News

The latest on developments at AB Open and across the wider community.

OnChip Announces New 32-bit RISC-V Microcontroller

Colombia-based semiconductor specialist OnChip has announced a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller design aimed at low-power sensor applications, developed in partnership with SiFive. Fresh from announcing the next generation of Itsy-Chipsy, the company’s low-quantity semiconductor fabrication platform which aims to allow the creation of single-unit DIP-packaged chips for around $100, OnChip… Read More

PULP Open Silicon Project Celebrates its Fifth Birthday

The Parallel Ultra-Low Power (PULP) Project has celebrated its fifth birthday with a retrospective, discussing the progress made since its inception during a meeting at the University of Bologna in May 2013. “It has been exactly 5 years since Luca Benini started the PULP (Parallel Ultra Low Power) project in… Read More

CRU: Homebrew Silicon, OSHCamp 2018, eSIMs Delayed, and More

The cause of truly home-made semiconductors hit a major milestone late last month when engineer Sam Zeloof became, to common knowledge, the first person to successfully create an integrated circuit using a fully photolithographic process in a home lab, building a dual differential amplifier using entirely homebrew equipment. Hobbyists around… Read More

MIPI I3C Host Controller Interface Block Diagram

MIPI Releases Public I3C Host Controller Interface Specification

The MIPI Alliance has announced the release of the I3C Host Controller Interface 1.0 specification, defining a common software driver interface for I3C HCI hardware implementations – making the use of sensors as easy as possible. Part of the upcoming MIPI Touch family of specifications, the MIPI I3C Host Controller… Read More

Robert Feranec Publishes PCB Layout Advice Video Series

Fedevel Academy’s Robert Feranec is in the process of running a four-part video course on printed circuit board (PCB) design, from an interesting angle: the analysis of an existing design, with a focus on mistakes to fix and improvements which could be made. Designed for anyone involved in PCB production,… Read More

Wireshark Gets Support for Osmocom Generic Subscriber Update Protocol

Popular free and open source network analysis tool gains support for lightweight GSUP protocol used between Osmocom HLR, and MSC and SGSN, cellular network components. With its first release back in 1998 when it was still named Ethereal, the Wireshark packet analyser is now over 20 years old and… Read More

Sam Zeloof Creates First Fully Photolithographic Homebrew IC

Engineer Sam Zeloof has become, to common knowledge, the first person to successfully create an integrated circuit using a fully photolithographic process in a home lab, building a dual differential amplifier using entirely homebrew equipment. Hobbyists around the world have been making discrete circuits at home for years, but integrated… Read More

OnChip Unveils Itsy-Chipsy Ultra-Low-Cost IC Fabrication Platform

Colombia-based OnChip has unveiled an open-source platform which aims to do for custom semiconductor creation what services like OSH Park have done for circuit boards: Itsy-Chipsy. “Chip prototyping used to be prohibitive for small start-ups and academy until services like MOSIS brought down prices to few thousands dollars per mm²… Read More

GSMA Delays eSIM Standard Over Collusion Claims

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has announced that its planned universal embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) standard is being postponed, following the launch of an investigation by the US Department of Justice into alleged mobile network collusion designed to throw the technology off track. First introduced in… Read More

OSHCamp 2018 Schedule Finalised and Registration Opened Up

The Open Source Hardware User Group (OSHUG) has announced the schedule for OSHCamp 2018, to take place in Lincoln’s The Blue Room on the 30th of June and 1st July. Announced via a call for participation back in January, the Open Source Hardware Camp (OSHCamp) 2018 is to take… Read More

CRU: Neural Networks, Open Baseband, RISC-V, and More

It’s been a strong fortnight for machine intelligence fans, starting with Arm’s Robert Elliot and Mark O’Conner publishing a white paper on the company’s Arm NN machine learning platform and its optimisations for use on low-power embedded devices. “We expect machine learning to become a natural part of programming environments,… Read More

SeL4 Microkernel v9.0.1 Ported to RISC-V

The open-source seL4 microkernel, the first general-purpose kernel to have been proven to-spec using formal verification methods, has been ported to the open RISC-V instruction set architecture – though its creators warn it’s in a very early, limited form. Originally developed by Australia’s National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research… Read More