Racing Electronics
One of the perks of writing about electronics is that you get to see some really cool stuff. And while motor racing is not at the top of my list of enthusiasms, an invitation by Freescale to visit the McLaren Technology Centre was just too good to pass up. Besides which, it turned my fellow hacks on EE Journal green with envy: there are some real petrol heads, including a race driver and a Formula 1 Fanatic.
The reason for the invitation is that Freescale’s processors are the intelligence in the engine control units (ECU) that McLaren supplies, on an exclusive basis, to the IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula 1 (F1) racing series.
MIPS Plants a New Family Tree
“Aptiv” Line of Processors: the Start of a New Generation
Blame BMW. Or maybe Sears, Roebuck & Co. The trend of classifying all your products into clearly defined low, middle, and high ranges has now extended its grasp to MIPS Technologies.
Carmakers figured out a long time ago that it would help sell cars if consumers could keep all the confusing model numbers straight. Thus, General Motors had its Chevrolet brand (low end), its Buicks (midrange), and its Cadillacs (high end). That branding strategy served the company quite well, even when all three cars were actually the same vehicle with different hood ornaments.
I, Robot 101
School Uses Robotics to Teach Engineering and More
Okay, it’s now officially the Twenty-First Century: They’re teaching robotics in school.
I, for one, welcome our robot overlords, especially if they’re like the ones coming out of a small Arizona high school. Last week, I had a nice talk with Enrique Santa Cruz, the Robotics & Automation instructor at Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona. (I’ll save you the trouble: it’s a town of 25,000 souls about 15 miles due south of Tucson. You’re welcome.)
Sensing 3D
FPGAs and The Next Generation of Cameras
Not much could be cooler than 3D video using FPGAs, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too, so in this week's Fish Fry, I chat with Niladri Roy of Lattice Semiconductor about some of the coolest video-related FPGA applications out there right now. Lattice is using FPGAs in some pretty creative ways in their new camera development kits, so if you're into video technology, you'll want to check out this week's interview. Ready... Goggles on... Go!
Is Agile Invading Embedded?
It’s widely accepted that embedded programmers don’t use agile programming methodologies. Hard deadlines mean hard commitments and none of this wishy-washy, hippie-talk, “It’ll be done when it’s done” nonsense.
Which may raise two questions in your mind. Most fundamentally, what does “agile” mean? And, perhaps more critically, is this truism actually true? There was a session covering this at DesignWest (or ESC), and it’s funny how process can get in the way of progress, even for processes that purport to value progress over process.
On Your Mark
Achronix Gets Ready to Roll
In a special executive focus Fish Fry, this week I interview Achronix CEO Robert Blake about Achronix's new high-end FPGA family (based on Intel’s new 22nm Tri-Gate technology). Robert and I discuss why this new family may be a serious contender - going head-to-head with the most powerful FPGAs from the big guys. We also explore what their software tool story looks like, and why domain-specific hard IP may be the key ingredient in their secret sauce. Also this week, I am giving everyone another chance to win a MACHXO Pico Development Kit courtesy of Lattice Semiconductor, but you'll have to listen to find out how to win.
Revitalizing the Chip Startup Environment
Revitalizing the Chip Startup Environment One of today’s biggest Silicon Valley gripes is the evaporation of venture capital (VC) funding for chip startups. Since the dotcom bust, consumer application-driven silicon innovation has been reduced to a relentless chase after Moore’s Law – improving power, cost and speed for incremental multimedia and wireless enhancements in a race down the consumer product generational roadmap to Inventiveness Oblivion.
With 40+ years combined founding and joining startups and working for giant chip and systems companies, the authors have seen Valley booms and “game changer” technologies come and go. Now, though, industry veterans feel Silicon Valley isn’t re-evolving, but dying.
A Dinosaur is Leaving Footprints in Your Smartphone
The old playground joke was, “How do you know when an elephant is in your refrigerator?” Answer: “Footprints in the butter.” Now British company, eoSemi, is asking a more serious question: “How do you know that there is a dinosaur in your smartphone?” “Footprints in the PCB.” This isn't Jurassic Park, so eoSemi’s dinosaur is the quartz crystal oscillator that is vital to the operation of the ever more complex smartphones and tablets.
Sensor Chemistry
Chemistry – at least at the high-school level – can be fun stuff. You’ve got these fundamental entities called atoms that can come together in many ways to build molecules, which constitute the stuff of life (and non-life). At this simplistic level, there’s nothing smaller than an atom, and atomic behaviors, as depicted in the periodic table, determine which combinations work well and which work, well, not at all.
Wirelessly Going Where No Man Has Gone Before
Africa, Atmel and the MEMS in Between
This week's Fish Fry is all about wireless technology and how it is shaping the world today. First up, I interview Martin Squibbs from Atmel about a big announcement in the world of RF transceivers. Martin talks to me about a technology that may change the roadmap for battery-operated wireless applications in the industrial and consumer market places. Next up, I check out how wireless technology is shaping medical care in Africa, and finally I've got a short Interview with Karen Lightman about the MEMS Industry Group and how they are looking to carve out new avenues for future MEMS applications.