Innovation in Verification April 2020

Innovation in Verification April 2020
by Bernard Murphy on 04-14-2020 at 6:00 am

Innovation

This blog is the next in a series in which Paul Cunningham (GM of the Verification Group at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I pick a paper on a novel idea we appreciated and suggest opportunities to further build on that idea.

We’re getting a lot of hits on these blogs but would like really like to get feedback also.

The Innovation

Our next pick… Read More


Best Practices for IP Reuse

Best Practices for IP Reuse
by Bernard Murphy on 04-08-2020 at 6:00 am

Reuse

As someone who was heavily involved with rules for IP reuse for many years, I have a major sense of déja vu in writing again on the topic. But we (in SpyGlass) were primarily invested in atomic-level checks in RTL and gate-level designs. There’s a higher level of best practices in process we didn’t attempt to cover. ClioSoft just released… Read More


What’s New in CDC Analysis?

What’s New in CDC Analysis?
by Bernard Murphy on 04-06-2020 at 6:00 am

Validating assumptions in CDC constraints

Synopsys just released a white paper, a backgrounder on CDC. You’ve read enough of what I’ve written on this topic that I don’t need to re-tread that path. However, this is tech so there’s always something new to talk about. This time I’ll cover a Synopsys survey update on numbers of clock domains in designs, also an update on ways to… Read More


Private Datacenter Safer than the Cloud? Dangerously Wrong.

Private Datacenter Safer than the Cloud? Dangerously Wrong.
by Bernard Murphy on 04-02-2020 at 6:00 am

Cloud Security

The irony around this topic in the middle of the coronavirus scare – when more of us are working remotely through the cloud – is not lost on me. Nevertheless, ingrained beliefs move slowly so it’s still worth shedding further light. There is a tribal wisdom among chip designers that what we do demands much higher security than any other… Read More


PSS, Test Realization and Reuse

PSS, Test Realization and Reuse
by Bernard Murphy on 03-31-2020 at 6:00 am

Generating tests from PSS

Mentor just released a white paper on this topic which I confess has taxed my abilities to blog the topic. It’s not that the white paper is not worthy – I’m sure it is. I’m less sure that I’m worthy to blog on such a detailed technical paper. But I’m always up for a challenge, so let’s see what I can make of this, extracting a quick and not very… Read More


SpyGlass Gets its VC

SpyGlass Gets its VC
by Bernard Murphy on 03-26-2020 at 6:00 am

VC SpyGlass Lint

It’s a matter of pride to me and many others from Atrenta days that the brand we built in SpyGlass has been so enduring. It seems that pretty much anyone who thinks of static RTL checking thinks SpyGlass. Even after Synopsys acquired Atrenta, they kept the name as-is, I’m sure because the brand recognition was so valuable.

Even good… Read More


Mentor Masterclass on ML SoC Design

Mentor Masterclass on ML SoC Design
by Bernard Murphy on 03-24-2020 at 6:00 am

ML algo design

I was scheduled to attend the Mentor tutorial at DVCon this year. Then coronavirus hit, two big sponsors dropped out and the schedule was shortened to three days. Mentor’s tutorial had to be moved to Wednesday and, as luck would have it, I already had commitments on that day. Mentor kindly sent me the slides and audio from the meeting… Read More


5G Infrastructure Opens Up

5G Infrastructure Opens Up
by Bernard Murphy on 03-19-2020 at 6:00 am

5G network

It seemed we were more or less resigned to Huawei owning 5G infrastructure worldwide. Then questions about security came to the fore, Huawei purchases were put on hold (though that position is being tested outside the US) and opportunity for other infrastructure suppliers (Ericsson, Nokia, etc) has opened up again.

Building … Read More


Innovation in Verification March 2020

Innovation in Verification March 2020
by Bernard Murphy on 03-17-2020 at 6:00 am

Innovation

This blog is the next in a series in which Paul Cunningham (GM of the Verification Group at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I pick a paper on a novel idea we appreciated and suggest opportunities to further build on that idea.

We welcome comments on our blogs and suggestions for new topics if they’re based on published work.

The Innovation

Our… Read More


An Objective Hardware Security Metric in Sight

An Objective Hardware Security Metric in Sight
by Bernard Murphy on 03-11-2020 at 6:00 am

Metrics

Security has been a domain blessed with an abundance of methods to improve in various ways, not so much in methods to measure the effectiveness of those improvements. With the best will in the world, absent an agreed security measurement, all those improvement techniques still add up to “trust me, our baby monitor camera is really… Read More