Ed Sperling of Semiconductor Engineering notes that power has always been a “global concern” in the design process because it affects every part of a chip. Nevertheless, partitioning for power rather than functionality or performance has not, historically, been seriously considered, although the status quo is beginning to change.
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Rambus talks vehicle security at TU-Automotive
Joe Gullo, the senior director for Rambus automotive strategy and development, recently participated in a TU-Automotive panel that explored the importance of securing next-gen autonomous vehicles. Indeed, the number of threat vectors in the automotive sector have exponentially increased in recent years. This is due to a range of factors, such as more complex software code, ubiquitous connectivity, a greater number of components and broader functionality.
Solid State Circuits Magazine highlights lensless smart sensors
A Rambus VLSI Symposium paper on lensless smart sensor (LSS) technology has been cited in Solid State Circuits Magazine.
“In an invited paper, Rambus presented an overview of lensless smart sensors that rely on phase-modulated diffraction gratings above a conventional imaging array. Compared to a lens, this More-than-Moore diffraction grating, seen in Figure 6, can be designed for wide wavelength bands and has a lower profile for thinner sensors,” the publication stated.
U.S. mobile payments ready to ramp
New research published by eMarketer confirms that 38.4 million Americans 14 and over will have used their mobile phones to pay at a point of sale at least once in the preceding six months during 2016. According to eMarketer analyst Bryan Yeager, the above-mentioned statistics represent 19.4% of U.S. smartphone users, although the figure is projected to hit 33.1% by 2020.
Set-top boxes go cardless with hardware security cores
Embedded security cores are becoming an increasingly popular option for set-top box chipsets. To be sure, set-top boxes that eschew smart cards in favor of hardware security cores offer operators robust protection with embedded, integrated hardware that is capable of performing a range of functions, including the secure storage and protection of cryptographic keys against unauthorized access.
Wearables eyed for mobile payments
According to Samsung, wearable vendors and banks have been piloting and launching a number of solutions that employ multiple types of near field communication (NFC)- enabled form factors, including fobs, rings and stickers in addition to smartwatches and wristbands. Although wearable payments are considered an early niche market, gradual growth is projected as the industry works through multiple issues, including upgrading point-of-scale (POS) terminal infrastructure, consumer comfort with wearables and refining the frictionless payment process.