A Comprehensive Approach To System-Level ESD


The performance and reliability of an electronics system largely depend on the system’s immunity from an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event. Because the components, custom chips and package come from various sources — and often from different companies — they are usually designed by separate teams working in silos and in accordance with predefined margins. The ESD Association estimates t... » read more

DO-254 Solutions Blueprint


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognizes the use of commonly used tools for FPGA design and verification such as RTL simulator, synthesis, place & route and static timing analysis. For DAL A and B FPGAs, the FAA also recognizes other tools that improve design, verification, traceability and project management including requirements management, traceability, tests management, de... » read more

Safety, Security And PPA Tradeoffs


Safety and security are emerging as key design tradeoffs as chips are added into safety-critical markets, adding even more complexity into an already complicated optimization process. In the early days of semiconductor design, performance and area were traded off against each other. Then power became important, and the main tradeoffs became power, performance and area (PPA). But as chips inc... » read more

ISO 26262 Statistics


Jorg Gosse, functional safety product manager at OneSpin Solutions, talks about the statistics behind the standards, what is considered good enough, and how those numbers vary across different standards. https://youtu.be/cNTFN3kQ-OM » read more

DO-254: Increasing Verification Coverage By Test


Verification coverage by test is essential to satisfying both the objectives of DO-254 and interpretation in FAA Oder 8110.105. However, verification of requirements by test during final board testing is challenging and time-consuming in most cases. This white paper explains the reasons behind these challenges and provides recommendations for how to overcome them. The recommendations center ... » read more

Big Challenges, Changes For Debug


By Ann Steffora Mutschler & Ed Sperling Debugging a chip always has been difficult, but the problem is getting worse at 7nm and 5nm. The number of corner cases is exploding as complexity rises, and some bugs are not even on anyone's radar until well after devices are already in use by end customers. An estimated 39% of verification engineering time is spent on debugging activities the... » read more

Starting Point Is Changing For Designs


The starting point for semiconductor designs is shifting. What used to be a fairly straightforward exercise of choosing a processor based on power or performance, followed by how much on-chip versus off-chip memory is required, has become much more complicated. This is partly due to an emphasis on application-specific hardware and software solutions for markets that either never existed befo... » read more

Astronics Ballard Technology OmniBus II PXI Express Product for Avionics Test


The OmniBus II PXIe databus interface products combine the standard PXIe interface with MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 Avionics Data Bus interfaces. Interface cards can be ordered with either MIL-STD-1553 only, ARINC 429 only, or both interfaces on the same card. The PXIe interface includes a PCIe x1 interface to the controller as well as support for PXI clock, timing and trigger signals. The inclu... » read more

Tech Talk: DO-254


Aldec's Louie De Luna explains the safety critical standard for the aerospace industry and how that parallels what's happening in automotive electronics. https://youtu.be/qa1g1NNVj60 » read more

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 And The Progress of Technology


Cable news has been continuously deluging us with lots of speculation regarding the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Most of us are drowning in a sea of jargon as TV talking heads express incredulity that, “with all our modern technology, a plane disappeared…” Although the disappearance of flight MH370 is a terrible tragedy, I see the larger context of our progress in commercial a... » read more

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