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:
IoT, Wearables Drive Lower Power Memory Innovation
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322689&
The Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices are putting even more pressure on memory to consume less power — even beyond the requirements of today’s smartphones and tablets. They also have other specific needs, depending on the use-case.
Requirements vary significantly with IoT, according to Hung Vuong, chairman of JEDEC’s JC-42.6 Subcommittee for Low Power Memories.
For wearables and sensors, for example, density and performance are not necessarily the driving requirements.
“What the industry is trying to do is take your laptop computer or your tablet or smartphone and shrink it down so it fits on your eyes, your wrist, any other part of your body,” says IDC analyst Ramon Ramirez
“No one wants a wearable that they have to take off and charge multiple times a day.”
Add to that the sensors, the UI, and the overall experience requirements. “The pressure this puts on memory is absolutely tremendous,”
Ramirez says memory for smartphones and tablets is fairly commoditized and standardized, but given the variety of use cases for wearables and IoT, devices are going to be very application-specific, and it’s unlikely one vendor will be able to meet all the needs of every device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tools Will Drive the Hunt for Alien Hardware
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322663&
We are only too aware today of the need to be constantly on guard against Trojan code that hackers try to convince us to run on our personal computers. Once loaded, the Trojan has easy access to core system functions that can track keystrokes, allowing hackers to break into online bank accounts and pick up important data for identity theft.
Now, the SoC industry has to face the threat of hardware Trojans. Today’s highly disaggregated supply chain opens up numerous doors to hackers looking of a way around the security functions embedded into the personal devices that are becoming ubiquitous in our lives. Research has uncovered a number of scenarios under which Trojans can enter an IC-design project, all the way from the system level down to physical layout. Even a tiny change to the well doping of a standard cell can disrupt the intended behavior of an IC.
Tiny, extremely stealthy Trojans could be used to open up gateways to financial data and DRM-protected content. Some research has shown how it is possible to weaken the security of a cryptoprocessor by reducing the effective entropy of a random-number generator or by providing information on the internal operation of the processor to an attacker through side-channel attacks.
It is unclear whether hardware Trojans have been deployed in production ICs or whether the incentives to do so are sufficiently strong to make it a major risk. However, actions by some publicly funded institutions — such as the decision by the Semiconductor Research Council (SRC) to create and fund the Trustworthy and Secure Semiconductors and Systems (T3S) Consortium — indicate that the threat is being taken seriously.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ON Semi’s Aptina Acquisition Aims at Automotive
Builds image sensor brain trust
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322691&
ON Semiconductor’s $400 million acquisition of Aptina Imaging Monday is a smart move on the part of a $2.8 billion behemoth looking for growth opportunities. The deal will make ON Semiconductor one of the leaders in the image sensor market — almost instantaneously. The company, in particular, has high hopes to become a key supplier of automotive and industrial image sensors.
Sure, Omnivision, Samsung, and Sony rule the image sensor market when it comes to the handset segment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Conductive Polymer Beats Indium Tin Oxide by 10x
Silver nanoparticles self-assemble transparent conductive grid on plastic
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322697&
Indium tin oxide (ITO) is the mainstay of the touchscreen industry, providing a transparent conductor behind the glass cover whose capacitance changes when touched. Unfortunately, indium is becoming rarer, increasing its price and setting off a worldwide search for alternatives.
“Our ITO alternate is about 10x more conductive and can be deposited on a lot more substrates than ITO — including transparent polycarbonate,” Jon Brodd, CEO of Cima Nanotech, tells EE Times. “And because our resistivity is about 15 ohms per square, whereas ITO is 150 ohms per square, we can also handle much larger touch screens than ITO. For instance, our prototype is a 42-inch touchscreen that is running at about twice the speed of an iPad.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
EMV Chips in 70% of Credit Cards by 2015
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322710&
Increasing fraud rates will push issuers to migrate customers to EMV-enabled cards before the October 2015 liability shift on card-present transactions, Aite Group says.
Credit card with EMV chip.
Credit card with EMV chip.
Rising card fraud will drive issuers to migrate 70% of credit cards in the US to EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa*) by October 2015, along with 41% of debit cards, a new report by Aite Group predicts. Credit card fraud rates have doubled since 2007, an debit card fraud is also rising sharply, according to the report.
The beginning of October 2015 is when Visa will implement a liability shift or card-present transactions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thin-Film Device Eyed as Power Source for Wearable Tech
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322708&
With wearable electronics becoming a trend, researchers are exploring a number of new ways to provide small and flexible power sources to accommodate them. Rice University has approached the problem by using nickel-based electrodes to develop a flexible supercapacitor that acts much like a battery without the need for lithium, James Tour, a Rice chemist who is leading the research, tells Design News in an email.
Researchers chose to create a supercapacitor rather than a battery because it can perform in a similar way but is less complex to develop, he told us.
The end result is an electrochemical capacitor about a hundredth of an inch thick, but which can scale up by increasing its size or by adding layers to it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FAA approves first commercial use of drones over land
http://www.cnet.com/news/faa-gives-first-approval-for-commercial-drone-use-over-land/
BP energy corporation and drone maker AeroVironment are given the OK to fly an unmanned Puma aircraft over Alaska to survey pipelines, roads, and equipment.
The Federal Aviation Administration took a big step on Tuesday in easing restrictions on commercial drone use in the US. For the first time, the government agency gave permission for a commercial drone to fly over land.
The approval went to drone maker AeroVironment and BP energy corporation. The FAA will allow AeroVironment to fly unmanned Puma aircrafts over Prudhoe Bay in Alaska — home to the largest oilfield in North America — to survey pipelines, roads, and equipment for BP.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wow, this pen can write in any color on Earth
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-pen-that-can-write-in-any-color-on-earth/
Like the color of that flower? Your friend’s tie? With this new Scribble pen making a run on Kickstarter, all the hues of the world could be yours.
Take that, Crayola! The ink version of the Scribble will draw in 100,000 different colors.
It’s called the Scribble and it’s a new kind of pen that can sample any color you point it at and then let you draw in that color. There are two types of Scribbles planned: one with an ink cartridge that will let you draw on paper with your captured color, and a stylus version that will let you splash color around on your mobile device’s screen when the Scribble+ app is installed.
The version that draws on paper has a built-in ink cartridge that will squirt the right mix of colors into a mixing chamber before it passes on to the page.
I’d think artists would love a gizmo like this. How cool would it be to paint a flower with a pen that takes the exact colors from nature and puts them down on a piece of paper?
Tomi Engdahl says:
EM simulation tools only go so far
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4423956/EM-simulation-tools-only-go-so-far
Tight schedules, budgets, and faster devices have made EMC software tools more attractive than ever. Radiated emissions are always a challenge, and the lower voltage levels of very fast devices have made immunity (ESD, radiated, conducted) even more important than in the past. Certainly there will be no shortage of work for EMC engineers in the near future.
However, there is actually a shortage of trained, experienced EMC engineers. Many companies do not have a full-time EMC engineer (if they have any at all). If there is an EMC engineer, he or she might be relatively inexperienced.
Product designers are looking for help to replace the shortage of experienced EMC engineers, and software seems to hold great promise. In recent years, many vendors have created tools to help with EMC design.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Large Can DirectFET MOSFETs with Ultra-low Rds(on)
http://www.eeweb.com/news/large-can-directfet-mosfets-with-ultra-low-rdson
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multifunctional Waveform Generators
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/rigol_technologies/multifunctional-waveform-generators/
DG4000 series is a multifunctional generator that combines many functions in one, including Function Generator, Arbitrary Waveform Generator, Pulse Generator, Harmonic Generator, Analog/Digital Modulator and Counter.
DG4000, adopting the Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) technology,
Rigol Technologies offers three models of the DG4000 series in the market
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog Engineers: Too Few or Too Many?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322672&
Some say technology advancements are obsoleting the need for analog engineers, while others say that good, experienced analog designers will always be needed and currently are in short supply.
After years spent encouraging engineering students to focus on software and digital electronics, some people say the day of reckoning appears to be drawing near: Many analog mixed-signal design jobs now stay open longer or are simply going unfilled, say recruiters, with some engineers even unable to retire because they can’t find a suitable replacement.
On the one hand, some people blame the shift from analog to digital, which produced a generation of engineers who speak the language of code, not circuit schematics. On the other hand, others say that with the advent of systems-on-chip, the easy availability of free circuits, pioneered by companies like TSMC, and software tools to verify designs, there is simply less need for analog designers.
“Our customers would hire an 80-year-old analog engineer if she had the right skill set,” says Brian Kennedy, only partly joking. Kennedy is the customer relation lead for the GaN on SiC (gallium nitride on silicon carbide) program at the National Research Council of Canada. Healthcare here, incidentally, is free.
“I have seen industry pay top dollar for these highly specialized skills and believe me this is knowledge that analog engineers acquired the hard way, by slogging away in the trenches learning what’s basically a black art,”
number of positions for mixed signal engineers is up 300% compared to only a few years ago, and that pay rates are definitely escalating.
Part of the reason for the delay is the relatively small pool of qualified candidates and the fact that the skill set required has become much more niched, says Wintz. “From what I see, I’d estimate only about one in 45 engineers might actually be qualified for one of these positions,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thin-Film Device Eyed as Power Source for Wearable Tech
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322708&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are PCB Layout Designers an Endangered Species?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1321973&
There have been a spate of recent announcements about astoundingly cunning PCB layout technology.
When I was being briefed by the guys and gals at Mentor Graphics, one topic really struck a chord. They were saying that a lot of the technology their company was developing was intended to make the layout tools understandable and usable by design engineers. One reason for this is that PCB layout now involves a lot of tradeoffs that require a mix of design engineer and layout designer knowledge. Another reason is that layout designers are starting to retire, and not many young folks are stepping forward to take their place.
According to Mentor, within a decade or so, layout designers may have to be placed on the “endangered species” list.
Just to make sure we’re all tap dancing to the same drumbeat, I use the term “design engineers” to refer to the guys and gals who design the circuit and capture the schematics. The term “layout designers” refers to the chaps and chappesses who place and route the components and tracks on the PCB.
What do you think? Are PCB layout designers as a group poised to fade into the sunset? If so, can design engineers pick up the slack, or are we all doomed to failure?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amateur radio experiences DIY renaissance
http://urgentcomm.com/blog/amateur-radio-experiences-diy-renaissance
When amateurs began experimenting with radio more than a century ago, they had no choice but to build everything they needed. Some went on to become successful entrepreneurs, selling their creations to fellow hobbyists who were more interested in operating radios than in constructing them. Others built their own receivers and transmitters either from economic necessity or for the fun and satisfaction of being able to say, “I did it myself.”
After World War II, the market was flooded with surplus electronic components that could be bought in bulk for less than the cost of manufacture.
Step-by-step instructions virtually eliminated the risk of failure. No one embraced Heathkits more enthusiastically than the amateur-radio community.
The advent of solid-state devices, printed circuit boards, and automatic parts insertion removed the price advantage that kits enjoyed. By the time the Heath Company closed its doors in 1992, most amateur-radio equipment was being manufactured in Japan.
But Heathkit’s demise did not spell the end of home construction in amateur radio. Anyone who has ever made a two-way radio contact with simple equipment they built on their own workbench or kitchen table will tell you that it’s a thrilling experience. One of the many thriving subcultures in amateur radio is the QRP community, named for the international Morse code signal for “decrease power.”
Today, the fruits of a kit-builder’s labors can be slipped into a backpack, along with a battery and a roll of wire for a day of hiking, with space left over for lunch.
You might (or might not, depending on where you are) be able to get a signal on your smartphone, but it is truly liberating to be able to communicate using equipment you’ve built yourself — using just the natural phenomenon of radio-wave propagation and without a trillion dollars’ worth of telecommunications infrastructure.
Society relies ever more heavily on a fragile telecommunications infrastructure that is susceptible to overload and outright failure. We can’t substitute for all that infrastructure. But we can communicate, no matter what.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Neuroscientists Join the Open-Source Hardware Movement
Two MIT grad students offer up DIY brain-recording gear
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/neuroscientists-join-the-opensource-hardware-movement
The recording systems cost upward of US $60,000 each, and they wanted at least four. So they decided to solve their dilemma by building their own gear on the cheap.
Siegle and Voigts weren’t knowledgeable about either circuit design or coding, but they learned as they went along. By July 2013, they were ready to manufacture 50 of their recording systems, which they gave to collaborators for beta testing. This spring they manufactured 100 improved units, which are now arriving in neuroscience labs around the world. They estimate that each system costs about $3,000 to produce.
Neuroscience has a history of hackers, Siegle says, with researchers cobbling together their own gear or customizing commercial systems to meet their particular needs. But those new tools rarely leave the labs they are built in.
Commercial systems typically have individual ICs perform each of those four functions, but Siegle and Voigts’s system uses a single microchip for the four steps. The chip was recently developed by Intan Technologies, based in Los Angeles. “Once we realized these chips were available, it seemed kind of silly to keep buying the big systems,” Siegle says.
The president and cofounder of Intan, Reid Harrison, says that shrinking and consolidating the gear wasn’t that complicated—it mostly required initiative. “It’s such a niche market that no one else had tried to miniaturize the technology,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Urine a goldmine for fuel-cell materials: boffins
Drink beer. Make fuel. Repeat until dependence on fossil fuels ends
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/urine_a_goldmine_for_fuelcell_materials_boffins/
Over the centuries, urine has been collected for all manner of unpleasant industrial applications. Now, a new research paper suggests pee could be a big contributor to the future of carbon fuel-cell technology.
According to this paper in Nature, doped collections of carbon atoms recovered from human urine have the right kind of properties to replace expensive catalysts in fuel cell applications.
The boffins explain that carbon nanostructures are a popular research angle for fuel cells, but commonly use platinum as a catalyst – and this is an expensive doping material.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM says it’s made your mobe more chatty
New chippery said to extend range, battery life
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/16/ibm_says_its_made_your_mobe_more_chatty/
One of Big Blue ‘s out-of-sight, out-of-mind divisions says it has developed chippery to extend the range, speed and battery life of mobile phones.
IBM last week announced the 7SW SOI, a Radio Frequency Silicon on Insulator it says is the latest in a product line it says has already clocked up over seven billion sales around the world. Most of those sales were effectively invisible because IBM sells this kind of stuff to mobe-makers, who make a fuss about things like processors but don’t bother mentioning other bits of their products’ innards.
Perhaps they ought to, because IBM claims the 7SW allows smartphones to more aggressively switch between different radio frequencies, making it easier to make a connection with LTE base stations. IBM also claims the new chippery effectively extends base stations’ range.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SiGe Chips Reduce Cost in 245GHz Gas Spectroscopy
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322745&
Scientists from the IHP-Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics and the German aerospace research center DLR have developed a compact, cost-effective sensor system for gas spectroscopy in the frequency range of 245GHz. A world’s first, the transmitter of the system as well as the receiver use silicon germanium (SiGe) ICs.
The institute claims it devised a cost-effective way to manufacture the SiGe semiconductors — a transmitter and a receiver with integrated antenna, working in the frequency range from 238GHz to 252GHz. Since these devices are manufactured in standard silicon technology, the process is basically compatible with the ones established across the semiconductor industry.
Millimeter absorption spectroscopy is an established laboratory technique, used in the molecular spectroscopy as well as in radio astronomy to exactly determine the concentration of molecules. The RF sources traditionally used in this field — Schottky diodes with downstream frequency multipliers — however are very expensive and clumsy.
Recently a U.S. research team introduced a gas spectroscopy system for the frequency range from 210 to 270GHz that has been built with commercially available millimeter wave components.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s Highest-Performance MOSFET Is III-V
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322740&
The highest-performance metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET) — if not the fastest — is no longer be made from silicon. It’s made from III-V materials grown atop a silicon substrate, according to researchers at the 2014 VLSI Symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“The present substrate is InP. Other research groups, including IMEC, have shown that InP can be grown on Si,”
“There is, indeed, at least one InGaAs-on-Si III-V MOS presentation at the VLSI Symposium”
Not only did the III-V MOSFETs deliver higher performance than similar sized silicon transistors, but they also consumed less power. According to Rodwell, they will eventually overtake silicon FinFET transistors in speed and power consumption.
Even though the researchers have not measured switching speed yet, they estimate that, for RF/wireless applications, the III-V MOSFETs will run 30-60% faster than silicon RF.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s IC Industry: Opportunity for All
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322731&
Today, the Chinese semiconductor industry is a dominant force in the overall world semiconductor stage. As shown in Figure 1, China’s semiconductor consumption has dominated the worldwide market since 2005. Since 2001, it has grown at a 22.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), compared to 6.9% worldwide. More than half the semiconductor consumption comes from China, mostly in the computing, communication, and consumer sectors.
Despite the stellar growth, only a small portion of semiconductors consumed in China are actually produced there.
Most of the ICs consumed in China are provided by semiconductor giants such as Intel, Samsung, TI, Freescale, and Qualcomm. Hence, the growth of China’s semiconductor industry offered tremendous opportunities and rewards for multinational companies (MNCs) in the semiconductor industry.
It is said that today China spends as much money importing ICs as crude oil — about 230 billion RMB ($37 billion). To reduce the gap, the government has instituted policies in the last several decades to encourage the growth of the semiconductor industry, especially promoting domestic IC design and production. As a result, the landscape of China’s semiconductor industry changed considerably.
Overall, I am positive that the Chinese semiconductor industry’s enlarging pie will benefit the whole ecosystem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CADDrones.com is an Open Source Community for sharing CAD Files related to Drones. Our Site is for Hobby and Commercial use.
http://caddrones.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup literally wants to turn your tech garbage into gold
BlueOak Resources has raised $35 million to build first e-waste mining refinery.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/startup-literally-wants-to-turn-your-tech-garbage-into-gold/
BlueOak Resources, a Burlingame, California-based startup, plans to mine for and refine gold, silver, copper, and other precious metals in the US.
the company plans to “mine” such valuable materials: our old electronics gadgets.
“BlueOak’s goal is to provide a distributed and domestic solution for e-waste recycling. We aim to enable circular integration in the technology supply chain, converting the e-waste of today into a sustainable source of metals and rare earths for the technologies of tomorrow,” according to the company’s website.
BlueOak’s motivations for starting the company stem from some of the chilling statistics the company reports on its website: US consumers dispose of some 3.2 million tons of e-waste annually, with more than 80 percent ending up in the trash and contributing over 70 percent of all toxic metals in our country’s landfills.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DRAM’s Mood Swings Stabilize
Big three emerge
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322769&
It hasn’t been very often the electronics industry has seen the words “stability” and “DRAM” in one statement, but with far fewer DRAM players left in what has historically been one of the most tumultuous of all chip sectors, it appears as though the wide swings in the supply and demand balance are a thing of the past.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programmable Analog: Maxim Creates Swiss Army Knife
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322790&
There have been several attempts at devices that might be called field-programmable analog arrays (FPAAs) over the years, but most have failed to establish a significant market presence.
One reason may be that these devices have tried to do too much.
Maxim has taken a step back. Instead of creating a FPAA, it has created the analog equivalent of a simple programmable logic device (PLD). The key elements of simple PLDs in the digital domain are that they are robust, precise, and fully deterministic. These are all attributes that can be ascribed to Maxim’s new MAX11300 Programmable Mixed Signal I/O (PIXI) device.
The 6×6 mm MAX11300 features a serial digital interface (SPI or I2C) and digital control core, which can be used to configure the device, to read values from the input ports, and to write values to the output ports.
Each of the 20 input/output ports is individually configurable with up to four selectable voltage ranges within -10 V to +10 V.
Each port can be configured to be a single-ended analog or digital input or output. Each port that is configured as an analog input is fed to its own 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that can support up to 400 Ksps. Similarly, each port that is configured as an analog output is driven by its own 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
In the case of ports configured as analog outputs, any adjacent pair of ports can be used to form a differential ADC.
In the case of ports configured as analog outputs, for example, the analog output values can be read back using an internal ADC for correction and calibration. This means that, if the user specifies an output of 6.2 V but the load pulls this down, the user’s application can rectify the issue.
In reality, any two PIXI ports can be connected together and used as a uni-directional logic-level translator.
The MAX11300 is complemented by an intuitive graphical user interface that supports drag-and-drop operation to generate the desired configuration. The output is a *.csv register configuration file that is used to program the PIXI.
PIXI devices are ideal for a wide range of applications including industrial automation (CNC machines, low-end PLCs, 12-bit servo loop systems…), test and measurement (power supplies, data acquisition systems…), and wireless-wired infrastructure (power amplifier biasing and monitoring circuits, tunable laser biasing and monitoring circuit, backplane/rack power management…).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Replace 20 Discrete Chips with One Configurable Data Converter
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101765679
Now engineers can mix and match 20 ADCs, 20 DACs or 20 High voltage digital I/O pins in any order using the MAX11300, the new mixed-signal PIXI™ technology from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM).
The MAX11300 PIXI is the industry’s first configurable 20-channel, -10V to +10V high-voltage mixed-signal data converter.
Fast prototyping: an evaluation (EV) kit (MAX11300EVKIT#) and peripheral module (MAX11300PMB1) are available plus a PA Bias Reference Design MAXREFDES39#
Pricing starts at $5.88 (1000-up, FOB USA).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power-Conscious Controllers Reduce Energy Consumption
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322782&
Reducing power consumption in memory is an ongoing challenge, but designing more energy-conscious controllers is also critical depending on the application.
Silicon Motion recently announced its SM2246EN SATA (6Gb/s) client SSD controller now supports Micron’s 16nm 128Gb MLC NAND flash. In addition to highlighting its performance, the company also emphasized its ultra-low power consumption, which on average is 56mW.
It’s the application that determines whether the power consumption in an SSD controller is a critical system feature
“The power consumption for high-end enterprise SSD controllers is something that nobody really cares about.” When it comes to SSDs for client applications such as PCs, it’s more important to address power use to extend battery life since a lot of SSDs are getting used in ultrabooks and Macbook Air computers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auxilliary Programmable Driver IC
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/ixys/auxilliary-programmable-driver-ic/
The CPC5601 is a serially-programmed driver IC for use with IXYS Integrated Circuits Division’s LITELINK Silicon Data Access Arrangement (DAA) ICs. The CPC5601 allows host equipment control of DAA characteristics for worldwide DAA implementations, avoiding multiple implementations with discrete component changes or “stuff” options. The small, low profile package makes the CPC5601 ideal for 56K PC Card (PCMCIA) modems, PC motherboards, and soft-modems.
The CPC5601 uses optoelectronics to maintain the isolation barrier required in the data access arrangement for connection of host devices to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenCL language brings more power to programming
Programmable FPGA chip allows sophisticated, efficient parallel calculation. Most of the power will be obtained if the programming is done in a standardized OpenCL language. OpenCL enables the design is also easier to take the district to the next generation.
Multi-core processors required by the parallel programs were developed to create the need for OpenCL (Open Computing Language) programming language in order to create a platform-independent parallel programming standard. OpenCL brings the opportunity to describe parallel algorithms that can be implemented in FPGA circuits, a much higher level of abstraction than hardware description languages such as VHDL or Verilog.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1513:opencl-kieli-tuo-lisaa-tehoa-ohjelmointiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Molex’s Shopping Spree Continues
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322801&
Following the recent acquisition of the heavy-duty connector business of Italy-based manufacturer Westec s.r.l. last May, and after acquiring the Munich-based FCT Electronics Group in August last year, Molex Incorporated, which only merged with cabling and connector giant Koch Industries in November last year, is now acquiring Flamar Cavi Elettrici S.r.l.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharp’s new ‘free-form’ display could bring non-rectangular screens to consumer tech devices
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/06/18/sharps-new-free-form-display-bring-non-rectangular-screens-consumer-tech-devices/
Sharp is showing off a ‘free-form’ display technology that it believes could break consumer tech devices out of the rigid convention of using rectangular and square shaped screens.
The Japanese company’s new display type, which is based on its IGZO technology and “proprietary circuit design methods”, takes a different approach to organizing the power amplifiers. That system has necessitated rectangular displays until now — Sharp believes its technology enables a wide range of new design types.
The company believes that the benefits of free-form displays will be of particular significance to the automotive industry, as well as wearable technology and digital signage. We’ve already seen LG and Samsung manufacture curved smartphones, while curved TVs have been mainstream for some time, but Sharp may just have open the door to more innovation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When the Open Automotive Alliance’s formation was announced in January, the group said it would bring the Android operating system to cars “starting in 2014.”
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/18/intel-will-offer-a-customizable-chip-to-keep-data-center-clients-happy/
To ensure that ARM or other alternative architectures don’t gain ground in the data center, Intel is launching a customizable chip that marries its Xeon CPUs with an FPGA.
To meet the needs of webscale and select enterprise customers Intel will build a customizable and programmable CPU that combines an Intel processor and a programmable chip from an undisclosed partner, Diane Bryant, SVP and General Manger of Intel’s data center group, plans to announce onstage at the Gigaom Structure conference Wednesday. Bryant said the customizable CPU is already in development, and would be used in production environments next year.
“We have been engaging directly with large-scale service providers to give them exactly what they need,” said Bryant.
The chip would combine a Xeon processor and a programmable chip known as an FPGA, or a field-programmable gate array. Instead of just placing the FPGA near the chip, which is the usual way one would place an FPGA or other accelerator chip, the two would be linked and able to share access to the memory available to the CPU. This coherency is essential for making the processors faster and avoiding bottlenecks associated with using other accelerators such as graphics processors or even an FPGA that isn’t coherently linked.
The primary companies making FPGAs are Xilinx, Altera and Latice Semiconductor, but Bryant didn’t say what firm it was working with for the FPGA, only that Intel wasn’t designing those itself. However Intel will test and manufacture the entire chip for customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Knitted Circuit Board Lends Flexibility to E-Textiles
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/19/knitted-circuit-board-lends-flexibility-to-e-textiles/
What could be better than sewing a circuit into wearable fabric? How about rolling your own circuit-ready knits? Chicago-based artist and assistant professor [Jesse] has done just that by perfecting a method for knitting solderable circuit boards.
This can be done by hand or with a knitting machine. The basic idea is that 2-3 strands of 34-36AWG bus wire are knitted into mercerized cotton yarn in rows, mimicking a piece of stripboard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Delving Deep into High Speed Digital Design
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/21/delving-deep-into-high-speed-digital-design/
In high speed digital circuits, fast doesn’t necessarily mean “high clock rate”. [Jack Ganssle] does an excellent job at explaining how the transition time of signals in high speed digital circuits is just as important as the speed of the signal itself.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Complete Direct-Conversion Tuner
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/maxim/complete-direct-conversion-tuner/
The MAX2120 is one of Maxim’s direct-conversion tuner IC that encorporates loads of features and built-in applications in its system, without taking much of the clients’ budget. This IC converts the satellite signals from the LNB to baseband using a broadband I/Q downconverter.
The MAX2120 features a low noise figure that eliminates the need for an external LNA. It operates at frequency range of 925 MHz to 2175 MHz. This tuner is available in a very small 28-pin thin QFN package.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FPGA news roundup: Microsoft “Catapult”, Intel’s hybrid and Xilinx OpenCL
by Rahul Garg on June 21, 2014 10:30 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8189/fpga-news-roundup-microsoft-catapult-intels-hybrid-and-xilinx-opencl-
There has been some activity in the FPGA realm lately. First, Microsoft has published a paper at ISCA (a very well-known peer-reviewed computer architecture conference) about using FPGAs in datacenters for page ranking processing for Bing. In a test deployment, MS reported up to 95% more throughput for only 10% more power. The added total cost of ownership (TCO) was less than 30%. Microsoft used Altera Stratix V FPGAs in a PCIe form-factor with 8GB of DDR3 RAM on each board.
Intel revealed plans to manufacture a CPU-FPGA hybrid chip that combines Intel’s traditional Xeon-line CPU cores with FPGAs on a single chip. The FPGA and CPU will have coherent access to memory.
Finally, you may remember our previous coverage of OpenCL on Altera’s FPGAs and we had mentioned that Xilinx had some plans for OpenCL as well. Recently (~2 months ago) Xilinx updated its Vivado design suite and now includes “early access” support for OpenCL.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Vacuum Tubes, New Technology Might Save Moore’s Law
http://hothardware.com/News/How-Vacuum-Tubes-New-Technology-Might-Save-Moores-Law-/
The transistor is one of the most profound innovations in all of human existence. First discovered in 1947, it has scaled like no advance in human history; we can pack billions of transistors into complicated processors smaller than your thumbnail. After decades of innovation, however, the transistor has faltered. Clock speeds stalled in 2005 and the 20nm process node is set to be more expensive than the 28nm node was for the first time ever. Now, researchers at NASA believe they may have discovered a way to kickstart transistors again — by using technology from the earliest days of computing: The vacuum tube.
According to a report in IEEE Spectrum, vacuum transistors can draw electrons across the gate without needing a physical connection between them. Make the vacuum area small enough, and reduce the voltage sufficiently, and the field emission effect allows the transistor to fire electrons across the gap without containing enough energy to energize the helium inside the nominal “vacuum” transistor.
The current 460GHz transistor runs at 10V, though prototypes have been shrunk down to 1-2V.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Starts Outsourcing From … the US
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/06/24/1815200/china-starts-outsourcing-from–the-us
Chinese companies invested a record $14 billion in the United States last year, according to the Rhodium Group research firm. Collectively, they employ more than 70,000 Americans, up from virtually none a decade ago
Comments:
Welcome Chinese overlords!
Actually we’ve seen this happen in the US for many years with a lot of foreign companies. Often because US companies fail to resolve labor or regulatory issues and a foreign company cuts through the issue to find a way to produce products in the same place without incurring many of the previous costs.
A lot of it boils down to legacy corporations that have grown too large and inefficient.
Things need a reboot on occasion. Many large companies should go through a serious reorganization top to bottom including the renegotiation of all contracts to take into consideration new opportunities and concerns.
Isn’t it strange how success is always the accomplishment of awesome management but failure is never the fault of incompetent one?
You’re apparently about ten years [dilbert.com] behind the times. But considering history probably repeats itself, you’re likely also about ten years ahead of the times.
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-08-03/
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Speed Subsystem for Smart Electricity Distribution Data
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/maxim/high-speed-subsystem-for-smart-electricity-distribution-data/
Utilities and infrastructure providers can now simultaneously and accurately measure distributed power grid data with Petaluma, (MAXREFDES30#), a subsystem reference design from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drop-in Compatible Relay Driver
http://www.eeweb.com/news/drop-in-compatible-relay-driver
Texas Instruments announced the release of its first 7-channel, NMOS low-side driver, replacing standard Darlingoton transistor arrays with a power-efficient, drop-in compatible integrated circuit (IC). The TPL7407L replaces half of the transistor arrays required to drive high current loads, providing a new option for high voltage systems that previously required a number of transistor arrays or a motor driver. Reducing power by 40 percent, this new device efficiently drives the LED matrix, relay or stepper motor in high-voltage applications, such as white goods, building automation, lighting and HVAC.
When used with the SN74HC595 register, one or multiple TPL7404 can be controlled with just three GPIO pins, providing a flexible, efficient solution.
Highest drain current: With 600 mA per channel
Pin-to-pin compatible with traditional arrays
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultra-Low-Power FRAM-Based MCUs Target Next-Gen Applications
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322867&
We are currently poised at the beginning of an exponential increase in the deployment of sensors and microcontrollers (MCUs) for a wide range of applications, including smart utility metering, wearable electronics, data acquisition systems, and industrial and remote control systems.
The majority of today’s MCUs come equipped with two sorts of memory: Flash and SRAM. The Flash is relatively slow and supports a limited number of write cycles, but it is non-volatile and so is used to hold the code. By comparison, the SRAM is fast and has unlimited write cycle endurance, but it volatile and can only hold temporary data.
In order to address all of these issues, Texas Instruments (TI) has developed a line of FRAM-based MCUs. The original family was the MSP430FR57x series of devices. Now, TI has introduced two new families: the MSP430FR59x series and the MSP430FR69x series.
FRAM conveys many advantages, including the fact that it is non-volatile, which means it can maintain both code and data when power is removed from the system. Unlike Flash, FRAM has an extremely high write speed, it’s bit-wise programmable, and it can be written to an unlimited amount of times. Unlike SRAM, FRAM is non-volatile and it’s not susceptible to soft (radiation-induced) errors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GaN LEDs: Sputtering Cuts Costs on Larger Displays
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322875&
A team of University of Tokyo researchers in Japan has developed a technology for creating GaN LEDs on glass substrate, which could not only cut manufacturing costs but also help to develop OLED light panels.
The researchers use a sputtering method to transcribe the GaN LEDs onto the glass substrate. The team has not yet measured luminous efficiency or external quantum efficiency for any single color but is currently testing the efficiency of the internal quantum at low temperatures.
InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely accepted as highly efficient light sources capable of replacing incandescent bulbs but applications of InGaN LEDs are limited to small devices because their fabrication process involves expensive epitaxial growth of InGaN by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on single-crystal wafers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monolythic MEMS Sensor Cut Size/Cost
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322885&
The EE Times 2012 Startup of the Year, mCube Inc., just landed a $37 million series C funding round
“We make the world’s smallest MEMS motion sensors,” Ben Lee, mCube’s president and CEO, told us. “So far, we have shipped over 60 million units, primarily to the greater China market.”
a 2×2 mm accelerometer, a 1.6×1.6 mm magnetometer, and the 3×3 mm iGyro
Gyroscopes are standard equipment in high-end smartphones and tablets, because they add the responsiveness of rotational motion sensing, making gaming a more enjoyable experience, especially on small screens. However, mCube says its soft gyroscope delivers the same immersive 9-DoF motion for gaming and other precision applications like augmented reality by carefully combining a high-precision 3-DoF accelerometer with a highly responsive 6-DoF magnetometer.
“Current gyro solutions are expensive, use proprietary processes, and are discrete, consequently only very high-end smart phones use gyros — only 10% of the Chinese market. Ninety percent is not being served,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smarter Sensor Hub Tops Off Android
Satisfying all KitKat specs puts SENtral-K at head of hub line
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322874&
The smallest, smartest, lowest power sensor hub implementing the complete set of “sensor.h” functions mandated by Google for the latest 4.4 “KitKat” version of its Android operating system for smartphones and tablets is claimed by PNI Sensor Corp. (Santa Rosa, Calif.). In a tiny 2-by-2 millimeter package consuming only 200 microAmps, PNI has implemented all the KitKat functions without the need of an external processor, greatly extending the battery live of Android devices even with all their 24/7 functions running.
“The other choices Android device manufacturers have is to write their own sensor fusion software running on, say, an Atmel or ARM Cortex 0 or Cortex 4 or license the sensor fusion software from others,” Becky Oh, president and CEO of PNI, told EE Times. “Or they could buy smart sensors that implement some of the KitKat functions on-chip and run the rest on the application processor or a programmable sensor hub — both of which will consume up to 10-times the power of our solution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Jimmy’ the 3D-printed robot coming soon from Intel
The company is developing 3D-printed robots that mimic humans
http://www.itworld.com/hardware/424468/jimmy-3d-printed-robot-coming-soon-intel
A family of robot kits for 3D printers is being developed by Intel, with the first, named “Jimmy,” due out in September.
The 45-centimeter-tall “social robot” will cost US$1,500. The walking robot, developed in conjunction with Trossen Robotics, is a smaller version of a $16,000 robot shown by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during a keynote at the Re/code conference in May.
The two-legged Jimmy will be one in a line of robots that Intel hopes do-it-yourself enthusiasts will embrace, developing more functionality for the robots, which will be able to handle tasks such as turning on lights, picking up newspapers and even having conversations, researchers said at the Intel Future Showcase 2014 in New York City Tuesday. Intel and its robotics partners will sell kits with servo motors, batteries, boards, a frame and other internal parts. Using 3D printers, users can create robot designs and place them on the exoskeleton.
The chip maker is equipping robots with its SD card-sized Edison board, which has a low-power Quark chip. The inexpensive Edison board is why Jimmy can be sold at $1,500, said Joe Zawadsky, program manager for the 21st Century Robot initiative at Intel.
Jimmy is a lot less expensive than its $16,000 cousin, which has an Intel Core i5 processor based on the Haswell microarchitecture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maplin Electronics sold for £85m to Rutland Partners
Former VC owner Motagu takes £159m bath….OUCH
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/06/27/maplin_rutland/
Electronics retail chain Maplin has been sold to a private equity firm for £85million – just a third of what it was acquired for a decade ago.
Rutland Partners has snapped up Maplin and promised to use “change, restructuring and investment” in the pursuit of profitable growth.
Maplin is working to build the online portion of its business, as many old world retailers have belatedly done.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DARPA Robotics Challenge Ups Ante
Ease with which robots achieved trial goals spurred tougher tasks for $2 million purse
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322917&
In the time-honored tradition of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, DARPA is upping the difficulty of its $2 million purse Robotics Challenge, extending the finals for six months (to June 15 through June 16, 2015 in the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.) in order to give the 24 teams time to adapt to the new tougher rules.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Foxconn CEO: ‘suicides weren’t our fault’
Family breakdown, not factory conditions
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/29/foxconn_ceo_suicides_werent_our_fault/
An investor meeting has heard from Foxconn’s CEO that the worker suicides that plagued the company in recent years weren’t the company’s fault.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stretched Clearance CMOS Optocoupler
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/avago_technologies/stretched-clearance-cmos-optocoupler/
The Avago ACNT-H61L is a low-power digital optocoupler device in 14.2mm wide creepage and clearance that combines an AlGaAs light emitting diode (LED) and an integrated high gain photo detector designed to provide optically isolated interface for system control and data communications interface.
This optocoupler supports either 3.3V or 5V supply
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cheap USB chargers are ‘a real danger’
Australian warning follows one death
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2352494/cheap-usb-chargers-are-a-real-danger
AN AUSTRALIAN Fair Trading Office has warned people of a “real and present danger” that they have invited into their homes, the cheap USB charger.
Cheap knock-off device chargers are associated with several things, especially dangerous incidents.
Many times a simple charging process has turned a piece of hardware into a smokey melted lump and on some occasions more damage has been done.
Stowe, reacting to a report that a knock-off charger started a fire that killed a woman, said, “These devices pose a serious risk of electrocution or fire,” and recommended that no one buy or sell them.