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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0522------------------6/3/05 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
http://www.3dlinks.com
http://www.wave-report.com
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0522.2 Identity Security
0522.3 Display Markets
DisplaySearch Reports Q1'05 TFT LCD Shipments Defy Seasonal Weakness, Rising 11%
0522.4 Computing Advances
Floating Point FFT IP Core for FPGA Achieves Greater Computing Densities
0522.5 Optical Accessories
0522.6 Wireless Travel
Changes in Regulation Should Allow Wireless Data--Not Voice Services--on Airplanes
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0522.1 Story of the Issue
**Digital ID World 2005
By John Latta
San Francisco, CA
May 10 – 12, 2005
There are 600+ here at this unique conference. This is the 4th event and the market forces of compliance, criminal activity on the net and consumer concerns are bringing identity management to the forefront. It is a well run event with a trade show floor in the center of the atrium of the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. Our focus is to understand the role that biometrics may play but it is clear that a much larger forces are shaping the identity market dynamics. Having been to five biometrics conferences, this is a cold shower of a totally different aspect of the need for security. Identity management, in many respects, is at the center of logical access. Thus, we are seeing the very early development of the logical access market. As in biometrics, this market is chaotic and shaped by impulse forces. Here it is clear this centers on compliance of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). As one booth conversation netted – the enterprise sector having just completed the first round of compliance with SOX businesses are anxious to get compliance under control and identity management is a critical factor.
Driving Identity Management with its use in Compliance
Phil Becker, Editor-in-Chief of Digital ID World gave a very insightful kick off presentation. It focused on the role that compliance is playing in fostering the development of the identity management market but there was much more to the talk.
One of the problems with computing today can be traced to its roots. In the early days of computers, physical access was a proxy for identity. That is, there was no need to tie identity on the computer because the physical access assured that no one could get to a computer unless they passed the physical controls. As a result, boot and sign on were trivial by any individual in the computer room.
This was called the location paradigm and Phil maintains that it still exists today. That is, location is a proxy for identity.
The problem is that in a networked environment where anyone can be anywhere, the location paradigm does not exist anymore. As a result, firewalls and other devices seek to protect the network by putting up barriers. This has resulted in a network siege mentality. Phil cited that “once a computer is connected to a network no physical computer remains fully under your control.”
Phil maintains that identity is the organizing construct for networks. Once identity is established, it is possible for autonomous agents to identify each other, organize interactions, pass certificates of authority and to be held accountable irrespective of location.
Many of the problems we face today are a result of the design of networks. He used the OSI model to show how networks are designed around communications. What is missing is an identity layer. Without this, there has been a passing of the buck of identity. That is, identity is integrated into many of the layers, such as in applications and logons that are independent identity silos. The lack of identity is compromising the network.
Experience has shown that major computing developments take 10 years. The Internet took 10 years to mature. We are now in the second phase with web services and, as he described it, the tools and means to more effective use network computing is getting there. But the next wave will come with identity on the network and this has barely begun. If history is a guide, a 10 year quest lies ahead.
He called compliance a universal application on the network because it is a natural extension of doing business on the network. It is just like accounting and will be a cost of doing business. What is critical is that compliance must be automated in order to bring down the cost.
Authentication is the foundation of identity based computing techniques. Provisioning is the foundation of compliance automation.
Identity Theft is a BIG Problem
Nicco Poppo, CTO and VP, VeriSign presented his views on a layered approach to protecting consumer identities.
In 2004 the FTC cited that consumer identity theft was over $1/2B.
The bad guys are going digital – 57% of all fraud complaints are Internet related.
March 2005 was a bad time. There was ChoicePoint, Lexus/Nexus and more. The loss of identity hit the radar screens of the public and legislators. It is likely that we will see a legislative response. There are 18 federal and 30 state cybersecurity bills pending.
The Internet only compounds the issues around identity theft. It makes it possible for criminal activity because it is low cost, criminals can be anonymous and effective and it is scalable. For example, phishing is 6% effective, an unheard of rate for any fraud. The result is that the Internet has become an organized crime network.
Consumers are also very concerned. 60% of online consumers are “extremely concerned” about security when banking online.
Another view can be taken – security can be a market advantage. Trust is a competitive advantage. Trust is “sticky.” New services can be offered which are based on stronger IDs and these can offer higher value transactional services.
Paulo de Almeida was cited as an example of how effective the criminals have become. An article from The ChannelRegister is at the end of this report.
Nicco Poppo concluded that only a layer defense that includes the Users, Desktop, Web Site and the Corporation will mitigate these multi-faceted attacks.
The 7 Laws of Identity
Kim Cameron of Microsoft gave an impassioned plea that we need to establish a framework to deal with the identity problems on the Internet. He has engaged many in the development of these “laws” with the blogsphere being a tool to form the dialog. At times the discussion was obtuse but semantic debate is a part of the process of dialog.
The problem is that the Internet was built without a way to know who and what you are being connected to. The result is that there is a patchwork quilt of identity one-offs. Consistent with the observations of Phil, the Internet is “Missing the identity layer.” This creates a world without digital identity synergy.
The Internet has attracted international criminals. Phishing and pharming is growing at 1000% CAGR.
The criminalization of the Internet has the potential of halting web services before they leave the starting gate. The problem is that the ad hoc nature of Internet identity cannot withstand the growing assault of professional attackers. Kim predicted a deepening public crisis on the role and use of the Internet.
What is required is to go from a patchwork to an identity fabric. He has come to the conclusion that no simplistic solution is realistic. As a result, based on much dialog, Kim has developed these “laws.”
1 – User Control and Consent
Digital identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user’s consent.
2 – Minimal Disclosure for Limited Use
The solution that discloses the least identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long term solution.
3 – Justifiable Parties
Digital identity systems must limit disclosure of identifying information to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship.
4 – Directed Identity
A universal identity metasystem must support both “omni-directional” identifiers for public entities and “unidirectional” identifiers for private entities.
5 – Pluralism of Operators and Technologies
A unifying identity metasystem must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
6 – Human Integration
A unifying identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component integrated through protected and unambiguous human-machine communications.
7 – Consistent Experience Across Contexts
A unifying identity metasystem must provide a simple consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through lultiple operators and technologies.
The WAVE asked the question – how does this stop the criminals? The practical answer is that only when the Internet adopts much of these principles and the criminals stand out when they do not. Slight problem – is it possible to wait that long before the Internet is marginalized?
The BIG Picture
Jamie Lewis, CEO & Research Chair, Burton Group, gave the keynote on the second day. He put into context Identity Management.
Digital ID is becoming a mainstream issue. This is being driven by the reality that business is moving onto the network. Identity management is a core enabling infrastructure. This will evolve both within and between enterprises on a Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) that has identity management. This will combine with other infrastructure services to create interoperable fabric which will support a new generation of application services.
At the same time there is increasing interest in “user-centric” identity management. This will enable a more reliable, usable and secure web. It is essential that identity management be a part of a common infrastructure within and between communities. But making identity such a core component is at its early stages. There are many who would detract from this.
Today regulatory issues drive identity management. Provisioning plays a major role. The reality is that the more software a company has, the more it has to certify. But identity management products are weak on role and policy discovery. We need standardized provisioning within SOA.
Today the network and security infrastructure is becoming identity aware.
We are seeing signs the federated sign-on is viable. That is, identity which supports sign-ons amongst affiliates and between loosely coupled domains within enterprises. We see that, through standards, coexistence is possible in the near term but that convergence to this goal will happen in the longer term.
The problem today is that there are too many custom identity management integration projects. It is not a turn key solution. Major issues lie in interoperability, assurance and trust.
Another issue is that identity management audit remains a complex problem. Further privacy issues both drive and inhibit identity management. We see that the regulatory environment demands action, both national and international.
What has happened over the last several years is that many of the small companies have been acquired by larger ones. This has resulted in suites of identity management products but these are loosely integrated. They do not have common workflow, connectors, administration and audit. The result is that applying identity management results in lots of customization. This will improve in the next 12 – 18 months.
It will be essential that the providers move from product suites to a platform. Security and identity management will join. What will happen is that this platform will be a part of the SOA bus which connects various application services. This reinforces the need for a standards based federated communications infrastructure. Under this is the ability for application services to interact securely. We feel that it will take at least 5 years for this to emerge.
On the user-centric side – that is, consumers – we are seeing the emergence of a virtual society in virtual places. Individuals are buying, socializing and living online. At the same time invasive technologies are increasing in equal measure. An underlying issue is that the technical skills required are far too high.
It is important to give individuals assertive control over identity information in commercial, social and other contexts. This can be thought of as “federating” the individual.
We cannot lose sight of the fact that identity is highly contextual. It is like all social interaction. Who we choose to be, what we share will be depend on the context. We will have many different credentials, identifiers for different needs. Ad hoc groups, formal communities, social structures and businesses will implement and manage identity in a fashion that suits their needs. For example, identity systems that work for a financial services company will not work for social software and vice versa. The bottom line is that we are talking about representing human behavior not machine behavior.
Federation is important because it allows for organic growth in self-organizing systems. Identity connections will not form because of some master directory but because individuals, groups, organizations and companies will need those connections. These federated connections will emerge on an as-needed basis.
What is needed is agreement on laws and principles. The internet community needs to solve this problem. The laws presented by Kim Cameron of Microsoft is a beginning and this is unorthodox for Microsoft to be so open about an issue. We also need open standards, protocols and frameworks. Then it will take time for technologies and implementations to propagate.
Taming the Beast
One of the points made by Jamie Lewis, CEO & Research Chair, Burton Group is that identity management requires highly customized efforts to integrate into an enterprise. This was reinforced in presentations by Sun Trust Banks, Sony Media and GM. We saw the following threads.
Each company has many heterogeneous systems which must interoperate. It was not uncommon to hear the term - ”We have at least one of everything.”
These systems impose an enormous burden on the users and one of the most frequently cited are multiple passwords. Every presenter listed password resents over help lines as a measure of the burden and overhead cost.
But the nature of organizations, especially virtual organizations, that cross into vendors and contract individuals, drives issues such as provisioning. Cited multiple times is the need for automated provisioning which entails many functions in the organization including HR.
Federation is essential as the identity management system extends across many organizations or even within an organization that has independent operations.
A common identifier for individuals, especially the SSN, can no longer be used, except for financial reporting.
In the financial sector, compliance is critical but this is now extending to all businesses which are listed due to SOX. Compliance and identity management go hand in hand.
Role definition is very important to establish access rights. Some did this manually but others are able to be automated after some effort.
The functions within identity management include:
Authentication
Authorization
Provisioning
Federation
Audit
ManagementThese companies would have multiple identity management software components to accomplish these and they would have to be customized for their needs. No suite exists.
It should be noted that biometrics applies to only the authentication portion.
Where Does Biometrics Fit When there is Strong Authentication?
A panel on The Great Authentication Debate captured many of the issues which help define the role of biometrics. We summarize this along with many assessment points.
Strong authentication is the use of a token, a small device carried by the individual. This device frequently has an LCD panel which generates a random number, sometimes a frequently as every minute.
This number along with a PIN which is appended to it, then creates a larger number, is a one time password (OTP) to a system. Software running on a server then matches this key to a crypto algorithm to determine if there is a match. If so entry is granted on a one time basis. The next attempt needs a new password which follows the same process.
RSA is a leading provider but many in the industry do not like the fact that the implementation is proprietary. OATH published a framework during the conference which seeks to make this open.
One of the problems with the OTP systems is that there is no interoperability between applications. That is, a person must carry a token for each application they desire to access. OATH seeks to correct this also.
Today, these tokens are in the enterprise and many want to enter the mass market with millions of tokens. ActivCard was showing a consumer token and RSA has announced that they have a deal with AOL and E*Trade.
Rather than hardware tokens, it was suggested that software tokens could serve the same role.
These OPT solutions only work where there is mutual authentication. It does nothing against the bad guy seeking to misrepresent another party and no mutual OTP is present.
Biometrics has a role but it is not fully defined.
The strength of Strong Authentication is very high, practically zero, FAR and FRR. There are no enrollment issues. But the value is based on remembering the PIN and carrying the token. This latter has drawback of the cost of the token and the need for multiple tokens.
While biometrics is intrinsic with the individual it also allows the individual to remember nothing. Mutual authentication, however, is only possible in biometrics when the opposite party has the biometric or some form of it, such as a template or image. This has privacy implications which the token does not. A major drawback of biometrics is its poor “quality” – the FAR and FRR is much too high. Multifactor biometrics, even the combination with tokens or other forms of security, can significantly raise the quality.
It was stated that biometrics has the advantage of adding an additional layer of security. Yet, this misses the point. Only biometrics tries the individual to the authentication in a way that is not related to memory.
RSA stated that a corporate token costs $80 - $120. It is their intent to drive the consumer version to <$20. We find it hard to believe this is sufficient. For example, of one looks at the frequently phished sites such as eBay and PayPal it is not hard to envision many tokens to be carried. Further, the consumer will tire of the burden of this – it is just not convenient enough. Yet, biometrics is held by the individual and one reader token, if a reader is on a smart card for example, might be adequate. If the “quality” limitations of biometrics are either overcome or accepted, biometrics has the potential of offering a much lower cost solution.
If one assumes that price gives biometrics a market advantage a market position can be gained by:
Being a leader in the commodization of biometric Readers;
Advocating open standards for biometric information and its matching; and
Making biometric reading portable – anytime anywhere.There is an interesting aspect of privacy if one should assume wide spread adoption of biometrics for authentication. It is critical to protect the biometric in the same way that cryptographic means are protected. If the bad guys get the biometric they are able to represent a trusted source, such as PayPal, and falsely seek the individual out, with phishing, and “validate” and authenticate the user. Under these conditions we are no better off than today. Multifactor biometrics are one way to minimize the potential for such attacks as long as both biometrics are protected.
It is important to recognize that OTP is just like physical access. It is an entrance to the system. If keystrokes are being monitored, yes, replicating those keystrokes will not allow for a bad guy to get in the next time. But that also misses the point. If one has important information such as credit card numbers, the image of a web page or the pattern of usage of the sensitive corporate application this may be all that is needed by a criminal. That is, if a Trojan has been planted on the machine having strong authentication is almost irrelevant. Granted such considerations are much more important to a consumer than a robust enterprise network infrastructure one cannot dismiss the reality that access controls alone may be insufficient to address the criminalization issues.
We come back to Taming the Beast discussed above. This is not just a network security issue. It is also not just an identity management issue. It is also not narrowly confined to a privacy issue. It is all of these things.
Identity Metasystem
John Shewchuk, CTO Distributed Systems, Microsoft teamed with Kim Cameron to show how the 7 laws of identity could help provide a foundation for an identity metasystem. The analogy was used that in the early days of the PC writing directly to a disk drive or a display severely limited software development. With drivers and a file system a level of abstraction was introduced that changed application development. That same approach is required for identity management. As a lead in, past lessons also provided a frame work for the metasystem.
Single technology, single provider solutions are not broadly Accepted;
Single technologies with multiple providers have not been universally deployed; and
Multiple providers with multiple technologies has meant very little interoperability.
A metasystem provides a way that users can manage identity in a heterogeneous world. This is because if the metasystem is carefully developed it is possible to unify:
Multiple identity technologies;
Multiple operators; and
Multiple implementations.
This can then allow:
Customer freedom with technology such as x509, Kereos, SAML along with provider choice such as Self issued, private or government, and
Customers can also look forward to new systems such as Liberty.
The essence of the metasystem are these components.
Negotiation Driven
Encapsulation
Claims Transformation and
User Experience
The audience responded positively to the concept of claims transformation that allows for a trusted way to change one set of claims regardless of token format into another.
Microsoft has been working with many in the industry to develop an architecture for an identity metasystem – WS-*. It has the following components.
Composable Architecture for Web Services
Security Token format neutral which has a s its basis OASIS WS-Security
Dynamic system for exchanging claims which uses WS-MetadataExchange and WS-SecurityPolicy.
Token and claim translation which uses WS-Trust and this defines STS (Security Token Services)
Microsoft then demonstrated its implementation of the identity metasystem.
“Indigo”
Runtime for building distributed applications supporting an identity metasystem.
“InfoCards”
Identity selector for Windows which safeguards user’s digital identity.
Active Directory
Which is the infrastructure for identity and access.
An example was given of code development to allow individuals outside of the directory to be included based on trust established by the outside organization – federated login.
During the question session is was clear that many in the audience were impressed by the progress made. Another aspect is that the development of 7 Laws of Identity by Kim Cameron was called unorthodox for Microsoft. That is, using Kim’s blog and working in the blogsphere, Microsoft was unusually receptive to outside participation. This was reinforced in John’s presentation when he said that an identity metasystem must operate in a heterogeneous world. A point that was reinforced in the case studies presented during the conference. The conference showed how there is a need for a unifying architecture and design which accelerates the maturation of identity management. Microsoft demonstrated how its work, especially in conjunction with many others, had made significant progress in moving the technology of identity management forward.
***ID Theft on a Grand Scale
ChannelRegister
By John Leyden
21 Mar 2005
Brazilian cops net 'phishing kingpin'
Brazilian police last week arrested the suspected kingpin of a gang which looted an estimated $37m from online banking accounts. Valdir Paulo de Almeida allegedly masterminded a scam to raid accounts using a Trojan horse sent by email to thousands of victims, mostly Brazilian.
This commonly used ploy enables crooks to capture security credentials of victims through keystroke logging. Using this information, criminals can transfer to themselves the money held in compromised accounts. Typically, the money is washed through the accounts of a number of middlemen to make tracing more difficult.
Investigators says that Paulo de Almeida headed one of Brazil's biggest gangs of online fraudsters, perhaps 18-strong: "They moved between 50 and 100 million reais ($18m and $37m) over the last two years... [and] sent over three million emails with Trojan horses per day," Eduardo Cidreira, head of the police department in charge of Internet fraud in Brazil's southern state of Santa Catarina told Reuters.
Anti-virus firm Sophos notes the recent appearance of Trojan horses (such as Troj/Banker-AR Trojan horse and Troj/Banker-K) being written specifically to target customers of Brazil's online banking websites. It reckons that Trojans are used increasingly used as a phishing device to steal money. Paulo de Almeida's arrest is the latest in a series of police busts against suspected Brazilian phishers. Last year 50 such arrests were made, but none are alleged to have stolen as much as Paulo de Almeida.
***DisplaySearch Reports Q1'05 TFT LCD Shipments Defy Seasonal Weakness, Rising 11%
AUSTIN, TEXAS
May 26, 2005
DisplaySearch has released Q1'05 large-area TFT LCD shipment results that can be found in its Quarterly Large-Area TFT LCD Shipment Report. LCD suppliers defied traditional seasonal weakness in Q1 with shipments rising 7% faster than expected, enjoying 11% Q/Q and 34% Y/Y growth to a record 42.9M units. Fueling the growth was demand in LCD monitors and LCD TVs that grew significantly faster than expected.
By large-area application,
Notebook PC panel shipments declined 5% Q/Q and grew 13% Y/Y to 12.8M units, matching DisplaySearch's expectations exactly. Wide notebook panels continued to grow, however, rising from a 28% to a 34% share on a 13% increase. 15.4" WXGA is expected to overtake 14.1" XGA for the #2 spot in Q2'05.
LCD TV panel shipments grew faster than expected at 13% Q/Q and 84% Y/Y to 4.3M units. The average TV diagonal size rose by over 1.25" to 23.5". The 20" and larger share jumped from 68% to 75%, and 32" is expected to overtake 20" as the #1 size in Q2'05. LCD TV end-user prices dropped dramatically; 30" LCD TVs were being sold at less than $1000 by second-tier brands. In addition, sub-$600 20" LCD TVs are readily available, sold by top tier brands.
LCD monitor panel shipments had stronger-than-expected growth at 21% Q/Q and 38% Y/Y to 24.2M units. 19" LCD monitor panel shipment volumes exceeded 15" LCD monitor panel shipments for the first time as its share rose from 17% to 21%, while 15" fell from 23% to 16%. The 17" SXGA share increased from 55% to 59%.
Growth was faster than expected for several reasons:
Potential double-booking of panels due to historically low prices that dipped below costs for many LCD suppliers in addition to expectations of slight price increases in the near future Strong demand pull from end-user customers who responded strongly to retail pricing that was very attractive at $199 for 15" and $299 for 17" LCD monitors
A large number of new LCD monitor announcements and shipments that temporarily increased the shipments into the distribution and retail channels
Revenues for large-area TFT LCD panels increased 3% Q/Q, but decreased 12% Y/Y, to $8.1B in Q1'05 after two consecutive quarters of sequential declines. By application, notebook PC panel revenues declined 17% Q/Q and 30% Y/Y, right in line with DisplaySearch's expectations. LCD monitor panel revenues increased 12% Q/Q, but declined 17% Y/Y, and LCD TV panel revenues increased 6% Q/Q and 33% Y/Y.
Overall large-area TFT LCD panel ASPs continued to drop but at a slower pace than in previous quarters, falling 7% Q/Q and 34% Y/Y to $188. By application, notebook PC panel ASPs dropped 13% Q/Q and 38% Y/Y to $145. LCD monitor panel ASPs decreased 7% Q/Q and 40% Y/Y to $175, and LCD TV panel ASPs declined 7% Q/Q and 28% Y/Y to $382.
By supplier, LG.Philips LCD (LPL) overtook Samsung for the #1 position in large-area TFT LCD unit shipments in Q1'05 with a unit increase of 13% Q/Q and 49% Y/Y to 9.5M units. Samsung dropped to the #2 position with growth of 6% Q/Q and 21% Y/Y to 9.0M units, and AUO maintained its #3 position by growing 12% Q/Q and 49% Y/Y to 6.0M units.
On a regional basis, Korea maintained its lead in OEM-based large-area TFT LCD panel shipments with 19.4M units with a 47% share. Taiwan's share increased from 42% to 43% in Q1'05, shrinking the gap with Korea. Japan's continued heavy reliance on small/medium panels caused its share to fall from 11% to 10%. A small portion of large-area TFT LCD shipments were shipped from China, representing a 0.2% share.
In addition to a detailed analysis of historical results, this report also provides a two-quarter forecast of shipments by supplier, application, size and resolution as well as historical and projected fab utilization.
http://www.displaysearch.com/hdtvconference
***Floating Point FFT IP Core for FPGA Achieves Greater Computing Densities
RENO, NV
May 24, 2005
4DSP Inc. of Reno, Nevada, has released a new Floating Point Fast Fourier Transform core that is IEEE-754 compliant. This IP core was designed for use in the newer generation of high performance programmable devices, now available from FPGA vendors like Xilinx and Altera. The FFT core performs and transforms on complex data ranging from 256 points to 1M points with external memory, if necessary, such as QDR SRAM, closely coupled to the internal logic of the FPGA. Based on a radix-32 architecture, it allows users to change the transform length "on the fly", without having to reconfigure the programmable device. The flexibility engineered into its design makes this FFT core an ideal component for systems that may change mission rapidly in their application design or for systems whose algorithms are complex in nature or may require flexibility in mission assignment.
According to 4DSP, they did not expect to reach this level of performance in an FPGA. This has typically been done in an ASIC, which is increasingly more expensive to develop and requires a specific board architecture. To produce a flexible and lower cost device, that is capable of performing a 1024 points Floating Point FFT in 11.4 microseconds using a single core, is far beyond Their original expectations. For example, when applied to Video 2D transforms with 1024 x 1024 images, a single core can process 42 frames per second.
New advancements in FPGA gate densities, combined with efficient, tightly written VHDL cores, allow multiple cores to co-exist inside a single FPGA device. In new chips like the Altera Stratix-II and Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs, four cores can be implemented in parallel, offering a double-digit acceleration factor compared to currently available floating-point DSP devices.
***Agilent Technologies Introduces a Gaming Optical Mouse Reference Design in Collaboration with Cypress Semiconductor
PALO ALTO, Calif.
May 24, 2005
Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced the a reference design kit for high-resolution, LED-based optical mice aimed at the PC gaming market. The Agilent ADNK-3083 designer's kit gives mouse manufacturers the technical instructions and firmware needed to quickly implement a new corded optical-mouse design.
Agilent collaborated with Cypress Semiconductor to offer an optical mouse solution based on the Cypress CY7C63743-PXC microcontroller and the Agilent ADNS-3080, the industry's highest-performance LED-based optical mouse sensor for gaming mice.
According to Agelent's Semiconductor Products Group, this is the fourth reference-design collaboration with Cypress. Previous joint reference designs addressed the low-cost, wireless and performance desktop and notebook market segments. This latest collaboration provides manufacturers with a cost-effective, easy-to-use platform for accelerated development of high-performance corded optical mice for PC gaming enthusiasts.
Optical Mouse Sensor
The Agilent ADNS-3080 is an LED-based optical mouse sensor. It provides smoother, faster and more precise navigation control for the most demanding applications, including FPS (first-person shooter) PC games and professional graphics and CAD (computer-aided design) workstations. The sensor uses a self-adjusting frame rate that automatically matches to surface characteristics for optimum performance. In addition, the ADNS-3080 offers these industry-leading performance features:
Resolution as high as 1600 cpi (counts per inch)
Velocity of 40 ips (inches per second) at 6400 frames per second
Acceleration of 15 g
3.3 volt operation
Power-down current consumption of 30 uA
Maximum clock frequency of 24 MHz
CY7C63743-PXC Microcontroller
The Cypress CY7C63743-PXC is an 8-bit RISC microcontroller with an integrated USB serial interface engine. High-performance, low-cost human interface peripherals such as optical mice can be implemented with a minimum of external components and firmware effort. Communication between the CY7C63743-PXC microcontroller and the Agilent ADNS-3080 sensor is accomplished through the integrated serial peripheral interface. The microcontroller also offers these important features:
12 MHz internal CPU clock
256 bytes of RAM
8 Kbytes of EPROM
Built-in clock oscillator and timers
Programmable drive strength and pull-up resistors on each I/O line
Availability
The Agilent optical mouse reference design kit includes a sample optical mouse with complete schematics, layout and firmware. It is available from Agilent as the ADNK-3083 Optical Mouse Reference Design Kit
http://www.agilent.com/view/opticalnavigation
***Changes in Regulation Should Allow Wireless Data--Not Voice Services--on Airplanes
Arlington, Va.
May 27, 2005
In-flight use of wireless data, rather than voice functionality, should be permitted for individuals who choose to use wireless phones, email devices, PDAs or laptops while flying, urged the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in comments filed today with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In its comments, CEA called for careful evaluation of changes to rules regarding the use of portable electronic devices aboard aircraft.
“ It is absolutely imperative that the airlines, the FCC and the wireless industry give careful consideration to the impact of cell phone calls on airplanes,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “There is no denying we are a mobile and connected society, but individuals can maintain air-to-ground communication quickly and effectively through the use of wireless data and Internet access, and there are clear benefits to such services on airplanes.”
At the same time, CEA cautioned the Commission against expanding passengers’ ability to utilize voice communication while on-board airplanes. “The use of voice communications in flight poses significant risk of disruption to travelers in the confined space of an airplane,” stated Shapiro. “Proper etiquette for the use of wireless voice communication devices should be as important in the air as it is on the ground. For this reason, CEA supports limits on voice communications, as determined and enforced by individual airlines.”
Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration does not allow the use of wireless transmitters while in flight. CEA recently developed a Recommended Practice – Status Indicator for and Control of Transmitters in Portable Electronic Devices, which is intended to facilitate disabling and enabling of transmitters in wireless devices and provide common symbols and terminology.
“During certain phases of commercial flight, present regulations and airline policy typically require all devices to be turned off and stowed,” added Shapiro. “Notwithstanding future changes in policy, and as consumers enjoy more wireless options going forward, having a simple and easily recognizable way to operate their devices in different environments will be even more important.”
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