Articles – Page 5

TASKBOTs Set to Seamlessly Integrate into Human Workplace Environments

April 3, 2025

I fear that my poor old cranium has been crammed to capacity with contemporary concepts. For example, I have always understood the abbreviations HIL or HITL to mean “hardware-in-the-loop” in the context of simulation and emulation. Now, however, I have discovered they can also refer to “human-in-the-loop,” which is an experience I’ve not hitherto enjoyed myself.

When I hear “human-in-the-loop,” I cannot help but think about “The Borg Collective,” which is a hive mind of cyborgs in the Star Trek universe. A similar concept is also explored in < … Read More → "TASKBOTs Set to Seamlessly Integrate into Human Workplace Environments"

Max Maxfield publishes an Arduino Uno Bootcamp article series for embedded students and beginners

by Steven Leibson

April 2, 2025

My friend and EEJournal colleague Max Maxfield writes for several publications. Case in point is a 24-article Arduino Bootcamp series he has written for his Cool Beans column in Practical Electronics magazine, published in the UK. This series of articles is now downloadable as a PDF bundle. The series was two years in the making and sells for the low, low price of £20. If you’re interested, click here. If you think that’s too much to pay for a 24-article reprint, consider what … Read More → "Max Maxfield publishes an Arduino Uno Bootcamp article series for embedded students and beginners"

Findchips: From Engineer’s Hack to Advanced Component Search Engine

by Max Maxfield

April 1, 2025

As I may have mentioned on occasion, one of my favorite science fiction movies is the 1982 American-Hong Kong dystopian science fiction movie Blade Runner, which was directed by Ridley Scott and is often rated as one of the greatest sci-fi films ever (it was based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick).

The reason I mention this here is that one of the never-to-be-forgotten scenes in the movie is the “< … Read More → "Findchips: From Engineer’s Hack to Advanced Component Search Engine"

The Resharp story: A knife-sharpening robot may have taken root in your local hardware store

by Steven Leibson

March 31, 2025

The practice of putting sharp edges on cutting tools dates back more than two million years. That’s when we think genus Homo started using hammerstones to break off parts of a rock to form sharp cutting edges. Things have changed since then. Based on numerous YouTube videos devoted to the topic, knife sharpening has evolved into high art. Now, it’s reached the point where robots can do a respectable job of sharpening knives. You’ll likely find one of these robots at your local hardware store.

Back in my Cub Scout … Read More → "The Resharp story: A knife-sharpening robot may have taken root in your local hardware store"

Are You Going to RISC-V Con 2025?

by Max Maxfield

March 27, 2025

I’m thinking of a RISC-V IP vendor. One that has a 30% market share of the global RISC-V IP market. One whose IP cores are to be found in more than 16 billion system-on-chip (SoC) devices. Are you thinking who I’m thinking? … Read More →

Lip-Bu Tan steps into the Intel CEO role. Can he save the company?

by Steven Leibson

March 24, 2025

The question in my headline is a bit of a tease. Intel doesn’t need saving, per se, but its reputation sure needs a makeover, and the company’s new CEO – Lip-Bu Tan – certainly has the chops and smarts to rebuild the financial community’s and the electronics industry’s trust in the once (and future?) semiconductor leader. Many pundits have opined already about Intel’s new CEO, so why trust my opinion? I’ve got experience working for a company run by Tan during his years as Cadence’s CEO, so I don’t need to … Read More → "Lip-Bu Tan steps into the Intel CEO role. Can he save the company?"

From Power Supply Block Diagram to Completed Design in 60 Seconds!

by Max Maxfield

March 20, 2025

There are many things I’ve not really thought about before. I don’t like to boast (I pride myself on my humility), but I bet I’ve not thought about more things than most people. One reason I say this is that I keep on being introduced to new things I’ve never even considered.

Take the power supply portion of embedded systems and the “things” part of the IoT, for example. I think it’s fair to say that this is right at the top of the list … Read More → "From Power Supply Block Diagram to Completed Design in 60 Seconds!"

Speeding AI and HPC Workloads with Composable Memory and Hardware Compression / Decompression Acceleration

by Max Maxfield

March 18, 2025

Sometimes I try to capture a column’s intent in a short, snappy title using pithy prose, as it were. I might attempt an aphoristic or epigrammatic turn of phrase while trying not to appear gnomic (which—as we now see—is something I reserve for my opening sentence).

In this case, however, my Speeding AI and HPC Workloads with Composable Memory and Hardware Compression / Decompression Acceleration offering is as short and snappy as I could make it with respect to the topic about which I’m … Read More → "Speeding AI and HPC Workloads with Composable Memory and Hardware Compression / Decompression Acceleration"

Altera announces that Agilex 3 FPGAs are in production and are ready for ordering, immediately

by Steven Leibson

March 17, 2025

At the recent Embedded World held in Nuremberg, Altera made an announcement and wants you to know two things: Agilex 3 FPGAs are now in production, and you can order them now. Altera also announced development support for Agilex 3 FPGAs (along with Agilex 5 E-series FPGAs and MAX10 programmable logic devices) through a no-cost Quartus license, and development boards from iWave and Terasic. The company will continue to offer its Cyclone V FPGAs, which will be less expensive than Agilex 3 FPGAs with similar numbers of logic elements (LEs). During a preview of the Embedded World announcement, Altera CEO Sandra … Read More → "Altera announces that Agilex 3 FPGAs are in production and are ready for ordering, immediately"

Need 3,000A to Power Your Next-Gen XPU?

by Max Maxfield

March 13, 2025

I wish I were going to attend the forthcoming IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, which is scheduled to take place next week as I pen these words. There’s a buzz building around this year’s event like “I know not wot,” as it were.

APEC 2025 will be taking place March 16 to 20 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. When I say “Georgia,” I mean Georgia, the state in North America (one state over to the right from where … Read More → "Need 3,000A to Power Your Next-Gen XPU?"