Embedded Executive Podcast

Every IoT device should comply with the Connectivity Standard Alliance (CSA) Matter standard , but we know that’s not the case. For some developers, doing that is a no-brainer. However, there are some developers who struggle with the process. For that latter group, the CSA recently released a Matter-compliant platform certification that should help them get to market far more quickly.  To explain...

Compilers and ADAS aren’t often used in the same sentence. For developers, that anomaly can represent a design challenge, as compilers in general are not designed for this particular application, which also happens to be at the top of the safety and security checklist.  To understand how these compilers should be tested and implemented, I spoke to Sjoerd van der Zwaan, the Chief Product Officer at...

AI at the endpoint gets yet another boost from EMASS, a fabless semiconductor company that recently emerged from stealth mode.  Having your processing at the endpoint presents a few significant challenges, namely the amount of processing that can be made available and the ability to run from a battery. EMASS has come up with a way to do this a little differently from what’s been done previously. T...

No matter what your end device is, be it a light bulb or a driver’s license, it needs to be secure. I don’t think we need to go through the reasons why it needs to be secure. How you do that is becoming increasingly more difficult. And you may be looking at protecting millions of devices, where each one needs its own unique identity.  To get a handle on how you would do this, at least where you wo...

AI is a technology that generally requires a significant amount of power and high compute performance. Hence, it’s typically relegated to the Cloud or to an Edge-based computer. Performing AI at the endpoint has not been feasible for those reasons. With ambiq’s Sub-threshold Power Optimized technology (SPOT), performing AI at the endpoint is a reality. And the doors/applications that it opens are...

We’ve done podcasts in the past that discussed automating your code documentation. But we haven’t touched much on automating the code generation itself until now.  On this week’s Embedded Executives podcast , I spoke to Jonathan Hacker, the Founder and CTO of TeleCANesis , and that’s exactly what they do. We got into the issues of why automated coding is better than manual coding. Then we had a ve...

Designing a device that incorporates AI can be daunting, for a good reason—it’s very complex. When you push that design out to the Edge, it brings in even more challenges, both on the hardware and software sides of the equation.  To understand what these challenges are and where a designer can turn for help, I spoke to Amir Panush, the CEO of CEVA , on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast . He...

Silicon Labs recently announced an MCU that has achieved the highest level of security possible to date, which is PSA Level 4. The questions you may be asking are, “What does that mean, and is this something I need to understand?”  To get answers to these questions and many related ones, I spoke to Sharon Hagi, the Chief Security Officer at Silicon Labs , on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast...

We’re in the era of quantum computing. That brings with it a lot of great things. But at the same time, it brings some not so good things. Once again, we’re in a race to stay ahead of the bad guys to keep our systems secure.  Folks like the experts at Infineon are doing what they can to do just that. And the best part is that they are trying to insulate their customers from having to deal with all...

The boom coming from AI is requiring data centers to be built as fast as we can build them. To that end, there is a lot of discussion about the power that’s needed to drive these data centers. What there’s not a lot of discussion about are the interconnects that are used within these power-hungry computing camps. And that’s the specialty of Point2 Technology , a fairly new company that boasts ultr...

For as long as we’ve been designing embedded computers and consumer electronics, we’ve had a problem figuring out how to handle the heat that’s created. Known as thermal management, the problem seems omnipresent as systems become more compact, processors run faster, and so on.  Unfortunately, many designers don’t think about thermal management until it’s too late in the design process, which furth...

While it may not be as intimidating as it once was, antenna design can still be a make-or-break aspect of your end product. Make the antenna too big, and the end users balk. Make the antenna too small, and the device won’t function properly (and end users will balk).  To understand where and how the antenna design should begin, I spoke with Dermot O'Shea, the CEO of Taoglas, an expert in ante...

TSMC recently announced its exit from the GaN space. Well, maybe “announced” is the wrong word, but they did let customers know that they will not be producing GaN devices going forward.  Details are still coming out, so we don’t know exactly when that stoppage will occur. So what does that mean for TSMC partners who relied on them to produce their products?  To understand what that means, I spoke...

Compute in the automobile is (again) moving toward consolidation and away from the discrete nature of multiple processors around the vehicle. Is this a trend that’s going to stick? I guess it depends on who you ask.  In this case, I asked Robert Moran, the GM & VP for Automotive Processors at NXP Semiconductors . As we add AI and autonomous drive to the software-defined vehicle (SDV), a move l...

The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is a regulation designed to enhance cybersecurity for products mainly sold in Europe. It establishes common cybersecurity standards for hardware and software, requiring manufacturers to build security into their products from design through the products’ complete lifecycle. It’s this latter concept that can be troubling, as sometimes devices stay in use for a long, l...

While most autonomous vehicle focus is on the automobile, Mozee is going in a slightly different direction, no pun intended. Mozee is focused on autonomous buses, or vehicles that transport large numbers of people. As you might expect, such a system has its challenges, in addition to those typically associated with an automobile. What makes the company’s solution different is that it operates in r...

Two technologies seem to be barreling ahead at a rapid pace, and there is likely a convergence coming shortly, if it hasn’t already occurred. I’m referring to space travel and artificial intelligence. But in my limited knowledge, there appears to be a disconnect in this marriage, whereby how could AI make decisions on something it’s never encountered before?  To boost my limited knowledge, I invit...

Designing wearables with integrated AI /ML just got one step easier with Nordic Semiconductor’s acquisition of Neuton. AI . While the two companies had already been working together, you can expect a lot more integration between Nordic’s MCUs and the very low-power AI IP that Neuton. AI has become famous for.  On this week’s Embedded Executives podcast . I spoke to Øyvind Strom, the EVP of Nordic’...

The line between a maker and a maker pro is quite fuzzy. In my opinion, the maker wants to build one of something, and likely won’t want to build more than one. The maker pro starts out building one, but knows somewhere down the line that the project could turn into a far larger volume.  If you fall into that latter group, does that change some of your design decisions, even where you begin?  Do y...

ISO 8800 is a standard aimed at functional safety in automotive applications, pertaining to artificial intelligence. It provides the guidelines for integrating AI systems into any safety-related functions of road vehicles. In full disclosure, I wasn’t aware of this standard, and I was frankly surprised I wasn’t.  To remedy the situation, I invited Jill Britton, the Director of Compliance at Perfor...

Here’s a walk down memory lane. The Eclipse Foundation dates back more than 20 years. Mike Milinkovich, the Foundation’s Executive Director, has held this role since its inception. The role of the foundation and the embedded industry in general has evolved more than anyone could have conceived.  Stay tuned to hear about some of the issues the Foundation has been involved with and what’s been requi...

We talk about AI a lot here at Embedded Computing Design, and that’s a huge understatement. What we don’t talk about often is the power required to keep the data centers going, specifically the data centers that form the backbone of all this AI activity.  When you talk to experts in this space, they’ll tell you that the amount of power needed, specifically the power density, is staggering. One of...

Nordic Semiconductor is certainly one of the leaders in the embedded space regarding microcontroller technology. Frankly, I feel like the company is one of the best-kept secrets. When I had the opportunity to speak with their (sort of) new CEO, I jumped at it.  Hear my discussion with Vegard Wollan, Nordic’s President and CEO, where he explains some of the moves he has made in his tenure, and what...

Some “experts” in the embedded space will swear that systems based on open-source software or hardware can never be secure. At the same time, others will say that such a notion is pure nonsense. To get a better feel for the argument and understand what is accurate and what is not, I spoke to Jan Pleskac, the Co-Founder and CTO of Tropic Square , on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast . The com...

In a typical SoC, you handle all your processing functionality within the processor core. Makes sense, right? What if you can handle your processing within the SoC’s memory subsystem? If I understand the concept correctly, the time and power to handle those processing functions would be reduced considerably, which is needed in an AI application. So why hasn’t someone done this?  Someone has, and t...