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:
New manufacturing technology enables vertical 3D NAND transistors, higher capacity SSDs
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/131777-new-manufacturing-technology-enables-vertical-3d-transistors-higher-capacity-ssds
Applied Materials has taken the wraps off a new etching system meant to turn vertically stacked, three-dimensional transistors from lab experiments into commercial reality. The new Centura Avatar solves multiple problems facing manufacturers who are interested in 3D NAND but find their current equipment not up to the task of actually building it. While we’re specifically talking about 3D NAND today, a number of the challenges to scaling flash memory apply to scaling CPU logic as well.
It’s important to understand that there are two sorts of “3D manufacturing.” One method refers to stacks of conventional 2D planar silicon; the other — which is what we’re talking about today — refers to actually building a 3D NAND structure.
The Avatar system is designed to etch both mask and dielectric simultaneously, in order to keep additional equipment costs from ballooning and overall throughput high. Critically, it can also be used to extend the lifespan of older process geometries by allowing manufacturers to build 3D NAND on 40-50nm processes. While such structures would still be larger than the equivalent chips built on 30-20nm tech, the tremendous efficiency gain from going vertical will more than offset the difference.
As for when 3D chips will be available for commercial purchase, Applied Materials was vague on that point. Candidly, we don’t expect to see them in the near future. The new Avatar equipment is expensive and can’t be swapped in at the drop of a hat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Timeless design
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/analog-ic-startup/4376156/Timeless-design
Many of the anecdotes relate how much more efficient our current generation of tools and process technologies are, compared to what was available thirty, forty years ago. But another aspect jumped out at me: analog IC design is a timeless skill.
My point is: many of these guys have been a major influence on our field for a long time, and some still are. And that’s the beauty of analog IC design. We keep pushing the performance boundaries, and the skills needed to do so take a long time to acquire, but then they’re essentially timeless and will last you your whole career.
essentially I am using the same analog design techniques I was first exposed to thirty years ago.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM, NI Plug Systems Engineering Gap
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=245510&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
With the number of lines of code in the average car expected to skyrocket from 10 million in 2010 to 100 million in 2030, there’s no getting around the fact that embedded software development and a systems engineering approach has become central not only to automotive design, but to product design in general.
Yet despite the invigorated focus on what is essentially a long-standing design process, organizations still struggle with siloed systems and engineering processes that stand in the way of true systems engineering spanning mechanical, electrical, and software functions. In an attempt to address some of those hurdles, IBM and National Instruments are partnering to break down the silos specifically as they relate to the quality management engineering system workflow, or more colloquially, the marriage between design and test.
NI and IBM’s answer to this gap? The pair is building a bridge — specifically an integration between IBM Rational Quality Manager test management and quality management tool, and NI’s VeriStand and TestStand real-time testing and test-automation environment. The integration, Lefebvre said, is designed to plug the gap and provide full traceability of what’s defined on the test floor back to design and development, enabling more iterative testing throughout the lifecycle and uncovering errors earlier in the process, well before building costly prototypes.
According to Lefebvre, a bug that costs $1 to fix on a programmer’s desktop costs $100 to fix once it makes its way into a complete program and many thousands of dollars once identified after the software has been deployed in the field.
While the integration isn’t yet commercialized (Lefebvre said to expect it at the end of the third quarter), there is a proof of concept being tested with five or six big NI/IBM customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low cost 32-bit IP Core runs uCLinux, targets HTTP servers and FTP clients
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4376387/Low-cost-32-bit-IP-Core-runs-uCLinux–targets-HTTP-servers-and-FTP-clients?cid=EDNToday
The D68000 IP Core from Digital Core Design is 100% compatible wit Motorola’s 68000 but runs with uCLinux operating system, an MMU‐less derivative of Linux Operating System adopted for embedded solutions. It provides all of the Linux benefits including superior stability, Common Linux Kernel API, multitasking, full featured TCP/IP networking, Virtual File System and reduces the amount of memory needed by its kernel and running applications [it utilizes just 400kB].
The D68000 is binary-compatible with m68k family of microprocessors, and has a 16-bit data bus and a 24-bit address data bus. Its code is compatible with the MC68008, upward code compatible with the MC68010 virtual extensions and the MC68020 32-bit implementation of the architecture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering Tools Take to the Cloud
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=246029
Ask most engineers about the possibility of running their CAD or CAE programs in the cloud and you’re likely to get a blank stare or an earful about why the software delivery model poses problems. Critical design IP (intellectual property) isn’t safe in the cloud, they contend, or they question whether graphics-intensive applications like CAD can run optimally when solely dependent on Internet bandwidth. Many are quick to shrug off cloud computing as just another passing technology fad.
Yet one look at all the vendor activity this past year and you might be hard-pressed to write off the cloud as a viable platform for design capabilities going forward. Major players in this space, from Autodesk to Dassault Systèmes, to a handful of smaller companies like Arena Solutions, have stepped up to the plate with serious strategies around the cloud to deliver CAD, PLM, and CAE offerings.
collaboration capabilities of the cloud to push product development to the next level.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking the brain: Brain-to-computer-interface hardware moves from the realm of research
http://www.edn.com/design/medical/4363828/Hacking-the-brain-Brain-to-computer-interface-hardware-moves-from-the-realm-of-research?cid=EDNToday
An accurate, low-cost BCI (brain-to-computer interface) can help realize the science-fiction ideal in which there’s no need to speak, gesture, or type into a keyboard to communicate with machinery: You just think—and the machine responds. BCI technology is not just the domain of sci-fi junkies: An obvious use for BCI control is in medical therapeutic equipment for paralyzed patients or for research into brain conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy. Other possible applications include game-control interfaces and military equipment. For example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s bionic-arm project to improve the state of the art for prosthetics partially funded research into BCIs at the University of Utah. Plus, the growing use by the military of remotely piloted aircraft highlights the potential the military sees for BCI.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2012 Brings Increased Salaries & Job Satisfaction
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=248334&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
The economy is slowly rebounding, and engineers have cause to celebrate. After not budging for years, their salaries have increased for the second year in a row, according to our annual survey. And the positive news does not stop there. The average bonus has also increased, and job satisfaction is at an all-time high.
This year, the average engineer is making $96,813 per year, versus $93,465 last year.
Your job discipline will adjust the amount of money you are bringing in. Engineers working in electronics make the most annually; their average salary and bonus come in at $110,782. Software engineers are a very close second, with $110,661.
The semiconductor industry offers the highest average salary ($115,772) and an average bonus of $17,546. The defense systems industry comes in second, with an average salary of $109,797 and an average bonus of $13,988.
Since you spend the majority of your time at work, it is important to enjoy what you do for a living. Luckily, 56 percent are extremely or very satisfied with their design engineering career.
Salary and satisfaction go hand in hand. Those who said they are extremely or very satisfied with their job are making the highest average salary ($101,773), with a bonus of $13,389. By comparison, the average salary was $92,348 for engineers who are somewhat satisfied and $81,926 for those who are not very or not at all satisfied.
When it comes to how challenging their job is, 52 percent said their job is extremely or very challenging. Factors contributing to the daily challenge include workload, balancing work with personal life, and keeping up with technology. Compared to two years ago, 42 percent said their job is now more stressful, and 44 percent said their stress level has stayed the same.
When discussing job security, 23 percent of engineers said they are extremely or very concerned, while 42 percent said they are somewhat concerned.
The engineers we surveyed have been active in their career for an average of 18 years. They have worked an average of 13 years at their current company and nine years in their present position. In a typical week, they clock an average of 46 hours.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emulation, acceleration, prototyping and simulation. Confused?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/other/4391991/Emulation–acceleration–prototyping-and-simulation–Confused-
There are some subjects that seem to cause endless confusion. One of those is about the differences between emulation, acceleration, prototyping and simulation. Part of the confusion is caused by marketing departments, part because of changing technology, part because of changing users and part because there is no clear answer as to which one is right for a particular application until you get into the details. In this blog I will try to dispel some of the confusion, but we shall see if I succeed or not.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The future of connected device security
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4391466/The-future-of-connected-device-security?cid=EDNToday
The electronics world is seeing rapid growth in sophistication, driven by M2M intelligence, multimedia capability, Internet connectivity, and high value financial transactions. These capabilities imply juicy attack vectors (the network) as well as a more attractive target for hackers, generating new security requirements that electronics designers must learn and embrace.
This article discusses some of the important emerging security requirements, and practical implementation guidance, for designers. Topics include hardware and software roots of trust, data storage protection, and secure network connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nathan Seidle: open source, open mind, open for business
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/voice-of-the-engineer/4373651/Nathan-Seidle-open-source-open-mind-open-for-business?cid=EDNToday
Tomi Engdahl says:
Growing audio requirements in SoCs
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4391917/Growing-audio-requirements-in-SoCs?cid=EDNToday
As consumer devices such as tablets, media players and home theater systems continue to incorporate more audio functionality, the systems on chip (SoCs) designed for these devices become more complex. These SoCs must support a growing list of audio requirements such as a wider range of high-definition audio compression formats, multi-channel audio content, higher sampling rates and advanced audio post-processing functions.
In addition to the DSP audio processor, audio SoCs need seamlessly integrated analog codecs to provide connections for microphone, line, headphone and speakers, as well as digital peripherals (e.g. I2S, S/PDIF).
Innovations in IP integration have traditionally been focused on the hardware aspects, but what really drives system complexity is the software. For audio applications, the software stack needs to support the latest audio standards from companies such as Dolby Laboratories, SRS Labs, DTS and Microsoft, as well as open source formats like Ogg/Vorbis and FLAC. All of these software components must be integrated in a media streaming framework and then into the application software running on the host processor.
Most IP suppliers today only provide the individual hardware components and some pieces of the software (for example, just the audio processor and a set of individual software codecs and simulation models). Integrating all of the IP and creating the full software stack is left to the SoC integrator, who needs to carefully configure and connect all of the IP together; a tedious and time-consuming effort.
Audio Processor – At the Heart of the Subsystem
Audio processors are really optimized for … processing audio data! There have always been many different audio formats, with the most popular one today being MP3. New formats are being introduced every day, probably even now as you read this article. This will only continue and is largely driven by demands in the end-user (consumer) market.
Audio data is stored in system memory, (e.g. double data rate (DDR) memory), a shared resource in the system. For applications that also require a lot of video or graphics processing such as set-top-boxes and other media intensive devices, multiple processors need to share the same system memory, which results in an increase in memory access latency.
Just a few years ago these latencies were on the order of 50 to 100 cycles, but today we see these going up to 200 or even 400 cycles. This latency impacts the performance of any processor, although some more than others. A straight-forward method to compensate for this is the use of prefetchers. Prefetchers read data from memory and anticipate their need on their previous access, which often leads to mis-predictions.
Another method is the use of an “XY memory,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Battery Makers Roll Out Grid Storage
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1395&doc_id=248263&cid=Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
For more than a century, electrical distribution has been simple: Electricity zips from the generating plant to a lightbulb or motor, providing instant power. It stops for no one. That, however, may be about to change.
With wind and solar power growing in popularity, “grid storage” has taken on greater meaning in the lexicon of utilities and power providers. Wind turbines and photovoltaic cells, it seems, need a backup if they’re going to take their place as major energy suppliers. When the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing, they need help. As a result, a new breed of technologies — giant batteries and flywheels — are emerging as a way to store the energy from the sun and wind for later use.
“You cannot balance large amounts of renewables without storage,” Tim Hennessy, president of Prudent Energy, a maker of grid storage systems, said in an interview.
The State of California signed an energy storage bill into law in 2010. Utilities in other states around the US are increasingly employing the technology, as are energy producers in virtually every country in Europe.
“In most regions, intermittent renewables will need to have some type of storage or new infrastructure if they’re ever going to reach huge numbers — 10 percent or 20 percent or 30 percent of our overall power,” Brian Warshay, lead author of the study, told us. “Storage helps mitigate the unpredictable nature of renewable energy resources.”
To be sure, the idea of grid storage isn’t new. Utilities have long used “pumped hydro” and compressed air as a means of storing grid energy.
But the percentage of power supplied by such systems has been puny, partially because of “siting challenges.”
Still, battery makers hope to sidestep those challenges with the new breed of grid energy storage systems. Such systems must be huge, of course, to store the energy for utilities, but a growing number of companies believe they can make it happen.
Lithium-ion isn’t the only solution
Liquid batteries also offer other advantages.
While Liquid Metal Battery Corp. is reportedly targeting the $100/kWh figure, all battery manufacturers are said to have a long way to go, according to experts.
As demand for grid storage batteries rises, some experts expect flywheel solutions to find a niche, as well. Vycon Inc., for example, is employing fast-spinning flywheels in uninterruptible power supply (UPS) applications. Using 200-pound flywheels rotating at 37,000rpm, the company says its technology can bridge the 15 seconds between when utility power is lost and backup generators kick in. Up to now, server farms and other users of such systems have typically used batteries to bridge that gap.
Even for non-island communities, however, storage could be critical when renewable penetration grows. Hennessy and others have said that the intermittent nature of wind and solar will create problems if renewables compose more than 20 percent of the overall power. In some locales, rising use of renewables is already causing problems, Hennessy said. “There’s been a huge increase in renewable penetration in Germany, Italy and other areas of Europe,” he said. “And, as we predicted five years ago, it’s already becoming unstable.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Take two sensors and call me in the morning
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/serious-fun/4391659/Take-two-of-these-sensors-and-call-me-in-the-morning?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Today
Proteus Digital Health Inc announced this week that the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has cleared its ingestible sensor for marketing as a medical device.
The ingestible sensor can be integrated into an inert pill or other ingested products, such as pharmaceuticals. Swallow the 1-mm-sq sand-particle sized sensor, which consists of a silicon chip with small amounts of magnesium and copper, and, once it reaches the stomach, the sensor is powered by contact with stomach fluid. It then generates a low voltage and communicates a signal that determines identity and timing of ingestion.
That information is transferred through the user’s body tissue to a battery-powered patch worn on the skin that detects the signal and marks the time the sensor was taken. Proteus says additional physiologic and behavioral metrics collected by the patch include heart rate, body position, and activity.
The patch relays information to a mobile phone application
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are your electro-medical devices compliant to medical safety standards?
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4391515/Are-Your-Electro-medical-Devices-Compliant-to-Medical-Safety-Standards-?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+on+Systems+Design
The IEC 60601-1 standard – which addresses many of the risks associated with electronic medical devices – has become a de facto requirement by most companies for electro-medical products. The IEC 60601-1 standard addresses many of the risks associated with electro-medical devices and applies to all medical devices.
The third edition of IEC 60601-1 represents a major overhaul of the IEC 60601 family of medical electrical equipment safety standards.
Going from IEC/EN 60601-1 2nd Ed. to IEC/EN 60601-1 3rd Ed., some changes in spec will necessitate qualification modifications in the supply.
There exist some national deviations to IEC 60601-1.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Questions linger on anti-counterfeit rules
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/supply-chain-reaction/4390803/Questions-linger-on-anti-counterfeit-rules?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Weekly
The US government is expected in September to start issuing regulations to carry out the anti-counterfeiting provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. A Senate Armed Services Committee investigation that found more than 1,800 instances of counterfeit electronics in the DOD (Department of Defense) supply chain prompted the provision.
Under the provision’s terms, contractors can’t charge the DOD for remediating problems related to counterfeit parts. The DOD and its contractors must buy electronic components from OCMs (original-component manufacturers), their authorized distributors, or “trusted suppliers” wherever possible, and contractors must establish policies to “eliminate” counterfeit electronic parts from the supply chain.
The provision is unclear regarding responsibility for remedial costs. It doesn’t define what a remedy is or how much responsibility a company must assume for costs.
Nothing in the provision addresses what contractors are supposed to do with counterfeits they discover. The logical decision would be to return them for a refund, but counterfeit parts should not be put back into the supply chain, where they can then be sold to others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
California Continues Energy Efficiency Journey with Latest Product Roadmap
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/other/4391141/California-Continues-Energy-Efficiency-Journey-with-Latest-Product-Roadmap?cid=EDNToday
California has been a pioneer in reducing energy waste in appliances and electronic products since adopting its first energy efficiency standards (for refrigerators and air conditioners) in the mid 1970’s. Thanks to fewer constraints, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has been able to set efficiency requirements for some appliances quicker than the federal government. Some recent examples include minimum mandatory efficiency standards for large flat panel televisions and battery chargers.
Once again, the CEC is setting its sights on the next group of products to be put on an energy diet by publishing a 3-phased roadmap
Tomi Engdahl says:
COTS Technology Mission to Mars
Stephen Evanczuk- 08.06.2012 August 6, 2012
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/systems-interface/4391887/COTS-Technology-Mission-to-Mars?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Fun+Friday
By any measure, the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) vehicle Curiosity early this morning was a triumph.
What’s interesting to note is that commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology was at the core of it all. Specifically, Wind River’s VxWorks real-time operating system serves as the software platform for all functionality
Seeing the successful commencement of the Curiosity mission – powered by COTS – is certainly a cause for celebration amongst engineers. Now the geologists – and maybe biologists – get to have some fun.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don’t trust your tamper detection circuitry, it may be dumb?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/beyond-bits-and-bytes/4391255/Don-t-trust-your-tamper-detection-circuitry–it-may-be-dumb-?cid=EDNToday
Often products use anti-tamper switches in a variety of applications to be able to protect the product from being tampered with. For example, for an electricity meter, an external tamper condition may include breaking the meter case, chemical injection or even burning the meter.
Anti-tamper switches can be placed on the casing of the meter to trigger a tamper event when the casing is opened.
There can be several attacks that a system may have to face from the external world. These may include damage to the casing of the system and alteration of certain signals, etc. These intrusions can be monitored by anti-tamper switches in the system. Since these anti-tamper switches need to be monitored at all the time, they need to be powered by a battery (RTC) supply.
These anti-tamper switches can be prone to noise and can cause false tamper conditions.
An inherent disadvantage of using open or passive anti-tamper switches (Figure 1) is that with the passage of time these switches tend to get oxidized (since there is no passage of current until the tamper event, and these switches are otherwise in contact with oxygen, thus getting oxidized or corroded). And when a tamper occurs these switches remain open due to the oxidation and thus a tamper event may never be indicated to the system.
A simple workaround could be to use a normally closed switch, which ensures a constant passage of current to avoid it getting oxidized.
Active tamper detection introduces a feedback loop providing a more advanced method of monitoring external tampers and also ensuring an extended life of anti-tamper switches. Unlike passive tampers that are input only, an active tamper mechanism includes a pair of one or more input/output switches.
A chip outputs a known sequence (fixed or generated by a linear feedback shift register) on the output anti-tamper switch while monitoring the input tamper switches for the same sequence
Tomi Engdahl says:
The bill-of-materials tab: Spend wisely, not just cheaply
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/other/4390510/The-bill-of-materials-tab–Spend-wisely–not-just-cheaply?cid=EDNToday
The article, “Google Nexus 7 Parts Cost $18 More Than Kindle Fire,”
But of course Google will do more than break even at the end of the day, considering the incremental advertising revenue incurred by the existing-and-new Google service subscribers that purchase and use the Nexus 7, along with the entertainment content consumption.
Still, if you scan through the Kindle Fire reviews published last fall, you may still get the sense that I do… that Amazon had over-economized to the system’s detriment, and that a bit more money spent on the BOM might have been a wise decision. The Nexus 7, on the other hand, is far more favorably reviewed.
The marketers and accountants at your company invariably “beat you up” on a regular basis regarding the bill-of-materials costs of your under-development designs, in striving to respectively be able to under-price your competitors and eke out an acceptable profit margin at that price.
That’s ok; such actions are at the core of their job responsibilities. Your job, in response, is to selectively and intelligently push back, pointing out situations where making a bit more resource investment can deliver a disproportionately large return on that investment, both in the initial out-of-box experience and over time in terms of platform longevity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FPGAs Still Need More Mainstream Understanding
http://www.fpgagurus.edn.com/blog/fpga-gurus-blog/fpgas-still-need-more-mainstream-understanding?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+on+FPGAs
In the 1980s and 90s, many people who were very familiar with personal computer software were astonished to find that one chip was different from another, and that some central chips called “microprocessors” were major differentiators between Intel-Microsoft and Apple platforms. Even though DSP chips played key roles in enabling music and video on desktop platforms, it took many more years before mildly tekkie people understood what the heck a DSP processor was.
Today, you have developers in the financial-analysis, medical-instrumentation, and military-aerospace domains who deeply understand the way FPGAs have replaced many DSPs, and how newer FPGAs embed RISC processors like the ARM, making standalone processors unnecessary.
By rights, they should know what an FPGA is, because such FPGAs are used in smartphones alongside chips from Qualcomm or Broadcom. But I’m willing to bet that among many app developers, there’s about as much understanding of FPGAs as there is among our grandparents.
Does this matter? You bet. You can’t optimize processes on the application layer unless you deeply understand hardware and embedded software.
Blum thought that the heart of the Internet could be found by going to aggregation centers and looking at collections of fiber cables, and finding out if a Cisco or Brocade router was being used. That’s a good example of techno-superficiality. If Blum wants to go to the center of the Internet, he should understand protocol software and the chips that perform packet forwarding (which include a good number of FPGAs).
But how many people in 21st-century society are willing to dive that deep? Will an app developer in a hacker hostel? Will your grandmother?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Valley Nation: Which IC companies won’t survive?
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4392150/Silicon-Valley-Nation–Which-IC-companies-will-survive-
AMD and Dell are not. Both have been challenged at staying on top of larger technology trends. AMD was hamstrung by its ATI graphics acquisition, and Dell hasn’t embraced mobile, McIntyre argues.
In the IC world, Renesas is undergoing a big reorg. STMicroelectronics is hurting. NXP is still trying to find its way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
using FPGAs to solve tough DSP design challenges
http://www.eetimes.com/design/military-aerospace-design/4390872/Using-FPGAs-to-solve-tough-DSP-design-challenges?Ecosystem=communications-design
This piece compares using standalone DSPs vs FPGAs and talks about the advantages and disadvantages of both. FPGAs can do the functions of multiple DSPs but in some cases an FPGA would be overkill. This goes into great detail on the good and bad and a bit of how-to implement DSP functions optimally.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The basics of FPGA mathematics
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4391894/The-basics-of-FPGA-mathematics?Ecosystem=communications-design
Tomi Engdahl says:
Requirements Traceability: The black art of design and development
http://www.eetimes.com/design/automotive-design/4391726/Requirements-Traceability–the-black-art-of-design-and-development-?Ecosystem=communications-design
The requirements-driven development mantra and all that it encompasses has been documented and discussed thoroughly for almost two decades in the pursuit of building better and more reliable applications. This mantra has been the undertone of software processes, certifying authorities, and industry standards focused on realizing requirements-driven development in its utopian form.
Despite these efforts, the majority of defects in embedded software space are still requirements related. One of the prime contributors to this problem is the continuous flux in requirements introduced by the changes in product scope. To shield themselves from the added risks contributed by this flux, organizations need to learn to manage change in the requirements and subsequent implementation phases of the product life cycle.
The benefits of system development based on requirements management and traceability are becoming more and more evident in software-based industries. However, solutions to meet these needs have often addressed portions of the traceability problem, leaving design, implementation, and verification out of the picture. Artifacts from these stages are usually assembled in the late stages of the project and are associated with requirements as projects near their conclusions. As a result, the RTM often lags behind the development process instead of driving it.
As projects grow in complexity and industry processes and certifications demand greater levels of traceability and transparency, organization must establish the tools chains and processes necessary as early in the process as possible. This is particularly crucial in the safety-, security-, and mission-critical spaces where verification activities often make up a large part of the overall effort.
With this problem space well understood, technology vendors are now starting to provide solutions that offer traceability into the later stages of the development process. Some of these technologies, such as application lifecycle management tools, also implement the development process, while integrating the details with the RTM. This next generation of tools may provide the complete solutions so desperately needed by system integrators developing mission- and safety-critical software.
In a world with ever-growing software complexity, embracing such solutions and letting the requirements drive the project will contribute to more innovation, while delivering more reliable products within cost and on time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Small- and medium-sized panel shipments expected to double in 3Q12
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120814PD209.html
Small- and medium-sized panel shipments are expected to double in the third quarter over the second due to increasing demand for smartphones and tablets, according to industry sources.
The sources said panel makers are seeing increased smartphone panel orders from companies such as Motorola and Nokia and that China-based smartphone vendors are expecting exponential growth throughout the second half of 2012.
China is currently the world’s largest cell phone market. Sources estimate there are nearly one billion cell phone users, 70% of which have yet to switch to smartphones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Add LED Intelligence–Improve light quality, efficiency and cost
http://www.edn.com/design/led/4392263/Add-LED-Intelligence-Improve-light-quality–efficiency-and-cost?cid=EDNToday
As the lighting industry continues to make the transition to LED technology, there is an increasing need for more intelligent controllers and drivers. The rising price of electricity presents a major operating cost to consumers and businesses; however, efficient operation of LEDs can result in substantial savings. Many applications need to produce consistent light quality while supporting advanced control functionality such as dimming, balancing, and accurate color mixing. Remote connectivity is also becoming a regular requirement in applications where high-maintenance expenses can be reduced through self-diagnostics that allow technicians to make a service call only when there is an actual reason to visit a site.
Bringing intelligence into many LED lighting applications may require moving from fixed function LED drivers to microcontroller-based, or programmable architectures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC outs 100MHz 90nm flash memory for cars
Faster storage for in-car systems
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2199271/tsmc-outs-100mhz-90nm-flash-memory-for-cars
CHIP FAB TSMC has shown off 100MHz flash memory access for automotive and industrial applications.
TSMC’s 28nm process node might get most of the press, but the firm operates a number of other process nodes including 90nm and 65nm that are used to stamp out somewhat mundane chips. Now the firm has said that it can offer 90nm 100MHz single access embedded flash memory to feed memory performance demands.
“This clearly is the right macro at the right time to meet the rigorous demands placed upon MCUs in automotive, communications and industrial applications. The new IP is fully compatible with TSMC’s 90nm logic process, allowing for re-use of existing embedded memories and logic libraries that promotes quick product ramp.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Increase in Second Quarter 2012 Silicon Wafer Shipments
http://www.semi.org/en/node/42856?id=highlights
Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the second quarter 2012 when compared to first quarter 2012 area shipments according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,447 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 20 percent increase from the 2,033 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments are 2 percent greater than second quarter 2011 shipments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top Silicon Valley startups but no silicon
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/other/4394347/Top-Silicon-Valley-startups-but-no-silicon?cid=EDNToday
It’s interesting and symbolic that the list of top Silicon Valley startups listed by Business Insider has no companies that have anything to do with, you know, silicon.
It’s all about crowd sourcing, faster payments (which is kind of ironic, given the economic outlook), apps and of course, car services.
VCs are not a charity and their singular goal is to make money, and right now there’s little incentive to focus on hardware.
Multiple reports indicate we’re in for a downturn in the last quarter of the year. Take a look at Semiconductor Intelligence’s report (), with an excerpt below:
TSMC, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics and AMD all predicted revenue declines for the low end of their 3Q 2012 guidance. The midpoints of guidance ranged from -1% to +5.9%. The high end of guidance was over 9% for Intel and Broadcom, but below 6% for the other companies. Renesas was an exception, forecasting 17.6% growth in 3Q 2012 after an 11% decline in 2Q 2012.
So, in general, the semiconductor industry is sluggish. Also, with an IC startup you’re looking at years of design and development with ‘real’, hard engineering
It’s not easy being a semi startup these days. Let’s face it, it’s hard work, the VCs see it as just too long for payoff, and the economic headwinds are against you. So it’s no surprise that many of our youngest and brightest are turning to apps, social media and other faster paths to revenue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung is the world’s largest chip maker.
Samsung plans to invest more than ten billion euros in chip production this year. Samsung aims to increase its investments in particular smartphones and tablets processors in its production.
Samsung plans to invest about four billion dollars, or about 3.2 billion euros in Texas to built a new chips factory.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/samsung+investoi+yli+kolme+miljardia+sirutehtaaseen/a830636?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-22082012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Threat to the global economic downturn has increased rapidly in recent weeks. The recession would reduce the first consumer electronics sales.
Apple, HTC and many more mobile phone manufacturers have reduced chip orders in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, order volumes, telling mobile phone manufacturers suppliers in Taiwan to Digi Times.
Source: http://www.itviikko.fi/talous/2011/08/22/uusi-merkki-taantumasta-joulun-sirutilaukset-laskussa/201111677/7
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finally, a hardware accelerator: Bolt’s Ben Einstein on a leg up for start-ups
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/voice-of-the-engineer/4392154/Finally–a-hardware-accelerator–Bolt-s-Ben-Einstein-on-a-leg-up-for-start-ups?cid=EDNToday
Experienced product designer and entrepreneur Ben Einstein is part of a team in Boston looking to give hardware start-ups their fair share of the glory. Bolt, a new accelerator program that Einstein cofounded, aims to be a tool kit for hardware start-ups rather than for software and Web-services companies—popular draws for talent and investment that in the current environment have more support at their disposal. Einstein recently spoke to EDN about what Bolt is, what types of young companies it is looking for, and why the focus is on hardware.
“We have prototyping facilities and a full-time engineering staff; we help people go to Asia for manufacturing and tooling; we know how to talk to buyers. We have an open application process; anyone from anywhere in the world can apply. We will accept between 10 and 12 teams every six months and give them a little seed capital to help keep them alive.”
Bolt homepage
http://buildatbolt.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The limits of lean
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/other/4394612/The-limits-of-lean?cid=EDNToday
Ten years ago, “lean”—the practice of eliminating waste and non-value-added activities in the business environment—was the darling of the electronics industry.
And, like the practices of JIT (just in time) and build to order, lean reduced the levels of physical inventory in the electronics supply chain.
There’s no question that lean achieves results.
In fact, until two natural disasters rocked the industry last year, nobody questioned whether lean was the right practice for the high-tech supply chain.
In March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of Japan and shuttered wafer-manufacturing facilities. In October 2011, flooding paralyzed Thailand, the global center of HDD (hard-disk drive) supply. In both cases, supplies of key electronics products were put in jeopardy because years of lean practices had eliminated inventory redundancies in the supply chain.
Since the 2011 disasters, conversation around the supply chain has been shifting from lean toward such adjectives as “resilient” and “agile.”
It’s unclear from Gartner and many other sources, however, exactly how to achieve resiliency and agility. End-to-end visibility among partners is one of the components of a resilient supply chain
Several other trends indicate the supply chain is moving toward a middle ground between lean and gluttonous.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global slowdown bites Japan’s semiconductor crowd
Revenue fell by 7.5 per cent over past year
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/24/japan_semis_under_pressure_q2/
There was more bad news for Japan’s beleaguered semiconductor industry on Thursday as it emerged the country’s big name chip suppliers were hit hard by a global slow down in the second quarter which saw worldwide sales plunge by over $2bn from the previous year, according to analysts.
Bean counters at IHS iSuppli said global semiconductor market revenue fell by three per cent from $77.5bn (£48.9bn) in Q2 2011 to $77.2bn (£48.7bn)in the last quarter, stats which could portend a gloomy outlook for the rest of the year.
The continuing Eurozone crisis, high unemployment in the US and slowing manufacturing growth in China were blamed for the disappointing stats.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New US rule aims to crack down on Congolese capacitors
Companies must report use of minerals from conflict areas
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/23/sec_conflict_minerals_rule/
In an effort to stem the flow of foreign money into war-torn Africa, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued new rules requiring manufacturers to publicly disclose whether they use minerals extracted from the conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or any neighboring countries.
Specifically, the new SEC rule requires publicly traded companies to investigate and document the sources of any gold, tantalum, tin, or tungsten they import, whenever such materials are “necessary to the functionality or production of a product.”
All four of these elements are frequently used in the manufacture of capacitors, solder, motors, connectors, and other electronic components for mobile phones, DVD players, videogames, computers, and other devices.
Earlier this month, the Enough Project published a list that ranked companies based on their efforts to find out where their minerals come from and to avoid purchasing them from conflict-torn areas.
Now that the final SEC rule has been issued, all manufacturing companies that report their earnings to the SEC will be required to include information about the sources of their materials and whether they believe those sources to be conflict-free. They must also make the same information publicly available on their websites.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Deadly Tin Inside Your Smartphone
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-23/the-deadly-tin-inside-your-ipad
In recent years about one-third of all the tin mined in the world has come from Bangka, its sister island Belitung to the east, and the seabeds off the islands’ shores. Because almost half of all tin is turned into solder for the electronics industry, a dominant force in the global tin market today is tablets and smartphones bought by consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The trail from the dangerous mines to the leading names in electronics, including Foxconn Technology Group , the biggest manufacturer for Apple and others, is clear. Shenmao Technology and Chernan Metal Industrial—two of the top solder makers in Asia, both suppliers to Foxconn—say they buy 100 percent of their tin from Indonesia.
Shenmao estimates it’s the dominant supplier of solder to China, the cradle of electronics manufacturing, and accounts for 16 percent of the global market.
Several other solder makers declined to discuss their tin sourcing.
Tin is often associated with soup and questionable meats, but tin cans were replaced long ago by containers made from far cheaper steel, lined with plastic or extremely thin coatings of tin, which does not corrode. Tin’s real use is for solder.
Electronics manufacturers use solder, which today typically contains more than 95 percent tin, to attach and connect components. The solder points are tiny but omnipresent, numbering about 7,000 in just two of the components in an iPad, according to research company IHS’s iSuppli. A large flat-screen television can contain as much as 4.8 grams of solder, according to German solder maker Henkel. The iPad or a competing tablet can hold at least 20 percent of that amount, with its tin content weighing in at anywhere from 1 to 3 grams
London-based solder maker Cookson Group told investors in a Feb. 27 presentation that growth for its solder was “still underpinned” by “buoyant” sales of three things: smartphones, tablets, and Internet data servers.
Indonesian tin is becoming more desirable for companies hoping to avoid controversy over sourcing materials in Africa.
ITRI says about 70 percent of all tin in the past decade has come, roughly equally, from two countries: Indonesia and China.
China does not often export tin, holding on to it for domestic manufacturers. As the world’s largest tin consumer, China also must import the metal or unrefined ore from other countries.
Indonesia, by contrast, exports virtually all of its tin, and more than 90 percent of it comes from the Bangka-Belitung province, according to the government.
The companies that dominate the world solder market—such as Cookson; Henkel; Metallic Resources, of Twinsburg, Ohio; and Indium of Clinton, N.Y.—are not completely in the dark. Five years ago they expressed alarm about illegal mining. But they were concerned that a crackdown by Indonesian authorities was driving tin prices up
Tomi Engdahl says:
Increasingly, engineering executives are expected to accelerate the delivery of innovative products, with fewer resources, while maintaining the highest level of quality across diverse product variants.
Software has very quickly become the key differentiator of global products. Consumers of everything from automobiles to cell phones are increasingly experiencing the products through the software embedded within them.
Companies are looking for ways to drive much of their product innovation through the more effective development of software.
Source: http://www.mks.com/resources/data/documents/whitepapers/instances/ebook-software-driving-innovation-for-engineered-products
Tomi Engdahl says:
Foxconn may lose workers after cutting work hours
http://www.zdnet.com/foxconn-may-lose-workers-after-cutting-work-hours-7000003173/
After cutting maximum working hours to 60 per week in its three factories in mainland China, Foxconn now faces the danger of losing workers.
According to a Foxconn worker in Shenzhen who declined to reveal his identity, most people there actually would like to have more working hours and OTs (overtime) since the longer one worked meant higher wages.
“A lot of workers have clearly come to Shenzhen to make as much money as they can in as short a period as they can, and overtime hours are very important in that calculation,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shenzhen wage hike causes supply chain jitters
Local gov may raise minimum wage for sweatshop toilers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/28/shenzhen_wage_hike_supply_chain/
Shenzhen and the wider Pearl River Delta area in southern China is one of the most concentrated technology manufacturing hubs in the world. Samsung, Apple, HP, Dell and Nokia all have kit built here by the big Taiwanese ODMs such as Foxconn and Wistron.
Now the word in Shenzhen is that the local authorities are planning to raise the monthly minimum wage from 1,500 to 1,700 yuan (£149-169) sometime during early 2013, according to Digitimes. (actual monthly employment costs are as high as 2,700-2,800 yuan (£268-278))
This won’t affect Foxconn
but it may have an impact on the smaller manufacturers further down in the supply chain, which operate at tighter margins.
“Foxconn is saying it is moving to outside China but actually it is building the biggest factory zone in Henan province for increasing iPhone orders,” he added. “Other countries need to invest in the infrastructure and education systems to attract electronics manufacturers to move from China before launching aggressive policies.”
Tomi says:
Nokia, Moto, Sony phone wing of Foxconn is soaked in red
Half-year loss sparks hunt for better customers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/28/foxconn_shares_fall_on_loss/
Shares in Foxconn International Holdings slumped nearly 8 per cent today after the kitmaker reported a whopping loss for the first half of the year.
“During the first six months of 2012, we saw major changes in the handset ecosystem triggered by the end market volatility due to the European and global economic slow-down, the emergence of new service/applications-centric business models and resulting in our customers’ continuous struggle in their market share protection battle,” FIH said.
Unsurprisingly, the company said it was looking for new customers to help demand meet its capacity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
30 years of DSP: From a child’s toy to 4G and beyond
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4394792/30-years-of-DSP–From-a-child-s-toy-to-4G-and-beyond?cid=EDNToday
This year, as TI celebrates its 30th year in the DSP market, that long-ago question has been answered many times over. Without DSP and the advances it has enabled in audio, graphics, and multimedia processing, there would be no “infotainment” content, no smartphones or tablets, no Internet or ecosystem of apps.
TI’s “toy” technology not only moved the company into a new business but set the stage for developments by TI, its competitors, and tool vendors that have pushed DSP technology into diverse applications and markets.
At the same time, traditional DSP devices have seen competition from an array of alternative signal-processing platforms, including CPUs with DSP-oriented features; digital signal controllers, which pair a DSP core with an MCU; FPGAs, which can be used to design custom data paths for digital signal processing or even to create custom programmable processors; and, most recently, massively parallel processing graphics processors that can tackle data-parallel problems.
In 1978, American Microsystems Inc announced the first single-chip IC designed specifically for DSP: the 12-bit S2811.
The following year, Intel Corp introduced the Intel 2920 16-bit “analog signal processor,” so called because Intel had designed the chip as a drop-in analog-circuit replacement, complete with on-board A/D and D/A converters. The 2920 processed analog signals digitally
The first “true” single-chip DSPs—which market-analysis firm Forward Concepts defines as having parallel MAC (multiplier-accumulator) circuits—emerged in early 1980 from Bell Labs and NEC.
TI gets in the game
In 1980, TI’s Ed Caudel designed the initial architecture for what would become the company’s first digital signal processor. Surendar Magar was hired the same year to optimize the architecture around DSP algorithms. TI introduced the resulting design to the world in February 1982 in the classic International Solid-State Circuits Conference paper, “A Microcomputer with Digital Signal Processing Capability.” Caudel announced the final product, the TMS32010, in April 1982 in Paris at the International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharp’s economic problems will reduce 2000 employees
Sharp is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of display panels. The company is a victim of lowered LCD panels and TV sets prices.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/talousongelmat+saavat+sharpin+vahentamaan+2000+tyontekijaa/a832900?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-29082012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth 4 pulls on pair of profiles, hits the track
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/28/bluetooth_profiles/
Bluetooth has been dangerously close to following IrDA (the Infrared Data Association) into obscurity, despite the overwhelming success of both technologies. The original Bluetooth standard has been pushed about as far as it can go, and is embedded into just about everything electronic (with the notable exception of TV sets*) but has struggled to get beyond audio streaming and exchanges of business cards.
Bluetooth LE came from Nokia’s Wibree project, and competes with Z-Wave and Zigbee in the battery-life-measured-with-a-calendar category of wireless. Z-Wave kit is very interoperable, while Zigbee is flexible, but neither has had success getting embedded into telephones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cyborg tissue is half living cells, half electronics
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22217-cyborg-tissue-is-half-living-cells-half-electronics.html
Versions of this souped-up, “cyborg” tissue have been created for neurons, muscle and blood vessels. They could be used to test drugsMovie Camera or as the basis for biological versions of existing implants such as pacemakers. If signals can also be sent to the cells, cyborg tissue could be used in prosthetics or to create tiny robots.
“It allows one to effectively blur the boundary between electronic, inorganic systems and organic, biological ones,” says Charles Lieber, who leads the team behind the cyborg tissue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New rule on blood-soaked metals in mobes is POINTLESS
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/sec_materials/
There’s been much trumpeting of new rules that require companies to ‘fess up if they use minerals extracted from war-torn African nations.
The blood-soaked metals of concern are gold, tungsten, tin and tantalum
Having actually gone and read the directive, freshly issued by US watchdog SEC, I cannot see that it achieves anything at all – except, obviously, more paperwork as well as some smug righteousness for the right-on types who campaigned for it to be passed.
There’s a loophole so large that you could drive an entire squabble of lawyers through it.
But a loophole exists and it is this:
A company is considered to be “contracting to manufacture” a product if it has some actual influence over the manufacturing of that product. This determination is based on facts and circumstances, taking into account the degree of influence a company exercises over the product’s manufacturing.
A company is not be deemed to have influence over the manufacturing if it merely: affixes its brand, marks, logo, or label to a generic product manufactured by a third party.
If you’re not manufacturing by this definition then you don’t have to say anything at all about whether you’re using conflict minerals or not. The entire system erected by SEC and the Dodd-Frank Act just passes you by. At which point I’d say that no consumer electronics manufacturer has to report anything at all thereby obviating the point and purpose of the new rules.
So the legislation has been doubly a waste of time: it doesn’t solve the problem and voluntary cooperation under consumer pressure has solved the problem before the legislation took effect anyway. It’s been done by doing what the experts said should have been done, concentrating on that choke point. All the law has managed is to force large numbers of people downstream from that to fill out lots more documents.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to verify SoCs
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4394687/How-to-verify-SoCs?cid=EDNToday
The chip makers want to pack as many functions as possible in their SoCs and provide as many feature additions to gain market share. The additional features increase the complexity and effort for verification.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Obsolescence mitigation: An approach to a growing problem
http://www.eetimes.com/design/military-aerospace-design/4394971/Obsolescence-mitigation–An-approach-to-a-growing-problem?Ecosystem=communications-design
The obsolescence of all types of electronic components including integrated circuits (ICs) is a serious issue for many OEMs in the military and aerospace communities. Many of the ICs that these OEMs have designed into systems are, unfortunately, becoming obsolete for reasons beyond the control of these companies.
This article discusses some history of IC obsolescence which will help shed light on the root cause of the problem impacting Mil/Aero OEMs. The history will also describe the unintended consequences for Mil/Aero customers when they shifted from traditional high-reliability mil parts to commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts.
The article also describes how the IC industry has offered several approaches to address the disruption for Mil/Aero OEMs.
Seeing only the rapid advancement in performance and the concomitant price decline of these new “commercial-oriented” devices, the military community longed for the improved performance (and lower cost) of these ICs.
The enhanced reliability of the new generation of ICs, derived from the much improved manufacturing processes, leads many to postulate that the use of COTS devices should be seriously considered. More performance and at a lower cost—a true win-win!
Of course, this weighed against the staid (tried and true) view that a certified mil spec part would offer the desired long term reliability.
Into this dynamic situation stepped the famous Admiral Perry who effectively argued for, and essentially mandated, that government-funded programs use COTS parts. The government’s rationale was lower cost with higher performance from the latest technologies and much improved reliability.
The move to COTS parts proved successful in many applications.
An unintended and unanticipated problem emerged. Many of the new COTS-based systems had originally been designed with the former mil-spec parts which were expected to be available for the long term. In actuality, the COTS parts have finite lifetimes that are substantially shorter than the traditional mil-spec parts. Many OEMs discovered that a COTS part which they designed in had become obsolete long before the program into which the parts were deployed reached its end of life.
A declining supply and steady demand always creates problems.
Actually, before COTS, there was not much of an IC grey market. After the move to COTS parts, a widespread grey market developed to supply older obsolete parts to the unfortunate CMs and OEMs seeking the one critical part needed to complete a build.
Another unintended consequence of the obsolescence of COTS parts is the rise in counterfeit parts.
Last-Time Buy (LTB)
When an IC manufacturer announces a LTB of designated parts, the Mil/Aero customer can make a final volume buy. Sometimes this is the OEM’s only recourse, especially on the short term, to obtain the crucial remaining parts for an application.
The grey market
Nonetheless, some companies do use this option.
When purchasing from the grey market, a Mil/Aero OEM must verify part authenticity by making sure that there is an unbroken chain of possession for the parts to verify authenticity. Otherwise, there is the possibility that the parts are counterfeit.
A new design
If the prime/CM cannot obtain genuine replacement parts, they will be forced to redesign and requalify their board.
Obsolescence mitigation (OM)—the Maxim alternative
The Mil/Aero customers work with Maxim to define both the customer’s total program life in years and the expected total IC demand. Maxim calculates the total number of wafers needed to support that total demand and then increases it to anticipate yield loss, program extensions, and similar unforeseen issues.
The customer then places an order for the first year’s demand, defined as the total agreed volume divided by the number of years. Once that first order is received by the factory, the wafers are set aside.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Aren’t Engineering Students Happier? Because It’s Hard
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=249661&itc=dn_analysis_element&&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
Getting an undergrad degree in engineering is hard. The course material is complex, competition is fierce, the time commitment is great, and the grades are generally on the low side of the bell-shaped curve. Put it all together, and it can make for a pretty grueling four-year experience.
Getting an engineering degree can be painful.
“Engineering, math, and science are some of the more challenging fields, and perhaps students are translating that into unhappiness,” William Kline, dean of innovation and engagement at Rose-Hulman Institute, said in an interview. “But I don’t think there’s anything about the field of engineering that makes students inherently unhappy.”
“You have to focus on hands-on experience, so as the students learn the material in class, they have opportunities to put it into practice,” Kline told us. He points out that schools that focus on teaching, rather than research, never seem to end up on unhappiness lists.
Even with that emphasis on teaching, however, we’re never likely to see a day when engineering schools are described as fun and easy. Engineering curriculums will always be hard
mining for gold equipment says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Cable-Type Flexible Lithium Ion Battery Based on Hollow
Multi-Helix Electrodes
http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/08/31/201202196.pdf
An important focus in product design is the creation of practical
and aesthetic devices. In portable electronics, in particular,
the limiting factor is often the shape of the battery
An important focus in product design is the creation of practical
and aesthetic devices. In portable electronics, in particular,
the limiting factor is often the shape of the battery
To this end, fl exible batteries are considered a promising
solution, owing to their potential to adapt to mechanical stress
and accordingly change shape.
Here, we introduce an unprecedented concept for battery
architecture — a cable-type lithium-ion battery—which can
achieve extreme levels of mechanical fl exibility that have never
been achieved before and might indeed provide the breakthrough
necessary in fl exible electronics. The linear shape and
omni-directional fl exibility of the cable-type battery render the
designer free from conventional constraints, as the battery
can be placed anywhere and in any shape. Moreover, instead
of mounting the battery inside the device, it could be worn on
the wrist, neck, or any other part of the human body, allowing
maximum freedom in the device design and a strong boost for
the realization of practical wearable electronics.