Tekmos Talks
A Newsletter for the Semiconductor Industry
 August 2015
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Tekmos' new corporate office
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Welcome to the August edition of Tekmos Talks 2015.This month we will talk about IMAPs 2015 where Tekmos
presented a white paper at The International Conference and Exhibition on High Temperature Electronics Network (HiTEN) in the UK, and share stories and pictures about our European travels. We will also talk more on IoT and security, introduce a new product and Tweet-Mos.
Tekmos High Temperature ASIC and High Temperature Micros 175/250C for Extreme Environments...hot chips!
We invite you to take our new Customer Support Survey
here.
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IMAPs 2015
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| | Richard, Lynn, Vema & Bob |
IMAPS - High Temperature Electronics Conference 2015
Tekmos was a sponsor, presented a paper and maintained a display table at the July 6-8 2015, International Conference and Exhibition on High Temperature Electronics Network at Churchill College in Cambridge, England. This annual conference, which alternates venues between the U.S. and England, is dedicated to high temperature electronics, ranging from the relatively cool 175oC up to the 1200oC range for Silicon Carbide. It also covers high temperature materials and passive components.
Analog circuits are often required to interface between the sensing of real world parameters, such as temperature and pressure, and the digital electronics that process and transmit the information. As temperatures are raised, the performance of this circuitry deteriorates. Standard processed parts are almost unusable above about 200oC but the use of SOI (Silicon On Insulator) processing pushes the usable temperature much higher. The Tekmos paper this year was "The Design and Characterization of an 8-bit ADC for 250oC Operation". Lynn Reed presented the paper written by Lynn and Vema Reddy. The paper describes how the design of an existing 8-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) was optimized for the SOI process. It also presents the characterization of the ADC at various temperatures up to and above 250oC and shows the effects of increased leakage on the ADC parameters of linearity, accuracy, and conversion speed. The paper shows that these critical parameters may be within a usable range, at least for an 8-bit ADC, to temperatures above those previously thought. The ideas and data presented in this paper point to additional studies and approaches that might be pursued. See the photo of Lynn being presented a plaque to commemorate his presentation. The paper is available on the Tekmos website at www.tekmos.com
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From the Desk of the President
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Tekmos European Vacation
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| | Lynn Reed at Bridge of Sighs |
Last month, Tekmos both exhibited and presented a paper at the 2015 HiTen conference in Cambridge, England. Travel and especially international travel can be an arduous experience. So we try to have a fun activity scheduled in our plans. And since the conference was only 3 days long, all of us took an extra two days of vacation to take advantage of the trip and see more sights.
When we arrived in Cambridge on Sunday, we walked over to the downtown area, and engaged in punting. Punting is using a 10 foot pole to push a flat bottomed boat up and down the river Cam. None of us had ever punted before, so we hired a professional punter to punt us up and down the river, and give a narrative of what we were seeing. Most of the older colleges in Cambridge are located along the river, and it is a very nice and scenic trip.
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| | Vema Reddy, Engineer punting |
Being engineers, we had to try our hands at punting. We were successful, if you define success as not falling out of the boat. Many of the other boaters were quite inebriated, and would occasionally fall out of their boats.
Afterward we all drifted back to London and did some of the standard tourist activities, took a river cruise and went up the London Eye, visited the museums, and looked at the Rosetta Stone. And being engineers, we had to visit Greenwich and stand on the Prime Meridian. After all, who but an engineer would travel 6000 miles to stand on a line that someone arbitrarily drew on the ground?
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Internet of Things by Richard Stallkamp
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Hacking the IoT: A Real World Security Problem
Fears about nefarious use of IoT have moved from the theoretical to the demonstrated. A Jeep Cherokee, driven on a real expressway with traffic, was hacked and the engine shut down from a remote location, via the internet. This could easily be life threatening. It could make the problem of identity theft, as bad as it is, pale in comparison.
I WAS DRIVING 70 mph on the edge of downtown St. Louis when the exploit began to take hold. Though I hadn't touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. Next the radio switched to the local hip hop station and began blaring Skee-lo at full volume. I spun the control knob left and hit the power button, to no avail.
Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass.
As I tried to cope with all this, a picture of the two hackers performing these stunts appeared on the car's digital display: Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, wearing their trademark track suits. A nice touch, I thought....
Andy had willingly worked with the hackers and had been warned that they would do something like this. The time and place of the hack was unknown so that Andy could experience the effect of such a hack. It was set up in a way that it would not be life threatening. None the less, it is sobering. The hackers used the internet, through the entertainment system, to get access. Apparently there are several Jeeps that were identified that they could have hacked.
An accomplished engineer friend did not believe me when I told him the story until I showed him the article in Wired. The reality of it is backed up by Chrysler's recall of 1,400,000 vehicles
to add a software fix.
These hackers did this merely to demonstrate that it is actually possible. Previously, they had gotten little traction with their assertions that this could be done, so they had to prove it. These are the good guys. They are exposing vulnerabilities before real harm is done. Published reports indicate that they are working with Chrysler to show the deficiency and help with the fix.
I have made liberal use of the article from Wired because it is the best example of a security problem with IoT (Internet of Things) interconnectivity that I have seen. I suggest reading Wired for this and other informative articles.
The IoT is upon us and security is a major issue. If anything, this hack of a Jeep should send a warning message to everyone that security needs to be addressed. It is not clear what the role of government should be but it is clear to me that, as a consumer, I need to be aware. Perhaps it is time to write to our congressmen and ask what they are doing about the problem. I think these problems can and will be solved, but until they are, all developers must be aware of the potential problems of sloppy code. Likewise, all consumers need to be aware of potential problems and push their political leaders toward getting IoT security issues resolved.
Read More...
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New Product Announcement by Richard Stallkamp
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250oC High Temperature TK15530 Manchester Encoder/Decoder
Tekmos now offers the 250 oC high temperature TK15530 Manchester Encoder/Decoder,
a high performance CMOS device intended to service the requirements of MlL-STD-1553 and similar Manchester II encoded, time division multiplexed serial data protocols.
The TK15530 is designed for use in extreme temperature environments, such as down-hole oil drilling and wireline applications. It can also be used in jet engine applications where it is necessary to interface directly to high temperature structures. The part uses a special high temperature SOI process, with tungsten interconnect, to prevent metal migration. It has gold bond pads with gold bonding to improve bond reliability. The TK15530 is divided into two sections, an Encoder and a Decoder. These sections operate completely independently of each other, except for the Master Reset functions. The TK15530 integrated circuit is fully guaranteed to support the 1MHz data rate of MlL-STD-1553 over both temperature (-55oC to +250oC) and voltage. It interfaces with CMOS, TTL or N channel support circuitry, and uses a standard 5 volt supply. It is offered in a 28-pin Ceramic DIP package. The TK15530 is the latest Tekmos high temperature standard product. Tekmos also offers ASIC capability for designs that must be kept proprietary for IP reasons. For more information on any high temperature products from Tekmos, contact Bob Abrams, Director of Sales@Tekmos.com or call 512-342-9871.
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Inside Tekmos
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Tweet-mos
Every now and then, events occur that capture everyone's attention. Tweet-mos is one such event.
A few days ago, I was looking out my window (instead of working), and I noticed a commotion in the parking lot. There was something fluttering in the parking lot, and a grackle was walking around it, trying to determine if it was eatable. I went out to look closer, and the grackle flew off. It was a baby mourning dove that had fallen from its nest.
I looked around for a nest, but did not see one. And even had I seen one, the tree is about 30 feet tall, and I don't know how I could have put the bird back. I also looked around for a mother dove, but did not see one. I thought that I heard one, but could not locate it. The grackle was still around, and the asphalt in the parking lot was hot, so I did not want to leave it. Instead, I brought it inside for discussion as to what we should do. The first step was to name it, and so it became Tweet-mos.
One of our employees had experience in raising baby birds, so we entrusted it to him. He identified it as being about 7 days old, and said that it should be able to fly away in another 10 days. We promised to reimburse him for expenses.
That was 4 days ago. He was brought back for a visit today. Tweet-mos is still alive, it has grown, its eating, drinking, and pooping. So there is a good chance it will survive until he is ready to be released into the wild.
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Please share any comments, compliments and or requests by taking part in our Customer Survey provided here for your convenience. Tekmos is "Igniting the Industry" with continued innovation.
Sincerely,
Lynn Reed, President
 7901 E. Riverside Dr. Bldg.2, Suite 150Austin, TX 78744Phone: (512) 342-9871Fax: (512) 342-9873
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