Who’s Calling The Shots


Throughout the PC era and well into the mobile phone market, it was semiconductor companies that called the shots while OEMs followed their lead and designed systems around chips. That’s no longer the case. A shift has been underway over the past half decade, and continuing even now, to reverse that trend. The OEM — or systems company as it is more commonly called today — now determine... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


M&A ARM acquired Israel-based Sansa Security, a provider of hardware security IP and software for advanced system-on-chip components deployed in IoT and mobile devices. The company's technology is currently deployed across a range of smart connected devices and enterprise systems. Sansa IP will be integrated into ARM's TrustZone and IoT portfolios. Standards Accellera sent UVM 1.2 ... » read more

The Next Big Things


Progress in electronics has always been about combining more functions into devices and making access to information more convenient. This is what drove the PC revolution in the 1980s, when centralized data was made available on desktops, and it's what drove the notebook PC revolution in the 1990s as computers became untethered from the desktop, as long as you could find an Ethernet connecti... » read more

Which Process, Material, IP?


For years chipmakers have been demanding more choices. They've finally gotten what they wished for—so many possibilities, in fact, that engineering teams of all types are having trouble wading through them. And to make matters worse, some choices now come with unexpected and often unwanted caveats. At the most advanced nodes it's a given that being able to shrink features and double patter... » read more

Securing EDA In The Cloud


In the first part of this article, EDA’s Clouded Future, the types of application suitable for cloud-based solutions were examined and the cost benefits that could arise for both EDA suppliers and consumers. Security has stood in the way of widespread adoption, but it is a little more complex than just being concerned about a theft of sensitive design data. Security involves data protect f... » read more

USB Connectors Get Smarter


By now, there’s quite a buzz about the new USB Type-C spec given that it provides for a reversible plug connector for USB devices and cabling, aiming to end the endless cable flipping to make sure the orientation is correction. To avoid confusion, while developed at about the same time as the USB 3.1 specification, it is distinct from that one. When it comes to software support for Type-C,... » read more

Making Hardware Design More Agile


Semiconductor engineering sat down to whether changes are needed in hardware design methodology, with Philip Gutierrez, ASIC/FPGA design manager in [getentity id="22306" comment="IBM"]'s FlashSystems Storage Group; Dennis Brophy, director of strategic business development at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; Frank Schirrmeister, group director for product marketing of the System ... » read more

IP Verification Challenges


At the Design Automation Conference this year, the Designer and IP tracks were the stars of the show in many ways. These sessions catered to industry rather than academia and provided engineers with information they could directly use in their jobs. Many of the sessions were filled to capacity and Anne Cirkel, general chair for the 52nd DAC, was enthusiastic about the growing success of these t... » read more

Prototyping To Help You Win The Battle


Lately, my children and I are closely following a new show on ABC called “Battlebots”. The concept is as simple as it is cool—have a massive bulletproof arena where two remote-controlled robots battle it out until one is knocked out or the time is up (and a jury decides the winner). The battles are all about making physical contact with the other robot to either directly deal them damage ... » read more

Is Your Automotive Software Robust Enough for Hardware Faults?


In this whitepaper, we will apply virtual Fault Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) concepts on a specific case study, an Electrical Vehicle Powertrain (EVP) system. We will show how this EVP system is refined from a Software-in-the Loop (SIL) level to a virtual Hardware-in-the-Loop level (vHIL), using a Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK). Hardware faults are applied to the resulting system and its ... » read more

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