Embedded Executive Podcast

The Chips and Science Act has been with us for a while now, and obviously, technology doesn’t stand still. To understand what’s going on with this important act, I spoke to Reza Azarderakhsh, the Founder and CEO of PQSecure Technologies. Reza introduced this act to our audience about a year ago, so this serves as a great update. We also dive into the related security issues developers need to stay on top of. Hear it all on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Kinetic energy can be harvested from very simple mechanical movements, like the push of a button or the turning of a knob. WePower Technologies has been able to do more with that small amount of power than I expected. For example, they can power a transceiver to turn a light on or off simply by pushing a button or power the mechanical mechanism in a door lock by turning a knob 90 degrees. This would replace a battery that needs to be swapped on a regular basis. Hear more about it on the week’s Embedded Executives podcast, where I speak to WePower Technologies’ Founder and CEO, Larry Richenstein.

Avnet recently surveyed part of its core audience, and the topic was AI’s Impact on Engineering. It doesn’t get much closer to home than that. To understand how the survey was conducted and, more importantly, what the results showed, I spoke to Alex Iuorio, Avnet’s Senior Vice President for Global Supplier Development. Alex and I discussed the results, what they mean, and what the future looks like in terms of AI in engineering. Check out this week’s Embedded Executives podcast to hear what he had to say.

We’ve all seen the wireless charging devices; you set your phone down on the charger, come back after a while, and your phone is charged. If the charger manufacturer followed the standard set forth by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), that scenario would play out. If they didn’t follow the standard, then you may come back to an uncharged device. Recently, the WPC released the latest version of its charging spec, pushing the charging level from 15 W up to 25 W. Hear more about it on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast, where I speak to the WPC’s Marketing Director, Paul Golden.

It’s time for an update on Wi-Fi. On this week’s Embedded Executives podcast, we take a look at what’s the latest, what’s coming, what’s real, and what’s not so real, all as it pertains to Wi-Fi. To get answers to these questions, I spoke with Sivaram Trikutam, Senior Vice President of Wireless Products at Infineon Technologies. Sivaram and I went through the latest protocols to understand how things like range, power, frequency, and bandwidth will change (or not) going forward. To that end, Infineon just launched its latest Wi-Wi-Fi transceiver, the AIROC ACW741x product family, which the company claims is the industry's first 20-MHz tri-radio device optimized for IoT applications.

There are lots of different ways that IoT devices can communicate. In some instances, that’s a good thing. But in other cases, it’s hindering the growth of IoT devices. And that’s a problem, at least according to Mike Rohrmoser, a Vice President at Digi. In this week’s Embedded Executives podcast, Mike explains how protocols are evolving and what needs to occur to ensure interoperability between all devices, including those that may have been in the field for decades.

There’s no moss gathering under the Connectivity Stands Alliance, as the group recently announced the latest rev of the ZigBee spec, version 4.0. This new version enhances the security efforts from the previous generation, and also takes a hard look at smart energy in the latest devices. One of the keys, as you’ll hear, is the backward compatibility that’s been maintained. Faisal Bhaiyat, the Co-Chair of ZigBee Working Group, Connectivity Standards Alliance, and also a Senior Software Architect with Silicon Labs, fills me in on the details on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

You’re likely aware of many of the great things AI can do for you. And I’m guessing you’ve seen many of the nefarious things it can be used for. I was just brought up to speed on one of the latter items, and it’s something you should be aware of as well. In my discussion with Marcus Webster, the Founder and President of Webster and Webster Associates, I learned that people are using AI to help them get jobs, and in some cases, they are jobs that they should not be getting, for security reasons. People are submitting fake resumes and even conducting fake video-based job interviews. Honestly, it’s both fascinating and scary. Check out this week’s Embedded Executives podcast to learn more.

Most of the RISC-V offerings that I’ve seen have been pushing very high performance, with lots of cores and lots of chips. Upbeat Technology is taking a different tack by looking at very low power levels. In my discussion with Jerry Chen, Founder and CEO of Upbeat Technology, he explains the reasons for that approach, and, as you’ll hear, he tells it like it is and explains why the company partnered with SiFive. The applications that make sense for the Upbeat offering include always-on IoT, wearables, drones/UAVs, smart audio, predictive maintenance, and edge-AI sensors, basically anything battery-powered. Hear our discussion on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

It’s not the first time this has occurred, but it is the latest—a previously commercial real-time operating system is now being offered as open source. In this case, it’s SMX from Micro Digital. If you’re wondering, like I was, where the company would choose to go this route, check out this week’s Embedded Executives podcast with Ralph More, the Founder and President of Micro Digital.