DAC starts June 24th and I can already feel the buzz of excitement building up as I receive updates from EDA vendors like Keysight EDA. Talking with Scott Seiden, Director Strategic Marketing, Keysight EDA Portfolio, I learned that they have the largest booth on the first floor, now that’s a statement that caught my attention. This… Read More
Author: Daniel Payne
Keysight EDA at the 2024 Design Automation Conference
Something new in High Level Synthesis and High Level Verification
As SoC complexities continue to expand to billions of transistors, the quest for higher levels of design automation also rises. This has led to the adoption of High-Level Synthesis (HLS), using design languages such as C++ and SystemC, which is more productive than traditional RTL design entry methods. In the RTL approach there… Read More
Is it time for PCB auto-routing yet?
PCB designers have been using manual routing for decades now, so when is it time to consider adding interactive routing technologies to become more productive? Manually routing traces to connect components will take time from a skilled team member and involves human judgement that will introduce errors. When a design change … Read More
New Tool that Synthesizes Python to RTL for AI Neural Network Code
AI and ML techniques are popular topics, yet there are considerable challenges to those that want to design and build an AI accelerator for inferencing, as you need a team that understands how to model a neural network in a language like Python, turn that model into RTL, then verify that your RTL matches Python. Researchers from CERN,… Read More
Rigid-flex PCB Design Challenges
From Zion Research I learned that the flexible electronics market was about $13.2B in 2021 and growing at a CAGR of 21%, so that was impressive. There are several factors that make rigid-flex circuit so attractive, like: space efficiency, reduced weight, enhanced reliability, improved signal integrity, streamlined assembly,… Read More
Will my High-Speed Serial Link Work?
PCB designers can perform pre-route simulations, follow layout and routing rules, hope for the best from their prototype fab, and yet design errors cause respins which delays the project schedule. Just because post-route analysis is time consuming doesn’t mean that it should be avoided. Serial links are found in many PCB designs,… Read More
ECO Demo Update from Easy-Logic
I first met Jimmy Chen from Easy-Logic at #60DAC and wrote about their Engineering Change Order (ECO) tool in August 2023. Recently we had a Zoom call so that I could see a live demo of their EDA tool in action. Allen Guo, the AE Manager for Easy-Logic gave me an overview presentation of the company and some history to provide a bit of context.… Read More
Electrical Rule Checking and Exhaustive Classification of Errors
The goal of SoC design teams is to tape-out their project and receive working silicon on the first try, without discovering any bugs in silicon. To achieve this lofty goal requires all types of specialized checking and verification during the design phase to prevent bugs. There are checks at the system level, RTL level, gate level,… Read More
A Modeling, Simulation, Exploration and Collaborative Platform to Develop Electronics and SoCs
During the GOMACTech conference held in South Carolina last week I had a Zoom call with Deepak Shankar, Founder and VP Technology at Mirabilis Design Inc. to ask questions and view a live demo of VisualSim – a modeling, simulation, exploration and collaborative platform to develop electronics and SoCs. What makes VisualSim so … Read More
Afraid of mesh-based clock topologies? You should be
Digital logic chips synchronize all logic operations by using a clock signal connected to flip-flops or latches, and the clock is distributed across the entire chip. The ultimate goal is to have a clock signal that arrives at the exact same moment in time at all clocked elements. If the clock arrives too early or too late from the PLL… Read More
Elon Musk Given CHIPS Act & AI Oversight – Mulls Relocation of Taiwanese Fabs