Blog Review: May 9

Mentor’s Doug Amos explains the differences (and similarities) between verification and validation, why switching between engines needs to be simpler, and why the limits of verification are driving a growth in validation importance.

Synopsys’ Melissa Kirschner provides a primer on 5G and the five technologies that will need to work in tandem to bring the promised high speeds and low latency.

Cadence’s Paul McLellan explains TSMC’s new Wafer-on-Wafer, or WoW, advanced packaging technology that bonds two wafers, one atop the other.

Arm’s Rob Aitken shares highlights from the Future Chips Forum, including the power consumption required for AI to beat humans at games, retina-like image sensing, and an array of machine learning research.

SEMI’s Heidi Hoffman argues that as flexible hybrid electronics continue to improve, they have the potential to change hardware business models and push forward simpler manufacturing techniques.

Verification blogger Mark Glasser tells a familiar tale of impenetrable, infuriating bugs and a few lessons he’s learned along the way, including the danger of assumptions and the value of taking mental breaks.

GlobalFoundries’ Dave Lammers discusses a recent survey by Dan Hutcheson on FD-SOI adoption, the primary use cases, and why it can get along with finFET.

Aldec’s Farhad Fallahlalehzari points out that FPGAs have shown a great improvement in both power consumption and performance in deep neural network applications and may outshine GPUs for some machine learning applications.

Rambus’ Aharon Etengoff takes a look at the recent Panera Bread data breach and warns that while loyalty programs might offer convenience in the form of free items or deals, personal data stored in those programs is far from secure.

Ansys Kara Gremillion points to why simulation and virtual vehicles will be a necessary part of validating autonomous driving systems.

Nvidia’s Anushree Saxena highlights three papers from the recent machine learning-focused ICLR, including unsupervised physical object recognition and automatic translation of less common languages.

And don’t miss featured blogs from the latest IoT, Security & Automotive and Packaging, Test & Materials newsletters:

Editor In Chief Ed Sperling contends that when the data collected for autonomous vehicles is made consistent, it will change the entire automotive industry.

Executive Editor Ann Steffora Mutschler points to big changes in agriculture.

Synopsys’ Robert Vamosi looks at what MISRA compliance adds to connected vehicles.

Flex Logix’s Geoff Tate explains how to ensure that eFPGA timing is of the same quality and accuracy as ASIC signoff flows.

Mentor’s Andrew Macleod and Scott Majdecki note that methodologies long used in IC, software, and system design are increasingly dominant in a changing automotive supply chain.

Marvell’s Maen Suleiman argues that next-generation architectures will require intelligence distributed throughout the network infrastructure.

Editor In Chief Ed Sperling contends that time-to-market concerns and growing design costs are forcing broad changes.

Technology Editor Jeff Dorsch looks at what’s ahead this month at NIWeek.

Brewer Science’s Reuben Chacko digs into a different way to improve process reliability and speed up time to deployment.

National Instruments’ Bhavesh Mistry extols the value of student-centered instruction over an extended period of time.