Articles – Page 43

Mind-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips (Part 2)

March 9, 2023

In my previous column, we discussed how the year 2030 seems set to be an exciting time to be in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) space (where no one can hear you scream). For example, in addition to the industrial IoT (IIoT) we also have the artificial intelligence of things (AIoT).

“What’s the AIoT when it’s at home?” I hear you cry. Well, according to the IoT Agenda, “The AIoT is the combination of AI technologies with … Read More → "Mind-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips (Part 2)"

Mind-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips (Part 1)

by Max Maxfield

March 7, 2023

I can’t help myself. I keep thinking about the 1961 musical Stop the World—I Want to Get Off. After opening in Manchester, England, the show transferred to the West End, London, where it ran for 485 performances.

It’s not that the plot of this extravaganza has anything to do with what we are talking about here. It’s just that the sentiment embodied by the show’s title reflects the way I’m currently feeling about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

On the one … Read More → "Mind-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips (Part 1)"

Siemens Adds AI and Big-Data Management to Its Questa Verification EDA tools

by Steven Leibson

March 6, 2023

It’s no secret that ASIC and ASSP designs are getting more complex. First, there’s that whole thing about Moore’s Law allowing design teams to put more transistors, gates, memory cells, transceivers, processors, and acceleration engines on a chip. And, if that weren’t enough, there’s the relatively new quest to stuff an increasing number of chiplets into a package, tying them all together with 2.5D or 3D packaging techniques. The result is a geometric or exponential complexity increase for logic, power distribution, and thermal dissipation.

XMOS: Using RISC-V to Define SoCs in Software

by Max Maxfield

March 2, 2023

My university degree was what they call a co-op course in the USA. Standing for “cooperative education,” this refers to a program that balances classroom theory with periods of practical, hands-on experience. There were two types of such courses in the UK. One type was called a “thin sandwich” because it involved short alternating 6-week periods in and out of college. The other type, which I was on, was called a “thick sandwich” because it involved longer periods. As I recall, we were in college for a year, out in industry for six months, back in … Read More → "XMOS: Using RISC-V to Define SoCs in Software"

The Transistor at 75: The First Makers, Part 6

by Steven Leibson

March 1, 2023

The first five articles in this series discussed early licensees of the Bell Telephone Labs (BTL) transistor patents in the US and Europe. However, one more geographic region was actively involved in transistor development during the early 1950s: Japan. This final article in the series covers the story of one Japanese company’s efforts to license, make, and use transistors based on the BTL transistor patents.

Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945 and the subsequent signing of surrender documents on September 2 marked the end of World War II. That same month, … Read More → "The Transistor at 75: The First Makers, Part 6"

Helping Sandia National Laboratories Reach Nirvana

by Max Maxfield

February 28, 2023

A few days ago as I pen these words, I was happily ensconced in my comfy command chair in the Pleasure Dome (my office) when I received an auto-generated email saying I’d been tagged in a post on LinkedIn. I immediately bounced over to take a look (ever hopeful to discover that a long-lost relative had bequeathed me a fortune) and was transported back in time by what I found there (cue “traveling back in time” music and visual effects). … Read More →

The Transistor at 75: The First Makers, Part 5

by Steven Leibson

February 27, 2023

Last November, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the announcement by Bell Telephone Labs (BTL) of the transistor’s birth. Many articles about the early transistor developments have appeared, but I started to wonder about the earliest commercial transistor vendors. In Part 1 of this article, I discussed an incomplete list of attendees at a transistor symposium that was held at BTL in 1952. That list was compiled some years ago by Bo Lojek: … Read More →

These Aren’t Your Mother’s SoMs!

by Max Maxfield

February 21, 2023

I just learned something new. I thought the System-on-Module” (SoM or SOM, depending on your preference) moniker was relatively new. I should have known better. “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,” as the prophet said in Ecclesiastes 1:9.

No matter what your religious persuasion, it has to be admitted that the lad was a tad on the gloomy side. Not the sort of person you’d expect to be invited to too many parties. Can you … Read More → "These Aren’t Your Mother’s SoMs!"

The Transistor at 75: The First Makers, Part 4

by Steven Leibson

February 20, 2023

Last November, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the announcement by Bell Telephone Labs (BTL) of the transistor’s birth. Many articles about the early transistor developments have appeared, but I started to wonder about the earliest commercial transistor vendors. In Part 1 of this article, I discussed an incomplete list of attendees at a transistor symposium that was held at BTL in 1952. That was list compiled some years ago by Bo Lojek: … Read More →

Using Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) in Noisy Environments

by Max Maxfield

February 16, 2023

Networking is an interesting topic. I wish I knew more about it. A lot of people don’t even think about the networks they are using so long as the piece of electronic equipment they currently want to play with works as planned.

The first time I came into contact with a network in the wild was sometime around the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981. This was my first job after leaving university, working as a member of a team designing CPUs for mainframe computers at International Computers Limited ( … Read More → "Using Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) in Noisy Environments"