Articles – Page 58

February 7, 2022

Ates Berna, General Manager and Managing Partner for ElectraIC in Istanbul, Turkey, recently posted a summary comparison chart showing the differences between FPGAs and ASICs on LinkedIn. Although it’s not a detailed chart, I think it’s a great icebreaker that leads to a more detailed discussion about the choices you make between an FPGA and an ASIC when you need a fairly complex high-performance, non-standard IC to solve a design challenge. (Note: The way Berna posted and tagged this chart on LinkedIn, I suspect it may have originated with Doulos, a training organization specializing in FPGA and ASIC design education. The chart compares FPGAs with “dedicated ICs,” which are clearly ASICs in this context.) … Read More →

Keeping Autonomous Vehicles Out of the Ditch and on the Road

by Max Maxfield

February 3, 2022

I have to say that I’m constantly surprised and impressed by the things the clever chaps and chapesses at MathWorks come up with. Just when I think I’ve seen and heard it all, they spring into action and introduce me to things I’d never even thought about before.

MathWorks is a privately held corporation, so it can be a tad difficult to lay one’s hands on certain information, but I’m informed that they have … Read More → "Keeping Autonomous Vehicles Out of the Ditch and on the Road"

You Too Can Employ Robots to Suck the Souls Out of Your Customers, Just Ask McDonald’s

Is Ronald McDonald Really Ol’ Beelzebub in Disguise?

by Steven Leibson

February 2, 2022

Thanks to COVID-19 and other factors, employee shortages now abound in every market, but perhaps no more so than in retail and restaurants, which are filled with low-paid, customer-facing “careers.” The result? An explosion of ordering kiosks to automate the time-consuming and nearly robotic job of taking the customer’s order. This isn’t a new trend if you think about it. Self-service gasoline appeared in the 1970s, partially in answer to rising gasoline prices. And what constitutes self-service for gasoline? A kiosk with a filling hose and nozzle. Put in your credit card, punch some … Read More → "You Too Can Employ Robots to Suck the Souls Out of Your Customers, Just Ask McDonald’s"

IBM Unveils 127-Qubit Quantum Computer

Hold on. This is Going to Make Your Head Hurt

by Steven Leibson

January 31, 2022

On November 16, during its online Quantum Summit, IBM announced that it had successfully completed initial development of the 127-qubit (quantum bit) Eagle quantum computer. Last year, IBM’s Hummingbird quantum computer handled 65 qubits, and, the year before that, the company’s Falcon quantum computer was handling calculations using 27 qubits. So the company has been steadily increasing the number of qubits that its quantum machines can handle, roughly doubling the number of operational qubits in its quantum machines on an annual basis. However, the Eagle quantum computer is the last member of IBM’s Quantum System One … Read More → "IBM Unveils 127-Qubit Quantum Computer"

Are We Poised to Turn the Optical Computing Corner?

by Max Maxfield

January 27, 2022

I remember seeing articles circa the mid-1980s proclaiming that optical computers were “just around the corner.” What they failed to say was that the corner in question was going to be called “2025” (if we are lucky). On the bright side, the folks at Lightelligence appear poised to push us around that corner! … Read More →

Want to Rule a Robot Empire? InOrbit Can Help!

by Max Maxfield

January 25, 2022

I’ve long been interested in the concept of humanoid robots boasting general artificial intelligence (AGI), which is the hypothetical ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. (AGI is sometimes referred to as “Strong AI,” although academic sources typically reserve this term for computer programs that experience sentience or consciousness.)

Just the other day, my wife (Gina the Gorgeous) fixed me with a piercing gaze and said: “You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said!” I remember … Read More → "Want to Rule a Robot Empire? InOrbit Can Help!"

Who needs a Raspberry Pi Microcontroller Chip? Maybe You

Amazingly Capable Microcontroller From an Unexpected Vendor, Now in Stock

by Steven Leibson

January 24, 2022

Many semiconductor vendors including TI, NXP, STMicroelectronics, Microchip, and others play in the microcontroller market. As with nearly every semiconductor niche, microcontrollers have been getting bigger and badder for decades. In the 1970s, there were 4-bit microcontrollers for VCRs and other simple consumer electronics. There were scads of 8-bit microcontrollers, soon followed by 16-bit microcontrollers. Motorola Semiconductor (later renamed Freescale and eventually purchased by NXP) developed the 6801, 6805, 68705, 68HC08, 68HC11, 68HC12, and 68HC16 microcontroller families with literally hundreds of variants in each family. These days, 32-bit microcontrollers are very common.

Motorola Semiconductor was by no means unique among … Read More → "Who needs a Raspberry Pi Microcontroller Chip? Maybe You"

Contactless Hand Biometric for ID Security

by Max Maxfield

January 20, 2022

How do you know that the person with whom you are interacting is who he or she says they are? The reason I got to thinking about this came about through a rather strange route.

As you probably know, I’m originally from England but I currently hang my hat in Huntsville, Alabama. I moved here for the nightlife (that’s a little Alabama joke right there). One of the funny things about living in the USA is how some of the television programs that Americans would swear were homegrown … Read More → "Contactless Hand Biometric for ID Security"

I Saw Santa’s Thermal Simulation Demo at DAC

Here’s a Fast Way to Find Some Thermal Design Solutions

by Steven Leibson

January 17, 2022

Just before Christmas, at DAC 2021, as I walked the nearly empty exhibit hall, Santa Claus leaned out of his booth and asked me if I’d like to see his thermal simulation demo. Of course, it wasn’t really Santa Claus. It was David Ratchkov, the CTO of Anemoi Software. … Read More →

Meet the World’s Smallest, Most Integrated 3D Ultrasonic Sensor

by Max Maxfield

January 13, 2022

The concept of age is much on my mind at the moment. Well, yes, theoretically I will be turning 65 in a few months’ time, thank you so much for bringing this to everyone’s attention, but that’s not what I meant. On the other hand, since you’ve seen fit to open this can of worms, I must admit that I’m pondering the idea of simply re-celebrating my 64th birthday over and over again — a sort of groundhog birthday, if you will — thereby ensuring … Read More → "Meet the World’s Smallest, Most Integrated 3D Ultrasonic Sensor"