Parallel Lines

Multi-core processors may be sexy but are they necessary?

2008-09-10T10:11:45Z

Who decided that it was desirable, even necessary, to have the processing power of a small server behind the dashboard of my car? There was a time when cars were simply a convenient, if energy inefficient, means of getting from A to B. Not anymore. Today we spend so much time in our cars that we turn them into mobile offices and playrooms for our children.

UK role in CERN particle accelerator success

2008-09-10T08:37:30Z

The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN flashed around the 27km particle accelerator at 9.30 this morning.

It has been hailed as an historic event in the search for an answer to the question: "where did it all begin?"

According to LHC project leader Lyn Evans, "we can now look forward to a new era of understanding about the origins and evolution of the universe."

The role of UK scientists and engineers in this experiment has been considerable. For an example of this read more about ALICE.

Once colliding beams have been established, there will be a period of measurement and calibration for the LHC's four major experiments, and new results could start to appear in around a year.

It is also hoped that experiments at the LHC will allow physicists to look at gravity in new ways and investigate the origins of black holes.

Is multi-core architecture support affecting choice of embedded operating systems?

2008-08-07T10:41:56Z

Do designers consider multi-core architecture support as a critical factor in the choice of embedded operating systems? Not generally, says market research firm Venture Development Corporation (VDC).

Multi-core architectures are increasingly being used by designers but the availability of software support for multi-processing systems seems to be of relatively low importance even to those developers who indicated that they were using a multi-core or multi-core and multiprocessor design.

Peter Gabriel, Genesis reunion and MP3 downloads

2008-05-23T11:35:49Z

Don't give up. Peter Gabriel could one day play "the Lamb" again with Banks, Collins, Rutherford, and may be even Hackett.

Making shared memory more efficient for multi-processor systems

2008-05-06T14:00:15Z

Embedded computing firm Vmetro is proposing to simplify the development of multi-processor systems by changing the way data is transferred to the shared memory. The company's FusionIPC processor-to-processor comms software handles both bulk data movement and message passing in a small footprint without requiring application involvement. “Similar to other existing approaches, FusionIPC is built upon a shared memory buffer model but differs in that it combines coordination of bulk data movement with messaging and signals without application involvement,” commented Mike Jadon, CTO of embedded systems at Vmetro.

Turning mobiles in to PCs in a Flash

2008-05-01T09:51:02Z

Important, not to say vital, support for the development of the PC-like mobile phone quietly slipped into the handset market this week with Adobe saying it would make its Flash software freely available for mobile devices. Companies endorsing the plan to make mobiles "just like a PC in your hand", through what Adobe calls its Open Screen Project, include ARM, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics, Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson. Also behind the move are content providers such as the BBC, MTV Networks and NBC Universal.

Awayday in Bath for high efficiency WiMAX power design

2008-04-22T15:46:19Z

Bath is the centre for the UK’s latest basestation conference which is taking place this week, and among the early movers at the event are Nitronex, a GaN-on-Silicon RF power IC specialist and Nujira who are teaming up to create a WiMAX power amplifier reference design. The interesting point about this is the choice of GaN technology which should help the power efficiency which can be an issue with WiMAX transmissions. NEC first showed a gallium nitride (GaN) power transistor amplifier in 2006, which it claimed had the world's highest output power level of 400W with low-distortion characteristics. According to the companies, using a 4 channel WCDMA waveform it has been possible to realise over 44dBm of linear power with 45% efficiency at a linearity of -55dBC.

Universities not stemming STEM shortfall

2008-04-17T16:46:05Z

There are still not enough graduates with the rights skills coming out of UK universities. That seems to be the worrying finding of new research in the jobs market published by the CBI. Inevitably is it graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects which are in highest demand. According to the survey, 92% of firms want people with these skills. By 2014, it is expected that the UK will need to fill over three-quarters of a million extra jobs requiring highly numerate, analytical people with STEM skills, making a net total of 2.4 million of these jobs in six years' time.

Can ARM's Cortex-M3 processor save the planet?

2008-04-15T16:33:34Z

Those clever guys at ARM in Cambridge seem to have come up with another winner with the Cortex-M3 processor core. Not only are the big name licensees, such as NXP, Toshiba and TI, developing new lower power silicon based on the 32-bit Cortex-M3 core, but the really interesting thing is that the core is also defining a whole new business for a couple of newer companies. That puts it in the same sentence with 8051 and x86. But with a difference. These comapnies want to use Cortex-M3 to create new types of energy-friendly MCUs and so save the planet in the process.

When high-k dielectric is the Holy Grail for IBM, Freescale and Samsung

2008-04-14T15:39:49Z

IBM and its process technology partners may have found the Holy Grail in their search for a high-k dielectric material which is practical at the 32nm process node and below. The high-k/metal gate (HKMG) material when used in evaluation circuits registered performance improvements on 32nm technology circuits of up to 35 per cent over 45nm technology circuits at the same operating voltage.

Engineering myopia in the UK

2008-04-08T16:16:26Z

Professor David Payne of the University of Southampton has been named as a finalist for the world's most prestigious technology awards. The fact that many people in the UK will not have heard of Professor Payne is yet another sad indictment of this country's wayward approach to scientific and engineering achievements.

Motorola handset sale still looks likely

2008-03-27T16:58:11Z

At least one industry watcher has welcomed Motorola's decision to split itself into two parts as a good move. But I have seen nothing to alter my belief that merger or acquisition will be the most likely outcome for Motorola's troubled handset business.

Why doesn't Qualcomm buy Motorola?

2008-03-26T16:59:09Z

Why doesn't Qualcomm buy Motorola's mobile phone business? It's available, well soon to be, after Motorola's decision to spin off its mobile phone business.

Qualcomm has the cash - around $11bn in the bank at the end of January - and it has the ambition, to be the leading technology brand in the mobile phone market. So would it make sense for Qualcomm, the holder of so many fundamental 3G WCDMA patents, to own a handset business? On the face of it, no.

NEC gives ARM multi-core a road test

2007-10-23T14:36:22Z

Is this the first in-car navigation hardware to use multi-core processor performance? I have had a quick scan around and I cannot find anything similar. NEC's NaviEngine1 has no fewer than four ARM11 MPcores carrying out multi-processing. With all that processing power it requires a fast internal bus and so NEC has integrated a Serial ATA interface.

Graphics chips drive multi-processor designs

2007-10-16T16:51:49Z

I have reported before on the interesting phenomenon of students implement general purpose parallel processing system design on a PS3 games console. I thought it was just a whacky idea to promote Cell or to keep the students amused. Not a bit of it. Multi-processor-based graphics engines may be good at rendering your Halo 3 images but they can also be put to use for other number-crunching tasks such as analysing geological data.