Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Edge, cloud, data center
Programmable logic company Efinix used Cadence’s Digital Full Flow to finish Efinix’s Trion FPGA family for edge computing, AI/ML and vision processing applications, according to a press release. Last week Efinix also announced three software defined SoCs based on the RISC-V core. The SoCs are optimized to the Trion FPGAs.

AI, machine learning
Amazon will temporarily disallow the police from using the company’s facial recognition software for a year.

Monitoring semiconductor heat is important at 5nm and below. Moortec has just announced a distributed thermal sensor (DTS) on TSMC N5 process tech that is 7x smaller than some standard in-chip solutions, says Moortec in a press release. Thermal monitoring is especially useful for AI, automotive, and consumer applications where advanced node chips are used.

AMD says NVIDIA DGX A100, a third generation AI system, uses AMD’s 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors. The system clocks 5 petaflops of AI performance, according to a press release.

5G
Mentor, a Siemens Business, has joined the O-RAN Alliance, the alliance of telecoms, network service, and equipment companies working on open standards for 5G radio access network (RAN) architectures. Their goal is to create an open, standardized virtualized network elements, hardware and interfaces to make it possible to segment the networks and automate (or make smart) network operations as much as possible. Mentor will focus on verification and validation.

Automotive/Mobility
An updated workflow for automotive lighting design offers stunning photorealistic rendering capabilities for designers working on headlight, tail light, and signal light designers, according to a press release. Synopsys released its latest version of its automotive lighting design and visualization workflow, LucidShape CAA V5 Based v2020.06, after adding two new modules, called the Design and Visualize. The new modules make it possible for designers to more accurately model what drivers will see when the lights are used and if the design is manufacturable.

The Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co., Ltd. (Yutong Group), a Chinese manufacturer specializing in electric buses, is using Cree’s 1200V silicon carbide devices in a Starpower Semiconductor power module for its new high-efficiency powertrain system for electric buses.

Ansys is working with Electro Magnetic Applications to create a design-to-validation workflow that results in certification for cable harness models in automobiles and aircraft. According to a press release, the workflow is designed to lower electromagnetic interference (EMI), which can come from high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF) and lightening strikes.

NXP will be using TSMC 5nm process for its next set of automotive SoCs.

Security
Carmaker Honda temporarily stopped its production line and shipments because of Snake ransomware threat on an internal server, according to a story in Dark Reading.

COVID-19
German company Senova, which makes a serological IgG/M Covid-19 assay (Cleartest), has become a partner with sensor company, ams to work on a mobile COVID-19 antibody test. The companies found a prototype COVID-19 antibody test that used the ams AS7341L spectral sensor was very accurate when compared with the C-reactive protein (CRP) test. The test is supposed to provide results via Bluetooth on a smartphone app.

Singapore-based PCI is under contract to provide 300,000 dongles, called TraceTogether Tokens, to Singapore’s government for use in contact tracing during COVID-19 pandemic, according an article in Reuters.

Mil/aerospace
The Chinese Beidou navigation network, China’s equivalent of GPS, is shooting its final satellite up into orbit this month. China will have greater independence from U.S.-owned GPS, according to an article in Reuters.

Robots
SEMI FlexTech, a group under the SEMI umbrella that focuses on flexible hybrid electronics (FHE), is looking for projects to fund. Soft robotics, along with power integration, reliability, sustainability, packaging and materials involving FHE will be considered. SEMI FlexTech says it will support revolutionary technical approaches and evolutionary improvements, among others. According to a press release, the project teams need to match funds that the industry provides. Review the full RFP for more information about the proposal submission process.

Intel unveiled its Lakefield core processor, which has native dual internal display pipes, making them ideally suited for foldable and dual-screen PCs.

People & Companies
Synopsys has acquired the data analytics company Qualtera, which specialized in data analytics for semiconductor test and manufacturing.

Analyst firm IPnest calculates that Arteris IP, the network-on-chip (NoC) interconnect company, is the 12th largest semiconductor IP company worldwide and 2nd behind Arm Holdings in the chip infrastructure market category, which includes primarily on-chip interconnect IP.

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