Articles – Page 162

April 28, 2016

Two weeks after the three-ring circus that was embedded world (see “Embedded World Diary“), I was at another event: SEMI’s ISS Europe. This was on a different scale and had a different topic. SEMI is the trade body for the companies that build the kit and supply the materials that, in turn, are used to make micro- and nano-electronics. ISS Europe (Industry Strategy Symposium) is a two-day event where members of SEMI are briefed on the trends that are going to shape the industry.

< … Read More →

WWID?

Intel’s Had Another Bad Year. How Would You Fix It?

by Jim Turley

April 27, 2016

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” – Yogi Berra

It’s earnings season again, and that means another round of bad financial results and job cuts from the world’s best-known chipmaker, Intel. The company announced last week that it would lay off about 12,000 workers over the course of a year, amounting to a draconian 11% cut in headcount.

Look around your cubicle farm. Now imagine one cube in nine is empty, as if by alien abduction. And you get to pick up the slack.

There’s nothing much we can … Read More → "WWID?"

Rock, Paper, Firmware

DJI Software Kills Hardware in the Field

by Kevin Morris

April 26, 2016

As the Internet of Trouble (IoT) continues to evolve, most of us designing electronic systems are working to make our devices “smart.” By adding a microcontroller and some snazzy firmware, we can create products that take care of themselves – monitoring critical operational parameters and taking proactive steps to keep everything in line. One goal is to reduce the burden of responsibility on the user, which is really a release-note euphemism for “prevent the stupid customer from breaking our well-designed hardware.”

We gain a measure of post-release control as well, as we can release … Read More → "Rock, Paper, Firmware"

Designing for Directed Self-Assembly

Yeah, There Are Rules. (And Tools.)

by Bryon Moyer

April 25, 2016

There’s going to be a new kid in town when we get to 5 nm. Her initials are DSA. And she’s not going to be completely transparent to designers, although tools will likely help to minimize the impact.

We’re talking about directed self-assembly (the D, S, and A in DSA). Which we’ve talked about before – it’s been one of our reliable post-SPIE-Advanced-Litho-conference update topics (whether fundamentals, EDA impact</ … Read More → "Designing for Directed Self-Assembly"

The Maytag Effect

When Software is a Service, Who Controls the Product?

by Jim Turley

April 20, 2016

“Two houses, both alike in dignity…” – “Romeo and Juliet,” prologue

It sucks working on a boring project. Let’s say that you’ve been working on the same product for a few years, but it hasn’t been selling well. Even so, you’re about to start on an update for it, even though that probably won’t sell well, either. You’ve got a boring few years of unremunerated drudgery ahead of you.

But at the last minute, your boss steps in and decides to reassign you to a new … Read More → "The Maytag Effect"

This One Goes to 58!

Xilinx Ups the SerDes Ante

by Kevin Morris

April 19, 2016

The scope display clearly showed 58.0 Gbps. I was curious. I was expecting a 56 gig demo – you know, the next official step in the traditional “doubling of the data rate” that we get with each process node in FPGA transceivers. The last node sported 28Gbps SerDes transceivers, so, clearly, this time we should be dealing with 56. I started to ask about the discrepancy, but somehow I knew the answer already:

“Yeah, but this one goes to 58!”

I was distracted, though, by another issue. There was a serious problem with the … Read More → "This One Goes to 58!"

How Would You Use 32 Mics?

XMOS Touts Their Microphone Array

by Bryon Moyer

April 18, 2016

A funny thing happens when things get cheaper. Suddenly they find a bazillion uses that no one ever thought of before.

The typical American trajectory of price reduction means that something rare and valuable will eventually become accessible and common and then, ultimately, will become disposable. Think razors, once the domain of the professional who knew how to wield one without drawing blood. Now? Not only the blade, but the entire unit is available in a disposable version.

But something else happens in the mid-range – the “accessible and common” portion of the life cycle. Suddenly … Read More → "How Would You Use 32 Mics?"

Inside RoboUniverse and the 3D Printing Conference and Expo

Two Conferences Merge in New York City

by Larra Morris

April 14, 2016

When I attended the 3D Printing Conference and Expo last year, I was struck by the packed exhibit floor, the optimism and excitement of the attendees, and the notable fusion of art and technology on display. This year, the conference has merged with RoboUniverse (a conference focused on, as the name implies, robotics), and things were a bit quieter and less bustling. The tone of optimism remained unchanged, but if art was a major theme of last year’s conference, this year the pendulum had swung … Read More → "Inside RoboUniverse and the 3D Printing Conference and Expo"

Patents Expired! Create Your Own Processor!

Make a 32-bit SuperH CPU in Your Spare Time

by Jim Turley

April 13, 2016

“Why, it’s turtles all the way down!” – anonymous, in describing recursive philosophy

Now that we’re well into the 21^st Century, some of the microprocessors we used in our salad days have fallen into the public domain. Case in point: Hitachi’s SuperH CPU.

If you’re not a Japanese developer, you may not remember the SuperH (or Hitachi, for that matter). Remember the Sega Saturn or Dreamcast video games? They both used SuperH processors. In fact, later generations of SuperH were tweaked specifically to accelerate Sega’s graphics. SuperH … Read More → "Patents Expired! Create Your Own Processor!"

IoT Phone Home?

The Coming Cloud Apocalypse

by Kevin Morris

April 12, 2016

Can you hear them? They’re out there. Millions of tiny digital voices shouting wistfully into the abyss. They are trying, trying, trying to make contact. Trying to reach Home. Trying to reestablish that crucial intimate connection that they need to survive. Their desperate cries blend into a silent cacophony of lost packets – billions and billions of bits wandering aimlessly through the internet infrastructure, searching for something that will never ever reply.

Home is simply not there anymore.

Most of the IoT relies on a cloud-based computing architecture. The … Read More → "IoT Phone Home?"