Articles – Page 218

April 2, 2013

Engineering is one of the very few professions that constantly re-engineer themselves. By doing our work well, we change forever the nature of the work remaining to be done. Once something has been designed (contrary to the apparent opinions of those with chronic NIH syndrome who insist on perpetually re-designing the wheel), it is designed, and it should not really need to be designed again.

Most engineering school curricula start us at a level of “bare metal.” We first study the basic underlying sciences – physics and chemistry, and the mathematics required to make … Read More → "The Tall Thin Engineer"

Novel Nutrient Delivery

Sensor at the Heart of the Model

by Bryon Moyer

April 1, 2013

Humans like to think big. From the days of Icarus, there has been a balancing act between daring and hubris: the former clears out the clutter of tiny fears to attempt something as yet unachieved, while the latter, in extreme expressions, attempts the ridiculous, typically to the primary benefit of one or more egos, with often questionable benefit (other than entertainment value) to the wider world.

Some individuals and companies are thinking very big when it comes to changing how we all access the most basic resources around us. The first such change happened when we as … Read More → "Novel Nutrient Delivery"

The Race to the Bottom

Intel’s Foundry Deals May Augur the Company’s Future

by Jim Turley

March 27, 2013

Intel is the world’s the best-known chip maker, and that description may soon become more accurate than we realize.

Just a few weeks ago, Intel made a splashy and expensive deal with Altera to fabricate some of Altera’s FPGAs at Intel’s company-owned plants. This follows similar agreements with small fry Achronix and Tabula, also chronicled in these pages.

This is kind of a big … Read More → "The Race to the Bottom"

Design 100G With Tabula’s ABAX²

Or, Take the Red Pill

by Kevin Morris

March 26, 2013

“Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain; you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire career – that there is something wrong with FPGA design. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there – like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to this article. Do you know what I’m talking about? Tabula’s Spacetime architecture… do you want to know what it is?…You take the blue pill, design … Read More → "Design 100G With Tabula’s ABAX²"

Accelerometer Buckets

Or, What Should My Accelerometer Look Like?

by Bryon Moyer

March 25, 2013

I’ll be the first to confess that what follows originates purely from my own ignorance. (OK, I suspect more articles than I’d like to admit started there… ) In coming up to speed on MEMS devices early on, I referred to accelerometer data sheets for this or that reason, and I would see a slew of numbers specifying the characteristics of a particular device. The problem was, those numbers really meant nothing to me, since I had no frame of reference for making sense out of them.

Of course, the obvious answer is to look at … Read More → "Accelerometer Buckets"

Taking the Pulse of the Embedded Industry

by Dick Selwood

March 20, 2013

The idea behind going to a trade event like embedded world, which was held in Nuremberg at the end of February, is to try to put your finger on the pulse of the embedded systems industry. The problem is, where do you find the pulse in a whale? The final release for the show claims 22,500 visitors, plus 1,000 students on the last day. There were also 900 exhibitors, some of whom had many tens of staff. The halls together covered 42,000 sq metres (around 450,000 square feet – or more than ten American football fields). And the statistics go on and on.

Like Ant Man

Lattice’s Tiny FPGA Packs a Punch

by Kevin Morris

March 19, 2013

In a comic-book universe crowded with superheroes, Ant Man was a standout. While all the other characters were going bigger, faster, and stronger, Ant Man’s superpower was being small. Being small, it turns out, let him do things that no other crime fighter could accomplish.

Lattice Semiconductor just unveiled the world’s smallest FPGA. In a design domain where bigger and faster rule the day, where bragging rights in the programmable logic paradigm hinge on having the most pins, the biggest package, and the fastest SerDes, Lattice apparently took a page from … Read More → "Like Ant Man"

Island Life Made Easier

Tanner EDA Moves to OpenAccess, Integrates Digital More Tightly

by Bryon Moyer

March 18, 2013

It can be cool living on an island. As long as there are reasonable resources available, you can remain slightly detached from whatever larger landmass lies nearby and do more of what you want with less interference.

But at some point, you’re probably going to need to get to a continent. Perhaps to get stuff that’s unavailable locally; perhaps to send goods over. Regardless, that span between island and mainland can be quite the bottleneck. In fact, at times you may even find yourself wanting to replicate some resources on the island so you don’ … Read More → "Island Life Made Easier"

An Independent Analysis of Floating-point DSP Design Flow and Performance on Altera 28nm FPGAs

by Jim Turley

March 18, 2013

BDTI performed an independent analysis of Altera’s floating-point DSP design flow. BDTI’s objective was to assess the performance that can be obtained on Altera FPGAs for demanding floating-point DSP applications, and to evaluate the ease-of-use of Altera’s floating-point DSP design flow. This paper presents BDTI’s findings, along with background and methodology details.

… Read More →

Achieving SerDes Interoperability on Altera’s 28nm FPGAs Using Introspect ESP

by Jim Turley

March 13, 2013

Introspect Technology has implemented its award-winning Introspect ESP embedded signal integrity analyzer on Altera’s high-end 28nm transceiver FPGAs. The result was a game-changing ability to achieve link optimization and interoperability on complex system boards containing a multitude of SerDes links. This white paper describes the various Introspect and Altera® technologies involved and illustrates, with real-life examples, the ability to self-measure, self-optimize, and self-repair SerDes links and systems.

… Read More →