Innovation@Intel

Innovation@Intel: Smart Computing Islands on Everyday Surfaces

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:07:00 -0400

Intel researchers recently demonstrated, at Research@Intel Day 2010, a future where you could simply place an item of food on your kitchen countertop, and with a few finger strokes, locate recipes that incorporate that item. You could even put multiple food items on the counter and search for recipes that include all those ingredients. "Object-Aware Situated Interactive System" ("OASIS") combines real-time computer vision algorithms, 3D cameras, and micro-projection for fast recognition and tracking of everyday physical objects and gestures. The Intel demonstration uses displays projected on everyday household surfaces to create interactive islands for in-home applications. It can be easily retrofitted to any home, any room and almost any horizontal or vertical surface. The project has interesting implications for future capabilities around the home.

Innovation@Intel: Smart Computing Islands on Everyday Surfaces

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:05:06 -0400

Innovation@Intel: Smart Computing Islands on Everyday Surfaces

Innovation@Intel: Mobile Augmented Reality for Do-it-Yourself Tech Support

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:07:26 -0400

Intel researchers recently demonstrated, at Research@Intel Day 2010, a future where computer vision and Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) along with a device with the latest Intel® Atom™ processor could be used to help guide a consumer to do his own home PC repair project. The device was able to identify the model of the PC and provide text and graphical instructions to the user for each step of the repair.

Innovation@Intel: Mobile Augmented Reality for Do-it-Yourself Tech Support

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:00:11 -0400

Innovation@Intel: Mobile Augmented Reality for Do-it-Yourself Tech Support

Innovation@Intel: Mobile Augmented Reality

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:10:36 -0400

Intel researchers recently demonstrated, at Research@Intel Day 2010, a Mobile Augmented Reality World Browser application on the latest Intel® Atom™ processor –based platform. The World Browser enriches the way users understand their world on an Intel Atom processor powered Smart Phone. Users can instantly access the huge reservoir of information on the web, by simple click of the camera shutter. The system identifies landmarks on the fly, using compute-intensive visual search in concert with power-efficient sensors, taking advantage of unique IA platform features.

Innovation@Intel: Online Updates in Data Warehouses via SSDs

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:09:56 -0400

Today's data warehouses operate on stale (day-old) snapshots of data, in order to achieve efficient data access. The rise of e-commerce and the need for 24x7 operations for global markets make online updates increasingly desirable. At Research@Intel Day 2010 last month, researchers from Intel Labs Pittsburgh demonstrated research exploiting Solid State Drives (SSDs) to enable fast data access on up-to-the-minute data. Researchers demonstrated a prototype data warehouse that caches recent updates in a SSD, and combines cached updates on-the-fly in query answers while preserving the queries' good sequential disk access patterns.

Innovation@Intel: Intel Powers Offshore Wind Turbines

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:07:26 -0400

Now, more than ever, there is a growing need for reliable, alternative offshore energy sources and with Intel processors powering Mainstream Renewable Power's offshore wind turbines throughout the UK, offshore wind has become a viable contender. Intel embedded technology enables increased control of turbines while reducing costs and providing real-time data processing, easy programmability and advanced pitch designs, which allow utilities to maintain a reliable stream of renewable energy to support future energy innovations.

Innovation@Intel: Energy-Efficient Hardware Accelerator

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:07:27 -0400

Today's microprocessors need to compute more data than ever before, while maintaining a low power state for energy and battery life savings. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is one of the most compute-intensive block ciphers for media content protection and data encryption on high-performance tera-scale microprocessor platforms. The exponential increase in data rates of real-time media processing and computational complexities of mapping modular Galois-field (GF) arithmetic and arbitrary permutations onto general-purpose microprocessors create substantial power and performance bottlenecks within the CPU core. Recently, at Research@Intel Day, in Mountain View, California, Intel Researchers demonstrated an energy-efficient reconfigurable special-purpose hardware accelerator targeted for on-die real-time encryption/decryption of media content in 45nm high-K/Metal-gate CMOS technology. The prototype chip showcases novel high-performance reconfigurable arithmetic logic and data-path circuits that are capable of performing the most commonly employed AES-128, AES-192 and AES-256 encryption and decryption standards at industry-leading throughputs up to 53Gbps while consuming only 125mW. Near-threshold voltage optimized circuits utilized on this chip enable the encryption/decryption performance to scale over a wide operating voltage range from 1.1V down to 320mV. An all-digital variation-tolerant true random number generator design targeted for secure encryption key generation is also demonstrated functioning at 2.4Gbps. See more about research projects in Intel's worldwide network of labs.

Innovation@Intel: Can Computer Gaming Help save the Planet?

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:07:23 -0400

Intel Researchers demonstrated at today's Research@Intel Day, in Mountain View, California, how computer games could potentially assist in environmental policymaking, with current efforts focused on water allocation policy. Researchers hypothesize that immersive games can facilitate public participation and provide insight to decision makers about the effects of various policy alternatives. In addition, game-play observation could enable more accurate modeling of human behavior. Working with colleagues at Sandia National Labs, Intel researchers simulated New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District at ScienceSim, a virtual world based on OpenSim for scientific collaboration and education. They created a role playing game that allows players to act out various stakeholder roles such as farmers, developers, manufacturers, environmentalists, and policy makers. See more about research projects in Intel's worldwide network of labs.

Innovation@Intel: Transistors - Past, Present, Future, and Future-er

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:08:16 -0400

The millions and even billions of transistors you need in the products you'll use more than a decade from now are already being researched and planned for inside the walls of Intel. Using its unique Research-Development-Manufacturing approach, Intel is able to develop the latest transistors and know they will be production-ready and on time to our customers. See "Transistors: Past, Present, Future, and Future-er" blog for more about the plenary talk Intel gave this week at the 2010 Device Research Conference.

Innovation@Intel: Making Improvements to Cache Memory Process

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:08:41 -0400

Today's CPUs typically contain large amounts of on-chip cache memory, which speed up access to code and data, thereby improving overall performance and reducing power. Intel engineers are looking for ways to make these memories more dense, to either increase their capacity (for improved performance) or reduce their size (for lower manufacturing cost). Floating body cell (FBC) (PDF 371KB) is one candidate to one day replace the 6-transistor SRAM cells in use today. In two presentations at the 2010 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits this week, Intel is presenting progress in developing this FBC. One paper describes the development of a 22nm FBC memory on a bulk wafer of the kind in use in high volume manufacturing today -- earlier results were on much more expensive SOI (silicon on insulator) wafers. Another paper describes a procedure for selectively doping (introducing impurities) into an FBC's back gate, without contaminating other parts of the device . quite a challenge, given its size. Further details are available here (PDF 40KB).

Innovation@Intel: Increasing the Versatility of Chip Manufacturing Process

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:08:31 -0400

Intel is the only company in the world shipping products built on a 32nm (32 billionths of a meter) manufacturing process, and the only one with high-k/metal gate (PDF 13KB), a technology that delivers superior performance and energy efficiency. Now, Intel engineers have developed a new version of this process -- first created for CPUs - to make SoCs, particularly those requiring low power and RF (radio frequency)/mobile communications. A full array of features has been added, including a triple-transistor architecture with high frequency performance, low leakage power and good noise performance, and high breakdown power amplifier transistors. The latter is needed for CMOS power amplifiers in integrated radio applications such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX, cellular, and GPS. The process provides noise isolation through deep-n-well and high resistivity substrates, and includes high quality inductors, resistors, and varactors. Intel is describing this new technology at the 2010 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits this week. Further details are available here (PDF 28KB).

Innovation@Intel: 48-Core Single-Chip Cloud Computer - Reading Brain Waves with Computers

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:08:30 -0400

Imagine future laptops capable of vision comparable to the human eye, accurately seeing objects and motion. You could shop online using the laptop's 3D camera and display and see a "mirror image" of yourself wearing the clothes you are "trying on," seeing how the fabric drapes when you move or twirl and how the color complements your skin tone. Researchers from Intel Labs recently demonstrated (PDF 652KB) a experimental 48-core Intel microprocessor that could make this and much more a reality. Some researchers believe future computers with processors derived from this chip may even be able to read brain waves - where simply thinking about a command could make it happen. The long-term goal of the 48-core microprocessor is to add scaling features to computers in order to spur entirely new software applications and human-machine interfaces. Intel presented a paper on this technology at this week's 2010 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits. Read more about the "Single-Chip Cloud Computer" (PDF 1.15MB) in Microprocessor Report and see more about how Intel innovation is changing the way we work, live, and play.

Innovation@Intel: Materials for EUV Lithography

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:08:01 -0400

One of the key challenges to successful EUV lithography is the choice of photoresist (aka "resist"), the material used to create a specific pattern on a layer of a chip. The resist must be sensitive to EUV radiation so a pattern can be created, and must resist subsequent etching or other processing steps. Intel has been evaluating various materials for this purpose on an in-house Micro-Exposure Tool. The goal is to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, high resolution, and low line width roughness (LWR). Intel has demonstrated that a positive-tone chemically amplified resist coupled with an EUV underlayer as well as the use of an ancillary post-develop rinse material can achieve 22nm half pitch resolution while meeting sensitivity and LWR requirements. The results of this work were recently described at the SPIE Microlithography Conference (PDF 4.4MB); check out the paper for details.

Innovation@Intel: Big Strides in EUV Lithography

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:07:45 -0400

Intel engineers working on lithography based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation have demonstrated significant gains on tool, defect inspection and performance fronts. Lithography is the process by which intricate patterns are created on computer chips; the wavelength of EUV is more than 10X shorter than that in use today, meaning that EUVL promises a much sharper "pencil" for creating ever smaller features as Moore's Law advances. Working with a EUV micro-exposure tool (MET), the first to be fully integrated into an IC fabrication facility, Intel engineers have demonstrated significant improvements in ultimate resolution capability. Results were presented recently at the SPIE Microlithography Conference (PDF 4.4MB); check out the paper for details. After over a decade of work, EUVL has moved from research to implementation mode!