Articles – Page 69

June 28, 2021

There’s an old salesman’s adage that “confused customers never buy.” That’s why glossy sales brochures don’t have a lot of technical information, and why car salesmen don’t delve too deeply into features and benefits. Too much information can lead to analysis paralysis, and, while that might be fun for engineers, it’s bad for business.

There’s a separate but related effect in engineering. A new technology might be interesting and impressive, but if you don’t immediately grasp how to use it, it won’ … Read More → "Edge AI On The Cheap and Deep"

The A, B, C of USB for Beginners

by Max Maxfield

June 24, 2021

I don’t wish to appear greedy, and I certainly don’t wish to boast (I pride myself on my humility), but I do flatter myself that I know more than my fair share of Bobs (that is, people called Bob, not the hair style of the same moniker). I could start naming names, but (a) they would all be called Bob and (b) we would be here all day.

Suffice it to say that one Bob in particular is much on my mind at the moment, not least because … Read More → "The A, B, C of USB for Beginners"

Find Your Security in the Cloud

Sequitur Labs Adds “Trust as a Service”

by Jim Turley

June 22, 2021

Sometimes the biggest engineering challenge is overcoming NIH. The dreaded “not invented here” syndrome has derailed many a project, cost untold millions, wasted months, and produced inferior products. NIH is like our own children: it’s hard not to fall in love and overlook the flaws.

Sometimes what we need is a whack on the head and someone to tell us, “This is not your core competence! Give it up and let an expert do it!” It’s tough love in the engineering lab.

Morpheus Processor Foils Attackers

Research CPU is Designed to be Self-Vaccinating

by Jim Turley

June 21, 2021

Moving targets are always harder to hit. That’s the underlying premise behind Morpheus, a CPU designed to stop malware dead in its tracks. It’s not a commercial product, but a university research project created specifically to take on a DARPA challenge for secure processors. And so far, it looks like it works, deflecting every attack thrown its way.

Creating Tiny AI/ML-Equipped Systems to Run at the Extreme Edge

by Max Maxfield

June 17, 2021

One of my favorite science fiction authors is/was Isaac Asimov (should we use the past tense since he is no longer with us, or the present tense because we still enjoy his writings?). In many ways Asimov was a futurist, but — like all who attempt to foretell what is to come — he occasionally managed to miss the mark.

Take his classic Foundation Trilogy, for example ( … Read More → "Creating Tiny AI/ML-Equipped Systems to Run at the Extreme Edge"

Startup Polishes Wi-Fi HaLow

Palma Ceia Pivots from IP to Fabless Chip Business

by Jim Turley

June 16, 2021

There’s nothing quite like getting in on the ground floor. The whole market is yours. You’ve got “first mover advantage.” You get to set the pace that others must follow.

Or there’s the old adage that you can recognize the pioneers by the arrows in their backs. Either way you look at it, entering a new market is equal parts exciting, terrifying, lucrative, and risky. Even more so when your company is changing as fast as the market.

Things were going … Read More → "Startup Polishes Wi-Fi HaLow"

Growth Everywhere but at Intel

Top 15 Semi Companies Boast Double-Digit Growth – With One Exception

by Jim Turley

June 14, 2021

To quote a famous Scotsman, it’s a great day for America, everybody! The semiconductor industry’s Q1 results are in, and they’re good. Really good. The world’s top chipmakers collectively grew by 21% compared to this time a year ago. That’s a huge increase, especially given how large these companies were already. You try growing a billion-dollar business by twenty percent sometime.

Moreover, eight of the top 15 winners were American. The rest were (predictably) based in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, or Europe (Germany and Switzerland, sort of). </ … Read More → "Growth Everywhere but at Intel"

Modus Toolbox ML, TinyML, and the AIoT

by Max Maxfield

June 10, 2021

It’s a funny old life when you come to think about it. You never know when something is going to spring up to surprise and delight you or to bite you on the a…sk no questions. As a “surprise and delight” example, I recently received a request to give the keynote presentation at the FPGA Forum in Trondheim, Norway, 9-10 February 2022.

With regard to the “ask no questions” front, I … Read More → "Modus Toolbox ML, TinyML, and the AIoT"

How to Handle x86 Inter-Task Communication

Keeping Your Tasks Separate, But Not Too Separate

by Jim Turley

June 9, 2021

All modern x86 processors can handle task switching automatically in hardware. That’s one of their nice features. That doesn’t prevent you from coding up your own custom tasking mechanism – Microsoft Windows does – but unless you’re aiming for some specific implementation, there’s no reason to ignore the built-in version.

Most of the time, you want your tasks to be separate and independent of one another. … Read More → "How to Handle x86 Inter-Task Communication"

Xilinx Turns a Page

Update From CEO Victor Peng

by Kevin Morris

June 8, 2021

Just over three years ago, Victor Peng took the helm as CEO at Xilinx upon the retirement of Moshe Gavrielov. The management transition marked the beginning of a new era at the company, as Peng began to transform the world’s largest programmable logic company into something with broader market reach and increased potential for growth.

In 2018, a few weeks after taking over, Peng outlined the new strategy for the world. Xilinx was prioritizing “data center first,” in an effort to capture a chunk of the rapid growth expected in … Read More → "Xilinx Turns a Page"