TinyML is somewhat of a secret to embedded designers, but it shouldn’t be. It could be a relatively simple answer to a very complex problem. 

To understand why developers should know more about it and how it could help them overcome the AI hurdle, I spoke to Shawn Hymel, an embedded systems engineer, educator, and TinyML expert. 

On this week’s Embedded Executives podcast, we get into where TinyML should be deployed and why, and where it shouldn’t.

For a host of reasons, it’s important to keep your network up to date. Those reasons include performance, reliability, security standards, and others. But what happens when your network is ancient, in technological terms? 

That’s something many in the embedded space struggle with, as it’s not unusual for embedded platforms to be in the field for a decade or more. 

To understand what can be done in these cases, I spoke to Ron Elliott, the Director of Field Application Engineering for Digi Infrastructure Management, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

As AI gets smarter, it raises the bar for the bad guys to do their bad things. We are in a constant race to stay ahead, and there is seemingly no end in sight. 

To understand what this means and what can be done to (hopefully) stay ahead of the curve, I spoke to Steve Hanna, a Distinguished Engineer from Infineon, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

A lot is going on in the world these days that can disrupt the supply chain. From political issues to tariffs to the data center craze, some components are just difficult to obtain. Thankfully, there are ways around the issues and different ways to deal with them. 

To get a little insight into these issues, I spoke to Ohad Yaniv, the CEO of Variscite, who deals with them daily. He's this week’s guest on the Embedded Executives podcast.

It would seem like a no-brainer to support IoT in various regions. But that’s not necessarily the case. And when you look at how many new applications are popping up, the waters get even muddier. And don’t even get me started on what happens when you try to go wireless. 

Someone who is much closer to the issues/hurdles than I is John Grady, the CEO of Ayla Networks, who joined me on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Edge AI is exceeding the expectations that I had for the technology, at least at this early point in its ramp-up. I had expected it to take longer to reach fruition than it actually has, although you could probably argue that it hasn’t come close to reaching even the beginnings of its potential. 

To understand where Edge AI stands today, where it’s going, and when it could potentially get there, I spoke to John Weil, the Vice President and General Manager for IoT and Edge AI Processors at Synaptics, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Should you use AI to generate code? Or should it be limited to code review? From my research, it depends on who you ask. 

In this case, I asked Rod Cope, the Chief Technical Officer at Perforce Software. Rod has a great deal of experience in this space, and he was my guest on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Those of us who have been around the embedded space for a while are pretty familiar with Altera’s history in the programmable logic space. Without going through the details, it’s a fairly rocky past. 

The company now claims that we should put the past in the rearview mirror and focus not just on what the company is offering today, but what’s on its roadmap. They feel that the relationships they’ve made and the inroads they continue to make put them in the perfect position to provide the products its customers want and need. 

I wanted to hear this story right from the horse’s mouth, so I spoke to Altera’s President and CEO, Raghib Hussain, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

For its full existence, Arm has primarily been an IP vendor. That has now changed. Arm will be producing silicon products, similar to many of its customers. Getting to that point required an assist from some of its partners, including Synopsys. 

To understand what an “assist” consists of and what the longer-term outlook looks like, I spoke to Frank Schirrmeister, the Executive Director of Product Management for System Solutions at Synopsys, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

Digital transformation, particularly in industrial equipment, has the ability to change the landscape of design. 

Really? Do you even know what digital transformation is? 

It’s a term that Doug Cougle, the SVP of Operations and Business Development at NTX Embedded, used in a recent conversation. He said it with such conviction that I thought, “Maybe this is something I should learn more about.” I did, and I think you should as well, which is why I invited Doug to be a guest on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.