Product engineering organizations face the incredible challenge of ever shrinking market windows for innovation in 2012. Due to globalization, increasing competition and rapidly changing technology, there are many risks and uncertainties facing the new product development path. These opportunities if missed, can lead to huge costs and overwhelming complexity that can compromise quality and lead to very expensive recalls. Innovating in the face of these pressures requires organizations to rethink how they work.
Learn the most important new technologies and start designing next-generation equipment early if you are working on real technology company. The real technology companies asks are Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and Google good technology companies or good applications-of-technology companies? Applications-of-technology could also be a good position to be. No matter where you are differentiate to dominate. No more lame “me too” products. CES is over; it’s time to start designing. Here are some material to fuel up your innovation.
EE Times’ 20 hot technologies for 2012 article is a list of 20 technologies EE Times editors think can bring big changes, and that EE Times will be tracking during 2012. Hot technologies: Looking ahead to 2012 article: EDN magazine editors reflect on some of the hot trends and technologies in 2011 – and look ahead to 2012.
Top 12 Hot Design Technologies for 2012 article mentions MEMS, Wireless sensor networks, Internet of Things starts with lightbulbs, new flexibility via organic materials for electronics, Near Field Communication (NFC) is becoming available in many mobile phones, Printed electronics, power scavenging methods for low power electronics, Graphene, conversion of solar energy, Ethernet displaces proprietary field buses, 40/100 Gbit/s Ethernet Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays and Smart Grid technologies (power management and architecture system components). We are nearing the point where some microelectronics systems can be made sufficiently low power – requiring microamps rather than milliamps – that scavenging methods can produce enough power to enable them to be autonomous.
Home electronics is expected to become a new status symbol (Kodinelektroniikasta uusi statussymboli) article tells that consumer electronics demand will increase further in 2012 according to market research by Deloitte. Latest digital technology will also become a status symbol in homes. In particular, tablets, and smartphones Deloitte expects record sales.
Mobile phones with advanced features start to replace traditional separate devices for different functions. This is happening for small digital cameras and video cameras. 2012 At the end of 2012 there is the more navigation capable mobile phones than the stand-alone GPS navigators according to Berg Insight. Berg Insight calculates that the sales of separate GPS navigators started to decline already in 2011. Nav equipment manufacturers have responded to the situation by bringing the software to mobile devices.
How apps for your appliances represent the next opportunity article tells that Samsung Electronics not only pushed its smart TVs at CES, but a whole line of smart appliances, including washers and refrigerators. If Samsung Electronics is right, developers may flock to smart appliances as the next opportunity. That included music apps such as Pandora on the refrigerator and an app on the washer that can ping you when a load is done.
IPv6 is becoming more important. One of the driving forces behind the move from IPv4 to IPv6 has been low-cost embedded devices, which are going online at an accelerating pace. Support for this technology will be crucial for the success of many forthcoming connected embedded devices. IPv6 on a microcontroller article gives some tips how to implement IPv6 on small microcontroller.
The science fiction future of medical implants is here article tells that semiconductor solutions contained in hand-held consumer product innovations are now finding their way into medical implantables: wireless data and power transmission as well as analog, microcontrollers and transducer capabilities.
App Servers and Lua Scripting Speed Rich Web Applications for Small Devices article tells that with ever more smart devices connecting to the web, even small embedded devices must be able to serve up rich graphical presentations of the data to satisfy user expectations. This creates a new challenge for designers of small embedded systems as a new task. With time and space at a premium, a scripting approach can be invaluable. LAMP (Linux, Apache, mysql, PHP) setups work well in full-up web server implementations (at least around 65 Mbyte of memory), but for small embedded system we need something that uses less resources. Smartphones have set the bar ridiculously high when it comes to how sophisticated the application interface should be.
We’re on the cusp of an era that offers better-than-ever display technologies for an excitingly immersive viewer experience. Just as we’ve seen the emergence of 3DTV for consumers and higher than HDTV resolutions are to be tested in 2012 London Olympics. Xilinx Making Immersive 3D and 4K2K Displays Possible with 7 Series FPGA System Integration press release tells that Xilinx just introduced new 28nm Kintex™-7 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based targeted reference designs and a new development baseboard for accelerating the development of next-generation, 3D and 4K2K display technologies at 2012 International CES. The network infrastructure will need an overhaul in 2012 due to the increasing amounts of high-definition video and other traffic.
ARM processor becomes more and more popular during year 2012. Power and Integration—ARM Making More Inroads into More Designs. It’s about power—low power; almost no power. A huge and burgeoning market is opening for devices that are handheld and mobile. The most obvious among these are smartphones and tablets, but there is also an increasing number of industrial and military devices that fall into this category. ARM’s East unimpressed with Medfield, design wins article tells that Warren East, CEO of processor technology licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England), is unimpressed by the announcements made by chip giant Intel about the low-power Medfield system-chip and its design wins. Android will run better on our chips, says Intel. Look out what happens in this competition.
Bill McClean: Don’t broad-brush the semiconductor market article tells that year 2011 started off great, full of optimism and high growth expectations for the semiconductor industry. But that mellowed as the year progressed (total semiconductor market at 2% growth for this year, although smartphone increase very much). Going into 2012, there’s not a lot of optimism. Any thoughts on 2013? A: We’re thinking it’s going to be a little slower than 2012. So, we’re looking to a slower market—not a disaster.
Chip sales flat in 2011, will grow (a wee bit) in 2012 article tells that the prognosticators at Gartner have ranked the chip makers of the world by 2011 revenue and are calling the market for 2012, with a reasonably upbeat forecast for next year’s chip sales, but (paradoxically) a dreadful forecast for companies that make the gear to bake the chips. Disk shortages are expected to slow down PC sales for several quarters. Smartphones, tablets, and flash will represent more than three-quarters of the revenue growth between now and 2015.
There are also some more optimistic predictions for chip sales. Malcolm Penn, founder and chief analyst with semiconductor market analysis firm Future Horizons Ltd, is more bullish than most other market analysts. Bullish Penn sees chip market growth of 8% in 2012 article tells that Malcolm Penn has predicted that the global chip market will rise on an annual basis by 8% to $323.2 billion in 2012. Penn said that after a flat first quarter he expected the chip market to bounce back in the second half of the year. He considers that 8% growth is a “safe bet,” and indicated that annual growth “could easily be 20%.” For 2013 Future Horizons forecasts 20% annual growth.
EDN magazine writes in PC boards: Materials and processing are now a hot technology article that exotic substrates and fabrication methods are now commonplace. A dozen layers, thick copper, fine lines, and buried vias are just the processing side of the modern high-tech PCB. There are many processing options that have made PCBs truly a hot technology. Also the substrates themselves are now high tech. Traditional FR-2 (phenolic resin bonded paper) or FR-4 (glass-reinforced epoxy laminate) are not the only widely supported choices anymore. You could always specify Teflon or polyamide substrates for high-speed circuits. In addition to the old high tech like flex circuits, there are a host of improvements that make a whole new set of high-tech PCB designs that are truly a hot technology.
EDA industry predictions for 2012 mentions that 28-nm design starts will increase by 50% in 2012 and more people will be dabbling with 20 nm. The increased design sizes and complexity will create all kinds of pressure in the verification and test fields.
The rise in fake parts is also contributing to engineers’ fears that their products will be corrupted. Counterfeit electronic components were big issue in 2011, and the problem does not go away this year.
EDA industry predictions for 2012 mentions a trend, and one that has been going on for some time, is a continued migration of functionality from hardware to software. Dr Markus Willems of Synopsys attributed this to “the needs to support multiple standards simultaneously (wireless, multimedia), use the same hardware platform for product derivatives (automotive), quickly adjust to evolving standards (wireless), and react to changing market demands (all applications).” Increased rate of adoption of new technologies such as tablets, ultra-books, and their inherent demand for low-power solutions will help the EDA industry improve their importance. Electronic system-level design tools (ESL) continues to be an important thrust for the EDA industry. Increased adoption of the TLM 2.0 (Transaction-level modeling) standard is a popular theme. Several EDA companies have been busy writing books recently and self-publishing them.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools are taking product design to the next level (especially in automotive, aerospace, and defense). PLM was launched more than a decade ago with the lofty vision of creating an enterprise-wide, central repository for all product-related data, from the earliest customer requirements feedback through quality and failure data collected in the field by maintenance and support personnel. Product lifecycle management, sometimes “product life cycle management”, represents an all-encompassing vision for managing all data relating to the design, production, support and ultimate disposal of manufactured goods. What 2012 holds for Product Lifecycle Management? article tells about current PLM trends.
The prototype comes of age article tells that a radical change is about to happen in the typical development of an electronic system. The hardware-development flow will no longer be the center around which everything else revolves. The rising size and complexity of systems and the limitations of using a single-purpose model—the hardware-design model—have fueled the growth of new prototyping technologies. Among the changes now taking place in this area is the migration to higher levels of abstraction for hardware design. The ability to derive several implementations from a single high-level description is also desirable. Many hardware blocks now come with sophisticated software stacks, and they also must be integrated into the software flow.
‘KISS’ Among Engineers’ Top 2012 Concerns article tells that Rich Merritt agrees that we’ve forgotten the KISS principle especially in automation sector. “We’ve made everything so complicated, complex, and convoluted that we’ve entered the age of ‘transoptimal engineering,’ ” he says. “That is, things are so advanced and have so many features, they don’t work anymore.” Business development manager Herat Shah sees the pressures for complexity and price converging in an unhealthy manner. “The biggest issue for the automation and control supplier is to design and engineer something that’s the cheapest and the best,” he says. “Practically, this is not possible.” In addition to this there are security concerns: Stuxnet targeted controllers, and made engineers realize that factories aren’t immune to security threats.
How do you manage the Internet of you? article claims that electronics has gotten to the point (in the consumer space) where the only innovations are the mundane, the enhancements, the extensions. A computing device today (whether a tablet, a phone or a PC) can do what telephony, typewriters, pen and ink, film (motion and still), cameras, television, radio (basically all major mediums) did a generation ago. And yet… And yet we still innovate. We still build. We still buy. The devices in one sense feed the worst part of a personality: compulsiveness. They suppress pause and reflection. Think about it.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Last year, Nokia acquired 17 per cent of its production to subcontractors, who made 80 million phones
Helsingin Sanomat reported last Thursday that Nokia will not buy anymore for any of the phone manufacturing contracted.
Principal analyst Adam Pick release iSuppli estimates that Nokia’s decision reflects the squeeze on the mobile phone market to the extreme situation.
The market research firm predicts that the contract design and project management, and product manufacturing companies that specialize in the market will contract this year to 9.9 per cent to $ 270.8 billion.
Last year, the market was 300.7 billion dollars in size, iSuppli estimates.
Particularly badly hit Nokia’s decision to the company’s main subcontractor Foxconn.
Other important suppliers include Nokia, Chinese BYD, Jabil U.S. and Finnish Elcoteq.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/bisnes/2009/03/30/nokia-paattaa-alihankkijat-maksavat/20098374/66
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile devices kept the semiconductor industry afloat in 2011
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2165076/mobile-devices-kept-semiconductor-industry-afloat-2011
ANALYST OUTFIT ABI Research reports that revenue from mobile device chips rose 20 per cent in 2011, while the wider semiconductor market languished with just two per cent growth from the previous year.
While Intel enjoyed a bumper 2011, the rest of the semiconductor industry had to put up with low demand and equally low prices, with the DRAM market becoming the poster child for a stagnating semiconductor industry. However ABI Research reports that while the industry as a whole was lagging, the semiconductor firms involved in designing and making chips for mobile devices did exceptionally well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip sales slipped 1.3% in February, says SIA
http://www.edn.com/article/521378-Chip_sales_slipped_1_3_in_February_says_SIA.php?cid=EDNToday_20120403
The three-month rolling average of global semiconductor sales fell to $22.9 billion in February, down 1.3% from January, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) trade group.
February chip sales were down 7.3% compared to February 2011, according to the SIA. In the Americas region, semiconductor sales grew 1.1% compared to January, SIA said.
Toohey said the combination of improved US macroeconomic factors and the sales growth in the Americas region “warrants an optimistic view for growth in 2012.”
As products with improved functionality in mobility, sensing and energy efficiency come to market to meet consumer and enterprise demand, semiconductor sales are expected to continue along the path of long term growth, according to SIA.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multi-cores tackle human interface
http://www.edn.com/article/521306-Multi_cores_tackle_human_interface.php?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+on+Consumer+Electronics
The diverse demands of real-time process control which must nevertheless offer a touch-enabled user-interface—from smart appliances to point-of-sale terminals to medical monitors—is best addressed by heterogeneous multi-core processors, according to Freescale Semiconductor Inc
“Smartphone users now expect their appliances to have smart touch-enabled human-machine interfaces, but microcontrollers that are good at running high-level OS’s like Android have a hard time delivering real-time deterministic control, too,” said John Weil, global business manager for industrial MCU solutions at Freescale. “Our new Vybird family solves that problem with a heterogeneous ARM architecture—using a Cortex-A5 core for both the human interface and a Cortex-M5 for real-time control.”
Current applications to be delivered from OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) late in 2012 or early 2013 include touchscreen-enabled point-of-sale terminals, medical monitors/dispensers, and white goods. Typical division-of-labor between the A5 and M4 cores include running a touch-enabled Android user interface as the human-machine interface on the A5, and the security-and-safety algorithms for guaranteed drug delivery for medical applications as well as the servo-control and swipe-and-read algorithms for industrial and point-of-sale applications, respectively, on the M4 cores.
Hardware support for a semaphore-based message-passing system handles communications between the two cores.
A {Fresh says:
Here, I have laid out a action-by-stage plan that not only provides you the essential guides, ideas and tricks, but also reveals the required resources and resources which you ought to think about in your company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
One Year After Quake, Japan Faces Challenge Of Aging Chip
http://efytimes.com/e1/80591/One-Year-After-Quake-Japan-Faces-Challenge-Of-Aging-Chip
Wednesday, March 21, 2012: One year ago, Japan’s semiconductor industry was rocked by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. However, the real disaster for Japan’s chip industry occurred during the years before the earthquake—a period when the country lost its status as one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing regions, according to the IHS iSuppli Semiconductor Value Chain Service at information and analytics provider IHS
“The limited impact of the quake on the global semiconductor industry dramatically illustrated Japan’s diminished status in the worldwide chip hierarchy and underscored the pressing need for the country to revitalize its business in this area,” said Len Jelinek, director and chief analyst for semiconductor manufacturing at IHS.
Of the major global semiconductor manufacturing regions, Japan now has the smallest number of number of advanced 300-millimeter wafer fabs and the largest number of mature 6-inch wafer fabs
Unfortunately for Japanese semiconductor companies, the disaster uncovered an issue that had been known but not openly acknowledged: Japan is no longer in a leadership position for the manufacturing of semiconductor components.
As the leading chip manufacturing companies transition to sub-28-nanometer manufacturing, Japan is facing the fact that it currently has no company capable of volume manufacturing using this advanced technology node.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Top Medical Tech Engineering Innovations
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1395&doc_id=241439&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
Physicians get the credit for saving lives, but the behind-the-scenes work of engineers improves the lives of countless people in hospitals across the country every day.
Information says:
Another typically observed error is to develop a personalized profile with one particular e mail and then generate a organization page with a second electronic mail log-in simply because they do not want their Facebook buddies to know they are connected with the enterprise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2D vs. 2.5D vs. 3D ICs 101
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4370596/2D-vs–2-5D-vs–3D-ICs-101?Ecosystem=communications-design
I see a lot of articles bouncing around the Internet these days about 2.5D and 3D ICs. The problem is that there’s a lot of confusion in this area. There are a lot of other articles that have “3D ICs” in the title, but when I plunge in I realize that we’re really only talking about 2.5D ICs.
All of the previous packaging technologies fall under the realm of 2D (two-dimensional) ICs, because the die or dice are mounted in the package in a single plane.
The advantage of using 2.5D IC/SiP technology is that it’s an incremental step from traditional 2D IC/SiP technology that offers tremendous increases in capacity and performance.
a silicon interposer is placed between the SiP substrate and the dice
As one example of the use of this technology, the Xilinx Virtex-7 2000T device has four FPGA dice attached to a silicon interposer, which supports ~10,000 silicon-speed connections between adjacent dice.
The idea behind 3D ICs/SiPs is to mount two or more dice on top of each other. An individual die is now so thin that theoretically it would be possible to mount 100 on top of each other to form a cube, but the amount of heat being generated would melt the resulting structure into a puddle of silicon in a very short time
One really good one that came out recently was 2.5D ICs are more than a stepping stone to 3D ICs by Mike Santarini of Xilinx.
2.5D ICs are more than a stepping stone to 3D ICs
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4369950/2-5D-ICs-are-more-than-a-stepping-stone-to-3D-ICs?Ecosystem=programmable-logic
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solar-Powered Tent Concept Makes Roughing It a Little Less Rough
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/solar-powered-tent-concept-makes-roughing-it-a-little-less-rough/
Industrial Designer Benjamin Charles’ Leav tent concept solves the problems associated with bringing powered gadgets into the wilderness, and also appears to deliver a level of comfort that we rarely find outdoors.
Roof-top solar cells power the tent’s lighting system and supply electricity for consumer electronics. The roof also contains solar thermal panels that produce hot water, so campers won’t have to bathe in a nearby river.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apps ease test and measurement tasks on all levels
http://www.edn.com/article/521470-Apps_ease_test_and_measurement_tasks_on_all_levels.php?cid=EDNToday_20120411
Testing has become a world of applications one can access and use from fixed and mobile devices to control the testing environment in both large enterprise settings as well as in local engineering labs.
On the mobile front National Instruments announced multiple mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
“Smartphones and tablets are game-changers for the test and measurement industry,” said Ray Almgren, NI vice president of product marketing core platforms, in a statement. “These new apps combine the portability of mobile devices with the power of LabVIEW, helping engineers increase their productivity and meet the latest application challenges.”
NI LabVIEW software and hardware is aimed at enhancing design productivity with data visualization solutions.
The LabVIEW software- and NI hardware-compatible mobile apps bring the following features to the testing environment: engineers can use Data Dashboard for LabVIEW and Data Dashboard Mobile for LabVIEW apps to visualize measurement data using smartphone and tablet devices. As well, the NI cDAQ-9191 Data Display app offers direct connectivity to wireless NI CompactDAQ hardware for portable measurements.
What’s more, engineers can directly connect wireless NI CompactDAQ hardware to iOS and Android devices using new technology featured on the company’s NI Labs site.
They can also configure, visualize, and save measurements without a PC or tethered display and program custom apps that connect to NI CompactDAQ devices with the cDAQ-9191 Web API.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adidas Brings You the First ‘Smart’ Soccer Match
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/04/adidas-micoach-mls-all-star/
Athletes and coaches are swimming in data these days, and Adidas is adding to the pool as it joins Major League Soccer to make this year’s all-star game against Chelsea the world’s first “smart soccer match.”
Adidas will embed its miCoach data tracker in uniforms worn by players competing in the 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game on July 25. The “professional soccer team tracking system” riffs on the miCoach Speed Cell introduced last year, and Adidas says it will provide coaches with real-time data about player position and performance.
But the technology appears to build on the MiCoach Speed Cell. The Speed Cell is a bit smaller than a poker chip and typically snaps into the bottom of the Adizero F50 soccer shoe. It tracks pace and distance, average and maximum speed, distance covered at high intensity and acceleration. It is part of a broader trend within the industry to create so-called “smart shoes” that use radio frequency identification tags, motion sensors and accelerometers to customize appearance, fit and responsiveness. The shoes of tomorrow also will transmit data to the cloud.
The miCoach tech we’ll see at the all-star game takes it a step further, providing coaches with real-time info including player position, power output, speed, distance covered, intensity of play, acceleration and GPS mapping. Adidas says the tech will allows coaches to make more informed game-time decisions, but it won’t say more until July 25.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digi International, Wind River cooperate on cloud-connected wireless M2M solutions
http://www.edn.com/article/521428-Digi_International_Wind_River_cooperate_on_cloud_connected_wireless_M2M_solutions.php?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+on+Embedded+Processing
Digi International and Wind River will jointly deliver a new family of cloud-connected wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, the M2M Solution Builder kits, including a combination of hardware, software, cloud connectivity, and access to tailored M2M development services.
This complete end-to-end solution, tailored for performance- and connectivity-driven applications, will dramatically simplify the creation of an M2M solution.
“We are excited to work closely with Wind River and Intel to create differentiated smart device solutions,” said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Digi International. “In addition, the close relationship with Wind River allows us to offer customers a complete and field-proven software solution for smart connected devices.”
The M2M Solution Builder kit will feature an Intel Atom processor E6204, the Wind River Linux environment with an M2M software development kit (SDK), iDigi Connector integration which allows any device to integrate easily with the iDigi Device Cloud, a proven cloud infrastructure for remote device management and cloud-based information exchange providing “any app, anything, anywhere” capabilities to connected devices via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or cellular connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IHS: Foxconn report a ‘moment of reckoning’ for electronics
http://www.edn.com/article/521469-IHS_Foxconn_report_a_moment_of_reckoning_for_electronics.php?cid=EDNToday_20120411
An investigation by a labor practice watchdog group that revealed serious workers’ issues at Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd—which operates under the trade name Foxconn—could be a “moment of reckoning” for the electronics industry similar to what occurred in the footwear and apparel industry in the 1990s, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.
The FLA (Fair Labor Association) issued a report last month detailing the results of a month-long investigation into labor practices at Foxconn. The FLA said the investigation uncovered “significant issues” with working conditions at three Foxconn factories in China, including workers working more than 60 hours per week and not being compensated with overtime.
Apple joined the FLA in January under mounting pressure from workers rights advocates and consumers concerned about working conditions at Foxconn in the wake of a string of suicides at Foxconn worker facilities last year.
The result of the investigation is likely an increased focus on compliance, as well as rising costs for electronics brands, according to a recent analysis from IHS.
Foxconn, the world’s largest maker of electronic components, is headquartered in Taiwan, but operates a number of very large manufacturing facilities in China.
“While the recent focus has been on Apple and Foxconn, the fact is that nearly all electronics brands make use of contract manufacturers,” Dinges said. “Because of this, nearly all brands are at risk from negative headlines in their local newspapers that could arise from news of worker issues.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Single-layer touchscreens gain new controllers, ITO sensor
http://www.edn.com/article/521409-Single_layer_touchscreens_gain_new_controllers_ITO_sensor.php?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Weekly
Smartphones and tablets, with their infinitely customizable multitouch screens, have trained consumers to expect the same degree of versatility in all devices, from cars to refrigerators to medical electronics.
Targeting these users, Atmel’s MaxTouch line of touchscreen controllers supports consumer and industrial applications. The company has now added the mXT768E and mXT540E automotive-qualified controllers for 5- to 10-in. touchscreens and touchpads in center-stack displays, navigation systems, radio-human-machine interfaces, and back-seat entertainment systems.
Conventional controllers for capacitive touchscreens require a shield layer within the multilayer touchscreen to prevent noise coupling from the LCD.
These automotive-qualified MaxTouch devices offer a signal-to-noise ratio of 80-to-1, eliminating the need for shields
Cypress Semiconductor’s new SLIM (single-layer-independent-multitouch) sensor provides touchscreen accuracy and responsiveness with a true single-layer sensor panel. It enables users to perform gestures such as pinch, zoom, flick, drag, swipe, and others requiring more than two fingers. The single-substrate, single-layer indium-tin-oxide touchscreen sensor requires no additional insulation layers or bridges, reducing the sensor module’s thickness and the sensor’s cost by approximately 40%. Manufacturers can deposit SLIM directly on the device’s cover glass.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brocade Weighs in on the FPGA/ASIC Debate
http://www.fpgagurus.edn.com/blog/fpga-gurus-blog/brocade-weighs-fpgaasic-debate?cid=EDNToday_20120412
When an OEM with only an indirect interest in a semiconductor vendor weighs the pros and cons of FPGAs and ASICs in a public forum, it always carries a little more independent weight than having chip vendors with vested interests slug it out. That’s why I was glad to see Pete Moyer, a public-network specialist at Brocade Communications Systems Inc., give us a features-rundown of ASICs and FPGAs for backbone switching applications (http://community.brocade.com/community/brocadeblogs/service_providers/blog/authors/pmoyer).
Since Brocade has been a user of FPGAs in routers for more than a decade, a little bit of bias is bound to show itself, but I think Moyer is more than fair to both sides. He mentions the skeptics who claim that FPGAs cannot keep up to speed in backbone packet forwarding applications, and says that Brocade essentially uses its FPGAs as programmable network processors.
In his final paragraphs comparing the two architectures, Moyer suggests that some very high-volume production runs defined by well-characterized problem sets, could benefit from ASICs. Otherwise, a designer should look to an FPGA.
there seems little room to consider ASICs any more – even in unit prices for high-volume applications.
Brocade shows us reasons for preferring FPGAs in many network applications. I’m ready to go a step further than Moyer and suggest that for ASICs, it’s “game over.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel says 25% of shipments will be on 22-nm in Q2
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4371234/Intel-22-nm-is-one-quarter-of-production
Intel’s 22-nm manufacturing process technology with FinFET transistors will be responsible for 25 percent of Intel’s IC shipments in the second quarter of 2012, according to Stacy Smith, Intel chief financial officer
ntel is hitting hitting high volume as the company manufactures Ivy Bridge processors for desktop and notebook computers and this is despite the fact that Intel has yet to formally launch the Ivy Bridge processor. Ivy Bridge is a shrink of the previous Sandy Bridge processor from a 32-nm process to the 22-nm process.
Intel has been manufacturing ICs on the 22-nm process for several quarters, according to one source and is reported to have started manufacturing Ivy Bridge “in volume” in the third quarter of 2011.
Paul Ottelini, CEO of Intel, said that Intel now has three wafer fabs ramping the 22-nm manufacturing process in the second quarter of 2012 and a fourth wafer fab is due to ramp production in the second half of 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC’s Chang: ‘The worst is behind us’ on 28-nm
http://www.edn.com/article/521532-TSMC_s_Chang_The_worst_is_behind_us_on_28_nm.php?cid=EDNToday_20120418
“Yes, we had some difficulties with 28-nm, but those difficulties had to do with not having enough capacity, not yields,” Chang said.
Chang said TSMC’s investments in capacity expansion for 28-nm production have helped the firm alleviate the 28-nm capacity crunch
“With capacity coming online, I do believe the worst is behind us,” Chang said.
Taiwanese IT publication Digitimes said in a report Tuesday that two stalwart TSMC customers, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp, approached other foundries about producing 28-nm chips for them because of tight 28-nm capacity at TSMC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Perfect storm’ drives electronics stores to EXTINCTION
Supermarket and web rivals will eat retailers alive – analyst
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/04/19/consumer_electronics_retail_devastation/
The window of opportunity for traditional bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailers to catch up with web-based and supermarket rivals has closed and many more will go the way of the dinosaur.
So says channel beancounter Canalys, which predicts others will follow in the footsteps of monolithic consumer outlets such as Best Buy Europe, CompUSA and Circuit City.
Retailers were “hit by a perfect storm”, with supermarkets and etailers selling tech at lower prices and could not match the stock variety, more favourable returns policy, peer reviews and free delivery of online rivals.
“Consumer electronics retailers now offer very few benefits to consumers,” said Canalys principal analyst Alastair Edwards.
He said they appeal only to a rapidly shrinking group of individuals that are “unable or unwilling” to jump on the web with credit card in hand, or to impulse buyers who want to pick up a products immediately.
Canalys said consumer electronics retailers “failed spectacularly to respond” to the warning signs of the last 15 years and the accumulative effect can be witnessed on the High Street.
“The window of opportunity has closed,” said Edwards, “they will never catch up with the internet specialists. They started late, under-invested and could not build a culture to excite talented programmers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronics expected to drive China’s 2012 exports
Companies will introduce more add-ons, intelligent models to attract orders
http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Electronics_expected_to_drive_China_s_2012_exports-article-news02_10_apr2012-html.aspx
China suppliers are looking to home and personal electronics, and other high-value products to spur orders in 2012 amid projections of austere business in coming months.
Makers of electrical home appliances will emphasize aesthetics, performance and value add-ons to attract business and prop up margins, which narrowed in 2011 due to climbing material and labor costs. Suppliers will release air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines and microwave ovens boasting various enhancements.
As for TVs, LCD-based models will be at the center of exports in 2012. Outbound shipments of LED, large-screen and smart TVs will increase in the second half of the year
Manufacturers in the telecom and computer industries will leverage the boom in wireless mobile connectivity to support business. Companies will be expanding their selections of smartphones and tablet PCs in the months ahead, although growth in the former is expected to slow near end-2012 as market penetration deepens.
Projections through Q1 point to more challenges. Liu Zhi Yi, analyst of CITIC Securities Co. Ltd, expects revenue during the period to drop slightly.
This is particularly true for several labor-intensive industries in China. Some domestic garment suppliers are losing orders to lower-cost hubs such as Vietnam, Jordan and Cambodia after they raised quotes to offset climbing labor and manufacturing outlay. Prices of China-made apparel have gone up 5 to 10 percent in recent months.
The same can be said for the toy industry, where most companies plan to augment quotes of current selectionsby 5 to 10 percent and new designs by 20 percent. Other than swelling material and labor costs, companies are spending extra on chemical and physical testing to comply with the EU’s new toy safety guidelines.
Makers are gradually reducing exports of wooden, plush and inflatable plastic toys, considered low-profit items, according to the China Toy Association.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s Next: 3D Solar Cells to revolutionize the photovoltaic industry
http://www.ecofriend.com/next-3d-solar-cells-revolutionize-photovoltaic-industry.html
Solar technology is in itself a relatively ‘young’ energy source compared to fossil fuels when it comes to generating electricity out of it. But the power of the sun is what has shaped our planet and sustained life from the day it came into existence, and, in that regard it is the oldest and definitely the prime energy source. Although the last couple of decades have seen an incredible increase in the use of photovoltaic panels to capture solar power. It has emerged as the single clear leader in terms of alternate power sources and its wide availability along with consistency and efficiency are the reasons for that. Scientists now believe that it is time to move ahead and take solar panels to the next level with the advent of the 3D Solar Cells.
3D solar cells are still at an early stage of development, nonetheless they do hold an incredible promise. The intrinsic structure of these installations is such that it maximizes solar energy and increases efficiency several fold. Almost all the light that falls on 3D solar cells is converted into energy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Controller ICs take multitouch screens beyond smartphones
http://www.edn.com/article/521489-Controller_ICs_take_multitouch_screens_beyond_smartphones.php
As multitouch touchscreens move beyond smartphones and tablets into automotive, medical, and instrumentation applications, their features evolve to fit lower prices and varying form factors.
Touchscreens have been around for decades, and they typically employ resistive-touchscreen technology. With resistive touchscreens, a user’s finger physically deforms the top layer of the screen, causing the resistive sensor to make contact below the finger. The resistive sensors are in a grid of X and Y traces, separated by a thin, transparent insulator.
Note the use of the word “press.” A press is a different action from a touch or a swipe. Resistive touchscreens have limited capabilities in their response to multitouch gestures, such as pinches, zooms, swipes, and scrolls.
Touchscreens have been around for decades, and they typically employ resistive-touchscreen technology. With resistive touchscreens, a user’s finger physically deforms the top layer of the screen, causing the resistive sensor to make contact below the finger. The resistive sensors are in a grid of X and Y traces, separated by a thin, transparent insulator.
Note the use of the word “press.” A press is a different action from a touch or a swipe. Resistive touchscreens have limited capabilities in their response to multitouch gestures, such as pinches, zooms, swipes, and scrolls.
Capacitive-sense-touchscreen technology generally comes in self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance flavors, although other types, such as projected capacitance, exist.
There are pros and cons to each approach.
Touchscreens in cars, at 10 in. or more diagonally, are usually larger than smartphone touchscreens, which are typically about 4 in.
Even with the decrease in prices for multitouch touchscreens, they are still about 10 times more expensive than resistive screens, which have a large installed base. For applications in which cost is dominant yet that still require some form of multitouch, Freescale offers the Xtrinsic CRTouch, which enables the retrofitting of resistive touchscreens to recognize slides, two-finger pinches for zooming in and out, and multifinger rotations on standard resistive touchscreens
As touchscreens move into applications such as automobiles, instrumentation, and medical devices, these devices’ user interfaces can become infinitely adjustable and updatable. The placement of physical control knobs and dials has always been important for test-and-measurement-equipment designers, with focus groups spending inordinate amounts of time deciding which button should go where.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm warns of smartphone Snapdragon chip shortage
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17769952
The world’s best-selling mobile phone chipmaker has warned that it cannot meet demand for some of its processors.
Qualcomm said that the third-party factories to which it subcontracts the manufacture of the “28 nanometre” chips would not be able to create enough supply until the end of the year.
The news will impact Android and Windows-based phone makers who had planned to use the products.
The firm admits they may turn to rivals to power their mid-range handsets.
“In any constrained environment, people look for any alternative they can in order to solve the problem,”
“We’ve been helping customers to see how they can swap in our Fusion 2 chipset… [but] we do expect to see some alternative non-Qualcomm chipsets used to solve that issue as well.”
“Looking forward, this will impact shipments of mass-market smartphones as firms re-engineer their devices, but having said that, I think the industry should not take too long to catch up,” said Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of problem when a chip designer upgrades to a new semiconductor design.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
15 Excellent Waterproof Gadgets
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/296730/15-excellent-waterproof-gadgets
What’s a little water? These gadgets can withstand an April shower or even a quick dip.
You reach into your bag and discover that your water bottle has leaked or you find yourself caught in a downpour that’s left you and your bag soaked. Panic sets in. Your wallet and its contents can be dried out, you can always buy a new magazine, and documents can be reprinted, but what about those now-sodden electronic devices? Will you be doomed to spend hundreds replacing your beloved gadgets?
The liquid contact indicator hidden on most devices will quickly reveal how your device met its end. That warranty may be as useless as that soggy phone.
So, what are you to do? Well, it may be too late for that gadget, but not its replacement or any new devices you may purchase. Perhaps it’s time to contemplate waterproofing your tech. You can buy cameras and phones that are already waterproof, or you can buy cases and laptop bags that will protect your devices from moisture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
JEDEC prepares to standardize wireless data transfer
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4371069/JEDEC-prepares-to-standardize-wireless-data-transfer-?Ecosystem=communications-design
The nonvolatile memory space just got a little more interesting with JEDEC’s announcement of the formation of a subcommittee focused on creating a standard for high-speed, low-power wireless data transfer from device to device and device to accessory. According to Harald Kaaja, Chairman of JEDEC’s JC-64.9 Subcommittee for Wireless Memory, the hardware/software standard will detail the functionalities belonging to both the wireless memory host and the wireless memory tag (embedded tag) that allows the host to power, detect, read and write high capacity tags to memory at high speed, even if they are passive.
“It is an important step toward innovative memory usage opportunities, to expand memory applications use cases,” Kaaja agrees. One example involves kiosks that would allow users to download content in a manner of minutes or even seconds without using up bandwidth from their data plan. That could be very appealing, considering how rapidly streaming television or movie can eat up data allowances.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MEMS in Sport Gains Speed
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=242479&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
With sensors becoming smaller and less expensive, full-body motion-tracking systems are becoming increasingly available, demystifying sporting success and putting computer measurable science into physical training.
Indeed, measuring human motion in 3D using MEMS sensors is becoming ever more important in modern sports, with coaches, parents, and athletes themselves pushing for more qualitative and quantitative data about winning movements and individual technique.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s rare earth policy backs Apple into a corner
Report says fondleslabs factories are located near source
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/24/rare_earth_ipad_apple_china/
Apple’s shiny fondleslabs are made in China not only because of the low cost of labour in the People’s Republic but also due to the surging prices and tightening export restrictions on rare earth minerals which the nation has a near monopoly on, according to a report.
Although Apple has been notoriously secretive about the materials it uses to produce the iconic tablet, tech repair site ifixit.org spoke to Cambridge professor Tim Coombs who reckons the fondleslab could be packed with the rare minerals.
The problem of supply and demand with these seemingly vital components is only going to get worse, with China – which has a global market share of around 97 per cent – cutting back on the mining of rare minerals apparently due to environmental reasons.
The EU, Japan and US have all lodged complaints with the World Trade Organisation, but as we’ve said before, there is little the body can do legally to compel China to change its mind.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup claims ‘Holy Grail’ of SoC design
http://cdn.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4371532/Startup-claims–Holy-Grail–of-SoC-design
Algotochip Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) claimed to be able to produce a system-on-chip (SoC) design from a C-code specification in just eight to 16 weeks.
“We can move your designs from algorithms to chips in as little as eight weeks,” said Satish Padmanabhan CTO and founder of Algotochip, whose EDA tool directly implements digital chips from C-algorithms. “Our solution provides the appropriate RTL generated from C-ocde for SoC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Invents Implantable Medical Device for the Brain
http://www.patentbolt.com/2012/04/samsung-invents-implantable-medical-device-for-the-brain.html
Samsung has invented an Implantable Medical Device (IMD) that could be implanted in the body to monitor primary organs like the heart. The unique aspect of the invention is that the IMD is accompanied by an external user device that could be used to collect vitals, understand the patient’s brainwave, pupil and motion states as well as physiological and pathological states. Such information could be accessed by an emergency a medical team or your doctor/specialist.
Rodrick Beutnagel says:
I think the most influential celeb of the 21st century is Tom Truong.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Guest editorial: Low power is everywhere
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4371255/Guest-editorial–Low-power-is-everywhere?Ecosystem=communications-design
Meeting power budgets for most System-on-Chip (SoC) designs today is no longer a requirement for mobile applications only. Almost every market segment today has some concern with designing in low power features—although the driving factor for why does differ among them.
The primary impetus for low power design was initially driven by the mobile market due to the need for extending battery life; however, different segments do have different reasons for making power a primary design requirement.
For example, the advent of the internet and social media heavily drives the Servers and Networking Market segments where large server clouds and compute farms need to work reliably without overheating; so, their primary concern is reducing the amount of expensive energy required for operation and air conditioning.
Other markets such as the multimedia and set top box segments are plugged into the wall but ‘green’ initiatives and the high cost of electricity have forced them into increasing energy efficiency through building in low power techniques similar to those used in the mobile application space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IHS boosts 2012 chip market forecast
http://www.edn.com/article/521608-IHS_boosts_2012_chip_market_forecast.php?cid=EDNToday_20120426
Market research firm IHS iSuppli Wednesday (April 25) lifted its forecast for the 2012 semiconductor market, citing strong ongoing consumer demand for wireless products like cell phones and media tablets.
IHS (El Segundo, Calif) is now forecasting that total chip sales will reach an estimated $324.6 billion in 2012, up 4.3% from last year. The market research firm previously forecasted an increase of 3.3% for the chip market this year.
Gartner Inc, a rival market research firm, increased its forecast for the 2012 chip market in March. Gartner now expects chip sales to increase 4% to $3.16 billion this year.
“Semiconductor revenue growth is expected to rise in 2012 compared to last year as consumers begin to believe that the global economic recovery is for real,” said Len Jelinek, director and chief analyst of semiconductor manufacturing at IHS.
“In particular, semiconductor suppliers can anticipate an exceptionally robust third quarter this year in preparation for strong holiday sell-through,” Jelinek said.
HS predicted that the Intel-backed Ultrabook low-power notebook PC platform would have only a minimal impact on 2012 semiconductor revenue. But the forthcoming introduction of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 — the first version of the PC operating system that will support touchscreen capability — means that Ultrabooks have the potential to become a key market revenue driver in 2013, IHS said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Grid Storage a Key to Success of Renewables
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=242348&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
The market demand for grid storage of electrical power will skyrocket over the next five years, spiking from about $2.8 billion in 2012 to $113.5 billion in 2017, according to a new study from Lux Research Inc.
The study highlights the fact that as renewable power grows, utilities and commercial sites will one day need large back-up facilities to supply energy when the wind’s not blowing and the sun’s not shining. “In most regions, intermittent renewables will need to have some type of storage or new infrastructure if they’re ever going reach huge numbers — 10 percent or 20 percent or 30 percent of our overall power,” Brian Warshay, lead author of the new study and a research associate for Lux Research, told us.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“This year’s VLSI Technology program will highlight breakthroughs in the evolution of CMOS scaling technology and new 3D memory structures as the semiconductor industry begins to move devices to the 22 nm node for volume production,” said Ming-Ren Lin of Globalfoundries, General Chair of the 2012 Symposium on VLSI Technology.
“The VLSI Circuits program will present major advancements in such diverse application areas as intelligent automotive vision systems and medical electronics, as well as more universal topics such as energy-efficient electronics and wireless communications interfaces,” said Ajith Amerasekera of Texas Instruments, General Chair of the 2012 Symposium on VLSI Circuits.
Source:
http://www.edn.com/blog/Practical_Chip_Design/41735-June_Conferences_DAC_and_Symposium_on_VLSI_Technology_and_Circuits.php
Tomi Engdahl says:
Innovative IC can’t trap lighting, but can let you know it’s coming
http://www.edn.com/article/521636-Innovative_IC_can_t_trap_lighting_but_can_let_you_know_it_s_coming.php
No need to tell this audience of the damage which lightning does to systems, circuits, and people. While good design practices, carefully placed suppression devices, and use of common sense by people can help minimize the damage, it would still be very useful to know when lightning is approaching and how far away it is.
To date, this has required relatively large, costly box-like instruments, but austriamicrosystems plans to change the situation radically with their AS3935 Franklin Lighting Sensor IC (named for Benjamin Franklin and his lightning experiments, of course), which they say is the first IC to perform this function. This tiny, low-power component, supported by a few small passives and a microcontroller for management and user interface, will enable lightning-detector key fobs, personal and portable warning instruments (GPS, fish finders, golf accessories), plus larger installations in networks, smart grids, and power systems.
Unlike simplistic detectors which suffer from false alarms, the device uses a magnetic-field sensing coil as part of its RF receiver to detect the electrical emissions from lighting up to 40 km away down to 1 km. It assesses the distance not by signal strength alone but by analysis of the waveform itself using proprietary, integrated algorithms, based on standard meteorological survey patterns and data.
More details at
http://www.austriamicrosystems.com/Lightning-Sensor/AS3935
Tomi Engdahl says:
2012 chip market to grow 7%, says analyst
http://www.edn.com/article/521633-2012_chip_market_to_grow_7_says_analyst.php
Growth in the semiconductor market will accelerate in the second half of 2012 and achieve an annual percentage figure of 6 to 7%, according to Mali Venkatesan, research manager for semiconductors at International Data Corp.
As large companies with cash in hand vie for competitive positions, mergers and acquisitions will continue to be trend, he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power modules vs. discretes: White paper quantifies design cycle times
http://www.edn.com/blog/PowerSource/41749-Power_modules_vs_discretes_White_paper_quantifies_design_cycle_times.php
In recent history the march of power design technology has been towards the use of web-based simulation to ease the design chores of putting together power conversion circuits with discrete components (discrete in the sense that power converter ICs are surrounded with passive components and then placed on a pc board.)
There is another trend in power circuits, however, and that is towards modularized PSiPs (power systems in package) PSiPs integrate the power converter MOSFET switches, control, compensation, and the inductor all into one IC-like package. You don’t need to go through the simulation step to select external components because they’re already inside the package, selected, matched, assembled, tested out, and verified as to noise immunity and interference. Companies that make PSIPs are Enpirion, Intersil, Linear Technology, Rohm, TI, Torex, Vicor, and Vishay.
Proponents of both approaches say theirs enables the fastest time-to-market.
Basically, the design flow is the same for the two processes with the significant exception that there are no simulation steps in the PSiP design flow, and the prototype testing step is significantly reduced. To cut to the chase: Even with the use of web-based simulation tools, it still takes an average of 464 man-hours to complete a dc-dc regulator design flow vs. only 254 man-hours to complete a PSiP design. This is for a simple 5A regulator design flow, for a more complex design, the process could take 20-40% longer.
I didn’t find the results surprising: After all, the history of electronics says that the trend is towards integration because it is a space, design-time, and cost saver.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Deliberate excellence: Why Intel leads the world in semiconductor manufacturing
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/127987-deliberate-excellence-why-intel-leads-the-world-in-semiconductor-manufacturing
When Intel launched Ivy Bridge last week, it didn’t just release a new CPU — it set a new record. By launching 22nm parts at a time when its competitors (TSMC and GlobalFoundries) are still ramping their own 32/28nm designs, Intel gave notice that it’s now running a full process node ahead of the rest of the semiconductor industry.
Bohr attributes Intel’s success to several factors.
First, Intel is virtually the only IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) left in the microprocessor business. Because it manufacturers all its own hardware, Intel avoids the conflict of interest that inherently exists in any foundry/customer relationship.
- design and implementation are treated as a joint effort at every level — including when things go wrong. This reduces the chance of an “us vs. them”
“Copy Exactly!” is Intel’s method for duplicating successful chip designs across its various factories worldwide.
Copy Exactly!, which Intel began following in the late 1980s, is designed to control virtually every manufacturing variable that can be controlled.
As Copy Exactly! was developed and deployed, the company’s yields synchronized across the various fabs. Copy Exactly! doesn’t solve any initial yield or ramp problems, but it helps ensure that such issues don’t reoccur at different factories
Historically, Intel always tended to follow a tick-tock cadence in which new architectures debuted on established processes followed by die shrinks, but the gap between the two was often uneven and didn’t necessarily correspond to product names in a coherent fashion.
Tick-tock’s cadence organizes and deploys new technologies in a consistent fashion.
Intel typically spends more on R&D than any other semiconductor manufacturer.
Intel’s advantage is the result of close collaboration between CPU designers and process engineers, superb manufacturing controls, and robust, continuing investment into R&D. It’s by no means guaranteed that these practices will carry the company smoothly through 14nm, but their success thus far speaks for itself. Whether TSMC and GlobalFoundries can achieve similar results within the constraints of the foundry business model remains to be seen.
(Even companies like Samsung and IBM, which still handle a significant amount of their own product manufacturing, have teamed up with GlobalFoundries to jointly focus on R&D. The rest, like Qualcomm, Nvidia, Toshiba, and Texas Instruments, outsource their manufacturing to companies like TSMC, UMC, and GlobalFoundries.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does Facebook have designs on its own chip?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57425667-92/does-facebook-have-designs-on-its-own-chip/
Facebook, a chip designer? Never! Well, don’t be too quick to pooh-pooh the idea. Facebook, after all, is a Silicon Valley company.
Facebook may venture into the rarified ranks of chip designers, a source told CNET.
Sound crazy? Well, Facebook already makes its own servers.
“They have chip designers,” the source said but admitted that it’s not clear what those designers are for. This person also said that it wasn’t clear if Facebook was using a design from ARM, referring to the most popular chip architecture for smartphones and tablets.
Could the chip be for a future Facebook device, like a tablet or smartphone? Or maybe something more dull like silicon for a data center computer? Again, that is not known.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top-down analog flows. Myth or reality?
http://www.edn.com/blog/Practical_Chip_Design/41761-Top_down_analog_flows_Myth_or_reality_.php
There are very few designs these days that are not mixed-signal, meaning that analog functionality has been integrated onto the same die as digital logic. This is being done for several reasons, such as reduced cost, but perhaps more importantly, many analog functions now require some digital logic to allow calibration of the analog circuitry.
Traditionally, analog design has been done in a bottom-up manner meaning that the circuit is first designed and verified at the transistor level. It is then integrated with other blocks, also at the transistor level and re-verified. This cannot go on for long before the limits of simulation are reached. If a high-level functional model of the block is required for system-level analysis, a model is built after the fact that matches the implementation. It has been argued for a long time that a top-down methodology, similar to the one used in digital design, would be better. Here the high-level model is created first and the functionality is verified in the context of the system before implementation starts.
Analog designers do not have the same levels of automation available to them compared to digital designers. There are no abstractions that have been created that allow a predictable implementation where concerns such as functionality, timing etc. can be essentially separated and dealt with independently.
With the introduction of digital logic to help calibrate analog circuitry this may start to force the issue. Several standard languages, such as Verilog-AMS and VHDL-AMS, now exist that enable digital and analog parts of the design to be modeled together. Most simulators now allow a free and efficient mixing of the two, meaning that models at different levels of abstraction can be intermixed and there is no longer a requirement to isolate the digital and analog parts of a design into different blocks.
How widely is a top-down analog mixed-signal flow being used in the industry?
I found evidence of two customers who had worked with Cadence on a top-down flow and there is Cypress who has a programmable device that contains analog building blocks that can be programmed in a high-level manner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Next week’s LightFair (aka LEDFair) promises newest in solid-state lighting
http://www.edn.com/blog/PowerSource/41754-Next_week_s_LightFair_aka_LEDFair_promises_newest_in_solid_state_lighting.php
Next week is the lighting industry’s pre-eminent trade show, LightFair, which to be as accurate as possible should change its name to LEDFair. The show fills up the massive Las Vegas Convention Center, and virtually every booth there is showing off LED-based lights. Which is a little strange because as it stands today, LEDs have very little penetration into the general lighting market.
Lighting isn’t like consumer electronics, susceptible to the whims of consumers who generally have very similar needs.
Building owners expect lighting systems to last for 10-20 years, so unless it’s a new construction, it’s not a slam dunk that a building owner is going to embrace a new LED-based light system. True, often (if all goes well) the payback in energy savings can make LED lights attractive, but unlike residential lighting, most commercial lighting already uses relatively efficient fluorescent lighting, so the payback may not be fast enough to pry a building owner’s wallet open.
Here’s a slide that IMS Research presented at LEDs 2012 last October:
It predicts that this year, 2012, is the year that LEDs in lighting finally start to show a pulse, gaining momentum and overtaking incandescent/halogen in five years. In revenue, they become dominant by the end of 2013, which is why no lighting company wants to be left without higher-margin LEDs in its product portfolio.
Every year, several power IC vendors announce that they’ve created the perfect LED dimming IC. Who will it be this year?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printed electronics: Not just blinking beer bottles
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/04/printed_electronics/
“Printed electronics” is one of those terms one sees being bandied about without really knowing what it means or why it’s important. The premise of using printing techniques to create electrical circuits isn’t hard to comprehend, but not everyone agrees on what comprises a “printing technique” or why you might want to use one, so El Reg chatted to three companies at the forefront of the field.
According to these firms, the new printing technique is going to change the literal fabric upon which the electronics industry rests. That’s important as it’s not the electronics which change as a result of the printing process, but rather the material on which those electronics rest. So instead of being etched on silicon the circuits can be laid onto steel, plastic, or even paper, and it’s that change of substrate which links all the various techniques and makes printed electronics so exciting.
Starting at one end of the complexity spectrum, using standard offset lithography printers loaded with conductive ink, is Novalia, which has been making interactive posters and tissue boxes for the last half decade by printing electronic circuits onto paper and card
Novalia is adamant that only standard printing techniques, and machinery, should be used to keep things simple, meaning that solid-state electronics are still needed to complete a product but costs are incredibly low.
Novalia reckons it can turn anything into a touch-sensitive surface, and points out that cardboard is a perfectly sensible construction material once one can embed electronics into it (think posh gift box, not corrugated card).
This is in contrast to Silicon Valley’s Kovio, which steps away from standard printing equipment but still uses ink-jet techniques to lay down working RFID chips onto a flexible steel substrate.
The mechanism is the same as a desktop ink-jet, only instead of ink the jets squirt out ca conductor into wires as little as eight microns thick, making up chips which will run up to 40MHz or so. But Kovio can print a lot of them very cheaply and hopes to get the Near Field Communications (NFC) standard extended to include its vision of printed RF barcodes, powered by induction from the reading device and able to respond with a standardised serial number.
Such a step is taken by PragmatIC, another Cambridge-based company and one we’ve mentioned before thanks to their light-up beer bottles and induction-powered screens.
PragmatIC reckons it can get down to 100nm objects placed with 10nm accuracy, leading to transistors around a square-micron in size which (PragmatIC claims) is comparable to silicon technologies.
That means chips can be made cheaper, but more importantly they can be laid onto any surface (there’s no baking in the PragmatIC process) so electronics can be dropped onto the back of polypropylene labels to create the flashing beer bottle or similar, assuming one can find a battery to power it and an LED to light up.
Several of those approached for this article talked about the production of electronic toys, and how they peaked in intelligence around a decade ago – with Furby and Sony’s Abio being cited as examples.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time is money! A quick fix for those pesky FPGA design errors
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4372325/Time-is-money–A-quick-fix-for-those-pesky-FPGA-design-errors?Ecosystem=communications-design
In the past, preparing a first implementation of an FPGA design on the board was relatively straightforward, requiring only a single design project, a handful of source projects, and a single design engineer. Subsequent improvements to the FPGA design on the board could be reflected in a matter of hours.
Today’s designs are not so simple. FPGAs are used in production to implement complex designs such as those for consumer, computer, and communications applications, where staying ahead of the competition requires fast delivery of the next-generation system that includes new functionality or perhaps takes advantage of a new FPGA device.
And, more and more, FPGA-based prototyping systems are being used to verify huge pending ASIC designs. These types of designs typically consist of 1000s of source files and implement the equivalent of multi-million gate ASIC designs. To add to the problem, the engineer implementing and verifying the design in an FPGA may not have been the one who authored the RTL code and may therefore be unfamiliar with it.
Users hope for quick feedback on their design specification – that is, efficient ways to identify, isolate and fix issues that prevent design completion from occurring. The fewer design iterations needed to do this, the better. Whereas top-down implementation methodologies still work well in some cases, a hierarchical design methodology is usually more appropriate for runtime and design stability reasons.
But, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Another important piece is the ability for the design project to proceed in the presence of errors using synthesis “continue-on-error” technology, and then merge multiple fixes at once, incrementally, using hierarchical design approaches. By using these methods users can find multiple errors in one design iteration and apply fixes in parallel, potentially cutting days, if not weeks, off the time taken for initial board bring-up. Let’s explore this in more detail.
Conclusion
Today’s FPGAs may contain the equivalent of millions of logic gates and thousands of source files. Multi-FPGA systems are common, particularly in designs used to prototype ASICs. With these levels of complexity, it can often take weeks to create a first working implementation of an FPGA-based system on the board. The newest generation of FPGA design tools is responding by supporting hierarchical design approaches, coupled with continue-on-error synthesis, which allows multiple errors to be fixed in aggregate, requiring fewer design iterations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Growth Across All Regions Strengthens Outlook for Semiconductor Sales at End of First Quarter
http://www.sia-online.org/news/2012/05/01/global-sales-report-2012/growth-across-all-regions-strengthens-outlook-for-semiconductor-sales-at-end-of-first-quarter/
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors were $23.3 billion for the month of March 2012, a 1.5 percent increase from the prior month when sales were $23.0 billion, and a decrease of 7.9 percent from March 2011 when sales were $25.3 billion. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.
“We are encouraged to see that sequential growth resumed across all regions, especially in Europe and Japan, in March,”
Sales in Europe grew 3.8 percent in March, as Japan increased 1.2 percent. In addition to improving macroeconomic conditions, and increasing semiconductor content across a wide range of applications, supply chain recovery related to the Thailand floods of 2011 will continue to drive an improved outlook.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VCs place their bets on advanced materials in power electronics
http://www.edn.com/blog/PowerSource/41765-VCs_place_their_bets_on_advanced_materials_in_power_electronics.php?cid=EDNToday_20120507
Lux Research recently pointed out there’s a lot of the venture capital going into non-silicon power component start-ups – to the tune of over $200M. According to the report from Lux, “Beyond Silicon: Plotting GaN and SiC’s Path within the $15 Billion Power Electronics Market”:
“VCs make big bets and corporations jockey for position. Over the past five years, investors have funneled over $200 million into developers of advanced materials and devices for power electronics.”
The report also places bets as to how the SiC and GaN market will grow in the near term, “SiC gains the most in renewables, capturing a 32% market share in solar, and is poised to capitalize on the grid storage boom. Its adoption in transportation is less aggressive, leading SiC and GaN to a relatively even share, at 16% and 15%, respectively, in 2020. GaN eclipses SiC in IT & electronics, carving out 14% share in 2020; and flourishes in smaller-scale applications within buildings in a broad $2.4 billion market.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 25 Global Distributors Ranking
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=243582&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
Component distributors occupy a central position in the electronics supply chain, acting like traffic officers to move parts and services swiftly and efficiently from suppliers to contract manufacturers and OEMs. Their role is increasingly significant, yet distributors sometimes are still treated as bit players. Just ask the leading companies that struggled for years to get suppliers and OEM customers to pay for value-added services; eventually, companies such as Arrow Electronics Inc. and Avnet Inc. concluded they would rather give up on lower-margin businesses than continue sucking up the extra costs
Many of the industry’s biggest and most intractable problems end up on distribution’s plate. Too many times, distributors get blamed for the “lack of visibility” into actual demand, the presence of counterfeit parts in the channel, and the supply/demand imbalances that have ravaged the industry in past boom and bust cycles. To combat those problems, distributors have invested in productivity enhancement solutions, counterfeit detection equipment, and product life cycle management software. In fact, many of them are better positioned to solve supply chain problems than the OEMs and electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providers that buy from their line cards and contract for their services.
As the latest EBN/EE Times Top 25 Global Distributors list shows, the answer is a mixed bag. The distribution market has matured in North America and Europe but remains highly fragmented and uncertain elsewhere.
EBN/EE Times Top 25 Global Distributors list
http://pages.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/eetimes050712/offline/cmp_eetimes050712.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
USPS to ban overseas shipments on tablets, smartphones, more
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57432323-93/usps-to-ban-overseas-shipments-on-tablets-smartphones-more/
Starting next week, people won’t be able to ship a whole host of electronics overseas because items like the iPad, Kindle, laptops, and smartphones use possibly combustible lithium ion batteries.
If you know anyone living outside the U.S. who wants a tablet, laptop, camera, or smartphone from the States, it’s best to send it to them before May 16.
As of next week, the United States Postal Service, or USPS, is banning all international shipments containing lithium ion batteries, which many electronics have
The most likely reason for the ban is that if lithium ion batteries are fully charged or not correctly stored or packed, they can catch fire or combust — something obviously best to avoid while shipping.
According to Fast Company, which first reported the story, lithium ion batteries are thought to have caused “at least two fatal cargo plane crashes since 2006, including a UPS jet in Dubai.”
he USPS says it may change the ban on January 1, 2013 and allow customers to mail certain quantities of lithium ion batteries internationally
there are other shipping companies, like UPS, DHL, and FedEx, they are more expensive
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM dominates 10B unit CPU core market
http://www.edn.com/article/521772-ARM_dominates_10B_unit_CPU_core_market.php?cid=EDNToday_20120510
Driven by the growth of mobile devices, merchant CPU cores shipped in more than 10 billion chips last year, up 25% over 2010, according to a new report. ARM Ltd commanded 78% of that market while Ceva and Imagination Technologies took even larger chunks of the smaller markets for DSP and graphics cores, said the report from the Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif).
ARM’s success casts a shadow on its archrival, MIPS Technologies. MIPS recently said it may sell some of its patents, and is reportedly seeking an acquisition partner.
“Despite a general industry need for a strong alternative to ARM, MIPS is slowly sinking below the threshold of viability,” the report said.
“Without new customers, MIPS cannot survive, but the mere possibility that the company could collapse or be sold to an unknown bidder will make it difficult to sign new licensees,” the report said. “We expect major changes to occur within the next year,” it added.
ARM’s dominance “has created an unbalanced market,” the report concluded. Indeed, at least one semiconductor executive said China’s mobile chip designers want an alternative to what they see as ARM’s high royalty rates with some already turning to the Power architecture.
The report validated the group’s predictions in 2008 that the market of 5.3 billion chips with merchant CPU cores would double by 2012. Last year’s growth fell short of 2010, however, which saw a 30% increase over 2009.
“We expect CPU IP to maintain a 10% compound annual growth rate through 2016 as the market matures and smartphone growth slows,” the report said.
Overall shipments of merchant DSP cores grew 44% in 2011 to see use in 1.16 billion chips in 2011, thanks mainly to their adoption as cellular baseband processors.
Graphics cores represent the smallest but fastest growing of the processor core markets. Shipments exceeded 300 million units in 2011, up from less than 90 million in 2008, the report said.
ARM took last place in this sector with a 4% share while Vivante was second and DMP third at 8% and 6%, respectively.
“I’m still bullish on ARM’s Mali cores due to the company’s reach,” said Gardner. “They should do well, and their Samsung win was important,” he added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Dr. Middlebrook shattered analog paradigms
http://www.edn.com/blog/Anablog/41777-How_Dr_Middlebrook_shattered_analog_paradigms.php?cid=EDNToday_20120514
Professor R.D. Middlebrook, professor of Electrical Engineering at California Institute of Technology showed young engineers how to increase their productivity by using design-oriented analysis to obtain low entropy expressions.
Middlebrook stated that the usual negative approach instilled in engineers early on is, “I don’t have enough information, so I can’t solve the problem.” We need to replace this thinking by the positive approach, “Somehow or other I have to find additional information to make the necessary trade-offs and approximations so I can do the design.” This is nowadays called “Thinking outside the box”
His method was as follows: The result of design-oriented analysis is a low-entropy (simplified, low-complexity) expression, from which more useful design information can be obtained than simply one numerical answer for an assumed set of component values.
airplane simulator says:
airplane simulator…
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