The Week In Review: Design


Tools & IP Pro Design launched three new proFPGA Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA modules for SoC and IP prototyping. The modules combine FPGA logic with quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 and dual-core ARM Cortex-R5 processors and on-board interfaces. The modules offer a total of up to 5 extension sites with 531 standard I/Os and 16 multi-gigabit transceivers (MGTs). The board allows a maximum point-to-point ... » read more

Debugging Debug


There appears to be an unwritten law about the time spent in debug-it is a constant. It could be that all gains made by improvements in tools and methodologies are offset by increases in complexity, or that the debug process causes design teams to be more conservative. It could be that no matter how much time spent on debug, the only thing accomplished is to move bugs to places that are less... » read more

Using Data Mining Differently


The semiconductor industry generates a tremendous quantity of data, but until very recently engineers had to sort through it on their own to spot patterns, trends and aberrations. That's beginning to change as chipmakers develop their own solutions or partner with others to effectively mine this data. Adding some structure and automation around all of this data is long overdue. Data mining h... » read more

Verification Of Functional Safety (Part 2)


The automotive industry is grappling with a tradeoff between cost and safety. Safety is well understood in industries that are cost-insensitive, such as aerospace and medical, and the consumer industry has a long track record of driving down costs while increasing functionality. But can these two industries be brought together in a safe and effective manner to enable automobiles to achieve the ... » read more

AI And Machine Learning Drive New SoC Verification Choices


I have previously written about the choices that design teams have when choosing specific verification engines—virtual, formal, simulation, emulation, FPGA and actual silicon. As a new class of SoC is emerging for machine learning and artificial intelligence with complexities previously unheard of, they further deepen the challenge of choosing the right tool for the job. Even the choice betwe... » read more

Functional Safety Methodologies For Automotive Applications


Safety-critical automotive applications have stringent demands for functional safety and reliability. Traditionally, functional safety requirements have been managed by car manufacturers and system providers. However, with the increasing complexity of electronics involved, the responsibility of addressing functional safety is now propagating through the supply chain to semiconductor companies a... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 21


Mentor's Colin Walls posits that one part of the reason modern code has so many bugs may be the way we talk about them, and it's time for a change in terminology. Following up on a post about the challenges of bringing digital literacy to an area where many are unable to read, Cadence's Madhavi Rao looks at the impact agriculture-focused IoT technologies could have on rural areas in India. ... » read more

How To Build A Better MEMS Microphone


We are seeing a lot of interest in simulating noise, particularly for condenser microphones. With any transducer, noise reduction is always a plus, and with microphones there are two specific applications that need low noise. One is where the microphone is positioned away from the sound source, such as in video calling or when using voice commands with tablet computers. The other is where multi... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 14


Mentor's Matthew Hogan takes a look at why it's important to establish a baseline reliability verification process and how foundry rule decks fit in. Synopsys' Robert Vamosi digs into the issues with fitness tracker Strava's heatmap, how it could be manipulated, and why the risks of big data analytics go beyond wearables. Cadence's Paul McLellan points to research showing how easy it can ... » read more

Chip Aging Accelerates


Reliability is becoming an increasingly important proof point for new chips as they are rolled out in new markets such as automotive, cloud computing and industrial IoT, but actually proving that a chip will function as expected over time is becoming much more difficult. In the past, reliability generally was considered a foundry issue. Chips developed for computers and phones were designed ... » read more

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