Articles – Page 2

Artemis II Moon Mission’s FPGA-Based Space Toilet Poops Out Shortly After Reaching Earth Orbit, Repaired by Space Plumber

April 6, 2026

The launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission to circle the Earth’s moon seemed to go off with nary a hitch during the last hour of the countdown. However, shortly after reaching orbit, the Orion space capsule developed a fault in a critical system: the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), also known as the space toilet. It may seem grin-worthy, but waste management is an essential part of space travel for any crewed mission. Faults can be expected in any shakedown cruise for a new spacecraft, and, fortunately, NASA astronaut and Mission Specialist Christina Koch (pronounced “Cook”) was … Read More → "Artemis II Moon Mission’s FPGA-Based Space Toilet Poops Out Shortly After Reaching Earth Orbit, Repaired by Space Plumber"

The Day “No Signal” Died: 5G Meets Satellites

by Max Maxfield

April 2, 2026

It’s funny how casually we use the word “connectivity” these days, as though it’s always been part of the conversation. However, speaking as someone who was a small (but perfectly formed) lad in the 1960s, I can assure you that it most certainly wasn’t.

Back then, things didn’t “connect” in the way we think of today—they were simply connected. Our household telephone, for example, was firmly tethered to the wall by a cable that looked like it meant business. If you wanted to use it, you went to it. There … Read More → "The Day “No Signal” Died: 5G Meets Satellites"

High-Performance Ultra-Low-Power AI MCUs Running at Only 0.3V (Eeek!)

by Max Maxfield

March 31, 2026

When I was 10 years old, my parents decided I was old enough and responsible enough to catch the bus to school (silly parents). This was in England in the 1960s. We didn’t have dedicated school buses (unlike the bodacious yellow beauties in America); instead, we used standard buses with regular passengers and school kids all jumbled together.

I rode with my friend Jeremy Douglas, who lived up the road. Our parents gave us two “thruppenny bits” each day (small coins worth three pennies)—one for the journey to school and one for the ride back. Most … Read More → "High-Performance Ultra-Low-Power AI MCUs Running at Only 0.3V (Eeek!)"

When AI Meets Multi-Die (and Neither Lets Go)

by Max Maxfield

March 26, 2026

I really wish I could have attended this year’s Chiplet Summit, which took place from February 17 to February 19, 2026. This auspicious event was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California. I know this facility well—it’s where I met my first telepresence robot—but that’s a story for another day.

As you can see from the 2026 Program at a Glance, there was an abundance of terrific topics, captivating keynotes, and scintillating special presentations. I would have been in my element, … Read More → "When AI Meets Multi-Die (and Neither Lets Go)"

FPGAs Beating GPUs at LLM Inference: Say What?!?

by Max Maxfield

March 24, 2026

Once again, my world has been turned upside down. Until recently, I’ve been gasping in awe at the myriad “you won’t believe your eyes” numbers flaunted by proponents of the latest and greatest GPUs, like Nvidia’s H200, which boasts nearly four petaflops of AI compute… at least, on paper. So, you can only imagine my surprise to discover that these high-end GPUs can be outperformed by FPGAs. As I said in the title of this column: “Say What?!?” (I only hope the persnickety punctuation police perceive that this doesn’t technically end with an exclamation mark.)</ … Read More → "FPGAs Beating GPUs at LLM Inference: Say What?!?"

Verification Engineers Are Poised to Become Verification Scientists

by Max Maxfield

March 19, 2026

There are many ways to categorize engineers—to “slice and dice” them, if you will. I’m speaking figuratively, of course (we don’t want anyone to get any unfortunate ideas…especially since… the incident). Just sticking to the electronics realm, we have analog and digital, hardware and software, those who simulate and those who solder, those who document and those who don’t—and the French.

As you may recall, I’m a hardware design engineer by trade. The reason I mention this here (in addition to the fact that I just like hearing myself say … Read More → "Verification Engineers Are Poised to Become Verification Scientists"

When AI Comes Home to Roost: Meet the SYN765x Wi-Fi-7 AI-Native Connected MCU

by Max Maxfield

March 17, 2026

I think most of us have come to appreciate how incredibly useful AI can be, and it’s getting more efficacious every day. The funny thing is that it’s becoming harder to remember a time before AI (much like younger people being unable to visualize a world without high-definition flat-screen TVs, smartphones, wireless connectivity, and the internet).

Although researchers from many fields—computer scientists, mathematicians, neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and linguists—have been beavering away on various flavors of this technology in the background for yonks and yonks (that’s a lot of Read More → "When AI Comes Home to Roost: Meet the SYN765x Wi-Fi-7 AI-Native Connected MCU"

Three Companies, One Toolchain: The Rise of TASKING 3.0

by Max Maxfield

March 12, 2026

I don’t like change. I know I’m starting to sound like an old codger, but that’s OK because I am an old codger (I know the secret handshake and I have the ~~ceremonial undergarments~~ T-Shirt to prove it). For example, I remember going to the Design Automation Conference (DAC) year after year throughout the 1980s. The same companies were there each time, but it seemed like everyone I knew had moved from one company to another between conferences. It was very confusing. It made my head hurt.

Since then, the same thing … Read More → "Three Companies, One Toolchain: The Rise of TASKING 3.0"

The Curious Case of the Waning Wheeltapper

by Max Maxfield

March 10, 2026

I constantly amaze myself by the vast quantities of useless nuggets of knowledge and tidbits of trivia that are rattling around in my poor old noggin. These typically resurface when I least expect them. For example, I could be discussing AI systems with someone, and—as improbable as it may sound—one of the examples they give might trigger thoughts of a man bending over tapping a railway wheel with a hammer. In fact, this very scenario just occurred.

Let’s first set the scene. When I was a kid growing up in England in the 1960s, … Read More → "The Curious Case of the Waning Wheeltapper"

Bumblebees Can’t Fly, and Humans Can’t Exist (I Have Proof)

by Max Maxfield

March 5, 2026

I’m feeling more than a little existential at the moment. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a cream for that. I was going to say, “Don’t worry, it’s not catching.” However, the more I think about what I’m about to tell you, the more I fear we might discover that it is.

The idea that bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly dates back to the 1930s. According to an oft-repeated anecdote, a French (it goes without saying) aerodynamicist supposedly calculated that a bumblebee’s wings were too small to support its … Read More → "Bumblebees Can’t Fly, and Humans Can’t Exist (I Have Proof)"