Speaking IoT In Many Languages


Let’s face it, Internet of Things (IoT) is a hot topic. Depending on whom you believe, it’s a $300 billion to $19 trillion market opportunity involving 25 billion to 100 billion devices by 2020. These are all huge numbers – they could make Alan Turing himself dizzy. The sheer size of these numbers means good things for the market in general, and for some companies in the tech sector speci... » read more

Tech Talk: IoT Design Changes


eSilicon's Lisa Minwell talks with Semiconductor Engineering about what's needed to push Internet of Things designs down to the microwatt range, and how to bridge the gap between what's available today and what's needed for the future. [youtube vid= bk3BgtJnFpg] » read more

From Medical And Wearables To Big Data


Whether it’s a tiny always-on medical device or a secure cloud network processing Big Data, the Internet of Things is bringing new challenges to IC design. This white paper provides techniques and IP examples for managing IoT’s power and bandwidth demands. To read more, click here. » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquisitions NXP acquired Quintic’s Bluetooth Low Energy and Wearable businesses, adding BLTE to their low power RF-connectivity portfolio. The team of approximately 65 is expected to join NXP when the deal closes in Q1 2015. Tools Cadence unveiled the integration of Forte's Cynthesizer with their own C-to-Silicon Compiler. The result is the Stratus high-level synthesis... » read more

Partition Lines Growing Fuzzy


For as long as most semiconductor engineers can remember, chips with discrete functions started out on a printed circuit board, progressed into chip sets when it made sense and eventually were integrated onto the same die. The primary motivations behind this trend were performance and cost—shorter distance, fewer mask layers, less silicon. But this equation has been changing over the past ... » read more

IP Market Booms At Advanced Nodes


As [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] design and manufacturing costs rise, system OEMs are wringing as much of that increase as they can from ASIC vendors. The result is that engineering teams on the design and test side are being constrained by budgets at a time when complexity is rising and time-to-market pressures are increasing. At least one segment is benefiting from directly this. Budgetary... » read more

Custom Versus Platform Design


The increase in [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] complexity is being mirrored by a rise in complexity within the markets that drive demand for those chips. The upshot is that a push toward greater connectivity, lower power and better performance—and all for a minimal cost—has turned the pros and cons for custom design vs. platforms and superchips into a murky decision-making process. For t... » read more

Processor Use Models Evolving


Application-specific processing is a very broad category. It includes processors that are tuned for a specific application domain such as vision processing or software-defined radio for high-end wireless, or voice trigger in IoT devices. This category also includes narrowly focused processors optimized for a specific [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"], with a specific application within the chip. An... » read more

Postcards From The Edge (Of The Cloud)


The view from the edge of the cloud is pretty spectacular. Out here, there’s endless possibility. But out here on the edge, there’s turbulence, the cold buffeting swirl of today’s engineering challenges. On the edge, some see the Internet of Things (IoT) stalled. I wrote about this last month. The first wave of IoT devices — especially wearables — has quickly commoditized, driven b... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 4


After the Super Bowl, Ansys' Thierry Marchal looks at making football safer through virtual prototyping. Sports concussions are a serious danger for athletes from youths to professionals, and modeling head and brain impacts may lead not only to safer football helmets but a better understanding of how to lower the chance of brain injuries in sports. Synopsys' Ray Varghese continues his series... » read more

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