Selecting an Approach to Build Flexible, Cost-Effective ECU Production Test Systems


Electronic control units (ECUs) were invented in the 1970s. At that time, people needed to improve fuel economy due to the oil crisis, which meant finding a way to make engines run cleaner and pollute less. Engines used a mechanical device called a distributor to control spark timing and a carburetor to control the fuel mixture. This mechanical system had minimal tuning and adjustment capabilit... » read more

How 5G Affects Test


David Hall, head of semiconductor marketing at National Instruments, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about architectural changes to infrastructure due to the rollout of 5G and how the move from macrocells to small cells is changing test requirements.         Subscribe to Semiconductor Engineering's YouTube Channel here » read more

Revving Up For Edge Computing


The edge is beginning to take shape as a way of limiting the amount of data that needs to be pushed up to the cloud for processing, setting the stage for a massive shift in compute architectures and a race among chipmakers for a stake in a new and highly lucrative market. So far, it's not clear which architectures will win, or how and where data will be partitioned between what needs to be p... » read more

Blog Review: Nov. 6


Cadence's Paul McLellan considers why high-performance compute, high-performance networks, and security will all be vital to the next wave of devices and the importance of optimization. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding points to some best practices for assessing your supply chain to find the weak links that could lead to a security breach, from why to make it a priority to what to ask software ven... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers China has created a new $29 billion fund to help advance its semiconductor sector, according to reports from Bloomberg and others. Here's another report. The The U.S. and China are in the midst of a trade war. This has prompted China to accelerate its efforts to become more self-sufficient in semiconductor design and production. This includes DRAMs as well as logic/foundry. -----... » read more

Reducing Costly Flaws In Heterogeneous Designs


The cost of defects is rising as chipmakers begin adding multiple chips into a package, or multiple processor cores and memories on the same die. Put simply, one bad wire can spoil an entire system. Two main issues need to be solved to reduce the number of defects. The first is identifying the actual defect, which becomes more difficult as chips grow larger and more complex, and whenever chi... » read more

Shrinking AV’s 1 Billion Test Miles


There is still no answer to how many miles an autonomous vehicle needs to drive before it's proven safe. But some AV developers and test companies are hoping to ease the burden a bit with automation that makes millions of real and simulated miles of road testing simpler to implement, supported by standards that make it easier to create and trade simulation scenarios. The goal is to reduce th... » read more

Testing Against Changing Standards In Automotive


The infusion of more semiconductor content into cars is raising the bar on reliability and changing the way chips are designed, verified and tested, but it also is raising a lot of questions about whether companies are on the right track at any point in time. Concerns about liability are rampant with autonomous and assisted driving, so standards are being rolled out well in advance of the te... » read more

Advanced Features Of High-Speed Digital I/O Devices: Data Delay


In high speed digital communications, because of factors such as setup time and hold time, it might be important to delay the data from the edge of the clock. The different settings and parameters that affect data delay are discussed in this white paper. To read more, click here. » read more

New Challenges In Testing 5G Devices


Alejandro Buritica, senior solutions marketing manager at National Instruments, talks about what will be needed for mass-market testing of 5G devices, how to focus signals to overcome signal attenuation, and how to make over-the-air testing viable where leads are not exposed. » read more

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