Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing — data center, edge, IoT
Maxim Integrated’s new USB-C Power Delivery products — the MAX77958 USB-C PD controller and the MAX77962 28W buck-boost charger — are aimed at devices, such as IoT or mobile phones, that need more power or for fast charging. To shave time off development and cost when changing from single-cell to two-series cell architectures, these are USB-C PD compliant out of the box, says Maxim in a press release. Maxim also announced the DS28E18 1-Wire-to-I2C/SPI Bridge to connect remote sensor networks with I2C and SPI-compatible sensors to devices using two wires instead of four.  Both both power and communications are on a single wire.

AI
Cadence increased and speeded up verification throughput on its Xcelium Logic Simulator by enhancing its machine learning, the company said in a press release. Consisting of machine learning and core computational software, Xcelium ML, Cadence saw a five times faster verification closure on randomized regressions.

AI chip startup Groq, known for its deterministic AI architecture called TSP (Tensor Streaming Processor) completed a round of funding that added TDK Ventures, TDK’s new investment arm, as a strategic partner, and D1 Capital Partners. All other original investors continued their investments.

Automotive
Synopsys has released a virtual prototyping platform for developers of electric vehicles, for hardware, software, and test. The company enhanced its virtual prototyping tools Virtualizer, Silver, TestWeaver and SaberRD for electric vehicles with EV libraries for power electronic, microcontrollers and AUTOSAR components and support for functional safety.

Automotive part supplier DENSO established the Pittsburgh Innovation Lab, a new U.S. R&D center designed to research into technology development that enables automated driving.

Renesas announced two new AEC-Q100 Grade-1 42V dual synchronous controllers for always-on automotive systems using R-Car H3 and R-Car M3 SoCs. The controllers — the ISL78264 dual sync buck controller and the ISL78263 dual sync boost and buck controller — provide primary stage power regulation for the SoCs. Both controllers have low 6µA quiescent current and integrated 2A source/3A sink MOSFET drivers. The ISL78264 manages first stage DC/DC conversion, stepping down the 12V battery system to 5V and 3.3V to power the vehicle’s electronic control unit, in-vehicle infotainment, and digital cockpit systems with 50W-200W power levels. The ISL78263 provides DC/DC conversion to support power levels of 25W-100W, while providing a pre-boost if the battery voltage dips to as low as 2.1V during a cranking transient or a start/stop event.

Comms
Samsung’s new Galaxy Note20 Ultra has NXP’s UWB (ultrawideband) and eSIM technology. The eSIM makes it possible to have one than one phone number on the phone.

People & Companies
SEMI and Globalfoundries have started an apprenticeship program to increase the talent pool of semiconductor manufacturing technicians and people interested in careers in electronics. The SEMI Industry Approved Apprenticeship Program (IAAP) is based on SEMI’s Unified Competency Model (UCM), which SEMI created using industry input. The first classes in the program will be offered online at Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) in Troy, NY. HVCC expects to graduate 50 apprentices by the end of 2020 and over 100 apprentices by the end of 2021, according to press release. SEMI also has been working with SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the Manufacturing Association of Central New York (MACNY), and the Center for Economic Growth (CEG) to develop the apprenticeship program.

Brewer Science joined the Certified Employee-Owned (Certified EO), a certification program for employee-owned companies in America. Brewer Seience is 33% employe owned.

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