Alternative Text

Ann Mutschler

  (all posts)
Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

System Bits: March 8
By Ann Mutschler - 08 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Living, breathing supercomputers Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the substance that provides energy to all the cells in the human body, may also be able to power the next generation of supercomputers, according to McGill University researchers. The team has described a model of a biological computer that they have created that is able to process information very quickly and accurately using p... » read more

Safe But Boring
By Ann Mutschler - 03 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 4

Everybody’s talking about self-driving cars. That they are safer, better drivers than humans. That we can just be along for the ride. That it will save lives, and improve the quality of all of our lives. Insurance rates go down. The list goes on. In fact, self-driving cars are already here, to some extent. Just consider the features available today from Tesla, for example, that has alrea... » read more

System Bits: March 1
By Ann Mutschler - 01 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Current generation silicon wafer While the single-crystal silicon wafer changed the nature of communication 60 years ago, a group of Cornell researchers is now hoping its work with quantum dot solids can usher in a new era in electronics. In what could be the first step toward discovering and developing artificial materials with controllable electronic structure, the team has fashioned 2D s... » read more

Preparing For The IoT Data Tsunami
By Ann Mutschler - 29 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

Engineering teams are facing a flood of data that will be generated by the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"], both from the chip design side and from the infrastructure required to handle that data. There are several factors that make this problem particularly difficult to deal with. First, there is no single data type, which means data has to be translated somehow into a usable f... » read more

Masters Of Abstraction
By Ann Mutschler - 25 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

Good system designers are a unique breed. While it's easy enough to distinguish the traits that define a good one from a weak one, it's much harder to determine who possesses those traits before they are put to the test, or whether or how they can be taught. However, there is definitely a particular perspective that good system designers hold in common. The key is the ability to work with ma... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 23
By Ann Mutschler - 23 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

Making electrons act like liquid While electrical resistance is a simple concept in that rather like friction slowing down an object rolling on a surface, resistance slows the flow of electrons through a conductive material, and now, MIT professor of physics Leonid Levitov and Gregory Falkovich, a professor at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have found that electrons can sometimes tur... » read more

Reaching For ROI
By Ann Mutschler - 17 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

The simplest way to assess power and performance ROI of a chip design is to ask if the chip works and whether it meets the design specifications. But chips can be used in very different ways, and a single chip may have a number of operational modes, so that formula isn't so clear anymore. "Preventing failures is the No. 1 priority when it comes to ROI," said Aveek Sarkar, vice president of p... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 16
By Ann Mutschler - 16 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

WW seismic network app UC Berkeley researchers have released a free Android app that uses a smartphone’s ability to record ground shaking from an earthquake, with the goal of creating a worldwide seismic detection network that could eventually warn users of impending jolts from nearby quakes. The app, called MyShake, is available from the Google Play Store and runs in the background with... » read more

Adventures In Assembly
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

With so few [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] designs — if any — today designed completely new from the ground up, the assembly task is an extremely important one to get right. [getkc id="43" kc_name="IP"] components must be put together optimally and efficiently to perfectly match the application requirements, which is complex and intricately nuanced. How companies approach IP varies signif... » read more

Where We Go From Here
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

It is hard to argue against the evidence that the dynamics of modern software in embedded systems are making it nearly impractical for traditional approaches of cycle based simulation or emulation to survive as they’ve been while truly meeting the needs of hardware/software design teams. While it is not a topic the EDA companies are completely comfortable addressing directly, the fact is t... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2025 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy