In April 2010, I wrote a short piece entitled "Designing for the iPad Era," which I have reprinted on the second page of this post. It was inspired by the appearance of the first iPad. I speculated then on the impact a migration from desktop PCs to tablets and smartphones would have on electronic design, presenting new challenges to produce highly portable devices with tightly managed power budgets supporting increasingly diverse functions.
It's fun -- for me, at least -- to look back on that article as I write this one in response to news of the first decline in annual PC shipments since the dot-com bust. At least the news from today’s consumer market confirms the continuation of the trend I observed a couple of years ago.
I wrote back then that the era of the PC, when processor speed and memory density were the key performance measures driving the industry, had come and gone. As cellphones penetrated deeper into the consumer market, low-power and mixed-signal design were becoming more important. Delivering PC-like functions in a much smaller form factor put more emphasis on packaging solutions.
Not surprisingly, these topics were already part of the DesignCon technical program two years ago. With products already in the marketplace, engineers had workable first-generation solutions to discuss and lessons to share. Since then, we have seen growing interest in the tracks related to these topics.
We see this trend continuing with the DesignCon 2013 program. Bearing in mind that we allocate the number of sessions to each track in proportion to the number of submissions we receive, changes in the session count are a fair indicator of shifts in interest within the DesignCon community.
One of the most striking changes since last year is the doubling of sessions in Track 2, "Analog, Mixed-Signal, and RF Design and Verification." In my last blog, I pointed out the addition of "RF" to the track title to emphasize the integration of RF communication capabilities as a major driver for mixed-signal designs. A look at the titles of papers selected for this track suggests highlighting RF contributed to the doubling in sessions.
Track 4, "System Co-Design: Chip/Package/Board," has also seen significant growth -- the number of sessions has increased 60 percent from last year. This track addresses packaging issues and signaling across package boundaries. Track 11, "Power Integrity and Power Distribution Network Design," is a magnet for those interested in power issues. It continues to grow and thrive as one of the largest tracks in the program.
As trends go, the progression to smaller and more portable personal electronic devices is easy to spot. It may not take great insight to project the impact of this trend on the practice of electronic design, either. Still, it's gratifying to see DesignCon tracking it so well, validating the efforts of the organizers to keep the technical program timely and relevant.
Sunil Kakkar 11/27/2012 11:40:12 PM User Rank Blogger
Re: Portable computing devices - and their impact on design
Barry,
The question which comes to my mind is : Is there a possibility of the smartphone itself being replaced by a laptop. Laptops will become much thinner and lighter, though. With hands free calling, what utility does a smartphone have over a laptop. The wireless USB devices could have a longer range. The dialpad will be in multiple places including the car steering and hands free bluetooth/USB. Once a service like Vonage goes wireless, all national and international calls could be free after paying a small monthly service charge. No need for a separate phone service. Laptop could do it all, sitting remotely even, like a server.
Re: Portable computing devices - and their impact on design
The trade-offs between general purpose and purpose-built devices tend to go through cycles based on the maturity of the underlying technology. When the enabling technology is in its youth, purpose-built devices tend to win over general purpose ones. As the technology matures, the general purpose device can match the purpose-built one in performance and cost, with the added benefit of supporting more applications.
We currently see this happening with e-readers evolving into more general purpose tablets. An interesting question, I think, is whether tablets will displace laptops before they are displaced by the next general purpose device (a more capable smartphone, perhaps?).
My favorite example in discussing purpose-built vs. general purpose is the toaster. Our kitchen has never existed for more than a day without a functioning toaster, even though we usually have other general purpose devices (e.g., toaster oven, range) on hand. Sometimes it's hard to beat the purpose-built device for the task it was built to perform.
Martin Rowe 11/18/2012 10:44:10 PM User Rank Blogger
Re: Portable computing devices - and their impact on design
These generic hardware platforms have their limitations. They need more I/O, which will create a need for hardware designers to expand the capabilities of these devices that is currently going on now. Hardware engineers may shift from developing the hardware engines to developing hardware extenstions for these platforms.
Then, of course, there are military platforms, which will always use their own hardware and software.
Remember too, there's the infrastructure needed to support the mobile devices. Someone has to constantly develop new technologies to increase bandwidth. There may be some apps that can be used a development and test tools (already are), but the infrastructure upgrades will go on. Thus, the need for faster serial buses (or whatever replaces them, will go on.
Of course, the hackers are working hard on hacking into the portable device platforms, to create viruses that steal your information. It will happen.
Re: Portable computing devices - and their impact on design
I've been reading about engineer-students at universities (including Standford) spending as much time dreaming up new apps for mobile devices as they are studying the principles of design. I wonder where this is heading. With universal hardware platforms such as smartphones and tablets (iOS or Android based), will the need for hardware design diminish?
For example, I didn't buy a controller for my Sonos sound system because I could just download the App instead. That's a hit for component manufacturers, though Sonos itself may sell more systems as the App controller is great! So that's the counterpoint.
The innovation continues, but will it affect the careers of hardware designers -- and of component suppliers who are finding that if they don't get onto those universal platforms, they're in for a rough ride, long term.
It's hard to separate the two distinct challenges for hardware designers and component developers: the macro-economic climate the rise of universal, and the do-it-all platforms and their accompanying Apps. Thoughts? What will be the effect on designers of this gigantic shift toward Apps?
Martin Rowe 11/6/2012 5:24:50 PM User Rank Blogger
Re: Online design info
From Rich's comment, it seems clear that portable devices are not only changing the conference tracks, but should change the DesignCon Conference experience.
If we can design these devices, shouldn't we be able to use them at a design conference?
At Microcontroller Central we are seeing the increasing use of portable devices as reference sources in both the lab and at the drawing board. Several MCU companies have created apps for iPhone and Android that provides developers with MCU selection guides, while others have quick reference guides online.
It seems pretty clear that the coming generation of designers will consider a portable device to be an essential piece of gear for getting access to the information they need when and where they need it. That being the case, conferences will need to leverage that ubiquity by making all kinds of show information available online and geared toward portable devices. Smart posters with NFC tags for downloading datasheets and press releases, for instance, would be welcome by mobile device users, as would feeds of live events for which there may not be sufficient audience space.
Martin Rowe 11/6/2012 4:06:34 PM User Rank Blogger
Re: Portable computing devices
Yesterday, I watched a live concert by Aerosmith on the streets of Boston using my iPad. I actually though of going there (almost walking distance), but the crowds were huge, most college students.
Martin Rowe 11/6/2012 11:49:46 AM User Rank Blogger
Portable computing devices
Portable devices have surely made an impact. Today being electron day, I will be at a local gathering watching election returns once the polls close. We will have a laptop connected to a TV, but I personally will watch on an iPad. I expect some people will watch on their phones.
Navigating the compliance standards for high-speed digital standards can be a difficult process. This panel comprised of the standards compliance gurus will help attendees understand how to successfully negotiate the standards process by understanding how standards organizations operate, and define compliance. Each of the 3 presenters will give a key insights to standards compliance such as: What happens when you don't pass compliance, interoperability issues, compliance workshops, and what to do when there isn't a formal compliance program. Lastly, we'll open the floor for questions from the audience.
The Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance standards body standardizes interfaces for mobile designs. The MIPI D-PHY and M-PHY are introduced as high-speed physical layers serving as base for multiple applications such as camera, display, memory and baseband running protocols. Other, originally non-mobile, protocols are being adapted to work with the M-PHY physical layer. Being optimized for both performance (high data rates) and (low) power consumption introduces many new validation (test) challenges outlined in the MIPI Conformance Test Suites (CTS), which are key to system interoperability. The new M-PHY specification rev.3 will be adding Gear 3 support (~6 Gbps data rate).
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