Amelia's Weekly Fish Fry

Keeping Pace: Interconnect Standards, Racing Rats, and Combatting COBOL Craziness

This week’s Fish Fry podcast is a virtual grab bag of electronic engineering goodness! In our first segment, I investigate how a group of researchers at the University of Richmond taught a group of rats how to drive and why this research could help us better understand neuroplasticity and neuropsychiatric conditions in humans. Next, Mike Walmsley (TE Connectivity) joins me to discuss the importance of interconnect standardization and what the next generation of interconnect technology will look like. Finally, I give an update on the growing need for COBOL programmers and how IBM and the Linux Open Mainframe Project have gotten together to help states navigate this COBOL craziness.

Engineering the Edge: How Intel is Looking to Train One Million Engineers

Did you know that the edge computing market is forecasted to reach almost nine billion by 2023? 
In this week’s episode of Fish Fry, Mathew Formica (Director of Edge AI Developer Scale - Intel) and I chat about the the biggest challenges in edge computing today, what's included in Intel’s OpenVino Tool Kit, and how Intel and Udacity are looking to train one million developers with their Intel Edge AI for IoT Developers Nanodegree Program. Also this week, I take a closer look at a new low-cost, low-power carbon dioxide sensing platform developed at Purdue University and how it could help drastically reduce energy usage for commercial buildings and homes alike.

Return of the Pi!

In this week’s podcast, we are talking about the newest generation of Raspberry Pi, why old coding skills are in big demand right now, and why a new class of organic batteries may be just a proton away! First, we investigate a new all-organic battery technology developed at Uppsala University that can be charged in seconds and discharged and recharged over 500 times without loss of any kind. Next, Sarah Fawcett (element14) brings us the goods on the new Raspberry Pi 4. Sarah and I chat about the details of their All-in-One Kit for Quick-Start Embedded Computing and how Sarah helped create some unique home-based Raspberry Pi applications. Finally, we take a look at why the Governor of New Jersey sent out a call for programmers with COBOL experience to join the digital frontlines.

Adventures in Satellite Security and The SpaceX Comfy Ride to the Moon

In this week’s podcast, we’ve got our eyes trained on the glittering skies. First up, we take a closer look at the spacecraft user manual for Starship, a next-generation launch vehicle currently being developed by SpaceX. We check out how Starship is going to be used, the details of its high-capacity the cargo hauler, and how Starship is going to get us to the moon in high-flying style. Also this week, we chat with Richard Jaenicke (Green Hills Software) about satellite security and vulnerability, how satellites can be hacked, and what solutions we need to implement at in order keep our satellites safely in orbit.

 

 

Systems and Bodies on Chip

In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we take on systems on chips, body on chips, and much more!  First up, we check out how Havard’s Wyss University is hoping to change the future of modern drug development and approval. We take a closer look at how this team has pieced together ten “Organ Chips” to create a fully functioning body-on-chip platform and how this new BoC system can give us comprehensive new insights into how prospective drugs will behave throughout the human body. Also this week, I chat with Yorgos Koutsoyannopoulos (Ansys) about the challenges of chip design for 5G, radio-frequency integrated circuit design workflows and how we can all avoid electromagnetic crosstalk nightmares. 

 

Small is Beautiful: Trends in Small Rugged Form Factors and Making Fossil Fuels into Diamonds

What if we could use something that is universally hated to create something that most everyone loves? In this weeks podcast, we start things off with an investigation into how a group of researchers have created the first “clean process” synthetic diamond from petroleum and natural gas. Also this week, Ivan Straznicky (Curtiss-Wright) and I discuss the challenges of ruggedized small form factor designs and why he believes it is time for a new standards in this space. 

 

Optical Communications and the Internet of Neuroelectronics

Babe, You Must be a Neuron

Cause You’ve Got Some Action Potential - Popular Internet Meme

In this week’s podcast we are talking about next generation optics, signal integrity, the Internet of Neuroelectronics, and a whole lot more! To start things off, we take a closer look at how a team of researchers have enabled biological neurons and artificial neurons to communicate with each other over the first time. Next, Patrick Mechin (TechWay) and I discuss the design challenges and technology bottlenecks of 25Gps optical communication and where optics are headed in the future. 

Algorithmic Acceleration and The Next Phase of Moore’s Law

In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we take a closer look at deep learning model acceleration and the future of Moore’s Law. First up, Tom Smelker (Mercury Systems) and I discuss modular chip design and why he thinks it will be crucial to the next phase of Moore’s Law. Next, we investigate AI hardware and algorithm acceleration with Dr. Mohamed Bergach and Marc Littlefield (Kontron). To finish things up, we take a closer look at the unique design challenges of micro air vehicles and how new research from China's Changzhou and Jiangsu universities could make a sun-powered flapping wing a reality.

Have Power, Will Travel

The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. - Bruce Lee

We’re getting all charged up in this week’s Fish Fry podcast! First up, Chris Giovanniello (Co-Founder, SVP Marketing - Menlo Micro) joins me to discuss trends in power management and how their ideal switch technology can not only save you a whole lot of power, but also help you with your SWaP-C requirements as well. Keeping with our powerful theme this week, Jerry Hovdestad, David Gash (Behlman Electronics) and I chat about standardization in the SOSA power supplies and the benefits of intelligent power supply reporting.

The Sustainment Slog

“It is what it is till it ain’t” - Mac Miller, 2019

When does sustainment become a slog? When does the bottom one percent of your sales start becoming too much to bear? In this week’s Fish Fry, we are diving into the world of OEM product pruning with Ethan Plotkin and Siku Thompson from GDCA. Ethan, Siku and I discuss supply chain trust, integrated sustainment, and the hidden costs associated with ad hoc orders. Also this week, we take a closer look at some revolutionary new research from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab that is creating drinking water from atmospheric humidity.