Test Challenges Rising For Mobile Devices


Smartphone and tablets continue to advance at a dizzying pace. On the component side alone, the latest mobile devices are moving towards 64-bit application processors, multi-mode RF front-ends, higher-end cameras and flashy LCD screens. Some systems even boast fingerprint scanners and heart rate sensors. But an obvious part of the system continues to lag behind the curve—battery life. In r... » read more

The Power Treadmill


By Frank Ferro The recent purchase of an LTE smart phone has me back on my power management soapbox. I upgraded my phone about a month ago to the newest version (staying with the same manufacturer as my previous device) and to my dismay, although it wasn’t completely unexpected, the battery life was actually shorter. I did not do a ‘scientific’ comparison, but following the same daily us... » read more

Silence Is Golden


As the industry continues to march along building devices with ever-increasing battery life, it is necessary to migrate to the latest and greatest process nodes, which as we all know are smaller and use lower voltages. However, any noise in the system—whether it was there before or you start to use something like USB 3.0 or SATA or something else—is actually going to increase the number of ... » read more