By Malcolm Fuller, Contributing Writer Ever felt self-conscious or felt like everyone was watching you as you struggle to parallel park? You back in, don’t quite get the turn right; pull out, try it again. And again. And again until you give up. Well, with new parking-assist technology emerging, you may not ever feel those emotions again when parking. And

By Brian Fuller SANTA CLARA, Calif.–A quick history lesson from the heart of the Silicon Valley. We all remember the emergence of low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) in the mid 1990s. The idea was to be able to move digital signals very high speeds to enable higher resolution monitors and better user interface experience with computing, among other things. Two years

MESA, Ariz.–When you were a kid (if you're of a certain age), you might have found yourself under a shade tree on summer days, bent into the engine compartment of a muscle car and watching a sage expert wrench down new and improved parts of his engine. That's how you were inspired; that's how you learned. More design resources Jim

(Odometer: 8,905 miles) COLLEGE PARK, MD.–Fuel cells are remarkably efficient ways to store and discharge energy, but the word "hydrogen" tends to freak people out, and the hydrogen filling infrastructure just doesn't exist right now. These PEM (proton exchange membrane) cells are currently on the shelf, as it were, as research and development has shifted toward batteries of all kinds, particularly

WILMINGTON, Mass.–What’s real and what’s not? That’s a fundamental question in design engineering, especially when you’re trying to translate the analog world into the digital. More design resources Take a gyroscope, which has myriad uses but comes up big in safety applications. A gyroscope is supposed to sense rotation, but if it’s taking in data that’s skewed by unwanted acceleration

General Motors announced this year it will develop electric cars in China. That's all well and good and strategically smart, but it comes at a price: GM has to transfer technology to the venture. The Chevrolet Volt is not a part of the deal. According to the New York Times: "As part of the agreement to expand (the Shanghai-based Pan

Success only succeeds in large companies if the entire organization buys into the mission. So I'm concerned that the astonishing engineering effort that produced the Chevrolet Volt will end up fizzling out because GM's CEO, Daniel Akerson, hasn't bought into the mission. Reuters reporter Larry Ingrassia, a longtime Wall Street Journal automotive industry observer, interviewed Akerson on camera, primarily to

By Henry Muyshondt, SMSC, for EE Times, Design 7/22/2008 As cars designers strive to present drivers and passengers information and entertainment systems that fully integrate consumers' digital lifestyle, it becomes more important to use a multimedia networking backbone. The network should not only combine the long lifecycle, reliability and tough environmental requirements of the automotive world, but it should also

By Hassane El-Khoury for EE Times, Design 11/1/09  Since it was introduced in the 1980s, the controller-area network (CAN) has evolved tremendously. Its extended capabilities have led to its wide adoption across applications, from automotive to industrial machine and factory automation. With this growth, complexity of implementation has also increased on two levels: • CAN controller design has gone from