Embedded Insiders

Send us a textThis week, the Insiders recap a COVID-era Consumer Electronics Show and debate one of CES’s hottest topics: the metaverse. Broadly speaking, the metaverse could be an in-between where physical reality and virtual reality collide, or it could be an entirely digital alternate universe. Of course, the definition is open for interpretation because the metaverse is still very conceptual — so what does the metaverse mean to you?Next, Dunstan Power, Director at ByteSnap Design, discusses the role just-in-time manufacturing played in the global semiconductor shortage and whether, when the world emerges on the other side of it, manufacturers will fall back into old habits.Finally, ECD Associate Editor Tiera Oliver dives even deeper into the shortage, and one solution that’s underway to help solve it — a joint data-sharing ecosystem created by Palantir and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany known as Athinia.For more information about ByteSnap Design, visit: www.bytesnap.comFor more information, visit embedded

Send us a textOn this episode, the Insiders debate whether AI is an application or a tool. Then Arvind Rao, Global Director and Head of Product Management and Industry Solutions at Rockwell Automation joins Brandon and Rich to discuss how the automation equipment supplier and its customers are faring with smart technology rollouts in the manufacturing sector. The three discuss the most successful starting points, potential roadblocks, and ways that internal and external Rockwell customers have successfully implemented Industrial IoT technology in new and legacy installations.Later, Associate Editor Tiera Oliver asks a philosophical question: Can an AI create? There is significant litigation around patents filed on behalf of an AI called DABUS as technologists, researchers, and courts worldwide dispute whether patents should be awarded entities other than natural persons. Tiera takes a deep dive into how this debate is unfolding in South Africa, where a legal team from the University of Surrey has brought the

Send us a textIn this episode of Embedded Insiders, Brandon returns from the RISC-V Summit with some fresh takes. 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.Later, Brandon and Rich interview David Harold, CMO at Imagination Technologies, who explains how private equity investment saved the GPU leader from potential disaster. After consecutive years of multiple double-digit gains on the back of their A-Series IP, the company is now looking to expand back into the CPU space with a new line of RISC-V-based processor IP. But how will the Arm/NVIDIA situation impact their plans?Finally, Assistant Editor Taryn Engmark gives us an update on the electronic component shortage, where the news isn’t good. Research now estimates that supply lev

Send us a textOn 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?Next, Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation, provides her take on the evolution of embedded operating systems, from RTOSs to Linux. And what does that mean for systems engineering today?Finally, Embedded Computing Design’s Assistant Editor Taryn Engmark, gives us the rundown on BrakTooth, a group of security vulnerabilities in more than 1,400 Bluetooth-enabled devices, and what you can do about them.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textOn 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? Then, Colin O’Flynn, CTO of open-source security tooling company NewAE Technology joins to explain the growing risk of side channel attacks to IoT devices. But the side channels themselves may not be the biggest challenge. It might be convincing engineers that they should care, then teaching them how to look for not-so-obvious vulnerabilities.Finally, Assistant Editor Taryn Engmark wanders into the abstract world of 6G edge networking where wireless connectivity technologies abound. How will we support all of the different options on a unified infrastructure? ETSI is working on a solution – Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces.You can access the McKinsey & Company Report, “COVID-19: An inflection point for Industry 4.0” online at https://bit.ly/Industry40_COV

Send us a textOn 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?Later, Rich interviews Abhishek Gupta, Director of Product  Management at KeepTruckin and Senya Pertsel, Senior Director of  Automotive Marketing at Ambarella, about an in-cabin, AI-powered  dash cam that keeps an eye on road conditions and driver behavior.  The depth of partnership on these systems runs a lot deeper than  you’d think. Finally, Embedded Computing Design assistant editor Chad Cox  considers life in a post-quantum world, and examines how an emerging technology – quantum tunneling – can be used to protect against  attacks on IoT devices.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textOn 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.Next, the Insiders are joined by Mark Doran, President of the UEFI Forum, to discuss release 2.9 of the firmware/OS interface specification. Now that electronic systems of all types support different and advanced memory configurations, will the role of abstraction layers like UEFI become less abstract?Then, a trio of engineers from the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, or DESY, research center in Hamburg, Germany, wonder how they can balance the demand for performance at some of the most advanced particle accelerators in the world with the need for standards-based computing platforms that protect these sophisticated, publicly-funded systems from the cost and availability risks of single-s

Send us a textOn 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. Then Rich sits down with Russell Klein, Program Director for Siemens EDA, who will be keynoting at Embedded Computing Design’s virtual AI Day on September 9th. We all know we need AI at the edge, but can that edge be battery powered? Later, Tiera Oliver dives deeper into the chip shortage to discover just what makes semiconductor manufacturing so complex and time consuming. After learning the answer to that question – Atomic-Level Deposition – she touches base with researchers at Argonne National Laboratories who are leveraging open-source AI to accelerate the process.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn 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. Later, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang discusses how the company’s pending acquisition of Arm is progressing, and what benefits the combined company will bring to each other and the market as a whole if the deal passes regulatory checks. Jensen also weighs in on the semiconductor shortage and how his company plans to keep pricing in check amidst supply and demand volatility. Finally, Tiera Oliver investigates the world of voice processing at the edge, where companies are adding more AI but not necessarily more processing. Engineers from Knowles Intelligent Audio and Cadence Design Systems weigh in on how classical DSP is being used to make your smart virtual assistant as clever as possible at battery-scale power consumption. And, to bring things full circle, Tiera introduces

Send us a textIn 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? Later, the last leg of our ADLINK Technology edge AI series sees Zane Tsai, Director of the company’s Platform Product Center, join Rich to discuss why the massive amounts of data being collected by intelligent systems requires an entire ecosystem. Looking forward, this edge AI ecosystem will also include 5G.Finally, despite all of the downs in 2020, Xilinx was actually up. Victor Peng, the company’s CEO, attributes some of this success to big wins in AI sockets. But beyond innovations in their Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP) portfolio, he

Send us a textIn 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?Afterwards, Rich is rejoined by Zane Tsai, Director of the Platform Product Center at ADLINK, and Amit Goel, Director of Product Management for Embedded AI Platforms at NVIDIA. After discussing enabling technologies in previous episodes, the three get down to how this functionality can be applied to autonomous mobile robots. The market opportunity for AMRs is vast, but so are the challenges. The three dive into a collaboration between ADLINK, NVIDIA, and BMW to increase productivity, improve efficiency, and reduce cost in the German automakers manufacturing fac

Send us a textArmv9 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.Later, Intel’s Sailesh Kottapalli, Senior Architecture Fellow, and Mandy Mock, VP and GM of Product Engineering Systems, join the Insiders to help set the record straight on Moore’s law. To be fair, the number of transistor

Send us a textIn this week’s Embedded Insiders, the Insiders comment on a recent fire that shut down the Renesas Naka semiconductor fab where the company manufactures automotive chips. Later, Rich is joined again by Zane Tsai, Director of the Platform Product Center at ADLINK Technology, to discuss how logistics companies are being affected by the race to deploy AI at the edge, and insights for developers looking to increase the efficiency and productivity of logistics automation systems.The two are also joined by NVIDIA’s Amit Goel, Director of Product management for embedded AI platforms, who examines the complexities of integrating reliable performance into AI-based applications like independent automation. NVIDIA is currently building a hardware platform that will bring greater compute intelligence to autonomous systems at the edge. However, a solid software framework that can streamline the development, deployment, and management of the AI applications that will run on these devices is still critical. Th

Send us a textDuring a recorded presentation from  embedded world 2021, Rich and Brandon are joined by Technology Editor Curt Schwaderer, who doubles as Vice President of Engineering at intelligence and security provider Yaana Technologies. The three discuss how the tech industry in particular and connected organizations in general have transitioned from protecting devices from attacks to accepting they will be hacked and mitigating losses to modern threat intelligence and modeling strategies. They then look at this evolution through the lens of employees, who are handling and working with sensitive information and IP, working from home.DON'T  FORGET  TO REGISTER  FOR A FREE EMBEDDED WORLD-IN-A-BOX! LESS THAN 100 REMAIN! GET YOURS TODAY: https://www.embeddedcomputing.com/pages/ew-in-a-box-regLater, Vincent Scott, Founder of Defense Cybersecurity Group, Chief Security Officer at STI-TEC, and former Navy cryptologist joins the Insiders to review the Department of Defense's Cybersecurity Maturity Model

Send us a textWith time to market pressures constantly increasing, technology organizations are moving away from traditional waterfall development workflows and towards Agile/DevOps software development practices. Originally introduced in enterprise, IT, and data center contexts, these methodologies have made their way into embedded engineering organizations, but at the potential expense of software quality. Can embedded tech companies, especially safety- and security-critical ones, afford to sacrifice quality for speed? Brandon and Rich debate.Later, the Insiders are joined by Yannick Moy of AdaCore to discuss how the MISRA C coding standard, which was originally developed in 1998, is holding up given the complete overhaul of automotive (and other) technology stacks since the standard’s inception. Is C, a notoriously compliance-challenged language, still the best bet for safety-critical systems that are now operating alongside a host of other connected applications?Finally, Perry Cohen looks into the true co

Send us a textEmbedded world is just about here, but this year’s event is different – like so many other conferences and trade shows, it’s completely virtual.Embedded Computing Design is the show’s official 2021 North American content partner, so Brandon and Rich have spent extra time thinking about how this new era of interaction has, is, and will affect the electronics industry moving forward.Is it just events that are changing, or is it the entire industry?After, the Insiders are joined by Zane Tsai, Director of the Platform Product Center at ADLINK Technology. Zane and Rich discuss the growing demand for AI at the edge, and how it is impacting mission critical applications. They go on to discuss the impact edge AI can have on fiscal capital and human life in general.Later, Tiera Oliver gets to the root of how COVID-19 is impacting electronics in academia labs. What are professors and their students to do without access to labs and equipment? Sid Deliwala of UPENN thinks we should just start throwing labs

Send us a textIn 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. After, Brandon is joined by Steve Kennelly, 8-bit Business Unit Manager, at Microchip Technologies, to continue the discussion. Surprisingly, the company is still developing NEW low cost, low power 8-bit MCUs. But, why? And how long will that market continue to hold? Finally, in this week’s Tech Market Madness, Perry investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affected supply chains in the electronic component market, sourcing industry data from Supplyframe that suggests technology procurement is headed for a self-service, e-commerce, Amazon-like model.Tune in to learn what’s been happening in theses markets, and what you can expect in the future.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textWe’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? Later, James Kimery, Vice President of Product Management at Spirent Communications, joins Brandon to discuss how research wireless research he was part of back in 2010 is finally coming to fruition with the dawn of 5G, and how industry initiatives like the Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) Alliance are working to prove Rich wrong. Here, James details the progress and adoption of ORAN, some tips and tricks for 5G network infrastructure and device developers, and thoughts on the role of testing in this brave new world of wireless.Finally, Perry is joined by Dr. James Edmondson for Tech Market Madness segment that addresses the future of the 5G market. Dr. Edmondson shares insight from the IDTechEx report, "5G Technology, Market and Forecasts 2020-2030" on

Send us a textTwilio, the publicly traded cloud communications platform, has acquired electric imp, a long-time embedded software and services company. What gives?Well, what gives is that the lines between IT, the data center, embedded and the edge, continue to blur into one big continuum of compute and connectivity. After a brief discussion about education stemming from a recent interview Brandon did with TKO Marketing Consultants,  Brandon and Rich to ponder the question, "are we reaching the end of embedded as we know it?" Later, Evan Cummack, GM of the IoT Business at Twilio, and Hugo Fiennes, former Founder and CEO of electric imp and currently a Senior IoT Product Architect at Twilio, join the Insiders to help track the trend and introduce a new IT/OT  services offering called Twilio Microvisor.After, Perry is joined by Bruno Tomas, the director of programs and project management at the Wireless Bradband Alliance; and Remi Lorrain, the vice chair of the LoRa Alliance Network in this week’s Tec

Send us a textIn 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.Have marketing engines turned these into over used terms? Are they even being used correctly? Later, the Insiders take a deeper dive into the practicalities of Edge AI with Bill Pearson, the Vice President of the Internet of Things group at Intel. Together, they investigate market challenges to realize the ROI on initial AI deployments and the hardware/software gaps preventing developers from launching commercial grade solutions faster.Finally, Alex Harrowell, a Senior Analyst at Enterprise AI speak with Perry in this week’s Tech Market Madness to discuss a new report from Omdia Research titled, “Artificial Intelligence for Edge Devices Report.”For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com