Author's Latest Posts


7 Ways to Assess Semiconductor IP Quality


Design teams today are struggling with the quality of semiconductor intellectual property. These teams want first-pass success for SoC creation, but that is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve—especially with highly configurable IP. Yet the more configurable the IP is, the more desirable it is as a differentiator. And if not developed correctly, it may be even more risky than non-confi... » read more

Tear Down The Wall Between Front-End And Back-End Teams


As complexity of system-on-chip devices increases, it's becoming imperative for design teams and organizations to re-examine how they work with one another in order to improve productivity. One giant step in this direction is to bridge the divide between the front-end design process and the physical back-end design process. We often refer to this as a figurative “wall,” but there is real... » read more

Tear Down The Wall Between Front-End And Back-End Teams


Because system-on-chip devices are increasingly complex, it is becoming imperative for design teams and organizations to reexamine how they work with one another in order to innovate new ways to improve productivity in delivering devices to market. The area that could benefit most is the divide that separates the semiconductor front-end design process from the physical back-end design process. ... » read more

Focus More Attention On The SoC’s Central Nervous System


In multiple conversations over the years, I’ve often compared the interconnect fabric within SoC designs to the central nervous system of the human body. The point that I try to make is that the potential of the SoC’s performance and functionality is tied to the information that travels through the fabric and interconnect to all the on-chip IP components. Improving a chip’s ability to com... » read more

Streamlining Interconnect Integration Accelerates Globally Distributed Design


As system on chip designs grow more complex, it becomes more and more difficult for chip companies to optimize the work of their distributed design teams. While each separate team has an area of expertise and sets their focus on a particular aspect of the SoC, the hard part comes in integrating these individual design efforts together. When something goes wrong and it doesn’t work, the compan... » read more

The ABCs Of ISO 26262


Over the last one-and-a-half years that I have been elbow-deep working on the FlexNoC Resilience Package, I’ve been keeping a running list of ISO 26262 abbreviations and acronyms that reoccurred in my work, and kept confusing me whenever I performed a “context switch” from working on different projects to working on my functional safety products. I’ve received feedback that my list is h... » read more

A Primer On ISO 26262 Certification


As the electronic processing capabilities of the average car increases, more and more software, semiconductor, and semiconductor IP companies are trying to enter the automotive electronics market. Many of these new entrants have strong backgrounds in consumer electronics or the PC industry, and are new to the unique requirements of the automotive market. The purpose of this article is to pro... » read more

‘Hardening’ SoCs For Automotive Market Challenges


The semiconductor is enamored with the automotive, industrial and medical markets, and many companies are now shifting their focus there. But many mainstream vendors will face challenges entering this market. For those who have traditionally participated in the smart phone or mobility market, I will outline some changes they need to consider to successfully compete in these emerging spaces. ... » read more

NoC Technology: Saving the Planet, One Chip at a Time


In Silicon Valley, the cliché is that we are using technology to change the world in some meaningful way. However, I made some calculations recently and I found network-on-chip technology is actually contributing to efforts to reduce carbon emissions. SoC designers have become the ultimate energy misers as they strive to make tradeoffs between extending battery life and providing game-chang... » read more

Apple CarPlay Vs. Android Auto


The smartphone wars have been fought and won (well, at least for now), but now there’s a new electronics battle brewing in your garage, rather than your pocket. The talk of smartphone SoC technology proliferating from phones and into cars has finally transformed into action, and major electronics companies are striking deals with established automobile manufacturers to integrate the benefi... » read more

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