Converging visions

The cacophony of proclamations that we've “finally” reached digital convergence have reached their annual post– Consumer Electronics Show peak, with pundits from every sector crowing about the shiny future of the wired home, car, and underwear. Everything will talk to everything else, and people will only have to point their chins, roll their eyes, and scratch their elbows to get their e-mail read, operate the toaster, and adjust the volume on the home theater system built into their shorts. The real question is, what infrastructure will support that digitally wired world of tomorrow? I am reminded of the old adage: amateurs talk tactics, while professionals talk logistics. It is easy to predict that everything will network, but on what device and communication standard(s) will the network be based? Every decision you make as a design engineer is a volley fired in the battle for infrastructure supremacy. Are you using a wireless communications chip in your design, an infrared or fiber-optic transceiver, or a twisted-pair or powerline networking circuit? The components you decide to integrate into your creations must not only meet criteria such as form factor, power consumption, and cost, but also compatibility with inter-device communication standards and their existing and future penetration into the market. Some communications standards, such as the one for HomePlug powerline networks, are well suited for the home, but useless for personal electronics. Other protocols work in multiple environments, but are more useful in one place than another.

Most of us agree on what the future will look like.
We just don't know how we're going to get there. And let's not forget storage. Software and data mobility are severely restricted when the flash memory from your camera doesn't fit into the slot (if there is one) on your PDA and/or cell phone, or the optical disk from your laptop computer can't be read by your mother's desktop, preventing her from seeing the movie you shot of her first grandchild. Every decision is crucial, and has far-reaching ramifications. Of course, software is yet another area where interoperability and present and future market availability drive design decisions. How useful is exchanged data if the operating systems and application programs of the devices involved are incompatible? These are not light decisions. If you or your company makes the wrong move in the current marketplace, integrates the wrong storage media, or designs a device that can't communicate easily with others, the impact on the bottom line can be catastrophic. Compounding the difficulty of device selection is the knowledge that using the “wrong” device in a design will also slow the development of the future that we all want to reach. Now all we need is a crystal ball . . . Alix L. Paultre, Senior Editor