Articles – Page 103

June 10, 2019

Let’s chat about blockchain technology, shall we? If you know almost nothing about blockchains, then it’s probably easy to conflate it with so-called cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Those are systems where someone magically created a store of money – well, a store of some sort of artifact that becomes money only when someone decides it’s a good idea to pay for them with officially recognized money (which some refer to as fiat currency, literally meaning, “Let there be money” – which pretty well describes … Read More → "Blockchain in IoT Security?"

Security As a Business Enabler

Stopping Malware for Fun and Profit

by Jim Turley

June 5, 2019

“A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey, buddy, you want a good deal on a gearbox for a city bus? Hardly used, works great. I’ll give you a good deal. Take your pick; I got thousands of ’em.

In fact, I’ll rent ’em to you if you don’t have the cash to buy. Low monthly rates. My associate … Read More → "Security As a Business Enabler"

Maintaining the Cadence

EDA in the Cloud, 3D Solvers, and DSP Updates

by Bryon Moyer

June 4, 2019

Cadence has had a number of announcements over the last few months. I’ve been collecting them up so that we can review them here now. We’ll cover four stories: their Cloudburst announcement, their Clarity 3D solver, a Read More → "Maintaining the Cadence"

Follow EE Journal’s Live Coverage of the Design Automation Conference

by Larra Morris

June 3, 2019

The 2019 Design Automation Conference (DAC) is in Las Vegas and our EE Journal team is on the scene to learn about recent developments and trends, and new products and technologies in the design and automation of electronic systems.

Edge FPGAs for Security and AI

Lattice Leads Low-Power Logic

by Kevin Morris

May 30, 2019

A few years ago, Lattice Semiconductor was an also-ran in the mainstream FPGA business – lapping up table scraps left by larger competitors Xilinx and Altera. Apparently, that wasn’t all that much fun, so the company set about re-defining themselves as the go-to provider of low-cost, low-power logic devices aimed at high-volume applications. With a smart mix of acquisition and internal development, Lattice created a coherent and compelling product line and, as a result, has shipped over a billion devices in the past four years.

Quietly.

Pushbutton Security Comes to IoT

Inside Secure Makes Smartphone Apps Safe with Almost No Work

by Jim Turley

May 29, 2019

“There is no such thing as perfect security, only varying levels of insecurity.” – Salman Rushdie

Spend any time talking with IoT developers and one of two subjects will come up. One, they’ll admit they’re worried about security. And two, they’ll talk about wanting to connect to the cloud.

Trouble is, most IoT developers don’t know $%@# about either topic. They know they want it – possibly because someone in authority told them they wanted it – but they rarely know where to begin. Not to … Read More → "Pushbutton Security Comes to IoT"

The Problem with Microphones

Cleaning Up the Noise Makes Everything Else Easier

by Bryon Moyer

May 28, 2019

We’ve talked about audio company DSP Concepts before. We’ve looked at their Audio Weaver tool, and we’ve looked at how their offering has evolved from tools to reference designs. But what I learned from them came through typical phone or in-person briefings using slideware. I recently had … Read More → "The Problem with Microphones"

Polte Locates Anything, Anywhere

New GPS-like Technology Works Through Walls

by Jim Turley

May 22, 2019

“My GPS has a British accent – it’s way less annoying than the American one.” – Rachel Bilson

GPS is pretty spectacular technology. I mean, who would’ve guessed that a swarm of satellites circling 12,550 miles overhead could tell us where we’re standing? It seems crazy, yet GPS is so prevalent now that we barely notice it. It’s part of the background noise of today’s world.

Yet, for all its Space Age trappings, GPS has a lot of shortcomings. It takes a few minutes … Read More → "Polte Locates Anything, Anywhere"

Achronix 7nm Speedster7t FPGAs

Poking the Bear - Again

by Kevin Morris

May 21, 2019

We’ve always been pretty impressed by Achronix – and for good reason. In an FPGA market where countless startups have tried and failed, Achronix somehow built themselves into a successful, independent, profit-making FPGA company. That’s not an easy task, and it required numerous “pivots” on the part of the company.

Initially, Achronix developed a family of novel asynchronous FPGAs and associated tools. When it became clear that engineering teams were not quite ready to buy into the asynchronous thing, Achronix developed a very market-savvy family of conventional FPGAs, with few novel features but with a clever … Read More → "Achronix 7nm Speedster7t FPGAs"

Firming Up Your Photoresist

Imec Presents Sequential Infiltration Synthesis Results at SPIE Advanced Litho

by Bryon Moyer

May 20, 2019

When you spend a goodly chunk of your career dealing with EDA-like issues, as did I, then you have a pretty easy gut reaction to anything involving synthesis. See some kind of synthesis with a fancy new name? Must be some new crazy approach to generating logic circuits, right? Probably involving AI (which everything must have these days)?

Um… no. Today’s topic is sequential infiltration synthesis, or SIS. And, … Read More → "Firming Up Your Photoresist"