Samsung prototypes flexible quantum dot display

Transfer printing for 4in display using quantum dots

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

In what may well turn out to be a key development in displays, Samsung and the University of Cambridge have developed a small prototype display using quantum dots that are transfer printed onto a  substrate. Light-emitting diodes with quantum dot luminophores demonstrate high quantum yields, extremely

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Silicon Image Launches Third-Generation WirelessHD 60GHz Chipsets

Transmission of Uncompressed HD Video and Audio targets mobile devices

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Hot on the heels of its acquisition of SiBeam, Silicon Image is launching a third generation 60GHz WirelessHD chipset for high speed HD video applications. The SiI6300 family consists of the SiI6320 HRTX Network Processor, SiI6321 HRRX Network Processor and SiI6310 HRTR RF Transceiver and

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Embedded Vision Alliance forms to drive machine vision

Industry leaders unite on “machines that see”
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

More than fifteen leading technology companies— including some of the largest semiconductor companies—have joined forces to speed the adoption of computer vision capabilities in electronic products.  The ability of machines to see and understand their environments - embedded vision - promises to transform the

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Renesas pushes microcontrollers into LED lighting

Combines control, power and comms and expects to ship 1m units a month next year
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Renesas Electronics has launched a family of five 16bit single chip microcontrollers for the LED control, power supply control and communication functions required in LED lighting fixtures.
The RL78/I1A family addresses the need of a variety of lifestyles for lower cost,

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TSMC to tape out 89 28nm designs

Targets 20nm designs using ARM Coretex processor cores
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

TSMC's customers are taping out 89 new designs on its 28nm process using the Open Innovation Platform (OIP) design infrastructure. The company is also introducing OIP enhancements, including the delivery of Reference Flow 12.0 and Analogue/Mixed Signal (AMS) Reference Flow 2.0."TSMC customers can

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Boosting multicore performance

Two new techniques speed multicore performance by up to 40%

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed two new techniques to help maximize the performance of multi-core computer chips by allowing them to retrieve data more efficiently, which boosts chip performance by 10 to 40 percent.
To do this, the new techniques allow multi-core chips

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Rohde & Schwarz sniff protocols with security software acquisition

Adds software to monitor VOIP and P2P packets
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

With the acquisition of ipoque, a startup in Leipzig specialising in Internet traffic management and network analysis, German radio test equipment maker Rohde & Schwarz is entering an entirely new market segment in the field of security.
Ipoque was founded in 2005 and focuses on bandwidth management and network

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Silicon Labs drives energy harvesting for wireless networks

Turnkey Energy Harvesting Reference Design 
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


Silicon Labs has launched what it claims is the industry's most energy-efficient wireless sensor node solution powered by a solar energy harvesting source. A turnkey energy harvesting reference design enables developers to implement self-sustaining, ultra-low-power wireless sensor networks for home and building

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Ford develops heart monitor in car seats

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Ford engineers in Germany have developed a car seat that can monitor a driver’s heartbeat.
A joint project undertaken by experts from Ford’s European Research and Innovation Centre in Aachen, Germany and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, the seat uses six special embedded sensors to detect electrical impulses generated by

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NetLogic starts volume production of IPv6 processors

New generation of IPv6 equipment from Tier One OEMs


By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

NetLogic Microsystems is shipping its NL11k family of IPv6 knowledge-based processors in volume for delivery to customers’ next generation of IPv6 switches and routers. The first of over two dozen IPv6 systems from leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are using the NL11k knowledge-based

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Redpine moves to 3x3 MIMO for HD video over WiFi

BEAM450 chipset includes MIMO ML decoding, transmit beamforming and simultaneous dual-band for 450Mbit/s throughput

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Redpine Signals has developed a family of highly integrated semiconductor products conforming to the 802.11n standard that are the first MIMO chips to support "software configurable simultaneous dual-band." This patent pending feature enables

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Digilent opens up Arduino with 32bit Microchip development boards

Dev Boards and Open-Source Software for protoyping and teaching

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Digilent has launched a development board for the popular open source Arduino microcontroller technology based around a 32bit chip from Microchip, reducing the cost of the boards and the end system.This will open up more opportunities for prototyping, teaching in universities and hobbyists as

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Freescale moves Coldfire microcontrollers to 90nm with added mixed signal

FlexMemory and ultra-low power consumption for consumer and industrial applications on next generation devices
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

In a move that will be welcomed by many embedded system designers, Freescale has ported its Coldfire architecture to 90nm and added more mixed signal capability to give higher integration and lower power consumption. Built on 90nm thin film storage

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Antenova launches complete surface mount GPS system

Puts u-blox GPS and antenna in a Surface Mount Device with Easy External Matching

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Cambridge antenna developer Antenova  has developed a surface mount GPS Radio Antenna Module taht combines the u-blox 6 GPS chipset with Antenova’s high performing GPS antenna for embedded GPS, machine-to-machine (M2M) and mobile device manufacturers. The M10382 uses Antenova's 

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NXP demonstrates new 'car-to-anything' IEEE802.11p comms platform

Car-to-x (C2X) communication on a public road in Holland
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors has demonstrated car-to-x (C2X) communication on a public road in the Netherlands. With this demo, NXP is the first semiconductor company to take the step from showing concepts to actually demonstrating an automotive-ready hardware platform for connected mobility. NXP

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World's smallest 3D printer

LED printer at just 1200 eurosBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

A research project at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) is aiming to could turn futuristic 3D-printers into affordable everyday items.
Printers which can produce three-dimensional objects have been available for years but the project has developed a much smaller, lighter and cheaper version that could be mass

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SiGe deal drives Skyworks into embedded wireless

Adds short range wireless and key embedded customersBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

SiGe Semiconductor has had a chequered few years and has finally succumbed, being bought by up and coming power amplifier supplier Skyworks in a deal worth up to $275m.
The acquisition of SiGe complements Skyworks’ wide area front-end solutions by adding SiGe’s innovative short range, silicon-based products

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Toshiba to buy Landis+Gyr to move into smart grid

$2.3bn deal to build smart grid leader
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Toshiba is to buy Landis+Gyr for $2.3bn to build the world leader in Smart Grid technology.

The acquisition is designed to create a new platform within Toshiba specifically targeting the global Smart Grid opportunity for both utility customers and consumers. Landis+Gyr has over 8,000 utility customers around teh world

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SanDisk buys Pliant for SSD market

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Flash chip maker SanDisk has bought solid state disk company Plaint Technology in a $327m deal to catapult the company into the SSD market.
Pliant, whos new CEO started last month, currently sells ultra-high performance enterprise solid state drives based on multi-level cell flash memory and the SAS protocol to meet the performance, data integrity and

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AMC launches compact Atom embedded PC

 Only 1U in height and 120mm square

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Advanced Modular Computers has introduced two new highly-compact industrial computers targeted at industrial thin-client applications or distributed processing nodes such as those found in production lines. The small form factor and rugged construction is ideal for mounting within existing equipment or in inaccessible

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New MRAM plant for Russia

Joint venture with Crocus of the US
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Crocus Technology, a US developer of MRAM technology is teaming up with the RUSNANO Russian nano-technology investment fund to start a new manufacturing joint venture with a combined investment totaling $300 million. Under the agreement, Crocus and RUSNANO will form Crocus Nano Electronics (CNE), to build an advanced MRAM

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Silicon Image sets up new 60GHz wireless division after SiBeam acquisition

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Multimedia chip designer Silicon Image is setting up a wireless division following the $25m acquisition of 60GHz chip pioneer SiBeam.
“The SiBEAM acquisition supports our long-term growth strategy to offer a full range of HD connectivity options based on wired and wireless industry standards,” said Camillo Martino, chief executive officer of Silicon Image,

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New solar product claims capture of up to 95 percent of light energy

Consumer production in five years
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


A University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.
Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering Department, says energy generated using

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Samsung sets up European LTE operation in UK

Exclusive organization covering the whole of Europe for mobile broadband equipment

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Samsung has set up a specialist organization, the Europe Network Operations (ENO), as a centre of 4G business in Europe. The ENO will be based in Samsung’s European HQ in Chertsey, UK.
In addition, the ENO plans to cooperate with European operators to find the most effective

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NXP aims to put an internet address in every light bulb

GreenChip smart lighting opens up new design approaches for energy efficiency

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

NXP Semiconductors has launched a smart lighting solution that makes the Internet-enabled, energy-efficient lighting network a reality – not only for businesses, but also for consumers trying to make the most of energy savings in the home.
This would allow people to monitor, manage

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Rambus buys up crypto technology

Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire embedded expert Cryptography ResearchBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Rambus, more famous for licensing high speed memory designs and fighting cases in court, is to buy  privately-held Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), a leading semiconductor security R&D and licensing company. Rambus plans to acquire CRI for $342.5 million comprised of $167.5 million in

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Green Hills designs new scheduler for multicore version of its secure INTEGRITY-178B operating system

DO-178B level A and SKPP/EAL6+ compliant operating systems for a multicore RTOS on Freescle QorIQ 
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

The latest version of the INTEGRITY-178B real-time operating system (RTOS) from Green Hills Software supports multicore processors with initial availability on Freescale Semiconductor’s family of QorIQ processors.
Green Hills has developed a patent-pending

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Libelium enables over the air programming with 802.15.4 and ZigBee

Entire network re-programmed in a couple of minutes using multihop routing

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Libelium has launched technology for over the air programming (OTAP) for wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things. This brings OTA capabilities for the first time to unlicensed frequency bands (2.4GHz, 868MHz, 900MHz) and to low power communication using protocols such as

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VIA Labs links USB3.0 to SATA

V bridge controller provides more flexibility for embedded designsBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Embedded chip developer VIA Labs has had its VL701 Low-Power USB 3.0 to SATA Bridge Controller certified by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) as adhering to strict power-consumption criteria for bus-powered devices. VIA Labs is currently the first and only company to achieve USB-IF Bus-Powered

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Portable Multimedia: NVIDIA makes key move into wireless with Icera

Portable Multimedia: NVIDIA makes key move into wireless with Icera

NVIDIA is to add baseband and RF capability to its Tegra processors by acquiring reconfigurable technology developerIcera in a $367m deal.
‪“This is a key step in NVIDIA’s plans to be a major player in the mobile computing revolution,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, President and CEO of NVIDIA. “Adding Icera’s technology to Tegra gives us

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BVM brings the Core i7/i5/i3 to industrial applications in Mobile MicroATX

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


BVM in Southampton has added to its family of compact Micro ATX format motherboards with a motherboard based on Intel's Mobile QM57 Express chipset. This allows the MS-C71 to support the 32nm Intel Core i7/i5/i3 Mobile processors in the rPGA988A socket with up to 8GB of 1066MHz dual-channel memory to minimise power consumption and reduce the cooling

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Broadcom to add security software to embedded systems with Israeli acquisition

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk
Following the trend set by Intel's acquisition of anti-virus software developer McAfee, Broadcom is to  acquire a leading security software developer based in Israel.
With SC Square Ltd., Broadcom is acquiring an expert team of engineers focused on security, which Broadcom says is an essential ingredient across its embedded platforms. The acquisition is part

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Logic PD claims world's smallest embedded system-on-module

Based on TI's DaVinci digital media processor and Sitara ARM microprocessor
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


Logic PD has launched what it claims is the industry’s smallest embedded modules: the Torpedo System on Modules (SOM) based on Texas Instruments’ DM3730 DaVinci video processor and AM3703 Sitara ARM microprocessor. The Torpedo SOMs (above) occupy less than one square inch yet offer

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Renesas moves mobile chip to SODIMM modules for embedded apps

Works with Cogent on system-on-moduleBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Renesas Electronics has teamed up with Cogent Computer Systems to puts its SH-Mobile SH7724 chip onto a System On Module (SOM) for low cost, rapid development of embedded systems.The SH-Mobile R-Series is an application processor based on Renesas SH-Mobile series, which is widely used in mobile phones in Japan and other

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Microchip moves to Open-Source development tool with full cross-platform support

MPLAB X IDE adds multiple simultaneous debugging sessions, advanced editor and code completion for Linux, Mac and Windows 

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Microchip, one of the leading suppliers of 8, 16 and 32bit microcontrollers, has launched its next-generation, open-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based on Netbeans with cross-platform support for Linux, Mac OS and

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Synopsys aims USB 3.0 Host Controller IP at mobile systems

The Embedded Blog: Synopsys' USB 3.0 Host Controller IP Receives USB-IF Certification for SoC

USB3.0 SuperSpeed systems have taken a step forward as Synopsys has certified its DesignWare SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) IP for including in a wide range of system-on-chip designs, reducing cost. The core is available in cost effective 65nm and 130nm process technology

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Synopsys' USB 3.0 Host Controller IP Receives USB-IF Certification for SoC

Silicon-Proven DesignWare IP Lowers Design Risk and Allows Interoperability 
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

USB3.0 SuperSpeed systems have taken a step forward as Synopsys has certified its DesignWare SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) IP for including in a wide range of system-on-chip designs, reducing cost. The core is available in cost effective 65nm and 130nm

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Intel should push 3D transistors into embedded says In-Stat

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Market researchers In-Stat are highlighting the need for Intel to push its vertical FINFET transistors and 22nm process technology into the embedded market much more quickly.
"The development [of FINFETs] did not come out of thin air," says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist at market researchers In-Stat. "Intel and others in the industry have been

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ST launches next generation dual core ARM chip for interfaces and multimedia

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

STMicroelectronics has developed a new embedded microprocessor with advanced multimedia capabilities. The latest addition to ST’s dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 microprocessor family, the SPEAr1340 targets a broad range of smart connected devices, from high-resolution video-conferencing to intelligent displays and web-connected devices.
The SPEAr1340 integrates an

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Flexible e-ink screen set to make waves

A prototype of a flexible display using e-ink technology could revolutionise portable multimedia systems, says a researcher in Canada. Using a flexible display opens up new ways to interact, including flicking the screen to thumb through pages.
“This is the future. Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years,” says creator Roel Vertegaal, the director of Queen’s University

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Intel to use vertical FINFET transistors in chips by year end - video and update

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Intel is aiming to use its vertical FINFET transistors technology in processors by the end of the year. It has demonstrated its Ivy Bridge processor using 22nm process technology running and says these will ship by the end of the year.
The FINFET technology, first revealed in 2002, is a vertical rather than traditional planar transistor structure which Intel

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Freescale announces 'creative' robotics design contest

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Freescale Semiconductor has launched a design contest to develop and submit a unique sensor robotic or system design based on Freescale’s latest sensor development kit in the form of a walking robot or the Freescale Tower System.
To coincide with the contest, Freescale has introduced a sensor development kit and new Tower Mechatronics Board that contestants

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RF Monolithics cuts size of Zigbee Pro module in half

Footprint 20-50% Smaller Than Competing Modules with 1MB of flash
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

RF Monolithics in Dallas has launched an RF module for the ZigBee Smart Energy and Home Automation Profile that adds a megabyte of flash storage for data logging and still reduces the footprint by half. The ZPM3570 ZigBee Pro module uses a Coretex M3 ARM processor and Ember RF chip and is aimed

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Atego acquires US avionics specialist HighRely

Software tools supplier Atego has bought US avionics software specialist HighRely.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, HighRely supplies tools for developing aerospace and avionics systems, medical equipment, nuclear and transportation systems, covering the whole project lifecycle from application planning, specification and design through to build, testing, verification, certification and implementation.

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TI launches industry's first FRAM microcontroller

MSP430FR57xx FRAM microcontroller writes up to 100x times faster
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Texas Instruments has announced the industry’s first ultra-low-power ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) 16-bit microcontrollers that it believes will drive a new era of reliable data logging and RF communication capabilities.
TI claims the new MSP430FR57xx FRAM series ensures data can be

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INCHRON in strange deal with IBM to reduce complexity of embedded systems

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

IBM isn't a name you come up with when thinking about embedded systems, but German real time critical software design and test house Inchron has made a significant deal for Big Blue to use its complete range of tools and services.
Inchron's products enable designers to model, simulate and analyze the dynamic real-time behaviour of embedded systems at an early

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Intel Intends To Standardize All-in-One PC With Mini-ITX Form Factor « My Digital Life

Intel Intends To Standardize All-in-One PC With Mini-ITX Form Factor « My Digital LifeHmmm, interesting.

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Kontron launches its smallest pico-ITX board with graphics

2.5in SBC supports DDR3, DirectX11 and 1080p in embedded apps

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Kontron has launched its smallest embedded single board computer (SBC) based on the AMD Embedded G-Series with Fusion technology. The new Kontron 2.5-inch Pico-ITX KTA55/pITX has a wide range of dedicated interfaces, extremely small footprint (100 x 72 mm) and low power requirements and is

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TI's new TINA-TI SPICE simulator 9.1 increases speed 5X

Adds Chinese, Japanese and Russian versions
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

The latest version of Texas Instruments'  TINA-TI 9.1 SPICE-based analogue design and simulation tool averages a 5X speed increases over version 7.0. This allows engineers to design, test and troubleshoot a broad variety of basic and advanced analogue circuits, including complex architectures, without any node or

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Wind River turns 30

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Real time operating system company Wind River turns 30 this year. In a blog post, Tomas Evensen points to the early moves to add a TCP/IP stack and GDB for debugging to VxWorks, then providing the Tornado and Workbench development environments and now providing a choice of operating systems, real-time or open source/Linux.
But he points particularly to

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Express Logic adds real time code profiling with IAR Systems

IAR Embedded Workbench now displays ThreadX-captured profiling information
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

RTOS developer Express Logic has added access to Performance Execution Profiling information with IAR Embedded Workbench. Developers need as much information as possible to correctly design and implement applications for commercial systems. That information must be presented in a clear,

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Wireless Power Devices to Reach Critical Mass During the Next Decade Says Market Research

Crossover in 2012 with $1bn revenue
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Cleantech market intelligence firm Pike Research forecasts that the wireless power industry will reach a key inflection point in 2012 when it crosses the $1 billion revenue mark, and shipments of wireless power devices will achieve significant growth during the years following that milestone.
“The electrical cord is the one

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New carbon nanotube pixel technology for OLED displays could pave way for next generation of consumer electronics

A new technique for developing OLED pixels using carbon nanotubes allows lower voltages to be used, leading to larger and more efficient screens for consumer devices say researchers at the University of Florida here.By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

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The ARM desktop PC that's just for developers - for the moment

Trim-Slice NVIDIA Tegra 2 desktop ships - well, sort of
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Israeli computer developer CompuLab is announcing immediate availability of an ARM-based desktop PC based around the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip, with prices starting at a frankly amazing $199. 
However, while the announcement has been well received - see the links below - the tiny system (left) is not shipping

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LTE chip suppliers in 2011

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

From the Portable Multimedia blog and market researchers Forward Concepts, here's a very interesting list of LTE chip suppliers for 2011:
Altair: FourGee-3100 undergoing field trials. 
Broadcom (via Beceem acquisition): Announced, likely sampling Q1/2012
Cavium Networks (via WaveSat acquisition): Odyssey Single-mode LTE chip is sampling.
Intel/Infineon (via

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