Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Security
Infineon announced it has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0), called OPTIGA TPM 2.0, used to secure remote software updates, disc encryption, and user authentication on Linux-based systems. OPTIGA is an open software stack for securing comprehensive TSS* host software implementing the latest FAPI standard. Infineon developed the open-source software with Intel Corporation and Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT.

Pervasive computing — IoT, edge, cloud, data center, and back
Xilinx is expanding its UltraScale+  portfolio for markets with new applications that require ultra-compact and intelligent edge solutions. With form factors that are 70 percent smaller than traditional chip-scale packaging, the new Artix and Zynq UltraScale+ devices will appeal to a wider range of applications within the industrial, vision, healthcare, broadcast, consumer, automotive, and networking markets, according to a press release. The UltraScale devices have DSP resources and localizes memory across the device. “So the fact that we can localize that memory directly to the accelerator in this case the deep learning processing unit, that gives us an incredible performance advantage,” said Jayson Bethurem, product line manager: Spartan, Artix, Zynq-7000, Zynq UltraScale+, Xilinx. “And the other thing is because our architecture is not fixed, it’s built in the programmable logic, it can be adapted to different characterization and classification topologies.” Some of the Ultascale+ chips will be using the compact InFO (integrated fan-out) packaging, which has no substrate or C4 bumps.

Brewer Science has expanded and renamed its Printed Electronics division. Now known as Smart Devices & Printed Electronics Foundry, the foundry will deliver flexible hybrid electronic (FHE) products for IIoT environments. The foundry services that Brewer Science offers are materials science expertise, printed flexible electronics technology, and firmware development capabilities.

Researchers from Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Division Engineering of Adaptive Systems, with colleagues from Erlangen and the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, won first prize in an innovation competition “Energy-efficient AI Systems” hosted by the German government’s Federal Ministry of Research. The task was to create an accurate cardia arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation detection chip that hit 90% accuracy that consumes less energy. “We worked on the Lo3-ML project ‘Low-Power Low-Memory Low-Memory ECG Signal Analysis with ML Algorithms’ and co-developed a chip that virtually puts the signal processing to sleep as long as it is not needed – this saves up to 95 percent of the energy and earns as a winning project a prize of 1 million euros for a research project to put the idea into practice,” says Fraunhofer on its LinkedIn page.

Fraunhofer IIS worked on a piece about mp3 and more, a short history of audio coding, for Google Arts & Culture. Take a look and listen.

Synopsys added a PCI Express 6.0 under the PCI Express 6.0 specification to DesignWare. PCI Express 6.0 specification.

National Instruments (NI) will chair a newly formed OpenRF Compliance Working Group. The Open RF Association (OpenRF) is an industry consortium working on 5G ecosystem of functionally interoperable hardware and software across RFFE (RF front end) and chipset platforms, according to a press release.

KLA’s Orbotech announced that its Frontline division has a new engineering tool for automated engineering software for PCB manufacturers. Called InFlow, the software has built-in CAM (computer aided manufacturing) graphic editor.

People, companies
Ron Black has joined Codasip’s board of directors as executive chairman. Most recently, Black served as president and CEO of Imagination Technologies. He also previously served as CEO at Rambus, MobiWire, UPEK, and Wavecom.

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