How can you make your resume really stand out? This has been the topic of books, articles, class assignments, and blogs for decades. It came up in conversation one day, and a friend of mine had a unique story. I’ve included it below, with some edits. “With so much written on the topic, there is […]
FAQ
LoRaWAN security design tips: Designing with a stand-alone security chip
With the growth of the Internet of Things, cyber attacks are increasing at an alarming rate (Figure 1). Key provisioning, a process of key generation and device authentication, is a critical part of establishing security. Whoever holds the key will be able to access the payloads, i.e. the valuable data stored in the application server(s). […]
How to create and run reusable register-test models
by Matthew Ballance, Mentor, a Siemens Business Register tests are a very useful smoke test at all design levels — from IP to subsystem to SoC. While the built-in register-test sequences in the UVM library are useful at the IP level, capturing register-test intent in a PSS model makes register-test functionality portable from the IP […]
Retargeting existing tests in an integrated SoC verification flow
by Matthew Ballance, Mentor, a Siemens Business The raison d’etre for portable stimulus is reuse. The Accellera Portable Stimulus Standard (PSS) promotes test intent reuse throughout the verification process and across the multiple engines on which those verification runs are performed. Test intent captured as portable stimulus models enables test reuse from the IP to […]
When asked the impossible, ask questions before proceeding
Sometimes a client will ask for the impossible and expect it at low cost. Or worse yet, the sales engineer in your company will win a project on a low bid because he/she thought it could be accomplished in a “creative” (but impossible) way. What if you were tasked with a wirelessly communicating embedded project […]
Understanding single-ended and differential communication systems
Do you know the difference between single-ended and differential communication schemes? And when should you use them, which one you should use, and why? Single-ended communications set ups are meant to be used only for short runs or to provide communication between devices on the same Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Single-ended communications will reference the […]
DIY Artificial Intelligence
Machines are now faster and more accurate than humans at identifying information in images. Machines don’t get bored looking for flaws in widgets for hours at a time without a break. There’s been a lot of talk in the news about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will replace jobs. The industrial revolution displaced thousands of people […]
Cybersecurity basics: Authentication and “key” management in LoRaWAN, Part 2
In part 1, we described the process of providing end-to-end security and some of the challenges in achieving network security. In this installment, we will go over how authentication work to achieve end-to-end network security between the end devices and the application servers. Device authentication and key management Each LoRaWAN device is given a unique 128-bit […]
Mistakes to avoid when submitting a design for PCB assembly
Simple prototype Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) require, on average, 11.6 physical prototypes, whereas more complex PCBs require as many as 16.[i] And according to Advanced Assembly, a prototype PCB assembly house, “94% of assembly data is accidentally submitted with errors.”[ii] PCB assembly houses will extract design data from PCB design files and create a PDF […]
Cybersecurity basics: Server and end device relationship to LoRaWAN network, Part 1
Providing end-to-end security is the ultimate security goal of every wireless network. Each reported successful cyber attack serves as a reminder that achieving security is easier said than done. Let’s first examine the process. Most of us know about using strong passwords and encryption. The most vulnerable security component is key management during device activation […]
