Embedded News Weekly: September Ignites Event Season and Innovation

Below is a curated snapshot of embedded‑systems news received this week, covering product launches, funding rounds, industry events, and key personnel moves.

September traditionally marks the start of the event calendar. This year, a mix of in‑person and virtual conferences is expanding the scene, with multiple AI‑centric meetups and the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco now open for registration.

In a highlight, Xilinx concluded its two‑week Xilinx Adapt 2021 event, unveiling a suite of new offerings: the latest Versal and defense‑grade devices, a Microsoft database analytics service powered by Alveo accelerator cards, a live‑video transcoding SDK, the Kria robotics stack, a Vitis library for medical ultrasound, and the Zynq RFSoC DFE now shipping to radio customers worldwide.

The free, six‑day event delivered three days of deep dives for software and hardware developers, followed by a final three days focused on end‑market segments—air‑space, defense, automotive, data center, industrial, healthcare, and wired & wireless.

Product Highlights

Panasonic Industry introduced the PAN9028, a dual‑band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi radio module featuring integrated Bluetooth BR/EDR/LE. Built on the NXP 88W8987 chipset, it delivers pre‑programmed regional calibration data for CE RED, FCC, and ISED, simplifying certification and BOM management.

STMicroelectronics announced mass‑market availability of its ST4SIM eSIM ICs for M2M applications via e‑distribution. The industrial eSIMs support GSMA‑compliant remote SIM management, enabling customers to switch connectivity providers without accessing the device. Activation is facilitated through ST’s partner Truphone’s onboarding platforms, and the ST4SIM is showcased on the B‑L462E‑CELL1 discovery kit.

Renesas expanded its Lab on the Cloud, offering a 24/7 cloud‑connected lab that allows designers to configure, test, monitor, and measure solutions without a physical board. New GUI features and design parameters enhance usability, and the platform now includes 14 additional evaluation boards, totaling 23.

Vecow, a Taiwan‑based AIoT design firm, launched the EIC‑1000 edge AI computing system built on the Rockchip RK3399 SoC. The dual‑core Cortex‑A72 and quad‑core Cortex‑A53 CPUs, paired with an Arm Mali‑T860MP4 GPU, support 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 32 GB eMMC, and optional microSD, delivering up to 4K display and Android/Linux OS support for digital signage, factory automation, and smart retail.

Crypto Quantique secured PSA Level 2 certification for its QDID quantum‑driven semiconductor IP, validated by independent security firm Riscure. The QDID IP, a physical unclonable function (PUF), generates unique cryptographic keys through quantum tunneling in CMOS processes, offering robust security for chip vendors.

InnoPhase announced an AWS‑certified IoT core solution for ultra‑low‑power Wi‑Fi connectivity and unveiled a smart‑home Alexa skill demo. The Talaria TWO multiprotocol modules provide Wi‑Fi, BLE 5, and integrated MCU and security features, ideal for edge devices such as smart locks, doorbells, and environmental sensors.

People

Embedded‑systems marketing veteran Rupert Baines has joined Codasip as Chief Marketing Officer and board member. After steering UltraSoC to a successful Siemens acquisition, Baines noted, “Codasip’s technology is strong and its customer traction is growing. We’re poised to elevate brand awareness and market share.”

Funding & Start‑ups

Ventana Micro Systems disclosed a $38 million funding round, unveiling a multi‑core RISC‑V SoC chiplet tailored for data‑center compute.

Aviva Links secured a $26.5 million Series A led by Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai, bringing total funding above $33 million. The capital will accelerate development of high‑bandwidth data‑transfer solutions for autonomous vehicles.

Alif Semiconductor entered the market with a scalable fusion processor family that integrates MPU, MCU, AI/ML, cellular connectivity, and security into a single device, targeting the AI‑enabled IoT segment.

Upcoming Events

The AI Hardware Summit runs 13–16 September 2021 at the Computer History Museum, featuring speakers such as Aart de Geus (Synopsys), Gajinder Panesar (Siemens), and David Patterson (Google).

The Arc Processor Virtual Summit takes place 21–22 September 2021. Keynote by Song Han (MIT) will cover TinyML and efficient deep learning.

Registration for the 58th DAC is now open. The conference will be held in San Francisco and virtually from 5–10 December 2021, with keynotes from Jeff Dean (Google), Bill Dally (Nvidia), and Missy Cummings (Duke). Attendees also gain access to SEMICON West and the RISC‑V Summit.

The EE Times AI Everywhere Forum will feature three tracks—AI in data centers, AI at the edge, and AI in devices—delivered 28–29 September 2021. Keynotes include Ron Martino (NXP), Zach Shelby (Edge Impulse), and Mukesh Khare (IBM Research).