Deep Learning: Diminishing Returns?

Deep Learning: Diminishing Returns?
by Bernard Murphy on 07-12-2018 at 7:00 am

Deep learning (DL) has become the oracle of our age – the universal technology we turn to for answers to almost any hard problem. This is not surprising; its strength in image and speech recognition, language processing and multiple other domains amaze and shock us, to the point that we’re now debating AI singularities. But then,… Read More


Drop-In Security for IoT Edge Devices

Drop-In Security for IoT Edge Devices
by Bernard Murphy on 07-10-2018 at 7:00 am

You’re excited about the business potential for your cool new baby monitor, geo-fenced kid’s watch, home security system or whatever breakthrough app you want to build. You want to focus on the capabilities of the system, connecting it to the cloud and your marketing rollout plan. Then someone asks whether your system is architected… Read More


CEO Interview: Cristian Amitroaie of AMIQ EDA

CEO Interview: Cristian Amitroaie of AMIQ EDA
by Bernard Murphy on 07-05-2018 at 7:00 am

AMIQ EDA has caught my attention over the last few months. My first impression was that this was just another small IDE company trying to compete with established and bundled IDEs from the big 3, a seemingly insurmountable barrier. This view was challenged by an impressive list of testimonials, not just from the little guys but also… Read More


Dragonfly-NB2: You Can Have It All in Your IoT Device

Dragonfly-NB2: You Can Have It All in Your IoT Device
by Bernard Murphy on 07-03-2018 at 7:00 am

I wrote last month about CEVA’s Dragonfly-NB1 platform, a single-chip IoT solution supporting narrow-band cellular communication; this can meet aggressive total solution price-targets for high-volume deployment, long-range access and the low-power needed for 10+ year battery lifetimes. That solution, based on Release… Read More


Design for Power: An Insider View

Design for Power: An Insider View
by Bernard Murphy on 06-28-2018 at 7:00 am

The second keynote at Mentor’s U2U this year was given by Hooman Moshar, VP of Engineering at Broadcom, on the always (these days) important topic of design for power. This is one of my favorite areas. I have, I think, a decent theoretical background in the topic, but I definitely need a periodic refresh on the ground reality from the… Read More


Integrity, Reliability Shift Left with ICC

Integrity, Reliability Shift Left with ICC
by Bernard Murphy on 06-26-2018 at 7:00 am

There is a nice serendipity in discovering that two companies I cover are working together. Good for them naturally but makes my job easier because I already have a good idea about the benefits of the partnership. Synopsys and ANSYS announced a collaboration at DAC 2017 for accelerating design optimization for HPS, mobile and automotive.… Read More


ANSYS at DAC

ANSYS at DAC
by Bernard Murphy on 06-21-2018 at 7:00 am

I’m not going to be at DAC this year because I scheduled a fishing trip at the end of June, assuming the show would stay true to form as an early/mid-June event. Still, having to endure salmon and halibut fishing in Alaska rather than slogging around Moscone Center, I can’t pretend to be too disappointed; I’ll be thinking of you all 😎.… Read More


The Wolper Method

The Wolper Method
by Bernard Murphy on 06-20-2018 at 11:00 am

If you read around topics in advanced formal verification you’re likely to run into something called Wolper coloring, or what Vigyan Singhal (Chief Oski at Oski) calls the Wolper method. Many domains have specialized techniques but what’s surprising in this instance is a seeming absence of helpful on-line explanations (though… Read More


The Starting Point of Functional Safety Analysis

The Starting Point of Functional Safety Analysis
by Bernard Murphy on 06-19-2018 at 7:00 am

In the course of building my understanding of functional safety, particularly with respect to ISO 26262, I have developed a better understanding of the design methods used to mitigate safety problems and the various tools and techniques that are applied to measure the impact of those diagnostics against ASIL goals. One area in… Read More


Foundry Partnership Simplifies Design for Reliability

Foundry Partnership Simplifies Design for Reliability
by Bernard Murphy on 06-14-2018 at 7:00 am

This builds on a couple of topics I have covered for quite a while from an analysis point of view – integrity and reliability. The power distribution network and some other networks like clock trees are particularly susceptible to both IR-drop and electromigration (EM) problems. The first can lead to intermittent timing failures,… Read More