Firmware Skills Shortage


Good hardware without good software is a waste of silicon, but with so many new processors and accelerator architectures being created, and so many new skills required, companies are finding it hard to hire enough engineers with low-level software expertise to satisfy the demand. Writing compilers, mappers and optimization software does not have the same level of pizazz as developing new AI ... » read more

Powering The Edge: Driving Optimal Performance With Ethos-N77 Processor


Repurposing a CPU, GPU, or DSP is an easy way to add ML capabilities to an edge device. However, where responsiveness or power efficiency is critical, a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) may be the best solution. In this paper, we describe how the Arm Ethos-N77 NPU delivers optimal performance. Click here to immediately download the paper. » read more

Have Processor Counts Stalled?


Survey data suggests that additional microprocessor cores are not being added into SoCs, but you have to dig into the numbers to find out what is really going on. The reasons are complicated. They include everything from software programming models to market shifts and new use cases. So while the survey numbers appear to be flat, market and technology dynamics could have a big impact in resh... » read more

The Increasingly Ordinary Task Of Verifying RISC-V


As RISC-V processor development matures and its usage in SoCs and microcontrollers grows, engineering teams are starting to look beyond the challenges of the processor core itself. So far, the majority of industry verification efforts have focused on ISA compliance to standardize the RISC-V core. Now the focus is shifting to be how to handle verification as the system grows, especially as this... » read more

High-Speed SerDes At 7/5nm


Manmeet Walia, senior product marketing manager at Synopsys, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about how to optimize PHYs for integration on all four corners of an SoC, as well as the PPA implications of moving large amounts of data across and around a chip. » read more

The Murky World Of AI Benchmarks


AI startup companies have been emerging at breakneck speed for the past few years, all the while touting TOPS benchmark data. But what does it really mean and does a TOPS number apply across every application? Answer: It depends on a variety of factors. Historically, every class of design has used some kind of standard benchmark for both product development and positioning. For example, SPEC... » read more

Tracking Automotive’s Rapidly Shifting Ecosystem


The automotive ecosystem is becoming much harder to navigate as automakers, Tier 1s and IP vendors redefine their relationships based upon shifting value caused by an rapidly expanding amount of increasingly interdependent and complex electronic content. Predictions of massive change started almost a decade ago with a number of pilot programs around autonomous vehicles. But those shifts real... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


AI, machine learning Cadence says it has optimized its Tensilica HiFi digital signal processor IP to efficiently execute TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers, which are used in Google’s machine learning platform for edge. This means developers of AI/ML on the edge systems can now put better audio processing on edge devices with ML applications like keyword detection, audio scene detection, n... » read more

Understanding SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping)


Amol Borkar, senior product manager for AI and computer vision at Cadence, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about mapping and tracking the movement of an object in a scene, how to identify key corners in a frame, how probabilities of accuracy fit into the picture, how noise can affect that, and how to improve the performance and reduce power in these systems. » read more

Week In Review: IoT, Security, Autos


Internet of Things Sensors that see in the dark, look deep into our faces and hear the impossible, were all part of ams’ CES lineup this week. ams announced that it has designed an advanced spectral ambient light sensor (ALS) for high-end mobile phone cameras. The ALS, called the AS7350, identifies the light source and makes an accurate white balance under low-light and other non-ideal condi... » read more

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