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EDA tools have come a long way since the advent of personal computing. Now advanced routing features like auto-routers, interactive routing, length tuning, and pin-swapping are helping designers stay productive, especially as device and trace densities increase. Routing is normally restricted to 45-degree or right angle turns with typical layout and routing tools, but more advanced PCB design software allows users to route at any angle they like...

When I was in high school, everyone was laser-focused on the Red Hat family of Linux distributions, and let’s not forget Turbolinux. Almost 20 years later, the list of Linux distros has only continued growing, and there are over 600 Linux distros available. Debian-based distros like Ubuntu have become popular in server and data center environments, and they support a huge range of software. In the embedded world, the size of a full Ubuntu...

Image processing embedded systems can be deployed quickly thanks to modular design tools With advances in industrial automation, automotive technology, remote sensing, and much more, image processing is taking center stage in many embedded systems. Image processing with older video systems was difficult or impossible due to the low quality of many imaging systems with perpetual uptime. As a result, older camera systems could be developed for...

Traditionally, an engineering cycle has been considered to be on the order of 18 months. That’s the time between generations of products, whether it’s a new processor or a new Internet appliance. Today, a company that operates on an 18-month cycle is considered slow within many industries. If you have a lot of competitors, their release cycles are likely out of phase from yours. For example, if there are three companies serving an application...

“High volume” is a relative term. It depends upon what your business does and how many of a product you plan to sell. For one OEM, a minimum initial run might be 250K units. For another, 10K is the expected run of a product across its entire market life.   One way to consider “high volume” is that it’s large enough to hurt your business if you make a mistake. Put another way, high volume is high risk. And given the stakes, you want to minimize...

There’s something to be said about the difference between designing your system on an evaluation board compared to designing it using the board on which your system is actually going to ship.   One of the problems with using an evaluation board is that it’s a really nice environment to work in. Too nice, in some respects. The processor company wants you to have a positive experience with their chip so the eval board has all the bells and...

There’s tremendous value in being able to utilize the latest and greatest technology on the market. Of course, the leading edge is sharp and there are ways you can cut yourself if you aren’t careful. In general, though, having the flexibility to choose where you ride technology waves enables you to better balance the overall performance, cost, and power efficiency as you design systems.   I remember an industrial embedded system I was...

Bounce on a single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) switch with normally closed (NC) contact opening and normally open (NO) contact closing (Image source: David Ashton) In an earlier column -- Say "Hello" to the LogiSwitch Workbench -- I introduced a rather clever shield for the Arduino Uno. This little scamp allows you to break out all of the Arduino's analog and digital input/output (I/O) pins, along with the 5V, 3V3, and GND pins, to three full...

The Evo Compute Module (small board) mounted on an EvoTray (larger board) (Image source: Alorium Technology) I was just chatting with my chum Jason Pecor at Alorium Technology. We bounced around from topic to topic with the agility of much younger men. At some stage in our conversation, Jason mentioned a forthcoming product called the Evo Compute Module, which really grabbed my attention. I'll tell you all I know in a minute (it won’t take...