Week in Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Automotive and Mobility

Lyft launched a new robotaxi service that operates on and around the Las Vegas Strip using the electric Ioniq 5 vehicle from Motional. Similar services by other companies are currently in use in a handful of other U.S. cities, including San Francisco and Phoenix. The new Lyft service currently requires the presence of safety drivers, though Lyft and Motional say it will be driverless next year.

How do you train autonomous technology in vehicles to deal with the challenges created by adverse weather conditions? This blogger says one key is General Adversarial Networks (GANs), a form of generative modeling.

Security

Intel announced the winners of its Hardware Security Academic Award program, a contest for academic researchers demonstrating “novel research with a meaningful impact on the security ecosystem.” First prize and $75,000 went to a team that wrote about using Unique Program Executing Methodology (UPEC) to evaluate the confidentiality properties of SoC. This methodology works directly on RTL and was integrated into a commercial tool backend.

DARPA is seeking proposals for an open-access, research, development and manufacturing facility as part of its Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing program. The goal is to build a U.S.-based hub for developing three-dimensional heterogeneously integrated (3DHI) technologies. The first round of proposals will inform planning for the center and are due on Sep. 21.

Pervasive Computing and Connectivity

IBM and the United States Tennis Association are renewing their partnership for five years and adding additional fan features enabled by hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence technology. A feature called Win Factors will “provide fans with an increased understanding of the elements affecting player performance, such as the court surface, rankings, head-to-head records, ratio of games won, net of sets won, recent performance, yearly success, and media commentary.”

Cadence and GlobalFoundries collaborated on technology the companies say makes it easier for customers to design 5G and mobile applications. Cadence is providing analog, mixed-signal and RF design and analysis tools for the GlobalFoundries GF 22FDX platform. “5G mobile designs require advanced technology integrations and semiconductor processes to meet aggressive size, weight and performance targets, and the Cadence flows were developed to support the GF 22FDX platform and improve overall design efficiency,” said Tom Beckley, senior vice president and general manager in the Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence.

MediaTek’s line of Pentonic smart TV chips now incorporate MPEG-H audio as a result of a partnership with Fraunhofer IIS. The companies say the Pentonic 2000 is the first TV platform that adheres to Brazil’s Next Generation broadcast system under guidelines from the Fórum Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital (SBTVD Forum). “With this development, we empower even more broadcasters and content creators to provide the most advanced audio experience to audiences in Brazil and all over the world,” said Adrian Murtaza, senior manager of Technology and Standards at Fraunhofer.

Financial Reporting

Synopsys earned $1.248 billion in revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022, an increase of 18% compared with the same period the year before. “While our customers navigate through the ebbs and flows of the market, they are simultaneously investing heavily in more complex chips, more sophisticated systems, and more software,” said Aart de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys.

Keysight’s third quarter fiscal year revenue was $1.38 billion, an increase of 10% compared with the same time last year. “Keysight’s deep customer engagements with industry leaders, and high value, differentiated solutions continue to drive broad-based demand across key technology mega trends,” said Satish Dhanasekaran, Keysight’s president and CEO. The company also recently announced an extended collaboration with Synopsys to validate complex RF and millimeter wave design.

Events

Aug. 21-23, Hot Chips (virtual).

Aug. 21-25, SPIE Optics and Photonics, San Diego, CA.

Sep. 5-6, DVCon, Bangalore, India.

Sep. 13, Women in Semiconductor Hardware (WISH) Conference, Santa Clara, CA.

Sep. 13-14, Edge AI Summit, Santa Clara, CA.

Sep. 13-15, AI Hardware Summit, Santa Clara, CA.

Find more chip industry events here.

In Case You Missed It

Find the August Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing newsletter here, including these highlights:

• Chip Backdoors: Assessing The Threat
• Cities Strive for More Smarts, Security
• Level 5 Autonomous Cars
• Is Standardization Required For Security

Want to know why the California DMV is accusing Tesla of false advertising? The answer can be found here.

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