How Heterogeneous ICs Are Reshaping Design Teams


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the complex interactions developing between different engineering groups as designs become more heterogeneous, with Jean-Marie Brunet, senior director for the Emulation Division at Siemens EDA; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for solution marketing at Cadence; Maurizio Griva, R&D Manager at Reply; and Laurent Mai... » read more

Team Work


While I am not much of a golf player, I participated in a golf tournament over the summer. It was a very friendly setup with teams of four playing against each other. Each player of the team hits his ball, and the ball that lands in the best position determines the starting point for every one of the team for the next stroke. The fact that only the best shot of the team counts, definitely ma... » read more

FPGA Prototyping Gains Ground


FPGA technology for design prototypes is making new inroads as demands increase for better integration between hardware and software. [gettech id="31071" comment="FPGA"] prototyping, also known as physical prototyping, has been supported by all of the major EDA players for some time, and it has been considered an essential tool for the largest chipmakers, along with emulation and simulation.... » read more

Prototype Like A Pro


FPGA-based prototyping has been a key prototyping technique for many years. The steady increase in software content and thus the need to verify and validate the SoC in context of the software has resulted in an equally steady increase in its usage. FPGA-based prototyping or physical prototyping, as it is also called, offers a great way to develop software, verify the hardware in context of that... » read more

Hardware Models For Software


Shift left, while a relatively new term, has become important in all parts of the SoC design flow, but its impacts are wide ranging and many still ill defined. It basically means that tasks have to be started earlier than in the past because more accuracy is required from tasks that are further down in the flow in order to make better predictions. It also implies that more steps are performed c... » read more

Making Hardware Design More Agile


Semiconductor engineering sat down to whether changes are needed in hardware design methodology, with Philip Gutierrez, ASIC/FPGA design manager in [getentity id="22306" comment="IBM"]'s FlashSystems Storage Group; Dennis Brophy, director of strategic business development at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; Frank Schirrmeister, group director for product marketing of the System ... » read more

Blurring The Lines On Prototyping


Prototyping is an integral part of every [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] today, with two main approaches being used: virtual or software-based, and physical, which includes FPGA-based boards as well as hardware emulation systems. [getkc id="104" kc_name="Virtual prototyping"] is typically used for software development in the early stages of SoC design, even before SoC [getkc id="49" kc_name="R... » read more

New Uses For Emulation


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the changing emulation landscape with Jim Kenney, director of marketing for emulation at Mentor Graphics; Tom Borgstrom, director of the verification group at Synopsys; Frank Schirrmeister, group director of product marketing for the System Development Suite at Cadence; Gary Smith, chief analyst at Gary Smith EDA; and Lauro Rizzatti, a verification ... » read more