Ernest Worthman

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Ernest Worthman is Technology Editor/Security for Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

IoT Will Force New Memory Paradigm
By Ernest Worthman - 05 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 1

There are two things in life that have always been true: One is that you can never be too rich, and second—at least since the dawn of the technological age—you can never have too much memory. But the memory truism is changing with the onset of the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"]. The next generation of memory for the IoT must meet a different set of metrics – smaller, smar... » read more

IoT Requires New Internet Protocol
By Ernest Worthman - 05 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

It is no secret that the 4 billion-plus Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) addresses are just about used up. According, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), “phase 4” of its IPv4 countdown plan kicked in last June. There are now fewer than 17 million IPv4 addresses remaining, which for all practical purposes means the pool is depleted. That should hasten the move to IPv6, b... » read more

Designing For Security
By Ernest Worthman - 08 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

Stacked die may improve performance and lower power, but the use of [getkc id="203" kc_name="through-silicon vias"] (TSVs) could add new security risks. As IC structures go, the vertical component of these chip packages is both a boon and a bust. Three-dimensional geometries allow for much less complexity in design by stacking two-dimensional dies and interconnecting them in the third dimens... » read more

DNA For Cryptography Chips
By Ernest Worthman - 08 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 1

Counterfeit chips are here to stay. There are all kinds of reasons they should never be used, but certain segments of the chip market have more critical fallout from such chips than others. In most cases counterfeit chip use is unintentional. It simply goes undetected in the vast supply chain, sometimes with life-threatening repercussions. But whether in life-safety or low-end consumer produ... » read more

Implantable Chips
By Ernest Worthman - 08 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

Implanting RFID chips into people has been a subject for debate and experimentation for nearly two decades. Back in 1998, the first implantable RFID device was injected into the hand of Professor Kevin Warwick. His hand became a transponder, and he could open doors that were designed to work with smart cards. In smart buildings, he was also able to turn on lights simply by entering into the ro... » read more

A Robot In Every Home
By Ernest Worthman - 08 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

Bill Gates, in a 2006 Scientific American article, described his vision of the future as, "A robot in every home." It's difficult to project that far ahead with technology, though. Since then, wireless has come a long way. So have microelectronics—nearly 24 orders of magnitude if you use Moore's Law. So the robot conceived in 2006 is now more like a gaggle of Internet dust particles that r... » read more

What’s Holding Back The IoT
By Ernest Worthman - 09 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 2

There is a new generation of heterogeneous devices and component modules being developed for the IoT. This, in turn, could create an exploding market within certain sectors of the hardware industry. Exact size predictions for this market vary greatly, but all of the firms making these predictions agree on one thing—it's going to be very big. A new report by Yole Developpement pegs the mar... » read more

Short-Range, Low-Power Sensors
By Ernest Worthman - 09 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 1

Over the last 10 years the world has done a remarkably good job of connecting the global wireless world. This is partly because of visionaries, partly because of marketers, and partly just because we can, but mostly because of convenience. We now never need be to be off the wide-area interconnected highway. The last decade has radically changed the way we live. The smartphone and its cousin, th... » read more

The Next Level Of Chip Security
By Ernest Worthman - 09 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

As we move to that magic year, 2020, which is commonly being recognized as the year when the IoT is supposed to be in full bloom, the security issues just keep coming. The rate of cyber exploits continue to ramp up daily. Yet there seems to be just as much complacency about the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] as there is about the Internet of today. It seems we are becoming desensi... » read more

Smarter Cars, But How Smart?
By Ernest Worthman - 09 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

With the emergence of the Internet of Things, smart cars are beginning to garner more attention — the kind that comes with real R&D dollars, market development plans and cost analyses for future commercialization. Smart cars are different than connected cars, which are simply smartphones on wheels. Until now, the focus on intelligence in automobiles has largely been on driver assist and in... » read more

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