IBM’s Energy-Efficient NorthPole AI Unit


At this point it is well known that from an energy efficiency standpoint, the biggest bang for the back is to be found at the highest levels of abstraction. Fitting the right architecture to the task at hand i.e., an application specific architecture, will lead to benefits that are hard or impossible to claw back later in the design and implementation flow.  With the huge increase in the inter... » read more

Thoughts On AI Consciousness


By Anda Ioana Enescu Buyruk and Catalin Tudor The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked profound discussions regarding the possibility of AI systems achieving consciousness. Such a development carries immense implications, forcing us to redirect our focus from studying the behavior of other organisms to scrutinizing ourselves. This article will delve into the concept ... » read more

What Happened To Portable Stimulus?


In June 2018, Accellera released the initial version of the Portable Test and Stimulus Standard (PSS), a new verification language that was slated to be the first new abstraction defined within EDA for a couple of decades. So what happened to it? Apart from a few updates at DVCon, there appears to be little talk about it today. However, the industry has its head down trying to make it work, ... » read more

Use Tcl To Save Signals More Efficiently In AMS Simulations


Saving signal waveforms during a simulation is one of the basic ways to check the simulation results. However, with large SoC designs, it’s not always practical to save all signals during simulation, and the simulation performance might also be impacted by the number of signals being saved. Therefore, a crucial part of the simulation setup is to specify the expected and essential signals to s... » read more

A Shift Left Strategy Is One Part Of A Holistic Approach To IC Design Verification


The whole is more than the sum of its parts. –Aristotle A machine is nothing more than a collection of nuts, bolts, wheels, gears, wires, pipes, chains, and what have you. And yet, when they are all connected up properly, magic happens. Instead of a pile of parts, you have a car, or a dishwasher, or a nuclear reactor. The connections and interactions between all those parts turns the whole... » read more

What Does Shift Left With Calibre Mean For IC Designers


Driven by the world’s seemingly insatiable demand for electronics that constantly do more faster, integrated circuit (IC) design companies are continuously seeking ways to profitably deliver products with more functionality, reliability, and performance while reducing time-to-market. To accomplish this, a well-planned shift left strategy can free up critical time and resources in delivery sch... » read more

Exploring The 6G Spectrum Landscape


In each generation of cellular communications, new spectrum has been key to delivering more services, more capacity, and higher data throughput to end users. 5G benefited from large contiguous bandwidths of millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum, known as frequency range 2 (FR2). And 5G benefited from the reallocation and unlocking of midband spectrum (3.4 to 4.9 GHz) with its more favorable propaga... » read more

Universal Verification Methodology Coverage For Bluespec RISC-V Cores


Attempting to achieve complete RISC-V verification requires multiple methodologies, one of which is coverage driven simulation based on UVM constrained random methods and complaint with the Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) standard. This whitepaper explains the basics of UVM functional coverage for RISC-V cores using the Google RISCV-DV open-source project, Synopsys verification solu... » read more

Blog Review: September 27


Siemens' Dirk Hartmann examines how a continual improvement in predictive capability processing and algorithms enables the evolution of simulation performance and highlights two areas that underpin most simulation tools. Synopsys' Ian Land, Jason Niatas, and Marc Serughetti note that digital twins can be used from the chip level through sub-systems and up to the system level to examine perfo... » read more

Unleashing The Power Of Generative AI In Chip, System, And Product Design


The field of chip, system, and product design is a complex landscape, fraught with challenges that designers grapple with daily. The traditional design process, while robust, often falls short in addressing the increasing demands for efficiency, customization, and innovation. This white paper delves into these challenges, exploring the transformative potential of generative artificial int... » read more

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