Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are digital ICs consisting of arrays of logic blocks that can be programmed (wired) and reprogrammed multiple times, even after the product containing the FPGA has been shipped and is “in the field.” FPGAs are not a monolithic technology; there are variations in how FPGAs are structured and programmed, variations […]
FAQ
Tips on designing smart home devices – Part 1
The smart home market is growing rapidly, with many developers striving to get a piece of the pie. As a result, competition is fierce. To create a highly competitive smart home device, designers want to make devices that are compatible with industry standards and easy to use. And they want to get these devices to […]
What is DDR (Double Data Rate) Memory and SDRAM memory?
DDR SDRAM is a stack of acronyms. Double Data Rate (DDR) Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) is a common type of memory used as RAM for most every modern processor. First on the scene of this stack of acronyms was Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM), introduced in the 1970s. DRAM is not regulated by a […]
What is an SoC?
A System on Chip or an SoC is an integrated circuit that incorporates a majority of components present on a computer. As the name suggests, it is an entire system fabricated on a silicon chip. The beauty of an SoC is that it integrates all the components on a single substrate. In semiconductors, a substrate […]
Designer’s guide to smart home tech, Part 2
This continues the discussion on smart home technology basics. You can find part 1 here. What is Z-Wave? Behind the Z-Wave standard is the Z-Wave Alliance. It is a wireless protocol that will connect and control smart home and IoT devices today. Today, there are over 3400 certified Z-Wave smart home devices on the market. […]
What are the AMBA protocols?
As electronic miniaturization has been an all-time goal of chip manufacturers, motherboard-based computer/electronic systems have been eventually replaced by System-on-Chip (SoC) and Package-on-Package (PoP) ICs. Complex computer systems are now condensed to smartphones and other handheld devices. These sophisticated electronic devices and gadgets have an SoC at their heart which manages complete computing and control. […]
Designer’s guide to smart home tech, Part 1
According to MarketsandMarkets, a marketing research firm, worldwide smart home market revenue will reach $135 billion by 2025. The driving force behind this revenue climb is expanding sectors, including the IoT, home automation, and smart appliances. As shown in the diagram (part of a report produced by Jabil and Dimensional Research), the top smart home […]
What is the Z-Wave protocol?
Smart homes need wireless connectivity, and Z-wave has emerged as the ultimate solution for home automation. The Z-wave protocol is a wireless, radio frequency protocol designed primarily for smart home networks. All the existing wireless communication protocols had one or the other problem. Bluetooth and Zigbee often shortfall of range while Wi-Fi poses its own […]
RISC-V for ultra-low power processing and AI on the edge
RISC-V is an exciting and rapidly-emerging technology. RISC-V is software; it is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles. So far, this FAQ series has looked at how “RISC-V is growing and offers stability, scalability, and security,” the “Growing availability of tools reducing the risk of […]
RISC-V for artificial intelligence machine learning and embedded systems
Several RISC-V development efforts are targeting applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and other high-performance embedded applications. The previous two FAQs in this series considered the capabilities of RISC-V and the near-term risks associated with the technology, and the growing availability of tools that are helping to reduce the […]
