John Koon

  (all posts)
John Koon is a technology editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Growing Challenges For Increasingly Connected Vehicles
By John Koon - 06 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 0

Automobiles will become increasingly connected over the next decade, but that connectivity will come at a price in terms of dollars, security, and constantly changing technology. Connectivity involves all parts of a vehicle. It includes everything from autonomous driving to in-cabin monitoring and connected infotainment. And it encompasses external sensors, IoT, V2X, over-the-air communicati... » read more

Options Widen For Optimizing IoT Designs
By John Koon - 29 Mar, 2023 - Comments: 0

Creating a successful IoT design requires a deep understanding of the use cases, and a long list of tradeoffs among various components and technologies to provide the best solution at the right price point. Maximizing features and functions while minimizing costs is an ongoing balancing act, and the number of choices can be overwhelming. The menu includes SoC selection, OS and software proto... » read more

Auto Cyberattacks Becoming More Widespread
By John Koon - 02 Mar, 2023 - Comments: 0

As vehicles become smarter, more complex, and increasingly connected, they also become more prone to cyberattacks. The challenge now is to keep pace with hackers, who are continually devising new and innovative ways to attack both software and hardware in vehicles. Recent statistics bear this out. In 2022, there was a big spike in deep/dark web activity and incidents related to application p... » read more

Building Better Cars Faster
By John Koon - 02 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

Carmakers are accelerating their chip and electronic design schedules to remain competitive in an increasingly fast-changing market, but they are encountering gaps in the tooling, the supply chain, and in the methodologies they use to create those cars. While it's easy to envision how CAD software could be used to create the next new vehicle’s 3-D look, and how simulation software helps de... » read more

Solving Problems With The IoT
By John Koon - 02 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

The Internet of Things, a term once applied to almost any "smart" gadget connected to the Internet, is becoming more useful, more complex, and more of a security risk as the value of data continues to grow and more people depend on IoT technology. In the decades since the concept was first introduced, IoT devices have become so ubiquitous that applications cover practically every consumer, c... » read more

Shifting Toward Software-Defined Vehicles
By John Koon - 05 Jan, 2023 - Comments: 0

Apple reportedly is developing a software-defined vehicle. But so are Renault, Hyundai, General Motors, and just about everyone else. Some of the benefits of SDVs include increased comfort, convenience, safety, reliability, and remote software and firmware updates. Preventive and predictive maintenance, and remote diagnostics, can be done more conveniently over the air, while vehicle behavio... » read more

Competing V2V Technologies Emerge, Create Confusion
By John Koon - 05 Jan, 2023 - Comments: 0

The battle over vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology has begun, as governments step back to see which of two main competing standards and lots of related technology are best suited for reducing accidents. V2V is an often-discussed wireless communication protocol that enables vehicles to communicate with each other, easing traffic congestion, avoiding accidents, and ultimately improvi... » read more

Cybersecurity Risks Of Automotive OTA
By John Koon - 01 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

Modern vehicles increasingly resemble supercomputers on wheels, with many electronic control units (ECUs) networked together as increasingly sophisticated software is installed and updated. Similar to smartphones, vehicle OEMs will contact vehicle owners remotely about operating system updates that add new features and/or fixes, as well as software bugs and vulnerabilities. But all of this h... » read more

Why Better Mapping Technology Is Critical To Autonomous Vehicles
By John Koon - 01 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

Autonomous cars find the way to their destination using a number of critical technologies, including some version of a global position system and a central brain to interpret that and other data. But many of those technologies are not reliable or accurate enough today, and may not be for years to come. There are numerous reports of vehicles missing their stop, or trucks being guided into all... » read more

Improving Reliability In Automobiles
By John Koon - 14 Nov, 2022 - Comments: 0

Carmakers are turning to predictive and preventive maintenance to improve the safety and reliability of increasingly electrified vehicles, setting the stage for more internal and external sensors, and more intelligence to interpret and react to the data generated by those sensors. The number of chips inside of vehicles has been steadily rising, regardless of whether they are powered by elect... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2024 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy