Beyond the societal issues of the mundane world, we actually live in a very cool time. The technical renaissance fomented by the ability for electronics to enhance processes is still ongoing, with no real end in sight. Our industry is full of cool terms that reflect the impressive pervasive wireless world we live in. Cloud-enhanced, IoT-driven, software-oriented—the modern landscape is full of functional promise.
Unfortunately, there is some disquiet in the industry, as software takes a stronger and stronger hold and influence over hardware design and development. Many in the public think that software is a new replacement technology that will sweep all before it, converting everything into the Internet. We’ll all be magically connected with smart earrings, or something we haven’t thought of yet, through a seamless wireless environment free of cares and worries.
Yet that’s not really how it works. For all of the amazing Cloud-based IoT-enabled software-oriented carefree world we see, there is a lot of wiring behind the wainscoting that many don’t see. That’s the hardware part, the part that without which nothing would function, no matter how slick the software. You can have all the powerful, emission-free, cheap gasoline you want, but if there is no car to pour it in, you are going nowhere.
The fact is that the current advances in software capabilities are grounded in the hardware that runs it. There is no Edge computing without better processors, ditto AI, and all the other enhanced computing solutions being developed. Without the advanced, fast, efficient, and powerful hardware platforms, there would be no capacity or ability to present any functionality to the user.
We covered a variation on this theme recently in an article online called “No Electronics Without Electricity” (evaluationengineering.com/21223150) in which we talked to our old friend Robert Gendron of Vicor, on power’s changing role in the industry. One of the things we covered was the aspect of power being ubiquitous, needed, and yet often overlooked or considered in a secondary fashion, when it is the primary foundation of it all. There are truly no electronics without electricity, and there can be no software without the hardware to run it.
To whip this omnibus of analogy further, you cannot sail the seas without a ship, you can’t surf the waves without a surfboard. We are all traveling in this new software sea but, in reality, it is the ability of our boats to take us there that is the real journey. We travel to new places and discover new worlds, but the hardware is where we physically interact with the world we live in.
Another perspective can be taken from the mixed-signal space, where analog and digital information leverages one another. Without digital processing, many of the functionalities we realize today would not be able to manifest themselves, but without the analog real world to draw from, there is nothing to process and act upon. (This skirts the whole issue of reality and whether it’s important, but they’re covering that in the philosophy class down the hall.)
People see software intruding into the hardware space, but it is really the hardware growing with the ability to integrate software. Unlike electricity replacing steam or fossil fuels, electronics aren’t being replaced by software, they are being enhanced by it. There is no real dichotomy, it is a false conflict. Hardware and software are Yin and Yang, Warp and Woof, inseparable and complementary.