In our previous post on SoC memory resource planning, we shared 4 goals for a solution: optimize utilization and QoS, balance traffic across consumers and channels, eliminate performance loss from ordering dependencies, and analyze and understand tradeoffs. Let’s look at details on how Sonics is achieving this.… Read More



IoT + Big Data + Cloud + AI Integration Insights from Patents
IoT Big Data Aggregation
US20140297826 illustrates a system for big data aggregation in a sensor network. The most important part of the Internet of Things (IoT) big data analytics is collecting data before storing the data. The Hadoop big data platform supports collecting data in Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). HDFS … Read More
PCB Design Requires Both Speed and Accuracy of SI/PI Analysis
The prevailing industry trends are clear: (1) PCB and die package designs are becoming more complex, across both mobile and high-performance applications; (2) communication interface performance between chips (and their related protocols) is increasingly demanding to verify; (3) signal integrity and power integrity issues… Read More
CMOS Radio Frequency Image Sensor Process
Image censoring with radio frequency (RF) in CMOS is a combination of light sensing chips and wireless communication. Typically, we were first engaged in the article, “RF Design Issues and Challenges in a CMOS Image Sensor Process”, because of the circuit design process required to make a functioning Radio Frequency transceiver.… Read More
IoT Prototyping Workshop in Monterey CA!
With the coming onslaught of IoT designs from big companies and small, the opportunity for IoT FPGA prototyping deserves a closer look. This session will start off with a keynote “The Internet of Trust and a New Frontier For Exploration” and will be followed by a discussion with industry experts Don Dingee, Frank Schirrmeister,… Read More
How my 17 year old daughter will drive Silicon Photonics into the Mainstream
I read with interest a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News (Live Video) about how the availability of better quality cameras on smartphones and the growing appetite for on-demand content on social media now have Facebook and Twitter competing head to head to encourage more people to stream raw footage. Pre-recorded videos… Read More
In the Valley & thinking about FD-SOI for your next chip design? Epic (and free) symposium 13 April
If you’re in the chip biz in Silicon Valley, check out the SOI Consortium FD-SOI Symposium on April 13th in San Jose. They’ve been running these things since 2009, and I have to say that this one is the most comprehensive to date. Headliners include Cisco, Sony, NXP, SigmaDesigns, ARM, Ciena plus the big FD-SOI foundries,… Read More
Managing and Reusing IP in a Build-Borrow-Buy Era
Make-versus-buy inadequately describes what we do now in electronic systems design. We are on a continuum of design IP acquisition and use decisions, often with a portfolio of active projects and future projects depending on the outcome. Properly managing IP means adopting a build-borrow-buy mindset and tools capable of handling… Read More
Google v. IBM v. Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Strategy Insights from Patents
Patents can provide insights regarding the state of the art of artificial Intelligence (AI) technology innovation, and thus, a strategic move of a company for the AI innovation leadership. To compare the technology innovation strategy of the three leading companies in the AI business, Google, IBM and Microsoft, patent information… Read More
My morning with Andy Grove
I worked briefly at Intel in 1991-2. At the time, the corporate culture was based on the theory of ‘constructive confrontation.’ For most, that meant that in the clash of good ideas, the best one would prevail. For some at Intel, however, constructive confrontation was a blood sport. (I trust things have improved in the past quarter… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot