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36

Where will all the VLSI circuits go? This. questionhas been raised by observers fearing too small a

the question seems not to have deterredsemiconductor manufacturers in the U.S. andelsewhere, who, in the past year, pressed towarduniversal objectives-logic chips of 100 000 to200 000 transistors or more and million-bitmemory chips.e Simultaneously, there seemed little slackening ofdevelopments by computer/communication systemsand software designers, whose new generationsystems will absorb the new devices.• If, in recent months, an occasionalmicroprocessor or computer product has failed to

be laid to lessened user demand. Computers andmicroprocessors are finding more and broader usesin industrial, commercial, and consumer products.

A T~ foho;1:'" p~on-=".t"&h f'_. ~b:~ ~_~:nl ....0....:"""..... : .................- AU ,"U,,",U. A,,",.-:J~"'11 .IVA L111" "V"''''lQ.l l,",Yl\;" J.,.,u\;,

Spectrum'S editors, in conjunction with IEEESociety experts, found a plethora (If ~ew devicesand device advances of interest to the equipment

Donald Christiansen Editor

designer-and important new developments inequipment and systems. (The report avoidsfuturistic pr(\j~ctions: concentrating instead ondevices and equipment that are either available orsoon to be on the market.)• A sampling of new developments covered in thisissue foHov:!s. 1'~1~~y of them are driven byadvances in the aforementioned solidc~

state/computer technology.• .rne long awaited 64-kb RAr~1 has becomeavailable from at least three manufacturers, AndIBM has, experimentally, squeezed the mainportion of its IBM/370 central processing unit ontoa single chip of 4000 gates and 4S 000 transistors.A'math processor from Intel has 65 000 transistorsand aTI uperating time of 16 to 35 microseconds.• The Beii System's largest semiconductor chip is atime slot assigner for its T-1 transmission system;it distributes any of 24 incoming signal streams ton .... "7 _~ ~~£ ........... d. ....._:_ft.- 1:...............au)' VI. ~JV VUL!SVUI!S .I1.11\;,f.,.

• At least one microprocessor that can executeabout as many instructions per second as theIBM/370 has been designed and will be available insample quantities. In the meantime, Intel hasintroduced a three-chip micromainframe.

". LSI helped spawn two new supercomputers, from

IEEE spectrumJANUARY 1981

I~_&_... .a,.-,.Jl.!--.,

•••~ .. i uii.~li'a'IUII

Slllaii bueiness machinesiiiIII.

MAnllfA~tl.rin,.-------,.-- 1:f70 I. Industrial control

Power/enArov- -- --- -----.:1.,74 I; Eff!ci~nt d§¥i~es!sy~t~ii~S

Consumer electrnni~~78 I. Video products80 II. Personal computers81 ii •. IOys and games82 IV. Audio products

83 For further reading

• A new ultrasonic weld inspection systemdeveloped in Denmark exploits a microprocessor toanalyze and record echo signals.• In the instrumentation field, a developing trend istoward signature analyzers containing built-in teststimuli, in contrast to having the, means for stimulibuilt into the equipment to be tested.• Voice mail tests have been completed by 3M inconjunction with ECS Telecommunications Inc.,and the system is now in use.• Analysis of data returned by Voyager I as itswept by Saturn promises to unravel many of thetraditional mysteries of the planet's rings.

These and many other developments are coveredin this 49-page report. •

66 I. Field service67 ii. laboratory/bench units69 III. Medical equipment

Communications4 7 I. Fiber optics50 II. Integrated circuits51 IU. Information transfer53 IV. Military/aerospace

Solid state57 I. VLSI/LSI62 It Linear !Cs64 III. Discrete devices

COllipUlers38 I. Micros and sQfttAJare

• In conventional telecommunications applications,a Washington, D.C., to Boston fiber optic cablethat will handle 80 000 calls per second is plannedby the Bell System. Longer wavelength sources forfiber optic systems include 1ieh!~!!!!!!h!gdiodes,under test by Bell Laboratories, and new splicingtechniques reduce transmission losses (see coverand photo opposite.)~ Fiber optics, too, seem destined for an important

have aisu iu:if.1eu make personal computersportable, while prices drop and versatility increases.One model has a 40 000 word ~xp!lndab!e ROMand a 73-kilobyte RAM, with a 65-button.keyboard. Its peripherals include an acoustic

ro!:£; i;~ distributed processing systems.

machines feature color displays, as do the majoru.s. models.• A number of banks are experimenting withpersonal computers to permit customers, from theirhomes, to access data banks and engage in bankingtransactions.• Silicon is displacing the conventional stuffing ofdolls, as toys and games assume memory andintelligence. Fisher-Price's talking doll speaksrandom words in response to motion stimuli; at itsheart is a silicon chip fabricated by PrecisionMonolithics Inc.

• Solid-state and computer technology advances

as four new high-power mainframes, In the newmachines, subnanosecond bipolar gate arrays are

• Minicomputers and sensors, as well asmicroprocessors, were brought to bear in anautomated power distribution system tested in theChicago area; the microprocessors wereprogrammed to simulate system faults, and toactivate circuit breakers for corrective purposes. Aprototype of the system may be developed forextensive tests by 1984.

coupler, cassette, and miniprinter. Several Japanese

~ ~~•.imed at easing the software crisis is amovement to develop dedicated data basecomputers similar to ~v1.I.T.'s Lisp.~ In minicomputers, a notable trend is toward32-bit machines that approximate mainframestatus. One, from Data General, features aprogrammed logic array, bit-slice microprocessors,and high-speed buses. In peripherals, innovationsin intelligent disk drives abetted the trend todistributed processing.• Terminals can now communicate withrnaintrames up to several km distant by wireless,and a new electronic publishing system can handle

Christiansen-Technology '81