The design and characterization of RF circuits is a complex process that requires an RF designer to overcome a variety of challenges. Not only do they face the complexities posed by advanced semiconductor processes and the need to meet the demanding requirements of modern wireless standards, designers must also account for electromagnetic… Read More
DSP IP for High Performance Sensor Fusion on an Embedded Budget
Whether we realize it or not, everyday applications we use depend on data gathered by sensors. We can bet that pretty much every application uses at least a couple of different types of sensors, if not more. That is because different types of sensors are better suited to collect data depending on the application, the environment … Read More
Intelligently Optimizing Constrained Random
“Who guards the guardians?” This is a question from Roman times which occurred to me as relevant to this topic. We use constrained random to get better coverage in simulation. But what ensures that our constrained random testbenches are not wanting, maybe over constrained or deficient in other ways? If we are improving with a faulty… Read More
Using STA with Aging Analysis for Robust IC Designs
Our laptops and desktop computers have billions of transistors in their application processor chips, yet I often don’t consider the reliability effects of aging that the transistors experience in the chips. At the recent Synopsys User Group (aka SNUG), there was a technical presentation on this topic from Srinivas Bodapati,… Read More
Casting Light on OpenLight’s Open Silicon Photonics Platform
For many decades now, modern optical technology has been deployed in networking infrastructure, for long haul and medium haul links to support internet communications. The foundation of this technology is photonics, which is the science of generation, manipulation and detection of light for performing functions otherwise… Read More
DesignDash: ML-Driven Big Data Analytics Technology for Smarter SoC Design
With time-to-market pressures ever increasing, companies are continually seeking enhanced designer productivity, faster design closure and improved project management efficiency. To accomplish these, organizations invest a lot in implementing both standardized approaches and proprietary techniques. With ever increasing… Read More
Coding Guidelines for Datapath Verification
It has been an article of faith that you can’t use formal tools to validate datapath logic (math components). Formal is for control logic, not datapath, we now realize. We understood the reason – wide inputs (32-bit, 64-bit or more) fed through a multiplier deliver eye-watering state space sizes. State space explosions also happen… Read More
Very Short Reach (VSR) Connectivity for Optical Modules
Bandwidth, latency, power and reach are always the key points of focus when it comes to connectivity. As the demand for more data and higher bandwidth connectivity continue, power management is gaining a lot of attention. There is renewed interest in pursuing silicon photonics to address many of these challenges. There are many… Read More
Bigger, Faster and Better AI: Synopsys NPUs
AI-based applications are fast advancing with evolving neural network (NN) models, pushing aggressive performance envelopes. Just a few years ago, performance requirements of NN driven applications were at 1 TOPS and less. Current and future applications in the areas of augmented reality (AR), surveillance, high-end smartphones,… Read More
The Path Towards Automation of Analog Design
You may have noticed that I have been writing a lot more about analog design lately. This is no accident. Analog and custom blocks are increasingly important because of the critical role they play in enabling many classes of systems, such as automotive, networking, wireless, mobile, cloud, etc. Many of the SoCs needed for these… Read More