, at the same time, more quality and reliability are required. These trends, together with high test costs, make the validation of VLSI circuits more and more difficult. Beside high-end ATE machines, strictly necessary in ASIC production phase, low-cost ATE test systems take place into market to implement a valid support in ASIC development phase. In this paper a case study of low-cost, reconfigurable, versatile and easy-to-use FPGA-based test environment is presented. It allows patterns to be extracted from HDL-simulation and stimuli to be generated to ASIC prototypes, especially when a high-end test machine setup isn't foreseen or isn't available yet. This is the ideal solution for engineers to develop test programs and perform device tests and yield analysis on their desktop and then transfer the test program directly to production. The result is low-cost automatic test equipment, able to execute a preliminary digital test, using just a Laptop and an FPGA-equipped board
FPGA-Based Advanced Digital Signal Inspector for Internal Signals of Pin-limited Systems-on-Package
No full textThe paper presents an Advanced Digital Signal Inspector (ADSI) used for acquisition and analysis of the internal digital of a System on Package (SoP) with a limited number of pins. The system is made of a commercial FPGA-board, connected to the module for data sampling and controlled by PC via USB; a suited graphical interface allows for configuration, multi trace real time data display and post processing. The proposed platform can be used to extract and monitor simultaneously up to 4 digital signals, and an ADC is used to monitor one additional analog signal. The ADSI has been successfully applied for the characterization of an automotive SoP based on a MEM gyro sensor interfaced to an ASIC for proper signal conditioning. The ADC was connected to an external accelerometer to evaluate the module behaviour when applying mechanical shocks
A Dynamic Clock Switch for Automotive System on Chip
No full textOne of the key-points in System on Chip (SoC) design is to have the proper clock oscillator. Currently the most used are RC and quartz oscillators. They feature different characteristics in terms of performance, power consumption and cost, both oscillators have their own advantages and drawbacks. Sometimes SoC design would benefit to have both solutions in order to best cope with all requirements. This calls for an integrated architecture to dynamically switch between the two clock signals. In this paper we present a new parametric architecture able to handle a generic number of clock signals allowing the dynamic switch from one clock to the other. The detailed structure is here shown and an accurate timing analysis is also presented to prove its robustness and the absence of glitch on output clock signal. FPGA and 0.35 μm CMOS implementations are presented for an automotive SoC design
Pin-limited frequency downscaler AHB bridge for ASIC to FPGA communication
No full textOutput connections to out-of-chip devices in modern mixed-signal ICs represent a significant design problem due to the limited number of available pins (in not Ball Grid Array package) and to the common need of a frequency reduction, especially into systems that require an external System on Programmable Chip (SoPC). In this paper, an ASIC solution based on bisynchronous FIFO structures for frequency conversion is presented. The proposed bridge involves a custom protocol for the conversion of the transmitted data in low frequency and low width bus. Moreover, it allows managing data transmission with two different priority levels. The module is AHB lite compliant with a number of pins equal to the width of the FIFOs (configurable during implementation phase) and two handshaking signals. Output clock frequency and internal FIFOs dimension are user-defined too
Pharmacolodynamic profile of isbufylline a new antibronchospastic xanthine devoid of central excitatory actions
No full text1,3-Dimethyl-7-isobutylxanthine (isbufylline, TE/06; CAS 90162-60-0) is a newly synthetized xanthine derivative. This compound exhibits remarkable antibronchospastic properties both in in vitro and in vivo (after oral or intravenous administration) experimental models. Isbufylline is significantly more effective than theophylline in antagonizing bronchospasms elicited by spasmogens (capsaicin, arachidonic acid, PAF and antigen) which mainly act by a local release of biologically active substances proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. Isbufylline, unlike theophylline, possesses little or no CNS excitatory properties. This reduced neuroexcitatory action is probably related to the poor affinity of isbufylline, as compared to theophylline, to A1 purinoceptor. Indeed, isbufylline is ineffective in antagonizing 2Cl-adenosine-induced EEG synchronization. In normotensive and hypertensive rats oral administration of isbufylline resulted in small and transient positive chronotropic and hypotensive response, markedly lower than those elicited by theophylline or enprofylline. Finally isbufylline exhibits phosphodiesterase inhibitory properties, although at concentration 50-100 times higher than those exerting spasmolytic effects in isolated bronchial tissues. As a whole the pharmacodynamic profile of isbufylline is promising and, in the clinical setting, this compound might exert enhanced antiasthma effects coupled to a low incidence of central and cardiovascular adverse effects
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
System study for a head-up display based on a flexible sensor interface
No full textThis work presents the system study for an innovative and miniaturized head-up display based on a flexible sensor interface for automotive applications. After a brief introduction, in the second section the basic structure of a head-up display is described. Finally, in the third section our specific design is presented
Square Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?
No full textIn this Presidential Address, the author takes the reader on a reconnaissance of his life and time as a regional scientist. He points out scenery he found scintillating along the way, hoping that some may pick up the banner and chew on a few of the ideas for a while. He suggests a revisit to Albert O. Hirschman’s notion of key sectors and more empirical analysis related to Marcus Berliant’s and Masahisa Fujita’s notion of knowledge creation and transfer.Presidential Address, San Antonio, Texas, March 29, 2014 (53rd Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association
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