Improving Algorithms With High-Level Synthesis


Most computer algorithms today are developed in high-level languages on general-purpose computers. But someday they may be deployed in embedded systems where the development, verification, and validation of algorithms is done in languages like python, Java, C++, or even numerical frameworks like MatLab. This is the goal of high-level synthesis (HLS), and it aims to solve a fundamental proble... » read more

Optimizing Power And Performance For Machine Learning At The Edge


While machine learning (ML) algorithms are popular for running on enterprise Cloud systems for training neural networks, AI/ML chipsets for edge devices are growing at a triple digit rate, according to Tractica “Deep Learning Chipsets” (Figure 1). Edge devices include automobiles, drones, and mobile devices that are all employing AI/ML to provide valuable functionality. Figure 1: Marke... » read more

Machine Learning At The Edge


Moving machine learning to the edge has critical requirements on power and performance. Using off-the-shelf solutions is not practical. CPUs are too slow, GPUs/TPUs are expensive and consume too much power, and even generic machine learning accelerators can be overbuilt and are not optimal for power. In this paper, learn about creating new power/memory efficient hardware architectures to meet n... » read more

Using FPGAs For AI


Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are progressing at a rate that is outstripping Moore's Law. In fact, they now are evolving faster than silicon can be designed. The industry is looking at all possibilities to provide devices that have the necessary accuracy and performance, as well as a power budget that can be sustained. FPGAs are promising, but they also have some sig... » read more

Optimizing Hardware Faster


Maximillian Odendahl, CEO of Silexica, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about high-level synthesis and the changing role of this technology. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What is the direction that high-level synthesis is heading in? Odendahl: The direction hasn’t changed, but in the past HLS was not usable by the software guys. The main push right n... » read more

Rapid Evolution For Verification Plans


Verification plans are rapidly evolving from mechanisms to track verification progress into multi-faceted coordination vehicles for several teams with disparate goals, using complex resource management spread across multiple abstractions and tools. New system demands from industries such as automotive are forcing tighter integration of those plans with requirements management and product lif... » read more

Does System Design Still Need Abstraction?


About 15 years ago, the assumption in the EDA industry was that system design would be inevitable. The transition from gate-level design to a new entry point at the register transfer level (RTL) seemed complete with logic synthesis becoming well-adopted. The next step seemed to be so obvious at the time: High-level synthesis (HLS) and transaction-based development beyond RTL—also taking into ... » read more

Using HLS To Improve Algorithms


Can an HLS optimization tool outperform expert-level hand-optimizations? A recently published white paper examines how SLX FPGA is used to optimize a secure hash algorithm. T the results are compared to a competition-winning hand-optimized HLS implementation of the same algorithm. This approach provides a nearly 400x speed-up over the unoptimized implementation and even outperforms the hand ... » read more

Focus Shifts To Wasted Power


Mobile phones made the industry aware of power, but now the focus is shifting to the total energy needed to perform a task. Activity that is unnecessary to perform the intended task is wasted power, and reducing it requires some new methodologies and structural changes within development teams. There is a broadening awareness about power. "The companies doing SoCs for mobile lead the charge ... » read more

High-Level Design And High-Level Verification


Not so long ago, some EDA vendors were painting a very attractive picture of chip design in the then-near future. The idea was that an architectural team would write a single description of the complete system in some high-level language, usually C/C++/SystemC, and that a new class of EDA tool would automatically partition the design into hardware and software, choosing the functionality of eac... » read more

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