Embedded Computing Design

Smart door locks are fairly common today, but they could be significantly smarter (and lower power). 

Compute Express Link, aka CXL, is a low-latency, cache-coherent interconnect that connects processors, memory, and other accelerator devices. It’s built on top of PCI Express and over the past couple of years, it’s been emerging as the winner in the interface wars.

NXP’s NHS52Sx4 family of ultra-low-power MCUs is aimed squarely at battery powered, miniaturized wearable medical devices thanks to its high level of integration and versatile battery support.

AI seems to be omni-present. It’s in the news, it’s in our classrooms, and it’s certainly in our engineering labs. But are we spending too much time discussing the technology that’s the current “new thing,” or is it really the greatest technology of our lifetime?

Energy harvesting has been with us for quite some time, but it has not achieved the lofty goals that industry insiders predicted. 

It took a little explaining for me to understand this one, but now it makes sense, a lot of sense.

It really is possible to make memory that’s geared toward a particular application, if you’re still of the belief that AI is an application. I learned that fact recently, thanks to the folks at Micron Technology, who recently announced that they are delivering qualification samples of the company’s Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 4.0 mobile solution.

Saying that non-volatile memory (NVM) is ubiquitous is an understatement. From our consumer devices to industrial and medical/healthcare applications, even in our cars, NVM is omnipresent. It’s used to store the operating system, the program files, our pictures, videos, and other data. In environments with high levels of radiation, such as aerospace and medical devices, selecting the right NVM can be a key consideration since radiation can impact the operation of many technologies.

Software-defined storage is a relatively new technology. It does the same job as the large storage box, but without the large storage box. Huh?

We talk a lot here about Edge-based AI and all the things that it can accomplish. But that leaves out a significant portion of the market, that being Cloud-based AI and machine learning.

A few years ago, businesses reaped big benefits from federal tax cuts. However, that money needed to come from somewhere.

While Rich and Vin usually believe they all the answers to all the design-related questions, that may not always be the case. For example, when the question of where to begin your AI-based design came up, the “experts” felt in was prudent to bring in someone even more expert. In this case, that was Stuart Feffer, of Renesas.

Fast-charging an end device like a smart phone in under 10 minutes using Gallium Nitride (GaN) power components is awesome. However, it’s not as great as it sounds, for a few reasons.

DRAM is DRAM, right? There’s no difference from manufacturer to manufacturer. If that’s your take, you’ll likely find yourself in trouble when it comes to your design’s memory subsystem.

The judges have met and the votes are in. I’m pleased to announce the latest round of Embedded Computing Design’s Best in Show winners for the Automate 2023 Show.

PoE switches designed for outdoor use in smart buildings and cities enable services ranging from public Wi-Fi and video surveillance to connected streetlights that increasingly need better reliability and cybersecurity protection. Extending the industry’s family of PoE switches with the high industry-standard outdoor protection for these applications, Microchip Technology has developed the PDS-204GCO switch that adds increased cyber protection plus the redundancy required for high network availability in mission-critical applications with long-distance connectivity. It also complies with the high outdoor industry-standards.

Navitas Semiconductor, one of the leaders in gallium nitride (GaN) power ICs and silicon carbide (SiC) technology, recently launched a family of ICs that deliver unprecedented levels of performance and integration. Dubbed GaNSense Control, the devices feature high-frequency quasi-resonant (HFQR) flybacks supporting QR, DCM, CCM and multiple-frequency, hybrid-mode operations, with frequencies up to 225 kHz.

AdaCore, a provider of software development and verification tools, recently launched its RecordFlux technology, designed to ease the development and security of binary communication protocols.

Empower Semiconductor, a supplier of integrated voltage regulators (IVRs), has commenced production and customer shipments of its quad-output step-down converters that combine what it claims is the industry’s highest power density and fastest transient response. The EP71xx series of power management ICs takes advantage of the company’s high-speed power architectures to eliminate all external components and deliver a compact, high performance solution.

Digital RF is something you don’t hear a lot about, but it is being deployed in some of our embedded systems, including those that live at the Edge of the IoT. But, is it really digital?