EEbeat

Test. When you read or hear that word, what do you think of or how does it make you feel? Do you remember your school days where you maybe sweated through a test, exam, or quiz? Yikes, those are also four letter words. Have you ever tested the water temperature of a swimming pool by dipping in your big toe? Perhaps you remember test driving a brand new car for the first time and the new car smell. Or maybe you think of getting the results of a medical test and all of its implications. The connotations attached to that one short word can be many.

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Since its introduction at AUTOTESTCON 2005, the LXI standard has enjoyed robust adoption among hardware and software vendors, researchers, and systems integrators. Using LAN and the Web, manufacturers and integrators can easily design local, remote, and time-aware systems that improve system performance and open new possibilities in test-system design. These organizations recognize that LXI is clearly the natural evolution of the test-and-measurement instrument interface because it makes it easier for test system designers and integrators to create faster, more efficient systems.

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Well, you may not think that suppliers come to EDS to hawk their wares, but they do. In fact, some very good products are held back in anticipation of the event, and here are a few I saw yesterday.

TT Electronics IRC recently enhanced its Anotherm substrate technology with Anotherm Plus, which uses a thermally efficient glass dielectric material capable of withstanding higher voltages. It has specific use for thermal management of power LEDs in applications such as gaming, vending machines, outdoor displays, and architectural lighting.

IRC co-opts its Anotherm technology for the WDBR Series dynamic braking resistor, a flameproof, high-temperature device that can replace larger wirewounds for applications such as load dumping in motor systems. Rated to 7 kW and up to 400 degrees C, the resistor can also be used for capacitor discharge applications in hybrid vehicles.

Offered in hockey puck SIP1 and SIP2 packages, Optek’s OSSR Series solid-state relays enable high-speed, high-frequency switching operation with a zero-crossing circuit that minimizes current and noise surge from resistive and inductive loads.

Originally used for ARINC 600 Ethernet in the sky applications, the 38999 circular connector from ITT was recently adapted with a Quadrax contact system to meet MIL-DTL-38999 Series III specs, allowing it to be used for Ethernet apps other than commercial avionics.

Multichannel Distributor Premier Farnell continues its leadership on environmentally friendliness with Live EDGE 2008, the second annual design contest that promotes the development–and production–of green designs. While the contest is open to everyone around the world, this year’s event is broken down into two categories: one that is open to all entries, and one just for students.

It makes sense. I think I’d be pretty intimidated if I were a third-year EE student who knew I might be going up against people who’ve been designing for the past 20 or more years. I think it’s a nice touch.

Another nice touch: employees at every one of Premier Farnell’s 180 global office locations are planting a tree in recognition of the event’s launch. Registration for this year’s event begins May 6, 2008, and entries can be submitted between Oct. 1, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2009. Winners will be announced April 2, 2009.

More information is available at http://www.live-edge.com or on the Live EDGE Design Challenge group on Facebook.

Of all the concerns facing the electronics industry–ie environmental issues, time-to-market and cost pressures, emerging global competition, energy and power consumption, et cetera–the one that keeps Arrow CEO William Mitchell awake at night is the shrinking talent pool. He confessed this during his recent keynote address to kick off this year’s EDS the other night at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

Mitchell, who addressed a room packed with distributors and suppliers alike, noted that large numbers of current EEs in North America and Europe will be eligible for retirement over the next couple of years. That coupled with the fact that the number of earned electronic engineering degrees continues to dwindle means there definitely is a potential for problems in this regard.

In China, Mitchell noted the big issue is not so much a dwindling workforce, but qualified leaders to the industry. One supplier executive I spoke with added to this thought, saying the degree some EEs are earning in places like China and other Asian countries is equivalent to only an associate’s degree here in the states. Mitchell also noted that EEs in China and India will demand more money in the near future, as more and more of the population becomes competitive with the rest of the world.