Corporate FAQ

How long has GTronix been in existence and what are its objectives in the market?

The company was founded in 2003. The company's vision is to be the market and technology leader in bringing local intelligence to sensory interfaces by applying its proprietary programmable and adaptive-analog VLSI signal processing capability.

What is GTronix's affiliation with Georgia Tech?

GTronix began as the vision of three Georgia Tech PhD students, Jeff Dugger, Matt Kucic and Paul Smith. Subsequently, the Georgia Tech incubator provided an initial grant to fund initial operations. GTronix's original IP was licensed from Georgia Tech on an exclusive basis and the company maintains a very close working relationship with the university and key faculty members.

What technology is GTronix developing?

GTronix is developing a programmable analog structure and architecture that intelligently can process real-world data, such as acoustic, visual, positioning, and haptic stimuli. GTronix refers to this novel and proprietary 'smart analog' core competency as its APTT Technology.

How long has this technology been in development?

The roots of this technology go back to the late eighties and early nineties, to research that was conducted by Carver Mead at Caltech and Paul Hasler, as Mead's PhD student. With Paul Hasler's move to Georgia Tech, the programming techniques were further refined and the emphasis of floating gate storage shifted more to analog programmability. Dr. Hasler currently serves as GTronix's Chief Science Officer (CSO) and is a director of the company.

Please describe the GTronix technology.

GTronix's APTT Technology leverages conventional floating gates in proprietary analog circuits to uniquely implement adaptive analog signal processing functions. Examples include filters, multipliers and other linear transforms. These circuits typically operate at sub-threshold levels, thereby minimizing power consumption and die size. These elementary signal processing functions are combined into higher level signal processing blocks, such as filter-banks, vector matrix multipliers and adaptive filters. High level algorithms are in turn implemented using the signal processing blocks. Digital circuitry can also be incorporated to complete sensor processing or digital interface if required.

What exactly is GTronix's "secret sauce"?

While GTronix's APT architecture is a unique combination of three elements - proprietary analog algorithms; a programmable floating gate transistor structure; and a novel circuit design technique for creating signal processing functions - the underlying technology breakthrough was in the very precise control of floating gate programming.

What advantages will GTronix's "smart analog technology for sensory processing" ultimately offer customers as compared to alternative approaches?

GTronix's technology enables customers to create products that require very fast and efficient real-time signal processing, typically resulting in smaller form factors, lower power and with lower latency than alternative approaches.

Analog computing and processing have been around for a long time. What will GTronix offer in this technology arena and why will it be different and more successful than companies that came before it?

The limitations of analog computing have always been the lack of manufacturability and flexibility. GTronix has addressed that issue with a unique new architecture and manufacturing methodology. The APTT Technology introduces an appropriate programmable capability that permits pre-configuration and trimming of analog circuits during final test. The circuit elements, in addition, can be made programmable to allow for specific design requirements.

What market is GTronix attempting to address?

GTronix will address the intersection of sensor and signal processing. The company will initially target user-interface sensory applications in portable consumer electronics products, including cell phones, wired/wireless headsets, PDAs, laptop computers and audio/video personal electronics.

What specific benefits does GTronix believe it will offer these markets?

Besides the real estate and power savings, as well as the real-time signal processing capabilities that we enable, GTronix's technology will allow the development of very small and powerful sensor systems. That capability will allow end-equipment manufacturers to offer improved features and performance that will differentiate their end-products from the competition.