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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Keeping NFCs Secure
By Ann Mutschler - 10 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Short-range communications, including near-field and semi-near-field communications such as Bluetooth, AirDrop, and Zigbee, have become as much a part of our daily lives as our mobile devices. Through some incredible engineering and standards efforts, they have achieved low-power communication over short distances with remarkable accuracy and consistency. But as even more devices begin tapping ... » read more

Enabling Self-Driving Cars
By Ann Mutschler - 09 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 1

To enable truly self-driving cars — the ones without a gearshift or a steering wheel — there must be a confluence of technologies, a refinement of the business models, regulatory and safety requirements, and insurance concerns. So how close is the automotive ecosystem to reaching the goal of truly autonomous driving? That depends on your vantage point. As far as where automakers are t... » read more

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

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