Articles – Page 189

October 20, 2014

Microphones are not for the faint of heart. There is a sordid history of MEMS microphones, replete with big companies crying “Uncle!” and with legal vitriol.

Unlike something as “simple” as an accelerometer (with apologies to anyone that’s worked damned hard on a fine accelerometer), there’s been less rush to compete once everyone figured out how hard microphones can be.

And so we have a few deeply entrenched incumbents manning the sound.

But microphones still look interesting as an opportunity. We saw Read More → "New Sound in Town"

Return News Roundup

Power, Sensors, Clock Trees, Multicore and Compression Algorithms

by Dick Selwood

October 16, 2014

September, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, is often seen as the real start of the year. Companies are returning from their summer holidays and revving up with new promotional activities and, particularly in even numbered years in Europe, starting to work towards the huge techno-fest that is electronica in Munich in November. Now this may be a very interesting observation, but why is this relevant? Well, in the last few weeks, I have been exposed to a raft of interesting things, many of which would be worth a whole article in their own right, but, given the limitations … Read More → "Return News Roundup"

Do-It-Yourself Linux Machine

Synopsys ARC HS38 Processor Has An Embarrassment of Options

by Jim Turley

October 15, 2014

It’s a good month for microprocessor aficionados, what with the new Cortus twins, the MIPS I6400, AMD’s Hierofalcon, and now Synopsys’s ARC HS38. There’s still some differentiation to be had in this market.

Followers of Synopsys know that the EDA company acquired ARC, the CPU-design firm, several years ago and folded … Read More → "Do-It-Yourself Linux Machine"

New Chips are HIPP

A Modest Proposal for a New Name

by Kevin Morris

October 14, 2014

It’s time to speak up for the silent, to give a voice to the voiceless, to defend the downtrodden. Today is the day for action – for the engineering community to unite and right a wrong. We need to come to the aid of a technology in need, to give a name to the nameless. History is watching and will judge us by how we handle this epic dilemma.

I was giving a talk at an FPGA-related technology event recently, and the discussions in the room turned to the new category of devices … Read More → "New Chips are HIPP"

Light-Headed Circuits

Decoding Some of the Bizarreness That Is Photonics

by Bryon Moyer

October 13, 2014

It’s coming to a piece of silicon near you.

You may not create it; you may remain microns away from it. But there’s a good chance that, someday, it will be on your chip. And you might want to know something about it, because it will be your neighbor.

Exactly who is moving into your ‘hood? Just a few bizarre-looking circuits. Ones that look nothing like the circuits you’re used to. At all.

That’s because they don’t conduct electricity; they conduct light. We’re talking silicon photonics* here. … Read More → "Light-Headed Circuits"

Holey SuperCap!

“Holey Graphene” Stores More Energy in Less Space

by Bryon Moyer

October 9, 2014

There’s this meeting of technologies subtly underway. On one side we have batteries, which store more energy. On the other, we have supercaps, which deliver higher power. As we’ve mentioned in the past, technology seems to be evolving to bring the two together, blurring the distinction. The best combination is one of high energy storage and high power, and, while we’re not necessarily there yet, a team at UCLA has published some results for a supercapacitor with storage properties approaching that of … Read More → "Holey SuperCap!"

Is It Time for Post-ARM Already?

New APS23 and APS25 Processors Designed for “Third Wave” of Computing Devices

by Jim Turley

October 8, 2014

If you could sell 700 million units of the product you’re designing right now, would that be a success?

Seven hundred million is a big number. That’s about the total number of cars sold by all the automakers in the world combined over the past ten years. Or more than double the number of copies of Windows 8, or the number of hamburgers McDonald’s flips out in four months. As I said, a big number.

You’d think that any company responsible for such impressive product movement would be well known, right? Especially if … Read More → "Is It Time for Post-ARM Already?"

Tabula Tames Verification

DesignInsight Brings Unique Debugging Superpowers

by Kevin Morris

October 7, 2014

I have to prepare myself any time I go to meet with Steve Teig from Tabula. Steve is a bona-fide genius, and any time I talk with him I feel like I have to have my mental running shoes tightly laced. Steve brings a level of creativity and insight to the table that one seldom encounters, and when he’s telling you about a new thing, you can bet it will be something you didn’t expect.

So, when I went to Tabula for a briefing with Steve on what has now been … Read More → "Tabula Tames Verification"

Sensor Arrays

How You Can Detect Substances With or Without Electronics

by Bryon Moyer

October 6, 2014

OK, so you’ve got this hole. A really deep hole. I mean, reaaaaally deep: some miles, perhaps. And you’d really like to know what’s down there, at least gas-wise.

Problem is, there could be lots of different things down there. You want to cover a wide range of substances – say, a hundred of them – with a single sensor to get some answers faster.

Oh, and there’s one more thing: as your sensor drops down into the hole, it’s going to pass through all kinds of materials and metals and whatnot. … Read More → "Sensor Arrays"

iWatch, Therefore I Am

It Is Not iWatch! Write It Ten Times: Apple Watch, Apple Watch …

by Amelia Dalton

October 2, 2014

Well, holy cow: when Apple does a wearable, they REALLY do a wearable. Plenty of kudos, plenty of TBDs and a few issues in the big announcement. Let’s break it down using the framework I dropped some weeks back while lamenting the state of journalism.

“My point here is that the wrist is VERY PERSONAL real estate.”

Major kudos. Apple Watch (the product formerly known as iWatch) will be available in a dizzying array of sizes, … Read More → "iWatch, Therefore I Am"