The Week In Review: Design


Imagination has put the MIPS embedded processor and Ensigma mobile connectivity groups up for sale, refocusing on graphics after last month's announcement that Apple would no longer use the company's GPU IP. Imagination also began formal dispute resolution procedures with Apple. Tools Synopsys released new versions of its HSPICE, FineSim and CustomSim circuit simulation products, adding n... » read more

Blog Review: May 3


Cadence's Paul McLellan shares highlights from a recent IRDS panel, including changing the assumptions about computing and looking for the next "killer app." Synopsys' Meenakshy Ramachandran introduces the array of improvements in HDMI 2.1, from higher bandwidth to Dynamic HDR. Mentor's Minghui Fan checks out advancements in optical proximity correction and resolution enhancement technolo... » read more

What’s Next In Neural Networking?


Faster chips, more affordable storage, and open libraries are giving neural network new momentum, and companies are now in the process of figuring out how to optimize it across a variety of markets. The roots of neural networking stretch back to the late 1940s with Claude Shannon’s Information Theory, but until several years ago this technology made relatively slow progress. The rush towar... » read more

System Bits: May 2


AI systems echo human prejudices One of the concerns about the of future artificial intelligence systems includes the perception that these machine-based systems are coldly logical and objectively rational, however, this may not be the case. In fact, in a new study by Princeton University researchers has shown how machines can be reflections of their creators in potentially problematic ways. ... » read more

Can Formal Replace Simulation?


A year ago, [getentity id="22147" comment="Oski Technology"] achieved something that had never happened before. It brought together 15 of the top minds in [getkc id="33" kc_name="formal verification"] deployment and sat them down in a room to discuss the problems and issues they face and the ways in which they are attempting to solve those problems. Semiconductor Engineering was there to record... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


IP ARM launched the Mali-C71 image signal processor (ISP), targeting ADAS SoCs. The ISP is capable of processing up to 4 real-time cameras and 16 camera streams with a single pipeline and provides advanced error detection with more than 300 dedicated fault detection circuits. Included is full reference software to control the ISP, sensor, auto white balance and auto exposure. Synopsys ext... » read more

The Rise Of Parallelism


Parallel computing is an idea whose time has finally come, but not for the obvious reasons. Parallelism is a computer science concept that is older Moore's Law. In fact, it first appeared in print in a 1958 IBM research memo, in which John Cocke, a mathematician, and Daniel Slotnick, a computer scientist, discussed parallelism in numerical calculations. That was followed eight years later by... » read more

Researchers Learn New Tricks


There is very little EDA research being done in universities today, except for very narrow fields such as [getkc id="33" kc_name="formal verification"]. It has been a steady decline over quite a long period of time. There are several reasons for this. The first is money. Money has to flow into the universities to pay for the research, and this has to lead to some form of prestige for the est... » read more

Mathematic Model Helps Predict Markets That Will Drive Semiconductor Growth


Which markets will drive semiconductor growth in the coming years and for how long are key questions that Wally Rhines, CEO of Mentor, a Siemens Business, strove to answer in a thought-provoking Mentor User2User Conference keynote here in Santa Clara, CA. To a packed auditorium Rhines described how a tried-and-true mathematical method can be applied to more accurately forecast growth and longev... » read more

Rediscovering Coverage Insurance


When coverage comes up in conversation, if it comes up at all, it’s always a matter of car, home or health insurance. Coverage and functional verification are unlikely to be used in that discussion, or any other for that matter. That’s too bad because engineering groups grapple with when is enough verification enough, like some kind of coverage insurance. Oh sure, simulation and emulatio... » read more

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