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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Apple’s Vison Pro Headsets and The Future of Spatial Computing
All eyes were on Apple for the recent launch of its much-anticipated Vision Pro headset. As with previous Apple device introductions (iPod, iPhone, iPad – all were historic in their own right), the new Vision Pro is an engineering marvel in multiple dimensions. The impossibly sophisticated technology that’s been carefully integrated within the Apple Vision Pro is seriously impressive. Its capabilities – too numerous to detail here – are a testament to Apple’s innovation in, what it calls, spatial computing.
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Plasma Dicing Enables Challenging Applications Including D2W Hybrid Bonding
According to Richard Barnett of SPTS/KLA, as semiconductor content proliferates across networks and devices, there’s a growing demand for increased semiconductor functionality packed into smaller, thinner, and stronger packages. Plasma dicing offers an optimized approach to die singulation as chips get smaller, thinner, and more complex and this challenge invites a fresh look at die singulation methods.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Wireless Gaming Mice Have a New Performance Standard: Latency
While polling rate will remain an important differentiator among mice, when it comes to wireless gaming mice, expect to hear pro gamers and product reviewers alike talking more and more about latency going forward. The new breed of wireless esports mice should also be assessed for their latency, because ultra-fast polling rates may provide little advantage if the performance gains are squandered in latency.
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AMD Embedded Blog: Together with MakarenaLabs advancing Digital Twin & Robotics Technology
In the not-too-distant future when humanoid robotics technology goes mainstream for healthcare and service applications – perfected for safe interaction with humans – it will be companies like MakarenaLabs that make it possible, utilizing digital twin technology.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: With UWB, Wireless Gaming Mice Are Finally Levelling the Playing Field with Wired Mice in Esports
Since the dawn of esports, wired mice were considered indispensable for serious gamers seeking the utmost in performance, but times have changed – technology has changed – and wireless mice are coming to market soon that will completely close the performance gap between wired and wireless once and for all.
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KLA Advance Blog: New KLA Manufacturing Plant in South Korea Drives Innovation in Flat Panel Displays
As flat panel display (FPD) technologies continue to advance, KLA unveiled its first manufacturing facility in South Korea to better serve strategic customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The new plant in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do will align the production of KLA’s automated optical inspection (AOI) systems with South Korea’s premier FPD fabricators’ immediate needs for high-speed, high-precision inspection solutions that enhance yield and reduce waste.
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AMD Embedded Blog: Together Siemens and AMD Advance Industrial Edge Servers
The performance and connectivity advancements achieved with the AMD EPYC Embedded 9004 Series processors have caught the attention of industrial system designers everywhere. Industrial automation powerhouse Siemens was among the first to embrace the new processors into its product portfolio, where it powers Siemens’ SIMATIC IPC RS-828A industrial edge servers.
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SPARK Microsystems' latest funding round to support commercialisation of devices and sensors
SPARK Microsystems, the Montreal-based fabless semiconductor company specialising in next-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communications, has closed a new round of funding.
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SPARK Microsystems Raises $34 Million to Meet Chip Demand Amid Supply Crunch
BetaKit discusses Montréal-based fabless semiconductor company Spark Microsystems $34 million CAD Series B financing as the broader chip industry continues to grapple with a supply crunch and demand fluctuations.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: With AR/VR Tech Heating Up, Experts Ask: How Will Users Control Their AR Smart Glasses and Wearables?
The news media has been buzzing about augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology on the heels of some impressive product unveilings. With AR/VR tech gaining early commercial momentum, technology leaders large and small are innovating and investing in AR/VR to speed the arrival of truly breakthrough XR and metaverse technologies. SPARK Microsystems discusses the state of AR and VR smart glasses and headsets in this blog.
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AMD: The In-Vehicle Experience (Whitepaper)
Automotive designers are challenged to keep pace with dynamic, aggressive design and compute requirements. From in-vehicle infotainment systems to advanced driver assistance systems, the modern vehicle as we know it, is undergoing a radical reimagining as it gains expansive, integrated infotainment within the cabin, and increased autonomy on our roadways.
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Holiday Shopping with a “UWB Engineer”: The Saga Continues
As the smoke clears on the 2022 holiday season, our frazzled and notoriously shopping-impaired protagonist takes a much-needed breather and surveys what months of carefully considered holiday shopping has wrought. The results? Quite frankly the results could have been better. Here’s what transpired.
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SPARK Microsystems and UBITO Leverages UWB Technology by developing Wireless, Battery-less IoT Sensors
SPARK Microsystems and UBITO have partnered to develop a range of UWB-based wireless sensing and IoT solutions. This partnership will allow UBITO to leverage SPARK Microsystems’ UWB technology for wireless, battery-less sensor applications in multiple industries, including smart home, industrial automation, and condition monitoring.
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KLA Advance Blog: KLA Celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the Transistor
Semiconductors chips – the heart of our modern electronic devices – are built atop a technology first introduced 75 years ago today: the transistor. In concert with our peers throughout the technology industry – including IEEE and the Electron Devices Society – KLA celebrates the innovation of John Bardeen and Walter Brattain whose lab demonstration of a point-contact transistor on Dec. 16, 1947, changed the course of modern electronics.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: For Wireless Gaming Mice, UWB Achieves New Performance Benchmarks on the Path to Seamlessly Interactive AR/VR
In order to architect the AR/VR connected devices of tomorrow, we must first solve the connectivity needs of wireless devices today. And for traditional gaming and audio apps, it’s clearer than ever that collectively we’re reaching the outer limits of what’s possible with legacy short-range connectivity platforms. The time for UWB is right now.
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AMD Blog: SolidRun Pioneers Ultra-Compact, High-Performance SOM-based IPC with AMD Ryzen Embedded V3000
SolidRun’s Bedrock IPCs are targeted for DIN rail-mounted, industrial applications. DIN rails – those ubiquitous steel rails found everywhere from production flows to utility cabinets – impose design challenges for industrial computers owing to the limited space/cooling typically afforded them. SolidRun is utilizing AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V3000 processors to meet these challenges
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Wireless Audio, Installation Audio, and Multiroom Improvements in audioXpress December 2022
In an audioXpress contributed article, SPARK Microsystems addresses the advantages of using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to achieve high-quality wireless audio streaming and how UWB radios can be deployed effectively as a high speed and low latency data communication method, exceeding the performance of traditional narrowband devices and enabling uncompressed hi-res audio streams at 24-bit/96kHz with millisecond latency and very low power consumption.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Good Citizenship Among Great Protocols - Planning for Future Interoperability Between UWB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
For applications like wireless gaming and audio, positioning/location awareness, and mobile AR/VR in the metaverse, it’s crucial that we work together to ensure UWB’s seamless coexistence among complementary short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
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KLA Advance Blog: New Orbotech Corus Offers Double-Sided Imaging for High-Density Interconnect PCBs and IC Substrates
The new Orbotech Corus 8M direct imaging (DI) system is the first solution built on KLA’s all-in-one revolutionary Orbotech Corus platform, combining optimized resolution, accuracy and efficiency for PCB manufacturers designing smaller, thinner devices for OEMs that pack ever-increasing functionality into increasingly small enclosures for high-end applications.
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AMD Blog: Helping DFI Harness High-Performance Processing Power in Ultra Compact Single-board Computers
The processing advantage made possible by AMD Ryzen™ Embedded R-Series SoCs has been a major asset for DFI in its ongoing initiative to pack increasing amounts of computing horsepower into compact, thermally adept, ruggedized enclosures for industrial systems.
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KLA Advance Blog: Achieve ‘Zero Tolerance’ Die Sorting with ICOS™ F260
KLA’s new ICOS™ F260 system addresses zero tolerance by delivering inspection and workflow enhancements on a platform that’s been redesigned from the ground up to deliver industry-leading accuracy and greater overall throughput to support high-volume manufacturing. The ICOS F260 offers the fully automated ability to detect both internal and superficial chip defects with extremely low overkill and underkill rates to help optimize yield.
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SPARK Microsystems Shows Way-Forward for Wireless Audio Over UWB
audioXpress covers the details of the joint SPARK Microsystems and UWB Alliance coexistence testing and aggregation capabilities of UWB technology in environments where other UWB or other wireless protocols and radio devices are in use.
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AMD Blog: DFI’s “Industrial Pi” Single Board Computer leverages AMD Ryzen™ Embedded processors
The recent emergence of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications has again renewed interest in the Raspberry Pi concept, but with a greater focus on processing performance, durability and longevity suitable for industrial domains.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: Getting Started Quickly with SPARK UWB for IoT Sensors: Introducing SPARK’s New Wireless Sensor Kit
At the upcoming Sensors Converge event, SPARK will be on hand to highlight the many advantages that UWB delivers for sensor applications compared to legacy short-range wireless platforms like Bluetooth. For Smart Factory and Smart Home apps, among others, wireless sensors are proving increasingly advantageous.
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AMD Blog: AMD EPYC™ Processors Powering Cisco’s Secure Firewall 3100 Series
The rise of hybrid workforces – comprised of employees who work flexibly in remote and onsite settings – is transforming the way we work and how staff resources are utilized to maximize their potential. But as more and more data traffic traverses the open network, maintaining network security is becoming increasingly challenging.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB’s Sustainability Advantages: IoT Sensors with “No Wires, No Batteries”
Just as short-range wireless technology paved the way for deploying sensors without wires, UWB holds the promise for a future of sensors deployed without batteries. Power-sipping technology like UWB sets the stage for a future of battery-less IoT sensor devices that leverage energy harvesting technologies to derive their own power.
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AMD Blog: Health and Beauty Retailer Gets an Exciting New Look with Advantech’s DS-082 Ultra-slim Digital Signage Players Powered by AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V1000 and R1000 Processors
A major health and beauty retailer sought a space-optimized digital signage platform that would help entice customers and drive sales, while reducing the expense and waste of printed promotional materials. To satisfy these needs, Advantech needed a high-performance processing platform to service retail environments of all sizes and budgets.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB Puts the Mobility in the Metaverse
SPARK UWB is the short-range wireless connectivity platform best optimized for metaverse enabling devices like AR glasses, gloves and other peripherals, providing the robust, high-quality data comms necessary for enabling seamless metaverse immersion on the fly – with the power efficiency to ensure long usage times between device charges.
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KLA Advance Blog: KLA’s Frontline Cloud Services Sharply Reduces DFM Analysis Time
Frontline Cloud Services improves the DFM process with the cloud delivering almost infinite computational power on demand, which helps companies analyze more DFM checklists both serially and in parallel.
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With $7.1M in SDTC Funds, SPARK Microsystems Aims to Make Wireless Tech More Energy Efficient
Spark Microsystems has secured $7.1 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to accelerate the development and commercialization of its wireless UWB transceivers.
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SPARK Microsystems Blog: UWB in the Multisensory Metaverse, Part III: Touch and Haptics
Immersion in the metaverse would be fundamentally incomplete absent our ability to touch objects, environments and other avatars, gathering the tactile information we rely on to fuse our full perception and complete the sensory loop. This SPARK Microsystems post focuses on touch and haptics in the metaverse.
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Designing with UWB: Short-Range Wireless Apps Reimagined with Performance Far Beyond Bluetooth
With 10x faster data throughput, 60x less latency, and 40x better energy efficiency, UWB prompts a fresh look at design considerations from payload sizing to testing/certification and antenna design.
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What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth and UWB for High-Speed Data and Multimedia?
For nearly 20 years, Bluetooth has dominated as the short-range technology for wirelessly connected devices. But UWB’s latency and power-efficiency advantages position it as a compelling alternative with faster, freer dataflow and low power consumption.
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Auto free-form display ups and downs
Orbotech authors discuss the automotive market, which presents one of the greatest opportunities for free-form displays by allowing panel and automotive designers to use much more than square corners and straight lines.
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Malvertising campaign uses mobile devices as springboard to target IoT devices
GeoEdge researchers are claiming to have found the first-ever instance of a malvertising campaign specifically targeting WiFi-connected smart home devices.
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Device Makers Seek Etching, Printing Innovation
EE Times discusses how Orbotech is addressing efficiency for electronics companies with a focus on enabling high quality, high yield, and cost-effective mass production of ultra-thin flexible printed circuits (FPCs).
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RadSee unveils 4D imaging radar for ADAS and self-driving cars
RadSee Technologies Ltd has announced availability of what it claims is the first 4D imaging radar for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles.
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RadSee launches high-performance automotive 4D imaging radar; lower cost, low-risk integration
Israel-based RadSee Technologies Ltd. announced the availability of the automotive industry’s first 4D imaging radar for ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and autonomous vehicles.
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Fuel-Cell-Powered Drones to Fly Long-Duration Humanitarian, Commercial Missions
Applying several innovative technologies and techniques, Doosan built a hydrogen-fuel-cell drone that could literally change the course for expanded-range drone usage. The onboard power electronics architecture - made possible by Vicor - was a critical design element.
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Super-efficient power converters help hovering drones take flight
DPI’s tethered multirotor drones are designed to follow ships, boats, trucks, and other unmanned ground/surface vehicles, offering several benefits over fixed-wing drones, including vertical takeoff/landing capabilities, and the ability to achieve persistent, stationary positioning – even during inclement weather. Power system design is crucial to the development of these helicopter-like drones.
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Fixed Ratio Converters Boost Battery Powered Systems
Fixed-ratio converters have power density, efficiency and flexibility attributes that can enable higher-performing power delivery networks (PDNs). Unlike more popular, mainstream regulated DC-DC converters, fixed-ratio converters allow designers to architect and optimize their PDN for higher system performance.
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Autonomous Wireless Charging Keeps Robots Running
Logistics, delivery and inspection industries increasingly rely on mobile robotic fleets. These fleets have become large enough that their users are trying to find ways of recharging them that don’t rely on human operators.
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Solving Key Power Challenges for AI and Supercomputing
Power management challenges will be top of mind among the AI, supercomputing and cloud datacenter communities as we head into 2021. Where previously they were regarded as entirely distinct entities, recent history has shown us that when it comes to power and cooling, they have more in common than previously thought.
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Ultra-thin sensor for blood-oxygen monitoring fits tiny devices
ams has claimed the industry’s thinnest sensor designed for blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurement. The new blood-oxygen monitoring sensor enables OEMs of small consumer devices such as earbuds, smart watches, and wristbands to add the capability for remote monitoring.
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Earbuds Consumer Survey Identifies Key Takeaways for Manufacturers
ams, a leading worldwide supplier of high-performance sensor solutions, shared the results of its ‘Comfortable, Smart, High-performing Earbuds Survey’ conducted in Spring 2020 with 2000-plus consumers around the world on their audio earbud uses, habits and preferences.
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Sensor supplier AMS wins Great Wall business
ams technology, developed in cooperation with Germany's Ibeo Automotive Systems, a specialist for optical sensors that use lasers to produce 3D pictures of a car's environment, or lidar, will be a core component of a new generation of Great Wall Motor's vehicles.
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VCSEL LIDAR and Level 3 Autonomy
High-performer sensor supplier ams has announced that a LIDAR system from Ibeo Automotive Systems, ibeoNEXT, which uses ams Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) technology, will be used in Level 3 automated driving systems for vehicles built by Chinese OEM Great Wall Motor in 2022.
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Manufacturing advances solve free-form display design challenges
Orbotech FPD experts discuss leveraging new manufacturing inspection and testing advances that enable designers to include features, such as cameras and sensors, in free-form display designs.
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Embedded Executives: Patrick Wadden, Global VP, Automotive Business Development, Vicor
Decentralized power is a phenomenon that’s starting to hit the automotive sector. Is it better to have lower power levels in more places in the car, as opposed to one centralized place?
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How Increasing Power and Advanced Cooling Techniques Are Converging for AI, Supercomputing and Cloud Data Centers
Where previously these markets were regarded as distinct entities, recent history has shown us that when it comes to power and cooling, they have more in common than previously thought.
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On a roll: New manufacturing processes inspired by flex
Meny Gantz of Orbotech discusses how the market demand for highly innovative circuits has roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing emerging as a truly effective means for printing FPCs in high volumes, with minimum handling damage, with high yield, and at high speeds.
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Industry 4.0 Drives New Perspective on PCB Manufacturing
“PCB users and AI systems want to know everything they can about every PCB coming off the production line. New advanced traceability techniques associated with process control and visualization capabilities can tell them a lot."
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PCB factories embrace AI
The evolution of PCBs from large and antiquated “printed wiring boards” to today’s fine-line designs on high-density interconnect PCBs, IC substrates and more, has been matched by manufacturing processes that have evolved from manual assembly to highly automated production. As manufacturing technology further develops, processes become more complex and more sophisticated, including the ability to inspect and then shape defects that would once have resulted in scrapped panels. A significant opportunity is now emerging for the PCB manufacturing industry to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) and optimize production processes and, ultimately, the entire PCB manufacturing facility.
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Could 3D Printing Disrupt the Electronics Industry?
More companies and universities are integrating 3D printing with their electronic design. The non-traditional process was well-received as it moved from the aerospace to automotive to medical industries. Electronics could be next on the list to benefit from 3D printing, according to Ernst and Young. Today, many people say we will never 3D-print phones and other complex, multi-material products. However, with so many companies pushing to develop a magical all-encompassing printer, will we see electronics being manufactured with 3D printing?
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PHYTEC enjoys reduction in time and cost with Nano Dimension DragonFly 2020 3D printer
In November 2016, Nano Dimension Technologies delivered a beta DragonFly 2020 to its third customer: PHYTEC, a German microprocessor solutions provider. The deal came about as PHYTEC tackled an increasing demand for prototypes from its customer base. PHYTEC needed a solution which could reduce development time, while maintaining the quality of its products and service. It decided to take on Nano Dimension’s flagship 3D printing technology, and today is publishing the results.
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Power supply management in quantum computers
In 2016, the first quantum computers were able to be programmed from a high level user interface to run arbitrary quantum algorithms. The design architectures were small in scale, with just a handful of qubits each. Some of the big players like IBM, Google, Microsoft, as well as several start-ups have an ultimate goal to create a larger scale device of commercial viability sometime in the near future.
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Lights-out digital manufacturing delivers first 3D printed electronics
Additive electronics provider Nano Dimension Ltd. has unveiled its new DragonFly Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing (LDM) printing technology, which the company presents as the industry’s only comprehensive additive manufacturing platform for round-the-clock 3D printing of electronic circuitry. The initial deployment took place at the Munich premises of sensor and defense electronics provider Hensoldt.
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Nano Dimension introduced low-volume, continuous additive manufacturing system for electronics production
Additively manufacturing functional circuits round-the-clock with little or no operator intervention is possible with the new DragonFly LDM precision additive manufacturing system from Nano Dimension. This 3D printer will build electronic components such as multilayer Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), antennas, sensors and so on, round-the-clock, enabling Nano Dimension to shift from developing prototyping printers to systems that handle one-off prototypes as well as low-volume manufacturing of printed electronics.
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INTERVIEW: Nano Dimension CEO Amit Dror on the launch of the 24 hour DragonFly LDM 3D printer
Designed for 24 hour electronics production, the DragonFly LDM (standing for Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing) is a new 3D printer and DragonFly Pro upgrade from Israeli 3D printed electronics company Nano Dimension. Hinted at in a corporate update earlier this month, the machine was launched today through the company’s global sales channel and requires minimal operator intervention, representing a significant advance for 3D printed electronics.
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48 Volts DC is the new 12 Volts DC.
Could it also be the new 120 Volts AC? ...whenever I talk about Direct Current vs Alternating current I come away singed and shocked by the comments, like my last one, where even fans noted, "This is about the most wrong article I've seen you write, Lloyd." But to this day, I do not understand why we have a system where every single light bulb now has to have a little transformer and rectifier to feed it DC, and almost everything we plug into the wall now has a transformer brick on it. Our domestic world now pretty much runs on DC.
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Summer School for Buyers: HDI & Auto Design
Today’s automotive industry is changing at an incredibly fast pace, moving from combustion engine-based designs with human drivers to driverless, electronics-based systems. This automotive transformation presents some clear electronic design challenges in the inevitable shift toward the design and production of semi- and fully autonomous vehicles.
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The evolution of industry 4.0, through the eyes of the PCB manufacturer
Industry 4.0—known to some as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or smart factory—promises to transform the manufacturing and production infrastructure in profound ways. Its name derives from its potential to usher in the fourth industrial revolution—a bold objective when one considers the magnitude of the revolutions in steam power, assembly-line production, and computer automation that preceded it.
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Shared Data Migration Mitigates Supply Chain Cost of Electronics Counterfeiting
Electronics counterfeiting is gaining attention as evidenced by the recent IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust chaired by Professor Mark Tehranipoor. More than 250 industry and academic leaders attended the conference to address the growing threat that counterfeit devices are posing to the security of the electronics supply chain. Inadvertent use of recycled, refurbished, or re-marked components can result in significant business risk for a manufacturer’s customers, resulting in unwanted returns and damage to their brand value.
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Enable Supply Chain Security Through an Authentication Data Network
Electronics counterfeiting is gaining attention as evidenced by the recent IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security & Trust (HOST). More than 250 industry and academic leaders attended the conference to address the growing threat that counterfeit devices are posing to the security of the electronics supply chain. Inadvertent use of recycled, refurbished, or re-marked components can result in significant business risk for a manufacturer's customers, resulting in unwanted returns and damage to their brand value.
