Author's Latest Posts


Traceability Is Not My Problem (Is It?)


What is all the fuss about traceability? If it is that important, should it be handled by a compliance group? Delegating to a separate team would be the preference for most design and verification team members, but it is not possible in this case. Traceability stops short of a big brother organization constantly looking over the shoulders of the development team. The more reasonable approach is... » read more

Optimizing NoC-Based Designs


Semiconductor development is currently in a phase of rapid evolution driven by the combination of new technologies and methodologies. The technique of combining multiple functions into systems-on-chips (SoCs) is continuing to grow in complexity. Rapid advancement in new technologies for market segments like data centers, robotics, ADAS and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) are re... » read more

Verification Signoff Beyond Coverage


A common design view of verification signoff is to start with a comprehensive verification plan, covering every requirement defined among specifications and use-cases, the architectural definition, and any other relevant documents. Tests are then developed to cover every feature of the verification plan. Those tests are run and debugged, and identified issues are addressed within the design. Th... » read more

Traceability, Unfamiliar But Critical


Many understand that traceability is a popular concept. Still, understanding traceability in detail is more challenging, especially in how it connects to familiar objectives in the semiconductor design space. A simple way to understand is this: When a customer (call them C) asks a semiconductor supplier (call them S) to build a device to meet a system objective, they provide S with specificatio... » read more