Amelia's Weekly Fish Fry

The Road Forward for IoT: Cellular, LoRa, and WiFi - Oh My!

The Internet of things is not a concept, it is a network, the true technology enabled network of all networks” - Edewede Oriwoh

In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, Marc Pegulu from Semtech and I chat about the future of IoT, the pros and cons of the various networks we need to support our Internet of things ecosystem, and where LoRa and LoRaWAN fit in the grand scheme of IoT. I also examine how an off-the-shelf IoT wearable device is able to detect COVID-19 infection before symptoms appear for the first time. 

 

Sowing the Seeds of Change: How Sustainability and Extending Product Life Cycles Can Help Ease Our Supply Chain Woes

We are sowing the seeds of innovation in this week’s Fish Fry podcast! Peggy Carrieres from Avnet and I investigate the global supply chain challenges facing our engineering community today. We take a closer look at the role sustainability will play in the future of electronic design and how Avnet’s visual libraries called "Avail" can help you navigate a variety of supply chain and design chain issues. Also this week, I highlight a group of researchers from the University of Florida who have grown plants in lunar soil for the first time! I examine how this research could not only help develop food sources for future astronauts living and operating on the Moon and on Mars, but also how it could help us overcome stressful conditions in food-scarce areas here on Earth. 

Let’s Get Spaced Out! New Space-Qualified FRAM and the Discovery of New Black Holes

In this week’s podcast, we are headed to space! First, I investigate how a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discovered a hidden treasure trove of black holes in dwarf galaxies and how their research could help unlock the mysteries surrounding a supermassive black hole in our own galaxy. Keeping with our space theme, Helmut Puchner (Infineon VP and Fellow of Aerospace and Defense) also joins me to discuss a new space-qualified serial interface FRAM. We chat about why this technology is more energy-efficient than other devices used for space applications and the advantages this particular serial interface FRAM brings to the table versus other memory devices.

 

AI to Save the Day: Athinia Uses Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to Help Solve Semiconductor Challenges

Can big data and artificial intelligence help solve the problems plaguing the semiconductor industry? That is exactly the topic of this week’s Fish Fry podcast! Athinia CEO Laura Matz joins me to discuss how Athinia is using AI and big data to solve critical semiconductor challenges. We discuss collaboration across the semiconductor industry, how Athinia is creating new insights in material optimization, and why military-grade requirements for data security are integral to Althinia’s cloud infrastructure and operations.

Opening the Door for Manufacturing Innovation: PulseForge Develops a New Form of Thermal Processing

What if we could revolutionize manufacturing and save energy at the same time? My guest is PulseForge CEO Stan Farnsworth and we are digging into the details of PulseForge’s new digital thermal processing. Stan and I investigate how this kind of thermal processing differs from traditional thermal processing and how it can vastly reduce the amount of energy used in manufacturing. We also take a closer look at each of PulseForge’s application areas, including curing and sintering, soldering and debonding, and why Stan believes that rethinking manufacturing is crucial to future electronic design innovation. 

 

Shaving Hairs and New Electronics: UChicago’s Nanocrystal Breakthrough

Are you ready for some exciting nanocrystal technology? I certainly hope so! In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, Igor Coropceanu joins me to discuss how he and a team of fellow researchers at the University of Chicago discovered a new way to make nanocrystals function together electronically. We explore why this breakthrough in nanocrystal technology could lead to future devices with new abilities, what applications this would be a perfect fit for, and why this study reflects a step forward in new material research as well.

Consolidation and Collaboration: MCUs and The Future of the Automotive Industry

Motors big and small take center stage in this week’s Fish Fry podcast! Marcello Williams Silva (Infineon) joins us to discuss trends in automotive designs. We investigate how consolidation is changing the automotive landscape, the role that parallel processing units will play in future automotive and eMobility designs, and the critical design elements we should consider when it comes to our automotive designs. Keeping with our motorized theme this week, I also check out the first DNA-based motors that combine computational power with the ability to burn fuel and move in an intentional direction.

 

Guiding Light: University of Chicago Research Team Develops a Whole New Class of Integrated Photonic Circuits

In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we investigate a new ultra-compact integrated photonic device that could pave the way for a new class of integrated photonic circuits. University of Chicago Asst. Professor Alex High joins me to discuss how his team at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering developed a new way to guide light in one direction on a tiny scale. We take a closer look at why this breakthrough could lead to even smaller photonic circuits and the details of a new element developed by this team at the University of Chicago that could shape the future of photonic circuits.

Auditory Adventures: Cadence HiFi 1 Digital Signal Processing and Unlocking the Evolution of Hearing in Humans

What do sea anemones, Cadence HiFi DSPs, and the evolution of auditory sensing have in common? This week’s Fish Fry podcast! Prakash Madhvapathy (Cadence Design Systems) joins me to discuss the challenges of always-on consumer and mobile devices, the necessary requirements for optimized always-on DSPs, and how HiFi DSPs (paired with other Tensilica solutions) can help solve the toughest complex audio processing applications. Also this week, I take a closer look at new research that has uncovered an evolutionary link between human hearing and sea anemones.

 

 

The Need for Chips is Inevitable: How EMD Electronics is Planning for Tomorrow

This week I am happy to announce that Anand Nambiar (Global head of Semiconductor Materials at EMD Electronics) is joining me to discuss technological innovation amidst a global supply chain shortage. Anand and I discuss why EMD Electronics has pledged an investment of one billion dollars to support customers in the United States and a total of 3.5 billion dollars on a global scale. We discuss how this investment supports not only capacity expansion but also new material and technology innovation. Also this week, I take a closer look at a new 3D printing method developed by University College London that allowed them to 3D print medicinal tablets in seconds.