Unsung software and services heroes ease our days

Full-featured, high-priced products address many users’ needs. But free and low-cost options, sometimes for augmentation purposes, other times operating standalone, also have their place. As regular readers may already have noticed, I regularly…

Compound uncertainty: AI’s hidden risk in safety-critical development

Here’s a question your grandfather could have answered: Would you rather have a million dollars today or a penny that doubles every day for a month? Most people take the million. The penny reaches $5 million by day 30. Human intuition is simply…

How SiC and GaN are reshaping automotive power electronics

Wide-bandgap (WBG) materials, particularly silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), are no longer considered exotic semiconductors. The automotive industry has chosen them for their ability to switch faster, tolerate higher blocking…

Advantech AI servers leverage AMD EPYC

Advantech is launching a portfolio of servers based on AMD EPYC 9006 SP8 processors to support next-generation AI infrastructure. Servers, such as the SKY-924E5F, provide the scalability and reliability required for AI, high-performance computing…

Ryzen processors power physical AI workloads

Optimized for physical AI, AMD’s Ryzen AI Embedded X100 series processors combine CPU, GPU, and NPU resources on a single embedded SoC. With up to 16 AMD Zen 5 CPU cores, an integrated GPU, power-efficient NPU, and unified memory, the processors…

Half-brick converter packs high power density

Advanced Energy’s AIH03ZPFC power factor correction (PFC) converter delivers 1100 W of output power in a half-brick form factor. The board-mount module achieves up to 97.3% peak efficiency and a power density of 380 W/in³. According to the…

AI platform unifies PCB, advanced packaging workflows

Cadence says its AuraStack AI Super Agent is the industry’s first agentic AI platform for PCB and advanced packaging design. Running on the company’s Allegro AI Studio and accelerated by NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries,…

Edge AI coprocessor adopts M.2 form factor

Based on BrainChip’s Akida neuromorphic engine, the AKD1500 edge AI coprocessor is now available in a compact M.2 2230 (22×30 mm) form factor. The card features a B+M key edge connector for use with Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible host systems,…

Accelerating the shift to next-gen SDVs with zonal MCUs

As the automotive industry shifts toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs), with features and updates delivered via software, vehicle electrical/electronic (E/E) architectures are evolving. These architectures are moving away from traditional…

Phantom-powered solid-state linear airflow sensor

Self-heated Darlingtion transistor pair linearly senses airflow using just two wires for both power in and signal out. Suppose we take a common TO-92 transistor and heat it to a constant temperature differential above ambient.  The power input…

AI infrastructure is a multi-fab physical realization stack

When people talk about AI hardware, the conversation usually begins with the AI accelerator. That is understandable. GPUs, custom AI accelerators, CPUs, and high-performance compute dies are the most visible symbols of the AI era. They are also…

Why analog anti-tamper security IP is crucial in the PQC era

The global semiconductor industry is transitioning to the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) era. PQC is changing how digital systems defend against potential mathematical attacks. PQC algorithms are designed to protect against hackers who try…