Convolutional Neural Networks Power Ahead


While the term may not be immediately recognizable, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are already part of our daily lives—and they are expected to become even more significant in the near future. [getkc id="261" kc_name="Convolutional neural networks"] are a form of machine learning modeled on the way the brain's visual cortex distinguishes one object from another. That helps explain wh... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquisitions Cadence acquired [getentity id="22444" comment="Rocketick"], an Israel-based company focused on multicore parallel simulation. Founded in 2008, their original rise and claim to fame was acceleration on GPUs, having received significant funding from Nvidia. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, and terms were not disclosed. Tools &am... » read more

Power Management Heats Up


Power management has been talked about a lot recently, especially when it comes to mobile devices. But power is only a part of the issue—and perhaps not even the most important part. Heat is the ultimate limiter. If you cannot comfortably place the device on your face or wrist, then you will not have a successful product. Controlling heat, at the micro and macro levels, is an important asp... » read more

Bridging The IP Divide


The adoption of an IP-based model has enabled designs to keep filling the available chip area while allowing design time to shrink. But there is a divide between IP providers and IP users. It is an implicit fuzzy contract about how the IP should be used, what capabilities it provides, and the extent of the verification that has been performed. IP vendors have been trying to formalize this as mu... » read more

Using Multi-Channel Connections for Optimized LPDDR4 Power & Performance


LPDDR4, the latest double data rate synchronous DRAM for mobile applications, includes a number of features that enable SoC design teams to reduce power consumption of discrete DRAM in mobile devices. Desktop devices like PCs and servers commonly utilize DDR devices mounted on dual inline memory modules (DIMM) hosted on 64-bit wide buses. This board-level solution allows field-upgradeable DRAM ... » read more

Foundation IP For 7nm FinFETs: Design And Implementation


Learn about the challenges of IP design and implementation for 7nm FinFETs. Along with the performance and area benefits that the node brings, designers must understand the significant technical challenges stemming from increasing variability associated with tighter pitches and more complex lithography steps. Design for variability and reliability considerations will require comprehensive model... » read more

Blog Review: April 13


A Lam Research staff writer discusses the transformational effects of NAND flash memory and looks at the challenges of the next step: building 3D NAND structures. With the recent reports of people lining up to preorder the Model 3, Tesla may seem like the hottest electric vehicle company right now. But Mentor's Andrew Macleod argues it may actually be BYD Auto, a Chinese company that that so... » read more

Unexpected Security Holes


Security is emerging as one of the top challenges in semiconductor design across a variety of markets, with the number of security holes growing by orders of magnitude in sectors that have never dealt with these kinds of design constraints before. While security has been a topic of conversation for years in mobile phones and data centers, commercial and industrial equipment is being connecte... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Tools Cadence unveiled the latest updates to its Virtuoso platform, adding enhanced data handling for up to 20X improvement in loading waveform databases in excess of 1GB and a 50X improvement in versioning and loading set-up files into the environment in the Analog Design Environment. Updates to the Layout Suite offer up to 100X accelerated zoom, pan, drag and draw performance on large layo... » read more

The Next Big Challenge


In his keynote speech at the Synopsys User Group last month, company chairman and co-CEO Aart de Geus defined IoT as the Internet of Threats. As interviews across the semiconductor industry have revealed over the past 12 months, his comment was very much on target. As more things are connected—and that includes everything from watches to toasters to cars to buildings within a city—securi... » read more

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