Articles – Page 263

June 21, 2011

The von Neumann architecture is a miracle of efficiency if you count the algorithmic complexity that can be completed by any given number of transistors. If you’ve got enough transistors to create a 32-bit processor plus peripherals plus enough memory to store a decent size program, you can execute an enormously complicated algorithm.

Where von Neumann isn’t so efficient is in the amount of computation for a given amount of power, or in the number of computations in a given amount of time. Those battles are won handily by custom, … Read More → "C to FPGA"

An Escape from an Escape

Imagination Technologies Tries to Make it Easier to Connect from Anything

by Bryon Moyer

June 20, 2011

Being out in the wild is supposed to get you away from things modern and technological. And yet… there are ways that new gadgetry might improve your isolated camping experience.

Let’s say, for example, that a critical camping information system would be useful. Perhaps it would link to a variety of on-line video channels dedicated to camping content. And, rather than packing yet another device, perhaps it could be integrated into an existing piece of camping equipment. Like, perhaps, your camp stove. It’s got a lid that flips up to block … Read More → "An Escape from an Escape"

Microchip’s Accessory Framework for Android(tm)

by Bryon Moyer

June 17, 2011

The Microchip’s Accessory Framework for Android provides a mechanism to transfer data to and from an Android application through the USB of the microcontroller.

… Read More →

Good Vibrations

A Self-Sufficient Energy Harvester

by Bryon Moyer

June 16, 2011

[Editor’s note: this is the sixth in a series of articles derived from a session at this year’s ISSCC that focused on sensors and energy harvesting. The prior article dealt with a retinal implant. For more details, you are referred to the ISSCC proceedings.]

These days we’re looking pretty much everywhere for sources of energy to slake our insatiable thirst. If energy is involved in a process, and if there is excess energy left over, it’s … Read More → "Good Vibrations"

Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss

ARM-based Servers and PCs May Displace Intel and Microsoft

by Jim Turley

June 15, 2011

When is a PC not a PC?

That’s a trick question. To most of us, a PC means an Intel-based machine running some version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. PCs run PC software, meaning the shrink-wrapped versions of Office, Photoshop, and so on. PCs are not Macs and they’re not Linux boxes, right?

But let’s say someone magically transformed the inside of your PC and replaced all the chips with a hamster in a wheel. And let’s say it’s a really well-trained hamster … Read More → "Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss"

Integrating Hardies and Softies

by Dick Selwood

June 15, 2011

Winston Churchill once said that the United Kingdom and the United States are two nations divided by a single language. Sometimes it seems like that in an embedded development environment. In the green corner – the hardies. These are people who think in volts and transistors and will spend enormous effort to reduce watts burned by a system. In the red corner – the softies. Their thinking is dominated by efficient code execution time. The difference between the two is nicely encapsulated in the story of a UNIX based system that was burning excessive power: the processor never seemed to … Read More → "Integrating Hardies and Softies"

Coping with the College Crisis

Re-Engineering Engineering

by Kevin Morris

June 14, 2011

Engineering is a profession of perpetual education. Graduating from a modern engineering school is, at best, a license to learn. With the pace of technology change showing no signs of slowing, the delay between the creation of engineering curriculum and the moving of students educated with that curriculum into the workplace means that freshly-minted engineering graduates will be five years or more behind the times when they move from school into the industry.

This is not a new problem. When I attended engineering school back in nineteen – whoa! Hey! was that Elvis that … Read More → "Coping with the College Crisis"

Creating a Virtual Factory

Averna’s Proligent Keeps Tabs and Makes Changes Where Needed

by Bryon Moyer

June 13, 2011

We in the semiconductor world live in a relatively self-contained environment. Processing is highly specialized, equipment is expensive and not really usable for anything else, and risks are high if something goes wrong.

So we tend to get a little, oh, inbred, with a few companies providing the variety of tools and services in a small-town supply chain.

Once the chip has been produced, it exits its rarified world and rejoins the rest of the industry, the world of real systems, with moving parts and odd shapes and grease. The systems our end customers purchase … Read More → "Creating a Virtual Factory"

Altera’s 28-nm FPGAs Optimized for Broadcast Video Applications

by Jim Turley

June 10, 2011

Increasing industry demand to deliver HD video channels requires studio equipment providers to deliver integrated products that provide the required bandwidth and processing power, while minimizing cost and power. This paper describes how Altera’s 40-nm and 28-nm FPGAs are tailored to help deliver highly-integrated, HD studio equipment products. The paper provides an analysis of the performance requirements, resource utilization, and power consumption characteristics for the format conversion of multiple video channels.

Authors: Girish Malipeddi, … Read More → "Altera’s 28-nm FPGAs Optimized for Broadcast Video Applications"

A Methodology for Reducing Development Time and Improving Reliability of Embedded System Hardware

Saving engineers countless hours of frustrating, schedule delaying, debug time

by Jim Turley

June 10, 2011

Design complexity in every domain of an electronic product is rapidly increasing. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the HW-SW complexity-density of today’s SoC-based PCBs. As this complexity continues to escalate, it does so against a backdrop of more aggressive schedules, fewer resources and tenacious competition.

In this whitepaper the author reviews how leveraging in-system diagnostics throughout the development cycle can assist engineers in overcoming the challenges design complexity exerts on product development, manufacturing, and overall … Read More → "A Methodology for Reducing Development Time and Improving Reliability of Embedded System Hardware"