Amelia's Weekly Fish Fry

Fish Fry Vault: VisionTech's Dirty Dealings in ICs

People have frequently asked me if I have a favorite podcast episode. My answer is generally that because I have produced so many (we will be celebrating Fish Fry’s 500th episode very soon), I certainly cannot pick a favorite!  But that really isn’t true. This episode is my favorite. There, I said it. Please to enjoy.

Also, since this episode first aired in 2011 and on a different podcasting platform, it will be new episode for most listeners. Also, don’t bother entering for the amazon.com gift certificates. They are long gone.

(Episode originally aired September 30, 2011)

 

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.

Super Standards to the Rescue!

In this week’s podcast, we are tackling two of the biggest themes at this year’s Embedded Tech Trends Conference:  SOSA (Sensor Open Systems Architecture) and artificial intelligence processing at the edge. First up, I take a closer look at SOSA with Rodger Hoskins from Pentek. Rodger and I discuss the role SOSA will have in the warfighting technology, what the future holds for this open systems architecture, and what exactly the “Grey Box Concept” is all about. Next up, Doug Patterson from AiTech and I discuss some real world examples of AI processing at the edge, the importance of situational awareness, and why surveillance and reconnaissance plays an important role across many different application areas. 

Infinite Compute Capacity

Design automation and verification take center stage in this week’s podcast! First up, Seena Shankar (Cadence Design Systems) joins me to discuss the power of cloud computing in EDA. Next, Vanessa Cooper (DVCon U.S. Technical Program Committee Chair) gives special sneak peek into this year’s Design and Verification Conference and Expo. Vanessa and I discuss the various workshops and tutorials offered at this year’s conference and why you should book your registration sooner than later.

New Kid on the Block

This week’s podcast is one part frog embryo, one part embedded design, and one part crystal ball! To start things off, we take a closer look at how a team of research scientists have created a new form of life (a living, programmable organism called a Xenobot) with a little help from African frog embryos, a algorithm that simulates designs for new life-forms, and the Deep Green supercomputer cluster at the Vermont Advanced Computing Core. Also this week, Dunstan Power (ByteSnap Design) and I discuss a variety of design trends for 2020, including the rise of RISC-V, the role of security in embedded design, and why he expects to see a big push into machine learning-driven by tools from Xilinx and Intel.

Thermal Trials and Temperature Tales

We all know that today’s engineering teams are facing increasing challenges surrounding thermal aware designs. Whether you are designing a board, an IC, or a system, we all struggle with thermal and electrical simulation at one point or another. In this week’s Fish Fry, Jerry Zhao (Cadence Design Systems) and I discuss the challenges of thermal and electrical simulation and the benefits of electrical and thermal co-simulation of multi-physics designs.

Hyperscale to the Rescue!

In this week’s podcast we take a closer look at how the increase of machine to machine data traffic has encouraged a movement toward spine leaf architecture and die-to-die connectivity in hyperscale data centers. Manmeet Walia (Synopsys) joins me this week to discuss the evolution of data center technology and how the challenges surrounding cache currency and network functionality is driving change in the world of hyper scale data centers.  Also this week, we check out a new Kickstarter campaign called Flash Forest that is looking to plant a billion trees by 2028 with a little help from a specialized fleet of drones! 

 

Warp Speed Ahead

“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.” - Captain Kirk, Starship Enterprise

I’ve got three words for you: Quantum FM Radio! In this week’s Fish Fry podcast, we take an in-depth look at some revolutionary quantum research coming out of University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering that will not only change the future of quantum mechanics as we know it, but also pave the way for unhackable communication channels, the teleportation of single electron states, and the realization of a quantum internet. Also this week, self-professed “crazy scientist” and photonics expert Gilles Lamant joins me to discuss the the evolution of photonics and why photonics is finding its way into machine learning and artificial intelligence today.