Too Big To Simulate?


With system design complexity set on a steady upward trajectory, there are situations in which traditional simulation just can’t keep up. The alternative—and one being used by Google, Uber, Ford, GM, Volvo, Audi and others with autonomous vehicles— is to test cars on the road and collect data for later analysis. “They're not simulating, they're just doing it all in the real world ... » read more

Grappling With Auto Security


It’s a changed world under the hood of automobiles today, as vehicles become increasingly connected to infrastructure and each other. But that connectedness also is creating new security risks. Growing complexity is one piece of the problem. There are upwards of 80 electronic control units (ECUs) and more than 100 million lines of code in an average vehicle. On top of that, there are m... » read more

Automating System Design


Change is underway in the chip design world, creating opportunities and challenges that reach far beyond questions about whether Moore’s Law is slowing or stopping. Never before in the history of semiconductors has design been so complex and sophisticated, and never has it touched so many lives in so many interesting ways. This is all happening as a result of the chip’s enabling role in ... » read more

Reaching For ROI


The simplest way to assess power and performance ROI of a chip design is to ask if the chip works and whether it meets the design specifications. But chips can be used in very different ways, and a single chip may have a number of operational modes, so that formula isn't so clear anymore. "Preventing failures is the No. 1 priority when it comes to ROI," said Aveek Sarkar, vice president of p... » read more

Adventures In Assembly


With so few [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] designs — if any — today designed completely new from the ground up, the assembly task is an extremely important one to get right. [getkc id="43" kc_name="IP"] components must be put together optimally and efficiently to perfectly match the application requirements, which is complex and intricately nuanced. How companies approach IP varies signif... » read more

Where We Go From Here


It is hard to argue against the evidence that the dynamics of modern software in embedded systems are making it nearly impractical for traditional approaches of cycle based simulation or emulation to survive as they’ve been while truly meeting the needs of hardware/software design teams. While it is not a topic the EDA companies are completely comfortable addressing directly, the fact is t... » read more

Bridging Hardware And Software


Methodology and reuse are two fairly standard concepts when it comes to semiconductor design, but they're viewed completely differently by hardware and software teams. It's a given that hardware and software have different goals and opinions about how best to do design. And while all agree that a single methodology can pay dividends in future chips, there is disagreement over who should shap... » read more

More Uses For Hypervisors


Hypervisors are showing up in more places than ever before as a quick and inexpensive way to utilize multiple cores and multiple chips more effectively and more securely. This marks an interesting twist for a technology that originally was developed as a way of enabling virtualization on a PC, allowing users to run multiple incompatible applications on the same computer. That was followed in... » read more

Upcoming Hurdles For The Semiconductor Industry


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss upcoming challenges and hurdles to overcome for the semiconductor industry with Vic Kulkarni, senior vice president and general manager, RTL Power Business at Ansys; Chris Rowen, Fellow and CTO, IP Group at Cadence; Subramani Kengeri, vice president, Global Design Solutions at GLOBALFOUNDRIES; Simon Davidmann, CEO of Imperas Software; Michael Buehle... » read more

Bridging Hardware And Software


Since the advent of embedded systems there has been a struggle between hardware engineers trying to understand the mindset of their software counterparts, and vice versa. That struggle is alive and well today—and it's costing everyone money. This divide is rife with passion, territoriality and misunderstanding. It has delayed tapeouts, created errors and inefficiencies that take time and e... » read more

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