IC Industry Waking Up To Security


By Jeff Dorsch & Ed Sperling Many people pay lip service to the concept of security in Internet of Things devices, software, and networks. That oversight is beginning to fade away, however, as companies begin digging into one of the broadest and most complex problems in the IoT age. Unlike other technology issues, which have been solved in increments, security is all-inclusive. While ... » read more

“eNVM Inside” Could Be The Next Catchphrase


Let's do a bit of a refresh on embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) IP and the markets it has ably served: analog/mixed signal, automotive, consumer, industrial and mobile applications. Rather mainstream segments, albeit high value, in need of reliable storage. An estimated 10-billion units shipped in more than 400 chip designs makes eNVM IP a popular choice. See for yourself as we take a ret... » read more

Lawyers, Insurance And Self-Driving Cars


Self-driving cars are drawing semiconductor companies into legal and regulatory issues for the first time, adding a new level of scrutiny on cutting-edge chip technology. It also opens up a whole new field for legal interpretation, case law, and regulation. While most liability cases in the past never crossed below the system vendor/supplier level, that could change with autonomous vehic... » read more

MEMSIC Solves The Accelerometer Puzzle


Accelerometers play a valuable role in many markets. Your smart phone has them, as does your car. Measuring the rate of change in velocity seems to have unlimited applications. While there are many design techniques available to create an accelerometer, MEMSIC Inc. developed a MEMS and CMOS IC technology with no moving parts using Tanner tools. Using a unique thermal technology, acceleration is... » read more

Life on the Edge of IoT


The world on the edge of the IoT provides a rich microcosm to explore. While much of the attention paid to IoT is on big data applications in the cloud or the world of aggregating massive data provided by the real-world edge devices in the wild though cellphones and gateways, the edge devices themselves present a cornucopia of design challenges and exciting applications. Sensors and actuators m... » read more

IoT Designs Evolving


IoT hardware is beginning to take shape across a variety of vertical markets, and devices are looking far different from the initial concepts. They're smarter, more targeted, and in most cases custom-built for specific applications. The concept of connected things is hardly a new one. Students at Carnegie Mellon University added sensors into a vending machine in the early 1980s to remotely m... » read more

The Week In Review: IoT


Tools Mentor Graphics rolled out a tester for thermal reliability of electric and hybrid vehicles during power cycling. The tester is the first of its kind. Deals Rambus signed a deal with Eurobank Poland for a cloud-based mobile payment system. The deal involves Secure Element in the Cloud software from Bell ID, which Rambus acquired in January. Eurobank Poland has more than 1 million cus... » read more

The Week In Review: IoT


The Internet of Things "doesn't just mean tiny devices," said Charlene Marini, vice president of segment marketing at ARM. "It needs a network." Speaking at the Mentor/ARM Summit in Santa Clara, Calif., this week, she identified several key elements in her presentation, titled “Enabling the Ecosystem for the Backbone of IoT." Among them: Capacity and latency, scalability, agility, infrastruct... » read more

Rethinking Main Memory


With newer, bigger programs and more apps multitasking simultaneously, the answer to making any system run faster, from handheld to super computer, was always just to add more DRAM. . . and more, and more and more. From data centers to wearables, that model no longer works. By offloading the storage of programs to less expensive solid-state drives (SSDs) and only using a small amount of exp... » read more

Grappling With IoT Security


By Ed Sperling & Ernest Worthman As the IoT begins to take shape, the security implications of connecting devices and systems to the Internet and what needs to be done to secure them are coming into focus, as well. There is growing consensus across the semiconductor industry that many potential security holes remain, with new ones surfacing all the time. But there also is widespread r... » read more

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