Articles – Page 63

Tortuously Topological Toroidal Transformations (a.k.a. Donut Math)

November 9, 2021

For reasons that will be revealed in the fullness of time, I’m wrestling with a passel of perplexing posers revolving around the math associated with a torus (plural tori), which is colloquially known as a donut.

Before we plunge into the fray with gusto and abandon, let’s first remind ourselves that, in the realm of mathematics, the topical topic of topology is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing holes, … Read More → "Tortuously Topological Toroidal Transformations (a.k.a. Donut Math)"

Book Review: Designing Electronics that Work

by Steven Leibson

November 8, 2021

Back in the day, 60 years ago, I built a lot of Heathkit test equipment including two oscilloscopes, two analog multimeters, an audio signal generator, an RF generator, an adjustable single-voltage power supply, and an automotive tester. I also built a Heathkit stereo receiver (that was a disaster), a digital clock with a Panaplex gas-discharge display (sure wish I still had that), and a microwave oven. Mid-century Heathkits were great because you learned a lot about electronics by building kits that were created by skilled engineers who had to develop working designs that could be assembled by … Read More → "Book Review: Designing Electronics that Work"

MathWorks’s Satellite Communications Toolbox is Out of This World!

by Max Maxfield

November 4, 2021

If you had asked me about the folks at MathWorks a few days ago, I might have waffled on about all of the traditional stuff for which they are internationally (and deservedly) renowned. I might even have made mention of their recently introduced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities (see also Want to Learn AI? But Where to … Read More → "MathWorks’s Satellite Communications Toolbox is Out of This World!"

If You Thought Bitcoin was Bad, Wait Till You Get a Load of NFTs

Non-Fungible Tokens are Turning the Art World on its Pointy Little Head

by Steven Leibson

November 3, 2021

I needed to get my wife a present for her recent birthday. What do you get for someone who says she doesn’t really want anything? You’ve probably run into this problem before with your own spouse, significant other, friend, etc. What do you get for them? If you know their digestive tastes, you might get a consumable like a bottle of wine or a Bundt cake. If they’re a reader, perhaps you’ll get them a book. If they like movies… well, going to the movies isn’t what it once was given … Read More → "If You Thought Bitcoin was Bad, Wait Till You Get a Load of NFTs"

Intel Welcomes You to the Angstrom Era

PS: Moore’s Law is Still Dead

by Steven Leibson

November 1, 2021

Intel took a lot of flak when it announced new names for its future semiconductor process nodes during the Intel Accelerated event in Late July. The new nodes are called Intel 7, 4, 3, and 20A. Industry pundits have knocked the company for calling its 10nm enhanced SuperFin process node “Intel 7.” (Intel announced and demonstrated 12th Generation i5, i7, and i9 Core processors built using the Intel 7 process node just last week at its Intel InnovatiON developer event, so this process technology is clearly well in hand.) The company now uses the name “Intel 4” for the node previously called 7 … Read More → "Intel Welcomes You to the Angstrom Era"

IOTech and Lotus Labs Deliver AI and Visual Inferencing at the IoT Edge

by Max Maxfield

October 28, 2021

“Oh, my giddy aunt!” I find it hard to believe that the last time I wrote about IOTech here on EEJournal was in “the before times” we used to call April 2020 when I waffled on about IOTech: Bridging the OT-IT Divide. Now I have even more exciting news to impart, but first…

I was wondering about the origin of the phrase, “Oh, my giddy aunt,” so I … Read More → "IOTech and Lotus Labs Deliver AI and Visual Inferencing at the IoT Edge"

Am I Going SMAD?

by Max Maxfield

October 26, 2021

Do you recall the 1963 American comedy film — It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World — starring Spencer Tracy accompanied by an all-star cast of comedians, including Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Terry Thomas, and Phil Silvers? Well, that has nothing to do with what we’re going to talk about here.

In my previous column — CIRRENT Cloud ID Automates Cloud Certificate Provisioning … Read More → "Am I Going SMAD?"

Danger: UXC – These Seven Perils Including Exploding Capacitors Can Kill Your Power Supplies

Time Bombs Sit Inside of Your Aging Power Supplies; They’re Just Ticking Down the Seconds

by Steven Leibson

October 25, 2021

A wonderful British ITV television series made in 1979 called “Danger: UXB” depicted the hazardous adventures of a fictitious Royal Engineer tunneling company as it spread out across London to disarm or destroy the thousands of unexploded bombs (UXBs) that penetrated the city’s surface during the Blitz of World War II. I saw the series a year or two later on PBS, where it appeared as a 13-episode “Masterpiece Theater” series. Riveting stuff that I vividly recall watching some 40 years later.

I was reminded of the series, oddly, by a … Read More → "Danger: UXC – These Seven Perils Including Exploding Capacitors Can Kill Your Power Supplies"

CIRRENT Cloud ID Automates Cloud Certificate Provisioning and IoT Device-to-Cloud Authentication

by Max Maxfield

October 21, 2021

Internet of Things (IoT) product companies have been struggling for years to simplify manufacturing, security, and provisioning. Well, I was just chatting with those clever lads and lasses at Infineon about their latest offering in the ongoing battle against the nefarious scoundrels who will steal or compromise your silicon chips if given half a chance. I can’t wait to tell you all about this, but first…

…all sorts of thoughts … Read More → "CIRRENT Cloud ID Automates Cloud Certificate Provisioning and IoT Device-to-Cloud Authentication"

Machine Learning: Esperanto coaxes 1092 RISC-V Processors to Dance on the Head of a Pin, er Chip

Is This the Big One for Dave Ditzel, or Will History Repeat Itself?

by Steven Leibson

October 18, 2021

Dave Ditzel has a legendary history with computing and microprocessors. He joined AT&T Bell Labs to work on C language development. While there, he developed several generations of processors designed to execute optimized compiled C programs including CRISP, Bell Labs’s “C-language Reduced Instruction Set Processor.”

At Bell Labs, Ditzel also co-authored the foundational RISC document, “The Case for the Reduced Instruction Set Computer,” with UC Berkeley’s Professor David Patterson. Ditzel then joined Sun Microsystems as CTO of the SPARC Technology Business, where he led development of … Read More → "Machine Learning: Esperanto coaxes 1092 RISC-V Processors to Dance on the Head of a Pin, er Chip"