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.
1,091 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
New generation controls offer huge benefits for indoor lighting
http://www.ledlighting-eetimes.com/en/new-generation-controls-offer-huge-benefits-for-indoor-lighting.html?cmp_id=71&news_id=222909002
Dr Andy Davies explains how advent of new generation controls offer numerous benefits for indoor lighting applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are your LEDs electrically overstressed? Part I
http://www.ledlighting-eetimes.com/en/are-your-leds-electrically-overstressed-part-i.html?cmp_id=71&news_id=222909233
Yankun Fu identifies the transient conditions that are benign to LED components and those that can induce electrical overstress (EOS) and catastrophic failure and suggests some ways to minimize the potential for EOS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Buh Bye, PCI
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103305
The long run of the parallel PCI bus may be over from a design point of view. We’ve reached the beginning of the end, at least.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Above the Drone
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103585
The market is abuzz about UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), also known as drones. From military programs to law enforcement to average Joe Sixpack’s noisy neighborhood hobby of crashing tiny RC helicopters into bushes, sales of various UAVs are taking off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brain Emulator: Power Not Circuitry Is Key
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322206&
Biotechnology engineers at Stanford University say they have created a circuit board that runs far faster and uses far less power than a typical computer, because its design mimics the human brain. The board — which is similar in size and power consumption to an Apple iPad — uses 16 custom-designed “Neurocore” chips to mimic the behavior of 1 million neurons linked by billions of synaptic connections.
It was designed specifically to mimic the processes of human synapses as part of a National Institutes of Health effort to study the workings of the human brain by building tools that can read or can mimic the activity of one part of the brain at a time. The Neurocore board has potential for more than just neurological research, however
The boards could also be developed into control systems for prosthetic limbs, using the combination of low energy demand and high-efficiency computing to run software that could identify the wearer’s intentions by interpreting the motion of muscles or input from nerves in the leg and converting either into digital commands quickly enough to operate a robotic leg or arm almost as naturally as the original. Like most technical breakthroughs, however, that requires the creation of standards that would allow someone other than the inventor to understand the system’s capabilities and write applications to expand them.
“Right now, you have to know how the brain works to program one of these,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
TE Circuit Protection News
Reflowable Thermal Protection Technology
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/te_circuit_protection/reflowable-thermal-protection-technology/
Reflowable Thermal Protection (RTP) devices can withstand the demanding environmental, life, and reliability requirements of automotive and industrial applications, including shock, vibration, temperature cycling, and humidity exposures.
In the field, an RTP device opens if its internal junction exceeds the device’s specified open temperature.
The RTP device open temperature is selected so that the device does not open within normal component operating windows, but it does open in a thermal runaway event and before the melt temperature of typical lead free solders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Complex ESD and Surge Protection SESD Devices
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/te_circuit_protection/complex-esd-and-surge-protection-sesd-devices/
Design engineers are well aware that providing ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection according to the IEC’s 61000-4-2 standard can fall short when guarding against the more severe damage caused by charged board events (CBEs). These extremely strong surge events are distinguished by a high peak current and fast rise time and can damage the I/O ports of smartphones, tablets, automotive infotainment devices and other sensitive electronics. Recognizing this, TE Connectivity’s Circuit Protection business unit has introduced a new family of silicon ESD (SESD) devices. Exhibiting ±20kV and ±22kV air discharge ratings – which go well beyond the IEC’s 8kV contact and 15kV air discharge standards – these devices help designers solve the pervasive protection challenge caused by CBEs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10:1 Input DC-DC Converters
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/powerone/101-input-dc-dc-converters/
New 10:1 input MELCHER R Casettes are the broadest and most flexible group of power supplies delivering extremely high efficiency up to 94%,
plus ONE wide dynamic input voltage range of 12 to 168 VDC.
The converters are particularly suitable for railway applications and can be supplied by all
common railway batteries of 24 V, 36 V, 48 V, 72 V, 96 V,110 V, and 120 V nominal voltage. All boards are coated with a protective lacquer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Meter ICs for Low-Energy Age
http://www.eeweb.com/news/smart-meter-ics-for-low-energy-age
The STPM32, STPM33 and STPM4 are smart metering ICs that will assist to minimize revenue losses and ensure consistent billing on utilities with even the most frugal customers. Although existing meters are highly accurate at current levels typically down to 50mA, errors at lower currents can bring about, in today’s low-standby era, up to Megawatt-hours of lost billings across a large customer base.
The STPM32, STPM33 and STPM34 provide two, three or four independent channels respectively, for single- and poly-phase AC applications. They are fully compliant with applicable International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards as adopted by regulatory authorities worldwide, and exceed State Power Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) requirements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Need Tailored SoCs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322213&
Wearables won’t go mainstream until they get tailor-made silicon, according to a panel at the Linley Tech Mobile Conference here. The nascent market needs clearly defined use cases and SoCs geared for lower battery life, they said.
“We need to figure out a way to build a more engaging model. To be successful you need the right use case and battery life will be important. Wearables also have to be easy to use and compatible with other devices,” said Linley Group principal analyst Linley Gwennap.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineers in America: Too Young, Too Old
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1320593&
In Breaking the $300B Barrier: State of Semiconductor Industry, I discussed the state of the semiconductor industry in general. Today, I’d like like to start a discussion on the apparent aging of the engineerings in the US market. This is far from scientific research, so I am taking some leniency on the subject.
We retained most of the talent during the downturn in 2009, then started a slow hiring program in 2010 to 2012.
The final piece of evidence came at the GSA event held recently in Silicon Valley. The median age appeared to be in the late 50s, and youngsters were those in their 40s. Now it should be noted that this tends to be an event with more senior management types, but it is a bit concerning. I worry about what is left behind and who is going to take over the innovation and drive the industry forward.
It could just be that we have heard for so long that everything is moving to Asia, that it has discouraged many of our young people from studying engineering. This leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. CEOs complain about lack of talent, and at the same time state that they are going to Asia. Where is the incentive for the younger generation?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside the Strange New World of DIY Brain Stimulation
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/diy-brain-stimulation/
Though these are still early days for the research—many of the studies are small and the effects modest—it has inspired largely enthusiastic media coverage (“the electric thinking cap that makes you cleverer … and happier!” one British newspaper gushed) and spawned a community of DIY brain zappers.
All in all, he has persuaded at least a dozen people to give it a try. One says she’s gone off antidepressants for the first time in 20 years. Another says brain stimulation is helping him get his ADD under control. Several ambitious middle-aged professionals say the devices have boosted their memory and focus.
Entrepreneurs are starting to get in on the action. A company called foc.us has already planted a flag with a commercial brain-stimulation headset released last year. It’s marketed as a gadget for videogamers looking to improve their skills, thus skirting the need for FDA approval. The first batch of 3,000 sold out in just a few months. So did the second.
One, published in Current Biology in 2010, found that brain stimulation enhanced people’s ability to learn a new number system based on made-up symbols.
Only it didn’t really.
“It doesn’t show what we said it shows; it doesn’t show what people think it shows,”
Another crucial issue is how to rule out placebo effects. Though the current flowing through the brain during stimulation is almost imperceptible (it’s about a thousand times less than what’s used in electroconvulsive therapy), a slight tingling sensation under the electrodes can be a giveaway. Scientists are still grappling with the best way to deal with that.
Placebo effects can be strong for depression and pain conditions
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cypress adds entry-level chips to mixed-signal programmables
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/cypress-adds-entry-level-chips-to-mixed-signal-programmables.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10003954&vID=1623&from_mail=1#.U2jSildM0ik
Expanding the PSoC 4 architecture with entry-level PSoC 4000 devices, Cypress has configured a family of low-cost ARM Cortex-M0 cores integrated with the CapSense, capacitive sensing system.
“The PSoC 4000 family is the world’s lowest ARM-Cortex-M0 system-on-chip with the right mix of performance, power and peripherals to make migration to 32-bit a no-brainer”
The PSoC 4000 devices enable touch user interface designs with up to 16 CapSense I/Os that can be used to implement buttons, sliders and proximity sensors. CapSense delivers robust sensing in noisy environments
Operating from 1.71V to 5.5V
Pricing begins from $0.29 (1000).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Most smartphones will be chipset vendor reference designs by 2019
http://www.microwave-eetimes.com/en/most-smartphones-will-be-chipset-vendor-reference-designs-by-2019.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222904943
The emergence of reference design programmes by chipset suppliers such as MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Spreadtrum have greatly helped small vendors, notably in China and India to compete in the lowest tier of the smartphone market.
According to ABI Research more than one-third of smartphones shipped in 2013 were attached to reference designs supplied by key chipset vendors, of which 69% were targeted at below US$200 price points.
Tier-one OEMs have long resisted delegating the device reference design to chipset suppliers as they see it as an integral part of their brand and differentiation. However, fierce competition from small vendors is now forcing tier-one OEMs to change their strategy and consider using third party reference designs, essentially in the cost-sensitive segments of the market (sub-$200). Nokia, Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei, and ZTE have already started to use this approach, mainly for products targeted at emerging markets.
“These trends will take the competition to another level, forcing OEMs to make more compromises on reference design ownership.”
By 2019, more than two-thirds of smartphone shipments will be based on chipset suppliers’ reference designs, totaling more than 1.18 billion units, of which 23% are targeted at wholesale prices higher than $200.
However, it will be hard for chipset makers to bring their reference designs to the high-end part of the market, notably smartphones at wholesale price higher than US$400.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can the ECAD Industry Afford Free?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322235&
With a passion for empowering designers, I’m thrilled at the rising tide of free Schematic and PCB Layout tools. But I can’t help but wonder whether the established ECAD industry can afford “free”?
Probably the single biggest game-changer has been RS Components’ DesignSpark PCB product. While this is a trimmed-down version of another (non-free) product, it represents the strongest threat to the established ECAD industry due to its “unlimited” capabilities.
DesignSpark PCB’s business model is built on the back of increased component sales; it continues the supply chain connectivity mantra that Farnell began when they acquired EAGLE PCB. So what does this mean for the “big four” ECAD vendors (Altium, Cadence, Mentor, and Zuken)? Maybe Max Maxfield’s recent question about whether PCB Layout Designers are becoming Endangered Species should also be asked of traditional PCB Layout Tools.
Of course, there is no need to panic as electronics design is hardly likely to go away overnight, but the emergence of free tools does pose a difficult conundrum for the establishment.
With expensive, high-value sales teams and reseller networks, they can’t sell an entry-level offering through the same channels because there isn’t enough margin, and no self-respecting salesperson is going to sacrifice a $10,000 deal on account of a $100 product. So you can almost guarantee that the entry-level product will never be properly represented if existing channels are used.
The industry is set for a pretty substantial shakeup. There are glimmers of hope from the emerging business models, but I don’t think we are there yet. If we assume that free ECAD tools will soon be “good enough,” then it’s my view that the next target for business innovation will be in the realm of supply-chain management and alleviating designers from the burden of turning electronics designs into physical assemblies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flipping the switch
Physicists design quantum triggers that can be activated by a photon
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/04/flipping-the-switch/
Harvard researchers have succeeded in creating quantum switches that can be turned on and off using a single photon, a technological achievement that could pave the way for creating highly secure quantum networks.
Built from single atoms, the first-of-their-kind switches could one day be networked via fiber-optic cables to form the backbone of a “quantum Internet” that allows for perfectly secure communications
“From a technical standpoint, it’s a remarkable accomplishment,” Lukin said of the advance. “Conceptually, the idea is very simple: Push the conventional light switch to its ultimate limit.”
Though fabricated in a way similar to how traditional computer chips are made, the integrated circuits built by Thompson and Tiecke don’t run on electricity, but on light.
The chips use nanophotonic technology — essentially the ability to create “wiring” that can channel and control the pathway of light — to build optical circuits that can then be connected to fiber optic cables.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Graphene-Analog Outperforms Original
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322256&
Graphene as the successor to silicon is the subject of intense research efforts in the US, Japan, Europe, and even China where it has become a government-backed priority.
However, because of graphene’s lack of a natural backgap, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, both in Cambridge, Mass., claim everybody may be barking up the wrong tree. Instead, they should be looking for compounds with the same good properties as graphene, but which also possess a natural bandgap. One such family of materials is exemplified by nickel hexa-imino-triphenylene (NiHITP).
Officially, the new material is called Ni3(HITP)2
Instead of introducing impurities or defects into NiHITP by doping, as is done with traditional semiconductors, Dinca’s family of new semiconductors will be carefully constructed at the atomic level — from the bottom up‚ in the process tuning its capabilities to favor specific electronic and possibly optical properties as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Poetic Process Could Extend the End of Moore’s Law
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322247&
A technology in development for more than two decades may have the answer for extending the end of Moore’s law, according to a company coming out of stealth mode.
POET Technologies derives its name from “Planar Opto-Electronic Technology,” which is its gallium arsenide (GaAs) process used to build electrical, optical, and electro-optical integrated circuits.
The full POET process also includes a “Planar Electronic Technology” electrical subset that can support CMOS, Bi-CMOS, and bipolar device fabrication, and offers cheaper, simpler process and fabrication options for applications that don’t require optical.
Moore’s Law established the idea that the number of transistors in a chip doubles every 1.5 to 2 years
There’s been much discussion about the demise of Moore’s Law. Last year, one expert suggested it would be dead as soon as 2020 at the 7 nm node, while MonolithIC 3D’s Zvi Or-Bach recently wrote that 28 nm is actually the last node of Moore’s Law because, even though it’s possible to make smaller transistors and more of them can be packed into the same-size die, costs can’t continue to be reduced. Last year, Broadcom’s CTO predicted that standard CMOS silicon transistors will stop scaling around 5 nm, and everything will plateau.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Corning Gorilla Glass vs. Sapphire
http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/news-events/Corning-Gorilla-Glass-vs.-Sapphire
As Corning® Gorilla® Glass surpasses 1.5 billion devices sold worldwide, it’s hard not to reflect on what’s made the product the cover glass of choice for the consumer electronics industry.
Recently, speculation has arisen that manufactured sapphire crystal might become an alternative to Corning’s Gorilla Glass, but according to James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager of Corning’s Specialty Materials segment, Corning’s not too worried:
“Sapphire’s performance as a cover for high-end watches probably leads to the current speculation.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Novel, Inexpensive 3D Chips Funded by SRC
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322265&
When you think 3D chips you usually think stacked dies connected by through-silicon vias (TSVs). There have been a few techniques that don’t use TSVs, such as the vertical transistor arrays that BeSang Inc. recently licensed to South Korea’s SK Hynix.
But a novel new technique using low-temperature materials, funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) at the University of California at Berkeley, claims to be the most flexible and inexpensive method of fabricating 3D chips yet.
The technique fabricates active devices interleaved between the metalization layers atop a standard CMOS die, thus eliminating the expense of vertically stacked transistors or of stacking dies with TSVs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering Majors: You’re Hired!!
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322284&
Students graduating this year with an engineering degree are finding the job market surprisingly robust.
“The demand for our EE and ME students this year continues to be strong,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microchip Buoyed by SMSC to Record Results
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322282&
Riding on the combined strength of acquisitions and organic growth, Microchip Technology Inc., a provider of microcontroller, mixed signal, analog, and flash IP, reported record net sales of $1.931 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. In a conference call, Microchip reported its 2014 results were up 22.1% year-over-year, as fourth-quarter earnings increased 14.7% from 2013.
“In many ways, the competition has almost abandoned 8-bit, and yet, Microchip has seemed to continue to evolve 8-bit and 16-bit, and I think that has helped them,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Qualcomm in talks to purchase Israeli Wilocity for $300 million
http://www.geektime.com/2014/05/11/report-qualcomm-in-talks-to-purchase-israeli-wilocity-for-300-million/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ScienceShot: Electric Stimulation Could Help You Control Your Dreams
http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/05/scienceshot-electric-stimulation-could-help-you-control-your-dreams
People who had received 40 Hz of current were lucid in more than 70% of their reported dreams, the team reports online today in Nature Neuroscience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Floreo: E-textililes And Moving Clothing
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/09/floreo-e-textililes-and-moving-clothing/
They chose e-textiles, which are most commonly extremely avant garde and nearly unapproachable with a lot of LEDs and zany mechanisms. Their initial designs reflected this, with multiple LED strips and huge shoulder pads. Then they discovered Flexinol shape memory actuator wire, and found this could be a much ‘softer’ integration of technology with haute couture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Get BENT: flexy supercapacitor breaks records
Carbon nanofibre comparable with lithium batteries
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/12/get_bent_flexy_supercapacitor_breaks_records/
It doesn’t sound like a huge number, but 6.3 microwatt-hours per cubic mm is a breakthrough: it’s the highest volumetric energy density so far achieved in a microscale carbon-based supercapacitor.
Such devices are keenly sought in electronics research to drive the growing wearables market, since battery life is a big issue among glassholes and fitness-tracker owners alike. The right supercaps would be a boon, offering decent battery life and faster charging than the ubiquitous Li-ion battery.
Apart from energy density, what’s really excited the group is that they’ve created a scalable process to produce their materials. They say they’ve produced their carbon microfibres in 50 metre lengths, and see no serious limit to scalability.
The challenge for supercapacitors is that you need to offer a large surface area for carrying charges.
The group, led by NTU professor Yuan Chen, created a setup in which a solution containing single-wall nanotubes, graphene oxide, and ethylenediamine is pumped through a capillary column and heated in an oven for six hours.
The process causes sheets of graphene and carbon nanotubes to self-assemble into a network that runs along the length of the fibre. The resulting material, essentially a long fibrous capacitor, presents 396m2 of surface area per gram of fibre, giving the material its high capacity.
It can also be woven, which opens up applications like “smart clothing” or, more prosaically, to power medical devices, and the group claims good performance over 10,000 charge cycles.
The group says the 6.3 microwatt-hour per cubic mm result is comparable to a 4V, 500 micro-amp-hour lithium thin film battery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Induction lamp competes with LED lamps
Power LED technology now rate the lighting market. The traditional incandescent light bulb could be replaced by other technology. Amusingly named The Finally Light Bulb Company says that its induction developed to combine the best of incandescent and LED lamps
Induction light produced by electromagnetic induction and gas discharge form. The lamp is not filament or electrodes , but it is a telecoil , which causes the high-frequency power flow to the mercury -free gas. The technique has been used a long time , but the planting of a conventional light bulb size has been difficult.
It produces a warm light similar to a light bulb. But the light bulb lasts 15 times longer than an incandescent bulb.
The bulbs that use the technology will cost under $ 10 each.
Finally , the lamps will be available in 60 , 75 and 100 watt versions.
60W model will begin selling in July.
Sources:
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1329:uusi-induktiolamppu-haastaa-ledilamput&catid=13&Itemid=101
http://finallybulbs.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inventors: Feast your eyes on fuel cell tech that’ll power up Internet of Thingies
Developer kits at the ready, just add water
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/01/fuel_cell_tech_to_power_internet_of_stuff/
As we’re in the land of handheld devices and ultimately sensor nodes supporting the “internet of things”, keeping power consumption down, or at the very least making it practical, is high on the list here.
London-based outfit Arcola Energy strives to deliver the best of both worlds with its adaptations of hydrogen fuel cell tech.
The fuel cell determines the overall output of the system. With the Arduino One kit it’s 1.5W whereas the R-Pi version delivers a 12W and can increase this to 30W.
Besides green credentials, efficiency is a factor for industrial purposes. Diesel generators don’t like working below a full load, and Todd says that if your needs are 500W or less, then fuel cells are competitive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What you need to know about smart guns
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/12/smart-gun-explainer/?ncid=rss_truncated
The term “smart gun” is trademarked by the company Mossberg, though it’s generally understood to refer to any firearm that is designed to allow only the owner to pull the trigger. How exactly a weapon accomplishes that doesn’t matter, so long as some form of authentication is required.
There are a number of different solutions out there
A smart lock would also make it near-impossible for a weapon to be turned on its owner.
And the government in Jersey isn’t the only one that believes in the personalized gun’s ability to reduce firearm deaths.
While the idea of a gun that can’t be turned on its owner seems like an obvious win for everyone involved, there are a number of problems with the concept. Chief among those worries: the safety mechanism will fail when it’s needed most.
Many of these systems claim they can read a fingerprint or other biometric and properly unlock the firearm 99.9 percent of the time — but when it comes to matters of life and death, even 0.1 percent chance of failure is considered too high. And then there’s always the worry that these weapons could be hacked or jammed remotely.
Not all advocates of gun control oppose the move toward smart guns, but there are plenty who do. One of the biggest is the Violence Policy Center, which believes they’re “a very seductive hoax.” The group argues that smart guns engender a sense of false security.
The strongest argument is that most of the people who would purchase a smart gun already own traditional firearms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM takes the phase change memory to servers
Phase change ( phase change ) based on memory are known to joining the DRAM performance with flash chips persistent storage, but their production has been very difficult. Now IBM claims to have shown that the PCM could be exported for commercial use in servers .
PCM memory based between two electrodes to the material in the space ( state of matter ) may vary depending on current. The greater the power to change the amorphous material , the smaller the crystalline .
This state can be read with a small stream of zeros or ones .
According to IBM, the bit can be programmed to zero in 70 nanoseconds and to the number one in 120 nanoseconds.
The test circuits were processed at 90 nanometers technology.
PCM is in many ways better than using Flash technology, at least in theory . Flash processes improvement start to come to an end , as the structure of the small geometry will cause major problems for the extraction of bits of less than 20 nm line widths.
Flash can be reprogrammed to about 10 000 times. New data can be stored to PCM for at least 10 million times (and up to 10 billion with error correction).
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1340:ibm-vie-vaihemuutoksen-palvelimiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-accuracy temperature sensor for IoT, consumer, industrial applications
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/high-accuracy-temperature-sensor-for-iot-consumer-industrial-applications.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004005&vID=1630&from_mail=1#.U3ITUFdM0ik
Sensirion’s STSC1 temperature sensor combines high measurement accuracy with an attractive price-performance ratio, low power consumption and minimal size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reference design outputs 4 analogue variables, cuts component count
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/reference-design-outputs-4-analogue-variables-cuts-component-count.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004001&vID=1630&from_mail=1#.U3ML2yhM0ik
Using one-third fewer components, this high-efficiency reference design from Maxim Integrated, the Alameda subsystem, is a flexible 4-channel bipolar analogue output module for industrial automation applications
its outputs are configurable to ±10V, ±20 mA, 0 to 10V, or 4–20 mA for current and voltage applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alameda Reference Design
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/mouser/alameda-reference-design/
The Maxim Alameda Reference Design is a debugging readily available circuit for Programmable Logic Controllers as well as other industrial controllers. It is based on 4-channel DAC and provides necessary materials for developers for integration of design into their own system.
The Alameda subsystem combines four high-accuracy (< ±0.1%) outputs with a high-efficiency, low-noise power supply controller on a single board. Alameda offers extreme flexibility—its outputs are configurable to ±10V, ±20mA, 0 to 10V, or 4-20mA for current and voltage applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D NAND Transition: 15nm Process Technology Takes Shape
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322337&
With 3D NAND unlikely to make economic sense until at least 2015, SanDisk and its flash foundry partner Toshiba both recently announced 15nm process technologies to produce NAND flash.
SanDisk’s 1Z-nm technology will be applied to both 2-bit-per-cell and 3-bit-per-cell NAND flash memory architectures with production ramp to begin in the second half of 2014. The 15nm technology scales chips along both axes, and will be used across a broad range of SanDisk offerings, from removable cards to enterprise SSDs.
Toshiba’s new process replaces its 19nm process technology, and is aimed at providing a transitional step to 3D NAND
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cobalt Encapsulation Extends Copper to 10nm
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322340&
Today’s sub-22-nanometer chips are placing a strain on the ability to connect their billions of transistors with traditional copper interconnects. As the number of metallization layers escalates from nine to fifteen or more, the fineness of the copper lines is causing open circuits from voids during manufacturing and electromigration after the chips are deployed.
Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., claims what is needed is a new technique that encapsulates copper interconnect lines in cobalt, thereby nixing electromigration and extending copper interconnects to the 10-nanometer node.
“Today chips have more than a thousand interconnects within the width of a human hair,”
“At higher nodes we had room for redundant lines, but at sub-22-nanometer nodes there is no room for redundancy — and a single void can render a chip useless — lowering yields.”
Applied Materials has already qualified cobalt encapsulation at multiple customer sites.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fairchild Confirms Fabless MEMS Entry
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322343&
Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc., based in San Jose, Calif., has confirmed it will enter the inertial MEMS market with mass production in 2014 as it formally announced the acquisition of Xsens Technologies BV.
Xsens is a private company that has specialized in 3D motion tracking systems based on MEMS inertial sensors.
“We’re not intending to compete head-on with the likes of STMicroelectronics and InvenSense. They have their markets in mobile phones and tablets. We will go into markets where low power is important; accuracy is important; support is important,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Gadget Gives Consumers At-Home Lab Tests
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/new-gadget-lets-consumers-do-at-home-lab-tests
Tech Talk
Biomedical
Devices
New Gadget Gives Consumers At-Home Lab Tests
By Eliza Strickland
Posted 13 May 2014 | 13:00 GMT
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Image: Cue
Do you want to know your current level of testosterone? Are you curious about the amount of vitamin D in your blood? Typically your doctor would send a sample of your bodily fluids to a lab to find out such information, but soon consumers willing to plunk down their money will have DIY lab tests via a new gadget called Cue.
Customers can pre-order the device beginning today, with shipping expected in spring 2015. At launch, Cue will be able to perform five different tests, but its makers say this is just the beginning. “The large majority of tests you do in the lab today, we want to give you access to in your own home,” says Ayub Khattak, cofounder and CEO of the eponymous startup Cue.
Khattak sees his company as the next step forward for the quantified self movement, in which consumers are using various gizmos to count their steps, chart their blood pressure, monitor their sleep, and so on. But Cue goes beyond the easily collected metrics of health, and delves into biochemical markers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dual-Carbon Battery: Same Energy Density, Safer, Longer Life Than Lithium-Ion, Says Power Japan Plus
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092056_dual-carbon-battery-same-energy-density-safer-longer-life-than-lithium-ion-says-power-japan-plus
In the search for better electric-car batteries, lots of lab research has to happen before anything can be announced.
Today, a company called Power Japan Plus came out of stealth mode to unveil a new battery chemistry, with both electrodes–anode and cathode–made of carbon.
The new cell, known as the Ryden Dual-Carbon Battery, promises energy density equal to today’s lithium-ion cells, but less capacity loss over time and far greater safety.
It is also almost entirely recyclable, with less energy input over its lifetime–and none of the rare or heavy metals required in various lithium-ion cell chemistries.
Dual-carbon cells have been described in theory since at least 1978, but years of development were required to make them reliable, cost-effective, and suitable for mass production in high volumes, Power Japan Plus CEO Dou Kani told Green Car Reports.
With energy density comparable to lithium-ion, the company claims that its Ryden dual-carbon chemistry can both recharge up to 20 times as fast and deliver more than 4 Volts of power from a single cell.
In testing, the cell has completed more than 3,000 charge/discharge cycles with virtually no performance degradation, meaning that it could conceivably last the lifetime of a car.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toshiba and SanDisk partner in flash foundry activities. The pair plan to start 3D NAND production in 2016, using a new plant costing up to $4.9bn (£2.9bn) at Toshiba’s Yokkaichi plant in central Japan. The new factory will replace semiconductor spaffer FAB 2. We understand 3D NAND chips could hold 16 times more data than today’s 2D planar NAND.
SanDisk has also been nurturing 3D ReRAM (Resistive RAM) for a long time, and hopes to introduce it in the later part of this decade.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/15/super_storage_roundup/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup Faces SoC, Gender Challenges
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322379&
Sundari Mitra wants to change the way SoCs are designed with her new interconnect startup, NetSpeed Systems. Unlike her company, which is just emerging from stealth mode, in some ways female executives in the semiconductor industry are always under a spotlight.
“There are so few of us in this industry — I am an Indian woman executive — that I don’t have to do much for people not to forget me.”
It’s a double-edged sword. “Being a [chief] sales person for my company, it’s a great advantage. They don’t forget anything I do.” However, “I always have to deliver and be correct.”
Wanting to “do something different,” Mitra reflected on the lessons of her career. They centered on intractable issues in SoC design. “I must have done 10 tapeouts in my career, all facing the same set of problems. Timing closure was always a challenge. Bugs always came out a week before tapeout or sometimes after tapeout, needing lots of fixes. It was not right.”
The idea emerged for an on-chip network that could be configured in ways that understood circuit timing and placement issues to optimize designs for power, performance, or area.
This resulted in a set of configurable interconnect and power-management blocks now in the hands of a diverse set of five unnamed customers
“Our technology is very conducive to that area,” she said, noting a coming generation of 64-bit ARM chips. “People don’t know how to harness the bandwidth of that architecture. They lack an analysis tool.” Apple “has its own internal analysis tools.” NetSpeed takes “a very quantitative, math-based approach to building an SoC.”
NetSpeed’s costs are based on an IP model and include an up-front licensing fee plus a per-chip royalty. The licensing fees vary based on the number of IP blocks. The company supports 28nm and FinFET processes.
Most ASIC designers still build their own on-chip networks, but they are likely to seek outside help, given the rising complexity of the technology, Wawrzyniak said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flash Storage Firms Scramble to Find, Hire Engineers
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322383&
The solid-state drive (SSD) business has literally exploded in the past year, and that trend has companies clamoring to recruit and hire more engineering talent.
It is not proving easy.
“We are seeing persistently more open positions than qualified candidates to fill them,” says Jon Haswell, senior director of firmware development at Micron Technology. “At Micron, we are aggressively recruiting top talent at our own events, industry conferences, and through social media.”
IHS reports that SSD shipments climbed 82% last year. That increase — coupled with the 50% rise IHS forecasts for this year — is fueling an insatiable demand for even more talent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fluke Connect: A Cool Concept That Begs for More
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322381&
This week, Fluke Corp. introduced Fluke Connect, a technology that not only links handheld instruments to smartphones, it lets iOS 7 or Android 4.4 phones share measurement data anywhere in the world through an app. Upon hearing of Fluke Connect, I immediately thought of how it could do more.
Fluke Connect lets you share measurements from multimeters, infrared thermometers, and AC/DC current meters. A local phone connects over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to a meter or over WiFi to an infrared thermometer. If the local phone has internet access through a WiFi or cellular connection, it can send the data to a remote phone through the app, assuming that phone has internet access.
Such connectivity can be a great time saver because you can see what’s happening on equipment without being there
Having remote access to measurement through your phone is a great time saver, money saver, and maybe even a job or life saver, but I immediately wondered about other possibilities.
What if you could take action remotely, even if just to change a meter setting to get better resolution? When I asked Fluke about that, a spokesperson replied that early customers had already asked about remote control, but there are issues to resolve. Many of the meters, for example, can’t be controlled remotely. You need to turn a knob or push a button to change a setting.
What else would you like to do once you have that data in your phone?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown Compares Combo Sensors
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322331&
A look inside three top combination sensors shows how vendors are taking very different routes to arrive at competitive products.
We did chip teardowns of three of the leading nine-axis inertial measurement units (IMUs) released in 2013: the BMX055 from Bosch Sensortec, STMicroelectronics’ LSM9DS0, and the InvenSense MPU-9250. Each player’s cost is very similar, despite their use of very different techniques.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IO Link Compliant HV Line Driver (Single Channel)
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/zmdi/io-link-compliant-hv-line-driver-single-channel/
The ZIOL2211 is a single channel high voltage line driver containing a wide range of configurable feature set with a nonvolatile storage of system configuration. It has an excellent electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance due to adjustable output slew rate control with a low RDSon of only 6.6 Ω
The ZIOL2211 is a line driver/level shifter IC containing an HV I/O channel (high voltage: max. power-supply/signal swing = 36V) having a wide range of configurable system features. It addresses the physical layer of sensor/actuator systems in factory automation and is especially designed to support the communication standard IO-Link.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Traceability a Competitive Advantage, Instead of a Burden
Traceability has variable and narrow definitions depending on the industry, product, and application. As a result, narrow solutions are often adopted yet only deliver the required data scope for a subset of a specific product. The issue with this approach is twofold: First, it only delivers a short-term solution, as traceability requirements expand continuously. Second, it neglects a significant opportunity to achieve real process intelligence and control.
A holistic approach to traceability means that the digital infrastructure of the factory is gathering all product and process data available, regardless of whether or not it is required for traceability reporting.
This is the true value of traceability—drive efficiency and quality improvement via total data awareness. Traceability should be regarded as a natural byproduct of having total data awareness of product, process, materials, test and quality data.
Source: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1034513
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel shows off tech bubbles, low-power yacht racing and… a DIRECT solar charger
Chipzilla showcase mixes ideas with reality
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/16/intel_future_tech_showcase_nucs_boards_and_solar_power/
In London this week, Intel’s Innovation Future Showcase
And toy with them you must. After all, where would we be without an Intel Galileo developer board complete with modem hooked up to a bubble-making machine
With the Internet of Things in mind, another working demo featured a Galileo board changing colours on a light strip controlled by an app on a mobile device.
To complicate matters slightly, a tablet was hooked up to a mobile phone acting as a hotspot that that then communicated the app instructions to the Galileo board which was connected via Ethernet to a router.
Needless to say, commands for home automation from a remote location are among the possible scenarios Intel suggests for this sort of idea. No doubt Raspberry Pi owners have been there and done that with these tricks
the most complete off-the-shelf new product being the Intel NUC – Next Unit of Computing.
Gabart was also give an Intel Education 2-in-1, a reference design convertible tablet/PC that’s also waterproof.
Under the banner Alternative Power Architecture (APA), the company is looking at ways of charging devices directly without needing a battery as a proxy of sorts.
In trials in Peru using a 100W solar panel, Intel’s Smart Solar Controller proved capable of directly charging four Classmate PCs.
The APA technology prevents oscillation and doesn’t activate power circuit and let it past the gate until there’s sufficient energy behind it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Improving Device-level Electricity Consumption
Breakdowns in Private Households Using ON/OFF Events
https://www.vs.inf.ethz.ch/publ/papers/beckel-2012-improv-sigbed.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Augmented Reality with an FPGA
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/16/augmented-reality-with-an-fpga/
[Julie Wang] has created an augmented reality system on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Augmented reality is nothing new – heck, these days even your tablet can do it. [Julie] has taken a slightly different approach though. She’s not using a processor at all. Her entire system, from capture, to image processing, to VGA signal output, is all instantiated in a FPGA.
The amazing part is that there is no microprocessor involved in any of the processing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Navy Wants Smart Robots With Morals, Ethics
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/05/17/0216229/us-navy-wants-smart-robots-with-morals-ethics
“The U.S. Office of Naval Research this week offered a $7.5m grant to university researchers to develop robots with autonomous moral reasoning ability. While the idea of robots making their own ethical decisions smacks of SkyNet — the science-fiction artificial intelligence system featured prominently in the Terminator films — the Navy says that it envisions such systems having extensive use in first-response, search-and-rescue missions, or medical applications.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Static Electricity Defies Simple Explanation
http://news.sciencemag.org/chemistry/2014/05/static-electricity-defies-simple-explanation
If you’ve ever wiggled a balloon against your hair, you know that rubbing together two different materials can generate static electricity. But rubbing bits of the same material can create static, too. Now, researchers have shot down a decades-old idea of how that same-stuff static comes about.
“They show pretty convincingly that the idea of the transfer of these trapped electrons is not valid,”
If the grains aren’t swapping electrons, then where do the charges come from?