Higher Frequencies Mean More Memory
By Ann Mutschler - 16 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

As SoCs get more complex, whether due to higher frequencies or adding more functionality, there is a spillover effect on bandwidth, [getkc id="22" kc_name="memory"] and power. There is no simple way to just turn up the clock frequency in a complex [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"]. That relatively straightforward objective will likely require more power domains, more cores, more ways to move sig... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT
By Ed Sperling - 16 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

Mergers & Acquisitions Mentor Graphics bought [getentity id="22268" e_name="Flexras Technologies"] for an undisclosed sum. Flexras, based in France, makes FPGA-based prototyping tools. The company was founded in 2009. Deals Sonics won a deal with Toshiba, which is using Sonics' on-chip network technologies and services for application processors targeted at smart appliances, industrial... » read more

Low Power Everything
By Ed Sperling - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

A decade ago, former International Rectifier CEO Alex Lidow pronounced that there were three main categories for saving energy on a mass scale—variable speed motors, fluorescent lighting, and more efficient servers. He was right at the time. Those weren't necessarily semiconductor-driven markets, but they were the place where the most power could be saved. In fact, at the time, the rough e... » read more

What Will Change In Design For 2015?
By Brian Bailey - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

This year more than 26 people provided predictions for 2015. Most of these came from the EDA industry, so the results may be rather biased. However, ecosystems are coming closer together in many parts of the semiconductor food chain, meaning that the EDA companies often can see what is happening in dependent industries and in the system design houses. Thus their predictions may have already res... » read more

Designing For Automotive
By Ann Mutschler - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

As cars include an increasing amount of electronics and electronics subsystems, the number of design challenges involving reliability, cost and power are on the rise. “Reliability tops the list of concerns for the design team because when you put these electronics in, you must know if they are going to operate efficiently by themselves," said Aveek Sarkar, vice president of product enginee... » read more

Unraveling Power Methodologies
By Brian Bailey - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

When working on articles, the editors at Semiconductor Engineering sometimes hear things that make them stand back and question what seems to be an industry truth. One such statement happened last month while researching a different article. The statement was: Most designs are not top-down, but in fact bottom-up when it comes to power management. The most used methodology today is that the RTL... » read more

Digital TV: The Need For Speed
By Loren Shalinsky - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 1

With CES just finishing up, I wanted to take a closer look at the changes in the digital TV market, and what affect those changes have on high performance memory and serial links. Just five years ago, the United States made the transition from analog to digital television. At the time, standard definition digital TV was common, with screens that contained 345 thousand pixels per frame. Recen... » read more

Image Sensor And Display Enhancements Drive Low-Cost Smartphone Growth
By Hezi Saar - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

The low-cost smartphone segment is fueling the growth of the overall smartphone market. Smartphones are being adopted in emerging markets and are displacing feature or basic phones in developed markets. Mobile phone device manufacturers are closing the leadership gap with the No. 1 vendor – Samsung – by competing in both the high-end and low-end smartphone segments. See Table 1. Table ... » read more

IP Design Essentials For Reliability And SoC Integration
By Annapoorna Krishnaswamy - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

IP is integral to every SoC design. The need for ubiquitous connectivity has pushed the threshold for content in SoCs even beyond the tenets of Moore’s Law. Technology scaling has not only enabled the delivery of increased performance and reduced power, but also rich content through the integration of a wide range of IPs such as radio devices, CMOS image sensors, MEMs, etc., into a single ... » read more

Is Your IP-Verification Environment Trying To Kill You?
By Larry Vivolo - 15 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

I was watching an old episode of The Office the other night. It was the one where a GPS guided the lead characters into a lake. While we've all fallen victim to a GPS gone bad. Most of us are fortunate enough not to trust technology blindly enough to drive into a lake (or in my case, onto the tarmac at Ft. Lauderdale International). Yet, it's surprisingly easy to find parallels in real life whe... » read more

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