Arm TechCon 2019 (October 8 to October 10) is taking a hands-on approach to help practitioners explore the convergence of AI, 5G, and IoT. Between keynote presentations and technical workshops, the conference aims to give attendees the chance to refine their technical skills with firsthand experience with Arm and Arm-partnered hardware and software products. 

What to Expect from Arm TechCon

Arm TechCon has been a yearly event for15 years with an annual goal of announcing new Arm technologies and showcasing industry trends. This year's conference is geared to help engineers prepare for a “new era of AI compute,” particularly focusing on the intersections of AI, 5G, and the IoT. Arm will be highlighting the role that its own ecosystem of products and services have played in burgeoning technological advancements.

Here's a brief overview of the show's keynotes, classes, and workshops.

Conference Tracks

Each of the conference tracks takes a practical approach to hot topics in the industry.

There are seven tracks this year:

• AI and Machine Learning
• Automotive, Industrial, and Functional Safety
• Chip Design Methodology
• Cloud to Edge Infrastructure
• Connected Devices and Cloud Services
• Embedded Software Development
• Trust and Security

These tracks paint a picture of trends in the industry and set up Arm's workshops and speakers to address them. For instance, speakers will discuss ways to implement intelligence at the edge (using technology like sensors, voice and image recognition, IoT gateways, and neural networks) to enhance machine learning in industries ranging from medical imaging to home surveillance.

Image from Arm TechCon

Another track, chip design methodology, will assess the ways in which modern chip design has moved beyond silicon for a secure, low power, and complex multicore system. Attendees will then learn about models and tools that are transforming hardware and software and discuss how design services can open new markets for chip and platform vendors. 

Keynote Addresses

Each year at the Arm TechCon, some of the industry’s most prominent doers and thinkers lay out their visions for the future of computing. The ideas discussed here will affect not only the engineers, developers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are directly involved, but through their efforts, the world as a whole.

The New Era of Compute 

This keynote address will be delivered by Simon Segars, Chief Executive Officer of Arm, and will focus on the "Fifth Wave" of computing.

Simon Segars, Chief Executive Officer, of ARM. Image from Arm

In an armBlueprint, Segars described Fifth Wave Computing as the confluence of AI, 5G, and the IoT, and the way “they’re feeding off each other’s energy and enhancing each other’s impact on the world.”

Here, Segars expands on those ideas, looks at the increasing pace of the Fifth Wave of Compute, and examines the creativity that it will bring about. He also delves into how the Arm ecosystem intends to capitalize on the new business growth areas that these powerful trends will bring about.

Autonomous Vehicle Revolution: The Missing Links

This ARM TechCon keynote will be delivered by Dipti Vachani, Arm's Senior Vice President and General Manager of their Automotive and IoT Line of Business. Vachani will focus on automotive topics, specifically the looming rise of autonomous vehicles.

Dipti Vachani, Senior VP and GM of Arm's Automotive and IoT Line of Business. Image from Arm

She notes that while the world is moving toward the goal of fully autonomous vehicles, there are still technological “missing links” that have to be filled in along the way. But Vachani doesn’t see that as a problem. Rather, she believes that, more importantly, we’re moving closer to understanding just what it is we need to do to clear the pathway to progress.

In this address, she will expound on her belief that we must now concentrate on getting those answers and making sure the results work for the highly competitive global automobile industry.

Expo Hall Zones

There’s a lot to see and do at this year’s Arm TechCon. To make it easier for each attendee to focus on what’s most important to him or to her, four separate Expo Hall Zones have been established.

• Automotive Zone. See examples that demonstrate how ARM and its partners are blazing a pathway into the next wave of automotive technology. Highlights include ADAS and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
• Arm-Approved Design Partner Zone. Arm’s design partners will showcase what they’ve accomplished using Arm IP with support from ARM’s in-house engineering teams.  
• Emerging Partner Zone. See what’s been accomplished by partners using Arm-powered devices. A highlight is the progression from FPGA-based designs to unique ASICs. All exhibitors in this zone are first-time licensees of ARM technology.
• Infrastructure Zone. Here, new directions in network and cloud computing infrastructure are on display. The attendee will see how open standards-based HW and SW are accelerating progress from the network's edge, where hardware meets the outside, physical world, all the way up through the cloud and on to the very heart of the data center.

This organization of companies in the expo hall is another clue as to how Arm sees the world. By shining a light on automotive and infrastructure, Arm TechCon is perhaps setting the tone for what we can expect from the company in the next year. 

The additional focus on real-world users of Arm strategically shows what Arm technologies can do.

Hands-on Workshops

ARM TechCon offers a series of workshops where engineers can work with the latest technology under the guidance of experts. Industry practitioners will have multiple opportunities to get direct experience in informal settings with products and techniques to determine their relevance to their product designs.

STM32 G4 Mixed Signal Microcontroller

An example workshop is being conducted by Ram Yadavalli, Sr. Product Marketing Engineer, STMicroelectronics. ST’s STM32G4 is a mixed-signal MCU that can be applied to measurement and control applications involving three-phase brushless motor control, instrumentation and switch-mode power supplies. The device equipped with a set of analog peripherals, high-resolution timers, and mathematical accelerators. 

Through hands-on exercises on the STM32G474 Discovery board, embedded engineers can gain experience with the STM32G4 and its features. The star of the show is the STM32G474RET6 MCU, which is based on the Arm Cortex-M4 core that features 512 Kbytes of Flash memory, 128 Kbytes of SRAM and operates at speeds of up to 170 MHz.

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