Three Steps To Faster Low Power Coverage Using UPF 3.0 Information Models


Controlling power has its costs. The added power elements and their interactions make verification of low-power designs much more difficult and the engineer’s job overwhelmingly complex and tedious. Early versions of the Unified Power Format (UPF) provided some relief, but lacked provisions for a standardized methodology for low-power coverage. Ad hoc approaches are error prone and highly ... » read more

Random Directed Low Power Coverage Methodology


This paper proposes a low-power coverage methodology based on the recently introduced UPF 3.0 low-power information model HDL package. Verification engineers can use this approach to achieve low-power coverage closure earlier. We share relevant case studies and examples using the methodology to solve low-power verification problems. It also discusses the benefits of this approach and its advant... » read more

Moving Beyond Assertions: An Innovative Approach to Low-Power Checking Using UPF Tcl Apps


This paper uses examples and case studies to demonstrate how to leverage UPF 3.0 information model TCL query functions (aka Tcl Apps) and tool provided CLI commands to do low-power checking of a design. This is an innovative way to dynamically verify the low-power intent after simulation has completed and all waveforms are available. The paper also explains how users can write their own checker... » read more

Low Power Apps: Shaping The Future Of Low Power Verification


This paper describes how verification and design engineers can make use of UPF 3.0 information model-based HDL and Tcl APIs to write useful low-power apps. We present low-power apps that can be used to solve complex verification issues and provide case studies and examples to demonstrate usage. To read more, click here. » read more

System-Level Power Modeling Takes Root


Power, heat, and their combined effects on aging and reliability, are becoming increasingly critical variables in the design of chips that will be used across a variety of new and existing markets. As more processing moves to edge, where sensors are generating a tsunami of data, there are a number of factors that need to be considered in designs. On one side, power budgets need to reflect th... » read more

What Happened To UPF?


Two years ago there was a lot of excitement, both within the industry and the standards communities, about rapid advancements that were being made around low-power design, languages and methodologies. Since then, everything has gone quiet. What happened? At the time, it was reported that the [gettech id="31043" comment="IEEE 1801"] committee was the largest active committee within the IEEE. ... » read more

Reaching The Power Budget


Everything related to power in chip design today is a big deal—and it’s just getting bigger. Meeting the power budget is becoming harder at each new node, but it's also becoming difficult in a number of new application areas at existing nodes. That's a big problem because [getkc id="108" kc_name="power"] is now considered a competitive advantage in many markets. It's also one of the most... » read more

ESL Flow is Dead


It was 20 years ago that Gary Smith coined the term [getkc id="48" comment="Electronic System Level"] (ESL). He foresaw the next logical migration in abstraction up from the [getkc id="49" comment="Register Transfer Level"] (RTL) to something that would be capable of describing and building complex electronic systems. He also saw that the future of EDA depended upon who would control that marke... » read more

What’s Next for System-Level Power Modeling?


Availability of models and libraries has long been one of the biggest barriers to the adoption of new EDA tools and methodologies, whether due to the investment needed to create these models and libraries or because of the “at-risk” nature of developing complex models in proprietary formats. With the approval of UPF3.0 (IEEE 1801-2015) this past December, we now have an industry standar... » read more

IP Requirements Changing


Twenty years ago the electronics industry became interested in the notion of formalizing re-use through third-party IP. It has turned out to be harder than anyone imagined. In 1996, the Virtual Socket Interface Alliance ([getentity id="22845" comment="VSIA"]) was formed to standardize the development, distribution and licensing of IP. Soon afterward, companies with a couple of people in a ga... » read more

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