Author's Latest Posts


System Bits: Sept. 27


Memory management scheme accommodates commercial chips In an improvement to a memory management scheme presented last year in which MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory researchers unveiled what they said was a fundamentally new way of managing memory on computer chips — one that would use circuit space much more efficiently as chips continue to comprise more and more... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 20


Improving Torque Sensing In an advance that could bring new types of sensors and studies in quantum mechanics, Purdue University researchers have levitated a tiny nanodiamond particle with a laser in a vacuum chamber, using the technique for the first time to detect and measure its torsional vibration. The team said the experiment represents a nanoscale version of the torsion balance used i... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 13


Big data programming language MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers this week are presenting a new programming language, called Milk, that lets application developers manage memory more efficiently in programs that deal with scattered data points in large data sets. The researchers reminded that in today’s computer chips, memory management is base... » read more

Controlling Heat


Modeling on-chip thermal characteristics and chip-package interactions is becoming much more critical for advanced designs, but how to get there isn't always clear. Every chip, based on its target application, has a thermal design power (TDP) target. This is the typical power it can consume without overreaching the acceptable thermal limits in its intended environment. But in order to rate t... » read more

Accuracy, Waveforms, And Power


The entire topic of power analysis, estimation, and exploration never ceases to amaze me given that opinions on how to approach this are so varied. It is that diversity of opinions that makes it that much more intriguing. I’ve been particularly interested in how I now regularly hear that users are increasingly interested in taking activity from simulation and emulation and using that to dr... » read more

Power Options And Issues


In the quest to get SoC power right as early as possible in the design flow, it still holds true that the biggest impact occurs at the beginning of the project, with diminished results as a design progresses through the flow toward tapeout. [getentity id="22186" e_name="ARM's"] big.LITTLE architecture has gained a lot of traction here, prompting MediaTek to introduce its Tri-Gear big.Medium.... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 6


How might AI affect urban life in 2030? In an ongoing project hosted by Stanford University to inform societal deliberation and provide guidance on the ethical development of smart software, sensors and machines, a panel of academic and industrial thinkers has looked ahead to 2030 to forecast how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) might affect life in a typical North American city. Th... » read more

Automotive Is Convergence


Given that there is still much to be done to enable self-driving cars, particularly since security is still a moving target, the name of the game going forward is convergence. That fact is not disputed. What is quite fascinating, however, is to witness the impact of technology applied, as well as watch as the industry grapples with the issues critical to mobility electronics implementation. ... » read more

Auto Security And Technology Questions Persist


While carmakers continue to add increasingly sophisticated driver assist features to new models, semiconductor industry ecosystem players are ramping up their foundation knowledge of what is needed from a technology and security perspective. Fortunately, it appears many existing semiconductor design tools will fit the bill as part of new approaches for automotive design. Mike Stellfox... » read more

System Bits: Aug. 30


Probing photon-electron interactions According to Rice University researchers, where light and matter intersect, the world illuminates; where they interact so strongly that they become one, they illuminate a world of new physics. Here, the team is closing in on a way to create a new condensed matter state in which all the electrons in a material act as one by manipulating them with light and a... » read more

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