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:
EDA Races To 7nm, Despite Litho Uncertainties
http://semiengineering.com/eda-races-to-7nm-despite-litho-uncertainties/
The delay with EUV isn’t stopping anyone from pushing ahead on design tools for 7nm.
It’s becoming almost painful to refer to the delay with EUV, but it certainly isn’t stopping anyone on the design side from tweaking design tools or working on test chips. Clearly, things are moving ahead to 7nm even though lithography plans aren’t yet clear.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Node By Any Other Name
http://semiengineering.com/a-node-by-any-other-name/
What’s the difference between 16nm and 14nm and how do you really measure it?
Have you ever wondered what gives a particular CMOS technology node its name? When we talk about 20nm, 16nm or 14nm, what exactly does that number in front of the “nm” mean anyway? Is it the first layer metal half-pitch or the gate length (and while we’re at it, is that the printed gate length, the physical gate length, or the effective gate length)?
The half-pitch refers to half the minimum center-to-center distance spacing (or pitch) between Metal 1 lines
a nice slide that broke out the definitions for the various “gate lengths” commonly referred to in the industry
If we go back to the early 1990s, all was well in semiconductor technology nodeland. The metal half-pitch and the “gate length” were all in agreement, and a 0.5μm or 0.35μm process meant that those dimensions all lined up.
Heading into the late 1990s it started getting strange.
by the time we got to Intel’s “65nm” process in 2005 the gate length (actually he says width, but I’m pretty sure that he meant to say length) was 32nm and the half-pitch of the Metal 1 lines was 105nm. Clearly, the original “node” definition had been tossed to the side.
TSMC and GlobalFoundries using their 20nm interconnect for their first generation 16/14nm FinFETs and that Intel was mentioned here in SemiWiki as having done the same from 32nm to 22n.
So the term “node” is still in use but what does it really mean?
Clearly the use of “fins” has created yet another spacing dimension to track.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shootout At 28nm
http://semiengineering.com/shootout-at-28nm/
Companies scramble for position at established node, battling over price, performance and power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GPIB Won’t Die, Sorry About That
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322387&piddl_msgid=299657#msg_299657
On April 3, I wrote about how GPIB refuses to die after declaring it on the decline 20 years prior.
GPIB’s death has been rumored for some 20 years, perhaps starting with me. But GPIB is still going and going.
Technological change does not spare laboratory measurement equipment. Increasingly, touch screens replace conventional buttons; context-sensitive user guidance makes voluminous manuals redundant, says Peter Bachmayr, Technical Marketing Manager EMEA at Tektronix EMEA.
Today, measurements are performed in many sciences from physics to biology, chemistry, medicine and more. For this reason, measurement instrument designers cannot anticipate that all users are experts; and hence they need to simplify the use of even sophisticated instruments. As a result, future instrument generations will feature context-sensitive and more comfortable user interfaces. Instrument designers take up user interface trends from the IT and consumer markets
This trend does not end in simply allowing external display devices to access the measurement instrument. The next logical step is embedding the measurement results into a web site and accessing them with a standard web browser.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hall Effect Technology Implications for Appliance Design
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/allegro_microsystems/hall-effect-technology-implications-for-appliance-design/
This technical paper gives a brief explanation of Hall effect technology, its basic principles and expansion in today’s advanced technology. Included in this paper is a review of the historic areas of concern of Hall effect technology and how these have been acknowledged. A comparison with mechanical switch technology is also provided in this document. Finally, this gives an overview of how Hall effect technology has, and can be, used in different appliance applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designing a Crystal Oscillator
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/maxim/designing-a-crystal-oscillator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Side Shunt Current Sense Amplifier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otOXHO_FH30
Learn how the ISL28634 instrumentation amplifier is capable of being configured in high side shunt current sense amplifier. The application example includes measuring current into low voltage FPGA, DSP and ASICs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Passive Oscilloscope Probe with Spectrum Analyzer
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/rigol_technologies/using-passive-oscilloscope-probe-with-spectrum-analyzer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest
http://phys.org/news/2014-05-scientists-year-quest.html
Imperial College London physicists have discovered how to create matter from light – a feat thought impossible when the idea was first theorised 80 years ago.
Breit and Wheeler suggested that it should be possible to turn light into matter by smashing together only two particles of light (photons), to create an electron and a positron – the simplest method of turning light into matter ever predicted.
Professor Steve Rose from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London said: “Despite all physicists accepting the theory to be true, when Breit and Wheeler first proposed the theory, they said that they never expected it be shown in the laboratory. Today, nearly 80 years later, we prove them wrong. What was so surprising to us was the discovery of how we can create matter directly from light using the technology that we have today in the UK. As we are theorists we are now talking to others who can use our ideas to undertake this landmark experiment.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
UHS-II SD Cards Await Capable Devices
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322384&
The UHS-II bus interface for secure digital (SD) memory cards is gaining traction, but it will take some time for manufacturers to bring products to market that take advantage of the new standard. SD card vendors, meanwhile, have unveiled cards with the UHS-II interface. Last month, Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) debuted what it said is the first microSD memory card to comply with the UHS-II standard, the ultra high speed serial bus interface defined in the SD Memory Card Standard Ver. 4.20.
the new 32GB microSD cards have a maximum read speed of 145 MB/s and maximum write speed of 130 MB/s, which is an 8x write speed improvement and 2.7x read speed improvement when compared to Toshiba’s current UHS-I equivalent cards.
UHS-I cards, which were specified in SD Version 3.01, can transfer anywhere from 50 MB/s to 104 m/s depending on their clock frequency and transfer mode. UHS-II raises the data transfer rate to a theoretical maximum of 312 MB/s using an additional row of pins. The new interface was first announced in early 2011.
Doug Wong, senior member of technical staff for TAEC, said UHS-II is the first introduction of a high-speed serial interface to the SD card, which traditionally had a 4-bit wide parallel interface with its own clock. “It was a legacy holdover interface that has existed for some time,” he said. “All high speed interfaces of the future are serialized – maybe multi-lane serialized.”
The technology is available to 128GB or higher, but the focus has been delivering SD cards at a price point the market will support. There also other features that can be added to cards, including WiFi capability, micro payment applications for smartphones, and of course the security features offered by “secure digital” cards. “Very few people have used the features of the secure digital card,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-cost EDA/PCB entry-point software package from Mentor & Digi-Key
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/low-cost-eda/pcb-entry-point-software-package-from-mentor-digi-key.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10004092&vID=1641&from_mail=1#.U32e-ChsUik
Distributor Digi-Key, and Mentor Graphics, have configured a design tool, described as “concept-to-prototype”, aimed at individual designers and intended to support “green-field” projects before transition to production. A Beta version of the package, which will be priced below $3000, is now available from Digi-Key.
The Designer Schematic tool is scheduled to launch early this summer, at a sub-$300 price point.
The web-based software is designed to give engineers real-time access to the latest design components along with easy, error-free access to Design Service Providers and PCB Fabrication and Manufacturing Services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Hackaday: Can Battery-Free Bluetooth Item Locating Tags Exist?
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/21/ask-hackaday-can-battery-free-bluetooth-item-locating-tags-exist/
A quick Google search let us know that Bluetooth Low Energy solutions usually consume an idle current of around 10uA @ ~3V. The (very) successful Sticknfind campaign which promoted the same battery-enabled product claimed a one year autonomy with a CR2016 battery and a 100ft range, leading to a ~90mAh/24/30.5/12 = 10.2uA idle current. As we’re not expert on the subject, we would like to ask our readers if they ever came across such energy harvesting performances (3V*10.2uA = 30uW) in a normal home environment.
Our very bad maths indicate that if one would like to extract power from a typical Wifi router located 2 meters from you emitting 0.5Watts of power (in a perfect vacuum environment) with a 32*27mm = 864mm = 0.000864m² tag you’d only be able to get 0.5 * (0.000864/(4*pi*2*2)) = 8.6uW.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphones take large LCDs out of the game
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/smartphones-take-large-lcds-out-of-the-game.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921177&vID=209#
The effects of the penetration of portable smart devices has brought LCD monitor shipments to an historical 10-year record low in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014, reports NPD DisplaySearch in its Quarterly Desktop Monitor Shipment & Forecast.
The market analyst firm says the total desktop monitor shipments reached only 34.2 million, a level unseen since the third quarter (Q3) of 2004, when LCD monitors, including CRTs, fell to 33.3 million units.
Desktop monitor shipments in Q1 2014 decreased 3 percent, quarter over quarter (Q/Q), and 2 percent on yearly basis
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toshiba and Sandisk to scrap 2D NAND fab for 300mm 3D NAND
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/toshiba-and-sandisk-to-scrap-2d-nand-fab-for-300mm-3d-nand.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921190&vID=209
Toshiba Corporation announced it will demolish its No. 2 semiconductor fabrication facility (Fab 2) at Yokkaichi Operations, a NAND Flash memory plant in Mie prefecture, Japan, to replace it with a new fab on the same site, dedicated to 3D NAND.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED lighting in buildings to pass USD10.3B mark in 2014
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/led-lighting-in-buildings-to-pass-usd10.3b-mark-in-2014.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921183&vID=209
Revenue from the global LED Lighting market for buildings hit $8.1 billion in 2013 and is forecast to rise to about $10.3 billion by the end of 2014 according to market research analyst, Memoori Research.
Tomi Engdahl says:
At your digital radios!
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/at-your-digital-radios.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921156&vID=209
CML Microcircuits is giving away two complete evaluation kits for its newly launched CMX983 analogue front end, a chip that bridges the gap between a digital radio’s RF section and the DSP/FPGA.
Specifically designed to meet the needs of a Software Defined Radio (SDR), the CMX983 performs critical DSP-intensive functions, provides dual-channel analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue conversion. It includes two RF fractional-N synthesisers and embeds a host of auxiliary ADCs and DACs for use within the radio system.
The CMX983 is suitable for radio systems employing modulation bandwidths up to 25.8kHz and is usable in satellite communication, high performance wireless data and professional two-way radio systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home Health Devices to Double by 2018
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322440&
Get ready for an explosion of home healthcare devices and solutions over the coming five years. A number of major megatrends are converging: an aging population that will consume more healthcare, the proliferation of connected devices, and the growing need to contain healthcare costs. These trends will produce a spike in the global market for home health technologies in the coming years, according to a report from IHS Technology.
The report, “Home Health Technology Report – 2014,” reveals that worldwide revenue for home healthcare devices and services will rise to $12.6 billion in 2018, up from $5.7 billion in 2013. IHS notes that the home healthcare market consists of six distinct segments: independent living services, consumer medical devices, telehealth, personal emergency response systems (PERS), wearable technologies, and health gaming (games designed to improve health).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eliminating DRAM From Graphical Interfaces
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322429&
The operator interface is a key design element in many of today’s embedded systems. Often that interface requires a graphical display with PC-like resolution. An upcoming webinar at TechOnline will discuss how to create such an interface while eliminating the need for external dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) display buffers.
Graphical human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are becoming the norm for many types of embedded systems design. Particularly in the consumer space, those graphics need to have a fairly high resolution to meet user expectations. Automotive infotainment systems, home appliances, medical devices, and the like require visually rich displays showing fine detail.
But the higher the resolution the display offers, the more memory the embedded systems design must provide for buffering the images, typically DRAM. A WXGA (1,280×768) full color display, for instance, requires nearly 3 Mbytes of DRAM to hold a full screen. Graphics systems typically double buffer, though, so that the display shows a stable image from one buffer while the image’s updates get loaded into the other buffer. Therefore, nearly 6 Mbytes of DRAM would be needed in a WXGA system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compact Modeling Concerns for Silicon-based Power MOSFETs
http://www.eeweb.com/blog/sachin_seth/compact-modeling-concerns-for-silicon-based-power-mosfets
At first brush, power electronics do not have the glamorous appeal that we’ve come to associate with the nanotechnology revolution in the past two to three decades. Evaluated solely on the basis of process nodes and manufacturing technology, power transistors are lagging behind their digital counterparts by several years. While cutting-edge processors allow you to talk, text, and play “Flappy Bird” all at the same time, most power electronics are still thought to fulfill one function only–a glorified ON/OFF switch.
All of that holds water only at the first brush. Dig a little deeper, and it becomes immediately apparent why power semiconductors have been attracting so much attention recently. To put things in perspective, the market size for microprocessors in 2012 was roughly $90 billion [1]. This figure includes the revenue from chip sales across all segments – PC, embedded, servers, etc. Impressive, right? On the other hand, the estimated market size for power electronics is, yes, $90 billion [2]!
Power electronics are employed in broadly two engineering applications: power distribution and power conversion. While the former is still a bastion of mechanical relays and circuit breakers, it is the latter where semiconductors have made the largest dent
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why are Fujitsu and Toshiba growing lettuce in semiconductor plants?
Salad days before us, say ageing chip vendors
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/22/fujitsu_grows_lettuce_in_chip_factory/
Fujitsu’s foray into growing lettuce is not meant to be a revenue stream, but rather a necessary step in convincing farmers to start utilising ICT, the tech giant’s boss has told us.
Which is just as well, as the clean-room grown lettuce the IT giant unveiled last week will produce revenues of $3.8m this year, according to our back of the leaf sums.
In both cases, by growing the leafy greens hydroponically in disused clean rooms, the techie horticulturalists claim to have minute control over what nutrients are taken up by the growing plants, while light levels and wavelengths can be set at the optimal level for plant growth. As the plants’ environment is a clean room, it can be strictly controlled, meaning pollution and pests are kept at bay right through the growing and packaging process. This can mean the lettuce can be munched without needing to be washed first.
Fujitsu has chosen to make its variety very low in potassium.
Fujitsu’s lettuce is being supplied to hospitals and patients in Japan, at a cost of around $3 a head. This compares to around $1 for regular lettuce in the country.
European countries are, arguably, further ahead in applying technology to farming, and Yamamoto cited the Netherlands as an example of a country which has pulled together digital technology together with other intensive farming techniques.
Fujitsu’s take also integrates ICT at the producer end of the chain with the distribution, retail and cooking aspects of food production and consumption. Or, in other words, your microwave will actually talk to the frozen pizza.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adding Copper Wire To A 3D Print
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/25/adding-copper-wire-to-a-3d-print/
Conductive filaments and printing solder are one thing, but what if you could spice up your 3D prints by embedding wire right inside the filament? That’s what [Bas] is doing, paving the way for printable electronics, PCBs, coils, and odd-shaped antenna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arduino Garage Door Opener is Security Minded
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/25/arduino-garage-door-opener-is-security-minded/
Do it yourself garage door openers must be all the rage nowadays.
While WiFi was an option, [Giles] decided that having the garage door hooked up to the internet would likely be a security risk, even if it did offer some potential interesting use cases. He therefore opted to stick with Bluetooth, but decided to use the Seedstudio Bluetooth shield instead of a basic headset.
For the smart phone interface, [Giles] started out by trying to write a native Android application. Having little experience in Android development, he soon realized that it was going to take him longer than anticipated to get anything usable this way. He then decided to use SL4A. SL4A provides a scripting environment for Android and supports several different scripting languages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VoCore, The Tiny Internet Of Things Thing
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/24/vocore-the-tiny-internet-of-things-thing/
With tiny Linux boards popping up like dandelions, it was only a matter of time before someone came out with a really tiny Linux board. This is it. It’s a tiny board less than an inch on each side with an 802.11n System on Chip running OpenWrt on Linux. The best part? You can pick one up for $20 USD.
The VoCore features interfaces for 100M Ethernet, USB host and device, UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, and 20 GPIOs for blinking LEDs and listening to sensors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bel Fuse to Buy Emerson’s Power Connectivity Unit for $98M
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322494&
Interconnect vendor Bel Fuse Inc. continued to pursue its aggressive acquisition strategy to expand its revenue and market base with a $98 million cash deal to acquire the Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions (ECS) business of Emerson Inc.
Bel Fuse will add RF/microwave and harsh environment optical connectors and assemblies to its product portfolio. As a result, it will gain a greater presence in the military/aerospace, industrial and communications sectors, increase its copper-based product offerings, and make it one of the leading expanded beam fiber-optic suppliers, according to the company. Bel Fuse’s product line includes magnetics, power modules, circuit protection devices, and interconnects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microchip Buys Taiwan’s ISSC Tech
Inhouse Bluetooth expertise advances IoT strategy
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322477&
Microchip Technology Inc. made a move to make its first major overseas acquisition with a $328.5 million deal to acquire Taiwanese fabless chip company ISSC Technologies Corp., which sells Bluetooth chips aimed at the growing IoT sector.
Microchip’s motivation behind the purchase stems from its need to add proprietary low-power Bluetooth products to its product portfolio. Microchip already has an arsenal of chip products tailored for the embedded market, including microcontrollers, analog chips, Flash-IP, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth modules. However, Microchip’s Bluetooth modules employ chips made by other companies. By gaining ISSC’s wireless expertise in providing Bluetooth solutions, Microchip believes it has leverage to be a major chip player in the IoT market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Materials Hunt on for 10-5 nm Chips
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322490&
Researchers expect semiconductors will adopt many new materials as they advance from the 16-11 nm node to the 5 nm node
The semiconductor industry must select from a wide variety of materials for substrates, channels, gates, and contacts as it scales transistors from 10 nm to 7 nm and beyond.
“For logic [at 14 nm and 10 nm], the architectures are defined,” said Raj Jammy, general manager of the semiconductor group at Intermolecular Inc. and one of several scheduled presenters on the topic at Semicon West in July. “In most cases, they are FinFETs, but there is also an alternate option, which is fully-depleted SOI.”
For both 10 nm and 7 nm, he thinks that high-k metal gates will tend to be dominant, but the real challenge will be the channel itself. At 10 nm, germanium (Ge) will likely be one of the channel materials. “But the moment you add Ge, a whole range of questions open up.”
“III-V layers are being evaluated as channel materials for next-generation devices,”
SUNY CNSE is also involved in R&D on replacing silicon devices with graphene or another 2D monolayer material. “Graphene is currently the front-running disruptive solution for next-generation device architectures,”
Jammy counts the move to 3D device architectures as one of the top drivers for both logic and memory, with new materials coming in second. What exactly will happen at 5 nm and beyond is not clear
Tomi Engdahl says:
Launching a hardware startup? The stars are aligned in your favor
There’s been no better time to get into hardware biz, says hardware biz analyst
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/24/launching_a_hardware_startup_the_stars_are_aligned_in_your_favor/
Launching a hardware startup is more difficult than springing software upon the world – all a coder needs, after all, is a keyboard and a creative mind – but recent developments are removing barriers and creating a new startup gold rush.
“It used to be really difficult to start a hardware company,”
“Perhaps you worked in R&D at a bigger company; perhaps you worked at an agency,” DiResta said, “but it was a really big challenge to take a product to market and to build a business around a device.”
That’s changing – thanks in part to the internet, she said, which enables rapid and relatively seamless collaboration between like minds around the globe with whom ideas can be shared.
like-minded hardware hackers getting together to bang up their ideas in a fast-growing number of public “hackerspaces”.
While the growth of hackerspaces is an indication of interest, it doesn’t provide data about how many of those sites are spawning startups. The growth in hardware startups, however, can be tracked
There is also a growing number of hardware-startup accelerators
Hardware prototyping is also getting easier, DiResta said, with 3D-printing quality going up and prices coming down.
The design prototyping ease provided by 3D printing is one thing; functional prototyping is, of course, another – but there’s help for hardware hackers in that area as well. For example, Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards and kits have found their way into many a hardware startup’s prototypes, the OpenPilot open source UAV autopilot is speeding the growth of drone startups, and Electric Imp is easing startups’ efforts to connect their devices to the internet.
Finally, once hardware startups get their products ready for manufacturing, they should not automatically expect that they’ll need to find a manufacturing partner in China.
She also suggested that “nearshoring” be an option that startups consider when choosing a manufacturing partner
Tomi Engdahl says:
Touch Board and electric ink create a jammin’ music machine
http://www.gizmag.com/arduino-electric-ink-bare-conductive-touch-board-maker-faire/32182/
In a world increasingly dominated by touchscreens, a London design studio is taking an approach to touch that’s both low(er)-tech and innovative at the same time. Bare Conductive raised over US$200,000 on Kickstarter last year for an Arduino-based project called Touch Board that turns any conductive material into a potential capacitive touch input, including the firm’s own conductive electric paint.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Gold Gadget That Would Let You Stop Heart Attacks With a Smartphone
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/clear-3-d-printed-defibrillators-can-shock-heart-without-pads/
mplantable defibrillators and pacemakers have been around since the 1970s, but advances in materials science and 3-D visualization are transforming them from cumbersome life-support tools into streamlined therapies that could be props from Iron Man.
Professors John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Igor Efimov of Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new cardiac intervention that uses MRI and CT machines to scan a patient’s heart, 3-D printing a model from that data, and using the print to make a metallic mesh sleeve that can be implanted in the patient’s chest.
“Large IT companies will probably enter the market,” says Efimov. “Big data is a buzzword, but biological big data will come from these devices.” Wearables are making headlines today, but “implantables” could be the wave of the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK military creates quantum compass that could be the successor to GPS
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/182973-uk-military-creates-quantum-compass-that-could-be-the-successor-to-gps
GPS began its life as a military technology in the 1970s, then everything changed in the late 80s when the US government decided to allow civilian use of the satellite network. Virtually every mobile device on the planet has a GPS chip built-in that lets you find your way around, but GPS is getting old and doesn’t work well in all situations. The British Ministry of Defence is hard at work developing a so-called “quantum compass” that could become the successor to GPS, and just like GPS, it might land in your pocket one day.
The UK military is investing millions of pounds in the quantum compass mainly for use in submarines. GPS systems require a view of the sky, or at least very little obstruction to get a location fix.
A quantum compass takes advantage of the 1997 Nobel-winning discovery that lasers can be used to cool atoms to within fractions of a degree of absolute zero. Atoms in this frozen state are extremely sensitive to the magnetic and gravitational field of the Earth. Thus, they can be used to track movement with amazing accuracy. To be clear, this is still a type of inertial “dead reckoning” navigation. The difference is that after getting a solid GPS lock, a sub could go underwater and be exactly on target when it surfaces days or even weeks later.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free reference guide analyzes 2014 NEC changes
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/tnd-nec-changes-guide.html?cmpid=EnlCIMMay272014
Thomas & Betts (NYSE: TNB) has published its Analysis of NEC Code Changes 2014, a free reference guide to changes in the 2014 National Electrical Code (NEC) that pertain to T&B’s products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is Huge: Intel Enters Strategic Agreement with Chinese SoC Maker Rockchip
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 27, 2014 12:30 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8061/this-is-huge-intel-enters-strategic-agreement-with-chinese-soc-maker-rockchip
Intel’s march into the ultra mobile space has been a frustrating one. Architecturally Intel has the chops to play in the market, but its execution has been met with challenges. At first Intel seemed to bet too heavily on non-Android OSes (primarily Windows tablets) and now its challenge seems to be more an issue of getting its designs into the market quickly and ultimately used by OEMs. The Android tablet space in particular is in a race to the bottom, leaving little room for another premium SoC vendor outside of Qualcomm. Intel recently announced a new family of lower cost, entry-level Bay Trail SoCs to help adjust to the changing market, but today it announced an even more aggressive play: a strategic partnership with Rockchip.
Rockchip is one of a handful of fabless semiconductor manufacturers based in China, presently specializing in the development of ARM based mobile SoCs. Under today’s announcement however, Intel will be leveraging Rockchip to bring a low cost (entry/value) Intel branded SoC platform for tablets (read: sub-$150 Android tablets with connectivity).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside Innoconn: Foxconn’s new hardware startup incubator
http://www.cnet.com/news/inside-innoconn-foxconn-hardware-startup-incubator/
Will this Chinese manufacturer’s search for the next big thing pay off? CNET takes a tour of Foxconn’s Innoconn Beijing campus to find out more.
Innovation meets world-class manufacturing?
The tour made it clear that Foxconn wants to be in on the ground floor for the next big thing. “I don’t know who will be the next Lei Jun [the founder of Xiaomi],” Jack Lin admitted, “so we’re looking at this trend.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printed Circuits as Part of a 3-D Printed Object (Video)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/05/27/2044212/printed-circuits-as-part-of-a-3-d-printed-object-video
With the system they’re working on, a filament printer is used to fabricate the object itself, but at the same time, both capacitive and conductive features can be baked — or rather printed — right in, with a separate print head.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s first ever Nobel Prize winning integrated circuit to be auctioned
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/23/worlds_first_integrated_chip_goes_on_sale/
Are you a chip nerd with $2m to spare? Then you’re in luck, because a historic prototype of the world’s first integrated circuit is set to be auctioned at Christie’s.
The prototype integrated circuit was built in 1958 and made from a doubly diffused germanium wafer with flying gold wire and four leads.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Improved supercapacitors for super batteries, electric vehicles
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/improved-supercapacitors-for-super-batteries-electric-vehicles/dd781e1abeff728f424ad42ede42c11d.html
Researchers develop novel supercapacitor architecture that provides two times more energy and power compared to supercapacitors commercially available today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silly Putty material inspires better batteries
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/silly-putty-material-inspires-better-batteries/36d4bded4f3155ef036f1f8794c6d617.html
Engineers use silicon dioxide to make lithium-ion batteries that last three times longer between charges compared to current standard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Seagate buys LSI’s flash component assets from Avago for $450 million
http://www.zdnet.com/seagate-buys-lsis-flash-component-assets-from-avago-for-450-million-7000029996/
Summary: LSI’s Accelerated Solutions Division (ASD) and Flash Components Division (FCD) will give Seagate a larger footprint in enterprise flash and solid state storage controllers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can Graphene Make Large-Scale Electricity Storage Viable?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322549&
Researchers at University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute are exploring different ways to reduce the size and weight of batteries and extend their lifespan by adding graphene as a component material.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM Grabs Duolog for SoC Tools
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322542&
ARM is in negotiations to acquire Duolog Technologies, a Dublin provider of IP integration tools.
For the past year, the two companies have been co-developing debug and trace tools for ARM’s CoreLink and CoreSight products planned for release this year.
“Our CoreLink interconnects allow up to 48 cores working coherently in a single SoC today, and going forward that won’t get simpler,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Renesas May Sell LCD Chip Unit to Synaptics
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322533&
The Japanese semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics Corp. plans to sell its majority stake in Renesas SP Drivers, its LCD chip joint venture with Sharp Corp. and Powerchip Group, to the mobile device chip provider Synaptics Inc., Reuters reports.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Chip Stack Tool Sends TSV Into High-Volume
Titanium makes it cost effective
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322527&
The industry’s first high-volume manufacturing tool for 3D high-aspect ratio through-silicon-vias (TSVs) has been claimed by Applied Materials Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif. The Endura Ventura physical vapor deposition (PVD) tool cuts the cost of ownership by up to 50%, according to Applied Materials, due to its titanium barrier — a liner layer that confined the copper to the TSV.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Circuit Reliability for the Auto Industry
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322554&
As we’ve said often (to anyone who will listen) in the last few months, circuit reliability is not a new-node problem, and circuit reliability challenges are applicable in varying degrees of criticality and complexity to many different industries.
This time, let’s talk specifically about the automotive industry, some of the circuit reliability challenges it must overcome to meet industry quality standards and consumers’ expectations, and the tasks it faces when implementing a verification strategy to identify sources of possible electrical circuit failure before they happen.
Automotive components must operate reliably in the face of high voltages, high temperatures, and large currents. Automotive industry design standards, such as ISO 26262, emphasize the fact that circuit reliability requirements of automotive components lead to very strict design processes to ensure designs comply with these standards. An automotive component’s design process almost always has some stages where each design implementation step must have a corresponding verification step.
“How can my designers be successful in situations where experience with proven components is not always applicable?”
Automotive application designers must also verify their design constraints beyond just the physical verification of design rule checking (DRC).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Intel-Rockchip Tie-Up Matters
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322528&
Since 2011, essentially two brands have dominated the global tablet market. One is Apple, and the other is the so-called white box. (Of course, Samsung joined the fray last year.)
Rockchip, a Chinese designer of ARM-based SoCs, has not only rocked China’s white-box tablet market but also dominated the global market for the last three years, along with its dancing partner (or, more accurately, its biggest competitor) Allwinner, an app processor company based in China.
Since Taiwan’s MediaTek entered the white box market last year, however, everything has changed. Cost, design house, supply chain — competition is everywhere.
So Intel’s decision to enter a strategic agreement with Rockchip is a big deal — not just for the two companies involved, but for everyone in the global tablet market. Intel said in a press release that the arrangement will “expand the breadth of and accelerate the rate at which [Rockchip] brings its Intel architecture and communications-based solutions to market for a range of entry-level Android tablets worldwide.”
Will Intel and Rockchip become a tour de force to break up China’s never-ending cycle of cutthroat competition — solely based on prices — in the tablet market? We certainly hope so.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet Jimmy: An Open Source Biped Robot From Intel
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/29/meet-jimmy-an-open-source-biped-robot-from-intel/
Intel’s CEO [Brian Krzanich] stopped by the Re/Code conference to announce Jimmy, the first robot from the 21st Century Robot project. The project is the brainchild of [Brian David Johnson], Intel’s resident futurist.
Much of Jimmy’s construction took place at Trossen Robotics, a name well known to Hackaday.
This version of Jimmy is a research robot, which mean’s he’s not going to come cheap. Jimmy sports an Intel i5 NUC motherboard, 20 Dynamixel servos, a 5052 aluminum frame and a host of sensors. A 4S 14.8v 4000mAh LiPo battery will power Jimmy for 30 to 60 minutes between charges
3D printed shell
Jimmy is all about open source. He can run two flavors of Linux: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or a custom version of Yocto Pokey.
Jimmy’s software stack is based upon the DARwIn OP platform, and a ROS port is in the works.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED tech to be used instead of fMRIs
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Optoelectronics/LEDs/LED_tech_to_be_used_instead_of_fMRIs.aspx
Instead of using a traditional method of brain analysis through positron emission technology (PET) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), specialists have proposed an alternative method that prevents patients from intense radiation exposure. As innovated by the bright minds at Washington University, scientists have developed a system that uses optical tomography (DOT) technology. Interestingly enough, this treatment’s process takes LEDs and directs them toward the patient’s head.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Worldwide dc/dc converter forecast
The dc/dc converter module power supply market is projected to see considerable growth over the next five years, with the dollar market increasing from $3.9 billion in 2014 to almost $5.0 billion in 2019, a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9%. Fueled by healthy growth in a number of traditional applications, including the communications, computer and industrial sectors as well as the emergence of several new and innovative power architectures, the outlook for the dc/dc converter module power supply market is expected to remain strong over the forecast period.
the unit market for dc/dc converter modules with digital capability is projected to grow three-and-a-half times as fast as the overall dc/dc converter module unit market
the Intermediate Bus Architecture (IBA) is expected to remain the dominate force driving the sales of dc/dc converter modules
Source: http://www.electronicproducts.com/Power_Products/DC_DC_Convertors/Converter_alert.aspx
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM to open CPU design centre in Taiwan
Greater China scores lab for next-generation M-series kit for wearables and IoT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/02/arm_to_open_cpu_design_centre_in_taiwan/
ARM is following the gravity of the hardware industry, saying it’s going to open a CPU design centre in Taiwan – its first such presence in Asia and just its fourth anywhere in the world.
ARM spokespeople declined to say how much money it will sink into the centre, but ARM deputy general manager Noel Hurley said CPU development teams need 40 to 50 people and a talent pool that can scale beyond that quickly, if required.
Hurley added that Taiwan was selected as the centre’s location due to strong hiring prospects in the nation. Hiring has started
The new facility will focus on wearable devices and CPUs for the internet of things, markets the ARM pair said need new designs because both will have power management requirements that aren’t often presence in today’s designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM Announces CPU Design Center in Taiwan
by Ian Cutress on June 2, 2014 12:55 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8088/arm-announces-cpu-design-center-in-taiwan
As part of Computex 2014, ARM has announced their first CPU Design Center in Taiwan, focusing on the next generation of Cortex-M class cores for IoT and wearables. Initially this will mean 40-50 individuals within the talent pool in 2014 before scaling based on demand.
ARM will be working with research institutes to grow and scale, with the aim to produce important engineers with experience in the field. ARM sees Taiwan as a focal point of the industry with respect to the large number of ARM’s semiconductor partners in the region
ARM also mentioned it is developing MBED, a platform for embedded developers incorporating an OS and a system of tools to help bring ideas to fruition.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Business Model: Flexible Silos
http://semiengineering.com/new-business-model-flexible-silos/
While silos continue to be the best way to eke out efficiency, they don’t always work for semiconductor design.
Operational silos within organizations have a long history of streamlining processes and maximize efficiency. In fact, that approach has made enterprise resource planning applications a must-have for most companies, and cemented the fortunes of giants such as SAP and Oracle, as well as the giant consulting companies that recommend them.
But those kinds of delineations don’t work so well for chipmakers—or at least not in all departments. The boundaries change too quickly, or in unexpected ways, to be able to establish firm corporate structures. An organization producing an advanced SoC needs a different structure, for example, than one building memory or MEMS chips. And frequently they need different operational structures within the same organization, depending upon how a chip will be used, what markets they are targeting, and how quickly it needs to be delivered and for what price point.
To compound the issue, power and software run horizontally throughout the development process, while verification often runs vertically at specific intervals—and all of them vary depending on the chip, the process node, the intended customer, and external requirements such as reliability for a given amount of time. Automobile makers may require chips that last 20 years, while consumer electronics may have a two-year lifespan.
“The top challenge is thinking about the process differently,”