Electronicstalk newsletter issue 406

Darwin and chips

Written by the Electronicstalk editor Feb 18, 2009

Scientists don't usually get a lot of airtime on the TV or radio. But this month has been an agreeable exception. For it has been difficult to watch the TV or listen to the radio without stumbling across a programme devoted to the life of Charles Darwin, naturally enough because February marks the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Darwin, of course, is famous for his seminal work 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection', which was published in 1859, not to mention the furore which followed its publication. After all, here was a book that challenged the widely held belief at time about how life was created on the earth and proposed an alternative theory of evolution.

After watching a few of these shows on Darwin's life and times, I wondered whether some sort of evolutionary process could not be applied to useful effect in the field of electronic engineering.

After all, why couldn't designers develop algorithms that were smart enough to allow an integrated circuit to evolve in just the way that an organism does? If they could, such a circuit might be able to optimise itself for any predefined specification, or dynamically reconfigure its architecture when interacting with its environment.

At first, the idea seemed a little far fetched. And I feared for a moment that sharing my evolutionary thoughts might see me driven out of my home directly to the Local Victorian Asylum by one or more concerned publishers!

That was, of course, until I decided to do a quick search on the Internet to see if anyone else had come up with a similar idea.

Somewhat surprisingly, I discovered that my thoughts were neither original, nor all that avant-garde! The concept of such evolvable hardware, as it is apparently called, was pioneered by Dr Adrian Thompson at the University of Sussex in England, as far back as 1996. And there's a lot more information on the subject on Dr Thompson's website, if you would like to find out more.

Be aware though, that if you are performing a web search for other topics that involve evolvable hardware, that this field about the use of evolutionary algorithms appears to have more names than I have had hot dinners. It's also been called hardware evolution, evolutionary electronics, EvolWare and bio-inspired electronics!

There is even a conference on the subject too. The NASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems, which last year was held last June in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, brought together a group of researchers from around the world who are all interested in pursuing the idea for their own ends - in space, communications consumer, medical, defence and security applications.

So just as Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas challenged the views of the establishment, perhaps the somewhat loosely related field of evolvable hardware might eventually challenge the way that electronic engineers design new products and programme them. I wonder what Darwin would say?

Top Products featured this issue

[1] LINEAR UNVEILS STEP-DOWN SWITCHING REGULATOR

(Linear Technology Corp, 18 Feb 2009)

Linear Technology has announced the LT3653, a 1.2A, 1.5MHz monolithic current-mode step-down switching regulator with a programmable output current limit.

> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

[2] GLEICHMANN-SUNRISE OFFERS NEC LOW-NOISE AMPLIFIER

(Gleichmann-Sunrise, 13 Feb 2009)

Gleichmann Electronics has expanded its product portfolio with the UPC8240T6N low-noise amplifier (LNA) from NEC Electronics.

> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

[3] ACA5-20RM SCALES AND DISPLAYS OUTPUT OF 5A CTS

(Murata Power Solutions, 17 Feb 2009)

Murata Power Solutions has released the Datel ACA5-20RM series of high current true-rms responding AC ammeters.

[4] MOUSER PUBLISHES CATALOGUE 637

(Mouser Electronics, 16 Feb 2009)

Mouser Electronics has announced the availability of Catalogue 637 (February-April 2009), which features 2,184 pages of products and technologies from more than 390 component suppliers.

[5] TYCO OFFERS MINIATURE SIDE-ACTUATED TACTILE SWITCH

(Tyco Electronics UK, 17 Feb 2009)

Tyco has released the FSM3MS miniature side-actuated tactile switch for miniature low-profile applications.

> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

[6] APC-3563 15IN PANEL PC IS IP65-RATED

(Datasound Laboratories, 16 Feb 2009)

The IP65-rated APC-3563 is a 15in panel PC, powered by the Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU and supported with up to 2GB DDR Ram.

[7] THE 5001 APPLIANCE-OUTLETS MOUNT ON CIRCUIT BOARDS

(Schurter, 17 Feb 2009)

Schurter has introduced the 5001 series panel-mounting appliance outlets, for printed circuit-board mounting.

> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

[8] CONNECTOR GROUPS ETHERNET AND MVB CABLES TOGETHER

(ITT Interconnect Solutions, 17 Feb 2009)

ITT Interconnect Solutions has developed a connector that groups multiple cables of Ethernet and MVB lines together in the same interconnect.

> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

[9] PRACTICAL UNVEILS FUSIONQUAD TEST BOARDS

(Practical Components, 13 Feb 2009)

With the wide acceptance of Amkor's Fusionquad (VQFP / HVF-PQFP), Practical Components has added two test boards to its product range.

[10] SC POWER SUPPLIES BOOST SPECTROMETER THROUGHPUT

(Applied Kilovolts, 17 Feb 2009)

Applied Kilovolts has introduced the SC series of high voltage power supplies for high-throughput mass spectrometers.

Case Studies

ALD TOOL IMPROVES SOLAR CELLS
(Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, 18 Feb 2009)
Researchers have developed a thin-film coating providing an unparalleled level of surface passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells, using Oxford Instruments' FlexAL ALD tool.

RIGEL KIT QUICKENS TESTING OF MEDICAL DEVICES
(Rigel Medical, 17 Feb 2009)
Rigel Medical has introduced a field-service kit that speeds-up the electrical testing of a range of medical devices and equipment used in hospitals and operating theatres.
> Quick link to request free details direct from the supplier:

This week's industry news

INFINEON EXPANDS POWER MODULE PLANT
(Infineon Technologies, 13 Feb 2009)
Infineon Technologies is expanding its manufacturing plant for power modules in Cegled, Hungary, in response to increasing demand for renewable energy and traditional motor drive systems.

RADIOMETRIX LAUNCHES NEW E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
(Radiometrix, 16 Feb 2009)
Radiometrix has launched a new e-commerce website, www.radiometrix.com, which aims to be a user-friendly information source that is quick and easy to navigate.

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