Bridging the IP Divide


IP reuse enabled greater efficiency in the creation of large, complex SoCs, but even after 20 years there are few tools to bridge the divide between the IP provider and the IP user. The problem is that there is an implicit fuzzy contract describing how the IP should be used, what capabilities it provides, and the extent of the verification that has been performed. IP vendors have been trying to... » read more

An Unsustainable Divide


One of the great things about attending DVCon, or any other conference for that matter, is the networking. You get to see so many people who are eager to learn, to talk and to share ideas. When this happens, you tend to hear a lot of statements that have to rattle around in your mind for a while before you can start to make sense of them and see if any coherent themes emerge. By themes, I am... » read more

EDA’s Clouded Future


There was a time, not that long ago, when chip design and EDA tools consumed some of the largest data centers with tens of thousands of machines and single datasets that consumed more than a hard disk could hold. The existing IT capabilities of the times were stretched to their limits. But while design sizes grew, other aspects of the flow did not develop as fast. “This has been driven by ... » read more

Power Verification Now Required


Today’s verification tasks may seem daunting — and much of it is — but all of it is absolutely necessary to make sure chips operate properly with a larger system. Throw power into the mix and the challenges mount. The good news is that there is no shortage of tools and methodologies to help with these tasks. The bad news is that even the best tools won’t make the challenges disappear... » read more

Analog’s Day Of Reckoning


The numbers being touted by the semiconductor industry for IoT edge devices are staggering. How they are going to be used, who will make them, or indeed who will make money from them are much less certain. The industry seems to be clear about the content of these devices. A small processor, some flash memory or possibly even some of the new memory technologies that are coming along, a radio ... » read more

Full Coverage Or Full Monty


Without adequate coverage metrics and tools, verification engineers would never be able to answer the proverbial question: Are we done yet? But a lot has changed in the design flow since the existing set of metrics was defined. Does it still ensure that the right things get verified, that time is not wasted on things deemed unimportant or a duplication of effort, and can it handle today’s hie... » read more

Taming Lint With Formal


Designers have been using Linting tools for many years to ensure designs adhere to recommended coding guidelines. Linting tools verify that RTL is written in an unambiguous way to ensure that downstream tools (simulation, synthesis, etc.) do not interpret the code incorrectly, resulting in design, verification, timing or implementation issues. Linting tools take advantage of fast and shallow... » read more

Tech Talk: Better Coverage


Atrenta's Yuan Lu talks about code coverage, functional coverage and the use of assertions in debugging designs. [youtube vid=Hpm-l1z8HTo] » read more

Emulation Uses Increase


For more than two decades, [getkc id="30" comment="emulation"] was a technology in search of a market. While on paper it has always made sense to speed up simulation, using hardware acceleration was so pricey that few companies could justify the cost. Fast-forward to today and emulation is a major contributor to the bottom line at all of the Big Three [getkc id="7" kc_name="EDA"] companies. ... » read more

FPGA Verification with Assertions: Why Bother?


This paper provides a practical, easy, step-by- step set of instructions on how to add assertions to your RTL design. By following the simple guidelines provided in this paper you will benefit by cutting simulation debugging time in half, as well as finding very complex bugs that are likely to escape traditional simulation without assertions. To read more, click here. » read more

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