News

Europe’s strategy to boost its computer chip industry and compete with Asia gets final approval

Source: AP News, July 25, 2023 [1]
The European Union's ministers approved the bloc's Chips Act, which will channel 43 billion euros ($47 billion) in public and private funds to support the semiconductor industry in Asia. The goal is to double the bloc's share of global semiconductor production to 20% by 2030. Asia is crucial for global semiconductor production, a shift from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robot operating system advances left up to industry

Source: EETimes, July , 2023 [2]
More than 740 companies are working on ROS-based robots, Malik Saadi, VP for strategic technologies at global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, told EE Times.

The golden age of custom silicon draws near

Source: EETimes, July 26, 2023 [3]
The semiconductor industry is experiencing rising costs in system-on-chips (SoCs) production, leading to companies designing their own SoCs to differentiate themselves. This trend benefits standard CPU suppliers like AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm but also benefits EDA software developers, IP houses, contract chip designers, and foundries.

Visual-ROS: Simplifying ROS 2 development with a graphical interface

Source: eProsima, July, 2023 [4]
eProsima is thrilled to announce the launch of Visual-ROS, a user-friendly web-based graphical interface for ROS 2 that allows users with little or no programming knowledge to develop ROS 2 applications.

AMD looks beyond TSMC as it worries about supply chain risks

Source: The Register, July 24, 2023 [5]
AMD is considering broadening chip production suppliers as it believes it is too reliant on semiconductor giant TSMC and this places the supply chain at risk of disruption.

Silicon box launches $2B semiconductor packaging fab in Singapore

Source: VentureBeat, July 25, 2023 [6]
Semiconductor startup Silicon Box has launched a $2 billion advanced semiconductor packaging fab in Singapore.

The semiconductor showdown: US-China trade war escalates with export restrictions

Source: ctech, July 24, 2023 [7]
China's move to limit metal exports for chip industry sends shockwaves through global tech supply chain, prompting concerns over chip shortages and economic impacts

Demand for timing innovation grows

Source: Semiconductor Engineering, July 19, 2023 [8]
The semiconductor industry has begun exploring a range of timing options as demand for increased performance and more features exceeds the ability to design chips using the same techniques and technology that have been relied on for decades.

Papers

Exploiting FPGA capabilities for accelerated biomedical computing

Source: ResearchGate , July 16, 2023 [9]
This study presents advanced neural network architectures for enhanced ECG signal analysis using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). It utilizes the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database and introduces Gaussian noise for robustness. The models have multiple layers, EarlyStopping callback, and Dropout layer to mitigate overfitting. The study also develops a custom Tensor Compute Unit accelerator for the PYNQ Z1 board, demonstrating FPGAs' potential in high-performance biomedical computing.

Development of f1tenth camera based navigation using ros2

Source: SGU Online Thesis Submission, June 26, 2023 [10]
The project focuses on lane detection in autonomous driving using a camera sensor and ESP32 microcontroller, integrated with the ESP-IDF framework. The system accurately tracks lane markings and communicates with ROS2, a robotics middleware framework. Camera sensors are widely used for affordability and versatility, while the ESP32 microcontroller runs the ESP-IDF framework. This cost-effective and scalable solution offers a powerful platform for developing autonomous driving systems.

Previous Hardware Acceleration in Robotics Newsletters

Past ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group meetings

  1. Europe's strategy to boost its computer chip industry and compete with Asia gets final approval. (2023, July 25). AP News. https://apnews.com/article/computer-chips-europe-chips-act-semiconductors-f6ebf0ba36816b810deebf94fec68318 ↩︎

  2. Wolff, I. (2023, July 26). Robot operating system advances left up to industry. EETimes. https://www.eetimes.com/robot-operating-system-advances-left-up-to-industry/ ↩︎

  3. Shilov, A. (2023, July 26). The golden age of custom silicon draws near. EETimes. https://www.eetimes.com/the-golden-age-of-custom-silicon-draws-near/ ↩︎

  4. Katrin. (2023, July). Visual-ROS: Simplifying ROS 2 development with a graphical interface. eProsima. https://eprosima.com/index.php/company-all/news/323-visual-ros-simplifying-ros-2-development-with-a-graphical-interface ↩︎

  5. Robinson, D. (2023, July 24). AMD looks beyond TSMC as it worries about supply chain risks. The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/amd_looks_beyond_tsmc/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=article ↩︎

  6. Takahashi, D. (2023, July 25). Silicon box launches $2B semiconductor packaging fab in Singapore. VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/ai/silicon-box-launches-2b-semiconductor-packaging-fab-in-singapore/ ↩︎

  7. The semiconductor showdown: US-China trade war escalates with export restrictions | CTech. (2023, July 24). ctech. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/ryxbh2j9n ↩︎

  8. Goldman, J. (2023, July 19). Demand for timing innovation grows. Semiconductor Engineering. https://semiengineering.com/demand-for-timing-innovation-grows/?cmid=de4a287f-13fb-4d78-94a8-d8546f66a290 ↩︎

  9. Inadagbo, K., Arig, B., Alici, N., & Isik, M. (2023, July 16). Exploiting FPGA capabilities for accelerated biomedical computing. ResearchGate . https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kayode-Inadagbo/publication/372134042_Exploiting_FPGA_Capabilities_for_Accelerated_Biomedical_Computing/links/64a5d7a495bbbe0c6e16c814/Exploiting-FPGA-Capabilities-for-Accelerated-Biomedical-Computing.pdf ↩︎

  10. Hermawan, H., & Rusyadi, R. (2023, June 26). Development of f1tenth camera based navigation using ros2. SGU Online Thesis Submission. https://thesis.sgu.ac.id/index.php/ots/article/view/4457 ↩︎