"MATERIALS: 'Missing link' memristor created: Rewrite the text books?"

The long-sought after memristor--the "missing link" in electronic circuit theory--has been invented by Hewlett Packard Senior Fellow R. Stanley Williams at HP Labs (Palo Alto, Calif.) Memristors--the fourth passive component type after resistors, capacitors and inductors--were postulated in a seminal 1971 paper in the IEEE Transactions on Circuit Theory by professor Leon Chua at the University of California (Berkeley), but their first realization was just announced today by HP. According to Williams and Chua, now virtually every electronics textbook will have to be revised to include the memristor and the new paradigm it represents for electronic circuit theory. When Chua wrote his seminal paper, he used mathematics to deduce the existence of a fourth circuit element type after resistors, capacitors and inductors, which he called a memristor, because it "remembers" changes in the current passing through it by changing its resistance. Now HP claims to have discovered the first instance of a memristor, which it created with a bi-level titanium dioxide thin-film that changes its resistance when current passes through it. HP has already tested the material in its ultra-high-density crossbar switches, which use nanowires to pack a record 100 Gbits onto a single die--compared with 16 Gbits for the highest density flash memory chips extant.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207403521

"ALGORITHMS: What if software could simulate wireless nets?"

A scalable emulation and simulation software environment for next-generation wireless technologies aimed at both civilian and military networks will be announced today by Scalable Network Technologies Inc. (Los Angeles). Building on the Global Mobile Information Systems (GloMo) Program simulator developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Scalable Network Technologies' QualNet and Exata software simulators accurately model the behavior and operations, respectively, of 3G and 4G mobile communications networks, including quality-of-service, software defined radios and network-centric services.
By improving the predictability of wireless, mobile net-centric services, QualNet and Exata seek to enable developers to "what if" new network topologies and then try them out before building expensive hardware infrastructures.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207402979

"ALGORITHMS: Second-generation 'Robot Guitar' takes the stage"

A second-generation self-tuning Robot Guitar was recently announced by Gibson Guitar Corp. (Nashville, Tenn.). Two new models are available--a Les Paul Studio Ltd. and an SG Special Ltd.--both offering a new locking input jack. The first-generation Robot Guitar was superseded by the new second-generation models earlier this month. The new instruments, which sport a metallic purple finish, are now sold out, but EE Times has learned that a new metallic green finish will be announced by Gibson soon. All second-generation Gibson Robot Guitars have an automatic-locking input jack from Neutrik AG (Liechtenstein, Germany). The locking phone jack prevents accidental disconnection by latching whenever a standard 1/4-inch plug is inserted. Automatically mated plugs unlock only by pressing red release tab. Tronical's patented Powertune system uses motorized tuning pegs that all turn simultaneously until every string is tuned. For alternative tunings, a twirl of a knob shows illuminated settings for six non-standard tunings (Open-E, Open-G, Drop-D, Double-Drop-D, A and E-flat); custom tunings can be substituted by the player.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207402460

"OPTICS: Self-healing mesh optical nets emerge"

There was a time when a dredge snagging an undersea optical cable or an earthquake popping a fiber's connector would bring down the whole network. But no more. Carriers are increasingly turning to mesh topologies to route data and voice between nodes, allowing for self-healing connections that automatically reconfigure around broken, blocked or overloaded paths by "hopping" alternate node-to-node routes to the desired destination. With all the buzz about wireless mesh networks, you might have thought that optical networks were still point-to-point or rings, but nothing could be further from the truth. Optical networks worldwide are quickly moving to mesh topologies. Like routing intercontinental airline flights either around or over the pole, fully connected global mesh networks can route traffic as congestion and failures allow, providing nearly 100 percent network availability, as well as fail-safe security. Ciena Corp. (Linthicum, Md.), AT&T, Verizon Business, Internet 2 newbie Tata Teleservices (India) and more than 30 other carriers and service providers are switching from antiquated, point-to-point or ring networks to mesh topologies that provide fail-safe connections Ciena describes as "survivable."
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207402005

"PODCAST: Week-in-Review, April 25, 2008"

Welcome to Week-in-Review where we cover the week's tops technology stories. This week our top stories include how lab-on-chip design automation is taking a cue from electronic design automation, how waveguides are bridgingthe "terahertz gap," how the Massachussets Institute of Technology is getting serious about solar power and how a robot is slated to conduct a symphony orchestra.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/podcast

"ALGORITHMS: Lab-on-chip design automation takes cue from EDA"

Algorithms developed by a range of research groups aim to automate microfluidic lab-on-chip technologies that perform chemical identification and medical tests by shuffling nanoliters of samples and reagents around micron-sized channels. Besides shortening the time required to analyze such small sample sizes, automation enables many more lab tests to be performed on chip. The initial algorithms were hand-crafted for various lab-on-chip prototypes. But according to presentations at the International Symposium on Physical Design (ISPD), researchers have begun adapting EDA techniques to automate the design and operation of microfluidic labs-on-chip.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207401271

"MATERIALS: Waveguides bridge 'terahertz gap'"

Wires that carry terahertz electromagnetic radiation could carry 1,000-GHz signals. That's 20 times faster than the speed of the world's fastest microprocessor, which IBM Corp. announced last week.
Until now, the terahertz gap has prevented circuitry from rising much above 60 GHz—the speed of next-generation wide personal-area networks, or WPANs. Now, researchers at the University of Utah have demonstrated a method of building wires that act as terahertz-caliber waveguides atop stainless-steel foil by using lines of micron-scale perforations. The technique was shown to transmit, bend, split and combine terahertz radiation at 0.3 THz (300 GHz) but could be extended up to 10 THz, according to electrical-engineering professor Ajay Nahata at the university.Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207401260

"PODCAST: Week-in-Review, April 18, 2008"

This week's stories include how IBM's 'racetrack' memory could replace flash and disk drives, where the future of chip design techniques is headed, how electronic-paper is now ready for interactive applications, how to use a new FRAM chip to create microcontroller-free devices, and how scientists are channeling lightning strikes to the ground with lasers.Text: http://www.eetimes.com/podcast