From life sciences to astrophysics to quantum physics, advanced computation in every field heavily relies on high-performance computing (HPC) storage systems. While most enterprise applications and software today demand supercomputing, the storage requirements for modeling and simulation, deep learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics workloads, have significantly evolved over the years. These requirements have grown more intense, owing to the increased adoption of edge computing for optimizing applications and cloud-storage systems. To meet such requirements, businesses are embracing highly-scalable cloud storage solutions or efficient and reliable SSDs to improve performance benchmarks in end-user devices, servers, and storage arrays. This is where Sage Microelectronic is in a class by itself.Sage Microelectronic Corporation (Sage Micro) is one of the leading semiconductor companies that provide Integrated Circuits (ICs) and solutions for digital storage and data security applications. "We are designing today's storage solutions while researching and exploring tomorrow's technology," says Jerome Luo, founder of Sage Microelectronic. Headquartered in Hangzhou city, the company has devoted itself to creating superior products and services to prepare its petition to China's Sci-Tech innovation board (STAR Market) as an IC star providing storage solutions. The company's products have been widely applied in various customer applications like digital cameras, mobile phones, and personal computers, as well as in enterprise and communication systems such as industrial control, cloud storage, and more. Supported by funding of about US$90 million, Sage Micro's product line covers mobile flash controllers, SSD controllers, and aggregator/RAID/port-multiplier controllers. Furthermore, the company is facing the increasing demands of many high-end systems, such as communication and aeronautics. "We have enabled the latest and most sustainable semiconductors in the server and the cloud area. While everything is moving from the server room to the edge, there is a tremendous opportunity for new ICs. Sage Micro is primed to reap the benefits of the latest trends, and embeds, merges and integrates new functions into the current storage controllers," says Chris Tsu, CTO of the company.Sage Micro is one of the world's top three bridge controller manufacturers providing consumer storage controllers, including USB-IDE, USB-SATA/PCIe, SAS/SATA-SATA bridge controllers, and more.We are designing today's storage solutions while researching and exploring tomorrow's technologyIn 2012, the company announced China's first SATA SSD controller and is currently focused on developing and shipping enterprise high-performance SSD controllers, with an enhanced partnership with IBM that has pioneered high-end storage systems. Owing to its flexible architecture, Sage Micro is also the first enterprise SSD controller provider to apply the leading MRAM vendor, Everspin's newly released 1 GB Spin-transfer Torque MRAM.Sage Micro is building up a whole series of SSD controllers covering all kinds of interfaces, including SATA, SAS, PCIe, and more. "Our recent controllers are provided for MLC and TLC flash but should accumulate technologies for QLC flash memory and even the generation after QLC," adds Luo. Furthermore, the company is taking a big leap from being a single drive controller vendor to a system-level high-end IC provider by manufacturing storage system controllers such as RAID controllers, port-multipliers, aggregators, and expanders. Some of Sage Micro's controllers have embedded encryption/decryption engines to provide data security functions.In essence, Sage Micro is not only delivering storage controllers with high capacity, great performance, and embedded security, but also pioneering the next generation of storage and computing systems. Tsu further presents his aggressive ideas for embedded computing of an SSD or RAID/Expander IC. "Computational storage can be practiced by these chips, and the embedded hardware engines can run much faster than software can. Artificial Intelligence in a surveillance system implemented with these chips can ensure high efficiency in facial recognition applications. It can also be used to build block-chain with the security engines distributed and embedded inside each drive or storage access interface. To sum it up, as storage and computing are having a fuzzy boundary now, we are trying to leverage the merits," says Tsu.A bright future awaits Sage Micro, which aims to achieve milestones in the global market after its massive success in China.About Sage MicroSage Micro is one of the world's top 3 bridge controller manufacturers providing consumer Storage controllers, including SD/MMC card controller, USB flash drive controller, USB-SATA/PCIe bridge controller, and more. In 2012, the company announced China's first SATA SSD controller and is currently focused on developing and shipping enterprise high-performance SSD controllers, with an enhanced partnership with IBM that has pioneered high-end storage systems such as banking database. Owing to its flexible architecture, Sage Micro is the first enterprise SSD controller provider to apply the leading MRAM vendor, Everspin's new-released 1 GB Spin-transfer Torque MRAM. More information, please visit the website.(Editor's note: This article was originally published by CIOReview.)Chris Tsu, CTO (left) and Jianjun Luo (Jerome Luo), CEOSage Microelectronic achieves high reliability and performance with SSD controllers

With the world going digital, the popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is rapidly rising. This is not only reshaping people's lives but also spurring a wave of new market opportunities. However, growingly widespread use of connected devices also leads to increased cybersecurity threats. To control cybersecurity risks, governments around the world are enacting cybersecurity laws while leading manufacturers are also implementing cybersecurity requirements for their products.As international markets and customers impose more and more regulations and requirements on cybersecurity, Taiwan-based ICT device manufacturers feel mounting pressure.Having long been committed to developing security compliance solutions for IoT devices, Onward Security envisaged the trend of security assessment for connected devices years ago and thus took early action by actively engaging in international standards certification and conformity assessment. As a result of its efforts, Onward Security has made itself Taiwan's only Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) and Amazon Prime Video security assessment lab and Asia's only Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) authorized test lab with an aim to help electronics brands and manufacturers obtain security certifications and thereby penetrate into international supply chains.Security compliance enhances brand image while reducing operating costsAccording to Onward Security Director of Technical Service, Daniel Liu, the rise of 5G and AIoT will bring a massive number of smart devices and applications into reality, many of which will be used at people's homes. In the case of security incidents resulting from poor security implementations on the part of the developers, people's safety and privacy will be at risk. To prevent such threats, many governments and manufacturers impose regulations and requirements demanding that connected devices comply with security standards. California's new IoT Security Law that went into effect on January 1, 2020 is an example.Although the security standards are not currently mandatory, they may be incorporated as part of government procurement procedures and national standards. For example, Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards (TAICS) has established a set of cybersecurity standards for a slew of products including video surveillance devices, smart street lamps and smartbus systems. When government procurement procedures include security compliance in the future, a product's conformity to the security standards will play a critical role. As to international standards, Amazon requires that products built in with Alexa and/or Prime Video pass security assessment by Amazon authorized labs or else manufacturers will be prohibited from shipping the products. CTIA, representing major North American telecom companies, also has the IoT Cybersecurity Certification Program in place to ensure that connected devices have appropriate security capabilities and thereby protect consumers and wireless networks.Liu notes that security assessment generally takes at least two weeks but could take as long as one and half to three months if any vulnerabilities or non-compliance items are discovered and need to be fixed and then retested, which is common during the initial stage of assessment. This will inevitably delay product development but developers have no way around it if they want to meet end market requirements. Liu thinks having their products pass security assessment enables manufacturers to penetrate into international supply chains while validating their product quality and enhancing their brand image. More importantly, if vulnerabilities are found after the product goes to market, the impact, including the burden on service personnel, delay in product development and cost for deploying security patches, will be much more serious than if the issues are caught and resolved beforehand. This manifests the value of security assessment. The benefits definitely outweigh the time and effort it takes.Operating an ISO 27001 and ISO 17025 accredited lab, Onward Security has built up strong capabilities in IoT security regulatory compliance through rigorous testing methodology, extensive service experiences and active devotion in international standards, based on which it is able to provide Taiwan-based manufacturers with comprehensive compliance and certification services for international cybersecurity standards.According to Onward Security Director of Technical Service, Daniel Liu, Onward Security exerts all efforts in making itself an authorized lab for international cybersecurity standards so that Taiwan-based manufacturers can have their products assessed and certified locally without engaging foreign labs and auditors to help reduce certification costs.

The global demand for healthcare services is growing, due in part to increases in aging populations, chronic diseases, and patient volumes in emerging countries. These trends and others will boost global healthcare spending, which is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% through 2023.Smart Healthcare SolutionsWith healthcare providers caring for more patients and battling the spread of infectious diseases, medical-grade computers can help by improving healthcare efficiency and patient safety. ADLINK's antibacterial medical panel computers deliver the high performance and a hygienic design needed to meet the stringent requirements of the healthcare industry. This case study describes how a Taiwan-based medical systems integrator, iMedtac, deployed ADLINK products to build surgical imaging systems and mobile medical carts to address some of the challenges facing healthcare providers.iMedtac's solutions are widely used by large medical institutions, both at home and abroad, mainly for two reasons: they closely match hospital needs and can be up and running in no time, ready-to-use by medical care teams.ChallengesEnable faster and safer surgeriesDoctors operating on patients need to view pre-surgery images stored in an archive along with images captured during surgery. When medical imaging devices are located throughout the operating room, doctors must look up and around to find the information they need, which can distract them and slow down the surgery.Reduce medical device-related infectionsPreventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is a top priority in the healthcare industry, and perhaps even more so with the rise in infectious diseases throughout the world. HAIs can occur when the medical device itself becomes contaminated and serves as a means of transmission of microorganisms directly or indirectly from an infected individual to a patient.2 SolutionsAn integrated view of medical images increases efficiency and safetyAn imaging platform developed by iMedtac allows doctors to view multiple medical images from one display built with ADLINK's MLC8 and MLC-AK/KL medical panel computers. Further addressing patient safety and healthcare efficiency, the solution eliminates the need for doctors to physically press a key with their hand or foot by incorporating gesture recognition.By implementing contactless switching from one image to another, the platform helps reduce the risk of infection and the time needed to clean the operating room, thereby shortening the operating room turnover time.Hygienic design prevents the spread of infectionA mobile medical cart designed for hospitals facilitates safe, contactless doctor-patient communication and medical data access by combining gesture recognition and video conferencing. Built by iMedtac, the cart integrates medical images (e.g., electrocardiogram, ultrasound, and Horus Scope) with information from hospital information systems (HIS) and/or picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). The solution increases the portability and usability of medical devices for both intensive care units (ICUs) and remote healthcare settings.Medical-Grade ComputersiMedtac's surgical imaging systems and mobile medical carts are respectively based on ADLINK's MLC8 and MLC-AL/KL medical panel computers that are medically-certified products, suitable for use in operating rooms and ICUs. According to iMedtac, even with gesture control, there are still situations when users need to physically enter commands via the touch panel. This is why iMedtac selected ADLINK's MLC8 and MLC-AL/KL medical panel computers with hygienic-design features.These ADLINK computers allow for easy cleaning by medical care teams after use, prevent bacterial growth in cracks, and shorten operating room turnover time. The hygienic design includes a screwless, fully-sealed housing, edge-to-edge touch panel (no frame), on-screen buttons (no physical buttons), antibacterial surface coating, and IP54 protection.Integrating ADLINK Panel ComputersiMedtac reduces its medical system integration efforts by starting with a standard architecture and then customizing the remaining portion (approximately 30%) to satisfy particular customer needs. ADLINK panel computers fully support this development model, providing high levels of flexibility and functionality. This includes a 4K or full HD display, customizable touch control, and laminated with anti-glare coated safety glass and optical bonding to present clear medical images. ADLINK-based solutions also provide an isolated I/O interface, expansion slots, and network ports to accommodate connection to wide-ranging devices to facilitate system integration.ADLINK's medical-grade panel computers are IEC/EN-60601-1 and IEC/EN-60601-1-2 certified. These certifications protect the safety of those operating the medical devices and prevent the devices from interfering with one another in operating rooms and ICUs, which help ensure the safety of the operating room staff and patients.Smart Healthcare SolutionsADLINK and iMedtac are committed to collaborating and bringing smart healthcare solutions with a fresh perspective to the healthcare industry. For information about ADLINK medical-grade panel computers, please visit the website.An imaging platform developed by iMedtac allows doctors to view multiple medical images from one display built with ADLINK's MLC8 and MLC-AK/KL medical panel computersADLINK panel computers fully support this development model, providing high levels of flexibility and functionality

Amiccom released 2.4GHz direct-sequence spread-spectrum wireless chip in June 2020, named A7157, which supports FSK and DSSS modulation operation modes.In FSK mode, A7157 is a high-speed (4Mbps) RF transceiver chip. The operation is fully compatible with A7190 and A7196. The maximum PA output power can be up to 17Bm.Via SPI interface user can control the operation mode and access to the built-in 512 Bytes TXFIFO and RXFIFO.When the DSSS modulation operation is enabled, the supported maximum data rate is 133.3kbps, the spread spectrum function can enhance the anti-interference ability of the A7157 and greatly increase the distance of wireless transmission.A7157 features 4Mbps mode high-speed transmission, 30 times DSSS function, built-in high-power PA and 512 Bytes TX/RX FIFO packets. Customers can configure the best transmission mode according to system application requirements. Suitable applications include Baby Monitor in the 2.4GHz frequency band, wireless audio and video transmission, high-fidelity wireless speakers, home security and drone. Using FSK modulation, 15 channels can be used. In addition, AMICCOM provides reference design modules, customers can quickly complete product designs and shorten the design cycle. The reference design module can meet the EMC specifications of the US FCC part 15.247 and the European ETSI EN300-440.In the RF performance, the reference design of the A7157 operates with DSSS 133.3kbps, 17dBm TX Power and RX sensitivity of -100dBm. Link Budget can reach 117dB. In addition, the built-in RSSI of the A7157 can help software engineers to select a clean channel for high-speed transmission (4Mbps) and a built-in Multi-CRC to enhance the packet error detection capability. The Auto Calibration mechanism inside the chip can overcome the semiconductor process variation and can work stably in various environments.In data processing, A7157 provides packet error detection (FEC and CRC), Auto ACK and Auto Resend mechanisms to reduce the burden of software development, the packet content also supports hardware AES128 encryption and decryption. Enhancing the confidentiality of data can reduce the complexity of MCU operation for data processing. The power management of A7157 supports Sleep, Idle mode and TWOR mode (Wake up by Radio Timer). The TWOR function provides A7157 automatic wake-up to extend battery life. In Sleep mode, the current consumption of A7157 is only 5.3uA. Overall, the built-in functions of A7157 can effectively reduce the development complexity and development cost.Supply and packagingA7157 is available in a QFN5x5 32L package, and is now available from Amiccom and its authorized distributors. Welcome to request IC samples and development kits and start development work. Amiccom 's FAE team also provides RF test tools for mass production of modules. Please contact Amiccom Electronics for details.

Around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the strict lockdowns which governments have imposed to try to control the spread of infection, have brought short-term upheaval to every aspect of people's lives.But looking ahead at the months and years to follow once the immediate crisis has passed, which changes in ordinary life are likely to endure? And how does a memory IC manufacturer such as Winbond ensure that it is ready to meet the changed requirements of electronics device OEMs?Winbond has worked hard to adapt its strategic product and technology plans in the light of the changed circumstances that it is now forecasting. This is the company's broad assessment of how the post-Covid world is going to shape up, and of the demands that this will place on suppliers to the memory IC market.Home working and home entertainment will become the new normalWhen governments imposed pandemic lockdowns, citizens were told that those who could work from home, should work from home. Companies scrambled to put in place new systems and processes which would allow for all or most workers to work from home.What was originally intended to be a short-term fix has turned out to be an efficient way of working. To most people's surprise, home working is one of the few positive changes to emerge from the pandemic. It turns out that people like it, and so do companies - it is a win-win. People save the time that they would otherwise have spent commuting, so have more time to spend with their families, or on leisure activities.And companies are now exploring the scope to save money on the provision of work spaces, particularly for office staff. They are also keen to make savings on business travel. Workers have discovered that they can achieve on video conference calls made on platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Skype almost as much as they could in a face-to-face meeting, but without the cost, time and energy involved in business travel.For the sake both of people and of the organisations which employ them, home working is here to stay. And this means that there will be a surge in demand for the technologies which enable computing and communications equipment to work efficiently and effectively. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and Wi-Fi 6 routers will be particularly popular to meet the home worker's need for high internet bandwidth. We will also see higher demand for computing equipment for home use. As so often before, predictions of the death of the PC are set to be proved wrong. We also expect to see strong growth in the market for the peripheral devices which make home working more comfortable or efficient, and for high-performance smartphones.Many home computing and communications devices depend on robust NOR or NAND Flash for boot code storage. Winbond's investment in developing QspiNAND Flash technology is important in this context: the QspiNAND Flash devices are lower-cost alternatives to conventional NOR Flash for storing code bigger than 512Mbits. The QspiNAND Flash products provide high-speed Read and Write performance sufficient for Code Shadowing operation, and have a small package size and low pin count, enabling OEMs to reduce the size and cost of the board. Board and cost savings are also a benefit of low pin-count HyperRAM memory devices for use in space-constrained computing peripherals such as wireless headsets or True Wireless earbuds.Another lockdown phenomenon which looks set to continue post-Covid is the use of advanced technology for home entertainment. Streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are now even more popular than before. But another effect that Winbond forecasts is the emergence of demand for 8K TVs for the ultimate home cinema experience. Here, Winbond's Low-Power DDR3 (LPDDR3) DRAM products are the ideal choice: in the T-CON module in an 8K TV, a single LPDDR3 replaces multiple alternative components to offer a substantial space and cost saving.Societies will accept greater intrusion into private lives in the name of disease preventionAccepted practice will differ from country to country. But the general trend that we can already see around the world is that citizens will grant permission to the authorities to acquire and keep data about their movement and their contact with actually or potentially infected people, provided that this intrusion into privacy is required to limit the spread of Covid-19 or other infectious diseases.This trend has already led to the use of smartphone radio technologies and apps to work out who has been close to known infected people. In future, we can expect to see greater deployment of potentially even more intrusive technologies, such as IP cameras in public places, and camera drones monitoring compliance with social distancing regulations in public spaces.But while citizens might accept the acquisition and use of personal data for strictly medical purposes, they will not accept misuse or mishandling of the data. This looks set to boost demand for proven security components which can protect electronics devices such as cameras from tampering or hacking attack.Security and encryption are commonly regarded as functions to be implemented in a high-end digital system such as a microcontroller, Secure Element or microprocessor. But system designs in which boot code and/or personal data are stored in an external memory also need to take account of security requirements. Winbond anticipated this requirement for secure code storage with the development of its TrustME family of Secure Flash Memory products. The latest TrustME memory product, the W77Q is "Security by Design" to prevent IoT devices from remote software attack. The W77Q provides hardware root-of-trust and secure, encrypted data-storage and data-transfer capabilities. By ensuring robust, end-to-end security in IoT devices it enables:* Secure code updates, including over-the-air updates, via an end-to-end secure channel between an update authority and the W77Q even when the host processor or SoC has been compromised.* Secure boot and root-of-trust* Authenticated and encrypted data transfer between the Flash device and the host* Execute-in-Place (XiP) of boot and application code* System resilience, featured by the key security functions of protection, detection and recoveryDRAM development also puts Winbond in prime position to meet the emerging needs of manufacturers of IP cameras and camera drones for surveillance and people tracking. As in 8K TVs, so in these video devices the latest LPDDR3 DRAM will provide the high bandwidth which high-resolution video systems require, while offering easier integration into end product designs than the LPDDR4 or LPDDR5 generations of DRAM technology.Robots and AI will replace human workers at an accelerating paceThe Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vulnerable some companies are to the suspension of operations when workers become unavailable. In future, companies will be looking to implement more resilient systems which rely less on the physical presence of human workers in a specific location.In addition, by reducing the number of human workers required to operate on any given site, organisations will make it easier to maintain social distancing in the workplace.This trend for the adoption of robotics, backed by increasingly sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, will lead to rapid growth in demand for fast microprocessors (MPUs) and graphics processors (GPUs). The sophisticated and complex software which these devices execute will in turn drive the market for high-density, high-bandwidth code storage devices.Winbond's long-range strategic planning enabled it to detect this emerging requirement before the current market conditions caused interest in AI and robotics to flourish. One result was the development of its OctalNAND Flash memory.The first OctalNAND Flash device, the 1Gbit W35N01JW, sets a new benchmark for the Read performance of NAND Flash technology: a maximum Continuous Read throughput of 240Mbytes/s, three times faster than Winbond's earlier high-performance W25N-JW QspiNAND Flash family, and almost 10 times faster than general QspiNAND Flash products on the market.At this level of performance, OctalNAND Flash can replace Octal NOR Flash with limited loss of Read performance, and at a lower cost-per-bit at densities higher than 512Mbits. Winbond's OctalNAND Flash is thus an ideal replacement for Octal NOR Flash for storing large code bases, such as those of robots and other systems which take advantage of the capabilities of AI and machine learning.Anticipating the memory requirements arising from mega-trendsWhile the world's focus in 2020 is rightly on the immediate medical emergency of Covid-19, it is right to be looking forward to the changes in business practices and technology operations which the pandemic is likely to cause. By carefully analysing market requirements and understanding end user behaviour, Winbond puts itself in an excellent position to develop the memory products which will help its customers succeed in a post-Covid world. From QspiNAND Flash to TrustME Secure Flash memory to LPDDR DRAM, Winbond has memory products which are ready for the future, whatever it might bring.(Note: Johnson Chen is executive sales director at Winbond Electronics.)Three mega-trends for a post-Covid world

Hong Kong's reputation as a "free" global trading center and as the world's biggest exporter is at risk of being damaged with Beijing moving to abolish the "one country, two systems" framework. The city has been allowed to operate independently from the rest of the China and have certain democratic freedoms, which was a stipulation under which Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.In response, many countries are agreeing that Hong Kong is no longer highly autonomous and should be treated equally to the rest of the China. The U.S., for instance, wants to impose high tariffs on Hong Kong imports and restrict the export of sensitive American technology. BBC states that the additional tariffs imposed would include those introduced as part of the US-China trade war.Under the "one country, two systems" framework, the city allowed countries to re-export goods freely and with less restrictions, making it an essential trading hub for global companies. Hong Kong currently accounts for almost 19% of the world's export of electronic circuit components. In 2019 alone, $134.5 billion worth of these components were exported through its port.With Hong Kong, a shipping giant, being such a critical part of global supply chains, disruptions could occur, including:*Trade deals being negatively impacted*Hong Kong assigning their own additional tariffs*New restrictions and regulations put in place that make it harder for foreign companies to conduct operations seamlessly*The implementation of economic sanctionsPaul Romano, COO at Fusion Worldwide states, "This situation brings uncertainty, and when there's uncertainty there's the risk for massive supply chain disruptions. With Hong Kong accounting for such a large share of the export of electronic components, many global businesses should prepare for potential hiccups to their operations."Because of the potential repercussions, global companies are considering paring existing operations in Hong Kong back or in some cases shifting operations out of Hong Kong. According to The New York Times, countries, such as Singapore, India and Japan, are becoming much more enticing investment locations. Singapore especially may be the big beneficiary of this situation.Fusion Worldwide, for instance, is moving inventory out of Hong Kong and into warehouses in other geographies to ensure reduced risk of market disruptions caused by the current changes in Hong Kong. Romano continues, "In order to maintain flexibility, we have repositioned our inventory to ensure that we aren't caught in a shutdown or freeze of product en route to a customer."Though some may be skeptical of potential ramifications, it is important to be aware of the situation in the event that tensions between China and other countries continue to escalate. Over-reaction could make the situation worse, but not preparing for the worst could be detrimental.With Hong Kong presenting increased risk, companies within the U.S. and Europe must now consider how to continue operating within the city.As tensions rise in Hong Kong, so does the possibility for supply chain disruptions

The world's population is aging. According to American Association of Retired Persons, 22% of the world's population will be 60 and older by 2050. At the same time, developers are making use of new technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and big data analytics to design all types of systems to raise the quality and efficiency of healthcare. With the increase in both supply and demand, smartization is becoming an important trend for the healthcare industry. According to Jason Miao, business development manager, iMedtac, medical devices play a critical role on patient health and safety so system developers must have professional knowledge in both healthcare and technology to be able to build optimized medical systems. For this reason, iMedtac not only employs a team of technology and medical professionals but also partners with ADLINK, which has accumulated extensive experience in medical devices, to introduce complete smart solutions to suit hospital needs.Founded in 2016, iMedtac focuses on developing smart medical devices targeting medical treatment and healthcare. Going forward, it plans to expand its offerings to include health promotion products for use by the general public. As opposed to most other smart medical device providers, iMedtac starts with developing more technologically challenging products and then expands toward more straightforward healthcare and health promotion devices. Miao explains that iMedtac is able to implement the distinct product planning strategy thanks to its team with extensive industrial PC experience and medical background. Not only does the team have no problem communicating with medical professionals to fully grasp their needs, it can even think from the user's perspective and thereby actively propose suited solutions.Citing an integrated operation room solution iMedtac developed for a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan as an example, Miao points out that when doctors operate on a patient, they need to monitor the patient's ultrasound, CT scan or other medical images in real time to ensure a smooth and safe surgery. Imaging devices are generally mounted individually at different locations in the operating room (OR). Doctors often have to look up to find the image they need. To help improve efficiency, iMedtac has purpose-built a platform for the hospital, onto which all images are streamed and integrated. Surgical assistants can quickly switch to the image the surgeon needs to look at.Aside from the surgical image streaming system, iMedtac has also designed a surgical safety check system to help medical care teams keep track of surgical inventory count and surgical procedure checklist. As time and instrument control is a crucial part of OR management, iMedtac's solution can help medical care teams stay on top of tight OR schedules, thereby avoiding delays while enhancing patient safety and OR management efficiency.iMedtac's solutions are widely used by large medical institutions both at home and abroad as they closely match hospital needs and they can quickly be developed and ready-to-use by medical care teams. These features enabling iMedtac's solutions to be highly praised by hospitals are the result of close collaborations between iMedtac and ADLINK. According to Miao, iMedtac builds its solutions on the foundation of a 60% to 70% standardized architecture and customizes the remaining portion to suit specific customer needs, thereby speeding up the development cycle. ADLINK provides critical support for the 30% to 40% customization portion with its professionalism in smart medical devices.Having accumulated extensive experience in developing medical devices, ADLINK has a large portfolio of medical-grade products and is therefore in a good position to help iMedtac address user needs and design optimized systems. iMedtac's surgical image streaming system mentioned above is based on ADLINK's MLC 8-21 medical panel computer. Furthermore, iMedtac's medical cart for epidemic prevention uses ADLINK's compact MLC Lite. Both these products are enthusiastically embraced by customers.In light of the important smartization trend of the healthcare industry, iMedtac is picking up pace in its development efforts toward this sector. Going forward, it plans to expand its footprint to Southeast Asian markets. Leveraging ADLINK's global presence and service network in Southeast Asia, iMedtac and ADLINK will continue to engage in close collaboration to bring smart healthcare solutions with a fresh perspective to the market.According to iMedtac business development manager Chung-Sheng Miao, iMedtac's medical cart for epidemic prevention based on ADLINK's medical panel computer is enthusiastically embraced by customers

Japan announced that it would demonstrate its autonomous vehicle technology during the Tokyo Olympics as a demonstration of intelligent automobiles. Driven by 5G and artificial intelligence (AI), the ICT industry is heading towards an era of autonomous vehicles. The applications of ICT technologies in cars have been gradually shifted from entertainment videos, audio playbacks and navigation systems in early days to developing deep learning and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication in order to eventually make autonomous vehicles a commerical reality. To achieve this goal, semiconductor will undoubtedly be the primary driving force for any ICT technology.Advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) is the most popular application in the current automotive environment. It is composed of many functions such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Blind Spot Detection (BSD) and Driver Monitoring System (DMS). Car vendors have been trying to work on more active safety protection and expect to reach the ultimate goal of self-driving cars. As such, more semiconductor manufacturers are cooperating with car OEM to boost device reliability.As mentioned above, currently there have been many actual semiconductors applications for automobiles, including the power semiconductors and video and audio playback and integration systems used in electric vehicles (including hybrid electric vehicles), micro-controllers/digital signal processor/semiconductor sensors used for vehicle and passive safety, and many other types of memories (such as NOR and DRAM). According to the statistics of IHS, the total output value of automotive semiconductor industry has grown at an average annual rate of about 7% in the past few years.DRAM applications in automobilesIn most systems in automobile, DRAM is responsible for storage of program codes and computing data, and it plays a more important role during the development of automobiles with more and more ICT functions, which include but are not limited to personal computers (PCs), servers, mobile devices and vehicles. So far, the primary memory-based automotive applications are information & entertainment system and ADAS, and they account for more than 80% of the entire output value of automotive DRAM industry.Among all ADAS applications nowadays, DRAM is mainly used for applications related to radar/lidar sensing and camera sensing in which large-size data of the environment has to be stored or processed by the domain controller in time. Therefore high bandwidth and high computing performance is required for controller and DRAM, and it will increase along with enhanced sensor resolution. To meet this requirement, LPDDR4/4x DRAM has become more and more popular in such applications because it supports data transfer rate up to 4266Mbps. In terms of information & entertainment applications, the major systems are instrument cluster, infotainment and telematics. DRAM is used in instrument cluster and infotainment systems for graphic function and is used in telematics system for data transmit function. The early development led to the long-term use of DDR (DDR2/DDR3) series. However, due to the power saving requirement of automobile, low power memory (LPDDR) has been gradually take the place of DDR, and LPDDR4/4x is becoming mainstream.It is interesting to see that, in addition to DRAM capacity, the performance is also a critical factor among these applications. Due to the large variety of automotive applications, not all of them require large capacity DRAM. More frequently seen applications actually require computation performance. For example, various automotive sensing technologies will rely on high speed computation to generate real-time results to be immediately used by on-board electronics devices. As a result, small-capacity LPDDR4x DRAM will play important roles in those applications.The importance of reliabilityComparing to consumer product, a major difference of automotive product is that not only the quality state of on-board electronics device upon factory delivery is concerned, but also whether it could operate normally for a long time. Cars are often driven in all kinds of weather and environment, so automotive semiconductor must withstand high and low temperatures in order to operate normally for many years. During driving, any mistake could result in extreme danger. That's why reliability of automotive semiconductor is so important. After all, the rebooting can solve most problems for consumer electronics products, yet for a moving vehicle this is not a feasible solution.Common hardware reliability issues of automotive semiconductor are errors in die and packaging. The possible errors in die include transistor instability, ion contamination, electromigration (EM) of metal conductor, and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) while the reliability errors relating to packaging include warpage of packaging.In order to solve the aforementioned hardware reliability issues, the "High Temperature Operating Lifetime Test" (HTOL) will be conducted before product mass production to simulate the product operation status during high temperature acceleration. The "Burn In" process in the mass production line can be used for testing "Early Failure Rate" (EFR) of defective process component. As for the packaging, the warpage deformation can be solved via Board Level Reliability.Winbond has years of experience in fabrication of automotive memoryWinbond owns self-built wafer fabs, and is one of the top four IC makers that can simultaneously provide DRAM and NOR/NAND FLASH. The production lines of automotive DRAM include SDRAM, DDR/2/3 and LPDDR/2/4/4x with capacity ranging from 16Mb to 8Gb. It can meet customers' strict requirements of management of automotive memories, and provide longevity services. The capacity of Winbond LPDDR4/4x DRAM series is 1~8 Gb with 25nm technology node which is self-developed by Winbond, and the speed could be up to 4266Mbps. In addition to the supply type of known good die, Winbond also provides the standard 200BGA package with various kinds of automotive grade whereas AG1 grade will be ready at 3Q'20.With the products certified by IATF 16949 and AECQ-100 standards, Winbond has been a supplier of many automotive electronics devices manufacturers for many years. In the future, as more ADAS functions enter the car and gradually realize the self-driving cars, Winbond will continue to provide products with good performance and reliability to support customers in automotive industry.(Note: Hsiu-Min Lin is DRAM technical manager at Winbond Electronics.)Winbond LPDDR4/4x

For a few years now, experts and commentators have been foretelling an explosion in the growth of the IoT. The reality is they picked the wrong analogy and uptake of IoT technology is less like a big bang and more like a rising tide.And while it may have started small, IoT technology is now definitely making big waves as it sweeps through business and industry driven not just by the enabling network technology, but also by the availability of low-cost network edge devices.The upcoming roll out of true of 5G networks will add further to its momentum, but in the meantime, the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus, is also serving to bring IoT deployments to the forefront. Indeed, in these extreme emergency situations, the speed at which mobile IoT networks can be set up and turned operational will no doubt cause many companies to question the pace of their own IoT influenced digital transformation projects.Take the example of under-pressure healthcare facilities. Around the world we are seeing the transformation of convention centers, sports arenas and pop-up tented villages into state-of-the-art medical centers. These centers need more than just beds and a Wi-Fi network. They need advanced, high performance, high security, machine-to-machine and machine-to-control center communications over advanced, dedicated LTE mobile networks.Private Gigabit-LTE networks have been provisioned virtually overnight allowing these temporary healthcare centers to quickly become operational. These facilities house complex medical equipment and monitoring systems and they need to gather, and securely share, sensitive personal patient data both within the facility and back to the sponsoring healthcare provider.Modern IoT devices and network technology are underpinning this drive. We are talking high-speed gigabit class LTE connections, dual path wireless modems with link redundancy and traffic load management, edge security systems, firewall protection and internet content filtering. These are sophisticated, highly technical, enterprise-ready secure private mobile IoT networks that are being created and delivered in a matter of days.And it's not just within medical centers such as the pop-up facilities. The healthcare emergency has also led to increase in the use of remote telemedicine applications. Retired doctors are coming back online to help with more routine conditions and diagnosis; and hospitals in areas less affected by the virus are also making staff available on a remote working basis. Again, standard communications networks and devices are not up to the job required.These remote doctors need reliable and secure at-home and remote office connections that can isolate their extremely sensitive traffic from other local networks while also providing the bandwidth required to support real-time video and exceptionally large data files such as chest X-rays. Again, IoT devices and routers are very quickly provisioning and delivering this connectivity across multiple sites.Of course, the uptake of remote and home working has also become the new reality for millions of office workers during the coronavirus crisis. And while apps like Zoom, Blue Jeans, and Microsoft Teams have attracted attention and seen an exponential rise in their usage; not all that attention has positive.Questions have been raised about the security of some of the popular video calling services and with remote workers in both the public and private sector now often being asked to handle mission-critical data, and sensitive customer or citizen information, outside of their secure organizational networks; this new operating model is potentially too open to attack from hackers and fraudsters.IoT routers and edge devices are providing the firewall protection and secure virtual private network (VPN) connectivity that turns at-home networks into extensions of the secure enterprise network. This keeps the data safe and ensures that remote office workers can access everything they need quickly and efficiently.A crisis situation is often said to bring out the best in people. Maybe it can be said that it also brings out the best in technology as well. The speed at which the IoT industry, its devices and its network technology, has been able to respond to the heightened requirements caused by the global pandemic is remarkable.When the crisis finally passes it is unlikely that the world will return to operating in exactly the same way as before. The remote working genie is certainly out of the bag, and the value of video conferencing has received an awareness boost that its providers will no doubt welcome. Even the Mother of Parliaments in the United Kingdom is returning to work with a video conferencing flavor.And as business and industry resumes, those that had marked their IoT projects as too costly, too difficult and too slow to realize, might just be rethinking that verdict.(Note: Derick Tsang is SVP Sales APAC at Telit)Telit IoT solutions providing Gigabit level high speed data transmission technologies for fast responding the challenges of emerging pandemics and health security threats

AWS will be hosting the AWS Summit Hong Kong online. Designed to educate and inspire, the summit will include 40+ technical sessions covering the latest AWS cloud solutions. AWS has also invited 10+ customers to share stories on how they innovating within their companies and driving change for maximum social impact.What's on at AWS Summit online 2020?Learn new skills through deep dive sessions and hands-on labs, and discover best practices from AWS experts on topics ranging from cloud migration to AI & machine learning, data and analytics and security. Don't forget to prepare your questions early and get your answers live from our experts!Two keynotes will showcase organisations taking a customer-centric approach to organisational transformation, and individuals adopting new technologies and reskilling to drive change at speed.There are even more activities in the Skills Zone, the DeepRacer League Summit Online Race, the Industry Solution Zone and Partner Discovery Zone. We also have games where you can win badges and redeem a souvenir.Register now, and stay tuned for more details.AWS Summit online Hong Kong 2020