Embedded Executive Podcast

Embedded devices get updates and patches on a regular basis. Those updates consist of bug fixes, security vulnerability updates, and lots of other stuff. But at some point, you’re going to run out of memory space for these patches, especially if your system has been in the field for years or even decades. 

So what do you do? 

That's not an easy question to answer, but there is an answer, and that’s what I got from Steve Hanna, a Distinguished Engineer from Infineon, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

NR+, aka DECT-2020 NR, is a non-cellular 5G wireless technology standard that operates without cell towers or operator subscriptions. It offers private, highly scalable mesh connectivity in the license-exempt 1.9-GHz frequency band for such applications as industrial IoT and industrial automation. 

That said, other long-range standards offer similar connectivity. So the obvious question for me is, “Why do we need NR+?” 

To answer that question, I spoke to Nick Dutton, a Strategic Advisor to Last Mile Semiconductor. Nick answered my question, and lots more along the way, in this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has a significant task in its hands. As a global body encompassing hundreds of companies, its goal is to create and promote open, universal standards in the wireless space, including (in a big way) the IoT. 

The goal sounds great, but having most of the major suppliers contributing and providing products for all corners of the globe can cause the process to become unwieldy. 

To understand how this group works, and how it is moving forward—which it is clearly doing—I spoke to Tobin Richardson, the CSA’s President and CEO, on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast.

We’re seeing new life coming to the Thread standard. If you remember, Thread is part of the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol and operates at very low power. But it doesn’t offer the bandwidth of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi continues to get better, so I question whether there’s really a need for Thread. 

Apparently, my question was misguided, as Ann Olivo, the Vice-President of Marketing for the Thread Group, explained to me on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast. (Note that Ann is also the Corporate Campaigns Manager for Silicon Labs). 

At the recent Unify event, put on by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the Thread Group unveiled an app that simplifies the process for developers. Hear more about all of that in our conversation.

It seems like nobody wants a data center in their backyard. In fact, they are starting to be banned completely by some states. But we need them if we are going to move AI technology forward. So, what do we do? 

One of the reasons for the pushback is the power required to drive these massive data centers. While it’s not the be-all, end-all, the use of photonics is one method that can reduce power consumption in data centers. 

Photonics has been used before, but not as the mainstream transfer medium. But could it? That’s where the discussion started on this week’s Embedded Executives podcast, where I spoke to Brad Booth, the CEO of NLM Photonics.

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.