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Processing Moves To The Edge


Edge computing is evolving from a relatively obscure concept into an increasingly complex component of a distributed computing architecture, in which processing is being shifted toward end devices and satellite data facilities and away from the cloud. Edge computing has gained attention in two main areas. One is the [getkc id="78" kc_name="industrial IoT"], where it serves as a do-it-yoursel... » read more

Where Is Energy Harvesting?


With power management a top priority in sensor networks, why is energy harvesting—a proven technology with diverse energy sources—conspicuously absent from sensor designs that are the foundation of the Internet of Things? [getkc id="165" kc_name="Energy harvesting"] always has been a promising answer to the limits of battery power. The idea that a device can run for much longer periods o... » read more

Mesh Networking Grows For ICs


Mesh networks were invented to create rich interaction among groups of almost-unrelated peers, but now they are showing up in everything from advanced chip packages to IoT networks. The flexibility of a many-to-many peer-connection model made the mesh approach a favorite for two-dimensional network-on-a-chip topologies, to the point where they began to supplant data-bus connections during th... » read more

Spark Microsystems: LP On-Chip Radios


Spark Microsystems is taking aim at on-chip radios that continue to be the primary source of battery drain, even in power-conserving designs like Bluetooth Low Energy. "If you wear AirPods, something like 80% of the power is going to power the radio, not the sound. That's not the most efficient approach." according to Frederic Nabki, co-founder of Spark Microsystems, and a former professor o... » read more

Xceler Systems: Graph Architecture


An inventor who made foundational contributions to three key ways we move data through complex systems is developing a new type of neuromorphic chip to accelerate AI applications. Rather than try to build a computer that looks like a brain, Gautam Kavipurapu and Xceler Systems are building smaller bits that act like synapses. When the design is advanced enough and there are enough of them, t... » read more

IIoT Security Threat Rising


The rapid growth of the Industrial Internet of Things is raising questions about just how secure these systems are today, how to improve security, and who exactly should be responsible for that. These issues are interlaced with a shift in where a growing volume of data gets processed, the cost and speed of moving large amounts of data, and the increasing frequency and cost of attacks. "Di... » read more

Wireless Charging Creeps Forward


It's well known that electricity can travel long distances through the air, but expanding beyond the boundaries of a wire has never seemed a practical or reliable way to power delicate electronics. In fact, wireless power has been widely available for years. Whether this approach will be used to extend battery life isn't entirely clear. But it is attracting renewed attention as the balance b... » read more

Ayar Labs: Faster I/O


Startup AyarLabs is using a combination of high-bandwidth fiberoptics, low-cost CMOS fabrication and careful target selection to strike efficiently at the datacenter's worst bottleneck. "Moore's Law only covers the processor, not how we move data in and out of it during processing or how to get the processor and memory working at the same speed," according to Alexandra Wright-Gladstein, co-f... » read more

Imperfect Silicon, Near-Perfect Security


Some chipmakers, under pressure to add security to rapidly growing numbers of IoT devices, have rediscovered a "fingerprinting" technique used primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure. [getkc id="227" kc_name="Physically unclonable functions"] (PUFs) are used to assign a unique identification number based on inconsistencies in the speed with which current causes a series of logic gates to... » read more

The Race To Better Batteries


There is a new leader in the race to develop the best battery for smartphones, medical and IoT devices and all things related to information technology—Tesla. After almost a decade of making a big splash in the auto industry, though hardly a dent in its business, Tesla has succeeded in making electric vehicles attractive enough that automakers are following Tesla into the EV lane. That mov... » read more

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