01/08/2017
The traditional development flow of an all programmable Zynq SoC segments the design between processor system and programmable logic. The Zynq is a complex heterogeneous system which combines advanced ARM dual core Cortex-A9 processing systems with programmable logic. This programmable logic provides not only the traditional Flip Flops and Look Up Tables but also block RAM and distributed RAM, DSP Slices, PCIe endpoints and multi-gigabit transceivers. Users need a development environment which enables them to exploit the capability provided by both the processor and the programmable logic.
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27/06/2017
The latest ‘buzz phrases’ to emerge into general use are ‘machine learning’ and artificial intelligence, or AI. Both techniques have wide application, so it’s no surprise to find technology companies all of types pursing the opportunities.
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12/04/2017
Device developers have always looked to provide some degree of programmability in their products. But, with the exception of FPGAs and a few other parts, the components which developers have available to them offer fixed functionality.
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29/03/2017
FPGA technology has seen a significant change in the last two decades. From relatively simple devices used mainly as glue logic and for last minute board fixes, FPGAs have evolved into highly complex parts.
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19/01/2017
The application areas for embedded GPUs have expanded from smartphones and tablets, via TVs and vehicle infotainment systems, to sectors such as the IoT, wearables, VR/AR and servers.
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14/12/2016
While there’s nothing new about the use of FPGAs in electronics products, many engineers are only just beginning to explore how the devices could help to improve their designs.
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22/11/2016
FPGAs are rarely out of the news, but the acquisition of Altera by Intel in 2015 pushed the technology firmly into the headlines. Intel’s main reason for buying Altera was to provide a way to accelerate the performance of its Xeon processors, used widely in data centres. But Intel hasn’t been the only company turning its attention to the use of FPGAs in such applications; earlier in 2015, Microsoft said that Project Catapult used Altera’s Arria 10 FPGAs to boost data centre power/performance.
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22/11/2016
As the landscape of distribution continues to change with the prospect of further mergers and acquisitions, the rise of the Maker movement and megatrends such as the IoT, distributors are re-assessing how they interact with design engineers.
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11/10/2016
Systems on a Chip for wearable devices offer an astounding level of integration. Advanced manufacturing processes give SoC and MCU developers plenty of transistors to work with and these devices can integrate multicore processors, wireless connectivity, memory and graphics controllers.
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09/08/2016
Silicon photonics is a technology which has been under development for quite a few years, but has yet to make its presence felt in the market. But circuits and modulators based on the approach are beginning to appear as demand grows.
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28/06/2016
Speaking in 2012, Danny Biran – then Altera’s senior VP for corporate strategy – said he saw a time when the company would be offering ‘standard products’ – devices featuring an FPGA, with different dice integrated in the package. “It’s also possible these devices may integrate customer specific circuits if the business case is good enough,” he noted.
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12/05/2016
The history of the semiconductor industry has shown consistently a cyclical swing between programmability and fixed function – also known as Makimoto’s wave, see Figure 1. If this pattern is to continue, we are about to see a swing back to programmability.
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12/04/2016
Eight years ago, a New Electronics article about digital signal processors started: ‘Jump back a decade or more and there was little difficulty identifying just what digital signal processing was. Neither was there any problem in identifying a DSP. But times change. Today, DSP as a technique is beginning to disappear from view, hidden within applications. Whilst DSPs are still being produced, they are beginning to evolve into different types of device’.
You could argue that statement still has validity. So what is the ‘state of the DSP nation’?
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08/03/2016
A panel session at last year’s Electronics Design Show Conference addressed the question of whether engineers select the best technology for their next design or fall back on something with which they are familiar.
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08/03/2016
Those architecting the so called ‘mega datacentres’ are on red alert, according to Dr Andrew Rickman, CEO of Rockley Photonics. “The industry is on a mad path,” he contended. “Moore’s Law is proving difficult and costly but, with the right combination of elements, we can break the cycle.”
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08/03/2016
Machine vision, which uses high speed cameras and computers to perform complex inspections, is becoming more widespread. Systems mounted on production lines or in manufacturing cells are inspecting, directing or guiding the process, whilst managing product quality control.
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03/03/2016
Capacitive sensing touchscreens are becoming a common feature of the automotive Centre Information Display (CID), as car manufacturers adopt the advanced touch-sensing technology that was first used in smartphones in 2010.
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01/03/2016
For cloud and IoT applications, there is a rising need for flexible GbE firewalls in corporate network infrastructures. With integrated Open Source and x86-based AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs, Deciso’s OPNsense firewall appliance offers double the flexibility. It enables high throughput with low power consumption making it suitable for both enterprise and IoT appliances.
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12/01/2016
Hardware design has, traditionally, been accomplished in a linear fashion – the so called waterfall approach. This starts with requirements capture, followed by the production of a detailed specification and then an architecture.
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11/01/2016
Providing the multiple unrelated clocks of today's multiprocessor FPGA/SoC designs presents a complex challenge to designers; user-programmable clock ICs with independent output frequencies and formats offer a solution.
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08/12/2015
Engineers can select from a range of technologies which might be appropriate for their next design. Options include ASICs, FPGAs and embedded CPUs. But there is a suspicion that, rather than selecting the platform which will be best for the job, engineers fall back on something with which they’re familiar.
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24/11/2015
First realised 20 years ago, evolutionary hardware design continues to fascinate a small group of researchers. The attraction is not difficult to understand; instead of trying to design behaviour or structure into a system manually, you let the system determine for itself how it should work. Just like biology – only you need it to happen in less than a few million years.
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13/10/2015
Functional safety is becoming increasingly important in industrial and automotive applications, as is adherence to the relevant standards (IEC61508 and ISO26262 respectively
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11/08/2015
The digital revolution is still in its infancy for, while we may be sharing information through our smartphones, tablets and desktop computers, dumb objects such as fridges, clothes and furniture are set to become digitally connected.
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14/07/2015
Intel's recent announcement that it was to buy FPGA developer Altera for $17billion started people thinking about how the processor giant might take advantage of its newly acquired technology.
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