Збирач потоків

КПІ ім. Ігоря Сікорського прийняв Національний форум з відкритої науки KPI4U-1 пн, 06/08/2026 - 18:00

Менеджмент на підприємствах ОПК: зміни на часі. Які саме? Інформація КП пн, 06/08/2026 - 15:02

Connectivity is all well and good…well, sort of, as it invariably comes with a price, literally and/or figuratively. Simple’s sometimes best, all things considered, and ambient-light power’s also nice.

When you want to monitor and adjust the internal humidity (and temperature, while you’re at it) of your residence or other facility, a “smart” connected hygrometer such as the one I tore down last month is convenient, since you can check both the measurements-of-the-moment and longer-term legacy trends from anywhere (even when you’re away) using your mobile device. A “smart” hygrometer can even alert you when those measurements stray beyond predefined boundary conditions. And if it includes a built-in display, you can keep your smartphone stowed away and still see the data.

All that connectivity and integrated intelligence comes with a bill-of-materials cost adder, however. And there’s always also the latent (or not) potential for hackers to gain access to that same data stream. While you might not care if someone halfway around the world (or down the street, for that matter) knows your home’s humidity and temperature, you’ll undoubtedly care a lot more if that same “smart” hygrometer ends up being a penetration “vector” for a broader attack, revealing your location and Wi-Fi network login details, for example, along with providing strangers with access to more privacy-violating LAN devices such as security cameras.

Acceptable = respectable

As such, a non-connected sensor is a credible (and sometimes the preferable) alternative. At the beginning of April, I saw a two-pack of BaldrTherm 2.2” solar-powered digital thermometer and hygrometers marked down to $9.99 at Amazon and, curious to try out (and tear down) such a device myself, pressed “purchase”.

I’ve subsequently seen the same two-pack listed there for as low as $8.99, exemplifying a broader BaldrTherm promotion that I’m guessing is motivated by a product line transition combo of redesign and migration to larger, more visible data-rich, 3.2” display devices:

with in-progress awkward consequences:

And to be clear, the company offers plenty of “connected” product variants, too. But today we’ll dive inside a fully standalone-operation offering, complete with a solar cell power option that’s more broadly photon-source agnostic (albeit presumably still visible light spectrum-centric).

Since I know how much you all love conceptual teardown “stock” images, I’ll start with one of ‘em:

And now for our actual patient, as usual beginning with some outer box shots, also as-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for size comparison purposes:

Flip open either of the latter two flaps:

and inside you’ll find two slips o’literature (the “user manual”, such as it scantly is, can be accessed in PDF form here):

and two sleeve-swathed examples of today’s teardown victim:

Diminutive in size and price

Here’s the now-“naked” device from various perspectives. Note the transparent piece of plastic (which BaldrTherm refers to as an “insulation sheet”) sticking out one side, which keeps the battery inside from prematurely draining while sitting on store shelves pre-purchase, until removed by the buyer-now-owner (and whose very presence was initially confusing to me, as I’d assumed the energy storage cell in the interior was solar-rechargeable; keep reading).

In spite of the battery still being disconnected, and after a brief delay after initial exposure to my home office’s overhead lighting:

the display came on and the device started working:

I was initially surprised by this unexpected functional transition, until I pondered and realized the underlying reason why, which the user manual also spells out:

Time to get inside. You may have already noticed in one of the earlier overview shots the two coin edge-inviting slots (one of them doing double-duty for the “insulating sheet”) on one side.

Had I thought to grab the penny I had handy, they might have sufficed. As it was, the flexible tip of the “spunger” I was trying to use made it ineffective, so much so that I peeled off the backside sticker to see if I could find any screw heads underneath it. Nope:

Switching to a flat-head screwdriver eventually accomplished my objective, however:

Hot and (not) heavy

Here’s where things started getting interesting and, in retrospect, amusing. I happened to notice that, presumably during the initial disassembly process, the spring terminal at the anode (“negative”) end of the AAA battery inside had become dislodged.

Normally, such batteries’ cases have a thin plastic outer insulating layer that prevents short-circuits with the cathode directly below it:

Not in this case (bad pun intended), however, or maybe it got scratched during disassembly, too. Because when I grabbed the sides of the battery to remove it, my fingertips got scorched. I quickly grabbed the aforementioned flat-head screwdriver and flipped the battery out of the chassis that way instead.

While I waited for it to cool, I carefully rolled it around and learned that it was a non-rechargeable conventional alkaline cell, instead.

In retrospect, including not only a rechargeable battery but also the necessary recharging circuitry in the design would have ballooned the bill-of-materials cost, and I later noticed that the documentation made it clear that the battery was not to be replaced, apparently if for no other reason than to preclude owner burns and other potential mishaps.

If so, though, then why the tempting coin-shaped slots on one side? Inquiring minds want to know. Surprisingly, the cell still held a meaningful modicum of charge; I’d apparently been sufficiently speedy in noticing and rectifying the short-circuit circumstances:

And the device still worked, both with the battery removed:

and with it temporarily reinstalled once safe to touch again.

Internal details

Onward. The solar cell is tenuously held in place with a single piece of tape on one side and the case sides on the other.

The PCB to which it’s attached is conversely more firmly ensconced by two screws.

You know what comes next:

We have a liftoff:

Now for the other, more circuitry-meaningful front side:

Flipping the LCD over reveals its elastomeric connector on one end, which normally presses up against electrical contacts on the PCB itself:

This is one rugged little device; pressing the two halves back together with my fingers and exposing the solar cell to light reignites the display and broader sensing-and-reporting capabilities (albeit with the measured temperature presumably inflated by my body proximity).

Here’s a closeup of the PCB frontside:

showing the elastomer-mating contacts at bottom, a piece of insulating tape at upper left and normally between the LCD backside and a 220-µF capacitor first glimpsed in the assembly rear-view images I shared earlier:

and at upper right, and left-to-right, the humidity and temperature sensors. Underneath the identification-blocking black epoxy blob in the center is presumably the SoC.

Capacitor and missing-battery buffers

In closing, after putting everything back together, the device still worked, after a brief wakeup delay and initially for only a short and cyclical timeframe.

After which, functionality eventually stabilized as long as sufficient light remained available.

Specifically, I’m guessing, commensurate with the fact that there’s still no battery (re)installed. What’s the relationship here? It has to do, I think, with the core purpose of that previously noted capacitor. Remember my “backup batteries and supercaps” piece from last month? This is effectively the supercapacitor, intended to smooth out transient ambient illumination variability-induced impermanence in the solar cell’s output.

I’m guessing that the capacitor is taking a few system-reboot cycles to get to full stored charge capacity, particularly given that there’s (abnormally, versus the normal configuration) no battery installed to alternatively supply the system with the necessary electrons. Agree or disagree, readers? As always, please let me know your thoughts on this and/or anything else that caught your fancy in the comments!

—Brian Dipert is the associate editor, as well as a contributing editor, at EDN.

Related Content

• Humidifiers and such: How much “smart” is too much?
• Smart hygrometers: Still largely useful even without integrated visual monitors
• The Tapo Hub: TP-Link joins the low-bandwidth, long-range RF club
• TP-Link’s Tapo H100: Smart sensing unencumbered
• IoT device vulnerabilities are on the rise
• Backup batteries and supercaps: Geriatric hardware traps

The post Not smart, but solar: Analyzing another thermo-plus-hygrometer appeared first on EDN.

Semiconductor circuit breakers are fast-acting, semiconductor-based electronic devices that protect electrical circuits and components from damage caused by short circuits or overloads. Infineon’s silicon carbide power modules enhance the efficiency, power density, and reliability of the Siemens circuit breaker

Infineon Technologies AG and Siemens AG are partnering to advance electrical protection and ensure reliable operations in data centers, production facilities, and battery storage systems. As part of the collaboration, Infineon will supply silicon carbide (SiC) power modules to Siemens for use in its SENTRON 3QD2 semiconductor circuit breakers. This will enhance the efficiency, power density, and reliability of Siemens’ protection solution.

“AI data centers and factories are becoming increasingly electrified and complex. This increases vulnerability to electrical failures and drives the demand for more sustainable, efficient, and reliable power distribution systems,” said Andreas Weisl, Executive Vice President & Chief Sales Officer of Industrial and Infrastructure at Infineon. “By combining our advanced silicon carbide technology with Siemens’ expertise in power distribution, we are addressing this demand to ensure fast, safe, and reliable operations in power-critical environments.”

A semiconductor circuit breaker, also known as a solid-state circuit breaker, is an electronic device that protects electrical circuits from damage by excessive current flow, such as short circuits or overloads. Unlike traditional electromechanical circuit breakers, which rely on mechanical parts to interrupt the flow of current and typically operate on the millisecond scale, the Siemens SENTRON 3QD2 uses semiconductor components and smart protection algorithms to perform this function. This enables ultra-fast interruption in the microsecond range, up to 1,000 times faster than conventional systems. This capability is essential for direct current (DC) grids and offers a significant increase in protection and system availability, which is crucial in applications like industrial manufacturing and AI data centers, where even a slight delay can cause costly downtime, data loss, or expensive hardware damage in the event of electrical failures.

“Our new direct current portfolio offers innovative solutions that not only improve energy efficiency but also enable the development of resilient, future-proof infrastructure,” said Markus Grabmeier, CEO of Electrical Products at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “Direct current applications can decrease energy consumption and substantially cut material usage. By integrating batteries, peak power can also be significantly reduced. With this approach, we are making a decisive contribution to the decarbonization of our industries, while reinforcing our commitment to developing technologies that deliver tangible value to our customers and society.”

This technology directly addresses the increasing demands of power-critical applications, where speed, precision, and reliability are essential. Integrating the 1200 V CoolSiC MOSFET module into advanced solid-state circuit protection concepts creates a more resilient, efficient, and future-ready power infrastructure. This approach supports the growing adoption of DC grids and highly electrified environments, helping industrial and infrastructure operators meet rising performance and reliability requirements.

The post Upgrading Factory Power Safety with Silicon Carbide Semiconductors from Infineon and Siemens appeared first on ELE Times.

Independent power electronics company Quantum Power Transformation (QPT) Ltd of Cambridge, UK — which was founded in 2019 and develops gallium nitride (GaN)-based electric motor controls — has unveiled qDesign, an AI-driven generative design service that programmatically generates, simulates and iterates on QPTs patented qAttach thermal interface layer for any power module, replacing weeks of human-in-the-loop CAD and simulation cycles with AI-generated topologies and automated optimization...

Independent power electronics company Quantum Power Transformation (QPT) Ltd of Cambridge, UK — which was founded in 2019 and develops gallium nitride (GaN)-based electric motor controls — has unveiled qDesign, an AI-driven generative design service that programmatically generates, simulates and iterates on QPTs patented qAttach thermal interface layer for any power module, replacing weeks of human-in-the-loop CAD and simulation cycles with AI-generated topologies and automated optimization...

Зустріч із професором Чарльзом Кокеллом KPI4U-2 пн, 06/08/2026 - 12:15

The global power electronics industry is undergoing a major technological transition. For decades, silicon-based devices such as MOSFETs and IGBTs have been the backbone of power conversion systems. However, emerging applications—including electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy grids, AI data centers, aerospace systems, and ultra-fast charging infrastructure—now demand significantly higher efficiency, power density, switching speed, and thermal capability than conventional silicon can provide.

To overcome these limitations, the semiconductor industry is rapidly adopting Wide-Bandgap (WBG) materials, primarily Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN). These advanced semiconductor technologies are redefining modern power conversion architectures and enabling a new generation of compact, energy-efficient electronic systems.

Understanding Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors

The “bandgap” of a semiconductor represents the energy required for electrons to move from the valence band to the conduction band. Conventional silicon has a bandgap of approximately 1.1 eV, whereas SiC and GaN possess much larger band gaps of around 3.2 eV and 3.4 eV, respectively.

This wider bandgap enables several key electrical advantages:

• Higher breakdown electric field
• Lower switching losses
• Faster switching capability
• Higher thermal conductivity
• Operation at elevated junction temperatures
• Reduced conduction resistance

As a result, WBG devices can operate at significantly higher voltages, frequencies, and temperatures compared to silicon devices while maintaining excellent efficiency.

Comparison of Semiconductor Materials

Parameter	Silicon (Si)	Silicon Carbide (SiC)	Gallium Nitride (GaN)
Bandgap Energy	1.1 eV	3.2 eV	3.4 eV
Max Junction Temperature	~150°C	~200°C	~200°C
Switching Speed	Moderate	High	Very High
Breakdown Voltage	Moderate	Excellent	High
Thermal Conductivity	Moderate	Excellent	Good
Typical Applications	General Power	EVs, Solar, Industrial	Fast Chargers, Telecom

 

Silicon Carbide (SiC): The Backbone of High-Power Conversion

Silicon Carbide has emerged as the preferred technology for high-voltage and high-power applications. SiC MOSFETs and Schottky diodes exhibit lower switching losses and superior thermal performance compared to silicon IGBTs.

SiC Power Module Used in EV Inverters

One of the most important advantages of SiC is its ability to switch at very high frequencies while handling voltages exceeding 1200V. This dramatically reduces the size of passive components such as inductors, capacitors, and transformers.

In electric vehicles, SiC traction inverters deliver:

• Higher drivetrain efficiency
• Increased battery range
• Faster charging capability
• Reduced cooling requirements
• Lower system weight

Modern EV manufacturers are increasingly integrating SiC devices into:

• Main traction inverters
• On-board chargers (OBC)
• DC-DC converters
• Fast charging stations

For example, replacing silicon IGBTs with SiC MOSFETs can improve inverter efficiency from approximately 96% to over 99%. Although the efficiency increase appears small numerically, the resulting reduction in thermal losses significantly impacts vehicle range and thermal management.

SiC technology is also critical in renewable energy systems. Solar inverters and wind-turbine converters benefit from higher efficiency and lower heat generation, enabling improved grid stability and reduced operating costs.

Gallium Nitride (GaN): Enabling Ultra-Fast Switching

While SiC dominates high-voltage applications, Gallium Nitride excels in high-frequency, medium-power systems.

Compact GaN Fast Charger

GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) switch much faster than silicon MOSFETs, often operating in the MHz range. This enables ultra-compact converter designs with extremely high power density.

GaN technology is rapidly expanding in:

• USB-C fast chargers
• Laptop adapters
• Telecom rectifiers
• Server power supplies
• Data-center power architectures

Modern GaN chargers delivering 100W or more are often nearly 50% smaller than equivalent silicon-based chargers. Higher switching frequencies allow the use of smaller magnetic components, directly reducing volume and weight.

Another major advantage is improved efficiency under high-frequency operation. Since switching losses are minimized, less heat is generated, reducing the need for bulky heat sinks.

This is especially important for AI data centers where energy efficiency has become a critical economic and environmental factor.

Why Silicon Is No Longer Sufficient

Traditional silicon devices face several physical limitations in modern high-performance systems:

• Significant switching losses at high frequencies
• Limited high-temperature operation
• Larger cooling systems
• Lower power density
• Reduced efficiency at high voltages

As industries move toward electrification and compact system architectures, these limitations become increasingly problematic.

WBG devices overcome these constraints by enabling:

• Smaller converter footprints
• Higher efficiency
• Reduced cooling infrastructure
• Faster transient response
• Increased reliability

Engineering Challenges of WBG Devices

Despite their advantages, WBG technologies introduce new design challenges for electronics engineers.

Key Challenges Include:

• High device cost
• Fast switching-induced EMI
• Complex gate-driver design
• PCB layout sensitivity
• Thermal stress management
• Packaging reliability

The extremely fast switching edges of GaN and SiC devices can generate severe electromagnetic interference (EMI) if PCB parasitics are not carefully minimized. Engineers must therefore adopt advanced layout techniques, Kelvin-source connections, and optimized gate-drive circuits.

Thermal management also remains a critical design consideration despite improved material performance.

Future Outlook of WBG Power Electronics

Future EV and Renewable Energy Ecosystem

The adoption of Wide-Bandgap semiconductors is expected to accelerate dramatically over the next decade. Industry analysts predict strong growth driven by:

• Electric mobility
• Smart grids
• Renewable energy integration
• Industrial automation
• Aerospace electrification
• AI computing infrastructure

SiC is likely to dominate high-voltage transportation and energy applications, while GaN will become mainstream in compact consumer and communication systems.

For electronics engineers, understanding WBG device physics, high-frequency design techniques, EMI mitigation, and thermal optimization is becoming increasingly essential.

The transition from silicon to Wide-Bandgap semiconductors is not simply an incremental improvement—it represents a fundamental shift in the future of power electronics engineering.

The post Wide-Bandgap (WBG) Power Electronics: Transforming the Future of High-Efficiency Energy Systems appeared first on ELE Times.

As hyperscalers and enterprise operators race to build increasingly powerful AI infrastructure, power delivery and energy efficiency are emerging as the most critical constraints. Industry analysts estimate that AI rack power requirements could grow beyond 1MW/rack in the very near future...

As hyperscalers and enterprise operators race to build increasingly powerful AI infrastructure, power delivery and energy efficiency are emerging as the most critical constraints. Industry analysts estimate that AI rack power requirements could grow beyond 1MW/rack in the very near future...

In booth 20036 at 2026 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Boston, MA, USA (7–12 June), Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) is highlighting its latest innovations under the theme: ‘Proven RF Solutions. Live at IMS’...

In booth 20036 at 2026 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Boston, MA, USA (7–12 June), Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) is highlighting its latest innovations under the theme: ‘Proven RF Solutions. Live at IMS’...

In the next five years, the embedded landscape will undergo a fundamental re-architecture. We are moving away from monolithic, “set-and-forget” devices toward agile, connected platforms that learn and adapt. For any modern embedded system development company, the challenge is no longer just making a chip work—it’s about building a sustainable, secure, and intelligent ecosystem.

1. Software-Defined Intelligence: We are moving toward “Software-Defined Hardware,” allowing an embedded system development company to push major feature updates and optimizations to devices post-deployment, significantly extending product lifecycles.
2. The Edge AI Revolution: Software development in embedded system design now prioritizes local processing. On-device AI (TinyML) enables real-time decision-making and better privacy by reducing reliance on constant cloud connectivity.
3. AI-Augmented Development: Next-gen embedded system development tools now feature AI “co-pilots.” These tools use digital twins and automated code generation to simulate hardware behavior and catch bugs long before a prototype exists.
4. Security-by-Design: Security is no longer optional. Future-proof systems integrate Hardware Root of Trust and Zero Trust architectures from day one to meet strict global regulations and protect brand integrity.
5. Sustainable Engineering: The industry is pivoting toward “green” embedded systems. By using energy-aware toolchains and ultra-low-power architectures like RISC-V, developers can create devices that run for years on a single charge.

The Shift to Software-Defined Hardware: Historically, embedded system development was dictated entirely by hardware constraints. In 2026, we are seeing the rise of Software-Defined Hardware. This means devices are increasingly built on reconfigurable platforms where their primary functions can be altered or enhanced through remote updates.

AI and Edge Computing: The Intelligence Revolution: The most profound trend in software development in embedded system design is the move from reactive logic to proactive decision-making.

Edge AI & TinyML: Instead of streaming raw data to the cloud, modern systems use on-device AI to process information locally. This reduces latency, saves bandwidth, and improves privacy.

Real-Time Inference: From autonomous vehicles to industrial robots, the future belongs to systems that can perform complex sensor fusion and make microsecond decisions at the network’s edge.

The Evolution of Embedded System Development Tools: To keep up with rising complexity, the “one-engineer-one-workbench” model is being replaced by collaborative, AI-integrated environments.

Automated Code Generation: Modern embedded system development tools are now incorporating AI-driven “co-developers” that assist with boilerplate code, initial driver configurations, and real-time bug detection.

Digital Twins & Simulation: Tools like MATLAB/Simulink and virtual hardware platforms allow engineers to simulate real-world behavior before a single piece of hardware is manufactured, reducing time-to-market by over 30%.

Security-First Tooling: With 68% of IoT attacks originating from insecure firmware, new tools focus on automated vulnerability scanning and secure boot configuration as a standard part of the build process.

Security as a Non-Negotiable Standard: We are entering an era where security is no longer a feature—it is a baseline for viability. In 2026, software development in embedded system projects must adhere to global regulations like the EU Cybersecurity Resilience Act.

Zero Trust Architectures: In the past, security was like a castle: once you were inside the gates, the system trusted you completely. Zero Trust changes that by assuming that the network is always “guilty until proven innocent.” Instead of trusting a device just because it is connected, the system requires continuous authentication.

Every time the device, the user, or the network tries to share data or access a file, it must re-verify its identity. This “never trust, always verify” approach ensures that even if a hacker manages to get into one part of your system, they cannot move around freely to steal data from other parts.

Hardware Root of Trust: Standard software-only encryption is like having a strong lock on a door, but keeping the key under the doormat—if a hacker gets deep enough into the software, they can find the key. A Hardware Root of Trust moves that “key” into a physically separate, tamper-proof chip within the device, known as a secure element.

This protects the device’s unique digital “identity” from the very second it is powered on. Because this identity is anchored in the physical hardware, hackers can not forge or change the software to trick the system. It ensures that the device is exactly what it says it is from the moment it boots up.

Why Partner with a Future-Ready Embedded System Development Company?: The complexity of modern systems—combining 5G connectivity, Edge AI, and rigorous security—requires a multidisciplinary approach. A leading embedded system development company like eByteLogic provides: 

Cross-Industry Expertise: The best innovations often happen when ideas from one industry are used to solve problems in another. For example, the high-speed data processing needed for Automotive self-driving systems can be used to make Industrial IoT robots smarter and faster. Similarly, the extreme reliability and “fail-safe” standards required for Medical devices can be applied to factory sensors to prevent expensive downtime.

By working with a partner who has broad experience across different fields, you get a product that is not just functional, but built to the highest global standards of safety and performance.

End-to-End Vision: A product’s life has many stages, and a great partner manages them all. End-to-End Vision means we don’t just write some code and walk away. We start at the very beginning with the initial board bring-up, making sure the physical chips and the software are “shaking hands” correctly. But we also look years into the future. We provide long-term CVE monitoring, which means we constantly watch for new security threats (vulnerabilities) and create “patches” to fix them. This ensures your product stays safe and works perfectly from the first day it’s turned on until the day it is retired.

Agile Scalability: In the past, if you wanted to launch three different versions of a product, you often had to start from scratch three times. With Agile Scalability, we build one strong, “common architecture”—like a high-quality chassis for a car. Once that foundation is solid, we can easily add or remove features to create multiple product variants (like a “Lite” version and a “Pro” version). This approach saves you a massive amount of time and money because you aren’t reinventing the wheel for every new idea; you are simply building on top of a proven, scalable platform.

The post What is the Future of Embedded Systems? appeared first on ELE Times.

Fabless firm Cambridge GaN Devices Ltd (CGD) — which was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016 to design, develop and commercialize power transistors and ICs that use GaN-on-silicon substrates — has developed a 650V GaN IC for automotive applications that addresses automakers’ desire to improve inverter efficiency. ICeGaN helps designers to realise smaller, lighter inverters that help to extend EV range, which is crucial in continuing to drive consumer momentum away from internal combustion engine ICE powertrains and towards EVs...

In a major push toward technological sovereignty, India is aiming to meet 50% of its domestic semiconductor demand through local manufacturing by the fiscal year 2035. According to recent estimates from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the country is embarking on a massive decade-long scaling operation to transform itself from a pure software powerhouse into a hardware manufacturing giant.

The aggressive timeline is fueled by a stark reality: India’s semiconductor import bill skyrockets. Imports prevail a staggering $30.3 billion in FY25, a sharp climb from $19.3 billion in FY23 and $11.9 billion in FY19. With NITI Aayog projecting domestic chip demand to experience a five-fold surge, jumping from $44 billion in FY26 to $206 billion by 2035, policymakers view localized fabrication as an economic and strategic imperative to protect foreign exchange reserves.

Operationalization Phase: Initiating Commercial Fabrication for this Year

India isn’t merely planning for the future; the groundwork is already in place. MeitY officials confirmed that out of 12 projects cleared under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) incentive scheme, at least four facilities are scheduled to begin commercial production before the end of this year.

Initial waves of domestic chips led by:

The Domestic Operators: Combined facility plans from the Tata Group, CG Power, and Kaynes are projected to churn out a cumulative 69 million chips daily once commercial operations hit their stride.

Next-Gen Tech: The government has also greenlit an advanced project to introduce micro-LED technology to the country. The first micro-LED chips (ranging from 30 to 125 microns) are expected to roll off assembly lines within the next 22 months.

Upgrading the Blueprint of India’s Semiconductor Mission 2.0

The Ecosystem Strategy: Unlike early phases focused strictly on testing and packaging (OSAT) or specific fabs, ISM 2.0 will heavily target the deep-tech supply chain. Funding will be directed toward localizing critical raw materials, specialized chemicals, ultra-pure gases, and advanced manufacturing machinery.

The transition from isolated assembly plants to a self-sustaining tech ecosystem, the government is preparing to roll out ISM 2.0 with a massive proposed budget of Rs 100,000 crore (~$12 billion). By scaling up mature nodes, power electronics, specialty analog, and compound semiconductors, NITI Aayog envisions an indigenous semiconductor ecosystem valued at $120 billion by 2035. If successful, the initiative will drastically alter global supply chains, positioning India alongside the US, the EU, and China in the race for silicon independence.

 

The post India Targets 50% Semiconductor Self-Sufficiency by FY35 appeared first on ELE Times.

Fifteen miles above you, a small styrofoam box is shrieking into the void. Its voice is binary—relentlessly transmitting temperature, pressure, and wind speed from the freezing stratosphere. In two hours, it will be gone, torn apart by the very atmosphere it was sent to measure.

This is the radiosonde’s hidden existence: the most successful yet expendable Internet of Things (IoT) device ever launched.

From balloons to big data

Radiosondes are the unsung workhorses of atmospheric science. First launched in the 1930s, these lightweight sensor packages ride weather balloons into the upper atmosphere, relaying streams of temperature, pressure, and humidity data that form the backbone of modern weather forecasting.

Every day, hundreds are released worldwide, their short lives fueling the long-range models that guide aviation, agriculture, and disaster preparedness. Though each unit is designed to perish after a single flight, the collective impact of radiosondes is enduring—an invisible infrastructure that keeps our understanding of the sky precise and predictive.

Vehicle vs. instrument: Understanding the weather balloon system

While people often use the terms interchangeably, a weather balloon and a radiosonde are distinct components of a single flight system. The weather balloon is an expendable transport vehicle; a large latex sphere filled with hydrogen or helium designed to provide the lift necessary to reach the stratosphere.

In contrast, the radiosonde is the scientific payload; a small, battery-operated instrument package tethered below the balloon. While the balloon’s only job is to climb until it bursts, the radiosonde performs the actual work of measuring temperature, humidity, and pressure and then transmitting that data via radio waves to meteorologists on the ground in real-time.

Figure 1 A sonde balloon and a radiosonde facilitate upper-air observations for numerical weather prediction models. Source: Azista Aerospace

The science of atmospheric sounding: How radiosondes work

A radiosonde primarily tracks pressure, temperature, and humidity using sensitive electronic sensors. While these provide the “ingredients” of the air, the device also tracks wind speed and direction by monitoring its own movement via GPS; as the balloon drifts, its change in position reveals exactly how the wind is blowing at different altitudes.

Together, these measurements allow meteorologists to build a complete vertical profile of the atmosphere—from the ground all the way up to the stratosphere. Furthermore, these variables are used to calculate geopotential height, which determines the precise altitude of pressure levels used to map global weather patterns.

Figure 2 The balloon-borne DFM-17 radiosonde provides atmospheric data for meteorological sounding. Source: graw

In essence, a radiosonde is a portable weather station integrated with a radio transmitter. Suspended from a rubber or latex balloon, the device ascends deep into the stratosphere to capture high-altitude data, transmitting real-time measurements of temperature, pressure, and humidity to a receiving station. The maximum altitude is determined by the diameter and thickness of the balloon.

By tracking the unit’s trajectory via GPS, meteorologists also map the strength and direction of winds aloft, creating a comprehensive vertical profile of the atmosphere. The flight concludes when the balloon reaches its expansion limit and bursts, triggering a small parachute to slow the radiosonde’s descent. While many units land in inaccessible areas, others are recovered by the public and returned for refurbishment, closing the loop on a single atmospheric mission.

Radiosonde system: Vertical layers from balloon to ground station

A radiosonde system is organized in vertical layers, beginning with the sounding balloon, also known as the sonde balloon, which ascends into the upper atmosphere carrying the payload. Suspended beneath is the radiosonde unit, integrating a glass bead thermistor for precise temperature measurement, a capacitive humidity sensor to monitor moisture levels, and a GPS receiver to provide accurate position, altitude, and wind data.

These measurements are transmitted through the radiosonde transmitter to a ground-based receiver and processing system, where the data is decoded and analyzed. This layered architecture—from balloon to ground station—creates a continuous vertical profile of atmospheric conditions, enabling reliable weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and deeper research into atmospheric dynamics.

Beyond the core radiosonde unit, several design enhancements improve measurement accuracy and reliability. The capacitive humidity sensor is equipped with a miniature heater element to prevent condensation and ensure stable reading in saturated conditions. The glass bead thermistor used for air temperature measurement is often treated with hydrophobic coating, reducing the impact of water droplets and improving response time in cloud environments.

Many radiosondes also include an optional barometric pressure sensor, adding direct pressure measurements to complement GPS-derived altitude data. These refinements—heater stabilization, protective coatings, and auxiliary pressure sensing—extend the robustness of the radiosonde system, ensuring dependable atmospheric profiles even in challenging weather regimes.

Figure 3 The Vaisala Radiosonde RS41-SGP features a specialized chassis that integrates a high-precision pressure sensor into its compact design, ensuring robust and accurate atmospheric profiling even in GNSS-challenged environments. Source: Vaisala

Radio subsystem: Transmission and data handling

The radio subsystem of a radiosonde is engineered for efficient, narrow-band communication between the airborne unit and the ground station.

Modern designs support programmable frequencies and channel selection, allowing flexible operation across different meteorological networks. Transmission parameters include controlled bandwidth allocation, adjustable transmitter power, and defined coverage ranges to ensure reliable signal reception over long ascents. Data is typically modulated using Gaussian frequency-shift keying (GFSK), balancing spectral efficiency with robustness against noise.

The downlink stream carries structured data bits at a specified sampling rate, enabling continuous atmospheric profiling. For pre-launch verification, many systems integrate near field communication (NFC) capability, allowing quick ground checks of sensor calibration and transmitter health. Together, these radio features—programmable channels, efficient modulation, and diagnostic NFC—form the backbone of dependable data delivery from balloon to ground station.

Here is a side note regarding AFSK vs. GFSK. Earlier radiosonde systems often relied on audio frequency-shift keying (AFSK), a simple scheme that encodes data by alternating between two audio tones. While easy to implement, AFSK suffers from poor spectral efficiency and limited robustness in noisy RF environments.

So, modern designs have largely transitioned to GFSK, which applies Gaussian filtering to smooth frequency shifts. This reduces bandwidth usage, minimizes adjacent-channel interference, and improves reliability when multiple sondes are launched simultaneously. In practice, GFSK delivers cleaner signals and higher data integrity, making it the preferred modulation method for today’s radiosonde telemetry.

Figure 4 Modern pocket-sized radiosondes, such as the Windsond S2, capture real-time weather profiles for immediate analysis. Source: Sparv Embedded

Telemetry and ground receiver

While the airborne unit handles transmission, the ground receiver ensures accurate acquisition, synchronization, and validation of the telemetry stream. Selective filtering and error-detection routines safeguard data integrity even under weak-signal conditions, while multi-channel capability allows simultaneous monitoring of several sondes during coordinated launches. Once captured, the telemetry is processed through digital signal blocks that reconstruct temperature, humidity, pressure, and positional data into usable atmospheric profiles.

Modern systems further enhance reliability with multi-GNSS technology, leveraging multiple satellite constellations to improve positional accuracy and wind profiling. Coupled with real-time visualization interfaces, operators can track balloon ascent, sensor health, and data quality throughout the flight. By combining robust acquisition with intelligent decoding, the receiver transforms radiosonde measurements into actionable meteorological information for forecasting systems.

External payloads and research extensions

Beyond standard meteorological instrumentation, radiosondes can be adapted to carry external payloads for specialized research. A common example is the ozone sonde, which measures ozone concentration profiles using electrochemical sensors to support atmospheric chemistry studies.

Other payloads may include aerosol samplers, radiation detectors, or custom research modules, depending on mission objectives. These add-on packages are typically integrated beneath the radiosonde unit, sharing the balloon lift and telemetry link while operating within defined weight and power budgets.

By accommodating external payloads, radiosonde platforms extend their role from routine weather monitoring to flexible airborne laboratories, enabling targeted investigations into atmospheric composition, pollution transport, and climate dynamics.

High-altitude scavenger hunt

Every day, thousands of radiosondes drift back to Earth, largely unnoticed by the world below. However, with a modest receiver and a bit of technical curiosity, these silent travelers become the centerpiece of a high-tech scavenger hunt.

Radiosonde hunting, also known as radiosonde tracking, is a unique hobby that bridges the gap between radio engineering, software-defined radio (SDR), and outdoor exploration. By leveraging specialized hardware and open-source software, enthusiasts can intercept live telemetry, decode atmospheric data in real time, and pinpoint a sonde’s landing site for recovery.

Radiosondes as tools and inspiration

Radiosondes have proven indispensable across a wide application range—from core meteorology and climate science to agricultural forecasting, where vertical profiles of humidity, temperature, and wind inform crop management and irrigation planning. Their adaptability extends further through external payloads such as ozone sondes, and even specialized launch techniques like double-balloon configurations, which extend flight duration and altitude coverage for advanced research missions.

Yet radiosondes are more than just instruments of record; they are also objects of curiosity and experimentation. Around the world, enthusiasts collect spent sondes, hack their electronics, and repurpose them for creative experiments, turning routine weather balloons into platforms for learning and innovation. This dual identity—precision tool for science and playground for exploration—underscores why radiosondes continue to inspire both professionals and hobbyists alike.

Well, whether you are a researcher, a student, or a curious tinkerer, radiosondes invite you to explore the atmosphere, experiment with technology, and contribute to the collective understanding of our dynamic skies.

T. K. Hareendran is a self-taught electronics enthusiast with a strong passion for innovative circuit design and hands-on technology. He develops both experimental and practical electronic projects, documenting and sharing his work to support fellow tinkerers and learners. Beyond the workbench, he dedicates time to technical writing and hardware evaluations to contribute meaningfully to the maker community.

The post Radiosondes: Disposable guardians of the sky appeared first on EDN.

Introduction: When Data Movement Becomes the Bottleneck

Artificial intelligence now pushes computing beyond just processing power. In today’s large-scale AI systems using deep learning and transformer models, the main challenge is efficiently moving data across complex, distributed systems.

In Hyperscale data centres and high-performance AI clusters, thousands of GPUs and accelerators run in parallel, constantly exchanging data. As models and datasets grow, electrical interconnects reach physical limits on bandwidth, power consumption, and thermal management.

The industry faces a turning point. Sustaining AI’s next growth phase needs new interconnect technology. Silicon photonics, which uses light rather than electrical signals, is becoming essential to this shift.

From Electrons to Photons: Rethinking Interconnect Architecture

Silicon photonics introduces a paradigm shift by replacing conventional electrical signalling with optical communication. By integrating photonic components such as waveguides, modulators, and photodetectors onto silicon substrates using CMOS-compatible processes, it becomes possible to align optical communication with existing semiconductor manufacturing ecosystems.

Following this integration, optical interconnects offer clear structural advantages over traditional copper-based systems: Higher bandwidth density without proportional increases in physical complexity.

• Reduced signal degradation over longer distances
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference

Building on these benefits, a critical technique in this domain is wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), which enables multiple data streams to be transmitted simultaneously over different wavelengths through a single optical channel. This significantly enhances throughput while maintaining manageable interconnect density.

The broader industry shift toward data-centric system design reflects a growing recognition that communication efficiency is now as important as compute performance. As Jensen Huang has noted, “The future of computing is about moving data faster and more efficiently than ever before.” This perspective underscores the growing importance of interconnectivity in AI systems.

Scaling AI Workloads: The Limits of Electrical Interconnects

Modern AI workloads are distributed. Training large models needs coordinated computation across accelerator clusters with ongoing data exchange. This strains the interconnect infrastructure.

Electrical interconnects are widely used but face scaling limits. Bandwidth saturates at higher data rates due to signal integrity.

• Disproportionate increases in power consumption with higher throughput
• Thermal challenges arising from dense, high-speed electrical signalling

Silicon photonics solves these issues with high-bandwidth, lower-energy communication. Optical signals carry more data efficiently and reduce losses from resistance and heat.

This transition is not merely an incremental upgrade; it reflects a structural evolution in system architecture. As Sundar Pichai has emphasised, “The opportunity with AI is as big as it gets.” Realising that opportunity depends on overcoming infrastructure bottlenecks, particularly those related to data movement.

Energy Efficiency: A Defining Constraint in AI Infrastructure

As AI systems scale, energy efficiency has become a primary engineering concern. Data centres supporting AI workloads are experiencing rapid increases in power demand, with interconnects contributing significantly to overall energy consumption.

Silicon photonics offers a pathway to improved efficiency by reducing the energy required to transmit each bit of data. Optical communication minimizes resistive losses and reduces the need for repeated signal amplification, particularly over longer distances.

This results in several system-level benefits:

• Lower operational energy consumption in large-scale deployments
• Reduced thermal load and simplified cooling requirements
• Improved sustainability metrics for data center operations

The importance of energy-efficient infrastructure is widely acknowledged across the industry. As Satya Nadella has stated, “Every data center must become more energy efficient as AI scales globally.” Silicon photonics directly supports this objective by enabling high-performance communication with lower power overhead.

Co-Packaged Optics: Integrating Compute and Communication

A significant architectural development enabled by silicon photonics is the emergence of co-packaged optics (CPO). Unlike traditional pluggable optical modules, CPO integrates optical components directly alongside compute silicon within the same package.

This approach reduces the distance between processing and communication layers, enabling tighter system integration and improved performance. The advantages include reduced latency, higher interconnect density, and the elimination of many electrical I/O bottlenecks.

While alternative approaches—such as advanced packaging and chiplet-based architectures continue to evolve, they primarily extend the capabilities of electrical interconnects rather than overcoming their fundamental limitations. Silicon photonics, by contrast, addresses the underlying physics constraints, offering a more scalable path forward for AI infrastructure.

From Research to Deployment: Growing Industry Momentum

Silicon photonics is transitioning from research laboratories to real-world deployment. Hyperscale data centres are increasingly incorporating optical interconnects to handle high-volume, low-latency communication across servers and racks.

Its relevance spans multiple application domains, including AI training clusters, high-performance computing environments, telecommunications networks, and emerging edge AI systems. Across these domains, the common requirement is efficient, high-speed data movement.

The growing investment from semiconductor and technology companies reflects a broader industry shift. Silicon photonics is no longer a speculative technology; it is becoming an operational necessity for scaling AI systems.

Engineering Challenges: Bridging Innovation and Implementation

Despite its advantages, silicon photonics presents several engineering challenges that must be addressed to enable widespread adoption.

• Integration complexity in co-designing photonic and electronic components
• Sensitivity of optical elements to temperature variations
• Challenges associated with efficient on-chip laser integration
• Manufacturing variability affecting large-scale production consistency

Addressing these issues requires coordinated innovation across design methodologies, fabrication processes, and system-level validation techniques. The transition to photonic interconnects is not solely a technological shift it also demands ecosystem maturity.

Future Outlook: Toward Photonics-First Architectures

Looking ahead, silicon photonics is expected to play a central role in the evolution of AI infrastructure. As distributed computing becomes the norm and model complexity continues to grow, efficient data movement will remain a critical requirement.

Emerging directions include on-chip optical interconnects, hybrid electronic-photonic systems, and new computing paradigms that leverage photonic principles for ultra-fast data processing. These developments point toward a long-term transition in which optical technologies become central to hardware design. This is not a peripheral enhancement; it is a foundational transformation.

As Elon Musk has remarked in the broader context of computing innovation, “The pace of innovation must accelerate to keep up with AI.” Achieving that acceleration will depend not only on advances in algorithms but also on the underlying hardware systems that enable them.

Conclusion: Redefining the Foundations of AI Infrastructure

In the evolution of artificial intelligence, the industry is confronting a fundamental shift: compute capability alone is no longer sufficient. The efficiency of data movement has become equally critical in determining system performance and scalability.

Silicon photonics represents a decisive step toward addressing this challenge. Overcoming the limitations of electrical interconnects enables architectures that are faster, more energy-efficient, and better suited to the demands of modern AI workloads.

This is not a peripheral enhancement; it is a foundational transformation. As AI systems continue to scale and become more complex, silicon photonics is poised to become a cornerstone of next-generation computing infrastructure, shaping how intelligent systems are built and deployed in the years ahead.

The post Silicon Photonics: Breaking the Bandwidth Barrier in AI Computing appeared first on ELE Times.

Navigating the New Era of Industrial Control Systems

Introduction

Industrial automation is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditional control systems designed primarily for machine sequencing and process control are now expected to support advanced analytics, predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins, cloud connectivity, and cybersecurity frameworks. As manufacturing and infrastructure systems become increasingly data-intensive, engineers face a critical challenge: selecting the most appropriate control architecture.

For decades, the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) was the undisputed backbone of industrial automation. Later, Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs) emerged to bridge the gap between deterministic control and information processing. Today, Industrial PCs (IPCs) have evolved into powerful edge-computing platforms capable of running sophisticated automation software alongside AI and data analytics workloads.

The boundaries between these technologies are becoming increasingly blurred. Modern PLCs offer edge computing capabilities, PACs provide PC-like processing power, and industrial PCs deliver real-time deterministic control. Consequently, selecting the right controller is no longer about choosing the “best” technology but about understanding engineering requirements, operational constraints, and lifecycle considerations.

Understanding the Architectural Differences

PLC: The Deterministic Workhorse

PLCs were designed specifically for industrial environments where reliability and deterministic operation are paramount. Their architecture is optimized for real-time control tasks, including discrete I/O management, sequencing, interlocking, and safety functions.

Typical PLC architecture includes:

• Dedicated real-time operating systems
• Ruggedized hardware
• Scan-cycle execution model
• Integrated digital and analog I/O
• Long operational life cycles
• High resistance to electrical noise and harsh environments

The PLC continuously executes a control loop consisting of:

1. Input scan
2. Logic execution
3. Output update
4. Communication services

This deterministic behavior makes PLCs ideal for packaging machines, conveyor systems, assembly lines, water treatment plants, and utility infrastructure.

Key Strength: Predictable control performance with extremely high reliability.

Limitation: Limited computational capability for data-intensive applications.

PAC: Bridging Control and Information

Programmable Automation Controllers emerged as industrial systems became more complex and interconnected.

PACs combine the deterministic nature of PLCs with the flexibility of modern computing platforms. Unlike traditional PLCs, PACs support:

• Multi-domain automation
• Advanced motion control
• Large memory capacity
• Object-oriented programming
• Integrated networking
• Database connectivity

PACs generally comply with IEC 61131-3 standards while supporting higher-level software architectures.

Industrial PC: The Data-Centric Controller

Industrial PCs bring standard computing power into the industrial environment.

Modern IPCs feature:

• Multi-core processors
• High-capacity memory
• Solid-state storage
• Virtualization support
• AI acceleration
• GPU integration
• Industrial communication interfaces

Unlike PLCs, IPCs typically run:

• Windows
• Linux
• Real-Time Linux
• Hypervisor-based architectures

The rise of Industry 4.0 has significantly increased IPC adoption because they can process massive datasets locally while maintaining cloud connectivity.

Engineering Decision Framework

Instead of asking, “Which controller is better?” engineers should ask the following questions:

1. How Critical Is Deterministic Performance?

Applications such as:

• Emergency shutdown systems
• Turbine control
• Motion synchronization
• Safety systems

require guaranteed response times.

In such cases, PLCs and PACs remain the preferred solutions.

2. How Much Data Must Be Processed?

Modern smart factories generate terabytes of operational data.

Applications involving:

• AI-based inspection
• Video analytics
• Condition monitoring
• Predictive maintenance

often exceed traditional PLC capabilities and favour Industrial PCs.

3. What Is the Environmental Requirement?

PLCs generally provide the highest environmental resilience, although ruggedized IPCs continue to improve.

4. What Is the Expected Lifecycle?

Many manufacturing facilities expect automation assets to operate for decades.

PLC vendors often provide long-term support and product availability, making them attractive for infrastructure projects with extended service lives.

Industrial PCs may require more frequent hardware refresh cycles.

5. What Are the Cybersecurity Requirements?

As operational technology (OT) becomes connected to enterprise IT networks, cybersecurity has become a critical design consideration.

Industrial PCs running conventional operating systems introduce a larger attack surface than dedicated PLC platforms.

Engineers must evaluate:

• Patch management
• Network segmentation
• Secure boot
• Endpoint protection
• Zero-trust architectures

before selecting a controller platform.

Emerging Hybrid Architectures

The most significant trend in industrial automation is convergence.

Leading automation vendors are increasingly integrating PLC, PAC, and IPC technologies into unified architectures.

Companies such as Siemens, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Beckhoff Automation, and Bosch Rexroth are investing heavily in software-centric automation architectures that blur traditional controller boundaries.

In many modern facilities, the architecture is no longer PLC versus IPC. Instead, PLCs provide deterministic machine control while Industrial PCs handle AI, visualization, and analytics at the edge. PACs often serve as the integration layer between these domains.

The Future: Software-Defined Industrial Control

The next generation of automation systems will increasingly separate software from hardware.

Virtualized controllers running on industrial servers are beginning to challenge conventional hardware-based automation architectures. AI-assisted engineering tools, digital twins, and edge computing platforms will continue driving demand for more computationally capable control systems.

However, deterministic control remains the foundation of industrial automation. Regardless of future innovations, the engineering challenge will continue to revolve around balancing reliability, performance, security, scalability, and cost.

Conclusion

The debate between PLCs, PACs, and Industrial PCs is no longer a simple technology comparison. Each architecture serves a distinct purpose within modern automation ecosystems.

For today’s engineers, the optimal solution is increasingly a hybrid architecture that combines the strengths of all three platforms. Success lies not in choosing a single controller type but in understanding the specific operational requirements and designing a system architecture that balances control integrity with digital innovation.

As factories evolve toward autonomous, connected, and intelligent operations, the future belongs to architectures that seamlessly integrate deterministic control with data-driven intelligence.

The post PLC, PAC, and Industrial PC Architectures for Automation appeared first on ELE Times.

For more than five decades, the semiconductor industry has relied on a simple principle: increasing transistor density to deliver higher computing performance. While transistor scaling continues to advance, a new bottleneck has emerged inside modern computing systems—data movement.

Today’s processors, AI accelerators, memory systems, and data centers spend a significant portion of their energy simply moving data through metallic interconnects. Traditional copper wiring, which has served electronics faithfully for decades, is rapidly approaching its physical limitations. Resistance, capacitance, signal attenuation, electromagnetic interference, and heat generation increasingly constrain performance.

To overcome these challenges, the semiconductor industry is turning toward a revolutionary solution: Silicon Photonics. Instead of electrons traveling through copper traces, future chips will increasingly use photons—particles of light—to carry information. The result could be processors capable of transferring data at unprecedented speeds while consuming significantly less power and generating far less heat.

What is Silicon Photonics?: Silicon Photonics is a technology that integrates optical communication components directly onto silicon chips using semiconductor manufacturing processes similar to those used for CMOS integrated circuits.

Instead of transmitting information via electrical signals, silicon photonic devices use light waves traveling through microscopic optical waveguides fabricated on silicon wafers.

A typical silicon photonic system consists of:

• Lasers
• Optical modulators
• Waveguides
• Multiplexers
• Photodetectors
• Electronic control circuits

Together, these components allow information to be converted from electrical signals into optical signals and back again.

For working engineers, the story is no longer just about making transistors smaller. It is about moving data fast enough to keep up with them. As electrical links stretch across boards, packages, and racks, copper starts to run into familiar physical problems: resistance, crosstalk, signal loss, heat, and rising power cost per bit. Silicon photonics answers that bottleneck by carrying information as light rather than electrons, using optical links to push bandwidth higher while reducing the energy spent on interconnects. In practice, that makes photonics one of the most important enabling technologies for AI systems, HPC clusters, and data-center networking.

The engineering shift is straightforward in concept and hard in implementation. A silicon photonics platform integrates optical devices with standard CMOS-style manufacturing so data can be modulated, routed, and detected on or near the chip package. Intel describes its platform as combining silicon manufacturing scale with light on a single chip, and says its solutions now span 400G, 800G, and 1.6T-class interfaces. Ayar Labs takes a similar direction with optical I/O chiplets, positioning them as a low-power, low-latency alternative to copper backplanes and pluggable optics.

The practical reason this matters is bandwidth density. When systems scale from a handful of accelerators to dense AI fabrics, the bottleneck is often not compute silicon itself but how quickly data can enter, leave, and circulate around it. That is why the industry is moving from pluggable transceivers toward co-packaged optics, where optical engines sit much closer to the switch ASIC or accelerator package. NVIDIA says its silicon-photonics-based networking is aimed at this problem, with its 2025 Spectrum-X Photonics announcement targeting scale-out AI factories and claiming major gains in energy efficiency and resiliency. Broadcom is also pushing co-packaged optics and silicon-photonics chiplets for high-radix AI networks.

A useful way to think about the transition is this: copper is still excellent for short, simple, low-cost links, but it becomes expensive in power and signal integrity as reach and rate increase. Silicon photonics does not eliminate that tradeoff everywhere, but it moves the break-even point dramatically. Intel says its platform has already shipped more than 8 million photonic integrated circuits and more than 32 million on-chip lasers, while NVIDIA and Broadcom are both anchoring their latest AI networking roadmaps around photonics and co-packaged optics.

For engineers, the opportunity is not just faster links; it is system design freedom. Optical interconnects can relax board routing constraints, reduce electrical retiming overhead, and help keep power budgets under control as data rates climb. That is why the near-term adoption path is strongest in the I/O layer, package-to-package links, switch fabrics, and rack-scale interconnects, where the cost of moving bits is becoming as important as the cost of computing them. The architecture of future systems will still be electronic at the logic core, but increasingly optical at the boundaries where data movement hurts most.

In short, silicon photonics is not a futuristic side project anymore. It is becoming a serious engineering answer to a very present problem: how to keep AI, HPC, and networking systems from drowning in their own data traffic. The companies most visibly shaping the field today include Intel, NVIDIA, Ayar Labs, and Broadcom, each attacking the same bottleneck from a slightly different angle. For engineers building the next generation of systems, photonics is moving from “interesting” to “necessary.”

The semiconductor industry’s next breakthrough may not come solely from smaller transistors, but from replacing electrons with photons for data movement. As copper interconnects approach fundamental physical limits, silicon photonics offers a path toward dramatically higher bandwidth, lower latency, and significantly improved energy efficiency.

For working engineers, the transition to photonic computing represents more than an incremental improvement—it signals a fundamental architectural shift in how information is transported within and between computing systems. Companies such as Intel, NVIDIA, Cisco, Broadcom, Ayar Labs, Lightmatter, and Celestial AI are already laying the foundation for this future.

Over the coming decade, optical interconnects, co-packaged optics, and photonic processors are expected to become core enabling technologies for AI supercomputers, hyperscale data centers, and next-generation embedded systems. Just as silicon transformed computing in the twentieth century, silicon photonics may define the computational infrastructure of the twenty-first century.

The post Optics and Silicon Photonics: The Next Data Highway Inside Chips appeared first on ELE Times.

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming industries, but traditional AI systems come with a major challenge: enormous energy consumption. Most modern AI applications depend on cloud-based data centers packed with power-hungry GPUs and servers. As billions of smart devices become connected, this centralized approach is becoming increasingly expensive, slower, and environmentally unsustainable.

A revolutionary solution is emerging through Neuromorphic Engineering and Edge AI. Instead of relying entirely on distant cloud servers, scientists and engineers are building specialized chips that mimic the structure and behavior of the human brain. These advanced processors, known as neuromorphic chips and AI accelerators, process information directly on devices such as smartphones, drones, medical wearables, robots, and autonomous vehicles. This approach dramatically reduces latency, improves privacy, and cuts energy consumption.

What is Neuromorphic Engineering?

Neuromorphic engineering is a field that designs computer hardware inspired by biological neural systems. Traditional computers process data sequentially and continuously, even when there is little meaningful activity. The human brain, however, operates differently. Neurons only “fire” when necessary, making the brain remarkably energy efficient while handling complex sensory information in real time.

Neuromorphic chips attempt to replicate this behavior using Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs). Unlike conventional neural networks that constantly process streams of data, SNNs activate only when changes occur. This event-driven architecture significantly reduces unnecessary computation and power usage.

Brain-Inspired AI Hardware

Modern neuromorphic processors integrate memory and computing together instead of separating them like traditional CPU and GPU architectures. This eliminates the “von Neumann bottleneck,” where large amounts of energy are wasted transferring data between memory and processors.

Companies and research institutions worldwide are developing advanced neuromorphic systems. Intel’s Loihi 2 chip, for example, can simulate millions of neurons while consuming only a fraction of the energy used by traditional AI hardware. Some experimental chips operate in milliwatts rather than watts, making them ideal for portable and battery-powered devices.

Researchers are also exploring technologies such as memristors, which combine memory and processing in a single component, closely resembling biological synapses. These innovations could eventually enable AI systems that learn continuously and adapt in real time without relying on cloud computing.

The Rise of Edge AI

Edge AI refers to running artificial intelligence directly on local devices rather than sending data to centralized servers. Today, many AI applications depend on cloud infrastructure, which introduces delays and requires constant internet connectivity. Edge AI changes this model by bringing intelligence closer to the source of data.

For example:

• Self-driving cars must make decisions instantly without waiting for cloud responses.
• Smart surveillance cameras need real-time object recognition.
• Wearable healthcare devices must continuously monitor vital signs with minimal battery drain.
• Industrial robots require rapid reactions in manufacturing environments.

Neuromorphic processors are particularly well-suited for these applications because they deliver near-zero latency and ultra-low power consumption.

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

One of the biggest advantages of neuromorphic computing is energy efficiency. Conventional AI training and inference systems consume massive amounts of electricity. Data centers supporting generative AI models now require enormous cooling systems and power grids. Neuromorphic systems dramatically reduce this burden. According to recent studies, some neuromorphic architectures can achieve over 100 times better energy efficiency compared to traditional deep learning hardware.

The human brain itself consumes only about 20 watts of power — less than a dim light bulb — while performing tasks that remain challenging for modern computers. Neuromorphic engineers aim to approach this extraordinary level of efficiency. This has major implications for sustainable computing. As global AI adoption accelerates, reducing energy demand will become essential for lowering operational costs and minimizing environmental impact.

Real-World Applications

Neuromorphic Edge AI is already finding applications across multiple industries:

Healthcare

Wearable devices powered by neuromorphic chips can continuously monitor patient conditions, detect abnormalities, and even predict medical emergencies with minimal battery usage.

Autonomous Vehicles

Self-driving systems require split-second decisions. Neuromorphic processors enable rapid sensor processing for safer navigation and collision avoidance.

Robotics

Robots equipped with brain-inspired AI can react more naturally to changing environments while consuming far less energy.

Defense and Aerospace

Low-power edge computing is critical for drones, radar systems, and satellites operating in remote environments.

Consumer Electronics

Future smartphones, AR glasses, and smart home devices may run advanced AI locally without depending heavily on cloud services.

Challenges Ahead

Despite its promise, neuromorphic computing is still in its early stages. Developing efficient training methods for spiking neural networks remains difficult, and software ecosystems are less mature than traditional AI frameworks. Manufacturing specialized hardware at scale is another challenge. However, rapid advances in semiconductor technology and growing demand for sustainable AI are accelerating innovation in this field.

Conclusion

Neuromorphic Engineering and Edge AI represent a major shift in the future of computing. By mimicking the brain’s architecture, these technologies enable intelligent devices that are faster, smarter, and far more energy efficient than traditional systems. As AI continues to expand into every aspect of daily life, neuromorphic chips could become the foundation for a new generation of sustainable, low-latency, and autonomous technologies. The future of AI may no longer reside solely in giant cloud data centers — it may live directly inside the devices we use every day.

 

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