Flash !!EXCLUSIVE!!
In its simplest form, flash drought is the rapid onset of drought. In contrast with conventional drought, which is mainly driven by lack of precipitation, flash drought usually includes abnormally high temperatures, winds, and/or incoming radiation that leads to abnormally high evapotranspiration (ET) rates. Flash droughts occur more often than perceived and can cause major agricultural losses if they are not predicted and detected in a timely manner. In fact, flash drought has recently developed in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. The prediction of flash droughts on subseasonal timescales is of critical importance for impact assessment, disaster mitigation, and loss prevention.
Flash
The research team analyzed the conditions and evolution of five selected flash droughts using North American Land Data Assimilation System-2 (NLDAS-2) data. NLDAS-2, a collaboration between NASA, NOAA, and others, are land-surface model (LSM) datasets from the best available observations and model outputs to support modeling activities. The researchers selected the following flash droughts to study: 2000 Southern US, 2003 Midwest, 2006 Northern Plains, 2007 Northern Rocky Mountains, and the 2012 Midwest.
These results are consistent with other studies on flash droughts. This suggests that closely monitoring rapid changes in ET (a responding variable to temperature), along with soil moisture and precipitation conditions, can provide early warnings of flash drought development. The authors also plan to utilize the knowledge gained from this study to develop a flash drought prediction tool to advance our ability to forecast these events.
SmartRF Flash Programmer 2 can be used to program the flash memory in Texas Instruments ARM based low-power RF wireless MCUs over the debug and serial interfaces. Check the list of supported products for compatibility. Uniflash can also be used to program any SimpleLink product.
SmartRF Flash Programmer can be used to program the flash memory in Texas Instruments 8051-based low-power RF wireless MCUs and for upgrading the firmware and bootloader on the SmartRF05 Evaluation Board, SmartRF Transceiver Evaluation Board (TrxEB) and the CC-Debugger.
SmartRF Flash Programmer 2 can be used to program the flash memory in Texas Instruments ARM based low-power RF wireless MCUs over the debug and serial interfaces. The flash programmer includes both a graphical user interface and a command line interface.
Designed to be easy to use and install, users or website owners may install the web versionof Ruffle and existing flash content will "just work", with no extra configuration required.Ruffle will detect all existing Flash content on a website and automatically "polyfill"it into a Ruffle player, allowing seamless and transparent upgrading of websites that stillrely on Flash content.
Flash memory, also known as flash storage, is a type of nonvolatile memory that erases data in units called blocks and rewrites data at the byte level. Flash memory is widely used for storage and data transfer in consumer devices, enterprise systems and industrial applications. Flash memory retains data for an extended period of time, regardless of whether a flash-equipped device is powered on or off.
Flash memory is used in enterprise data center server, storage and networking technology, as well as in a wide range of consumer devices, including USB flash drives -- also known as memory sticks -- SD cards, mobile phones, digital cameras, tablet computers and PC cards in notebook computers and embedded controllers. For instance, NAND flash-based solid-state drives are often used to accelerate the performance of I/O-intensive applications. NOR flash memory is often used to hold control code, such as the basic input/output system (BIOS), in a PC.
Dr. Fujio Masuoka is credited with the invention of flash memory when he worked for Toshiba in the 1980s. Masuoka's colleague, Shoji Ariizumi, reportedly coined the term flash because the process of erasing all the data from a semiconductor chip reminded him of the flash of a camera.
Flash memory evolved from erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Flash is technically a variant of EEPROM, but the industry reserves the term EEPROM for byte-level erasable memory and applies the term flash memory to larger block-level erasable memory.
Flash memory architecture includes a memory array stacked with a large number of flash cells. A basic flash memory cell consists of a storage transistor with a control gate and a floating gate, which is insulated from the rest of the transistor by a thin dielectric material or oxide layer. The floating gate stores the electrical charge and controls the flow of the electrical current.
Electrons are trapped in the floating gate whether or not a device containing the flash memory cell is receiving power as a result of electrical isolation created by the oxide layer. This characteristic enables flash memory to provide persistent storage.
NOR and NAND flash memory differ in architecture and design characteristics. NOR flash uses no shared components and can connect individual memory cells in parallel, enabling random access to data. A NAND flash cell is more compact and has fewer bit lines, stringing together floating gate transistors to increase storage density.
NOR flash is fast on data reads, but it is typically slower than NAND on erases and writes. NOR flash programs data at the byte level. NAND flash programs data in pages, which are larger than bytes, but smaller than blocks. For instance, a page might be 4 kilobytes (KB), while a block might be 128 KB to 256 KB or megabytes in size. NAND flash consumes less power than NOR flash for write-intensive applications.
NOR flash is more expensive to produce than NAND flash and tends to be used primarily in consumer and embedded devices for boot purposes and read-only applications for code storage. NAND flash is more suitable for data storage in consumer devices and enterprise server and storage systems due to its lower cost per bit to store data, greater density and higher programming and erase (P/E) speeds.
An additional subcategory is a hybrid hard drive that combines a conventional HDD with a NAND flash module. A hybrid hard drive is generally viewed as a way to bridge the divide between rotating media and flash memory.
The advent of flash memory fueled the rise of all-flash arrays. These systems contain only SSDs, they offer advantages in performance and potentially reduced operational costs, compared to all disk-based storage arrays. The chief difference, aside from the media, is in the underlying physical architecture used to write data to a storage device.
HDD-based arrays have an actuator arm that enables data to be written to a specific block on a specific sector on the disk. All-flash storage systems do not require moving parts to write data. The writes are made directly to the flash memory and custom software handles data management.
A hybrid flash array blends disk and SSDs. Hybrid arrays use SSDs as a cache to speed access to frequently requested hot data, which subsequently is rewritten to back-end disk. Many enterprises commonly archive data from disk as it ages by replicating it to an external magnetic tape library.
In addition to flash memory arrays, the ability to insert SSDs in x86-based servers has increased the technology's popularity. This arrangement is known as Server-side flash memory and it enables companies to sidestep the vendor lock-in associated with purchasing expensive and integrated flash storage arrays.
The drawback of placing flash in a server is that customers need to build the hardware system internally, including the purchase and installation of a storage management software stack from a third-party vendor.
The main disadvantages of flash memory are the wear-out mechanism and cell-to-cell interference as the dies get smaller. Bits can fail with excessively high numbers of program/erase cycles, which eventually break down the oxide layer that traps electrons. The deterioration can distort the manufacturer-set threshold value at which a charge is determined to be a zero or a one. Electrons may escape and get stuck in the oxide insulation layer, leading to errors and bit rot.
Anecdotal evidence suggests NAND flash drives are not wearing out to the degree once feared. Flash drive manufacturers have improved endurance and reliability through error correction code algorithms, wear leveling and other technologies.
Note: NAND flash wear-out is less of a problem in SLC flash than it is in less expensive types of flash, such as MLC and TLC, for which the manufacturers may set multiple threshold values for a charge.
The two main types of NOR flash memory are parallel and serial, also known as serial peripheral interface. NOR flash was originally available only with a parallel interface. Parallel NOR offers high performance, security and additional features; its primary uses include industrial, automotive, networking and telecom systems and equipment.
Serial NOR flash has a lower pin count and smaller packaging, making it less expensive than parallel NOR. Use cases for serial NOR include personal and ultra-thin computers, servers, HDDs, printers, digital cameras, modems and routers.
Major manufacturers of NAND flash memory chips include Intel Corp., Micron Technology Inc., Samsung Group, SanDisk Corp. -- now owned by Western Digital Corp. -- SK Hynix Inc. and Toshiba Memory Corp.
There was a NAND flash shortage in 2016 causing a disruption in the market. The shortfall caused SSD prices to rise and lead times to lengthen. The demand outstripped supply largely due to soaring demand from smartphone makers. In 2018, signs began showing that the shortage was near its end.
Other turmoil is exerting an impact on the market. In November 2017, leading flash supplier Toshiba agreed to sell its chip making unit to a group of corporate and institutional investors led by Bain Capital. Toshiba sold the flash business as part of its effort to cover financial losses and to avoid being delisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. 041b061a72