Embedded Insiders

Send us a textIn part 2 of the Embedded Insiders’ analysis of recent industry acquisitions, 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. Wait. What did NVIDIA buy? Or better yet, what didn’t they buy? Why didn’t they acquire the entire Arm portfolio? And where is the rest of it now?After, Jim McGregor of Tirias Research returns to analyze AMD’s acquisition of programmable logic supplier Xilinx. He provides some analogs to Intel’s purchase of Altera. Later, Rich puts him on the spot: In two years, will the Xilinx/AMD deal be a good one?Listen to find out.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIt’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, prompted in part by all the “free money” that’s available in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.Later, Jim McGregor, Principal Analyst at Tirias Research, joins the Insiders with his thoughts. He explains his belief that these moves are the result of companies trying to grow their total addressable market (TAM) by capturing share in adjacent markets, but cautions that acquiring these assets could have negative long-term effects on the industry. In part one of a two-part interview, these questions are asked in the context of the NVIDIA/Arm deal.Finally, Calista Redmond, the CEO of RISC-V, shares her vision of the computing industry after the world’s largest IP vendor has been, at least for now, taken off the market. What does this mean for the industry in general, and RISC-V in particular.For more information,

Send us a textIn the early 2000s GM stopped their electric car project. They weren’t cool. In comes Tesla who made the electric car a popular concept. But is the “cool factor” the biggest factor in electric car sales these days? 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.Later, the Insiders are joined by Frede Blaabjerg, an esteemed professor of power electronics and drives at Aalborg University in Denmark. The three discuss the current state of the power industry and what the future looks like. Power will play a big role in the electric vehicle industry, but just how big?For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textSiFive, a pioneer of commercializing the RISC-V instruction set and resulting IP, has announced a number of custom design wins. And a lot of them leverage Arm technology. In fact, SiFive's recent 20G1 release revealed that the company has developed SiFive Insight, debug and trace IP that features native compatibility with? You guessed it. Arm’s CoreSight IP that serves the same purpose.So, is the RISC-V standard bearer ditching its heritage to become a design mercenary? Or is this a longer-term play to help get RISC-V technology into SoCs in any way possible so it can grow from there? Or are we over thinking it? Drew Barbier, Director of Product Marketing at SiFive, joins Brandon and Rich in this edition of the Embedded Insiders to explain.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this week’s edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss all of the new programming languages that have entered the embedded universe. This is in large part due to the convergence that IoT has created between IT and embedded developers. Are we getting to the point where we won’t use C language anymore? Or is it here to stay for good? Later, Nial Cooling, the CEO of Feabhas Limited, continues the conversation about embedded programming languages by weighing the advantages of languages like C against newer iterations of C++ and upstart alternatives like Rust. Where do all of these fit in the software engineering toolbox, and what are the implications of this low-level embedded programming on overall system cost?Later, Technology Editor Perry Cohen interviews Chris Rommel, Executive Vice President of VDC Research, in a new segment, Tech Market Madness: Analyst Insights for Engineers.Chris reveals just how many engineers are currently using C, C++, Python, Java, and other languages

Send us a textIn this edition of the embedded insiders, Brandon and Rich ponder whether RISC-V is taking too long to become a mainstream technology, or if it will even ever be one. Despite being open-source and all of the initial hype, will RISC-V become all that it has so-far been made it out to be?Later, the Insiders are joined by Mark Himelstein, the newly-appointed CTO of RISC-V International. The three discuss the architectural future of RISC-V and how he plans to drive the technology deeper into the hearts and minds of engineers.Later, Jean Labrosse is back with more, “Things that annoy a veteran software engineer” where he explains why he hates when APIs return meaningless error codes, such as zero for success and one or minus one for failure.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich ponder when “enough is enough” in terms of IoT device security. Because implementing robust security is so time consuming and expensive, why haven’t we just created development workflows that make it more costly to NOT use security? Later, the Insiders are joined by Jeremy Boone, Technical Director of The NCC Group, security analysis firm. Together, the trio consider how flaws at all levels of the IoT solution stack can be exploited, as well as engineering best practices that can minimize these vulnerabilities. This boils down to CYA with CIA.Finally, Jean Labrosse is back with more “Things That Annoy a Veteran Software Engineer” where he explains why it drives him nuts when a programmer over-uses asserts.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this edition of the embedded insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss how digital twins that reflect physical IoT systems can not only record the status of real-world devices, but simulate how the device could react under certain conditions in the future. And, how these twins can also potentially be used to help inform future designs.Later, the insiders are joined by Brady Benware, VP and general manager of the Tessent portfolio at Mentor, a Siemens business. The company recently acquired UltraSoC, who focuses on on-chip analytics, among other things, perhaps allowing Siemens to address the concept of digital twins all the way down to the chip level. After, Jean Labrosse is back with “things that annoy a veteran software engineer” where he explains why the inconsistent use of acronyms and abbreviations bothers him.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textAI is all the rage these days, and poised to disrupt nearly every industry. In fact it already is, but more because organizations are struggling to integrate new AI personnel, processes, tools, and workflows alongside their existing infrastructure. It’s so bad in fact that a recent IDC survey reported that the majority of companies are failing in their AI initiatives.In this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich interview Michael Grant, Vice President of Services at Anaconda, an open-source-centric data science company who manages the Anaconda distribution of the Python and R programming languages. Michael explains some of the obstacles organizations looking to enter the AI space need to watch out for before they get started, from licensing issues to security vulnerabilities to technical strategies. He then discusses how his company’s recent collaboration with the IBM Watson team can help such organizations integrate, organize, and manage their AI solutions stacks, from model develo

Send us a textThis week on the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich discuss an age-old controversy: What’s more secure? Proprietary or open-source software?That discussion leads into an interview with Kate Stewart, Senior Director of Strategic Programs at the Linux Foundation, who joins the program to explain how the Zephyr Project responded to 25 vulnerabilities recently uncovered in its open-source code base by the NCC Group, an independent security analysis firm. After reassuring the Insiders by detailing the steps taken to remedy those bugs and explaining the security practices in place at the Zephyr Project, Stewart continues to introduce the Embedded Linux in Safety Applications, or ELISA, project, which seeks to better align Linux software and tools with the requirements of safety-critical industries. Where does ELISA fit in with other projects like RTLinux, and how can the software test community help accelerate the expansion of Linux into platforms ranging from road vehicles to rockets?For more inform

Send us a textIn this episode of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich continue to probe the impact that COVID-19 is having on the electronics industry today and it’s implications for the future.They begin with a review of recent research published by ByteSnap, “Navigating COVID-19: The New Normal,” which takes a snapshot survey of U.K.-based electronics professionals. Are the somewhat optimistic results of this survey indicative of the global tech sector?Later, Brandon and Rich are joined by Richard Barnett, CMO of SupplyFrame. His company’s “2020 Trends in Electronics Sourcing” report dives deep into the ways that COVID-19 has impacted the global supply chain, and the ramifications that has had on the engineering community. So, what recourse do organizations have to recover from and/or mitigate the risk of such phenomenon? According to Barnett, the answer lies in closer relationships between internal and external partners.Tune in.To read more about ByteSnap's survey, "Navigating COVID-19: The Ne

Send us a textIn this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich wonder how the COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the tech sector, both from a financial perspective and with regards to the productivity of engineers now working at home. Are those engineers executing, innovating, or just relaxing?Later, Rich interviews Jean Labrosse, formerly a distinguished engineer and software architect at Silicon Labs. Jean shares some somewhat unpopular viewpoints on open source software in response to an Embedded Executives podcast with Gurjot Singh of Lynx Software Technologies in late April. Who can guarantee that open source software will work every time, all the time? And, what does that mean for open source in critical applications?Finally, the Insiders circle back to highlight the Best-in-Show Winners from Embedded World 2020.Tune in.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this edition of the embedded insiders, Brandon and Rich share their thoughts on the upcoming embedded world trade show in Nuremberg, Germany – focusing on all of the companies that have pulled out due to concerns over the corona virus.After, the embedded insiders are joined by Steve Hanna, senior principal at Infineon Technologies and chair at the Trusted Computing Group. The three discuss security concerns that continue to plague connected devices, particularly where over-the-air updates are concerned. Steve then explains guidelines recently released by TCG and offers tips that could help IoT device designers secure their systems.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textEmbedded World 2020 is right around the corner, and the Insiders spend a few minutes forecasting what they expect to see at the show. Some of the main themes they expect are an increased integration of AI and IoT technologies and smarter edge computing nodes based on those technologies. They then get into a semantic disagreement around what constitutes "the edge" and where AI processing will truly take place.Continuing with the topic of AI, the two interview Tom Doyle of Aspinity. The three discuss how analog computing is making a comeback as an ultra-efficient way of pre-processing signals in neural networking applications (Editor's note: More on analog computing can be found on the www.embedded-computing.com website).Finally, Jean Labrosse is back with more "Things That Annoy a Veteran Software Engineer, where he rants about the lack of spaces in most code.Tune in for more.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this edition of the Embedded Insiders podcast, Brandon and Rich continue their journey into the world of open source, this time by focusing on Z-Wave that was recently donated to the community by Silicon Labs (who acquired the networking technology from Sigma Designs).Later, the Embedded Insiders are joined by Laurens Slats from The Things Industries, who continues the discussion of open source networking technologies by outlining the state of LoRa and LoRaWAN. Their upcoming Things Conference in Amsterdam takes place January 30-31st.Finally, Jean Labrosse is back with “Things That Annoy A Veteran Software Engineer,” where he explains the 80-column limit is stupid.Tune in.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this episode of Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich review some of the highlights from the 2020 Consumer Electroncis Show (CES). Most notably, many embedded technology companies and organizations continue to embrace the world of open source, both within their product offerings and in the way they deliver products to market.Later, Wensi Jin and Mark Corless of MathWorks take the wheel as the discussion turns to simulation in the automotive sector, where the emergence of AI, ADAS sensors, and autonomous driving technologies are driving more broad testing requirements than ever before.Finally, Jean Labrosse turns his attention to a lack of proper software documentation in "Things That Annoy A Veteran Software Engineer."Tune in.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textThe Insiders attended the second annual RISC-V Summit in San Jose earlier this month, and brought back some significant opinions about the show, the technology, and the direction of the RISC-V Foundation.Is SiFive too powerful? Where are all the big semis? How does open hardware relate to Amazon, Apple, Google, and other tech giants building their own chips? And what does that mean for other chipmakers?This episode also includes an interview with Enrico Carrieri, Chair of the MIPI Debug Working Group and Principal Engineer of Debug Architecture at Intel. Enrico puts his MIPI Alliance hat on to discuss the public availability of nine debug and trace specifications, which can be accessed directly from mipi.org. He also explains the importance of ecosystem enablement in the “necessary evil” world of debugging, and how new standards and tools can bring costs to a minimum.Finally, a new segment with Jean Labrosse, Architect of the µC/OS RTOS, identifies “Things That Annoy a Veteran Software Engineer.

Send us a textThe Embedded Insiders discuss 6SigmaET and how it increases reliability of thermal simulation, as it improves production and device performance. Alix Paultre also spoke with Future Facilities’ Chris Altham on how this principle helps people in the design community overcome their thermal management issues. Tune in for more. For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textThe industry is coming to a place where shrinking silicon geometry is encountering the problems of physics, especially in the context of memory compute and power electronics. Developers in the semiconductor manufacturing space are coming out with new solutions that are helping to move some of these architectures forward. Tune in to find out how.  For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com

Send us a textIn this episode of Embedded Insiders, they welcome Peter Rogerson of Power Integrations, who talked about the company’s migration to wide-bandgap technology with galium nitride, instead of silicon, in their switching configurations. It underscores the expansion of wide-bandgap in the marketplace. What does this mean for the power industry going forward? Tune in for more.For more information, visit embeddedcomputing.com