Archive : 8 February 2016 год

Imagination Technologies has announced that Sir Hossein Yassaie has stepped down after 18 years as the company’s chief executive with immediate effect.

Andrew Heath, a non-executive director who has held executive roles at Rolls-Royce and Alent, has been appointed interim chief executive while Imagination searches for a new chief executive.

“We have built Imagination from very small beginnings into the leading provider of graphics processors as well as general purpose micro-processors and connectivity solutions,” Sir Yassaie said. “Imagination is now one of the genuine UK-headquartered companies with significant global influence and impact.”

He added: “It’s now time for someone else to lead this great company.”

Bert Nordberg, chairman of Imagination Technologies, said: “Hossein has led the creation of Imagination’s successful IP business model over many years and through his vision and drive, the Group has become a global technology leader.

“On behalf of the Board and everyone at Imagination, I would like to thank him for his considerable contribution, his passion, leadership and achievements.”

The departure of Sir Yassaie comes as Imagination reported an EBIT loss for the financial year up to April 2016 as well as share process dropping 7%. Since the Group published its half year results in December 2015, market conditions have not improved and the slow-down in the overall semiconductor sector has continued, reinforced by global uncertainty about future trading prospects with China.

Imagination also announced details of restructuring and cost cutting initiatives including the sale of Pure, its consumer electronics business, in a bid to cut costs, saying it felt there were “more appropriate owners for Pure”.

The group is expecting to reduce the total operating costs of its on-going businesses by £15million in the financial year ending April 2017. £2m of which will be re-invested into the group’s key graphics processor technology product, PowerVR.

Nordberg, added: “The measures announced today will allow the business to maintain the necessary investment in key areas, in order to further strengthen our unique IP, technologies and system solutions.”

Pic: Sir Hossein Yassaie steps down as chief executive of Imagination Technologies

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Intelligent Energy has signed a Joint Development Agreement with an unnamed emerging smartphone OEM to develop embedded fuel cell technology for the manufacturer’s devices. Once embedded, a fuel cell has the potential to keep a smartphone powered for more than a week on one charge.

Intelligent Energy’s Consumer Electronics division and the OEM will work together to deliver a tailored development and integration programme for a specific smartphone application to address limitations imposed by the lithium-ion batteries currently used as a source of power.

With smartphones using an increasing amount of power as they become more sophisticated, consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the current limitations of battery life. Embedding a fuel cell into the phone, means consumers can have off grid power for their phones when and where they want.

Julian Hughes, acting managing director for Intelligent Energy’s Consumer Electronics division, said: “We believe embedding fuel cell technology into portable devices provides a solution to the current dilemma of battery life and with consumers demanding more and more from their phones, battery innovation has not kept up. What we offer is a solution that is clean and efficient and means consumers could be truly mobile and free from the constraints of the grid.”

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Research led by Yoke Khin Yap, a professor of physics at Michigan Technological University, states that the road to more versatile wearable technology is dotted with iron. Specifically, quantum dots of iron arranged on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs).

Prof Yap says the iron-studded BNNTs are pushing the boundaries of electronics hardware. "Look beyond semiconductors," he said, explaining that materials like silicon semiconductors tend to overheat, can only get so small and leak electric current.

The key to revamping the fundamental base of transistors, Prof Yap explained, is creating a series of stepping-stones that use quantum tunnelling.

The insulating effect of BNNTs is crucial to prevent current leakage and overheating. Additionally, electron flow will only occur across the metal dots on the BNNTs.

In past research, Prof Yap and his team used gold for quantum dots placed along a BNNT in a uniform line. With enough energy potential, the electrons are repelled by the insulating BNNT and hopscotch from gold dot to gold dot - quantum tunnelling.

"Imagine this as a river, and there's no bridge; it's too big to hop over," Yap says. "Now, picture having stepping stones across the river - you can cross over, but only when you have enough energy to do so."

Unlike with semiconductors, there is no classical resistance with quantum tunnelling. Plus, these materials are very small; the nanomaterials enable the transistors to shrink as well. An added advantage is that BNNTs are also flexible, which could benefit the design of wearable electronics.

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

The introduction by Teledyne LeCroy of the HDA125 high speed digital analyser is said to expand the capabilities of its oscilloscopes. By adding the HDA125 digital acquisition system, which captures 18 channels of data at 12.5Gsample/s, users can create what the company claims is ‘the most flexible, highest performance mixed signal solution available’.

The HDA125 samples 18 input signals at 80ps intervals for accurate characterisation of data. The system is also said to overcome challenging signal amplitude issues with a 3GHz digital leadset. This is said to ensure precise digital signal interpretation, with the ability to adjust hysteresis. LeCroy also claims three times better threshold accuracy than competing mixed signal instruments.

Also announced by the company is the QuickLink Probing System, designed to be compatible with the HDA125 and with Teledyne LeCroy’s WaveLink series of differential analogue probes.

This cross connection capability, the company notes, allows a device under test to be equipped with QuickLink Solder-In tips at all desired test points, enabling swapping of connections between digital and analogue acquisition systems as needed.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk