Keeping Ahead of the Curve with Custom ASICs
Foundry Market by Feature Dimension
100
80
60
40
20
0
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Year
<10/7nm
16/14nm
20nm
28nm
45/40nm
65nm
90nm
0.13um
0.18/0.15um
>0.25um
Figure 3: Foundry Market by Feature Dimension
decisions, the reality is that it is not always
possible.
As a result, there are excellent opportunities
to leverage these technology nodes for the
generation of custom ASICs for the IIoT and
to do so at much lower costs than would
have been thought previously.
In real-time control, system processing can
be performed at the source. This means that
the data can be analyzed straight away, and
decisions made quickly. A decision can then
be made as to what data needs to be stored
and what data must be sent to the cloud
versus the data that is no longer required.
This concept has become known as edge
processing or edge computing. Edge
processing involves bringing the processing
power closer to the sensor edge where the
physical world and the origins of digital data
meet. Edge processing means response time
is shortened and only the data that is truly
required is transmitted. This helps to
unburden
the
network
and
cut
communication costs.
E DGE C OMPUTING
Earlier we discussed whether there is always
a need to send all data to the cloud to
achieve the desired business goals. In order
to perform the level of monitoring needed,
we need to install all the required sensors –
and as already discussed, the numbers of
sensors being deployed is growing at a large
rate. In some cases, these sensors are placed
in difficult to reach locations and running off
battery power. Additionally, some remote
locations mean communication constraints,
so it is not always possible to communicate
with the cloud when needed. So, while the
ideal is to sense, measure and process all the
data immediately and make intelligent
IIC Journal of Innovation
Edge processing is not without its difficulties,
however. By bringing the processing tasks
right to the sensor edge, there can quite
often be space constraints. Also, as we
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