TSMC ships production wafers at 28nm as tapeouts double

Altera, AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Xilinx lead as tapeouts doubleBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukThe march of Moore's Law continues as TSMC starts shipping production wafers from its 28nm process technology. 
TSMC's 28nm process offering includes 28nm High Performance (28HP), 28nm High Performance Low Power (28HPL), 28nm Low Power (28LP), and 28nm High Performance Mobile Computing (28HPM). The

Read More

Top ten posts this month on the Embedded blog

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

The multi-gesture touchscreen continues to be the most popular story on The Embedded blog in October, but recent stories on the ARM Cortex-M4 and ST's ultra-low power microcontroller research have made an interesting entry into the list. With 9,800 views this month, these are just a small fraction of the stories that were of interest to the embedded community.

Read More

Applied Micro develops first ARMv8 64bit device on an FPGA

Ready for TSMC 40nm and 28nm process in 2012By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukApplied Micro has demonstrated the world’s first 64bit ARMv8 processor core running on an FPGA platform and parallels AppliedMicro’s launch of the industry’s first 64bit ARM 'Server-on-a-Chip' solution in a single footprint, designed to deliver disruptively low power and cost points for server and cloud computing

Read More

Point Grey Launches world's smallest superspeed USB 3.0 Flea3 Camera

384Mbyte/s for industrial and machine vision

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Digital camera experts Point Grey have developed the world's smallest USB3.0 camera.

Measuring just 29 x 29 x 30mm, the FL3-U3 is designed specifically for the demanding requirements of machine and computer vision applications. The first available models are based on monochrome and colour versions of the Sony

Read More

US updates its smart grid roadmap

Release 2.0 adds 22 standards, specifications and guidelines to the 75 in the NIST roadmapBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukNew standards, cybersecurity guidance and product testing proposals are among the new elements in an updated roadmap for Smart Grid interoperability by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US.The NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid

Read More

First step for laser diodes to challenge LEDs in lighting

Laser diodes provide higher brightness with more efficiency

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk




Sandia researcher Jeff Tsao examines the set-up used to test diode lasers as an alternative to LED lighting. Skeptics felt laser light would be too harsh to be acceptable. Research by Tsao and colleagues suggests the skeptics were wrong. (Photo by Randy Montoya). 


Researchers at Sandia Labs in

Read More

ARM moves into 64bit

Prototype systems using ARMv8 in 2014By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukCambridge processor core designer ARM has disclosed technical details of its new ARMv8 architecture, the first ARM architecture to include a 64bit instruction set. ARMv8 extends virtual addressing but keeps the backward compatibility with the 32bit ARMv7 architecture which is used for cores such as the Cortex-A9 and

Read More

Sensor array to test breath for multiple sclerosis

Key development could replace costly or painful testsBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukResearchers in Israel have developed a new sensor array that can diagnose MS by analysing the determined chemical compounds that appear in the breath of MS patients. Instead of using painful tests such as spinal tap or expensive ones such as an MRI, the team at the Laboratory of Nanomaterial-based Devices (

Read More

Atmel samples its Cortex M4 microcontroller as battle heats up

Fifth-generation family with up to 2MB of flash and 192KB of SRAM

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Atmel has weighed into the battle around the ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller with its SAM4S16 that is now sampling to lead customers.

This is its first M4 device, and challenges NXP, STMicroelectronics and TI who all have M4 parts. Freescale yesterday announced plans for an M4 device with an A5 

Read More

Libelium runs Bluetooth sensors over Zigbee for traffic monitoring

Real time system uses double radio feature in Waspmote sensor board


By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukSpanish startup Libelium has developed a Vehicle Traffic Monitoring Platform as part of its Smart Cities solution that combined Bluetooth sensors in a Zigbee network. 
The platform is capable of sensing the flow of Bluetooth devices in a given street, roadway or passageway while

Read More

Freescale combines ARM Cortex M4 and A5 cores in single chip

For simultaneous, deterministic real-time control and graphics-rich applications processing for industrial and automotive applications By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukFreescale Semiconductor has combined a high-performance ARM microcontroller (MCU) and an energy-efficient applications processor for simultaneous real-time control, graphics-rich apps processing and flexible connectivity.
The

Read More

Microchip launches its smallest, lowest-cost PIC32 microcontrollers

First PIC32s to offer on-board peripherals for audio playback and capacitive touch 
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk Microchip has launched a new series of low pin-count 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers (MCUs) that provide 61 DMIPS of performance, in packages as small as 5 mm x 5 mm, for space-constrained and cost-sensitive designs. The PIC32 ‘MX1’ and ‘MX2’ MCUs are the company's smallest and

Read More

Variscite aims for industry's fastest ARM module

Dual core Cortex-A9 SoM provides Atom performanceBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukIsraeli embedded board maker Variscite is aiming to provided the industry's fastest ARM System-on-module (SoM) by using a OMAP4 1.5GHz dual core processor from Texas Instruments.Using TI's OMAP4460 mobile processor fives VAR-SOM-OM44 board a wide range of target markets requiring rich multimedia functionality,

Read More

Hard drive shortage opens up market for solid state drives

Flooding in Thailand interrupts HDD supplies
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Suppliers in the UK and around the world have had their allocation of hard disk drives for the next quarter cancelled, driving up prices and creating an opportunity for solid state drive suppliers.
The shipments have been cancelled as a result of the severe flooding in Thailand, as all three large suppliers -

Read More

National Instruments Expands Smart Camera Family With Seven New Models

Atom processor provides colour and high resolution and IP67 for the first time By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukNational Instruments has added seven new models to its NI Smart Camera family, including colour and high-resolution options. The new NI 177x Smart Cameras feature a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor for increased processing power and an IP67 rating to protect the hardware from dust and

Read More

Portable Multimedia: iPhone 4S has new RF front end, altered Qualcomm modem and a throttled apps processor finds teardown

New iPhone4S teardown shows new RF front end, altered Qualcomm modem and a throttled apps processorPortable Multimedia reports the latest teardown from ABI Research that looks more closely at the iPhone4S

Read More

Scientists create logic gates from bacteria and DNA

Research at Imperial College London paves the way for new generation of biological computing devices
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Scientists at Imperial College have successfully demonstrated that they can build some of the basic components for digital devices out of bacteria and DNA.
Published in Nature Communications, the researchers have demonstrated that they can build logic gates out

Read More

World's First 1080p/30fps Video Analytics Solution on a Cyclone FPGA

Single-Chip for HD Video Analytics at 1080p/30fps for surveillanceBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk
Altera is expanding in high-definition (HD) video-surveillance with the world's first FPGA-based full-HD 1080p/(30 frames per second) 30fps video analytics on a Cyclone IV FPGA. Altera's single-chip solution provides a new level of video analytics performance, combining high throughput (60-Mpixel

Read More

Antenna diversity comes to cost-sensitive consumer applications

Atmel RF's latest transceiver offers low-power, antenna diversity and AES security for ISM, IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee RF4CE

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Atmel has launched a new RF transceiver that brings antenna diversity into the high-volume consumer markets in the 2.4GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band. The AT86RF232 transceiver includes all the necessary features to

Read More

First fully recyclable electronic paper technology

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan has developed the world's first electronic paper that can be fully recycled. i2R e-Paper provides a re-writable, re-usable and environmentally friendly recyclable print medium that can be manufactured in a variety of sizes for a 300dpi screen that uses a thermal printer to store and transmit images.
This will limit waste on short-lived

Read More

Altera integrates dual core ARM A9 processor into 28nm FPGA

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Altera has launched a family of ARM-based SoC FPGAs, integrating 28-nm Cyclone V and Arria V FPGA fabric, a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, error correcting code (ECC) protected memory controllers, peripherals and high-bandwidth interconnect into a single chip.

These SoC FPGAs inherit ARM's ecosystem of software development tools, debuggers,

Read More

German DJ equipment maker uses Bristol chip

Native Instruments Use XMOS Silicon in New ProductsGerman music and DJ equipment designer Native Instruments is using a chip developed in Bristol by XMOS Semiconductor for its latest products. The Berlin company is using the XMOS single chip processors as an audio streaming platform in their product range, helping them to deliver systems that use the latest USBAudio Class 2.0 standard. “We are

Read More

Antenova develops complete GPS receiver module for under $3

SiRFstarIII system embedded GPS applicationsBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukAntenova Ltd in Cambridge has developed a GPS receiver module that costs less than $3 to open up the technology to new embedded applications. 
The RADIONOVA SS3 Receiver Module is a complete GPS receiver including SiRFstarIII GPS IC and all front end RF components in a very small low profile single package module. It

Read More

Energy harvesting from human respiration

Using breath to generate a microwatt to power small devices

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

One of the strangest ways to harvest energy to power small devices has come from engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Xudong Wang, postdoctoral Researcher Chengliang Sun and graduate student Jian Shi have created a plastic microbelt

Read More

Manchester takes key step to graphene electronics

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukThe team at the University of Manchester that discovered the properties of graphene team have for the first time demonstrated how it can be used inside electronic circuits in the future.By sandwiching two sheets of graphene with another two-dimensional material, boron nitrate, the team created a graphene 'Big Mac' – a four-layered structure which they say could

Read More

Researchers develop fail-safe battery-free wireless sensor security system

Energy harvesting from radio signals powers sensorsBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukResearchers in Germany have developed a fail-safe system for wireless window sensors that is particularly easy to use and needs no wiring or batteries as the sensors harvest the energy they need to run from ambient radio signals.


“Our wireless window contacts draw all their energy from ambient radio signals,”

Read More

The Top Ten Most Wanted Wireless Innovations

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukMaking porting embedded software between wireless platform easier is one the biggest demand of the industry, according to a new top ten list of 'most wanted' innovations.The list from The Wireless Innovation Forum represents the collective view of the Forum’s 100+ member organizations on innovations, either technical, business or regulatory, that if achieved

Read More

ST teams with MIT on ultra low power microcontroller well under 1mW

System-on-Chip for Implantable Medical, Wireless Sensor Networks and Mobile Applications
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


STMicroelectronics and the Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) of Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working on an advanced R&D project targeting a low-power 32bit microprocessor technology that would give a core operating power consumption under 1mW

Read More

STMicroelectronics and Fraunhofer Institute Show World's First MPEG-DASH 3D Adaptive Video-Streaming Software Receiver

Gives uninterrupted video delivery and optimum viewing on any connected deviceBy Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.ukSTMicroelectronics has been working with Fraunhofer's Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) on the first 3D video receiver to use the new MPEG-DASH standard for dynamic and adaptive HTTP streaming. The fully working prototype was developed within the EU-funded COAST (Content Aware Searching

Read More

Freescale Introduces Ultra-Low-Power Smart Radio for Wireless Metering and Medical Applications

Sub-1 GHz solution with hardware, software and tools to help simplify development 

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Freescale Semiconductor has launched a new ultra-low-power, sub-1GHz integrated smart radio chip for smart metering, medical, building and home automation applications.
The MC12311 platform combines a sub-1GHz RF transceiver featuring high link budget and strong blocking

Read More