Embedded Computing Design

Sometimes problems are so obvious that you don’t see them. That was the case with the mid-range FPGA market and, frankly, until it was pointed out to me, I wasn’t aware that the problem even existed.

Here’s an Embedded Executive podcast you didn’t expect from me. This week’s guest is John O'Hurley, who you may know as J. Peterman from what was one of the most popular television comedies ever, Seinfeld.

Quantum cryptography is very much in the spotlight these days. But do you know why? For that matter, do you understand what it means? And most importantly, if you’re an embedded developer, should you be concerned about it?

The 5G standard seems to be working through the embedded industry at a snail’s pace when you compare it to other aspects of our technology sector. Why is that, and what do you do about it if you’re a design engineer?

Jack Ganssle is one of the most recognizable people in the embedded systems industry, starting as an engineer and working his way through the ranks to be legitimately known as one of the world’s leading experts in the space.

The ink is not yet dried on the Matter specification. Those in the know claim that this is one of the most important specifications to come across the electronics space in a long, long time, particularly for IoT devices makers. Are you in the know?

There are few products more popular in the embedded space than the Arduino development board. What makes that statement even more interesting has to do with the number of dev boards that have become available over the last few years.

“Matter is a great standard, if you assume it’s just a starting point. Oh, and it’s 10 years too late.”

Just when you think it’s safe to go back in the water…I’m making an analogy about secure designs. Just when you think the engineering community understands that their designs need to be secure, some research pops up to show that that’s not really the case.

Just when you thought you had a vendor pegged for its area of expertise, you find out you were wrong, and wrong by a long shot.

The topic on Embedded Executives eventually gets around to security, the specialty of BG Networks, but we had an interesting discussion about what’s happening in today’s universities.

The embedded community has been talking a lot about AI at the Edge. Apparently, it’s not just talk, as Renesas recently acquired Reality AI. That acquisition lets them leverage a large customer base as well as provides access to what the company is calling a "leading-edge toolset and series of AI models."

Interested in speaking at the Fifth Annual IoT Device Security (Virtual) Conference?

“The IoT industry needs to change.”

I say it often, "It’s just storage, what could be new or exciting about it?" And each time I express that opinion to one of the memory experts, I get an earful of what’s new and different.

The experts at Cycuity preach taking a holistic approach to security in your embedded system.

The LoRaWAN specification continues to introduce new products, technologies, applications, and use cases on a regular basis. The consortium recently held a large-scale conference to discuss, display, and tout the latest developments.

Atomera is a semiconductor materials and IP licensing company. They acknowledge that Moore’s Law is slowing down. Manufacturers are looking for ways to reverse that trend. And as you might expect, it comes at a significant cost.

Energy harvesting devices capture energy from the environment, convert that energy to electricity, and put it to work. The energy could come from the sun or other (man-made) light sources, or from vibrations, wind, or water. While this technology is not new, the ability to harness that power and use it as the sole source of energy for small embedded devices is.

What RTOS dominates the embedded space? Your first guess might be Linux, but you would be wrong, by a wide margin. FreeRTOS is the winner.