Beyond the Microchip

Episode 012 - Alternative PNT and Hollywood Spy Thrillers Come to Life - Part 1 of 2

“Words are the new weapons, satellites the new artillery.”
Jonathan Pryce’s villain Elliot Carver says to James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies right before he manipulates a GPS signal to make a British destroyer begin a confrontation with the Chinese military, may seem like the realm of pop culture; the idea of manipulating GPS signals and disrupting communications has long been a staple of spy thrillers like our favorite James Bond films. But while these scenarios make for thrilling entertainment, the reality is far more complex and consequential.
 
The invisible threads of satellite technology puppet our every move, from the ships traversing vast oceans to the cars navigating city streets. At the heart of this intricate web lies the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a constellation of satellites that provide precise positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) information to countless devices across the globe.
 
Recent news stories have highlighted the vulnerabilities of GNSS, from the possibility of signal jamming and spoofing to the potential for widespread disruption in the event of a satellite failure. This isn’t just in movies, a recent book by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about a Russian space scientist who finds evidence of a system kill switch, that can turn off the Global Positioning System, on which every aspect of U.S. communications, transportation, and our economic lifeline depends on.
 
These risks are not just the stuff of fiction; they have real-world implications for our increasingly interconnected society.
 
Fortunately, advancements in alternative positioning and timing systems offer a promising solution. By harnessing the power of ground-based infrastructure, these technologies provide a resilient and secure alternative to satellite-based navigation, ensuring that our critical systems remain operational even in the face of adversity.
 
How can Microchip Technology help in securing our critical infrastructure, and help world leaders chart a course towards a future where the doomsday scenarios remain firmly in the realm of fiction?
 
This is part 1 of a two-part episode.
 
Links from the episode:
https://www.microchip.com/clock 
 
Guests: 
Greg Wolff

Episode 011 - Motors, Motors, Everywhere

It’s no secret the world turns. Its 24-hour rotation on its axis gives us the definition of a day. Our moon, recently eclipsed in North America, orbits around us. We, in turn, orbit around our sun along with the other planets, and our entire solar system orbits around the Milky Way galaxy. These cosmic revolutions make up the foundation of our existence.
But whether we realize it or not, there is another set of revolutions happening all around us every day. These are not some heavenly bodies that were here billions of years before our existence, but simple mechanical devices that we humans invented, Motors.
From the gentle purr of your air conditioner to the steady hum of your refrigerator, motors are the backbone of your household. Step outside, and their influence expands further. Cars, elevators, toll bridges, rail cars, and factories all rely on motors of varying sizes and strengths. They propel ships across oceans, power airplanes through the skies, and drive medical equipment that saves lives.
In this world of constant motion, we often take for granted the incredible impact that motors have on our lives. They are the tireless workhorses that keep our society moving forward. A simple innovation that never stops turning, and where the hum of progress is always in the air.
Unlike the celestial revolutions we can see from simply looking up, the average motor needs a little help staying true to its purpose and if not properly calibrated, could lead to annoyance at best, disaster at worst.
 
That’s where Embedded Control solutions come in. Digital signal processing can help control motors and enhance their performance to keep life moving along. A single dsPIC can keep motors spinning correctly and on command for better quality, reliability, and longevity.   
 
How could Microchip Technology keep these tiny marvels of engineering quietly working behind the scenes, making our existence more efficient, comfortable, and extraordinary?
 
 
Links from the episode:
https://microchip.com/motor 
 
Guests: 
Alexis Alcott

Episode 010 - Silicon Carbide and the Electrification of Everything

Picture a world where the hum of electricity permeates every aspect of our lives, from the devices we hold in our hands to the vehicles that transport us across vast distances. This is the world of the electrification of everything, a paradigm shift that promises to reshape our relationship with energy and power.
As once analog and unpowered items are augmented with electrical systems, we find ourselves at the precipice of a new era. But with this transformation comes a challenge: the need for power switching and integrated circuits that can keep pace with the extraordinary demands of our increasingly electrified world.
From electric cars to heat pumps and data centers, the appetite for power grows ever more insatiable. Novel technologies like silicon carbide and gallium nitride offer a glimpse into a future where energy density and power density reach new heights, enabling devices to operate at peak performance for longer periods.
Recent news stories highlight the global changes in power demand, as nations grapple with the infrastructure required to support this electrified future. Yet, even as we face these challenges, the pace of innovation offers hope. With each passing day, brilliant minds are developing solutions that will propel us forward, harnessing the power of electricity to create a more sustainable, efficient, and connected world.
 
How can Microchip Technology help manage the Electrification of Everything?
 
Links from the episode:
https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/power-management/silicon-carbide-sic-devices-and-power-modules
https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/power-management/silicon-carbide-sic-devices-and-power-modules/design-resources/hardwarehttps://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/power-management/silicon-carbide-sic-devices-and-power-modules/design-resources 
 
 
Guests: 
Clayton Pillion

Episode 009 - Sensors, Microcontrollers, and Community Gardens in Smart Agriculture

“Third place”. The term originated in a 1989 book written by sociologist Ray Oldenberg. It refers to a place separate from Work or Home where humans can facilitate social interaction. The need for Third Places has grown and was extremely exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Like many other things, the pandemic accelerated increasing trends: loneliness and obesity.  
According to the World Health Organization: “High-quality social connections are essential to our mental and physical health and our well-being.” The United States Surgeon General has labeled loneliness an ‘epidemic’. The British Medical Journal published a report in late 2021 that concluded “problematic levels of loneliness are experienced by a substantial proportion of the population in many countries.”
 Also according to the WHO: worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975 and as late as 2016, 1.9 billion adults were overweight, of which 650 million were obese.
The good news? Both of these trends are preventable and reversible. Third Places are helping to provide people with the outlet they need to improve their situation and find happiness. There is a Third Place emerging in cities across the world that solves both problems and a lot more: Community Gardens. It could be a rooftop in a densely populated city, or a common area just down the road. Community Gardens provide the benefits of “public relaxation” while also teaching the valuable skill of eating healthy. They also provide a source of STEM education for kids.
 
How could Microchip Technology help accelerate the growth of Third Places like Community Gardens?
 
Links from the episode:
 
 
Guests: 
Ross Satchell 
Toby Sinkinson 

Episode 008 - Embedded Control in Medical Devices and the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

COVID-19 impacted the world. In December of 2019 news reports out of Wuhan, the capital of Central China's Hubei province, detailed the emergence of an atypical pneumonia-like illness that did not respond well to standard treatments. By January 2020 world health officials had identified the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. By February 2020 the World Health Organization had declared the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and by March 2020 the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. By April 2020, more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed worldwide. Fast forward to 2023, as of late October there have been over 770 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 - almost 10% of the global population.
 
But it could have been much, much worse.   
 
During the earliest days of the pandemic, hospital systems were flooded with patients and they simply didn't have the capacity to handle the burden of a global population fighting a mysterious new respiratory illness. Supplies were dwindling and they simply could not get enough of the critical devices they needed to treat their patients. While the world was on lockdown scooping up all the webcams and laptop computers it could find, medical device manufacturers were scrambling to keep people alive. 
 
How did Microchip Technology help hospitals fight the COVID-19 pandemic?
 
Links from the episode:
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices
 
Guests:
Justin Wilson 

Episode 007 - Sensors, Microcontrollers, and Water Conservation in Smart Agriculture

Water is the most precious substance on earth and a primary building block of life. Humans can’t live more than a few days without it. Yet in order to grow, cultivate, process, and transport our food, we waste a tremendous amount of it. So much so that we need to pull more of it out of the ground just to satisfy our agricultural needs, making matters worse. A report in the June 2023 issue of Geophysical Research Letters indicates that depletion of groundwater was a significant contributor to sea level and climate change. The majority of the southwestern United States, northern Australia, most of the South American continent, all of Northern Africa and the Middle East and parts of western Asia are in perennial drought. We need water to live, yet we also need water to make the food we rely on to live; and we never seem to have enough of it.
Why the tradeoff? Why so much waste?
Is there a way to reduce our consumption of water with integrated circuits and AI? 
How could Microchip Technology help conserve our most precious resource?
 
Links from the episode:
 
 
Guests: 
Ross Satchell 
Toby Sinkinson 
 

Episode 006 - Core Independent Peripherals and the battle against Child Asthma

Asthma is a global phenomenon. According to the World Health Organization, Asthma affected an estimated 262 million people in 2019.  In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control estimates there are over 4.6 million children under the age of 18 with Asthma.
According to the Global Asthma Report in 2022, Asthma is ""well controlled"" in nearly 2/3rds of adults. That number drops below 45% in children aged 5-14.
While it is the most common chronic disease among children, inhaled medication can control asthma symptoms and allow people with asthma to lead a normal, active life. Not surprisingly, areas of lower to middle income are most affected. What if there was a low-cost, reliable, and portable alternative? What would that do to combat Asthma and other respiratory ailments?
 
How could Microchip Technology help ease the suffering of children around the world?
 
Links from the episode:
Nebulizer Design Solutions | Microchip Technology 
Medical | Microchip Technology 
2023 World Asthma Day - Global Initiative for Asthma - GINA (ginasthma.org) 
 
Guest: Zhang Feng
Zhang Feng | LinkedIn 

Episode 005 - Sensors, Microcontrollers, and Automation in Smart Agriculture

The old parable of the country kid moving to the big city and leaving the farm behind is a timeless yarn of youth, ambition, and Hope. In recent years, that trope has become a reality. The number of farmers in the United States alone has been steadily dropping. The percentage of first-generation farmers is close to 78%. It can be a tough business. Climate cycles are becoming unpredictable and, as in many industries, one just can't find enough workers. That’s where integrated circuits come in. One farmer has the ability in today’s world to augment his efforts through sensors, drones, and microcontrollers to compete and run a farm with what might have required a handful of humans in the past. In fact, only about 1 in 4 young farmers still use the traditional methods passed down over the generations. The reason? Automation and the rise of Machine Learning. 
 
How could Microchip Technology help the farm of the future through automation?
 
Links from the episode:
 
 
Guests: 
Ross Satchell 
Toby Sinkinson 

Episode 004 - Power over Ethernet and Natural Disasters

Severe Storms. Wildfires. Floods. According to Statista, there were 421 natural disaster events recorded worldwide in 2022. Among the most damaging are tropical cyclones, what the World Health Organization would refer to as typhoons or hurricanes. As damaging as the wind can be, the greatest damage to life and property is not from the wind, but from secondary events such as storm surges, flooding, landslides, and tornadoes.
 
To combat and prepare for these events, world leaders and local governments try to anticipate early warning signs in advance of the event using satellite, radar, and other advanced technologies. Despite their best efforts, these disasters happen. When they do, communities are affected, and the damage can be extensive. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States, 2023 was the most expensive year on record for billion-dollar climate disasters.
 
What are these towns and municipalities to do? This is where Smart Cities come in.
 
How could Microchip Technology help bring Smart Cities to life?
 
Links from the episode:
Power over Ethernet | Microchip Technology 
 
Guests: 
Alan Jay Zwiren 

Episode 003 - Sensors, Microcontrollers, and Farm-2-Table in Smart Agriculture

When you sit down to eat your next meal, think about how your food got in front of you. Did you grow it yourself or did you buy it from someone? If the latter, was it from a restaurant or a store? Do you ever wonder how it gets from the farm to your plate?
Whether you are a vegan or a die-hard carnivore, your food comes from a farm somewhere. It needs to be grown, harvested, processed, and transported to a place where it is then prepared and offered for sale. This process can be anywhere from days to months and can come from down the road or across oceans and continents. One thing is for certain, it probably involves one or more integrated circuits along the way. 
 
How could Microchip Technology help bring food from the farm to your table?
 
Links from the episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpe6pvxtag 
 
Guests: 
Ross Satchell 
Toby Sinkinson