UVM: What’s Stopping You?


These days, verification of the most complex designs is performed using a standard verification methodology, probably SystemVerilog-based [gettech id="31055" comment="UVM"]. Many verification teams have ramped up on UVM, but others have yet to take the plunge. Why is that? And how big a “plunge” is it, anyway? If UVM is as great as all that, then why hasn’t everybody adopted it already... » read more

Wrong Verification Revolution Offered


SoC design traditionally has been an ad-hoc process, with implementation occurring at the register transfer level. This is where verification starts, and after the blocks have been verified, it becomes an iterative process of integration and verification that continues until the complete system has been assembled. But today, this methodology has at least two major problems, which were addres... » read more

DAC 2015: Day 3


The schedule for today revolves around eating and it is perfectly balanced between the big three. The morning starts with breakfast for the Cadence panel titled "Crossing the Great Divide: How to Safely Navigate the move from 28nm to 16FF+." The panel was moderated by Brian Fuller and panelists included Jayanta Lahiri from ARM, Afshin Montaz from Broadcom, Scott McCormack from Freescale, Yan... » read more

Trouble Ahead For IP industry?


[getkc id="106" kc_name="Power-aware design"] has risen from an afterthought to a primary design constraint for some design types. Initially it was smart phones and other battery operated devices. It has consistently expanded into additional areas including those plugged into the wall and those plugged into the grid. Some parts of the world are imposing restrictions on the power that a device c... » read more

What Not To Verify


It is well understood that [getkc id="10" kc_name="verification"] is all about mitigating and managing risk, and success here begins with a good verification planning process. During the planning process, the project team creates a list of specific design functions and use cases that must be verified—and they identify the technique used to verify each specific item on the list. That list c... » read more

Is SystemC Broken?


In order to perform architectural exploration, performance analysis and optimization, early validation of software, improved productivity in hardware development and many other tasks, the industry needs a viable [getkc id="104" kc_name="virtual prototype"]. That requires a suitable language in order to express necessary concepts at a high enough level of [getkc id="101" kc_name="abstraction"] s... » read more

Design By Architect Or Committee?


Everything we do is based on a language. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about design, verification, specification, software or mask data. They all provide a way to communicate intent, and then there are engines that work on the intent to produce something else that is desirable, also based on a language. Over time, the EDA industry has built up a hierarchy of languages from the most deta... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acqusitions Mentor Graphics acquired Tanner EDA, bolstering their position in tools for analog, mixed-signal and MEMs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. NXP joins forces with Freescale. The merger carries a $16.7 billion price tag and potentially creates a new leader in the automotive and MCU markets. Standards Accellera sent UVM 1.2 off to the IEEE P1800.2 working... » read more

Incremental Design Methodologies


There are times when we become stuck in the past, or choose to believe something that is no longer true or actually never was true. As we get older, we are all guilty of that. History tends to rewrite itself, especially given that this industry is aging. One of these situations occurred recently, and comments from an industry luminary didn’t align with the thoughts and memories of other peopl... » read more

Feathers Ruffled By IEEE Patent License Changes


Standards are essential for any market to grow. Products that are completely proprietary tend to serve small niche markets whereas those based on standards can grow through collaborations, independent content creation, and many other ways. Just think about where we would be if there were no communications standards – no WiFi, no cellular standards. You would be locked into buying all of your ... » read more

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