EE Times Current

In this episode, Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) talks with Professor Christian Mayr (https://tu-dresden.de/ing/elektrotechnik/iee/hpsn/die-professur/inhaber?set_language=en) from the Technical University of Dresden, who worked on SpiNNaker with Steve Furber for many years. He is taking that project into the future with SpiNNaker 2, which is mostly built, SpiNNaker 3, which is his next design project, and the startup SpiNNcloud (https://spinncloud.com/). Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) Marie Curie Fellow at The Czech Technical University in Prague, and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) of Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Elisa Donati of the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich talks to Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) about neuromorphic circuits for prosthetics, drug delivery and more. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Fortiss research institute in Munich, and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) of Johns Hopkins University.

In this episode, Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) discusses neuromorphic chips with Dr. Amirreza Yousefzadeh (https://people.utwente.nl/a.yousefzadeh), who has most recently worked at imec and the University of Twente. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Fortiss research institute in Munich, and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) of Johns Hopkins University.

Join us in lasteset episode of EETimes Current as we delve into the transformative potential of 1.6 Terabit Ethernet (1.6TbE) alongside the pivotal role played by advanced 224G SerDes and emerging linear optical interfaces. Discover how this convergence optimizes area, power, and latency, enabling efficient processing of large language models and unstructured data with memory pooling and cache coherence. From mitigating datapath bottlenecks to unlocking new frontiers in compute throughput, we dissect the significance of next generation electro optical interfaces with 1.6T Ethernet in shaping the future of computing infrastructures.

In this episode, Professor Shih-Chii Liu (https://sensors.ini.ch/people/shih-chii-liu), co-director of the Sensors Group at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI)—part of both the ETH and the University of Zurich, Switzerland—talks to Brains and Machines host, Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/), about neuromorphic cochlea, sparsity and deep networks, and what it will take for the technology to solve real problems in industry. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Fortiss research institute in Munich, and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) of Johns Hopkins University.

In this episode, Professor Emre Neftci, director of the Neuromorphic Software Ecosystems group at the Peter Grünberg Institute, talks to Brains and Machines host, Dr. Sunny Bains. He and his PGI colleagues, part of the Jülich Research Centre in Germany, think about how neurons can be trained and organized to learn in an efficient and brain-inspired way. You'll hear about his work in making backpropagation compatible with spiking neural networks, dealing with device variability, and one- and few-shot learning.

In this episode of Brains and Machines (https://brainsandmachines.net/), you’ll hear Dr. Chiara Bartolozzi (https://www.iit.it/it/people-details/-/people/chiara-bartolozzi) talk about how neuromorphic technology can be used to implement attention mechanisms, the importance of embodiment, and why we need a solid theory of how neural systems can work together to create intelligence.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains talks to Dr. Tobi Delbrück, one of the original neuromorphic engineers from Carver Mead's team at Caltech. Now a professor at the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich, he has spent his career developing neuromorphic cameras and other technology. In this interview, you'll find out how he got started in the field, his work developing the dynamic vision sensor (also known as an event camera) and the pros and cons of sparse representations.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) gets deep into nanoscale ferroelectrics with Professor Beatriz Noheda (https://www.rug.nl/staff/b.noheda/), director of the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron). They discuss how this unusual interdisciplinary research center works, why nanoscale ferroelectrics may be useful in brain-like systems, and a little about how they are designed and fabricated.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines podcast, Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Italian Institute of Technology interviews her IIT colleague, Dr. Simeon Bamford, who is currently working on tactile neuromorphic sensors. They talk about creating circuits to perform functions lost to brain damage, Bamford’s involvement with the commercialization of dynamic vision sensors, and his latest research on robotic touch. Discussion follows with Dr. Sunny Bains of University College London, and Prof. Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

Our future environment depends on renewable and sustainable energy. To maximize sustainable energy sources, energy gathering and grid integration are essential. Silicon carbide (SiC) makes green energy systems more efficient and resilient. To ensure high-quality goods and system design flexibility, end-to-end vertical integration is necessary. In this podcast with Simon Keeton, executive vice president and general manager of the power solutions group at onsemi, we analyze the pivotal role that SiC solutions play in optimizing energy harvesting and efficient grid integration for sustainable energy sources. We will also introduce the next PowerUP Energy Virtual Conference, coming on Dec. 12 and 13.

In the latest episode of Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/), EE Times regular Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) talks to Professor Melika Payvand (https://www.ini.uzh.ch/en/research/groups/EIS/people.html), who designs neural systems from the circuit-level up at the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich. You'll find out the role that memristors are playing in the systems she designs, why neural circuits need to operate at different timescales, and why copying some features of biological dendrites could add computational power to silicon brains. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

In this latest episode of Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/), EE Times regular Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) talks to now Emeritus Professor Steve Furber (http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/people/sfurber/) as he prepares to leave the University of Manchester. They talk about associative memories, the original SpiNNaker neural simulator designed using densely-interconnected ARM cores, and the new generation of the technology currently being assembled. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

In Part 2 our conversation with Power Integrations' Peter Vaughan, we'll take a more in-depth look at the technology that is already available for electric vehicles (EVs) as well as the path that lies ahead. The last time, we covered every aspect of the history of the electric car, which led us naturally to the present day and the introduction of the brand name Tesla, which has had a major impact on the competitive landscape of EVs. However, what are some other names that are contributing to innovation? In today's episode of EE Times Current, we will learn more about the cutting-edge technology that goes into electric vehicles.

In this episode of EE Times Current, we take you on an electrifying trip through the history of electric vehicles. These silent, emission-free technological wonders were the forerunners of clean, green transportation in a world dominated by gasoline-powered automobiles. Power Integrations' Peter Vaughan will guide us through the past, present, and future of electric vehicles powering technology.

In this episode of EE Times Current, Dr. Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) talks to Professor Guillermo Gallego (https://sites.google.com/view/guillermogallego), from the Technical University of Berlin. They discuss the application of the new generation of bio-inspired event-driven cameras and their algorithms to extract cues of motion, depth and optical flow estimation. After that, Giulia discusses the interview with Dr. Sunny Bains (https://www.sunnybains.com/) from the University College London and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

Join us for the latest episode of our EE Times Current podcast, where we delve into the fascinating world of AI and Connectivity at the Edge solutions.Kaushal Vora and Mo Dogar from Renesas are our special guests for this episode. Together, we'll discuss the crucial hardware and software components required to realize this cutting-edge technology. Join us as we unravel the complex challenge of how these components seamlessly fit together and stay tuned as we explore real use cases such as computer vision, real-time analytics, and so much more.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/) podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains (http://sunnybains.com/) talks to Dr Yulia Sandamirskaya (https://www.zhaw.ch/en/lsfm/institutes-centres/icls/cognitive-computing-in-life-sciences/research-group-neuromorphic-computing/), who has just created the Neuromorphic Computing Group at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. We discuss the role that dynamical systems theory plays in robotics, her work at with Intel’s Loihi platform, and what she plans to do in her new position at ZHAW, particularly related to vision. After that, Sunny discusses the interview with Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

Several secretive AI startups finally revealed what they’re doing – a conversation with analyst Kevin Krewell about the revelations from the Spring Linley Conference. Imagination Technologies got itself embroiled in international intrigue – what’s going on there? And the Great Lockdown has had many profound consequences, including effects on what we hear every day – EE Times editors compile a global audio essay.

Advancements in a half-dozen different technologies are leading to a new generation of medical devices that promise improvements not only in medical monitoring to diagnostics, but increasingly active treatment. Waymo tends to be ahead of the curve on autonomous driving technology; right now it is loading its vehicles with sensors – but is that practical?

In 1965, the IC business was dead in the water. Andy Grove had half the solution, and Steve Hofstein had the other half. Their exchange of half a dozen words in a pool in Las Vegas changed the course of history. An interview with industry legend Steve Hofstein. Also, a report on election hacking; we know what the solution is. And, as the world has been upended by the coronavirus, engineers in high places have been stepping up to fill the leadership vacuum.

In the podcast this week: a discussion of Intel’s massive leap to a neuromorphic system with as many neurons as a small rodent; an interview with the programming whiz who put together a web-based multimedia presentation of one of NASA’s biggest disasters and most stunning triumphs; and a virtual conference for the coronavirus era.

Of course the pandemic disrupted the supply chain. But what about what happened after that? EE Times editors get together to discuss how the coronavirus has affected the technology industry and far beyond. Our colleagues from China report on what the rest of us can expect to experience in the next 4 to 8 weeks. And if you’re quarantined, our staff film mavens offer a list of recommended films for home viewing.

Europe is betting on hydrogen fuel. What’s the agenda —and how do hydrogen cars work anyway? Also, holograms were a huge fad in the ‘70s; now the technology appears to be on the verge of a commercial comeback. Also, AMD emerged as the big winner as supercomputers move into the Exaflops Era.

In an insanely complicated maneuver, Northrup Grumman repaired a satellite in orbit; Maxim Integrated come up with a unique way to protect IoT devices; and System Plus goes way, way beyond simple teardowns.

Sample a smorgasbord of stories from Germany, the U.S., Spain, and parts beyond. Subjects include a unique AI that can be trained on an edge device (no, really!), a ferroelectric memory, designing semiconductor wafers for 5G, and more.

Proponents of autonomous vehicles are selling a dream they’re hoping you won’t notice is unachievable until it’s too late. In this episode: why that is, and the better alternative. Also, a good chunk of the semiconductor industry seems to be pivoting toward audio. A roundtable on voice recognition, and who’s really listening when we talk to our ovens.

This week: A deep discussion on the semantics and semiotics of virtual reality and augmented reality (with a whole lot about VR/AR technology too). Also, XMOS just released a “crossover processor” for voice applications. We talk to XMOS’ CEO to find out what that means.

A new coronavirus emerged in China less than three weeks ago, and already it is disrupting business and affecting the global supply chain; we assess the damage so far, and get a live report from China. Also, the semiconductor industry creates a significant amount of toxic waste; we discuss a new process to reduce semiconductor waste dramatically.

This week...the Trump Administration has been pressuring economic allies to ban the installation of Huawei 5G network equipment. The United Kingdom just said that it will not accede to that demand. But the story is actually a little more complicated than that. Also, there are efforts all over the world aimed at building a thriving high-tech economy. It’s not as easy as it sounds, however. France is deliberately trying to emulate the organic processes that resulted in Silicon Valley.

This week we’ve got an interview with AMD CTO Mark Papermaster, one of the architects of the bold new AMD…also – a conversation with Ron Black, the CEO of Imagination Technologies, which seems to have its fingers in nearly every emerging technological trend out there. And, our editorial director, Bolaji Ojo checks in with the key question for the electronics industry in 2020 – where should everyone spend their money?

A company called Prophesee has developed a completely new way to capture video with what it calls an event-based sensor. At the recent CES show, we caught up with Prophesee’s CEO, Luca Verre. Today you’ll hear our interview with him. Also, the Consumer Electronics Show. It's vast. CES 2020 was last week. EE Times editors saw more products and technologies, and sat in on more sessions, than we had time to write about. We got together to discuss some of the most fascinating things we saw at the show, including the Prophesee event-based sensor, autonomous boats, data privacy chips, quantum computers, smart toilets, automated cocktail shakers, farm equipment, AI-powered toothbrushes… and more!

Day Three of our special series of podcasts reporting live from the Consumer Electronics Show in the Mojave Desert. In the past couple of years, the automotive industry has dominated CES, and this year it’s happening again. In today’s episode: Qualcomm made some headline news, announcing it is burrowing deeper into the automotive market. Also, a live interview with executives from Infineon and Texas Instruments about adding autonomous functions to cars equipped with driver assist capabilities. Plus, an analysis of a novel approach for autonomous vehicles from Intel’s MobilEye unit; and finally, and finally, Toyota surprised show-goers with a plan for smart cities.

Part 2 of our continued coverage of CES Unveiled. In this episode, we interview NXP CTO Lars Reger and talk with an executive of Atmosic, which has created a nifty new Bluetooth device that harvests energy from its environment to power – well – all sorts of things. Also, a live interview with the developers of a squishable portable speaker and a quick recap from the press events held by AMD, which wowed the crowd, and by Intel, which… didn’t.

This is a special edition of our podcast, with reporting live from the Consumer Electronics Show in fabulous Las Vegas!

This week, we talk with author George Leopold, who’s just given us his list of the five best documentaries about space. And, this year we’re doing something different for our annual year in review. EE Times editors are sharing our favorite interviews from 2019.

The next generation of 5G smartphones, gaming on smartphones, and a proposal to enable everyone to keep their official documents – driver’s license, passport – on their phones. We’ll investigate some Qualcomm’s new products and services, and some of the trends it’s enabling. Also, since Qualcomm’s products are intrinsic to so many worldwide trends, the company is also intrinsic to worldwide trade. We’ll have a conversation about Qualcomm, the electronics industry, and Qualcomm’s largely unknown role in the global market.

You might think that if an auto maker is developing the technology for autonomous driving, then creating the technology for assisted driving – a seemingly less ambitious goal – would practically be a gimme. Think again. Also, you’ve heard about Moore’s Law coming to an end. That’s because the industry is in fact getting very close to reaching the physical performance limits of silicon. But there is ample opportunity to keep improving electronics, and one way that will be possible is by using semiconductors other than silicon. And the role that universities play in new technology development is pretty well established. Or at least it was, until AI came along.

A bunch of chip guys from Apple are planning to challenge Intel in the data center — do they stand a chance? Also, Sony claims it’s been doing just about as much R&D in AI as Google and Facebook, and it recently formalized an approach to spreading that expertise throughout the company. And, China has just set aside another $28 billion to further develop its semiconductor industry. Is that enough to help China catch up — and, what if it does?

EE Times attends the Global CEO Summit in Shenzhen, China and talk with top executives about major trends in electronics today: 5G wireless, advanced chip design and manufacturing, and artificial intelligence. We’ll hear from executives from companies based in the US, Europe, and China, including one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious industrial and electronics companies — Siemens, and one of the worlds youngest and most intensely scrutinized AI startups — Graphcore.

This week...a report from the Linley Conference, traditionally a gold mine of intelligence about where the processor market is going. Also, after one of the flakiest no-shows in high-tech history, secretive startup Groq finally speaks. And, we have a conversation with MEMS specialist and futurist Peter Hartwell, chief technical officer of TDK InvenSense.

This week, we discuss the film “The Current War,” and the race between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to light up the world in the 1890s. Also, video has been captured the same way for more than 125 years. But modern electronics is making it possible to capture and display video in an entirely new way. We’ll talk about the French company that is doing it.

Tesla Motors, automotive features, vehicular gimmicks, and the weird eagerness among some people to be lab rats for Silicon Valley companies. Also,India has quietly developed world-class expertise in semiconductor design. We talk with Sanjay Gupta, the person leading NXP’s semiconductor operations in India about India’s aspirations for developing a domestic semiconductor industry. And … researchers have employed machine learning techniques to train an artificial intelligence to figure out for itself how to draw human faces. Of course, it’s artwork, but is it Art?

This week — we attended a conference hosted by Arm Holdings and report on what we learned about the what's next for circuitry technology. Also, the big data deluge, and how to make sense of it all. And, we’re reasonably sure that by the time people turn 16 years old, they’re mature enough to begin operating a motor vehicle. Shouldn’t we consider doing something similar for autonomous vehicles to, you know, verify they’re mature enough to drive by themselves?

This week, packaging chips in the most advanced systems. There are no rules anymore and we’re going to sort it all out for you. Also, conducting business in the Trump Era. It’s beginning to look like the Court of the Sun King. And, there’s growing enthusiasm for going to Mars. We’ll be talking about getting there, which is one thing; but, we’ll also be talking about getting back, which is another thing altogether.

Sub-retinal chip, tracking down intransigent parking malefactors, and voice control! We sent not one, but two EE Times editors to the annual MEMS & Imaging Sensors Summit in Grenoble last week and we’ll hear from them about what they saw in France. Also this week, connecting the Internet of things — we have a discussion with advocates of Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN on how those two wireless protocols will complement each other.

There are a lot of good reasons to NOT send all of our conversations off to the cloud, but we do it anyway because it’s significantly cheaper to do in the cloud. But what if there were some unexpected, inexpensive alternative for doing voice processing at the edge? Also, we’ll examine reliability in complex systems, and for that we’re going to revisit the Boeing 737 Max, two of which crashed earlier this year. And, we’re also going to revisit autonomous vehicles and driving safety. When it comes to autonomy, there’s still an open question: how safe is safe?

The AI Hardware Summit in Silicon Valley. This year’s edition did not go as planned. Also, the semiconductor industry is, of course global. India has an ambition to build a thriving semiconductor industry, building on the companies based there that have been designing chips for many, many years. Does the country have the infrastructure to make good on its ambitions? And, we have a report from the Frankfurt Motor Show, traditionally one of the biggest shows of the year in the automotive industry. With all the interesting technological innovations that are being developed, you’d think it would have been a pretty exciting show. Yeah, no.

All of the elements of the 5G consumer business are coming together. Network operators are building out infrastructure to expand 5G cellular coverage in more markets. What’s needed next is a wider variety of 5G smartphones. Huawei, Qualcomm, and Samsung – three of the most important manufacturers of integrated circuits for smartphones – all happened to announce new 5G silicon last week. We talk about what was announced and where 5G goes from here. Artificial intelligence is being used to power the cloud – but what is the cloud, exactly? It turns out there are at least four kinds of clouds. Did the word cumulonimbus just cross you mind? Yeah, no. We’ll discuss the actual divisions in the cloud markets and what kinds of AI are needed for each. Self-driving car companies have been talking about vehicle safety as a competitive feature, but do we really want car companies to compete on safety?

Xilinx just released one honking huge field-programmable gate array. We’ll discuss why anyone would need an FPGA more than one-and-a-half times bigger than the previous biggest. The political protests in Hong Kong have repercussions for the nearby technology hub of Shenzhen – and for the electronics industry at large. Netflix just debuted a documentary called “American Factory” that examines what happened when a Chinese manufacturer of glass products for the automotive market tried to open a plant in the US. The goals of the Chinese and the Americans were clearly aligned, but both groups held expectations they never discussed with each other, much to everyone’s sorrow.

Homomorphic encryption. It’s… well, it’s really complicated. Just stick around and we’ll explain it all. Chinese memory chip supplier GigaDevices just make a huge splash in China introducing a line of RISC-V microcontrollers – the company claims they’re the first general purpose RISC-V MCUs ever. We’ll discuss why this MCUs are significant. Ultra WideBand is back, this time with some brand new capabilities. NXP and Volkswagen collaborated on a clever anti-theft technique for cars that makes use of the new Ultra Wideband. Today we’ve got a discussion with NXP CTO Lars Reger and Maik Rohde of Volkswagen as they discuss the new anti-theft approach, and also where they plan to take Ultra Wideband next.

AMS decided to purchase Osram. The former specializes in sensors, the latter in photonics; together they’ll chart an intriguing technological roadmap. We’ll find out what the combination will mean for the market. The Hot Chips conference was held this week. We’ve got a rundown of one of the hottest, an unconventional wafer-scale AI processor from secretive startup Cerebras. Also today: smart water bottles. These are computerized water bottles complete with display screens and WiFI connectivity. The bottles run apps designed to entice your children to drink more water. You might be asking yourself: How smart is a smart water bottle? Well, at the moment, they are being bamboozled by six-year-olds.

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 16th. Photonics – it’s not just for fiber optics anymore. In this episode, we’ve got a discussion about photonics, quantum sensors, and the potential for an all-optical computer. Broadcom bought Symantec last week. We ask editor Rick Merritt, Why on Earth a chip company would want to get into the market for business software? Over the years, the EDA industry has developed some marvelously sophisticated tools for testing and verifying the designs of highly complex integrated circuits. This week we have an interview with the CEO of a startup – a company that has its roots in EDA – about the tools it has developed to improve the testing process for autonomous vehicles. The tools will help AV companies determine if they’re testing what they think they’re testing.

Are you one of the hundreds of millions of people who can't wait to get a 5G cell phone? Your wait is almost over. Almost. Do you remember ultra-wideband? It was proposed a few years ago. Didn't catch on. But now it's back. The new ultra-wideband is based on a different technology, has new capabilities and is aimed at completely different applications. You'd think they'd come up with a new name, yeah? Also this week, Dylan McGrath got a rare one-on-one interview with Bob Swan, the CEO of Intel. In an industry that has seen its share of massive egos over the years, Bob Swan stands out by not standing out. When Intel's previous CEO left the company, Swan-- then the company's chief financial officer-- agreed to lead the company... but only on an interim basis until Intel's board could find the right person to give the job to.

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 2nd. We want the Internet of things to be smart, but being smart requires processing power – which will be lacking in millions of IoT devices. It’s what we call in the business “a conundrum.” But – there may be an answer! You’ll hear what that is. As we reported last week, the biggest companies in the world are beginning to compete with their own chip suppliers. The latest example is Alibaba, which just released a high-performance processor of its own design. Alibaba’s move is significant for technological, financial, and political reasons. We’ll look into that. Also, you’d think that the people building autonomous vehicles are using sound design principles.

This week we’re mixing it up a bit. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a single topic. It’s how the world’s biggest companies are doing business in ways no company has before – and what that might mean for everybody – not just the technology industry.

This week… Artificial intelligence is a vastly complex market. There’s a fierce competition among hardware vendors to be the best platform for AI applications. But first, you have to know what it means to be “the best.” This week, analyst Karl Freund from Moor Insights talks to us about the latest AI benchmarks. Researchers are re-imagining what – fundamentally – a vehicle is. One company just put everything other than the chassis – literally everything – entirely inside the wheels. We’ll explore that and other proposals. And it’s the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission – the first time people set foot on the moon. This week we look back – and also look forward to going back to the moon.

Our stories this week: You might recall pilot Chesley Sullenberger. He became a hero a few years back for crash landing a disabled passenger airliner into New York's Hudson River with no loss of life. He recently appeared in front of Congress to testify about the crashes of the Boeing 737. We discuss his testimony and what it means for Boeing and for other engineering companies. We've got an on-site report from Semicon West, including a revised estimate of growth in the chip market in 2019. And guest commentators John Petty and Kathleen Ma have just concluded a major report on the workstation market, which has seen some profound changes over the years.

This week… Facial recognition is being deployed more frequently, but is the technology ready? And, are we ready for it? President Trump said he is lifting official restrictions on doing business with Huawei, an important supplier to communications companies around the world. What does that mean for the global electronics industry moving forward? And we talk with Silicon Valley entrepreneur Alex Lidow about Moore’s Law, gallium nitride, and easing at least one of the indignities of aging.

This week… The French research institute LETI held a conference on artificial intelligence at the edge. What does putting AI on the edge of the network mean, and what’s the advantage? EE Times editors were in Grenoble, and filed a report. A few weeks ago, PCI introduced a new ultra-fast networking specification that will make data centers perform even better, and that will make the internet faster and more capable. A few days ago, PCI unexpectedly doubled the speed again. EE Times editors were at the annual Sensors Expo, which has become an important conference for the Internet of things. Also, the prevailing wisdom is that self-driving vehicles will be safer than human drivers. But what if there’s a third option – one that’s just as safe as self-driving cars are supposed to be?

Our lineup this week includes: A guided tour through London’s Tech Week, an annual extravaganza of new technologies. Unsurprisingly, this year there was an emphasis on artificial intelligence. We’ll have a report on the race to build the fastest supercomputers. And, you know those GPS apps you use for driving? Self-driving vehicles use maps too, but they need maps that are far more accurate. First up, EETimes editor Sally Ward-Foxton attended several events during London’s Tech Week. The UK is bidding to become a major hub for AI technology, but the same idea has occurred to other countries as well. And a quick translation of English to English for you. Glastonbury is a music festival not dissimilar to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where savvy festival veterans know to show up in knee-high rubber boots because enormous mud puddles are not uncommon.

This week: RISC-V has profound implications for the smartphone market; we checked to see if it’s ready. Moore’s Law will end –  unless maybe chiplets? Engineers are getting drawn into the gig economy, and it’s not the ones you’d think. And after 40 years, TI’s Speak & Spell speaks again.

In this week's briefing we discuss Infineon's bombshell announcement: the $10 billion dollar acquisition that seemed to come out of nowhere – Infineon bought Cypress Semiconductor, and the Design Automation Conference – DAC. If you know what’s happening with design tools, that gives you a good handle on what’s happening with the semiconductor industry.

This week we’ve got a dispatch from Monte Carlo about the recent Grand Prix ELECTRIC vehicle race. Also, a separate report on what’s going on with chips for Autonomous Vehicles. And we’ve been talking about the trade war with China from the US point of view – this week, our correspondent in China discusses how China’s high-tech industry thinks about the conflict.

Today is Friday, May 24th, and this is your EE Times Weekly Briefing. The biggest story in electronics this week affects almost everyone in the high-tech industry – from Huawei to Google to Infineon – to chip companies, circuit board suppliers – essentially the entire supply chain. The Trump Administration this week took steps that will certainly isolate Huawei and possibly cripple it. What was once delicately framed as a “trade tension” between the two nations has officially turned into an all-out-trade war, affecting not just the electronics industry, but nearly every other commercial segment around the world – from farming to aeronautics. This past week EE Times launched a Special Project that zeroed in on damage done during the trade conflict already. We have been reporting on all aspects of the fast-evolving situation – seen, reported and analyzed through the lenses of our reporters scattered all over the world. Accordingly, we are dedicating this week’s entire show to dissecting the outbreak of U.S.-China trade warfare.

This is your EE Times Weekly Briefing. Today is Friday, May 17th, and among the top stories this week: A sobering roadmap of semiconductor process technology-- potentially coming to a halt at 2 nanometers We were at the Electronic Distribution Show in Vegas last week. On the last day, the news broke that the United States had escalated a trade war with China. How will that affect the supply chain? New advanced imaging tools that could help restore Notre Dame in Paris, but a big question remains: Can anyone else afford them? Later in the show, we’re joined by two graphics technology experts, Jon Peddie and Kathleen Maher. We asked them to imagine the restoration of Notre Dame.

This is your EE Times Weekly Briefing. Today is Friday, May 10th, and among the top stories this week: Google I/O, Google's developers’ conference. CEO Sundar Pichai touted Google’s awakening to privacy for its users’ data. This week, EE Times launched a new Special Project package on Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on AI fairness. We ask and answer the question: “Will Machines Ever Learn to Be Fair?” Later on, we’re joined by Junko Yoshida, EE Times’ chief international correspondent, and EE Times executive editor Dylan McGrath. The two editors moderated panels at VerveCon in sunny Santa Clara. They share their observations at this unusual tech conference, where the main auditorium was filled not by male but female engineers.

This is your EETimes Weekly Briefing. Today is Friday, May 3rd, and among our top stories this week: A one-on-one interview with Hassane El-Khoury, CEO of Cypress Semiconductors.We’ll review the intelligence we picked up at the recent 5G Brooklyn Summit on the question: “If 5G is enough, do we need 6G?" And we’ll explain why Taiwanese companies who moved manufacturing in China decades ago are now coming back to Taiwan. Junko Yoshida, EE Times chief international correspondent, tells us the reason might not be what you’re thinking. This exodus is less about Trump but more about Xi Jinping. Later on, we’re joined by Judith Chen, Chief Editor responsible for EE Times & EDN in Taiwan and Asia. Judith outlines how and why a startup movement appears to be blossoming in Taiwan.

This is your EE Times Weekly Briefing. Today is Friday, April 26th, and among the top stories this week: ON Semi buys Globalfoundries’ ex IBM fab; TSMC’s CMOS process node shrinks, and Tesla’s Kitchen Sink Approach to autonomous vehicles. Later in the show, Echo Zhao will be here to discuss the 2019 China fabless survey results. And, at the bottom of the show, Bolaji Ojo, will join us to discuss what prompted him to start at EETimes a revealing new column, “My 35 years of journalism.”

Today is Friday, April 12th, and among the top stories this week - Qualcomm’s new data-center AI inference accelerator chip, the latest deep learning developments unveiled at a Stanford University gathering, and a new development that throws a monkey wrench into the debate about V2X – vehicle to everything -- in Europe.

IBM's John O'Brien shares the landscape of smart retail today. Keir Gilchrist and Nik Dodani, stars of the hit Netflix series "Atypical", joins David to discuss acting, autism, and neurodiversity in the workplace.

Dr. Bri-Mathias Hodge, Chief Scientist of the Power System Design and Studies Group at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, joins host David Finch to discuss the vast landscape of Smart Energy Grid installations.

In this human-centric look at Smart Cities, we speak with Jake Rishavy, visionary co-founder of the Denver Smart Cities Alliance determined to drive adoption in one of the fastest growing cities in America. Victor Gao lends perspective on some of the most advanced smart cities on earth.

Smart Cities. With thousands of urban centers around the globe, which ones can call themselves “smart”? What are the technologies, the policies, the philosophies that are making this technological revolution a reality? And, how do we define a smart city? In Part 1 of our inaugural, two-part episode, we explore some key technologies associated with smart cities. Daniel Cooley, Vice President and General Manager of IoT Products at Silicon Labs, joins host David Finch to discuss the role of the semiconductor industry in the evolution of the smart city.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/) podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains (http://sunnybains.com/) talks to Professor Giacomo Indiveri (https://www.ini.uzh.ch/en/research/groups/ncs.html), from the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich. They talk about building biologically-plausible neural circuits in silicon, the trade-offs involved in using analog and digital circuits, and how the technology has been translated into startups. After that, Sunny discusses the interview with Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

In this episode of the Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/) podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains (http://sunnybains.com/) talks to Dr Mitra Hartmann (https://robotics.northwestern.edu/people/profiles/faculty/hartmann-mitra.html), Professor of both Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University, and head of their sensory and neural engineering group. They discuss the ways in which modelling animal perceptual systems—in her case, the rat—can make us better at both understanding the brain and building technology. After that, Sunny discusses the interview with Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

In today's podcast, we hear from embedded.com editor in chief Nitin Dahad who attended the Industry 4.0 Summit in Porto, Portugal, interviewing executives handling manufacturing, operations and IT at Lam Research, Micron and Wolfspeed.

In this episode of Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/), EE Times regular Sunny Bains (http://sunnybains.com/) talks to Elisabetta Chicca (https://www.rug.nl/research/zernike/bio-inspired-circuits-and-systems/chicca-group/?lang=en), head of the bio-inspired Circuits and Systems research group at the University of Groningen, about building neural chips with memristors, adding electronic brains to neural robots, some of the current difficulties with learning algorithms for spiking systems and more. Discussion follows with Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

In this first episode of the new Brains and Machines (http://brainsandmachines.net/) podcast, EE Times regular Sunny Bains (http://sunnybains.com/) interviews André van Schaik (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/icns/about/people/researchers/professor_andre_van_schaik) from the Western Sydney University about how neuromorphic engineering has changed since the early 90s, a new project to help simulate neural and neuromorphic models, and more. Discussion follows with Giulia D’Angelo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliadangelo/) from the Italian Institute of Technology and Ralph Etienne-Cummings (https://engineering.jhu.edu/faculty/ralph-etienne-cummings/) from Johns Hopkins University.

Today’s episode, hosted by editor in chief Brett Brune, is first in a series of podcasts and articles on Diversity and Belonging in Electronics Engineering. You’ll hear from Electro Soft CEO Karla Trotman, on reaching the top.

EE Times has just released the 23rd edition of the Silicon 100, our annual list of electronics and semiconductor startups to watch. In this podcast with Embedded.com editor in chief Nitin Dahad, technology journalist Peter Clarke analyzes the current dynamics of the global startup ecosystem and discusses emerging technology trends.

Join us as we hear from Brett Brune, editor in chief of EETimes.com, and Barbara Jorgenson, editor in chief of EPSNews.com, about the exciting developments this report covers and what it means for the future of smart manufacturing.

Being a power engineer is like being a soccer goalie: no one notices you unless you fail and let one in. And if you’re controlling enough power, EVERYONE will notice because failure is typically accompanied by a startling bang and a cloud of smoke. Wide Bandgap technology, and GaN in particular, is relatively new, so how can a responsible engineer be convinced that the technology is ready for prime time and avoid an own-goal, particularly in application spaces where lives or big bags of money are riding on uninterrupted operation?Our guest today is Doug Bailey, VP of Marketing and Applications Engineering at Power Integrations. Mr. Bailey joined Power Integrations in 2004. Prior to joining PI, Mr. Bailey worked in a number of semiconductor marketing roles in Silicon Valley, and in the distant past, designed DSP and image processing ICs.

In this podcast, Nitin Dahad, editor in chief of Embedded.com, talks to Maryam Rofougaran, CEO and co-founder of Movandi, about 5G mmWave in terms of trends, opportunities and challenges for deployment, and what progress she expects over the next 18 months or so.

Join us as we hear from Brett Brune, editor in chief of EETimes.com, and Gina Roos, editor in chief of ElectronicProducts.com, about the exciting developments this report covers and what it means for the future of RF/Wireless technology.

In this podcast, we talk to Silicon Catalyst and Arm on how their Global Silicon Startups contest offers opportunity for accelerating growth.

ue to today’s connected world, a high volume of valuable data, susceptible to tampering and physical attacks, is processed, stored, and moved between devices, cars, and data centers. With each connected device comes more data to process and ultimately secure through various interfaces and systems to the cloud. Security is on center stage in the semiconductor industry, and all interfaces and data that move across them need to be secure. Even if all the base-level protocols and standards are met, designers must ensure that the entire SoC is protected. Additionally, as technology evolves (such as quantum computing), so do the threats and ways to attack systems, requiring increasingly reliable, resilient security solutions across the board that will be needed worldwide. Synopsys considers security an integral part of design architecture, not an afterthought.In this podcast, we will discuss the fundamentals of securing interfaces and how Synopsys’ Secure Interfaces allows designers to quickly implement the highest levels of security in their SoCs on every link while complying with the latest standards requirements, with low risk and quick time-to-market.

Power electronics must improve efficiency to meet international standards and reduce power waste, making in this way products more sustainable. From mobile phone chargers to industrial SMPS, all AC-powered applications need power supplies. Cambridge startup Pulsiv emerged with their power electronics technology. In this podcast episode featuring Darrel Kingham, Chief Executive Officer of Pulsiv, we will analyze how Pulsiv is reaching this market goal with a patent solution.

Today’s feature interview is with Gordon Cooper, Product Manager for AI and neural network processor IP at Synopsys. We cover the differences between Generative AI and object detection AI, as well as compared Generative AI to embedded AI. We’ll discuss ChatGPT, a transformer AI model, and explain its ability to identify patterns within large datasets. We will also discuss the challenges of implementing transformers in embedded spaces, along with the different areas where AI is being implemented in volume applications

Join us for an in-depth discussion on the long-awaited breakthrough of 800G Ethernet technology and the crucial role of industry standards in driving its adoption. In this podcast, Synopsys Sr. Product Manager John Swanson will provide expert insights into the technical details of 800G Ethernet and how industry standards are enabling greater interoperability. In this episode, discover the benefits of 800G Ethernet, including its greater bandwidth, improved reliability, and how industry standards are enabling greater interoperability. Whether you're a chip designer or a curious listener, this podcast is your guide to the exciting new developments in networking and the future of data transmission. Synopsys.com (https://www.synopsys.com/multi-die-system.html?cmp=disp_sol_mds_eet_pod_04142023_nn_NA_ucie_flt_no)

Join us as we hear from Brett Brune, Editor-in-Chief of EET.com, and Gina Roos, Editor-in-Chief of ElectronicProducts.com, about the exciting developments this report covers and what it means for the future of AV technology.

In this podcast episode with Manmeet Walia, we will explain the influence of UCIe, why it is the standard of choice over other interfaces, and how it helps designers overcome their die-to-die connectivity challenges for multi-die systems.

The embedded world conference is back. We scour every corner of the NürnbergMesse to provide you with the latest trends and demos in key areas such as AI, IoT, autonomous systems, safety and security, SoC design, embedded vision, etc.

Today we have Shekhar Kapoor, Sr. Director of Product Line Management at Synopsys. Shekhar outlines the industry’s shift to multi-die systems, challenges companies must consider, and how multi-die solutions can provide success in a competitive industry.

Electric and hybrid electric vehicles are seeking efficient and cost-effective power conversion technologies. Wide bandgap semiconductors provide higher performance compared to silicon. In this special report with Filippo Di Giovanni, Strategic Marketing, Power Transistor sub-Group, STMicroelectronics, Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio will discuss the main challenges and which benefits GaN/SiC can offer to the automotive industry.

Nitin Dahad, Editor-in-Chief of Embedded.com, presents a compilation of interviews on broad embedded trends, software portability for embedded IoT devices, and development for connected vehicle data platforms for this EE Times Current special report.

Majeed Ahmad and Brett Brune preview some of what readers will discover in EETimes.com’s first-ever Analog Everywhere special report.

Today's podcast includes highlights from the EE Times Education Panel discussion moderated by Nitin Dahad.In celebration of EE Times's 50th anniversary, EE Times held a panel to discuss "How to Expand the Semiconductor Industry Talen Pool" The panel welcomed Mark Lundstrom of Purdue University, Shari Liss from Semi Foundation, David Junkin of Cadence Academic Network, Robert Owen from Imagination Technologies and Brian Failing of NXP Semiconductors.Our panelists address what the talent gap means, bringing talent to the industry, gender equity, and how the traditional chip industry can appeal to a younger generation.

Our guest is Doug Bailey, VP of Marketing and Applications Engineering, Power Integrations; we’re here today to discuss a fascinating topic – Your old beer fridge; and how it’s your home’s power parasite.