Domain specific accelerators (DSAs) are specialized hardware computing engines optimized for specific tasks. DSAs have been developed for graphics, simulation, image processing, deep learning, bioinformatics, and other tasks. Compared to general purpose processors, accelerators offer orders of magnitude improvements in performance/cost and/or performance/watt. The previous FAQ in this series, “What’s the future for RISC-V in […]
Memory, disk drives, memory fabrics and RISC-V
The unique and flexible computational architecture of RISC-V can be leveraged by designers of massive parallel computational storage solutions, hard disc drives (HDDs) and solid-state disk drives (SSDs), and memory fabric architectures such as Ethernet Bunch of Flash (EBOF) or Just a Bunch of Flash (JBOF) to implement high-performance solutions. This article will look at […]
What is the RISC-V ecosystem?
In its most basic form, RISC-V is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on reduced instruction set computer (RISC) design principles. RISC-V is an open specification and platform; it is not an open-source processor. All other aspects of the RISC-V ecosystem build on that foundation. The hardware and software in the RISC-V ecosystem […]
RISC-V vs. ARM vs. x86 – What’s the difference?
Many of the differences between RISC-V, ARM, and x86 microprocessors are subtle and relate to how memory is addressed, branches are executed, exceptions are handled, and so on. This article will consider higher-level differences and will briefly compare reduced instruction set computing (RISC) and complex instruction set computing (CISC), consider the impact those differences have […]
International performance and safety standards for robots
Robots are being used to implement logistics tasks, industrial processes, personal care, medical procedures, and more. The growing variety of robot designs and the breadth of tasks that robots perform is driving a large number of specific performance and safety standards. This FAQ reviews emerging standards for industrial mobile robots, collaborative robots (also called ‘cobots’), […]
Sentient robots and artificial intelligence
Sensors for touch, vision are on the leading-edge of robotics developments. Sensors enable robots to gather information about the environment, determine how the environment may be changing, and provide the data to determine the appropriate response to any changes. Sensor information can be used to improve performance of the task at hand, or it can […]
Robot software environments and motion control architectures
Robots can be classified by their kinesiology, their mechanical performance specifications, and various types of software they employ. This FAQ will consider robot software environments and motion control architectures. The next FAQ will delve into “Sentient robots and artificial intelligence.” The series will conclude with a review of the major “International performance and safety standards […]
Robot axes, drive safety, and power architectures
Depending on the intended tasks and the associated range of motion, robots can have varying axes and various axis configurations called robot kinesiology. This FAQ will consider robot axes, kinesiology, drive safety functions, and power architectures. Subsequent FAQs will focus on “Robot software environments and motion control architectures,” “Sentient robots and artificial intelligence,” and “International […]
What are system integration issues with FPGAs?
FPGAs are complex devices and are being used in more and more systems. The complexity of FPGAs is both a strength and a weakness. It’s a strength because of the many system performance benefits and capabilities they bring for designers to leverage. It’s a weakness because of the complexities of successfully integrating high pin-count FPGAs […]
How does using FPGAs impact the design process?
Using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) can significantly increase the complexity of the design process. As seen in the previous FAQ on the application considerations when selecting FPGAs, these devices can bring improved performance to complex functions and improve overall system performance. This FAQ will consider the design process for FPGAs while the next and […]
