NextGenLog

View by talking head recounting the DoE's latest supercomputer project at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). By switching from quad-core AMD processors to 60+ core Intel Xeon Phi processors, the Lab hopes to boost performance while cutting costs simultaneously. Hear my video account by clicking "Further Viewing" below" R. Colin Johnson @NextGenLog Further Viewing

With Microsoft's Surface, Google's Nexus, Barnes & Noble's Nook and Amazon's Fire all copying Apple's iPad by using a battery-draining full-color LCD display, analysts were predicting the demise E-Ink's paper-white B&W display that extends battery life for eBooks from days to weeks. Nevertheless, the E-Ink display continues to be used by ultra-inexpensive and feather-light eBooks, as evidenced by Epson's recent release of a complete integrated controller module which simplifies the eBook designer's job: R. Colin Johnson Just add this inexpensive E-Ink controller to your design for quick-and-easy eBook devices whose battery life lasts for weeks, and whose weight and cost is a fraction of Apple's iPad and all the look-alikes from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Barnes&Noble and the legions of other copy-cats. Here is what Epson says about its E-Ink controller: Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson", TSE: 6724), a global supplier of imaging products and semiconductor solutions, today announced a newly developed e-paper display (EPD) controller module. The S4E5B001B000A00, which measures only 2.3 cm x 2.3 cm, consists of the key electronics elements necessary for an E Ink EPD-based product such as Epson's high-performance EPD controller (S1D13522), a power management IC (PMIC), 4-Mbit flash memory for command/waveform storage, and an on-board 26-Mhz crystal oscillator. The EPD controller (S1D13522) mounted on the module is an industry-proven multi-pipeline EPD controller that has already been widely adopted by various e-book manufacturers. It reduces CPU overheads for EPD applications by allowing multi-regional and concurrent display updates, picture-in--picture, rotation, transparency and hardware cursor functions to achieve the optimal display experience. Epson believes that the S4E5B001B000A00 is an ideal choice for any customer who seeks to easily develop EPD applications without needing to go through a complex technical learning process, and which has the potential to accelerate time-to-market for EPD-related products. "We applaud Epson for constantly innovating their semiconductor offerings," said Sri Peruvemba, CMO, E Ink. "The new module will reduce design time and complexity for customers and will help open up new markets." "In recent years, Epson has mainly concentrated on providing unique EPD controller products to e-book customers. Our next goal is to expand our product lineup to include industrial and other promising new applications," said Kazuhiro Takenaka, deputy chief operating officer of Epson's Microdevices Operations Division. "Customers are already designing products using our module and we expect to see many more opportunities as we move forward." To further assist customers integrate EPDs into their products CPU companies expect to release reference designs featuring the S4E5B001B000A00 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Samples of the S4E5B001B000A00 are available from today, and production is expected to start in December 2012. Epson plans to demo the S4E5B001B000A00 at Electronica 2012 in Munich, Germany (November 13 to 16). Further Reading

Cyber-insects have been researched by the Defense Department since the 1940s, but still have not made it out of the lab. North Carolina State University, on the other hand, has recently built a cyber-insect without Defense Department funding that appears to fulfill the dream, albeit the little critters still have not escaped the lab: R. Colin Johnson Assembled system-on-chip based backpack with Flexible Flat Cable (FFC) connectors added for battery and probe connections. The system is implanted on a cockroach. Here is what North Carolina State University says about its cyber-insectsw: The present day technology falls short in offering centimeter scale mobile robots that can function effectively under unknown and dynamic environmental conditions. Insects, on the other hand, exhibit an unmatched ability to navigate through a wide variety of environments and overcome perturbations by successfully maintaining control and stability. In this study, we use neural stimulation systems to wirelessly navigate cockroaches to follow lines to enable terrestrial insect biobots. We also propose a system-on-chip based ZigBee enabled wireless neurostimulation backpack system with on- board tissue-electrode bioelectrical coupling verification. Such a capability ensures an electrochemically safe stimulation and avoids irreversible damage to the interface which is often misinterpreted as habituation of the insect to the applied stimulation... Further Reading

Parallel processing standardization has come to digital signal processor. King of the DSP--Texas Instruments--has just integrated multi-processing software support with an OpenMP application programmers interface (API) that comes as a part of its the Code Composer Studio for its multi-core DSPs. As parallel processing seeps into everything electronic, DSPs were bound to join the shared-memory standardization efforts represented by OpenMP: R. Colin Johnson Texas Instruments multi-core digital signal processor (DSP) block diagram. Here is what TI says about its OpenMP API: Getting developers one step closer to tapping the full potential of multicore digital signal processors (DSPs), Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) announced the industry’s first commercially available support for OpenMPTM Application Program Interface (API) on multicore DSPs. The OpenMP API is a portable, scalable model that provides developers utilizing TI’s KeyStone-based TMS320C66x multicore DSPs a simple and flexible interface for developing parallel applications in markets such as mission critical, industrial automation, embedded vision, medical imaging, video surveillance, audio and video infrastructure and high performance computing. With this optimized software offering, developers can benefit from faster development on TI’s C66x DSPs and can take full advantage of their multicore designs. For more information, please visit TI’s multicore page. “With the industry’s first production release of OpenMP API support on their multicore DSPs, TI is truly making multicore programming easier for developers,” said Michael Wong, CEO of OpenMP. “TI’s support of the OpenMP API on its KeyStone-based C66x multicore DSPs allows developers to easily migrate their applications to take advantage of power and performance. This is an important milestone for all developers in the embedded processing space.” Over time, software for embedded systems has become more complex for multicore developers. This complexity makes the production of software the critical path in the development of multicore embedded systems. With the OpenMP API, developers designing with TI’s C66x DSPs can easily increase programmer productivity, while reducing design, development costs and time to market for embedded systems. TI currently offers OpenMP API support for its TMS320C6670, TMS320C6671, TMS320C6672, TMS320C6674 and TMS320C6678 multicore DSPs. “With the addition of OpenMP to their development tools, TI makes it simpler for customers to develop advanced software for TI’s high-performance multicore systems by increasing productivity and reducing development costs and time to market,” said Barbara Chapman, professor of computer science, University of Houston. “The combination of the tools and TI’s extremely powerful multicore processors will enable the creation of applications that were previously not possible.” Availability OpenMP API tools for TI’s C66x multicore DSPs are currently available for download as part of the C6x Compiler. Further Reading

In hindsight its sometime easy to see hot the dots could have been connected if only we have known which dots were the important ones. Now a new algorithm called Sparse Inference claims to have succeeded in predicting the source-location of terrorists, spammers, malware, biological epidemics and even the most important blogs for a marketing campaingn: R. Colin Johnson The ringleader of the hijackers involved in the September 11th 2001 attack, Mohamed Atta, could have been identified from two wiretaps (green) using the Sparse Inference algorithm which identified three possible sources (red) one of which was Atta. SOURCE: EPFL The complex webs of interactions that distinguish the propagation of malware, spam, biological epidemics and even terrorism plots is extremely difficult to analyze. However, the inventors of a new algorithm at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) claim to be able to track down perpetrators using just a few sources--even claiming that the mastermind of 9/11 could have been identified from just two wire taps. "The mastermind of 9/11 was Mohammed Atta, which was already known," said inventor of the algorithm, EPFL researcher Pedro Pinto. "What we have shown is that monitoring the communications of just a few terrorists and applying our source-location algorithm could have led to the same result. And in other scenarios, it can be used for prevention as well." The algorithm called "Sparse Inference" (SparseInf) makes accurate source-location predictions using a multi-dimensional version of the algorithm that cell phone carriers use to triangulate the location of mobile handsets. "It was inspired by how localization works in wireless networks, where three or more base-stations measure the distance to your cell-phone, and use triangulation to pinpoint it's location. We just do something similar, but on a graph," said Pinto. Sparse Inference used historical data to trace the source of a cholera outbreak that occurred in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, in 2000. Using historical databases the researchers have shows how the algorithm could have been used to quickly find the source-location of a whole variety of hard-to-trace examples--from epidemic outbreaks in Africa to the source-location of the sarin nerve gas that killed 13 and injured nearly a 1,000 in Tokyo in 1995. They claim that the algorithm could also be used to trace the source-location of malware and spammers online, and speculate that in the future, even businesses could use the algorithm to identify the Internet blogs that are most influential for their target audience. "The algorithm relies on the principle of 'maximum likelihood hypothesis testing', adapted to arbitrary graphs, so it's pretty general in applicability," said Pinto. Currently, the team is attempting to adapt SparseInf to be used preemptively, to make important predictions before they materialize--from epidemic outbreaks to terrorism plots to finding the sources of an Internet rumors to identifying blogs key to a successful marketing campaign. Further Reading