Author's Latest Posts


Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 27


The sound of typing Cybersecurity researchers at the Southern Methodist University found a way to detect what a user is typing based on sensor data collected from a nearby smartphone. The team found that acoustic signals produced by typing on a computer keyboard can successfully be picked up by a smartphone, which can then be processed to determine which keys were struck – even in noisy conf... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Xilinx debuted the Virtex UltraScale+ VU19P, which the company says is now the world's largest FPGA at 1.6X the size of its predecessor. The VU19P features 35 billion transistors, 9 million system logic cells, up to 1.5 terabits per-second of DDR4 memory bandwidth and up to 4.5 terabits per-second of transceiver bandwidth, and over 2,000 user I/Os. With a set of debug, visibility tools, and IP,... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 21


Cadence's Paul McLellan considers the path to autonomous vehicles and the many barriers that stand in the way. Mentor's Colin Walls notes that the fundamental function of an RTOS is to give the developer control of time and points to some of the time oriented services that assist. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding points to ways the financial services industry could improve cybersecurity, from u... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 20


Six-angstrom waveguide Engineers at the University of California San Diego, City University of New York, and Johns Hopkins University created the thinnest optical waveguide yet. At only three atoms thick, the team says the waveguide serves as a proof of concept for scaling down optical devices. The waveguide consists of a tungsten disulfide monolayer (made up of one layer of tungsten atoms ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Everspin and Seagate inked a patent cross-licensing agreement, including the assignment and licensing of MRAM patents from Seagate to Everspin as well as licensing of specific Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) patents from Everspin to Seagate, which will be used in HDD read/write head technology. Subaru utilized ANSYS' SCADE suite for critical control systems to design and validate embedded ... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 14


Cadence's Paul McLellan digs into Mary Meeker's analysis of Internet trends, from growth of the Inernet as a whole to cyber attacks, online finance, and the gig economy. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding warns that the financial services industry is aware of cybersecurity threats, but isn't doing enough to protect its networks and data. Mentor's Colin Walls considers a few cases where writing in... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 13


Smartphone virus scanner Scientists at the University of Tokyo built a new type of virus scanner for smartphones: to detect diseases, not malware. The handheld, portable device uses a smartphone to help scan biological samples for influenza virus. The virus scanner is about the size of a brick, with a slot to position a smartphone such that its camera looks through a lens. Inside the device... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys will acquire QTronic GmbH, a provider of simulation, test tools, and services for automotive software and systems development. Based in Germany, QTronic was founded in 2006 and makes a virtual ECU platform as well as a test automation solution with test case generator. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. VeriSilicon uncorked VIP9000, a highly scalable and programmable processor fo... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 7


Synopsys' Taylor Armerding considers whether ransomware attacks on cities aren't only about money but if there are political motivations for intentionally sowing chaos and dysfunction. Cadence's Paul McLellan takes a look at the different way radio spectrum for 5G is being allocated in the U.S., which recently auctioned 24GHz bands for mmWave, and the rest of the world, which has focused on ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 5


Biofuels from microorganisms Researchers at Uppsala University are working on adapting microorganisms to be capable of producing useful biofuels out of carbon dioxide and solar energy. The team is focused on a series of modified cyanobacteria that produces the alcohol butanol, said Pia Lindberg, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry Ã…ngström Laboratory, Uppsala University. "When ... » read more

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