Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Power always has been a function of cost. The more power required, the more it costs to run a device, both in dollars and carbon footprint. This makes the breakthrough in fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory all the more noteworthy, and one that could have significant implications for the future of computing, from data centers to rechargeable batteries in automobiles, robot... » read more

Streamline DO-254 Compliance With Model-Based Design


By Eric Cigan, MathWorks, and Jacob Wiltgen, Siemens EDA The purpose of DO-254 (formally known as RTCA/ DO-254 or ED80) is to provide guidance for the development of airborne electronic hardware. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and other worldwide aviation safety authorities require this standard to ensure that complex electronic hardware us... » read more

Enabling Model-Based Design For DO-254 Certification Compliance


The increasing prevalence and cost of projects that need to comply with the DO-254 standard is forcing companies to evaluate their development processes. This white paper shows a development approach to compliance using model-based design. It covers how a DO-254 workflow using model-based design promotes a consistent requirements-oriented project view and increases reuse of design and verificat... » read more

Reconstruction of Bloch wavefunctions of holes in a semiconductor


Summary "A central goal of condensed-matter physics is to understand how the diverse electronic and optical properties of crystalline materials emerge from the wavelike motion of electrons through periodically arranged atoms. However, more than 90 years after Bloch derived the functional forms of electronic waves in crystals [1] (now known as Bloch wavefunctions), rapid scattering processes ha... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Inphi Corporation and Synopsys finalized the acquisition of eSilicon. Synopsys acquired certain IP assets from eSilicon, including TCAMs and multi-port memory compilers, as well as its Interface IP portfolio with High-Bandwidth Interface (HBI) IP and a team of R&D engineers; it did not disclose terms of the deal. Inphi Corporation bought the rest of the company for approximately $216 millio... » read more

Open Source Faces Challenges In 2020


I recently wrote a couple of posts about open-source EDA tools, OpenROAD: Open-Source EDA from RTL to GDSII and 2nd WOSET Workshop on Open-Source EDA. I have also written about open-source in general, as an approach to development and an approach to business in a post from over four years ago that I think stands up well: The Paradox of Open Source. The reason I called it a paradox is that ... » read more

Hardware-Software Co-Design Reappears


The core concepts in hardware-software co-design are getting another look, nearly two decades after this approach was first introduced and failed to catch on. What's different this time around is the growing complexity and an emphasis on architectural improvements, as well as device scaling, particularly for AI/ML applications. Software is a critical component, and the more tightly integrate... » read more

Deep Learning Models With MATLAB And Cortex-A


Today, I’ve teamed up with Ram Cherukuri of MathWorks to provide an overview of the MathWorks toolchain for machine learning (ML) and the deployment of embedded ML inference on Arm Cortex-A using the Arm Compute Library. MathWorks enables engineers to get started quickly and makes machine learning possible without having to become an expert. If you’re an algorithm engineer interested ... » 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

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Consultancy Sondrel acquired IMGworks, formerly the design services unit of Imagination. Sondrel says it plans to focus on design services for ADAS systems, AI, and machine vision and learning devices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tools Cadence expanded its formal verification platform, JasperGold, adding linting and clock domain crossing apps that address RTL signoff ... » read more

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