Archives: Articles
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Aye Calypto
Back in the 1980s, chips were designed with schematics. There was a comprehensive design tool flow to support schematic-based methodology, and the world had three…
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Optimizing the Energy Harvest
I’ve always found ISSCC to be a useful exercise. If nothing else, it puts me in my place if I ever start thinking I know…
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Which Will be the First Penguin in the Water?
Years ago I saw a television wildlife programme about penguins. One image that has remained in my mind was that of the hungry penguins clustering…
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Get Your Motor Running
One of the definitions of an “embedded” system, as opposed to a “computer,” is, “anything that uses electronics to replace a previously mechanical device.” Programmable…
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Xilinx vs. Altera
Hatfields vs McCoys, Coke vs Pepsi, Democrats vs Republicans, Army vs Navy, Nike vs Adidas, Microsoft vs Apple, iOS vs Android, Star Trek vs Star…
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Of HIDs and HALs and Hubs
Those of you in the sensor world are deeply involved with the low-level nuances and intricacies of your devices. How accurate, how linear, how to…
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Wireless Power Standards Proliferate
With new technologies come new standards. And resonant power transmission technology, which we covered recently, is no different. As a quick review, this is a…
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The Mid-Winter Grab Bag
I finally got the call. My phone rang, and the caller at the other end said, “This is Microsoft Technical Support. We’ve detected—”. I cut…
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Keeping Score
We humans are a competitive bunch. Our competitive instinct inspires us to many of our greatest accomplishments. It’s not enough to simply do a thing.…
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Monotonic Convergence
Synopsys recently announced the results of a flow collaboration with Fujitsu. Modestly buried in the discussion was a mention of 33% improvement in logic per…