Date: 25/08/2011

Rich Beyer highlights mobile and connected intelligence at FTF 2011

The annual two-day event (24 and 25th of Aug 2011 at Leela Palace, Bangalore) 'Freescale Technology Forum' from Freescale Semiconductor educated the attendees on Freescale's interesting technologies and their applications.

Rich Beyer, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor briefed the attendees on the emerging applications and some of the macro trends in the electronics and embedded systems industry.

Here below are the few interesting points from his speech:

In today's era of connected intelligence, data is ubiquitous, and we expect our electronic devices to conform to us. We want them to be social and mobile. They are aware of our surroundings, and they understand and adapt to the context in which we are using them. They are always on and they are always with us.

In the era of Connected Intelligence, embedded processing performance needs to be balanced with power efficiency, and system capability is enabled by the intelligent integration of sensor, RF and analog interfaces and the usage of efficient, system sparing software.

Semiconductor innovation now is being driven by embedded processing solutions with a system-level view and developed with an application-level expertise that is critical to efficient and timely implementation.

We have a new generation of Smart, Mobile, Connected devices that are enabling the explosive growth of social media and communication on an unprecedented scale.

By 2015, there will be more than 10 billion smart mobile devices connected to the Internet. That's more than one device for every person on the planet! In 10 years, half of the world's population will access the Internet only on a mobile device.

Within five years, a new generation of multimedia tablets will out ship traditional PCs. Optimized for content consumption, these devices will enable users to access personal content virtually anywhere.

HCL tablet: India is playing an important role in this evolution. HCL Technologies has created its ME AM7 tablet that utilizes our i.MX51 applications processor integrated with our advanced power management IC and MEMS sensor to deliver a mobile multimedia computing experience.

New generation tablets: The next generation of super tablets will incorporate high-resolution displays and enable a wealth of tablet-optimized applications and services for augmented reality, environment sensing, mapping and gaming features.

Multicore processors have emerged as the most viable approach to increase performance while minimizing power consumption.

Vehicles today have become as much an electrical machine as a mechanical one, driven in particular by the energy savings that electrification of many functions in the car is providing. With the dramatic growth in automotive electronics, the challenge is to deliver innovative products that have zero defects, and to deliver the technology that enables energy-efficient green vehicles and advanced safety systems that protect the lives of the occupants.

With a growing middle class fueling economic advancements in emerging markets, the demand for automotive mobility is increasing significantly in developing countries. For many first time buyers in these markets, value oriented models with minimal safety and convenience features have been the only option for vehicle ownership.

Unfortunately, the lack of advanced safety features has resulted in an increase of vehicle-related fatalities. Of the 1.2 million annual global vehicle-related deaths, 50 percent of those casualties occurred in developing countries. New safety legislation in emerging markets like India and China, have created mandates for safety appliances like airbag solutions.

The global deployment of smart grid technologies could deliver up to $2 trillion in benefits over the next 20 years. The smart grid will enhance efficiency by reducing the information gap between utilities and consumers by using advanced metering infrastructure and data management technologies.

Economic development and urbanization has shifted the focus of the public health agenda toward chronic diseases like hypertension, cardiac failure, diabetes and cancer. To address this growing challenge, the medical industry is shifting from high-cost treatment approaches to a more preventative discipline.

Freescale believes that semiconductor technology will play a critical role in the new technologies that assist with the medical monitoring of patients, diagnostics, therapy and imaging.

At this event Freescale Semiconductor has announced a partnership with Bosch to introduce a cost-effective and ready-to-use airbag reference platform for the automotive safety segment in developing markets.