Last week, the folks at Altera unveiled several of the key innovations they have planned for their next generation of products, which will be implemented at the 20nm technology node (Click Here to see that column: Altera unveils innovations at the 20nm node). Amongst other things, they talked about 40-Gbps Chip-to-Chip and 28-Gbps backplane transceivers, heterogeneous 3D ICs featuring a high-speed chip-to-chip interface, and next-generation DSP performance with the highest TFLOPs/watt. Well, a couple of days ago, I had a chat with Misha Burich, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Altera. Misha w ..read more

The design ecosystem around embedded FPGA (eFPGA) technology is gradually expanding, and it’s apparent from the deals QuickLogic has recently made in the design and manufacturing realms. The eFPGA technology provides system-on-chip (SoC) developers with a quick and easy way to embed programmable technology into their chip designs. The eFPGA technology integrated into SoCs enables chip designers to implement custom logic for applications such as hardware acceleration, customizable I/O interfaces, and design security. Moreover, it extends product lifecycles by allowing the same SoC to serve mul ..read more

Today’s chip design market has become extremely competitive and when you add on the rising cost of semiconductor manufacturing, it’s no wonder why the embedded FPGA (eFPGA) market is taking off. In fact, Allied Market Research projects that eFPGA license revenue in 2024 to grow to $300 million, which is a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% per year for 5 years. The reason?  Simply stated, eFPGA has become a significant factor in chip design, particularly as the industry moves to the more complicated and expensive process nodes. Using eFPGA, chip designers are no longer locked i ..read more

The time for embedded FPGA (eFPGA) has finally come, and that’s evident from its reach in chips serving wireless infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), smart storage, and even cost-sensitive microcontrollers. As a system on chip (SoC) subsystem—just like a CPU or DSP—it dynamically reconfigures the hardware logic with sizes ranging from 1,000 to 500,000 look-up tables (LUTs). For a vantage point on this emerging programmable technology, EDN spoke to Andy Jaros, VP of IP sales, marketing and solution architecture at Flex Logix Technologies. Flex Logix, founded in 2014 as an IP company ..read more

I love everything to do with space and space travel. I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck when I watched the first men land on the moon in 1969 (I still “choke up” when I see that video). I really envy those who get to work on missions to other planets, such as deep space probes to the moons of Jupiter. At the recent Design West 2013 Conference and Exhibition , it was thrilling to hear Luke Dubord, an avionics systems engineer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory , give his keynote presentation about the Mars Curiosity Rover (see Slideshow: Max at Design West 2013). The other ..read more

Fast food is fast, but is it fast enough? Not according to Alexandros Vardakostas, founder of robotics firm Momentum Machines, whose new “Burgeon” can churn out a burger every 16 seconds. The 27-year-old physics graduate from UC Santa Barbara believes his robotic burger flipper could replace real life line chefs and get down to the even more time efficient finished burger every 10 seconds. Now that’s fast. The machine makes burgers from soup to nuts, grinding the meat itself, pounding out the meat patties, grilling it, toasting the buns, slicing the tomatoes, lettuce and pickles and finally ..read more

I just heard from the chaps and chappesses at Cypress Semiconductor that – along with key industry partners – they will be presenting a comprehensive, international, virtual embedded design conference called PSoC World . This online event will take place starting on December 12 in North America, and will remain online for 24 hours as users in Asia and then Europe begin their days. PSoC World will offer keynote addresses from industry luminaries, hands-on tutorials, expert panels, and more. More information on the free event is available at SneakPeek and registration is available at PSoCWorld ..read more

I just received an email from the guys and gals at Aldec informing me that they have a bunch of recorded videos (along with downloadable slides) of the top-rated – “Best of 2012” – Aldec Webinars of the year. They say that resources like their popular Webinar series are designed to help the busy engineer to get ahead in less than an hour. I must admit that some of these titles look rather interesting… Before we go there, however, I just want to say that there's a lot of “Best of 2012” stuff going around at the moment. For example, did you hear about the Best of 2012 European Beard and Moustac ..read more

As you may recall, in April 2011 the folks from Altium announced that they were relocating their global headquarters from Sydney, Australia, to Shanghai, China (see my blog Meandering Musings on Altium’s bold and exciting move to Shanghai). Well, I think it's fair to say that the China strategy worked out for them, because just a few weeks ago as I pen these words they were reporting growth and good numbers on the old balance sheet. So I was completely blown away when I heard the news that CEO and founder Nick Martin has been squeezed out – it seems the board and Nick had different views abou ..read more