OSDN – On-chip Software Defined Network


You must be mumbling to yourself, “Oh no, not another NoC article! The term NoC is used so loosely in the industry and everybody seem to be claiming they have one, so what more is there to say?” Fair enough, but please indulge me. Actually, there are some wannabe NoCs out there, but very few actually provide a full-fledged network. I submit, a real NoC should implement all the same key d... » read more

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

Overcoming The Limits Of Scaling


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the increasing reliance on architectural choices for improvements in power, performance and area, with [getperson id="11425" comment=" Sundari Mitra"], CEO of [getentity id="22535" comment="NetSpeed Systems"]; Charlie Janac, chairman and CEO of [getentity id="22674" e_name="Arteris"]; [getperson id="11032" comment="Simon Davidmann"] CEO of [getentit... » read more

Coherency: The New Normal In SoCs


We are not far from devices each handling 100 teraflops of compute, billions of pixels of display, hundreds of gigabits of connectivity, and terabytes of storage. Compared with current state-of-the-art mobile SoCs, these are increases of one or two orders of magnitude — at similar or preferably lower power consumption. SoC design is changing to meet this challenge. Multicore architecture i... » read more

Rethinking Verification For Cars


New tools, approaches, and methodologies are in various stages of development and deployment under the umbrella of functional safety, as more electronics find their way into cars, medical devices and industrial applications. As shown in part one, verification needs to be rethought for these applications. Underneath the umbrella will be ways of doing negative testing, ways of categorizing, an... » read more

Choosing Verification Engines


Emulation, simulation, FPGA prototyping and formal verification have very specific uses on paper, but the lines are becoming less clear as complexity goes up, more third-party IP is included, and the number of use cases and interactions of connected devices explodes. Ironically, the lines are blurring not for the most complex SoCs, such as those used in smart phones. The bigger challenge app... » read more

Alexa, Can You Help Me Build A Better SoC?


Consumers have fallen love with clever products like Amazon Echo, Nest, Google maps, Waze and Zillow that somehow make life a little easier and more fun. The underlying technology that makes these apps so rich and useful is machine learning and it seems to be showing up everywhere. Maybe it’s time to ask, “Alexa, can you help me build a better SoC?” The Next Frontier in SoC Architectur... » read more

Heterogeneous System Challenges Grow


As more types of processors are added into SoCs—CPUs, GPUs, DSPs and accelerators, each running a different OS—there is a growing challenge to make sure these compute elements interact properly with their neighbors. Adding to the problem is this mix of processors and accelerators varies widely between different markets and applications. In mobile there are CPUs, GPUs, video and crypto pr... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Numbers EDA and IP sales increased 5.6% in Q2 to $2.013 billion, up from $1.907 billion in the same period in 2015, according to the most recent Electronic System Design Alliance numbers. Asia/Pacific revenue increased 10.9% to $608.1 million; Japan increased 15.7% to $211.4 million. The Americas increased 4.4% to $908.4 million. IP Cadence launched the latest generation of its Xtensa ... » read more

Building Chips That Can Learn


The idea that devices can learn optimal behavior rather than relying on more generalized hardware and software is driving a resurgence in artificial intelligence, machine leaning, and cognitive computing. But architecting, building and testing these kinds of systems will require broad changes that ultimately could impact the entire semiconductor ecosystem. Many of these changes are wel... » read more

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