Embedded Computing Design

Champions of the open-standard ISA expect it to start displacing competitive offerings en masse over the next few years. While that remains to be seen, the introduction of custom RISC-V instruction extensions, the formation industry-specific working groups, and advances in tools are redefining the technology’s true winners.

On this episode, the Insiders discuss safety-critical open source operating systems. Do the rigid requirements of safety-critical embedded applications force users to reduce the flexibility many believe is the biggest advantage of open source? And if so, why not just license a commercial offering?

On this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss recent findings that show 96% of manufacturing and automation companies who responded successfully to the COVID-19 pandemic had Industry 4.0 technology in place. But how? 

On this episode the Insiders track the return of analog computing.  Mythic is a company looking to revolutionize AI computing through an  innovative matrix processor that processes analog signals in on-chip  memory before outputting them to the digital domain. Where does this tech fit today?

On this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss the push/pull of industry hardware standards, as support for PCI Express Gen 4 on the latest generation of Intel chipsets has created an inflection point for board- and system-level specifications that serve both legacy and emerging applications.
 

On this episode of Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss the global chip shortage and the difference between price gouging, tough luck, and a need for innovation.

In this week’s Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich try to decide if data sheets specs are reliable, or if industry benchmarks are the only reasonably- accurate measure of component performance without actually testing them yourself.

In this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich wonder if residential solar power is really worth it. The question stems from Littelfuses’ release of 400PV Fuse series of photovoltaic solar fuses, which can be embedded directly into roof shingles or tiles. But with so much government meddling in the solar industry, and big energy looking to protect its existing interests, is it prudent, or even worth it, to bother with the technology?

In this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss Silicon Laboratories recent divestiture of its infrastructure and automotive business units to SkyWorks Solutions. The sale includes the company’s power, isolation, broadcast, timing, and other products and IP. Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle said several years ago that the company is “all-in” on IoT, and this move appears to be him keeping his word. But was it the best move?

Armv9 is here, and although it took nearly 10 years to arrive, it comes right at a major inflection point in the semiconductor industry where all of the major chipmakers have started dabbling in processor architectures outside of their heritage. The implications of this are currently being felt in more advanced use cases like the data center and high-performance computing, but the roadmap decisions of today – such as the massive emphasis on AI and ML workload processing in Armv9 that will surely continue under NVIDIA leadership – will  have significant ramifications for the embedded systems of tomorrow. And, oh yeah, what does NVIDIA’s potential stewardship of Arm mean for NVIDIA competitors who also happen to be Arm licensees, like Intel and Xilinix? Brandon and Rich discuss.

How do we transition from our historical lack of understanding about what’s going on under the hood of complex neural networks, and into an era of AI explainability around how these models operate?

With time to market pressures constantly increasing, technology organizations are moving away from traditional waterfall development workflows and towards Agile/DevOps software development practices.

In this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss factors and use cases that have kept the 8-bit MCU alive much longer than anyone expected.

We’ve finally made it to the year 2021 and the Embedded Insiders have five predictions for what we may expect in the embedded space this year. Rich kicks things off with a bold prediction: 2021 will NOT be the year of 5G. Do you agree?

In this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss the semantics of AI and intelligent technology and what qualifies as a smart system these days.

Stacey Higginbotham, a tech industry expert and editor of the eponymous Stacey on IoT blog, joins Brandon and Rich to further the discussion about the ARM/NVIDIA deal. What exactly did NVIDIA buy?

It's all about money! In this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich break down some major acquisitions, like Arm's purchase of NVIDIA, as well as AMD potentially buying Xilinx.

Are electric cars actually better for the environment, and do the majority of buyers really care? Brandon and Rich debate the subject and more in this edition of the embedded insiders.

Is the RISC-V standard bearer ditching its heritage to become a design mercenary by using Arm? Or is this a longer-term play to help get RISC-V technology into SoCs so it can grow from there?