How To Sleep Easier If You Test Auto ICs For A Living


Last month, I looked at the product definition process of automotive ICs, using the $7 billion microcontroller market as an illustration of design exploration to optimize performance, features, die size and product cost. Now I’d like to look at the back end of the process — the final IC testing that’s still critical no matter how sound the upfront work in defining a featuring set and aptl... » read more

Recipe For Automotive IC Design Success


“Not a computer science project!” That’s how an automotive IC design manager I worked with once described IC design in a product definition meeting. I liked his viewpoint. What he meant was: This is a business, not an academic exercise or homework assignment. There are competitors, customers, and opportunity for success and failure. Despite the massive opportunity for the chip industry, d... » read more

IoT Security: Technology Is Only One Part Of The Equation


Survey after survey on the adoption of the IoT punctuates that security and data privacy continue to be the top concerns with any new implementation. It used to be that security was all about protecting data (business, personal ID, etc.), but as more devices are connected to the IoT, security concerns reach far beyond just the value inherent in the data. According to Gartner, nearly 5.5 ... » read more

Combining CMOS IC And MEMS Design For IoT Edge Devices


Creating a sensor-based IoT edge device is challenging, due to the multiple design domains involved. But, creating an edge device that combines the electronics using the traditional CMOS IC flow and a MEMS sensor on the same silicon die can seem impossible. For many years, Tanner has provided customers the ability to interweave MEMS design into this flow, supporting a top-down MEMS IC fl... » read more

5 Big Under-The-Hood Engineering Challenges In Building Autonomous Vehicles


Stories about autonomous vehicles are regular fare in the tech news cycle and usually include forecasts about the eventual ascendancy of self-driving cars. The Boston Consulting Group, for example, says that by 2035, 25% of all cars will have partial or full autonomy, with total global sales growing from near-zero levels in 2015 to $42 billion in 2025 and ~ $77 billion by 2035. In short few ye... » read more

Industrial IoT: Where Is Silicon Valley?


Industry 4.0, Smart Factory 1.0, and Internet of Manufacturing are industry initiatives aimed at accelerating the Industrial IoT. With current market forecast exceeding $40 billion and projected to approach $100 billion by 2020, IIoT has everyone’s attention. Well, almost everyone. Turning volumes of factory data into actionable information from the supply chain, to the floor, to operations, ... » read more

Automotive Features Prominently At DAC 2017


Excellent automotive content features prominently at DAC 2017, which starts June 18th in my hometown of Austin. This of course is fitting given that Austin hosted the world’s first truly self-driving car ride just a few months ago. Our mayor, Steve Adler, called Austin the “the Kitty Hawk of driverless cars,” proving he has a future in tech marketing once he’s done with public service. ... » read more

Sensors, Sensors Everywhere


Here’s a statement that will surprise no one: autonomous driving was once again a big theme last month at SAE World Congress in Detroit. This is the case at nearly any automotive or tech show these days. There were dozens of displays related to self-driving tech on the exhibit floor, a fact captured in the various social media feeds and news coverage of the event. Mentor was part of this s... » read more

What The Chevy Bolt Really Means For The Electric Vehicle Market


CES and the North American Auto Show are fading from view. As expected, both events generated media coverage about jockeying among traditional tier 1/2 suppliers and tech companies for supremacy in the new auto supply chain, being turned upside down by the pursuit of autonomous vehicles, electrified powertrains and the like. And while there were some interesting early 2017 announcements (Amazon... » read more

Defining The Edge Of IoT


“Life on the edge of IoT is where creativity knows no bounds.” Brian Derrick, Vice President Corporate Marketing and General Manager, Mentor Graphics. We are living in a remarkable time for electronic product design and development. In his blog post, Brian Derrick explores how the race to create the latest smartphones results in the availability of advanced, low-cost sensors, which has... » read more

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