Opinion

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Invasion of the Body Snatchers

May 22, 2013 |

In my December column , I observed that smartphones and tablets are starting to be used in places where purpose-built embedded systems once reigned, such as point-of sale terminals. At home, for example, I have a small Android tablet that I use as an Internet audio player. And my local sandwich

April 10, 2013 |

Posted in Low-Power, Opinion

| Write the first comment.

Soon after BDTI got its start in the early 1990s, we became known for our benchmarks. We benchmarked whatever types of processors people were using for embedded digital signal processing: first DSPs, then CPUs, and eventually MCUs, FPGAs, and GPUs, too. One of the interesting things about

March 13, 2013 |

Posted in Opinion

| Write the first comment.

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know that I’m enthusiastic about the potential of “embedded vision” – the widespread use of computer vision in embedded systems, mobile devices, PCs, and the cloud. Processors and sensors with sufficient performance

February 12, 2013 |

Posted in Audio, Opinion

| Write the first comment.

In my December column , I wrote about how smartphones and tablets are subsuming some categories of consumer electronics, such as MP3 players and networked home audio players. Because smartphones and tablets are network-centric devices, their growing use as media players is contributing to another

December 16, 2012 |

Posted in Audio, Opinion, Video

| Write the first comment.

In my October column , I explored the phenomenon of mobile application processors (the brains of smartphones and tablets) competing against more traditional types of embedded processors for use in embedded systems. But after writing that column, something happened that made me realize that mobile

November 19, 2012 |

Posted in Opinion

| Write the first comment.

We tend to think of digital signal processing as being computationally demanding, since it typically involves applying math-intensive algorithms to real-time streaming data. And, compared with many other types of embedded processing tasks, digital signal processing does indeed make heavy demands on

October 22, 2012 |

Posted in Opinion

| Write the first comment.

Texas Instruments recently stated that it intends to de-emphasize application processors for smartphones and tablets , and instead refocus its OMAP processors on embedded applications. And Qualcomm, which has been very successful lately in smartphone and tablet application processors, is dipping

September 04, 2012 |

Posted in Opinion

| Write the first comment.

Last year, I wrote about how gesture user interfaces are becoming mainstream . Today, with the IMS Touch Gesture Motion conference coming up next week in London, I thought I'd revisit that topic from a different angle. Among my colleagues at BDTI, there's been a healthy debate

August 02, 2012 |

Posted in Opinion

| Write the first comment.

Two years ago, I wrote about my growing interest in "embedded vision" , the incorporation of computer vision capabilities into embedded systems, enabling those systems to extract meaning from image and video inputs. Though it's not usually spoken of as "digital signal

June 22, 2012 |

Posted in Opinion, Processors

| Write the first comment.

When people talk about processor benchmarks, the conversation usually ends up being all about speed. Other metrics, such as energy efficiency, are often given less attention or are completely overlooked. The unspoken assumption driving these conversations is that a faster processor is better.

Search

Categories

Archives

Opinion