Inside Electronics

RISC-V is just an instruction set definition albeit one that can be incrementally defined and spans functionality from an integer-based system to one that sports floating point, virtual machine and vector extensions. Things get more interesting when looking at the implementations of a RISC-V core. Different implementations can offer features from multiple execution units to out-of-order execution.  

The proliferation of connected devices promises to revolutionize consumer, commercial, and industrial applications, but they require continuous power, which until now has meant batteries that must be replaced or recharged. Ambient Photonics is addressing both the low power density and high-cost problems of legacy technologies with powerful low-light energy harvesting solar cells. In this episode, we talk to Joshua Wright, VP of Engineering at Ambient Photonics, about the smart home and how his company's technology can empower it. 

The amount of data that a server farm, regardless the size, must manage is tremendous. This data management challenge is not just at the board level, it is also a challenge in the cables and interconnect between the modules and their racks. Point2 Technology offers its e-Tube technology, which overcomes the limitations of conventional copper cabling while eliminating the power, latency, and cost of optical solutions to provide multi-Terabit interconnectivity.

The promise of wide-bandgap semiconductors like Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) are finally being manifested in advanced products and solutions for power electronics. In this episode, we talk to Andy Smith of Power Integrations about the latest developments in the space. 

The power electronics industry has been thrown into a state of disruptive evolution with the advent of wide-bandgap semiconductors and the resulting advanced circuit topologies. In this episode, we talk to Guy Moxey, the VP of Power Development at Wolfspeed, about the state of wide-bandgap power electronics. 

400 G copper cables make up the bulk of connections in data centers these days with 800 G and 1.6 T on the horizon. Active electrical cables (AECs) are a requirement for copper cabling  

In this episode of Inside Electronics, William Wong talks with Point2 Technology's David Kou about AECs including their new Point2 P1B121 integrated, eight-unidirectional SerDes with smart Clock Data Recovery (CDR) and retimer functions that support 112G PAM4 needed for 800 G copper cabling.  

In this episode, Alix Paultre will talk about his impressions and thoughts from the recent electronica show in Munich, Germany. From the hot topics to the cool technology, the show had a lot of interesting elements. 

Insane levels of electrical power are needed to support AI in datacenters, and the electrification of mobility means development of remote locations for the extraction of critical mineral resources including the powering of fully electric 1MW mining trucks. A number of startups are developing Small Modular Reactors in the 20MW to 500MW power output range, requiring extensive site development, construction and support resources, but Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. is uniquely positioned in the microreactor space with two commercial microreactor designs that output up to 5MWt with the complete electrical generator housed in an ISO shipping container. 

Devices are becoming more intelligent and can be tailored to be patient-specific, making a medical device that not only provides for the whole population, but can also really target the patient cohort or the target group of the disease or condition that must be treated or diagnosed.

There are many recent advances that have enabled medical advice development, from the sensors to the software, and in this episode, we talk to Dr. Visa Suomi from MathWorks about the complexity and inter-functionality of advanced medical devices.

All electrical systems need power and these days most systems need a steady, efficient, and cost-effective source. Solutions like switched mode power supplies (SMPS) are now common but not necessarily easy to design or select.  

Guest host Bill Wong talks with Frederik Dostal, a power supply expert with Analog Devices and also the author of the regular Dostal’s Design video/article series covering power supply design tips.  

Today’s system-on-chips (SoC) are very complex. They have multiple cores and often many different types of cores including CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs. Connecting these to peripherals and memory as well typically include one or more network-on-chips (NoC). 

In this podcast, guest host Bill Wong talks with Andy Nightingale, VP Product Management and Marketing at Arteris, about NoCs. 

In this episode of Inside Electronics, Senior Content Director Bill Wong talks with Steve Brightfield, CMO at BrainChip, about neuromorphic computing in the form of spiking neural networks (SNN). SNNs take an event-based approach to artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

Brainchip's Akido technology implements SNNs in hardware providing similar acceleration support that existing neural processing units (NPU) provide but with significantly better performance and lower power requirements.

Industrial automation is getting real (time) with time sensitive networking (TSN). This open standard delivers determinism to Ethernet control networks and it works with wireless networks as well.

Senior Content Director Bill Wong talks with Tom Burke, Global Strategic Advisor, CC-Link Partner Association (CPLA) about how TSN works and why it is so important to industrial automation applications. 

The Maker Movement is a relatively new phenomenon in society...or is it? The desire to understand technology and create things is a drive that has existed in people since the first devices were created. We sit down with Electronic Design editors Andy Turudic and Cabe Atwell for a discussion about the Maker Movement, Tinkerers, and engineering. 

In this episode, Andy Turudic talks with Georgia Tech’s Professor Shaolan Li about their ECE department’s new analog IC design course where close to a dozen teams of three undergrad and one graduate student are fully hands-on designing real silicon, from schematic through tapeout, with resumption of the course to perform functional verification in a returning semester, after fabrication on a 300mm wafer by Texas Instruments. 

Making logic chips has never been an easy task, and it is one that has been further challenged by advances in scaling as well as advanced topologies like chiplets. From the race to 2nm-foundry creation for next-generation wafer development and the related issues of packaging, engineers must develop new solutions. In this episode, we talk to Henri Richard, GM and president of Rapidus Design Solutions, about the state of the art and the solutions his company is developing. 

The growth in high-performance computing and AI in advanced chip architectures is creating issues when it comes to intra-chip data management, especially as they migrate to chiplet-based topologies. Addressing this chip-level issue, Avicena  announced its scalable LightBundle chiplet interconnect solution, offering ultra-high density die-to-die connections with a multi-Tbps/mm shoreline bandwidth density at sub-pJ/bit energy efficiency. In this podcast we talk to Bardia Pezeshki, Founder and CEO of Avicena, about the issues of intra-chip data management and his company’s solution.

The increasing demand for high-performance computing for next-generation AI and advanced data centers is putting pressure on designers to field the latest data-management solutions. Addressing this demand, Rambus recently unveiled an updated PCI Express 7.0 IP portfolio, encompassing a comprehensive suite of IP solutions, as well as a controller IP for GDDR7 to allow for greater speeds and bandwidths to support generative AI workloads.

These applications consume memory at an unprecedented pace, and the new controller IP will unlock more memory for AI and high-performance computing applications, particularly in inferencing and at the network’s edge. In this podcast we talk with Lou Ternullo, Senior Director of IP Solutions at Rambus, about how the GenAI boom is pushing new advancements in innovations in the memory space.

Addressing the need for low-power high-reliability connectivity in IoT solutions, Wi-Fi HaLow promises extended ranges, improved penetration capabilities, extended battery life, enhanced device density, higher level of security, and elevated data throughput in IoT scenarios. The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA)  recently announced the Wi-Fi HaLow for IoT program has moved into a new phase, testing 802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow solutions in real-world use cases, including a range of applications including smart home, smart city, building automation, smart retail, industrial IoT, and agriculture technology.

Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, talks about the trails and the overall IoT marketplace. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving from a hot topic and buzzword to a real set of commercial solutions for business, industrial, medical, military, and consumer applications. The challenge in developing AI and Machine Learning (ML) solutions range from determining what kind of AI methodology should be implemented to the training  and deploying AI- and ML-based solutions. Sam Fok, CEO of Femtosense, a company working on using Sparse AI for the real-time Edge applications, talks about the future of this technology.

Creating products today is a challenging task, and not only because of the demands of the application. The sheer number of interrelated subsystems and the variety of core technologies involved make creating a product a task of integration and functionality convergence. In this podcast, we talk to John Leavitt, a Human Centered Designer and Product Developer at Intelligent Product Solutions, a product design and engineering services company that provides concepts for industrial design, mechanical engineering, embedded software, and systems architecture for companies developing products.

The expansion of AI in the latest application spaces is creating problems at the board and chip level, as over 90% of the power consumption in AI workloads is from the movement of data. The ability to shorten data paths by moving the compute element closer to where the data is stored can reduce power consumption significantly.

This would also enable an unprecedented increase in compute density. In this podcast we talk to Robert Beachler, Vice President of Product at Untether AI, a company launched with the goal of addressing the major compute and efficiency bottleneck, memory access and data management.

Industrial e-mobility applications require reliable and efficient solutions to manage high voltages and currents, and wide-bandgap semiconductors like Wolfspeed silicon carbide devices enable higher switching frequencies and greater power densities at much higher operating temperatures. In this episode, we talk to Guy Moxey, the VP of Power Development at Wolfspeed, about where we are and where he thinks the wide-bandgap industry is going. 

We are currently in the middle of a disruptive evolution in power electronics, driven by the growing availability of wide-bandgap semiconductors like Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC). These new devices are challenging legacy circuit designs, by forcing them to migrate upwards in capability to deliver the performance advantages available. In today’s podcast we talk to Denis Marcon, General Manager of Innoscience Europe, about the challenges and opportunities being provided to the power electronics industry by wide-bandgap semiconductors. 

The International Microwave Symposium (IMS) gives the wireless community an opportunity to catch up with friends and competitors and check out the latest solutions from both small and large RF/microwave companies showcasing their products and services. In this episode, we talk with editors Bill Wong from Electronic Design and David Maliniak from Microwaves & RF about some innovative technologies they saw on the show floor and how they will impact the future of the industry.

There has been a lot of attention paid to the RISC-V development community and IP ecosystem, with many companies starting to explore and adopt the open-source solution in their products and processes. Designed for a wide range of uses, the base instruction set has a fixed length of 32-bit naturally aligned instructions, and the architecture supports variable length extensions where each instruction can be any number of 16-bit parcels in length to support small embedded systems as well as large-scale computing.

In this episode, we talk with Bill Wong, Senior Content Director for Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF, about where RISC-V is today and where we think it may be going. 

Wide-bandgap semiconductors and the power electronics they enable are challenging the industry with the promise to change the way we think about energy use and efficiency. For example, power-management solutions based on Gallium Nitride (GaN) are enabling benchmarks in efficiency, density, and dependability to address demanding applications in industrial, automotive, military and aerospace, and other challenging markets.

In this episode, Llew Vaughan-Edmunds, Senior Director of Product Management at Navitas, talks about the company, GaN-based power solutions, and how it is serving this rapidly-expanding field.  

Phlux Technology, a spin-out from Sheffield University, UK, designs, manufactures, and markets 1550 nm IR sensors that are up to 12x more sensitive than alternative solutions. As a result, Phlux’s Noiseless InGaAs Avalanche Photodiodes (APD) detect signals at up to 50% greater distance in laser range finders, LiDAR systems, and optical fiber test equipment.

They also benefit communications systems, including free space optical communications (FSOC) and gas sensing. Phlux sensors boost performance, simplify thermal management, and cut system cost and size. In this podcast, Ben White, Co-founder and CEO, explains more about the company and its technology. 

Recent events have highlighted the importance of a robust supply chain and a well-coordinated international distribution infrastructure.  In this podcast we talk to Robert Clapp Jr., President and CEO, David P. Warren, Director of Global Marketing & Communications, and Grzegorz Lyszczarz, Managing Director Europe at Heilind, a distributor that recently opened a new facility in Hanau, Germany. We talk about the company, expanding in Europe, and other things. 

The increased pace of electronic development has not only changed the very face of society and how it operates, it is continuing to grow and evolve in ways both expected and unseen. The embedded electronics industry is currently in a state of disruptive growth, with new materials, technologies, and processes providing engineers with the ability to create new kinds of solutions for applications both new and old. 

In this episode, we talk to Erik Welsh, CTO & Applications/Systems Manager, and Greg Sheridan, Vice President Strategy and Marketing at Octavo Systems about how the higher levels of system integration are providing challenges and opportunities in developing embedded systems.

The Internet of Things is expanding and maturing in a variety of ways, from the hardware devices and systems operating in it and the wireless protocols being used to connect them to the software making it all work together. Devices are getting smarter and more connected while growing in power and functionality to address more applications and use cases. 

In this episode, we'll talk to Ross Sabolcik, Senior Vice President and General Manager Industrial and Commercial IoT Products at Silicon Labs, about his views on the cloud, edge computing, and the Internet of Things.

The world has been significantly impacted by the explosive growth in intelligent embedded systems being deployed everywhere in a Cloud-connected IoT-driven smart ecosystem. These sophisticated solutions are empowered by the latest and most powerful microcontrollers and processors, and driven by powerful software that is now becoming synthetically aware. However, without the input about the world around them and the application they are addressing, they are next to useless.

Sensors are paired with analog front-ends (AFE), signal conditioners that typically combine operational amplifiers and filters to improve input signals from sources such as sensors or antennas. Though the digital world may be run on binary digits, it needs to both derive information from and apply actions to the real analog world to function. Creating, choosing, and using AFEs and sensor applications can be challenging, depending on a designer's background and expertise.

embedded world focuses on important industry topics in addition to showcasing the latest technologies and solutions, such as cybersecurity, AI, and the optimization of embedded systems. This was an evolutionary, not a revolutionary show, bringing together recent disruptive technology developments into real-world solutions that can be used in commercial products and services. 

Embedded World on ED

embedded world 2024: Showcasing the Latest Cutting-Edge Solutions 

Cybersecurity is an important issue in electronic systems, especially those that are accessible to outside agents. In this podcast we’ll talk about Cybersecurity and what’s going on in the embedded electronics community. 

Articles mentioned in this episode:

IoT Device Security: Regulatory and Standards Activity Drive 2023 Device Design 

Preventing and Detecting Cyberattacks on Connected Devices  

Cybersecurity from the Developer’s Seat 

Building Cyber Threat-Detection Tools with Neuromorphic Computing 

The Value of Common Criteria Certification for Securing Information 

There is a wide variety of autonomous vehicle architectures, features, and sensors, and each requires a myriad of highly accurate, safe, and reliable positioning solutions. Companies that create these types of subsystems in the automotive space must address multiple OEM E/E architectural designs.

In this episode, we talk to Stefania Sesia, Senior Director and Head of Global Application Marketing for Automotive at u-blox, about designing advanced automotive systems that are safe and reliable.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have slowly grown and matured in the industry from being slightly more than buzzwords to a market size valued at $168.5 Billion in 2022, according to a research report published by Spherical Insights & Consulting. The report also predicted that the AI market will reach USD 2,760.3 Billion by 2032, an impressive figure and evidence of its rapid growth. 

In this podcast we talk to Johanna Pingel, a Product Marketing Manager at MathWorks who focuses on machine and deep learning applications and how to make AI-based solutions practical, entertaining, and cost-effective.

The latest generation of electronics includes some of the most advanced integrated systems ever seen. These next-generation solutions demand cabling and connectivity as advanced as they are, to deliver the power and/or signals needed to serve the product in question. In this episode of Inside Electronics, we talk with Scott Miller, Director of Product Management at Cinch, about the needs of sophisticated electronic systems, and how the latest connectivity solutions are addressing them.

In this episode of Inside Electronics, we talk to Greg Green, Director of Automotive Marketing at Vicor, about the importance of sophisticated and efficient power systems in the next generation of electric vehicles and the related charging infrastructure. Today’s EVs are at the focus of every developing technology, from AI to wide-bandgap semiconductors, and the supporting power electronics must be as advanced as the systems they are driving. The development of vehicle electrification solutions is driving the evolution of automotive systems design. Any solution provided must both increase the power required to operate the vehicle and influencing how designers source power for various in-vehicle systems.   

Over the years, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the place to go every January to see the latest in products, solutions, and services from the electronics industry. This year over 4,300 exhibitors, including a record 1,400+ startups from around the globe in the event’s Eureka Park, showcasing the latest and greatest trends that will shape the world of tomorrow and address our most pressing challenges. Electronic Design’s CES 2024 landing page has a large collection of articles and videos from this impressive event.

In this episode of Inside Electronics, we talk to Robert King, Product Development Manager at Pickering Electronics about the company's latest high-voltage surface-mount reed relays. The devices are suitable for mixed-signal semiconductor and medical equipment testing, EV charge-point testing, and monitoring solar cell photovoltaic efficiency. The reed relays are capable of switching up to 1kV and are available in 2 Form A and 1 Form B packages, in various contact configurations with coil voltages of 3V, 5V, or 12V. Switch stand-off is up to 3kV in the 1 form A package, up to 2kV in the 1 form B package, and up to 1.5kV in the 2 form A package. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have taken on the electronics industry, and society itself, by storm. Promising to be the proverbial “Genie in a Bottle” for empowering embedded systems, AI and ML are hot topics in the industry at every level. In this episode of Inside Electronics, our host Alix Paultre talks about the current situation in the marketplace, quoting from recent coverage of the topic in Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF articles and interviews. 

Edge AI: Rewards are Matched by Challenges

11 Myths About Generative AI

Software-Defined Test Platform Integrates ChatGPT

In today’s episode of Inside Electronics, we talk about Rohde & Schwarz’ latest R&S MXO 5 Oscilloscope with Dr. Ernst Flemming, the company’s Director of Product Management, and Chun Soong (CS) Wong, Product Manager.

A next-generation solution created to address the latest design challenges, the R&S MXO 5 is presented as the fastest oscilloscope available. Features include a four-channel bandwidth of 350 MHz to 2 GHz, and an eight-channel bandwidth from100 MHz to 2 GHz, with an 18-bit vertical resolution and a 12-bit ADC. Offering the deepest in-class standard memory at 500 Mpoints, it has an industry-leading simultaneous spectrum acquisition rate of 45,000 FFT/s and up to 4 spectra. The oscilloscopes' 15.6-inch HD capacitive touchscreen and very low audible operating noise maximize performance while minimizing power consumption. 

Electronic Design has been serving the engineering community with pride for decades, providing you with news, commentary, and interviews about what is going on in the industry. Now, we are expanding that footprint with our new podcast, Inside Electronics.

Hosted by industry veteran Alix Paultre, the podcast will bring you commentary, news, and interviews about the things going on in the electronic design engineering community and its surrounding business ecosystem.