Electronics industry hopefully starts to glow after not so good year 2012. It’s safe to say that 2012 has been a wild ride for all of us. The global semiconductor industry has demonstrated impressive resilience in year 2012, despite operating in a challenging global macroeconomic environment. Many have already ratcheted back their expectations for 2013. Beyond 2012, the industry is expected to grow steadily and moderately across all regions, according to the WSTS forecast. So we should see moderate growth in 2013 and 2014. I hope this happens.
The non-volatile memory market is growing rapidly. Underlying technologies for non-volatile memories article tells that non-volatile memory applications can be divided into standalone and embedded system solutions. Standalone applications tend to be driven primarily by costs is dominated by NAND FLASH technology. The embedded market relies mainly on NOR Flash for critical applications and NAND for less critical data storage. Planar CT NAND and 3D NAND could fast become commercially viable this year or in few years. MRAM, PCRAM, and RRAM will need more time and new material innovation to become major technologies.
Multicore CPU architectures are a little like hybrid vehicles: Once seen as anomalies, both are now encountered on a regular basis and are widely accepted as possible solutions to challenging problems. Multi-core architectures will find their application but likely won’t force the extinction of single-core MCUs anytime soon. Within the embedded community, a few applications now seem to be almost exclusively multicore, but in many others multicore remains rare. There are concerns over the complexity and uncertainty about the benefits.
FPGAs as the vanishing foundation article tells that we are entering a new environment in which the FPGA has faded into the wallpaper – not because it is obsolete, but because it is both necessary and ubiquitous. After displacing most functions of ASICs, DSPs, and a few varieties of microcontrollers, it’s fair to ask if there is any realm of electronic products where use of the FPGA is not automatically assumed. Chances are, in the next few years, the very term “FPGA” might be replaced by “that ARM-based system on a chip” from Xilinx, Altera, Lattice, or other vendor.
Are products owned when bought? The trend in recent decades has been an increase in the dependence of the buyer on the seller.
More than 5 billion wireless connectivity chips will ship in 2013, according to market research firm ABI Research. This category includes standalone chips for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, satellite positioning, near-field communications and ZigBee as well as so called “combo” chips that combine multiple standards. Broadcom seen retaining lead in connectivity chips. Bluetooth Smart, WiGig and NFC are all are seeing increased adoption in fitness, automotive and retail applications. Combo chips are also a growing opportunity based on the popularity of smart phones, tablet computers and smart televisions.
Signal integrity issues are on the rise as both design complexity and speed increase all the time. The analog world is moving faster than ever. Learning curves are sharper, design cycles are shorter, and systems more complex. Add to all this the multidisciplinary, analog/digital nature of today’s designs, and your job just gets more complicated.
High-speed I/O: On the road to disintegration? article tells that increases in data rates driven by a need for higher bandwidth (10Gbps, 40Gbps, 100Gbps networking) means the demands on system-level and chip-to-chip interconnects are increasingly challenging design and manufacturing capabilities. For current and future high-performance, high-speed serial interfaces featuring equalization could well be the norm and high levels of SoC integration may no longer be the best solution.
For a long time, the Consumer Electronics Show, which began in 1967, was the Super Bowl of new technology, but now consumer electronics show as a concept is changing and maybe fading out in some way. The social web has replaced the trade show as a platform for showcasing and distributing products and concepts and ideas.
NFC, or near-field communications, has been around for 10 years, battling its own version of the chicken-and-egg question: Which comes first, the enabled devices or the applications? Near-field communications to go far in 2013 article expects that this is the year for NFC. NFC is going to go down many different paths, not just mobile wallet.
3-D printing was hot last year and is still hot. We will be seeing much more on this technology in 2013.
Inexpensive tablets and e-readers will find their users. Sub-$100 tablets and e-readers will offer more alternatives to pricey iPads and Kindles. Also sub-$200 higher performance tablet group is selling well.
User interfaces will evolve. Capacitive sensing—Integrating multiple interfaces and Human-machine interfaces enter the third dimension. Ubiquitous sensors meet the most natural interface–speech.
Electronic systems in the automotive industry is accelerating at a furious pace. The automotive industry in the United States is steadily recovering and nowadays electronics run pretty much everything in a vehicle. Automotive electronics systems trends impact test and measurement companies Of course, with new technologies come new challenges: faster transport buses, more wireless applications, higher switching power and sheer amount and density of electronics in modern vehicles.
Next Round: GaN versus Si article tells that the wide-band gap (WBG) power devices have shown up as Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC). These devices provide low RDSON with higher breakdown voltage.
Energy harvesting was talked quite much in 2012 and I expect that it will find more and more applications this year. Four main ambient energy sources are present in our environment: mechanical energy (vibrations, deformations), thermal energy (temperature gradients or variations), radiant energy (sun, infrared, RF) and chemical energy (chemistry, biochemistry). Peel-and-stick solar cells are coming.
Wireless charging of mobile devices is get getting some popularity. Wireless charging for Qi technology is becoming the industry standard as Nokia, HTC and some other companies use that. There is a competing AW4P wireless charging standard pushed by Samsung ja Qualcomm.
In recent years, ‘Low-carbon Green Growth’ has emerged as a very important issue in selling new products. LED lighting industry analysis and market forecast article tells that ‘Low-carbon Green Growth’ is a global trend. LED lighting is becoming the most important axis of ‘Low-carbon Green Growth’ industry. The expectations for industry productivity and job creation are very large.
A record number of dangerous electrical equipment has been pulled from market by Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency’s control. Poor equipment design have been found in a lot, especially in LED light bulbs. Almost 260 items were taken from the market and very many of them were LED lights. With high enthusiasm we went to the new technology and then forgotten the basic electrical engineering. CE marking is not in itself guarantee that the product is safe.
The “higher density,” “higher dynamic” trend also is challenging traditional power distribution technologies within systems. Some new concepts are being explored today. AC vs DC power in data center discussion is going strong. Redundant power supplies are asked for in many demanding applications.
According to IHS, global advanced meter shipments are expected to remain stable from 2012 through 2014. Smart electricity meters seen doubling by 2016 (to about 35 percent penetration). In the long term, IHS said it anticipates that the global smart meter market will depend on developing economies such as China, Brazil and India. What’s next after smart power meter? How about some power backup for the home?
Energy is going digital article claims that graphical system design changes how we manipulate, move, and store energy. What defines the transition from analog to digital and how can we tell when energy has made the jump? First, the digital control of energy, in the form of electricity, requires smart sensors. Second, digital energy systems must be networked and field reconfigurable to send data that makes continuous improvements and bug fixes possible. Third, the system must be modeled and simulated with high accuracy and speed. When an analog technology goes digital, it becomes an information technology — a software problem. The digital energy revolution is enabled by powerful software tools.
Cloud is talked a lot in both as design tool and service where connected devices connect to. The cloud means many things to many people, but irrespective of how you define it, there are opportunities for engineers to innovate. EDA companies put their hope on Accelerating embedded design with cloud-enabled development platforms. They say that The Future of Design is Cloudy. M2M companies are competing in developing solutions for easily connecting embedded devices to cloud.
Trend articles worth to check out:
13 Things That Went Obsolete In 2012
Five Technologies to Watch in 2013
Hot technologies: Looking ahead to 2013
Hot technologies: Looking ahead to 2013
Technology predictions for 2013
Prediction for 2013 – Technology
Slideshow: Top Technologies of 2013
10 hot consumer trends for 2013
Popular designer articles from last year that could give hints what to expect:
Top 10 Communications Design Articles of 2012
Top 10 smart energy articles of 2012
Slideshow: The Top 10 Industrial Control Articles of 2012
Looking at Developer’s Activities – a 2012 Retrospective
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy-Aware Industrial Devices
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=257844&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
With energy-aware industrial devices coming into the marketplace, manufacturers and OEMs will have an important tool to help reduce energy costs as much as 20-30 percent using intelligent, Ethernet-based networking.
Using open-interface standards such as PROFIenergy, Sercos Energy, and the CIP Energy Object, these new energy-saving strategies could become part of a new normal for manufacturers and machinery builders implementing automation application solutions.
The initial target applications are monitoring and saving energy by placing systems into standby mode during production pauses. And even though the base technology has been ready for a couple of years, application deployment has taken time. But now, with the first wave of open-interface, energy-aware devices coming to market, the pace is increasing as companies explore how to integrate energy priorities into the real-time control loops of automation machinery.
Using an IEC-61131 energy efficiency function block to pull in data from Sercos Energy-capable devices, information is presented to the programmer, who can create functions that monitor energy use and/or tune down devices. By performing calculations, the programmer can determine whether to idle a piece of equipment for a specific period to save energy.
From an engineering point of view, the PROFIenergy application profile provides a series of commands, including “Start Pause” and “End Pause.”
PROFIenergy supports the selective disconnection of loads to reduce energy costs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NFC Not The Answer for Retailers, Says PayPal
http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2013/01/25/nfc-not-the-answer-for-retailers-says-paypal/?KEYWORDS=David+Marcus
NFC is a contactless technology that allows devices to swap information over short distances. It is one of those technologies that has, for a long time, been on the edge of being mainstream
David Marcus, president of PayPal, told the audience at DLD that not only was Near Field Communication (NFC) not the technology that would kick-start the mobile payments industry and enrich the customer experience, but it was actually harmful to it.
“Retailers say NFC stands for Not For Commerce,” he said. “It actually prohibits those retail experiences that have de-centralized point of sale checkouts. If you look at the experience you have in an Apple store, they launch an app and scan a barcode. It’s a really good experience.
“When you have consumers with smartphones, why do you need to go to a place to checkout?”
“The new norm for retail commerce is really multi channel — you buy online, on mobile in store. The question is facilitating payments across all channels and bringing these all together in one device. If you look at a typical retailer today they don’t even know when a customer is in their store.”
Retailers are becoming increasingly worried about customers using stores as showcases but making their purchases online. “[Customers] walk into an electronic store, scan the bar code look at the price and buy it online. If it happened to be a large bulky TV even better you don’t have to schlep it back.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot Makers Spread Global Gospel of Automation
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/technology/robot-makers-spread-global-gospel-of-automation.html?pagewanted=all
The robot equipment industry has one word for the alarmist articles and television news programs that predict a robot is about to steal your job: Fiddlesticks!
While automation may transform the work force and eliminate certain jobs, it also creates new kinds of jobs that are generally better paying and that require higher-skilled workers.
An official of the International Federation of Robotics acknowledged that the automation debate had sprung back to life in the United States, but he said that America was alone in its anxiety over robots and automation.
“This is not happening in either Europe or Japan,”
“Automation has allowed us to compete on a global basis.”
A German robotics engineer argued that automation was essential to preserve jobs and also vital to make it possible for national economies to support social programs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung overtakes Apple as top chip buyer
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/semi-conscious/4405534/Samsung-overtakes-Apple-as-top-chip-buyer
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. overtook Apple Inc. to become the top buyer of semiconductors in 2012, according to market research firm Gartner Inc.
Samsung and Apple—longtime collaborators that have become contentious as they slug it out for global dominance in smartphones and tablets—consumed a combined 15 percent of all chips in 2012, according to Gartner. Together, they bought $45.3 billion worth of semiconductors last year, up nearly $8 billion from 2011, according to the firm.
All of this in a difficult economic year when the semiconductor industry declined by an estimated 3 percent.
semiconductor market underwent a dramatic change in 2012 as consumers shifted interest away from desktop and mobile PCs to tablets and other mobile computing devices. The PC market still represented the largest sector for chip demand, though, Yamaji said.
“This shift caused a substantial decrease in semiconductor demand in 2012, as the semiconductor content of a smartphone or a media tablet is far less than that of a PC,” Yamaji said.
According to Yamaji, while the growth of smartphones and tablets can’t fully compensate for the drop in semiconductor demand by the PC market, data center and communications infrastructure growth will continue to drive demand for chips.
“The limited computing and storage resources of new mobile computing devices will be compensated for by cloud computing services with light application software,” Yamaji said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Valley Nation: VCs still hate you
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/silicon-valley-nation/4405619/Silicon-Valley-Nation–VCs-still-hate-you
If you’re an engineer with a great start-up idea, forget about seeking venture funding: They don’t care about you any more.
In fact, venture capitalists in 2012 didn’t have a lot of love for most entrepreneurs: Total money invested fell 11 percent from 2011, while the number of deals fell 6 percent.
Now for the ugly, but not surprising news: Electronics and semiconductors remain VC’s ugly ducking. Money spent on electronics and instrumentation fell a whopping 84 percent in 2012 and 46 percent in semiconductors.
Some of the lowered funding is due to lack of interest or the perceived long-return windows or frustrations about the global macroeconomic environment. But some of it undoubtedly is due to the fact that semiconductor start ups are leaner than they were 15 years ago, fewer engineers, better tools delivering more productivity, more robust global supply chain to leverage. In other words, semiconductor startups are less expensive to invest in.
It’s time to move past denial. The good news is engineers are getting amazingly creative in bringing their creative ideas to life
The other trend I cling to is that all the amazing innovation of the past decades in hardware and software is not only putting accessible, affordable hardware and software tools in the creators’ hands, it’s enabling more and more affordable applications for the consumer market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Developing FPGA applications for Edition 2 of the IEC 61508 Safety Standard
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4405699/Developing-FPGA-applications-for-Edition-2-of-the-IEC-61508-Safety-Standard
FPGAs are being used more and more in high-integrity and safety-critical domains. There is however, a lack of consensus on how FPGAs can be safely deployed and certified. Should these devices be treated as hardware or software during the certification process? Also there is a lack of shared information on the determination of the risk associated with using FPGA technology.
This article touches on the application of the IEC 61508 Edition 2 Safety Standard to FPGAs pertaining to methods, and it establishes the foundation of a guideline for a Safety Package allowing the certification of FPGA-based products in accordance to the functional safety recommendation of the IEC 61508 Edition 2 Safety Standard.
Summary
Advancements in design methodologies, combined with tools like PlanAhead, help in achieving the requirements of the IEC 61508 Edition 2 with a smooth design flow. The use of PlanAhead facilitates the definition and placement of isolation regions and timing verification. IVT makes it possible to automate the verification step in such a way that potential human errors are eliminated. The isolation design flow is part of the Xilinx IEC 61508 package for functional safety under the IEC 61508 Edition 2 Safety Standard. The main focus of this article is on 7 Series FPGAs, and how the potential of these devices can be realized in safety applications while being complaint with the IEC 61508 Edition 2 Safety Standard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suicidal Sensors: Darpa Wants Next-Gen Spy Hardware to Literally Dissolve
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/01/vapr-darpa/
Forget about a kill switch. Planned obsolescence? Already obsolete. The Pentagon’s blue-sky researchers want tomorrow’s military hardware to literally cease to exist at a predetermined point. Welcome to the age of suicidal sensors.
sensors and other “sophisticated electronic microsystems” that litter a warzone — and create enticing opportunities for adversaries to collect, study and reverse-engineer. Since it’s not practical to pick them all up when U.S. forces withdraw, Darpa wants to usher in the age of “transient electronics.”
The program to create transient electronics is called VAPR, for Vanishing Programmable Resources. Darpa’s going to say more about it in the coming weeks. But thus far, the idea is to make small hardware that performs just like current sensors, only fabricated from materials that can rapidly disintegrate on command.
“The efficacy of the technological capability developed through VAPR will be demonstrated by building transient sensors with RF links,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
LDRA tool suite offers compliance to DO-178B/C and IEC 61058 for radiation-hardened processors
http://www.logic.nl/News/LDRA-tool-suite-offers-compliance-to-DO-178B-C-and.aspx
Radiation-hardened processors, such as MIL-STS-1750 and Aeroflex Gaisler, represent a range of legacy to best-in-class processors for spacecraft and nuclear applications. Highly reliable, these components offer a full range of capabilities from 16-bit through to 64 and have dominated the space industry for decades. The integration of the LDRA tool suite with operating systems such as Linux and VxWorks enables developers to run code on the target and load and extract results through networks including Ethernet, TCP/IP, and SpaceWire.
LDRA, the leading provider of automated software verification, source code analysis and test tools, offers validation from requirements through to certification for radiation-hardened environments where radiation anomalies (single event upsets) can disrupt system functionality causing catastrophic results. Such environments demand the most rigorous compliance standards for industrial safety (IEC 61508) and avionics (DO-178B/C) and run on specialised radiation-hardened processors not typically supported by general-purposed tool chains. Due to the extreme cost of these processors, development boards are shared between all system teams.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drop Your Phone in the Sink – We Dare You
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=258042&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
On some Design News message boards, we’ve discussed how great it would be if consumer electronics like smartphones and tablets were rougher and tougher. What if you could actually drop one into the sink by accident, or into your plate of spaghetti sauce, and no harm would be done?
A nanoscale coating that’s now being applied to some smartphones will let you do that (though we don’t recommend it). Aridion, developed by P2i, is used by Motorola on its RAZR and XOOM phones, and by Alcatel on its One Touch phones. About 30nm thick, or 1,000 times as thin as a human hair, the hydrophobic polymer coating is applied to completed products at the end of the manufacturing process.
The coating, based on perfluorinated carbon compounds, is applied via a plasma-enhanced vapor deposition process that lays it down on all of the device’s internal and external surfaces. The process takes place under low pressure in a vacuum chamber at room temperature.
The vaporized polymer bonds at the molecular level to materials, reducing corrosion and water damage. The polymer layer reduces surface energy, so instead of being attracted and spreading out on the device’s surface, water and other liquids bead up and roll off.
According to P2i, Aridion does not affect conductivity or the functioning of components, and is so thin that it doesn’t change the product’s look and feel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Impact of Coding Over 30 Years
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=258080&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
Electrical engineering is without a doubt one of the fastest growing disciplines today. Between the constantly changing curricula and rapidly advancing technology, engineers are required to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest tech and tools. Over the past 30 years, we have seen a significant advancement in the tools engineers are using to learn and innovate. Fueled by the growth of digital electronics, computers along with software and programming languages have helped us shift away from the use of logic components. As a result, while designing and fabricating circuits, many people choose the much simpler approach of the microcontroller (MCU).
In 1983 Bjarne Stroustrup released C++. Building on the original C language it was originally dubbed “C with classes.”
Deriving much of its language from C and C++, Java was released in 1995 by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems.
Using such tech, developers could now create programs within a Web browser and access available Web services. Today, 1.1 billion desktops run Java, 3 billion mobile phones run Java, and there are more than 930 million Java Runtime Environment downloads each year.
Programming has not only given us smartphones, tablets, and extremely useful software programs, it has changed the way electrical and computer engineers are designing circuits. For example, an LED effect such as a blinking light could be built using a 555 timer circuit rather simply. However, using a cheap MCU, the circuitry is less complex and a few lines of code can achieve the same effect. It is even possible to create much more complex lighting effects using just a few more lines of code.
The first general-purpose 8-bit microprocessor in the world was the Intel 8008. After its introduction, MCUs quickly began replacing discrete logic. Due to their small size, ease of use, and programmability, engineers quickly welcomed them into the field.
Today, MCUs are cheap and memory is abundant. Furthermore, MCUs have been integrated into products we use every day such as: displays, printers, keyboards, phones, washing machines, microwaves, and most importantly, cars. A new luxury car today could consist of hundreds of MCUs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fused tantalum chip capacitors offer ‘fail-safe’ design
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4405732/Fused-tantalum-chip-capacitors-offer–fail-safe–design
KEMET has introduced the T496 Hi-Rel Fused Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) MnO2 Series of tantalum surface mount capacitors.
The devices are ideal for use in high reliability applications where a capacitor short will disrupt the overall performance of the system. The internal fuse in the capacitor results in a fail open condition.
Applications include decoupling and filtering in computing, telecommunication, defense, and industrial end applications requiring a built-in fuse capability. This includes filtering for point-of-load and switch-mode power supplies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TI doubles memory in 16-bit MSP430 MCUs
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4405817/TI-doubles-memory-in-16-bit-MSP430-MCUs
Texas Instruments has announced its MSP430F66xx family of 16-bit MCUs, featuring 512K Flash and 64K RAM.
The new MCU family also integrates a 160-segment LCD driver, USB capabilities, and a full analog signal chain to reduce parts count and enhance performance in embedded designs for applications including blood glucose meters, home automation, activity monitors, and low-power wireless applications. The related MSP430F56xx MCU family offers similar capabilities without the integrated LCD functionality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The current differencing transconductance amplifier (CDTA)
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4405810/The-Current-Differencing-Transconductance-Amplifier–CDTA-
Editor’s note: Most modern designs have been using voltage mode elements like op-amps for implementation of various electronic circuits. These elements are used widely due to their small sizes and good performance. With the demand for portable battery powered equipment increasing, designers have begun to look into different architectures to fit these demanding designs. This issue is not easily solved with voltage mode elements since the voltage supply if reduced will cause problems with realizing good, fully-functional circuits. Instead, current mode (CM) elements are now being considered for the same circuits and these issues can then be addressed.
The Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier (CDTA) is the active element operating in current-mode and can be applied to various circuits such as comparators, second order high pass, second order low pass, second order band pass filters.
This article outlines a design method for CDTA-based resistor-less current-mode full balanced nth-order leapfrog ladder filter is presented. Second, circuit device’s parameters confirmation for actual design are analyzed in detail. Further, PSpice simulation for an actual 6th-order butterworth filter is conducted, and the result verifies the validity of the proposed circuits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When software controls your cooling tactics
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-points/4405859/When-software-controls-your-cooling-tactics
Today’s power-driven devices – whether a portable smartphone or hybrid electric vehicle – rely on sophisticated power and cooling management, no news there. While the manifestation of the challenge takes on different guises, the end objectives are the same: using the available power carefully, while keeping things cool. Those “things” can be circuitry, components, engines, motors, batteries, and more, of course.
A large part of this is now accomplished via sophisticated algorithms embedded in the system firmware. These algorithms manage power consumption and use, adjust operating parameters, check usage and cooling, and do whatever they have to do to make the sure system is operating optimally.
Of course, “optimum” means different things under different circumstances
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why your company’s competitor won’t hire you
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4405856/Why-your-company-s-competitor-won-t-hire-you
Recent news from Silicon Valley court rooms brings to mind the hit song “Hotel California,” released in 1977 by American rock band the Eagles. Lead singer Don Henley has said that the song is about excess but its famed “you can check out any time you’d like, but you can never leave” lyric is ringing true this month when it comes to employment in tech.
By now you’ve heard about the emails and documents opened up by a case that alleges technology companies including, Apple, Google, Intel, and several others violated antitrust laws by entering into formal or informal agreements to not recruit each other’s employees.
All of these non-compete dealings, be they behind the curtain handshakes or legal documents engineers are forced to sign for mere employment, harken the mind back to some pre-union work era where you signed up at a company to make enough to feed the family and stayed there until you retired (or died, whichever came first).
How much more innovation could be occurring if employees and their ideas could move more fluidly from company to company, from industry pillar to start-up, from competitor to competitor?
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Third state of magnetism’ could advance storage, superconducting
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/tech-edge/4405952/-Third-state-of-magnetism–could-advance-storage–superconducting
A multidisciplinary team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims to have demonstrated the existence of a long-theorized state of magnetism, called quantum spin liquid (QSL), that could have eventual application in computer memory storage and high-temperature superconductors. QSL is a solid crystal, but the fluctuating magnetic orientations of its individual particles resemble the constant motion of molecules within a liquid.
“We’re showing that there is a third fundamental state for magnetism” in addition to ferromagnetism and anti-ferromagnetism, says MIT physics professor Young Lee
Tomi Engdahl says:
Developing power electronics for manufacturing: System-level design offers an effective approach
http://www.edn.com/design/components-and-packaging/4405533/Developing-power-electronics-for-manufacturing–System-level-design-offers-an-effective-approach
Emerging markets such as renewable energy, plug-in electric vehicles and smart grids are driving new demand for power electronics of ever-shrinking size, weight and cost that can boost performance in operating environments of challenging harshness. Meanwhile, designers charged with enabling these new technology breakthroughs are increasingly aware that their cutting-edge component, module and system designs must ultimately be assembled and manufactured in high volumes.
One of the most effective approaches to design for manufacturing is to take a system-level or modular approach. This allows designers to adapt elements from different systems to create new yet similar applications that can move seamlessly to the manufacturing line. In addition to saving time on front-end design, an integrated modular approach to system design can help reduce overall cost, and speed time-to-market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 software tips for hardware engineers
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-basics/4405862/10-software-tips-for-hardware-engineers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia begins work on graphene, world’s strongest material
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57567045-94/nokia-begins-work-on-graphene-worlds-strongest-material/
The mobile-phone maker receives a $1.35 billion grant to work on development of the 2D wonder-material that is stronger, lighter, and thinner than anything else on earth.
Forget diamonds, graphene is now the world’s hardest material. And all sorts of developers most likely want to get their hands on it.
Nokia looks to be ahead of the game in this graphene race. The Finnish mobile-phone maker announced today that it was one of the recipients of a $1.35 billion grant from the European Union to do research and development on the supermaterial over the next 10 years.
Besides being the hardest substance in the world — 300 times stronger than steel — graphene has all sorts of other noteworthy qualities. It is also the thinnest object ever obtained by man — measuring just one atom thick — and the lightest. It is made of a 2D crystal and looks a bit like scotch tape, only infinitely thinner. Graphene is also transparent, bendable, and a far better conductor than copper.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boot firmware architecture for asymmetric cores
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4405841/Boot-firmware-architecture-for-asymmetric-cores
Traditionally, a processor supporting different computing cores in symmetric/asymmetric architectures typically boots from a specific core generally designated as either master or core 0. In this era of economic slowdown, semiconductor companies have been innovating different approaches to be more cost effective and improve their gross margins.
SoC solutions are designed to meet the requirements of multiple domains. Allowing asymmetric booting enables the companies to expand the targeted range of the SoC to various markets using the same lithographic masks.
For example, if an SoC has an AP (Application Processor) and an RTC (Real Time Controller) core, then allowing SoC to boot from either AP or RTC enables the same SoC to be used both in high performance applications using AP boot and mission-critical low latency, time critical application using RTC boot.
The desire for building a connected world has created unique system architecture designs. These designs range from unicore systems to multi-core architectures using homogeneous or heterogeneous computing architecture. Complex applications designed today require support for specific hardware accelerators performing a dedicated function in the system. These are implemented in the form of ASICs, FPGAs, GPUs, and the like. These different functional units mostly follow different ISAs (Instruction Set Architectures).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Healthcare You Can Wear
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=257818
It used to be that if a doctor wanted to find out a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, or other vital signs, it would require a visit to the office or the hospital. That’s all been changing with the design and maturation of wearable sensor technology, which will give doctors or other caregivers the ability to monitor a person’s health remotely through a patch worn on the body.
“Healthcare has expanded now — there is a lot of accountability on the part of the user,” Deepak Prakash, global market segment manager of wearable sensors for Vancive, told us, going on to say:
Prevention as art of the cure
Indeed, wearable patches, and even clothing that monitors a person’s health, are becoming the way forward for a medical industry that’s increasing its focus on wellness and preventative medicine, rather than merely treating disease. Some engineers are even building sensors into clothing bigger than a patch to monitor people’s vital signs and other physical activity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 top startups to watch in 2013
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4403877/10-tech-startups-to-watch-for-in-2013?Ecosystem=communications-design
Processors, memory, manufacturing processes, chip architecture, EDA, MEMS, RF, touch screens, servers and the Internet of Things are markets where startups can still make a difference.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Developing FPGA applications for Edition 2 of the IEC 61508 Safety Standard
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4405699/Developing-FPGA-applications-for-Edition-2-of-the-IEC-61508-Safety-Standard
Tomi Engdahl says:
Signal EM – Why it matters more than ever
While EM and its impact on designs have long been understood, in mature technology nodes the effects were minimal and were not a big concern. Due to wider interconnects, lower operating speeds and smaller design sizes, manual methods or a conservative approach of oversizing wires for EM served as plausible solutions. However, at 28 nm and beyond, scaling trends in advanced technology nodes along with stringent and complex EM rules make designs more susceptible to EM – particularly on clock and data interconnects. As a result, signal EM and its effects can no longer be ignored.
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/design/eda-design/4405793/EnSilica-and-Phoenix-Systems-have-announced-that-they-have-successfully-ported-the-Phoenix-RTOS–designed-specifically-for-both-single-and-multicore-embedded-systems-applicati?Ecosystem=communications-design
Tomi Engdahl says:
Converging automation standards
http://www.controleng.com/home/single-article/converging-automation-standards/666f1974d4d454e07321e9dcfbda2d43.html
Competing standards and protocols often cover the same ground but are not compatible, to the dismay of end users. Sometimes they can be brought together to benefit vendors and users.
This story has been repeated many times in industrial circles. A number of products and protocols have been relegated to the dustbin of history along with Beta tapes. At the same time, a handful of efforts have emerged in various areas to smooth over differences between competing standards and create something new that accommodates both
The most recent example of how that has worked out positively is the development of FDI in an effort to bridge the gap between FDT/DTM and EDDL as device integration platforms. While the differences between these two approaches were fairly extensive, the group was able to create a new approach that is able to work with both. As vendors implement the new standard, users will not have to choose one or the other, or worse, duplicate efforts and support both.
Another area where some consensus would go a long way is wireless field device communication.
In December, the ISA100 committee disbanded its ISA100.12 subcommittee that was trying to create a convergence of ISA100.11a and WirelessHART standards aimed primarily at wireless process instruments. While the two platforms are similar, no ideal technical solution that could work with both had emerged
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just what the world needs: Android in the rice cooker
Things you can’t make up
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/10/android_rice_cooker/
Less than a fortnight into 2013, we have a candidate for the year’s silliest product: a networked, Android-sporting rice cooker.
However: with CES on the go, appliance makers pursue their belief that the world’s Jetsons-like future is best reached by turning formerly harmless devices into Android monsters
“Panasonic’s Android-controlled SR-SX2 rice cooker lets users search for recipes on their Android phones and then transmit them to the cooker. It also provides information such as how much electricity it has used,” the article notes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Transparent Transistors, Printed On Paper
http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/web/2013/02/Transparent-Transistors-Printed-Paper.html
Electronics: Researchers report first transparent paper-based transistors, which could lead to green electronics
Over the past five years, materials scientists have made electronic devices such as batteries and light-emitting diodes from paper.
Researchers can build electric connections on paper because the material readily absorbs inks, whether those inks contain pigments used to print the newspaper or electronic materials like carbon nanotubes and semiconducting polymers. Materials scientists envision fabricating circuits like publishers print periodicals.
Hu’s group made their own nanopaper
The Maryland researchers then built transistors on the paper by depositing a layer each of three materials: first carbon nanotubes, next an insulating organic molecule, and then a semiconducting organic molecule. To complete the device, the team topped it with electrodes, also made by laying down carbon nanotubes.
The resulting transistors are about 84% transparent, and their performance decreases only slightly when bent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2012 EMF Survey of Embedded Developers: Where Developers get their Most Trusted Information – Comparing EMF Blog Readers Responses to those of the Industry Respondents
http://www.embeddedmarketintelligence.com/2012/02/24/2012-emf-survey-of-embedded-developers-where-developers-get-their-most-trusted-information-%E2%80%93-comparing-emf-blog-readers-responses-to-those-of-the-industry-respondents/
Not surprisingly, online forums, white papers, industry pubs and co-workers were the leading source of information for our Blog readers, while vendor’s websites replaced online forums among industry respondents.
EMF believes that in the future Cloud computing will usher in a new and large market for embedded designs and technologies, it seems that our readers are far ahead of the industry in recognizing its importance.
brand awareness is important.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2013 has arrived and Mentor Graphics is celebrating the Nucleus RTOS 20th anniversary!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toshiba develops zero wait state flash memory for 100MHz ARM microcontrollers
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4406329/Toshiba-develops-zero-wait-state-flash-memory-for-100MHz-ARM-microcontrollers
Nano Flash-100 follows on from the original NANO FLASH which merges high speed programming based on NAND flash memory cell device technology with NOR flash memory circuit technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Optimizing power conversion for isolated sensor interfaces
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/isolate-me-/4406015/Optimizing-power-conversion-for-isolated-sensor-interfaces
Currently analog PLC modules can have 4, 8 or even 16 independent isolated channels. Multiple copies of a modest dc-dc converter take up a lot of space and create a lot of heat. The active circuits consist of a signal conditioning element like an op amp or instrumentation amp, and an ADC with a serial interface which can be interfaced with the FPGA through digital isolator channels. This circuitry typically needs significantly less than 150mW.
There are three basic categories of dc/dc converters used for this power range
Unregulated switching supplies or modules
Regulated switching supplies or modules
Chip scale power converters
Table 1 shows a comparison of the properties of a regulated power module and a chip scale converter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What size fan do I need?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-supply-notes/4406110/What-size-fan-do-I-need–
There are many AC-DC power supplies and DC-DC converters with output power ratings that can vary dependant upon the type of air cooling provided.
If the power device has two output power ratings, the “convection cooled” (still-air) power rating is lower than the “forced-air convection cooled” rating.
For example, the power supply pictured above is an open frame switchmode supply with two output power ratings. For “convection cooled” applications, this supply can provide up to 151W of output power. However, with “forced-air-cooling” it can provide up to 201W of output power.
Most times the power supply is cooled by directing the air flow along its longest dimension; for example, from the input connector end to the output connector end (or vice versa). However, always refer to the power supply’s installation manual to determine the manufacturer’s recommended axis for the cooling air-flow.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: World Industrial Robot Demand Up 38 Percent
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=258342&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
The International Federation of Robotics reports that global sales of industrial robots increased by a whopping 38 percent in 2011 over 2010. In this blog, we’ll look at some of the results of the IRF’s” World Robotics: Industrial Robots 2012″ report. In a later blog, we’ll examine the IRF’s report on service robots, “World Robotics: Service Robots 2012.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung to launch Android-powered fridge
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/9850412/Samsung-to-launch-Android-powered-fridge.html
Samsung will launch a fridge with a built-in Android tablet and an internet-connected washing machine by the end of the year.
The Samsung refrigerator with built-in Android tablets will help people keep track of ingredients, order groceries and act as baby monitors using built-in cameras. The company’s flagship washing machines can be controlled remotely using mobile apps.
Samsung’s flagship web-connected home appliances have previously been available in North America and Asia, but have not been available in Europe.
Mr Owens said that Samsung would concentrate on developing its premium appliance range in the UK, and that consumers increasingly associated the brand with connected appliances because of the “halo effect” from the company’s phones and TVs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
embedded world Conference 2013: focus on safety, security and ultra low power
“The embedded world Conference is Europe’s top gathering for all embedded system developers.
“The main themes this year are ‘Safety and Security of Embedded Systems’ and ‘Development of Ultra Low Power Applications’, both key themes that currently concern the sector and will become real challenges particularly in the future.
More information: http://www.embedded-world.eu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
From cars to smartphones to the factory floor, security threats are an unavoidable side effect of the connectivity powering the Internet of Things. With pervasiveness comes multiple points of network entry, so OEMs and the enterprise can no longer afford to have security be a post deployment afterthought. Careful design planning and judicious solution selection are becoming increasingly critical at all stages of the device lifecycle.
Source: http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/webinars/4405642/Securing-Intelligent-Systems
Tomi Engdahl says:
I have a screen … now what?
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4406205/I-have-a-screen—now-what-
The vast majority of you probably selected a cardboard box first that met your budget, and then narrowed your shopping options based upon what would fit inside that magical box. Right? No?? Of course not. That behavior seems so ludicrous that your family might consider medical intervention.
Yet, this analogy closely matches the process of ~90% of corporations that have awoken to the explosion of touchscreens in the market and are seeking to define their product’s user experience via embedded hardware. They pick the hardware based upon a budget driven by corporate goals, and then figure out what features may be added or (more likely) subtracted to fit within the capabilities of that processor, display, voice engine, etc. To delve into this further, let’s go through three fallacies that most product owners believe, and then talk about the solution.
Probably the #1 mistake made amongst these sophomoric managers is to fix a Bill of Materials up front, but it’s a well-baited bear trap. Why?
So here’s the problem: the product’s price is based upon demand (Econ 101, folks … I’m not making this up), and the demand is based upon how well the consumers’ needs are met. But the consumer has never seen a ground-breaking, eye-popping, brain-melting widget, so the price point is truly unknown.
In addition, some companies set this allowable budget three to five years before their product (e.g., automotive, aerospace).
This can be done with the user experience hardware as well via these three steps:
1. Goals, not features: First, define the user experience based upon the needs of the target user (a.k.a. “persona”).
2. Put on several reference hardwares: The fat kid is still hiking towards the eventual goal, but that’s OK. Select a few Current Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware platforms that approximate different levels of hardware performance.
3. Test, test and retest: Imagine your customer is Goldilocks frolicking amongst several choices and helping you select which one is the best balance between cost and user satisfaction.
Therein, with the market-driven opinions of your quasi-Goldilocks, you may test the various choices all the way through to production.
Comment:
The most common mistake I’ve encountered is engineers and managers who assume that they are the average user. They can’t get their heads around the fact that they are way smarter than the average user/customer, that they must assume that at least half the customers will not read the manual (“but is says in the manual to press the button…”), and that given more than one button to press someone will press the wrong one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unlock Siri-like apps with 3-D voice processing
http://www.edn.com/design/communications-networking/4406219/Unlock-Siri-like-apps-with-3-D-voice-processing
Voice quality is a hot issue due to the recent rise of voice control interfaces for tablets, computers, smart TVs and other consumer electronic devices. Without intelligible speech, automatic voice recognition can’t function properly and to be consider as reliable input device. This problem is compounded by noisy environments, which can severely degrade the quality of speech to the point where voice control is totally inoperable.
Noise cancellation technique took a leap forward with the introduction of a second microphone in smart phones, enabling both microphones to operate in similar manner to the human auditory system. However, this capability does not provide sufficient noise cancellation to eliminate all background noise for voice calls or voice control, while driving or riding on public transportation, or even at home when, for instance, music is turned up loud.
Advanced noise cancellation technology uses an additional sensor in addition to the standard two audio microphones, and then applies a 3D-Vocal algorithm to perform multiple voice processing tasks including echo and background noise cancellation, loudness equalization and general voice enhancement. Removing background noise significantly improves the accuracy rate of ASR, (Automatic Speech Recognition) and voice-call applications for smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who’s managing your power management?
http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4406283/Who-s-managing-your-power-management
Today’s complex systems employ a wide variety of semiconductor technologies. From the deepest sub-nanometer processors to the analog I/O, it’s easy to see the need for power management devices for multiple voltages – 1.0V, 1.2V, 1.5V, 1.8V, 2.2V, 2.5V, 2.8V, 3.0V, 3.3V and more – all in the same box.
Dozens of companies offer thousands of chips to address these needs.
A few dozen years ago, engineers fresh out of school were assigned to the power supply team; the most boring and least challenging aspect of the system and the one most forgiving of inexperience. Could it come to that again?
Not likely. But you really should ask yourself, who is really managing your power management.
Power management is as much about power as it is about finance. The maniacal focus on conservation of energy and power needs to be coordinated with the conservation of cash.
Thanks to the iASIC , custom analog solutions don’t require mega-dollars or mega-units for justification.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Planning to fail is planning to fail
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/food-for-thought/4406157/Planning-to-fail-is-planning-to-fail
“Failing to plan is planning to fail” is a quote attributed to both Alan Lakein, the writer of several self-help books on time management in the 1970s, and before that to Winston Churchill. The quote hints of the fortunes of teams who embrace the importance of planning, by countering with an ominous prediction for teams that don’t. Hardware teams understand the importance of planning, but does the act of project planning guarantee success to the same degree that avoiding project planning guarantees failure? According to 110 engineers surveyed in the spring of 2012, it does not.
From a survey group comprised of embedded software, system integration and ASIC/FPGA engineers, we found that confidence in project planning is tragically low. Not surprisingly, a majority of respondents admitted that recent projects finish behind schedule. When it comes to hardware project planning, it appears teams plan for failure much more frequently than they plan for success.
Of those surveyed, an overwhelming 84% do work that is not represented on a project schedule. Further, 75% disagreed with the idea an initial project plan accurately identifies the amount of work required
The data suggest that when it comes to initially planning and estimating, hardware development teams are using methods that are severely inadequate and they know it. From the very beginning, teams are setting expectations with their estimates that are completely out of touch with reality.
61% – of respondents believe there has been no improvement in their team’s ability to deliver hardware on time with respect to original project estimates.
From early analysis, we believe teams have opportunities to significantly change their approach to project planning in a way that improves confidence within the team and chance of timely delivery.
With mixed support for current project planning practices and schedule overruns reported from 87% of recent projects, we feel the survey data support our hypothesis that confidence in hardware project planning is unacceptably low; also that success rates for hardware projects, with respect to initial project scheduling, are dismal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comments from http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/food-for-thought/4406157/Planning-to-fail-is-planning-to-fail?pageNumber=1
This is fundamentally flawed. The flaw is that I have seen very few companies that PLAN a project. They put together “project plans” but they haven’t planned the project. They just take a wing at what they think they can do and call that a plan.
Often the plan includes make-or-break constraints that are put there by someone that has no clue (we have to have this in six months, or our effort is wasted, failure is not an option). Let’s face it. Planning is hard work and largely unproductive.
we contend hardware planning approaches are broken and I think your opinion that very few companies plan supports that idea. planning to fail, failing to plan, they both end up at the same place.
If you want to survive as a practicing engineer you had best get good at recovering gracefully because there will be first-pass failures, especially if you’re the first to try (and where else would you want to be?).
Making predictions is hard, especially about the future. Such is the problem of planning development (i.e. new designs).
It is much easier to plan how long it will take to do ‘the same thing’ again.
The hard bit is identifying which parts are ‘the same thing’ and which parts are ‘new and unknown’.
The end result is to make a guess, double it, and then double again, so the programme manager can halve it, which then allows for when your optimism (guess) meets reality!
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.
Bionic limbs, innovative infusion systems, and transcranial doppler brain scanners are just some of the innovations engineers are bringing to the exploding medical design arena.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PACs Combine the Best Features of PLCs, PCs & DCSes
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1365&doc_id=257835
Today’s OEMs and end users are aware of the need to increase productivity while lowering operations and maintenance costs. Automation is a key component, but many factories and plants cannot afford the dedicated automation and IT staffs that would be needed to maintain and upgrade complex control systems.
Therefore, they’re looking for automation solutions that provide real-time control in a variety of applications, along with advanced data-handling and communication capabilities. To ease implementation of these solutions, needed features should be built in, and controller programming should be powerful yet easy to understand.
In many cases, a programmable automation controller (PAC) can meet these requirements, delivering more power and built-in features than a programmable logic controller (PLC) while retaining ease of use. The right PAC will also incorporate many of the process control capabilities of a traditional distributed control system (DCS) while adding the data-handling and communication capabilities of a PC.
The PAC is fairly new to the automation world, and though it may seem very similar to the PLC, it offers a flexibility and scalability far beyond the capabilities of the common PLC. PLCs were initially designed in the late 1960s to replace physical relays and timers. As such, they have a ladder logic programming foundation. The PAC was designed from the ground up for programming using any one of the five IEC 61131 languages.
PLCs are typically used for machine control, but the PAC can easily work with more advanced and multipart automation system architectures that include process control and extensive data handling.
A PAC is a single platform that can be used across multiple domains to monitor and control machines and processes. It typically contains many built-in features such as USB data logging ports, a Web server for remote monitoring and control, and an LCD screen for enhanced local user interface and diagnostics.
In addition, a PAC offers an open architecture that enables easy interoperability with other networks and enterprise systems. Since it uses standard protocols and network technologies such as IP, Ethernet, OPC, and SQL, a PAC can communicate with both plant floor devices and higher-level computing systems such as enterprise databases — all without the need for more processors, middleware, and network gateways.
PACs offer extensive built-in functionality, and they have a modular design
easy to add up to thousands of I/O points.
With a PAC, a single tag-name database is shared across all development tools, thus requiring only one software package for programming.
Each tag can consist of a descriptive English syntax name and can be assigned to specific functions before being tied to a particular I/O or memory address.
Overall, PACs provide greater flexibility in programming, larger memory capacity, better interoperability, and more features and functions than a PLC — all at less cost than a DCS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Korean Researchers Invent Bendable Battery
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=258305&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily
Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea have developed an imprintable and bendable lithium-ion battery that they claim is the world’s first, and could hasten the introduction of flexible smartphones that leverage flexible display technology, such as Samsung’s Youm flexible OLED.
Samsung first demonstrated this display technology at CES 2013 as the next step in the evolution of mobile-device displays. The battery could also potentially be used in other flexible devices that debuted at the show, such as a wristwatch and a tablet.
The key to the flexible battery technology lies in nanomaterials that can be applied to any surface to create fluid-like polymer electrolytes that are solid, not liquid, according to Ulsan researchers. This is in contrast to typical device lithium-ion batteries, which use liquefied electrolytes that are put in square-shaped cases. Researchers say this also makes the flexible battery more stable and less prone to overheating.
“Conventional lithium-ion batteries that use liquefied electrolytes had problems with safety as the film that separates the electrolytes may melt under heat, in which case the positive and negative may come in contact, causing an explosion,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronics – Driving progress in medical technology
Published: February 9, 2013
Author: Andreas Beuthner
In medical applications, complex measurements are the norm. Sophisticated microfluidic systems provide valuable diagnostic information. Electronic components are housed in implants to release active substances as required or enhance biomedical imaging processes.
Medical electronic systems are the building blocks of progress.
Electronic components have become indispensable aids in medical devices and appliances. For that reason alone, this market segment has enormous potential for innovation. Today the wide range of applications for medical technology is inconceivable without so-called embedded systems
The benefit of embedded electronics grows with increasing standardisation and the trend towards device networking.
The essential requirements are a reliable electronics design that meets all safety criteria and compatible interfaces with other equipment. Embedded systems are frequently found in so-called Point of Care (POC) devices. POC diagnostic tools in proximity to the patient – such as pulse oximetric sensors, thermometers and other analysis devices – are subject to the strictest safety criteria and must deliver exact measurements over a high volume of tests.
The challenge for the system technology is to ensure that the electronic motherboards and the controlling software both behave exactly as prescribed in the systems specifications of recognised standards
International standardisation bodies like the Connectivity Industry Consortium (CIC) are working towards using specified interfaces to link a range of different POCdevices into a joint network.
A powerful driving force for innovation is the increasing miniaturisation of electronic functions.
There has been noticeable progress too in the field of compact fluid and gas control systems
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mentor Graphics Enables Smart Device Development for M2M Applications with Support for Zero Configuration Networking
http://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/news/mentor-smart-device-for-m2m-applications-with-support-for-zero-configuration-networking?contactid=1&PC=L&c=2013_02_05_embedded_technical_news_nucleus
Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced a solution to design network-based devices for machine-to-machine (M2M) and smart energy applications with the latest release of the Mentor® Embedded Nucleus® Real Time Operating System (RTOS) platform. Embedded developers can design auto configuring network devices for environments without supporting infrastructure, such as network servers, with the addition of mDNS and DNS-Service Discovery (SD) support to the Nucleus RTOS.
Devices can connect to the network automatically without network servers or manual configuration by using the Nucleus RTOS networking middleware which manages IP address resolution, device naming, and network browsing for service discovery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handsets now largest consumer of NAND
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4406265/Handsets-now-largest-consumer-of-NAND?Ecosystem=communications-design
It probably comes as no surprise to most people that cellular handsets are expected to consume more NAND flash than any other single product category in 2013. The surprising thing, really, is that this year will mark the first in which that is the case.
By now, cellphones are ubiquitous, of course. But it’s really the rise of the smartphone–and its increasing NAND content–that is giving the NAND market a much-needed shot in the arm, according to IHS iSuppli. The firm projects that the NAND market will grow about 10 percent this year after contracting about 5 percent last year.
Cellphones are set to become the world’s single largest consumer of flash memory in 2013, accounting for 24.6 percent of all global bit shipments, IHS said. In 2012, cellphones were the second largest consumer of flash, accounting for 23.3 percent, according to the firm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Implementing analog functions in rugged, rad-hard FPGAs
http://www.eetimes.com/design/military-aerospace-design/4406697/Implementing-analog-functions-in-rugged–rad-hard-FPGAs
FPGAs have already changed the cost/reliability paradigm for embedded systems in high-reliability applications, thanks to advances in hardness and power reduction. But on many embedded applications for high-reliability markets, designers depend on a number of peripheral analog components such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters to talk to the real world. Other system components such as phase-locked loops (PLLs) and DC/DC converters are usually required to complete a system design. These peripherals impact overall cost, size and reliability. Peripheral analog parts can also be challenging to work with and to source for radiation environments, as an example.
To further leverage the power of FPGAs, military-and-aerospace engineers are actively looking for ways to integrate many of these analog functions onto the FPGA. Synthesizable, digital IP cores that replace some analog functions now exist, allowing mil/aero designers to implement ADC, DAC, DC/DC controller and clock-multiplier functions in fully digital processes such as FPGAs.
Proprietary signal processing makes it possible to replicate analog sigma-delta ADC performance with all-digital library cells. Companies like SEAKR Engineering and the Finnish Meteorological Institute are using Digital ADC IP in their On Board Processor Program and Lunar Landing Missions, respectively.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED lighting industry analysis and market forecast
http://www.electronicproducts.com/News/LED_lighting_industry_analysis_and_market_forecast.aspx
In recent years, ‘Low-carbon Green Growth’ has emerged as a very important issue.
LED is the trend to newly lead the optical industry, which is one of the world’s most energy-intensive sectors. In addition, it has been becoming the most important axis of ‘Low-carbon Green Growth’ industry due to its high-energy efficiency and long life, and has been diversely expanding its application field to electricity/electronics/lighting, and so forth as the key industry of green contents that IT technology and semiconductor technology are integrated.
In particular, since LED lighting not only has large energy-saving effect but also is an environmentally friendly industry, the expectations for industry productivity and job creation are very large.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Male moth drives around in 2-wheeled robot to track down females
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Sensors_and_Transducers/Sensors/Male_moth_drives_around_in_2-wheeled_robot_to_track_down_females.aspx
Looks like humans aren’t the only species putting robots to use. Recently, a male moth drove a two-wheeled robot around in search for his female counterpart. A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo chose a male silk moth to drive the small robot and track down the sex pheromone given off by a female moth.
The team used the robot to distinguish the moth’s tracking behaviors in hopes that the same characteristics can be applied to autonomous robots so they can be used to detect dangerous smells such as from spills or leaks by using sensitive sensors.
The researchers attached the silk moth to a free-moving polystyrene ball at the front of the robot.
“Most chemical sensors, such as semiconductor sensors, have a slow recovery time and are not able to detect the temporal dynamics of odors as insects do,”