Amelia's Weekly Fish Fry

For the Love of Coffee and Design Verification

Happy Engineers Week! In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we are celebrating with a whole lot of design verification and even more coffee! Vanessa Cooper (DVCon US 2021 Program Chair) joins us to discuss the details of DVCon US 2021, what’s new with this year’s conference and all of the cool stuff you will learn by attending. Also this week, we check out a new research study that contends that drinking coffee every day may affect our cognitive hardware and reduce the volume of grey matter in our brains. (Spoiler Alert: This might not be a bad thing.)

 

A Mesh By Any Other Name Just Isn’t the Same: Breaking Rules and Making the Impossible Possible with Ansys HFSS Mesh Fusion

In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we're making the impossible possible! We start things off with a closer look at the world’s first metamaterial developed by a team of researchers from EPFL Labs. We investigate the unique properties of this new metamaterial and how this research could pave the way for the development of advanced forms of mechanical metamaterials. Also this week, Matt Commens (Ansys) joins us to discuss HFSS Mesh Fusion. We check out the details of this new mesh fusion technology including how it will open up new avenues for simulation, and why it will help engineers break old rules to overcome the most challenging design obstacles.

The Next Big Thing! Ferroelectric Nonvolatile Memory and Tiny Aquatic Robots Inspired by Sea Creatures

We’ve got a virtual grab bag of EE goodness in this week’s Fish Fry podcast! First up, we take a closer look at some very unique robots unveiled by a recent research study at Northwestern University. We take a closer look at how these tiny robots (which are powered by light and rotating magnetic fields) are able to walk, roll, and transport cargo. Next, Stefan Müller (CTO and Founder - FMC) joins us to discuss the details of ferroelectric nonvolatile memory and what sets it apart from other memory solutions today. Finally, we check out what needs to be done in order for artificial intelligence or machine learning to get into mainstream edge devices.

 

It’s All About Confidence: System on Chip Verification and Building Trust into Neural Networks

How do we know that what our neural networks are telling us should be trusted? Can we build confidence into our neural networks so they can answer that for us? According to a new study out of MIT and Harvard, we can and it won’t break the computational bank! In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we first check out a new way for deep learning neural networks to quickly estimate confidence levels in their output. Keeping with our verification theme, Moshik Rubin (Cadence Design Systems) also joins us to discuss the challenges of SoC verification, the increasing need for system level solutions today, and where he thinks chip level verification is headed in the future. 

 

Henny Youngman and The Law of Unintended Consequences: Fish Fry Welcomes Eric Bogatin

 

"If there is a fire you are trying to douse, you can’t put it out from inside the house" - Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton 

 

The man, the myth, the signal integrity legend Eric Bogatin joins Fish Fry this week! We discuss the propagation of misconceptions in our design lives, the law of unintended consequences and what the Henny Youngman principle is all about. Also this week, we take a closer look at the 250MWh CRYOBattery Long Duration Energy Storage Facility and the details behind this super cool new energy storage facility. 

What is the Meaning of Test?

“Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding.”
- Burt Rutan 

In this week’s podcast, we’re talking about testing, testing, and even more testing! We start things off with an investigation into a new microneedle patch developed at Rice University that is hoping to make testing for malaria easier and faster than ever before. Also this week, Geir Eide (Mentor) joins me to discuss the past, present, and future of IC testing. Geir and I discuss why the days of Pass/Fail testing are long gone, why test equipment has evolved into machine learning and data collection equipment, and the details of Mentor’s new Tessent Streaming Scan Network.

Nobody Wants A Failed Prototype - System-Level Simulation with Clarity 3D Transient Solver

In today’s ever-changing electronic engineering ecosystem, system modeling is more important than ever before. In this week’s podcast, Brad Griffin (Cadence Design Systems) joins us to discuss the limitations of system-level modeling today, how system analysis challenges are driving new levels of performance, and how Clarity 3D Transient Solver addresses critical system-level EMI challenges. Also this week, we take a look at the PufferBot - a new Pufferfish-inspired robot developed at the University of Colorado Boulder that aims to improve drone safety. 

 

Intelligent Senses: Cyborg Locusts and First Humanoid Robot with Intelligent Vision

Cyborgs, Robots, and Locusts! Oh My! Did you know that locusts can smell explosives? Did you know also that we can now control their brains to pinpoint to exactly what they smelling?  In this week’s podcast, we start things off with an investigation into how two teams of research scientists have created a set of specialized cyborg bomb sniffing locusts. We check out how these locusts are able to  explosive chemicals in the air, how they are able to track these explosive smells and how we can now identify exactly what they are smelling by reading their brain waves. Also this week, Alessandro Gasparini and Alain Pacquin (Immervision) join us to discuss JOYCE: the first humanoid robot for the computer vision community. We discuss the details of about how Immervision and their partners will enable JOYCE with human perceptions and how design contests will assist with the evolution of this first of her kind humanoid robot.

Pushing the Display Envelope : Pixelworks’ New AI-Driven Architecture and the World’s Largest Photo Ever Taken in a Single Shot

We’ve got your pixels here! Piping hot pixels! In this week’s podcast, we start things off with an investigation into the world’s largest digital camera being developed at The U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We take a closer look at the creation of the focal plane for this groundbreaking new camera and the role that the first 3,200-megapixel digital photo (the largest ever taken in a single shot) will play in solving some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. Keeping with our pixelated theme this week, Vikas Dhurka (Pixelworks) and I also chat about Pixelworks’ new visual processor with AI adaptive picture quality and what their fuzzy logic inference technology is all about. 

 

Advancing into FinFET

In this week’s podcast, we are talking about embedded in-chip monitoring and lifecycle chip design challenges with Stephen Crosher and Oliver King from Moortec. We also take a closer look at a new breakthrough in data storage technology and why a team of researchers from Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Texas A&M believe that tiny slices of tungsten ditelluride may just hold the key to the evolution of data storage.