Week In Review: System-Level Design


Cadence agreed to buy Forte Design Systems for an undisclosed sum, adding further proof that the market for high-level synthesis and tools that run at higher levels of abstraction is finally hitting its stride. Behind this acquisition is a rising pain level due to increasing complexity in SoCs—IP integration, low power concerns and much more of everything, from transistors to memories—has f... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 31


Low signal loss waveguides With the potential to enable a leap ahead in size reduction and performance, DARPA-funded researchers at UCSB and CalTech have developed new methods to integrate long coils of waveguides with low signal loss onto microchips—potentially enabling a leap ahead in size reduction and performance. Long coils of optical waveguides—any structure that can guide light, ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 26


Arctic Neutrinos From Space Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) has observed high-energy neutrinos stemming from outside the solar system, an event that could provide some clues about the universe. Researchers observed the sub-atomic particles at IceCube, a huge neutrino detector in Antarctica. TUM has observed 28 neutrinos that most likely came from cosmic objects. The IceCube observato... » read more

The New Hybrid World: Vision And Reality


SAN FRANCISCO—You know the famous scene from the movie “The Graduate,” in which a young Dustin Hoffman is offered investment advice by a businessman. “I want to say just one word to you…just one word. Are you listening? Plastics.” Today, Hoffman’s character Benjamin Braddock might hear two words: “Integrated objects.” At least that’s how Ross Bringans from PARC sees... » read more

The Next Big Thing


The “next big thing” is always a collection of things—technologies that come together at the right moment to produce a wildly popular new product at a time when the market can consume it, build on it and truly recognize and leverage its value. What’s different about the Internet of Things is that, despite efforts to take control of it, there is no single owner, no company or even gr... » read more

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