Author's Latest Posts


Advanced DFT And Silicon Bring-Up For AI Chips


The AI market is growing quickly, spurring an insatiable demand for powerful AI accelerators. AI chip makers are pressed with aggressive time-to-market goals and need the tools to help them get their chips into the hands of customers as quickly as possible. IC test and silicon bring-up are tasks that can affect both the quality and the time-to-market of AI chips. Different companies are usin... » read more

Hardware-Based Cybersecurity For Software-Defined Vehicles


As vehicle technology advances, so does the complexity of the electrical/electronic systems within these smart vehicles. A software-defined vehicle (SDV) relies on centralized compute and an advanced software stack to control most of its functionality, from engine performance to infotainment systems. SDVs are becoming more important as automakers look to improve vehicle performance, reduce emis... » read more

Chip Monitoring For Max Performance And Security


In a semiconductor market dominated by SoCs for high-performance computing, AI, automotive and 5G, semiconductor companies face myriad challenges and device requirements. The specific challenges for any given SoC vary but can include issues around performance debug and security against hacking. Top of the list includes the need to ensure quality, enhance safety, optimize performance, and increa... » read more

Automotive IoT Security By Design


A good example of the wider adoption and application of IoT devices is in automotive uses. It’s a growing market, with the worldwide number of IoT-connected devices projected to increase to 43 billion by 2023, an almost threefold increase from 2018. The modern vehicles that host so many IoT devices are increasingly connected—for cellular over-the-air updates, but also potentially to comm... » read more

Standards And Threat Testing For Secure Autonomous Vehicles


Modern vehicles continue to move up through the levels of autonomy, as defined by The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). These definitions have been widely adopted across the industry and emerging vehicle technology is measured against this scale (figure 1). Fig. 1: An illustration from the Society for Automotive Engineers shows levels of autonomy. The closer we move towards level... » read more

High-Quality Test And Embedded Analytics Are Vital For Secure SoCs


Applications like as smart cards and devices used in the defense industry require security to ensure that sensitive data is inaccessible to outside agents. This used to be a niche requirement met through custom solutions. However, now that automotive and cyber-physical systems are proliferating, the requirements around secure test and monitoring are becoming mainstream. The current best strateg... » read more

High-Quality Test And Embedded Analytics Are Vital For Secure SoCs


Applications such as smart cards and devices used in the defense industry require security features to ensure that sensitive data is inaccessible to outside agents. This used to be a niche requirement met through custom solutions. However, now that automotive and cyber-physical systems are proliferating, the requirements around secure test and monitoring are becoming mainstream. The current bes... » read more

Over-the-Air Automotive Updates


Modern vehicles are increasingly-connected devices with growing volumes of electronic systems. This systemic complexity means that even an average vehicle design will include over 150 ECUs, which control not just infotainment and communications, but powertrain, safety, and driving systems (figure 1). We see not just a surge in the volume and complexity of electronic hardware, but also software.... » read more

Secure Silicon Lifecycle Management Architecture For Functional Safety


The rapid growth of electronics for automotive applications fueled by advanced ADAS systems pose new challenges for complex SoC design and Silicon Lifecycle Management (SLM) in the supply chain as well as in-field monitoring and management of the population of chips. In these modern complex devices, ensuring the correct and safe operation requires not only functional safety to check for reli... » read more

How To Meet Functional Safety Requirements With Built-In-Self-Test


With the rapid growth in semiconductor content in today’s vehicles, IC designers need to improve their process of meeting functional safety requirements defined by the ISO 26262 standard. The ISO 26262 standard defines the levels of functional safety, known as Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL), and is a mandatory part of an automotive system design process. The ASIL categories range... » read more