Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing — IoT, edge, cloud, data center, and back
Arm announced its Armv9 architecture, which is designed for secure, pervasive computing that can run in more types of AI systems. Because most data will be touching an Arm-based chip in the near future — whether on the edge, IoT, or data center — Arm enhanced the security, in addition to improving performance and AI/ML capabilities, according to a press release. Data is shielded through its Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA), which uses Realms — dynamically created shields that protects sensitive data and code while in storage, use, and transit. Microsoft Azure collaborated on Realms. “A good example of this synergy between hardware and software are the ArmV9 confidential compute features, which were developed in close collaboration with Microsoft,” said Henry Sanders, corporate vice president and chief technology officer, Azure Edge and Platforms at Microsoft in a press release. For AI, Arm also adapted its work with Fujitsu into a second version of the Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) technology — which was used in supercomputers. SVE2 extends the SVE instruction set for data-processing domains beyond HPC and ML. SVE2 also speeds up common algorithms used in computer vision, multimedia, long-term evolution (LTE) baseband processing, genomics, in-memory database, Web serving, and general-purpose software.

Automotive
The United States Biden administration announced a proposal to invest $174 billion to increase electric vehicle markets and supply chain in the U.S., as part of the American Jobs Plan. The tax incentives will help more people afford to own electric vehicles.

The automotive market is expected to expand in the 1^st quarter by 12% over 2020, says IHS Markit, despite supply chain issues around microchips and weather related closures in Texas. Honda is resuming normal production on April 5, despite the supply chain issues.

Siemens has added a new test module that can be mounted on vehicles and heavy equipment and withstand some pretty extreme conditions. The Simcenter SCADAS RS is a data acquisition system for fast and accurate testing under severe conditions. SCADAS RS can send data over wired, wireless, or public networks.

Security
Tortuga Logic has a new licensing agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to allow DARPA-funded research programs access to Tortuga Logic’s Radix technology via the DARPA Toolbox. The DARPA Toolbox gives DARPA program chip developers access to commercial IP and tools, which now includes Tortugua Logic’s systematic hardware vulnerability detection used in ASIC, SoC, and FPGA verification flows.

Synopsys is now a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) by the CVE Program, which means the Synopsys Software Integrity Group can assign CVE ID numbers to new vulnerabilities. The CVE Program is an international, community-based program where cybersecurity vulnerabilities are publicly cataloged. NEC was also added as a CNA fhis week, bringing the total of participating organizations to 161 from 26 countries.

Codasip’s Low Power Embedded RISC-V processors will have a secure boot function from IoT and edge IoT security experts Veridify Security as of the second half of 2021. The two companies are partnering to offer Veridify’s security algorithms and tools, which are small enough for the IoT, embedded environment.

Automotive security
The industry group SEMI has joined the United Kingdom’s automotive-focused security study, run by researchers in the Systems Security Group (SSG) at Coventry University’s Institute for Future Transport and Cities’ (IFTC). The goal of the study, which has some funding from the U.K. government, is to understand the dynamics and costs of how companies decide to adopt cybersecurity technology. The project will promote commercial adoption of secure technology by identifying the greatest costs to businesses and understanding the reasons businesses choose not to implement cybersecurity, according to a press release. Data gleaned from the study will help the industry and government understand where the cybersecurity vulnerabilities are and how to close security gaps. “Digital security is vital to driving innovation in mobility and artificial intelligence (AI). We look forward to working to build public trust in these technologies to help ensure their widespread adoption,” said Professor Siraj Shaikh, director of research at IFTC and leader of SSG.

People, companies
OneSpin announced the winners of its annual puzzle. Click here see who won.

Microelectronic packaging company QP Technologies says it has found a way to avoid new test hardware when customers are moving to a new node or newer die by using an interposer-based prototype. “Customers that come to us with a flip-chip die often can’t, or don’t want to, expend dollars on creating a redistribution layer [RDL] or a custom package,” said Ken Molitor, QP Technologies’ chief operating officer. “They need a solution that will allow them to package the flip-chip quickly and cost-effectively utilizing existing technology. Our team can help them select the right package and substrate materials — or adapt what they already have and need to continue using — to resolve their packaging challenges.”

Job, Event and Webinar Boards: Find industry jobs and upcoming conferences and webinars all in one place on Semiconductor Engineering. Knowledge Center: Boost your semiconductor industry knowledge. Videos: See the latest Semiconductor Engineering videos.