Embedded Computing Design

If somebody told you they could help you get 80% of your design completed, or at least put you on the path to getting that far, you’d likely jump at the chance. Throw in three hours of tech support to help you engineer, debug, and test, and it becomes a no-brainer. That’s exactly what we’re offering to the first 50 embedded engineers/developers who sign up for a workshop devoted to connecting IoT devices to the AWS Cloud.

Human presence detection (HPD), an application of visual sensing, is the art of knowing when a person is present, determining their status, and their environment. If implemented effectively, it has the potential to reap many benefits, particularly regarding security and lowering power consumption, when compared to traditional methods.

Five years ago, the experts said that autonomous-drive vehicles were five years out. Now, five years later, they still appear to be five years out? Why is that?

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a hot technology. The topic/technology seems to be coming up more and more.

Intel recently launched a new addition to its Sapphire Rapids scalable processor family. The addition delivers a performance boost, but as you might expect, it’s a whole lot more involved than that.

If you’ve been in the embedded space for any length of time, you’re likely familiar with the ThreadX real-time operating system, which was a product of Express Logic. That company was acquired by Microsoft, and its President, Bill Lamie, went along with the team to Microsoft…until now.

The last Tear Down I did, the Meta Quest 2 VR headset, got lots of fanfare. As an end product, it’s super cool. And from a design perspective, I was awed by what the engineering team was able to accomplish.

Security, security, security. You’d think by now that the process for security would be so automated and automatic we wouldn’t be having these same discussions as to why designers are reluctant to design it in, or what applications really require it. Alas, here we are.

5G brings a lot of promise to the embedded space, in addition to many other spaces. This week’s Embedded Executives podcast guest knows far more about 5G than most people.

We’ve had this discussion (debate? argument?) before—is it time for 8-bit MCUs to go away and be replaced by 32-bit devices that obviously offer way more functionality and come pretty close in cost? The discussion is back on the table thanks to an announcement STMicroelectronics made this week, making the latest entrant in its STM32 family a potential 8-bit killer.

Bob Scaccia, the President and CEO of USA Firmware, knows more about firmware than anyone I’ve ever come across. And speaking of firmware, it is an art that does not get nearly the attention  it should, and for a long list of reasons. In this podcast, I'll go through those reasons and a lot more firmware-related issues. Tune in.

The chip shortage is getting better. It’s getting worse. No, it’s getting better. These are the responses I continue to hear.

As an embedded developer, does a “common platform” reduce your ability to innovate?

Macronix is a memory vendor who claims to offer “memory-centric computing.” When I heard about this concept, I wondered if it was something real, or just marketing spin.

Virtual hardware modeling is not a new concept, but it’s now getting a new spin, particularly when you’re working with Arm-based IP cores.

Use one of these headsets and you’ll be very impressed. Take one apart and you’ll be blown away.

Another trade show is in the books, and I’m pleased to report things are about as back to normal as they are likely to get. The show I’m referring to is electronica, which is held bi-annually in Munich, Germany. As such, it’s been four years since we’ve convened at what it is generally considered the world’s largest event for the embedded and electronics industries.

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?