Kinsner: New Systems: 1999 October 11, vol. 1.04

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1999 New Systems

Week of 99 Oct. 11

REPOSITORY OF NEW SYSTEMS:
1999 OCTOBER 11; VOL. 1.04

Copper & SOI in the Next Generation of 64-bit Processors: IBM Corp. plans to produce a new 64-bit processor, called Power4, which will be made with copper interconnects and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. It will integrate two 1-GHz processors on a single chip and consist of 170 million transistors, fabricated with 0.18-micron technology, using seven layers of copper metal for interconnect. An advanced glass ceramic packaging technology is being developed for the processor. The processor chip will have three levels of cache and more than 100 gigabytes-per-second bandwidth speed to move data from second-level cache to the central processing units, 500 MHz to transfer data between chips, and 35 gigabytes per second bandwidth between Power4 devices.
Nortel Transmits 80 Gbits/s: Nortel Networks Inc. have transmitted 80 Gbits/s on single wavelength, using distributed Raman fiber amplification. This would indicate lead over Lucent Technologies Bell Labs. Nortel can combine the fiber amps with 80 channels of Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), making it possible to support up to 6.4 terabits/s on a single transmission node.
Picosatellites (Undergrads): Six undergraduate women from electrical engineering (Maureen Breiling, Corina Y. Hu, Amy Slaughterbeck), computer engineering (Adelia Valdez) and mechanical engineering (Dina Hadi, Theresa Kuhlman), as well as one man from computer engineering (Duncan Laurie) at the University of Santa Clara designed and implemented three small satellites to be launched by the Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California (originally scheduled for October 15, but now postponed to November 17, 1999). The picosatellites are designed to measure changes in the ionosphere.
The satellites are smaller than microsatellites, and fit inside a "mother" satellite designed at Stanford University. The three picosatellites weigh just under 612 grams and occupy only 24 cubic inches of space total. The Basic Stamp II (BSII) designed by Parallax Inc. is used to check for adequate battery supply, read sensors, read and log pulses from the VLF (very-low frequency) receiver, transmit the data to ground, and receive commands sent from ground. Two of the units house the microcontrollers with memory, gallium-arsenide solar cells and AA batteries, as well as sensors. VLF transmitters and receivers communicate with both the mother satellite and earth stations. The third, less complex module, broadcasts the Artemis Web site in Morse code.
Picosatellites (Hams): StenSat is a small (12 cubic inch, 8.2 ounce) satellite which is intended for use by amateur radio operators world wide and will operate as a single channel mode "J" FM voice repeater. The uplink frequency will be 145.84 MHz and the downlink will be 436.625 MHz. StenSat will periodically transmit 1200 baud AX.25 for broadcasting telemetry. Additionally, amateur radio operators will be able to "PING" the satellite by transmitting a six digit DTMF command to the receiver uplink.
Free PCB Software: The October 1999 issue of ExpressPCB has free PCB layout software.
"To-Die-For" List: This is a list of companies, software, books and web sites on DSP.
Presentation by Kalen Brunham: On October 15, Kalen will discuss one of his projects in class.
He is also preparing a more comprehensive IEEE seminar on his projects for November 1999.

Thanks for the visit. Your suggestions and questions are always welcome (v.1.68)

Copper & SOI in the Next Generation of 64-bit Processors

Nortel Transmits 80 Gbits/s

Picosatellites (Undergrads)

Picosatellites (Hams)

Free PCB Software

"To-Die-For" List

Presentation by Kalen Brunham