The Internet of Everything is coming. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. Very many electronics devices needs to be designed for this in mind. The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. Gartner suggests that the “the smart machine era will be the most disruptive in the history of IT.” Intelligent systems and assistive devices will advance smart healthcare.
Software-defined anything (SDx) is coming more into use. It means that many proprietary systems are being replaced with commonly available standard computer hardware and software running in them.
PC market: ABANDON HOPE all ye who enter here. Vendor consolidation ‘inevitable’. Even Intel had to finally admit this that the Wintel grip which has served it and Microsoft so well over the past decades is waning, with Android and iOS coming to the fore through smartphones and tabs. The market conversion to tablets means that consumers and businesses are sweating existing PC assets longer. Tablets to Make Up Half of 2014 PC Market.
The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Electronics Kits article mentions that many older engineers first became interested in electronics through hobbies in their youth—assembling kits, participating in amateur radio, or engaging in other experiments. The 1970s and 1980s were great times for electronics hobbyists. But whenever it seems that there’s nothing left for the hobbyist, a new motif arises. The Raspberry Pi has become a best seller, as has a similar experimental board, the Arduino microcontroller. A great number of sensors, actuators, cameras, and the like have quickly become available for both. Innovative applications abound in such domains as home automation and robotics. So it seems that now there is much greater capacity for creativity in hobby electronics then there ever was.
E-Waste: Lack of Info Plagues Efforts to Reduce E-Waste article tells that creation of trade codes is necessary to track used electronics products according to a recent study concerning the waste from growing quantities of used electronics devices—including TVs, mobile phones and computers. High levels of electronic waste are being sent to Africa and Asia under false pretenses.” StEP estimates worldwide e-waste to increase by 33 percent from 50 million tons in 2012 to 65 million tons by 2017. China and the U.S. lead the world as top producers of e-waste. America produces about 65 pounds of e-waste per person every year. There will be aims to reduce the waste, for example project like standardizing mobile phone chargers and laptop power supplies.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Big Memory Shift Ahead
http://semiengineering.com/big-memory-shift-ahead/
While we have lived with SRAM and DRAM since the dawn of computing and flash more recently, it is all about to change. The implications for chip design are huge.
System architecture has been driven by the performance of memory. Processor designers would have liked all of the memory be fast SRAM, placed on-chip for maximum performance, but that was not an option. Memory had to be fabricated as separate chips and connected via a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). That limited the number of available I/O ports and the rate of data transfers.
Over time, space became available on-chip and small amounts of faster memory could be integrated. This faster buffer spawned the designs we have for cache and produced a significant reduction in the number of times a program had to go off-chip for its data. Memory consumes about half of the chip area today, but everything is about to change. Smaller geometries are stretching existing technologies in many ways and new memory technologies are preparing to replace the old.
On-chip, little has changed with most of the memory being the 6T static RAM cell that has not seen significant change for decades. “Embedded DRAM or flash is more expensive,”
“the SRAM already moved from 6T to 8T and prediction is that it will not be sufficient so the cell is getting larger with smaller nodes.”
“The DRAM needs a capacitor to go along with the 1 transistor bit-cell and that capacitor is not scaling,”
“With SRAM you have a problem controlling Vt variability with 16/14 finFETs,”
“A typical 1Mb memory block will have at least one repair element, which could be in the bit-line or word-line direction. The foundries provide guidelines about what kind of failures are expected more often.”
But even NAND flash is under pressure from new memory types, most notably Resistive RAM (RRAM or ReRAM).
“The beauty of ReRAM is that the smaller you make it, the more physics works for you, the opposite of flash-based memories,” Lazovsky explains.
Why are ReRAMs so important? “We are talking about pJ per bit,” says Lazovsky. “We are talking about 10 years of data retention at 100 degrees C. Endurance is hundreds of thousands of cycles versus NAND’s few thousand.”
“NAND flash is a $30B industry that has tens of billions of dollars in capital infrastructure that would need to be retooled. The big four players represent 95% of the market and they have a lot of existing investment. The entire cost equation is CapEx, so they need to milk the tail of the revenues as long as they can.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung, with this new 3D NAND SSD, you’re really spoiling us … or perhaps a rival?
Did Sammy just poop a party before it even began?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/02/samsungs_sort_of_3d_ssd_news/
We’re making it, but we’re not going to tell you much about it. That’s more or less what Samsung has to say about its second-generation 3D V-NAND and the flash drives the tech is going into.
As the name suggests, 3D V-NAND is made up of layers of flash cells stacked one on the other to increase storage capacity without increasing the silicon footprint.
The South Koreans are remaining tight lipped about the cell geometry and whether it’s MLC or SLC flash.
“The new 3D V-NAND-based SSDs have approximately twice the endurance for writing data and consume 20 per cent less power, compared to planar (2D) MLC NAND-based drives.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Customer Is Not Always Right
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1368&doc_id=268943&cid=nl.dn11
Lessons, lessons, lessons. There are times when you have to say no to your customer. Knowingly providing your customer defective documentation for release cannot be justified, and the consequences are potentially quite unpleasant. Make sure your vendors can deliver on time and on budget. Development CM needs to be at least as good as production CM, and change synchronization with the customer must be checked.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why I Prefer to Create My Own PCB Symbols
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322586&
Now, if you are working within the CAD package, maybe you could argue that it has tools to highlight the net in total, so that you can easily locate and work with it. But when you print the document, you don’t have access to the CAD tool and are therefore SOL (sadly out of luck). Another problem, as we shall see in an example in a moment, is that CAD systems evolve, mutate, and even disappear over time. Even if your CAD system is called the same name as an earlier incarnation, it may not work with the electronic files in the same way.
Over the years, I have designed my system to avoid disjointed nets on a single sheet and to have as few intersheet connections as possible.
When creating symbols, I have found different CAD packages to be quirky and sometimes surprisingly inflexible on things like text orientation and style.
One of the problems associated with using your own symbols comes up when the software goes through an upgrade.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Broadcom to Divest Cellular Baseband Chip Business
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322590&
Broadcom Corp. said it plans to sell or wind down its low-margin cellular baseband business to focus on three key sectors: infrastructure, broadband, and connectivity.
As part of the strategic move, Broadcom’s connectivity team will be merged with its broadband communications unit, forming the Broadband and Connectivity Group, which will be headed by Daniel Marotta. Rob Rango will oversee the baseband processor transition process.
Broadcom’s tough decision to exit the cellular baseband business was based on the challenges it has been facing in garnering revenue, particularly in the low-end and middle baseband markets, which are saturated with chip suppliers, McGregor said.
“The connectivity products (WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM, etc.) are very good and profitable. Nobody will want the older 2G/3G only modem business,” except at a fire-sale price.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teeny GPU targets wearables, Things
One-third of a square mm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/teeny_gpu_targets_wearables_iot/
This GPU isn’t going to get Bitcoin enthusiasts worked up, but from a “wow that’s small” point of view it’s interesting: Vivante is shipping a range of GPUs that ranges from 0.3 mm2 up to 1.6 mm2 in size for IoT and wearables applications.
The four devices the company’s announced include two VGA/WVGA devices (the 100-200 MHz GC Nano Lite and 200 MHz GC Nano, which support NanoUI vector graphics and OpenGL ES 2.0 / NanoGL respectively); and two 720p devices (the 200-400 MHz GC Nano Ultra and GC Nano Ultra3, running OpenGL 2.0 and OpenGL 3.0 respectively, both with NanoGL support).
Vivante is stressing low power, low memory footprint, and small drivers in the design, since wearables and IoT devices are typified by highly-constrained environments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Broadcom: If no one buys our modem biz, we’ll DITCH IT
The real crime? It’s unlikely anyone will buy it
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/broadcom_exits_cellular_modem_biz/
Chipmaker Broadcom is moving out of the mobile modem business. The company has announced that if it can’t sell its cellular modem division, the operation will be shuttered.
The news has been greeted with glee by financial types, who point to the $600m the company expects to save as a result of the move. The Broadcom share price shot up by $4 on 2 June as a result, and it seems that this was the driver behind the decision.
Broadcom bought the exceptionally well-regarded Renesas team for $164m last September. Back in 2010 Renesas had taken on the Nokia modem development for $200m.
Modem development is hugely capital intensive, but with a billion phones being sold each year it has the potential to be lucrative
If Broadcom closes down the old Renesas modem development division, it leaves just Nvidia as a major player in a field which once saw Texas Instruments, Thompson, Ericsson Mobile Platforms, NXP, Freescale, Infineon and others as major competing players. The lack of competitors is not going to be good for the future price curve of LTE devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM, HP, others admit products laced with NORK GOLD
That high-pitched screaming your fan makes? It’s not the fan.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/hp_ibm_north_korea_gold/
IBM, HP, Seagate, and other companies have admitted that some of their products include gold from North Korea.
The companies disclosed in recent financial filings – first spotted by Foreign Policy – that some of their suppliers sourced gold from the “Central Bank of the DPR of Korea”, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The companies made these filings in response to a new reporting rule aimed at uncovering the links between stuff mined in troubled Central Africa and products sold or manufactured by US-listed companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU Launches World’s Largest Civilian Robotics Program; 240,000 New Jobs Expected
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/06/03/1751215/eu-launches-worlds-largest-civilian-robotics-program-240000-new-jobs-expected
“The European Commission and 180 companies and research organizations (under the umbrella of euRobotics) have launched the world’s largest civilian research and innovation program in robotics. Covering manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households, the initiative – called SPARC”
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU launches world’s largest civilian robotics programme – 240,000 new jobs expected
http://robohub.org/eu-launches-worlds-largest-civilian-robotics-programme-240000-new-jobs-expected/
According to a press release, the European Commission and 180 companies and research organisations (under the umbrella of euRobotics) have launched the world’s largest civilian research and innovation programme in robotics. Covering manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households, the initiative – called SPARC – is the EU’s industrial policy effort to strengthen Europe’s position in the global robotics market (€60 billion a year by 2020).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Press release:
EU launches world’s largest civilian robotics programme – 240,000 new jobs expected
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-619_en.htm
European Commission Vice President @NeelieKroesEU, says: “Europe needs to be a producer and not merely a consumer of robots. Robots do much more than replace humans – they often do things humans can’t or won’t do and that improves everything from our quality of life to our safety. Integrating robots into European industry helps us create and keep jobs in Europe.” (SPEECH/14/421)
President of euRobotics Bernd Liepert says: “SPARC will ensure the competitiveness of European robotics industries. Robot-based automation solutions are essential to overcome today’s most pressing societal challenges – from demographic change to mobility to sustainable production”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Back then the economic motor was “build more stuff that people actually want to buy”. which is in my opinion the only reason that can make commerce prosper.
“Make more money” and “Create more jobs” goals are in my opinion just as worthless as economic motors as the old communist “Make everybody equal” goal. Neither of those actually CREATES wealth, only building new stuff that people actually want that actually winds up in the hands of most of the populace creates wealth. The trip that most “make money” companies these days are on (produce in low-wage countries, sell in high-wage countries) will someday come to an end when the former high-wage countries collapse. It’s just a matter of time and a matter of how big a bang they create when they go down.
The vast majority of work available for people throughout the world is manual labor, including trades
And most of that work isn’t going away in the near future. With the current state of robots, you’re talking about taking away the most dull, dangerous, and dirty jobs out there. Some robots will even have jobs that humans aren’t capable of doing because they are so dangerous or dirty. Any jobs for these robots will be a net gain in employment, creating jobs surrounding and supporting the robot that were not possible before.
The central planners will take money out of the productive economy and spend it on a corporate giveaway to favoured interests.
Is there an alternative way of stimulating research in a specific field for the public good?
Source: Comments at http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/06/03/1751215/eu-launches-worlds-largest-civilian-robotics-program-240000-new-jobs-expected
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inexpensive lidar contains MEMS-tunable VCSEL
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2014/05/inexpensive-lidar-contains-mems-tunable-vcsel.html
A potentially very compact and inexpensive lidar unit developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is built around a (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that is wavelength-tunable via a movable micro-electrical-mechanical-systems (MEMS) element. The device is designed for sensing to distances of about 10 m, which is the “sweet spot” for applications such as self-driving cars, smartphone gesturing from afar, and interactive video games similar to Microsoft’s Kinect.
“This [10 m] range covers the size of typical living spaces while avoiding excessive power dissipation and possible eye-safety concerns,”
The UC Berkeley device has the potential to be integrated into a chip-scale package.
The new device is based on frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar
This type of system emits frequency-chirped laser light (chirped by the resonant MEMS element in the VCSEL) and then measures changes in the light frequency that is reflected back.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LTC6820 – isoSPI Isolated Communications Interface
http://www.linear.com/product/LTC6820
The LTC®6820 provides bidirectional SPI communications between two isolated devices through a single twisted pair connection.
1Mbps Isolated SPI Data Communications
Simple Galvanic Isolation Using Standard Transformers
Bidirectional Interface Over a Single Twisted Pair
Supports Cable Lengths Up to 100 Meters
Engineered for ISO26262 Compliant Systems
Requires No Software Changes in Most SPI Systems
Tomi Engdahl says:
26 | April 2014 :
LT Journal of Analog Innovation
Low Cost isoSPI Coupling Circuitry for High Voltage High Capacity Battery Systems
http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/lt-journal/LTJournal-V24N1-06-di-isoSPICoupling-JonMunson.pdf
The isoSPI
™
feature built into the LTC6804 battery
stack monitor, when combined with an LTC6820 isoSPI
communications interface, enables safe and robust
information transfer across a high voltage barrier. isoSPI is
particularly useful in energy storage systems that produce
hundreds of volts via series-connected cells, which require
full dielectric isolation to minimize hazards to personnel.
The isoSPI function operates with readily available and inexpensive
EthernetLAN magnetics, which typically include a common-mode-choke section
For battery-stack voltages in the 400V range, good design practice is to specify transformers
with reinforced (double) insulation and hi-pot testing to 3750V or higher.
One alternative to using reinforced trans-formers is to separate the bias requirement from
the magnetics by moving the extra insulation to coupling capacitors instead.
The coupling capacitors are biased by high value resistor
Eliminating the high voltage requirement from the transformer magnetic design
enables a number of relatively low cost options. One is to simply use appropriately
approved Ethernet transformers.
Use an AC-coupling method to mitigate the cost impact of high voltage isoSPI
systems, eliminating the double insulation requirement on magnetics
Tomi Engdahl says:
THP Entry: A $300 Pick & Place 3D Printer
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/04/thp-entry-a-300-pick-place-3d-printer/
With the advent of cheap PCB fabrication, (relatively) easy to use layout tools, and a whole host of prototypes for nearly any device imaginable, the age of custom circuits is upon us. The tools to make these custom circuits, though, are usually hilariously expensive or simply unavailable to all but the most resourceful hackerspace. It would be great if every workshop in the country had a pick and place machine, and the $300 Pick and Place / 3D printer would be a great way to introduce this tech to millions of electronic tinkerers around the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hybrid execution – the next step in the evolution of hardware-software co-development
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/hybrid-execution-the-next-step-in-the-evolution-of-hardware-software-co-development.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004132&vID=209#.U5BTpChsUik
Software has become a crucial component as it determines significant portions of the functionality visible to us end consumers, as well as differentiation.
Over the past decade the software content to be addressed by semiconductor companies has multiplied several-fold. Where providing some core drivers and managing an ecosystem of operating system (OS) providers was sufficient in the late 90’s to win a socket in the mobile space, today the contenders for providing application processor have to be able to deliver the chip with multiple OSs already ported, up and running, ready to be adopted by system customers.
Unfortunately, in classic development flows, hardware and software – while ultimately derived from joint requirements – diverge in their development and in the worst case integration doesn’t happen until a “big-bang” integration test is done.
Given its importance, software has become the long tail in development cycles and its efficient development and testing is of great concern. Design teams are attempting to develop software as early as possible on whatever representation of the hardware they can get their hands on – achieving what the industry sometimes calls the great shift to the left. In an ideal world software development would be enabled at the very start of a chip-development project, but in reality users face various development options across levels of abstraction and different execution engines.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top free DIY tools every engineer needs
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/top-free-diy-tools-every-engineer-needs.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004133&vID=209#.U5BUcShsUik
PlEvery electrical engineer who does DIY projects knows that dozens of free resistor calculators are out there that can save quite a bit of tedious work. Other simple tools can be found, but traditionally the free tool arsenal would stop there. Sure, there are base platforms such as SolidWorks and Autodesk, but what happens when they are missing a feature needed at that exact moment?
Now we’re seeing a relative explosion in free tools for engineering electronics. It is easy just to hit the Net and use the myriad resources available. Some of those online tools prove to be worthless, and it’s back to blind searching or some paid tool, but free software extends far beyond the functionality of a simple calculator.
To help sort out the nonsense from the useful online tools
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reference design to gather smart electricity distribution data faster, more accurately
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/reference-design-to-gather-smart-electricity-distribution-data-faster-more-accurately.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004022&vID=44#.U5BVYihsUik
Maxim Integrated’s Petaluma reference design enables more intelligent grid data management with 3-phase, high-speed analogue data collection, yielding real-time measurements for utilities and infrastructure providers to simultaneously and accurately measure distributed power grid data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCB Reliability: Via Design
http://www.eeweb.com/blog/eeweb/pcb-reliability-via-design1
When considering the long term reliability of a PCB, you must take into account the vias that you have on your board. While an invaluable and essential part of board design, vias introduce weaknesses and affect solderability. This article will discuss vias, the potential concerns that are introduced into your board through their implementation, and how to minimize those concerns to acceptable levels.
The first rule for via design is simple: bigger is better. Larger vias have greater mechanical strength as well as greater electrical and thermal conductivity.
vias should have a minimum 20 mil drill width with an annular ring of 7 mil and a minimum aspect ratio of 6:1. For many boards this may be an unacheivable goal, however, the basic premise of bigger is better stands true
Tomi Engdahl says:
EUV Nudges Toward 10nm
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322626&
The latest extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems are making about 28 wafers/hour or 100 wafers/day with a 40 W light source in pilot tests. The progress is significant but falls far short of a production target of up to 200 wafers/hour for the systems upon which ride many of the hopes of the semiconductor industry.
EUV aims to help chipmakers avoid the costly need to pattern wafers three or four times with existing immersion systems to get the 10 nm features they will need in about two years. The low throughput due to the relatively weak light source is the biggest of several problems for EUV.
“Over time I am convinced we will get to 100-200 wafers/hour with higher numerical aperature — that will give us another 10 years” of new chipmaking capabilities, Van den Brink said.
Immersion tools may require 18 masks at 10 nm and 27 masks at 7 nm, driving up costs 35% and 21% or more, respectively, an “unsustainable” level
Without EUV, “there is no real Plan B,” said Ronse, noting the complexity and costs of alignment, focus control, and optical proximity correction with triple and quad patterning. “No one will tolerate these costs — you are not on Moore’s Law anymore.”
“It is not clear the scaling economics of Moore’s Law will continue to deliver better, cheaper transistors,”
“So what if silicon becomes more expensive? The cost of certain pieces may go up”
“For the first time in history we are starting to deviate from this [Moore's Law] curve,” he said, noting multi-patterning “certainly adds to cost” that could become “unsustainable.”
“For the first time in history we are starting to deviate from this [Moore's Law] curve,” he said, noting multi-patterning “certainly adds to cost” that could become “unsustainable.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
MEMS Clock Cuts Wearable Power in Half
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322607&
Let’s face it: Most of the time our mobile devices are idle. No matter how addicted you’ve become to checking for messages, surfing the web, listening to music, or playing games, most of the time it’s waiting for you to activate it. However, during this idle time your unit is not totally off. If Bluetooth is turned on, for instance, it has to wake up every few seconds to make sure no paired device is wishing to transfer data. Likewise, it has to periodically check for button clicks, WiFi activity, and for battery supervision functions.
During those operations SiTime Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., claims its new, high-precision, real-time clock can save 50 percent or more of the power usually expended during idle time, at least doubling the battery life during those periods.
“These power savings might not amount to much for a device with a big battery, but for Internet of Things and wearable devices with tiny batteries, their lifetime can be significantly extended with our new SiT1552 MEMS 32 kHz TCXO [Temperature Compensated Oscillator] real-time clock,” Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing, told EE Times.
Every mobile device has a 32 kHz real-time clock to keep track of time, telling its device when to wake up and perform its duties.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel, Taiwan Target Tablets
Broadwell Core M debuts at Computex
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322625&
Intel’s President Renée James gave a keynote address at Computex that highlighted Intel’s close and historic ties to the Taiwanese PC business and how the company is leveraging those connections to gain a bigger slice of the tablet market. Intel continues to stress its process technology and used this event to announce the mobile processor based on the 14 nm Broadwell chip — the Intel Core M processor.
While no technical details were given for the part, James also demonstrated the part in an Intel reference design for a “two-in-one” hybrid notebook/tablet. The design is only 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) thick and only weighs 670 gm (1.5 lbs) with the keyboard detached. It achieves the thin design by going fanless.
The so-called Llama Mountain platform uses a 12.5 inch QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixel) display from Sharp. Asus will ship a version of the reference design as the Transformer T300 Chi. Eliminating the fan saves space above the processor, but can only be achieved by keeping active power below just a few watts.
This is a major milestone for Intel’s Core family and does overlap with the low-power Atom-based BayTrail processors, which can also be used in fanless designs. But the Atom chips lack the single-thread performance of Intel’s Core processors and do not have the same graphics performance. No date was given to production shipments.
he company’s 14 nm products are scheduled to ship later this year, and James says Intel can “see clear to 10 nm.”
Still, the rest of the mobile processor industry is doing quite nicely with 28 nm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designing And Printing A Custom Enclosure
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/05/designing-and-printing-a-custom-enclosure/
It’s actually not that hard to design a custom enclosure for you board, as [Glen] demonstrates with a custom 3D printed project box.
There are a vast array of scripts and plugins for this kind of mechanical design work, including the EagleUP plugins that turn an Eagle PCB into a 3D object that can be imported into SketchUp.
Taking measurements from Eagle, [Glen] designed a small project box that fits the PCB.
Once the enclosure was complete, [Glen] exported the design as an STL, ready for 3D printing or in his case, sending off to Shapeways. Either way, the result is a custom enclosure with a perfect fit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Downturn in the semiconductor over in Europe!
Downturn in the semiconductor trade is over, declares dmass organization (Distributors ‘and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists). Germany rose early in the growth of a two-year descent. Only in the Nordic market shrank.
The most important thing for all of Europe is the fact that the German market was up by 6.6 per cent in 511 million. Germany’s share of the semiconductor trade is 32 per cent.
Italy semiconductor sales rose 12.7 percent to EUR 157 million, the UK, 10.6 per cent of 136 million euros and 7.6 percent in France made 178 million. In Eastern Europe reached 12.5 per cent.
Unfortunately, the North was the only market in which the semiconductor sales declined in the first half. 146 million in total sales marked a 4.6 percent drop a year ago.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1444:taantuma-euroopan-puolijohteissa-ohi&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog and digital power struggle goes on
If you work for a product or application, power supply, electronics, or an application designer, you certainly have to make choices analog or digital compliance solutions. The good news is that the answer is likely somewhere in between these solutions – making the best of both techniques.
Engineers want to keep track of real-time data such as voltage levels, fault information, alarms and time-based applications products. This gives system engineers to improve the predictability and comprehensive error analysis, as well as minimize downtime and store more data in any maintenance repairs.
The possibilities to control the voltage level of the on-/ off fluctuations in a certain sequence and a certain period of time, as well as create a variety of current and voltage outputs are high on the wish list. In addition, the aim is to optimize the load which varies with the cooling and the cooling fans to control the use, in order to bring about sustainable components and lower noise levels.
Although the monitoring and control can be achieved by analog means, we have found that digital technology the solutions are practical for the design and implementation of the daily and long-term management perspective.
Although digitally values and critical parameters of the control power supply would be how easy, we found that the benefits that come with digital solutions will not in most cases be justified when compared to their brought about by complications associated with DSP design.
Analog solution is still king when it comes to power supply design of the core issues. It is a proven and familiar and safe option. It is more readily available and generally has a shorter design time. In addition, analog solutions is less “bugs” in the case of a new product release. But we want to hold on to some of the digital plan their perceived benefits. Basic alarm and monitoring solutions are analogous, but the interface for the circuits implemented digitally filtered solutions. This will give the best interests of both worlds – analog and digital – technologies.
In the future, it is possible that the DSP will become the norm, but I see that the analog approach will live on for a long time. Both techniques will live side by side
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1396:jeff-rodriquez&catid=9&Itemid=139
Tomi Engdahl says:
9 billion wireless ICs
A range of wireless chips consumption shows no signs of slowing down. ABI Research, in 2019, sold for nearly nine billion Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS and ZigBee chipsets.
Research indicates that this figure would be even higher, but entered the market a combination of different chipsets to be reduced to it. In 2010-2014 the market will in any case no less than 21 billion wireless circuit.
The next five years, ie between 2015-2019 deliveries will increase almost doubled to 39 billion chipset.
In Cell Phones majority of the chips is are so called combination of chipsets.
In WLAN markets majority of the products use separate wireless chips.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1422:9-miljardia-langatonta-piiria&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Embedded Linux will become the mainstream
One of the pioneers in the embedded linux does not Lynuxworks has changed its name to Lynx Software Technologies.
Old Lynuxworks known, however, still strong in the linux-house. In 2000, it introduced the Red Hat Linux on the basis of presented BlueCat Linux.
In the last 10 years have seen a lot of the pioneers of embedded linux. Originally linux-houses were small software houses, but the growing importance of Linux to them flowed slowly into larger companies.
Wind River is a good example. VxWorks real-time operating-known company acquired the RTLinux FSMLabsilta in 2007. In 2009, Wind River ended up as part of the acquisition, Intel.
Another big name in the real-time Linux, MontaVista moved in December 2009 to develop a network of processors Cavium ownership.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1424:sulautetuista-linuxeista-tulee-valtavirtaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
NAND continues to grow, 3d until next year
Flash memory requirements for smart phones and tablets continues to grow. This year, the market size will grow according to Trendforce by five per cent to about 25.2 billion dollars, or nearly 18.5 billion Euros, even though the average prices of the chips dropping will continue as before.
NAND flash is, however, becoming a significant line: technologies to scale traditional 2D circuits inevitably coming to an end.
Three-dimensionality has proven to be very difficult technique. Samsung VNAND (pictured) was published fifteen years ago, but it is not in widely market because hard chip verification.
Another 3D circuits believer is Toshiba. Toshiba’s manufacturing plant, however, indicate that the 3D flash production could start in Fab5 plant in the earliest years of the first half of 2015.
Hynix and Micron have access to real 3D circuits for the production of next year at the earliest in the autumn.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1411:nand-kasvu-jatkuu-3d-vasta-ensi-vuonna&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robots: Can we trust them with our privacy?
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140605-the-greatest-threat-of-robots
The idea that robots will conquer humanity is a myth, says Marcus Woo, but has one of the real concerns they pose been ignored?
Joss Wright is training a robot to freak people out.
Wright, a computer scientist, is plotting an experiment with a humanoid robot called Nao. He and his colleagues plan to introduce this cute bot to people on the street and elsewhere – where it will deliberately invade their privacy. Upon meeting strangers, for example, Nao may use face-recognition software to dig up some detailed information online about them. Or, it may tap into their mobile phone’s location tracking history, learn where they ate lunch yesterday, and ask what they thought of the soup.
The experiment is part of a project called Humans And Robots in Public Spaces, which is exploring how people interact with robots – and what happens when the mischievous machines know more about us than we think.
Wright is one of a number of researchers wondering whether we can trust the robots that are poised to enter our lives.
Robots have already been working in factories for decades. Some are now in our homes, cleaning our floors, while others may soon keep a watchful eye on us as security guards or help take care of the elderly. In the last year alone, Google, which is already developing self-driving cars, bought eight robot companies.
Yet despite advances in technology and in artificial intelligence, we’re still a long way from intelligent robots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Softbank’s ‘Pepper’ robot understands feelings, will cost less than $2,000 next year
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/05/japanese-phone-company-softbank-shows-off-its-new-robot-customer/
Japanese telecom Softbank and its CEO Masayoshi Son have never been afraid to push the envelope, and now the exec is presenting a new development: robots. Presented at a press conference earlier today in Japan
it’s called Pepper, and uses technology acquired from the French robotics company Aldebaran. Those are the folks behind the Nao humanoid robot
The robots will debut at two stores tomorrow in their customer service capacity, but Softbank is planning to put them on sale to the public next year, priced just shy of $2,000.
Pepper can communicate through emotion, speech or body language and it’s equipped with both mics and proximity sensors. Inside, it will be possible to install apps and upgrade the unit’s functionality, the plan being to make Pepper far more smarter than when you first bought it. It already understands 4,500 Japanese words, but perhaps more impressively, Pepper can apparently read into the tone used to understand its master’s disposition.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SoftBank Mobile and Aldebaran Unveil “Pepper”
– the World’s First Personal Robot That Reads Emotions
http://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/group/sbm/news/press/2014/20140605_01/
Tomi Engdahl says:
An open-source robotics OS is moving from the lab to farms and even into space
Smart machines running ROS, the Robot Operating System, are turning up in surprising applications
http://www.itworld.com/422034/open-source-robotics-os-moving-lab-farms-and-even-space
PR2, a bulky, rolling droid with two arms, was relying heavily on ROS to open the doors and plug itself in. ROS is an open-source operating system that has continued to grow since that day in June 2009 and is now helping robots tackle real-world tasks in unexpected ways.
First developed in 2007, ROS is a collection of tools and libraries that serve as a framework for writing robot software. It’s basically a programming platform for robots, just as Android is a platform for smartphone apps.
A recent ROS software package, for instance, allows robots to find objects with handles in 3D point clouds.
The ROS-powered robots cooperate with each other by trading their maps of cleaning areas. Avidbots says renting or buying its robots can save companies 50 percent or more on floor-cleaning costs compared to human crews.
“The impressive thing about ROS was it allowed only a few engineers to write an entire system and receive our first check for service in only a few months,” Willy Pell, a senior systems engineer at Blue River, wrote in an email.
ROS is also being used in a worldwide fleet of hundreds of cars that gather data for Nokia’s Here mapping apps. The cars are equipped with rooftop Velodyne LIDAR sensors, GPS and cameras, and data from them must be processed before storage. That’s where ROS comes in.
“The system of sensors and computers means the software that’s needed is very like that which is used to create robots,”
One of ROS’s most far-flung deployments began in April when the International Space Station received a crucial component for its Robonaut 2 humanoid robot, which was developed by NASA.
“We’ve seen ROS used on pretty much every kind of robot that you can imagine, wheels to legs, ground to air to water and beyond,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analysts Expect Sustained Semi Growth
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322645&
Analysts at the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) predict increased growth in 2014 and 2015, due to double-digit increases in monthly semi sales year-over-year.
“The global semiconductor market maintained its strong momentum in April, with year-over-year sales increasing across every region and product category,”
According to WSTS, worldwide sales reached $26.34 billion in April 2014, an increase of 11.5% over April 2013. WSTS predicts global semi sales will reach $325.4 billion in 2014, a 6.5% increase from the 2013 sales total and a revision from its fall 2013 forecast, which projected 4.1% growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Safer Car Design Demands New Testing Approaches
Paying for current recalls vs. preventing future ones
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322624&
Virtual prototyping is clearly an approach that makes sense when it comes to software development, integration, and test. The concept of virtual prototyping is relatively simple: Create a simulation of your electronic control system including the electronic hardware (microcontroller) and the mechanical system it controls (some refer to this environment as a virtual hardware-in-the-loop environment). Simulating such a system allows developers to start development, integration, and test earlier; test corner cases without risks; spend more time on testing; perform fault testing, etc.
This approach, as any new design process change, requires some level of investment and commitment from companies deciding to deploy it. The benefits and experiences using virtual prototyping have actually been documented. You can find companies like Bosch, GM, and Hitachi Automotive Systems sharing their use cases in an e-book called Better Software. Faster!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Download the Virtual Prototyping Book
http://www.synopsys.com/Systems/VirtualPrototyping/vp-book/Pages/download-vp-book.aspx
Better Software. Faster! is a practical guide to the use of virtual prototyping tools for concurrent hardware/software development.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robotics: EU Launches $3.9 Billion Initiative
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322633&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pepper’s Mission After Astro Boy, ASIMO & Aibo
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322652&
Japanese cellular operator SoftBank unveiled Thursday, June 5, its plan to launch next February a humanoid named Pepper capable of reading people’s emotions and carrying on conversations. It will be priced at less than $2,000.
Pepper, at four feet in height, zips around on wheels. The humanoid has on its chest a 10.1-inch tablet computer that displays information in response to queries. SoftBank boasts that Pepper is controlled by “cloud-based” artificial intelligence. SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son insisted that the goal for the humanoid project is “giving the robot a heart.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
RIGOL Technologies’s Articles
Building Channel Limit in DSA800 Series
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/rigol_technologies/building-channel-limit-in-dsa800-series/
Verifying if a given RF frequency exceeds or is below, a specified limit is a common task that users do in laboratory experiments. RIGOL’s DSA800 Series of spectrum analyzers has this built-in function that automatically determines if a certain signal measurement is within the designated desired limits. This application note shows how to use this automatic limit pass or fail function of the DSA800 spectrum analyzers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Signal Conditioning For A Sigma-Delta ADC
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/maxim/signal-conditioning-for-a-sigma-delta-adc/
This document mainly focuses on achieving a high-performance data acquisition system (DAS) through having the best integration of industrial sensors and high-performance ADC’s. High performance ADC’s are possible with sigma-delta architecture employed in its design. This reference design will explore on Maxim’s MAX11040K along with the proper schematic and components required for the desired maximum performance.
Many new advanced industrial applications require an interface between a high-performance data-acquisition system (DAS) and multiple sensors. When this interface requires multichannel highly accurate amplitude and phase information, these industrial applications can take advantage of very high-dynamic-range, simultaneous-sampling, multichannel ADCs like the MAX11040K.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DNA Chip Will Plug Into Handsets
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322662&
BRUSSELS, Belgium — After claiming in March it brought the cost of sequencing a human genome to $1,000, Illumina Inc. has set its sights on a consumer product. The company aims to deliver a chip that plugs into a smartphone, bringing genetic medicine to the individual.
The smartphone will become “a molecular stethoscope,”
“We will not need a primary doctor in the future, you will get tested [at home or in a clinic] and go directly to a specialist — I believe it will happen in five to seven years,”
Researchers at Illumina are already working on pieces of the solution.
So far, Illumina has demonstrated digital microfluidics on silicon with the help of researchers from the CEA-Leti. Illumina hopes to launch in July devices that can assay as many as 16 samples in silicon, using technology it acquired, he added.
Another issue is handling cloud connectivity given some uses generate as much as a 100 Gbytes of data.
Although it’s still early days for genomics, costs and lives are being saved applying the technology to cancer treatments and pregnancy care, he said. Today about $12 billion of the estimated $20 genomics industry is in oncology
The next biggest slice is $5 billion in systems for researchers, followed by a rapidly growing $2 billion segment in reproductive health and $1 billion in other emerging applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Semiconductor boffin: 3D NAND don’t need NO STEENKIN’ TSVs
Cut out ‘n’ keeper for your storage primer
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/10/a_handy_3d_nand_guide/
Chip analyst Jim Handy of Objective Analysis took exception to several issues raised in a recent 3D NAND story, and El Reg storage desk asked him a few short questions for clarification.
El Reg: Are there TSVs (through-silicon vias – vertical electrical connections through a stack of chips) in 3D NAND? And if not, why not?
Jim Handy: There are no TSVs in 3D NAND because there is no need for TSVs. You use TSVs to connect multiple chips, and 3D NAND is single chips.
El Reg: Does 3D NAND use stacks of planar cells?
Jim Handy: 3D NAND uses cells built sideways. These are very different from planar cells. What if you stop calling it “3D” and start calling it “Sideways” NAND (at least to yourself)? That might set your thinking in the right direction.
Jim Handy: Samsung has made claims of higher reliability but hasn’t released specifications to back that up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Startup Wants to Turn Your Old Electronics Into Solid Gold
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/blueoak/
About 50 million tons of electronic waste were generated worldwide in 2012, according to a United Nations report. The same report predicted that number would grow to 65.4 million tons of e-waste by 2017. To put that in context, that’s about 200 Empire State Buildings or, for the more worldly, 11 Great Pyramids of Giza.
While some of that waste—from old televisions to smartphones—is refurbished and recycled, a troubling amount of it is shipped to landfills around the world, where often it’s incinerated, leaching toxic chemicals into the environment. In Guiyu, China, a now infamous dumping ground for electronics, studies have found startlingly high levels of lead in children’s bloodstreams.
Bradoo is the co-founder and CEO of BlueOak Resources, a Burlingame, California-based startup that wants to help the country mine precious metals from its stream of e-scraps. The hope is that we’ll soon see our e-waste as a source of revenue, instead of letting it tumble into landfills.
As it turns out, a lot of the world’s e-waste is stuffed with valuable metals like gold, silver, and copper. One ton of circuit boards has anywhere from 40 to 800 times the amount of gold in it than one ton of mined gold ore
Yes, there’s already a booming recycling and refurbishing industry worldwide, and in places like Europe, Asia, and Canada, there are already large-scale smelters who can extract these precious materials from e-scrap. But Bradoo says there’s a gap in the system.
By building a refinery in the United States, BlueOak is launching a new industry here
A Wicked Problem’
Still, some experts argue that BlueOak, and indeed the rest of the e-waste industry, may be overstating their potential for impact. According to Josh Lepawsky, who has studied the e-waste problem as associate professor of geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the vast majority of waste in the world actually comes from manufacturing and production. Used materials, he estimates, make up about 3 percent of the waste in the world. Used electronics are just a fraction of that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCIe eyes the Internet of (the next big) Things
Low-power tweaks open door to BEEELLIONs of devices – but do they need PCIe?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/pcie_eyes_the_internet_of_the_next_big_things/
PCI Express – aka PCIe – is already firmly established as the go-to interconnect of choice in the server, workstation, and PC markets, so the standard’s champion, the PCI-SIG, is seeking new worlds to conquer – and where else would it look for new territory than in the buzzmarket du jour, the Internet of Things?
“The ‘PCI-ness’ of PCI Express – in terms of its software architecture, device discovery, self-enumerating bus, power management – all of those things are very well-suited for Internet of Things and low-power, small form-factor devices,” PCI-SIG marketing workgroup chair Ramin Neshati told reporters at the group’s developers conference last week in Santa Clara, California.
Those low-power IoT devices are right up PCIe’s alley, Neshati said, especially considering the standard’s “half-swing” or “low-swing” mode, which halves the required launch voltage of PCIe from 800 to 400 millivolts.
He also touted M-PCIe, which is the PCI-SIG’s link-layer adaptation of PCIe designed to run over the MIPI alliance’s single-lane, low-power, multi-speed M-PHY physical layer.
Essentially, M-PCIe allows system designers to take their existing PCIe implementations and easily scale them for low-power devices built using the popular M-PHY.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Japanese finally produce a ROBOT which isn’t DEAD INSIDE
Pepper costs $2k… too bad it looks like a mock cock
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/05/softbank_robot_pepper_understands_emotions/
Boffins have unveiled a robot that, we’re confidently told, can understand human emotions.
Named Pepper, the shiny machine has what appears to be a tablet computer strapped to its chest, and it resembles a cross between a mermaid and a, ahem, marital aid.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can We All Afford the Cost of Energy-Efficient Design?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322673&
We’re all aware of the push for implementing diverse energy-saving technologies, and with good reason: They pay off in the long run.
Ford is switching the body panels of the F-150 pickup, its most popular truck, from steel to aluminum. This will reduce weight by several hundred pounds and increase gas mileage by a few mpg, but it will also raise the vehicle cost by a few thousand dollars.
Cars are being designed for “start-stop” operation, where the engine shuts off when the vehicle stops (no matter how briefly) and restarts when the gas pedal is depressed. Again, the objective is to save fuel. The cost is the need for a far more rugged design in the entire starter subsystem, as well as a very different internal construction of the vehicle battery.
To squeeze a little more operating efficiency and mileage out of the power train, the traditional three-, four-, and even five-speed transmission is being replaced in some vehicles with seven or more forward speeds.
In a non-automotive application, we have the use of CFLs and LED-based lamps in place of the incandescent bulb, as dictated by building codes and other government mandates.
In all these cases, the message is the same: Regardless of the up-front cost to the consumer, it’s worth it because it will save energy and thus money in the long run. Economists call this ROI, for “return on investment.”
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But the dilemma is this: Not all consumers can afford to think in terms of that virtuous long run, nor can they measure the value of their expenditures in terms of cold, rational ROI. For many people, spending a few hundred extra dollars now — to save that amount and more later — is just not a viable option.
Tomi Engdahl says:
32-Bit PSoC 4 Dev Board Only $4
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322669&
Hey Max, if a major semiconductor company offered a 32-bit development board for $4.00, you’d think that was pretty big news, right? Well, by happenstance, two days ago I discovered these CY8CKIT-049 4xxx Prototyping Kits for the PSoC 4 from Cypress Semiconductor.
The PSoC 4 is a nice little chip, and previously the cheapest development board was the $25 PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit.
The PSoC 4 is a very clever little device that boasts a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor core running at up to 48 MHz, up to 32 kB of flash and 4 kB of SRAM, programmable analog and programmable digital fabric, and CapSense Touch Sensing technology.
At only $4, these are an incredible bargain, and we all need to snap some of these up while the snapping is good.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Computex 2014: Building a Better Mouse
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322675&
Despite being the largest tradeshow in Asia, the 2014 Computex appeared to be more about building better solutions around the existing technology, than new innovations, a trend that has been reflected by many of the other major industry events. The problem appears to be a slowing in the innovation of existing platforms and a lull before any real innovation comes from the IoT generation. As with the other major industry events, there were plenty of new devices, but nothing remarkably new.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DFT: To Script or Not to Script?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322674&
Have you ever wanted an enhancement from an EDA (electronic design automation) tool but couldn’t wait the months or years for delivery of the improvement? Of course you have. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take matters into your own hands and put together a script to accomplish the task? I believe you’d also respond “yes.” Many EDA tools let you script your own, and now Mentor’s DFT tools do too. In case you haven’t heard about it yet, it’s called the Tessent Shell platform.
Tessent Shell includes a Tcl shell environment and design data model that provides a unified Tcl command set and command naming convention. What does this mean? Basically, Tessent Shell lets you accomplish your DFT (design for test) work by combining DFT tool commands along with Tcl scripting, which gives you powerful capabilities to interact with and even edit the design.
Why did we choose Tcl when there so many other/newer/better scripting languages available? Tcl, which stands for Tool Command Language, was designed to be a general purpose scripting language that could be embedded in any application. Numerous EDA tools use Tcl and have for many years, so it seems to be the de facto industry standard. Because many EDA users have tools from a variety of tool suppliers, using Tcl allows them to have one common tool command language across all their EDA tools. With Tcl, users can integrate different tools together into a design flow.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Know Cost & Options Before You Design SoC
eSilicon brings e-commerce to chip designers
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322678&
The Internet has fundamentally changed the way we do business, making the world flatter and leveling the playing field for many.
But how much have SoC designers exploited the power of the Internet? Not so much, according to Jack Harding, co-founder, president, and CEO of eSilicon.
Surely the emergence of design service companies like eSilicon has eliminated many of the hassles of managing design and manufacturing in the backend for many integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless chip companies. But that’s only half the story
Harding believes his company’s new online tools will accelerate the adoption of Internet commerce for SoC designers.
SoC designers of big semiconductors — such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Marvell — might remain skeptical of such tools, however.