Evaulation_Engineering_August_2020 - 4

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EVALUATION IS ENGINEERING
This column is part of an
informal series of thought
pieces expressing our expanded editorial philosophy, and
the direction we are taking
Evaluation Engineering. The
new world of the fourth industrial revolution is a direct result of advances in precision
in both core technologies and
their implementation, and the
evaluation technologies that
enabled those advances.
It's been an interesting couple of decades in
the electronics industry. Ever since the commercialization of electronic technology in
the middle of the 20th century, the pace and
scope of development has been unprecedented
in human history. This near-exponential rate
of development is creating a disruptive state
of evolution at every level and facet of society.
It took a couple of centuries from humankind to migrate from open-flame weapons
to breech-loading cartridge-based rifles, and
even societies that prided themselves upon
their advancement only discovered hygiene in
modern history. In contrast, we've gone from a
three-legged transistor in a ceramic package to
advanced 3D system-on-chip (SoC) solutions
in a matter of decades.
Precision measurement is at the heart of all
advancement. Antoine LeCoultre created the
Millionometre, the first instrument capable
of measuring the micron, to refine the manufacture of watch parts in 1844. The very art of
precision timekeeping led industrial and technical development, and today time is not only a
critical component of every intelligent system,
but is also an example of the commoditization
of advanced technology. The world is awash in
precision timekeeping, literally free to anyone
who can capture the signal.
There is no precision without feedback,
and most of evaluation engineering was a
specialized space, dominated by specialists
using single-purpose devices addressing a
specific facet of the application addressed.
Just as timekeeping was once a full-time job

EVALUATION ENGINEERING AUGUST 2020

for the person responsible for
the village clock, for example,
performing advanced system
test was once the realm of
resource-rich laboratories.
Today, everyone is an evaluation engineer. Every electronic product and device designed today is developed in an
environment of constant test,
measurement, evaluation, and
specification. The devil is truly
in the details, and it is critical
that the lines on your ruler are clean, precise,
and very close together. For example, the difference in a power system being 96% efficient
vs. 98% efficient can be measured in dollars
and cents, in lost revenue due to poor battery life or other manifestation of poor power
management.
This means getting your hands on the best
and most versatile tools available, and using them at every stage of product design.
Implementing advanced system topologies,
high levels of sensor integration and fusion,
heterogeneous computing, and other next-generation functionalities is impossible without
the latest in testing technologies and methodologies. Encouraging discovery through
interesting articles and webinars, providing
news on the latest tools and techniques, and
presenting you with the information you need
to choose which is best for you, are among
some of our others.
The capability and availability of advanced
test and evaluation systems is impacting every
level of society. Bridges and roads now have the
ability to monitor themselves, for example, alerting civil engineers to pending damage and maintenance functions. Even old-timey electromechanical applications are being rejuvenated by
the sensing and monitoring capabilities provided
by Industry 4.0-level solutions. This and other
evolutionary aspects of evaluation engineering
will be among the things in our expanded coverage of the test & measurement space.
Alix Paultre,
Editor

$2.35 BILLION
North American semiconductor
equipment bills for May 2020

13.1%
Increase over May 2019
Source: SEMI

1.2 BILLION
Smartphone units expected to
ship in 2020 amid pandemic

11.9%
Expected year-over-year
decline in smartphone
market in 2020
Source: IDC

$35.0 BILLION
Global semiconductor
sales in May 2020

5.8%
Increase in semiconductor
sales over May 2019
Source: SIA

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Evaulation_Engineering_August_2020

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