Embedded Software Verification Issues Grow


Embedded software is becoming more critical in managing the power and performance of complex designs, but so far there is no consensus about the best way to approach it—and that's creating problems. Even with safety-critical standards such as DO-178C for aerospace and [gettech id="31076" comment="ISO 26262"] for automotive, different groups of tool providers approach software from differen... » read more

Tuning Heterogeneous SoCs


It's one thing to pack multiple processor cores into a design, but it is much more difficult to ensure the hardware matches the software's requirements, or that the software optimally uses the hardware. Both the hardware and software teams are now facing these issues, and there are few tools to help them fully understand the problems or to provide solutions. Design teams continue to add more... » read more

Analog’s Rising Status


As more sensors and actuators are added into electronic devices, pressure is growing to more seamlessly move data seamlessly back and forth between analog and digital circuitry. [getkc id="37" kc_name="Analog"] and digital always have fit rather uncomfortably together, and that discomfort has grown as [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoCs"] are built using smaller feature sizes. While digital transis... » read more

Reflecting Back on 2016: Markets


Anyone can make a prediction, and sometimes the more outlandish they are the more they get noticed. But at the end of the year some people hit the mark while others may have been way off. Many people simply make projections based on the current trajectory of trends, while others look for the potential discontinuities that may lie ahead. Semiconductor Engineering examines the projections made... » read more

Teaching Computers To See


Vision processing is emerging as a foundation technology for a number of high-growth applications, spurring a wave of intensive research to reduce power, improve performance, and push embedded vision into the mainstream to leverage economies of scale. What began as a relatively modest development effort has turned into an all-out race for a piece of this market, and for good reason. Mark... » read more

Partitioning For Power


Examine any smartphone design today and most of the electronic circuitry is "off" most of the time. And regardless of how many processor cores are available, it's rare to use more than a couple of those cores at any point in time. The emphasis is shifting, though, as the mobility market flattens and other markets such as driver-assisted vehicles and IoT begin gaining traction. In a car, turn... » read more

The Time Dimension Of Power


Power is the flow of energy over time. While both aspects of that equation are important, they are important to different people in different ways. Energy that moves too quickly can cause significant damage. Too much energy moving over time can mean a non-competitive product, from battery-powered devices to a wide array of locations such as the datacenter. When the industry talks about power... » read more

Energy Harvesting Gains Steam


Energy harvesting is gaining traction with a surge in ultra-low-power IoT applications, ranging from inventory tracking, wearables and drones, to vibration sensors for motors in industrial settings. The idea that machines could run without batteries—or that energy could be harvested either from motion or ambient sound waves or chemical reactions to augment battery power—has been in the w... » read more

Toward Real-World Power Analysis


The expansion of emulation into new fields, rather than just functional verification, is making it possible to do power analysis over longer spans of time. The result is a fast and effective way to analyze real-world scenarios. This is a new field, and it marks a new use of this technology. While it is still evolving, several ideas have surfaced about the best methodology and the best way to... » read more

Can Low-Power Devices Be Secure?


Successfully designing a low-power, high-performance chip design is an accomplishment, but effectively implementing cybersecurity in such devices makes it much more difficult. Safety, particularly functional safety for automotive and military/aerospace applications, also can be a prime concern in creating low-power, high-performance integrated circuits and systems. When combined with securit... » read more

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