Articles – Page 239

April 9, 2012

It’s seductive logic. If the pieces are good, then the whole, which is but an assemblage of known-good pieces, must be good.

I used that same logic as a kid. Orange juice is good; Cheerios are good. Ergo, using orange juice instead of milk should provide a delicious breakfast.

Wrong. That was a lesson I remember to this day. I could never quite put my finger on exactly why those two things didn’t work together – there was no obvious reason; they just didn’t.

Or … Read More → "Breaking the System"

Let’s Get Small

Smaller Chips, Smaller RTOS, Smaller Shows

by Jim Turley

April 4, 2012

Last week saw the hale and hearty crew from Electronic Engineering Journal all in one place at Design West (née Embedded Systems Conference) in San Jose. You could have fragged the whole staff with one grenade. For security, we split up and covered various topics and vendors from disparate corners of the show floor. Some of this you’ll see on our video features, but as a public service, the less-attractive members have restricted themselves to print.

The theme of this year’s conference was: small. Miniaturization, streamlining, shrinkification – … Read More → "Let’s Get Small"

Solving the Big Secret

Synopsys Attacks SEUs in FPGAs

by Kevin Morris

April 3, 2012

A few years ago, one FPGA vendor, Actel, was quietly shouting in the corner. “Hey! Single event upsets (SEUs) are a big problem for FPGAs!”

The other FPGA companies replied with a thoughtful technical analysis of the situation: “Hey, Actel – SHUT UP!”

OK, maybe that’s not exactly the way it went down, but the idea is basically right. You see, Actel’s history is in super-high-reliability FPGAs for use in space. Up in space, there are lots of tiny particles flying around with a lot of energy. … Read More → "Solving the Big Secret"

Oil and Water

Taking Advantage of Natural Segregation

by Bryon Moyer

April 2, 2012

Two years ago, a curious technology that had been under academic study for about 20 years for applications having nothing to do with semiconductors was presented in a paper at SPIE Litho as a way to push lithography. The next year there were 74 papers on it, and it was inescapable at this year’s SPIE Litho.

That technology is “directed self-assembly” (DSA). And it’s a complete departure from all of the other lithographic ideas that have been bouncing around as we wait for a) the demise of 193-nm immersion lithography and b) EUV … Read More → "Oil and Water"

An App With Your Map?

Motoring Down the Highway May Change Forever

by Bryon Moyer

April 1, 2012

For years, as technology has burgeoned, it has looked to traditional use models as a reference point. The idea is to keep things the way people are used to doing them, only improving them with technology. But with new gadgets and devices that provide entirely new ways of going about their business, the tables are turning.

In fact, none other than the auto industry – about as stolid and traditional as you can get – is taking its lead from new, innovative technology models. It promises to revolutionize how people buy and equip their cars, with each … Read More → "An App With Your Map?"

Numbing It Down

A Mind-Boggling Stack o’ Technology

by Bryon Moyer

March 28, 2012

CEVA recently announced the XC-4000 family, their next generation of DSP processors for software-defined radio implementations of communications functions (if I may make bold to understate with the word “function”)

Normally, to discuss the new family, it would be standard to go through the processors and instructions and memory and bus architecture and… well, you’ve probably seen it all before. Perhaps not specifically done the way the XC-4000 – or any other particular processor – does it, but, well, it can be hard to craft a compelling narrative out of the usual & … Read More → "Numbing It Down"

(Moore’s) Law of Diminishing Return

When Do We Have Enough?

by Kevin Morris

March 27, 2012

Following the semiconductor industry for the past few decades, we’ve seen something unprecedented in human history. There has been a sustained exponential growth that has survived for over four decades, with resulting numbers that are absolutely mind-boggling. Analysts and writers have struggled to find the appropriate metaphors: “If the auto industry had done this, all cars would now travel faster than the speed of light and get over a million miles per gallon.” The attempts all seem to fall short of giving the audience a grasp of the magnitude of this accomplishment.

Basketball That Doesn’t Lead to the NBA

High School Kids Learn About Engineering Through Competition and Cooperation

by Bryon Moyer

March 26, 2012

“Something’s clicking.”

The robot has just been freed from its evening resting place, and they’re getting ready for some test runs and further development. As it maneuvers around the benches, it makes the whirring sound characteristic of an electric wheelchair.

Only this time, there’s an extra clicking noise they haven’t heard before. As one of the students pokes around looking for things that might be interfering with the wheels or mechanism, he notices a wire.

“There’s a spare wire. Why … Read More → "Basketball That Doesn’t Lead to the NBA"

The Return of Alchemy

XMOS Turns Software Into Hardware – Presto!

by Jim Turley

March 21, 2012

Subtle definitions can make a difference. The old song title, “What Is This Thing Called Love” is a lot different than asking your spouse, “what is this thing called, love?”

So it is with XMOS’s new chip, the XS1. Is it an FPGA or a microprocessor? Perhaps it’s the much-touted system-on-a-chip? Maybe an ASIC replacement? Or possibly something entirely different? By the time you’ve finished the 15-second elevator pitch, you’re already confused. What is this thing, how does it work, and how do … Read More → "The Return of Alchemy"

Back Seat Driving Innovation

MOST, Nvidia, Spansion, and Other Stories

by Kevin Morris

March 20, 2012

Modern automobiles are miracles of engineering refinement. Probably no other technology-related product calls from as many disciplines, has endured the same level of long-term evolution, has been actively used by more people, and has seen such steady long-term progress in capability, safety, and efficiency as your average family car. Each year, car companies take mountains of data and user feedback and pipe it into their engineering process, which results in an evolved, improved, safer product – most of the time, anyway.

However, the technological advancement of the automobile is a bit paradoxical, particularly in the area of … Read More → "Back Seat Driving Innovation"