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Sensor Fusion is both a hardware and software solution and begins with the combination of more than one sensor.  But there is much more to this solution than integrating sensors.  The objective is to combine the data collected by the sensors in order to extract and use the information.  This requires an algorithm which works with the operating system and makes data available to high level applications such as personal navigation, activity monitoring, context awareness and augmented reality.  This algorithm is often embedded in a microcontroller known as a sensor hub which connects to an applications processor.

On September 23, 2013 ST and Movea announced their agreement to integrate Movea’s SmartMotion technology into the STM32F401 microcontroller operating as a low-power sensor-hub controller.

ST is the leading supplier of MEMS sensors for the consumer and communications market, in particular smart phones.  The company also offers it line of ST32 ARM based MCUs as sensor hub controllers. 

Movea is a leading provider of Sensor Fusion algorithms offering data fusion and motion processing firmware, software, and IP for the consumer electronics industry.  The company offers a comprehensive set of SW, firmware and tools to enable an advanced-motion user experience. 

Movea’s firmware will be integrated into the STM32F401 sensor management platform.  The STM32F401 with SmartMotion technology and tools will be available in Q4 2013. 

The gap between time-to-market and design completion continues to lengthen as chip complexity increases.

Unfortunately, just as design cycle times have lengthened, product life cycles have shortened, a difficult dichotomy to manage. Increasing capability in terms of gate counts and the impact this has on enhancing functionality and feature sets in the end system, is adding to, not shortening, design cycle times. SoC designs are comprised of complex silicon subsystems, aimed at a system-level solution.

One or many high-performance synthesizable CPU cores, DSP cores, GPU cores, a large block of memory, one or more ‘real-world’ interfaces, mixed-signal or analog blocks, high performance on-chip bus structures and embedded API’s or other software are all elements of SoC design today.

The ability to re-use existing Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) blocks over the course of many SoC designs is one way to reduce the design time. Unfortunately, there are many issues to be addressed. One such issue is interoperability between SIP. Another feature of the SoC market is the willingness of established silicon manufacturers to solicit and acquire SIP from 3rd party sources for incorporation into a currently running design or into their SIP libraries.

The MEMS market is poised for significant growth thanks to major expansion of applications in smart phone and automotive. These two applications driving the increase use of MEMS sensors and actuators will further reduce cost and power while increasing performance, thus fostering new markets including health and fitness as well as home and building automation. Finally, the continuing growth of MEMS will provide new injection of growth in the slowing semiconductor market.

In 2013, Semico expects a total MEMS market of $16.8 B but by 2017 it will have expanded to $28.5 B, a 70 percent increase in a mere four years time. In 2011, 39 percent and 30 percent of all MEMS were being made for automotive and smart phone applications, respectively. Today, Semico expects 40 percent to be destined for smart phones and a mere 25 percent for automotive. Today’s smart phone will not only have the standard accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope; it will also come with pressure sensor to provide altitude data—detailing the floor in a high rise of the user—as well as MEMS in one or more microphones, in the autofocus of the cameras and in SAW filters and resonant cavities in the radio of the phone.

I know I should be on vacation enjoying myself, but Comic Con in San Diego allows me to mix business and pleasure. As I say every year, there were more nerds than you can shake a light saber at.

For those unfamiliar with ComicCon it is the largest convention for comic books in the world. However, it covers a great deal more. Science fiction and fantasy TV and movies are heavily represented. These are usually tied in with comics and animation. There is also a strong tie in with video games.

For the sixth straight year ComicCon was sold out for all four days with attendance of 125,000 each day. It is the largest convention through out the year for the city of San Diego. The event ran from July 18 to July 21. There are so many companies that want to tap into the energy and excitement of Comic Con that a lot of activity has spilled out into downtown San Diego. Many people who cannot get badges into the convention center take advantage of this. Consequently several companies demo upcoming video games for all platforms at various venues spread out over the area. Microsoft had a separate gaming lounge in one of the major hotels.

Content is King! Without enough material there is little incentive to buy the hardware. What consumers want to see and how they want to interact with it drives the development of the electronics. It is not surprising that many attendees are technically savvy early adopters.

Escaping the scorching Arizona temperatures is only one reason why I always look forward to Semicon West. This year’s event was packed with an exceptional variety of activities and vendors. What was the most memorable take-away from the show? There were plenty of panels, presentation and networking discussions on the 450mm wafer transition and EUV. But the biggest thing that I walked away with was the focus on new materials and the tools that work with these new enabling materials. There are a lot of innovations and modifications taking place across the ecosystem that relate to materials.

My week started with presentations at Applied Materials. Mike Splinter, Chairman and CEO, is supplying the ammunition for the “war for mobility”. He directed our attention to their name, Applied MATERIALS. AMAT believes device performance and yield is being achieved through material innovation, and they are focused on enabling the success of those new materials.

New material introduction was the theme from IMEC. They announced a manganese-based barrier process that significantly improves RC (Resistance Capacitance) performance. The use of manganese resulted in a 40% increase in RC benefits at 40nm half pitch compared to conventional tantalum options today. Yet another material being added to the list of possible solutions.

Even when I have fun, I am still an analyst.  During Memorial Day weekend I attended Phoenix Comicon.  This convention has been growing every year and has a wide variety of tracks for all interests and genres.  I decided to check out the Microsoft XBox Panel.

The XBox panel was run by a Microsoft employee who is on the Xbox Live team. This was a free and open discussion with the audience about the latest developments with XBox and provided the speaker with customer feedback.  Several details about XBox One could not be answered.  More information will come out at the E3 show this June.

The presenter for Microsoft emphasized that the XBox services take the XBox beyond the console.  This includes XBox Music, XBox Video and XBox SmartGlass.  The platform is evolving into delivering entertainment services not just games.  Microsoft is also working to bring the power of the cloud to XBox One.

Particular attention was given to SmartGlass.  This is a companion application for both XBox 360 and XBox One.  It can be downloaded to any portable device with Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS, Android (version 4.0 and higher) and Windows Server 2012.  It was announced at E3 2012 and released in October 2012.  According to the Microsoft spokesperson, SmartGlass is a growth area.

We have answered the first two questions on Market Growth and Market Maturation. The third question relates to Market Consolidation and its impact on the long term health of the 3^rd Party IP market.

Does the fact that we have recently seen several ‘large’ IP companies acquired by other ‘larger’ IP companies mean the long anticipated consolidation in the industry has gotten underway.

In order to answer this question it might be a good idea to consider what conditions contribute to, or force, a market consolidation in the first place:

Well, we have answered the first question about market growth, now how about market maturation?

Market maturation can be viewed in two ways: