Elektor at embedded world North America 2026: Embedded Technology for the AI Era

Elektor is on the ground at embedded world North America 2026 in Anaheim, California. On the first day, we met engineers and technology companies working on everything from energy-efficient FPGAs and RF test systems to post-quantum security, embedded data collection, debugging tools, and next-generation sensing.

The embedded industry is changing quickly. AI is an obvious part of that transformation, but walking the show floor at embedded world North America 2026 makes something else clear: building the next generation of intelligent devices requires much more than an AI processor. Engineers also need efficient computing architectures, sensors, connectivity, storage, security, development tools, and increasingly sophisticated test and measurement equipment.
 
That understanding was a major focus of our first day at the event, as we spoke with engineers and executives from the industry's most innovative companies, such as STMicroelectronics, with whom we are running the STM32Cube Innovation Challenge.

So far, we've met with established technology companies as well as startups to see their latest solutions, talk with their engineers and product specialists, and get a better sense of the technologies shaping embedded development in the AI era. Here are some highligts from the first day.

Energy-Efficient FPGA Processing

At Efinix, Mark Oliver demonstrated the company’s Titanium FPGA solutions, including applications involving vision and edge processing. As more intelligence moves toward the edge, designers need ways to perform increasingly sophisticated processing without simply increasing power consumption.
 
FPGAs offer engineers the flexibility to implement and optimize hardware architectures for particular workloads, including image and signal-processing applications.

The demonstrations gave us a practical look at how Efinix is positioning its Titanium technology for this changing embedded landscape, where processing capability, flexibility, and energy efficiency increasingly have to go hand in hand.
   

Getting a Better Look at RF Systems

Wireless technology is another major part of today's embedded landscape, and that makes RF measurement increasingly relevant to embedded engineers. Mike Wohlert of RIGOL Technologies demonstrated the company’s RSA6265 and DNA6264 RF systems characterization solutions. We got a close-up look at how the instruments can be used to examine signals and characterize RF system behavior using multiple measurements and views.
 
It was also a good reminder that developing wireless products does not end when the radio is integrated into the design. Engineers need to understand what is actually happening in the RF domain, particularly as products incorporate more wireless technologies and operate in increasingly crowded spectrum.

And don't forget: the Wireless & Communicaton edition of Elektor is now avaialble. 

Bringing Barcode and RFID into Embedded Systems

Joseph Hu of Diamond Technologies showed me the company's barcode and RFID data-collection solutions for embedded applications. The solutions emphasize small form factors, long-term availability, and embedded integration, making them relevant for engineers designing identification and automated data collection directly into industrial and commercial equipment. 
 
Barcode and RFID technologies may be well established, but integrating them reliably into embedded products remains important for applications ranging from manufacturing and logistics to inventory systems and automation.

Preparing for the Post-Quantum Security Era

Security was another important topic on the show floor, including a challenge that reaches considerably further into the future. Michael Redding of Quantropi gave Elektor a detailed presentation on quantum-secure data communications and the implications of post-quantum cryptography for connected systems.

During the talk, Redding covered QiSpace Secure Boot, designed to extend quantum-resistant security concepts to device firmware and the boot process. Secure boot establishes trust before the rest of a system starts operating, making it a particularly important security layer for connected embedded devices.
 
The discussion raised a question engineers increasingly need to consider: How do you design a product today that may still need to be secure years from now, when the security environment has changed? For embedded products with long service lives, preparing for post-quantum security could become an important part of that answer.

Raspberry Pi SPI Debugging

Sometimes the most useful demonstrations at an engineering show are the ones that address problems developers encounter at the bench. At Digilent, we saw a Raspberry Pi SPI debugging demonstration using the Analog Discovery Pro 2450 (ADP2450). The setup used the ADP2450 to generate an eye diagram of a high-speed clock signal using WaveForms. The instrument also captured digital signals through its analog inputs, converted them into digital data, and analyzed them at speeds beyond those of a conventional logic analyzer.
 
For embedded developers working with interfaces such as SPI, being able to examine both the digital information and the underlying electrical signal can help reveal problems that aren't necessarily obvious from looking at logic states alone.

Airflow on a Chip

We also encountered an interesting example of sensor innovation from startup MYVOX, which showcased its Airflow-in-a-Chip technology. The compact technology demonstrates how sensing itself continues to evolve alongside embedded processing. Bringing airflow measurement into smaller integrated solutions could open possibilities for embedded monitoring and control applications where size and integration are important constraints.
 
It was also representative of another reason we attend events such as embedded world: alongside the major semiconductor, instrumentation, and software companies, startups can provide an early look at technologies and engineering approaches that are only beginning to reach the market.

The AI Era Is About More Than AI

One of our main takeaways from the first day at EWNA that the embedded AI story extends far beyond AI accelerators and large models. An intelligent embedded system still has to interact with the physical world. It needs sensors to collect information, processing hardware to make decisions, interfaces to move data, RF technologies to communicate, security to protect that information, and instruments that allow engineers to develop and debug the entire system. Those pieces were visible throughout the show floor in Anaheim.

The FPGA processing demonstrated by Efinix, RF characterization from RIGOL, embedded data collection from Diamond Technologies, quantum-secure communications discussed by Quantropi, debugging capabilities from Digilent, and sensing technology from MYVOX are very different technologies. But together, they illustrate the increasingly complex ecosystem engineers are working with as intelligence moves deeper into embedded and edge devices.
 

More from Anaheim

Are you visiting Embedded World North America in Anaheim? If you have an interesting technology, product, engineering demo, or project you think we should see, reach out to us on LinkedIn with a short description of what you would like to show us. We’ll try to stop by.