Home - Embedded Computing Design

Analog & Power

Understanding the Real Impact of Cosmic Radiation on Power Electronics

Dr. Martin Schulz , Karsten Haehre

January 3, 2025

This question came up in a discussion about power electronics failures for which there was initially no viable explanation. Cosmic rays are not an invention by Stanislav Lem or a myth from the Star Wars universe. Cosmic radiation consists of high-energy particles ejected into space in large quantities by stars such as our sun. Our planet's magnetic field deflects most of what travels toward Earth, and only a few high-energy particles enter the Earth's atmosphere.

Open Source

Raspberry Pi and Arduino for Industrial Applications

Giampiero Baggiani

January 3, 2025

Open, modular platforms, such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino, offer accessible, customizable and cost-effective solutions that enable businesses to meet their specific needs without significant upfront costs and industrial businesses—especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—are increasingly turning to them as a foundation for rapid innovation.

Open Source

Caption: CR2032 Battery Powers .96” OLD and ATtiny85 – But Should It? / Image Credit: Jeremy Cook

CR2032 Maximum Current Capacity: Datasheet, Reality, and Alternatives

Jeremy S. Cook

January 3, 2025

Consider the humble CR2032 battery. Roughly the size of a quarter and capable of supplying around 225mAh at a nominal 3V, these little coin cells are used to power all manner of small electronic devices that require a small amount of power. One might assume they can easily discharge 10mA or so, to power something like an ATtiny85 microcontroller plus an LED constantly for hours–or much longer intermittently.

Software & OS

Building Python Apps with Hardware Access

Daniel Bar

January 2, 2025

The world of programming thrives on a concept called abstraction. Different programming languages offer varying levels of abstraction, essentially acting as intermediaries between the programmer and the raw hardware

Industrial

A New Approach: Single-Chip Control of Multiple High-Performance Servo Motors

Danny Fisher

December 31, 2024

The microcontroller is a remarkable workhorse of embedded electronics, the closest that design engineers have to a ‘do everything’ component. There are limits, however, even to the range of functions that an MCU can address: motor control is one of those applications which stretches the capabilities even of high-end MCUs.

Industrial

When Is the Right Time to Automate Testing for Embedded Systems Development?

John Macdonald

December 30, 2024

Automation holds the promise of efficiency, scalability, and consistency, particularly automated testing in embedded systems development. You’re gonna want to automate. But when’s the right time?

Security

How NIST SP800-193 Supports Resiliency

Nir Tasher

December 27, 2024

NIST SP800-193 “Platform Firmware Resiliency Guidelines” was designed to encourage and outline resiliency in the IoT.

AI & Machine Learning

KAIST and Google AI Present Blockwise Parallel Decoding for Optimized Model Performance

Eleanor Hecks

December 27, 2024

If you have dealt with large language models — specifically autoregressive decoder algorithms — you know the inconvenience of sluggish processing. Novel findings from KAIST and Google researchers on blockwise parallel decoding may offer a solution.

AI & Machine Learning

STMicroelectronics to boost AI at the edge with new MCU

Ken Briodagh

December 20, 2024

Many of the highest-performance AI and ML applications are hard to access for companies that need lower cost-to-entry options or are in need of low-power options. Newer microcontrollers will need to make these AI tools available to these customers, too, in order to make AI truly ubiquitous.

Software & OS

Embedded Software Engineering Trends

Anthony Wall

December 20, 2024

As devices become increasingly intelligent and interconnected, the demand for sophisticated embedded systems also continues to soar, with a natural knock-on effect across the embedded software industry as developers step up to embrace new technologies and methods.

Industrial

The term real-time should be reserved for systems that are actually real-time, otherwise we risk the term ceasing to have any real meaning.

Real-Time Versus Real Fast

Steve Graves

December 18, 2024

So-called ‘real-time’ databases are popular these days. Here’s some quotes from the internet:

Firebase: “The Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database. Data is stored as JSON and synchronized in realtime to every connected client.”

Hazelcast: “A real-time database is defined as a data store that collects, processes, and/or enriches incoming data in real time, immediately after the data is created.”

InfluxDB: “Today, a real-time database can mean different things. This glossary page considers two categories of real-time databases.

Security

Preparing for the Impact of Quantum Computing on Classical Encryption

Mamta Gupta

December 17, 2024

Encryption is central to helping today’s organizations protect the privacy of their sensitive data and comply with regulations.

Open Source

Hands-On Eval of the Eggtronic E2WATT Wireless Power Transfer Evaluation Board

Rich Nass

December 16, 2024

Wireless power transfer is one of the cooler applications I’ve come across recently. It’s getting a lot of attention lately, because its potential is huge, in a fairly broad spectrum of applications. When I saw that Eggtronic had a development kit that would allow me to play around with the technology, I jumped on it. The promise of highly efficient wireless power transfer is quite exciting.

HPC/Datacenters

CES 2025: DFI and DEEPX Pioneer Low-Power, High-Performance AI for Smart Cities

Chad Cox

January 3, 2025

Taipei, Taiwan. DFI will collaborate with DEEPX at CES 2025 to reveal industrial edge AI solutions integrated with the DX-M1 AI accelerator for smart city applications. The cooperation between the two shows promise innovating on-device and application-specific AI, leading to a more flexible, efficient, and sustainable edge AI implementation.

Automotive

BlackBerry Brings QNX to CES

Chad Cox

January 3, 2025

BlackBerry Limited released news that the division formerly known as BlackBerry IoT will be relaunched as QNX. “Relaunching the QNX brand is an important step in BlackBerry’s broader strategy to increase our visibility and fortify our leadership within the automotive and embedded industries, with a view to better positioning us for sustained growth and success,” said John J. Giamatteo, CEO at BlackBerry.